This week the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB) is expected to vote on a new self-governance policy and pledge that would require members to undergo training on ethics, BWWB procedures, and other water industry topics.

The agenda for the meeting also includes a vote on a new five-year sewer billing agreement with the Jefferson County Commission – which might make moot a bill aimed at giving the commission some control over billing matters.

The new self-governance policy would require that within 60 days of adopting the policy, current board members would have to receive in-person training from the [Alabama] Ethics Commission regarding Alabama’s Ethics Act; receive training on parliamentary procedures, including BWWB bylaws and Robert’s Rules of Order which must be “provided by either an outside consultant or legal counsel to the Water Works Board; ”receive training on Alabama Open Meetings Act, Public Records Act, Competitive Bidding Act, and Public Works Act “…to be provided by legal counsel to the Water Works Board.”

The policy also would also require board members to undergo an additional two hours of combined training on Alabama’s Ethics Laws, Open Meetings Act, Public Records Act, Competitive Bidding Act, and Public Works Act as well as an additional three hours of training “on topics relevant to the water industry” each year.

Such topics include but are not limited to utility rate setting, business operations, and public finance according to the policy’s text. It added that certificates of completion for all required training would be posted for each director to the BWWB website.