Jackson Jambalaya

I agree that the City of Jackson is incapable of running its water system.

How do they suggest he improve collection rates. If this council of learned professional city managers could not get a handle on water bills being paged, what might Mr. Henefin do?

I'm sure they have learned from their mistakes. Please share.

PS: When customers are convinced they do not and will not have to pay for services, no amount of convincing them otherwise will make a difference.

Ted is an incredibly patient guy. At this point, I think he should channel Eric Cartman and say screw you guys, I'm going home.

They forget the city negotiated and signed off that he could raise rates.
They probably never read the order.

Thanks again for reminding me why I moved to Madison county from Jackson!

No matter what anyone says Ted has the authority to raise the rates. The court has already agreed when judge
signed the order. I want to see what
the federal govt. and state have to say.

Again, kudos to Ted Henifin for forcing this showdown. Enough is enough of this big stall. All of this noise is about one thing and one thing only. Their objective is to get Ted to quit and leave.

Like NYC may soon become - free water, free buses, free rent, free food, free healthcare...

You just can’t fix stupid.

Some people just can't get right.

But close the gates because we don't want anyone to move up here who is too stupid to wait this long to figure out that Jackson is doomed.

I bet the COJ municipal water system is the only system in the entire world run by a federal judge.

Ashby makes a good point. We are punishing the people who are paying their bills and not the 30-40% who are not.

I agree. I would be so out of here.

Their objective is to get Ted to quit and leave.

Have been thinking the same for some weeks now. The BPS don't give a damn about the system, they are focused on regaining control but Henifin's dogged pursuit to do what is right gets in their way. System goes belly up before Wingate's list of gating "issues" (as recently reported by KF) ever gets resolved.

@8:35 I agree that the City of Jackson is incapable. PERIOD

The mayor and city council don't care if
this system falls to the ground again.

Free the water!

This is PRECISELY why Henefin’s suggestion a while back to set billing rates based on assessed property value for a few years was the appropriate interim approach. It would clean up the catastrophic mess created by not holding system users accountable for not paying into the system for so many years. Time is not your friend when revenue bonds are outstanding. Thanks, Tony.

Look what happened when the city was in control of their water. Low iq controls Jackson.

You know it.

We need General Grant to come in & burn Jackson down. Then rename it Chimney Ville. Oh, I forgot that's already happened.
Give the water & sewer back to Jackson than construct a 10 ft chain link fence around it.

Has anyone in the State Legislature showed serious interest in making sure elected officials of Jackson never manager the Jackson water/sewer system ever again?

I have no idea how COJ can go forward with a functioning water/sewer/garbage system & electrical/gas being supported by a population with over 50% of households living below or at the poverty level. And by increasing rates one would think the collection rate will decrease. New revenue from sale taxes, property taxes & other revenue sources will be required although these sources of revenue continue to move from COJ to the burbs. It’s a conundrum!

The Jackson City council is incapable of running the city of Jackson. What makes you think they'd be capable of running a water system?

@ November 4, 2025 at 10:12 AM - You can stroke an extra zero to the left of the decimal point on your payment check any time you like. Me on the other hand, I don't see any justification to pay more for the same water everyone else is getting. It's penalizing the people that can afford more and who pay their bills -- another exercise in the redistribution of wealth.

In 20 or 30 years this will all be water under the bridge.

Milennial here. I remember the last few good years of Jackson. Unfortunately,
We Can Neve Go Back

but we can watch old TV commercials and remember the better times and grieve the things we lost because some people just cant let us have nice things.

10:12am is likely a blue haired raving Fondren Marxist who expects responsible people to pay the bills of the irresponsible by way of "transfer" payments. Some in Jackson find resources to pay for TV, phone, car, clothes, wigs, nails, lashes, club hopping but not for water and trash pickup. Please disconnect them. Free the Consequences.

BPS?

I really don't see much difference between the approach of the city council and Congress - politicians worried more about reelection than doing the right thing.

@12:30 summed it up correctly. These councilmen couldn't run a lemonade stand. They just want to be reelected. They can't work, compete, manage, and do what it takes to have a nice city. Unfortunately that is what government has become. Because making the tough, but correct, decision might get you beat in the next election.

@12:24pm, I am a Fondren resident. I am also a hard right conservative. I think there might be 2 individuals with blue hair in this entire area. Can you find another joke to use so you can cope with the fact you hate your neighbors and don't know half of them?

Like I said, exactly like Congress! Can't accomplish shit!

@1:15 I think 12:24 is a troll account. He is literally wrong about everything, he’s in another thread confusing day traders with the floor traders on Wall Street. He should change his display name to Dunning-Kruger.

1:15pm
The act of billing people for water based on the value of their property is utterly Marxist. Further, the Legislature outlawed doing so as a direct response to Hennifins threat to try that outrage, in Bill 698, which was signed by Governor Reed, April 2023. Water can only be billed based on metered consumption. You are not Conservative except to conserve your ignorance.

1:46pm
Goldman Sachs is building 800,000sf campus in Dallas. JP Morgan already has more employees in Dallas than NYC. These are serious moves showing no long term preference/confidence in NYC.

