Members of the Birmingham City Council and Mayor Randall Woodfin called on ratepayers of Birmingham Water Works to sound off to thwart legislation that would change the makeup of the Birmingham Water Works Board.

Senate Bill 330, which could get final passage by the as early as Thursday, would decrease the number of members of the board and reduce the influence of Birmingham.

The current board is composed of nine members – two appointed by the mayor of Birmingham, four by the Birmingham City Council, one by the Jefferson County Mayors Association, one by Blount County and one by Shelby County.

The bill to revamp the membership of the board would set up a seven-member board, with one member each appointed by the governor, the Birmingham City Council, the Birmingham mayor, the state’s lieutenant governor, the Jefferson County Commission president, the governing body of each county in which a BWWB-owned major reservoir is principally located (Blount County), and by the commission in the county where the second-largest number of water customers reside (Shelby County).

A number of members of the Birmingham council were in Montgomery Tuesday to voice their opposition to the bill. Only seven people got to speak, including a state senator and a state representative who were in favor of the action.

The council president noted the irony of a Latin saying on the floor of the sixth floor of the State House. “It has their motto, … voice of the people,” Darryl O’Quinn said. “Today, that voice was denied.”

Council President Pro Tempore Wardine Alexander said the bill calls for a rebranding of BWWB into a regional board.

“Also, some of the details within the bill also give appointing power by elected officials and this is typically something that’s not done,” she said. What it would not do is change the quality of the water. “Under no circumstances has the water that comes from the Birmingham water works been said (to be) unsafe or unpure,” she said.

“We vehemently oppose this bill,” Alexander said. “I would like to ask all residents to please contact your legislators and tell them about your opposition to this bill.”

Woodfin and O’Quinn said they’ve had issues with the BWWB. Each said the proposed bill does not address those issues.

The mayor added that 91% of the Birmingham Water Works customers call Jefferson County home and 41% live in Birmingham.

“But that is not the makeup or representation we have with this proposed legislation,” Woodfin said. “Let’s call it what it is. This is a political power grab that is not in the best interest of the vast majority of the ratepayers. I stand with the members of the city council and our residents in saying, and I’ve continued to say it, that this bill needs to be killed.”

O’Quinn said Birmingham Water Works is seeking a $200 billion bond issue that would, among other things, repair the Lake Purdy dam, which he said has been neglected.

“It would also put at risk another important project that I know Birmingham Water Works ratepayers care about, which is the automated meters,” the council president said. “This bill 100% jeopardizes those projects. If you replace the board, it’s almost like a reset.

“At no point has a state legislator ever reached out to me or any of my colleagues to sit down with us and share their concerns,” O’Quinn said. “This is not being done with us. This is being done to us.”