SUD Board Meets on Tuesday / Will Consider Fluoridation in New Business

The commissioners of the Sewanee Utility District (SUD) Board of Franklin and Marion Counties will meet in regular session at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 18, at the SUD office, 150 Sherwood Rd., Sewanee. 

The agenda for the meeting is:

Approval of agenda; approval of the November 2012 minutes; general manager’s report; financial report; unfinished business (update on constructed wetlands study, update on the build-out study, upcoming election for Seat A); new business (removal of fluoride in treated water); scheduled meetings (next meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 22); visitor comments; announcements; adjournment.

“Thirty minutes will be allowed for visitor comments at the meeting,” said SUD board president Cliff Huffman.

SUD Board Candidate

The Sewanee Utility District of Franklin and Marion Counties will elect a commissioner for Seat A, serving a four-year term to begin in January of 2013. 

All SUD customers are eligible to vote in the commissioner election. Voting runs from Jan. 2 through Jan. 22 at the SUD office during regular business hours. SUD commissioner Ken Smith, who currently holds Seat A, will run for re-election. Votes will be counted at the annual meeting on Jan. 22. SUD commissioner Randall Henley is serving as election officer.

Ken Smith is the only person who filed the required petition and biography before the deadline. 

Smith is a professor of forestry and geology at the University of the South, and he also serves on the University’s land management team as the University forester. 

Prior to coming to Sewanee in 1998, Smith obtained research and management experience in a variety of forested environments in North America and beyond. 

Smith first attended SUD meetings in 2004–05 when the wastewater treatment facility was experiencing problems, and he has subsequently served as a SUD commissioner in 2006 and 2009–13. 

Outside of Sewanee, Smith serves as a trustee for the Valles Caldera National Preserve, works on the Cherokee National Forest Resource Advisory Committee and serves on the national board of the Forest Guild. 

Smith has two sons, Sam and Aidan, and is married to Deborah McGrath of Sewanee’s biology department. Smith enjoys coaching youth soccer and baseball, and he also likes to fish.