A battle is brewing in the Mississippi legislature over how to help Jackson's water system. A State Representative got her bill through the House only to see the Senate gut her bill and replace it with language from another bill last week.
State Representative Shanda Yates introduced HB #1031 to help Jackson fix its water system. The bill created a special water/sewer projects fund at the Department of Treasury. Funds from the Legislature or other sources such as the federal government would be placed in the fund.
The Department of Finance & Administration would administer the fund. If Jackson wanted to use the fund, it would have to submit a plan for the projects to be funded. The plan would include costs, projected starting date, and projected completion date as well as any other information required by DFA. DFA would review and approve the application.
The bill passed 113-7 and moved on to the Senate. That is where the fun began.
State Senator Josh Harkins introduced SB #2814. The bill aimed to help Jackson with its water problems as well but in a slightly different fashion.
The bill would create a Mississippi Water Quality Commission comprised of seven Commissioners. The Governor would appoint three members. The Lieutenant Governor would appoint two members. The Executive Directors of the Mississippi State Department of Health and Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (or their designees) serve on the Commission as well. At least one each of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor's appointees must have experience in management at a private utility and possess a certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Public Service Commission. MDEQ will provide support staff as needed.
The bill requires all local governments or nonprofit companies operating water/sewer systems to notify the Commission when it receives a violation notice of state or federal law. The Commission will provide public notice when such violations occur.
The Commission would meet monthly and oversee the spending of all state funds (except ARPA funds) on Jackson's water/sewer system.
The bill passed the Senate but died in committee in the House. Enter HB #1031.
The Senate replaced the language of Ms. Yates' bill with that of the defunct SB #2814 on a 50-2 vote (You can guess who the two votes were.). Now you see it, now you don't.
State Representative Yates disagreed with the changes, telling WLBT the amendment added more bureaucracy while her bill streamlined the process by giving control to DFA. State Senator Harkins took issue with her bill, stating no one at DFA or Treasury had any expertise water systems or environmental regulations.
The State Representative said she is working with the leadership to appropriate $40 million towards fixing Jackson's water system.
Kingfish note: Translation: No one trusts Jackson. No one. The legislature will help fix Jackson's water system but it's not going to give the Mayor what he feverishly desires: a nice check made out to Jackson. Not going to happen. The bill should have gone farther and appointed an expert to conduct a thorough analysis of Jackson's water/sewer system to determine exactly what Jackson's needs are and how much they will cost. This is what happens when someone trashes the legislature and its leadership over and over.
58 comments:
Zzzzz.
Note to Kingfish:
It is not surprising, given the amount of anti-Lumumba vitriol you post, that the legislature mistrusts the Mayor. I propose that you arr the cause of this “crisis of confidence” due to your seemingly very personal vendetta against the Mayor.
I was wondering the same thing. How in the hell can a herd of bureaucrats in state government prevent chokeweed jr. and his cronies from stealing the money? It appears that the only ability possessed by the buffoons ruling Jackson now is running their mouths off 24/7 and plundering the tax base....rather what's left off it.
“The bill would create a Mississippi Water Quality Commission comprised of seven Commissioners.”
I’ve never see so many worthless commissions in one state.
I live in NE Jackson and own a business in ridgeland. I know how to manage a budget and people. I support josh harkens on this as a Jackson resident. If Jackson balks let the money walk. Im sick of people asking and demanding money with no oversight.
Chuckway’s visions of getting rich off the garbage contract and water situation aren’t looking too good.
6:46
Kingfish and Anthony Warren seem to have one against the mayor.
6:54
Ahhh yes, the bastion of fiscal responsibility, the Mississippi Legislature.
Mississippi, the Commission State, in addition to being the Magnolia State.
@6:26
You idiot!!! I love in the area of Jackson that pays the most in taxes and it’s not even close. Sure call me some NE Jackson white guy but our zip code pays by far the most in taxes and not many over here trust his a$$… most think he’s a lazy guy living off taxpayers. Glad he doesn’t have to earn a paycheck. Your a fool
I voted for him but won’t ever again and I know many others say the same thing. So not sure what is said in your hood but the area that has business owners and doctors lawyers etc think he’s a idiot.
