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THE METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT
The mission of MSD is to protect the public’s health, safety, and water
environment by responsibly providing wastewater and stormwater management
MSD offers career opportunities with one of the nation’s top sewer utilities as it
continues a major capital improvement program to the region’s infrastructure.
IMPROVE THE ENVIRONMENT— JOIN OUR TEAM
THE ST. LOUIS REGION
St. Louis has long been a destination
for many: immigrants in search of a
new life and economic prosperity;
and explorers charting the unknown
wilds of the frontier. These and the
countless others who have journeyed
through St. Louis have all added to
the area’s rich diversity and made it
one of the most dynamic regions in
the nation. Modern metropolitan St.
Louis, now home to 2.8 million
people, encompasses 6,400 square
miles and is one of the 20 largest
metropolitan areas in the United
States.
The St. Louis region’s economy is
well diversified, with the agriculture,
financial services, food and
beverage, healthcare, military,
biotechnology, plant sciences and
telecommunications industries all
having a significant presence in the
area. Another integral part of the
region’s economic vitality is the
number of highly respected colleges
and universities, including St. Louis
University, the University of
Missouri at St. Louis, and
Washington University. These and
other area educational institutions
offer world renowned undergraduate,
graduate, and doctoral programs .
The arts, sports, and outdoor
activities are all popular methods of
recreation for both St. Louis area
residents and visitors. Popular
attractions include Forest Park, home
of world class museums and the St.
Louis Zoo. Fans pack Busch
Stadium, the Edward Jones Dome,
and the Scottrade Center to watch the
St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Rams,
and St. Louis Blues play. In addition,
the St. Louis area is home to dozens
of trails that provide plenty of
opportunities for those who like to
ride bikes, run, or walk .
THE METROPOLITAN ST.
LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer
District (MSD) functions as a special
district, created under a provision of
the Missouri State Constitution.
MSD was formed to manage the
sanitary sewers, storm sewers,
combined sewers, and wastewater
treatment plants that existed in St.
Louis City and parts of St. Louis
County prior to MSD’s creation in
1954. Before then, a menagerie of
municipal and private sewer entities
administered these functions.
Lacking the legal authority and
financial resources to properly
manage these responsibilities, area
residents realized that a more
comprehensive framework was
needed to address their public health
and water pollution concerns. Thus
in 1954, a vote authorized a charter
for an agency that would manage
needed capital construction
programs, protect the areas sensitive
watershed, and ensure high quality
services to residents and businesses.
That agency was MSD.
MSD was formed on February 9,
1954, when voters approved the Plan
of MSD. MSD began operation and
maintenance activities in January
1956, in an area roughly composed
of the City of St. Louis and the
portion of St. Louis County east of
Highway I-270. In 1977, residents in
most of the remainder of St. Louis
County voted in favor of annexation
to MSD. Serving a population of
approximately 1.3 million, MSD has
more than 425,000 single-family
residential, multi-family residential
and commercial/industrial accounts.
Currently, MSD’s boundaries cover
524 square miles and encompass all
of the City of St. Louis and roughly
80% of St. Louis County, including
90 municipalities. MSD operates
seven treatment plants, that
combined treat an average of 370
million gallons of waste water per
day. MSD is responsible for
operating and maintaining 9649
miles of sewers. These include:
2,980 miles of storm water sewers;
4,741 miles of sanitary sewers; and
1,928 miles of combined sewers.
The age of the sewers maintained by
MSD range from over 150 years old
to less than one year old. MSD’s
fiscal year 2015 proposed
expenditures include: an operating
budget of $204.1 million; debt service
of $66.7 million; and a capital
improvement and replacement
program of $284.2 million. For fiscal
year 2015 starting July 1, 2014,
MSD’s authorized work force
numbered 987.
The Mayor of St. Louis City and the
St. Louis County Executive each
appoint three trustees to a six-person
Board of Trustees that governs MSD.
The appointing process and powers of
the trustees are laid out in MSD’s
Charter (or Plan of the District ). All
Trustees govern for a term of four
years. No more than two of the three
trustees from the city and the county
each may be of the same political
party, The Board of Trustees meets at
least once per month and may meet
more often by agreement. The Board
has the power to appoint the
Executive Director, the Secretary-
Treasurer, the Internal Auditor, a
Civil Service Commission, and a Rate
Commission.
