Water flowing again at Morris Brown

The city of Atlanta turned the water back on at Morris Brown College on Friday after the college made a partial, $100,000 payment for its past due bills.

The college must pay an additional $214,000 it owes by Feb. 17 under a court order issued Friday, or risk losing water service again.

Representatives of the historically black private college said they are confident they can meet the terms. Acting President Stanley J. Pritchett Sr. said the college raised $115,000 since last week, most of it at a rally last Saturday. Another rally is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the college near the Atlanta University Center. Pritchett said Morris Brown is asking for donations from alumni, entertainers, sports figures and corporate leaders.

“It’s about the life of a college that’s been here for 127-plus years,” Pritchett said. “Even in the face of adversity, we will rise above.”

Water had been cut off since Dec. 12 after the financially strapped school failed to stick to a repayment plan. Some of the bills dated back to 2004.

Service also had been temporarily cut off in September. The water was turned back on after Morris Brown made a $7,000 payment.

In issuing his order Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry M. Newkirk said he was giving Morris Brown its final chance. Pay the remaining balance on schedule or “the water will be shut off, period,” the judge said.

After the hearing, the city’s Watershed Management Commissioner Rob Hunter said the city had prevailed. “The clear message is: You have to pay for the service you’re getting,” Hunter said. “It’s the only thing that is fair to everyone on the system.”

The college paid the city water department Friday with two certified checks, water department spokeswoman Janet Ward said.

The two sides met in Newkirk’s Fulton County courtroom Friday after a New Year’s Eve request from the college for an injunction forcing the city to restore service.

The city’s argument was simple: If Morris Brown College did not have to pay, Atlanta’s efforts to collect about $35 million in past due water bills from hundreds of other customers would be undermined. Because of its own financial problems, the city’s Watershed Management Department last month laid off 97 workers.

Lawyer Theresa Stewart, representing the city, argued any leniency by Newkirk would set a “dangerous” precedent.

“All the other water customers will say, ‘If Morris Brown College doesn’t have to pay … why should I have to pay my bill on time?’” Stewart said.

The city water department serves 1.2 million people on 150,000 accounts.

College officials tried to show they had attempted to work with the water department to pay the bills. Morris Brown also raised questions about the bills’ accuracy.

James Dearing Jr., attorney for Morris Brown, said without water service, “the school is dead.”

On the witness stand, Pritchett said staff and faculty members have been unable to work and are not getting paid because the campus has no water.

Students have left campus on semester break, but the college’s marching band, which performed on New Year’s Eve at the Chick-fil-A Bowl and parade, had to practice off-campus, Pritchett said.

Advent services were canceled at a church that rents space at the college because the water was cut off, he said.

More than 240 students are expected to return to campus on Jan. 11, Pritchett said. On Friday, the men’s basketball team from Atlanta Metropolitan College was scheduled to move into their dorm rooms in Morris Brown’s Wilkes Hall. Morris Brown has a $76,000 contract to lease space to the junior college.

Pritchett also indicated Morris Brown’s financial troubles go far beyond non-payment of its water bills. He said the school owes $5 million in unsecured debt and $25 million in secured debt. One of the school’s dorms, Jordan Hall, is in foreclosure and was scheduled to be auctioned Tuesday.

Most financial aid has been cut off from the school since it lost accreditation in 2002. In 2008, the Georgia General Assembly allowed the school to start accepting HOPE scholarship students again, raising enrollment from a low of 56 to 240.