CULLMAN — The inaugural meeting of the South Cumberland Cooperative District (SCCD) ended up serving double duty as a venting session for more than 50 county water customers, the majority of whom used the opening hour of the meeting as a forum to voice their opposition to the creation of the SCCD and its oversight board, the Governmental Utility Service Corporation (GUSC).

The new board attempted to keep order in giving nearly a dozen voices from the crowd their turn to speak, but the meeting got off to a rocky start. Two members of the audience all but got into a shouting match over the Cullman County Commission’s April 27 decision to form the two new water entities, and to place the ownership of the Cullman County water department in the hands of the SCCD.

Board members Ron Stone, Stan Wood, Dennis Haynes and Wiley Kitchens were present for the first meeting; board chairman Don Wilbanks did not attend. Wood presided over the meeting in Wilbanks’ absence.

Although the public comment portion of the meeting, as well as two retirements into executive session, bloated the running time to more than two hours, the actual business portion of the session lasted only about 15 minutes and was conducted before far fewer people than turned out for the early public comments.

Even in that 15 minutes, the business of water in Cullman County received more official attention than it had ever received during typical meetings of the county commission, noted department manager David Bussman.

“There was probably more time spent today on water business than there has been in two years of commission meetings—just in one meeting.” Bussman said.

Dan Willingham, who will serve as board attorney for the new body, said the executive sessions were called to discuss a lawsuit filed last Friday against the SCCD board, the GUSC board, and associate commissioners Doug Williams and Wayne Willingham.

Ed Slaten,the first resident to speak at Monday’s meeting drew derision from the audience for his animated defense of the commission’s decision to form the SCCD, a heated moment that set the tone for a cavalcade of mostly anti-board sentiment that poured from one speaker after another.

“I have never, in my entire life, seen so much lies put out about what’s going on,” said Slaten. “Those commissioners (associate commissioners Doug Williams and Wayne Willingham) are the first commissioners that I know of in a long time who have had the guts to do what’s best for the people. I have been hearing and reading that they ‘gave the tax dollars’ to this group here—that’s a lie. The water department has operating off of what they charge for; not tax dollars. People are also saying that this board was formed without anybody talking about it; that’s a lie, too.”

That comment elicited a vehement interruption by a man in the front row, who jumped out of his seat and contested the statement. The exchange required intervention from Wood and other board members, who used the moment as a time to admonish subsequent speakers that the meeting would have to proceed in a civil and orderly manner.

Poultry farmer Billy Meeks was one of several speakers who challenged the board, requesting an explanation of how it serves a cooperative entity, if there is no legal connection between board members’ appointed roles and the constituent cooperative membership ostensibly comprised of Cullman County water customers.

“I have a problem and an issue when you can’t even tell me who is ‘the cooperative,’” said Meeks. “This board can vote to dissolve itself today, and that would be great. I think it’s corrupt, what happened. They tried to hide it from us, and it’s wrong.”

In a followup interview Monday, county commission chairman James Graves said he and six other plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit Friday calling for the dissolution of the GUSC and the SCCD would drop the case if Williams and Willingham would rescind the measures that formed the two bodies at the April 27 commission meeting.

“I would be more than willing to drop the lawsuit if the two associate commissioners would rescind, and get it disestablished,” said Graves. “I’m hopeful that they’ll be receptive to it. The other plaintiffs also share that feeling.

“We want the water system back under the commission to study this thing properly—it’s not necessarily what was done, so much as it is the way it was done, and it may be that a board is what people will want. If we can see that it’s in the best interest of Cullman County, let’s look at it, but let’s do it right and hold public meetings and expose it to the light. ”

Meeks was dismissive of the presence of former commission chairman Wiley Kitchens on the five-member SCCD board, telling Kitchens, “We voted you out, and here we are, having to deal with you again.”

That began a series of questions relating to the history of the Duck River dam proposal and the ongoing struggle between city and county over whether to partner in pursuing the project as a new regional water source.

Kitchens went into a lengthy description of the history of that issue, and went on to review a more recent effort to tap the Tennessee River for water.

That effort, he recalled, saw then-commissioners Kitchens, Williams and Stanley Yarbrough attempt to form a regional water board that would have involved the City of Cullman. That campaign ended, Kitchens said, when the city beseeched the Tennessee Valley Authority to deny a permit request the county had filed.

“We tried to form a board,” said Kitchens. “The City of Cullman got on board with us, and we got special legislation passed in order for us to go to the Tennessee River. We had a proposal. When we got the property acquired, we applied for our permit. The city utilities board turned right around and wrote TVA a letter to stop our progress. We tried to cooperate with the City of Cullman. They would not cooperate with us.”

Much of the public discussion—and the retorts of board members Kitchens and Ron Stone—went on in similar fashion, with comments on the water source issue dominating —even though no business related to any of the water source proposals was on the meeting’s agenda.

Wood summarized the session’s tone after the meeting.

“I think the ire’s understandable,” said Wood. “People want answers, and that’s understandable. I’ve got thick skin and broad shoulders, and I don’t mind listening to people vent—and I think that’s what it was. But, I think as meetings progress, you’ll get less and less and less of that, as we actually are able to make some decisions. Today, for lack of a better term, it was just a complaining session. But I thought it was good for people to get it off their chest.”

The new board issued a press release likening the SCCD to the formation of the Cullman Electric Cooperative, which was established in 1936 by local businessmen who sold partial-ownership stakes in the co-op to members by going door to door.

The board did not address Monday whether it intends to structure its constituency in such a way that allows water customers to purchase a similar stake of ownership for those who wish to become members.

“We, the Board Members of the SCCD, with great humility accept the responsibility that has been entrusted to us,” the release states. “It should be noted that we understand how difficult it was for the Cullman County Commission to relinquish control even though they realized that doing so was in the best interest of everyone concerned.

“The question has been raised as to the motives behind the forming of the SCCD. We cannot answer as to the motives since that is up to the individual,” the release continues. “However, our pledge is to all the citizens of Cullman County: we intend to do what is best to provide clean, safe and adequate water at all times at the lowest possible price.”

The release affirmed the board’s intention to meet with co-op manager David Bussman so that the new body can review his department’s plans for the water system in Cullman County.

“Once this review is complete, we will request a meeting with the Chairman of the City Utilities Board and a person of his choosing to discuss all water items between the city and the SCCD,” the board affirmed.

In the business portion of the meeting, the board approved bills for the month of April; heard a report from manager David Bussman and added Stan Wood to the district’s checking account signature card. It also heard an engineer’s report and approved the hiring of accounting firm Wear, Howell, Strickland, Quinn and Law, PC CPA to perform a financial audit for the SCCD.

The SCCD board’s next meeting will be at 1 p.m. June 14 in the downstairs meeting room of the SCCD district office on Beech Avenue.



* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.