City approves resolution seeking private act to create Humboldt Utilities Authority
NEW PD OFFICER – Humboldt Police Chief Reynard Buchanan (left) welcomes Sheila Lockett as a new patrol officer for the Humboldt Police Department. Chief Buchanan submitted a letter of recommendation to the Humboldt City Board to hire Lockett.
by DANNY WADE | Senior Editor
dwade@hchronicle.net
When the Humboldt Board of Mayor and Aldermen met on Monday, October 23, Mayor Marvin Sikes presented a resolution for board approval. The resolution will seek to create Humboldt Utilities Authority as a private act authority and request amending the Humboldt’s charter to authorize the transfer of operations.
This transfer requires a private act, which has to get approval from the State General Assembly in Nashville. If approved by the legislation, Humboldt Utilities would become Humboldt Utilities Authority.
Mayor Sikes told the board that a copy of the minutes from this board meeting reflecting the vote on the resolution would be included in documents sent to the state. He recommended the board hold a role call vote to make sure all the aldermen were onboard for resolution.
As part of his duties as vice mayor, Alderman Leon McNeal led the role call vote. All five board members, Monte Johnson, Julie Jones-Coleman, Shane Lynch, Tammie Porter and McNeal voted to approve the resolution.
Mayor Sikes said he would get the paperwork to the local state representatives and senator to submit the request to the General Assembly.
After the meeting, Humboldt Utilities General Manager told the Humboldt Chronicle the reasoning behind transferring to become Humboldt Utilities Authority. He said the first thing would be removing the city from debt incurred for utility projects. Smith said that Humboldt Utilities is a branch of the city of Humboldt, and all grants and loans for utilities run through the city’s finances. Smith said this would ease the burden of including the utilities’ budget in the city’s budget each year. If approved, Humboldt Utilities Authority would submit their budget directly to the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office instead of submitting it to the city, where the city’s, Humboldt Utilities’ and Humboldt City Schools’ budgets are lumped into one budget and sent to the comptroller.
One thing Smith wanted to make perfectly clear is there will not be a rate increase due to the transition. He added that the relationship between HUA and the city would not change, nor would their relationship with the customers change. The city board would still appoint the utility board members, just as they are now.
Smith said there are currently four utility companies in West Tennessee that made the transition to become an “authority”—Jackson, Brownsville, Paris and Bolivar.
In other board action:
•Mayor Sikes submitted a list of streets for Phase II of the paving project. Mayor Sikes said he worked on the lists the aldermen submitted earlier in the year. Financially, the mayor believes the city can move forward with the list and hopefully get on the schedule before paving companies shutdown for the winter, which typically is in November. If the street paving cannot get on schedule, Mayor Sikes said they would push it forward until next spring.
Alderman Johnson asked how much Phase II would cost, to which Mayor Sikes replied $290,000. He also noted the paving would come out of the ARP (American Rescue Act) funds.
Streets on the list for repaving include:
Burrow St. – Central to 17th
16th Ave. – Main to Burrow
6th Ave. – Main to railroad tracks
Hawks Lp. – bypass to East End
North Circle – 30th to 31st
Carriage Ln. – 30th to East End
W. Mitchell – 3rd to 5th
W. Vine – 3rd to 6th
18th Ave. – Mitchell to Ferrell
•The board unanimously approved hiring a new police officer. Police Chief Reynard Buchanan submitted a letter of recommendation to hire Sheila Lockett. In his letter, Chief Buchanan stated Lockett had passed the National Police Officer Selection test, physical agility test, psychological exam, medical exam, drug screen, background check and she meets all the requirements to become a law officer in the state of Tennessee. Lockett would be required to attend Basic Police School.
Lockett told the board that she has over 20 years as a correctional officer in Tullahoma, Tenn. She then moved into case management and up to corrective counselor. From there, Lockett advanced to probation and parole, and finally moved into the director position.
•The board accepted the resignation of three street department workers. Rashad Bryant, Corey Conder and Ryan Milam all turned in their resignations.
•One item on the agenda was requested from Alderlady Jones-Coleman for an update on the animal control officer. She had questions for Public Works supervisor, Willie Reed, who oversees the city dog pound.
Jones-Coleman referred to the animal control officer that addressed the board in September giving the dogs shots. She wanted to know what type of shots the dogs were getting. Reed said they give shots for parvo, heartworms and dogs that are sick. They do not give rabies shots to the dogs. Jones-Coleman asked if the city purchases these shots, to which Reed replied the city does not purchase them. They are donated.
Jones-Coleman then asked about a particular day when there was no animal control officer at work. Reed said there was miscommunication between the two employees, each thought the other was working that day. A few days later, the same thing happened where miscommunication between the two employees caused the dogs to not have fresh water and food, nor the kennels cleaned.
Jones Coleman suggested Humboldt do what Haywood County and Madison County do and hire a director to be over the pound.
Alderman McNeal asked Reed, being the “head man” over the pound, why he did not tend to the dogs. Reed said he did not find out that no one was there until the next day.
Alderman Lynch said that everyone makes mistakes and sometimes they cannot be avoided. He asked Jones-Coleman if she was talking about a private entity to take over the dog pound.
Jones-Coleman said it should not be a private entity but instead its own city department and not under the street department.
Mayor Sikes said the animal control officer job is posted. He said they get one—then lose one. Sikes said according the city’s charter, it is not a rescue, but a pound. But, the city treats it like a rescue. He explained that when he became mayor, the city was euthanizing 100 dogs a year. This year, there have been less than five dogs put down.
