Jackson Jambalaya

Thank you Pete- what a solid overview of the situation!
The City is and has been incompetent for years e.g. a $59 million surplus wasted because the administration stops collecting water and sewer bills- unbelievable.
Harvey is and was a grifter and incompetent and all that followed him- I didn't think they could get worse than Harvey until Lil' Chock a Lock came along.
An audit of all funds spent with lawyers, consultants, engineers ,etc is long past due.
Stand Strong Pete- you are needed.

Pete Perry has more insight, professional competence & personal interest as a citizen of Jackson in working towards solutions of the infrastructure of Jackson than any of the elected officials representing Jackson. Nor is Mr. Perry swayed or intimidated by those that have created the water/sewer/road problems and are now plotting to gain some control over the funding provided by congress to fix the problems caused by long term mismanagement. I wish Mr. Perry, Judge Wingate & Mr. Henifin good health and patience in their task.

now if only Pete could spell correctly

You hear that Speaker, Lt. Governor, and Governor? Look at the financial mismanagement! Pass the damn bill while it’s a hot topic to transfer the water and sewer from the City of Jackson to a newly created regional authority once the Ted’s time is up. Get it done in the next damn session.

Nice-

Great email. I didn’t know the details but everyone knew the conclusion: the mayor and his advisers are incompetent.

1:18 - "always with the negative vibes". But if I read your comment correctly Pete is the only one that you wish could spell correctly.

1:18 - so if I read your comment correctly, you wish that Pete would be the only person who could spell correctly?

@1:18, correct spelling is not the important issue at the moment. Mr Perry is a Civil Engineer and his knowledge about his profession is very much needed at this point. You may not see that as worthy but, at the moment let’s just overlook a few misspellings and let’s work on the “competent” people giving legitimate suggestions and advice. We need that right now, not someone discussing grammar. Pot holes, sewer eruptions and a broken water distribution system don’t know the difference.

KF - appreciate the compliments; not sure the post is worthy but that's your call. Next time I will make sure that I prepare my comments early enough to leave time to proofread them before submission!

Yes, I did this at the last minute (submissions had to be submitted prior to midnight the day I wrote this) and I think I hit send at the midnight deadliine. Sorry for the typos and spelling errors, folks, and in several places I could have done better with my syntax as well. My intent was to poiont out the failings of the City in managing both the water and the sewer operations over the past several years and the stupid political moves made in continuing a moritorium on cutoffs that bankrupt an enterprise that properly run should provide a surplus - just as it had done for the previous decade allowing the buildup of the required reserves.

Let me now go proofread this comment and make sure I correct any typos before I go hit the send button.

"Let me now go proofread this comment and make sure I correct any typos before I go hit the send button."

Start with "moritorium" ;-)

Seriously - thanks for addressing this embarrassing travesty.

YO!! Spelling and Grammar Nazi, you never fail to show up and try to make someone look bad. It must be a pitiful existence to know that your only viable contribution to JJ and this thread is spelling and grammar.

Thank you Mr. Perry. Excellent points in your submission. Nothing better than the facts. And you nailed it.

"When the commission began to develop its Master Plan, the City of Jackson recommended to the commission that it not include water or sewer projects in its funding priorities, as water and sewer had its own funding sources available ( the income of the water sewer enterprise fund (WSEF) which at that time had a reserve balance of $59 million (+/-) balance and the roads/bridges/drainage issues had no outside funding.The Commission included water and sewer projects in its Master Plan, but with the lowest priority,based on the City’s recommendation. But, by the fall of 2018, the City came to the Commission asking for a “loan” from the STC funds of $7 million to the WSEF because the reserve balance had been reduced to approximately $1 million and was out of compliance of its bond covenents.The reason behind this depletion of the reserve fund was obvious but was outlined to the Commissioners – the City, in the fall of 2016, had instituted a moratorium on water service cutoffs for failure to pay one’s water bill. This action by the city of Jackson resulted in at that time almost 29,000 of its 55,000 customers not paying their water --- or their sewer --- or their garbage collection, bill. This reduction of income to the WSEF from their normal $50 plus million a year to less than $20 million a year caused the utility to both deplete the reserve funds required to be maintained but also brought to a screetching halt routine maintenance, staffing, and supplying of the water operations and the sewer operation"

"Nothing from nothing leaves nothing."