Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah. My sister was told we from Angus.

I don't know many unless it's a Black Angus operation. They're all good.

My personal opinion, black. I mean at least the last 25 step he bought this farm. We had cows all my way through it.

When I was graduated high school, we bought this farm and I wanted to do one summer on the farm. I knew it was really cool. So You look tired.

[clears throat]

She went back to this.

I don't think I meant to skip. [laughter] cuz you're a board member. You should Yeah. Yeah.

Right. And which kind are they? Because you have you have a lot of

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How often does 3 hours versus 6 hours is a lot.

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and I think it'll last the out of my Hello. [clears throat] Is that D? Did you get the real

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late. $50,000 worth. [laughter] Yeah. Good. Yeah,

if we don't have But we were getting it and we are getting and it's on the roof, but I She said she knew it. [laughter] She didn't know what she was getting into.

But the dance was great. Don't you think she can cut She was You got to sell tickets to that. What's the one that's

I think we could have sold. I think

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Yeah. Good. Yeah. Yeah,

it's good. Oh yeah.

He's out. Very good. Well, they gave us about as good as I can.

I'm here for you.

I love you. Even when you run protocol. How's my pretting No, no, no. We can

He's trying to talk to me. I'm texting. Friday 8:00 I'm not trying to find

really quickly. I just like to have You know, probably She says, "I need you all. I won't let you do it. I just

[laughter]

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not at all. Not at all. in your hair like a hand. [laughter] Yeah. [clears throat] Yeah. I can't remember. I joined when I was 27.

Yes, I don't I don't know how how Well, actually, how are you? We got

Hey, I'm right here. [laughter] Yes.

So anyway, Yes. part of the problem because we uh got my knee Oh, that was

I was realizing water flow What else? Water. Orlando. [laughter] Good to see you. [laughter] owner. I'm not just doing

you know when we had over that 25 years they proposed that club I'm not sure because we lost about William started out YouTube. That must have been

I bet it was Anyway,

and we had to spend some more. Well, let me know. that would be horrible.

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[laughter] to my son.

I don't know. We're going to do this. [laughter]

That's what we're working on. You still got you still got water treatment. like they had Okay. interview. No, no. Thank you.

Don't you think? I bet you

Randy. Oh man. That's good. I call

[laughter]

I like it. Did you know there How are you? I know. I think I There we go. And there's some

breakfast. Your dad I have to be careful. [laughter] But I haven't.

I just went through that. You know all Yes. back and forth.

Well, we enjoy I'll show you. He's going to stay. Okay.

Get a mixture. here. Yeah.

And it won't be 6 ft. I don't know that my own You know that No, she's not [laughter] Well, I do too.

I did. I've been since we moved to the 70s. they come to our church when we signed up when we first moved to 78 or 79 and I didn't know the the girl that does our road. She's the secretary.

All right. Well, good evening everyone and welcome to the Columbia City Hall City Council Chambers. Happy new year to everyone. Uh we're glad to see such a large crowd this evening. We want to say welcome to all of you and again I say happy new year uh to all of you who are here this evening. Um we are here tonight for a city council work session uh or study session as you know that we call it. This is a first of two meetings this week. Uh tonight's study session will provide us an opportunity in somewhat of a more informal capacity to go through the agenda and for council members to ask questions as necessary. Obviously, there will also be a public comment period as well for this meeting. Uh tonight's meeting actually is making a little bit of history in that we are actually live streaming uh tonight's meeting as well. Uh as many in this room know uh about seven years ago we started live streaming our city council meetings which are our formal voting meetings which occur on uh the second Thursday of the month which happens to be this coming Thursday. Uh but we've not traditionally live streamed study session meetings. However, tonight we are doing that. So I'd say welcome also to all of you who are joining us on the live stream even live as we speak or who may be tuning in uh to watch this uh meeting later. I do want to say we do have a large crowd this evening. Um and I want to just make a couple of comments relative to that. First of all, relative to decorum. Um we know that uh many folks are here tonight to uh to provide comment and we do have the comment sheet on uh the Columbia Power and Water rate increase and we welcome those comments and we will be here until the last person who has signed up to speak has the opportunity to have their three minutes and we again welcome you for being here. Uh I do want to encourage all of you to be mindful that we are in a professional setting and in a public meeting and we are not in uh a place of a social media chat room or otherwise.

We are in a formal setting uh and we are going to conduct ourselves uh in that professional manner and I can promise you that that respect will be provided uh by all of us on this city council and we would just request the same from each and every one of you. I mentioned tonight that we're live stream. This happens to also be the third of what will be five opportunities to speak publicly on this matter um relative to the water rate. As you know, this matter was on the December agenda council meeting uh which included a study session and a formal vote meeting. Tonight provides the third opportunity to speak on this matter. uh there will be a public hearing uh prior to the Thursday council meeting which will be the fourth opportunity to speak on this matter and then the fifth opportunity will come uh at the actual council meeting itself. Um so with that we will go into our uh study session agenda which begins with item 6.1 approve the retirement benefits for Jeremy Alip police chief police department and presentation of retirement plaque by Mayor Moulder. Uh Mr. Massie, do you want to speak to uh the agenda change in that regard?

Yes. Uh mayor, just a minor change from in the past. We want to go ahead and recognize and honor Chief Alip at the beginning of the meeting on Thursday. So, uh we moved the public hearings to immediately after that. So, this would provide an opportunity for the chief and his family to be here and then depart prior to the uh public hearing. Yes, sir. Uh and then is that also when Chief Haywood will be ceremonially sworn in as well? No, sir. do decide to do that as a separate occasion. Okay. So, the 6.1 will just be the retirement for chief also. Okay. And that'll begin also at 5:30 is regular, right? That is right. Okay.

All right. Item 6.2, approve the minutes of the December 11, 2025 city council meeting. All right. And then we will go to the consent agenda, which begins with 7.1. Approved dispersements for the month of November 2025 in the amount of $4,74,985.91. Item 7.2 acknowledge receipt of form CTO253 report on debt obligation for water system revenue anticipation note series 2023 extension and then also uh item 7.3 acknowledge receipt of form C20253 report on debt obligation for water system revenue anticipation note series 2025. I think Mr. Jablonsky has something on this. Mr. Massie.

Yes. Uh mayor I'd like Mr. Jlansky if he could explain these two agenda items for council.

All right then. Thank you, mayor and members of council. Uh 7.2 and 7.3 are both related to debt that was approved for projects that were reviewed and approved by this council at the November meeting. Anytime that the city issues debt for whether it's for the city or for Columbia Power and Water Systems, the comproller requires us to disclose this form as an information only um piece of disclosure uh that includes key pieces of information um like the rate and the term. Uh so those each of these 7.2 relates to the 2023 series and 7.3 relates to the 2025 series approved in November. All right. Any questions on that from Mr. Jabonssky? All right. Hearing none. Item 7.4. Approve and authorize the mayor to execute the end user license agreement between the city of Columbia and local government corporation. Item 7.5 acceptance. I'm sorry. Uh yes, 7.5 acceptance of the railroad and utility ad valorum assessments for the tax year 2025. Item 7.6 Six. Approve and authorize the mayor to execute a 5-year lease agreement between Providential Broadcasting LLC and the city of Columbia allowing the installation and operation of equipment to receive and transmit signals on the tower located at 501 Reservoir Hill Road. Item 7.7, approve purchase from Wilson County Motors in the amount of $85,77544 a 2026 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 crew cab diesel pickup using statewide contract. Item 7.8, approve reimbursement in the amount of $427,500 to SDH Nashville LLC for partial shy release for Armstrong Meadows, section 4. And the last item under the consent

agenda, item 7.9, approve and authorize the mayor to sign change order number two between the city of Columbia and Water Management Services LLC for materials installed to connect to the existing force main elevation for the Carter Creek force main relocation project in the amount of $47,648. Mr. Massie. Yes. I'd like to ask Donnie Barers if you could come in and explain this change order for council, please.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Uh this is the uh air relief valve project on the forest main for the Carter Creek Pike uh pump station at the intersection of Highway 7 and Industrial Park Road. Uh if you remember, we had moved that uh or excuse me, that force main was further off the road than our maps had shown. So when we dug to find it, we had to add an extension to the anticipated uh linear feet uh force main that we moved. So this is the last change order. This will complete the project and uh it will cover the uh the extra uh parts and material to get that job completed.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Boschers. Good to see you. Happy New Year. Any questions for Mr. Boschers? All right. Thank you. Thank you.

There being no items under section 8 administration, we will go to section 9, resolutions. Item 9.1, resolution number 2601, a resolution accepting ownership and maintenance of the traffic signal as well as roadway improvements at Nashville Highway and Honey Farm Way in the city of Columbia. Item 9.2, resolution 2602, tax corrections. Item 9.3, resolution number 2603, a resolution to accept the streets and drainage improvements serving Morgan Meadows subdivision phase 3 for ownership and maintenance. And item 9.4, resolution number 2604, a resolution to accept the ownership and maintenance of sewer improvements serving Seven Brew. All right, that takes us to section 10, ordinances. First up, item 10.1, second consideration on ordinance number 4563, an ordinance to amend ordinance number 4,400, the same being the zoning ordinance of the city of Columbia by adopting the waters edge at Taylor Landing preliminary pud master plan for tax map 90, partial 712 located off of River Road and Taylor Bend. This is ward three. And uh Mr. Vice Mayor, um

Mayor, I will be abstaining on this issue. All right. I believe that there may be someone that has signed up to speak on this item 10.1. Uh Mr. Gamble is here and available for questions if there are any. And then it looks like a Dustin KD waters edge. Mr. KD, does that mean you want to speak on this topic? Item 10.1. All right, Mr. KD. you'll come forward and state your name, please, for the record. The floor will be yours for three minutes.

It's uh Dustin KD, and I'm a resident of the county. Uh about 30 minutes ago, all of the city council members as well as the city attorney received our notice letter. It's the second notice letter that we have provided you as far as uh identifying the deficiencies procedurally and legally speaking related to the W's Edge development. And I'll be very quick on this as far as this aspect of it and and we'll talk again on this Thursday night, but what the council is attempting to do is not procedurally proper. You have made a motion to reconsider. If you look at Robert's rules of order of parliamentary procedure, a motion for reconsideration can only be made during that same meeting. What actually happened here is the W's Edge vote failed in October. Before the November meeting, Mr. Massie sent an email out that went to all the city council meetings directing the procedure to be taken to try to bring that matter back uh before this council so that they could vote on it again. And that's exactly what happened. And they did vote on it again in in December and miraculously they passed it. Uh the problem with that is that's a violation of the open meetings act in in my professional opinion. Uh we have uh correspondence that goes out to all the city council members not just speaking in generalities but in speaking to the actual procedure to be used as far as the reconsideration. Yes, the city can bring back before that one-year period. They can invite that developer to reapply, but they've got to go back to the start of that line. They've got to go back to the planning commission. There is no procedure under the law or the city's charter that would allow them to do the action that has been taken by the city, which is to avoid that process, have a vote that failed, and then turn around and just take a revote. The last thing that I will mention is you will receive notice

tomorrow that I'm going to be representing a city employee. It's an administrative assistant. It is a widow who moved here several years ago to be closer to her grandchildren. She spoke every time the W's edge issue came up. She was called in by HR, told that complaints were made and that the mayor and the city manager had relayed those and actually they gave her a copy out of the employee handbook with a section highlight highlighted that indicated that she had engaged in disgraceful conduct when she spoke at the October meeting. Now, if someone had engaged in disgraceful conduct, I feel like we all would have heard that at the top of this, the discipline suggested would be termination. This is an employee that has a perfect history as far as working with the city. There is some reason that there is desperation related to this W's edge, and I have a feeling the other issue I'll talk about later has a lot to do with it. The city has never advised the public that there was a planned path for the water pipeline, but now we know it will go right across the property where W's edge was. Thank you.

