The public outcry was as swift as the backroom deal that landed Birmingham Water Works Board attorney Mark Parnell in the hot seat this week. Parnell was one of several who were given last-minute contracts in the final hours before Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill to reorganize the Birmingham Water Works. The total value of the contracts was $2.6 million.
Parnell's contract would have made him the second-highest-paid public employee behind David Bronner, the head of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, based on the latest publicly available data via OpenPayrolls.com. By comparison, Parnell's contract, which included a base salary of $660,000 before benefits, stood in stark contrast to that of the governor, which is $131,000 a year.
AL(dot)com reported that board member Jeffrey Brumlow explained, "After the way the contract went down with Mr. Parnell, it did not inspire confidence in me."
"Once I read that contract and saw what it did, that was a slap in the face to the ratepayers, to the employees, to the pensioners, to this board. It was incredibly one-sided and if a lawyer will do that to the board, I can't have you around, I'm sorry," he explained to the outlet, further saying, "We've got to have good counsel, and we've got to have counsel that everyone trusts."
Brumlow is a municipal attorney and former Shelby County Commissioner. According to the Shelby County Reporter, he was appointed by the Shelby County Commission on Monday, May 12, to serve a five-year term. Shelby County is allowed one appointee on the newly formed regional board.
The decision was just one in what is quickly becoming a long list. The board also attempted a last-minute sale of the municipality, which was reversed by the new board by a vote of 5-2.
As previously reported by 1819 News, "State Rep. David Standridge (R-Hayden), who was picked by the Shelby and Blount County commissions, said the vote was to send a message of support to Ivey and the new law.
"I think that the majority of the board felt like the law that was passed, it took effect immediately, so the action was not valid," Standridge told 1819 News. "We just thought it was important to make a statement that the new board feels like that was an invalid action. The ones that objected did not agree, but it passed."
According to WBRC, the decision to end Parnell's contract was just one among several made at the meeting. The board also agreed to request that the State Board of Public Examiners conduct an audit of the previous board, as well as to elect Tommy Hudson and Jarvis Patton as temporary board chair and vice chair, respectively.
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