Jackson Water - who will oversee city's system?
Jackson city attorney says water authority plan filed without city input
Jackson's city attorney told the City Council's Public Works Committee that a transition plan to turn the city's water utility into an independent authority was filed with a federal court without the city's involvement.
Speaking at the Public Works Committee meeting on Oct. 27, the city attorney said the plan filed by JXN Water's interim manager, identified on the recording as Mr. Hennepin, broke an earlier agreement to collaborate. "We're disappointed in the fact that this plan was put together so independently from the city. I stood up and said that we would be working with Jackson Water on this. Mr. Hennepin had told me we would work together on this. We did not work together on this," the attorney said. The city attorney also objected to language in the plan suggesting the proposed water board should not be "beholden" to elected officials.
The dispute centers on who will control a new governing board for Jackson's water system, along with oversight of its infrastructure debt and rates. The city attorney said Jackson plans to submit its own comments, and possibly a competing proposal, to the federal court by a Dec. 4 deadline.