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Wlaf1450Sonya Lee was permitted 15 minutes to speak during public comments of Monday’s LUB meeting
By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- LaFollette Utilities has had litigation filed against it by Campbell County resident Sonya Lee.
Lee said she had filed a public records lawsuit against LaFollette Utilities Board under the Tennessee Public Records Act and that “the lawsuit involves public access to records related to LUB’s rates, billing, customer charges, fuel cost adjustments, infrastructure, outages, environmental records, solar metering, financial records, and board decision-making.”
At Monday’s LUB meeting, Board Chairman Jay Willoughby informed Lee she would need to communicate with the board’s attorney Reid Troutman from here on out due to the litigation.
Lee was permitted 15 minutes of speaking time during the public comments portion of Monday’s meeting, at which point she read part of a statement of questions she had asked of the board and reported responses from the board that were sent to her in a “private email.” She said she had been told the board would not publicly respond to the questions.
LUB attorney Reid Troutman said she could comment, but the board would not be responding.
Lee’s questions revolved around the $16 million dollar bond issuance, asking if it was intended for “repair and replacement of existing infrastructure or expansion.”
She also asked if the expansion involved data centers in any way.
According to Lee, the board’s email response was “there was no planned expansion to fund data intrusive facilities.”
Willoughby spoke briefly and said he was not aware of any planned data centers.
“We have one data center that has been in operation for several years up on the north end of our service area that contributes a substantial amount of money to the utility, so it has not been a cost negative factor, it has been a very positive factor for our rate payers. I have not heard mention or seen any recruitment of any data centers approaching county government; so, if there are any plans I am unaware of it,” Willoughby said.
Her other questions regarded public records access and inspection practices.
Lee said she would be “publicly posting” her questions and the responses she received via email, as well as her rebuttals to those on several social media platforms. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-04/28/2026-6AM)