Protest at town hall over capacity

Approximately 110 people showed up at the Holly Springs Board of Aldermen meeting Feb. 7 hoping to get a seat to lodge their frustration at the loss of electricity for days and some for a week during the ice storm that blanketed the area beginning overnight Monday Jan. 30.

Only those arriving earliest, about 51 people, were allowed inside City Hall to express their outrage at the inadequate response of the Holly Springs Utility Department for the crisis. An estimated 60 people were not able to participate in the meeting because of fire codes.

No figures were ever made available by the utility of how many customers lost power over the one week recovery period. Most of those present at the meeting were not residents in the city but lived out in the county, which is served by HSUD.

The Tennessee Valley Authority and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency stepped in beginning Friday, Feb. 3, after Marshall

County proclaimed a local emergency and asked the state to step in and help get electricity back on. By Tuesday, Feb. 7, only about 10 percent of those who lost power had no power restored.

Inside City Hall seven people were allowed to speak three minutes on their concerns over the inadequate response to the crisis, the second since April 2022 when many customers in Benton County went weeks without power after a severe thunderstorm passed over the area.

Thomas May, who lives north of Highway 72 near the Tennessee line was first up to speak. His comments were conciliatory because he has worked for utilities.

“I know it’s tough to run what you are charged to do,” he said to the mayor and board of aldermen.

He cited several shortcomings of the utility department.

He said not enough has been spent to maintain the power system. And another reason for the inadequate response, he said, was management.

Rights-of-way grow five feet a year and need to be cleaned off on a five-year cycle of upkeep.

“It’s a tough job. When you get down to the last 1,000 people (customers) it’s harder.

“We demand you all do a better job. I want to stay in Holly Springs, but I want my lights on, too.”

Alderman Colter Teel, responded.

“You did that with class and dignity,” he told May. “We did not inherit a brand new system, but I don’t think we’ve done anywhere near what we had to do. You are exactly right on what you said.”

Debbie Omedeo, lives on Clear Creek Road. She was five days without power and lost power again on day six.

She has lived here two years but owned property for 30 years. Kimbrough Chapel, located right behind her house has poles still down.

Some HSUD customers are as outraged about the escalation of their power costs as much as reliability of power.

Mayor Sharon D. Gipson ran her campaign on lowering the electric and utility bills.

Omedeo is one who does not understand why her electric bill went up $150 a month.

“What are we paying you for?” she asked Gipson. “Did you go without power? We pay taxes and the light bill. Why can’t we get answers?

“This question is to you. In the press conference (Feb. 5) you didn’t answer. “Why?”

“We pay your salary,” members in the audience shouted.

Omedeo said her light bill comes one day before it is due so she often has to pay a late fee.

“We were told, she (Gipson) chose people to restore power to,” Omedeo alleged.

Alderman Bernita Fountain, whose power never failed, reminded the people that many of the line workers went home to a house without electricity and their families also didn’t have power.

Regina Campbell was up next. She is a small business entrepreneur who makes jams, jellies and preserves. She said the unreliable power is making it difficult to cook.

“I love this town. I think it’s adorable, but if I don’t get regular electricity to do my job…. You gotta do better. People can’t go eight days and businesses can’t go eight days without power.”

Teel responded.

“You are right. I’ll tell you. Yes, this board has the authority. I spoke to a linemen from Columbus. He said those transformers were so old, they had never been trained on a unit that old. Behind my house (Cedar Hill Drive) it’s a war zone. It’s not been maintained, it’s not been run correctly. The right-of-ways are terrible.”

Polly Davis Woodward, from Red Banks, told her story of moving back to Marshall County after being away for 40 years.

“I’ve returned back to Marshall County after being gone 40 years,” Woodward said.

She attended Holly Springs High School and studied at Rust College, then bought a house in Memphis. She moved back to live with a sick brother, born with asthma. Her brother has to have power to operate his breathing equipment. Her power went off Tuesday, Jan. 31 and came back on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 11 a.m.

“This has been going on since 2015, shutoffs and cutoffs,” she said. “If the citizens of Marshall County can’t run it, we need to let somebody else do it.”

Woodward said DeSoto County and Shelby County had their power restored.

“People next door in Byhalia (Northcentral Electric Cooperative), they are doing a top job. All the companies running down Highway 302, were going (had power).”

Gipson interrupted.

“Miss Woodward, your three minutes are up,” Gipson said. Ward 2 alderman Andre Jones responded.

“I’m pretty sure we are being charged…the whole effort, people are saying accountability. I understand we inherited a bad system, but that gets old (using that as an excuse). I went for five days. We feel your pain.”

Steven Stewart, who lives at the end of Cannan Road in the Benton County, spoke next.