I [laughter] believe that is all that I had that signed up for item 10.1. I just want to make sure that I'm not missing anyone that has signed up for item 10.1. Um, all right. That was item 10.1. Any member of council have any questions for staff or anyone on item 10.1? I've not seen the correspondence that was referenced or any other potential litigation items. So, I'm not going to really ask the city attorney put them on the spot on that right now. Um, but I guess I will see that later and may have some questions on that for Thursday. Just a second. I hadn't seen the letter.

All right. [cough] All right. Item 10.2, second, consideration of ordinance number 4567, an ordinance to amend title three of the Columbia Municipal Code regarding municipal courts. Item 10.3, second consideration of ordinance number 4576, an ordinance to amend title 18, chapter 3 of the Columbia Municipal Code by amending 18310 to increase the water impact fee upon new water customers to serve the demand for water system capital facilities and public improvements. And um that's the impact fee item. And then item 10.4 Four is the second consideration of ordinance 4577 ordinance amending title 18 chapter 3 section 18303 the municipal code of the city of Columbia by replacing in its entirety present schedules A and B and adopting and approving the following schedules A and B. So these are the two um water related items. I do want to point out uh this evening that we are pleased to have some officials from the uh Tennessee Department of Econ uh environment and conservation tk uh as it's referred to that are here this evening uh at the city of Columbia's invitation. Uh we have April Grio the director of the division of water resources and she is accompanied uh by the division um deputy director uh Paula Mitchell and also Miss Jones the manager at the state revolving fund program. Uh, Miss Krepo, welcome to city hall. Uh, thank you for being here um at the invitation of the city and uh we just wanted to provide you an opportunity on behalf of Tekk to provide any comments you may have relative to these two items and the project uh that they will be funding.

Thank you. Hi, I'm April Grio. I'm the director of the statewide TK water program. At TDC, we regulate 770 drinking water systems uh like CPWS, Murray County Water, Spring Hill, and Mount Pleasant and 800 Wastewater systems like um the City of Columbia Wastewater Treatment Plant. I live here in unincorporated Murray County in District 9 and I also serve as Governor Lee's representative on the Duck River Development Agency board. Joining me today are my TEK colleagues. Paula Mitchell, the deputy director for water, who also serves as Tedex representative on the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation or TBORE. Vina Jones is the manager of the state revolving loan fund program. And Vina and Paula together have administered over $1.3 billion in American Rescue Plan water and wastewater infrastructure funds. Both Paula and Vina are much more knowledgeable about Tex's loan commitment to Columbia Power and Water. What I do know is that Tekk rules drive water planning and that state rule requires water systems to plan for an expansion when they reach 80% of design capacity. Our records at Tekk indicate that Columbia Power and Water is currently at 93% capacity. So, they are required to plan for such an expansion. Tak regulates this project in four different ways. through our permitting programs such as the water withdrawal intake permit on the Duck River, through engineering approvals for the infrastructure such as the transmission main and the additional treatment at the existing water treatment plant, through utilizing state revolving loan dollars that are available and through our safe drinking water regulations for water quality. I've personally been attending meetings on this uh topic related to the new downstream intake for Columbia Power and Water Systems since about 2018. And Tekk rules regarding water withdrawals reg require excuse me require a robust alternatives analysis that evaluates all of the water supply alternatives and selects the one with

the least adverse impact on the water resource such as the Duck River. Tekk agreed through our permitting process that the new downstream intake was the preferred alternative for water supply. We put the water withdrawal permit on public notice and held a public hearing here in Colombia in the fall of 2023. We received comments for 60 days on this permit and then we issued the permit for the new downstream intake in 2024. Tex we received comments for 60 days. Tex settled an appeal with environmental groups by adding provisions for water loss and drought management and then issued a new permit with these additions in 2025. State and federal governments have permitted this downstream intake, provided lowinterest loans with very favorable terms supporting the long-term plan and TC performed a robust financial sufficiency analysis for the SRF loan. For the past six years, Tekk has worked with each water system with an intake in the Duck River wershed from Coffee County to here in Murray County on growth projections on expansion plans. And each one of these water systems has been independently pursuing a water expansion project with money funded with many of those projects funded by state grants and loans. We encourage redundancy and resiliency in these projects such as the dual intake proposed by Columbia Power and Water. Similarly, we support Murray County Water Systems in their plan to purchase water from HB&Ts in Williamson County. And we've issued a permit to transfer up to three million gallons a day from the Cumberland Basin to here in the Duck River Basin via new water line. We provided a grant to help fund that project. And TK does not view these two projects as mutually exclusive. The new Columbia Power and Water Intake and Treatment Plant expansion and the Murray County Water Pipeline from HB&Ts. We do not view those as mutually exclusive. In November of 2024, Governor Lee issued Executive Order 108, establishing the 19 member Duck River Wershed Planning

Partnership that provided directives for TEK and other agencies. That partnership is met for six days during the past several months. And in November, that partnership provided recommendations to Governor Lee that charged Tekk with conducting a feasibility study regarding regionalization. This study will consider the benefits of interconnecting different water systems, consolidating wa consolidating water systems, or forming a regional water authority. The partnership also recommended that TCK provide a thorough analysis of long-term water supply pipeline from the Tennessee River. The new Columbia Power and Water Intake has been described as the first leg to the Tennessee River. Both of the studies recommended by the partnership are in conjunction with the new CPWS intake, not in place of it. Tonight's discussion is not unique to Columbia and Murray County as water utilities across the state are adjusting rates to ensure that they can continue to provide clean water by operating and maintaining infrastructure along with retaining good water treatment operators on staff. Our SRF program has several examples of utilities that have experienced increases in the past year. Tekk has stated many times that water must not be a surrogate for growth planning which is up to local governments. We don't see other infrastructure being limited to control for growth. We aren't saying no to roads because people may come. We don't say no to schools because we're afraid that we'll have more students. But water we find at the state is the only infrastructure category where this is mentioned. So I'll emphasize growth planning does not occur at the state level. This must be at the local level. Our role at TKC is to asssure safe, plentiful, and reliable drinking water. And it is not our role to limit water supply in order to control growth. We're happy to answer questions about Tex's role in this water supply project if you have any.

All right. Thank you, Miss Grippo, for for being here and for your two colleagues as well. Does anyone have any questions for Miss Grippo? Council member Huffman. Uh it is my understanding that Tekk is uh in favor of regionalizing uh the water here on on Duck River. Yes, generally we support regional approaches to water and wastewater and we're going to be conducting a study over the next few months. It's going to be due at the end of August that will provide a menu of options for the entire Duck River region from Coffee County um all the way down to our area on regional approaches.

All right. If if that is the case, uh the intake that y'all uh the CPWS is a regional intake, but Columbia Power System Water System owns it. So, how can that be? So, I think that the intake that the new intake would be part could be part of any regional solution if we're looking at consolidating water utilities or changing governance policies um unifying those. They may share some infrastructure. So there's a there's a wide range of of solutions where the intake could be part of a program.

Is that all councso? Council member McKelby. Thank you Miss Grippo for being here. Um so you're saying that the intake is step one for the regionalization of water in this area. The new intake has been described as the first uh the first leg of a pipeline to the Tennessee River. And that's one of the charges that TK has from the partnership is to do a feasibility study of a pipeline from the Tennessee River to our Duck River area. Okay. So, this is step one of that process, the intake. I would say that Tekk is going to do the feasibility study and that for the rest of it.

For the rest. Yeah. Yeah. But but this is step one though as you said. I just want to emphasize that this has been described as the first leg but we haven't done that feasibility study yet. So I don't want to commit to necessarily not not providing an alternative where the water could come even further. I understand. Thank you. Vice Mayor. All right. Yes. Thank you for being here. Um, the questions that I've been getting on the phone calls is there are there any better options that are shovel ready than CPWS is in the TDX Q right now?

Um, we are not aware of another alternative um that is as mature as the Columbia Power and Water Project that would be available for the next several years. And then the other question everybody's asking me is the pause. We keep on hearing about the pause. So, would any work being done by the partnership warrant pausing this project from TDK's perspective? Um, the [clears throat] work that's going to be done from the partnership will occur regardless of the decision that y'all make on the intake.

So, really there's no What would the pause mean then? I mean, everybody says pause. It's like there's a magical answer is going to come out of this pause. Do you I mean I think you said it earlier. It's talking about interconnectivity and stuff like that. Correct. Yes. Okay. The state will proceed with our regionalization study and the feasibility study for the type the pipeline regardless of the decision that y'all make. Thank you.

Mr. Scrippo, have has there been any discussion at Tedex level relative to the conversations that have been occurring locally regarding the uh Columbia Dam? Uh has that been something that has has reached your level andor any of the partnership? Yes, that has reached my level. I'll remind you that I live here. So that has reached my level. Well, in your capacity

certainly certainly at the grocery store and also in my employer. But we have um the partnership has heard several public comments related to the Columbia Dam and recently um employed a consultant to look at several different alternatives um for mostly for drought management and in that capacity did a very very high level um look at what might be involved in impounding the Duck River and what those costs might be. So, it's just um that none of the recommendations uh from the partnership have to do with the dam or any further investigations, but that was some information that we provided recently to the partnerships since we were hearing so many questions at our partnership meetings from the public about the dam.

So, is the partnership not making a recommendation relative to the dam? That's correct. The partnership recommendations were silent on on the proposal of impounding the Duck River. Okay. All right. Um, any other questions for Miss Grippo, Council Mccullen, and then Council Member Marshall? Thank you for being here today and taking your time to be here. My my question is, uh, how long this study been in process? How long have you been working with CPWS on this project? I heard you say 2018 or

I personally has April Grippo have been involved in meetings in since 2018. other TK others of my TK colleagues have been involved for much longer than that. Um Tekk traditionally h the governor traditionally names a member of Tekk to the Duckerver um development agency and that development agency has taken up this discussion for many many years and you also said you have some public comments of public involved somewhere along that line. Uh yes actually the first meeting that I attended on this project was a public meeting at Columbia State and I believe that was in 2018. Okay. Thank you. Council member Marshall,

you may have answered this already, but is there any other project this council should be considering to address the water address this need and migate might mitigate risk to our water supply at this time? Um, no. Tekk recently we've um been working on uh speaking with Murray County Water about other alternatives. We've worked with um Spring Hill uh water and then Mount Pleasant. And so we're not aware of an alternative that is has mature as this project that would provide water in the let's say near term of um you know three three years or so. Thank you.

And from a per permitting uh perspective this project is it fully permitted by TAC or are there any additional permits that that CPWS would have to receive or obtain maybe maybe post a funding approval? But but in terms of any other permits, they've been received at this point.

All of the significant permits and that would be the most significant permit is the water withdrawal um ARAP and aquatic resource alteration permit that has been secured. That's the one that was um issued in 2025. There will be some uh smaller permits, general permits that will need to be obtained in the construction phase of the project uh similar to any development project. All right, one more question. Counc you just stated that there's no other I mean no other water coming you know way to get water or what about Harper Valley? I mean I know they they get they got a permit out of Kland River for 82 million gallon a day. Yes, sir.

Okay. And part of that's going to to HB and TNS. All right. and they I don't know how much they get of that but they get I don't think they get but right now what I've un what I've read and everything uh Harper Valley is not getting not pulling all the water that they they can get out of the Cland River. They permitted 82 million but they can only get 80%. I understand that they the water plant can only do 80% of that but that water coming to HTTNS that's coming south too.