How can he have a status conference when the federal govt. can't work this
case because of shutdown. It's my
understanding they told the court.

epic dunning-kruger moment @3:07
JP Morgan has 10,000 employees in Makati, Manila. Goldman Sachs has about 8000. Does that signal a lack of confidence in Texas? Your opinions are hilarously bad

Really starting to have SERIOUS doubts on the ability of Henefin to manage our system. I was a big fan and very hopeful about the new JXN Water. The first few blissful years, the staff was responsive, nice, and kept us informed as issues occurred in our neighborhood. THINGS HAVE CHANGED. Today is the second time in a week, our water has been dark as Newk's sweet tea. We called it in early this morning. Just called this afternoon to see if there was an update and was told that was not their job. They just report and are unable to access updates or even let us know if our water is safe to drink or bathe in. Looks like another day of Kentwood spit baths at our house. Sigh.

It's high time on the Chaparral for the Jurdge to shit or get off the pot. He's obviously trying to jugle between his 'Justice Oath' and pleasing the Jackson hoodrats. Can't do both, but he keeps trying. Prolly ought to take a page outa the stand-in DeSoto jurdge's emergency play-book and recuse.

Are you responsible for the echo in here?

3:52pm
Comparison is a fairy tale. Asian based Markets vs American based Markets. Dallas is the new and coming replacement for Manhattan.

4:07 you can go on their website and put in for an appt. They will contact
you. The water is safe because it is
tested everyday. It comes up to the
Safe drinking water act like it suppose
to. Maybe your fire hydrant needs flushing. You could ask them to do
that.

4:07 The best time to call Jxn Water is
Mon. through Fri. 8-5.

You're welcome to take some buckets out to Ross Barnett and drink the product unfiltered and untreated.

The source is the source of too many of the water problems.

4:07 - you know you do not have to live in Jackson, don't you?

I hate this for the "normal" folks that can't move out of Jackson.

But I can see Henefin saying to hell with these idiots and walking away. Then Jackson is back to square one.

Come January, the next ice storm will paralyze the water system again. Stokes won't be able to flush his toilet for two weeks ... and then he will call a presser from a Dollar General lawn chair in his front yard while he screams to the cameras ... "it smells like boo-boo".

Perhaps some of you should wonder how it is Jackson came to have water issues. Some of you need to understand that these problems didn't occur overnight but were obvious in the flood of '79. Politicians neglect what you can't "see". And, then there's that Yazoo Clay problem and poor management of the water source. What's ironic is that you all ignore the sources of contamination of our aquifers. Grow up people...it's not rocket science so you can learn about our water sources. Thrown much trash into the Reservoir while your drinking on your boats?

Perhaps some of you should

Some of you need to

What's ironic is that you all

Grow up people

you can learn

while your drinking on your boats?

Today Ted should win if judge does his
job. The order is clear.

Kingfish, do you have, or know anybody who has, copies of the contracts Henefin signed with these contractors who are actually repairing and running the water system? Were these ever put out for competitive bidding? Or were they just given to the 'only company' that was able to jump in and fix the emergency? It is these contractors needing to be paid that is unaffordable. Maybe somebody, including all the whiners on this website, needs to look at the root of the problem.

10:26 the root of the problem is the city
let the system go to the ground.

It is these contractors needing to be paid that is unaffordable

How do you know?

>It is these contractors needing to be paid that is unaffordable.
Tends to happen when you let things deteriorate and dont do basic maintenance. Oh by the way thats the city of Jackson's fault.

@10:26 Not everything can be competitively bid. Certainly a project can, and should, be bid. However, sometimes crap happens and you simply have to find someone at night, on the weekend, on short notice, etc. to repair something. That can't be bid because you don't have time. Also, to bid correctly, you need a scope of what is being bid. I know Henifin's issue with bidding out the operation of OB Curtis initially is that nobody could provide a scope because nobody yet knew the problems or knew what it would take to run it effectively. Now that repairs are being made, it will start to be clear what it takes to run the plant. Also, the problem with bidding is sometimes you get someone who simply can't do the work. If I'm having brain surgery, I don't necessarily want every idiot bidding on the surgery and I end up with the low bidder who is unqualified.

Wingate is still part of the problem. It will be interesting to see if JXN Water files notice of the rate increase on the 15th.

I'm sure glad Ted told about the city was the reason the system went down.

“The reason the system failed in 2022 was a lack of financial resources. It wasn’t a flood. It wasn’t anything else. It was years of neglect on the financial side,” he said. “It was a city council unwilling to raise rates, [and an] administration unwilling to collect, which leads to the culture we’re battling now.”

I am the commenter from 10:26 on Nov 5th that asked if anybody has seen or can supply copies of the contracts given out by JXN Water.

1. Thank you to the responders who actually addressed the question. Still, nobody knows anything about any contracts. Henefin raised prices once, and now is raising them again. Doesn't anybody want to know what this pays for? Or who is getting paid? I understand why that didn't happen in the beginning emergency but Henefin has done an assessment now and knows what needs fixing. Why is anybody against this?

2. To the people living in the past, not interested in solving problems, stating the obvious, and spreading hateful messages to make themselves feel superior to others;
I know WHAT happened and WHY it happened. Moving on....

who is getting paid? Look at the detailed reports he files with the court. As far as contracts go, we've seen how Jackson awards contracts, mostly going to friends/contributors/family/minority contractors who are not trained to do the job.

I'll gladly let Henefin set up contracts with competent contractors.