Crossville City Council on Tuesday (Aug. 16) tabled discussion concerning City Manager Greg Wood’s resignation until receiving the final report from an external investigation into last month’s temporary closure of the Village Inn on North Main Street.

In a 3-2 vote, council members Rob Harrison, Art Gernt and Scot Shanks voted to table discussion while Mayor James Mayberry and council member R.J. Crawford voted against.

Harrison said he and other council members had received a preliminary report from the Chattanooga law firm of Robinson, Smith and Wells last night but that he preferred to see a final report before taking any action. He moved to table the discussion.

Wood resigned last week, but was suspended with pay Tuesday, Aug. 2, pending the outcome of the investigation. His resignation would be effective Aug. 31. 

The council unanimously approved the investigation at the Aug. 2 meeting.

City Attorney Will Ridley said that he’d talked to Wood and that Wood was talking about leaving town and had cleaned out his desk at City Hall. Ridley said details from the investigation report were protected by attorney-client privilege and couldn’t be publicly discussed. He said he expected a final version of the report sometime around Aug. 25 or Aug. 26.

Council member Scot Shanks said he thinks the report received yesterday may be the final report. Mayberry said that there’s a “lot more” he’d like to see in the final report.

Crawford said that a signed letter of resignation should mean that “he’s done” as city manager. Crawford added that had Wood resigned earlier then the council “might have avoided the investigation.”

Residents of the Village Inn, on Wednesday, July 27, were given 12 hours to vacate their residences after a narcotics raid revealed what officials said were numerous code violations and unsafe living conditions. Residents were allowed back the next day after the city attorney said there were “procedural errors” with the evictions.