In a Monday interview on Birmingham NewsRadio 105.5 WERC's "Alabama's Morning News," Jefferson County Commission president Jimmie Stephens, who was recently diagnosed cancer-free, discussed the latest at the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB).
An amended complaint filed late last week named Stephens as a defendant, saying in part, "The County Commission Defendants have a custom or policy of racial discrimination."
Stephens questioned the customer numbers being used by the City of Birmingham in their lawsuit, saying, "The Census Bureau numbers don't lie. And just like the congressional apportionment, the population, not the number of connections, is the only valid means to determine the representation of Birmingham's to proportion of the utility is."
He pointed out that according to those numbers, Birmingham would account for 25% of the utility users, concluding, "So actually, there are actually overrepresented."
Previously, the nine-member board consisted of two appointments from the Birmingham Mayor, four appointments by the Birmingham City Council, one appointment by the Jefferson County Mayors Association, one appointment by the Shelby County Commission and one appointment by the Blount County Commission.
Stephens also praised the new board, including his appointee Phillip Wiedmeyer.
"I think most, if not all, of those changes are good," he said. "I think that they are opening up a line of communication."
The board's priorities to date have included undoing some of the final decisions made by the previous board, including the sale of the utility to the City of Birmingham after Governor Kay Ivey signed the new restructuring into law, and cancelling contracts made the evening before she did so.
According to the BWWB website, the next board of directors' work session of the regional board has been scheduled for June 18 at 6:00 p.m., and the next regular board of directors' meeting of the regional board will be June 24 at 6:30 p.m.
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