He said 90 percent of the HSUD customers are not citizens of Holly Springs.

“How did we get here?” he asked. “It was very convoluted how personnel changes took place after you got here. We need a forum. You said ‘this is new to us,’ that poles and transformers were in supply.

“This is not new. This is a wakeup call. It was a replay of 1994. If we knew this was coming, why didn’t you? The April storm was a warning. Last April was the past you should have learned. There are 14,000 rate payers and the outages have not been accurately reported. There are probably 2,000 people out now.”

Gipson called time.

Teel made a response to Campbell and Woodard.

“You are right, Miss Woodward. It’s not been maintained correctly. The right-of-ways have not been maintained correctly. We missed our learning task, you are right.”

“We did not vote for any of you,” Stewart said.

“You need a voice,” Teel said.

Grace Bonds of Holly Springs spoke next.

She said she was here in 1974, in the 1994 ice storm and is still here.

“Where is our general manager?” Bonds asked. “Where are our plans to the grid?”

Bonds said HSUD does not have the plans to the grid.

“When is she (Gipson) going to get on TV and on Facebook live and tell the truth? If MEMA says they don’t have line data. Jones, you said you feel the pain. Is there a cancer patient at your house

“No, I don’t. I said I felt the pain of those without electricity,” Jones said.

“She (Gipson) needs to be held accountable and we need somebody running our utility department,” Bonds said.

Rusty Weaver, a 27-year military veteran who ran 53 combat mission, said he had more electricity in his unit than the city has.

“These people out here, you are not answering these questions. I am not qualified to run this power grid. You are not qualified to run their power grid,” Weaver said. “You put people’s lives in jeopardy. You need to hire them off what their credentials are.”

Weaver suggested the city run the boundaries of HSUD in the city and let someone else run the rest of the grid.

“I understand HSUD pays for the police department and so forth for the city. There’s not enough people in front of me to keep me from suing this place. Nobody has power. She (Gipson) won’t answer a question.”

“I can’t make anybody answer a question,” Teel said.

“Thank you for what you do. I would ask each of you, have you seen anyone who have served on this board. Everybody else here, it didn’t happen on their watch. Why? Because we don’t have $30 million.”

“We are not asking for her to be removed as mayor. We just want to have her removed from our electric company,” Weaver said.

Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather spoke.

She said aldermen are there to make sure citizens are served by HSUD.

“We are not saying you are falsely accusing us. We are saying in these meetings we’ve had somethings we’ve overlooked. The #1 thing is to get a general manager at the utility. We are going to get someone qualified, because we don’t like looking bad.

“What I’m saying is this. We’re going to do what we are supposed to do - the right-ofway efforts. What we’re saying now is we have not. I don’t feel good. We are going to make a plan and execute a plan. In Benton County, we apologize. You have every right to be upset.”

Stewart commented.

“Why did it take people who don’t live here to come in and crash your aldermen’s meeting?”

Merriweather said the advertisement for a general manager has run in the paper.

“When people talk about accountability — I do know it’s not that hard to put up a Facebook live post to let us know what you are doing.”

“Just talk to us. Communication,” the audience pleaded.

“I do think the communication piece is very, very important,” Jones said. “We have definitely had some challenges.”

“I didn’t know before tonight you five people existed,” Stewart said.

“You don’t want to hear the truth,” Gipson said.

“Obviously, that’s why you are here and I get it,” Teel said.

He said the governor got involved because Sen. Neil Whaley got involved.

“I know I haven’t done my best, but I have a full-time job,” Teel said. “It’s a part-time job. I bring home about $600 a month. I can’t feed my family off that. I’m frustrated, too. My power goes out all the time.”

An unidentified person in the audience said people are frustrated when they call the utility company and they have people on life-support machines.

She called the utility company to go create a list of addresses where people who are on life-support machines on a list so they can get first priority.

“When you call and get somebody in Texas and they can’t find your account….”

Gipson said people who have sick people at home should submit their names to the utility department.

“They say they have already done that,” the unidentified person said. “That’s the main frustration. You are taking the rap for it....A lot of retired people….”

“I don’t just work here, I live here,” Gipson said.

She said HSUD is working to get an IRIS system that will notify people of the status of their outage.

Stewart said the county ought to have an emergency plan.

“We felt like there was a lack of communication, a lack of trust in HSUD itself,” Stewart said. “Last summer the entire service area saw a double to four or five times spike in calls and no answer. It is a trust issue. Another thing, multiple people get called back when their power is back on and it was not. And people get messages they have exceeded their daily usage alert and they had no power on. There is going to be a trust issue with the entity when things happen. We have asked and have never gotten answers.”