North FL Water Utility Authority: New Board Member Jock Phelps Puts Teetering Authority on the Firing Line
Sept. 1, 2026 6:30 am | 5 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The woe-begotten North Florida Water Utility Authority took center stage during the last three weeks of August in both Columbia County and its Utility Authority partner in Suwannee County. Operating without a business plan is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Authority’s problems. With newly minted Columbia County’s Jock Phelps taking a seat on the Authority board, the Authority and its contractors are now on the firing line.
August 6: The County 5 Demands Suwannee County Pull Its Elected Officials off the Authority Board
The County 5 voted 4–1 on August 6 to demand that Suwannee County pull its elected officials off the North Florida Water Utility Authority board within 30 days — or the County will move to dissolve the two-county authority it helped create.
We hired the wrong person for the job… That's the reason why the utility is in the shape it is in today.
— County 5 Chairman Tim Murphy
The motion came from Commissioner Robbie Hollingsworth and was never on the published agenda — a point Commissioner Rocky Ford raised twice and never got answered. The County 5 is habitually adding last-minute items to its agendas without regard for public accountability or transparency.
The County 5 were excited by citizen Jock Phelps' analysis of the Utility Authority. While not on the agenda, Mr. Phelps was given as much time as he wanted to make his case against the Authority. He provided a 12th-hour handout to The 5, offering none to the attending press.
As usual, the argumentative County 5 Chairman, Tim Murphy, ignored any semblance of fairness by timing every evening’s speaker other than Mr. Phelps.
In the past, Florida’s only elected County attorney, Joel Foreman, warned against these last-minute additions, which are banned with narrow exceptions in the County 5’s Rules of Procedure. Mr. Foreman no longer makes any warnings. Agenda items are added on whim, with any objections coming only occasionally.
Columbia County’s threat to dissolve the Authority demonstrates a critical breakdown in governance, showing an agency operating with a million-dollar-plus financial liability and virtually no strategic plan.
Both Columbia and Suwannee County taxpayers are being asked to cover a deficit of over $1 million.
The ensuing political fallout – culminating in a 30-day ultimatum from the County 5 to purge politicians (read – Suwannee County Commissioners) from the Authority board – signals a near-total collapse of trust between the partnering counties and raises questions about whether Columbia and Suwannee County governments can effectively manage vital public infrastructure without leveling with the citizens they took an oath to serve.
August 24: NFWUA – Jock Phelps sworn in. Puts Utility Authority on the firing line
On August 24, the Utility Authority meeting opened
minus two Columbia County Commissioners. Jock Phelps was
on tap to be sworn in that morning. Columbia County’s
other appointment, Walt Graham, decided not to join the
board. There was no official announcement. The
Authority’s Charter or Interlocal Agreement requires
that each county have “at least two (2) appointed
representatives on the Board at all times.” Nobody tells
Columbia County what to do, including the agreements the
County 5 enacts.
Inter-County Hostility and Scrutiny Over Consultant Fees
The bubbling, hostile geopolitical dispute between Columbia and Suwannee Counties over the NFWUA’s "Interlocal Agreement(s)," including threats of Columbia County withdrawing and pulling its funding, weighed on the Authority at its August 24 board meeting. This existential threat was compounded by intense, unprecedented pushback from newly seated board member Jock Phelps and local citizens regarding contractor fees and the $75,000 annual legal retainer for the board's attorney, which Columbia County influencer Kyle Green incorrectly announced to be “almost $120k,” a 60% error from the actual amount that was being asked.
Influencer Green exposed himself as not doing his homework, as the attorney contract was in the meeting’s backup material and showed a $75K contract amount, which included travel to the meetings.
This meeting represented a critical inflection point for the Utility Authority, which was now caught in the crossfire of a political turf war between its two funding counties.
For the first time since its inception, the Authority is now facing scrutiny from one of its own. The swearing-in of Jock Phelps, the Authority’s first item of business, introduced a financial watchdog to a board previously accustomed to rubber-stamping agenda items.
Board member Phelps disrupts the status quo
I'm appointed to this board. I'm supposed to be fiscally responsible for money spent. I look at this as if this is my money. That's the only way I've ever done business.
–- Jock Phelps
Mr. Phelps was off to a rough start when he attempted to abstain from his first vote – approving previous minutes. Board Attorney Williams advised that Florida law permits abstention only for a financial conflict of interest – "I can't make you do anything, but by law you're supposed to vote aye or nay." Mr. Phelps then voted to approve the minutes.
After the minute vote, Mr. Phelps dominated the meeting. Mr. Phelps refused to ratify numbers he couldn’t explain, repeatedly reframing public money as if it were his personal money.
He told the board, “I'm appointed to this board. I'm supposed to be fiscally responsible for money spent. I look at this as if this is my money. That's the only way I've ever done business.”
There was not much that Mr. Phelps didn’t question. However, many of his questions could have been answered by a more accountable $800 per week financial advisor, the quintessential Richard “Dick” Powell, who ignores current technology to provide only computer-generated financial spreadsheets without any graphical representations demonstrating what is really going on.
Jock Phelps reviews his notes while questioning Richard
Powell
Understanding financial information is very important.
– Richard Powell
Robert Domingue
When questioned by Mr. Phelps, Mr. Powell gave his usual bureaucratic routine explanations. Mr. Phelps frequently put him on his heels with granular questions, and he deferred to Executive Director Shannon Roberts for explanations. When Mr. Roberts couldn’t answer the questions, Operations Manager Robert Domingue jumped in to fill the void.
Many of Mr. Phelps’ questions could have been answered by adding a memo line to the QuickBooks-generated check register, an act of transparency the board has never requested.
Public Comment
This thing that's going on with the two counties has become a hostile situation, and as a taxpayer, I'm concerned... It probably ain't gonna work with two counties.
–- Moses Clepper
Influencer Kyle Green questioned the revenue-by-location numbers provided to Jock Phelps in an email. Mr. Green also questioned the projected growth rate using figures from Mr. Phelps’ August 6 county handout. This report was never posted to the County website or made publicly accessible.
(left to right) Wayne Hannaka of Concerned Citizens, Bo
Hancock of Suwannee County, Influencer Kyle Green of
Columbia County.
Mr. Green also mentioned that he was looking for a service area map of the Authority. Exec. Dir. Roberts said he would email it and post it on the Authority website. A week after the meeting, the map was not there, and the website had not been updated.
Mr. Green expanded his explanation to Mr. Roberts, explaining with enough detail to point to the Rocky Ford acreage on CR 18. Influencer Green endorsed Commissioner Ford’s opponent, Clint Pittman.
Suwannee County’s Moses Clepper attacked the legal rates ($400/hour plus $80 paralegal versus roughly $275/hour in Suwannee), the stale website, lack of public Wi-Fi in the Columbia County meeting room, and the "hostile situation" between the two counties, including Columbia's termination ultimatum.
Interestingly, when attorney Grady Williams was hired as the Authority attorney, Suwannee County County Attorney Adam Morrison said the contract with attorney Williams was a “good deal.”
Mr. Clepper said, “This thing that's going on with the two counties has become a hostile situation, and as a taxpayer, I'm concerned... It probably ain't gonna work with two counties"
Epilogue
During the August 24 meeting, Executive Director Roberts admitted that neither county has a growth analysis for a 399-connection system.
The Authority’s characterization that Columbia and Suwannee County’s taxpayer donations are “inter-governmental revenue, and not taxpayer subsidies, is sketchy. Columbia County is worse. It characterizes its taxpayer funded subsidies as grants.