A second whistleblower stepped forward Thursday, alleging mismanagement by Veolia, the company hired by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District to run the region’s two wastewater treatment plants.
Standing with Lake Michigan to his back and Jones Island to his left, Milwaukee native Greg Gryskiewicz said he worked at the plant 14 years.
“And I started off, believe it or not, as a security guard, and I moved up from there into maintenance,” he said.
Ultimately, Gryskiewicz worked his way up to his dream job, “I was chosen as one of three people to become a machinist,” he said.
But early in 2024, just two weeks into that coveted position, Gryskiewicz said he felt compelled to leave for ethical reasons.
“I was unhappy with a lot of the way they treated equipment and employees,” he said.
Gryskiewicz said equipment was chronically not properly maintained, and that impairs the plants’ ability to properly treat wastewater.
“We had weekly meetings where we talked about the same broken equipment for years and it became like a comedy show," he said. "I hate to say it, but after a certain point of saying ‘Hey I’m going into a rain event, I have half of the screening equipment that this facility should have, and we have no way to bypass it. And if you put too much flow though this place it’s going to flood into the streets.’ And you say that to managers and they already know. And that’s it. There’s nothing that’s going to be done."
Gryskiewicz said working under those conditions created a feeling of hopelessness that "you can’t understand unless you’re there."
“And this isn’t just Veolia’s fault, honestly. I say that because MMSD would often bring in brand new equipment and it would be installed incorrectly or [it was] inferior equipment to begin with,” he said.
Gryskiewicz is the second whistleblower to come forward in recent weeks alleging mismanagement of the plants. Former MMSD intergovernmental coordinator Steve Jacquardt was the first.
Gryskiewicz, Jacquardt and the advocacy group Common Ground are calling for an independent audit of the region’s wastewater treatment operations, as the MMSD weighs whether to sign another 10-year contract with Veolia.
Veolia issued a statement Thursday:
Common Ground made clear today they want to sabotage MMSD’s fair and transparent procurement process for reasons they will not explain. They aim to bully the Board of Commissioners and obstruct this democratic oversight body — representing 1.1 million people in 29 municipalities — from making an impartial and informed decision. Today’s press conference brought up allegations from years ago that have no effect on Milwaukee’s waterways, public health or flood protection. Veolia stands firmly behind the performance and integrity of our team, operating an extremely complex system under rigorous regulatory oversight to meet MMSD, state and federal standards. Veolia encourages all employees to report any workplace concerns, even anonymously, whether directly to their supervisors or through additional channels we’ve established to report issues without fear of retaliation.
The MMSD issued this statement:
MMSD is grateful that Common Ground has finally provided the whistleblower letter. It is lengthy and MMSD needs time to review it. MMSD is two years into a public procurement effort to hire a company to operate and maintain the District’s infrastructure for a 10-year period. It’s a time-consuming effort for everyone involved and it must continue to be a fair process. MMSD cannot publicly comment on these accusations until after the procurement process is completed. A final decision on the next 10-year contract is expected this summer.
Greg Gryskiewicz said he’ll be providing more testimony.
“I’m actually working on a 20-page document, it’ll probably be over 20 pages, of exact examples of the mistreatment of equipment as well as people and the management problems,” Gryskiewicz said.
As the press packed up and Common Ground members dispersed, I heard Gryskiewicz say “honesty is the best policy.”
_
