CULLMAN — Following a day-long session of mediation talks ordered by the Alabama Supreme Court, at least one side in the ongoing litigation over control of the Cullman County water department sees reason for optimism that the talks could ultimately produce a settlement.

Dennis Haynes, who represented the South Cumberland Cooperative District (SCCD) at Monday’s first mediation session, said Wednesday each side in the lawsuit that precipitated the court-mandated talks should feel hopeful that — if things progress as they did Monday — they may find common ground.

“The whole purpose of the mediation is to reach a settlement, and that’s what the Supreme Court has asked us to do,” said Haynes Wednesday. “The fact that it took us a good portion of the day Monday might be perceived as being a good thing. If it had ended after 30 minutes of talking, that would have indicated that there wouldn’t have been much productive happening.”

While Haynes — along with representatives on each side of the discussion — declined to give specifics of Monday’s talks, he did emphasize the SCCD board’s highest priority, regardless of the outcome of mediation or the litigation that has framed the talks, is fairness to water customers at both the wholesale and consumer level.

“One thing I would hope for from our time spent in mediation on Monday would be that the county and the South Cumberland board can move forward together to approach the City of Cullman to seek fairness in any water purchase contract,” he said.

“And the thing that was hopeful as we ended our day in mediation was just the understanding that we would be moving forward together to seek fairness in the contract, regardless of whether we’re talking about the 2000 contract we assumed when we [the SCCD board] were installed back in April, or the 2010 contract that was signed just a few days ago. There still needs to be openness in that contract — and of course that would make it necessary that the city be receptive to our representatives and to the county’s representatives.”

The updated water purchase agreement between the county and city was signed last month shortly after two new associate county commissioners took office. The agreement is structured to run through the anticipated 30-year bond repayment schedule that will underpin the financing for the city’s construction of a reservoir to dam the Duck River watershed as a supplement to its existing water supply at Lake Catoma.

“The whole issue from the beginning has been the fairness in the water purchase contract to obtain water from the City of Cullman,” said Haynes. “When South Cumberland was put together as a board on April 27, the [water purchase] contract we were under at that time was the May 2000 contract. The new county commission has added a new level of complexity by signing the contract that it signed on November 16.”  

Haynes acknowledged that public opinion has not been on the side of the SCCD board ever since the Cullman County Commission created it and its oversight board — the Governmental Utility Services Corporation of Cullman County (GUSC) — in late April.

“There’s no denying the fact that the majority of the citizens in the county have a real problem with how both the boards were created,” said Haynes. “And I would have to say that I would agree with that majority of the population.  

“But, the fact is that our objective is the same today as it was on April 27 — and that is to secure fairly priced, quality water for all the citizens of Cullman County, and specifically for the customers of the Cullman County water department.

Until mediation has run its course — a process Haynes said could take anywhere from a week to two months or more, depending on the progress of attorneys’ behind-the-scenes negotiations — the SCCD board does not intend to assert what it views as its right to mount a new legal challenge to the latest circuit court ruling that ordered custody of the water department back into the county’s hands in early November.

“We’ve been told to stand up and sit down so many times it’s sometimes dizzying to know whether we’re in business or out of business,” said Haynes. “The SCCD board has tried to exercise great restraint in being respectful to Judge Hardeman’s rulings and the decisions he’s handed down. At the same time, we’ve felt it has been necessary to defend ourselves when it comes down to our simple right to exist.

“Remember,” he added: “My position; the position of the South Cumberland board, has been the same from the beginning — I’ve never voiced opposition to building a dam on the Duck River reservoir, or drawing water out of Smith Lake, or pulling water from the Tennessee River. All I’ve sought is fairness in the pricing of water for the citizens of Cullman County. That’s what I am hopeful that we can accomplish.”



‰Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.