County Commission Approves almost $1 Million Settlement with Terminated Employee

Coffee County commissioners voted to make a settlement offer to a former employee who said she was wrongfully terminated from her job in 2010. She took the county to court over her losing her job and now a financial settlement is in the works.
On May 27, 2010, Melinda Keeling was fired from the Coffee County codes department. At that time, Glenn Darden was the department director and David Pennington served as a county mayor.
According to County Attorney Bob Huskey, Keeling was laid off because there was not enough work to justify keeping her position.
After a trial and an appeal by the county, an opinion was issued by the Tennessee Court of Appeals affirming the judgment of the trial court in the case of Melinda Keeling v. Coffee County.
Monday county commissioners voted to approve a settlement with Keeling for $985,000.
Coffee County Mayor Cordell who was not the mayor at the time of Keeling’s termination but is the leader of the county now explains how this will or will not affect taxpayers.