At the March 7, 2016, Public Services Committee meeting, Hamblen County Commissioner Stancil Ford introduced a resolution to request that MUS build out its Fibernet service in Hamblen County before entering into a plan to provide Fibernet outside of Hamblen County.
The resolution asking that MUS build out in Hamblen County before jumping county lines was voted down in a 6-3 vote.
Commissioners Stancil Ford, Tim Goins, and Johnny Walker voted FOR the request.
Commissioners Howard Shipley, Rick Eldridge, Randy DeBord, Hubert Davis, Joe Huntsman, and John Smyth voted NO to the request.
In what MUC Chairman George McGuffin described as the "first" of three stages in the take-over of management of the city sewer system by MUC, MUC voted on October 25 to contract with the City to handle maintenance of all sewer pump stations.
All commissioners (George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Lynn Elkins, Gene Jolley, and Max Biery) voted "yes."
The resolution that was passed by MUC states that the "City and MUC have determined" it mutually beneficial that the first step in the systematic transfer of the operation of the sewer system to MUC is the maintenance of the pump stations.
The resolution says that MUC and the City "developed" the attached agreement that provides for MUC to assume maintenance of wastewater pump stations beginning January 1, 2013.
McGuffin says that we have all talked about this several times.
According to MUC General Manager Jody Wigington, maintenance of the pump stations by MUC will be put before council at a future meeting.
[The City currently contracts with Veolia Water to manage the wastewater/sewer system. A new contract with Veolia or changes to their current contract will have to be made to accommodate the transfer of pump station maintenance to MUC.]
Congressman Phil Roe visited with the Morristown Utilities Commission prior to its October meeting yesterday. After a presentation by MUC on technology, Roe took questions.
Above, Roe responds to a question from Lynn Elkins on the impact of Obamacare on businesses. Roe noted that businesses that currently provide health insurance will "do the math" and eventually eliminate costly health insurance and pay the $2,000/per employee fine.
Next, Roe gave an example of the negative impact of Obamacare on businesses that do not provide health insurance.
Below, Congressman Roe (left) poses for a picture with MUC Commissioners (l-r) Lynn Elkins, Harold Nichols, Gene Jolley, Max Biery, George McGuffin, and MUC Gen. Mgr. Jody Wigington.
MUC (Morristown Utility Commission) named three people this morning to its twentieth list of nominees for the Board seat currently held by George McGuffin.
McGuffin, who has served on MUC for over 34 years, chaired the meeting at which he was dutifully nominated by his fellow MUC Commissioners along with two good people (Peter Cantwell and Jay Smith) who are window-dressing and throw-away nominees whose names are used to fill out the required slate of three.
McGuffin desperately wants to be re-appointed. He has been mightily frustrated and inconvenienced by having to go to the state legislature and get state law changed just to ensure that McGuffin finally gets back on the MUC Board. The McGuffin Law went into effect on May 1, 2012. It overturns the local voter-approved MUC appointment process and puts the McGuffin Law appointment process in place .
For McGuffin, trampling on the little people and wiping out the 2001 referendum votes of 3,202 people has been a distraction and a bother, but the power is obviously worth it.
Harold Nichols is the McGuffin sidekick and business partner and MUC Commissioner who made the nominations this morning. Nichols does a great job of keeping a straight face as he brags about the newest nominee Jay Smith and then says of Council: "We'll see what they do."
Earth-to-Harold. The LeBel Five (Paul LeBel, Bob Garrett, Kay Senter, Claude Jinks, and Chris Bivens) will do just what McGuffin wants them to do and just what you and the other MUC Commissioners (Max Biery, Lynn Elkins, and Gene Jolley) want them to do.
They'll reject the Mayor's nomination of anyone other than George McGuffin--just like they have done WITH YOUR BLESSING to the nineteen other nominees not named McGuffin!
And then, bless your little heart, the McGuffin Law will let MUC's next candidates go straight to the City Council. The LeBel Five will reappoint McGuffin, and all will be right in little Morristown.