Yes sir. So Murray County Water System has an innerbasin transfer permit that's also a Tedic permit. Um those are required when you move water from one basin to another. Uh so they have an interbasin transfer permit so that they can move up to 3 million gallons a day from the Cumberland River wershed um to the Duck River wershed and uh we we helped fund this project through an ARP grant of $7.7 million and um Tekk met yesterday with utilities from the Cumberland River Basin um including Harpath Valley Utility District and um HB&Ts along with Murray County Water System about the possibility that I think has been brought up in the last several weeks of uh Murray County Water System purchasing more than 3 million gallons a day from Harpath from HB&Ts. Um specifically, we asked about purchasing up to 12 additional million gallons a day for a total of 15 million gallons a day. Um Harbath Valley, as you mentioned, has their intake in the Cumberland River, and the idea is that they would treat and deliver water via HB&Ts to us in Murray County. Um they told us in that meeting yesterday that they do not have the the permit capacity through their T deck permit which you're correct is for 82 million gallons. Um they don't have the intake capacity or the treatment capacity to sell more water to us in Murray County um above that 3 MGD that is currently permitted through the interbasin transfer. Um, further Harpath Valley told us that they cannot ascertain whether or not they'll have future capacity based on um or how much it would cost until the Army Corps of Engineers concludes their ongoing Cumberland system study. And we they've told me personally that's going to be in late 2026. Um, Harpath Valley did confirm that they would need to add intake pumps, that they would need to add treatment a treatment um train capacity at their existing treatment plant. And they did tell me on that call that their cost to add that treatment,

that 12 additional MGD of treatment would likely be the same as the cost that Columbia Power and Water faces for the same amount of water treatment. um that approach, this alternative isn't mutually exclusive of the new downstream intake, but based on the information that I got yesterday, it would be years before we would know more about this alternative and be able to reach the point uh with permits and funding that Columbia Power and Water is in right now. Right now, Harper Valley is not I mean, they're permitted to get 82 million gallon a day, but right now they're not getting the 35 million. I'm not sure about the 35 million number. That's just what I read.

Um, they told us that they did not anticipate for Murray County in their growth planning. And so the 82 million gallon permit, which they recently got from TDC, I believe it was in August of 2024, that was to satisfy the um growth projections of their existing customers in Williamson and Davidson counties is what they told us. Thank you, C. Mckelby. So the so the extra millions of gallons we're talking about has not been um is not feasible at this time.

The 3 million gallons we're talking about is the only thing is absolutely feasible. You know is is um has been funded by TK is permitted by TEC is under construction right now. Additional uh water beyond that from three to possibly 15 million gallons is uncertain at this time. Also, uh I'm aware that Harpath Valley Utility District, uh they have fluoride in their water. Is that correct? Um that is correct. Um Harpath Valley provides fluoridated water to HB&Ts. Um Columbia Power and Water does not feed fluoride in their water. Tekk has a neutral position on fluoride and it's really up to Murray County Water System or any water system that purchases uh fluoridated water whether or not that's a concern for their

So we haven't had fluoridated water in Murray County since 2013 I believe. So mixing fluoridated water in with non-flloridated water uh would have to be treated somehow I would think. Um and that would be an extra cost if it did come to Columbia Power. It would it be an extra cost for Columbia Power to do that. I can't speculate on the costs for the utilities. I can just say that Tedex neutral on fluoride and that would be the responsibility of the water system that would be purchasing. So I'm sure there's but like anything else half the county would say fluoride. Half the county would say no fluoride more than likely. You may be right. I'm sorry I don't know. No, you're fine. Thank you.

Mr. Scripto, last question I have for you, and I should know the answer to this, but does Murray County Water currently have an active application for an intake of their own from the Duck River?

Yes. I'm sorry, I don't remember the year, but Murray County um did apply, I would say, fairly early on to the Duck River project for an intake of up to three million gallons a day. Uh the intake would be located in the Columbia region. We have we put that permit on public notice I believe in the fall of 2023 with some other um permits at the time. We held a public hearing in the fall of 2023 um for that permit. We received a significant amount of public comment because that was for a new intake in in this area of the Duck River. Um, however, I mentioned earlier that TDC can only issue a water withdrawal permit if that is the least uh environmentally the the the least um environmentally adverse impact to the river. U in this case by this time um Murray County has two alternatives. They can buy water from HB&Ts or they can continue to buy water from Columbia Power and Water. And both of those are least impactful alternatives for the river. So, is that application still pending or has that been withdrawn or do you know?

It has not been withdrawn. We have not issued the permit and it has not been denied.

Okay. All right. Um, any other questions for Miss Grippo? U Miss Gryo, thanks again for being here and to your colleagues as well. If you don't mind, if you would at least stay for clean power and water who is going to be up next to to provide some comments just in case there's any additional comments or questions that come up. We we won't expect that you stay for the entirety of the public comment round, but if you wouldn't mind to stay just for the next few minutes for Columbia Power Water. But thank you again for for being here this evening, Mr. and to your colleagues from Tekk as well. Um, okay. Now, I'm going to call up Columbia Power and Water System uh CEO Jonathan Harden. Um, if you would please come and uh provide your overview this evening. And while he's coming forward, I do want to um it would be impossible to um uh try to address all of the many different accusations uh that have been flying around on social media. Uh but there has been one relative to Mr. Marshall's um service on the board of CPWS um which um I want to have the city attorney uh comment on that. As my understanding that is a state law requirement that is uh in place, but Mr. Hubble, as the city attorney, can you please uh educate council on Mr. Marshall's position and that requirement, please?

Uh, thank you, mayor. I I can I'll be happy to do that. Uh, I just want to clarify a couple of things, and I have been made aware that there have been some questions or concerns about Mr. Marshall's service on the board of public utilities. Um, so just to clarify a few points. Columbia Power and Water System is a public utility. It is owned by the city of Columbia. It is not a separate legal entity but is an entity owned by the city being a public utility. Our board of public utilities was established in 1939 under the m municipal electric plant law of 1935. Uh we transferred our waterworks to the board of public utilities in 1941. Um, the applicable statute that provides for a city council member being on the board of public utilities is Tennessee code annotated 7-52-108. That statute provides that the mayor shall with the consent of the city council designate either a member of the council or the city manager to serve as the fifth board member of the board of public utilities. Um and in fact all the board members of the board of public utilities are appointed by this council. Uh Mr. Marshall is the council's designated representative from the council to the board of public utilities as required by state law. Um to be clear, CPWS does not decide who is on the board of public utilities. That's done by the city council. Um Mr. Marshall is not an employee of Columbia Power and Water System. uh he is not on the board of public utilities independently and apart or separately from his role as a city council member. He is on the board of public utilities because he is a council member and is this council's designated representative to that board. Uh again, this is required by state law. Uh board members serve without compensation, but they do receive a fee per state law of $300 for

attending a meeting. Uh I've reviewed all that over the last week or two. Uh it is my opinion that is obviously required by state law uh for him to be on that board that there is no conflict of interest associated with him being on the board. Um, addition to that, I called the municipal technical advisory service and talked to them and asked their opinion on that and the attorney I spoke to at MTAS agreed. And it is also their opinion that there is no conflict of interest for Mr. Marshall serving on the board uh or voting on the water rate increase or the increase related to the impact fee.

All right. Any questions for the city attorney on that? Um, Mr. Mr. Hubble, thank you for that overview. Uh, and I just want to say for the for the record, Mr. Marshall. Um, you know, when you sign up for public service, sometimes you don't realize what you're signing up for. Uh, particularly when, uh, allegations regarding integrity are made. And Kenny Marshall, you are as honest as the day is long. Um, and I appreciate your service to this council and I appreciate you being a representative for this council to that board. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you. All right, Mr. Harden, floor is yours. Uh, mayor, members of council, thank you for the opportunity to be here. I think the way that we were going to construct this today is I have asked our chief financial officer, Miss [clears throat] Maddox, to go over some facts about the matter at hand, uh, dollar amounts associated with the rate increase, things of that nature. Uh, after which we will yield the days to Matt Wheeler to go into some technical considerations, and then we'll be at your service for any questions you may have. Uh, thank you for having me here. I'm Ashley Maddox, the chief financial officer at Columbia Power and Water Systems. Um, I'm going to try to cover pretty quickly the financial things we've been hearing and just want to clear up some of the things that are out there. Uh, first off, uh, it's been noted said that we have $und00 million in current debt. That is not true. Uh, we have a $3.9 million in a long-term municipal bond that was taken out in 2015 uh, for metering infrastructure. Um, and we have $16.9 million outstanding in a revenue anticipation note. Um, that is similar to a line of credit. Uh, that was the up to $70 million that this council approved in November. Um, so in total, we currently have $21 million of long-term or long-term and short-term debt outstanding as opposed to the $und00 million. Um, I also wanted to go through kind of our funding for this um this project. So, our first um lever we were going to pull is the federal WIFFIA program. Uh they will do 49% of this project. Uh so, they've committed roughly $270 million to the project. The reason we have gone through the WHIFIA front is you get a longer payback and a 5-year deferral on your loan, which lowers the impact on our rate on our rate payers. Uh Tennessee SRF is the next. That's the Tennessee State Revolving Fund. Um we have a letter of intent for $135 million. uh that is an attractive program for us because they

base your interest rate on an ability to pay index and the uh average median income in Columbia, Tennessee is around $65,000 which puts our interest rate at around 3% well below the market rates that we could get on municipal bonds. Uh the municipal bonds would cover the rest if there were any at the end of the project uh at a market rate in a 30-year payoff term. So the total loan uh timeline for this project will be 35 years. Uh the depreciable life of this assets that are going to be employed are going to be a 50-year asset and the actual expected life of these assets is 75 plus years. Our current intake and treatment plant has been around since 1950. We have no reason to think that a new one would be around any shorter amount of time. um to get our rates uh from this project and to kind of get a recommendation. It is not something that Columbia Power and Water Systems does on our own. Uh we have employed Raft Telus. They have 30 plus years in the industry and they are well known for being the water and the wastewater uh rate study and uh rate consultants. So they have prepared an independent rate study for us and that's where the 20% every year for 5 years came from as well as the impact fees on developers. Um financial people uh me included tend to paint everything in a worst case scenario. We want to make sure we're covered. We want to make sure that you know Armageddon happens. We're we're kind of prepared. So uh we do anticipate these to be a ceiling of an increase. Um we've tried to beg this model as conservative as we can. Um we think some of our interest rates are higher than we'll actually get. We think some of these construction costs are higher than they actually will be. Um, and I assure you at Columbia Power and Water, we have kept our rates among the lowest in the state and we've been operation for 86 years and we take pride in that. Um, we've provided clean, reliable drinking water. Our leak losses are low. We we do try to run our system efficiently and we will continue to do so. Um, so every year we will have a cost of service study to continue to

back up those rates before we bring them to you for the next year to see where we are in the project, what benefits we've seen, what negative things have happened and adjust those rates as needed. Um, I do want to also explain rate classes. We've gotten a lot of, well, can you low-income people, can you lower their rate? Or people that are new to the area, can you raise their rates? Um, unfortunately, we we can't uh, you know, discriminate against our customer base. We have to have a cost of service study that dictates you know a residential customer this is the cost to serve you a commercial customer this is the cost to serve you inside the city outside and we have to do our rate schedule as such so it has to be fully fully vetted by Tennessee comproller um unfortunately we are not allowed to kind of set up our own rate schedules um I did want to go through I know 149% I've seen that all over social media that's huge I know that that's a big number um 149% of lower rates is not as bad So, I just wanted to translate into dollar amounts instead of the increase uh the percentage increases. Uh we have 61% of our customer base currently that has a bill less than $35 a month. 61% of our customer water bill is less than $35 a month. So, if you take that 20% on average, and of course in the beginning years it's going to be lower. The first year it's $7 increase on an average bill. And when I say average, that's 5,000 gallons of usage and a household of four. So that's around a $10 increase per year gets you to about a $50 increase at the end of that. For a household of two with 2500,000 uh 2500 gallons of usage, which would be your fixed income people, uh you're going to see about a $38 increase over the five-year period. So after all those 20% increases, it's $38 a month. Then you'll get there gradually. Now, I do not want to scoff at the amount. For some people, they won't notice this. For a vast majority of the city of Columbia, people will notice these increases. This is the largest increase we've ever done

and better be the largest one in my time at Columbia Power that we ever do. Uh this is not a typical rate increase. This is an infrastructure and a necessity. Um we will do everything in our power. We have variable billing that we offer. We have payment arrangements. Um, and we have many resources that we reach out to for people that have that struggle to pay their power and water bills, and we will continue to utilize those every chance we get to make sure that this does not impact our low-income families, and we'll do everything in our power to do so. Um, there are handouts available if you want to grab them. Uh, the 149% does not translate to 149% on Murray County water customers. We've had a lot of Murray County water customers reach out to us for the 5,000 uh, gallon user. uh over the five years it translate to 38% and for a 2500 two family user it would translate to about 28% or $14 um over the five years. So it's important to kind of see how that impacts your area. So handouts are out there if people want to pick those up just so people if if this were to pass um we want people to get ahead of this best they can as well.

