Jeremy Tinnerello will serve as the hospital’s Jackson Market President starting next month, the health system said in a press release Oct. 4.
The announcement comes after the previous market president and CEO Scott Kashman resigned in June.
As hospitals across the country continue to recuperate from losses incurred during the pandemic, according to one study, hospital CEO turnover hit a record high in September.
Tinnerello was previously at Glenwood Regional Medical Center in West Monroe, Louisiana, where he served in several administrative capacities since his tenure began in 1992. Most recently, Tinnerello was the health system’s CEO for seven years.
Dr. Richard Vath, CEO of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, the Baton Rouge-based nonprofit that has owned St. Dominic since 2019, described Tinnerello as an “authentic and committed leader” in a statement.
Tinnerello joins the 571-bed hospital at a tumultuous time — St. Dominic announced layoffs and the closure of its behavioral health services unit in June, blaming “substantial financial challenges” and losses of several million dollars in recent years.
The layoffs affected 5.5% of its total workforce, or 157 employees. In the weeks following the closure of the hospital’s 83 psychiatric beds, Jackson-area hospitals reported that their psychiatric beds were full.
A hospital spokesperson previously claimed that Kashman’s departure was unrelated to the layoffs or closure of the behavioral services unit.
An error made in the Senate Appropriations Committee and passed into law earlier this year is keeping most Mississippi hospitals from accessing $103 million intended to help keep their doors open.
The Mississippi Hospital Sustainability Grant program, part of a package of plans championed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann to stem Mississippi’s health care crisis, was supposed to quickly send millions to hospitals to help them survive the year. One report puts nearly half of rural hospitals in danger of closing because of budget concerns.
But now, months later, that money hasn’t gone out and only a few hospitals can qualify because lawmakers funded the program with federal pandemic money.
The problem, according to health care officials, is that lawmakers designated the funding for the program to come from federal COVID-19 relief funds. Because of federal restrictions about how those funds can be administered, most hospitals do not qualify to receive them. Had lawmakers funded the program with state dollars instead of federal dollars, hospitals likely could draw the funds without issue.
Here’s how the legislative process unfolded, and how lawmakers changed the funding source over time:
House Bill 271 was authored by Republican Rep. Sam Mims of McComb and originally sought to fund the program with federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
House leaders during the committee process amended the bill to instead be funded by state dollars via the Capital Expense Fund, where the Legislature’s excess revenue from prior fiscal years are housed. The House passed that version of the bill on February 16 and sent it to the Senate for consideration.
In the Senate Appropriations Committee on March 9, before the bill reached the Senate floor, leaders amended the bill to change the funding source to federal funds once more — despite a record state revenue surplus of about $3.6 billion.
That amended bill featuring the federal funding was later passed by the entire Senate on March 9.
The House sent the amended bill to a conference committee, where three leaders from both the House and the Senate met to hash out differences. The bill that made it through the conference committee process kept the federal funding source intact, and the total hospital grant program featured in the bill was upped to $103 million.
Both chambers of the Legislature passed that final version on March 31, and Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill into law on April 17.
It’s not exactly clear which senator pushed for the change to the program’s funding from state to federal. While subcommittee meetings are open, closed door meetings, where major legislative proposals are often made, are common in the Legislature. The state budgeting process, in particular, routinely operates outside public view.
Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, presented House Bill 271 as the first piece of legislation the Senate Appropriations Committee discussed on March 9.
Blackwell said in that committee meeting that the bill’s funding would likely need to be increased. Sen. Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, who chairs the powerful committee, then explained that additional funds might have to come from another source outside of the federal COVID-19 funds before the bill passed the committee.
A recording of the March 9 meeting shows that discussion about the bill was brief, and the amendment to the funding’s source was unanimously passed by the committee members.
Blackwell, Hopson, and Sen. John Polk, a Republican from Hattiesburg and the vice chair of the committee, did not answer calls or return requests for comment.
Hosemann, who wields great influence over the legislative process as the president of the Senate, did not say when it became clear to him the federal funding was causing problems in the program, but he was at least aware of the issue in May when Mississippi Today reached out to him and published a story about how the federal funding was impacting hospitals’ ability to access the money.
“The intent of the Legislature was to provide $103 million to hospitals and Lt. Gov. Hosemann has committed to ensuring they receive it, even if the program or appropriation source has to be changed,” said Leah Smith, Hosemann’s deputy chief of staff.
