Wednesday, October 4, 2023

The People Speak: Jackson Sewer Edition

 JJ posted yesterday the public comments that were submitted to the EPA on placing the Jackson sewer system under the control of Water Tsar Ted Henifin.  Let's face it, not many people are going to read all 721 pages of public comments so the Kingfish is reading them for you.  JJ is going to post a batch of notable comments every day as we work through them together.  There are several that deserve their own posts and their own posts they shall receive. Kick off your shell cordovan shoes, fix a drink, light a cee-gar, and enjoy.

Public Comments Submitted to EPA

I support the court's order and the sewer system being managed by Ted Henifin and JXN Water. I have been dealing with a sewer issue since at least 2019. There is a broken sewer pipe from my backyard neighbors' house. It runs across the ditch and into the sewer line on my side.

They have flowing raw sewage leaving their house and going into the ditch. You can see the paper used and other debris in the water.

The ditch is also a major concern. It does not drain and has stagnant water sitting in it. It only moves when there is rain. Banks on both sides have been washing away over the years due to flooding and erosion.

We, along with other neighbor due to the amount of mosquitoes and gnats that stay year round. P. 8

This email is in support of Ted Henifin being appointed the manager of the city sewer system. In the time that Ted has been the manager of the city water system we have seen vast improvements in everything from billing to customer service to water pressure. It only makes sense to look at our city's water and sewer issues holistically and Ted has the expertise to manage both. P. 42 (KF Note: Most of the comments were similar to this one)

I am writing to strongly urge you to move control and administration of the City of Jackson's sewer system to JXN Water and/or Ted Henefin. My family and I have lived in the City for over years, and have witnessed the downward spiral of most eve1y City service, including the sewer system. Citizens have become numb to raw sewage overflows, ungodly odors, and unsanitaiy conditions that could lead to illness. Simply put, the City lacks the organizational stmcture, hiring practices, employees, accountability system or competence to manage the sewer system. It's an embanassing circumstance that has developed over time due to the City's mismanagement ofresources. This must stop and the course must be reversed.

It has been refreshing to have an experienced and competent manager running the City's water delive1y system. I am thankful for your control over this critical and necessaiy municipal function for the 150,000+ people that reside in Jackson. Please remove the sewer system completely from the control of the City of Jackson. Citizen's health and wellness depends on it. P.43

I support Ted Henefin’s court ordered appointment as manager of Jackson’s water and sewer systems. P. 44 Jane Alexander

Thank you President Biden, EPA, Judge Wingate and God for sending us Ted Henifin. I was on the city council for years and am well aware of the systemic breakdown of everything in our city over the past quarter century. Today, we can't even keep or stop lights working, much less our libraries, roads, zoo, airport, schools (loss of 13,000 students in a few years), police department, firemen on strike, sewer system, water system, murder rate leads the nation, fiscal budget, teenage violent crime, swimming pools....well literally everything the city is in charg eof doesn't work.

Thank God federal law dictates clean water and sewers (I didn't mention the millions of gallons of raw sewage dumped straight into the Pearl River from the city sewers). Accordingly, the federal government has stepped in, and the predictable cadre of "Johnny Come Lately" complainers and "organizations" (THAT is a stretch) are predictably and loudly complaining. This is so apparent. They do not care that Mr. Henifin is doing major miracles.....they are ridiculously upset because THEY and our "Mayor" cannot control the process and the contracts. They simply and selfishly want the money. Shame on them and shame on the mayor.

