Laskey Named MWRA Executive Director

BOSTON - The MWRA Board of Directors today named Frederick A. Laskey Executive Director of the agency. Laskey, a Medford resident and MWRA ratepayer, has been Commissioner of Revenue for Massachusetts since 1998 and has held a series of state finance and management positions since 1980. Laskey replaces Douglas B. MacDonald, who held the position for nine years and left in April to become Secretary of Transportation for the State of Washington.

"I am very excited about taking on this new challenge at the MWRA," said Laskey, who will begin the position in early June. "The MWRA has shown it can undertake and complete large complicated projects under budget. My commitment will be to the ratepayers and member communities – to provide high quality water and wastewater services at an affordable price."

At the Department of Revenue (DOR), Laskey managed the state’s tax administration, child support enforcement and local services for the Commonwealth. DOR, an agency of 2,500 employees, is nationally recognized for its innovative use of information technology that has enabled it to increase productivity and performance while streamlining functions and controlling costs.

"Fred Laskey was the unanimous choice of our Board," said MWRA Board Director and Environmental Affairs Secretary Bob Durand. "Over the past several weeks, Fred has met with all the board members and through that process became the consensus candidate. He has the right mix of management and finance experience to guide MWRA into the future."

"Fred Laskey is a proven manager with a solid record of accomplishments," said John Carroll, Town Manager of Norwood and Vice-Chair of the MWRA. "We look forward to his leadership at MWRA as it starts to move from a long period of construction to largely operations and maintenance."

Joseph Favaloro, Executive Director of the MWRA Advisory Board, said "we look forward to rolling up our sleeves and working on issues with Mr. Laskey for the betterment of the environment and the benefit of ratepayers in the service area."

MWRA is a Massachusetts public authority established by an act of the Legislature in 1984 to provide wholesale water and sewer services to 2.5 million people and more than 5,500 large industrial users in 61 metropolitan Boston communities. MWRA is 99% complete with the $3.8 billion Boston Harbor Project, consisting of the new Deer Island Treatment Plant, a 9.5 mile outfall tunnel, and a sludge-to-fertilizer plant. MWRA is now in the middle of constructing the Integrated Water Supply Improvement Program. This program features a new water treatment plant in Marlborough, a 17.6 mile deep rock MetroWest Tunnel, several covered storage tanks, and dozens of pipeline rehabilitation projects.

MWRA currently has 1,540 employees. Over the past several years, MWRA has undertaken a series of cost-cutting and consolidation measures to both improve service and keep rate increases as low as possible. The average household in the MWRA service area pays approximately $500 a year for combined water and sewer services.