The board over Central Alabama Water on Monday accepted its CEO’s recommendations for hiring a firm to serve as the utility’s consulting engineer and seven executives to lead the organization.

A state law that went into effect in May restructured the City of Birmingham Regional Water Works and required its board to retain a consulting engineer “with a national reputation for providing high quality engineering services to water systems.” Among other things, the consulting engineer must provide an analysis of proposed rate increases and an assessment of capital projects worth more than $2 million before the board approves them.

The consulting engineer the board voted to hire was not named during Monday’s board meeting, but CAW CEO Jeffrey Thompson said after the meeting that Jacobs Engineering Group, now called Jacobs Solutions, was selected.

“Jacobs brings with them a very deep bench of resources, subject matter experts across the spectrum of engineering that are all applicable to Central Alabama Water,” Thompson said.

The new law stipulates that the consulting engineer cannot also provide project engineering services for the utility. Arcadis North America had served as the water works’ consulting engineer before the law went into effect, but the company also performs project engineering work for the utility.

Three companies — Arcadis, Jacobs and Waggoner Engineering — had submitted proposals in response to CAW’s request for quotes.

Based in Dallas, Jacobs is a global firm that provides engineering, technical, professional and construction services. In recent years, it has ranked at or near the top of Engineering News-Record’s lists of firms that perform overall engineering design and water-related services. Jacobs has offices in Birmingham, Montgomery and Mobile, according to its website.

The board authorized Thompson to negotiate a five-year agreement with Jacobs Solutions and to execute that agreement. Under the state law, the agreement must require the consulting engineer to produce:

• A rate analysis and report on the reasonableness of existing and proposed rates and service charges, to be provided annually and before any increase in rates or other service charges.
• An annual assessment of the board’s compliance with the law’s sections governing financial statements and reports.
• An assessment of capital projects costing $2 million or more before the board can approve them.
• A report and opinion regarding the board’s ability to pay principal and interest on any loans or securities before the board approves financing.
• Reviews of other engineers’ work, including plans and specifications for projects undertaken by the board.
• Evaluations of candidates to provide project engineering services to the board.

Board Approves New Executives

The seven new executives also were not named during the meeting, but CAW’s public information manager sent out a press release and posted information with their names and short bios, along with details about the consulting engineer, immediately after the meeting.

Thompson introduced several of the executives at the Dec. 1 meeting and said they were long-term employees who had begun serving in the leadership roles in an interim capacity. That happened after Thompson placed five senior managers on paid administrative leave Nov. 20, the day he was hired.

Thompson said Monday that three of the executives were new hires who already had begun work in an interim capacity.

Board member Jarvis Patton Sr. asked for a section of the state law that deals with the hiring of executives to be read. Shan Paden, one of the utility’s external attorneys, read the passage, which states that the chief executive has full authority to manage the regional board’s operations but must recommend to the board candidates to serve in executive positions.

“Now, after they’ve been hired, we need to approve their hire?” Patton asked Thompson.

Thompson said that, according to CAW’s attorneys, employing executives in an interim capacity before a board vote was allowed under the state law.

Patton also asked how much the salaries of employees hired in the past three weeks totaled, noting that the 2026 budget the board approved last week doesn’t include employee raises.

“You can’t give them a cost-of-living increase, but we can hire eight or nine or 10 more people that are going to make over a million dollars,” Patton said. “I don’t understand that.”

Thompson said 13 people, including 10 nonexecutives, had been hired during the past three weeks and he didn’t know the combined amount of the salaries.

The board confirmed Thompson’s recommendations for executives to lead the utility in a 4-2 vote, with one board member absent. Patton and Sheila Tyson voted against the move.

The recently hired executives are Cameron Holly, chief technology officer; Brian Lewis, chief people officer; and Lester Smith, chief financial officer.

Those who were already working for CAW and have been promoted to executive positions are Timothy Harris, chief operating officer; Ray Sloan, chief reliability officer; David Walker, chief administrative officer; and Jonathan Wilson, chief engineering officer.

The board also voted on Monday to stop funding $600 retirement gifts and $1,000 retirement parties for employees. Thompson said about 20 employees retire per year, costing CAW about $32,000 annually.

He said the spending isn’t in compliance with the new state law because it doesn’t further the objectives of the utility.

“The recommendation from our auditors — the strong recommendation — was that we rescind this policy as being not in compliance with the spirit of (the) law,” Thompson said.