Friday 29th March 2024

Alexander rules Froedge is valid member, May meeting is invalid; meeting called for Tuesday

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DT Froedge, a member of the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, listens as an idea is explained at a meeting of the GEPB Board of Directors on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, at the GEPB boardroom.
(Brennan Crain/WCLU News)

 

GLASGOW, Ky. – After a board member of the Glasgow Electric Plant Board requested a declaratory judgment two months ago from the Barren Circuit Court, the court has returned an analysis.

DT Froedge submitted a request for the judgment to the court on May 15.

Froedge called a meeting on May 5, which was deemed invalid by the court. That meeting formed controversy between Tag Taylor, GEPB chairperson, and Froedge.

Taylor canceled the meeting that was called May 5, citing various irregularities in the method used to call the meeting. Taylor cited, among other irregularities, that Froedge was not a valid board member due to his previous resignation on May 28, 2019.

Judge John T. Alexander wrote in an order July 2 that Froedge remains a board member because his resignation was never accepted by Glasgow Mayor Harold Armstrong.

“Under Kentucky law, ‘the resignation of a public officer does not become effective until accepted by the proper authority, or by equivalent action, such as the appointment of a successor,’” Alexander wrote. “Thus, ‘[o]ral attempts to resign from office are legally ineffective.’”

Although members of the Glasgow Electric Plant Board voted to accept Froedge’s resignation the court ruled “that entity was not the ‘proper authority’ to accept it.”

“Therefore the attempt at resignation was not effective,” Alexander said.

The concept of the proper authority to accept a resignation, as it pertains to the GEPB, was a central idea within this case.

Alexander also reasoned that the Glasgow City Council could remove Froedge, or any member of the GEPB, for actions of inefficiency, neglect of duty, misfeasance, nonfeasance, or malfeasance.

Board members Taylor and Libby Short recently asserted board members Marlin Witcher and Glen Pritchard committed acts that would constitute their removal. The Glasgow City Council took those matters into closed session on June 26 but took no action.

Alexander declared that the May 5 meeting that took place in the drive-thru of the Glasgow Electric Plant Board was invalid.

Froedge called that meeting, but the Little TVA Act – the governing set of statutes of the GEPB – gives a directive that two members of the board can call a special meeting, and the chairperson or the secretary-treasurer must provide notice.

Neither of those actions took place.

“While his email stated that he, Witcher, and Pritchard wished to convene a meeting, only Froedge issued the call,” Alexander wrote.

Froedge had reasoned in a brief filed in the court that Witcher and Pritchard never claimed they did not want the meeting, thus the meeting should have been considered legal because three members called it.

“The statute, however, plainly does not provide for a rebuttable presumption that a member intended to call a meeting unless he or she opts out,” Alexander wrote. “Rather, it requires that an affirmative step be taken to call a meeting. Acquiescence through silence does not suffice.”

The court also said provisions in S.B. 150 were violated with the meeting. That bill was passed by the General Assembly in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In that event, the agency must ‘[p]rovide specific information on how any member of the public or media organization can access the meeting,’” the order said. “Assuming arguendo that Froedge’s email sufficed as official notice of the meeting, it contained no such specific information.”

In its final ruling, the court decided Froedge is a valid member, but the May 5 meeting was invalid, and any action taken at that meeting is to be considered moot.

Froedge called a special-called meeting on Monday. The meeting is set for Tuesday, July 7 at 4 p.m.

“In the event the Zoom meeting is void or inoperative, the board will convene in person in the GEPB board room or in the parking lot,” Froedge wrote.

The notice was sent much like the prior notice for the May 5 meeting. Witcher and Pritchard’s names are attached, but Witcher’s approval to call the meeting was not attached as of 10:15 a.m. on Monday.

“Marlin Witcher and Glen Pritchard will demonstrate their intent to call this special meeting of the GEPB, consistent with KRS 96.770, by replying to all Board members and indicating such intent,” Froedge said.

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