Though the error was made in the Senate committee, there were multiple opportunities over several weeks and votes for legislative leaders, members of both the Senate and House, and Gov. Reeves to catch the problem.
In the months that have followed, it’s become clear how much the program — and hospitals — have been impacted by that error.
State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney told legislators on Sept. 29 at a Joint Legislative Budget Committee meeting that just two-thirds of Mississippi hospitals have applied so far, and only half of them are eligible for the money. That’s because they’ve already received federal pandemic relief funds.
“You can’t double dip,” Edney explained to Mississippi Today earlier this week.
Edney told Mississippi Today on Oct. 4 that the health department had been “given some possible hope that a workaround we had previously hoped for might be possible after all.” It’s not clear what that workaround is.
“We’re all still working on the problem,” he said.
Even though the $103 million was much less than hospital leaders said they needed, they agreed any amount would help the state’s hospitals.
Edney said the health department raised concerns about the funding’s source during the session, but it appeared at the Sept. 29 meeting that lawmakers had previously been unaware of how widespread the accessibility issues were, and that the health department needed legislative direction before doling out the funds.
He made clear at the meeting that the health department, which was awarded $700,000 to disburse the funds, needs instruction from elected officials about what to do with the money — either send out the $103 million to a portion of hospitals now, or wait and fix the program in January.
It’s not clear how long some hospitals can hold on.
At least one hospital has closed this year, and several others have applied for a federal designation that slashes services but increases reimbursements and monthly federal payments. Others, Edney said, have been forced to reduce or cut the services they offer.
The Jackson Public School District introduced a plan Tuesday night to close 16 schools due to declining enrollment.
The district lost about 8,500 students between the 2015-16 and 2022-23 school years, nearly a third of the district population. The district has previous consolidated schools multipletimes.
JPS Superintendent Errick Greene told the board this plan was brought forward to be good stewards of the resources the district receives, since the fewer students in a building, the more money it costs per student to operate the building.
The following buildings are on the proposed closure list:
Clausell Elementary School
Dawson Elementary School
G. N. Smith Elementary School
Green Elementary School
Key Elementary School
Lake Elementary School
Lester Elementary School
Oak Forest Elementary School
Obama IB Elementary
Raines Elementary School
Shirley Elementary School
Sykes Elementary School
Wells APAC Elementary
Chastain Middle School
Whitten Middle School
Wingfield High School
Greene gave several reasons that these school consolidations would be beneficial to the district, citing declining enrollment, the investment to maintain aging buildings, decreasing reliance on emergency certification teachers, freeing up funding to invest in specialized school programs, and decreasing insurance costs by selling or demolishing buildings that are not in use.
Board President Ed Sivak questioned closing eight schools that just received A ratings, to which Greene responded that buildings are not A-rated, staff and children are. He acknowledged that school culture does play a role in success and said efforts will be made to keep staff from a consolidated school together, but reiterated that the physical buildings were not key to the success.
“It’s our job as leaders to help people to see that you are a star wherever you go, and there are opportunities for you to be a star in a building where the bathrooms and the air conditioning and other stuff work,” Greene said.
Greene also said reducing central office staff will be among the next steps in “optimizing” the district.
The school district’s student decline tracks with overall population declines in the city of Jackson. U.S. Census data released earlier this year shows that Jackson’s population now stands at 145,995 — a drop of 3,766 from 2021 to 2022. That 2.5% year-over-year decline makes Jackson the fastest-shrinking city with at least 50,000 residents in the United States.
George Stewart, president of the Jackson Association of Educators, empathized with teachers in these schools.
“I’ve been an educator in Jackson Public Schools for almost 10 years,” he said on Wednesday. “I’ve seen a lot of changes in that time. Change is tough, especially when you serve in one of these schools. I have no doubt JPS, with the city behind it, will meet this challenge and succeed.”
The district will be holding four community meetings to gauge reactions to the plan, with the first scheduled for next Monday, Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. at Forest Hill High School.
A final plan is expected to be presented to the board for a vote at the Dec. 5 meeting.
