“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”
– William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming”
LEEDS, AL — There’s an unremarkable office on Parkway Drive that’s easy to overlook for those walking past the typical variety of main street shops and storefronts along the sidewalks of Historic Downtown Leeds.
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For 3 p.m. on a rainy Thursday, there were still folks here and there on the street before twilight, while the dreary November quiet was temporarily dashed by the rattling clamor of a passing train and grinding machinery at a nearby cement plant. Yet, at 8132 Parkway Drive — listed as the headquarters of Curtis White Companies — the office was dark and noticeably devoid of life behind a locked door, all while the world moved right along outside.
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In the main window facing the street, a paper sign with the words “No Soliciting” in black is displayed and a company name is printed on the glass allowing one to peer into a small reception area, which seems more window-dressed for appearances than to welcome flesh and blood patrons.
As the cliché goes, looks can be deceiving.
The scene marked a temporary dead end for this reporter in trying to make sense of the complex business operations of J. Michael “Mike” White — owner of the Tannehill Sewer System who earlier this week saw the state of Alabama pass a constitutional amendment to bring his private sewer system in Lake View under the regulatory oversight of the Alabama Public Service Commission.
Yet, it was also exactly what I was expecting to find, as White’s trail has been considerably difficult to sniff out amidst his menagerie of fly-by-night LLCs and the reams of sterile court filings that reveal little, if anything, to the untrained eye.
New revelations, however, do provide ample insight into what White has been legally bound to divulge in court, which gives one with so many avenues to consider a kind of guidepost to understanding his intricate network of connections and dealings.
Into The Sewer
As part of the ongoing controversy over the Tannehill Sewer System in Lake View, Mike White grabbed headlines last year when a Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court judge ordered him to pay $4.7 million in damages across three judgements involving west Alabama families who saw their collective sewer bills total more than $500,000.
These families were just the ones who managed to land their accusations against White, while countless others have spoken out for years, including to Patch, despite fears of retaliatory action from the shadowy private sewer firm.
The orders handed down, though, were viewed as a major win for the residents of Lake View, as Patch previously reported. Indeed, it did much in the way of swaying public opinion — at least locally — as voters at the Tannehill and Lake View precincts supported the added oversight Tuesday by a combined vote of 2,045-627.
But on the eve of the election, it almost went unnoticed that White, along with his companies SERMA Holdings LLC and ECO-Preservation Services LLC, had filed for federal bankruptcy protection at the beginning of October.
At the same time, residents of Lake View and city officials were in their final downhill push to shore up statewide support for the measure aimed at holding White accountable for his business practices. And thus, the filings were largely ignored as the prospect loomed of new regulatory changes sure to hobble the draconian approach of the private sewer system.
Still, according to federal court documents obtained by Patch from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Circuit Court Judge Charles R. Wilson on Oct. 20 issued a stay on the appeals from White regarding the massive judgments, effectively stalling any progress for the Tannehill Sewer customers who initially won the judgement.
White’s appeals on the judgements are now pending further order from the bankruptcy court, which could, in theory, result in a worst-case scenario for White or the families on the other side.
That part of the story remains to be written.
It’s from these complex bankruptcy filings, however, that we can now paint the clearest picture yet of White’s network of LLCs and supposed shell companies.
A COMPLEX GAME
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One of the properties in Historic Downtown Leeds owned by Mike White (Photo by Ryan Phillips, Patch.com)
One of the best starting points in understanding the myriad issues relating to the Tannehill Sewer System can be found nearly two decades ago during a 2005 public hearing held at Tannehill Valley Baptist Church in McCalla.
The hearing was hosted by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) regarding a requested permit for Mike White that ultimately allowed his firm to begin using chlorine treatment methods instead of ultraviolet light to process the raw sewage collected, before then dumping the treated waste into nearby Mud Creek via a discharge line that reportedly runs through Tannehill State Park.
It’s a simple enough process — one that requires the use of chlorine tablets to treat the bacteria in wastewater, before dechlorination methods are then used to remove the toxic chemicals, allowing it to be safely discharged, usually in an area of a creek that is not designated for recreational swimming or fishing.
Wastewater pollution was just one of numerous concerns raised at the time by those living nearby, along with expressed uncertainty over which of White’s companies would be liable for any problems should they arise, environmental or otherwise. Even before vast accessibility to public records online, residents had noticed the complexity of White’s business interests.