These are handouts here. Yes. Yes sir. Those are it and that's all I've got here. Can we can we ask Maddox a couple questions before we transition to next one up? Vice Mayor, can you The biggest questions I've had was the 149%. Can you go over that just a touch? Yes, sir. Slower so I can make better notes. Sorry, I didn't know if I had a time limit. I was trying to rush it. No, you do not have a time limit.

Okay, so uh 3475 is our current rate on 5,000gallon users. So, I'd say a household of four. So, you've got four people living in your house. On average, you'd use 5,000 gallons. The first year, you're going to see a $7 increase to your water bill. Year two, you'll see an $8 increase. Year three, 10, 12, and then 14 and a half for a total of 5168 to be exact over the 5year period. A 51.68 increase and that's for a household of four. Yes. Okay. So, okay. 51% increase. But year to year, it's going to be roughly on average $10 a month. You'll see your bill go up.

And then on a household of two, uh you're going to see right now your average bill is $25.75 for 2500 gallons of water in a month. Uh you're going to see that go up $5 year one, $6 year two, about seven year three, nine, and 11 for a total of $38. Uh that you'll see that at the end of the five years at the max um that you would go Also on the um the um next question I have is when we say about you know you said you went up on the impact fees are going up the uh people that are calling are asking how does that affect my bill on the tail end like you said your your new anticipated revenue how is that going to affect everything?

Yes sir. So in this model there is a very low growth rate. Um and with that comes a low uh expectation of impact fees coming in to fund our model. So if growth stays the same which it's obviously we all know how quickly it's gone that will only bring down these rates. Um we would prefer put uh rate increases on the developers than the people that have been here. So the more of that that comes in the less impact it would have on our our customers. And y'all look at that every year. I look at it more than that. But yes, we will have an independent rate study. Every year you guys will be able to review that as well.

But you're not able to to to contemplate the impact fees at this stage of the funding. Is that is that right? We recognized some we recognized a lower growth rate really less than half of what we've actually seen um on average even not even some of these crazier growth years um into the model but not near even what on average we've seen. So some is being gone very little. Yes. All right. Thank C Marshall. Yes. Those numbers you were giving out that's if you don't get any money extra.

Uh yes. So we currently and that's something else you'll see. Uh we did get two lobbyists um to try to get funding. Uh we saw this early on. We um we got the last permit I believe early 2025. So the next step is kind of okay. So now what does this cost? When we first started this it was under $200 million. Now it's 500. So the inflation has affected us drastically. Um so we knew, you know, we don't want to put this on the back of our our citizens. I mean you don't want to do that. Uh so we got two lobbyists that are trying to get us funding at the state and federal level uh level. Um and we are actively seeking seeking any grant. I know rural utilities typically will get grants a lot more frequently uh because they're more spread out and they do have an economies of scale issue. Um so they typically will get the rural grants. Um but yes, we are actively seeking any other funding source we could possibly get.

Thank you. Um, and the next question I've always had is how much bonuses are are CPWs get and are they nonprofit? Yes. Can you explain that to how you work? As low as our rates are, I think you can see that we operate on a very thin margin. Um, we are we're not operating as for profit. Uh, we're public servants. Um, we are there to keep lights on, keep water flowing, and do it at the lowest possible margin. There are no bonuses. I'm not getting a raise. Unless, you know, he decides. No, we we do not. We we there's no bonuses, no pay increases, no raises, no kickbacks, no no

and these these numbers you're um talking about here, this is worst case scenario. Is that correct? Yes. That is built around the very conservative approach of kind of all factors. So barring any apocalyptic any like that this this is and we ant and you anticipate maybe years three, four and five could potentially go down depending on that is the hope that that would be what we would hope for assuming that the conservative things that were built in the model come to fruition.

Right. Thank you. Last question I have for you, Miss Maddox, because it is true when you when you say the numbers uh in terms of the actual dollar amount. Um it's less than what you think when you hear the percentage, but but those dollar amounts still do matter and [clears throat] to people on fixed income that will have an impact. And I just wonder if there's any effort with respect to these newly hired lobbyists relative to the low-income household water assistance program that wasn't in place on the federal level that could come in to provide assistance to those on fixed incomes. And then on the Columbia Powers side, I know the good Samaritan program is in place on the on the I believe it's just on electric side only. Is there some thought that that could potentially pour over into the water as well? We will do everything we can. Um the program you mentioned first, we've already started to look into that to see if we can't get something started there too. Um and on the good Samaritan, we will look at extending that. Any possible thing we can do, we will attempt to do. Um I'm over director over the director of customer service. I hear these stories every day. They're heartbreaking. Um it is near and dear to my heart to make sure that our low-income families can still live here.

All right. Any other questions for Miss Maddox? Council member Huffman. the the figures you throwing out, that's not counting the $16 or $18 uh fee that you got to pay for where you get water or not, are you? Uh yes. Yes, sir. It is. Uh so that 3475 that I said current is for the 5,000 gallons. That would be $1675 customer charge and a $3.60 times the 5,000 gallon. I don't know where you get your figures, but my wife I mean we don't use 5,000 gallon. I mean, we took our water bill and put add 20% to it for five years and it's going to be way up what you're what you're quoting there and we don't use 5,000 gallon. So,

Mr. Huffman, I'd be glad to look at your personally and we can go through it. But another thing too, and this has come straight from the controllers's office in Nashville, what they told me, the head financial guy, controllers's office said it would be very, it would not be a good idea for the city council to vote on something that they had never seen an amization on it. How you going to pay it back? That's come straight from the head controllers's office in Nashville. We have the amortization schedule. Well, we hadn't seen it. [clears throat] You're welcome to it. I I think that should be brought I think that should be divided. I should be Yes, sir. It's part of our studies. We have it.

Any other questions for Miss Maddox? Hearing none, Mr. Harden. Thank you, Miss Maddox. Thank you, Ashley. Um, now I'm going to yield the days to Matt Wheeler to go through some uh technical considerations and then open it up for some questions.

Good evening, council members. I appreciate the opportunity to speak before you again. Um, and I really want to give a thanks to Tekk for being here and all they brought that that really was a lot of good information. Much of the things that I might have brought uh again to you, April Gripple copied are covered and and again we appreciate her uh bringing that to you. So we have spoken at length about the details of this project to you. We've we've kept you apprised of what we're doing, why we're doing it, and the importance of the legal requirement we have, obligation to serve uh private property owners who wish to build on their property. U as well as the duty to protect uh and serve our community by mitigating risk. and we've identified a real risk at the existing intake on the Columbia River behind Riverside Dam that needs to be mitigated uh due to potential for drought or natural disaster which would render us unable to serve our community. So, we know you've been thoroughly briefed on the details of project the funding structure and uh many of the uh ideas and concerns, but we've also been asked to address some of the additional uh information that's been out there. uh the fodder, if you will, the the noise. And so, uh I would like to do some of that uh uh particular uh why this project, why now? And so, I'd like to start with the Duck River Agency's comprehensive regional water supply plan. This is hot off the press, November of last year. It's an update and it uh this is just one of the appendices of it. It's a 2000 TVA environmental impact statement. And so this this starts with TVA identifying needs for capacity and constraints on the river, identifying different projects and the two structural improvements that have been recommended since then up and down the river to address water supply needs. One being Raised Normandy Dam and the other a downstream intake. And then this body

document um goes through uh a robust analysis uh stacking on prior studies and coming to the recommendations that it has today identifying again those two structural elements and identifying the drought needs or the drought risks and identifies a key constraint for Murray County being our intake located in its spot on the river and behind that intake. So, some of the recommendations in this document are implement the downstream intake as soon as possible. Um, it's it also states that it's adequate to meet Murray County needs for well over 50 years. So, it's projected to meet the needs for well over 50 years of the growth. And it talks about a redundant intake being a reliability for water systems. So instead of uh relying on a single source of potential failure, having two redundant intakes gives you the ability to mitigate disasters. Um so that's that's the Duck River Agency. We also spoke with uh Duck River Agency executive director this week and and posed the question to a committee and that team. Do they support uh the findings in that study? And unequivocally, yes, they do support this study. It is their report. It's their study and they believe that we should move forward with that downstream intake. The Duck River Planning Partnership, this is the governor's commission to look at the Duck River and the critical habitat and the challenges there. It's based on the needs that were cited during the 2024 drought and uh the the water crisis that it looked like it's looming. So, it's it was commissioned by the governor to figure out what we can do to protect the ecosystem and protect public water systems. The downstream intake in this report is assumed as a project that's already being moved forward. It's going to be completed. So all the recommendations in this document build off of that downstream intake already being a project underway. You can see that in the CPWS permit being stated as

32 million gallon aid. That's only with the downstream intake. It talks about the um feasibility study for the Tennessee River pipeline and that the downstream intake is that first leg to the Tennessee River. And it also speaks to uh potable reuse at the local utility lever uh level. And that's only again the downstream intake being downstream of our Columbia wastewater treatment plant that indirect potable reuse. Um it also again mentions that first step to the Tennessee River. So these two body documents are some of that backup that demonstrates the feasibility studies, the alternatives analysis, and why we've got this project in hand ready for you to bring forward today. But I I believe you may have heard um that we were on the radio interviewed two two radio shows yesterday. And so some of the things that came up during that show, I'd like to go ahead and uh give you some highlights. Um in the afternoon show, it was clear that the county mayor and Murray County Water Systems are not in favor of this project. They don't believe that we should be moving forward and they've said so plainly. um they call for a pause and they're trying to bring distraction topics and again saying that you should wait and we should wait for the state to come in. So, Mayor But came on after my uh interview and scoffed at the idea of a $35 water bill. And as you just heard, over 60% of our rateayers of our 27,000 metered customers have a uh have a bill lower than $35. Um so, I'm here to report that to you. She went on to say that we don't need to worry about a drought causing risk to our water supply and that this project is just a short-term band-aid. These body documents would say differently. So then a little bit later, Jason or earlier, Jason Gillum came on and defended the much higher rates of uh Murray County water systems despite the low cost of wholesale water that we sell

them. I explained how $100 bill on a Marie County water system bill translated to less than $25 in wholesale water cost. And fair enough, he talked about the rural water uh providers that they have, how many miles of pipe, how few customers, and that they need that difference in uh in costs. But then Mayor Sheila stated that her proposal is for a regional water system to come in, the state to come in and build a Tennessee pipeline. we need to wait for the Tennessee pipeline to to bring water supply. And she talked again about advocating for everyone's water rates being the same. So, let me be clear. What she's saying is that our city customers in town homes, modest residences here in the city should subsidize the higher cost of providing water to two, five, 40 acre parcels out in the rural county where people have chosen to live so that everybody can be at the same water rate. In the guise of fairness and equity, we've brought forward a responsible project. It's designed to meet the needs, mitigate critical challenges uh of ecosystem, and mitigate the risks to our rateayers, which can be in place by the summer of 2029. The responsible step at this point is to move forward with this plan and not gamble with people's water. And that's what I want to bring you and I'm here to answer questions.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Wheeler. any questions of Mr. Wheeler or Mr. Harden or Miss Maddox? Vice Mayor. Um,

also in all on the phone conversations I've been having, they wanted to know what other projects that y'all have looked at. What projects have y'all CPWs looked at during y'all's study? I think April Grio did a great job of describing how we had to go through a robust feasibility analysis, alternatives analysis to demonstrate that the projects that would be considered are the least environmental impact and least cost to bring uh the project forward to our customers. So we looked at HP&Ts pipelines. We did a feasibility study to the Cumberland that that you may be familiar with last year, Tims Ford Lake, any other uh potential project that's out there, we had to look at and demonstrate as part of our alternatives analysis whether or not it was feasible and whether which projects we would bring forward. And again, both the body documents that are prepared by other stakeholders as well as our efforts in the permit process, we had to demonstrate what was the right project. This is the project that came to the surface and why we continue to and Vice Mayor McBrroom, I would like to mention that the documents that Matt Wheeler is referencing right now are available for public consumption on the Duck River AY's website.

