Glasgow mayor Harold Armstrong speaks during an earlier meeting of the Glasgow City Council. Armstrong recently tried to make an illegal appointment to a local board.
(WCLU NEWS FILE PHOTO)
GLASGOW, Ky. – Sheri Eubank will not be appointed to the Glasgow Electric Plant Board of Directors.
WCLU News published an earlier article asserting Eubank’s appointment could be illegal. The City of Glasgow has since confirmed that Eubank cannot serve on that board because she most recently served on the Glasgow City Council. The Little TVA Act prohibits that.
“Because of the Little TVA Act, she wouldn’t be able to serve, so we’re already looking for somebody else going down our list,” said Glasgow Mayor Harold Armstrong in an interview with the Bowling Green Daily News on Tuesday.
Armstrong said he plans to appoint someone else before the next GEPB meeting in February.
The mayor maintains a personal “list” of community members that have expressed interest in the GEPB. That list contains approximately seven names, and only two were seriously considered.
The mayor said he originally planned to appoint one of those names, but that person “got cold feet” and backed out. The other was Eubank. The other names on the list appeared too radical for the mayor, and he didn’t plan to appoint any of them.
“Sherri is knowledgeable about being on the council and voting on some stuff that was taking place,” Armstrong said. “And I thought she’d do it. She said she would. So that’s who I nominated. And I guess you’d say, case is closed.”
But the case is far from closed. Eubank’s appointment was deemed illegal by Danny Basil, Glasgow City attorney, after a WCLU News article was published questioning the legality.
The mayor’s next appointment is unclear, and an open records request indicated the mayor hasn’t received additional requests from those interested in serving the board.
The request, filed on Tuesday, Jan. 12, was returned from Glasgow City Hall to WCLU News. That request asked for communications between the mayor and anyone who wished to serve the GEPB.
There were only verbal communications, according to the request. But one community member said she sent emails and text messages to the mayor last summer but hasn’t received an appointment.
Melinda Overstreet sent an email to Armstrong on June 24, 2020, and requested to be considered to serve on a number of boards, including the Glasgow Electric Plant Board.
“The ones in which I would be interested, as vacancies occur, would be the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, representing a pretty average customer, but with far more knowledge of it than the average person,” the email said.
Overstreet formerly worked for the Glasgow Daily Times and reported on the GEPB’s business.
“I didn’t get anything from her specifically on the Electric Plant Board,” Armstrong said.
The mayor said he did not receive that email, but he actually responded on July 11 to a request from Overstreet that asked him to confirm receipt. A reminder text message was also sent on July 10.
“The first email I sent was week before last. I asked for receipt confirmation. When I didn’t get it, I forwarded the original last week with another request for confirmation,” Overstreet said in the text to the mayor. “Never got one. Forwarded again today, but it was late afternoon, after you left.”
Armstrong told Overstreet he would check for that email, and he apparently did because he confirmed receipt the next day via email.
“Melinda this email was not listed but I retrieved it and we will contact you as vacancy, of any you have listed that would be a good fir thanks for volunteering,” Armstrong wrote.
The mayor acknowledged he received a text from Overstreet, but he did not have that text to provide in the open records request because he “doesn’t keep texts for six or eight months.”
“I’m 99% sure she just left it open and said on a committee,” Armstrong said in a Jan. 13 phone call with WCLU News.
Overstreet’s first request, in fact, was the Glasgow Electric Plant Board.
But regardless of the mayor’s receipt of that email, he never placed Overstreet on his personal list, which leaves speculation to whether he would seriously consider her the GEPB.
“Well I didn’t have her on the EPB list,” Armstrong said. “If she wanted to serve I’d be glad to put her on the list.”
Armstrong has not released information regarding his next choice for the position that will be become vacant on Jan. 31. Tag Taylor’s term ends on that day.
Overstreet still has interest to serve on the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, according to a message sent to WCLU News.