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By Tom Kilian

Even programs that appear completely benevolent in nature should be properly vetted and fully transparent when the government is involved.

This is especially important with environmental endeavors like lead line replacements, since new ordinances or laws that are coming down the pipeline may, in effect, require that a large percentage of Wausau’s households participate in that lead line replacement. This massive local program is to be led by a private entity, Community Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

What is becoming increasingly clear and surprising – and is of central importance and concern – is that very little daylight, if any, seems to exist between CIP and Corvias.

While Corvias became notorious nationwide in certain arenas, such as “congressional scrutiny for shoddy military housing,” community, media, and congressional concerns seemed to have been just as high for its scandals related to its work with university dormitories. Descriptions in news reports of blatant disregard for students at Howard University – by subjecting them to roach and mice infestations, as well as mold – completely undercut any credibility that Corvias and its CEO/Founder have on their Environmental Justice (EJ) rhetoric – and that includes their EJ rhetoric on Community-Based Public-Private Partnership (CBP3) models. In fact, the company’s high-profile history of injustice is readily available for perusal to any citizen who does a cursory search of their past corporate activities.

At this time, we now learn that players who were involved with Corvias’ university-related business, in one form or another, are front and center in Wausau’s lead line replacement program – not just one, but multiple CIP leads, have promoted the public-private partnership benefits that Corvias could offer our public educational institutions, in both media releases and whitepapers.

On Friday, I notified the city clerk and city attorney that I would be moving for a reconsideration of the vote on the master partnership agreement with CIP at the January 23 council meeting.

As the representative of District 3, I will be extremely apprehensive to entertain any endeavor led by professionals that participated in Corvias business with universities and colleges, as well as any endeavor led by professionals that participated in Corvias business with military housing – and that includes the financing of such military housing developments.

Every Wausonian must ask themselves at this point, if we are to be subject to a future ordinance mandating involvement in a lead pipe replacement program, given its corporate history, would anyone feel comfortable if that program was led by either Corvias or a team put together completely from Corvias? Objectively, that answer appears to be “no.” Here is why I feel that is the case.

Extensive History and Overlap with Corvias, Corporation Tied to Controversial Privatization Schemes and Troubled Public-Private Partnerships

Earlier this month, I requested the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) from the City related to the lead line replacement because, to my recollection, they had not been provided to the city council. With this information in hand, I did further research.

As of writing this piece, it seemed that all four team members listed on the CIP website had high-level positions with Corvias prior to starting CIP. Based on online data, those positions in various Corvias facets included, but were not limited to, roles such as Senior Vice President, Managing Director, Strategic Services, and Director of Partnerships & Financial Structuring at Corvias. Other public-facing information off of the company website indicates that another member who joined the CIP team about a year ago had also been employed by Corvias.

In addition to some of the CBP3 model experience with Corvias’ stormwater and green infrastructure projects like those in Prince George’s County, Maryland, public information indicates that some of CIP’s leadership also had involvement in other Corvias business efforts and sectors, such as Corvias public-private partnerships (P3s) with colleges and universities, for example.

Apparently, while at Corvias, the current CIP CEO, Shawn Kerachsky, was featured in multiple pieces regarding business with colleges and universities, such as in the press release “Corvias Higher Education Expert Speaks About Keys to Successful Public-Private Partnerships.” Additionally, Sean Agid, current Chief Business Officer (CBO) of CIP, authored a whitepaper while working for Corvias called “Higher Education Public-Private Partnerships.”

For multiple years, Mr. Kerachsky was also listed as the “Lead University Contact” for Corvias in his role as “Strategist, Partner Development.” The Chief Executive listed in that same document on university business is John Picerne, CEO and founder of Corvias.

As can be noted on the EPA’s website, the summary notes of the December 9, 2014, Sustainable Stormwater Financing Forum – which, in part, highlighted CBP3 and in which the EPA participated – list the same John Picerne, CEO/Founder, Corvias Group, as the Luncheon Keynote Speaker. Mr. Picerne’s presentation was titled:

“Achieving Sustainable Infrastructure through Public-Private Partnerships: Why The US Army Wouldn’t Do It Any Other Way”

Media records show that just 4 years after his speech, Mr. Picerne and his company were the subject of a major Reuters investigative article on army housing, “As U.S. soldiers battle landlord, confidential records shine light on his lucrative business,” in which journalists reviewed photos showing “homes across the Atlantic in North Carolina, Maryland and Louisiana, plagued by flooding, bursting pipes, mold blooms, collapsed ceilings, exposed lead paint and tap water as brown as tea.”

