A Fecal Fiscal Matter: State Examines La Vergne HAZMAT Contract

LA VERGNE, TN — A state auditor interviewed La Vergne's mayor and aldermen Tuesday, part of an investigation related to the way the city chose the company contracted to handle hazardous material clean-up, WKRN reports.

In September, the city council awarded the HAZMAT contract to TPM, despite another company — Premier Protective Services —submitting the low bid. When a local government does not pick the low bid, the state comptroller's office may investigate it.

The only alderman who voted to accept Premier's bid, Jason Cole, told Channel 2 he believes his colleagues rejected the bid because Premier employs a man named Matt Church, who, during a February 2016 meeting, handed bags of raw sewage to the mayor and aldermen.

He told the board the sewage — which was double-bagged — came from the property of La Vergne resident Gertrude Phillips, whose home was flooded with raw sewage in January 2016. The city's insurance company refused to pay for its removal. Church cleaned it up for free.

While Cole said the board's personal feelings toward Church led to Premier's rejection, but others told WKRN it wasn't true.

“We might not have to use a HAZMAT service in the next five or six years, but if we do need one, I think the citizens would want the best and the one with the most equipment that would get the job done,” Mayor Dennis Waldron told the station, though Alderman Calvin Jones did concede that Church's actions played a "small part" in his decision.

"Matt Church has just shown himself to be disruptive and I don’t think that he would a good fit to represent the city,” Jones said.

Image via City of La Vergne