"All Jackson does is studies and commissions that do nothing!" - Y'all when Jackson does it
"Oh yes, that study and commission the MS Legislature will propose is excellent" - Y'all when it comes to Jackson getting assistance
Will this commission be a Blue Ribbon Commission?
Anything less than a full Blue Ribbon Commission is totally unacceptable for the Great State of Mississippi!
It should be a "Blue Ribbon" commission. That would justify a higher stipend.
You left out an important part of the process KF.
Yates original bill put the money at DFA for DFA to spend. It passed the House but was held on a motion to reconsider. When it came back up the next day it was amended to put the money at DFA but that the city would spend it, with DFA having some kind of 'oversight' to play.
If DFA were to spend the money it would go 40% further because it would not be subjected to the administrative burden and minority spending requirements of the city. The amendment turned Yates' bill into just handing over a check to go down the Jackson cesspool drain.
I operate a local water/sewer utility. Two thing are true in my opinion:
1. We don't need more regulations and oversight from commissions who don't understand water and sewer.
2. We do need tremendous oversight over any funding given to Jackson. If not, the money will disappear into minority contracts, studies, consultants, etc. The people need water and sewer, not that other crap.
My big issue is that giving money to Jackson is like rewarding your kid who blows his money on drugs, liquor, and gambling with a pile of money because he can't pay his car payment. At the same time, your other kid is working and behaving and you don't give them a dime.
6:26 : Drinking the dope boy koolaid will make you stupid.
6:39,
Can I apply for some of that money?
Sincerely,
Nancy New
I think you get the point; they have not acted like they can be trusted, period.
How can the legislature or anybody justify giving Jackson money for their water system when they make no attempt to properly maintain and staff it. When they make no effort to require the citizens to pay for the service so they will have the funds to maintain the system. Thats what all/most cities do. I have worked for 2 city’s water depts and both of them cut off your water if you didnt pay. That is common sense, not brain surgery. If the legislature gives them money, you know the leaders of Podunk, MS, where most of us live, will decide to help out their poor citizens, stop making them pay for water, stop cutting off for non-payment, stop maintenance because they dont have the money, let the system fall apart, then ask the state for money to fix it. It’s a great plan!!
If lil chuckie can't touch that money, neither can the Garret Cartel.
How many years will it take Chuck to learn that without paying customers, there will be no reliable water (because duh, there will be no profits for necessary on going maintenance)?
Any discussion that does not include a plan to actually collect money for the service (I know...brilliant!) is too dumb to entertain and should rightfully be laughed at.
Choke got jokes, alright.
I think having DFA administer the fund is a good idea, but they should hire a project manager who is experienced in administering water and sewer projects (either a civil engineer or someone with a lot of public works experience). I'm afraid the current staff couldn't handle it on their own. But I darn sure don't want another useless committee filled with partisan political appointees and cronies.
The small rural water systems also need oversight- they provide water to residences at extremely low rates & have access to Federal grants and loans.
Trust Jackson!? Why should we trust the legislature???!!!
How long until the crybaby runs to the New York Times to cry foul?
I moved here in August of 1996. The head line in the Clarion Ledger was coverage of the revitalization of the Farrish Street district. How much money has gone down that rat hole? To think money meant for the water system will actually go to the water system is sheer idiocy.
6:26 AM, 7:45 AM
Just go ahead and scream "racist" so we can go back to ignoring the peanut gallery.
7:49 AM
I don't think anybody on this blog would accuse the Legislature of good sense. Especially those of us who have had the misfortune to work in State government.
Jackson needs a mayor with experience as a "community organizer," right?
I remember years ago when some overly arrogant north east Jackson Ole Miss alumni had their tent in the grove “proudly” displaying their zip code number. For some reason, they no longer do this.
Why would anyone believe it's a good idea to give money to a drug addict?
The troll @6:26 alludes that KF has influence which runs counter to the other troll narrative that nobody reads JJ.
You have NO creds Melvin. Zilch.
Before any state funds are apportioned, Northeast Jackson should be allowed to be de-annexed from Jackson. For that matter, Hinds county should be reduced to between I-220 and I-55 and further if possible.
