A bill that would create a separate water authority to run Jackson’s water and sewer systems is headed to Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk for consideration.
Lawmakers on Monday approved changes to House Bill 1677 after select members from both chambers discussed the proposal over the last week. The House and Senate initially proposed different versions of the makeup of the water authority’s board, the main point of contention over the last few legislative sessions.
The agreed changes to the board appointments are: three at-large appointments from the mayor of Jackson, two from the governor, one from the lieutenant governor, one each from the mayors of Ridgeland and Byram, and one who the governor and mayor of Jackson would consult with each other to decide.
Jackson’s mayor, currently John Horhn, would also be on the board as a nonvoting member. Appointments from the mayors would need the approval of their respective city council or board of aldermen, except for the one with the governor’s consultation.
Rep. Shanda Yates, an independent from Jackson who introduced the bill, said if the governor and mayor of Jackson couldn’t agree on the ninth member there would just be eight members instead.
Horhn has pushed for a majority of the board appointments to come from or through Jackson elected officials, which existed in the original House version of the bill. The Senate version, though, gave Byram and Ridgeland direct appointments rather than ones needing approval from the Jackson City Council.
The Jackson mayor agued the city should have a majority control because the city would be responsible for any debt payments the authority can’t make. Horhn’s office did not reply to a request for comment for this story.
Sen. Joel Carter, a Republican from Gulfport who led the Senate’s work on the proposal, raised two other changes in the latest version of the bill. The first is requiring the authority to conduct an independent rate study every two years. If two straight rate studies recommend a rate increase, and the authority hadn’t raised rates in two years, the new law requires the body to adopt a rate increase.
Ted Henifin speaks during a press conference at City Hall in Jackson, Miss., Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. Henifin was appointed as Jackson’s water system’s third-party administrator. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi TodayThe other change is the authority will have to create a process for customers to dispute their bills, Carter said. Jacksonians have recently criticized the existing third-party utility, JXN Water, for not having such a process.
The law also says a two-thirds vote would be required for any rate increase or for any expenditure over $5 million.
The legislation sets a May 1 deadline to appoint the board members. Within 30 days of the appointment of a majority of board members, the authority would then consult with U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate, who is presiding over the federal lawsuit dealing with Jackson’s water system, to appoint a president. The president would then be a deputy under JXN Water manager Ted Henifin prior to Henifin’s departure. At that point, the president would then take over daily operations of the water and sewer systems.
Henifin, who took over in 2022, plans to leave his role and return to retirement in 2027. During a court hearing last week, JXN Water said it had completed seven of the 13 “priority projects” the 2022 federal order enlisted the utility to take on. The utility is set to complete two more projects by the end of the year, with the remaining four set to be done by October 2027, JXN Water attorney Paul Calamita said.
A breakdown of where each project stands is on the utility’s website.
The House adopted the new version of the bill by a vote of 78 to 40. Fifteen Democratic senators, including four who represent Jackson, voted against bill before it was also adopted in that chamber.
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