By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
It was years in the making but took less than three weeks to pull off.
On Wednesday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law legislation that re-shapes the Birmingham Water Works Board and takes it out of majority control of the City of Birmingham.
The new law regionalizes the BWWB and would give more power to suburban areas, creating a seven-member authority dominated by appointees from outside the city of Birmingham and reducing the city’s seats to two.
Birmingham had controlled six of the nine seats on the former board.
For several years, state lawmakers led by Rep. Jim Carns, R-Vestavia Hills, have attempted to overhaul the BWWB through legislation, but failed to make in-roads. This year, Senate Bill 330 originated very late in the session to regionalize the board, cleared the House and Senate in just over two weeks.
Carns, who sponsored the bill in the House, told The Birmingham Times exclusively late Wednesday that he feels “exceeding confident for the first time that this will be a long term solution” for what he and proponents of the bill say are frequent rate hikes, dilapidated infrastructure and past scandals.
It’s also a way to ensure that the board is filled with qualified professionals rather than political appointees, he added.
“We’re looking for bona fide, absolute professionals with qualified qualifications that will come in and do a great job for the great citizens of Alabama,” he said.
While giving credit to Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, Carns compared the bill to a “bullet train which goes 140 miles per hour. It wasn’t introduced until April 17 and now the governor signed it,” Carns said. “That’s pretty fast.”
City leaders just as quickly denounced the law.
“This bill is an affront to the Birmingham customer,” said Mayor Randall Woodfin. “This is a taking of power from the local ratepayer by Republican politicians in Montgomery. We have seen this same thing happen in other cities throughout the southeast. Your water and sewer bill will keep going up.”
Woodfin said his only priority is the Birmingham customer of the water works who make up 41 percent of the system “and deserve to have fair representation on a public utility board, In no way am I here to defend the water works board and the politics surrounding it over the years. This bill adds more politics to the board: self-appointment from politicians, elected officials appointing other elected officials, and board members being paid more money.”
Birmingham City Council President Darrell O’Quinn said the council was not surprised that the Governor signed the bill into law. “While there is some disappointment, we are steadfast in our efforts to pursue every legal option available to defend the interests of the City of Birmingham and the ratepayers … the effects of this law will not lower water rates. Regardless of whether our efforts prevail, the worst, deep-seated fears of the citizens of the City of Birmingham about their suburban neighbors have been confirmed. Old wounds have been reopened. Years of progress have been destroyed. This is a huge setback for our entire region.”
Meanwhile, Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens
wasted no time making his appointment, naming Phillip Wiedmeyer a retired professional engineer with more than four decades of experience at Alabama Power Company to one of the seven seats.
“Phillip is a man of exceptional character, proven leadership, and deep organizational experience,” Stephens said. “I am confident that his appointment will bring valuable insight, accountability, and integrity to this newly restructured Board as it works to serve the water needs of our citizens across the region.”
Here’s how the legislation, which now goes into effect immediately, unfolded:
April 17 — State Senator Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, introduces a bill co-sponsored by fellow Republicans Sen. Jabo Waggoner and Sen. Shay Shelnutt.
The goal of the legislation is to transform the board into a regional authority with new members and give new appointment powers to the president of the Jefferson County Commission and the Alabama Lt. Governor.
The number of board members would be cut to five from the current nine. Also, the legislation would require board members to have backgrounds in engineering or business.
April 22 — Birmingham Water Works Board walks back a plan to limit public comment. Tereshia Huffman, chair of the water works board, said the board would reverse a new policy to limit how long someone could speak and require them to sign up within 24 hours of the meeting’s agenda being published. The move is widely condemned.
“We had the best of intentions,” Huffman told AL.com. “But I don’t want the public to think we’re removing any access to us, so we’re pausing on making any changes implementing a new speaker policy.”
April 23 – Senate Bill 330, advances out of a Senate committee on a party line vote of 6-3.
It would shrink the nine-member board to five and reduce Birmingham’s members to just one. Sponsors call the bill a move to reform the utility after years of complaints about customer service, excessive spending and missing representation from customers outside Birmingham and Jefferson County.
However, those against call it a hostile takeover of an asset that belongs to the people of Birmingham.
The bill is amended during negotiations, creating a version that would add two more appointments. The sixth appointment would be a Jefferson County resident with a “general business background” appointed by the governor. The seventh appointment would be a Jefferson County resident, appointed by the Birmingham City Council.
April 24 – By a 30-0 vote, the Alabama Senate approves with little discussion an amended bill to shrink the Birmingham Water Works Board and change how and from where members are appointed.
April 30 — City leaders gather outside of City Hall to push back against lawmakers who they say are “usurping” control of the utility after an Alabama House committee in Montgomery approved SB330 by Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook to re-shape the BWWB.
“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 …”
May 1 — The Alabama House of Representatives votes 66-27 to pass the bill that remakes the BWWB into a regional board governed by several counties. The vote came after two hours of debate.
May 6 — Mayor Randall Woodfin and council members announce a federal lawsuit to fight the bill, claiming that the legislation is motivated by racial discrimination.
Chief U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks denied the city’s request for an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order before Gov. Ivey could respond but set a hearing for May 15 on the request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
Meanwhile the city of Birmingham passes a resolution to buy the BWWB – for a dollar. The city council approves a resolution offering to buy the state’s largest water utility — with assets worth more than $1 billion — along with assuming its debt. But BWWB calls a meeting and never mentions the city’s offer, to the surprise on many, including city officials.
May 7 –- Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signs into law legislation that re-shapes the Birmingham Water Works Board and takes it out of majority control of the City of Birmingham. Later in the day, BWWB passes a resolution to execute the purchase agreement for $1 that the Birmingham City Council approved on Tuesday, May 6. But it’s meaningless. Once the governor signed the legislation the board dissolved.
