Monday, April 29, 2019

Mayor: Jackson To Pay $7 Million Per Year on Siemens Bonds Til '41

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba issued the following statement at a press conference this afternoon:





“For too long, City of Jackson residents and businesses have been burdened by water and sewer billing problems since the system was first implemented.

This system- which was intended to provide more timely and accurate bills to customers and additional revenue to the City- instead, caused many customers to frequently receive inexplicably high bills while even more customers received no bill at all for months at a time.

Consequently, the financial resources of the water and sewer system have been nearly depleted by lower billed and collected revenues.

This contract represents the largest investment in the City’s history- nearly $90 million which requires the City to make annual debt payments of $7 million through 2041.

The consequences of the failures of this project represent an undue burden to the residents and businesses of Jackson.

After careful consideration, my administration believes we must investigate the possibility that willful actions and neglect have caused harm to the residents and businesses of Jackson.

After much deliberation, I have engaged a legal team which has been involved in some of the most high-profile investigations of public malfeasance in recent years.

As we vigorously pursue this investigation, we anticipate that there will be a massive public relations campaign to cast extremely negative assertions against the City.

My administration stands ready to pursue necessary actions as a result of this investigation.

While we expect our water/sewer customers to continue paying their bills during this time, we stand committed to protecting the rights and interests of our residents and businesses.”


30 comments:

Anonymous said...

What bonehead(s) approved this deal in the first place?

Anonymous said...

KF, your headline is quite misleading. The headline should be "Mayor calls #LAW; prepares to shakedown Germans."

Anonymous said...

“For too long, City of Jackson residents and businesses have been burdened by water and sewer billing problems since the system was first implemented.

This system- which was intended to provide more timely and accurate bills to customers and additional revenue to the City- instead, caused many customers to frequently receive inexplicably high bills while even more customers received no bill at all for months at a time.“


Always someone else’s fault.

Anonymous said...

In other words, "I'm'a get my legal friends who contributed to my campaign to do a little investigating so they too can get in on the consultant gravy train". Wasn't M.A.C and Associates(Marcus Wallace) part of this fleecing? I wonder if MAC has any negligence as they were the lead subcontractor(and DBE contractor) for the whole gig. I sure hope the city vetted his insurance and bonding.

Anonymous said...

"Superseding intervening cause." Seimens may have sold a crap product at an outrageous price but if they can prove the Jackson Public Works Department was too dysfunctional to do the most basic implementation, then that loss is on the City.

Anonymous said...

Could members of any previous administration have benefited personally from this contract?

Bold New City, my ass.

Anonymous said...

Harvey Johnson!!!he did this. However, baby chokwe is in way over his head. He's a moron as well.

Anonymous said...

So the city borrows millions over many years for a bad real using and bonds were bought by investors. Does the Mayor not want to claim the deal was dirty so the City will walk away for the bonds? The may be match the burns the City to the ground.

Anonymous said...

It would be nice if the entire onion was peeled back to the very beginning and all who were involved in this boondoggle would be exposed. Lots of people got on the limited life rafts and have drifted away since the iceberg was struck.

Paging Mike Hurst.....

Anonymous said...

One thing is certain- the legal team will be a large Antar donor-

Anonymous said...

This is them just trying to soften the blow for when they say we need to file for bankruptcy.

Anonymous said...

Can’t wait to see Seimens side of the story. I imagine they sold them the car and the brainiacs in charge of implementing promptly drove it into a wall

Also why do I have to do the captcha find the car and stoplights and crosswalks over and over? If I do it once shouldnt it remember me??

Anonymous said...

I would hate to be Siemens in front of a Hinds County jury.

Can you say "Settle Mint"?

Anonymous said...

Should have sued everybody involved many years ago. Previous administration would not sue them because they didn't want a light shining on everything that transpired. Lots of dirty hands. Kudos to new mayor.

Anonymous said...

We sold our home and moved to Ridgeland 3 years ago just as the fruits of the Seimans deal were unfolding. But have many friends in Jackson who will be paying much higher water/sewer/garbage bills in the future to offset the mismanagement and criminal activity.

Anonymous said...

This is obviously the failure of cutting edge, German engineered technology and not a result of its implementation and management by a city run by wannabe 3rd world tinpot warlords.

Anonymous said...

What is the name of the law firm? Are the attorneys investigating as billable time, or is it due diligence for a contingency-fee arrangement? I hope the city isn't paying some outfit from Atlanta to look into this, i.e., in for another fleecing. We have some pretty (very) talented attorneys in Mississippi, and in Jackson. This is something we can do well.

Even if Jackson Public works bears some responsibility, a jury can apportion percentages of fault to each of the various defendants.

Anonymous said...

5:06: Could members of any previous administration have benefited personally from this contract?
.....
5:30: Harvey Johnson!!!he did this.


It WASN'T Harvey Johnson who initially sent the receivables for water billing to be processed in DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

Think about that just a bit and you'll understand what Antar can't afford to have exposed.

As Antar is so fond of saying ... Right?

Anonymous said...

Mayor Greenhorn said during his campaign that he was going to sue Siemens. Now he's not so sure. He also said he wouldn't have any learning curve and would be ready to do the job on Day 1. We know now that boast was bovine dung.

Anonymous said...

Pretty logical step by the city to investigate what has gone wrong with such a major contract. Not surprised that the majority of commenters here can't admit that.

Anonymous said...

Typical. The city doesn’t have lawyers? Enter a bad contract. Then enter a contract with a mysterious unnamed legal team to investigate the bad contract. Guess he forgot to mention the consultant they hired to do a study on whether they should hire the legal team.

Anonymous said...

We have nothing to worry about. According to the little aoc gal, the earth won’t be here in 10 to 12 years. Let the earth fail then Jackson doesn’t have to pay until ‘41.

Anonymous said...

The idea that a computer system programmed to monitor water disbursement for a system which disburses more water into the ground than it does to residents is absurd.

Siemens should be held to account.

Thereafter the state should implement a state wide tax and plan for water system improvement to all cities in the state over the next 20 years.

Anonymous said...

Y'ALL HAVE FUN DOIN' THAT!

Anonymous said...


@6:38 I'll kick in where needed to pay for my city but don't ask me to pay for yours.

Cynical Sam said...

Y'all pay your fair share now, hear? Before long it will all be water under the bridge (of troubled waters).

Anonymous said...

"Thereafter the state should implement a state wide tax and plan for water system improvement to all cities in the state over the next 20 years."

So, you want every taxpayer in the state to subsidize the ineptitude of Jackson city government (and those who put them into power)?

Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

So the city has been paying $7 million a year for 7 years, and has another 21 to go.

I'm not a math major, but that's $200 million for the contract.

And the contract was for only $90 million.

Anonymous said...

If you look at the guy on the right, then go look at MAC and Associates website, I think that is the same guy. So the employee to the huckster(top contractor and DBE recipient) is standing right behind the mayor. You cant make this up.

Jafrica has issues said...

Follow the money.



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