Complaint prompts county to address power outages
A letter read aloud in the Marshall County Board of Supervisors meeting recently prompted supervisors to lodge a complaint to the Holly Springs mayor, board of alderman and Holly Springs Utility Department manager.
Chancery clerk Chuck Thomas asked the complaint about power outages on the Holly Springs Utility Department be read aloud.
The Mt. Pleasant resident asked for help in getting power outages stopped. She and all of her sisters are around 70 years of age and in bad health, she said.
She said she wants her sisters to come live with her but none of them want to because they know she has power outages every other week and recently had outages for three weeks in a row.
“I want someone to do something about fixing our power over here,” she said.
She wants trees trimmed off the power lines.
She and her sisters all use oxygen, a nephew is disabled and sleeps with a CPAP machine. Two of her sisters and one brother-in-law just came through cancer.
“Like I said before, we are all in bad health and we need to be closer together,” she wrote. “Mt. Pleasant is the safest place for us to all live close by, but the electricity has to be fixed or they won’t move here. That means I will have to move where they are. Can anyone fix this problem with our electricity?
“Highway 311 at Mt. Pleasant usually keeps their power when we lose ours. It seems the outages start at the ditch in front of the Health Department and runs toward Taska Road. I like that Mt. Pleasant is growing. We still need a drug store and a grocery store, but if we can’t keep power on now, how can we expect to power up new businesses and to new homes. I don’t want to move. I love it here.”
After hearing the letter read, the board of supervisors passed a motion to send a letter to Holly Springs Mayor Sharon Gipson, the board of aldermen and to Donald Warren, general manager of HSUD.
District 3 supervisor Keith Taylor added that he is receiving complaints from people all over the county who have new houses built and can’t get electricity service set up by HSUD.
“Contractors are building an entire house using generators,” added zoning administrator Ken Jones. “This is hurting the county and hurting citizens as much as the county.”
Terry said a lot of reason people call supervisors is they have no representation at HSUD.
“I suggest the attorney send a letter to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen and the Utility manager to let them know how serious it is to get power outages (stopped) and no service to new construction.”
The board unanamously approved the measure.
Taylor commended Thomas on the courthouse lawn that has been sodded.
“It looks great,” he said.
County opens bids
Bids for cleanup of three properties were opened with no bid submitted on a property on Wall Hill Road.
Barrett Ash was sole bidder on cleanup of a property on Hyline Drive at $800. The board accepted that bid and opened a bid for cleanup of a property on Lake Drive.
Ricky’s Wrecker Service bid $69,400 to remove all rolling stock on a lot owned by Cindy Spencer that has many junk cars and other vehicles parked on the property.
Zoning administrator Ken Jones said he estimates there is 100 dump trucks of other material on the lot.
The board voted to take the matter under advisement.
The matter is in circuit court.
The sale of a 2007 Mack Truck garnered lots of interest with eight bids offered.
The truck bids included:
• TriState Truck Center - $35,000.
• David Moneymaker - $17,500.
• J J Merchants Auction - $57,777.
• Jeff Martin Auctioneers - $41,788.
• Kelly Crain - $35,550.
• Dixie Towing and Recovery - $35,886.
• Tim Blackburn - $46,200.
• Landrum Resources - $31,964
J J Merchants Auction won the bid.
Bids on the sale of a boomlift were all rejected because the board thought the bids were too low.
A quote on a ladder rack to go on a new truck was awarded to Aerial Truck Equipment in Olive Branch at $11,700. Utility Equipment of Memphis, Tenn., bid $13,646 on the ladder rack.