For McGuffin and Company, those twenty rejectees are just throw-away nominees and stepping stones for McGuffin to walk on to get what HE wants---another five-year term.
George McGuffin, 34+ year member of the Morristown Utilities Commission (MUC), is tickled to death that the McGuffin Law passed its last step and received final approval by FIVE councilmembers on May 1.
The McGuffin Law changes the appointment process for MUC Board members from what 3,202 voters approved as part of the 2001 MUC Referendum Question to an appointment process that McGuffin, local State Rep. Don Miller, local State Sen. Steve Southerland, and five councilmembers want in 2012--WITHOUT A REFERENDUM.
MUC has submitted EIGHTEEN lists of three MUC-approved candidates to Mayor Thomas for the past 9-10 months. Mayor Thomas has submitted one of those MUC-approved candidates to the City Council for approval or rejection. All EIGHTEEN have been rejected. Why? Their last name is not McGuffin.
EIGHTEEN people have been rejected by City Council to keep anyone else from taking the "McGuffin seat" on MUC. The MUC-appointment process that was approved by the people in the 2001 MUC Referendum has been changed for McGuffin. State Law has been changed for McGuffin.
In the video above, McGuffin presides over Thursday's (May 10th) special meeting of the MUC Board at which time MUC selected its NINETEENTH list of three candidates to submit to Morristown Mayor Thomas.
Harold Nichols, a current and/or former business partner of McGuffin, nominates Terry Brimer, Peter Cantwell, and for the NINETEENTH time, drum-roll please, George McGuffin.
McGuffin starts the meeting by reading about how the voters made changes to the MUC Private Act IN A REFERENDUM in 2001. Then MUC Manager Jody Wigington steers him to the section about how the FIVE councilmembers amended and overturned the 2001 voter-approved appointment process on May 1, 2012.
[The FIVE councilmembers who have been party to rejecting EIGHTEEN people and who have snubbed the PEOPLE and changed state law in order to force the appointment of the ONE and ONLY PERSON they want (McGuffin) are Paul LeBel, Kay Senter, Bob Garrett, Claude Jinks, and Chris Bivens.]
Finally McGuffin adds that Mayor Thomas' nomination of Randy Harville, who was on the EIGHTEENTH MUC LIST, was rejected by Council (5-2) on May 1 under the new McGuffin Law and that MUC will send another list to the Mayor.
McGuffin then explains that the newly-ratified McGuffin Law provides that MUC has to "send the Mayor three names today and if he follows suit (and dares to refuse to appoint Me/McGuffin)...as he has done for eighteen times, then we'll have one other time that we have to send names to him and then it will go directly to city council."
Gene Jolley, a current and/or former McGuffin business partner, says "Just one more time after this one?"
McGuffin says "That's the way I understand it."
General Manager Jody Wigington then makes an interesting comment about City Council having the right to make the decision after the third rejection of the Mayor's nominee. "I guess they could choose to do it that day or not."
Probably "not" that day. The McGuffin Law says that MUC has to provide a full list of three candidates to the Council after receiving notice that a nominee from the third list submitted to the Mayor did not receive a majority vote.
After the five Councilmembers get through rejecting every person in Morristown who isn't George McGuffin (well, twenty of them), MUC will have to announce a meeting at which a full list of three candidates will be named to submit directly to the Council. That list, like the twenty before it, will include George McGuffin.
Then LeBel, Garrett, Senter, Jinks, and Bivens with the blessing of and thanks from the irreplaceable George McGuffin can officially put McGuffin back on the MUC Board.
After overriding a referendum (without a new referendum), after rejecting TWENTY PEOPLE (17 under the old appointment process and 3 under the McGuffin Law) and after changing state law, a key part of the Morristown power structure will remain in place.
Yesterday, the MUC Board (George McGuffin, Harold Nichols, Gene Jolley, Max Biery, and Lynn Elkins) met at 8 AM.