See the graphic below for the proposed new feeder patterns:
Five days ago, 23-year-old Swede Ludvig Aberg (pronounced oh-bear for reasons only Scandinavians would understand) was in Rome, playing Ryder Cup golf in front of the world. He and teammate Victor Hovland needed only nine holes to shockingly bury world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and five-time major champion Brooks Koepka 9 and 7 in a foursomes match, the most one-sided in Ryder Cup history.
Sunday night and well into daylight Monday morning, Aberg, the youngest golfer in the Ryder Cup, was still in Rome celebrating Europe’s lopsided victory.
Rick Cleveland
Yes, and two days later, on Wednesday morning, at 8:17 a.m., there jet-lagged Aberg was, long and lanky and with piercing blue eyes, on the first tee of the Country Club of Jackson about to tee off in the Sanderson Farms Championship pro-am. He will begin play in the 72-hole championship Thursday afternoon at 1:50 p.m.
The obvious question was: Why? Why would the guy many experts deem golf’s next big superstar play here so soon after what he had helped accomplish more than 5,000 miles away. He was asked that in the media tent after completing his nine holes in the Wednesday’s pro-am.
“I was committed to play in this tournament before Rome,” Aberg answered. “I wanted to honor my commitment. I know it’s good for me. For me to get all these experiences on different golf courses, different tournaments, play as much as I can I know it’s good for me.”
Yes, but the jet lag? The fatigue?
“I’d like to think that I am still young and can handle it,” he answered.
There’s not much Aberg hasn’t been able to handle where golf is concerned. Before turning pro, he was No. 1 in world amateur rankings. At Texas Tech, he was a two-time winner of the Ben Hogan Award as the best collegiate player in the nation. A month ago, he won the Omega European Masters, making four birdies in the last five holes for a two-shot victory and his first victory as a pro.
Get this: Four months into his professional career, he is the betting favorite to win the Sanderson Farms Championship with 10-to-1 odds. Compare that to defending champion MacKenzie Hughes, who will go off at 45-to-1. Hattiesburg native Davis Riley, already winner of more than $6 million on tour, will go off at 55-to-1. Clearly, expectations for Aberg are off the charts.
Greenwood’s Jim Gallagher Jr., who knows a thing or two about Ryder Cup hero status, is blown away by Aberg’s potential. Gallagher covered Aberg both in college golf and last week in Rome.
“We do a lot of college golf on TV now, so I watched him a lot at Texas Tech,” said Gallagher, here in Jackson this week to provide color commentary for The Golf Channel. “His college coach described him as a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and I see nothing about him that says otherwise. Think about it: Four months ago, he’s carrying his own golf bag in college tournaments, and this past weekend he’s winning the Ryder Cup.
Ludvig Aberg Credit: Texas Tech athletics
“His golf swing is impeccable. He hits it so far and makes it look effortless. He stays on an even keel. He’s it. He’s got it. And he’s such a nice person, he’s really easy to pull for.”
Listening to Aberg speak — and he speaks impeccable English — you realize he is determined to become the best golfer he can be, which may well be No. 1 in the world at some point. And that point could come soon.
“I was able to test the waters a little bit playing in the Ryder Cup and being around those guys,” Aberg said. “So for me to have those experiences and knowing what it takes to be the best player in the world and to create relationships with those guys and hang out with them was unbelievable. Hopefully that’s something that I’ll be able to use to my advantage the rest of this year and then also for the rest of my career.”
What did he learn from playing with — and against — the best of the best?
“They’re very good at handling and managing their own game,” Aberg answered. “It doesn’t matter what the situation is, they know what it takes, and they know their own capabilities. It sounds maybe cheesy to say, but they really are the masters of it, and that’s what I am trying to strive towards. That’s what I am trying to get to.”
What Aberg also surely learned, although he wouldn’t say it, is that he belongs with the best. The pressure of the Ryder Cup was by no means too big for him even though, as he said, “I was shaking on that first tee.”
If the Sanderson Farms Championship were a football game, Aberg’s coach probably would warn him against an emotional letdown. Think about it: He goes from playing in and winning one of golf’s biggest, most pressure-packed events before tens of thousands, to playing in a much more low-key tournament in front of hundreds. Aberg says he doesn’t look at it that way.
“I am going to be nervous Thursday morning no matter what,” he said. “I’m going to view it as the most important thing in the world as I’m standing on the tee box … Obviously last week was an incredible experience, but it’s also in the past. I am here this week. That’s where my focus is.”
