House Speaker Pro Tem Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, sits in the speaker's chair in the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 8, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
A member of the Legislature’s Joint Contract Review Committee Thursday delayed a proposed $2.23 million contract between Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) and the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program.
Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile, expressed concerns about the involvement of Sherry Bradley, a former ADPH employee now working with the program.
“She worked for the state, and there is a revolving door policy. I just want to know how much money she’s going to make and how much the organization is going to make and how much the organization is going to make,” Pringle said after the meeting.
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In a phone interview after the meeting, Bradley said she had consulted with the Ethics Commission before and after retiring from ADPH.
“I can work for a nonprofit because a nonprofit is not regulated by the state, so I don’t understand why my name would come up,” she said.
The ADPH initiative to install septic tanks in Lowndes County specially designed for the soil in the Black Belt came as the Department of Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services launched an environmental justice investigation in 2021 on whether region’s wastewater issues was a result of ADPH discriminating on race, a violation of the Civil Rights Act.
Regular septic tanks installed in the region’s soil generally face issues and many residents often don’t have access a sewage system. The investigation concluded that ADPH neglected health risks by enforcing sanitation laws that threatened residents with criminal penalties and financial loss. It also stated the department did not address the disproportionate burdens Black residents face with Lowndes County’s soil, despite awareness of the issue.
Bradley said that her involvement with the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program is purely as an executive director, not as a board member, and she’s not involved in negotiating contracts, which would have violated ethics law . She also said the nonprofit isn’t regulated by the state, and ethics law prohibits “personally participat[ing] in the direct regulation, audit, or investigation of a private business, corporation, partnership, or individual.”
Sancha Howard, general counsel for ADPH, told the committee that Bradley had received an ethics opinion before accepting her new position.
But Pringle requested detailed information about how funds were used, the nonprofit’s financial compensation and the measures in place to prevent the misuse of funds, particularly regarding property title resolutions.
Pringle voiced concerns about the process of clearing property titles, which he said may also lead to misuse.
“What I don’t want to see is this organization going to their friends and family, clearing title on their land, and then selling it at a huge profit two years later,” he said.
Bradley said she’s not from Lowndes County, where the program is installing the septic tanks, and does not personally know people there.
“I’m from Covington County, yeah, so I wouldn’t know how to pick or choose anyone,” she said.
The committee decided to hold the contract pending further review of the nonprofit’s previous invoices, compensation details, and procedures for resolving property titles.
Rob Green, a spokesperson for ADPH, said ADPH officials reached out to Pringle regarding the contract review committee meeting, and they “quickly reached a mutual understanding of ADPH’s commitment to resolving this issue, along with an emphasis on the contract being fully funded by federal dollars.”
“At the end of the day, ADPH is fully committed to continuing to carry out the work that we’ve been doing in the Black Belt, hoping to resolve this issue someday,” Green said in a statement.
Pringle said after the meeting these issues could be resolved by the next contract review meeting.
“If they have the documentation I want, and they show me the approved template for the billing, then yes, it can be resolved,” he said.
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