Proposed bill aims to reshape Birmingham Water Works Board, sparking old tensions

The Birmingham Water Works Board would be dramatically reshaped under proposed legislation that takes the reins of power from Birmingham and hands more of it to surrounding areas.

Birmingham under the proposal would lose its board majority and shrink to just one vote. The bill has reawakened old tensions and political fires over the water works, its assets and who lays claim to it.

State Senator Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, introduced the bill this week, which was 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 chairman 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.

Water works board terms would extend to five years rather than four, and monthly board stipends would increase to $2,000 from the current $1,000.

Action on the proposed changes is occurring quickly. The bill was introduced on Thursday. The first committee meeting and hearing is Tuesday April 22 at the Statehouse.

If approved, the legislation would be the most dramatic overhaul of the state’s largest water utility, since it was expanded to create new seats for members from Blount and Shelby Counties. That change passed in 2015 and took effect two years later in 2017.

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.

Calls and messages to Roberts for comment on the bill were unsuccessful.

State Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said the bill came as a surprise because it was introduced as general legislation rather than a local proposal, which would have brought it to the delegation for discussion and compromise.

“We would have at that point begun to work with whatever the issue might have been,” Smitherman told AL.com. “When it hit, it just hit. I had no prior involvement in the drafting of that bill.”

Smitherman is among several who have previously warned about attempts to regionalize the board and dilute Birmingham’s position on the utility. That effort has again gained momentum, in spite of previous compromises that expanded the board to include non-Birmingham users.

Smitherman said he is concerned that a reconfigured board would show less sensitivity to the needs of Birmingham.

He urged the public to attend the senate committee meeting and public hearing on Tuesday.

Another Democrat, State Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, underscored Smitherman’s objections and said her Republican counterparts sidestepped general rules.

“This is not only unfortunate, it is wrong,” she said. “This should’ve been a local issue, but they took the posture that they would do this statewide to bypass the Jefferson County delegation. It’s absolutely wrong. We’re mad about it and the public should be mad too.”

Water Works Board Chairwoman Terisha Huffman said there are several misconceptions about the utility that could be remedied by communicating with them rather than ushering in new legislation.

“Let us show you the work and the improvement we have made. That has taken a lot of commitment,” Huffman told AL.com. “I welcome conversations with anyone, elected, appointed or a customer. Let us show the work we’ve been doing.”

Huffman said the numbers indicate that billing issues have fallen, customer service has improved and significant infrastructure investments have been made to maintain and improve the system.

Huffman and the board were recently criticized for changing their communications policy to require advance notice to speak to the board during meetings and a two-minute limit.

“That’s the public’s water works. We pay them,” Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson told AL.com last week when the rules were approved. “So, who the hell do they think they are to change the policy where the public, who pays their bills, can’t complain?

Huffman said the policy was not designed to muzzle public input, but rather to ensure orderly meetings.

“There have been many times that a customer has come in and they’ve surpassed the three-minute mark, and I extended it,” Huffman said. “If they’re coming about real business that affects their bill or their business, they deserve to be heard. They will be allowed to be heard.”

AL.com efforts to reach Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s office for comment were unsuccessful.

Birmingham Councilwoman Valerie Abbott said she was outraged by the legislation but is also outraged by the actions of the water works board that may have prompted the current takeover proposal. Those actions, she said, include the recent public comment changes.

“They already know there’s a big target on their back, so why would you do something so egregious that would put not only a target on your back but also on your front?” Abbott said. “They are always being picked on, but in this case, they brought in on themselves. I do not think the bill is a good bill, but I can see what is happening.”

Abbott said lawmakers nearly every year present proposals to take over the utility, and current actions from the water works board have emboldened the move this year.

While the Senate bill was presented without notice, State Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, said the utility’s leadership itself is culpable in this current threat to its composition and autonomy.

Givan, who is also a candidate for Birmingham mayor, challenging Woodfin, said she had warned both city leaders and water works executives about disgruntled legislators and a looming threat.

“While I do not support it, we have got to get back to a sense of being diligent in our processing of customer issues, addressing high prices and communication with employees there is out the window,” Givan said.

She advised water works leadership to self-reform, but her advice was ignored, she said.

“You want to freeze the voice of the people to be able to speak, it tells the tale,” she said, referring to new restrictive water works public comment rules. “Then you also have to be mindful of who you put on these boards. While there are good people, they are not individuals who are administrators.”

Givan will hold a community meeting at Parker High School to discuss the issue at 6 p.m. April 22 – the same day legislators will hold the first committee meeting and hearing on the bill.

Givan said she believes the utility’s board has been complicit in its own potential demise – at least as it is currently configured.

“You have turned the water works over,” Givan said regarding local water works leadership. “It’s pitiful. It’s a shame before God as my grandmother would say. It’s a shame and a pity, because nobody listens.”

AL.com’s Roy Johnson contributed to this report.