Following recent water outages during the holiday season, the Marion City Council held a special session to address ongoing issues with the city’s water supply on Tuesday, January 2. Due to issues connecting to the city’s free Zoom account, the scheduled 6:00 PM meeting was delayed until City Clerk Laura Hinton announced the meeting would be broadcast live from the City of Marion’s Facebook page. The meeting was then called to order by Mayor Dexter Hinton, with all council members present.
There was standing room only as citizens continued to filter in throughout the meeting. Laura Hinton explained the purpose of the meeting, which was to explain the ongoing water outages and to adopt an emergency resolution for the city to source water from the Perry County Water Authority. The meeting was also set to address the need for a system to notify citizens of possible water outages in the future.
Mayor Hinton opened the meeting by explaining that water issues on December 25 at 9:00 p.m. were initially due to a power outage. During the power outage, he said, a pump at the city water well known as the “MMI well,” was pumping considerably less water to the city’s water plant than is necessary for typical operation— down to 20-25 gallons from a peak capacity of 400 gallons or so. Plant workers then generated a supply list for the installation of a new pump that was, as of Tuesday’s meeting due to be shipped to the city “no later than Friday,” according to the engineer on the city’s water project, Rod Hawkins. On Friday, December 29, the City of Marion notified citizens through its Facebook page that city water would be shut off during the night.
Mayor Hinton said, “We were trying to recoup water that we had already lost. Not saying that there’s anything wrong with the water now, we were just turning off a pump so our system could build up. We did not know and we could not predict at the time, that it would use the amount of water it did so fast.”
Following this, Mayor Hinton announced that the State of Alabama has allowed the City of Marion to tap into American Rescue Plan Act funds to repair current issues with the municipal water system, and to upgrade the system overall to address future issues.
“First off, I’d like to say I’m sorry to the citizens for the inconvenience, but, of course, as council and governing body we stay in this community. So the same inconvenience you all face, we face, too,” Mayor Hinton said in a public apology, adding, “We have our constituents best interest at heart.”
Following this, Mayor Hinton presented the council with an emergency water resolution that acknowledged the ongoing water issues and proposed utilizing ARPA funding to address the repairs needed to keep municipal water running. Before the council could adopt the resolution, City Clerk Laura Hinton announced that City Engineer Rod Hawkins would be joining by speakerphone to address citizens on the mechanics of the water system and explain the water outages in more technical terms.
Hawkins joined the meeting via speakerphone to offer an in-depth explanation on the mechanics of the water system and how repairs to the system could eventually lead to an entire overhaul of the city’s water system.“Either the pump has gone bad or there may be a hole in the pump column,” said Hawkins over speakerphone on the nature of the issues facing the MMI well.
Not only did the city order a new pump, but a new pump column to replace the former. Though the new pump is estimated to arrive by Fast Track shipping on Friday, January 5, Hawkins said it would take “one to two days to remove all that piping and put everything together.”
Hawkins also explained that county water sources could not immediately be utilized until water tests were complete because of potentially different levels of pH and alkalinity in wells used for municipal versus county water supply. Hawkins said, “With Marion you have a lot of cast iron pipe, similar to what occurred in Flint, Michigan,” invoking the midwestern city’s own water crisis that has made headlines internationally.
Later on during the session, City Clerk Hinton proposed a budget of $65,000, per Hawkins estimation, to begin maintenance on the MMI and another well, the latter of which has remained inactive for approximately 3 years according to Hawkins. An additional $5,000 was proposed to budget for a city-wide alert system to notify citizens of outages and emergencies. This followed the announcement of a water rate study that would be conducted on the city by January 10. An hour into the meeting, the council was presented with the emergency water resolution that the city would purchase county water after testing was completed if needed by the city. Councilman Arrington made a motion to approve the resolution with Councilman Kennie, with the resolution passing unanimously after a roll call vote.
The floor was then opened to public comment. Patsy Pagan asked about the rate study currently being conducted by U.S.D.A. Rural Water. “How can the rate study be accurate if the data that is being looked at is erroneous?” she said. Pagan said there had been inaccurate meter readings on her water bills, and at address citizens on the mechanics of the water system and explain the water outages in more technical terms.
Hawkins joined the meeting via speakerphone to offer an in-depth explanation on the mechanics of the water system and how repairs to the system could eventually lead to an entire overhaul of the city’s water system.“Either the pump has gone bad or there may be a hole in the pump column,” said Hawkins over speakerphone on the nature of the issues facing the MMI well.
Not only did the city order a new pump, but a new pump column to replace the former. Though the new pump is estimated to arrive by Fast Track shipping on Friday, January 5, Hawkins said it would take “one to two days to remove all that piping and put everything together.”
