The fight to control the future of Jackson's water system is going to a conference committee at the Mississippi Legislature after the House declined to concur with the Senate on HB# 1677 yesterday.
State Representative Shanda Yates (I - Rootdown Dispensary) authored HB# 1677. The bill will create the Jackson Metro Water Authority and task the Authority with operating water and sewer services operated by the city of Jackson.
The original bill stated a nine-member board will govern the Authority. HB# 1677 spells out who will sit on the board:
The thought of Jackson controlling the Board did not sit too well with the Senate. The Energy Committee amended the bill so Ridgeland and Byram will no longer have to get its nominees approved by the city of Jackson. The bill also replaces the President of the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce with another Governor's appointee. However, the Governor must confer with the Mayor of Jackson before making the appointment. The Governor and Jackson Mayor would have equal blocs on the Board.
The amendment effectively removes control of the Authority from the city of Jackson. The Senate passed the amended bill and sent it back to the House for concurrence.
The House declined to concur. There is a disagreement over the composition of the Board. Ms. Yates told WLBT there was a disagreement over the ninth seat on the Board. The original version of the bill states it will be filled by the President of the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce while the amended bill gives the governor another appointment.
The appointments to conference have not been announced.
Kingfish note: Mayor Horhn supports the original bill. However, Hizzoner will not be in office forever. It was Jackson voters and their political leadership who destroyed Jackson's water system. It was the Jackson voters who voted for Harvey and his Siemen's contract. It was the Jackson voters who voted for Yarber and his moratoriums on cut-offs. It was the Jackson voters who voted for Lumumba who cut off the cut-offs and ran the system into the ground through neglect and incompetence.
Frankly, the Jackson voters have repeatedly shown they are not capable of electing political leadership that can handle a water/sewer system. The political leadership repeatedly shoves sweetheart deals down our throats, opposes water-cutoffs, and needed rate increases.
Mayor Horhn may be Jackson's best Mayor ever but no one at the Capitol trusts who the voters will elect after he leaves office. Jackson forfeited the right to control its water system quite some time ago and that, my friends, is the bottom line.
28 comments:
I nominate sista Rukia for the entertainment value. Right?
100% do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Shame me once, shame me twice....
I was for the federal takeover of Jackson water......but JXN Water has shown themselves to me to be nothing more than wasteful, bureaucratic fraudster LIARS. I have had 2 simple requests for over 18 months now, and have yet to have any resolution. I hope they do not let this fall aport over one seat.....grow up, be men, work it out, and move forward. ***the fact that we are paying a company from shreveport to keep people over her all out permanently for water hooks ups is absurd.
Wlbt story said yates expects to be on the committee. It needs to be all new
members.
1:24 I guess you didn't bother to visit
their Jackson Medical Mall center. Just
walk in. There's no reason to call them
names.
Fair enough but Jackson voters deserve a little credit (and mercy) for electing a promising Mayor. That doesn't mean the Chamber President is a good appointee, or that majority state control is unwarranted, but it's looking like the voters are interested in restoring the city's credibility. Also, Lumumba, Sr., signed the Siemens deal after getting elected because he promised the power brokers that he would sign it. It may have been a done deal but he could have undone it before it was inked.
The voters of Jackson sat in at lunch counters and marched in the streets for the right to vote themselves into not having running water. Who are we to stand in the way of their self-determination?
Can the honorable Shanda Yates please be the representative of Kudzu Kannabis instead of Rootdown? Thank you.
I thought Harvey Johnson signed off on
the Siemans deal.
Just for clarity, Shanda Yates is expected to be on the conference committee that will attempt to reach an acceptable agreement on the final language in this bill. Keep in mind she authored the original bill giving the city control of the committee, but she really had no choice since she represents many in Jackson and also needed Horhn’s support to get the legislation moving forward. I don’t think she’ll be on the water authority board.
Never said this here - 💯 agree jackson needs no real say in how it’s governed based on its bad decisions - time and again. Jody and Chockwe and Banks and etc
Nine is too many retards. Reduce to five.
