Former Oxford, Miss., Mayor Richard Howorth said Friday he is eager to return to public service with a seat on the Tennessee Valley Authority board, but the 60-year-old Democrat said he doesn’t have an immediate agenda for the federal utility.
Howorth, who owns one of the leading independent book stores in Oxford, was nominated by the Obama White House this week to fill the lone vacancy on the 9-member TVA board.
“TVA’s long standing history is quite successful,” Howorth said. “There are many challenges for TVA right now, but I’ve got a learning curve to undergo before I start thinking about what my personal role might be (on the TVA board).”
Howorth served as Oxford’s mayor for eight years and is the founder and owner of Square Books in Oxford.
If his 5-year appointment to the TVA board is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he fill the vacancy created when Howard A. Thrailkill, a 71-year-old retired businessman from Huntsville, Ala., completed his term on the TVA board in December. Howorth would be the only member of the TVA board from Mississippi -one of seven states served by the federal power utility.