As Jeff Landry’s S&WB task force winds down, members say ‘trust is essential’
By Ben Myers
Source: The Times-Picayune | Nola.com
March 21, 2024
Gov. Jeff Landry’s task force to reform the long-troubled New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board met for the third and final time on Thursday, and the overall remedy that members seemed to most agree on won’t shock anyone: the S&WB needs to restore public trust.
Without that, the utility has little hope of convincing deeply distrustful residents to support sorely needed new funding to maintain the city’s sewer, water and drainage infrastructure, task force members said.
“Trust is essential and has to be reestablished before you can successfully get to a point where you can adequately fund,” said Walt Leger, a task force member and CEO of New Orleans and Co., the city’s tourism promotion agency.
The task force, headed by Paul Rainwater, who is also the S&WB’s lobbyist in Baton Rouge, is due to deliver recommendations to Landry and state lawmakers before the end of the month, ahead of a deadline to file bills in the spring legislative session.
New Orleans elected political leaders have watched from the sidelines as the task force has held its meetings, as they were excluded from formal participation in the group. Mayor LaToya Cantrell said earlier this month that she was readying a “state of the utility” event for residents, but has not offered a timeline for when that might happen.
Fixes to the utility’s inaccurate water billing system are almost certainly to be among the recommendations, since task force members identified that as the first step to improving public opinion. The S&WB is installing automated meters that it says will correct problems, but the project is not scheduled to be complete until 2026.
“You don’t want to bring this albatross into your new smart meter system,” said lawyer Hilary Landry, a task force advisor, referring to $90 million in outstanding or disputed bills.
Landry suggested appointing retired judges to resolve disputes, with hearing locations in easily accessible locations across the city. Task force member Ryan Berger, a New Orleans real estate developer, suggested temporarily fixing monthly bills based on the last 12 that were uncontested until all the new meters are installed.
Layers of consultants
Neither of the recommendations offered by Landry and Berger are reflected in legislative proposals filed thus far. Companion Senate and House proposals awaiting committee hearings would install an outside consultant, or a “special master,” to settle billing disputes.
State lawmakers in 2022 gave the City Council the power to regulate the S&WB’s billing, and, as part of a series of reforms, appointed a consultant to serve as an “appeal manager.” The idea was to provide additional recourse for customers who remain dissatisfied after appealing to independent hearing officers.
City Council member Joe Giarrusso, who helped conceive the proposals now pending in the legislature, said the purpose of another consultant — the special master — is to negotiate settlements before customers resort to the lengthy appeal process in the first place.
“There’s so many bills that are being mishandled from the beginning to the end, the idea of the special master is handling them on a much broader basis, and more in depth,” Giarrusso said.
The council’s appeal manager, Hammerman and Gainer LLC, began conducting hearings in the second half of last year on a $600,000 city contract. The consulting firm presided over 46 hearings between May and August, issuing credits to 37 customers. There were half as many cases in the next three months, with a smaller proportion decided in favor of the customer.
Giarrusso said the appeal manager’s dwindling caseload doesn’t necessarily mean there are fewer aggrieved customers. Customers who get that far in the process have already battled through an unsatisfactory appeal before a hearing officer and have the wherewithal to keep on fighting, he noted.
“I can’t tell you how many people who’ve told me, ‘I’m exasperated, so I just paid,’” Giarrusso said.
Funding first
In addition to billing, the governor also specifically mandated the task force propose changes to the S&WB’s governing structure, which includes a board that the mayor chairs and has a City Council member sitting on it.
BGR points to a historical “misalignment of funding control and operational responsibility,” with the council tending to frown on S&WB funding requests – causing further erosion of infrastructure and, along with it, public trust.
While the task force may formally recommend governance changes, Rainwater indicated Thursday that the recommendations will “take some time.” Speaking to Newell Normand on WWL Radio a day earlier, Rainwater said S&WB funding questions may need to be addressed before its governance.
“Tackling governance without understanding how the funding works does not make any sense right now,” Rainwater said.
S&WB officials have recently raised alarms about scarce capital funding for drainage, since existing revenue barely covers operations, debt and other obligations.
That is especially concerning to utility officials if, as expected, the task force recommends consolidating poorly maintained catch basins and small pipes, currently managed by the Dept. of Public Works, to the S&WB.
Consolidating the drainage system under one roof has long been identified as a high priority, but funding disputes have gotten in the way. The S&WB anticipates needing an additional $25 million annually to take on the added duties.
Rainwater said council members he had spoken with, including Oliver Thomas, the public works committee chair, had been open to providing the S&WB with funding for consolidation — though the amount and source are to be determined.
Asked if he thought $25 million might be attainable, Thomas replied in text that the state might need to kick in.
“If we have a partnership, and I mean partnership, it’s attainable,” Thomas said.
Fair Use Notice
This site occasionally reprints copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues and to highlight the accomplishments of our affiliates. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is available without profit. For more information go to: US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.