by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“The hydrant flushing and maintenance contract seems like an awkward arrangement given that the University can hire someone to work on our stuff. I’m not opposed to having the University involved, but we should employ the contractor,” insisted Sewanee Utility District Board of Commissioners President Charlie Smith at the Aug. 18 commissioners’ meeting. “There is liability to us,” Smith stressed. His comment prompted a long discussion about the rationale for the arrangement and the board’s insistence on approving the contract before the hydrant flushing began.

Asked by Commissioner Donnie McBee why the University was involved, SUD manager Ben Beavers explained, “The hydrants need to be tested in a specific way, beyond what we are required to do by the state, for the University fire department to get fewer points on their inspection for their ISO.” A lower ISO score means lower homeowners’ insurance premiums. But the flushing performed in conjunction with the testing costs SUD water and if performed by SUD would equal hiring an extra half an employee per year. “The hydrants belong to us, and we let the fire department use them as a community service,” Beavers noted. For SUD, the hydrants serve as flushing points for the water lines.

“Some rural utilities lock their hydrants to prevent fire department use,” Smith observed.

By the agreed upon arrangement with the University, SUD and the University will split the cost of the contract for hydrant flushing, with SUD paying 20 percent and the University paying 80 percent. Beavers anticipated SUD’s cost as $1,500-$2,000, plus the cost of the water used in the flushing.

“If the University is going to present themselves as a municipality and collect a municipal fee for the fire department, they need to make sure the fire department has what they need. The fire chief has told them, this is something they need, so the University needs to provide that,” Beavers speculated, elaborating on the rationale for the University wanting the flushing done.

“When will we be able to see the contract?” Smith asked.

“They need to make that available to us to be approved,” McBee argued.

Smith agreed. “We need to as a board say we’re going to allow you access to this system, and we need to be named as additional insured.”

“I’ll have the contract at the next meeting,” Beavers said. “There is some benefit to us in having the hydrants flushed,” he acknowledged. SUD will determine when and where the flushing occurs to avoid draining SUD’s water tanks by increasing demand at the same place at the same time.

In other business, Beavers reported all American Rescue Plan Act grant projects would be completed by the end of September as required.

SUD reallocated unused funds from the Lead Service Line Inventory project to the sewer rehabilitation project. The additional funds paid for replacing several old concrete manholes not initially slated for rehabilitation, as well as replacing sections of sewer lines clogged with roots. With the additional funds, the sewer project came in $40,000 under budget, but Beavers said, given the Sept. 30 deadline for closing out projects, there was not time to use the remaining funds for additional sewer rehab work.

At the July meeting, the board approved retaining CPA John Poole to perform its audit, after learning the auditor under contract would not be able to complete the audit by the due date. Beavers said Poole would present the audit at the September meeting and will provide the board with review copies beforehand.

The audit by Poole showed a positive net change of position, better than SUD budgeted for. Overall, the figures were only slightly different from 2024. Looking ahead, with 3 percent inflation projected, Beavers nonetheless hopes to keep the rate increase low, perhaps at just one-half a percent. “We made almost $400,000 last year. That’s not a lot per customer, $3 or $4 a year, but it would be good to give our customers a little break.”

The only negative audit finding was inadequate separation of duties for finances. Several years ago, SUD received this finding and on the auditor’s advice hired an outside bookkeeper to provide financial oversight. This met with the auditor’s approval, and SUD was not cited again for inadequate separation of duties until this year. New auditor Poole held the outside bookkeeper did not provide sufficient oversight, and SUD would need to hire an additional six people to satisfy the separation of duties requirement.