The Siemens deal literally blew up Jackson's water system ten years ago. Unfortunately, Jackson was not the only city that fell for promises of gold while getting buckets of _____. Sarah Fowler reported yesterday:
The outlines of Siemens’s role in Jackson’s water issues were laid out publicly in 2019, when the city sued the company. But Jackson was not the only Mississippi city that fell victim to the promise of easy money.
A yearlong New York Times investigation, drawing on thousands of pages of government records and interviews with city officials across the state, reveals how Siemens and other corporations went from one small, cash-strapped town to the next making grand promises to modernize water systems and boost revenues. It also sheds new light on the involvement of a state agency that was supposed to vet the deals.
In town after town, salesmen lured city officials who had little expertise in water meters with gee-whiz technology and complicated cost-saving algorithms. They said the meters could be installed at no cost to taxpayers and offered cash-back guarantees.
Even when meters started failing in large numbers and cities complained they were on the verge of financial disaster, the companies kept selling their services.
For nearly a decade, three companies — Siemens; the Mississippi-based McNeil Rhoads, started by a former Siemens salesman, Chris McNeil; and the North Carolina water meter manufacturer Mueller — crisscrossed the state signing multimillion-dollar deals in cities desperate for money.
Mr. McNeil pitched most of the deals, first for Siemens, then for his own company. He claimed that Mueller’s “smart” meters would be so accurate and efficient they would more than pay for themselves. In accordance with state policy at the time, every project was reviewed by the Mississippi Development Authority, an agency run by executives appointed by the governor.
From 2009 to 2017, at least 10 Mississippi cities signed contracts with the companies to install smart meters or other new technology. All but one have reported problems, and at least four have sued to recoup money they paid to Siemens, McNeil Rhoads or Mueller. Three of those suits are still pending. Rest of article.
Kingfish note: Unfortunately, Ms. Fowler spends a great deal of ink trying to blame MDA while ignoring the role Harvey Johnson and the Jackson City Council played in loading up the deal with their boyz and paying their friends hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees.
34 comments:
OUuuuuuuuchhhhh!!! They sayin' somebody done done somebody wrong.
I find it extremely "negligent", if you will, that they don't dare call out Lumumba giving his friend Winston J Thompson III of Lightfoot, Franklin, & White a "blessing" as they call it. The City paid them $30mil, literally 1/3 of the settlement money, for a case that could be handled for much less by any of the local attorney's who contribute to his campaign. Hell, a first year practicing attorney could have won this one. You'd have to leave out Dorsey Carson though as he represented Garrett Enterprises and Socrates Garrett. Also, no mention of Marcus Wallace and MAC Construction in the article? I wonder why? The City could have used that $30mil to help fix the screw up, but NOOOOO, they had to get their fried PAID. And that my friends, is the bottom line.
Same ambulance chasers/attorney’s
11:23 - a big part of the problem is that Mississippi Today NEVER give a thorough description of the problem or the solution.
City of Jackson employees were totally incompetent to use this system.
A highly technical operation like this should not be marketed or sold to cities like Jackson with the employees they have. It would be like selling them a spaceship.
Of course, you won't find this in the article as that would be politically incorrect
Siemens could not afford the "justice" that would have been meted out
by a democratic Hinds County jury. Siemens was a risk to a fatal blow.
This is what caused early cave in by Siemens
Good question. Millions in Siemens settlement and the water system still needed a Federal bail out.
Where did the money go?
The Feds sent more millions and they are still screaming broke - and no one is paying the bills.
This gravy train will end at some point also.
Did Ms. Fowler talk to any of the water systems in Mississippi that have used this type of metering system successfully? The answer is no. Because she didn't want to hear an answer that didn't fit her agenda.
Correct, kingfish. Devoted two measly sentences to it when doling out contracts to unqualified friend "contractors" has been well documented as playing a large role in the failure of the deal. Of course, that would go against her little liberal brain to admit such. It's far easier to help Jackson leadership play victim and blame the big, bad State is some form or fashion.
"Problems emerged just weeks into the Jackson project. A politically connected subcontractor, hired by Siemens at the recommendation of city officials, had installed some meters improperly, and later, there were communication errors between the meters and receivers."
I wish Shad White would investigate this. He'd light up their butts!
What do you expect from Mississippi Today? I only expect Dem propaganda.
All this crying. lol Tell Gary Rhodes son to stop trying to scam people with that BS.
I was interested about the Mayor of Flowood's son Dusty. It seems he was involved pretty deep in this.
Same old tired bullshit about "liberal" journalist. Well, then go back to your "fair and balanced" Fox News and your Facebook for your info.
Can you imagine if MDA had NOT approved the project? Then we would be hearing about how the State blocked Jackson from the miracle water meters that would've saved the broken water system!
