Councilman Brant Williams sent me a copy of the following letter that he has submitted to the RCN:

That TDEC is requiring the TVA to install a liner in the gypsum storage pond is no surprise.
That there are problems with the pond is, sadly, unremarkable.
As far back as Jan. 2, 2009, at the special-called Kingston City Council meeting when TVA Chairman Tom Kilgore addressed the public regarding the TVA ash spill, former Kingston councilman Jim Rivers raised the issue of the gypsum pond construction.
Mr. Rivers expressed concern that the pond was not being built with a liner (as TDEC is now requiring the TVA to retrofit).
In Mr. Kilgore’s reply was the promise that the people and the city of Kingston would be allowed full review of the gypsum pond construction plans.
When asked about a third-party engineering firm possibly reviewing the plans, Mr. Kilgore agreed that it could be worked out.
Later in a city council workshop, I brought up the gypsum pond issue and reminded council of Mr. Kilgore’s promise to allow third-party oversight.
At the time, council informally agreed to send a letter to the TVA and Mr. Kilgore expressing concern that the pond be built to the highest safety standards.
At a later meeting, I again brought up the gypsum pond issue and expressed concern that the TVA had not responded to our letter.
Unfortunately, by this time then-county commission chairman and Kingston Mayor Troy Beets had seemingly become the TVA’s “frontman” and was actively running interference for the TVA in an apparent effort to thwart organized or official resistance to the TVA plans regarding the conduct of ash spill cleanup, economic recovery and gypsum pond construction.
At one point, then-commissioner and Mayor Beets acknowledged he was actively involved in private discussions and secret meetings with high-level TVA officials.
During a council workshop, the mayor alluded to having inside information regarding the TVA plans on economic recovery.
However, when asked what he knew and when he knew, Beets refused to answer.
When pressed that as our mayor he should not be holding secret meetings and should at the least be informing council of such discussions, Beets steadfastly refused to reveal the nature of his talks with the TVA (however shortly afterward the TVA made a gift of $43 million to the Roane County and made Beets head of the foundation that was to give the money out of which $37 million went to Beets’ pet projects — the schools and a new sewer plant).
In any case, I feel certain that had it not been for Beets’ constant assurances that the TVA would do the “right thing” and had his supporters on city council not refused to use the City of Kingston’s influence to pressure the TVA into allowing oversight of the gypsum pond construction, the pond might already have a liner and not today be leaking.
Finally, it is my sincere hope that the citizens of Kingston and Roane County take this sad chapter in Roane County politics as a lesson and never forget the unnecessarily high cost of allowing one man to hold two high-elected offices at the same time.
Brant W. Williams
Kingston councilman