Smithville Electric System will have to get approval from the Smithville Board of Mayor and Aldermen before it can proceed with plans to build a new substation on South College Street.
The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen will meet in special session Monday, September 19 at 5:00 p.m. at city hall to consider the issue.
Following a three hour hearing Wednesday morning in DeKalb County Chancery Court, Chancellor Ronald Thurman issued a declaratory judgment in the case of Joe Rice versus the Smithville Electric System and the City of Smithville. The hearing was covered exclusively by WJLE.
Rice, developer of the Meadowview Subdivision, is seeking to block Smithville Electric System from building the substation or electric supply and service near his property. Attorneys Sarah Cripps and Brandon Cox filed the complaint Friday, September 2 on behalf of Rice asking for a declaratory judgment to construe and apply TCA (the law) to the issue. They also sought a temporary injunction and a permanent injunction to enjoin and prohibit SES from erecting this industrial use facility in an R-1 low density residential district, and for any further relief.
In his ruling Wednesday, Chancellor Thurman sided with Rice in finding that based on his interpretation of state law, Smithville Electric System was created and authorized by the City of Smithville and has the status of a city governmental department. He further found that when the Smithville Planning Commission disapproved the substation project at the proposed location during a meeting on June 14, SES did not have the authority to overrule the planning commission but should have filed an appeal with the Smithville Board of Mayor and Aldermen asking for a simple majority vote to overturn the planning commission’s decision. But Chancellor Thurman denied a request for a temporary injunction finding no proof of immediate or irreparable harm to Rice. Instead, Chancellor Thurman said that other legal remedies are available to Rice in seeking damages against the defendants, Smithville Electric System and the City of Smithville, if he has or should suffer damages because of the substation project.
According to Cripps and Cox, the planning commission disapproved SES’s proposal based on the grounds that the proposed location by SES is inconsistent with the city’s Land Use and Transportation Plan. Rice’s attorneys also contended that the SES board was required to appeal the planning commission’s decision to the chief legislative body for the city, the mayor and board of aldermen, which has the power to ratify or overrule the planning commission by a simple majority vote, but that the SES board did not file an appeal and instead voted to proceed with the project. However, City Attorney Vester Parsley, Jr. said at the June 14 planning commission meeting that the Smithville Electric System Board of Directors had the authority to overrule the decision of the planning commission and proceed with its plans without having to make an appeal to the Smithville Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
City Attorney Parsley and Nashville lawyer Mark E. McGrady of the Tennessee Municipal League, representing the defendants asserted that Smithville Electric System is an independent entity from the city and that neither the utility nor its improvement projects are funded by city tax dollars, but rather by the SES ratepayers.
Had he ordered a temporary Injunction, Chancellor Thurman said Rice would have had to post a bond, as required by law, to cover any losses to SES pending a final hearing in the case since he (Rice) is the party seeking the injunction. Richie Knowles, Interim Manager for Smithville Electric System testified Wednesday that the utility already has two million dollars in purchase orders and contracted services scheduled with deadlines and that SES would be forced to pay penalties if those deadlines are not met. Cripps and Cox said it wasn’t right to hold Rice responsible for SES’s actions.
Rice testified Wednesday that the proposed substation has kept him from being able to sell property in his 39 lot subdivision. According to Rice, two prospective buyers recently expressed an interest in purchasing lots but when he told them about the electric company’s plans they never got back with him. Rice testified that there could also be safety hazards saying he had seen videos on the Internet where substations elsewhere have exploded.
When asked by City Attorney Parsley, Rice said he has owned the subdivision for twenty years and during that time nine lots have been sold and six houses built there. He admitted that TVA high tension lines already run through the subdivision.
While Smithville shares the existing substation on West Main Street with Caney Fork Electric Cooperative, Knowles testified Wednesday that the city needs another substation and that even though other properties might be available, the proposed location on South College Street is ideally situated to feed the entire city with TVA lines close by. He added that having a second substation would keep power on city wide, in the event of repairs or upgrades to the existing substation. Knowles said plans are to erect a decorative concrete wall around the proposed facility with a wrought iron gate and that the grounds will be landscaped to help screen it from public view.
Chancellor Thurman has given SES 30 days to appeal the Planning Commission’s action to the Smithville Board of Mayor and Aldermen. City Attorney Parsley said an appeal is anticipated and a special meeting of the Mayor and Aldermen will be convened to act on it well within the 30 day deadline.
City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson told WJLE Wednesday afternoon that the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen will consider the appeal in a special called meeting set for Monday, September 19 at 5:00 p.m. at city hall.
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