They selected a list of three candidates for the MUC seat currently held by longtime (34 year) MUC member George McGuffin.
The three candidates on this EIGHTEENTH list of candidates are: George McGuffin (18th time), Peter Cantwell, and Randy Harville.
Harville is the local manager of Holston Gases.
After Max Biery makes the nominations, he asks MUC Gen. Mgr. Jody Wigington if he (Wigington) knows Harville. Wigington laughs and says, "Yes, he's a competitor."
The reason that the MUC Board is submitting its18th list is because there are five councilmembers (LeBel, Garrett, Senter, Jinks, and Bivens) who think that George McGuffin is the ONLY person in Morristown who can serve in this position.
These five think that NO ONE in Morristown--not any of the previous 17 MUC candidates that have been rejected thus far and NO ONE ELSE that might be nominated by MUC in the future--is capable and qualified to serve on the MUC Board.
At the May 1 council meeting, these five will get to approve and officially enact the "McGuffin Law." The McGuffin Law was proposed LeBel and Associates back in November 2011 and sponsored in the state legislature in 2012 by two local legislators: State Sen. Steve Southerland and State Rep. Don Miller.
The McGuffin Law changes the current appointment process--that was put in place by the voters as part of the 2001 MUC Referendum. After the five enact the McGuffin Law, it will let them officially put McGuffin back on the MUC Board a few weeks or months down the road.
Of course, McGuffin never really left the MUC Board. He has remained on the Board as a "holdover" from the date his term expired on July 31, 2011.
Why is a Board appointment so important that state law has to be changed to ensure that McGuffin stays in place?
Certain positions (MUC Board) and certain people (McGuffin) are key to control and power in Morristown.
The MUC Board and McGuffin are two important pieces of the appointed/unelected local power (pun-intended) structure.
To keep those pieces in place, the "McGuffin Law" was sponsored and pushed forward in the state legislature by our local State Sen. Steve Southerland and local State Rep. Don Miller. It was signed by Governor Haslam and now comes back to the "LeBel Five" for final approval.
FYI: Sen. Southerland sponsored the McGuffin Law in the State Senate but refused to vote on it! Rep. Miller was asked by local citizens and later by state legislators to allow a referendum for approval of the McGuffin Law. He refused.
These five councilmembers (LeBel, Garrett, Senter, Jinks, and Bivens) and these legislators (Sen. Southerland and Rep. Miller) asked for your vote when they ran for office, but they refused to write the McGuffin Law or to make changes to the McGuffin Law to allow the people to vote on approval or disapproval in a referendum.
Why are these seven afraid of letting the people whom they serve "vote"?
Why were the people "good enough" to elect these people and "good enough" to put the current MUC appointment process in place as part of the 2001 MUC referendum question, but the people are not "good enough" in 2012 to vote in a referendum on whether to change that appointment process by voting to approve or disapprove the McGuffin Law?
When politicians act in an unusual way---and refusing to allow their constituents to vote IS unusual---it typically goes back to power and fear of losing control. If you are unsure about the result of a referendum or fear that you can't totally control a referendum, then you just do what you want to do without a referendum. And you try to cover yourself by blaming others for the problem!
When crazy things are happening and politicians refuse to let the people they serve vote, follow the money/power trail.
The LeBel Five will not compromise. David Wild, Mayor Thomas' eleventh nomination to the Morristown Utilities Commission Board of Commissioners, went down in flames yesterday. [Click on video]
Without discussion, the LeBel Five (Paul LeBel, Kay Senter, Bob Garrett, Chris Bivens, and Claude Jinks) set the fire and voted to reject Wild's appointment to MUC.
Mayor Danny Thomas and Councilman Gene Brooks supported Wild.
Wild came to the council meeting with MUC manager Jody Wigington to see his rejection. Pictured above are Jody Wigington in the suit and tie and David Wild in the blue sweater. "News"paper reporter Bob Moore is pictured in the background.
