NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell has ordered the Sewerage and Water Board to come up with its own comprehensive report on the state of the utility.
It would compete with the findings of a 14-member task force set up by Governor Jeff Landry to review frequent failures of the utility. He said they have led to widespread flooding and drinking water violations in the city.
Cantrell, who also serves as SWBNO president, spoke about the task force at Monday’s board meeting.
“The ambiguity, fingers pointing, no one wants to be accountable, it seems again, but us and this board,” Cantrell said. “I am open to the study. I’m open to this city and state getting it right.”
The task force is expected to review the billing process, which has long been a sore spot for customers.
It will also study if a new governing structure or reorganization is needed to improve the efficiency of the utility.
Board member Janet Howard said the utility has been working for a long time on some of the problems under review by the task force.
“We’re not just behind the 8 ball here, we are ahead of the game,” Howard said. “We are leading. We have taken the actions to move forward on this important part of the organization.
There is no direct representation from the mayor’s office or city council on the task force.
So, the mayor instructed the sewerage and water board to prepare its own state of the utility, by the end of the month.
That would coincide with the task force’s deadline to come up with a list of recommendations for the state legislature to consider.
“That’s why I think it is very necessary to do our state of the utility, this quarter, prior to the end of this quarter because then we will lay out again, what the existing conditions are, where we’ve been, where we are, and where we need to go,” Cantrell said.
The governor did appoint Sewerage and Water Board President Pro Temp Poco Sloss to serve on the task force.
The task force will hold public meetings in the first-floor conference center at the University Medical Center in New Orleans, 2000 Canal Street this Thurs., March 7, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., March 14, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and March 21, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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