Mayor Mitch Landrieu on water board reform: Cut politics, build trust ...

"The chorus continues to be very, very loud about fixing the way the Sewerage and Water Board works." -- Mayor Mitch Landrieu

The New Orleans City Council's 44-year involvement with the Sewerage & Water Board could come to an end next year, if Mayor Mitch Landrieu's plan to overhaul the long-troubled agency survives the legislative process. Landrieu announced a sweeping proposal Tuesday that would remove three council seats and one mayoral appointee from the 13-member board; shorten board members' terms from nine years to six; and limit appointees to two consecutive terms. The mayor would remain the board's president.

The proposal also calls for the board to abide by an executive order Landrieu passed early in his administration that establishes a competitive process for awarding professional services contracts, and to adopt a statistics-based accountability system similar to his BlightStat and QualityofLifeStat initiatives. That way the public can see how well the agency is meeting its goals in monthly public meetings.

Furthermore, it recommends that all future mayoral appointees to be chosen from recommendations supplied by the presidents of six universities: Tulane, UNO, Loyola, SUNO, Dillard and Xavier. Board members also would have to follow state financial disclosure requirements enacted in 2008, Landrieu said, although state records show they already do.

"The chorus continues to be very, very loud about fixing the way the Sewerage and Water Board works," the mayor said Tuesday. "We heard that time and time and time again. For too long, the Sewerage & Water Board has been hurting. It has historically been underfunded and consequently, in some areas, in disarray."

The reform proposal is an attempt by the mayor to build trust in the agency before asking the City Council to approve big hikes to sewer and water service rates to help repair the city's ailing, aging underground pipe networks. Landrieu said support for the S&WB among residents and businesses must be restored to push through the proposed plans to raise rates 10 percent every year for eight years.

Landrieu and other groups have cast the council members' ouster as a step toward removing a layer of politics from the S&WB. Under the current configuration, the mayor appoints seven members to serve with the four elected officials. Two members are also appointed by the city's debt manager, the Board of Liquidation.

Proposed rate hikes must ultimately be approved by the City Council, giving the council members who sit on the S&WB a chance to vote twice.

One group, the Bureau of Governmental Research, has advised the board to remove all elected officials, including the mayor. Executive Director Janet Howard said Tuesday that BGR appreciated that Landrieu included many of its recommendations in his proposal, but added that the plan warrants closer study.

A citizens' task force led by former board member Gary Solomon also advised removing council members, but recommended that the mayor stay on as board president.

Last week, the S&WB's executive committee endorsed removing the three council members but keeping the mayor and adding an at-large appointed position to keep 11 members on the board, an odd number to avoid tie votes. The full board is expected to consider that proposal and others on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, Landrieu has the tacit support of two council members who currently serve on the S&WB.

"The council people don't belong on the Sewerage & Water Board," Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson said. "We don't have the expertise and we don't have the time."

"Generally, I think it's a great move," Councilwoman Stacy Head said. Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, the third council member on the S&WB, couldn't be reached late Tuesday.

In the past, some council members have viewed a seat on the water board as a political plum, largely because of the influence the board has over awarding multi-million dollar contracts. Others, however, have seen the appointment as more of a burden because of the time involved and the complex nature of dealing with infrastructure issues.

Landrieu asked the board in July to examine ways to make the increases more palatable to skeptical residents and businesses. In their latest permutation, the rates will be phased in over eight years, ending in 2020. The average resident will see their monthly water bill jump from $52.50 in 2012 to $86.36 in 2016, and keep rising for another four years. Landrieu said Tuesday that he supports letting the board implement smaller, yearly rate increases to combat inflation after those rates are fully installed.

The 113-year-old water board has undergone few changes to its roster size after it settled on 13 members in 1936. Council members have served on it in some number since 1968.

Because the S&WB was created by state statute and predates New Orleans' home rule charter, fiddling with its makeup is no small task. Any of the proposals under consideration would require new state laws and an acknowledgement of it within the city charter, S&WB Executive Director Marcia St. Martin has said.

The earliest any change could be enacted is late next fall, after the 2013 legislative session and an Oct. 19, 2013 municipal election to consider a charter change. The City Council must vote to put such a change on the ballot.

Politicians have tried to change the board's membership at the Legislature before, unsuccessfully.

"We've tried it in the past and it was less easy there," said Clarkson, a former legislator.

Landrieu's predecessor, Ray Nagin, had clamored in 2004 for ousting the council members from the S&WB. He supported two state bills to do just that, but they were unsuccessful.

The last attempt to change the board came in 2008, when the Business Council wanted a state law mandating board members be experts in engineering, finance or other applicable fields. The measure fell flat after raising suspicions that the new requirements would exclude residents from poorer parts of the city.

The latest reforms have a much better chance of clearing political hurdles. State Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, and state Rep. Walt Leger III have signed up to steer the legislation through Baton Rouge.

"It is an important step in building consumer confidence in something like a rate increase," Morrell said. "Business consumers as well as residential consumers throughout our city need to feel like this is a board that takes its job seriously, and really is one step further in fighting that culture of corruption that has kind of tainted the city."

Source: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/11/mayor_landrieu_on_water_board.html

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