The Crossville City Council voted 3-2 against the termination of City Manager Greg Wood Friday.
Wood’s suspension was also lifted in a separate vote during the same meeting. The council voted 3-2 in favor of Wood resuming work as soon as possible.
The matter was discussed in a special called meeting after the results of a third-party investigation was shared with council members Thursday. The issue was the procedures taken to briefly close the Village Inn, allegations of an orchestrated plan and lack of due process.
Before a vote was cast, City Attorney William Ridley recommended the termination of Wood to avoid future liabilities. Council Member Art Gernt said he opposed firing Wood after reading the investigation results.
“I believe all the participants who were there acted in good faith,” Gernt said. “I hate that we can’t share what we are seeing, but I don’t think anybody needs to be fired over this.”
Mayor Pro-tem RJ Crawford voted to terminate Wood. Crawford said he believed it was appropriate to listen to Ridley’s recommendation. Crawford said it is the council’s responsibility to keep the city manager in line and limit liability.
“If this was the only time in which we had done something like this, I would be more considerate to hear what you’re saying councilmen,” Crawford said. “The problem I have though is that there was previous history and previous guidance given in situations much smaller than this but same situation.”
Crawford said the city did not provide due process for the tenants of the Village Inn. Crawford said it was not a good day for the city of Crossville.
“We have to come out strong and make sure that we never, ever do something like this again,” Crawford said.
Council Member Rob Harrison voted against Wood’s termination. Harrison said moving forward, he would like to see more training on the law of evictions, review city policies and conduct semi-annual inspections of the Village Inn.
“I believe we need to take corrective actions, learn from this, try to do better and move on with the good people that we have and not go trying to find new people that will have their own imperfections,” Harrison said. “I believe Mr. Wood and our staff have done a pretty good job running the city for the last several years.”
Mayor James Mayberry voted to terminate Wood. Mayberry said the lengthy, detailed report covered the events prior to the motel closure as well as the city departments involved.
Council Member Scot Shanks was the last vote against terminating Wood.
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