Any other questions for CPWS at this time? All right. Uh, hearing no questions. Thank you, CPWs. I told Tekk that they are allowed to leave. Uh although I would suggest maybe CPWS if you don't mind sticking around for the public comments if there are any other questions that come up from council. Thank you mayor. Thank you.

All right we will now move into the public comment round. I have uh a few sheets to go through here. Uh the first name um it looks like the uh the initials are J anoka. Looks like potentially a Jason A Neil. Um I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly, but if there's an initials J an out of Koka, James A. Neil was on Kyoka, we can come back and I'm going to actually call you up in groups of three. So that way this will flow a little more efficiently. And if if Miss or Mr. J an decide that they're here or figure out that it was them that I was trying to provide the floor to, we can provide them the opportunity. Okay. Bart Watley, Sheila Butt, and Patricia Snyder. Those are going to be the first three. If you'll make your way to the podium as you're able, beginning with Bart Watley, and then Sheila Butt, and then Patricia Snyder. Those will be the first three. Welcome. [clears throat] And you have the floor for three minutes.

Thank you, Mayor, Council members. I'm Bart Watley from Kioa, Tennessee. Excuse me for my voice. I'm sorry. Um, [clears throat] CPWS has followed the advice of Doug River Agency in their studies since I think 2010, pursuing this 17-mi pipeline. [gasps] Duck River Agency, DRA, they based their study on a population growth was about half correct. They threw out the US Geological Survey that was twice as much growth. now. And in 2015, Murray County had a ad hoc water committee and um the uh CPWS and DRA said we could have multiple more car [clears throat] manufacturers as it was and and so forth. So, there's misinformation out there that how much volume are we going to get out of this? But here's the question. Are we deciding this week or in the next month, are we going to have a pipeline in the Tennessee River or are you going to consider a reservoir? That's the question. Because if you buy into this, you're buying part of the cost of going to the Tennessee River because if two 42inch lines or whatever it is are large is need are needed for the Williamsport intake, why go to the Tennessee River? So that's what you're doing. you're buying on to the pipeline to the Tennessee River and uh a serious consideration of the Columbia Dam by this Governor Lee 19 member membership committee. No, it wasn't serious. They wouldn't even put us on their next agenda. And I don't hear it tonight much. You're making a big mistake.

I'm gonna say this as politely as I can say, but the best way I can say it. We need leaders in the commission, Mary County Mission Commission, and the city of Colombia. And pardon me, ma'am, to have the kahunas to do what's right on this and do the thing that we're looking at. It's like an elephant in the room. God has given it to us. It's almost been built once and tore down. 97% of the land has been purchased for the footprint of the lake already. Thank you very much. All right, Mr. Riley. Thank you. Next up, Sheila Butt. Mayor Butt, welcome. Have the floor for three minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Sheila Butt, Murray County Mayor. Thank you for having us tonight. Um, I also serve on the Duck River Water Planning Partnership. There is so much in the past year that has been discovered through that partnership that it is premature to go with this program. I do have to say that addressing Matt's comments, I believe on the radio yesterday that Matt Murphy said, so basically Matt, you're telling people who don't go along with your program to pound sand. And Matt's comment was basically that's up to them. So many things that he referenced we can discuss at another time because it wasn't exactly true. We talk about that minimum rate for somebody who has a $34 water bill. Well, I wish you would talk to the people at the hospital who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in water bills. The school system who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in water bills. This is going to cost them exponentially and that cost is going to come back to us. Is there disenfranchisement of thousands of people in Murray County who have no representation on this council? Are there still conflicts of interest? Do the numbers really add up for $500 million to get 12 million gallons of water a day? That is certainly not a wise decision. This is a shortterm fix. Eventually, we have to go to the Tennessee. This is a shortterm fix for which we're going to be paying the people of Murray County for 30 to 40 years. Is this really the only option? Why is all of Murray County carrying the debt for an asset that only the city

owns? Why am I getting letters from people about imminent domain and their concerns about their property? Why would we not wait for these questions to be answered and regional water peaceability studies so that we can share the cost of a 149% rate increase? Why not wait to see if their high paid lobbyists can get money from the state or the federal government? Why do we have to rush in this right now? Lots of small businesses have said have said to me just in the past two weeks, Sheila, if they raise my rates, I'm going to have a hard time and I will have to pass those off to my customers. So, this is just not a water rate. This is a rate on your hospital, your schools, and every small business. And guess who's going to pay for it? We are. Now, my the rest of my comments I'm going to direct as one elected official to another. When I sat in Nashville, I voted against many things that the administration, the Hasslam administration, came to my office and lobbyed for. Sheila, you have to vote for this. I was told if I didn't pass the gas tax that I'd never get reelected again. You know why I didn't vote for the gas tax? Because the people of Murray County didn't want me to vote for the gas tax. You are sitting in those seats because people put you in those seats. They have no other representation. You don't represent Columbia Power and Water. Their board does. You represent the people who voted for you. If you walked among those people right now, they would say, "Stop this. Let's look at every other option. Get some money

from the state. Get some whatever." But they can't afford to pay for this. There is a big difference in a politician and a statesman. And when you assume the responsibility of sitting in those seats representing people, not entities, people who are going to be paying for this in every aspect with every cup of coffee they buy, with every time they go to the hospital, it's not just a water rate increase. And those people elected you to speak for them. And we have thousands in this county who don't even have one of you up there to speak for them. So I hope after every one of these meetings because this was my goal as a state representative when I went home at night. I wanted to look in that mirror and see a statesman and not somebody who doesn't represent their people no matter what the pressure was. Thank you very much.

THANK YOU. [applause and cheering] NEXT UP WILL be Patricia Snyder. And after Miss Snyder, we'll have Chris Garling. Uh, and then Clay Butry. Snider, welcome.

Hi. Uh, thank you. I just have a couple questions. One's for CWPs. Can you guarantee that the water rate won't go up any more than what you said? Can you put that down in writing? it. You'll not see any more increase than $5 a year. I we know how things go. You vote for increases and it's always more. And my question is actually for you to answer to the people. Why not put a moratorium on the building which all this construction is part of what has caused the problem. put a moratorum on the building and then put ideas out for everyone to have a chance and put it in plain English instead of legal ease because you're talking to a whole lot of people who are not attorneys so everyone can understand what issues you're looking at what solutions you're looking at not just one or two but all of them and put it in a format that gives everyone a chance to see exactly what you've got in mind to provide water. And as I said, this question is this is for the people. It's not just for me. It's for everyone. How do you make it so everyone can understand what you're doing?

Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we'll have Chris Garling and then Clay Butry. Mr. Garling, you have the floor for three minutes. Welcome.

Hi everyone. I'm Chris Garling. I'm a resident of the county. Um I'm exhausted so I don't have a prepared thing like I had last time. I'm just going to read off some thoughts and some questions. Um and this with respect to everyone everyone here I I do appreciate the decorum and there's there's nothing personal. Um but here's a question. If CPWS has already been caught selling water out of our area, I personally find it hard to believe that their self-produced documents are accurate absent a robust and independent third party audit audit, pardon me. Um, I also know the growth expectations for Mory County were significantly off. So, I don't know if this thing is really going to push us through 50 years. Um and this is also not just about lowincome people uh visav the um good Samaritan uh you know help. Don't we remember the rancher that was in here at the last meeting and he told us all how it's going to cause his his water costs will be higher than his fertilizer costs. Did we forget about that guy? Did we forget about that the the great seal of Tennessee, the most prominent thing in there says agriculture? Are we just selling out? You know, why don't we just put private equity or water or I don't know, politicking up there and just toss toss agriculture out because it feels like that's where we're going. Um, what else do I got here? [snorts] If CPWS is truly agnostic to the value of development, why have their representatives expressed concern to me uh about impact fees discouraging uh developers? Now, I know the impact fees aren't going to offset all of this, but then that begs the question, why are we doing this project or why are we contemplating this project? Uh, and not looking at other things like uh Sheila said, uh, what else?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that Tekk considers 20% loss of uptaken water acceptable. If I was a CEO running a business that lost 20% of its input materials, the shareholders who in this case are akin to taxpayers and rateayers would consider me grossly incompetent and remove me from my position. So I think there's sort of this authority fallacy and this is no offense to Tekk. I appreciate what you guys are doing or to CPWS, but I do think we need to have more eyes on this. It's just not it it doesn't make any sense. And then the final thing is about this all of this uh you know these accusations and whatnot that have been flying around online and whatnot. Uh there's clearly conflict of interest. Whether it's tied in to this particular project or not, I don't know. But I I'm prepared to bankroll uh finding that out personally. Um, more importantly, the appearance of any impropriy or any sort of conflict of interest is deeply damaging to democracy and henceforth it's damaging to the this project. We have to stop. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Gramlin. Next up will be Clay Butchery. Mr. Buty, and then after Mr. Buty, we'll have Anson Anderson and Paula Lindseay on deck.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and city council. I appreciate the time. I'll be relatively brief. I came to Columbia in 1975 as a project engineer. I'm a mechanical engineer by profession. I worked in the phosphate plants and after seven years. I become plant manager of one of the prominent plant phosphates plants here in Colombia. I have overseen the construction of three dams in the Whimsport area, Earth & Dams that we use for tailings, but they now are the u under the control of Tennessee Wildlife Agency, which has turned into a great place to fish and so on. And there's one of the dams is 150 foot high earthn dam. And I just want to speak a little bit about the Normandy Dam. And that's a diversion of what we've been talking about tonight, but the Normandy dam is, this may be redundant. Y'all may already know this, but it's 110t [clears throat] high dam. It's 289 ft long. The surface area of the water in the Normandy Dam is 2,490 acres, which is a fairly large area. So to propose and this may be the wrong number just as an example if we raise the level of that dam by 10 ft you've got 24 290 acres. There's 4 43560 square feet in in an acre as you all know. You take that, multiply that by 2009 acres, you have 108 million

cubic feet of water. 108 million. There's there's uh if you take it and raise it by 10 feet, that gives you 1.8 1.08 billion cubic feet of water. There's 7.4 48 gallons of water in every cube feet. So if you multiply that out, that gives you 8 billion1 and 13 million gallons of extra capacity in the Normandy Dam. Our requirements, as I understand it, is 20 million gallons a day. If you take and divide that by the 8.1 billion that gives you 405 days of extra capacity and that's quite a bit for a long time. We may not and some people tell me 10 ft is not feasible. If you did it six feet which it may be feasible you got 240 days. So, as I say this, I think that is something that we should consider and I think it's viable. I've heard some comments about it how long it would take. I think it would be a project that could be done. And of course, you got to have TVA's approval as a plant manager. I was very good friends with the TVA board and Marvin Ren's and I had a lot of cooperation with the TVA. Now, I'm hearing from y'all. We don't get cooperation with TVA. Well, we got to have cooperation with TVA.

Thank you, Mr. But it's your time. Oh my goodness. Thank you. Cut me off. All right. Thank you, Mr. But next up, Anson Anderson and then Paula Lindsay after Mr. Anderson.

