Friends of Todd Connor

Name:	Friends of Todd Connor
Office:	Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
Website:	toddconnor.org

Background:

Todd Connor, 30, has dedicated his life to public service.

Whether serving his country abroad with the U.S. Navy, or working as a management consultant with government clients nationwide, Todd knows how to do more with less.

His leadership and hard work continues as a candidate for Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Todd's commitment to public service began at Northwestern University where he enrolled in the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC). Upon graduation, he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, working his way up the ranks to become a Lieutenant. Todd served two tours, including one overseas in the Persian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he earned numerous awards and decorations for his service as Navigator of the USS BUNKER HILL (CG-52).

Returning home, Todd joined the Illinois Inspector General’s Office to investigate complaints of waste, fraud, and abuse in state government – a calling he felt passionate about. He worked aggressively to expose corruption and inefficiency throughout our state.

Following the Inspector General’s Office, Todd worked in the private sector in various management roles for McMaster-Carr Supply Company, a privately held distribution company in the Chicagoland area, while earning his MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business at night.

After earning his MBA, Todd joined Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the nation's leading management consulting firms. From a privately owned strawberry company in California, to the National Aeronautic Space Agency (NASA) in Houston, Todd has advised senior executives on how to optimize budgets, reduce costs, develop strategic plans, and succeed in increasingly complex environments.

Leveraging his experience from his time in the private and public sector, Todd then launched Todd Connor Consulting, to work with governments in the Chicagoland area. Todd is able to do what he has a passion for—work with public sector clients to ensure they are succeeding in meeting their toughest challenges, and bringing best practices from the private sector to bear.

His decision to run for Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago is done in the same spirit as all of his endeavors—to serve honestly, work hard and make a difference.

Goals:

I am running for commissioner because I want to bring a business perspective to the current Board. I was surprised, frankly, to learn that no one on the Board of Commissioners comes from a business management background, nor has an MBA for that matter, considering that many of the problems facing the MWRD are business management problems. I feel strongly that a business perspective is needed on the board to raise some very important questions, while looking at some old problems with a fresh set of eyes.

In my current work as a management consultant, I have helped large federal agencies such as NASA restructure their costs to find hundreds of millions of dollars in savings. The ability to help organizations optimize their spending comes from asking the right questions, and taking a structural approach to costs. Particularly with the MWRD, where much of that $1.6 billion is paid out to third party contractors, the primary focus needs to be on how we hire contractors and evaluate their performance. Here is what we need:

Several companies bidding on every contract, and agency cost estimates matching contractor bids

New contractors entering into business with the MWRD, with a healthy turnover rate

Minority and Women-Owned sub-contractors (M/WBE’s) actively participating, bidding and being represented

Contracts to be scrutinized with an oversight board in place

Contract terms that do not exceed a year, and contracts that are always competitively re-bid

If only one bidder comes to the table we need to ask ourselves, "What are we doing wrong to only get one bidder?"

While these ideas will not strike most people as particularly interesting, they are the margin of success for a public agency. It can mean the difference of hundreds of millions of dollars.

While the MWRD has done well in many respects, I think there is a lot of work to be done to bring it in line with what we would expect of most high performing companies and public agencies. We must strive for better, because we can do better. After all, it is your tax dollars paying for this work, and our drinking water is at stake.

While the task of running a Cook County-wide campaign is challenging, the work being performed by the MWRD is critical and demands our attention. I am committed to working collaboratively with my fellow Commissioners to represent your interests. I think it is time to add a fresh set of eyes to the Board of the Water Reclamation District, to ask some new questions about some old contracts, and to think in a new, bold way, about the mission of the MWRD.

Issues:

Issue 1: Demand competitive bidding

With an agency spending such massive amounts of money on infrastructure projects as the MWRD, it is imperative to demand a competitive bidding process. As the federal government is in the process of making massive infrastructure and environmental investments through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the MWRD needs to be aggressively seeking funding. Through competitive bidding, and inviting several private contractors to bid, we ensure that we find the best value and service for tax payer dollars. If standing contracts have been in place for long periods of time, it sends a message that 'we're not open for business.'

Issue 2: Invest in green infrastructure

Green infrastructure is nothing more than capturing rainwater where it falls. Before our urban landscape was built, rainwater would seep into the ground where it fell, and ground aquifers would capture and return the water into our fresh water supply. As we have laid impermeable concrete, rain water instead flows into our sewers, disrupting the natural state of affairs, and forcing investment into addition sewage treatment faciliities. By capturing rain water where it falls, through green roofs, permeable pavement, and bioswales (a carved out ditch in the ground), we can simultaneously preserve our water environment while reducing the need for expensive infrastructure spending on treatment facilities. Everytime we overburden our combined sewer system, we risk contaminating our water supply. This is unacceptable, and the smartest and fastest solution lies in green infrastructure.

