The commission that oversees the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has authorized an audit of Veolia, the company that runs the MMSD's two wastewater treatment plants. MMSD and its operations will also be investigated.
On Monday, the commission voted unanimously for a third-party audit in response to issues raised by whistleblowers.
The MMSD and Veolia have been mired in controversy since April 30. That’s when whistleblower Steve Jacquardt spoke out, alleging Veolia is mismanaging the MMSD’s wastewater treatment plants.
Jacquardt held a high position at MMSD for nearly 20 years, as intergovernmental coordinator.
For weeks, he and members of the advocacy group Common Ground have been calling for an audit of Veolia.
Their wish came true when commission chair Corey Zetts signaled a special MMSD commission meeting.
The commission voted to set an independent, third-party audit in motion.
That means the firm chosen to audit how things are managed, and the advisory committee it reports to, have no ties to MMSD or Veolia.
“Personally, professionally, we want to ensure that they are truly independent and can be objective. We also want to bring in some statewide expertise to really help us ask some of the technical questions and make sure we’re understanding the audit, but also some very ‘on the ground’ community members,” Zetts says.
Zetts described the path ahead as critical to “our water, to our democracy, to our community’s well-being.”
No one spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting.
But in the hallway, Bob Connolly of Common Ground called the vote a good first step.
“But there’s conditions in order for us to support it,” he said.
Connolly wants Common Ground to be represented on the advisory committee that auditors will report to. He also wants protection for people who have placed their trust in Common Ground.
“We have 20 whistleblowers now, who have come forward to us and said ‘we have evidence that things are being mismanaged there.’ We’ve got a lady who gave us the other day a 30-page report, which is brand new to us, that needs to be brought forward to this audit committee,” Connolly says.
Members of the audit advisory committee haven’t been named yet.
MMSD commission chair Corey Zetts told WUWM it will be in place by the end of the month, and will be evaluating firms that have queued up to carry out the third-party audit.
Veolia says it will continue to defend its reputation and its work in Milwaukee which “rests on 18 years of excellent operational performance overseen by local, state, and federal authorities."
Early last month, MMSD executive director Kevin Shafer told WUWM he was “totally confident” Veolia was properly managing the Jones Island and South Shore wastewater plants.
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