Hawkins also explained that county water sources could not immediately be utilized until water tests were complete because of potentially different levels of pH and alkalinity in wells used for municipal versus county water supply. Hawkins said, “With Marion you have a lot of cast iron pipe, similar to what occurred in Flint, Michigan,” invoking the midwestern city’s own water crisis that has made headlines internationally.
Later on during the session, City Clerk Hinton proposed a budget of $65,000, per Hawkins estimation, to begin maintenance on the MMI and another well, the latter of which has remained inactive for approximately 3 years according to Hawkins. An additional $5,000 was proposed to budget for a city-wide alert system to notify citizens of outages and emergencies. This followed the announcement of a water rate study that would be conducted on the city by January 10. An hour into the meeting, the council was presented with the emergency water resolution that the city would purchase county water after testing was completed if needed by the city. Councilman Arrington made a motion to approve the resolution with Councilman Kennie, with the resolution passing unanimously after a roll call vote.
The floor was then opened to public comment. Patsy Pagan asked about the rate study currently being conducted by U.S.D.A. Rural Water. “How can the rate study be accurate if the data that is being looked at is erroneous?” she said. Pagan said there had been inaccurate meter readings on her water bills, and at prior meetings the city has acknowledged that some municipal water meters were not operating properly.
Mayor Hinton explained, “They’re looking at the overall system in itself, based on how many customers are on it, based on other systems they’re looking at also,” rather than taking data from individual customers.
When Perry County Commission Chairman Albert Turner, Jr., asked City Clerk Hinton how many gallons of water were billed per month in the city, Hinton responded “I can pull it from the system, based on the usage and the meter reads.”
During Turner’s comments, he revealed both the medical director of Davita Dialysis in Marion and Tek- Pak informed Turner that their facilities were, at most, two weeks away from shuttering their businesses due to ongoing water outages and sanitation issues. “We can’t continue this. We can’t continue this charade,” said Turner, adding, “Today the county spent $5,000 to help the citizens of Marion get drinking water.” This was in reference to the Perry County Commission handing out water to Marion citizens at the Richard Avery, Jr., Courthouse Annex on Tuesday, January 2 and Wednesday, January 3. Turner Jr. said he would provide the city with water test results, to approve as soon as the morning of Wednesday, January 3, to expedite the process, saying “We’ll have an M.O.U. ready for you tomorrow to sign,” referring to a memorandum of understanding between the city and county.
Next a representative of Southland Nursing Home came to the podium, saying that, in addition to outages, “The water is very discolored when it comes out all day long,” explaining that the nursing home has tapped into emergency water supplies on a repeated basis to remain operational. She indicated that the nursing home had to order more emergency water and requested test results from the council, saying, “I need some water tests to show that the water’s safe.”
Both Mayor Hinton and City Clerk Hinton assured the employee that the test results would be given to the nursing home as soon as possible.
“The discoloration is really just dirt,” said Mayor Hinton.
Jeff Walker, who introduced himself as a new citizen of Marion, said “This city has a communications problem with their citizens,” and called into question the proposed $5,000 budget to establish a municipal alert system. Walker said the system could be implemented more economically, and volunteered to set up the system himself. Walker thanked Chairman Turner for the water given out by the Perry County Commission, saying “At least you did something for the people, where these people have done nothing so far to help the citizens after five days, especially over the holidays.” Mayor Hinton stoped Walker and said, “We’re not fixing to start that.”
Walker continued to question the mayor and council, asking about repairs to a well on County Road 45, why the city uses Facebook as a primary source of communication with citizens, and why annual maintenance hasn’t been administered to the wells throughout the city. Walker then left the council chambers.
Following his remarks, Florence Parker stood up and addressed the room, asking if people were done asking about the water issues. She then said, “We have a problem that’s about to get out of hand,” and went on to say she was referring to Marion Police Chief Tony Buford. Parker claimed that Buford was only in his office once a week and that citizens were no longer able to meet with the police chief. “We need a chief and we can start with that one right there,” said the concerned citizen, motioning to a police officer present throughout the meeting. After this, Mayor Hinton banged the gavel and said, “This meeting is adjourned. Y’all have a blessed night.”
Another citizen then began to address the council, saying, “Every night I have three or four dogs running around in my yard,” referring to a problem with stray dogs in the city. The police officer on duty then moved toward both the citizens, telling them that the mayor had said the meeting was adjourned. He attempted to escort one of the women into the hallway, before returning to the council table.
City Clerk Hinton then reminded Mayor Hinton that the council needed to pass a motion to adjourn, which Hinton then presented to the council while both citizens remained in the chambers voicing their concerns. Councilman Arrington made the motion to adjourn with councilman Kinney seconding the motion, but no roll call vote was made on the adjournment. Mayor Hinton then told the officer, “Get her out of here,” referring to the citizen who was discussing issues with stray dogs in her yard. While both people continued to speak, the officer approached the woman once more, saying “Let’s go. It’s over now,” while escorting her out of the council chambers.
