Wayne Jones resigns as GM at HSUD

In a six hour marathon meeting of the Mayor and Holly Springs Board of Alderman, November 4, a number of personnel issues were acted upon.

Wayne Jones, general manager of the Holly Springs Utility Department, resigned during executive session after Ward 2 alderman Andre Jones posited a motion to hire a general manager in open session.

A motion to terminate Wayne Jones effective immediately in executive session failed. But Jones later proffered his resignation in executive session. He was appointed as general manager in May 2024 by the board of aldermen.

Other motions in executive session included:

• motion to increase the pay of Chawanna Harris, senior accounting manager at HSUD to $66,000. The motion failed due to lack of a second.

• motion to terminate Wayne Jones effective immediately failed.

• motion to transfer Glynn Bridgeforth from Code Enforcement Officer to the water department. The motion received a second then the motion was rescinded.

• motion to transfer Glynn Bridgeforth from Code Enforcement officer to Water Department died due to lack of a second.

• motion to transfer Angel Oliver from Office Manager at HSUD to Human Resources was made and a tied vote was broken by mayor Charles Terry. The motion garnered two ayes from Aldermen Andre Jones an Dexter Shipp. Alderman Sandra Hodges voted and alderman Jim Moore voted nay. Merriweather abstained. Terry broke the tie by voting nay and Oliver remains as office manager at the HSUD.

• motion to accept the resignation of Wayne Jones effective immediately passed.

In other business taken up in open session before going into executive session at 7:30 p.m. The board took up other HSUD issues beginning under item 10 on the agenda.

General manager Wayne Jones requested a motion to hire a second crew from Southern Electric that would be dedicated to installing new service and filling outside lighting orders.

Jones was joined in the discussion by Michael Watson, HSUD consultant.

“So, our crews are not capable of installing lights?” asked Alderman-at-large Dexter Shipp.

Jones said the request for a backup crew of $19,680 a week is to catch up on backlogs of customers who have been waiting for months, even years, to get service. The present four-man crew from Southern Electric handles larger emerging issues such as downed power poles caused by storms or accidents, problems that arise on the day-today basis, not backlogs.

Jones said HSUD has people waiting for outdoor lights going back as far as 2022.

There are about 1,400 lights out over the system, he said. The initial crew works on power outages, downed poles and storms.

Consultant Michael Watson joined Jones to describe the reasoning for a second crew.

“We have a contract to provide labor and materials under the contract,” Watson said. “We’re just asking for another crew to get this backlog finished.

“You don’t have enough labor to get his backlog done,” he said. “You cannot hire a lineman off the street at the current rates.”

Watson said it takes four to five years to bring an apprentice up to the level of an experienced lineman. The training is equivalent to a college degree, he said.

“You could hire two to three times as many crews and keep them busy two to three years to get caught up,” Watson said.

Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather looked at an invoice for the current crew from October 6 to October 12.

“Is this the amount we paid them? Is this the amount assessed?” she asked. “Where have that company (specific areas?) and how many lights installed?”

Watson said the crew had “built three phase service to a new recycling center today.” “Replacing lights is a small part of what they do,” he said.

“We paid $19,000 of ratepayers money,” the alderman said. “Where are these improvements?” “They are doing work all over the system on a given day,” Watson said. “They have $600,000 to $700,000 worth of equipment while they are at work.” Ward 3 alderman Jim Moore asked if this crew currently working had helped restore the system in recent months in the Slayden area following the tornado.

“It was in place three or four years before your administration,” Wayne Jones said.

Merriweather asked for the specifics – records of where the crew has worked and invoices for the work.

Watson said HSUD is working to have the crews accountable. He said it is easier to benchmark the outside crews than the internal crews.

Moore asked if the budget allows for this expenditure.

“We need to get these services hooked up,” Watson said. “If the developer doesn’t know they can get hooked up, they are not going to build. And we need the revenue from for new houses and industries.”

Ward 1 alderman Sandra Hodges agreed.

“These people have been waiting a long time for lights in here and outside Holly Springs, as well,” she said.

Ward 2 alderman Andre Jones asked if HSUD has identified what is priority. “Are we doing this in batches and phases,” he asked. “I just want more information.” Watson said the person in charge of outages has arranged the outages on backlog into areas and clusters so a crew can go to an area and work a larger number of outages before moving to another cluster.

“The clusters (information) are in the office,” said Wayne Jones.

The mayor confirmed.

“I was in the office today and she showed the routes and folders where they would go,” Terry said.

Jones said the second crew would consist of one foreman and three linemen.

“How many poles and lights?” Hodges asked.

Board attorney John Keith Perry Jr. said this is part of the problem areas, “It’s major to get this in place.”

He said there are concerns about costs, but the system needs to start getting revenues in these areas.

Alderman Jones asked who is going to report back.

Watson said the assistant superintendent is working with the crews every day.”

Moore said closed work orders are the numbers that are needed to track work that is getting done.

“Yes,” said Watson. “You can install three or four poles a day. It is on the utility to get clusters. We have work orders demonstrating they got the work done.”

He said the contractors are incredibly sophisticated and know exactly what their cost are.

Terry reviewed the concerns.