Letter to EDC Members regarding my "retirement/resignation"
Dear Giles County Commissioners and EDC Committee Members;

I feel I owe you an explanation for my sudden “retirement/resignation”.

After 30 years of public service to Pulaski and Giles County, Almost 24 years on the Economic Development Commission and 9 years as its Chairman, several years on Industrial Development Board, I made the decision to retire. Effective immediately. I greatly appreciate all the support and the business and personal friendships made though the years. We have brought major industries to Giles County, assisted in major expansions of existing industries and many many other projects. At the beginning of my tenure as Chairman, Giles County’s unemployment rate was in double digits, almost 20%. In March of 2018 it was 3.6%. We built a good team and made good progress. Now it’s time for me to move on. A heartfelt thank you to Giles Countians for supporting us and for the opportunity to serve you.

That was a statement I made to some.

The “whole” story is as follows:

In early June of this year, I asked the secretary for EDC, to print me financial statements for the fiscal year 2017-18. At first glance, the books showed us to be well over $40,000 over budget. The entire budget is only around $170,000 per year. I panicked!
After further review, I discovered that she had mistakenly posted the check for the new EDC vehicle as an expense instead of an asset. This reduced the overage by approximately $37,000 but it was still over budget. I then began to try and work out a line item budget for EDC to go by for 2018-19. In the 9 years I have been Chairman, we never asked for an increase in funding from City and County. Dan Speer was adamant we stayed within budget and I never had to worry about him being over budget. Earlier in the year I met with the new Director and she had a large confusing spreadsheet with multiple pages taped together. I told her then to condense it and let me see what she had. That never happened. I, as Chairman, began to do a 4 year analysis of income and expenses.

I scheduled a Board Operations meeting for Friday June 29th and a note was posted on the door of City Hall by the secretary. Prior to the meeting on June 27th of the entire EDC Board, Bobby Wynne asked me to announce that the Personnel Committee needed to meet briefly after the regular meeting to discuss the Director's annual review. He stated to me that she had been asking about a raise since January (after only 5 months on the job). Since we had everyone we needed to have a Personnel Committee meeting and a Board Operations meeting there, I made the decision to combine the two committees into one meeting immediately after the regular meeting.

After I announced this and at the conclusion of the meeting, The Director throws up the notice that was posted on the door and asked “what was this”. She was upset about it. I told her it was to discuss the budget and other items. She asked if I needed her in the meeting and I said “no”. The committees met and I presented a rough draft of a line item budget that had prepared. I asked the committee to approve this and stated it was nothing more than a start for a line item budget and was a very rough draft. They approved it. I also told them I had some concerns about spending and I mentioned the purchase of a large screen smart TV for the Director’s office and a projector purchased in November. I had not approved these items and did not know they were purchased. I would not have approved the projector because the Education Foundation that Dan chaired purchased one a few years ago for people to use. After seeing the budget condition I would not have approved a $900 TV. She later claimed it was approved by other members of the Board. I am unaware of who those members are and no one seems to remember it being mentioned. She later said it was needed for a Japanese prospect visit and it had to be a Japanese product. That was hard for me to believe. The committee also agreed to transfer $100,000 from the operating account to a Restricted Assets Account.

In the fall of 2017, the Director asked me about paying for her personal dues to Rotary. I told her I did not think that was a smart idea, but I told her we would look at it toward the end of the budget year. In late June, she asked me about it again and my response was, “how do we stand with the budget”. Her response was “oh, we are way over budget but we have $80,000 in the bank”. I told her then I didn’t think it was a good idea. She wrote the check anyway.

During the June 27th Personnel/ Board Operations meeting, it was decided to meet again to discuss her review, but they suggested I review the budget with her. The Director stayed around outside the PES Boardroom until this meeting was over. I immediately told her I wanted to get with her on the items discussed but I had to make a quick trip to Lewisburg and would be back within 2 hours and we would meet. Two hours later we met. At this meeting the Director already knew everything that was discussed in the prior meeting. Mayor Ford had discussed every detail with her, despite the fact the committee requested that I discuss with her. Mayor Ford has on numerous occasions breached the confidentiality of this Board. EDC has been reprimanded by the state on three occasions because of Mayor Ford. He refuses to follow the correct protocols the state has established. The Governor told the State EDC office not to allow him to do this again.

The personnel committee met a week or so later and decided it was best for me to meet with the Director and do her annual review. It was decided to do it in advance of her anniversary hire date, August 16, to try and get it in line with the budget fiscal year. The committee recommended raising her up to 5%.

I performed her review on Monday July 23rd. I stated that the Committees thought she was doing an excellent job. I stated that I wanted a few things from her. #1) was to approve any asset purchases in advance. (i.e. The TV and projector) #2 was to approve any travel prior to happening and #3 better weekly communication on her day to day activities. When she was hired Jimmy Greene (vice chair) and I had asked her for a weekly summary of her activities. At that time, her response was “if I can remember to do it”. From August to June, Jimmy and I had received only 2 updates and they were extremely vague.

Later that day I sent the following email to the Board Operations/ Personnel Committees;
July 23, 2018
During the July meeting of the EDC Commission, I commented on the review and said it went well and everyone seemed happy with her performance overall. After this meeting, the Director pulled Vice Chairman Jimmy Greene and I aside and told us “for what it is worth, I don’t agree with transferring the $100,000 from checking to savings”. She went on to say, she didn’t have any say in this. Jimmy and I disagreed with her and the money was transferred.

