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Decherd Water Maintenance Supervisor Michael O’Neal, who came under fire at the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s April 11 meeting for how the Water/Wastewater Department’s operations have deteriorated, maintains he is not to blame for the recent turn of events.

Vice Mayor Justin Stubblefield questioned at the April 11 meeting why four of six employees in the department had recently quit their jobs.

Former department employees Trenton Vann and Hunter Oliver were questioned by the board about what has happened within the department.

Vann said that when Superintendent Eric Bradford resigned and left the department, the working conditions greatly changed.

“When Eric left, everything went sideways,” he said.

Vann explained that he had been with the department for eight months while Oliver had been there for four months. He said, as inexperienced as he personally was with handling the meter-reading duties, he was the one who was left to train Oliver.

Vann said the working conditions reached a point where he could no longer continue working.

Stubblefield summed up the situation.

“We’ve got a huge problem with the Water Department when we’ve got two people left,” he said, adding that all the employees left for the same reasons.

Stubblefield questioned Vann and Oliver about what has occurred. He asked how things have gone since Bradford left and Michael O’Neal had taken over vacated leadership duties.

Vann said later that the problems the department is facing are widespread.

“It’s all Decherd. You can’t just blame one person,” he said. “It’s been a group effort — everybody with the Water Department.”

O’Neal said later that it appeared at the meeting that he had picked up where Bradford had left off as the department’s leader.

“To say that I took over for Eric Bradford is not true,” O’Neal said.

He said that although Vann and Oliver said they left because the conditions had become too unbearable to continue working, their resignation letters did not reflect that.

“If they had a problem, why didn’t they go to somebody?” O’Neal asked.

Mayor Mary Nell Hess said Vann and Oliver thanked the city in their resignation letters for giving them the opportunity to work, but they did not specifically say why they were quitting.

The dialogue about the department’s woes moved to center stage after the board approved 13 rate adjustments totaling $1,583.75 after meters were misread by inexperienced water/wastewater employees, prompting discussion about what to do about the department’s personnel problems.

Hess said the goal at hand is to ensure the department takes the necessary steps to get qualified employees to fill the vacancies and get the department operating on track again.