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Two of three Witt Utility Board members have resigned and the Utility’s indicted general manager has been fired, according to reports.

The management of the Utility has come under fire following a Comptroller’s report that led to several allegations of malfeasance or mismanagement.

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. His brother, Joseph Harris, was also indicted on one count of official misconduct.

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 all, Harris was paid more than $65,000 in overtime in a six month period.

In June, the state board regulating utility districts gave Witt officials until September to – in essence – resign or face ouster hearings.

However, after that hearing 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. The investigation further revealed board members Michael Rouse and Michael Phagan had not preformed state required continuing education and were not entitled to the money they had been paid.

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

On July 1, the state changed the way its utility districts are governed, convening a new board, Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation. That board voted to dispense with the grace period for Phagan and Harris to resign and to begin the process of ouster hearings.

Earlier this month, the Witt Board met and when it became clear that Phagan was going to make a motion to fire Harris, Rouse resigned on the spot.

Phagan and the third board member, Terry Sellars, then moved forward with the termination.

Phagan the worked with the comptroller’s office to work out an agreement in which he would resign in October.

Witt Utility District (district) in Morristown, Tennessee, provides water service to approximately 2,200 customers in Hamblen and Jefferson counties.