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Community Leaders Call for Paducah Power Board Chairman to Resign

Paducah Power System

Updated 9/19/14 at 3:28 p.m.

Pressure is mounting for Paducah Power System Board chairman Ray McLennan to step down due to disappointment with high power rates and alleged inappropriate comments made from a Facebook account in his name. 

Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce President Sandra Wilson says the comments are surprising and disturbing. 

"People who represent a community need to be aware that everything that is posted online reflects on themselves and their organization," Wilson said.

 
City Commissioner Carol Gault says a change may be necessary.

“When you’re in a leadership position, there are expectations," Gault said. "I don’t condone that behavior. I certainly don’t approve of that, and I certainly don’t think that’s acceptable. He is entitled to his opinion, but I think it’s probably time."

Mayor Gayle Kaler said she would not comment on the online remarks, noting his profile may have been hacked. Gault also acknowledged that possibility. 

In an email, McLennan suggests he may resign as Chairperson as soon as Monday’s board meeting but remain on the board. According to another email, a search is underway to find a “head hunter,” or firm specializing in finding a replacement, for PPS CEO David Clark, who is set to retire early next year but may be pressured to leave sooner.

McLennan is the only remaining board member since PPS agreed with Princeton Electric to form Kentucky Municipal Power Agency and enter a contract with Prairie State Energy Campus. The project claimed it would lower municipal user rates, but costs at Prairie State generating plants have increased from one point four billion dollars to nearly five billion over the past decade, and the plant has yet to reach peak in two years.

McLennan's comments are avialable here.

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