CULLMAN — A new cooperative will soon be making decisions about the future water supply for Cullman County — a task that had until recently fallen to the Cullman County Commission.

Associate commissioners Wayne Willingham and Doug Williams approved a new board and cooperative Tuesday that will assume control over the Cullman County Water Department. Chairman James Graves vocally opposed the decision.

Former county commission chairman Wiley Kitchens, along with county residents Ron Stone and H.D. Haynes, petitioned the commission to establish the new, three-person Governmental Utility Services (GUS) Corporation of Cullman County. The volunteer GUS board members will be appointed by a majority vote of the county commission and serve staggered six-year terms. The three petitioners will serve as the first board.

“I recommended we establish this board, since most water systems in the state already have boards like this,” Kitchens said.

Under an agreement then approved between that board and the county commission, a five-person cooperative called the South Cumberland Cooperative District was created to oversee the county water department. Four cooperative members, one from each area of the county, will be appointed by the GUS board — plus a fifth slot filled by a direct county commission appointment. Kitchens, Stone and Haynes will also serve on the first co-op board. Stan Woods was appointed by the county commission Tuesday to fill the fifth place.

According to county attorney Dan Willingham, the new board should have the authority to take out bonds and enter into contracts.

“This should take the politics out of water,” Williams said of the new board. “You need a stable body making these decisions. Water shouldn’t be anywhere in the political realm, because we all need it to live.”

Chairman Graves said he believes the move is political posturing for the associate commissioners to further their own water plans. The associate commissioners are in support of an alternate water source project to draw water from Smith Lake. Graves is a proponent of a city-led initiative to establish a new reservoir in the Duck River watershed.

“This is nothing but a blatant attempt to try and stop Duck River,” Graves said. “I think they both deserve to be defeated at the polls and sent home for this ... So three people who put their names on a petition will now determine the fate of 80,000 people when it comes to water?”

Associate commissioner Willingham argued the new board will give the general public a better chance to serve on the co-op and be involved in the decision making process.

“I appreciate your opinion, but it’s wrong,” he said to Graves. “This just makes the most sense. The more regular people that are involved, the less it becomes about politics.”

Graves argued shifting the responsibility to a new board would not improve the situation.

“This is county government at it’s worst,” he said, prompting an “Amen,” from someone in the commission meeting crowd.

Stone declined an interview for this article, and Haynes was unavailable for comment by deadline of this article.



Further discussion, details

Instead of passing the co-op agreement Tuesday, Graves recommended the commission put the issue on hold to allow the public more time to consider it.

“It’s wrong to try and ram this through today,” he said. “We need to get public feedback.”

Some county residents addressed the commission at Tuesday’s meeting and agreed with that assessment.

“I believe you should table this for 30 days to give the public time to be informed and for the commission to discuss this matter further,” citizen George Benefield said.

The commission instead recessed the morning meeting until later Tuesday afternoon to allow the chairman more time to study the issue.

“I appreciate that comment [to postpone the decision], but these men [Kitchens, Stone and Haynes] have requested we do this,” Williams said. “We’ve approved it, so the ball is essentially in their court now.”

Graves said he also disapproved of the associate commissioners’ method of public notice.

“The newspaper should have been informed and we should have at least addressed it beforehand,” he said.

Per the law, the petition to create the new board was posted in the courthouse. Contacting the local media about the petition is not required.

Graves also alleged the associate commissioners have been meeting in private over the past year to make decisions about the water issue, as well as the recent board petition.

“I think they are in violation of the open meeting laws,” he said. “I also intend to see the state attorney general about that to see if it can be investigated.”

Williams said those allegations are false, stating he and associate commissioner Willingham always adhere to state meeting laws.

“We have not been in meetings like the chairman accused,” he said. “We have never deliberated together, which is the legal term. We have never broken an open meetings law.”

When asked if personal opinion about the Duck River or Smith Lake water plans played a role in the selection of the new board members, Williams said it did not.

“It just played out that these three petitioned us to do it,” he said. “Duck River wasn’t a discussion at all. They came to us with the petition.”

Cullman Mayor Max Townson said he has some misgivings about long-term effects of the change. The county is currently the city’s largest wholesale water customer, under a contract that runs until 2030.

“It looks like they’re creating some type of board to circumvent the authority of the chairman and future commissioners,” Townson said. “It seems like they’re trying to privatize it to keep it out of the future commissioners’ hands. But, we do hope they’ll come along with us on Duck River for the future of Cullman County.”

The GUS board has yet to set a date for its first meeting.



* Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.