Basic worries were also raised, such as residents noticing extension cords running to the treatment facility and noting uncovered containers, resulting in foul odors and potential safety hazards with little in the way of preventing trespassing.
During the public comment portion of the 2005 meeting in Tannehill, an area resident named Dwayne Cox issued a prescient statement foreshadowing the longterm implications of the deal struck with White and his numerous companies.
“Now, when you think about it, [White] didn’t just make a contract with us now … this goes on for years and years and years,” Cox said. “Thirty years from now, most of the people [at the hearing] are probably not going to be here. So this permit that he’s got is going to affect that [next] generation.”
As it turns out, Cox was right.
But perhaps the most illuminating series of documents relating to White’s two Chapter 11 petitions and one Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing can be found in his documentation of assets, which for the first time gave Patch in-depth insight to how White does business apart from Tannehill Sewer. It also added clarity to the interconnectivity of his different companies.
Patch has reached out to White multiple times to request an in-person interview to provide his story at length — attempts met either with hesitation or altogether ignored. He mostly communicates on his own terms via text message and did not respond to multiple requests for comment ahead of this story.
This is understandable, to a degree, given the pending status of so much litigation.
But it also must be mentioned that attempts by Patch to reach out to Curtis White Companies were also not returned as of the publication of this story.
It’s fascinating to note, however, that in the pages upon pages of court filings relating to Mike White, the company once owned by his late father Curtis White, who died in 2020 at the age of 88, is nowhere to be found — at least not by name. His connection to the company is undeniable though, as he is listed in state records as its incorporator.
By all accounts, the late Curtis White and his wife Betty Jo — known affectionately as “B.J.” — were beloved members of the Leeds community and, at least as far as our research can find, had only limited legal headaches typical for the owners of any general contracting business.
Previously unrealized by many, though, is the fact that in claiming all of his assets and income in bankruptcy court, Mike White listed the small office at 8132 Parkway Drive in Leeds as the physical address for both SERMA Holdings LLC and ECO-Preservation Services, where he claims to be employed as a consultant and financial officer, respectively.
According to a search of business licenses issued by the City of Leeds, Curtis White Companies has leased the Parkway Drive office since at least 2008. Mike White’s younger brother, Joe C. White, serves as the company president.
The contracting firm has been in business since Curtis White founded it in 1953 and currently operates as a licensed general contractor, real estate broker and homebuilder.
Other than “J. Michael White Consultant,” which lists a physical address at White’s personal residence on Mountain View Lane in Leeds, here’s a look at every company connected to White that has filed business entity records with the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office.
As a crucial side note, it must also be clarified that nearly all of these companies, appearing in alphabetical order, have the same P.O. Box listed as the only address:
- Bama Management, LLC
- Birmingham Academy of Martial Arts, Inc.
- Bridle Trace Development, Inc.
- Classic Builders, Inc.
- Curtis White Companies, Inc.
- ECO-Preservation Services, L.L.C.
- Hawks Landing, LLC
- Investors Equity Group, Inc.
- Knobloch, Inc.
- Lake View Development Company, LLC
- SERMA Funding, LLC
- SERMA Holdings LLC
- Tannehill Development Group, LLC
- Tannehill Sewer, LLC
- Tesseract Companies, Inc.
- Treemont, Inc.
- WynLake Development, LLC
This is where it’s equally important to clarify just exactly what a “shell company” is, which the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network defines as:
“[N]on-publicly traded corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and trusts that typically have no physical presence (other than a mailing address) and generate little to no independent economic value. Most shell companies are formed by individuals and businesses for legitimate purposes, such as to hold stock or intangible assets of another business entity or to facilitate domestic and cross-border currency and asset transfers and corporate mergers.”
Sound familiar?
Again, this is in no way an accusation of criminal wrongdoing on the part of White or any of his businesses. Rather, for the first time in our coverage, a more accurate label can be applied to his complex network of interests.
Bankruptcy filings show that SERMA Holdings owns the building and lot in Historic Downtown Leeds that is currently leased to Curtis White Companies, along with one of White’s many enigmatic LLCs — Bama Management.
Records obtained from the Alabama Secretary of State’s office show that Bama Management is the most recent name for Builder1.com, which formed in 1998 only months after the Town of Lakeview was incorporated and saw its name later changed to Bama Management LLC in 2018.