Please do not change this process and Mr. Henifin...the only thing in this entire city that is good, but happens to be a white guy that isn't from here, and the complainers don't have him in their fold. P. 49 Ben Allen

I support the appointment of Edward "Ted" Henifin as Interim Third-Party Manager of the City of Jackson Sewer System, under the te1ms set fo1th in the Stipulated Order entered on July 31, 2023 in The United States of America v. The City of Jackson, Mississ;ppi (3:12-cv- 00790; U.S. District Comt, S.D. Mississippi). P. 81 Samuel Begley

I strongly support the court’s order and the management of the sewer system by Ted Henifin and JxnWater. Don Cannada p. 135

In all employment situations, additional work and/or a promotion is only awarded when a person has shown an exceptional aptitude for the current and potential job. At present, Ted Henefin has not displayed any exceptional ability when it comes to Jackson’s water issue. If anything, he has shown that he is not able to provide sufficient updates to the public or visible improvements.Only after the public comment meetings, did I myself see Jackson Water trucks out working to fix issues with the water and/or sewer. However, these trucks were only seen in a majority white affluent area, and not in the South Jackson areas in most need of improvements and water. For these reasons, I believe Ted Henefin should not be granted authority over the Jackson sewer system. I welcome the opportunity to speak further on this issue and can be reached by email or phone. J. Carter p. 142 

 

I write today to support the court order which allows Mr. Ted Henifin and JXNWater to manage the water and sewer system for the City of Jackson, MS. Having personally experienced a water issue having to call JXNWater for support, I found them to be professional and responsible. The same can not be said about previous experiences with the Jackson water administration. Before JXNWater took over the operation of the system, the water at my residence was discolored and experienced low pressure. I have seen drastic improvements under new management and anticipate the same with JXNWater taking over sewer administration. The incompetence of the previous administration was beyond belief and has caused generational harm to the economics of the City of Jackson. My peer group has faith in JXNWater, the same can not be said about the previous administration. P. 145

I own a building in Jackson. DO NOT LET THE CITY OF JACKSON MANAGE ANYTHING! As a matter of fact, I think the Mayor and pertinent city officials should be indicted for their malfeasance in regard to public safety, sewerage and the Clean Water Act. P. 149 Mark Chinn

Regarding the subject order, there should be a DBE/ Small Business Requirement in order to make the repairs more equitable among capable, local, small, disadvantaged firms. We had a xxxxx engineering design contract for the sewer distribution design repair contract with the City if Jackson prior to the 3rd party manager, now we're being told that contract in null and void. It hurts our business tremendously because we staffed to fulfill the contract requirements now we're not able to bill one dime towards said contract. We also had 2 local DBE subs that were receiving 25% of the contract.

National Firms like Stantec, AECOM, HDR, etc. are receiving the lions share of the work on er side and we're afraid the same will happen on the sewer side due to NO DBE requirements. Reginald Crear p. 169

I absolutely SUPPORT the COURT'S ORDER and the sewer system being managed by Ted Henifin and JxnWater. He has done a great job! Mayor Lumumba doesn't know how to run anything and should not be given any money to fix anything. Ted Henifin has been a Godsend to Jackson Mississippi's ongoing water problem that has been mishandled under this Mayor's serious lack of leadership and ineptitude to fix ANYTHING since he became mayor. P. 186

Ted Henifin is doing a great job. He should manage sewer too. Wyatt Emmeric p. 203 

 Kingfish note: Stay tuned for more tomorrow.  Peace!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought luDUMBa and rakia were fir the people? Looks like they’re on their own island of unreality and people are telling Chokwe you’re unqualified as mayor just as you’re unqualified as a lawyer. Don’t let the door hit your delusional ass on the way out!!!

Anonymous said...

LMAO. I wonder if p. 169 comment is from Socrates Garret.

Anonymous said...

Mayor of the City of Jackson let’s allow someone else to fix the problems. It ain’t always about black, white, who gets contracts, who fixes what. We need a safe and functioning city!

For the past years as you are Mayor almost everything went down the hill. I was gonna say drain, but that ain’t working!

Anonymous said...

Bumble will still win in 2025. Jackson voters are really that dumb.

Anonymous said...

I hope we start with Harvey Johnson.

Anonymous said...

Ben Allen's comment are epic. Damn. Nail on head.

Anonymous said...

DBE contractors are the reason many things fail. Paying more for less and 95% of the time they turn around and hire non DBE contractors to do the work and just siphon their cut off the top. DBE is a redistribution of wealth, welfare, and BS all rolled into one.