But while researching, it struck me that personnel and specific, novel public-private partnership models were not the only things that overlapped with Corvias and CIP, so did the articulated interest and approach regarding replacement of lead pipes with innovative procurement and financing approaches…from the same professionals.

In relation to lead lines in 2021, a whitepaper called “REPLACING TOXIC LEAD WATER PIPES FASTER… Innovative Procurement and Financing Approaches Are Just as Important as Federal Funding” was co-authored by Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), along with CIP CEO Shawn Kerashchy and CIP CBO Sean Agid, among others. However, it was published prior to CIP’s founding and the author attribution in the whitepaper lists “Shawn Kerachsky, Corvias” and “Sean Agid, Corvias.”

The overlap between the two entities in my research became uncanny.

CIP included one of the whitepaper’s co-authors, EPIC, in its Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) document to the City of Wausau for lead line replacement.

In the past, EPIC even created a template for cities to develop Mandatory Replacement of Lead Service Lines Ordinances that can be found here.

Corvias University Dorm Scandals

As mentioned earlier, in addition to being the focus of student protests, Corvias received high-profile scrutiny from media, legislators, and union organizations for its work on university campuses.

In 2021, a news piece titled “Howard students are living in tents to avoid the mold, roach and mice infestation in their dorms” stated that university students held protests and “[m]ore than 4,500 people have signed a petition for Howard to cancel its contract with Corvias Inc., the corporation that maintains and operates residential buildings on campus.”

Apparently, even a doctoral student at Howard University put out a letter about Corvias with her compiled research: “Howard Housing and Corvias, the Shady Private Company Behind It.”

Other media reports convey that early in the COVID pandemic, Corvias pressured colleges with which it had contracts to bring kids back to campus to keep dorms full for financial reasons, and some suggested that safety was secondary. Two legislators wrote on the situation, “It would be troubling if Corvias was once again prioritizing its profits over the health and safety of its residents,” with the article noting that Corvias had “previously come under congressional scrutiny for shoddy military housing.”

Unions, such as United Campus Workers of Georgia, also put out highly critical statements and research on Corvias university efforts, stating “This scheme has highlighted the dangers of privatization of public goods” and calling “on the Board of Regents to cease any similar privatization deals of System of Institutional operations.”

Corvias Military Housing Scandal and Lawsuit

Corvias was included in a Reuters investigative series on troubling military housing conditions that ultimately triggered Army leadership to respond: “Army calls base housing hazards ‘unconscionable,’ details steps to protect families.”

The Fayetteville Observer reported that a lawsuit complaint from military families against Corvias regarding housing alleged that the defendants “knowingly leased substandard homes,” charged “grossly excessive rents,” and that the “Defendants’ culture of concealment was driven by corporate greed where financial gains were maximized to the detriment of military families and their children.”

Reuters investigative piece made a point of highlighting that, at the time of publishing, the companies of Mr. Picerne – the CEO and founder of Corvias – “have spent $2.8 million on lobbying” and “Picerne has given at least another $500,000 in political contributions, mostly to Democratic politicians or committees, including about $10,000 to [Jack] Reed.” A nonprofit that tracks money in American politics lists contribution data.

Wausau Residents Deserve More Program Transparency

It is evident to me that citizens have not received even the most basic of information regarding the corporate pedigree and history of the company and personnel that may be undertaking a massive infrastructure effort in town.

It is also clear that when a future ordinance could, in effect, require thousands of Wausau households to participate in a specific program, our people are entitled to the greatest access possible to pertinent information, which includes knowing who they may be obligated to work with. That has not occurred.

The productive and protective path forward for our community is full disclosure. For government projects, procurement of truth is just as important as the procurement of contractors.

Tom Kilian represents Dist. 3 on the Wausau City Council. He was a recipient of the Bill Iwen Environmental Justice Award and spearheaded the first municipal-level Environmental Justice resolution in Wisconsin. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee for the Wisconsin Environmental Equity Tool (WEET) being developed by DNR, DHS, DOA, and WEDC.