Another BS article by my favorite amateur journalist that is short on facts. KF, once again, thou art scum.
2:19 Maybe if the liberal journalists weren't wedded to their ideology and constantly driving their narratives down our throats, we would not complain.
NYT's Camille Paglia opined that "journalism is dead" due to the drive for the writers to become advocates. Christiane Amanpour admitted they were no longer journalists, but instead they were "advocates for change."
February 6, 2024 at 2:19 PM, if you think Fox, and Fakebook are the only sources of news, you are woefully ignorant.
@2:19 PM. I think I'll just go with Kingfish's coverage. And yes, liberal journalist.
AMEN! It was absolutely Siemens, a top tier manufacturer of German precision tech that did this and not the shit-tier “my nority” DEI-required contractors that installed it
It seems that one of the biggest problems is getting the Jackson customers to pay for the water that they use. A few mayors ago, it was decided that no one would face a cutoff of water by not paying their water bill. Duh, then why pay? Try that with your cell phone or your credit card. We lack leadership so bad in the city of Jackson. There seems that white flight has disappeared from Jackson and now it's just flight, both black and white, maybe more black now. The city had better wake up and elect someone that can make things happen.
A prize fight worth of pulled punches by Fowler who undoubtedly was hoping and praying there was a white GOP politico hiding somewhere in the weeds to blame.
She couldn't tell the truth about what happened in Jackson because it'd f*&k up the narrative.
11:45 is right - the City of Jackson doesn't have the workers (or subcontractors) with the level of expertise to run highly technical devices. A few years ago, Bob Gilchrist, former owner of Duraco, wrote a letter to The Northside Sun about the deplorable state of city streets. He said when Harvey Johnson came into office, the city owned about a dozen of his (Gilchrist's) state-of-the-art Dura Patchers, an injection-type road repair machine designed to repair potholes and alligator cracks in asphalt. The machines, however, required trained technicians to run them. Harvey got rid of all the technicians and sold every Dura Patcher in the city's inventory, and went back to hiring minimum wage laborers to shovel asphalt from the back of trucks into potholes. The results were predictable and all too obvious today.
February 6, 2024 at 2:40 PM, if, someone is forcing you, against your will, to visit this website, please let us know. We would be more than happy to help.
If, no one is forcing you, against your will, to visit this website, please feel free to not visit. Your mental, and emotional well-being is important.
For you to voluntarily come here and torture yourself isn't healthy. Your striking out against others is dangerous. Please, seek help. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Again, if Ms. Fowler really wanted to be an investigative journalist, she would talk to some of the water systems in the same area who have had success with this type of system. She would ask them how it works, and why it works. Then she could compare it with the systems who have had issues. But she won’t do that. Because she knows one answer she will get is “hire competent people, manage your system, and make your people work. This isn’t a country club. We are interested in competence, not DEI.”
A friend was sent a bill for over $100,000. The city said the Siemens settlement would not reduce the bill one cent. Therefore, consumers with faulty meters reaped no benefit from the settlement. Thankfully, the city didn’t file a suit. It would have been interesting to see if the judge would have allowed any credit for the settlement.
@11:37am
"...a big part of the problem is that Mississippi Today NEVER give a thorough description of the problem or the solution".
Shhhh, you're not supposed to say that out loud - else everybody will find out it's on purpose, and how the government scams work!
This mess is on the front page of today's NYT. Read it and weep. Jackson was not the only city and Mississippi was not the only state to fall victim to Siemens' fraud.
"It seems that one of the biggest problems is getting the Jackson customers to pay for the water that they use. A few mayors ago, it was decided that no one would face a cutoff of water by not paying their water bill. Duh, then why pay? Try that with your cell phone or your credit card. We lack leadership so bad in the city of Jackson. There seems that white flight has disappeared from Jackson and now it's just flight, both black and white, maybe more black now. The city had better wake up and elect someone that can make things happen."
Unfortunately, the water czar, Henifin, has yet to begin cutoffs to supply the necessary revenues the system needs. For the life of me, I cannot understand why. If they are delinquent and haven't contacted JXN Water to work out an arrangement, cut their damn water off.
Siemens learned a tough but valuable lesson.
No matter how good the product is, if there are idiots in charge of the install, maintenance and data disbursement from said product...you are doomed and it will be all your fault when your perfectly serviceable product "fails".
It seems like every day there is a new basic service that Jackson residents demand for free.
Weird that they feel water, garbage, education, etc should be gratis for them, while the rest of the state residents simply pay their bills.
Sarah Fowler still has a job as a reporter (I dare not use the term "journalist?" What a joke. She is incredibly negligent in reporting actual facts. She's all about a hurried and inaccurate "story" to meet a deadline.
Could someone list the cities whose Siemens systems have failed? I don't give clicks to Mississippi Today.
@ 7:02 - I reckon not.
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