Department status for Norris water and sewer?
Nicholson chosen as chair
Meeting for the second time as the acting Norris Water Commission, City Council members chose Councilman Chuck Nicholson to serve as chairman, and Councilman Will Grinder as vice-chairman, on Wednesday, May 31.
A majority of the council members also signaled a willingness to move the city’s water and sewer utilities into a regular city department, which would fall under the control of City Manager Adam Ledford.
Under that plan, which Mayor Chris Mitchell said he would like to see implemented by July 1, longtime water Superintendent Tony Wilkerson would remain in charge of the utilities.
But he would be reporting directly to Ledford, rather than to the five-person Water Commission as he does now.
Even Wilkerson indicated during the May 31 meeting that he would support the move of the utilities to department status, which would be similar to the structure of the city’s police, fire, and public works departments.
The move must be accomplished through an ordinance passed by the City Council, and Mitchell has called for the ordinance to be considered on first reading at the regular council meeting at 7 p.m. June 12.
If the measure passes on first reading, Mitchell is expected to call a special meeting before the end of June to consider passing the ordinance on second and final reading. That would be preceded by a public hearing, most likely just prior to the start of the special meeting.
“I believe it needs to be a department,” Mitchell said during the Water Commission meeting. We (Water Commission members) should not be doing operations.
“There are many cities our size or larger where it’s a department,” he said.
Nicholson agreed, saying, “I do believe in moving forward toward making the utilities a department.”
Councilwoman Loretta Painter, who first brought up the idea of making the utilities a department, reiterated that position, saying, “I think it should be a department.”
Grinder and Councilman Bill Grieve have not supported the move so far, but Grieve also did not speak out against it during the May 31 meeting.
Grinder, though, continued to resist the idea.
“I personally will not support a vote to make the utilities a department,” he said. “ … My vision is [that there should be] no change in the [current] structure.”
There does seem to be unanimous agreement among the five council members that eventually a new citizen-based Water Commission should be appointed to replace those who resigned – all of their own accord – in April.
Mitchell suggested that such a move could occur within the next year.
“I think it’s achievable to make progress [on choosing new water commissioners] in the next nine to 12 months,” the mayor said.
The acting water commissioners also voted during the meeting to set 6 p.m. on the third Monday of each month as the regular meeting date of the Norris Water Commission.