Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell ruled last week that William Bell should be the county commissioner to replace Larry Langford, who gave up the seat when he was elected mayor of Birmingham.
Bell won the County Commission seat in a local election in February despite the fact that Gov. Bob Riley said he had the right to fill the vacancy, and had appointed George Bowman to fill the post for the remainder Langford’s term, which runs through 2010.
Vowell’s ruling has been appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court.
Two weeks ago, Bell unveiled his recommendation for handling the county’s $3.2 billion sewer debt crisis. The auction- and variable-rate securities markets have suffered as interest rates have risen significantly due to subprime mortgage problems and bond insurer downgrades.
Rating agencies have downgraded the sewer debt and some of the county’s other credit ratings because officials have said they don’t have funds to pay some of the sewer debt that was accelerated because of insurer downgrades. Jefferson also said it would not post collateral or insurance on its swaps, which gave swap counterparties the right to terminate the agreements. So far, none of the counterparties have said they intend to terminate the swaps.
Bell said he wants the bankers who worked with the county on debt sales to be held responsible for the situation and to participate in helping resolve the problems.
Jefferson’s finance team has been to New York a number of times negotiating possible solutions to the current crisis. The county has said its primary option is to seek approval from investment banks and bondholders to use excess sales tax revenue to help pay the sewer debt. That plan requires legislative approval.
