Board of Commissioners
Todd Murphy
Chairman
Todd Murphy is a native of Dickson County, a 1995 graduate of Dickson County High School, and he attended Austin Peay State University.
He is co-owner of The Cellar Wine & Spirits; Highway 48 Storage Facility; and Murphy Food Stores located in Charlotte and Fairview. He is also a current member of the Charlotte Lions Club.
Mr. Murphy’s other board affiliations include: Tennessee Grocer’s & Convenience Store Association – Current Board Member, Tennessee Grocer’s Education Foundation – Past Chairman; Charlotte Lions Club – Past President and Past Secretary; and, Dickson County Chamber of Commerce – Board Member 2003-2008. He has also served on the Water Authority Board since 2016 representing the Harpeth area of WADC’s service area and was elected Chairman in December 2020.
Dr. Don L. Weiss, Jr.
Mayor, City of Dickson, and Vice-Chairman
As the 26th mayor of the City of Dickson, Dr. Don L. Weiss Jr. has served as mayor longer than anyone else in the 123-year history of the city. He has served the citizens of Dickson as an elected public servant for over 35 years.
Mayor Weiss was elected to the Dickson City Council representing the First Ward in September 1987 and re-elected in September 1991. Following the resignation of Tom Waychoff after 10 years as mayor, the Dickson City Council appointed Vice Mayor Weiss to complete his term in December 1993. Mayor Weiss was elected to his first four-year term as mayor in September 1995. He has since been re-elected in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, with his current term to expire in 2023. Now in his 30th year as mayor, nobody else has served longer than 16 years since the City was founded in 1899.
A Dickson native and the son of the late Donnie and Alice Weiss, Mayor Weiss graduated from Dickson County High School in 1976. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1980 and in 1986 received his Doctor of Optometry degree from Southern College of Optometry in Memphis.
Mayor Weiss is married to the former Dr. Lori White of Malvern, Arkansas, and they have two sons: Trae (wife McKayla) and Taylor (wife Amanda); a grandson, Bain; and a granddaughter due in May 2023. The Weisses formerly owned Weiss’ Dickson Eye Health before retiring in 2021.
Mayor Weiss is a member of the Dickson County Chamber, where he serves on the Board of Directors. He serves on the boards of the Greater Dickson Gas Authority, Water Authority of Dickson County, Dickson County E-911 and various state and regional organizations. He is a member of the Tennessee Optometric Association and Tennessee Academy of Optometry.
Paula Y. Eleazar
Secretary/Treasurer
Ms. Eleazar is currently the owner and proprietor of Cajun Lake Lodge in Burns, TN, which is an event venue with lodging. She began this business eleven years ago after a retirement period in Florida where she held several key positions in civic and volunteer organizations.
Ms. Eleazar is currently on the Board of the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum in Dickson, TN and was recently on the Dickson Chamber Board for four years, one as Chairman.
Ms. Eleazar was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vger Technologies, a start-up digital rights management healthcare technology company in Nashville. Prior to that, she worked in the healthcare industry for twenty-five plus years, most recently as the Chief Information Officer for OrNda Healthcorp in Nashville, where she was a part of the senior management team that took the company public on the NYSE. OrNda was the third largest investor-owned hospital company in the U. S. until it was acquired by Tenet Health Systems. Ms. Eleazar spent twelve years at Hospital Corporation of America in various line and staff management positions related to information technology and was Assistant Administrator (COO) at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, an HCA facility in Richmond, VA. She began her career in Health Information Technology and spent nine years managing health information departments at three hospitals in Louisiana.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Record Science from the University of Louisiana and a Masters of Science in Public Health from Tulane University. She was a member of the 3M Health Systems National Advisory Board and was a nationally recognized expert and speaker in the area of healthcare information systems.
R. Darrell James, PE
A native of Tennessee, Mr. James obtained a Bachelor of Science, Engineering degree from the University of Tennessee in 1980 with graduate studies in Engineering Management. He entered the profession in 1976 as a draftsman/junior bridge designer for the Tennessee Department of Transportation Division of Structures. Afterward Mr. James was associated with a consulting engineering firm for 12 years where he held the positions of Vice President and Director of Computer Applications. In 1990, Mr. James founded the firm of James + Associates. As President of James + Associates, Mr. James maintains the overall responsibility for projects completed by the firm as well as development and design of projects with unique or special requirements. Mr. James has been involved in applying computer technology to engineering and facility management problems for over 30 years and has authored over 20 papers in the field of study.
A licensed engineer in Tennessee and Kentucky, Mr. James has served in numerous capacities with the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers, serving as State President in 1996. He is a Fellow Member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and has served as the Tennessee delegate to NSPE multiple times. As a member of the Engineers Association of Nashville, he has served as an officer and President of the Society. Mr. James is also active in the American Council of Consulting Engineers, Consulting Engineers of Tennessee, and the Tennessee Highway Engineers.
Mr. James has also served locally as a Board Member of the former Turnbull-White Bluff Utility District and the Dickson County Planning Commission and currently serves on the Board of the Clement Railroad Hotel Museum. Mr. James has also served as adjunct faculty at Nashville State Community College and Vanderbilt University.
Appointed by the Speaker of the House of the Legislature to the Tennessee Science and Technology Council in 1996, Mr. James also is a founding Board Member of the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation. The TTDC is administered by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development whose mission is to assist in the economic development of technology in the State of Tennessee.
Michael Outlaw
Michael Outlaw was elected to the Dickson City Council to represent the 4th ward in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021. Mr. Outlaw was appointed to the Board of Commissioners of the Water Authority of Dickson County in November 2021. [Full Bio Pending]
The Board of Commissioners for the Water Authority of Dickson County meet in regular session at 5:00 PM on the second Monday of each month in the Board Room of the Authority’s office located at 101 Cowan Road, Dickson, Tennessee.
(Note: Effective beginning with the November 14, 2022 meeting, the regular meeting time is changing from the former 6:00 PM start to a 5:00 PM start indefinitely.)