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July 14, 2010

Water utility hearing postponed until Aug. 2

By Benjamin Bullard The Cullman Times

CULLMAN — A circuit court hearing mandated by the Alabama Supreme Court has been postponed at the request of both parties to the lawsuit concerning the April incorporation of the two utility entities that supplanted the county water department. The hearing, originally scheduled for today, has been given a new deadline that could prolong the process an additional 30 days.

Both sides in the case were granted a joint motion to extend the deadline on an order the higher court had issued remanding—or re-sending—the case back to circuit court for a hearing on whether to let stand an injunction order issued in late May by Circuit Judge Don Hardeman.

That injunction temporarily froze the deliberative powers of the two water utility boards in question—the Governmental Utility Services Corporation of Cullman County (GUSC) and the South Cumberland Cooperative District (SCCD). It also ordered the SCCD to re-transfer to the county more than $30 million in real property and water infrastructural assets it was deeded after being created at a county commission meeting April 27.

To date, that transfer has not taken place, with defendants seeking an emergency stay of that portion of the injunction as part of the appeals process before the Supreme Court. The defendants, which include not only the GUSC and SCCD but also associate county commissioners Doug Williams and Wayne Willingham, argued for the stay on the grounds that plaintiffs had not sufficiently demonstrated they would be harmed by the SCCD’s continued ownership and administration of the water department.

On Tuesday, the high court granted the joint filing and moved the deadline for the remanded circuit court hearing from July 16 to August 2. A final hearing in the overall five-count lawsuit is still scheduled for July 26, a date that may also include the Circuit Judge’s consideration of the remanded appeal.

Todd McLeroy of Knight, Griffith, McKenzie, Knight & McLeroy, LLP—the Cullman law firm representing plaintiffs in the case—said Tuesday the two sides had mutually decided to seek the extension.

“What we have agreed to do is to extend the deadline from July 16th to August 2nd to talk about the possibility of settling this lawsuit,” he said. “The main significance of what was filed today is that we won’t have a hearing tomorrow [Wednesday], and we have an extra two weeks until we have to have a hearing.”

The discovery phase of the five-count suit, which involves the taking of deposition testimony from witnesses in the case, is also in abeyance, McLeroy added.

“Right now, the parties are taking the position that all of the discovery is on hold while we work out this issue of whether they [the defendants] are going to get an emergency stay or not,” he said. “The discovery issues are not going to be resolved until that time.”

For the full story on the original lawsuit’s allegations, do a search for “Lawsuit filed over county water board” in the search field at www.cullmantimes.com, or see the May 9, 2010 edition of The Cullman Times.



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

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