Steele to serve third term at MWRD
The Beverly Review, 1/10/23 | Steele to serve third term at MWRD.
During a recent Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) Board of Commissioners meeting, MWRD President Kari K. Steele received a unanimous vote by the board to serve a third term as president of the $1.4-billion agency.
Each term for president is two years, and this is Steele’s third consecutive term. Steele currently serves as the chairman of the engineering committee and the state legislation and rules committee. She is also the vice chairman of the procurement committee.
Steele is a chemist, licensed real estate broker, environmentalist and a community leader. She has more than 11 years of experience working as a chemist. Steele has worked at both the Jardin Water Purification Plant as a water chemist and with the MWRD as a water sampler and lab technician.
This background makes Steele uniquely qualified to discuss and analyze proposed operational changes.
“I am honored to have the unanimous support of the board and to have their continued trust,” Steele said.
“I’m fully committed to the MWRD and excited to work with the board of commissioners to execute our mission while being financially responsible, socially aware of any injustices, knowledgeable about spreading information of our responsibility and resources, and boldly being a voice at the table for our key stakeholders, the 5 million residents of Cook County.”
The vote by the MWRD Board of Commissioners included voting for Commissioner Kimberly Neely Du Buclet to serve a two-year term as vice president of the MWRD Board of Commissioners and Commissioner Marcelino Garcia to serve a second, two-year term as chairman of finance for the MWRD.
Steele’s MWRD annual message, “2022: A Year in Review” was released at the end of the year. The annual message incorporates many of the board of commissioners’ collective efforts and successes in 2022 and throughout Steele’s tenure.
The highlights focus on areas including achieving highest standards, a focus on maintenance and operations, protecting the Calumet region for 100 years, awards earned, spreading resilience across Cook County, groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremonies, strong finances, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, the 2021-2025 strategic plan, the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP) at 50, nutrient-loss reduction, COVID-19 sewage surveillance and more.
Steele remains diligent, focused and determined in her efforts to conduct business in accordance with “the will of the MWRD Board of Commissioners,” which is to protect the health and safety of the public in the MWRD service area and to protect the quality of the water supply source (Lake Michigan), and she stressed that there is no end to the impact of the essential work of the MWRD.
Entering another term as president, Steele looks forward with confidence in continuing to build a legacy of sustained protection of the region’s water environment, today and for future generations.
For more information, visit mwrd.org.