Good evening, Mayor Moda, council members, and fellow Colombians. Thank you guys for standing up and being proud of who you are and where you come from. I encourage you guys to keep doing the same. Keep fighting. [snorts] [clears throat] My name is Anderson Anderson. I'm here to stand against the CPS power hike, well water price hike that has got everyone wet with worry. Let's dive right in. The proposed 20% annual splash for 5 years totaling uh yeah toting uh soaking 149% isn't just a drip. It's a gusher that would flood our wallets. We're talking to we're talking 500 million project for the Duck River intake and treatment plant. Uh I didn't even know it was an idea or a possibility that we can get the state to pay for it. So thank you Mayor Sheila But for that because that was something I didn't know about. Sure, we need reliable water, but at what cost? Families, seniors, and small business are re are already treading water uh raising bills. Why pump us dry when alternatives like regional partnerships or fair funding could keep things flowing without the squeeze? Now, don't get me twisted. I'm all for infrastructure that stands tall and delivers, but this hike feels like a backdoor plunge, hitting us where it hurts. While developers while developers get a lighter tap, we've seen the backlash online from Commissioner Gabe Howard calling for calling out the debt deluge and to Mayor Bud urging action against the rate rip tide. Citizens are rising up, voicing opposition at hearings, demanding a referendum. We're not just parched for options. We're thirsty for transparency. Think about it. This isn't a gentle

stream. It's a torrent that'll leave us high and dry. Instead of forcing this down our throats, let's explore ways to pipe in federal grants or spread the load. Colombia deserves better than being hosed by hasty decisions. In closing, as Aniden Anderson, I stand up erect, unyielding, like a tree planted by water. I would not be moved for the people of Colombia. Let's turn off this tap water before it drowns us all. Thank you,

Paula Lindsay. We'll have Paula Lindsay and then we'll on deck will be Marsha Howard, uh Connie uh Gorns, and Gabe Howard. Miss Lindsay, welcome.

Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm Paula Lindsay. I live at 1045 Pretender Way. I'm a native Colombian and a local realtor. While I've participated in commercial transactions in my business, my passion is assisting first-time home buyers and finding housing solutions for elderly clients. That passion is what led me to you here tonight. Many of our elderly are on extremely limited and fixed budgets. Um, a water bill increase for an elderly citizen on a fixed income consisting of only social security, which my grandmother was, could potentially be enough to deprive them of necessary and life sustaining medications and food and other necessities. At the same time, many first-time home buyers are on extremely tight budgets as their incomes are usually lower than a more established household. I'm not denying the need for more water. I get it. We need to supply our city and neighbors. What I'm asking for is to reiterate what Mayor Bud has been asking for and many others tonight that we pause while the Duck River Watershed Planning Partnership finalizes its work. I believe they have a great start on some other ideas based on all the reading I've been doing and I believe that some of that work has already begun. I will quote this wise admonition from Mayor Sheila But she said there is much to consider before taking out over 500 million in loans. That's a half a billion dollars. That's that's my comment for one water entity in one city to pay back out of the pockets of everyone who buys water from that one entity for 30 years or more. As we heard tonight, that is more the definition of domination than regionalization. Let the Duck River Water Planning

Partnership finish its work. And by the way, I do know that uh in some of my research, I didn't this wasn't brought up before, but Mr. Harden is a member of that coalition and was appointed by Governor Lee as well. So I believe he should be willing to stand behind his group's idea of just pushing pause on this half billion dollar obligation for our city. And I have a great quote for you by President Ronald Reagan who was a great statesman. We are a government of, by, and for the people, not the other way around. Thank you very much. Marshia Howard and then Connie Goowens perhaps is a better way of saying that. And then Gabe Howard, Miss Howard,

um Marcia Howard, 1092 Cranford Hollow Road, Columbia, Tennessee. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and City Council. I wanted to thank I know she's gone, but um April Grio with the TDEC because she definitely had a lot of information and dates and how things have been following along. And um I understand from CPWS that um they're like an use of abundance of what they should be using with water which is um sadness. Did not appreciate some of the speaking against our mayor. Um and u my live my bill living alone is never under $35 a month. I serve as a board member on the Murray County Senior Center and I'm speaking for myself as a senior not for the board. My concern is a financial burden that will be put on us who are on fixed incomes by borrowing a half a billion dollars. Is there not another option? I believe at the last last council meeting you heard from us, including state and county representatives. You said you were listening, but were you? I asked for a pause to review this proposal. Is this the only is this only a concern for Colombia or a larger area? Please look at all options to protect and serve the people you have been elected to serve when you make your decision. And I thank you very much. Hi, good evening. My name is Connie Goens. I live in Williamsport. I'm a registered nurse and have served this community for many years. Am I coming in? All right.

Yes.

Okay. Thank you very much. When I learned of the city council's vote of yes on the CPWS water rate proposal, I was deeply sickened, physically sickened. And I thought, "Oh my gosh, this is so unlike me. Well, you got to get out there and do something." Well, looking at my background, having a bachelor's degree in science, I thought about the scientific method and how we reach our conclusions based on data. So I would ask as leaders if we think about the scientific approach and expand your minds, explore all solutions, consider environmental impacts into our future. Make decisions that are sustainable yet affordable. I would ask you to go out on a limb. Be the leaders that we ask for. Show us a new future. think of all the possibilities. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Miss Owens. Gabe Howard, and then I also have Jax Howard as well. And then after that would be uh Kathy Gred.

Good evening, Mayor, members of council, and fellow residents. My name is Gabe Howard. I live at 1259 Red Bud Lane here in Colombia. I'm here tonight representing my constituents that do not have a seat at y'all's table that will feel the effects of this increase. I'm here as a rate payer. I'm here as a business owner and I'm here as a parent who cares deeply about the future of our community. I want to start by saying this clearly. Everyone in this room agrees on one thing. We need reliable, safe water for today and for the generations to come. That is not the debate. The debate is how we got here, how much it cost, and who wears the burden. We know how we got here. We've continually approved development. I know that this city council is mostly new, but the mayor and the vice mayor have sat on the planning commission, and we got here because of overdevelopment and poor planning. What concerns me and many others is not just the scale of this proposed project, but the pace and lack of public confidence around it. 149% increase over 5 years, regardless of how it's phased, is still a massive increase for families, seniors, and small businesses who are already feeling the pressures in every direction. We're being asked to accept that this is the only viable path forward. I don't believe that that's been fully proven to the public. You are representatives of the people. We've heard the word shovel ready, but shovel ready doesn't mean just permits. You heard CPWS say to you last month, they have 60% of the easements. That's only about half of the easements. And those are county residents that they do not have easements for. How long did 840 take to get passed through there? Imminent domain. That's a disgusting word. Absolutely disgusting. How can you be representative of the people if you want to take their land to bring a

pipeline through it? Pause is not obstruction. Pause is not denial. Pause is responsible planning. This project will affect more than city residents. It impacts the entire county, rural water districts, and regional partners who depend on CPWs. That means transparency and collaboration are not optional. They're essential. I'm asking tonight for three things. First, slow this process down long enough to ensure public fully understands the scope, cost, and consequences of this decision. Secondly, clearly and publicly present any alternatives, phased options, regional partnerships, demand management, and financing financing modeling so rateayers can see that every stone has truly been turned over. And third, rebuild trust. Trust comes from openness, from hard questions being welcome, not rushed, and from showing people that affordability matters just as much as infrastructure. Water is not a luxury. It's a basic necessity. Decisions of this magnitude deserve patience, humility, and public confidence. Let's pause. Let's plan, and make sure we get this right for everyone in Murray County. Thank you. All right, Jax, welcome. Glad you're here this evening here at city hall. Welcome. If you'll just state your name for us and you'll have the floor for three minutes. All right.

All right. Hello. My name is Jax Howard. I live at 1259 Redbud Lane in Columbia. I am 11 years old. I live here in Murray County. This is my home. I go to school here. My friends live here and my family lives here. I am here tonight because water matters to everyone. We all need water. We drink it. We cook with it. We use it every day. I have been hearing a lot about water rates going up. That means families will have to pay more money. Some families already work very hard just to get by. Some people are older. Some people are on fixed incomes. This will be hard for them. I am not here to say no to water. I know we need clean and safe water. I'm here to ask you to slow down. Please take your time. Please explain everything clearly. Please make sure this planet is the best one. Please look at other options, too. This decision will affect kids like me. It will affect our future. I love this community. I want to I want it to stay strong. I want families to feel safe and heard. Thank you for listening to me.

Thank you, JACKSON.

Thank you, Jackson. Good job, buddy. All right. Next up, we have Kathy Grody. And uh on deck will be Trevor Pennington. And in the hole will be Ryan Steel. Commissioner, welcome. You'll have three minutes.

Thank you. Kathy Grody. I live in District 6 in Spring Hill. I represent 10,000 people. I also represent about 900 people that go to the uh Murray County senior citizen every day or every month. Uh they live on fixed and low income. Uh there were 18 county commissioners out of 22 and one of them uh was had a health issue uh that is for a pause that signed a letter saying for a pause. uh the numbers that have been talked to tonight from CPWS uh talked about a rate increase but did not talk about how your bill would be affected by depreciation and how much money that would be added to your bill on depreciation. Um CPWS also mentioned that this uh plan is step one a 520 I've heard different numbers 520 million 590 million 570 million that's step one how much is the total step to get to the Tennessee River is what I'd like to know the total picture you don't ever want to do step one if you don't know the total amount of money that's going to happen. So that's something that bothered me. Uh if you think of people uh that have children or that are on a fixed income or already having trouble, their water's going up and then their property taxes could go up because their schools will pay more for water and the county will pay more for the water. Also, their hospital bills will go up, the food that they eat will go up because ranchers will have to pay more for the water for that. um just buying a cup of coffee will go up. And at a restaurant, I can see in the future if we price people out with this water, you would have to pay $375 or $4 for a glass of water at a restaurant. That could happen because

the business has to stay alive. And they also mentioned the last thing they said was they kept saying 61%. That means unless I I missed this wrong um is that 39% of the people pay a lot more than that bill. So what's their bill going to go to? I just think people move in here. We approve them to all the projects for building houses and then we raise their waters where it's out of where they can't even afford it. I do appreciate you listening to me and I want to tell you to please pause.

All right, Mr. Pennington, you have the floor for three minutes and then Mr. Still, if you'll please uh be ready and then after that will be Jason Gillum. My name is Trevor Pennington. I live at 1202 Greyir Manor Road. I also have a farm, a family farm in Williamsport, Tennessee. Um, one of the reasons that I I'm going to continue to stand up and talk about this is simply if my costs continue to rise, and everybody in this room knows that farmers and ranchers prices continue to rise. We watch it every day. We watch tariffs hit us every day. We watch the cost of fuel rise every day. And now we're watching the price of water rise. I understand that development has to happen. I understand that. I'm not against growth, but my farm is in the county and there's not a county representative up here that's representing me. And that's taxation without representation because there is not a single person in this room that's worried about anybody in the county. You're not worried about the rancher in the county. You're not worried about the roadcarropper in the county. And those people are the ones who are the backbone of this community because Murray County at its core is an agrarian society. It always has been and it needs to remain to be an agrarian society. And as somebody said before, agriculture is the largest word in our state seal. And there's not a single person sitting on this council that's worried about that word in our state seal. So, my question to y'all, or not my question, but my hope is for y'all to pause and think about this much longer because if the water rates go up, people are going to have to start

really and truly looking to see if they can afford to buy beef or they can pay their water bill that month. There's not an option between the two. The price of beef is already high. the price of agricultural commodities are already high and are only going to get higher. I also want to say to Columbia Power and Water, my family of four, my water bill is almost $300 a month, nowhere near the $50. If that continues to go up, that means that there are other families like mine that live in Sunnyside that have the same price water bill. So, the self-proclaimed prices that they come up with, I can't see how those are something for this commission to stand on and make a decision. Thank you.

All right, Mr. Steel, welcome. Jason Gillum's on deck and Bethany Torino's in the hole. Uh, can you guys hear me? Yes.

