Public utility allows customer to pay bill — by trading in a gun

9/9/2014

NASHVILLE — In one instance, the Gatlinburg-based Webb Creek Utility District accepted a firearm as payment for delinquent power bills.

That was just one example of a host of issues Tennessee Comptroller Justin Wilson uncovered in an audit he released this month.

The audit also reports the district’s former manager and assistant district manager spent more than $43,000 of district money on iPads and television sets at Sam’s Club, some of it for personal use, without the Board of Commissioners’ consent.

The people in charge also used the district credit card to buy more than $2,300 worth of meals at the city’s Alamo Steakhouse.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

FEELIN LUCKY?: A .38 caliber revolver like this was used as compensation for one WCUD’s utility bill, auditors say.

That’s a mighty big shopping spree for a public utility district that, according to its website, only has around 1,000 customers.

WCUD spokeswoman Karen Huffaker said Monday she had no new information to add beyond what was in the audit.

Members of the area’s Fourth Judicial District Attorney General’s Office, who reviewed the findings alongside state comptrollers, didn’t immediately return requests for comment Monday.

WCUD officials wrote off the $149.88 balance of one customer’s account late last year in exchange for a .38 caliber revolver.

Sometimes those guns can sell for more than twice that amount, according to various websites Tennessee Watchdog reviewed Monday.

“We were advised that the district manager had an agreement with the customer to pay two months of his utility charges in exchange for a .38 caliber revolver. The district manager subsequently reversed the write-off and wrote a personal check to the district in January 2014, after the district’s board of commissioners became aware of the transaction,” auditors wrote.

“The board of commissioners subsequently demoted the district manager from his position as district manager; however, he remains an employee of the utility district.”

The former district manager and the assistant district manager subsequently lost their respective positions, according to auditors.

No information was available on whether the assistant district manager still works for the district.

Photo courtesy of the Tennessee Comptroller's Office

Webb Creek Utility District

Huffaker wouldn’t name the two managers, but she instead referred Tennessee Watchdog to the April 2013 meeting minutes on the WCUD’s website.

Those minutes show James Sunstein served as the district manager that month while Janice Fenoglio served as assistant district manager.

Tennessee Watchdog couldn’t reach Sunstein or Fenoglio for comment Monday.

Comptrollers suggested the WCUD’s board of commissioners provide better oversight of district operations and not allow one person to have too much control over its financial operations.

Board members said in the audit they are making changes.

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