Issue 3: Bring transparency and accountability to the MWRD with an Inspector General

Transparency is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but it is imperative to a well functioning and ethical government. It is not enough that information be 'available', it also needs to be useable and accessible. One important enforcement mechanism for enforcing transparency and accountability is the establishment of an Inspector General - someone tasked with being the internal watchdog for the agency. The time to establish the Inspector General is now, as a preventative effort, not a corrective effort after a scandal has broke.

Issue 4: Lead, not follow, on environmental initiatives

When it comes to the environment, it knows no boundaries. If we are truly to be stewards of the environment then we need to go beyond our jurisdiction to neighboring agencies to form new coalitions with higher standards of environmental stewardship. As one of the largest water reclamation districts in the world, we have the opportunity to stand as leaders, not just participants, in the fight to preserve our water environment. It takes the right leaders to assume the mantle of environmental champions, but the opportunity is there. Working with the EPA and neighboring governments, we should engage in a creative strategic planning process to ask ourselves, "What will the next 100 years bring to our environment, and what can we do today to shape that outcome?" From preserving and restoring prairie lands and greenspace, to making green infrastructure and LEED certification a common place development standard, to challenging our obsession with plastic refuse-generating bottled water, there are big issues inviting advocacy.
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Additional Environmental Issues:

In the Chicago area, waterways such as the Des Plaines River, Chicago River, and Calumet-Saginaw channel are so polluted that the Illinois EPA ruled in 2002 that they were not safe for direct human contact. Only indirect activities, like boating, are allowed.

During Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) events, the MWRD does not capture volume of sewage discharges. While it does make estimates, it does not publish them. The MWRD needs to capture actual data, and make it publicly available for environmental impact research.

For a county of nearly 946 square miles, the MWRD only reports rainfall readings from 12 rain gauges. This incomplete dataset does not allow for complete environmental impact assessments

While the MWRD has already committed to constructing a multi-billion-dollar tunnel and reservoir system to reduce CSO's, the project will not be completed for several years and may not be sufficient to meet current or future environmental standards.

Low-Impact Development (LID) alternatives are available, better for the environment, and more cost effective but have not been pursued.

Data from MWRD CSO outfall locations and rain gauges show that a large number of over-flow events (when sewage is discharged into our fresh water/drinking water supply) occur during very light rain periods.

CSO's cause a significant increase in levels of fecal coliform bacteria, suspended solids, and nitrogen while decreasing levels of dissolved oxygen.

Our combined sewer system does not allow for the distinct treatment of storm water from sewage, and presents a pollution hazard to our drinking water supply and natural water environment.

The United States EPA estimates that 1.2 trillion gallons of rainwater and wastewater are released annually as a result of these combined sewage systems.

In addition to the environmental impact presented by sewage being released into our watershed, rainwater run-off from parking lots and other impermeable surfaces also presents a hazard as it collects significant and hazardous levels of zinc, lead, phosphorous, and copper.

WE MUST DO BETTER - NOW

Grassroots Support:

Grassroots organizing will be the key to this campaign. This post is often treated as a political reward or trading chip. It is an uphill battle to get noticed and win, and the only way we do that is through leveraging volunteers, old fashioned campaigning, as well as new social media outreach efforts. We opened a campaign office, the first time ever for a candidate for this office, in order to facilitate the influx of volunteers that we will need and expect as we get going. We already have over 12 people dedicated to the campaign full time as unpaid staff. They are young, progressive, and optimistic, and reflect my values and that of DFA. That is exactly the kind of campaign we want to run - energetic, infused with young and old volunteers alike, and done at the grassroots. We can win!

DFA Values:

My detailed proposals of a fiscally responsible as outlined above are specific and critical: end no-bid contracts, engage in public hearings on bond expenditures and debt issuance, install an Inspector General to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. This is just the beginning. I know the right questions to ask because I have done so in my professional career. A progressive government, the other tenant of DFA, begins with open and transparent government (as well as open and transparent campaigns), a desire to lead with a sense of inclusion, treat environmental issues as an imperative that we can not pass on to future generations, and be willing to ask new and bold questions about the future of our government. As an endorsed candidate of the Victory Fund, which supports viable GLBT candidates, they have reflected that I share a sense of progressive government that works not for personal gain or turf wars, but for what is best for citizens and tax-payers. It is not, in my opinion, terribly complicated. It is, however, sorely needed. I hope to earn your support.