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Trezevant Holds Public Hearing On Water System

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TREZEVANT — The Town of Trezevant held a public hearing last Tuesday evening, February 12, concerning the town’s water/sewer department. The Mayor and Board of Alderman was in attendance along with several concerned citizens to hear the situation and comments.
Alderman Pam Joyner presided over the hearing opening the session with an introduction outlining the basic three choices the town has in regards to what to do with the Water and Sewer Department. Joyner broke it down into three options. The first being keep ownership and not do anything at this time. Option 2 is keep ownership but hire an outside source to manage it. Option 3 is to privatize the system, in other words, sell it out right.
Joyner introduced Mr. Don Reed who is the water supervisor for McLemoresville. Reed gave the audience a run down on how McLemoresville’s Water System is set up. Reed told the audience McLemoresville provides water but not waste water. He indicated they have 150 meters with 130 of them active. He said six years ago they got a grant to upgrade the whole system to meters that could be read remotely and not require a meter reader. McLemoresville was the first town in the county to have that capability.
Alderman Tim Rogers spoke next about Atwood’s Water System. Atwood has three wells and a water plant that can be remote controlled. Atwood provides water and sewer to approximately 540 customers. They still manually read the meters at this time. He indicated the town installed new water lines during the 1980’s, all PVC pipes. Rogers also indicated the town has an organized maintenance program for the water system.
Rogers stated, “I’m not for selling our water system. I believe we can get this straightened out.”

Tim Fullington, Certified Licensed Water Operator for Cedar Grove and Trezevant, described the water system as being mainly two basic parts. One part sends water to the plant and the other part delivers from the plant to the customer. There are 383 manually read meters. He indicated a lot of equipment is older and will need to be upgraded.
“I’ve talked to TAUD (Tennessee Association of Utility Districts) and other sources and they aren’t keen on seeing a city sell their water system,” said Fullington.
Trezevant Financial Officer Jeff Goad told the board and audience that as of January 31, the water department was slightly over $14,000 over budget due mainly to unexpected repairs to Water Department equipment and if nothing else breaks they might break even financially.
The public was given an opportunity to ask questions. One question was if the Water System was up for sale. Alderman Joyner answered saying we want to address Options 2 and 3 at the March meeting inviting people to talk to us about these options.
Another question asked was how the water department got into its current situation. City Attorney Charles Trotter summarized the issue saying multiple ongoing problems got the town to this point. A citizen asked if the town owed money on the water department for upgrades the answer was Trezevant is currently debt free.
Mayor Bobby Blaylock summarized the whole session saying, “The system is fine right now but plans need to be made now for the future.”

Trezevant, Water, System, Meeting, Hearing