By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
With time running out to halt a bill to transform the Birmingham Water Works Board into a regional board and strip Birmingham of its majority, city leaders gathered outside of City Hall late Tuesday to push back against lawmakers who they say are “usurping” control of the utility.
If approved, the legislation would be the most dramatic overhaul of the state’s largest water utility since it was expanded a decade ago to create new seats for members from Blount and Shelby Counties.
Less than 7 hours after an Alabama House committee in Montgomery approved SB330 by Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook to reshape the BWWB, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, City Council President Darrell O’Quinn, Council President Wardine Alexander and Councilors Carol Clarke, LaTonya Tate and JT Moore gathered outside City Hall
“I fundamentally believe this is about directing resources elsewhere, taking control of the Water Works,” O’Quinn said of lawmakers. “They would like to have control of the Water Works Board because water is key to economic development, to land development, real estate … I’m speculating but it seems pretty clear that their intent is to change the priorities of the water works and shift resources to their priorities …”
The nine-member board currently has six seats from Birmingham, one from the Jefferson County Mayors Association and one each from Blount and Shelby counties.
The bill would change that to seven members, with two appointments for Birmingham and two others from Jefferson County:
- One appointed by the Blount County Commission
- One appointed by the Shelby County Commission
- One appointed by the Birmingham City Council
- One appointed by the Birmingham mayor
- One appointed by the president of the Jefferson County Commission
- One appointed by the lieutenant governor
- One Jefferson County resident appointed by the governor
A vote before the full House could come as soon as Thursday.
“At no point has a state legislator ever reached out to me or any of my colleagues to sit down with us and share their concerns” about governance on the board,” O’Quinn said. “This is not being done with us. This is being done to us … It’s a heavy-handed approach to addressing an issue that can be addressed without usurping local control.”
O’Quinn said local officials find some aspects of the bill problematic.
“One of the biggest ones is that it allows elected officials to serve as board members. That’s overt politicization of the board,” he said. “That’s not currently allowed … I can’t imagine an elected official getting in that position — oh, and by the way they’re doubling the compensation for those [board seats].”
Woodfin said he wanted to remind people that 91 percent of the Birmingham Water Works customers call Birmingham home “– let that sink in for a second” he said. “… … 41 percent call the City of Birmingham home. But that is not the makeup or representation we have with this proposed legislation. So, let’s call it what it is. This is a political power grab that is not in the interest of the vast majority of the ratepayers.”
The BWWB serves customers in five counties — Jefferson, Shelby, Blount, St. Clair, and Walker.
Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills spoke in favor of the bill on Tuesday in Montgomery. Waggoner said changes to the BWWB that came in a bill he sponsored a decade ago worked for a while, but said the same problems and customer complaints have returned.
“I still get a lot of complaints,” Waggoner said. “Lots of complaints like I did 10 years ago.”
BWWB general manager Mac Underwood spoke in opposition to the bill and said BWWB has a $115 million capital plan for this year that includes $80 million to renovate the dam at Lake Purdy, a source of water for much of the over-the-mountain area and downtown
“What we’re trying to show you is that the system is well run, the water quality is great, we’re investing back into the system and there’s no need to change anything on the board at this point in time,” Underwood said.
