The City of Holly Springs faces the music today before the Mississippi Public Service Commission. The Commission's consultant, Silverpoint Consulting, found the Holly Springs Utility Department was woefully understaffed, underfunded, and operated by managers with no experience in electrical utilities. The Commission ordered Holly Springs officials to appear at a Show Cause hearing in New Albany this morning.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission issued the following statement on August 5:
Today the Mississippi Public Service Commissioners voted unanimously to schedule a show-cause hearing for 9 a.m. on September 4th at the New Albany Municipal Court. At the hearing, HSUD will be called upon to answer to the findings of the Silverpoint Consulting report which was filed with the Commission early last week.
The Commissioners have expressed their commitment to finding a long-term, transparent solution for the community served by HSUD stating, “We strongly encourage public participation in the upcoming show-cause hearing, emphasizing that this is more than a procedural requirement—it is critical for HSUD to address the issues raised in the report and to clarify its actions. By working together, we can ensure that the outcome serves the best interests of the people who rely on HSUD services."
Chris Brown, Chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission and Commissioner for the Northern District which encompasses HSUD, stated, “This show-cause hearing is the crucial next step to bringing about a solution to a crisis which has been decades in the making. We remain committed to bringing relief to the people of HSUD.”
Silverpoint recommended selling the utility or converting it into a co-op. Placing the utility is a third option but Silverpoint recommended the Commission avoid doing so.
JJ reported on July 29:
The Holly Springs public utility has been troubled for quite some time. The report's opening will sound familiar to victims of the Jackson Water Crisis:
Both the Mississippi Public Service Commission (Commission) and TVA have, in recent years, received numerous complaints from HSUD electric customers. Many of these complaints related to operational issues such as substandard reliability and poor restoration performance, while others pertained to customer service-related issues like billing. The City is also out of compliance with certain operational and financial regulatory requirements of its TVA contract.1 In October 2023, the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association (TVPPA) completed an on-site assessment of the City’s electric department. The resultant report described a lack of qualified management and engineering expertise, seriously deficient system maintenance, unsafe crew work practices, and the absence of reliability- and outage-related data and analysis.The legislature changed the law last year to allow the Public Service Commission to investigate municipal utilities. The Commission can place such a utility under receivership if warranted.
Unfortunately for Silverpoint, Mayor Gipson and her administration did not exactly cooperate with the investigation:
Although Silverpoint officially began its investigation in August 2024, we were unable to obtain any meaningful cooperation from HSUD for nearly six months. This was likely at the direction of City leadership, who ultimately retained outside counsel. Silverpoint submitted more than seventy-five comprehensive document requests, although much of the material we were ultimately provided was either non-responsive or irrelevant to our questions. Our team had no access to HSUD employees until the end of April, when we were finally permitted to conduct some brief interviews at the Commission’s Northern District office.It's no wonder Mayor Gipson tried to coverup the truth as the truth was the Holly Springs utility was falling apart and she had no clue how to fix it:
The entire distribution system is still terribly overgrown. System reliability remains seriously compromised from years of neglected asset maintenance and inadequate capital investment. Work order backlogs are growing due to chronic understaffing and service quality continues to erode. The utility’s metering and billing process is in chaos. Current management is incapable of achieving any real improvements moving forward.The report states the Gipson administration is "incapable of" fixing HSUD. Allowing the utility to limp along in its current state would be "fruitless."Silverpoint points out the Commission can place the utility into receivership. However, it does not recommend receivershipo but instead recommends the selling the system or converting it to a co-op.
Highlights of the report:
* The system has been overgrown with vegetation for years
* Holly Springs spent much less than similar utilities on investment, operations, and maintenance.
* HSUD losses are 75% higher than similar utilities. Translation: The utility lost an additional $465,000 because it lost more than industry norms.
* Holly Springs hired the Blackmon law firm to defend against the investigation. The city argued the statute was unconstitutional. Unmoved, the Commission scheduled a show cause hearing and served a set of 65 data requests on city.
The city asked for a rehearing and appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court after the Commission denied the request.
* No general manager hired after 2019 has utility experience. Recent managers include a former State Senator and two former Mayors. You can't make this up. The utility had no manager in 2023 as Mayor Gipson served in that role.
The city hired a general manager a year ago BUT he had no utility or electrical engineering experience. He was a bridge inspector.
* There is no current map of the utility system.
* HSUD has on disaster or emergency response plan. The utility could not even describe its storm preparedness and response practices.
* Crews refused to use the brand new radio system as they preferred their cellphones.
The Holly Springs Utility Department makes up 80% of the TVA's complaints. TVA sued the city for misusing utility funds.
The hearing can be watched here.
14 comments:
Was the mayor trained by Chowke?
This is yet another one-horse town that should have never been incorporated.
Hot Dog must have retired…
Errythang work until it all fall down.
Calling Sister R and the complaining crew!
Holly Springs can't keep the metering system working!
Mayor had a great idea: Lets spray the vegetation on the right of way! Maybe not the best idea, what happen when those trees over the powerline die?
People in the audience want someone else to pay to fix the problems their incompetent officials have caused!
"It's worse that third world!"
Ted Henefin gets a namedrop!
"People voted for the last mayor. They're still out there!"
This guy here at 53:05! https://www.facebook.com/people/Mississippi-Public-Service-Commission/100064823913237/
"You can't trust this system.
These guys may be great but I'm
going to tell you there's going to be another election
and the good old boys are waiting there."
The people voted for the last mayor in the last election
AND THEY'RE STLL OUT THERE!"
They just ordered that the utility be placed into receivership.
"Mayor" Gipson was a do nothing assistant city attorney who spent all day sitting next to the then City Attorney. This was under Harvey Johnson. She left when he left office, hung around Jackson for a little while, trying to find another coat tail, then went back to her hometown of Holly Springs to act "big". She's reached her highest level of incompetence but, hey, it's more years in PERS!
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