Cook County Asset Management committee receives Build Up Cook annual report highlighting water-main fixes, MWBE spending and $50M raised

Drew Williams Clark, director of Build Up Cook, told the Cook County Asset Management Committee on March 11 that the Build Up Cook program is “intended to be a transformational program designed to address critical infrastructure needs across Cook County.” The director said the program is on track to complete 60 projects by the fall and that many are emergency- and health-related priorities.

Clark highlighted one emblematic project: replacement of a water supply main under Halsted at 129th Place in the city of Harvey. He said the main feeds multiple communities and serves roughly 40,000 people, and that replacing a redundant supply main reduced the risk of prolonged service interruptions during freeze–thaw cycles. “They’re not nice to haves. They’re absolute musts,” Clark said.

The presentation emphasized both construction and capacity building: Clark said Build Up Cook has run building assessments, trained water operators and provided workshops on financial readiness and grant preparedness so under-resourced municipalities can compete for federal funding. He told commissioners the program helped municipalities apply for lead service-line replacement funds and that, to date, more than $50,000,000 has been raised with Build Up Cook support.

Clark reported that, for construction projects active in 2025, 49% of construction dollars went to minority-, women- and small-business enterprises and said the work has created local jobs — he cited 149 laborers and 344 skilled trade workers on program projects.

Jamie Myers, interim bureau chief for the Bureau of Asset Management, introduced the presentation and said staff distributed copies of the annual report. Clark also described a county study in partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Government Finance Research Center that surveyed 118 municipal drinking-water utilities in Cook County; he said staff received a roughly 50% response rate and expect the study will put the countywide needs in the “multiple billions” range.

During questions, commissioners asked for a list of municipalities that have participated in the survey and whether larger regional initiatives (including a South Suburban project mentioned by a commissioner) were incorporated; staff said they would follow up with that detail. Clark said the program originally launched with about $30,000,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding, allocated approximately two-thirds to construction and one-third to capacity building, and that future work will emphasize the capacity-building components as federal dollars diminish.

The committee voted to receive and file the Build Up Cook annual report. The motion passed by roll call recorded as eight ayes and one absence for Commissioner Moore.