Jefferson County Commission President Bettye Fine Collins along with Commissioners George Bowman and Shelia Smoot all support a resolution that would fire the county's current financial team.  If the resolution gets at least three votes at next week's Commission meeting, the agreements with Porter White, Bradley Arant, and Merrill Lynch would all be terminated.  Bradley Arant would only be retained if the county files for bankruptcy. 

Commissioners Jim Carns and Bobby Humphryes both say the move would force the county to file for bankruptcy.  Both say they feel betrayed by Commissioner Collins.  She was not present at Thursday's meeting. 

Smoot and Bowman say the current plan offered by Merrill Lynch is not acceptable.  It would require a sewer rate increase of 2.85%, a $10 million infusion of cash from the county's general fund, and would create an oversight board with authority to set sewer rates.  Commissioners Carns and Humphryes believe the county was close to a deal under the terms of that plan.  The resolution to be voted on next week would bring Stern Agee, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Keegan onto the county's financial team.  The agencies would only be paid when a solution to the county's bond crisis is reached.

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