Jefferson County Sues Water Utility for Mismanagement

0:00A rapayer in Jefferson County just dropped the class action lawsuit against central Alabama water, its CEO and board members, claiming wild. Mis-management is putting water safety at risk for over 770,000 customers. Jim Hicks filed it in Circuit Court, pushing for an independent receiver to take over operations and fix the mess. Earlier this year, the utility slammed the brakes on an $85 million dam rehab project right in the middle of construction at the one. 109-year-old Lake Party Dam, which serves 20% of their folks. They also shut down their entire water quality lab, fired 135 workers in one day plus 76 MP spots for a total of over. 200 jobs cut and stopped adding fluoride to the water without proper heads up. Customers are feeling the heat with no more in-person cash payments at offices, forcing everyone online by mail, phone or even Walmart, which tax. On extra costs, the layoffs hit black employees hardest, per the suit, and S&P global just downgraded their bonds from double A to double A minus, warning of, worst to come due to cash shortages and old pipes.

1:12On top of that, they ditched a $25 million electrical upgrade at the Western Filter Plan, killed IT upgrades in the whole department, and scrapped automated meter reading rollout all while outsourcing without checking cyber risks. The suit blasts the leaders for breaching their duties to customers and wants the damn work we started, lab back online, and full compliance. Central Alabama water isn't commenting yet, but this fight could reshape how they run things for everyone downstream. Birmingham News today, powered by AI bringing you what matters.