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Two of three Witt Utility Board members face an ouster hearing following a meeting earlier this month of a new state regulatory board.

Previously, the state had given Witt Board members Michael Rouse and Michale Phagan until the fall to resign their positions in the wake of a list of accused improprieties by Witt Utilities General Manager Benjamin Harris and his brother Joseph.

On May 15, 2023, the Hamblen County Grand Jury indicted Benjamin Harris for one count of theft of property over $10,000, one count of theft of property of $1,000 or less, and three counts of official misconduct. Joseph Harris was also indicted on one count of official misconduct.

When the newly formed Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation held its first meeting earlier this month, it took up the issue of Witt Utilities.

Investigators reported that the Witt Board had indicated it was moving forward with some of the recommendations but had not implemented any of them.

In addition the Witt Board members told investigators they had hired an outside accounting firm to find the Witt Utility deficiencies that had been outlined in the comptrollers report. According to investigators, both Phagan and Rouse referred to the state report as vague and referenced allegations of inappropriate overtime paid to Benjamin Harris.

A previous report outlines that From January 2022 to August 2022 Harris was paid an average of 18.65 total daily work hours on a five-day work week and 52 overtime hours a week. One week in this time period he was paid for 73 hours of overtime.

In addition, investigators allege board members told Witt staff to not provide documents requested by the investigators and instead refer investigators to contact the Utility’s attorney.

Investigators also allege that because neither Rouse nor Phagan completed Annual Training Statements for required continuing education efforts, they were ineligible to collect their $250 monthly salary and the state considers that money owed back to the utility.

For Rouse that total – $3,000 a year since 2017 – comes out to $19,500 while for Phagan it is $16,500.

The third board member – Terry Sellars – is not included in the ouster proceedings having only been on the board for a relatively short time.

On the advice of counsel, TBOUR member David Purkey – a member of the Morristown Utilities Board and the foreman of the Hamblen County Grand Jury – announced a conflict of interest and did not participate in any portion of the regulatory board’s discussion of Witt Utilities.

John Dunn – director of communications for the comptroller’s office – said the first priority is to send out the official order to Witt UD memorializing the TBOUR’s decision.

“We hope to have that ready today and get it to the post office in tomorrow’s morning mail,” he said Thursday. “All Board orders will also be posted here on our website once they are available.

“The next step is to draft a complaint and initiate the contested case with the Secretary of State’s Office’s Administrative Procedures Division. We’d like to get all the TBOUR’s other orders out before we start on the Witt complaint.”

Dunn said the hope is to initiante the case with the APD within three weeks and that 60 days would be the soonest an actual hearing could be held.

The first hearing will be before the TBOUR.

At that hearing, the Witt commissioners will have the opportunity to present evidence showing why they should not be removed.