JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Ted Henifin appeared upbeat as he walked out of the federal courthouse Wednesday afternoon.
For three hours, he listened as community leaders and residents raised concerns about the lack of transparency with Henifin and his company JXN Water.
“It’s always great to hear feedback. I wish I get it directly as opposed to the courthouse, but, you know, I think a lot of these points are very valid and I’m glad to get them today.”
A status conference was held Wednesday before U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate to hear from community leaders with their concerns with water operations under Henifin, the city’s third-party water manager.
Henifin was appointed interim third-party manager as part of a court order taking over Jackson’s water system in November.
Representatives from multiple community organizations packed the courthouse.
Groups represented at Wednesday’s hearing:
- Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition
- Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign
- Grace House
- Mississippi Votes
- International Museum of Muslim Culture
- People’s Advocacy Institute
- Institute for Democratic Education in America
- Mississippi State Conference – NAACP
- Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity
- Working Together Jackson
- Southern Poverty Law Center
Wingate heard from five people during the afternoon’s proceedings, including Brooke Floyd, director of the Jackson People’s Assembly, prior to recessing the meeting until Thursday.
For her part, Floyd told the judge she’s lost water pressure at least three times in the last month and never received a boil water advisory.
“In the past, when those things have happened, we have received a boil water notice. Even if the city didn’t upload it immediately, within 24 hours the Mississippi State Department of Health had it on their site,” she said. “I was able to look up my address and know I had a boil water notice.”
She said she’s reached out to JXN Water to find out if notices were going to be issued in those instances but had little luck.
“It went off, came on that night, and was horrible. The discoloration, the smell. Things were floating in it,” Floyd recalled. “I called the next day, and said, ‘We’ve got a boil water notice, right?’ and I kept being put on hold. No one ever came back, and the phone was disconnected.”
Floyd says the water at her Kelton Drive home continues to be discolored. “My issue is I just want to know,” she said. “I just want to know there’s an issue.”
Jose Nunez, organizing director of the Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, said 90 percent of the city’s Hispanic population lives in South and West Jackson, areas hit hardest by Jackson’s water problems.
He wants JXN Water to do a better job of reaching out to the city’s 10,000 or so Spanish-speaking residents.
“Right now, we have areas where we don’t have water. Where it is brown, doesn’t taste good, has the smell,” he said. “Some people have gotten sick drinking the water because they’re not getting boil water notices.”
Henifin said the call center does have Spanish-speaking operators. WLBT reached out to the call center, and a representative said they had none. We told Henifin, and he said he would check the situation out.
Bishop Ronnie Crudup, who was representing Working Together Jackson, said his group supported the third-party manager’s appointment, but believes communication from the ITPM can be more “vigorous.”
“I’ve been out of water at my house… on five different occasions. Even now, pressure in our part of town, a lot of times, is quite low,” he said. “There’s got to be better communication in all of this.”
He suggested forming an advisory panel like the Better Together Commission, which was put in place when the state was threatening to take over Jackson Public Schools.
“An advisory board of various stakeholders – individuals and organizations that worked with the school board and others to help them through this whole process,” he said. “We think that is a process that will work. It happened before and I think we can learn something from the history that we have gone through.”
Crudup said Working Together Jackson also wanted to ensure “contract justice.”
“It’s almost criminal the amount of business African Americans get in this city,” he said. “We think there is a tremendous opportunity here for us, with the $600 million that the Biden administration has already put in.”
In January, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba announced the city had received some $800 million in federal funds to address the city’s water and sewer needs. $600 million of that was allocated by Congress specifically for use on water and water-related projects.
Wingate asked Crudup if he knew of any African American firms in the water business.
He was not aware of any but said there are several firms who can repave streets, dig up broken lines, and the like.
“We are not interested in an adversarial relationship with Mr. Henifin,” Crudup said. “We just think if communications are better there it helps all along the way.”
The hearing was recessed and will resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
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