title
PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE LIFE AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF TERRENCE J. (TERRY) O'BRIEN
WHEREAS, Terrence J. (Terry) O'Brien, the former longtime president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) who once ran for Cook County Board president, died February 28, 2021 after a lengthy illness. He was 64; and
WHEREAS, a graduate of Loyola Academy and John Carroll University, Mr. O'Brien was born and raised in Rogers Park and lived in Edgebrook. For more than four decades he worked for various consulting firms, managing engineering projects to protect the environment, including at K-Plus Engineering, which provided stormwater management, civil and environmental engineering, and construction administration services; and
WHEREAS, a Chicago native, Mr. O'Brien dedicated a third of his life to working to improve the region's water environment, serving on the MWRD Board of Commissioners for 24 years, from 1988 to 2012, and as president from 1997 through the end of his tenure. He followed the footsteps of his father William O'Brien, a painter leadman, and grandfather John Hickey, an operating engineer, becoming the third-generation of O'Briens to work at the agency's Skokie sewage-treatment facility at 3500 W. Howard Street. In November 2012, his fellow commissioners and staff commemorated his service by renaming the North Side Water Reclamation Plant the Terrence J. O'Brien Water Reclamation Plant; and
WHEREAS, during his 24 years as commissioner, President O'Brien never missed a meeting. He was integral in improving the water quality in the Chicago River and area waterways; protecting the source of drinking water in Lake Michigan; advancing the MWRD's Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP); spearheading legislative efforts to recognize the MWRD as the regional stormwater authority for Cook County to address flooding; helping create the MWRD's Information Technology Department; instituting a pollution hotline to report illegal dumping; an...
Click here for full text