Joe Trigg, a Glasgow City Councilperson, speaks at a finance committee meeting on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. Trigg expressed concerns with the lack of diversity in many of Glasgow’s boards and commissions, especially the Electric Plant Board.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
GLASGOW, Ky. – An appointment to the Glasgow Electric Plant Board was stalled Monday evening after the Glasgow City Council voted to not accept it.
Mark Lane, a local business owner, was put forth as Glasgow Mayor Harold Armstrong’s fourth GEPB pick. He has also appointed Mark Biggers, Libby Short and Glenn Pritchard during his two years in office.
Joe Trigg, a councilperson, asked to table the vote until the meeting’s end due to some other conversations the body was set to discuss regarding the GEPB. The vote to table the original vote failed, and the consideration was taken.
Trigg also cited concerns with the mayor’s latest pick due its lack of diversity. He said most appointments lack to include minority populations, which make up a sector of Glasgow’s heterogeneity.
“My sidebar concern is that we continue to have board appointments, and I don’t see minority board appointees on the major boards for the city,” Trigg said. “So, in our community, we have a minority populous of a large number of Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans.”
Trigg said two of the most prominent boards in the city include the Electric Plant Board and the Glasgow Water Company Board. Neither of those includes a person of color. That’s why he didn’t want to vote on the appointment until other factors were considered.
“Two of the more powerful boards in the community seem to [have] institutional discrimination,” Trigg said. “These boards have impact on a large number of those low income families and those individuals that I talked about earlier.”
The mayor said he would be receptive to recommendations for the board. He said the person must be serviced by the GEPB in order to serve the board.
Four council members voted in favor of Lane’s appointment, including Wendell Honeycutt, Marna Kirkpatrick, Freddie Norris and Marlin Witcher. Those in dissent were Terry Bunnell, Patrick Gaunce, Chasity Lowery, James “Happy” Neal and Trigg.
Considerable discussion was held regarding a joint statement from the Barren County Economic Authority and Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce. A resolution was also passed that called on the mayor to take swift action regarding the ongoing matters at the GEPB.
The recent action includes engagement of a Lexington-based law firm to litigate the Tennessee Valley Authority in an effort to remove the board from a 20-year rolling contract. The action would be detrimental to the area’s economic interests, authorities said.
A statement was delivered to members of the council from GEPB Chairperson DT Froedge. He describes his position regarding the lawsuit’s pursuit, but he indicated the Board would likely terminate the lawsuit if the council requested it.
“I do not believe it to be in the city’s best interest to accept the 20 year TVA contract and its consequences, but if the council decides to ask the Board to stand down, I’m certain it will,” Froedge said.
Armstrong said he had not seen that statement before the meeting.
The council adopted the resolution calling for Armstrong to remedy “issues” at the GEPB. He didn’t give a clear plan regarding his plans to remedy those said problems.
The GEPB is scheduled to meet in closed session on Thursday at 9 a.m. to consider mediation efforts set forth by Barren Circuit Court. That meeting will be broadcasted via GEPB Cable 6 and on their YouTube channel.
