|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
LCUB names new GM
Littleton to replace retiring Nelson amid controversy
Heather Mays - Fri, Oct, 23, 2009
 |
| Fred Nelson announces his retirement at LCUB's September meeting.- file photo/farragutpress |
|
In a special-called meeting Friday, Oct. 23, Lenoir City Utilities Board appointed LCUB attorney and assistant general manager Shannon Littleton as interim general manager, effective immediately.
“I really don’t know the Board’s reasoning for all the facts,” Littleton said.
“I do know Mr. Nelson has had some health issues, and locally, there has been a lot of rumors and innuendos surrounding this job.
“You know, that happens every time someone announces their retirement, so I thought the Board, to get employees settled down and let the public [be] reassured they were doing the right thing, thought it was necessary to call a Board meeting immediately to settle this stuff down,” he added.
Former GM Fred Nelson announced his retirement last month, effective in January. He was not present at Friday’s special-called meeting.
Amid rumors of nepotism, and after a controversial monthly Board meeting Monday, Oct. 19, the Board planned a special-called meeting Friday.
It was announced in a local paper.
When meeting-comers arrived, they reportedly found notices posted on the doors, signed by LCUB chair and Lenoir City Mayor Matt Brookshire, saying the meeting had been cancelled.
However, enough of the LCUB Board was there to constitute a quorum, so they held the meeting anyway.
Tony Aikens, Bobby Johnson Jr., former Farragut Alderman Joel Garber, Eddie Simpson, Mike Henline, Douglas “Buddy” Hines and Pat Beasley all were present.
All also voted to replace Nelson, and to appoint members to personnel, budget and salary committees, which Brookshire had voted against at the Monday meeting.
At that Monday meeting, the Board approved, by a 4 to 3 vote, the three committees, to be staffed by Board members.
Brookshire repeatedly stated the powers to hire and decide salaries should not lie with the Board.
“What do most people think about how you get a job at L-C-U-B? Who you know,” Brookshire, himself son-in-law to Nelson, asked at that meeting.
“You know the general manager right now,” Simpson said.
Nelson was quick to say, “I object to that.”
“That is not the kind of characterization we want at L-C-U-B,” Brookshire said.
Brookshire later said five LCUB employees are relatives of four voting Board members.
However, Simpson, who brought up the committees at that meeting, said, “This Board needs to represent the ratepayers and the people who have elected us better than we have in the past.”
“I think we should take back control of this Utility. … It’s what we’re expected to do,” he added.
The entire Board now is serving as the general manager search committee, after Brookshire asked Monday that only Johnson, Henline and Beasley serve on it.
Four Board members will serve both on the salary and budget committees; a different set of four will serve on the personnel committee.
According to Littleton, the groups decided to simply flip-flop which four served on which committees each year.
Although replaced, Nelson will receive his full pay and benefits until his retirement date, Jan. 22, 2010.
|
|
|