Months after the Legislature passed a law directing millions to Mississippi’s struggling hospitals, not one has received that money, and far fewer than predicted will receive any money at all.
That’s because lawmakers erred in writing the statute, according to State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney.
Legislators in February established the Mississippi Hospital Sustainability Grant Program, which was supposed to disseminate $103 million in grant money to hospitals via the state Health Department. Despite a record state budget surplus, it was millions less than the state hospital association had asked for, but hospital leaders agreed it would help keep them afloat.
However, somewhere in the legislative process, the source of the funds was changed from the state’s general fund to federal COVID-19 relief dollars, which come with regulations. Because many of the state’s hospitals have already claimed some form of pandemic relief funds, those hospitals are ineligible for the money –an issue that lawmakers apparently did not consider.
But lawmakers are placing the blame back on the Health Department, which was awarded $700,000 to disburse the money.
“Effectively you’re cutting out two-thirds of the hospitals,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said.
“I’m not cutting out any,” Edney refuted. “The program is cutting out two-thirds.”
A spokesperson for the Mississippi State Health Department confirmed to Mississippi Today that 75 hospitals, about two-thirds of the state’s hospitals, have applied for the money.
Edney said at the meeting that only half of those facilities will receive anything.
Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, asked for a list of hospitals eligible to receive the money. Edney said it was “at the office,” before clarifying a few minutes later that he’d asked agency auditors and accountants to make an official document explaining the program and its challenges and would soon provide that to lawmakers.
When asked by Mississippi Today about the previously referenced “list,” Edney would not provide it and said it was still “fluid.”
“Let me be clear: Are you announcing to the public today that the hospitals, as it stands now, are not going to be awarded these funds we put in place?” Lamar asked. “Do the hospitals know this yet?”
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia responds to criticism during his call for support from lawmakers to pass the controversial House Bill 1020 on Friday, March 31, 2023, at the Capitol in Jackson. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Edney replied that he has been talking to hospital CEOs “one by one.”
Paul Black, the recently retired CEO of Winston Medical Center in Louisville, told Mississippi Today in May that he was disappointed in the failures of the grant program’s appropriations bill.
“Most everybody knows the challenge,” he said.
The challenges of the program apparently came as news to the legislators, though.
Lamar, the chairman of the powerful House committee that deals with tax policy, and Hosemann, who announced a broad plan during this year’s session to help the state’s failing rural hospitals that included this grant program, appeared especially frustrated.
“As recently as a month or two (after the session), I contacted your office and it was 85% (of hospitals) were gonna qualify,” Hosemann said. “So this has been some administrative change that we were not aware of either during the session or shortly thereafter.”
Lamar, too, questioned why these issues were coming up months after the program’s inception. The governor signed the bill in April.
“There was no secret what we were working on,” he said.
Edney maintained that the Health Department brought up concerns about the source of the money during the legislative process.
“Believe me, Mr. Chairman, I’m extremely frustrated with this,” Edney told Lamar.
Edney gave the lawmakers a few options.
They could wait to distribute funds after fixing the program when the 2024 Legislative session starts in January, or they could activate the program now and send out the money to the roughly 38 hospitals that qualify. Edney also claimed there was a way to get the federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to all hospitals, but the current statute would have to be changed to do that.
Hosemann previously told Mississippi Today that he would support legislation at the beginning of the next session to make up the difference between what hospitals were supposed to get and what they actually got from the program.
Edney’s recommendation at the meeting was to dole out the money to the hospitals that are eligible because of the state’s dire health crisis. Those hospitals report losses upwards of half a billion dollars, he said.
One report puts nearly half of the state’s rural hospitals at risk of closure. At least one hospital has already closed this year, and several have applied for a federal designation that would slash services in order for more money. He said many more hospitals are reducing the services they offer to cut costs.
But Edney was adamant that he could not make the final call.
“Y’all need to make that decision,” he said. “I need to be given direction.
“The heartburn for me is I know activating the program as it stands is not what y’all intended,” Edney told the committee, before Hosemann cut him off, asking for data from the agency to make an informed decision about what to do next.
Edney still hasn’t been told what to do, he said in an interview with Mississippi Today on Tuesday.
“I know that (the Legislature’s) desire is to get funding to hospitals the quickest way that they can,” he said. “The options are before them and they’ll decide. They’re still evaluating information being given.”
