Governor Tate Reeves issued the following statement on Facebook.
Less than four years ago, the City of Jackson’s water system was just days away from a catastrophic and total collapse, which would have resulted in over 131,000 residents and countless state offices, businesses and employees being unable to obtain clean drinking water or even flush their toilets.
To avoid this humanitarian crisis, on August 29, 2022, I cut short a pre-planned official travel engagement and flew to Jackson to issue a state of emergency placing the Jackson water system under state control. Over the next three months, the State committed countless hours of critical manpower hours and oversight, and millions of dollars, to stabilize the system and return running water to the City.
Following the termination of the state of emergency - with my support and encouragement - the water system, by agreement of the United States Department of Justice, EPA, the Mississippi Department of Health, and the City was placed into a receivership under the supervision of the United States District Court. The Federal Court appointed JXN Water as the receiver/Interim Third Party Manager (ITPM) to oversee and operate the system. Since its appointment, while certainly not perfect, JXN Water has made vast improvements and upgrades to the system and has attempted to get a handle on the system’s finances. It is no secret that JXN Water expects to seek court approval to withdraw as the receiver sometime in 2027.
To provide the Court with a viable option to replace JXN Water as the receiver, the Mississippi Legislature passed and I signed into law House Bill 1677 creating the Metro Jackson Water Authority. The Authority is a public benefit corporation under the control of a nine-member board. Contrary to the assertions of the City in its recent court filing, the legislation does not mandate or require the City to transfer its water system to the Authority. Rather, the legislation empowers the Authority to “commence negotiations with the city” to enter into a lease of the water system. Simply stated, the legislation is not a taking of the water system.
The legislation does not in any way encroach upon the power or discretion of the Federal Court to oversee the water system through the court-appointed receiver during the pendency of the court case. The legislation expressly acknowledges that the Authority shall have no power to assume management or control of the water system until the date of termination of the receivership or as otherwise ordered by the Court. Further, the president of the Authority will serve as a deputy to the receiver “until the court enters final judgment.” No provision of the legislation seeks to weaken or limit the power or discretion of the Federal Court during the pendency of the court case. I am confident that once the Court has sufficient time to carefully consider the legislation and the State’s briefing, it will find the City’s procedurally improper legal challenges under both the Takings Clause and the Supremacy Clause to be meritless. In fact, I would expect the Court to find the public benefit corporation to be a mutually beneficial off-ramp to enable a smooth transition to happen at the appropriate time, as chosen by the Court.
Nevertheless, out of respect for and due to the Court’s entry of a “status quo” injunction, I will not be making my three appointments to the Authority board at this time. The State will continue to work with the Court to ensure that when the receivership is terminated, control of the water system will be transferred to an entity that can best serve the residents, state offices and businesses of Jackson.
Finally, I feel it is important to say that this new frivolous court filing by the City leadership to ignore the facts of the last four years just further solidifies my belief that the governance of the system can NEVER be returned to the pre- August 29, 2022 structure that led to the initial Emergency Declaration. The people of Jackson and the ratepayers of the system deserve better than having to ever go through that mess again. The Authority created under House Bill 1677 is the best way to ensure future chaos is avoided.Kingfish note: Uh-huh. There is nothing stopping the Governor from making his appointments now. Ironically, Jackson will control the Board once Byram makes its appointment as there will be six members on the Board, enough for a quorum.
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