Wild knew his nomination would be rejected and really didn't care. Wigington knew and wanted Wild to be rejected because Wigington supports the "overall game plan" of the LeBel Five.
What is the game plan? An end-run around the votes of the 3,202 people who set up the current appointment process as part of the 2001 MUC REFERENDUM.
Goerge McGuffin, who considers it vitally important that he keep the MUC seat that he has had for 34 years already, is the coach. LeBel is the quarterback. Senter, Garrett, Bivens, and Jinks are the offensive line. The coach and quarterback have called for an end-run around the voice of the people.
The goal is to keep Coach McGuff in charge of MUC and that will be done by overturning the votes of the 3,202 people who set up the current appointment process as part of changes approved in the 2001 MUC REFERENDUM. The votes of 3,202 people are viewed as a necessary casualty in this struggle to hold on to power.
This diagram of the end-run:
1. The LeBel Five ask the Tennessee General Assembly to let the LeBel Five change the MUC Private Act and overturn the current appointment process that was set up by the people in the 2001 MUC REFERENDUM. (DONE)
2. The LeBel Five get Rep. Don Miller and Sen. Steve Southerland to sponsor the changes to the MUC Private Act in the General Assembly, allowing the LeBel Five to change and overturn the appointment process that was set up by the people in the 2001 MUC REFERENDUM. (DONE)
3. The LeBel Five get the Tennessee General Assembly to go along, thus helping and allowing the LeBel Five to change and overturn the votes of the 3,202 voters who supported changes to MUC, including the current appointment process, in the 2001 MUC REFERENDUM. (IN PROGRESS)
If they can get the General Assembly to go along and allow the FIVE to overturn the REFERENDUM, the LeBel Five can then quickly appoint their one and only acceptable person--Coach George McGuffin--to MUC for another 5-year term.
While the goal is to keep McGuffin on MUC, the bigger issue is the raw power grab that is exhibited by overturning a REFERENDUM. What's next? What other Referenda are they willing to overturn when they suddenly decide that they don't agree with what the people voted FOR?
If personalities and politics and raw power are set aside, how can anyone stand up and say that it is moral and right and just for five people to overturn the results of a REFERENDUM just because THESE FIVE suddenly decide in 2011/2012 that they (and their Coach) don't like the MUC appointment process that was approved by 72% of the voters in the 2001 MUC REFERENDUM?
The Morristown Utilities Commission Board, minus Chairman George McGuffin, met this morning.
In a brief meeting, the MUC Board voted to send the names of Jerry Isaacs, Jack Kennerly, and George McGuffin to Mayor Danny Thomas for his selection of one name to submit to the council for approval or disapproval.
Thus far, the City Council has rejected all seven of the Mayor's nominees: Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, Carroll Fowler, Wally Long, John Allen, Mike Davidson, and Bruce Sluder.
Vice Chairman Harold Nichols presided yesterday and commented at one point that he was about to run out of names.
MUC Manager Jody Wigington read off the long list of rejectees, and no one even bothered to ask why councilmembers were rejecting local CPAs, engineers, plant managers, and sucessful businessmen.
No one had to ask. The reason for the rejections is all too clear. The only person is the city of Morristown who is acceptable to Council's Lebel Five (Paul LeBel, Kay Senter, Bob Garrett, Claude Jinks, and Chris Bivens) is George McGuffin.
Anyone else, no matter who it is, no matter how accomplished he or she is, is dead in the water.
Pictured (l-r): MUC Members Lynn Elkins; Max Biery; Gene Jolley; Harold Nichols; MUC General Manager Jody Wigington; MUC Asst. General Manager/CFO Clark Rucker; Tribune Reporter.
State Senator Steve Southerland recently requested an opinion from State Attorney General Robert Cooper as to the status of George McGuffin on the Morristown Utility Board of Commissioners.
