The Jackson City Council has voted to transfer control of the capital city’s sewer system to a third-party manager.
On Thursday afternoon, the council held an executive session to vote on placing the Interim Third-Party Manager of Jackson’s water system, Ted Henifin, in charge of addressing the continuing issues with the city’s sewer.
Council members voted in favor of handing authority over the sewer system to Henifin with a 6-1 vote. Councilman Kenneth Stokes, who represents Ward 3 in Jackson, cast the one opposing vote.
Henifin has managed Jackson’s failing water infrastructure for over six months since the collapse of the O.B. Curtis water treatment plant nearly one year ago, leaving thousands of residents throughout Jackson with little to no water for 48 days.
Since then, millions of dollars in grant funding have been allocated to the capital city while Henifin has directed efforts to stabilize Jackson’s two water treatment facilities and repair the struggling water system.
During the meeting, city council members expressed concerns about raising the rates residents would pay for changes to be made to improve the sewer system.
“For far too often, our constituents have had poor quality water, sometimes no water,” Council Vice-President Angelique Lee stated. “We know a lot of our constituents live below the poverty level and so raising rates is a huge concern of mine.”
At this time, over 200 sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) are active across the capital city, allowing untreated wastewater to flow into the surrounding environment for an unknown amount of time.
Council President Ashby Foote also pointed out that the city currently has several outstanding invoices from companies that made repairs to the sewer system over six months ago.
“One is $577,652 and one of the things that concerned me is another one that has half a million dollars of money due them, outstanding invoices they haven’t been paid on,” Foote said. “If we’re getting ready to make a big decision here that channels the money over towards this interim third-party manager and flows the money there, they’re worried about being left high and dry and they’ve been working on this for years.”
Now, the council will need the approval of U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate before Henifin can begin work on the sewer system. If approved, the third-party manager will be in charge of repairs and maintenance of the sewer for the next four years.