@9:30 AM
Sounds like you're seeking a leader and upset because you don't know which way to go? Don't follow me, follow the Messiah.
The state should not even let jackson near the money.
Appoint experienced people to draft a plan for needs and a path toward accomplishing those needs.
Set a path with benchmarks and move forward.
It will take a decade or more to get this right.
Chokwe is a crook. Stokes is a crook. Work around them.
@9:31 AM
Shhhh.
Serious question: Why use state funds to fix the water system if you're not going to fix the other problems?
What good is Jackson to anyone in its current state? It could have the world's greatest water/sewer system and still no sane person would move a family or business there thanks to crime, schools, streets, etc.
The state should either dissolve the City of Jackson and set up a smaller, state run district to try and revive, or just abandon the whole thing as a lost cause. Anything in the middle is just good money after bad.
We all know any successful path forward for Jackson must first be structured around hiring intellects with experience and ignoring skin color completely.
We also all know that any plan that is NOT based solely around hiring POC will be deemed factually racist and MSM will parrot that cry for all.
The irony is delicious.
Mayor Baby Chowke: "What's in it for me and my cronies?"
Flowood would take the Eastover meadowbrook area for n a minute. Loads of money here… president lunches and $10,000 dollar fundraisers fir bush Rubio held in those houses along with generational wealth smug.
Of course, the legislature should just give money without oversight to Jackson! Things are going swimmingly there.
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2022/03/city-council-stands-up-to-mayor.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2022/03/stokes-to-mayor-quit-smokin-that-dope.html
https://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2022/03/here-we-go-again.html
And this is just the last few days.
You can pretend State Commissions are better. Having served on several, they are not. They are rubber stamps for the whim of whatever current agency head "advises" them.
If you want to get rid of corruption,first you rewrite MS's contract laws. Now, an agency can write a contract that to fix the contractor instead of getting contractors to meet the requirements. And, you need enforceable penalties for contractors, subs and if necessary architects who try to cut corners.
If you want to stop corruption, you create a bill that directs the money to the smallest manageble entity and them personally responsible. You don't create new bureaucracies to deflect blame on each other when things go wrong.
Stop electing politicians who don't bother to learn anything about good government, who can't come up with an actual plan for any problem but who can rabble rouse and call names and pass blame.
That any of the city council members are still on the council is disgraceful. They have had more than enough time to specifically address any problem and implement any safeguards to make city contracts letting and expenditures secure.
Commenters, no city or State has to reinvent the wheel to learn how successful cities and States have prevented reduced corruption or improved city and State services. You elect people who will learn their job by finding the laws, ordinances and plans that worked elsewhere.
Since Priester was the last council member to actually do more than opine and think of the next election and bask in his party low light.
And, whatever you think of Mary Hawkins, she grew Madison by visiting Roswell, Ga and copying their model for success. It may well have, like many in power, gone to her head and maybe she's forgotten how frustrated she was went she owned her little antique shop. But, kudos to her for preparing for and learning the job.
Best way to turn Jackson around is to gentrify it and turn it into a Liberal La La Land. That’s about the only way anything will ever get done and money invested into infrastructure.
Jackson is like a 50 year old meth head. Ain't no helping it. You can beg and plead...spend all the money you want on re-hab but when it's time for the blood test they fail. Year after year the city has fallen further into the abyss. The teeth of the hydra are sunk deep !
The Northside Sun has criticised MS's RFPs and other non-bid contracting for years. Some government entities in Jackson and Hinds County insist they have the right to select a crony, or "steer" a contract, based on subjective "points" and other nebulous criteria.
This unethical cronyist behavior encourages other government employees to embezzle and/or take bribes/kickbacks.
Why not do like we did with the flag? Put it on the ballot to change the location of the capital city of Mississippi. Let Jackson rot to the ground. It already has a very good start on it anyway.
March 7, 2022 at 12:22 PM
Best way to turn Jackson around is to gentrify it and turn it into a Liberal La La Land
Well, it's already just like Pelosi's area......all that's missing is the ability to sh*t & p*ss in the streets.
