Following last Tuesday evenings City Council work session, Crossville Mayor R J Crawford posted on his Facebook page a two thousand six hundred ninety one word article (a 10 minute read) expressing why he is strongly in favor of turning over the Crossville City Water and Sewer assets to Cumberland Plateau Water Authority (CPWA). Afterwards a tip promted us to do a Google search which revealed the following:

Based on the report, Mayor Crawford could possibly have a personal financial interest in the City transfering the water and sewer department to CPWA should the following scenario materialize.

IF the November City Voter referendum granting the City permission to transfer the Crossville Water assets to CPWA passes and  IF  the City Council eventually votes to transfer the City water assetts to CPWA and gets out of the water business totally, the Mayor along with his partners could potentially make money from what is called a ‘water storage fee’ from CPWA.  A storage fee is charged by the owners of the land under a lake to water utility companies. For example, the City of Cookeville water utility charges a storage fee to its water customers.  We called the City of Crossville for more clarification on the issue but have yet to receive a reply.

Presently The Mayor cannot recieve any financial gain from his holdings in Lake Holiday Owners, LLC in the form of payment from the City of Crossville while he is City Mayor- Public officials are bound by ethics laws that forbid using public office, municipal assets, or official decisions for personal financial gain.  However, if Lake Holiday is no longer under the City of Crossvilles contract for water distribution,  the Mayor could recieve financial compensation from the new water utility CPWA should CPWA approve a contract for paying the fee.  To our knowledge Mayor Crawford has not publically disclosed his ownership in Lake Holiday Owners, LLC.