On Friday, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Pat Ballard granted a permanent injunction that stops a move aimed at taking over the Birmingham Water Works (BWWB).

This injunction prevents Jefferson County Probate Judge James Naftel from verifying a petition started by Fred Randall, David Russell and James King with the intention to prompt the Birmingham City Council to take over the utility.

The Alabama’s Mayor-Council Act of 1955 allows a petition to be brought before city council if 10% of the city’s qualified voters sign the petition. But first the petition must be brought before the local probate court to verify that it has the necessary percentage of signatures, as the Lede previously reported.

Attorney and former Birmingham City Council President Johnathan Austin, representing the petitioners, said that the 18,000 signatures they collected was enough to meet the 10% threshold, which they brought to Naftel for verification.

On Jan. 9 the BWWB filed a temporary restraining order against Naftel to prevent him from verifying these signatures and pursued an injunction to permanently prevent Naftel from pursuing any further action with the petition, according to court records.