Highland Park Water Department Director
City of Highland Park, Michigan
Quick Facts
- Completed or addressed more than 90% of EGLE administrative consent order violations within three years
- Secured $31.9 million in funding for City through grants and loans
- Manage $10 million annual Water Department budget
- Increased Water Department collections from 45% to 85% in two years
- Created lead water service line replacement program
Project Summary
Metro Consulting Associates was appointed Director of the City’s Water Department in 2016 and currently manages billing rates, operations and maintenance, and the overall day-to-day operations of the water and sewer systems including the customer service center.
With City administration assistance, our team created a rate structure, revised annual budget structure, and fee schedule for the Water Department that ensured the $10 million annual budget fulfilled City needs and goals.
Metro Consulting Associates inventoried the City’s water and sewer assets and created base maps for upload to the City’s first ArcGIS Enterprise Database to maintain inventory and streamline workforce management, water and sewer modeling, manhole inspections, sewer inspections, DPW vegetation management, community development, and more.
Utilizing GIS technology with coordinated efforts across multiple City Departments, our team helped identify and locate property owners for every land parcel in the City and aggressively targeted unauthorized water users, improved the accuracy of monthly meter reads, and ensured customers received billing statements on a regular monthly basis.
Advocating on City’s behalf, Metro Consulting Associates provided expert witness testimony and settled stormwater-related lawsuits involving Wayne County and Michigan Department of Transportation, along with other water-related lawsuits with private developers and citizen groups.
