Tears & Laughter: Wilcox Water Authority at risk of losing USDA funding for Lamison water project

It was four years ago, back in February of 2016, when members of the Wilcox County Commission kicked off their television tour to put pressure on other commissioners to agree to form a water authority. The then chairman had tears in his eyes when he said to the camera all that was needed to get water to the poor people Lamison were votes to form a water authority.

They were back on the evening news a few week later reiterating how the county was too broke to qualify for funding, but a new entity like a water authority could…if they only had the votes.

News crews returned again in July of 2016 and found a guy who had been living in Lamison for forty-something years. He lived in a mobile home, had four children, and yet still did not have any source of running water. A move five miles in any direction could have solved the problem quicker, but the coverage won awards, inspired school children to donate money for bottled water, and stirred up a handful of outsiders so much that they threatened to come to the undeveloped community of Lamison and protest.

Locally, it worked like a charm. The three holdouts on the commission folded and the five-member Wilcox Water Authority – presided over by former Wilcox County Sheriff Prince Arnold – was formed in September of 2016. Two years later, in September 2018, the Water Authority took a victory lap when they secured a USDA grant/loan in the amount of $8 million for Lamison infrastructure – a $6 million grant and a $2 million loan.

The commissioners who were hesitant to form a water authority were not being mean. They wanted the residents of Lamison to have water, but they questioned giving complete custody and control of the water system – and the millions of dollars in funding that would result from it – to an authority that would have no check backs or accountability to the commission. Once formed the commission could replace board members, or absorb it completely, but no other say.

Some commissioners could remember how a past commission had bought pipes for the Lamison project years ago, but the pipes were left on the side of the road and in the edge of the woods for so long they either biodegraded or were stolen. The pipes disappeared and the project was never completed. Hesitancy to form a water authority wasn’t because they did not want running water flowing through pipes in Lamison, it was that they worried even with funding, the water authority would not have the ability or experience to successfully complete the project.

Now here we are a year and a half out from securing the funding, and Congresswoman Terri Sewell called in to the Wilcox County Commission last week strongly urging the commissioners to reverse their previous decision to add two new members to Wilcox Water Authority – or they face the possibility of losing the funding. She explained that the decision to add board members would require the loan process to be restarted and that it would slow down the project. Funding for the project will be lost if it is not started by September of 2020.

After the call, the commission voted to wait until the project is started to add the board members to the Water Authority, but the federal funds are still at risk of being lost. The entire project continues to on a several month hold due to a dispute with a landowner who owns a well in Gee’s Bend that would help supply water to Lamison. Until the site of the well can be secured, no progress can be made – and the clock keeps ticking. There are six months left.

Stories have way of repeating themselves in Wilcox County. Somebody should protest.

Amanda Walker is a contributor with AL.com The Selma Times Journal, Thomasville Times, West Alabama Watchman, and Alabama Gazette. Contact her at Walkerworld77@msn.com or at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.