New faces on DuPage Water Commission? Not exactly

So much for all new blood on the DuPage Water Commission.

While DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin is planning to name almost all new people to fill the county's seven seats on the embattled commission, so far only one of the six municipal spots have been filled by someone new. That happened when local mayors appointed Itasca Village President Jeff Pruyn to the commission.

The 13-member panel that oversees the agency, which delivers Lake Michigan drinking water to more than two dozen communities, is being reconstituted because of a state law championed by Cronin. The legislation Cronin pushed for while he was still a state lawmaker came after the commission accidentally spent its $69 million in reserves due to accounting errors and lax oversight of the accounting department.

On Friday, Cronin said in a statement that the water commission needs “entirely new leadership.”

“We must take a fresh, unbiased look at this troubled agency,” he said. “Those long-term board members who bear responsibility for what has occurred at the commission should step aside and allow a new board to take action.”

But Lombard Village President William Mueller, who has been a longtime water commissioner, said experienced commissioners with institutional knowledge can play a valuable role in the effort to reform the embattled agency.

“It's going to be important to have some continuity there,” said Mueller, who won't find out until Dec. 20 if fellow mayors will reappoint him. “We've got some very knowledgeable people on there right now. I wouldn't throw them away just to say we're clean sweeping something.”

Mueller pointed to Frank Saverino of Carol Stream, who has been reappointed, as an example of a “talented” commissioner “who has worked hard to correct any deficiencies” at the agency.

Also, Wheaton Councilman Phil Suess has been reappointed and Naperville Councilman Dick Furstenau is expected to remain.

“I'm going to keep Furstenau there,” Mayor George Pradel said. “I don't have any problem putting him back on. He'll do a great job. He's really into it and I believe he'll be as diligent as anyone in the whole area.”

And despite Cronin's expressed desire for new faces, he has expressed similar confidence in nominating water Commissioner Jim Zay to become the commission's chairman. Zay, a county board member, is one of the newer members of the commission, having joined it in August 2008.

In addition to asking the county board to approve Zay's appointment on Tuesday, Cronin will seek board approval to fill four of the six remaining county seats on the water panel with new people.

The four nominees are Laura Crawford of Naperville, president and CEO of the Downers Grove Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Glen Ellyn resident Bradley Webb, controller and general counsel with Packey Webb Ford; Downers Grove resident Michael Scheck, sales director with Scheck Industries; and Daniel Loftus of Downers Grove, a founder and managing partner of an engineering design firm.

“These folks have working knowledge of how a business should run,” Cronin said. “They will take this experience and bring more accountability and more transparency to the water commission on behalf of the taxpayers this agency is designed to serve.”

Cronin has said his remaining two appointees also will be individuals new to the commission. They are expected to be named sometime before the commission's January meeting.

Crawford said she believes “a fresh set of a eyes” working alongside experienced commissioners will benefit everyone in the county.

“Hopefully, we can all look forward to positive changes,” she said. “We just need to learn from the mistakes that are behind us.”

Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Justin Kmitch contributed to this report