Dear Editor,
I found it very interesting that the Clarion Ledger writer in discussing the proposed change of the Jackson Water System in the January 26, 2023 article referred to the City of Jackson as the “owner” of the system.
I beg to differ on who the real owners of the system are. It is not the City Council who according to Mayor Lumumba needs the revenue the system brings in. We the citizens of Jackson are the owners of the water system. The City Council and Mayor of Jackson have long since relinquished their rights to manage the system by their apparent lack of basic management skills and attention.
That is why the courts were forced to step in and appoint a manager. Audits over the past years have repeatedly pointed to management failures with the water system only to have such recommendations ignored by city management. (Reference 2020 audit material weaknesses in internal controls 2020-002, repeat; 2020-004, repeat and 2020-005, repeat). It is now 16 months past the 2021 fiscal year and the audit report for that year is no available. The proposed legislation will not change the ownership of the water system but it will certainly offer the opportunity to restore proper management to the system.
City officials have for the past several years blamed the lack of proper billing of water charges to a bad system and while improvements were needed, a proper staffing of qualified personnel would likely have saved millions of lost revenues even with a bad system. Instead, the city maintained a level of incompetence unequaled by anything I ever witnessed in my 40 plus years as an auditor, some of which was auditing the City of Jackson.
It is time for a change and the bill to establish a separate authority to manage the system is a step in the right direction.
George Smith, Retired CPA and Jackson Resident