Builder1.com was one of several firms mentioned in the lawsuits leading to the massive judgements handed down in 2021.
Whether you view it as fitting or ironic, the SERMA website listed in court records — goserma.com — has a homepage inaccessible to the general public that depicts a stacks of gold coins. It’s been a point of frustration for Tannehill Sewer customers, who have told Patch at length about the lack of an online payment infrastructure or customer service network.
But to the unsuspecting people walking by the office on Parkway Drive, the familiar name of Curtis White Companies on the window doesn’t appear to give any cause for alarm.
SERMA Holdings also owns a seemingly dilapidated building just around the corner on 9th Street in Leeds that is leased to Knobloch Inc. — another minor LLC connected to White that serves as the ground operations for Tannehill Sewer. An examination of records filed with the Alabama Secretary of State’s office show this location to be a registered street address for SERMA Holdings, despite the building being in an obvious state of disrepair for some time.
Records obtained by Patch from the City of Leeds also showed that White ran afoul of city code enforcement in 2017 and was notified of violations at the 9th Street property, including failure to have a business license for “multiple corporations” — with SERMA Holdings and ECO-Preservation both mentioned by name — in addition to failure to file occupational tax, sales tax and other tax liabilities with the city.
The complaint was ultimately resolved the following year.
Other properties owned by the firm include a vacant lot in Hoover valued at $106,000 and 40 acres in Mobile estimated to be worth more than half a million dollars, according to bankruptcy filings.
In terms of ownership stakes in White’s other opaque LLCs, court documents reveal that SERMA owns 95% of Wynlake Development and 50% of Lake View Development.
The lone Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition filed by White was for ECO-Preservation Services, showing the LLC is owned by three separate stakeholders: SERMA Holdings LLC (45%), Birmingham developer Henry H. Tyler (40%) and Curtis White Development LLC (15%).
For those unfamiliar with bankruptcy, Chapter 11 is typically used by businesses to restructure their debts and repay creditors. Conversely, Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows an individual to address their debt through a monthly repayment schedule usually lasting three to five years. Both methods of debt restructuring allows the business in question to continue operations.
And it is in these filings where White’s corporate assets can be found closer to Lake View, namely in the form of a sewage treatment facility on Woodland Park Circle in McCalla that is adjacent to a neighborhood and just north of Cooley Creek. Combined with Mud Creek, the small tributary is part of the larger Shades Creek Watershed.
The treatment plant site and collection facility on the swath of property are under a 15-month lease to ECO-Preservation Services by Tannehill Sewer, according to court records, with Knobloch Inc. holding the wastewater discharge license.
Along with Knobloch, Inc., ECO-Preservation is tasked with running the East Tuscaloosa-West Jefferson Waste Waster Treatment Plant — a facility that sounds much more impressive than it actually it. Indeed, the small operation is tucked away within walking distance of a subdivision built by one of White’s many companies, Lake View Development, Inc.
For those keeping count, that makes four different entities with connections to White operating on what amounts to a little more than a single stretch of road.
One lawsuit stated SERMA unilaterally implemented its own regulations over the nearby Woodland Park neighborhood instead of allowing the formation of a traditional Homeowners Association (HOA) charter and, as a result, residents regularly speak out and file complaints with ADEM regarding the operation.
The Tannehill Sewer System, which has total financial assets estimated to be $3.4 million, is operated by Aketa Management — yet another LLC with ties to White. Yet, it is one of the only firms attached to White that does not have a Business Entity Record with the Alabama Secretary of State’s office.
Still, ECO-Preservation Services reported more than $7 million in liabilities when documenting its assets in bankruptcy court — costs mostly stemming from the $4.7 million White was ordered to pay in three separate cases regarding out of control sewer bills in Lake View.
ECO-Preservation Services appears to be far and away the most financially lucrative operation disclosed by White, reporting gross revenue of $1.6 million in 2020 and nearly $2.7 million in 2021. Unsurprisingly, though, it has often found itself on the defensive for its basic operations.
