The Mississippi Department of Health ordered Jackson State University to stop work on the construction of four water storage tanks on campus. The project is the subject of a dispute between JSU and JXN Water in federal court. The Cease & Desist letter states:
JSU filed a grievance with U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate. The university claims it has tried to meet with JXN Water Manager Ted Henifin yet has not been able to do so. Mr. Henifin testified in a hearing Thursday he had not received any communications from JSU.
The legislature appropriated $8 million in ARPA funding for the construction of the storage tanks. The tanks will be used as a back-up water supply as JSU has suffered eight water outages in 18 months. Mr. Henifin and the Health Department argue JSU is creating a public water system since it will be using JXN Water pipes.
Judge Wingate ordered JSU to submit a brief next week and gave the Health Department and JXN Water five days to file a response.
52 comments:
I believe Mr. Henifin because he found out about this from their contractor not
from Jsu.
JSU didn't do their homework with this.
JSU I guess didn't bother to check to see what the law was. They just wanted tanks. Mistake on JSU part.
The EPA & Msdh don't allow what JSU
wants to do.
Since Mr. Moody sent his letter to the engineering firm and not to JSU - the owner of the project - it might not constitute notice to JSU.
JSU has a 1 million gal. water tower.
JSU I don't believe wanted Msdh involved.
This situation is SOP for JSU. I know a consulting commercial HVAC engineer that did numerous projects there and said everything was a mess.
JSU should have drilled a water well, as Millsaps did.
Hold up. Is no one going to comment on the STUPIDITY of the proposed project? The tanks - designed for non-potable water as per JSU and their engineer - would push water into dorms and kitchens if the city pressure fell. That’s water you cannot drink in pipes for potable water only. Tanked water stored for months suddenly in the water lines? This is an absolute no-go from the start.
JSU had $8 million in ARRA funds they had to spend. So, they used a local engineer that knew nothing about health and water systems. Just a stupid abuse of the system that could kill people if approved.
This is a new low point.
12:58 - No one is commenting on it because no one is surprised at this level of incompetence by JSU.
I think DFA was the one handling construction and hiring Pickerjng
KF why did they start project knowing
they didn't have Jxn Water approval?
Why can't JSU just pump city potable water into the tanks & everbody be happy?
@12:57 and 1:05 Understand JSU is merely a conduit for local contractors to make money doing things that JSU could do for itself. The IHL board could change that if they wanted to but keeping JSU in this dependent position is part of the status quo which the IHL chooses to maintain. JSU has always been denied those functions which would be routinely provided to other institutions. It's the black sheep. (Pun intended) Dig a well? There is already a well on the campus. Check it out.
JSU 100% at fault. That letter spells it out. Direct violation of state law. "This preliminary construction has proceeded without an initial review and approval by the Bureau" (Bureau of Public Water Supply).
Judge Wingate needs to see this and stop this nonsense.
Lots of 'close but no cigar' speculation going on here about who's at fault and why. But my take is slightly different. I would bet that DFA didn't hire Pickering - rather Pickering put this idea together, sold it to JSU, lobbied the legislature (back when Dilbert thought he was the pontiff in charge of disbursing the ARPA $$$s across the state and asking folks to 'tell him what they wanted') and got the project included in the funding bill.
DFA's role is only to administer the dollars as the legislature directed; JSU picked the engineer - in this case Pickering - who then designed and managed the project. BUT, looks that they did it thinking their engineering expertise was so good that they didn't think those bureaucrats at the Board of Health needed to be involved.
In the end - someone is going to have to pony up some money for the work done and the tanks sitting around out at Whitfield. Again, my bet is that the bill should and possibly will fall on Pickering's E&O carrier.
I done tole y'all...Wingate climbed out of that little Wal-Mart Kiddy Pool and got into the shallow end of the Jaxun-water pool and has somehow wound up in the deep end and done FAFOd.
Don't be surprised when he discovers he got a third cousin haulin' hydraulic valves for Henifin and recuses.
I doubt that policy covers fraud. They usually don't.
It shows they never contacted Msdh.
How Is JSU gonna get around state law
when they file their brief?
@2:29 they can. They can buy city water for the tanks. That’s legal. But they can’t later put that water back into the waterlines carrying potable water. That’s a cross-connection problem and a serious health violation.
I think Pickering has some serious liability issues in this.
If JSU sets up the tanks they have to be
isolated from Jxn Water.
Did Pickering not know state law?
It doesn't seem like Jsu contacted the
Msdh about this project at all cause they would have found out that project
was a public water system.
I understand why JSU wants to take charge of its water system but, jeez, people, hire competent attorneys to research the legal requirements and competent engineers to design it in compliance with state laws.
The judge will probably make Ted sign
those plans. Even it goes against state
law.
JSU wanted tanks and wasn't worried
about anything else .
Seems like Ted and Msdh are on same
page.
JSU's argument is it repeatedly tried to contact Henifin and he wouldn't contact them back. He said he had not received any emails or letters from JSU regarding the project or setting up a meeting. Judge Wingate did not ask him about phone calls.
KF so the judge ask Ted about if he
was contacted by JSU?
I believe if JSU had contacted Ted he
would have told them he wasn't signing
off on the plan.
The normal route for JSU would be email seems like.
Didn't you say KF that Ted said he had
been contacted by the other parties?
I think JSU is mad cause Ted talked to
the Msdh.
I wonder if Jsu tried to contact Msdh to
see if their project was legal.
Most people would have sent an email,
but doesn't seem like Jsu did.
I believe Mr. Henifin would have met with them if they had ask for meeting.
If they did try to phone him and didn't get in contact next step would be email.
That's a ridiculous assumption. Federal judge is not going to go against the cease and desist order as well as common sense. Like 8:16 pm said. They can fill tanks but no cross contamination.
One person (same format) seems to be commenting a lot.
JSU does not build buildings, dig wells, do roofing, or build roads. Through the state commission they hire contractors to do what they need. They get an appropriation for the work from the state. Somehow Pickering got the contract to fix JSU's water problem which other institutions do not have because they have their own water system. Now millions of state funds will be thrown away and JSU will still have no water system.....and watch Pickering walk away after getting paid. Must be nice.
1:59 No
State funds?
If the tanks, etc cannot be used, by definition they are unnecessary. Unnecessary items are unallowed expenditures to federal funds, which likely means JSU would have to reimburse the federal government for the federal money spent on the tanks.
2 CFR 200.318 (D)
More: https://mississippitoday.org/2025/09/19/in-its-battle-for-water-autonomy-jsu-pushes-plan-jxn-water-calls-engineering-malpractice/
Expensive solution! JSU builds JXN Water a tank in the general vicinity then they can take the existing tank on campus. Drill a well and then disconnect their system from all JXN Water lines. That’s what Baptist hospital did 10-15 years ago.
And yes Pickering engineers showed their stupidity!!! No matter who their client was.
This is what you need to look into KingFish. And do a public records request. I would be a huge sum that the primary root cause of all of this is procrastination/bad administration. The ARPA funds had to be encumbered / projected to be used by a certain time or lost, so they went ahead to encumber them and not lose them.
I fully expect to see morons on CNN bleating about how this is racist, any minute now.
Thats interesting. Never thought about that. Thanks.
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