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HomeMy Public PortalAboutR1678 R E S O L U T I O N NO. 1678 WHEREAS, at a special election on February 9, 1954, the voters of St. Louis and St. Louis County by a substantial margin approved the creation of an unprecedented District to build, operate and maintain a unified system of sewers and treatment facilities, that District to be known as The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD); and WHEREAS, this 1954 election created a governmental agency chartered by the State of Missouri encompassing all of the City of St. Louis and about one-third of St. Louis County generally lying between the St. Louis City limits and Lindbergh Boulevard with a population totaling more than 1.25 million; and WHEREAS, at the time of the creation of MSD there had never been an integrated or coordinated sewer system to serve the metropolitan St. Louis area nor a system of sewage treatment to control raw sewage being dumped untreated into our rivers and streams; and WHEREAS, over 95 percent of the sewage from our homes, commercial establishments and industry was being dumped raw into our waterways; and WHEREAS, the District was given the responsibility for all wastewater and drainage facilities and treatment processes within its area including construction of needed sewers and treatment systems, as well as the operation, repair and maintenance of all such facilities; and WHEREAS, the plan approved by the voters established a six-member Board of Trustees as the governing body and final authority on all MSD matters with three members representing the City of St. Louis appointed by the Mayor and three members representing the County appointed by the County Supervisor (now County Executive); and WHEREAS, the first priority was to remove sanitary sewage from thousands of yards of homes with failing septic tanks and to remove untreated wastes which were being discharged into creeks and tributaries such as River des Peres, Maline Creek, Gravois Creek, Coldwater Creek, Wellston Branch of River des Peres, Watkins Creek and many others; and WHEREAS, today July 13, 1983, this District is conducting the 1000th meeting of its governing body--the Board of Trustees, it seems appropriate to review why the District was created, what has been accomplished and what is planned for the future of the District; and WHEREAS, the solution was to collect this raw sewage in pipes, watershed by watershed. This was done by the formation of over 300 special benefit subdistricts to provide sewer service to over 34,000 homes with an investment of more than $20 million. Bond issues were held to build 60 miles of major trunk sewers in the following watersheds: Maline Creek, Vinita Park area, North Affton, Creve Coeur-Frontenac area, Gravois Creek, Coldwater Creek, Wellston Branch of River des Peres, Watkins Creek and several small subwatersheds. The construction of an interceptor sewer along the Mississippi River followed, collecting the sewage from these 70 outlets and providing treatment for millions of 3 gallons of raw sewage. This was authorized by overwhelming votes of the people at two separate elections: in 1960 the people of the Coldwater Creek watershed authorized the sale of $11 million in bonds to build the Coldwater Creek Interceptor and a 25 million gallon a day treatment plant; and in 1962 the voters in the Mississippi watershed authorized the issuance of $95 million in bonds to build the Mississippi River Interceptor and two huge treatment plants. At the time of that election, it was the largest clean water bond issue ever passed in the United States; and WHEREAS, both of these projects were completed by 1970, all with the purpose of cleaning up the pollution discharged from the District to the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries; and WHEREAS, primarily all the stench has been removed from the River des Peres channel, the foul water tubes below the channel are in need of renovation and plans are being prepared for this undertaking; and WHEREAS, recent sewer collapses have created renewed efforts to find ways to predict problems with the ever-aging sewer system consisting of over 7,000 miles of sewers, some well over 100-years-old with wooden bottoms, stone sides and brick arch ceilings; and WHEREAS, the Distract is committed to finding better ways to predict problems in the old sewers and rehabilitate them; and 4 WHEREAS, with the formation of several special taxing subdistricts to match