Numerous complaints and sanitary sewer overflow reports filed with ADEM regarding the East Tuscaloosa-West Jefferson Waste Waster Treatment Plant in McCalla — the treatment plant’s formal name — provide insight into what the residents of nearby Owen Park Circle and Woodland Park Circle have been experiencing for years. These issues range from higher than normal levels of phosphorus and ammonia noted in tributaries for the Shades Creek Watershed to uncovered sewage containers at the lift station managed overseen by Knobloch, Inc.
What’s most disturbing, however, are the numerous reports of simple maintenance issues for the plant resulting in documented wastewater discharge into nearby Cooley Creek.
But in one letter submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2016, the ongoing sewer overflows were mentioned at length, along with “unethical billing practices” by White — years before a judge would rule his practices had resulted in a handful of families seeing their collective sewer bills total more than $500,000.
Beginning to see a pattern here?
It’s a complicated and interconnected portfolio, indeed, and one that is exceedingly complex once you begin to pull on the loose threads. The oppressive business practices are not limited to just Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties, either.
For example, Wynlake Development LLC, which oversees a subdivision in Alabaster of approximately 96 lots, has been in operation since 2001 and stands out as one of the only firms in White’s collection of companies to leave a contentious and public legal trail for White other than those involved in the ongoing Lake View controversy.
One logical starting point for this small chapter can be found in White’s lengthy court battle with the ADEM amid alleged violations of the federal Clean Water Act. Similar to the issues in McCalla, the violations centered on wastewater runoff into a nearby creek.
While judgements were issued against Wynlake Development, the Alabama Court of Appeals ultimately ruled last year that ADEM failed to demonstrate how it had arrived at the amounts imposed as fines. The court admitted that there was ample evidence of dereliction of duty leading to the drainage problems widely reported for the subdivision, but White managed to get off on a mere technicality.
Still, chatter around that development had been ongoing for years, especially following investigative reporter Cynthia Gould’s 2017 story on the management practices relating to the subdivision. For instance, she found that White appointed himself and his daughter to the neighborhood’s Board of Directors, which is technically legal under Alabama state law, but an odd power structure when compared to more democratic HOAs and how they are governed.
However, once the father and daughter duo were in control, residents of the subdivision complained that they were altogether left out of the decision-making process, while their annual homeowner dues skyrocketed to the point that White was alleged to have been collecting $60,000 a year just in fees.
While this individual instance doesn’t relate directly to the residents of Lake View, it establishes a pattern of behavior for White consistent with other narratives and litigation over the last three decades — get the customer over a barrel, then raise the prices and rake in profits by using their homes as leverage. As seen in both Alabaster and Lake View, many homeowners find themselves helpless to do anything other than pay.
Patch has heard numerous stories that follow this narrative, with residents regularly complaining of a non-existent customer service or online payment notification infrastructure.
Epilogue For A Shell Game
It remains unclear at this time exactly how the bankruptcy court’s decisions will impact White’s appeal of the judgements against him, which are far too complicated to rehash.
However, the practice of declaring bankruptcy to get out from under hefty civil judgements is a fairly common one and a possibility that is not lost on those who suffered because of White’s business practices.
It was this reporter’s persistent hope that White would sit down or speak at length to add clarity to his side of the story, but his words have been sparse, crass and overall cautionary with respect to the new oversight of his operations in Lake View.
“[The amendment] seems to have some constitutional problems the way it was adopted,” White told me in April after the initial bill sponsored by State Rep. Rich Wingo made it to the governor’s desk. “We have reached out to [the Alabama Public Service Commission] for information as to what their oversight would look like.”
Wingo, a Republican from Tuscaloosa and former University of Alabama and NFL linebacker, has been open in his criticism of White and State Sen. Gerald Allen, a fellow Tuscaloosa Republican who he has insisted time and again worked on White’s behalf to kill the proposed sewer amendment over the last eight years.
“Studies have shown that aging NFL linebackers may show signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy 19 times the national average,” White said when I asked him to respond to Wingo’s criticism after the bill’s passage.
Before he reiterated his point regarding rates climbing if and when the new regulations are in place, White said earlier this year that higher costs would be likely in order to cover expenses related to compliance with the Public Service Commission.
He also teased the possibility of a moratorium on new sewer line installations in Lake View until the issues are resolved — words that seemed to be a wink at developers and homeowners in the area to dissuade them from supporting the measure ahead of the vote, lest they end up with an even more difficult commercial development climate than at present.
