Birmingham Water Works hires familiar face as new general manager
Birmingham Water Works officially renamed Mac Underwood as the general manager on Wednesday morning.
Underwood previously served in the same position from 2003-2018 before resigning due to conflicts with the water board.
"It was a different board, different time, it was kind of time for us to part ways, but I've always kept Birmingham Water Works near and dear to my heart," he said.
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Now, seven years later, he's back with a new board.
"I noticed the board's commitment to improving customer service and improving the operations," Underwood said. "I've been a consultant for the last six months and we've done a lot of work to improve the building and customer service issues and that commitment showed me that the board was committed to improving operations."
米兰体育 13 sat down with Underwood on his first day back in the position and asked him about his goals for BWW.
"The first thing is better customer service," he said. "We're focused on making sure that the meters are read accurately, the billings are accurate and we provide good customer service."
He also plans to improve the infrastructure throughout the city.
"We're working on a system that has over 420 miles of pre-1921 pipe, so a lot of that infrastructure is worn out. What we're looking to do is replace that infrastructure as soon as possible," he said.
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Underwood said they also plan to install new automatic meter reading infrastructure. Those meters could be installed as early as next year.
His third big goal includes battling an issue that has plagued the water works board in the past.
"Just making sure everyone is held accountable for their work," Underwood said. "Whether that's internal employees, whether that's consultants, anybody that works for Birmingham Water Works, we want to make sure we're holding them accountable for doing their work and doing their job."