Friday, August 15, 2014

August 15, 2014 Hopefully, MUS Now Understands the Qualifications for MUS Board Membership

The Morristown Utilities Systems (MUS) Board held a special called meeting yesterday (see post below) and nominated Gene Jolley, Rod Isaacs, and Jay Smith for the Board seat currently held by Gene Jolley.


Four members were present (McGuffin, Jolley, Nichols, and Dickerson). Jolley abstained from the vote, and Lynn Elkins was absent.


These names will be sent to Mayor Danny Thomas who will submit one of the names to the full city council for approval or rejection.


The MUS Gang That Can't Shoot Straight thinks it finally has a three-person slate where all three are qualified to serve.


The next hurdle for any nominee is city council which has the ultimate decision on approval or disapproval. 


In a council meeting weeks ago, Councilman Paul LeBel stated that Glenn Thompson was council's choice. LeBel then asked for a "show of hands" of those in favor of Thompson. Six hands went up--LeBel, Senter, Bivens, Alvis, Garrett, and Chesney. 


The Council Gang of Six asked City Administrator Tony Cox to send a letter to the MUS Gang of Five letting MUS know of council's preference. Apparently, the Gang of Five didn't get the memo from the Gang of Six or decided to ignore it.


That leads us to another twist to the MUS saga. This is MUS' third submittal of three qualified names to the Mayor. The 2012 (George) McGuffin Law provides that if Council rejects the Mayor's third nominee, then MUS and the Mayor are out of the picture, and Council can make its own nominations.

So, if the Gang of Six really wants Glenn Thompson, the Gang just has to reject the nominee that the Mayor selects, and then the Gang can nominate and appoint Thompson.


[Scroll down for yesterday's post on how the self-nominating MUS Board twice nominated unqualified persons for the Board and had to back up and revise its slate of candidates.]

1 comment:

Eric H said...

What a circus. I figure (after the McGuffin debacle) they must be either incompetent or deliberately thinning the herd of three (and thereby the eligible rounds of nominees for selection) by submitting ineligible nominees.

The former would suggest maybe they don't really know enough about their nominees if they don't know what other city positions they currently hold.

The latter requires more prowess. I guess I'll stick to Occam's Razor and go with "they don't know what they are doing".