Anonymous said...

Henefin is doing a great job and the city is fortunate to have him. However, he's not a miracle worker. He is simply a smart and capable leader who has a sh*t pile of free money to spend. He's done an excellent job and deserves credit. But there are plenty of capable water/sewer folks (including many in Mississippi) who could have performed just as well. Henefin needed, and received, what any capable leader needed. He needing funding, and he needed somebody to keep Lumumba and the other idiots in Jackson government away from him and the money while he performed his duties. He's doing a good job.

It's sad that the Jackson leaders let it get to this point. The incompetence from the mayor and council over the last 30 years is astounding.

Anonymous said...

Bumble will still win in 2025.

Nope.

Anonymous said...

Just a bunch of raw boo boo.
The Feds will bail Jackson out of Chok's new world order.

Or lack thereof.

Ima Scroller said...

I read the comments appended in this thread. I won't waste my time reading those that might follow. I see no point.

PS: If it makes the Fish feel better, I did follow his advice and mixed a drink. A Thursday morning Bloody Mary. Peace, indeed.

Anonymous said...

Irony = The Lumumbas fighting to be in charge of sh!t

Anonymous said...

Good for you 5:13. As the old saying goes, you can't drink all day unless you start early.

Anonymous said...

"However, these trucks were only seen in a majority white affluent area, and not in the South Jackson areas in most need of improvements and water."

Pretty sure Ted has plans to attack all problematic areas but that takes funding. Besides, we're the ones paying our bills. We're also the largest tax base this city has. Of course, if things keep going the way they have, we'll all eventually move away and take our money with us. Then you'll need to yell a bit louder when you call us racists. It'll be harder for us to hear you.

Anonymous said...

I'm eagerly awaiting volume 2 of the people speak, and Lumumba cries.

Anonymous said...

Where was the chorus of Lumumba shills during the months long lead up to the state-then-federal takeover? I don’t recall any chants about the “sacred right of clean water” or any protests about the mayor’s total nonchalance about the impending collapse at O.B. Curtis. I’m firmly in the contract-steering camp and, as such, am starting to think some folks perhaps over-leveraged their greedy selves in advance of the big bailout. Surely there is a civic-minded person with a scruple or two who could run for mayor.





Anonymous said...

"However, these trucks were only seen in a majority white affluent area, and not in the South Jackson areas in most need of improvements and water."

This was proven false. JXN Water keeps records of what/when/etc.

Anonymous said...

Good grief!

Jackson hasn't had any political heavy hitters to bring the money here for a long time. God knows, Jimmy Fowler was great at getting things done for this city! More than a few of your tax dollars and federal money is going to Hattiesburg now.

Fowler understood that the entire State Constitution was written to keep a rural/small town grip on the State for then, the Delta planters. But, his business acumen and willingness to accept the reality of the " is", kept our heads above water.

What is it about taking in more federal dollars than we pay in taxes that YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND? What is it about Jackson's sale tax share that you don't understand? Jackson generates the highest sales tax for the State, but even the 1% increase we are supposed to get goes to a STATE appointed Commission!

The ISSUE is where that money goes and it's not the money to the families dependent on welfare but to the " middle men" aka politicians and their supporters that take their "cut" or "contract win" first.

It's federal money that gave us the best 3 hospitals in the State. It's the feds who solved the water crisis! It's federal dollars that fix our roads and bridges and keep even mom and pop businesses alive.

That is WHY I supported Heflin. Without him, any support for Jackson would be in the hands of our corrupt state politicians but you are imaging things if you think Jackson's politicians are the clever crooks in this! A few of them are awarded the "spoils" from the GOP but look for who is living " higher on the hog" these days!

The problems in Jackson have been incompetence and that SO includes the City Council as Melvin Priester tried very politely to explain. It's the refusal to learn how something should and can be done that works!

But you have to actually read the facts and do math!

Why is this so hard?  


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Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


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Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

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