By Michael R. Moser / mmoser@crossville-chronicle.com
A city of Crossville supervisor has reported the theft of metal from a water treatment plant Friday, about ten days after a city councilman alleged someone in the city was appropriating scrap metal for themselves and called for an audit of that department.
Around 12:30 p.m. Friday Sgt. Larry Qualls was dispatched to the Crossville Wastewater Treatment Plant on Holiday Dr. to investigate a theft called in by plant manager Jerry Kerley. Kerley told the officer that he found a fence surrounding the plant cut in two places about a week earlier, but was just getting around to contacting police. Kerley added that he did not know how long the holes in the fence had been there. Kerley told the officer he wanted to check with employees in the department before reporting the holes in the fence and the metal missing, Qualls wrote in his report.
Kerley said that copper wire left on top of motor connectors was missing, along with brass valves and some copper tubing, the report continued. The plant manager told the officer he did not know how much metal was missing or the value of the missing metal. The scrap metal had been generated from equipment that had been replaced over the course of time.
The report comes just ten days after Councilman Jesse Kerley accused someone of taking about $300 in copper wiring from the public works department. He called for an audit of the public works department, which will cost the city $2,000, and has been ordered by interim city manager Mike Turner.
