GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — Weeks after a diesel fuel leak led to the City of Germantown shutting down their water supply for a week, residents and businesses still demand answers, which is culminating in a lawsuit filed against the city for allegedly withholding public information.
According to the lawsuit, Attorney Kevin Snider filed a public records request with the city on July 27, after clients of his demanded answers as to what caused the crisis, and how it can be prevented.
Under Tennessee law, public records requests must either be fulfilled or denied, with a reason for the denial according to public records law, within seven days of the request, which would have been August 4. However, the lawsuit said the city did not respond to the request until three days after the deadline, denying it for being too impractical to have those records ready.
The lawsuit contends the information requested is available, and there's no reason for the records not to be ready.
The lawsuit demands the city release the information and pay for any processing fees incurred in the records request.
During a Thursday town hall with its citizens, Germantown officials provided an update on the city's water crisis, including new details surrounding the employee who apparently caused the leak of diesel fuel that shut down the city's water supply for a week.
Germantown officials said that employee is no longer employed by the city as of Thursday. Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo told ABC24 the worker was filling the diesel generator at the city's water treatment plant when, somehow, it overflowed, causing what the city now estimates was more than 250 gallons of diesel to spill into the water supply.