The Board of Trustees has the
authority to annex territory within St.
Louis County and may annex
additional territory by ordinance if a
majority of the landowners in that
territory petition the Board. The
structure of the Board includes four
committees: Audit, Finance, Program
Management, and Stakeholders.
CURRENT ISSUES
The following issues are
representative of the types of
programs and projects currently being
managed by MSD.
To successfully address these issues,
the District employs a variety of
positions. Career paths exist in areas
such as engineering, finance,
maintenance, plant operations, and
environmental compliance .
INFRASTRUCTURE RENEWAL
AND ENHANCEMENT
During dry weather, MSD treats
100% of all wastewater at its
treatment plants. However,
throughout MSD’s service area, there
are hundreds of points where a
combination of rainwater and
wastewater discharges into local
waterways from the sewer system
during moderate to heavy rainstorms.
These sewer over- flow points act as
relief valves when too much rainwater
enters the sewer system, and without
them, our community could
experience thousands of basement
backups and/or extensive street
flooding. (Even with these overflow
points, basement backups can number
in the hundreds during particularly
heavy rains.) Depending on where
sewer overflows are located within
MSD’s system, they are classified as
combined sewer overflows, or
constructed separate sewer overflows.
Many of these overflows are a legacy
of the way our wastewater systems
were first built starting in the 1850s.
In June 2007, the State of Missouri
and the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) filed a
lawsuit against MSD over the status
of these overflows. The State of
Missouri and EPA were later joined
by the Missouri Coalition for the
Environment.
Though most overflows predate
MSD’s creation in 1954, they are still
MSD’s responsibility and efforts to
address the issue must be completed.
The issue of overflows has been a
significant focus of MSD’s work for
many years. As an example, from
1992 to 2011, MSD spent
approximately $2.5 billion to
eliminate over 350 overflows. Today,
MSD’s work to address the 350-plus
sewer over-flows that remain
continues in the form of a multi-
decade, multi-billion dollar capital
construction program that was begun
in 2003. Different from past capital
programs, our current effort is
addressing our community’s
wastewater collection and treatment
capabilities on a system wide basis,
rather than carrying out system
improvements one section at a time.
This program is a mammoth
undertaking that will benefit St.
Louis, and our environment, for
generations to come.
Beyond the issue of overflows, our
wastewater system is also just old,
with the oldest sections dating to the
1850s. For example, we still have
sewers in downtown St. Louis that
are partially made of wood. In St.
Louis County, we have sewers that
were installed decades ago using
outdated practices. On average,
sewer pipe is expected to last 100
years. That means every year MSD
should be replacing at least 1% of its
total sewer pipes.
An agreement between MSD and
EPA was finalized by the United
States Court for the Eastern District
of Missouri (Eastern Division) on
April 27, 2012. The agreement,
called a Consent Decree, stipulates
that MSD spend $4.7 billion over 23
years to address sewer over- flows
and other related issues that were the
basis for the lawsuit that the State of
Missouri and EPA filed against MSD
in 2007. While the vast majority of
this work will be out of sight, and,
thus, out of the day-to- day thoughts
of most St. Louisans, this agreement
will be felt in our region for decades
to come; from the creation of jobs, to
the protection of our region’s
waterways, to preventing basement
backups, this agreement, and the
resulting spending, will be
unparalleled in terms of its scope and
reach.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
MSD needs to anticipate the long
range challenges that will result from
population changes, economic
expansion, petitions for annexation,
and the introduction of new
environmental protection laws and
regulations. In order to do so, MSD
has established performance
standards to use as benchmarks in
measuring efficiency. MSD
constantly compares its cost of
operations and maintenance with
other municipalities and with private
organizations. Such cost comparisons
can be very useful in determining
which functions can be performed
more efficiently in-house and which
operations should be contracted to
external organizations. Strategic
business planning efforts should also
incorporate a broad cross section of
opinions and information from a
variety of stakeholders, including but
not limited to; unions; business and
governmental interests;
environmental groups; ratepayers;
and regulatory groups having an
interest in MSD’s operations.
