FRIDAY. COMING UP IN THE FORECAST. ALL RIGHT JASON. WELL, IN THE LAST THREE DAYS, BIRMINGHAM WATER WORKS BOARD HAS BEEN IN THE SPOTLIGHT. YEAH. FIRST FOR AN ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST THE BOARD CHAIRWOMAN. AND NOW STATE LEADERS ARE PUSHING A BILL TO RESTRUCTURE HOW MANY BOARD MEMBERS THERE CAN ACTUALLY BE. THIS WOULD MEAN TAKING POWER AWAY FROM THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM. 米兰体育 13 S MAGDALA LOUISSAINT WAS AT THAT MEETING. SHE JOINS US LIVE WITH MORE ON WHAT HAPPENED. SO GUY AND BRITTANY, TODAY鈥橲 MEETING WAS SORT OF A RECAP WITH BOARD MEMBERS AND THE GENERAL MANAGER AND WHAT THEY DISCUSSED YESTERDAY WITH STATE LEADERS, ONE OF THEM BEING THE WATER QUALITY FOR THE ORGANIZATION HAS NEVER BEEN A MAJOR ISSUE. AND SO THEIR MESSAGE TO STATE LEADERS IS THERE鈥橲 NO NEED FOR A TAKEOVER. THREE STATE LEGISLATORS WHO WROTE SENATE BILL 330 DON鈥橳 BELIEVE THE BIRMINGHAM WATER WORKS BOARD IS DOING A GOOD JOB. GENERAL MANAGER MACK UNDERWOOD SAYS THAT鈥橲 NOT TRUE. THERE鈥橲 NO REASON FOR A TAKEOVER. NONE AT ALL. ALL OF THE INFORMATION THAT WAS PRESENTED YESTERDAY BY LEGISLATORS IN SUPPORT OF THIS BILL IS JUST NOT FACTUAL. IT鈥橲 JUST NOT TRUE. UNDERWOOD AND SOME OTHER MEMBERS ARE BACK IN THE MAGIC CITY AFTER PLEADING THEIR CASE TO STATE LEADERS IN MONTGOMERY WHO WANT TO CHANGE THE WAY THIS BOARD LOOKS. ROE CALL THE BILL PROPOSES THINGS LIKE REPLACING BOARD MEMBERS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE ENGINEERING QUALIFICATIONS, CUTTING DOWN THE NUMBER OF BOARD MEMBERS, INCLUDING LESS REPRESENTATION FOR THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM TO BECOME MORE REGIONAL. WE BASE OUR INFORMATION ON THE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS. THE NUMBER OF CONNECTIONS IS THE NUMBER OF METERS WE HAVE IN THE SYSTEM. SO ANY WAY YOU LOOK AT IT, MAJORITY OF THE CUSTOMERS ARE IN BIRMINGHAM AND JEFFERSON COUNTY. BIRMINGHAM RESIDENTS AND LOCAL LEADERS. EVEN IF THE CLOCK RUNS OUT ON THIS BILL THAT鈥橲 BEING CONSIDERED BY THE LEGISLATURE RIGHT NOW, THEY鈥橪L BE COMING BACK NEXT SESSION WITH A VENGEANCE. TOOK A STANCE TO SPEAK AGAINST THE BILL, WHILE TELLING MEMBERS TO TAKE NOTE OF WHAT THEY BELIEVE IS THE TRUE MOTIVE BEHIND SB 330. DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH EVIL. TAKE A STAND. CALL IT WHAT IT IS. IT鈥橲 RACISM. IT鈥橲 A TAKEOVER, AND WE WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM IT. UNDERWOOD SAYS NO MATTER WHAT HE BELIEVES, BW IS MAKING IMPROVEMENTS WITH CUSTOMER CALLS, REPLACING OLD UNDERGROUND PIPES AND THE BUDGET. WE THINK THE BOARD HAS DONE A GOOD JOB WITH BRINGING IN AN INTERIM AND NOW A PERMANENT MANAGEMENT TEAM TO BRING THE SYSTEM BACK TO WHERE IT WAS RELATED TO CUSTOMER BILLING AND THOSE ISSUES. SO THEY鈥橰E MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. AND SO BIRMINGHAM鈥橲 MAYOR, RANDALL WOODFIN, HAS ACTUALLY RELEASED A STATEMENT SPEAKING AGAINST THIS BILL. YOU CAN READ THAT ON OUR WEBSITE. AND I ALSO RECEIVED A STATEMENT TODAY FROM THE CHAIRWOMAN RESPONDING TO THE ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST HER. I鈥橪L HAVE THAT ATTACHED TO THE WEBB ARTICLE AS WELL. IN THE MEANTIME, WE鈥橵E TRIED MULTIPLE TIMES TO REACH OUT TO AT LEAST TWO OF THE SENATORS WHO WROTE THE BILL JAKOB WAGNER AND DAN. AND WE HAVE NOT HEARD BACK FROM EITHER ONE OF THEM JUST YET. BUT WE鈥橪L KEEP YOU POSTED. WE鈥橰E LIV
Alabama Senate passes controversial water works bill
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Updated: 12:04 PM CDT Apr 24, 2025
New: The Alabama Senate passes the amended water works restructuring bill 30 to 0. It now moves on to the Alabama House. Three Alabama state legislators, Dan Roberts, Jabbo Waggoner and Shay Shellnut, who wrote Senate Bill 330, don't believe the Birmingham Water Works Board is doing a good job. General manager Mac Underwood says that's not true."There's no reason for a takeover. None at all. All of the information that were presented yesterday by legislators in support of this bill is just not factual. It's just not truth,鈥� Mac Underwood, BWWB General Manager, said.Underwood and some other members are back in the Magic City after pleading their case to state leaders in Montgomery, who want to change the way this board looks."We base our information on the number of connections. The number of connections is the number of meters we have in the system. So any way you look at it, the majority of the customers already in Birmingham and Jefferson County,鈥� Underwood said.Birmingham residents, local elected leaders took a stance to speak against the bill while telling members to take note of what they believe, is the true motive behind SB 330.Underwood says no matter what, he believes BWWB is making improvements with customer calls, replacing old underground pipes, and the budget.