WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): Many folks across the Mid-South are stuck inside today, maybe dripping faucets or crossing fingers that the power stays on. Back with us for the first time in 2025 is Memphis political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back, and I hope you're staying warm!
OTIS SANFORD: I am, and thank you, Chris. Happy New Year to you.
BLANK: Happy New Year to you! You know, Otis, when you live in Memphis long enough, you're likely to actually have to use one of those emergency hand crank radios we give away as pledge gifts here at the station. And on days like those, there's no more appropriate topic, I think, than Memphis Light, Gas and Water. I wonder: has the current president and CEO Doug McGowen maybe changed our level of confidence in the public utility's handling of extreme weather events?
SANFORD: Well, I'm not sure that I would say an emphatic yes to that. Certainly, Doug McGowen brings some pretty good credibility to that job. He's well-respected at City Hall, for example. But if the next power outage hits 200,000 people then, you know, he will be vilified like everybody else who had that job before. We'll just have to wait and see about Mr. McGowen.
BLANK: Politically, running a city-owned utility means having to do this dance of keeping rates as low as possible, while also dealing with the fallout from not having any money to modernize the system. And you'll remember MLGW was something like 20 years behind on tree trimming, which is the cause of mass outages when there's a freeze. But it does seem like his real focus on emergency preparedness, which he's he's really been hammering throughout his tenure so far, it seems like that has really helped his argument for increasing rates.
SANFORD: Oh, I think it has. I mean, people don't want to have their power go out anytime there's even a moderate storm, and of course, everybody agrees that we have a lot of aging infrastructure. So, yes, I think the case is made that we need to improve all of that, and the best way to do it is to get more money into the system.
BLANK: Well, weather-wise, let's hope all goes well in the next few days. Otis, we haven't talked in a while, so we're kind of catching up with this drama over the Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent. Members of the school board want Marie Feagins gone after less than a year. But going after Feagins has really brought a lot of criticism to the school board itself. So can you just give us a little overview of what's going on here?
SANFORD: The school board -- and there were a lot of new members: at least four new members of the school board who were elected in August took over in September -- and they are not happy with Superintendent Feagins because they don't think that she respects them, she doesn't communicate well at all, and they have had enough. Now, the problem with the school board is that they did not let the public know, really, what the problems were enough before they had that meeting on December 17th. And it was a meeting to discuss getting rid of her.
BLANK: Surprise! We're firing our superintendent.
SANFORD: Right! We're getting ready to fire our superintendent and people showed up in droves. That's the drama that everybody's talking about, including mayor Paul Young. And so there's enough blame to go around here all together, Chris. I don't think that Superintendent Feagins was the best candidate anyway. And so I don't think the search firm did a good job of vetting. The previous school board didn't do as good a job as it should have. But they picked Superintendent Feagins. And now the current school board is not leveling with the public enough about the problems that may be in existence over there in the administration.
BLANK: And this has spilled up to the state level, and now we're seeing leaders like Gov. Bill Lee and House Speaker Cameron Sexton threatening to take over the school district if the board ousts Feagins. Otis, I know how much you love it when state lawmakers try to take over local governments -- which I'm being sarcastic, of course.
SANFORD: Yes, you are!
BLANK: But why are they weighing in on this?
SANFORD: The leaders in state government just have no respect, really, for the school board and they see the attempt to oust Superintendent Feagins as wrong-headed, and they are willing to do what is necessary to the point of taking over the schools all together -- if that can be done, they're going to look into it when the legislature convenes.
BLANK: It seems like the county commission wants a compromise on this. Do you think this is going to be worked out?
SANFORD: I think it will be. I just don't think the school board is willing -- or certainly, let me put it this way: I don't think five members of the school board are going to be willing to put their reputations at risk, put the whole system at risk of state takeover, continue to be criticized and dogged as an ineffective body. I think they're going to try to work this out, reach some kind of an agreement with the superintendent where she agrees to be more responsive. Because I've talked to a lot of people both inside and outside the school system who know what's going on -- and the superintendent does not communicate very well and she does not have a lot of respect for some of the board members. And so she has to improve in that area, because we don't need to be looking for another superintendent, and we certainly don't need a state takeover.
