Audit finds 91 percent of lights bought by Chattanooga went back to company that sold them
News Channel 9 in Chattanooga, TN is reporting a brewing controversy relating to millions of dollars of street light fixtures that were purchased, installed and subsequently uninstalled.
In 2011 - 2015 Global Green Lighting, a Tennessee manufacturer of light fixtures, sold over 6000 street light fixtures to the City of Chattanooga totaling over $6.1M.
In 2017-2018 the local utility, EPB, uninstalled 5,600 light fixtures that had been placed in service and returned them to the City’s warehouse.
In 2018, there was a legal settlement agreement between the City and Global Green Lighting transferring ownership of the light fixtures back to Global Green Lighting, on the condition of City Council approval and authorized signature.
A recent audit and subsequent investigation revealed that 5000+ fixtures were removed from the city warehouse by Global Green Lighting President & CEO, Don Lepard, in 2018. The investigation determined that City Council approval was not officially granted, but somehow Lepard was provided access to the warehouse by a city employee. The city is now stating that the access was not authorized and the investigation is ongoing.
ACRONYM DECODER:
OIA = Office of Internal Audit, City of Chattanooga, TN
GGL = Global Green Lighting, manufacturer of the street lights
EPB = Local electric utility
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