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Wlaf1450‘This grievance is basically broken into two sections in general’- Board Chairman Jay Willoughby
By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- The LaFollette Utility Board (LUB) approved an investigation process to look into a grievance made by utility employee Eric Griffith against the utility’s general manager, and other administrative staff at its Monday evening workshop and meeting. Griffith, along with several other LUB employees, were in attendance at the meeting. According to Griffith, he is a general foreman with the utility company. The utility board, in accordance with its own personnel policy, approved for board chairman Jay Willoughby to begin the process of investigating the grievance. Once he is done, he will report back to the board. As part of the process, it was stated that there will be “no retaliation or retribution” against any employees.
During the workshop, Willoughby added an item to the meeting agenda, saying that the board had some personnel items that needed to be discussed.
A “legal and confidential” letter was handed out to board members before the workshop began. (WLAF has requested a copy of the grievance letter, as well as the board’s policy)
Willoughby said he had been recently contacted by board attorney Reid Troutman, who made him aware of the grievance and provided him with a copy of it.
According to Willoughby, the grievance had been filed against LUB’s General Manager Regina Kennedy and “possibly some other members of the administration staff.”
“This grievance is basically broken into two sections in general; one had to do with human resource (HR) questions, procedures and employee relationship type questions that had arisen and the other section was on some areas that require us to collect some data, which I have had done today, about one of our contractors and asked us to prepare this and hand it over to our attorney,” Willoughby said. He passed the information directly to the board attorney during the workshop.
“That is all the information we have regarding one of our contractors, and you are aware of the situation that was in the grievance that we had,” Willoughby said. Troutman said he would review the paperwork and “compare it to the information in the grievance itself.”
Willoughby asked him to conduct an inquiry into the information provided and to then advise the board “how best to proceed” as far as that part of the grievance.
Troutman agreed that the grievance had “two components, one dealing with personnel issues, the other one is with other issues and allegations that some things were not done correctly,” Troutman said. He explained to the board that the personnel issues would be dealt with through sections 301 and 309 of the board’s personnel policy, leaving the board chairman to conduct an internal investigation into the grievance.
“That responsibility will fall on you since it involves the general manager,” Troutman said.
Willoughby proposed appointing a second board member to aid him, asking if Laura Byrge would be willing to be the second board member assisting with the task. Byrge said she had reservations about doing so, leaving Willoughby to conduct the investigation.
Troutman said that there “was no timeline suggested” but that he believed it should be done as soon as possible.
“You need to do some background investigation, and we are talking about the personnel issue at this point and then you will report back to the board in some capacity with a recommendation,” Troutman explained.
Willoughby said he felt the grievance needed dealt with as a whole, but he felt the “HR stuff should be dealt with first” as the other part of the grievance would take longer to look into. Willoughby said he would try to get started on the investigation later in the week and that he would like to report back to the board regarding the HR part of the grievance by LUB’s next meeting, which is scheduled for February 23.
“I will be talking to a whole bunch of different people,” Willoughby said.
LUB Manager Regina Kennedy spoke briefly during the workshop, saying she wanted to be “very clear and very professional” with what she had to say.
“Given the history of the current grievance that is out there and threatening behavior, I do not believe it is appropriate or safe for me to have a working relationship with Mr. Griffith going forward. I am not asking to shortcut anything, I am just asking the board to assist me in setting a structure that ensures that LUB continues to operate smoothly, that we minimize disruptions and that it protects everyone involved until the investigation is done. And for my protection, I want you to know, I will not communicate with Mr. Griffith anymore, I will not talk to him on the phone, I will have zero communication, so I want that stated, because I feel threatened; that is my statement to you and I want that part noted for the record,” Kennedy said.
Willoughby asked if she intended to structure that communication through a third party.
“We can do that, we have an issue at hand with a direct supervisor that needs to be addressed as well, I don’t mind handling that, however, I don’t want that added to a list of grievances,” Kennedy said.
Willoughby said it was obvious that there was a breakdown in communications and that he would appreciate cooperation from both sides while he does his due diligence in looking into the issue. He asked Kennedy to keep him appraised of what she puts in place.
“I am going to be there for both sides, I am going to be interviewing people in all the departments of this organization at different levels in confidentiality and I will come up with the best determination and results that I can doing so in fairness to everybody involved, so that it is a clean slate as far as I am concerned and I am going into it in a fair and equitable manner,” Willoughby said.
Griffith spoke briefly at the workshop, saying he was concerned about retribution and retaliation due to the grievance.
“I don’t talk to her anyway … I have stayed professional the whole time, there is no hatred,” Griffith said. He urged the board to put it in writing or “on a piece of paper” that there would be no retaliation, and that if they did not, “it would cost down the line.”
Willoughby assured Griffith that when the board voted in the meeting in official action, that would be added.
“There will be a motion made and passed by this board there will be no retribution to any employee in this organization as a result of any of the activities going on as a result of this,” Willoughby said.
The meeting was very brief, with a vote on the grievance investigation process the only item action was taken. The board unanimously approved Willoughby to look into the grievance, as per the utility personnel policy, “with no retribution to any employees in the utility.”
“I would like our employees to feel assured and be reassured that if there is any form of retribution, any proven retribution, it will be dealt with swiftly,” Willoughby said.
During the workshop, Kennedy, board members and others thanked LUB employees for what they do “day in and day out” especially during winter weather extremes.
“What you guys do is above and beyond the call of duty on many days and we are all aware of that, and that’s why these things concern us and we are going to make sure that our employees and our management team are pulling together and working together in a way that benefits all, including the community,” Willoughby said.
LaFollette Utility will be closed on February 16 for the holiday. Monday, February 23, is the next meeting. The workshop will begin at 6 pm, with the meeting to follow immediately after. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-02/03/2026-6AM)