Gipson wants to lawyer up

A item at the June 18 meeting of the Holly Springs Mayor and Board of Aldermen to hire an attorney firm was once again called for a motion by Mayor Sharon D. Gipson.

A heated discussion lasting about 45 minutes rehashed earlier boardroom discussions at prior meetings. State Rep. John Faulkner was invited to join in the discussion by Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather.

Gipson, in introducing the motion, referred to an executive session where the fee Blackmon & Blackmon law firm in Jackson was discussed.

Board attorney John Keith Perry Jr. opened the discussion saying that in prior discussions the board had no general manager at the Holly Springs Utility Department. Then after hiring a GM, he thought that would come into play since the Tennessee Valley Authority put top priority in filling the GM spot.

Wayne Jones of Holly Springs was hired as GM by the board of aldermen about six weeks ago.

Gipson has two concerns that were raised in the discussion. Should Holly Springs lawyer up since the Mississippi Public Service Commission has notified the city it has advertised for a request for proposals to investigate complaints about the electric department and, secondly, that TVA has also notified the city that it plans to sue the city for breech of contract.

Gipson believes the city should get on the ready. Merriweather invited Faulkner to the table to “shed light to the bill that was passed.”

“Apparently, this is the reason the mayor wants to retain Blackmon & Blackmon” she said.

“It’s not for just this bill but for complete protection based on some of the actions and moves,” Gipson said.

Faulkner said SB2453 has language in the bill that gives the Public Service Commission authority to take away certification of the city’s authority to serve electric power to customers outside a one-mile radius of the city limits.

He said, if the PSC proves that HSUD is not providing reasonably adequate service, the commission can intervene.

Ward 1 alderman Bernita Fountain said she and alderman-at-large Dexter Shipp and Merriweather were present at the debate on the floor of the House of Representatives and the answer to a possible takeover of part of the HSUD certificated district was not made clear.

Faulkner said if the PSC takes complaints from HSUD customers and does an investigation of the complaints, it must then come and present its findings to the mayor and board of aldermen and give the city reasonable time to take corrective measures.

“If it determines the municipality is unable or unwilling to correct these problems, then they can petition the court,” Faulkner said. “You just stop right there. You’re talking 10 years to 15 years from now.

“It was my argument on the floor. So just in my honest professional opinion, the bill does absolutely nothing. I’ve got so many calls saying when is the takeover of the HSUD going to happen? I’m telling folks, there is no takeover.

He said it takes three to five years to cut the right-ofway under the power lines.

“So, the PSC had determined that the ROW vegetation is overgrown. We know that already. They are going to give you how much time it takes to fix it, bring it back in three to five years. So, are we in a situation where there’s litigation coming down the pike that we have to be concerned about at the present time? I just don’t think so,” the representative said.

Faulkner said the city is already addressing some of the concerns.

“You need to keep working on our system because you guys would agree, they (customers) deserve reasonable, adequate service. They deserve the service that they pay for.”

The legislation covers the municipalities of Holly Springs, New Albany and Okalona.

Gipson defended the utility saying there are fewer outages now because the main problems were caused by weather. She said the bill was an obvious attack on the City of Holly Springs, although the city was not named in the bill. Holly Springs was the only City brought before the PSC, but was not the only city that had outages, she said.

Gipson also made additional allegations: • that TVA allegedly attacked the city.

• that TVA allegedly attempted to intrude into the HSUD system.

“So that’s not the only reason for litigation,” Gipson said.

• that Holly Springs is the only city where politicians held “fake hearings” while Commissioner Brown was running for the office at the PSC.

• that Holly Springs was “the only one that TVA went to Jackson to hold special hearings that the city was allegedly not invited to.

Faulkner corrected the mayor saying that the bill Gipson is referring to was not a bill but Senate Concurrent Resolution 560 introduced by Neil Whaley. He said a lot of people thought legislators were trying to take the utility over.

“It was never a bill, it was only a resolution,” he said.

“And so, Rep. Faulkner, despite all of that, what I am hearing from you, if I’m correct, is that everyone - TVA, PSC, TVPPA, wants Holly Springs to get their act together,” Merriweather said. “I hear the mayor saying we were targeted. We were not targeted because our name is Holly Springs. We were targeted because we had leadership that wouldn’t respond to the people. I was there.”

“Glad you were invited,” Gipson retorted.

