‘We’re making history’: New Orleans City Council takes first steps toward controlling S&WB

By Ben Myers

Source: The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com

July 30, 2026

The New Orleans City Council on Thursday took its first steps toward exerting unprecedented control over the Sewerage & Water Board as city leaders pursue a generational shift in how the city manages its troubled water utility.

A council committee passed new measures aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in the utility’s governing board, budgeting practices and emergency response. The committee also approved motions calling for an audit of S&WB finances and a Civil Service pay study to increase compensation for field workers.

The full council is expected to pass the measures on Aug. 6. Beyond that, the council and Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration plan to explore ways to more closely align the standalone agency with city government — perhaps even turning it into a City Hall department.

“We are making history,” said District A Councilmember Aimee McCarron, who helped shape the proposed measures. “Today, we are the first council and administration to take on the challenge of reforming the Sewerage and Water Board. The current governing structure is a systematic failure.”

The meeting ended with an unplanned, half-hour exchange between Council President JP Morrell and S&WB Executive Director Randy Hayman, who forcefully defended his position.

Morrell, a frequent Hayman critic, has publicly suggested in recent weeks that the executive director position might be unnecessary, which Hayman said has undermined his work by giving the impression he’ll soon be fired.

Hayman, a lawyer by trade, joined the S&WB one year ago after leading the Philadelphia water system for six years. On Thursday, echoing comments he has made in recent public appearances, Hayman listed off his past successes in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

“What I am bringing to you is a dedication of 25 years as a water professional,” Hayman said. “I’ve shown success across the country.”

Morrell, while repeating his frequent criticism of Hayman’s communication style, said he didn’t intend to personally single out Hayman, and that he recognizes Hayman inherited the agency’s longstanding institutional problems.

But Morrell said the S&WB governing board – which will soon be reconstituted – should consider combining Hayman’s position with the general superintendent, which requires engineering expertise. Hayman’s base annual salary is $427,000, and Morrell said that money could be better used to increase pay for field workers who run the city’s water, drainage and sewer systems.

Morrell also said Hayman’s past successes are less important than the S&WB’s ongoing failures, including bursting water mains, power outages and pump failures that have resulted in several floods this year.

“The people of the city do not care what happened in D.C. and Philadelphia, because when our homes are flooding, when pump power stations are tripping, when equipment is not being used properly, it does not give us solace that you did a really good job in two other cities,” Morrell said.

New measures

The council oversight follows a new state law giving it sweeping powers over S&WB operations, personnel and funding.

The long-term goal, shared by the council and Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration, is to fold the S&WB into city government, creating clear lines of accountability. For years, critics like the Bureau of Governmental Research, a nonpartisan public policy watchdog, have said the S&WB suffers from a mishmash of state and local laws that obscure who is responsible for operations and funding.

“If we don’t pump the water out of the city, if we don’t keep clean water coming through the pipes, we can’t have a city. So these are some of the most important things that happen in the city. We need to have clear communication, clear authority,” said Andrew Tuozzolo, special counsel to Moreno, addressing the council.

Exactly how city control of the S&WB takes shape won’t be clear for some time, since it will involve a complex transfer of assets, debt and personnel.

For now, the new proposals will allow Moreno to appoint a new board majority and require council approval of the S&WB’s operating and capital budgets, as well as new protocols for emergency planning, public notification and reporting problems to the council.

City officials said new board members would be announced next week. The new board will elect its own president, ending the longstanding — and problematic, according to critics, including Moreno — current setup where the mayor automatically serves as president.

Most of the proposals came from a Moreno-appointed working group, which included city officials, council members, community representatives and S&WB General Superintendent Kaitlan Tymrak — but not Hayman.

In a written statement distributed before his verbal comments, Hayman said the measures “can help improve alignment as we work together to address aging infrastructure and secure sustainable funding.”

“We welcome the opportunity to strengthen collaboration with the city and support efforts that enhance coordination, accountability and transparency,” Hayman said.

Addressing the council, Hayman said he hadn’t planned to speak but was prompted to do so by Morrell’s response to comments from an S&WB employee, Anthony Jeanmarie, who warned against a “modern-day buck breaking of another highly qualified African-American organizational leader.”

Morrell, noting that six of the seven council members are Black, including himself, said he was offended by the comment.

“I don’t care if the Sewerage and Water Board director is purple or green. Either do your job or don’t do your job. That is what I’m looking for,” Morrell said, adding that Hayman could speak for himself and didn’t need to “send proxies.”

Hayman then submitted a speaking card and denied he asked anyone to speak for him. Hayman also said he has never made race an issue when talking about his job.

“That’s not who I am in my heart,” Hayman said.

While the changes are meant to make the S&WB more transparent and responsive to the community, community activist Sage Michael Pellet criticized the working group for deliberating in private and posting the proposals just 24 hours before the committee meeting. He also praised the current S&WB leadership, along with District E Councilmember Jason Hughes, for their response to a sewage leak this year in Dwyer Canal.

“I had to digest a whole lot of information, that I just received, that changes the governance of the Sewerage & Water Board,” Pellet said. “I’ve been working through (the current) governance and have had success.”

Clarifying authority

The measures also ask the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office to conduct a special audit of utility finances and for Civil Service to conduct a pay study for the S&WB workforce, along with a review of executive positions to “identify overlapping responsibilities.”

The Civil Service motion doesn’t specifically mention combining the executive director and general superintendent — which independently report to the governing board, with no supervisory authority over each other — but Morrell made clear he wants the board to consider the idea.

The new law gave the council sweeping powers to regulate and oversee the utility, so long as it doesn’t conflict with other state laws or the city charter. That lent some uncertainty about exactly what power the council might have over the executive director, but city officials said Thursday they determined that hiring and firing power rests with the governing board under state law.

The measures will, however, give the council power to confirm any future executive director and general superintendent appointments, which the council already has with members of the mayor’s cabinet. The council will also have veto power over their contracts.

Hayman’s current contract expires in 2028, but it can be terminated without cause.

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