JACKSON, Miss.—Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba is speaking out against a renewed legislative effort for the State to wrest control of Jackson’s water system away from Mississippi’s capital city, characterizing it as an attack on Black leadership.
“We have to be unequivocal with our rejection of it. I don’t think we should be talking about our amendments to it. I think it needs to be shut down,” the mayor said during a press conference at City Hall in Jackson yesterday.
Senate Bill 2628, the Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Act, would place Jackson’s water and sewer systems under the control of a state-appointed regional water authority once the federally appointed interim third-party manager, Ted Henifin, is no longer in charge of the systems.
‘We Are Opposed to How the Board Will Be Appointed’
Under the Jackson water takeover bill, authored by Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, Mississippi’s governor and lieutenant governor would appoint a nine-member board to oversee the majority-Black city’s water system. The board would consult with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi before appointing a president.
Mayor Lumumba compared the effort to another proposed bill that would force the closure of three of the state’s eight universities by June 2028—possibly including historically Black universities like Jackson State University in the capital city. Although that bill is unlikely to become law and will likely die on calendar due to a legislative deadline today, Mayor Lumumba described it and the Jackson water takeover bill as part of a pattern.
“It is part and parcel of an effort to seize control of a Black city that is run by Black leadership,” Lumumba said on Monday.
While the mayor voiced total opposition to the Jackson water takeover bill on Monday, members of the Jackson City Council said during a special meeting the same day that they want residents be able to provide insight on how the board would operate if the proposal becomes law.
The Council voted unanimously for a resolution, which says that the bill should include a stipulation requiring the nine-member utility board to hold town hall meetings to hear from any residents who receive services from JXN Water in the cities of Jackson, Ridgeland and Byram.
“We’re not fighting the creation of a local water authority. We are opposed to how the board will be appointed,” Ward 7 Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay told WLBT on Monday. “We added amendments to the resolution to be very specific about what we would like to see changed in 2628.”
Councilmembers Kenneth Stokes and Vernon Hartley, who represent wards three and five respectively, were not in attendance for the vote.
‘I Believe This Is A Great Foundation’
Mississippi Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, is the lawmaker at the center of the push for a regional water-utility board that would assume oversight of Jackson’s long-beleaguered drinking water and waste-water infrastructure. Senate Bill 2628 is his second attempt at proposing legislation to create the Mississippi Capitol Region Utility Act. He first introduced a similar bill last year to the dismay of many in the capital city, including the then-newly appointed third-party manager Ted Henifin.
Henifin spoke out against Parker’s bill at the time, telling the Mississippi Free Press in January 2023 that federal funds the Biden Administration allocated to help Jackson repair its ailing water system had “created a monster in the Mississippi Legislature.”
The interim manager said that the time that he feared the language of the 2023 bill would grant state lawmakers free reign over using federal funds meant for repairing Jackson’s water system for other municipalities beyond the capital city. The older version of the bill said the mayors of both Ridgeland and Byram would be involved with the appointments of the water-authority board members.
Parker removed that language from the new bill after getting feedback from Henifin and others, he said at a Senate Accountability, Efficiency, and Transparency Committee meeting on Feb. 21. “I’ve tried to make this a better product. I’ve tried to make it be one that takes as much of the politics out of it as possible,” the Republican senator said.
Henifin released a statement on Feb. 23 expressing his support of the current bill, which now states that the money provided by the federal government “shall be spent according to the direction of the receiver and federal court within the service territory impacted by the water crisis and in accordance with federal law.”
“After reviewing S.B. 2628, I believe this is a great foundation,” Henifin said. “It appears that many of the comments I provided during the last session regarding the bill introduced in 2023 were taken to heart and this bill now includes many of the suggestions I made at that time.”
The federally appointed manager pointed out that “the bill identifies a need for appropriations” but recommended “defining a specific dollar figure to fund start-up costs for the authority to be included in the FY 2025 state budget.”
Henifin was scheduled to meet with local leaders for a briefing at the Mississippi Capitol Building on Feb. 26 but that meeting was postponed.
Mayor Lumumba said during his press conference at City Hall on Monday that Henifin had not been in direct contact with him about his support for the regional water authority bill. He said his priority is to ensure Jacksonians feel heard about their concerns.
“I want to be clear that we’re the biggest champions of Ted (Henifin) because Ted’s success means the City’s success,” the mayor said. “(But) we’re going to make sure that the voices of the people that have been suffering at the hands of water insecurity for 30 years plus aren’t absent in this conversation. We’re not going to apologize for that nor are we going to be quiet—that’s for anybody who has authority over this system in any way right now.”
The Mississippi Free Press reached out to JXN Water and Henifin for comment on this story but did not hear back by press time.
The Senate Accountability, Efficiency, and Transparency Committee advanced Parker’s bill on Feb. 21 and it now awaits a vote on the Senate floor. If it passed there, it would still need approval from the House before it could go to Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk for his signature.
