Central Alabama Water has referred the discovery of a second theft to the Birmingham Police Department (BPD). This follows a referral just months ago to BPD for an estimated $2 million in copper thefts.
The discovery comes as the new board attempts to unravel years of what has been described as "mismanagement" by the prior board, which includes implementing additional safeguards related to inventory and contract evaluation.
Mac Underwood, the general manager, released a statement that said, "We reported the issue to the Birmingham Police Department and will continue to work with authorities as the investigation moves forward," reported by WBRC6.
"The CAW is committed to honesty, integrity and accountability. We expect all our employees, consultants and contractors to uphold these values. Anyone who violates these principles and the trust of our customers will be held accountable," he continued.
The issue of inventory control came up briefly at this week's board meeting following a presentation by the utilities' annual audit firm, with one of the board members asking if the annual report acknowledged the other recently discovered thefts.
"Did your inventory find the magnitude of the inventory problems?" the board member asked.
The auditor said that it was not reflected in the report as a subsequent event "because it did not reach where it needed to be disclosed."
During that discussion at this week's meeting, it was revealed that in 2023, the utility did "a whole lot of purchasing" to stock the warehouse.
"When we first arrived, the warehouse should have had 600 items; there were 100 items," said Underwood, who explained that the utility did "emergency purchase orders" to get the inventory.
"Our utility has already taken steps to improve its inventory control. We are also currently undergoing a forensic audit by an independent accounting firm. The information provided from the audit will help our executive team further improve inventory control going forward," Underwood's statement said.
According to a spokesman for Central Alabama Water, the auditing firm Warren Averett has been hired for the forensic audit that the utility is currently undergoing.
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