Members of the Lenoir City Utilities Board met Friday afternoon, despite having the meeting cancelled by Board Chairman and Lenoir City Mayor Matt Brookshire, to force an early retirement for LCUB General Manager Freddie Nelson.

Neither Nelson nor Brookshire were at the meeting.  Last month Nelson announced his plans to retire, effective Jan. 22. 

The members present Friday, including Tony Aikens, Bobby Johnson, Joel Garber, Mike Henline, Douglas Hines and Pat Beasley voted unanimously to pay Nelson through Jan. 22, but replace him immediately with Shannon Littleton, the city's attorney and assistant general manager at LCUB, as acting manager until a permanent replacement is selected. Vice Chairman Eddie Simpson was also at the meeting but as acting chairman in Brookshire's absence did not cast a vote.

Aikens, who made the motion to remove Nelson, said when a person in Nelson's position announces his retirement, "it creates turmoil, rumors among the hourly people, administrative people and salary people."

His motion included paying Littleton at the same level as Nelson while he is fulfilling the role.

"I'll take the challenge as the board sees fit," Littleton said, adding, "I would encourage the board to do a regional search for a general manager."

Littleton also pointed out he may be among those considered as a candidate for the position.

"I think we need to take our time and get the best person," Hines said.

The board also voted unanimously to expand the members of the search committee for a new general manager to include all the members of the board including the mayor. They also approved the appointments of Aikens, Simpson, Henline and Hines to the LCUB personnel committee and Johnson, Garber, Beasley and Gene Hamby, who was not present, to the budget and salary committees.

At the beginning of the meeting Littleton asked the board members to join him in a closed-door executive session to discuss possible litigation stemming from their actions.

"This meeting was scheduled deliberately so I could not be there, deliberately," Brookshire said.

He said he didn't agree with the decisions the board made, but was more disappointed with the way they handled things.

"Why would they not hold the meeting at 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock?" he asked. LCUB meetings are typically held at 4 p.m.

Brookshire said there were four members of the group who initiated the meeting.

"Some of them in that group of four are very angry with (Nelson) because he would not do what they privately instructed him to do - hiring family members, giving raises to family members - so this is their recourse," Brookshire said. "My hunch is that this is their way of getting what he wouldn't give them."

Brookshire said he believes the only recourse may be legal action, and that's not an option he's willing to take.