Utility chairman says steps taken to assure water supply.

Byline: Dick Cook

Jun. 10--Jerry Lee, the chairman of the Catoosa Utility District, asked more than 18,000 customers last week to stop any outside watering on a voluntary basis to allow the utility to fill its depleted water tanks.

Mr. Lee, a barber by trade, was elected to the water board almost a decade ago. He recently sat down with the Chattanooga Times Free Press to talk about drought, where Catoosa's utility gets its water and how growth in North Georgia is affecting the operation of his organization.

Q: You're a barber. How and why did you get involved in the Catoosa Utility District?

A: I had a daughter-in-law that worked there and she had lost her job, and we thought she lost it without probable cause. I had a friend of mine discussing it one day, and he told me that I ought to run for the water board.

I didn't realize there was as much politics in it as there was. When I got into the race, I got into it to …