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Ted Henifin is trying to convince anyone who will listen to him that the water in the City of Jackson is safe to drink, right now.
“This is the most tested water in America,” said Henifin, the man appointed to oversee the Jackson’s water crisis.
He was introduced by Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba at Jackson City Hall on Monday.
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Henifin was appointed as the City of Jackson water system’s third-party administrator and takes over a system that has more than a century of mismanaged decisions.
“We are in transition right now,” Henifin said. “The state extended the current contract for maintenance and that ends (Tuesday). I have arranged for some maintenance folks from Jacobs Co. to come in. They are on site now and they are taking over maintenance duties.”
According to the interim stipulated order, Henifin will be paid $400,000 a year, which will include his salary, living expenses and travel expenses.
The order also notes that other staff will be compensated up to $725,000. Those positions would include a local deputy administrator/senior project manager, project managers/contract inspectors, a contract administrator/invoice processor and an environmental compliance manager.
The total budget for all professional services is $2,976,500.
“We are running very well at the moment. There is a lot of confidence,” Henifin said. “The EPA is still on site testing the water. If you are worried about drinking water, I say come to Jackson. This water is really high quality and very, very well tested and approved.”
Henifin went on the say that he believes the water system and plant is in good shape and that he believes the transition will run smoothly.
“We are going to get the system back to a sustainable place where it is providing consistent high quality safe drinking water,” said Henifin, who expects for the process to take less than the year that the stipulated order has planned for.
Henifin, who retired in February, is a registered professional engineer who served 15 years as general manager of the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia. Before that, he served as director of public works for the city of Hampton, Virginia.
His career has spanned nearly 40 years and during that time he’s held roles in public works and utilities in federal and local government.
He graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in civil engineering.
Henifin said he was ready to retire, but that the timeline worked out and he has jumped into the Jackson water crisis because he believes the city and its resident deserve clean and consistent drinking water.
He already has a good working knowledge of the city system, having spent two weeks at a time in Jackson in each of the last three months.
“I really began to feel integrated with the situation,” he said. “I got out into the community a little bit and meeting people and buying them drinks to convince them to drink the tap water, whatever it took.”
He said coming to Jackson wasn’t part of his life plan but he wanted to help and believed he could help.
Henifin, then offered his services but on three conditions. One was that Jackson would not be handcuffed with the bill.
“If you read the order carefully, the cost of the third-party manager is no born by the citizens of Jackson,” Henifin said.
Two is that he is released from city and state government orders.
“Procurement is the big thing,” he said. “A one-year time frame under traditional government. Nothing would get done. So, there is language in there that I am going to honor the spirit of competitive procurement, but I am not locked into traditional measures.”
The last thing is that he needed strong personal liability.
“We managed to get all of the things we were looking for,” Henifin said. “So, when they agreed to all of my terms, I couldn’t really say no anymore.”
Lumumba said that all of the conditions worked perfectly for the city.
“We didn’t want (Henifin) to be limited by state procurement law and the bureaucracy of government,” Lumumba said. “We are trying to be aggressive and tackle these challenges as fast as we can. So, we wanted to put those expert decisions in the hands of an expert. That worked for us, and we were in agreement whole heartedly.”
Henifin also said that he does not expect there to be an increase in water rates for Jackson residents as the process moves forward. He said there is a 60-day plan that must be put in place, but that has not been done at this point.
“I don’t believe these people can afford an increase, nor do I expect they deserve an increase,” he said. “If there are disputes about that, there is a process built into what we are doing.”
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