“We were all invited, but we went,” Merriweather said. “The thing I have heard from the inception is …how are we hearing our ratepayers? How they were being heard was the concern from the beginning. Those were the concerns that TVA’s got.

“We’re being fed this, that TVA is trying to take the HSUD, that the PSC wants to take the HSUD. What I’m hearing over and over again is that the ratepayers want to be heard and want services. I don’t care if the infrastructure is 100,000 years old.

“They want progress, as we want progress, to know what is the plan for us to rectify…to spend the $430,000 on the ROW that the legislature got for us that we haven’t spent yet.

“We are not moving at the rate that we could be moving and this is the concern of TVA and the concern for the ratepayers/PSC.”

“You are correct,” Faulkner said.

“The leadership has responded. What the leadership has not done is everything that TVA wanted to do,” Gipson said.

She alleged that Holly Springs is not being treated the same as other municipalities and “that’s where the desire for protection of the assets comes into play.”

Gipson alleged that TVA has tried to “force” the city to raise its electric rates and that the PSC is requesting proposals as far as investigating the City of Holly Springs.

“So, it is not something that is just sitting there stagnant,” Gipson said.

Perry said he received a certified letter, “so that’s the process. They are going through the process as far as getting ready to sue us.”

“So, I am quite disturbed and confused as to why anyone would not want to already be prepared,” Gipson said. “Why wait for the thief to come to the door before we take the steps. Agencies … have already decided to divide it out. It’s all about the dollar.”

Merriweather said every report to TVA the city has made must be accountable for.

“We are accountable to TVA and to the residents of Holly Springs,” she said. “The audits are not complete that TVA has been asking for, that we’ve (aldermen) been asking for. There’s nothing that TVA is doing that causes the belief that they are trying to take over the Utility Department. ”

“This is gas lighting. This is putting fear into the citizens of Holly Springs on some kind of axe to grind on some kind of case that’s not even critically important. What is important is the ratepayers getting services. What is important is that the citizens of Holly Springs know where every dime from the Utility Department is going and that the board of aldermen know that — that the audits are complete, that the phases of the ROW are being updated, and that it is transparent, that it is clear not just to the PSC and TVA, but to the board of aldermen as well.

“We’re not clear there, so this is why I try to talk continually about clarity. That’s why I wanted Faulkner to come forward. We’re not in the business of just hiring Blackmon & Blackmon, of hiring an attorney firm for something that we don’t know what they are going to fight.”

Merriweather said the letter from TVA was requesting the city hire a CPA to look at the books at the utility department so “that we know where the money is going, so that we have accuracy. That’s what the board wants. We’re looking for accuracy as a board.

“So, to me it is more of us working toward getting compliant, getting the citizens of Holly Springs what they deserve, and that it’s clarity on what is the business of Holly Springs Utility Department for everyone who pays in. For every rate payer, so that’s what I see what we need to be focusing on.

“Before every board meeting TVA sends us another cry - ‘please respond to the report.’ ”

Merriweather said the reports TVA asks for is not just to make work, but to know whether HSUD is accurate in its reporting and giving service to the citizens of Holly Springs.

Gipson said the PSC has a proposal to investigate the HSUD system.

“You just made my case because if the City of Holly Springs is doing all that you just described, then we have absolutely nothing to worry about,” Faulkner said to Gipson. “The investigation is authorized by the passing and signing of SB2453.

“So, now, the PSC has the authority to give the legislature exactly what you described. But, now, however, if the City of Holly Springs is not in compliance with TVA, then you are going to need more than one attorney. If we are in compliance, we have nothing to worry about. But if we are out of compliance, we are not improving the infrastructure, we are not providing service to our customers, all these things you said Holly Springs is doing, if you are doing all these things, we have nothing to worry about.

“We can pump the brakes, calm down and everything will be fine if it is true.”

He said during the TVPPA assessment there were two assessments, an operational assessment by TVPPA and a self-assessment by the HSUD.

He said the HSUD did not complete a self-assessment.

“So, when we say that the City did not get a chance to say the good things the City is doing. Well, you had an opportunity, if you had filed an assessment. So, we spent $70,000 for an assessment that only speaks to one side.”

Perry advised the City get the scope of the work before forming an agreement with Blackmon & Blackmon.

He warned the board not to just give an open checkbook to Blackmon & Blackmon, which could run up a bill of $300,000 if the scope is not defined. The city can use the general manager to help gather up information that may be needed to make the decision, Perry said.