federal, state and local funds by the end of this year we will have let 360 contracts for stormwater and flood control projects costing $50 million with plans being prepared for this program's continuation; and WHEREAS, by the late 1970's the District was faced with the biggest challenge since its 1954 creation with the annexation of that part of St. Louis County remaining outside MSD's jurisdiction through a special election in 1977 which passed with an impressive 84.9 percent approval of voters; and WHEREAS, this election added 279 square miles to the original 230 square-mile area under MSD's jurisdiction with over 60 different treatment facilities and sewer systems, most privately owned and not meeting State and Federal water quality standards; and WHEREAS, MSD has completed area-wide 201 studies for this area which includes the Meramec and Missouri River watersheds; and WHEREAS, the Distract has begun a huge construction program in both watersheds to integrate the sanitary sewer system on a watershed basis and provide modern treatment facilities to protect the public health and comply with federal and state regulations; and WHEREAS, the Distract is now conducting a stormwater study in the area annexed in 1977 to determine the needs and, hopefully, ways to finance the solutions; 5 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT: That we hereby commend the following list of extremely dedicated members of previous Boards of Trustees who gave so much of their time, energy and talents in the interest of better public health by providing adequate sewer facilities for the entire area: William Becker (1954-1957) deceased Joseph Doran (1954-1960) deceased George C. Wilson (1954-1956) deceased Chairman (1954-1955) John M. Bogdanor (1954-1956) Vice-Chairman (1954-1955) Chairman (1955-1956) William W. Martin (1954-1962) deceased Vice-Chairman (1955-1956) Chairman (1956-1957) J. E. Williams, Jr. (1954-1958) deceased Vice-Chairman (1956-1957) Chairman (1957-1958) Harry C. Brockhoff (1956-1958) deceased Vice-Chairman (1957-1958) Edward J. Gragg (1956-1961) deceased Chairman (1958-1959) Frank Ramacciotti (1957-1969) deceased Vice-Chairman (1958-1959) (1961-1964) (1966-1967) Chairman (1959-1960) (1967-1968) Lewis J. Stiers (1958-1966) Vice-Chairman (1959-1960) Chairman (1960-1965) John F. Hallett (1958-1962) Joseph T. Sheehan (1960-1964) deceased 6 Ernest W. Dohack (1962-1965) deceased Lewis H. Antoine, Sr. (1962-1965) deceased Vice-Chairman (1964-1965) Chairman (1965-1965) Richard A. Meyer (1962-1966 & 1974-1978) Vice-Chairman (1965-1966) Chairman (1974-1975) A. Ray Parker (1964-1974) Vice-Chairman (1965-1965) (1971-1972) Chairman (1965-1967) (1972-1973) Frank J. Lane, Jr. (1965-1973) Vice-Chairman (1967-1968) Chairman (1968-1969) Milton Kinsey (1966-1972) deceased Vice-Chairman (1968-1969) (1972-1972) Chairman (1969-1970) F. Wendell Huntington (1966-1974) Vice-Chairman (1969-1970) (1973-1974) Chairman (1970-1971) Emmett Concannon (1967-1977) Vice-Chairman (1974-1975) Chairman (1975-1976) Phelim O'Toole (1969-1977) deceased Vice-Chairman (1970-1971 & 1972-1973) Chairman (1971-1972 & 1973-1974) Lawrence Bannes (1973-1977) Vice-Chairman (1975-1976) Chairman (1976-1977) Marvin O. Young (1974-1980) Vice-Chairman (1977-1978) Chairman (1978-1979) Frederick H. Rodefeld (1977-1979) deceased Vice-Chairman (1978-1979) S. Joseph Cento (1977-1982) Vice-Chairman (1979-1980) Chairman (1980-1981) 7 Gerard J. Schmidt (1980-1982) BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the present Board of Trustees pledges itself to continue this fine tradition of dedication by rehabilitating and improving the present sewer system, pump stations and treatment works and to build new facilities to clean up the Mississippi, Meramec and Missouri Rivers used for water supply, industrial uses and recreation by all of our citizens and we pledge with the help of our Stormwater Action Committee to continue making improvements in flood and erosion control. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be given to each of the previous Board members or to the family of each deceased member. ______________________________ Milton J. Bischof, Jr. Chairman, FY 1982-83 ______________________________ Henry W. Lee, Jr. Chairman, FY 83-84 ______________________________ Frank C. Borghi ______________________________ Robert E. Jones ______________________________ 8 Michael F. Shanahan ______________________________ Francis R. Slay The foregoing resolution was adopted July 13, 1983.