U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate signed an order taking control of the city’s sewer system and placing it under Henifin, the interim third-party manager.
The order took effect immediately, with the judge initially doing away with the 30-day comment period included in the proposed order filed last week.
However, Wingate later agreed to leave the 30-day comment period in place.
The decision means Henifin is now in charge of the sewer per the stipulated order, but Wingate is willing to make changes to that order based on comments received by the EPA and U.S. Department of Justice prior to August 31.
A copy of the 56-page order was filed last week. Provisions allowed for a 30-day public comment period similar to the one that was in place for the city’s sewer consent decree prior to it being signed in 2013.
Attorneys asked the judge to reconsider leaving the comment period in place.
“Since the original consent decree was subject to public comment, we thought it would be appropriate to have public comment on the stipulated order,” said Karl Fingerhood, an attorney for the DOJ’s Environmental Enforcement Section. “There is a keen public interest in both the drinking water and [sewer] system issues.”
Fingerhood says DOJ has already heard from groups like Pearl Riverkeeper, which is concerned about prohibited bypasses releasing untreated or partially treated sewer into the Pearl River. He said DOJ also received comments on the sewer in relation to the drinking water case.
Once the comment period ends, the information will be compiled and submitted to the court, along with a summary of the statements.
Comment period aside, Henifin says he’s ready to hit the ground running.
“We have two contractors lined up and ready to go. We have a TV camera contractor lined up to clean and inspect [sewer lines]. We have an engineering contractor who’s worked with the city for many years,” he said. “She’s lined up to manage a lot of that work.”
Early priorities include addressing what Judge Wingate described as “hot spots,” or areas where sewer is running in the streets.
“Our limitation will be dollars,” he said. “We will spend a lot of time getting people to pay their bills to have more revenue. That’s critical in this scenario.”
The stipulated order includes nearly a dozen priority sewer projects, which will cost an estimated $130 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Henifin is given four years to complete the work.
However, unlike the major federal allocation sent to help with water, Henifin has not received the same help on the sewer side.
“The money we got comes under the Safe Drinking Water Act… and that act only deals with drinking water,” he said. “We can’t spend any of the Safe Drinking Water Act money on sewer.”
“We don’t have any source of money right now for sewer other than local revenues.”
Earlier this year, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba the city had received some $800 million in federal money to repair its crumbling water system.
Of that, $600 million came through the SDWA and can be used solely on water; $125 million of that went to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for use on various infrastructure projects; the remaining funds came through the American Rescue Plan Act, and a state matching grant program using ARPA.
Meanwhile, Jackson is only expected to bring in about 56 percent of billed revenues this year, or about $36 million a year.
“We should be somewhere closer to $60 or $70 million if people are paying their bills,” he said.
To help boost income, JXN Water is expected to begin shutoffs for nonpayment in September.
Henifin was given control of the city’s water/sewer billing system as part of the order taking over water back in November.
Under the new order, JXN Water will collect all water, sewer, and sanitation fees from customers, and return all sanitation fees back to the city.
Henifin said details of the shutoff policy were still being hammered out.
He said the process likely will include giving delinquent customers 30 days to catch up, followed by an additional seven days to get current or set up a payment plan with JXN Water. Customers who fail to do so after that seven-day period will have their water shut off.
“It pretty much aligns with the Public Service Commission on how they [recommend] shutoffs,” he said. “Most utilities follow the same path.”
Under the new order, JXN Water will collect all water, sewer, and sanitation fees from customers, and return all sanitation fees back to the city.
Henifin said details of the shutoff policy were still being hammered out.
He said the process likely will include giving delinquent customers 30 days to catch up, followed by an additional seven days to get current or set up a payment plan with JXN Water. Customers who fail to do so after that seven-day period will have their water shut off.
“It pretty much aligns with the Public Service Commission on how they [recommend] shutoffs,” he said. “Most utilities follow the same path.”
“Once we start shutting [people] off, I think we’ll see a tremendous difference for those people who do have accounts,” he said.
JXN Water also is working to get another 7,000 customers on the books. Henifin estimates between 5,000 and 7,000 property owners are receiving water but not paying.
He said Horne LLP has been brought on to help with identifying those properties and said work should be wrapped up later this year.
“Once we start shutting [people] off, I think we’ll see a tremendous difference for those people who do have accounts,” he said.
JXN Water also is working to get another 7,000 customers on the books. Henifin estimates between 5,000 and 7,000 property owners are receiving water but not paying.
He said Horne LLP has been brought on to help with identifying those properties and said work should be wrapped up later this year.
“By this fall, we’ll have the confidence to know where the people are that are using water and not paying for it,” he said. “We’ll start trying to get their accounts open and get them in line.”
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Source : WLBT News
