Spencer Mayor Surprised By State Board’s Merger Study Order

City of Spencer Mayor Alisa Farmer said she was surprised by state Utility Board order for a merger study of Spencer Utility and Warren County Utility District.

Farmer said in her opinion, the decision came out of the blue after Spencer Utility had followed state mandates to source water from the Caney Fork River and implement system upgrades.

She said she had received no communication that the state was dissatisfied with progress.

“It’s obvious that whatever has been done since I took office has had no weight in changing their mind about wanting Spencer Utility to merge with Warren County Utility,” Farmer said.

The decision came during a recent state Board of Utility Regulation meeting. Farmer said there had been no new violations based on water testing since she had taken office in November last year.

Farmer said she thought Colona had surprisingly strong opinions in the meeting and that the message from his office prior to the meeting did not seem connected with statements made in the meeting.

“Colona said it was the biggest failure of a utility…the biggest failure in the state,” Farmer said. “And I don’t see that. Not on my watch.”

Farmer said she was completely unprepared for his statements.

“For that to be said was a very big slap in the face,” Farmer said.

Farmer said the water had tested so poorly in August of last year, Spencer Utility continues to show a violation based on an annual average. She said Spencer continues to send out the quarterly notice with no prompting from the state.

“Failure? No,” Farmer said. “But we’re still suffering from what happened last August. We have to get the yearly average taken care of and we’ve got another quarter for that to happen.”