CULLMAN — Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little presented the Cullman County Commission with a written request to dissolve the five week-old county water utility board and cooperative it formed in late April, a move that ignited a county-wide controversy and has since drawn a court order temporarily stalling the new entities from acting on their newfound power.

Little’s appeal came in the form of a letter delivered to the commission office Wednesday, a day after associate county commissioners Doug Williams and Wayne Willingham—who formed the quorum that passed last month’s water board and co-op into existence over the objections of commission chairman James Graves—were defeated in primary re-election bids in which the victors opposed the two incumbents’ stance on the water issue.

In his letter, Little exhorts the commission, “[r]ather than continue with the current litigation that is pending in court, you have the ability to end it now and return to the status quo so that this issue can be openly debated. Allowing this litigation to continue places our future at risk.”

The litigation referenced in the letter got its start on May 7, when a number of residents, along with Graves, filed a civil lawsuit to overturn the April 27 formation of the Governmental Utility Services Corporation of Cullman County (GUSC) and the South Cumberland Cooperative District (SCCD), and the full transfer of the Cullman County water department to the SCCD.

Plaintiffs in the suit scored a temporary victory last week, when Circuit Judge Don Hardeman issued a preliminary injunction returning everything to the way it was before April 27, pending a resolution of the suit. The final hearing in the case is set for July 26.

Little said Wednesday he hoped the commission would take a long view in seeing the detriment a protracted legal battle could do to local industrial recruitment.

“Continuing to litigate this has the potential to damage our recruiting efforts now,” Little said. “We have companies that are looking to come here; that we are recruiting; companies that are here and want to expand—and they are going to look at the friction between government here and compare it with our competition, and our competition is going to use that against us. The sooner we get on the same page, the better off we’ll be.

“Too,” he added, “money is available. Our federal delegation is ready to help us if we can present a unified front on looking at our options for a water source. They are ready, and I think that this lack of togetherness has prevented some of that help from coming our way.”

Williams declined to give a direct response to the request, citing the need to consult with defense attorneys representing the commission in the lawsuit before issuing specific comments.

“I would have to say that, because it’s in litigation, I don’t know that I can discuss it,” he explained. “I do have an answer, but I need to talk to my lawyers first. One of the things in that [injunction] order, the way I read it, is that the GUSC and the board itself can't take any action for the time being, which means they can't even dissolve themselves. In order for us to do something, they would have to act to dissolve, as I understand it.”

Graves welcomed the Senator’s request, and pledged to put it before the commission when it next meets on June 15.

“I think it's an outstanding idea; a wonderful opportunity to do what is right,” said Graves Wednesday. “Why not do that very thing, now that the voters have spoken, and rescind their action at our next commission meeting on the 15th? I think everybody will respect them [Williams and Willingham] a whole lot better for doing that. I’ll have to find out from them if they’re willing to do this, and—if they are—it will be on the agenda at the meeting.

“Once you create a board on this, it's like a living creature, and you can't kill it. But, if the commissioners rescind their April 27th motion to establish these entities, they could continue to exist, but they simply would not have any power or authority—they would just be detached, like a balloon floating in the air. To do away with the board and the cooperative altogether, the boards have got to elect to dissolve themselves on their own.”

Little acknowledged the request is extraordinary, coming from a member of the region’s legislative delegation, but said the circumstances warrant it.

“It is an unusual situation, but Cullman is an unusual area,” Little said. “We were number one in the state last year for jobs created from new and expanding industry, and number ten in the nation. Our area is unique, and the litigation of this case is not going to help our image; it's not going to help us create new jobs in this area. I think it's abundantly clear that the people in the county do not approve of the way that this transpired, so this is an opportunity to start over.

“We all make mistakes, and I don't expect there to be instant agreement on this. But what people are telling me is that they want open discussions, obviously, about the options we have with water, and I think we can reset this and start from the beginning to do just that.”



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