Letter to the editor

Dear Editor:

I attended the meeting of the Holly Springs Board of Aldermen Tuesday night with TVA representatives also in attendance. To say I left disappointed would be a vast understatement. Hoping to hear solutions to the problems apparent with the Holly Spring Utility Department I mainly heard from TVA about how bad the situation at HSUD was and listened to our elected officials pass the blame to previous administrations. The aldermen and mayor did set up a meeting, I think, to discuss the actions that need to be taken to address the report. One alderman asked if TVA had ever had to have a meeting like this with any of the other towns that they serve. The answer was that this was the first one.

I learned a long time ago from DIY projects to quit trying to do projects that I was not qualified to do and to hire people that knew how to do what needed to be done. The aldermen and mayor need to learn this same lesson. While they may all be very qualified in their chosen professions I seriously doubt that any of them have the knowledge necessary to run a utility department the size of HSUD. It is past time to hire a competent general manager to run the department. However, the problem in trying to find such a person goes back to the board and mayor. I can’t imagine anyone capable accepting the job with the realization that eventually a new board and mayor will be elected and there will be a good chance that they will fire anybody associated with a previous administration to install their chosen person, whether qualified or not. It has happened before and will most likely happen again.

The Mississippi legislature is currently working on legislation that would limit HSUD service area to the Holly Springs city limits. The mayor and board passed a resolution Tuesday night opposing this. I can understand the city not wanting to lose any part of HSUD but, from the perspective of someone who lives in the county, has no representation in the city and, following the recent windstorm, has been without power for about 25 percent of the current year, this may be the only solution for me to have a voice in getting reliable power. During the many days I have been without power the only two times I have been able to talk to anybody about having power restored were the two days when it was restored. I was literally and figuratively in the dark the whole time. This is completely unacceptable.

The only way that I would give any support to the City of Holly Springs maintaining ownership of HSUD as it currently exists would be for the city to allow HSUD to be run by a board independent of elected officials in order to take the politics out of operations in order to allow HSUD to operate as any successful business would. I appreciate the work of HSUD employees and realize the hard work that they do. These employees and all customers of HSUD deserve a lot more from our elected officials.

Steve Gresham
Holly Springs