鈥淲e think the board has done a good job with bringing in an interim and now a permanent management team to bring the system back to where it was when related to customer building and all the issues. So, they're moving in the right direction,鈥� Underwood said.Birmingham鈥檚 Mayor Randall Woodfin responded to the SB 330:"The people of Birmingham strongly oppose the proposed water works bill in the Alabama Senate and we will do everything in our power to support our House and Senate members as they work to kill it. The fact is that 91% of the customers of the Birmingham Water Works live in Jefferson County, yet under this bill other counties that have less than 10% of the customers will control our water. That is blatantly unfair to Birmingham, Jefferson County and the overwhelming majority of people served by the BWW. This is a political power grab plain and simple and this bill needs to be killed."Attribute to Mayor Randall L. Woodfin"The Birmingham Water Works Board Chair, Tereshia Huffman, gave 米兰体育 13 a statement responding to the ethics complaint filed against her."In law school, two words I have learned a lot about are conspiracy and motive Conspiracy by definition is a secret plan by a group to do something harmful or unlawful. Motive is the reason one has for acting in or behaving in a particular way.Regarding this ethics complaint, we clearly have a conspiracy because it was leaked the same day legislation was moving to do away with this board and harm the citizens of Jefferson County. Some of the players in this conspiracy we know and some have chosen to remain faceless. I strongly believe this complaint was initiated by a disgruntled former employee who was fired because they did not do their job. If they would man up and release their name we would know the truth. In the past year many people have been fired for many reasons including incompetence and now they are trying to discredit me and all members of this board. This is their motive. We know the ethics commission well. We passed a resolution requiring that all board members have ethics training. We take ethics very seriously. As a result, I have asked the ethics commission to expedite their review so that the facts can be known quickly. The single purpose of this false claim is to add fuel to the fire to pass the terrible bill now in the Alabama Senate. This is an example where motivation and conspiracy come together in an attempt to undo the good work of this board and we are not going to stand for it."Tereshia Huffman- Chair
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — New: The Alabama Senate passes the amended water works restructuring bill 30 to 0. It now moves on to the Alabama House.
Three Alabama state legislators, Dan Roberts, Jabbo Waggoner and Shay Shellnut, who wrote Senate Bill 330, don't believe the Birmingham Water Works Board is doing a good job. General manager Mac Underwood says that's not true.
"There's no reason for a takeover. None at all. All of the information that were presented yesterday by legislators in support of this bill is just not factual. It's just not truth,鈥� Mac Underwood, BWWB General Manager, said.
Underwood and some other members are back in the Magic City after pleading their case to state leaders in Montgomery, who want to change the way this board looks.
"We base our information on the number of connections. The number of connections is the number of meters we have in the system. So any way you look at it, the majority of the customers already in Birmingham and Jefferson County,鈥� Underwood said.
Birmingham residents, local elected leaders took a stance to speak against the bill while telling members to take note of what they believe, is the true motive behind SB 330.
Underwood says no matter what, he believes BWWB is making improvements with customer calls, replacing old underground pipes, and the budget.
鈥淲e think the board has done a good job with bringing in an interim and now a permanent management team to bring the system back to where it was when related to customer building and all the issues. So, they're moving in the right direction,鈥� Underwood said.
Birmingham鈥檚 Mayor Randall Woodfin responded to the SB 330:
"The people of Birmingham strongly oppose the proposed water works bill in the Alabama Senate and we will do everything in our power to support our House and Senate members as they work to kill it.
The fact is that 91% of the customers of the Birmingham Water Works live in Jefferson County, yet under this bill other counties that have less than 10% of the customers will control our water. That is blatantly unfair to Birmingham, Jefferson County and the overwhelming majority of people served by the BWW.
This is a political power grab plain and simple and this bill needs to be killed."
Attribute to Mayor Randall L. Woodfin"
The Birmingham Water Works Board Chair, Tereshia Huffman, gave 米兰体育 13 a statement responding to the ethics complaint filed against her.
"In law school, two words I have learned a lot about are conspiracy and motive Conspiracy by definition is a secret plan by a group to do something harmful or unlawful. Motive is the reason one has for acting in or behaving in a particular way.
Regarding this ethics complaint, we clearly have a conspiracy because it was leaked the same day legislation was moving to do away with this board and harm the citizens of Jefferson County. Some of the players in this conspiracy we know and some have chosen to remain faceless. I strongly believe this complaint was initiated by a disgruntled former employee who was fired because they did not do their job. If they would man up and release their name we would know the truth. In the past year many people have been fired for many reasons including incompetence and now they are trying to discredit me and all members of this board. This is their motive. We know the ethics commission well. We passed a resolution requiring that all board members have ethics training. We take ethics very seriously. As a result, I have asked the ethics commission to expedite their review so that the facts can be known quickly. The single purpose of this false claim is to add fuel to the fire to pass the terrible bill now in the Alabama Senate. This is an example where motivation and conspiracy come together in an attempt to undo the good work of this board and we are not going to stand for it."
Tereshia Huffman- Chair
