Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) chairwoman Tereshia Huffman defended the utility’s existing leadership in a statement released today in response to efforts by state representatives to overhaul the board’s current structure.

”As the Chairwoman of the Board, I can confidently say that the current composition of our board represents the diverse service area we serve,” Huffman wrote in the statement.

”We have prioritized ensuring that our board reflects our community and that our decisions are made with their best interests in mind. Additionally, we take great pride in transparency with our customers and stakeholders and are committed to maintaining our sound financial strength.”

Huffman was responding to a bill (House Bill 177) introduced in Alabama’s House of Representatives that would convert BWWB to a seven-member regional board (there are currently nine), giving Birmingham’s mayor the authority to make four appointments with the governor appointing the remaining three.

Per the board’s current bylaws four BWWB members are appointed by the Birmingham City Council, two by the Birmingham mayor, and one each by the Jefferson County Mayors Association, the Shelby County Commission, and Blount County Commission.

As AL.com’s Roy Johnson previously reported, current board members could be immediately replaced with new appointees if the bill becomes law.

HB 177 is co-sponsored by two state representatives from the Birmingham area, Rep. Jim Carns and Rep. David Faulkner, both Republicans.

The bill would add several stipulations to who can or cannot be appointed to the board.

BWWB appointees would have to be “well experienced in business affairs of the complexity of the operation of a water or sewer system,” the bill says.

Appointees would also have to undergo 10 hours of training each year “on the duties and best practices of directors of organizations engaged in the operation of water or sewer systems, the obligations of directors under the Ethics Act, and the reporting requirements under this division.”

The bill also specifies that at least one of the mayor’s and governor’s appointees “must have an engineering background,” and another “must have a financial background.”

Per the bill’s text it only applies to “municipal water works boards that, on January 1, 2015, or thereafter serves customers or has assets in four or more counties other than the county where the authorizing municipality is located.”

BWWB is currently the only water system in Jefferson County that falls within those standards.

Carns and Faulkner did not respond to requests for comment on the bill.