Cutting a check made payable to Jackson makes as much sense as handing the Parchman boys ice picks on home-made ice cream day.
Theca Jones probably drives a Prius with mud flaps...but, based on his posts, I sorta see him as an apologist for incompetence who really covets the idea of being a project manager in a white 4-wheel drive F-150. Gotta love those city meals at Drago (even tho Theca seems more of the Church's Chicken type guy).
3:19 : Guess you haven't been around a government building in a while ? You can find several piles of doo doo without trying around EVERY government/police station in downtown.
My question is why should the State bail out Jackson? 10:49 and 3:17 have provided two of the more intelligent posts today - unfortunately, no one in state government is listening. A prediction - in a few short years, the state capital will be relocated.
"And, whatever you think of Mary Hawkins, she grew Madison by visiting Roswell, Ga and copying their model for success. It may well have, like many in power, gone to her head and maybe she's forgotten how frustrated she was went she owned her little antique shop. But, kudos to her for preparing for and learning the job."
She had a blank slate with a shit load of desperate white people with deep pockets, good credit, and looking to relocate, help build her municipality with.
In other words, she was literally shooting fish in the barrel when it came to making Madison "great"
Let's see how she does, when and if people and businesses start leaving Madison for some other locale.
But stop using the surrounding suburbs as examples of good governance, when they've all had blank slates to start with and zilch in the adversity category.
They should put the state capitol in a metal building near Trustmark Park.
You rednecks will luv that.
Keep thinking that. By your measure, Brandon and Clinton should be leading the way but instead lag behind the rest of the burbs since they had Mayors who did nothing but get fat and happy off the refugees.
Pretty sure the plan has always been to let Horne distribute the funds. Not sure why they’ve gotta do the run around first
Mary may have visited Roswell, Georgia...But, she got beamed up in Roswell, New Mexico. But even Captain Kirk occasionally listened to the advice of others. Mary? Not so much.
She'll step down soon, head to Natchez, and finish her book "The City That Mary Built". With forward by Dick Hall.
@2:21 AM
Roswell, NM was allegedly a UFO crash site. Nobody got abducted. A few ranchers found the crash site and reported it to the local authorities. The US Military allegedly collected bodies of ET as well as their damaged craft. There has never been another reported sighting of a UFO over Roswell, NM. Your attempted insult just makes you seem like an ignorant buffoon. Not nearly intelligent as you probably thought you sounded.
"My question is why should the State bail out Jackson? 10:49 and 3:17 have provided two of the more intelligent posts today - unfortunately, no one in state government is listening. A prediction - in a few short years, the state capital will be relocated."
You, jokers, are sheer comedy with your hopes and aspirations when it comes to f*cking this state up even more in the public relations category!?
The last state to relocate its state capital was Oklahoma in 1910.
The whole purpose of a state capital is to provide balance to the state's infrastructure, address imbalances in regional development, and address social polarization (something we totally have here in metro Jackson)
Now the whole problem with you people wishing to move the capital, is that you are starting with bad intentions, which will, in turn, cost the state more money, and create a terrible PR nightmare.
I get that people have had issues with Jackson's selection of mayors since Kane Ditto.
But I'm baffled as to why people in the surrounding burbs, do not get their money behind candidates they feel will get Jackson turned around. You have just as much stake over there as an actual resident. How the hell do you think Richard Daley got elected in Chicago after Harold Washington, or look at Mitch Landre in New Orleans after Ray Nagin, they figured out the investment and the return they would have.
Jackson is primed to have a white mayor again, long as they run as an independent and campaign on issues that Jacksonians are most concerned about - crime, water, roads, bridges, entertainment outlets, and shopping.
Florida is really annoyed that there state capital city Tallahassee is located near the Georgia line and they’re not looking to relocate it
Of course today it would likely be Orlando since it’s central located or Tampa
Even Jackson vile wouldn’t be considered and it’s the largest city in Florida
Jackson is centrally located and I can assure you if it were to be relocated the surrounding areas would also suffer. It’s common logic. Same would happen if Mississippi state university were to leave Starkville. Just a domino effect.
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