A Sewer Lord's Tale: Lake View Residents Battle For Oversight, Fair Rates

LAKE VIEW, AL — The City of Lake View isn't a weak cluster of thatch-roofed shanties sitting helpless in the shadow of some imposing medieval castle or manor.

No, rather, it's a growing city of roughly 3,600 people in eastern Tuscaloosa County, conveniently positioned off the busy interstate between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.

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Still, apart from the welcoming exterior of its small-town charm and peaceful pace, it's not without a well-documented history of financial oppression at the hands of a man many view as an unchecked tyrant, focused solely on bilking every last dime out of those in his domain.

In their most concerted push yet, residents in this small west Alabama city aren't without hope, with the potential remedy coming in the form of a proposed bill that supporters say will finally force much-needed oversight and accountability onto the owner of a private sewer company who has already been severely punished in court for his underhanded business practices.

And as the momentum ramps up from the grassroots level in Lake View, a question-and-answer meeting has been scheduled by city elected officials and will be held Wednesday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. at Lake View Town Hall.

Lake View Councilman Ben Hudson told Patch on Tuesday that he would be in attendance at the event and said it will aim to address two primary issues: the city's current sewage treatment provider and HB148 — a piece of legislation that would see private sewer owners in Lake View brought under the oversight of the Alabama Public Service Commission when it comes to rates and fees.

"We really just want citizens to interact with their senators and representatives ... and encourage them to get out from behind the keyboard," Hudson said, citing the litany of Facebook commenters primarily voicing support for reform to the city's system.

The longstanding schism in Lake View dates back years — all due to a loophole in state law that allows private sewer company owners to operate their service areas as their own personal fiefdom in municipalities that don't have laws on the books to regulate them.

In the wrong hands, as argued by Lake View residents who have spoken with Patch, a private sewer owner is allowed to set their own rates and operate with no regulatory oversight other than what is required by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management [ADEM]. The state agency is a notoriously underfunded and strained institution, faced daily with enforcing laws on Alabama's steadily-growing manufacturing sector, with little time to keep a watchful eye on smaller utilities like Tannehill Sewer.

In this story, though, we come to our feudal lord at the center of the controversy, J. Mike White — a shadowy businessman who has arguably caused more restless nights for Lake View residents than any other figure in the city's 24-year history.

So, ahead of the public meeting on Wednesday and with impactful legislation still pending, I took an in-depth look at the roots of the scandal, what residents are doing to fight it and the status of ongoing efforts that are in the hands of area legislators.

'He can do anything he wants ... '

Investigative reporting on White and his numerous dealings in the sewer business brought to light last year the full extent of his influence over the pocketbooks of Lake View residents.

ABC 33/40's Cythnia Gould closely followed the most recent legal developments and reported that White set up companies including SERMA Holdings, Eco Preservation, and Builder1.com solely for profit and gain at the expense of homeowners, giving him a "stranglehold on Lake View."

The bad publicly would ultimately culminate last year in a federal jury in Tuscaloosa awarding $4.7 million to three families, after they had been inundated with hundreds of thousands of dollars in runaway sewer bills charged by White's company.

In one instance, a family even told the Birmingham television station they feared eviction due to the rapidly-mounting debt.

Yet, if you ask many Lake View residents today, White is undeterred to this very moment — untethered by regulations and allowed to continue on much in the same fashion as before the judge's gavel fell in 2021.

Here's where it's important to quickly explain how such a predatory system is allowed to flourish and strain a small town.

Little is known about Tannehill Sewer, which has a Leeds mailing address and is listed as the City of Lake View's lone sewage treatment provider on the section of its website listing utility services. The private company, which is owned and operated by White, does not have a functional website, much less a basic online payment portal for customers.

Rather, the domain tannehillsewer.com brings the customer or site visitor to a white webpage where they are informed that the site is under construction and to "Call Customer Support listed on your bill for information."

No phone number is listed on the blank website that is supposedly in development.

And it's this lack of accessibility that has also drawn the ire of the townsfolk, many of whom are confused by the erratic rates and further angered by the lack of accountability when fees skyrocket and pile up.

The frustrations across the community are also compounded when remembering that just the three families in the aforementioned lawsuit against White cumulatively reported $500,000 in sewer bills, according to ABC 33/40's reporting.

"With the recent verdict over his misdealings, it's clear to see there is an issue here," Hudson told Patch in a phone interview on the eve of the question-and-answer meeting at Lake View Town Hall. "The jury sided with them and they got a really good settlement out of that. But the biggest thing is increasing sewer prices."

