Martel LCUB merger sent to compt

Martel, LCUB merger sent to comptroller

Jeremy Nash news-herald.net

One month after a consolidation agreement was reached between Martel Utility District and Lenoir City Utilities Board, the proposal has been sent to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury for review. Shannon Littleton, LCUB general manager, said attorneys from both sides worked on a few final touches.

“The two lawyers that were working on it, Michael Wall for Martel and Bud Gilbert on our side,” Littleton said. “There were still some technical language, even though the parties had agreed on it, there was still probably some legal work that needed to be worked out. I think two of the sections I remembered, they wanted to make the rate-making section a little clearer and there was a second section in the agreement that dealt with warranties and some due diligence items that LCUB would need to perform before closing and they just wanted to tighten those sections up in the agreement.

“The state comptroller, by the way, will not do an approval per se, but they’re going to review the document to see if there’s any regulatory heartburn,” he added.

Mark White, Martel board member, said both sides looked at the proposal another three or four times with “moderate changes on it.”

“The stuff was done essentially, it was just wording, and they got the wording where both of them agreed upon it,” White said. “But it has been sent to the comptroller’s office is my understanding now.”

If there is no further holdup, Littleton hopes to move forward soon. He expects a response from the comptroller by the end of May.

“If they don’t have any issues with the agreement then that should be stated fairly soon from them from the state comptroller’s office,” Littleton said. “I would assume probably 30 to 45 days after that document is returned to us that we’ll be able to set closing. ... Let’s just act like these are true statements for a second and let’s say in a week or two weeks the comptroller’s office, two weeks at worst, and then upon return then we will immediately call the mayor’s office, the county mayor’s office, and set a public necessity hearing, which will be 30 days out from the by the time we get released from the comptroller’s office.”

A public necessity meeting with Loudon County Mayor Rollen “Buddy” Bradshaw remains unknown, White said.

“As soon as we get word that the comptroller’s fine then we’ll set that date,” Littleton said. “I’m hoping, and again I don’t know how our current pandemic issue is affecting the state and their office work, but I’m assuming that document will be turned around pretty quickly from the state comptroller’s office.”

Discussion between the two sides have been ongoing since August when LCUB initially approved moving forward with the process. Lenoir City Council in October approved plans for the agreement.

“It’s just for their review,” White said. “We want everybody happy before we sign this thing and then have problems later, so we want to go ahead and make sure everything’s the way they want it.