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Sylva officials choose Knotts to serve on TWSA board
By Justin Goble
For the second time in less than a year, a government body declined to reappoint the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority chairman.
Sylva officials reversed a Dec. 1 decision and chose not to reappoint Lynda Sossamon to the TWSA board.
In place of Sossamon, Sylva officials appointed recently-elected town board member Stacy Knotts to serve on TWSA’s board.
In January – on the same night he was re-elected chairman of the TWSA board – county commissioners chose not to reappoint Mickey Luker. Sossamon, who had been on the TWSA board nearly three years at the time, replaced Luker as chairman.
Four Sylva town board members – Danny Allen, Harold Hensley, Ray Lewis and Maurice Moody – voted for Knotts’ appointment, with Knotts abstaining.
Lewis, who suggested that town leaders revisit Sossamon’s Dec. 1 appointment, moved to rescind the decision that initially named her to a second three-year term. His main concern was that officials were mailed an agenda for the Dec. 1 meeting that had the new board being sworn in before the vote on the TWSA nomination. However, when board members arrived, the agenda they received placed the TWSA vote before the swearing-in ceremonies.
“We wanted the new board to be sworn in before we voted on this (when the appointment was tabled on Nov. 17),” Lewis said. “Everyone agreed that the agenda had been changed on Dec. 1. I think this needs to be remanded back to the board.”
Allen seconded, and Hensley joined them in voting to rescind Sossamon’s appointment. Knotts and Moody voted “no.”
Lewis also put forth the motion to remove Sossamon, and the outcome was exactly the same as the previous vote.
Initially, Lewis suggested town Manager Jay Denton as Sossamon’s replacement if the board voted to remove her. Lewis said he wanted Denton on TWSA to establish better communication between the two boards.
“My opinion of Jay is that he is a city man,” Lewis said. “He can bring to the board what TWSA is going to do at every meeting. As I have always said, annexation revolves around water and sewer.”
Lewis earlier told The Herald that Sossamon had not presented a report on TWSA’s activities to town officials until the town’s Nov. 15 meeting.
Allen, who supported the effort to revisit the appointment, said he was upset because he felt the will of the board was subverted by the timing of the Dec. 1 vote.
“There’s an issue here that bothers me,” Allen said. “On (Nov.) 17, we as a board chose to let the new board elect this appointee. We’re making this a Jay and Lynda issue, which it’s not. It’s how the reappointment went about that’s the issue for me. I want to know who has the right to overturn the board?”
Moody responded by saying that the wording of the Nov 17 vote was to table the appointment for one meeting, though Lewis did say he wanted the new board to vote on the issue.
During discussion, Allen said he thought the vote was illegal, since Lewis stated that he wanted the new board to vote. Town attorney Eric Ridenour told board members that, in his opinion, the vote was legal since the official wording of the motion to table the appointment only said that it be delayed for one meeting.
Allen said last Friday that the actions weren’t a personal attack on Sossamon. He was mainly concerned with the way the appointment was carried out, he said.
“We were in no way, shape or form out to get Lynda,” he said. “Lynda shouldn’t blame anyone but the party who started this, and that was (Mayor) Brenda (Oliver). The way things were handled, the blame should be put on her shoulders. That’s what we were upset about.”
Oliver spoke at length last Thursday about her support of Sossamon, saying that having a citizen serve on the TWSA board was keeping in the spirit of how the authority was formed.
“I’m presently the only elected official that was involved when TWSA was formed,” Oliver said. “There was an unwritten feeling that this was not to be a political body. By putting one of our own on the board, we’re sending a terrible message to the citizens. We would be taking away representation on one of the few boards they can have representation on. Jay doesn’t pay a water and sewer fee. The other representatives do. It’s imperative to send a message to the citizens that we’re saying, ‘Yes, we want your input and we want you to be involved.’”
Another issue Oliver brought up was the fact that Sossamon is one of three appointees to the TWSA board, and that officials should not single her out if they are unhappy with the amount of communication between the two entities.
“We can’t single Lynda out and criticize her,” Oliver said. “We have three appointments to the board. We also have to take responsibility. How many times have we asked them to come here? We have to tell them we want them to come. They’re volunteers, and they’re doing a good service.”
TWSA board members, including the chairman, earn $2,000 per year, payable in monthly installments, for their service to the authority.
Moody also voiced his support for Sossamon, saying he thought she was the most qualified to represent Sylva on the TWSA board. However, he said that if the majority of the board didn’t support her, it might be a good idea to replace her.
“Lynda has performed well and represented Sylva properly,” Moody said. “There is no other candidate as qualified, including Jay. But if she does not have the confidence of the majority of the board, maybe she should be removed. However, she should not be replaced with a town employee.”
The reason he did not want a town employee on TWSA’s board is because it would create a conflict of interest, Moody said.
“You cannot serve two masters,” he said. “If we take Lynda off the TWSA board, she’s still going to be able to eat at night. If Jay doesn’t vote the way we want him to, we can fire him.”
Ridenour echoed Moody, saying that appointing Denton to the TWSA board would create a complicated situation.
“Legally, you can appoint Jay, and I think he would do a great job,” Ridenour said. “But, from Jay’s standpoint, what does the board want? Does he have to table everything (at TWSA) until he can get a vote from the (town) board? Is he the voice of the town, or a free thinker?”
Oliver suggested that if the board wanted a new member to serve on TWSA, they had the option of removing one of the town’s other representatives, since Sossamon is the first Sylva appointee to be elected chairman of TWSA’s board.
Hensley countered by saying that it’s a better idea to replace Sossamon, since her term will expire Dec. 31.
As for revisiting the vote, Moody said that he felt it had taken place and the issue was over.
“I can certainly understand that you’re unhappy with the way the vote went,” he said. “But when a vote is over, as long as you’ve had your say, it’s over.”
Knotts, in an effort to seek compromise, asked if the board could send Denton to TWSA meetings as a spectator so he could report back about what the authority was doing. The suggestion sparked little interest, with Lewis pointing out that the board didn’t need to send Denton because those meetings were open to the public.
After discussion, Allen said that he did not want to nominate Denton because of the awkward position it would place him in. When Hensley offered Knotts’ name as a nominee, Allen seconded it, and the motion was passed.
“I feel good about this,” Oliver said. “Hopefully, we as a board can move on.”
TWSA Director Joe Cline spoke highly of the outgoing chairman and praised her service to the authority.
“Lynda has been an outstanding member of the board,” Cline said. “She’s done a fantastic job chairing the meetings in my time here. She has served the TWSA board well, and has done a good job representing Sylva.”
Though he is pleased with Sossamon’s work, Cline expressed optimism about working with Knotts on the TWSA board.
“I’m looking forward to Mrs. Knotts coming to the board,” he said. “We hope she can come in and continue the work that TWSA is currently doing. I’m sure she will be a capable member.”
When reached Monday, Sossamon, a town board member from 1997 to 2001, said she has worked for the betterment of Sylva for more than a decade.
“That’s all I was trying to do on the TWSA board – serve Sylva,” she said. “I’m not on the TWSA board for any personal gain.”
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