Mayor, alderman at odds over TVA

The lines are clearly drawn between Holly Spring Mayor Sharon Gipson and Ward 1 alderman Patricia Merriweather’s preferred response to requests from the Tennessee Valley Authority for access to the Holly Springs Utility Department’s records.

Merriweather wants to allow TVA to come in and look at the financial records at HSUD. Gipson is defiant saying TVA has no right to come in to the HSUD facility and go into its system.

A 20-minute back and forth between the mayor and alderman showed the clear differences in how the city should be handling TVA requests for information. TVA provides wholesale electric power to the HSUD.

Merriweather brought up her concerns about the HSUD’s financials and delinquency in reporting to TVA again at the April 16 meeting of the mayor and board of aldermen.

She asked why the city has not spent $500,000 the Mississippi Legislature allotted for an assessment of the HSUD and for right-of-way clearing.

The alderman said the money should be used so the city can request additional funds from the legislature to help restore the electric grid infrastructure.

Gipson said she would check on the status of the allocation “tomorrow. We’ll look at that and get attorney Perry to see,” she said.

Merriweather then launched in to her concerns about the required reports to TVA and other information the authority has asked for.

Reviewing a list of requests from Melanie Farrell from TVA cited in an email, Merriweather provided specific TVA concerns as follows:

• audits that have not been submitted to TVA, the regulatory authority. TVA asked for physical access to the HSUD accounting office and digital access of the Central Service Association (CSA) accounting system.

“We need to move on that. TVA has not had a response from that,” Merriweather said.

• monthly financial reports that have not been submitted to TVA since October 2023.

• operational items TVA listed including the $500,000 appropriation received from the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration which was appropriated for a Tennessee Valley Public Power Association assessment and for right-ofway clearing under the power lines.

• a request by TVA to act quickly to fill the general manager position at the HSUD.

“And that was something the Public Service Commission mentioned,” Merriweather said.

• that the HSUD is three years delinquent on submitting external audit reports to TVA.

“I’ll be happy to respond to all of this,” Gipson said.

Her response included the following:

• repeated attempts to hire auditors with no action from the board.

• resistance by Gipson to TVA scrutiny. “I will never be in favor of TVA having access to the City’s books while we are having issues now with the PSC,” she said.

• pressure to raise rates. Customer bills would be higher if the City raised its rates on electricity to customers as TVA recommended. Gipson alleged that TVA tried to force HSUD to raise its rates.

“Right now we have some of the highest bills I’ve ever seen,” Gipson said.

• participation in Public Service Commission hearing in Jackson.

“They (TVA) are not our partners,” Gipson said. “That young lady sends emails right before every meeting but some way she didn’t not send us an email to let us know that this was happening in Jackson (hearing at PSC).

“It was staged. It was designed to steal the utility department and to destroy it. They continue even as we go through this.

“Our first priority is to protect the city and our assets and our customers.”

Gipson alleged that employees were not able to focus on “what was at hand” and provide documents to auditors.

“As far as giving them, the people who are trying to destroy us, an open invitation to our accounts and to these departments … that will not be something I will never agree to,” Gipson said.

“The eyes should be wide open as to the role that TVA is playing in this. This is not a game. This is very serious. We can’t fall into this trap.”

Gipson alleged TVA bullies small towns and small communities.

“They do not have the right to go into our system. It is just like opening your door and saying, come on in, robber. The purse is on the counter. TVA does not have the right to be inside the City of Holly Springs books.”

Merriweather asked to make a comment, saying that the Mayor is not the one who “shines the bright light.”

“That is far from the truth,” she said. “We know exactly what is going on. We have concerns on both sides with TVA and with the City of Holly Springs. We are not high school. We are not sitting here saying we are oblivious to what is going on.”

The alderman said she has concerns about the inner workings of the HSUD.

“We also know that TVA, regardless of what is said, is our partner,” Merriweather said. “They provide services to us. Anyone who provides services is going to protect their interests. There are rules and regulations for everyone to abide by.

“The city, in terms of reports, in terms of responding to reports, what TVA has asked for, to me is within their rights. We have to protect our citizens and their rights and to protect their money, their investments and our investment.

“But in order to do that, we must have clarity, we must have transparency and we have to have accurate records. We have not had an audit completed, maybe one, since we’ve been sitting on this bench. I don’t like that. Folk want to know. The citizens want to know that we are good caretakers of their money, that we are managing it well. And in order to do that we have to have audits.

“This is not about TVA. This is about what we have been elected to do. And I take that very seriously. It is not our money. It is not the board’s. It is not the Mayor’s. It is the City of Holly Springs’.

“And that is who is coming to us, not just financial records. Not to know where what’s going on here or there. Every question that I’ve heard today (public comments in the board meeting) has been from a citizen who has the right to know what’s going on.

“Why are my bills this way? Why are their (bills) not here? We have to be responsive. We have to actually respond to the concerns of the citizens. This is not about us.

“We don’t know what’s best. It’s TVA, it’s the HSUD. It’s the PSC. What the lawmakers have passed. Whether investigators have to intervene. What we have to do.

“We owe it to the citizens to make sure that we are doing what’s right, not the best in our eyesight, but what’s best for the citizens - all citizens, everyone who is a ratepayer for the HSUD.

“Let it be known, I don’t have a problem with TVA, for their asking for the report they have asked for is not illegal. They are not outside the bounds. Yes, they want to know what is going on, the audits. That’s why they want CSA in our accountancy department (accounts office), so they will know that their interests are protected and in retrospect, ours, too.”