‘Our limitation will be dollars’: Jackson’s sewer system is now under the control of Ted Henifin

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Jackson’s sewer system is now under the control of Ted Henifin.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate signed a court order taking control of the city’s sewer system and placing it under Henifin, the interim third-party manager.

The judge initially signed the order to take effect on July 31, which would have done away with the 30-day comment period included in it.

However, the court re-convened, and Wingate agreed to leave the 30-day comment period in place.

That decision means Henifin is still in charge of the sewer, but Wingate is willing to make changes to the order based on comments received.

A copy of the 56-page order was filed last week. Provisions allowed for a 30-day public comment period similar to the one that was in place for the city’s sewer consent decree prior to it being signed in 2013.

“Since the original consent decree was subject to public comment, we thought it would be appropriate to have public comment on the stipulated order,” said Karl Fingerhood, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Section. “There is a keen public interest in both the drinking water and [sewer] system issues.”

Fingerhood says DOJ has already heard from groups like Pearl Riverkeeper, which is concerned about prohibited bypasses going into the Pearl River. He said DOJ also had sought comments on the sewer in relation to the drinking water case.

Once the comment period ends, they will be compiled and submitted to the court, along with a summary of the statements.

Comment period aside, Henifin says he’s ready to hit the ground running.

“We have two contractors lined up and ready to go. We have a TV camera contractor lined up to clean and inspect [sewer lines]. We have an engineering contractor who’s worked with the city for many years,” he said. “She’s lined up to manage a lot of that work.”

“Our limitation will be dollars.”

The stipulated order includes nearly a dozen priority sewer projects, which will cost an estimated $130 million. Under terms of the agreement, Henifin is given four years to complete the work.

However, unlike the major federal allocation sent to help with water, Henifin has not received the same help on the sewer side.

“The money we got comes under the Safe Drinking Water Act… and that act only deals with drinking water,” he said. “We can’t spend any of the Safe Drinking Water Act money on sewer.”

“We don’t have any source of money right now for sewer other than local revenues.”

Earlier this year, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba the city had received some $800 million in federal money to repair its crumbling water system.

Of that, $600 million came through the SDWA and can be used solely on water; $125 million of that went to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for use on various infrastructure projects; the remaining funds came through the American Rescue Plan Act, and a state matching grant program using ARPA.

Meanwhile, Jackson is only expected to bring in about 56 percent of billed revenues this year, or about $36 million a year.

“We should be somewhere closer to $60 or $70 million if people are paying their bills,” he said.

To help boost income, JXN Water is expected to begin shutoffs for nonpayment in September.

Henifin was given control of the city’s water/sewer billing system as part of the order taking over water back in November.

Under the new order, JXN Water will collect all water, sewer, and sanitation fees from customers, and return all sanitation fees back to the city.

Henifin said details of the shutoff policy were still being hammered out.

He said the process likely will include giving delinquent customers 30 days to catch up, followed by an additional seven days to get current or set up a payment plan with JXN Water. Customers who fail to do so after that seven-day period will have their water shut off.

“It pretty much aligns with the Public Service Commission on how they [recommend] shutoffs,” he said. “Most utilities follow the same path.”

Henifin says JXN Water has started notifying customers about the policy at recent community meetings. Council members also have started telling their constituents to pay their bills.

[READ: Water cut-offs for nonpayment could begin in August, JXN Water official says]

“Once we start shutting [people] off, I think we’ll see a tremendous difference for those people who do have accounts,” he said.

JXN Water also is working to get another 7,000 customers on the books. Henifin estimates between 5,000 and 7,000 property owners are receiving water but not paying.

He said Horne LLP has been brought on to help with identifying those properties and said work should be wrapped up later this year.

“By this fall, we’ll have the confidence to know where the people are that are using water and not paying for it,” he said. “We’ll start trying to get their accounts open and get them in line.”

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