Incumbent Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson said he’s cut red tape for businesses, worked with lawmakers to make elections more secure and will push for major campaign finance reform if reelected.
Democratic challenger Ty Pinkins said Mississippi’s economy trails most of the rest of the country, and Watson had many years as a state senator before his four as secretary of state to champion campaign finance reform but didn’t.
The two candidates spoke and fielded questions at the Stennis Institute of Government’s Capitol Press Corps Luncheon on Monday. The forum was billed as “non-debate format,” and the candidates took the podium and spoke and answered questions in turns.
“I think Mississippi deserves a better choice on the ballot this November,” said Pinkins, a late entry into the race, replacing the former Democratic nominee who dropped out for health reasons. “… I’m running for secretary of state because I’ve been all over this state and people in Mississippi are ready for someone to lead. The problem is we have the wrong people in some of these offices … Mississippi is still near last economically because of the failed policies implemented by Republicans.”
Watson itemized numerous accomplishments in his first term, including registration of more than 250,000 new voters, working with lawmakers to prevent “ballot harvesting” and making voting machines more secure. He said his office has streamlined business services and cut red tape.
“Despite what you may hear from some of my (media) friends here today, it’s a great time to be a voter in Mississippi,” Watson said.
Both candidates vow to reform Mississippi’s weak, often unenforced campaign finance laws and reporting.
Watson said his office has a request for proposals out on a new computer system, and will work with the Legislature to create a publicly searchable campaign finance data system like most other states have. He has said he would push for his office to take over enforcement of campaign finance violations since no one else appears interested and said he has already been meeting with legislative leaders on other reforms.
Pinkins said he also would work to make campaign finance reports transparent and searchable.
“Our campaign finance reporting system is broken, and it didn’t just break last week, it’s been broken a long, long time,” Pinkins said. He said he also would push for online voter registration, no-excuse early voting and same-day voter registration on election day.
Both candidates are attorneys.
Watson, 45, from Pascagoula, served in the state Senate from 2008 to 2020. He ran his own law firm, focusing on business, construction and probate law.
Pinkins, 49, from Vicksburg, is a decorated U.S. Army veteran who served three combat tours, a former White House communications aide and former lawyer with the Mississippi Center for Justice.
Mississippi is one of the most uninsured states in America, according to new data.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, released last month, shows that in 2022, Mississippi had one of the highest percentages of people without health insurance coverage in the country, along with Alaska, Wyoming, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Oklahoma, Georgia and Florida.
States in the South had some of the highest uninsured rates, according to the survey.
The same survey showed that Mississippi has the fifth highest uninsurance rate among working age people from 19 to 64. Only Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia and Wyoming have worse uninsurance rates.
Another Census survey, the Household Pulse survey, conducted from Aug. 23 to Sept. 4 shows Mississippi had the highest level of uninsurance among working age people during that time frame. Almost every one in five Mississippians ages 18-64, or 20.44%, likely didn’t have insurance, according to a Mississippi Today analysis of the data.
It also shows that during that period 16.9%, or about one in six Mississippians of all ages, were uninsured. That’s an increase from 14.7% in March, according to the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, though a researcher from the center said the latter survey’s results should be carefully considered.
The Household Pulse survey can be used to monitor trends and data, but Robert Hest, a senior research fellow at the center, said it shouldn’t be used to draw definitive conclusions because of its short data collection period and low response rate.
The American Community Survey is more reliable, he said.
“We would be very surprised to see that Mississippi has the nation’s highest rate of uninsurance,” he said. “Mississippi’s uninsured rate, though often among the highest, is typically lower than uninsured rates in other states such as Texas, Florida and Georgia.”
According to the American Community Survey, Mississippi’s total uninsured rate was 10.8% and its uninsured rate among people aged 19 to 64 was 16.4% in 2022.
The new data comes as states across the country review the eligibility of Medicaid beneficiaries for the first time in three years. During the pandemic, state Medicaid divisions were prohibited from removing anyone from their rolls. Those regulations ended in May.
So far, almost 70,000 people have been kicked off Medicaid in Mississippi — most of them because of paperwork issues, not eligibility. Many of the people who have been disenrolled are children.
From March to September, Mississippi’s overall Medicaid coverage decreased from 19.8% to 16.7%, the survey also shows.
