Water commission seats not-so-vacant after all

With two DuPage Water Commission seats open and a third looking to be that way with a member moving out of state, it appeared making a quorum was going to be tough for the embattled 13-member board.

But that may not be the case after all. Bill Maio recently retired from his job with the DuPage Circuit Court Clerk's office with plans to leave Illinois, but has said he'll stay on the commission through the end of the year. He is one of six county-appointed members.

There are six other appointees chosen by municipalities. Each side picks appointees from DuPage's six county board districts. The 13th spot is the chairman's seat, who is appointed by the county board chairman.

Longtime commissioners Greg Mathews and Liz Chaplin saw their terms expire in June. Chaplin was a county appointee and Mathews was a municipal appointee. Mathews represented District 4, which includes Wheaton, Glen Ellyn and Glendale Heights.

Mayors from those towns recently selected Wheaton City Councilman Phil Suess to replace Mathews. His first meeting will be Aug. 12.

Suess has a financial background, which the mayors believed was necessary with the financial troubles the commission has found itself in recently by accidentally spending down its $69 million reserve fund.

"I do think among the municipalities there's a greater emphasis on having the representatives on the commission be elected officials for accountability, but the skill set part of it was important as well," Suess said.

Chaplin's seat remains vacant, however. Because of a unique voting structure at the commission regarding financial and personnel matters, the county doesn't have as much pull with Chaplin out. Finance and personnel votes require three county votes and three municipal votes plus one more member's vote in order to pass. With the Chaplin vacancy, the board only needs two positive votes from county appointees for an initiative to pass.

County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom has said in the past that he plans to appoint a replacement for Chaplin, but hasn't said when that will happen. It may be a short stint since Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed a bill that requires all 13 commission members to resign at the end of the year. It was part of a reform package that swept through the Capitol following the release of the commission's forensic audit of the misspent funds that showed improper accounting procedures and poor oversight led to the mistakes.

Meanwhile, the outgoing board is moving forward with plans to hire a new general manager to oversee operations of the agency that provides Lake Michigan water to more than two dozen DuPage communities and agencies. The application process ended last week and the agency received 22 applications - 18 from Illinois residents and four from out-of-state candidates, agency officials said.

Interim General Manager Terry McGhee confirmed he is one of the 22 candidates.

The list of applicants will be whittled down and the commission will interview five or six finalists. No schedule for picking a new general manager has been set.