Sweet. Hey, good evening. My name is Ryan Steel. I'm a 31-year-old teacher, a new homeowner, and a resident of Columbia, Tennessee. I work in Colombia. I teach in Colombia. I teach Columbia's children. And I do my best to support the local businesses that make this city feel like home. I'm writing today, not as an economist or a developer, but as a working adult who is deeply worried about how the proposed water rate increases will affect the people and families I serve every single day. I was not raised in Colombia. I grew up in a small town in Oregon. In a household led by a single mother who worked tirelessly just to keep the lights on. We lived paycheck to paycheck. Every bill mattered. When utilities went up, something else had to give. Groceries, gas, or medical care. I learned early what it meant to live with constant financial anxiety and the fear of not knowing whether next month's bills could be paid. I am also a survivor of domestic violence. There were times in my childhood when stability felt fragile, when safety and basic necessities could not be taken for granted. What saved me and my family was not wealth, but it was the community around me who helped with next month's bills and helped provide for everybody. These experiences are what led me to become a teacher. Today, I teach at a predominantly lowincome school here in Colombia. Many of my students live in the circumstances that mirror or exceed the hardships I once faced. Some experiences housing instability. Some experience utilities will be shut off and some carry stress far heavier than any child should be bearing right now. In recent weeks, I've had students come up to me at the middle school level asking me about the proposed water rate increase and asking what that means to for their family. They're worried that their water will be shut off. They're worried that their parents will not be able to afford their rent. They are worried that they are going to be shamed because they smell because they can't shower before they go to school and they

smell dirty. As a teacher, my salary is limited as as well. As a new homeowner, my expensive expenses have increased like many educators. I carry significant student loan debt all the way up to my master's degree. I budget carefully. I do not live extravagantly. Even so, I feel the strain of rising costs everywhere, from groceries to insurance to housing. A steep increase in water rates is not a minor inconvenience. It is a serious threat to financial stability. What happens when a family must choose between paying their water bill or paying their rent? What happens when a child comes to school distracted, exhausted, and ashamed because their water was shut off? How do we ask students to focus on learning when they can't even drink water at home because they got their water shut off? That is what my students are worried about every single day. Not the math, not the social studies, not the science that they are learning right now. They are asking me every single day, what are they going to do with this water rate increase? Water is not a luxury. It is a basic human necessity. According to Maslo, I understand the importance of infrastructure and planning for future growth. However, I respectfully ask that you consider the pause or whoever bears the burdens of these decisions that it who is it going to fall on because right now it's working families. It's these children. It's our future.

Thank you, Mr. Ste. Three minutes. All right. Next up, Mr. Gillum and then Bethany Torino and then Neil Blair after that. Mr. Gil, three minutes. Mayor Moulder, Vice Mayor McBroom, city council members, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you tonight about this extremely important consideration. My name is Jason Gillum. I live at 2704 Baker Cur Road in Colombia. I've heard it said recently that I have an agenda. I do have an agenda, a big one, and that is to do right by all of us that live here in Colombia and in Murray County. That should be your agenda, too. But that's not what is being done here. Not at all. As a board member of the Murray County Water System and as chairman of the Columbia Dam Now organization, I have sat in more meetings than I can count regarding the water water situation in the Duck River Basin and how we can fix it. I have been in meetings with various state agencies, municipalities, cities, utilities, all talking about the options that we could utilize working together to provide affordable water to those of us who are living here in the Duck River Basin. There are major concerns that I have here as I stand here tonight. What you all have been told ahead of making your final decision is that CPWS's project is shovel ready. The CPWS project is not shovel ready. CP CPWS does not have all the easements acquired and we know that acquiring some of those remaining easements will be met with strong opposition. CPWs has already threatened some land owners with imminent domain. They have not finalized their financing. Nothing has been signed as of yet. And there are serious concerns as to what the enormity of that final number will be and what it will cost us, the rateayers.

It would certainly be more than any 149% rate increase. They have not been forthcoming about the total cost to any of you or to the rateayers in Colombia or Murray County. The numbers you all have been given to make your decision do not add up. Not even close. Here is one example. On May 17th of 2025, in a special called budget meeting at CPWS, it was not only said, but it was pictured in the slide presentation that the cost of their project was $610 million with a monthly increase of $1.5 million. Here we are 7 months later and now the project has decreased to $55 million. Matt Wheeler said on the radio yesterday that someone misspoke again. It was written in their slide presentation. No one misspoke. This is the exact same thing that I have witnessed over and over. How can you all make this extremely important decision with a single unanswered question remaining? The fact is you cannot and you shouldn't. Please consider deferring this decision on Thursday evening and get all of the facts before you put us all on the hook for this enormous cost, this enormous debt that will not be paid off in our lifetime.

Thank you, Mr. Bill. All right, [applause] next up, Miss Torino. Mr. Tino, welcome. You have the floor for three minutes. After that is Neil Blair and after that is Bruce Johnson.

Thank you. Uh [clears throat] good evening and thank you for allowing us to speak. I'm here tonight to urge the city to consider a a really important reality. Something fundamentally changed about a year and a half ago that affects how we should be thinking about water planning. As April Grio mentioned before, the governor issued an executive order 108 that made regional coordination around water planning more possible than it has ever been before. That shift matters because it creates options that simply were not available when much of this plan was developed. I want to say at the outset that I recognize that the leadership of the city of Colombia has shown a lot sorry a lot of leadership addressing the water concerns and I'm grateful that the city city stepped up when it seemed no one else was going to. I also want to acknowledge the extensive work CPWS has done over the past decade. The plan is impressive, thorough, and the result of a very serious effort. I understand how difficult it is to have long-standing work questioned. And I want to say I'm not here to criticize. I'm here to share what I see every single day and what that perspective makes uh that perspective makes this moment feel more urgent. In my work with families experiencing homelessness, I regularly meet parents and children living in cars in Murray County. Not because solutions don't exist, but because systems fail to coordinate. City, county, state, and federal entities often operate in isolation, each doing their part, but not together. When that happens, the real world impact

isn't abstract. It's families sleeping in cars in Murray County. because no one took the responsibility for seeing the whole picture. That experience has shaped how I view this decision. When institutions choose to go it alone, even with good intentions, they often can't see the downstream consequences. And from where I stand, it is irresponsible not to take full advantage of every coordinated solution, especially when the stakes are this high. This conversation is not about whether someone's water bill might increase by $100 over the next 5 years. It is about whether we are taxing the Duck River more than is necessary, whether we are taking on half a billion dollars in debt when there may be ways to share the burden regionally. Water policy affects housing affordability. It affects families living at risk. It affects the long-term health of our natural resources. If Colombia were simply one voice among many in the coordinated regional effort, I wouldn't feel compelled to raise this concern. But when the city moves forward without fully testing what collaboration might offer, it signals a pattern that I've seen too often and one that carries real consequences for real people. So tonight, I'm asking just for a pause.

Thank you, Mr. Three minutes and actually a little bit over. Thank you.

Next up, Neil Blair. And after Neil Blair, Bruce Johnson, and then Heidi McCleskkey. Mr. Blair. Thank you, Mayor Mo Moulder, and thank you, Vice Mayor McBroom and members of council. I uh live at 111 Sat Drive in Columbia in the Side subdivision. Um my grandfather was on the um he was appointed by Mayor Buddy Morgan to be on the power and water board back when he was around. Um, and my dad was the first chairman of the Murray County Water System. And that was back back in the 70s and 80s when it was de formed back then. Back then, the dam was in the situation where they were building it, then they were holding it up, then they built it, and um the problems with the muscles and the um um all the problems with the environmental protection systems to wind up shutting the dam down. And that all happened and they tore it down. And u the federal government spent $90 million to build the dam, $10 million to tear it down, and then on top of that um we have we've had a lack of planning with all of these people moving into town from different states and um you know somehow from we got from 80% to 93% in the last several years. Well, I I don't understand why we didn't have a moratorum on all this building at all so that we wouldn't have gotten in such a shape with our water supply. It's very desperate situation. And I and I applaud Columbia Power and Water for definitely trying to solve the problem, but there are a lot of people with sick and shutins and uh people with single parents with kids that can't afford this increase. Um there's definitely a problem when Colombia uh I

mean when you look at the fact that $520 million on municipal bonds would probably cost $1.3 billion over that 35 year period. And then if we go on out to the Tennessee River it's going to cost us what 2 billion 3 billion who knows how much money should Columbia Power and Water accept all that responsibility when the whole area uh let's include u Hickman County let's include Marshall County. Let's include Shelbyville and Bedford County and all the other counties up down the river system uh to help us out and pay for it so we're not the only ones bearing the burden. Our children, our grandchildren, that's a lot of money we're going to be sticking on them. And I beg of y'all to please pause when y'all vote on Thursday night. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Blair. [applause] Bruce Johnson. Bruce Johnson. And then after that, Heidi McCluskey. And then after that, Scott Aiki. I don't know if Mr. Johnson is still here. Um, I don't see him. Um, Heidi Mcccluskkey,

welcome. You're on the floor for three minutes. Okay. I'll probably talk for 30 seconds. All right.

Um, my name is Heidi McCleskkey. I live at 220 Hansen Lane, uh, in Colia. Um, I am a mom of 17 children. I'm a mom of 17 children. I have four minor children still living with me. I'm a single mom. I am a survivor of domestic abuse. I moved to Colombia uh with my family because it was familyfriendly and we were excited to be here and it was affordable and I could uh I could do it. If I if this rate increase does in fact go, it looks to me as if my water bill will go from $200 a month to almost 500 if my math might be off. But uh then I would probably have to move and figure out something else. I'm just one person. I just have a small voice. But I just want to say that I am a resident here and I'm excited to be here, but I might not be able to be here for long if this goes into effect. Thank you SO MUCH.

[applause]

NEXT UP, WE HAVE UH SCOTT SEPIKI, Representative Speiki. I know he's out in the hallway. Come on in, Representative Spiky. And after Mr. Sepiki, Brenda Wood, and then Chris Wood. Um Scott Sepiki, state representative, District 64, representing the eastern side of Murray County. uh less than probably five six years ago I represented all of Murray County just about except for the sliver that came into Colombia. How fast we've grown and that's the reason why we're here is because we've grown so much. City council's here, city councils in Spring Hill, Murray County, everybody keeps approving project after project after project and here we sit. But do we have a water issue? The people I've spoken to up in Nashville said no. There's potentially 19 million more gallons from the Duck River that can be taken. That's 76,000 more homes that could be allocated from the Duck River. 76,000 more homes. I don't want 76,000 more homes in Murray County.

I know I don't. My family moved to Murray County for a reason. Because of you, the people that lived here, the way it used to be. And now it's not becoming that anymore. It's becoming more like Franklin, Brentwood, Nashville. I didn't sign up for that, but that's where you sit. That's the decision you have to make. This decision you're making, it's not for me. It's not for them. You're putting our grandchildren on the hook for this. That's a decision that you really have to think about if it's if it's the right one to make a regional solution. By definition, what Columbia Power and Water is is is presenting, yeah, it's a regional solution, but that's not the regional solution that I'm working with other people on. To me, this is a regional solution. Bedford, Chapel Hill, Marshall County, Lewisburg, Shelbyville, Murray County, Spring Hill, Columbia, Mount Pleasant, Hickman County, Centerville, Giles, Palaski, Wayne, Wesboro, Lawrence, Lawrenburg, Lewis, Honewald, Harden. That's regional collaboration. Mitigating risk, spreading it out, working together. Let me tell you something. I've been sitting out there for two meetings now. You're not listening to the people. My father in St. Louis, God rest his soul, he was he was chairman of the Democrat party in St. Louis, and he told me one thing. He said, "Scott, you ever get into politics, do one thing and do one thing all the time. always air on the side of the people.

That's what I've made my career of in politics here in Murray County and in Tennessee was making sure I always aired on the side of the people. Two meetings, ladies and gentlemen. I'm still waiting for someone to come forward and say, "Do this." Nobody has. And they've had the same opportunities that we've had to sign in. What are we doing here? We're not working together. This is going to drive a wedge between Columbia and the rest of Murray County. Spring Hills already come on the record and saying they're going to go after the cheapest water they can, whether it's from Columbia Power and Water elsewhere. What happens if these projects that people are working on come to fruition and Columbia Power and Water starts losing customers? What happens to that 120% increase? So that 140% increase, does it turn into 200%, 300%. Or do you hit the impact fee so hard on the builders that you know what they say, we pass?