Put Lumumba back in charge; he will have plenty of free time soon.
"Mayor Horhn may be Jackson's best Mayor ever" That's the funniest thing I've heard in a while. Horhn is just as incapable as Chokwe.
Absolutely! You couldn't pay for any better entertainment!
This is going to fail again isn't it when we need this board in place to be transitioning once Henifin's term soon ends? The Senate bill was a damn good one and I'm puzzled the House didnt go along with it? I would have expected the majority in the House to have wanted the Governor to have that additional pick to the board and it's just common sense that Byram and Ridgeland make their own picks to the board.
JXN Water is not wasteful. You know we could go back to Lumumba's 2022 water system? The only mistakes Henifin has made is not tackling the billing sooner and listening to some of the local community organizer loudmouths hollering about lack of transparency and so now he's wasting money on a bunch of ads and mailers.
What was the vote tally on the concurrence?
Shanda Yates is nothing more than a highly educated white limousine liberal
From my experience, Chambers of Commerce tend to be yes men & women for the mayor's and city counsel boards, usually in lock step, and most have ZERO business acumen. They are little fiefdoms of popularity contests that attempt to reign with zero real authority. They are good for doing thing in the interest of the highest bidder and major sources of missing funds. Putting one of them as a vote for this committee is another vote with the mayor and in my opinion, not a smart move.
Maybe I am missing something but from what I have seen the new mayor isn't any different than the other mayors.
KF, I really like your assessment of the voters in Jackson. You are spot on as to their responsibility in the water debacle. The continuos stream of incapable, incompetent and corrupt politicians into City hall is on the voters and they must be saved from themselves. The adults must be in total control of the water in Jackson.
I believe the legislation requires that those on the water authority board have relevant experience, so that eliminates most of the usual appointees.
Fish, I think. you need to revisit (or visit) Southpark Seaon 8, Episode 8 before you tell anyone what the bottom line is, you pinkie wagger. Voters aren't always the ones to blame and in this fucked up environment, we're being given shit choices. Every. Fucking. Time.
What trip are they taking first to learn about other cities water systems? Will it be San Fran, New York, Miami or possibly an overseas trip to Paris or Dubai.
Hell, the Legislature ought to remove Jackson from having any appointees from the Board after Mayor Horhn's and the City Council's very public opposition to the rate hike even a junior high student can clearly understand the water system needs to be financially stable. The City of Jackson ought to be thankful for the seats to the board they were given in the Senate version. You don't get to run a water system into financial and operational failure, especially in a State's Capital city, and get to have control of it again once the federal taxpayers threw you a lifeline. What the hell is Yates thinking? I thought she was one of the good ones.
Wrong my friend. Mayor Harvey Johnson signed and closed the Siemens deal in his last week in office - doing so in order to make sure his choice of folks got the goodies (bond deal, attorney deals, contractor/sub-contractor deals, etc.) Lumumba Sr might have said while campaigning or after being elected that he would sign, I dont remember - but he didn't have a chance. Harvey and his crew took all the goodies and left us with a $92 million debt for $52 million worth of work.
Rep Yates would naturally be on the committee, as would be the Chairman and/or VC of the House and Senate Committee. Would assume Michel would probably be on the committee from the other side, since he authored the SAME bill as Yates and filed it in the Senate.
The problem with Yates though is she capitulated to Hohrn and gave him anything and everything he wanted - changing the bill she authored and filed with a grossly modified bill when it came out of committee and as passed the House.
The so-called seat number nine - is an issue but should not be the only issue, while it makes much more difference than just who it is. With the requirement that more than a simple majority is required for a rate hike, the difference of an eight or a nine person board is a major difference that needs to be considered.
And - the words inserted to protect a powerful lobbying group's client that involves the sanitation fee should be removed altogether. The proposed authority is for water/sewer. It has nothing to do with sanitation, other than currently JxnWater collects the sanitation fees. The purpose of this bill is to resolve issues with the water and sewer utility, it has nothing to do with garbage collection and the legislation should not include anything to do with that function.
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