DIVERSITY
The stakeholders of MSD expect that
qualified minorities, women, and
persons with disabilities be given an
opportunity to compete for MSD
contracts and other work. Long-term
efforts of development, funding
educational and work skill programs,
recruitment, and training are needed
to sustain a qualified cadre of diverse
personnel at all levels of the
workforce. The Board and MSD
leadership has agreed MSD must
reflect the communities it serves.
FINANCE
Since 2003, MSD has utilized a
combination of rate increases and
bond issuances to finance its work to
address overflows and rehabilitate
our wastewater collection and
treatment system.
In July 2003, the average monthly
single-family wastewater bill was
$13.97. That same bill will gradually
increase to $43.67 by July 1, 2015.
Further rate increases are anticipated
beyond 2015.
As stated previously, the issuance or
planned issuance of $1.72 billion in
bonds have been used to minimize
rate increases. Much like a home
mortgage allows a large investment
to be paid for over many years, the
bonds have kept rates lower than they
would have been had MSD used a
“pay-as-you-go” approach.
To issue bonds, MSD must receive
approval from voters residing within
its service area. In February 2004,
70% of voters approved the issuance
of $500 million in bonds. In August
2008, 75% of voters approved the
issuance of $275 million in bonds. In
June 2012, 85% of voters approved
the issuance of $945 million in
bonds.
As set through a public Rate
Commission process, MSD
expenditures from July 1, 2012,
through June 30, 2016, are scheduled
to be capital projects valued at $972
million, $658 million for operational
costs, and debt service of $312
million. The Rate Commission is an
independent body within the MSD
organization that reviews proposed
rate increases. Composed of 15
member organizations representing a
broad cross section of MSD
customers and our St. Louis
community, the Rate Commission
utilizes a system based on many of
the same procedures employed by the
Missouri Public Service Commission
and is meant to give the public a
voice in setting MSD’s rates. The
Rate Commission process includes
multiple technical and public
hearings where customers have an
opportunity to provide feedback on
rate proposals.
The impact of the work associated
with the Consent Decree with the
EPA has increased the need for
unprecedented levels of financial
resources. MSD’s financial operation
is responsible for the development of
financial strategies and corresponding
budgets, analyses and financial
statements to support this effort.
These strategic initiatives have
increased the need for more
aggressive collection of delinquent
customer bills, the management of an
increasingly sophisticated investment
portfolio, increased scrutiny of
MSD’s financial condition and
greater financial statement of
transparency for bond investors.
Maintaining MSD’s current strong
bond ratings has also become a
greater importance as a means to
minimize future rate increases
necessary to meet MSD’s Consent
Decree obligations.
MSD SERVICE AREA MAP
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
As a member of the MSD team, you will receive an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Salary will be based on education, experience and overall qualifications. Below are some of the benefit
programs MSD offers:
Medical & Dental Insurance – MSD pays 85% of employee only medical coverage and 75% toward
the tier selection of dependent coverage. The District contributes $10 monthly towards dental
insurance.
District paid Long-Term Disability plan.
District paid Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment coverage of one times salary,
with option to purchase additional coverage.
Spending Account for pre-tax payment for non-reimbursed medical, dental and child care expenses.
Vision Program – reimbursement up to $100 per fiscal year for the cost of employee or spouse
prescription eyewear with a rollover to a maximum of $300.
Twelve Holidays.
Sick Leave accrual of 10 - 12 days per year, depending upon length of service, and there is no
maximum accrual.
Paid Vacation accrual equivalent to two weeks after one year; three weeks at five years, four weeks
at 10 years, and five weeks at 20 years.
Deferred Compensation Plan – a savings plan by which employees may begin a long-term savings
plan on a tax-deferred basis.
A Defined Contribution Retirement Plan with vesting over 5 years at 20% each year.
Educational Assistance – A set amount is given per fiscal year for approved courses.
Flexible work schedules for certain job classifications.
APPLICATION PROCESS
For more information on positions and to apply on-line go to
WWW.STLMSD.COM/
CAREERS
Human Resources Department
Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District
2350 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103-2555
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Affirmative Action/Equal
Opportunity Employer and values diversity at all levels of its workforce.
For further information about MSD visit
WWW.STLMSD.COM
Quality Service Always