Thank you, Mr. Representative. Thank you. Thank you.

Brenda Wood, welcome. After that is Chris Wood and after that is Dustin KD.

Good afternoon. I'm Brenda Wood. I live at 1205 Nashville Highway. Uh my husband and I moved here in 1990 and the growth has been unbelievable since then. We came from communities where we saw and served on boards for the city and the fire district. We saw that we had to be there for our constituents. We weren't there to serve ourselves. So I think I want to just reiterate what everyone else has said tonight. Listen to what your constituents are saying. They know what they're talking about. [applause] Hello, I'm Chris Wood 125 Nashville Highway. We've been here like my wife said 35 years and I've seen a lot of increase in growth in the Murray County Columbia area and what I have one question is is that I look at my water bill and I also notice that I'm paying a sewer bill. Now with the water bill question I have is is my sewer bill going to go up accordingly to the water? I don't think that question's ever been asked, but it's always spun off of what you spend on water and what you pay on sewer. So, that's my concern. Thank you for it. We need a pause and please speak for the people here. That's what put that's who put you up here. Thank you. [applause]

All right. Next up is Dustin KD, Dustin KD, I'm a county resident. Uh, I'll start off by saying that there was a discussion earlier about Columbia Power and Water being a nonprofit. However, I will point out uh while it does indicate in their guidelines that they're revenue neutral, they also provide over a million dollar pilot payment to the city according to your financial disclosure. So, that's hardly revenue neutral. There is an incentive for Colombia Power and Water to make money. And I see you shaking your head, Mr. Moulder, but the financial disclosure say otherwise. I would also say there are a number of conflicts here and I have a a question as to whether this body actually understands what a conflict is. Number one, when we talk about Mr. Marshall and and let me start off by this. When I post something about conflicts on social media, to the extent somebody's offended by that, that's your own guilty conscience. I would expect you to ask me what my conflicts are on this. And I can tell you, I've not taken not a penny to speak out on this issue. I've spoke out on this issue because this issue deserves transparency. Mr. Marshall's problem is not the fact that he serves on both boards. Mr. Moulder served on both boards when there was a trailer that was donated to the county. The board that he served on was with the hospital. He recused himself because he said that he served on a separate board. The issue here is whether or not Mr. Marshall can vote on a rate increase. And there's the old saying, I can't buy and sell it. So in one vein, he is taking up for Columbia Power and Water and having to do what is in their best interest that can directly conflict with what is in the best interest of the constituents that he actually represents because I certainly don't think any of them are in favor of this rate increase. That's where the conflict is, not the

fact that he's allowed to serve on both boards. Mr. Mc Broom uh who earlier in the on the uh W's Edge matter indicated that he was abstaining and I've noticed that he's not abstaining obviously on the water pipeline issue um on the W's edge to be clear I noted in the last meeting you abstain because you have property that's in the area. What I would say is I've looked at that property you would have to take a run and go and jump over the water pipeline trench line to get to the property you're abstaining on. So, you've set your own precedent there to box yourself in that you would have to abstain on this uh water pipeline matter when the property goes right through it. With TEK, I have no confidence whatsoever that they can protect the Duck River. Something and I appreciate Miss Gryo. She seems like a very nice person. What she failed to mention was TD Deck approved this initially and Tennessee Wildlife had to sue Tekk. And when they sued Tekk, and I know Columbia Power and Water knows about this because they had to put up $100,000 as part of the monitoring program for it. There was a settlement agreement that was entered into later. So there was a compromise after the fact. So I've got very little confidence that TEC can protect those interests. The last point that I'll make is what I'd call country mouse, city mouse. and the statement earlier as far as uh the county mayor uh where there was indication that she was incorrect in talking about

Mr. Thank you. That's your time. Thank you for being here this evening. Yeah. All right. That takes us back to [cheering] [applause] I want to make sure that Bruce Johnson, Bruce Johnson, if you're here. And then there's a Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's enough. That's enough. Sick of it. That's enough.

Bruce Johnson. I want to make sure Bruce Johnson has the opportunity once more. And then the individual that I could not read the handwriting lives in Kyoka with the initials Jan. Just want to make sure those two individuals who were signed up to speak had the opportunity. And that concludes our public comment this evening. So, thank you for that. Uh, we're back on the agenda items for uh, 10.3 and 10.4. And I don't have any further thing to add at this point. I just want to make a point on u to get some clarification regarding folks water bill. And perhaps on Thursday, Mr. Pardon, you can explain this, but when they get their water bill, there are multiple line items on that bill that are comprising the $300 that would perhaps include everything from the sewer rate that the city pays the CPWS to uh include that charge in order to provide that bill and to save postal rates among other things and also including broadband and television in some cases. And so I think there just should be some clarity on how to read that bill so that there's no mistaking on what the actual waterline item is and that may help with one of the questions that occurred this evening. Anybody else want to be heard on item 10.3 or 10.4 this evening? Member of council.

All right, Representative Sepiki, if you'll please come back to the floor that can we're concluded with public comment this evening. We have a question from Mr. Mr. Spiky. [clears throat] Yes, sir. Mr. Speaky, I appreciate you being here, but I've got a question to ask you. Yes, sir. In your the way you stand in the state as our representative, do you see any other options than what we stand before right now?

Um, yes. And and let me before I answer that question, Mr. Mayor, um, and and and Mr. Huffman is I heard what Ted Deck said, right? That this was the only thing that they considered of a viable option because this process started back in 2018. I believe that what Miss Grippo stated and over the last year, this issue of water has come to a forefront because of a bill that I ran to protect the Duck River here in Murray County. Governor Lee having an executive order behind that, saying the importance of the Duck River and maintaining it the way it is and then putting the Ducker River agency in charge of trying to come up with solutions to a water issue. So to answer your question is the answer is yes, there are other viable solutions. Number one, raising Normandy Dam 5t. That was a recommendation to the governor. uh off- river reservoirs on the Duck River is another possibility that creates and mitigates the ability for us to keep water flowing in the Duck River. uh the installation of the of of the CPWS uh uh intake, the Harpath Valley connection uh through Murray County, the possibility of uh Murray County giving up their permit for 3 million gallons and flipping that over to Marshall County to allow Marshall County to feed 3 million gallons back into Murray County through a connection that they can build a regional water commission. I don't like the word authority because it seems like one person's in charge. a regional water commission like I brought up of all those different counties working together, mitigating risk, sharing responsibility. And the most important thing is if we can put all those people together, all those different counties, all those different utilities together, we reach down to the Tennessee River and Wayne County and we can partner with TVA, the federal government, Commission, Congressman Ogles, to possibly put a 50 million

gallon intake down in Wayne County, build a water treatment facility down there, and because those it entities are all interconnected, We can have 50 million gallons flowing throughout southern middle Tennessee for our future with not jeopardizing the integrity of the ecological importance, the environmental importance, and the recreational importance of the Duck River that the General Assembly, the General Assembly of Tennessee has said is important to us. And Governor Lee doubled down on it. I hope that answered your question for you, sir. Appreciate it. All right. I I have a question for Representative Siki.

Yes, Mr. President. Um, have you even looked into any kind of grants that could help offset the amount that maybe, you know, it could offset it? Have you looked into anything like that? Yeah. Yes, I have. I have TKED on on possibly figuring out better interest rates for Columbia Power and Water. uh Congressman Ogle's office could possibly do a federal grant if we can figure out how to do that. Uh all things are on the table and I'm glad you're you're you're talking about that. Let's look at all things on the table before we hook the people of Murray County for half a billion dollars.

Have you have you why why is it just now that you're talking about you looked into it? This has been going on for a while. Why Why are you just now talking about that you looked into this? Because Miss Serest I was brought into a meeting with Columbia Power and Water two months ago. That's now you knew about it. I knew about it from a previous and then I knew about it for years. Ma'am, you knew about it and and hold on now. I'm not accusing anybody of anything. I'm okay. What What was said? Hello. I'm here to answer your question. Okay. So, I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but you're saying that we should work together.

Yes, ma'am. The county and the city? Yes, ma'am.

Well, back in the summer, they told us on the county commissioner that we was going to get together and and work out some things, but we never was invited to the table. So had we been invited to that table, then maybe we could have discussed this issue here that we're up against now. Okay? So I'm, you know, I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but we never had a chance to get together and say anything or discuss anything. So for y'all to say that we're not trying to collaborate with each other, that's not true,

M. But still, you knew it and you should already have been able to get the grant money or some kind of funding to offset what we're talking about.

If Mr. Speaker, if you could just keep it brief, please. Keep it brief. Um, Miss Serest, Columbia Power and Water knows my phone number. They could have called me and asked me to look for grants. They never did. City of Columbia knows my phone number. Nobody's called me and asked me to look for grants. You are the first person to ask me to ask about grants. And I sit here at the precipice of a vote. All I'm asking you to do, all I'm asking you to do is within the short course of less than a year, I've just read to you seven other options that are possible viabilities that may not cost half a billion dollars. But if they do cost half a billion dollars and you regionally share that, that cost is mitigated throughout six or seven counties of people paying. It gives you more power.

It won't power. And this is the Mr. May I'm going to finish up with this is no matter what happens, whatever you decide you're going to do, that's a decision this board has to live with, however, it's still going to end up in Nashville at the Tennessee Local Development Authority, which is made up of Governor Lee, um, comproller,

comproller, the treasurer, the secretary of state, the commissioner of finance, and a city and a county mayor. they will have the last say whether this goes forward or not. And Governor Lee has made it perfectly clear that he is going to protect the Duck River. So whatever you decide is fine. You have to live with that. We have to pay for it, but you have to live with it. But if you think I'm going to be silent in Nashville,

I didn't ask you to be silent. You're kidding yourself. Thank you. All right. Any other questions on item 10.3 or 10.4 for members of council? Hearing none, we'll move on now to item 10.5. First consideration on ordinance number 4574, an ordinance to amend ordinance number 4487, the connect Columbia comprehensive plan by reclassifying the future land use designation for tax map 112 parcels 17 and 18.02 located off of Trotwood Avenue and Foster Lane from rural transition to suburban neighborhoods ward 1. This is also um ties in with item 10.6, Mr. Massie.

Uh yes, council received an email from the developer on both these items requesting it be deferred. All right. So, there will be a vote required on 10, five, and six to defer. Deferred. Okay. Yes, sir.

Any other questions of uh Mr. Massie on items 10.5 or 10.6? Hearing none. Item 10.7, first consideration on ordinance number 4579, an ordinance to amend ordinance 4400, the zoning ordinance of the city of Columbia by deanexing properties located off of Darksmail Road being tax map 52, parcels 38.0306, and tax map 66 parals 101, 102, and 103. Um, this is item 10.7. Uh, this is the issue. I don't think anybody signed up to speak on this, but that we had heard back in uh October, November. Uh and we had a presentation and discussion. It was sent back to planning commission, Mr. McKelie. Um I think sort of helped with those constituents bring that to planning commission. It did pass planning commission and it's now on our agenda for somewhat of an unusual procedural situation, but one that I think has been worked through uh thanks to Mr. McKelie and the city attorney and others. So that's 10.7. Any questions on item 10.7? All right, hearing none. Uh, final item on the agenda is item 10.8. First, consideration of ordinance number 4580, an ordinance for the abandonment of a rightaway being Columbia Rock Products Road and authorizing the mayor to execute and deliver quick claim deeds to the property owner.

Mr. Massie, did you have anything on that? Uh, mayor, just want to note that this uh is in relation to the work that was done that Vulcan uh did for the city of Columbia as part of a development for them that got approved through the planning commission. And at the end of that, there was some rottaway left left over that was not needed by the city. So, we're recommending to it over to the joint property owner. Okay. Any questions on item 10.8 hearing? None. That concludes tonight's study session agenda. To those of you who were watching on our liveream for the first ever study session live stream, we thank you for joining us.