Lee County

Public Service Authority

P.O. Box 830 - Jonesville, VA 24263
Phone: 276-346-7775 * Fax: 276-346-7720

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Tracy Puckett, Executive Director
Lee County Public Service Authority
Phone: 276-346-7775

PSA ADDRESSES THE TOWN’S NOTICE TO DISRUPT WATER SERVICE FOR PSA CUSTOMERS. PSA plans to
address Town’s efforts to disrupt water supply to PSA customers.

Jonesville, Virginia – December 31, 2018.

The Town of Pennington Gap has threatened to disrupt water treatment service to PSA customers in the Big
Hill and Miller-Smyth Chapel sections as of December 31, 2018. The PSA is taking all reasonably available
steps to ensure that customers in those affected sections will have water service during the anticipated
disruption by the Town.

Due to the interconnectivity of the PSA’s water systems, the PSA will be able to feed water to the Miller-
Smyth Chapel section from other PSA water systems and rely upon available reserves to service the Big Hill
section in the event of a Town-initiated disruption in service until such time as the PSA can seek assistance
from the court. While the channeling of water from other water systems and reliance on the Big Hill reserves
will keep the taps flowing for customers in those sections, a few customers in higher elevations may
experience intermittent low water pressure during that time. If any PSA customer experiences a complete
disruption to their water service, the customer should contact the PSA at the emergency contact number
identified on their invoices to report the outage. The PSA has prepared a back-up plan to address any
emergency shortage of water during this time.

The PSA’s efforts are being undertaken with short notice. At approximately 1:30 PM on Friday, December 28,
2018, the Town delivered a written notice to the PSA of its intention to disrupt treated water service to PSA
customers effective Monday, December 31, 2018, unless the PSA paid $161,601.96 in disputed fees assessed
by the Town and signed a contract, agreeing to modify the rate structure that the PSA pays for treated water
going forward to a contested formula created by the Town in February of 2017.

This notice was provided just hours before the PSA and the local courts closed their offices for the holiday
weekend. The PSA has filed an order with the court seeking to extend the injunction against the Town, but
given the timing of the notice provided by the Town and the court calendar, the PSA will not have its request
heard by the court before Wednesday, January 2, 2019, at the earliest.

The Town and the PSA have been involved in litigation over the Town’s rate model since June of 2018, when
the PSA secured an injunction against the Town to prevent the Town from disrupting service to the PSA’s
customers, after discussions to resolve the rate dispute broke down. The PSA has continuously objected to
the Town’s imposition of a new rate model on PSA customers, which includes, among other items of disputed
 Lee County
Public Service Authority
P.O. Box 830 - Jonesville, VA 24263
Phone: 276-346-7775 * Fax: 276-346-7720

charges, an assessment of two-thirds of the Town Manager’s annual salary as

Tracy Puckett charges to be paid by wholesale customers including the PSA. The PSA has taken
Executive Director
the legal position in court that the disputed charges constitute a violation of long-
standing contracts between the Town and the PSA. While this dispute has been
BOARD MEMBERS pending, the PSA has continued to pay the Town for water treatment at the rates
established under those long-standing contracts with the Town.
Bill Carter
Chairman The PSA, through its Executive Director and its Board of Directors, is aware of
certain social media posts and newspaper articles containing what the PSA
Richard Shuler
believes are false and potentially defamatory statements by the Town and its
Vice-Chairman
agents. The PSA will only address such statements in an appropriate courtroom
Aaron Stacy forum. Its focus at this time is, and remains, on taking all reasonably available
District 1 steps to prevent a disruption in service to its customers.

Robert Horton Although its offices are currently closed for the holiday, PSA employees are
District 3 diligently working to prevent its customers from suffering a loss of water as a
result of any disruption in service by the Town. The PSA will continue to update its
Roger Gates customers of pertinent information through its website, Facebook page, and
District 5 posting at the PSA’s office on Park Street in Jonesville.