Jackson Jambalaya

This post was originally published on September 29, 2022. 

 Last week's post How Jackson's Water System Collapsed generated a great deal of traffic although it is a rather thorough article.  A few readers asked if JJ could post a "bullet points" version so they could better discuss the article with their friends.  Ask and ye shall receive.  Feel free to use them when out in the field engaging the enemy. 

*  The O.B. Curtis water treatment plant is not old and worn out as portrayed in the media.  The plant opened in 1993.  Jackson doubled the plant's capacity in 2007, all of 15 years ago. 

* The Siemens project is the original sin from which much of the water crisis flows. Mayor Harvey Johnson issued a no-bid contract to Siemens in 2012 to replace all water meters.  A project supposed to save Jackson  $120 million turned into a Predators Ball for the favored few.  The Mayor and City Council stuffed the deal with unqualified minority subcontractors.  The city sold $90 million in bonds to finance the project.  Unfortunately, the meters weren't compatible with the upgraded billing software and blew up the water/sewer billing system.  The screwed-up billing system meant....

* Thousands of residents got crazy bills or no bills at all.  Mayor Lumumba announced at a July 2021 press conference Jackson suffered nearly $40 million in uncollected water bills form 14,588 customers, including stranded bills. 

* The Yarber administration panicked and issued a moratorium on cutoffs for two years.  Mayor Lumumba reinstated the policy.  Tell people they don't have to pay their bills  and guess what? People don't pay their bills. 

* What does it all mean? A water system should be a money-maker for a city.   The Siemens project, billing blowup, and moratoriums crippled Jackson's water/sewer system.  The system went in a few short years from earning profits up to $7 million year to losing $10-$20 million per year. 

*  A bankrupt water/sewer system was simply unable to care for itself.  Positions went vacant, parts were not ordered, and much-needed repairs were ignored for years.  

* Much is said about Jackson's tax base fleeing to the suburbs.  However, such flight is almost irrelevant to Jackson's water failure. A municipal water/sewer system operates on its own revenues instead of taxes.  It is not a hard process to understand.  Set the rates to cover the costs of operations, maintenance, and repaying loans.  Bill the customers.  Collect the money.  Cut-off the deadbeats. Rinse, repeat.  It really is that simple.  Even a reporter can understand it.  

* Mayor Lumumba sued Siemens for $225 million in 2019.  The principal and interest were $200 million over the life of the bonds.  However, the city settled for $90 million in 2020.  Only $14 million went into the water/sewer system while $30 million went to attorneys.  The rest of the settlement repaid various loans. 

* The media says white flight decimated Jackson's finances.  Uh-huh.  Check the city audits.  Jackson gets more revenue than ever.  Read that sentence twice.  Total revenue increased from $180 million to 2003 to $264 million in 2020.  

* The Mayor's staff lacks management experience.  The mayor was a criminal defense lawyer in a small firm.  The Chief of Staff was a JSU professor.  The first Chief Administrative Officer was a JSU music professor.  The current CAO worked at Entergy in the marketing department.  The Public Works director who just resigned was an architect.  See a pattern?  

* The city blew off the Health Department for years.  MSDH called EPA.  EPA inspected the plant in February 2020.  Appalled at the poor condition of the water treatment plants as well as the shortage of employees, the EPA placed the city under an emergency administrative order in March 2020. The city repeatedly ignored the mandates and the order.  

* Internal Health Department emails warned in summer of 2020 that Jackson's water treatment plants would collapse at the next adverse event.  That event took place in the form of the February 2021 ice storm.  

* Coverups and Chutzpah The Mayor hid the order from the City Council and the public for over a year until this website broke the story in April 2021.  Mayor Lumumba refused to discuss it in public, telling one  Councilman  the order was over his head.  The mayor also blamed the public for being "ill-informed" about the order.  

* More coverups.  A fire broke out at O.B. Curtis in April 2021, damaging an electrical panel that controlled several pumps, thus knocking them out of service. The pumps were still out of action as the mayor blamed "supply-chain problems."  The real truth is the city did not order the panel until  January after the Health Department ordered it to do so.  The city also kept secret a severe ammonia leak that forced the employees to evacuate in June.  

* The coverups and convoluted excuses continued through 2022.  The EPA reported what little staff there was was worn out while employees quit over low pay.  

* The O.B. Curtis plant did not flood.   Rainwater changed the chemical composition of the reservoir water.  A lack of employees and failing equipment meant the water was not treated.  The plant was already operating on backup pumps.  When a pump failed, the system began to shut down.  The state intervened.  

*  Father Time did not ruin the plant, neglect and incompetence did.  A Lexus is a great car.  Don't change the oil, replace the timing belt, or service the transmission and guess what? The car eventually won't run.  Water treatment plants are no different. 

* The reality is a decade of incompetence blew up Jackson's water system.  Mayor Johnson destroyed the billing system with his Siemen's project.  Mayors Yarber and Lumumba cut off the cut offs, depriving the water/sewer system of much needed revenue.    

Haven't read any of this in the media? The media is more interested in manufacturing reality than reporting reality and that my friends, is the bottom line. 

Note: Since this post was written, we have learned while the Mayor said we needed to build a new water plant (with contracts going to _____), the reality was major leaks were not fixed and countless valves were turned off.  JXN Water fixed the leaks and opened the valves and presto, no more water pressure problems.  Amazing how that works.