DuPage water board cracks down on staff
The DuPage County Water Commission board is taking access to the body's checkbook away from staff.
The decision comes after the board learned staff recently moved $3 million from a reserve fund to pay construction contractors on the heels of the accidental spending of $19 million more in reserves over the past two years.
"I think someone's got to watch the checking account," said board member Bill Maio.
While commission lawyers said General Manager Bob Martin and interim finance administrator Rick Skiba did nothing wrong by moving the reserve funds, board members were incensed. They scolded the two for shuffling the commission's scant reserves and spending money while the board is still trying to determine how to straighten out the commission's finances.
"I have very serious concerns about the decision-making process going on here," said board member Don Zeilenga at Thursday's meeting.
Some board members were also talking about suspending Martin for the financial miscues during a closed session later that night.
Skiba said the funds weren't spent, just moved. They could be moved back into reserves if the board wanted, he said.
The board voted that all future expenditures have to be approved by them. In the past, staff had authority to pay bills once the board approved contracts.
In an effort to shore up its finances, the board approved a one-year $30 million loan from West Suburban Bank. That money will keep the commission from levying a property tax. The commission receives funding by selling Lake Michigan water to a number of DuPage communities and from a quarter-percent sales tax in those communities as well.
However, Martin also suggested the commission needed another $30 million loan to help pay off the roughly $53 million in construction debt that comes due between now and May.
One of the contractors owed money by the commission appeared at the meeting Thursday to complain about the lack of payments. Michael Maicke said the $8 million project his company is building for the commission is about 50 percent complete, yet they've only received 10 percent of the money owed to them.
"It's a great strain on our firm," he said. "We're trying to manage that, but it's getting difficult. We're in serious trouble without rectifying the situation."
Residents also blasted the board, blaming them for not maintaining the commission's finances properly.
"You gave away $40 million to your own towns, squandering not only part of a reserve accumulated through an unneeded sales tax, but also the investment income that money would have earned," said Glen Ellyn resident Debra Fulks. "Even worse, you lowered a water rate that had already been producing increasing operating losses since 2005."
One of the last moves made by the board Thursday was to request staff put together a resolution for a possible rate hike.
Staff: Board must OK payments