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Public commenter accuses Wilson County Water Authority of mismanagement, urges removal of chairman
Summary
A public speaker told the Wilson County budget committee that TDEC has issued a notice of violation and that ARP funds awarded to the county water authority have been mismanaged; the speaker urged commissioners to vote to force the chairman to appear and consider removal.
Unidentified Speaker 4, during public comment at the Wilson County Budget Committee meeting, accused the county water authority of long-running governance failures and said state regulators recently issued a notice of violation. "Because of continuing performance failures, TDEC water quality regulators are closely watching the water authority," Unidentified Speaker 4 said, adding that the authority failed to address hazardous lines on Ford and Sharp Springs Road and received notice on Feb. 4.
The speaker told the committee that work funded by American Rescue Plan (ARP) dollars awarded to the water authority in 2022 has been delayed and over budget. "With construction not even started, the Colane Trailsdale Ferry project is 34% over budget. I predict about 2,000,000 of the total $5,000,000 grant will be wasted," Unidentified Speaker 4 said.
Citing the absence of written governance documents, the commenter said the authority's executive director told him there were "no bylaws, rules of order," and that meetings and documents were created on a case-by-case basis. The speaker referenced a statutory provision that he said allows the county commission to remove the water authority chairman and suggested the commission vote in March to invoke that provision so the chairman will be required to "come before you in April and address these issues."
Committee members did not take formal action on the matter during the meeting. No county official offered a substantive rebuttal on the record at the time; the public comment closed with the speaker offering to provide a list of problems described by public records.
Why it matters: The water authority manages infrastructure and projects funded with federal ARP dollars; if projects fail or are delayed, residents may not receive promised service and federal funding could be at risk. The speaker asked the commission to use a statutory mechanism to compel the chairman to appear and to consider removal.
Next steps: The public commenter requested a March vote to invoke the statute and said the chairman should be asked to appear in April. The committee did not adopt that action during the meeting.
