This is an opinion column.

Finally.

For far too long, the Birmingham Jefferson-County Civic Center Authority board of directors stood as a defiant, Sphinx-like monument to the good-old-boy network (GOBN) cronyism embodied by so many public boards in the region and across the state.

Its board members, most of whom are appointed by the Jefferson County legislative body, gripped their seats at the long, dark-wood table—and the cushy tickets to prime sports and entertainment events that come with them—as if their next breath depended on it. As if the seats were theirs, and no one else’s.

Certainly not the public’s.

At least one current member has served almost as long as another member has been alive.

With no term limits, and a legislative leader (Rep. Jim Carnes) who seemed more interested in enabling than ending the GOBN—the board now includes one female—that haughty inertia seemed destined to continue.

Though that may soon change.

Finally.

SB302, sponsored by Jabo Waggoner-R, Vestavia Hills, would create a long-overdue shakeup of the now nine-member board overseeing five sports, music, and theater venues; exhibition and meeting halls; the Sheraton and Westin hotels; and the Uptown Entertainment complex. It adds two additional seats and caps the number of terms a member may serve.

Similar to boards of directors, for instance at the University of Alabama and Auburn. Similar to most reasonable, responsible boards.

Finally.

“No elected board member may be elected to a new term after he or she has served three consecutive full terms,” the bill states. It passed unanimously last week by the Jefferson County legislative committee and could come up for a vote in the Senate this week.

Related: It’s time for change in BJCC board, bastion of good old boy cronyism

Board member Dr. Clyde Echols was initially appointed in 1988. Board member Randall Woodfin, in the seat designated to be held by the mayor of Birmingham, was seven years old. Woodfin will be 42 at the end of the month.

Last December, Echols was re-appointed by fellow members after his term expired due to a timing quirk. In 2014, lawmakers amended the enabling legislation governing the board. to say it “shall” select new members—shall feed itself, essentially—if the delegation fails to fill a vacancy within 60 days. That might happen once every four years when elections distract lawmakers just as their four-year terms came to an end.

Two thousand twenty-two was such a year.

RELATED: BJCC dos the expected, holds tight to power, cronyism in re-appointing fellow member

There may be myriad reasons why Carnes, who served in the house since 1990 (save for four years when he was on the Jefferson County Commission) failed to convene county legislators during the allotted 60 days—not even a Zoom call.

Unless he never intended to.

Echols’ term expires in 2026.

The seat long held by BJCC board chair Dennis Latham, a retired lobbyist who represents Bessemer could be unoccupied and filled with a fresh face much sooner. He was appointed in 1998, served until 2010, dropped off yet was reappointed in 2011. Latham was elected chair in 2012 and has held the position since. (U.S. Senate committee chairs are limited to a single term; the president, as you know, is capped at two terms).

Latham’s term expires this year.

The bill calls for one of the new additional members to be the CEO/president of the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If passed by the Senate, SB302 would also have to pass the House and be signed into law by the Governor.

I’ve stated this before: Public boards are not the U.S. Supreme Court. There are no lifetime appointments.

Or there shouldn’t be.

More columns by Roy S. Johnson

United Methodist member recalls effort in 1970s to merge Black and white congregations

Instead of forcing kids to hear the ‘Star-Spanged Banner’, they should study it

Questioning parenting after youth violence is real, but does not absolve lawmaker inaction

Why are our Black children shooting our Black children?

Tell me why, Republicans; or do silence and gun deaths speak for you?

I got it wrong; Republicans actually do want us to vote

I’m a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary and winner of the Edward R. Murrow prize for podcasts: “Unjustifiable,” co-hosted with John Archibald. My column appears in AL.com, as well as the Lede. Stay tuned for my upcoming limited series podcast Panther: Blueprint for Black Power, co-hosted with Eunice Elliott. Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter, The Barbershop, here. Reach me at [email protected], follow me at twitter.com/roysj, or on Instagram @roysj