Since its creation in 1935, the Electric Power Board has been owned by and its debt issued from the city of Chattanooga, which chartered EPB as a non-profit agency 80 years ago and continues to appoint the 5-member board that governs the municipal power distributor.
But EPB’s governing board is an independent body; EPB by law must be self-financing through its own electric and telecommunications rates, and its rates and payment schedules are regulated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. In October 2009 as EPB was preparing to expand its telecommunications business and seek a federal stimulus grant of more than $111 million, EPB also filed papers with the Tennessee Secretary of State to reaffirm its charter as a non-profit corporation.
So is the EPB simply an branch of City Hall or its own corporate identity? The answer is key to whether a a multi-million lawsuit filed against EPB on behalf of the city by a former city contractor can proceed in court.
After months of arguments and thousands of pages of briefs and testimony, Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge Jeff Hollingsworth promised Monday to decide on the legal status of EPB.
In this file photo from Sept. 3, 2010, Judge Jeff Hollingsworth debates statutes with attorneys during a hearing on the petition to recall Mayor Littlefield.
Don Lepard (CQ), CEO of Global Green Lighting, is photographed on the Walnut Street Bridge in downtown Chattanooga. His company has developed an energy-efficient lighting system that can be monitored and controlled through the internet. His lights have been installed on the Walnut Street Bridge, in Coolidge Park and along Frazier Ave. in North Chattanooga. “We have a legal dispute and that is something that I am going to have to decide upon,” Hollingsworth said after hearing oral arguments in court Monday. “I’m going to take another look at it and resolve this issue of law.”