Sen. Allen, who represents the citizens of Lake View, agreed with the sentiment earlier this week and doubled down on his calls for the City of Lake View to find a way to purchase the private sewer system from White instead of hurting its citizens by raising their rates to cover the cost of compliance with the PSC.
“Let’s say, hypothetically, we have a perfect storm here,” Allen told Patch earlier this week. “It’s a high possibility that the sewer rates are going to go up. And here I was trying to get the mayor and the sewer operator attorneys together to start talking and figure out a way to purchase this system and the mayor veto’d that. When you have a problem, don’t you want to sit down with the opposition and figure out a way to solve it?”
Allen has held this view for some time and insisted in numerous past interviews with Patch that the divisions over the sewer system present an opportunity for the cities of Lake View and Woodstock to heal their longstanding grievances dating back to a contentious legal spat involving sewer service at Lake View Elementary. He also pointed out an amendment attached to the initial Lake View sewer bill in the final hours before its passage that will see the regulatory oversight sunset after Dec. 31, 2027 unless otherwise acted upon by the legislature.
Rather, Allen insists that those pushing for oversight of the system in Lake View represent a small, but vocal minority and underscored the notion with his performance at the polls in Tuesday’s election. It’s also worth noting that all 10 statewide amendments on the ballot Tuesday overwhelmingly passed.
To his credit, the Lake View precinct on Tuesday saw 42% of its registered voters cast ballots, with Allen grabbing 1,418 votes in the heavily-conservative district, compared to 258 for his Democratic challenger Lisa Ward — a former member of the Lake View City Council who witnessed the initial discussions for the city to begin doing business with White’s companies.
Still, this hasn’t stopped Allen’s critics in Lake View and elsewhere from insisting he is bankrolled by White. Following an in-depth analysis of campaign finance records over the last two decades, however, any financial connections appear speculative at best.
Indeed, while Mike White is not documented giving a dime to Allen or any of the political action committees that have supported the longtime Tuscaloosa-area lawmaker, White’s brother and Curtis White Companies President Joe C. White is reportedly an active member of the Alabama Home Builders Association and has donated a little more than $1,000 over the last 10 years to its PAC.
While in the most favorable of circumstances this amount is a mere drop in the bucket for someone with deep campaign coffers like Allen, it is worth noting that the Alabama Builders PAC is far and away Allen’s largest historic contributor. But by that logic, the same degree of separation for individual contributions to PACs can be seen when considering the staunchly conservative Allen accepted donations during the most recent election cycle from CASH PAC, which reported a major contribution of $35,000 in 2018 from none other than liberal businessman and philanthropist George Soros.
So, make what you will of the paltry and legal campaign contribution to a PAC from Mike White’s brother.
Mike White, however, told Patch on Wednesday that Tannehill Sewer did not take a political position, pro or against, the amendment and said if it indeed becomes law then the company’s legal and engineering team will review its implications on the rate base and future sewer connections.
“This amendment only targets our company and affects some of our customers,” he said. “Woodstock has a sewer system that is highly subsidized with taxpayer money and few residential connections; and the sewer system that serves Lake View has no taxpayer subsidy and has overwhelming residential connections. Woodstock’s goal seems to have always been to hobble Lake View, and this amendment may have done just that.”
You can accept White’s perspective, sure, and many have. But it’s impossible for this reporter to forget the horror stories from Tannehill Sewer customers.
They are tales of lockout lists, shutoff valves and White taking advantage of the Lake View’s mayor’s authority over the police to send armed, uniformed officers out with contractors to shut off sewer service for customers who disputed charges. Stories of unaffordable sewer bills, no available customer service and homeowners who became victims of greed simply because they couldn’t afford to install septic tanks.
And yes, this reporter will be the first to admit that all of these words and research do not prove definitively that Mike White is running a shell game and capitalizing from a bad business decision made by the City of Lake View more than two decades ago. After all, he wouldn’t meet with me or answer requests for comment relating to this story, so I’ve yet to be able to truly tell his side.
And anyways, those are important decisions should be for the court to rule on in due time.
But what can be seen with the naked eye once brought to the surface is an approach of deliberate financial misdirection and consumer manipulation — one that has caused countless to suffer and lose sleep, while their agony lines the pockets of a man whose disclosed assets are worth more than his reputation as a businessman will ever be.
Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you’re interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com.
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