Fred Laskey won’t have to deal with your crap for much longer.
Laskey, who is 68, is retiring from the job running the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. He broke the news on Wednesday to the board of the quasi-public organization, and also mentioned it during an update in federal court on the Boston Harbor cleanup the same day.
Laskey had been the state revenue commissioner in then-governor Paul Cellucci’s administration when he was recruited to run the MWRA, which provides water and sewer services for dozens of Greater Boston communities. He joined in June 2021, soon after the MWRA’s giant, 9.5-mile outflow pipe for its modernized Deer Island treatment center came online. The Deer Island project, prompted by 1980s-era environmental litigation, pushed treated sewage out to sea. It cleaned up the harbor’s infamous dirty waters and contributed to the building boom that turned the South Boston waterfront of warehouses and seafood joints into the modern-day Seaport of glass office towers and lush steakhouses.
“I ended up over here [but] in my wildest dreams, I didn’t think I would be here for 25 years,” Laskey said in an interview.
Laskey said the board plans to set up a search committee to look for his successor. He currently earns a salary of nearly $280,000, overseeing a staff of about 1,150 people.
Laskey was originally brought in to stabilize the authority’s finances, he recalled, and head off double-digit rate increases. Soon, he also had to improve security around its drinking water supplies, following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
He’s most proud of the way the harbor has changed under his watch. But he also helped turn the MWRA into a renowned virus detector, by working with local startup Biobot Analytics to gauge and report on the levels of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the local sewage system during the pandemic.
He leaves amid a controversy around the authority’s planning for fixing “combined sewer overflows,” pipes that mix sewage and rainwater during storms. The Charles River Watershed Association is pushing to make the Charles sewage-free, and is frustrated that the MWRA is weighing a less expensive plan that still allows for some sewage to be swept into the river.
Still, CRWA executive director Emily Norton had nothing but good things to say when asked about Laskey’s pending retirement — a testament to the MWRA’s lasting environmental benefits under his watch.
“From a national embarrassment, the Boston Harbor is now widely viewed as one of the cleanest harbors in America,” Norton said in an email. “Who would have thought we’d ever see whales in our Harbor! Fred leaves very big shoes for the next leader to fill.”
Rebecca Tepper, Governor Maura Healey’s energy and environmental secretary, also credited Laskey’s leadership and guidance for transforming the harbor, along with delivering high-quality drinking water and ensuring the completion of critical sewer rehab projects. And Paul Levy, the MWRA executive director from 1987 to 1992, praised Laskey for his efficient oversight and close partnership with the cities and towns that the authority serves.
For his part, Laskey said he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family, including seven grandchildren, instead of stressing about how to keep Boston’s water flowing and its sewers from polluting the harbor. The thing he’ll miss the most? The people at the MWRA.
“As a public servant, you hope you can say that you’ve made your part of the world a better place,” Laskey said. “I can say with a clear conscience that I’ve made Boston Harbor ... a better place. That gives me a lot of satisfaction.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
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