Suburbs

This week the suburbs accomplished something 10 years in the making — getting two official votes on the Memphis Light, Gas & Water board.

To put it in perspective, MLGW has served residents of Memphis and Shelby County since 1939. Granted, the populations of the suburbs and their electrical, gas and water needs were nowhere near where they are today back then.

On Monday, July 13, Collierville approved James Lewellen as its representative on the MLGW board. Then on Tuesday, July 14, the Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously appointed John Butler as the city’s voice. Both will serve three-year terms.

Butler has been president and CEO of Agricenter International since 2016, and Lewellen is the former Collierville town administrator.

The new appointees bump the MLGW board’s vote count up from five to seven.

Tennessee legislators passed a law in April requiring state utilities providing service to more than 130,000 customers outside of the home municipality to expand to include two additional voting members.

That allowed MLGW to add two voting representatives from Memphis’ largest suburbs, Bartlett and Collierville.

Butler and Lewellen had already been representing the suburbs as advisory members to the MLGW board since 2023.

“I want to extend my gratitude to the mayors for their selections,” MLGW President and CEO Doug McGowen told commissioners at an MLGW board meeting on Wednesday, adding that he could not be more pleased for Lewellen and Butler remain on this board.

“While their input, wisdom and constructive criticisms have always been regarded seriously, their ability to officially vote will only strengthen the board’s process,” McGowen said.

While Butler and Lewellen were appointed to represent specific municipalities, they help to provide a stronger voice for all of the local suburbs. Butler actually lives in Arlington.

Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman has been vocal in recent years about the need for the suburbs to have more of a say on the MLGW board, and he’s happy to see that day finally come.

His top concerns are that Arlington sits at the end of MLGW’s grid and needs more reliable new infrastructure to handle growth and faster installation on new developments.

“Many times the holdups put our projects in jeopardy due to how long it will actually take a development to get up and running,” Wissman said on Thursday.

As the largest three-service utility district in North America, MLGW serves nearly a million customers.

The company touts the fact that it installed the electric and gas infrastructure that helped the Memphis-area suburbs grow 260% since 1980, from 48,876 residents to 178,896. - Suburbs reporter Michael Waddell

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