Hudson, a customer of Tannehill Sewer himself, said sewer bills went from the manageable range of $40-$45 at first, before climbing to more than $125 — seemingly overnight. And, according to state law, that's perfectly legal.

"[White] can do anything he wants," Hudson said. "He can increase sewer prices and I would say commercial businesses have it even worse, like in the couple of thousands. And that's just from flat fees. So, a church in our area might be under that. But after the verdict, you could see all of the wrongdoings and see that the guy is not in it for the right reasons."

Indeed, publicly-owned utilities, such as Alabama Power, are subject to regulatory oversight by the Alabama Public Service Commission. As part of this iron-clad dynamic, utilities under the purview of the elected commissioners are required by law to open their financial books and go under oath during public rate hearings that closely examine their business practices.

For private sewer owners, like White, the laws are much more lax. And in many cases, Lake View residents continue to worry that a recent failed push by a local lawmaker could underscore White's unchecked influence, even after suffering such a seemingly-crushing defeat in both the court and the state legislature.

The Bigger Picture

State Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican from Tuscaloosa who is actively seeking another term in office, has sponsored more bills during the 2022 Legislative Session — 51, to be exact — than any other legislator in either chamber of the statehouse.

These include a bill to remove the state's pistol permit requirement for the concealed carry of a handgun, a measure that would raise penalties for those convicted of injuring first responders and a bill that would prohibit state institutions from purchasing American or Alabama flags manufactured outside the United States.

But one bill, SB88, came and went with little noise, and understandably so when considering the static around it during a busy legislative session. Ultimately, the 13-page bill failed to make it out of the House Local Legislation Committee, but not before sparking fears and chatter on the outskirts of Lake View.

Residents viewed the measure as a "forced annexation"— which would be done without a referendum vote — that would have resulted in certain residents in outlying areas being annexed in to the Lake View city limits, leaving no choice but to go with the services of the city's lone sewage treatment provider: Mike White and Tannehill Sewer.

For the residents of Lake View, though, this story is not without its heroes.

Allen's Republican colleague, State Rep. Rich Wingo, sponsored what one local referred to as a "White Hat" bill that would place all privately-owned Lake View sewer systems using public rights-of-way under the jurisdiction and oversight of the Alabama Public Service Commission.

This bill, if signed into law, would effectively target not just White, but the way he does business. Instead of shutting White down outright, supporters argue the measure would provide much-needed oversight over the private business practices that have resulted in astronomical rates for residents in the past.

But, to the lament of White's opponents, HB148 in its past incarnations has failed to make it past the Alabama Senate and on to the governor's desk. However, it did clear the Tuscaloosa County Legislation Committee this session with a favorable report.

The next stop for Wingo's bill will be consideration on the House floor, Committee Chair and Republican State Rep. Cynthia Lee Almond told Patch Tuesday evening.

All indicators point to the bill receiving a favorable reception in the House. But, with history as an indicator, the Alabama Senate represents the longstanding roadblock for any proposed regulatory reform in Lake View — as Allen's influence is expected to prove a formidable barrier once again.

The reality of the situation, as expressed to Patch by a range of residents who did not want their names on record, is the possibility that neither bill makes it into law this session, ultimately leaving the situation unchanged for the city from a policy and reform standpoint.

And for the more than 200,000 residents in the Tuscaloosa metropolitan area, it's worth noting in conclusion that it's easy to overlook an entity like the Lake View General Utility Service Corporation (GUSC).

With members appointed by the City Council, the GUSC provides local public oversight for the City of Lake View's different utility contractors.

At present, however, the three-member GUSC board is completely vacant, according to Hudson.

The makeup of the GUSC board has been its own point of contention in conversations with Lake Views residents, as many in the community say they lack faith in city officials to stand up to unreasonably high utility bills churned out by a company they continue to do business with.

Hudson went on to explain that the city is in a period of transition following the landmark verdict that brought public attention to White's business practices. It's not an easy time for the city, he admitted, but one that lends itself to new beginnings, with an eye toward increased inclusion.

The Lake View councilman then expressed his desire for more diversity on the board in the future, namely in the form of representatives from the different communities within the service footprint of the GUSC. In his view, a wider scope of community buy-in could be a useful tool in advocating for reasonable sewer prices for those living in the city limits of Lake View, regardless of how the legislature moves on the issue.

"We don’t want to just have Tannehill or the City of Lake View," he said. "We want to have all of the communities. Personally, I am supportive [of HB148]. But it's the citizens who want it and need it and they are the one's actually saying [the bill] needs to go through."

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