A state-mandated deadline is bearing down on the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System board, which must decide within days whether to take over the water utility serving thousands of customers in Prichard and Chickasaw.
State lawmakers approved legislation earlier this year laying out a timeline for MAWSS to absorb the Prichard Water Works and Sewer Board following a June referendum in which voters endorsed dissolving the Prichard board in favor of a MAWSS takeover. Under that law, the transfer of assets and liabilities must happen within 90 days of the election, putting the effective deadline in early September for a system serving roughly 11,000 customers across the two cities.
Despite the voter mandate, the ultimate call rests with the seven-member MAWSS board, which has only one regular meeting scheduled before the deadline arrives. As of this week, there was no public indication that board members intend to bring the takeover to a vote at that session, and the board’s chairman did not respond to requests for comment on the timeline.
One MAWSS board member confirmed the matter would come up again at the upcoming meeting but said he could not predict whether it would actually reach a vote. A spokeswoman for the utility said the board continues to request records and operational details from the Prichard system, noting that only some of the requested information has been provided so far.
Much of the holdup appears tied to a management contract the Prichard board approved in the days just before the June referendum. Under that agreement, an outside firm would handle day-to-day management and operations of the Prichard system at a cost of roughly $6.5 million a year over five years, with room for the price to rise further. A state lawmaker who championed the MAWSS takeover argues the contract is unnecessary, saying MAWSS has the internal capacity to run the system itself and suggesting the last-minute vote by the outgoing Prichard board was designed to complicate the transition. Attorneys are reportedly reviewing whether the contract would remain binding on MAWSS regardless of who ultimately operates the system.
The Prichard board’s chairman could not be reached for comment on the contract dispute. Meanwhile, MAWSS board members have acknowledged the scope of the analysis facing staff, with at least one member noting surprise at how poorly the Prichard system had reportedly been performing financially and operationally.
Supporters of the takeover describe the coming vote as a pivotal moment for ratepayers in Prichard and Chickasaw, with the outcome likely to hinge on whether MAWSS determines it can financially absorb the existing management contract or must find another path forward before the legal deadline passes.