Within a couple days, the Director contacted Bobby Wynne, Chairman of the Personnel Committee and requested a Personnel Committee and Board Operations meeting. That meeting was held on August 3rd.

At this meeting Bethany reviewed a list of items and requested knowledge of the Personnel Committee meeting immediately after the June meeting and wanted to know if David said this, or did this, etc. Instead of me trying to interpret this meeting for you, I would encourage you to listen to the recording of the meeting. I was extremely shocked that she had issues with some of the things I had done, primarily my preparation of a line item budget. I was shocked because during the “review” done just a week or so earlier she was completely fine with everything. Suddenly it changed. My understanding of the outcome of the meeting was that the committee wanted us to work together to resolve the issues. The meeting adjourned. A few hours later I wrote several committee members an e-mail and was concerned that nothing was really decided.

It was decided to have another meeting. On Thursday August 16 another meeting was held and it too was recorded. At this meeting, Pat Miles attended. At the beginning of the meeting she stated she didn’t know anything about this meeting until it was mentioned in a meeting of the Workforce Development Committee just prior to this meeting. Jimmy Greene opened the meeting and expressed his opinion. Before he could even finish, Pat Miles stated she wanted to hear Bobby Wynne’s opinion. I interrupted her and told her she was not on either of the two committee’s but I would allow her to ask questions but I would not allow her to attempt to conduct the meeting. She made numerous statements throughout the meeting and it was very clear to me where her statements were coming from. She was not on either committee and never attended any other committee meetings. She accused me of micro managing the EDC office and even stated that City Council was only a Policy making board and EDC Executive committee should operate in the same manner. This meeting became somewhat heated. Pat Miles made a statement that she didn’t think it was appropriate for members of this Board to express their opinions on Social Media. She was referring to a post I made a week or so earlier on my personal Facebook page stating that the deadline to qualify for City of Pulaski Mayor and Aldermen elections was a certain date and I stated, “WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP”. The Director agreed with her and said she had several people make statements to her.

During this meeting it was decided that the Director and I would review the by-laws to see what needed to be updated.

In late July, the 2007 Ford Explorer was sold on GovDeals.com. It sold just prior to the July meeting and it was not mentioned in the meeting. I asked the Director to send an email to everyone letting them know what it brought and to deposit the money into a Restricted Assets account. The same account that the new vehicle was purchased from. She acknowledged she had sent the e-mail and deposited the money. As of the day of my retirement, Aug 22, the money had not been deposited into the Restricted Assets account.

During recent regular meetings, the Director has discussed the status of the Integrity “sister” company expansion and the grants, etc. on Lot #5 in Speer Industrial Park South. She has stated that if we sold this lot to Integrity we would be in jeopardy of losing these grants and possibly not be eligible for future grants from the State. She said the State EDC office would be upset with us if we sold this lot to Integrity and did not follow through with their grants. She also mentioned a TVA matching 50/50 $1,000,000 grant to build a pad on lot 5. She stated she has shown Integrity other lots in Speer IPS and they were interested in others. In my opinion, it would not be feasible for the City and County to spend $500,000 to build a pad on lot #5 when we do not need it. Integrity wants the lot as is. That $500,000 could be spent on another project that needs it.

I made the decision to retire/resign effective immediately on Aug 22 because I felt there was an impasse between the Director and myself. I felt she was making numerous false statements to me along with other Board members.

During the August 22nd meeting. the Director presented a proposal for a Revised Master Plan for Speer Industrial Park South. She had requested a proposal from one engineering firm and no one else. She reviewed a couple highlights of the proposal and basically stated it was for up to $10,000. No real details were provided. She asked for recommendations and I stated it should be reviewed by the Building/ Land Committee. Pat Miles immediately stated that we had already approved this item and she made the motion to approve the contract, Carolyn Thompson, the Director's mother seconded the motion. The motion passed. I have severe issues with the way this was handled. #1 it was over $5000 and it was not bid out, #2 I nor anyone else on the Board was given the opportunity to review the proposal before it was accepted.

On Thursday evening August 23rd, I sent emails to several individuals with the State of Tennessee Economic Development. One was Tommy Burns, our regional executive. Tommy called me the next day told me about being in a meeting with Integrity officials when the Director stated we could not sell them lot #5 because the “State” did not want us to do so. Tommy said he immediately corrected her and said “no the State wants you to take care of your existing industries first”. I immediately contacted several individuals on the local EDC Board and shared my conversation with Tommy Burns. I later spoke with Scott Rowdon, former plant manager of Tenneplas that is going to be the plant manager for the new Integrity expansion. He told me they wanted lot 5 and did not want any of the lots the Director had proposed. He told me he had a meeting a few hours later with the EDC Board in Lincoln County to look at property there. I relayed that information to Jimmy Greene, Janet Vanzant and Stoney Jackson.

I have all the emails and documents to support these statements and audio recordings of the meetings.

Thank you for allowing me to serve on the Economic Development Commission for many years. I am sorry for the long length of this, but wanted you to hear my side of this issue. I don't know where the newspaper got their information. They never contacted me.

Thanks Again!


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