State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said health insurance saved his life — and cost him his father’s.
Edney’s father, who didn’t have health insurance, died at 56 of colon cancer, a preventable disease, he said. At 47, Edney underwent a screening that detected premalignant polyps – a discovery he credits to having insurance and access to preventative care.
“I want all Mississippians to have the same access to life-saving screenings that I have, but too many are dying young as my father did,” he said.
Mississippi’s high uninsured rate is costing hospitals, too.
As the state’s health crisis continues, uncompensated care costs — the money hospitals lose caring for uninsured patients — are putting further burden on hospitals.
Uncompensated care costs for Mississippi hospitals have hovered around $600 million a year. According to one study, Medicaid expansion would cut Mississippi hospitals’ uncompensated care by an average of $251.6 million a year from 2020-2030.
One report puts almost half of the state’s hospitals at risk of closing.
Gov. Tate Reeves recently announced a plan to help bring more money to hospitals, but reiterated his opposition to Medicaid expansion at the same press conference.
His plan will likely keep some hospitals open for longer, but it won’t insure more Mississippians. That means uninsured people in Mississippi will generally have to continue to rely on the emergency room for their medical care — emergency rooms cannot turn away patients, though doctor’s offices and pharmacies can.
“Investing in our hospitals is critically important, and we need solutions to help uninsured Mississippians have access to our hospitals, especially outpatient services, which are critically important for improving poor health outcomes,” Edney said. “Without appropriate access to preventive services, it will be difficult to improve our extremely poor health outcomes.”
Over the weekend, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, who about10 months ago made Ted Henifin the new face of Jackson’s drinking water system, gave Henifin the keys to the city’s sewer system as well.
Wingate, as well as city and state officials, indicated his support in late July for Henifin and his company, JXN Water, to take over the sewer system. The federal government then held a month-long public input period, and received comments from 666 people. Of those comments, the Department of Justice said that 95% supported Henifin taking over the sewer system, 4% were critical and 1% listed as “other.”
After the parties in the case — which include Jackson, the Environmental Protection Agency, the DOJ, and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality — had a chance to review the comments, Wingate officially approved the order on Saturday.
Since 2013, the federal government has held the city’s sewer system under a consent decree over constant infrastructure failures. The consent decree requires Jackson to make certain improvements, yet the city has failed to do most of the required work since then because of a lack of funding, Jackson officials maintain. For years, Jackson has struggled to prevent untreated or partially treated sewage from entering the Pearl River, as well as overflows that form streams along city streets.
“There are about 215 overflows right now across the city, and they’re in neighborhoods where people live close by,” Henifin said in a press release. “It’s just a mess, and we’re going to get at it right away.”
The order is set to last four years, but could end sooner in the case of another consent decree, or if JXN Water completes its assigned list of projects before then. The stipulated order requires JXN Water to submit quarterly reports, and hold public meetings within 30 days of each report.
With the new responsibility, Henifin and JXN Water have a $1.126 million budget for the first year of work, which includes $750,000 for contracting and consultant services, $280,000 for staffing, and $96,000 for Henifin’s compensation.
The new order includes a list of 11 priority projects — listed in Appendix C — for JXN Water to address, which include rehabilitating the city’s wastewater treatment plants and sewer interceptors, as well as making repairs to 215 “emergency sewer” failures throughout the city.
Prior to coming to Jackson and before his work with the U.S. Water Alliance, Henifin led the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia, which handled wastewater for 1.7 million residents.
The public comments criticizing the new sewer order centered on issues that advocates have raised about Henifin’s work with the drinking water system — which he took over last November through a similar process — such as local contracting and financial transparency.
The sewer system order largely remained the same after review of those comments, but the parties agreed to address transparency concerns by requiring financial disclosure of all accounts that fund sewer projects in the quarterly reports.
In regard to contracting, Henifin said that he intends to seek out local and minority businesses to work on sewer projects. He added that he’ll continue work with the national engineering firm Veolia, which has three years left on its pre-existing contract to operate the city’s wastewater treatment plants.
In the past, city officials estimated that fixing Jackson’s sewer system would cost around $1 billion. Henifin has said he hopes that improvements to the city’s water bill collections will eventually help fund sewer improvements. The order also notes $125 million in available funding through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as $8 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars that will be partially matched by the state.
