Norris utilities will become a regular city department
The Norris City Council on Monday night gave final approval to a reorganization of the city’s water and sewer utilities that makes them part of a new city Utilities Department as of July 1.
Councilmembers voted 4-1 to pass a package of three ordinances on second and final reading to accomplish the move, which had been vehemently opposed by three now-former members of the Norris Water Commission.
Ironically, it was the voluntary resignations of those three water commissioners in April that cleared the path for the City Council to move forward with the reorganization.
Before the resignations of Water Commission Chairman Richard Dyer, Vice-Chair Sue Hill and member Margueritte Wilson in late April, the controversial proposal to bring the water and sewer utilities under the control of City Manager Adam Ledford had already been dropped because of a lack of majority support on the City Council.
Their resignations, however, caused the City Council to appoint itself as the interim Norris Water Commission in early May. Since that occurred, the council has reconsidered the reorganization, and four of the five councilmembers indicated their support for the changes.
None of those three former water commissioners – who constituted a majority and were in control of the commission – was in jeopardy of being removed from their positions, so their resignations came as a surprise to the council and other city officials.
Under the plan approved Monday night, water Superintendent Tony Wilkerson will now report directly to Ledford. In the past, he was employed by and answered only to the independent Norris Water Commission, whose members were appointed by the mayor, with approval of the City Council.
On June 12, the council voted, also 4-1, to approve on first reading the ordinances that would make the utilities a regular department like fire, police and public works.
The only “no” vote on first and second readings of the ordinances came from Councilman Will Grinder, who opposed the changes in the utility setup as part of his alignment with the three former water commissioners.
During a meeting of the newly constituted Water Commission on May 31, with the five City Council members now sitting as the Water Commission, a majority of the members signaled a willingness to move the utilities into a department.
It had been a controversial proposal that had been fought by Water Superintendent Tony Wilkerson and the three commissioners who resigned in April.
Even Wilkerson now supports the reorganization, and has signed a statement in favor of the move, written by Mayor Chris Mitchell and co-signed by City Manager Ledford, along with City Council members Chuck Nicholson, Bill Grieve and Loretta Painter.
The mayor’s statement reads:
“The Norris City Council is in a process of building on the progress/successes of the previous Norris Water Commission (NWC). We are currently serving as the NWC and in the process of the Operations transiting to be a department. The purpose of the change is to provide the Superintendent with additional support to address increased regulations in both Water and Sewer scopes.
“I encourage you to attend/participate in upcoming meetings and provide support to the Water Superintendent. We will succeed by working together and focusing on the future.”
Painter first brought up the idea of making the utilities a department at the end of the City Council’s December 2022 meeting.
Another water commissioner quit the board in early April for “personal reasons,” leaving only Painter on the commission, where she served as the City Council’s representative.
In an emergency meeting May 2, the City Council appointed itself to serve as the interim Norris Water Commission, which could last as long as nine to 12 more months, the mayor said last week.
Also approved on final reading, after public hearings Monday night, were the city’s new fiscal-year budget, and these separate measures not related to the utilities issue:
• Ordinance 650: “An Ordinance of the City of Norris, Tennessee, to Amend Title 17, Refuse and Trash Disposal, Chapter 1: Refuse, Section 17-107, Refuse Collection Fees.” This would raise the residential trash-collection fee by $1 a month beginning July 1.
• Ordinance 651: “An Ordinance to Title 3 of the Norris Municipal Code Regarding Municipal Courts,” updated procedures for Norris City Court.
• Ordinance 655: “An Ordinance to Amend Title 16 of the Norris Municipal Code Regarding Outdoor Advertising.”