by Glynn Wilson

Updated Wednesday below…

A bidder going by the individual name of Todd Palmer submitted the highest bid of $3,750,000 Tuesday for 3,200 acres of land along the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River that had been set aside for a dam in the early 1990s.

The property became available this summer when the Birmingham Water Works Board, held at bay on the dam idea by stringent opposition, voted to permanently remove it as an option as a source of drinking water for Alabama’s largest city.

Water board personnel refused to reveal more information about the bidder. As soon as the bid opening concluded, two men representing the mystery company ducked into a back room and refused to comment on their plans for the land. Their attorney simply said it was “investment property,” and left the building when asked if he thought the public had a right to know what their plans were.

The same duo had contacted the water board after bids were submitted legally by the end of the day on Friday and indicated they were willing to go higher. Water board General manager Mac Underwood opened the meeting by offering to give other bidders an hour to also amend their bids and submit higher offers, but the amended bid from the mysterious duo was never submitted after two other representatives for other companies objected to changes after the legal deadline set for Friday.

Underwood and another gentleman who said his name was Mark Parnell sort of stumbled around trying to explain the bidding process, indicating that the board would have to consider the “highest and best offer” as well as the “terms of the contract” before voting to accept a bid, but they indicated they will start with the highest bid and work down from that.

When asked if the environment in the watershed was a concern as well as cash, Underwood said the board did not own enough property or have a mandate to worry about protecting the watershed, which should come as great comfort to the people who depend on the board for quality drinking water.

Nelson Brooke, the executive director of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper non-profit group, which had tried to set up a deal for the state Forever Wild program to purchase the land to preserve it, said he is still hoping the water board will change its mind and decide to let Forever Wild buy it.

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