Cooper's opinion is that McGuffin, who has served on the Board for over 34 years and whose most recent five-year term has already expired, remains on the Board, acting as a "holdover," until a successor is approved by the Morristown City Council.
Thus far three individuals have been nominated by the Mayor to succeed McGuffin. A core group of councilmembers who think George McGuffin (pictured below) is the ONLY person who can serve in this position has blocked all three of the Mayor's nominees from serving on the Utility Board.
To keep anyone from taking "the McGuffin seat," councilmembers did not approve Mike Minnich and voted to disapprove Glenn Thompson and Carroll Fowler as noted here, here, and here.
At this point, most of the "only George" councilmembers have indicated that they will continue to block the appointment of anyone except McGuffin to the Morristown Utility Commission until January 2012 when the state legislature goes back into session.
In January 2012, they would ask State Sen. Steve Southerland and Rep. Don Miller to change the Private Act governing the MUC so that they can "officially" put George back in instead of blocking the nomination of anyone and everyone else.
George is not the manager of the utility. Jody Wigington is.
Why are certain councilmembers, led by King Paul LeBel along with Prince Bob Garrett and Princess Kay Senter, going berserk and crying that the "sky is falling" at the thought of someone other than McGuffin serving as a utility commissioner?
Is George McGuffin, one of five Utility Commissioners, indispensable or just powerful and power-hungry?
Is the management and staff of the Morristown Utility System--the people who run the place--so weak that George McGuffin must be on the Board in order to keep the utility going? No.
What happens when McGuffin, at some point, is unable to serve or resigns? Does the utility collapse? No.
Why won't George step aside, let someone else serve, and contribute to the community outside of this particular Board? Does McGuffin think he is indispensable?
What is the real reason that McGuffin is so desperate to hang on to this position?
Follow the money/power trail...Wheels within wheels.
The video (below) tells the tale. Yesterday, the "only George (McGuffin)" group on City Council rejected Mayor Thomas's nomination of Carroll Fowler to the MUS Board of Commissioners.
Paul LeBel made the motion to reject Fowler. Sidekick Bob Garrett, former MUS employee, seconded the motion.
Voting"Yes" on the Motion To Reject Fowler: Paul LeBel, Claude Jinks, Chris Bivens, and Kay Senter.
Voting "No" on the Motion To Reject Fowler: Bob Garrett and Mayor Danny Thomas. [When the vote flashed on the screen, it was obvious that Garrett was confused when he voted "No." Garrett had seconded LeBel's motion to reject Fowler and meant to vote "Yes" with LeBel in favor of rejecting Fowler.]
Abstaining: Gene Brooks.
This is the third MUS Commissioner nominee that the Council has rejected.
The MUS Board sends the names of three qualified individuals to the Mayor. The Mayor then selects and nominates one of those individuals to the full Council for approval. With yesterday's vote, the City Council has now rejected three different Mayoral nominees (Mike Minnich, Glenn Thompson, and Carroll Fowler) on three different occasions. Click here and here.
And what's wrong with Minnich, Thompson, and Fowler? They are not George McGuffin!
SIDENOTE: The McGuffin flash mob at yesterday's meeting was smaller than the contingents that showed up at the two previous meetings where votes were taken. George McGuffin was there yesterday. MUS General Manager Jody Wigington was there. John Stroud was there. David Wild was there sitting near County Commissioner Doe Jarvis. Doe was treasurer of fellow County Commissioner Paul LeBel's campaign for City Council, is LeBel's sidekick on county commission, and has begun attending city council meetings to watch and cheer his special friend on.
NEXT: The MUS Board of Commissioners will meet again and send the Mayor another set of three names of individuals that the Board deems to be qualified to serve on the MUS Board.
Married. Three grown children. Taught school 11 years. Entered law school in 2001. Graduated and passed the bar in 2004. Licensed attorney in Tennessee. Hamblen County Commissioner (2002-2006). Focused on accountability, ethics, and openness in government at all levels.
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