At a hearing held last week in Nashville, the Tennessee Utility Management Review Board ruled that it lacked authority to act on a petition filed by DeKalb Utility District ratepayers in an attempt to derail the utility’s plans to build a new water treatment plant.
While the UMRB cited lack of jurisdiction in the matter of the treatment plant at the hearing on Thursday, the board will act on the petitioners’ request for a DUD rate review.
The petition in question, a document signed by more than 1,100 of the 5,000 DUD customers, was submitted to the Tennessee Comptroller and Utility Management Review Board in July in an attempt to get a state review of DUD rates and its plan of services, including the proposed treatment plant.
Representatives from both the DUD and the UMRB agreed that the minimum of 10 percent of DUD customers had signed the petition.
Attorney Jason Holleman, speaking on behalf of the petitioners, argued that the UMRB had jurisdiction to hear the petition as it related to both rates charged and services provided.
Attorney Keith Blair, representing the DUD, argued the UMRB had no jurisdiction to hear the petition, and opposed any further hearing on the matter.  
When UMRB commissioners inquired about the basis for the recent rate increases relative to the construction financing of the proposed treatment plant, DUD Chairman Roger Turney told the board that the DUD had been working toward building the plant for more 10 years, and that water rates would actually be reduced.  
Members of the UMRB suggested they did not have enough information to agree or disagree with his assertion, and  subsequently the board moved to conduct a rate review under the petition that has been filed.
The UMRB board voted 6-1 to hear the portion of the petition that deals with  rates charged and services provided.
While the exact date and location have yet to be determined, the DUD rate review and public hearing will be held in DeKalb County in accordance with Tennessee Code 7-82-102 (a)(1), which states: “ The review by the UMRB shall be held only upon public hearings, after notice, in the county in which the utility district maintains their principle office.”
Calvert Street Group, a public relations firm hired by the City of Smithville in April to help inform residents of the planned treatment plant and its possible effects, led the petition drive.
The UMRB meeting packet was 265 pages long, and the DUD hearing was scheduled at the end of the day, but the large number of concerned citizens who attended to voice concerns about the DUD issue led the board to move the matter to the top of the agenda.
Officials of the DUD said they would like to get the matter resolved hastily, as further delays will only cost them more money.
In a letter to Greg Cothron, assistant general counsel for the state comptroller's office, and UMRB Board Coordinator Joyce Welborn, Keith Blair recently wrote, “As you are aware, DUD has taken significant steps to initiate the construction of a water treatment plant as well as making plans to restructure certain long term debt for additional cost savings to their customers.
“Once the petition in question was filed, at a time when the closing of the bonds to finance this project was imminent, DUD cautiously delayed the closing and finalization of the financing of this project in order to obtain proper verification from UMRB that the petition had no merit and, most importantly, that the UMRB did not have jurisdiction to consider the issues presented.
“With this pending petition, DUD continues to suffer monetary losses each day due to their inability to proceed forward with the planned refinancing and water treatment plant. It is clearly evident that interest rates and construction costs are at an all-time low. The interest rates and construction rates will no doubt increase in the coming months which will damage DUD financially causing them to spend more on this project than anticipated which potentially could result in additional rate increases. Further, the longer that this issue is in limbo, the longer that DUD will have to purchase water from the City of Smithville, the proponent behind the petition in question.
“A delay will do nothing but prolong the final resolution of this matter and cause DUD continued delay and financial loss that will do nothing but hurt the customers of DUD. A delay only benefits the petitioner, with no due cause being shown and severely hurts DUD each day that passes without resolution,” Blair’s letter read.