The future of a proposed dam project at Meadow Park Lake, holding a city referendum allowing council to explore transfer of land related to the project, and merger with the Cumberland Plateau Water Authority are among the biggest decisions Crossville Council will face.
Those decisions are expected to be made Tuesday night at the June monthly meeting.
Time sensitive is the City Charter requirement that land cannot be transferred without a referendum of city voters granting permission. To reach that requirement this year, council must act before July 1 so that the referendum can be placed on the November ballot.
Council is expected to vote Tuesday to petition the Election Commission to allow the referendum to be placed on that ballot.
“In reality, it’s not a referendum to approve the transfer of those (parcels of land relating to expansion of reservoir at Meadow Park Lake),” Crossville City Attorney Randy York told council members.
“It’s to give the city council the authority to move forward and in their wisdom, if they think it’s appropriate to do that, to be able to go ahead and do it.”
Mayor R.J. Crawford noted that there exists three related items.
Priority, in his opinion, is whether to seek and call for the referendum giving council permission to proceed with a step in the merger process.
Closely related is the increase in the impoundment of Meadow Park Lake which is already in the early stages. Third is whether to merge the city water utility with CPWA.
Jeff Dyer, general manager of CPWA, again met with council Tuesday during the work session to pitch the pros of merging the two systems.
Shared costs, he said, makes both CPWA stronger and can lower rates for water customers in the region.
If a merger were to take place, the city would have three appointments to the seven-member CPWA board. The county would also have three appointments ,and the seventh seat could be a shared appointment by the city and county, Dyer said.
It was noted that regionalization of utility districts is not only a Crossville issue, but is ongoing across Tennessee and is viewed favorably by state regulatory agencies.
CPWA’s financial consultant and analyst Daniel Peterson — using information and statistics provided by the city and CWPA — listed $131 million in upcoming capital projects that includes the Meadow Park Lake expansion, sewer treatment plant expansions (present plant is nearing capacity) and seeking of new reservoir or alternate.
By remaining independent, Peterson told council, water ratepayers could see an increase of 63% in rates over six years. This is based on 14,000 customers in the city system.
By joining CPWA, the share cost would be spread out over 31,000 customers, which would help meet challenges of future water supplies and lowering the burden to each water customer.
Grant money is no longer being prioritized to local water utilities, as the state is promoting regionalization of water utilities as the future.
Ross Colona of the state Board of Utility Regulation under the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office was present to address that future.
That board’s mission is to protect utility district customers, and Colona agreed that a merger to make sure all customers pay a fair share is the way to proceed.
“I haven’t heard a reason against this yet, that is based on facts,” Colona told council. “Like, I haven’t heard anyone show me the numbers, or show me the money, to where this doesn’t work out to the benefit of the customers of the utility.”
While no action could be taken in the work session, council members seemed in agreement to call for a yes or no vote on the referendum in Tuesday night’s meeting.
If approved and the question is placed on the November ballot, this will give council permission to pursue a merger.
If not, council Tuesday will have to decide whether to proceed with the dam mitigation project alone with city ratepayers footing that cost.
Council could also delay the project until the future of the city water utility district becomes more clear.
Third, council will have to decide whether to say yes or no to merger talks with CPWA.
Concerns over the city giving away assets are moot, as several noted that state law separates the water utility district from Crossville City government.
The two independent entities are intertwined, but all assets of the utility district belong to the ratepayers, not the city of Crossville.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in council chambers at Crossville City Hall at 392 N. Main St.