Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS)

Utility Training

The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury requires utility board training for certain municipal elected officials under Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) § 7-34-115(j)(1):

Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-34-115(j)(1). provides that a governing body of a municipal or county utility system “that supervises, controls, or operates a public water or public sewer system, including, but not limited to, those systems using a separate utility board pursuant to any public or private act, must meet the training requirements” set out in the statute.

Requirements per the Comptroller’s office

  1. Municipal board members attend a minimum of twelve hours of training and continuing education in the approved subject matter within one year of initial appointment or election to the board or within one year of reappointment or reelection to the board.
     
  2. Municipal board members are required to obtain twelve hours of training every three years thereafter. The first three-year period begins the January 1st after the calendar year in which the board member completes the initial one-year training period. Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-34-115(j)(2)-(3)(B).

These requirements are detailed on the Comptroller’s website.

NOTE: It is the board member's responsibility to track, maintain and communicate completion of training to their municipality. The Comptroller's Office provides an Annual Training Statement to help board members document annual training. This statement should be maintained at the local level and does not need to be submitted to the Comptroller's Office. As a best practice, MTAS recommends utility board members aim to complete four hours per year to satisfy the continuing education requirement.

MTAS Training Opportunities

MTAS provides several training opportunities that may be approved for utility training. To view current offerings, visit our training calendar.

For questions about MTAS Utility Training, please contact:
Yolanda Dillard, MTAS Training Consultant.

Online Training

The Comptroller’s Office provides free, self-paced online training. For questions about online training, please contact the Comptroller’s Office at (615) 747-5260 or utilities@cot.tn.gov.