The Birmingham Water Works Board started the year with four new members and five reappointed ones — and in a vote this week kept the same officers as last year.

Tereshia Huffman was reelected chairwoman; William “Butch” Burbage Jr. was reelected vice chairman; and Raymond “Larry” Ward was reelected secretary-treasurer. All three served on the board previously and were reappointed.

The board’s nine members serve four-year terms.

Huffman welcomed new members during this week’s meeting, saying, “You all bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, and we’re ready to do this work with you.”

Board members are responsible for governing Alabama’s largest water utility by “providing strategic direction to executive management, adopting the utility’s operating and capital budgets, approving contracts and setting rates,” according to the Water Works’ website. They are appointed by a variety of government officials and governing bodies in the five-county greater Birmingham area.

The mayor of Birmingham appoints two members, the Birmingham City Council names four members, and the Jefferson County Mayors Association, the Shelby County Commission and the Blount County Commission each select one member. Members of the board this term are:

New Members

• Ivan Holloway (Birmingham City Council appointee), executive director at Urban Impact, a nonprofit organization that describes itself as committed to removing barriers for Black entrepreneurs and to leading, building and growing traditionally underserved Black commercial districts and communities.
• Jonathan Harris (Birmingham City Council appointee), a retired Water Works water treatment manager. Harris filled the seat of Ronald Mims, who was also a retired Water Works employee and died in October 2023.
• Monique Gardner Witherspoon (Mayor Randall Woodfin appointee), associate dean and associate professor in the educational leadership department at Samford University.
• Andre McShan (Woodfin appointee), an occupational medicine physician and assistant professor in the physical medicine and rehabilitation department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Reappointed Members

• Tereshia Huffman, chairwoman, (reappointed by Birmingham City Council), has worked for Birmingham Promise, which provides college scholarships and internship opportunities for Birmingham City Schools students, and several community organizations.
• Raymond “Larry” Ward, secretary-treasurer (reappointed by Birmingham City Council), former head of the Birmingham Parking Authority and former head of the public finance division at brokerage firm Morgan Keegan & Co.
• William “Butch” Burbage Jr., vice chairman, (reappointed by Shelby County Commission), former chief financial officer for the Shelby County Commission.
• Carl Dalton NeSmith Jr. (reappointed by Blount County Commission), an attorney in Oneonta.
• Tom Henderson (reappointed by Jefferson County Mayors Association), the former mayor of Center Point and former director of athletics for Jefferson State Community College.

Three board members were not reappointed and rolled off the board at the end of the year: Lucien Blankenship, George Munchus and MaShonda Taylor.