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Wlaf1450By Charlotte Underwood
LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- During the manager’s comments portion of Monday’s LaFollette Utility Board meeting, newly- elected LaFollette Utility Board General Manager Dave Cross (TOP PHOTO) said he was actively in search of a Chief Financial Officer and that it had already been posted internally and would be posted elsewhere tomorrow (Tuesday). He is also in search of an operation manager.
Cross said the city council had questions about purchasing amount limits and he said that he wanted to get a CFO in place before making changes to the board’s policies and that he hoped to have that position filled within about six weeks.
“Kenny Baird was a CFA, and he previously served in both positions,” Cross explained.
“The second piece of my management team that I am working on is for an operations superintendent,” Cross said, adding that he had already had some interviews this past week and that he was “trying to get the right folks in the right place.”
Cross thanked Mayor Scotty Kitts and City Administrator Stan Foust for their cooperation and welcome as he is getting settled into the new GM position.
One of the problems that he said he was working on was the utility’s right of ways and that he was looking at how long it had been since some of the utility’s lines and circuits had been trimmed and that he was having a report put together to share with the board at the next meeting.
“When it comes to right of way, it is very expensive to take corrective action and that he hoped to come up with a program and a plan that would “get the most bang for their bucks on how dollars were spent.”
He spoke briefly about the remodel on the front office, saying the plan was to have it complete by the end of September.
“The plan is to have windows open in the front office by the third of the month to alleviate a lot of the backup that the utility has had at the drive-through window and that he hoped several windows would be open by early this month.”
“We may have to close them again for a day or two in the middle of the month to get some safety glass in place and such … we plan on leaving it open, other than a couple of spots and that the hope was to have the remodeling done in the next 30 days,” Cross said.
In other business, he spoke to the board about a TDEC resolution adopted in February of 2026.
According to Cross, at the time, the management team thought it was a 100 percent grant, but it was an 80-20 matching grant for $160,000 to pay a portion of the asset management plan for the State Route 63 waterline project.
“So, the utility is on the hook for $32,000 and we will bring that to you later, but I wanted to make you all aware of that,” Cross said
Something else he said he wanted to make the board aware of was that he had recently attended a Tennessee Valley Authority meeting earlier this month.
“I was at a TVA meeting earlier this month and one of the things that was discussed is that TVA is not planning on having a rate increase this fall, which generally happens in October and we have no rate increase planned as far as me making a recommendation to you all. I know our rates are not the lowest and certainly we need to hold the line where it’s at and no rate increase is planned,” Cross said.
The next utility board meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 5 with the workshop at 6pm and the meeting to follow immediately after. This change of date is due to a board scheduling conflict. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/01/2026-6AM)