By Katie Northcott, News Director
Jeff Damron was offered the position of Tullahoma City Administrator at the Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) meeting on Monday, June 1.
Damron has been working as Interim City Administrator since March 9, 2026. Damron had previously worked for the city as Tullahoma Parks and Recreation Deputy Director since June 2022. If he accepts the position, his new title will give him the ability to hire employees, fire employees, or give pay increases in addition to the responsibilities he had been entrusted as Interim City Administrator.
Alderman Kurt Glick made the motion to offer the position to Damron. The motion passed unanimously despite Mayor Lynn Sebourn, Alderman Sernobia McGee, and Alderman Matthew Bird expressing concerns that the motion bypassed the city’s normal hiring processes.
“We’re talking about hiring someone without doing a single interview or looking at anyone else’s resume even after we put that out for bids. I just don’t think that it reflects well on our process,” Sebourn said. “I’m not concerned about the quality of the candidate; I’m concerned that this does not reflect well on the process in my opinion.”
Sebourn asked Glick to withdraw the motion, so that the city could go through with the interview process, estimating the process could be completed in about a month. Glick refused.
“I looked through all the resumes we received, and that’s one of the reasons I decided to go ahead and make a motion to do this tonight because there wasn’t really anybody that really jumped out at me,” Glick said. “As a matter of fact, Jeff Damron has jumped out at me more than ever.”
Glick cited Damron’s qualifications as being a lifelong resident of Tullahoma, a successful businessman, a successful city employee, and a successful interim city administrator. He said he didn’t want to “lead on” other candidates when his mind was made up about who to hire.
If the vote to offer Damron the job failed on June 1, the item could be brought up at the BOMA’s meeting on Monday, June 8. However, Sebourn said a week is not enough time to complete the interview process. If the item fails again or is not brought back on June 8, it cannot be discussed again until the new session of the BOMA begins in September.
“I’m going to support this motion because I’m afraid if I don’t … it’s going to delay us three months,” Sebourn said. “But it wasn’t necessary [to have this vote tonight]. We could have done this in a month.”
Ultimately, the BOMA voted 6-0-0-1 (Alderman Bobbie Wilson absent) in favor of Glick’s motion. At the advice of the city attorneys, the BOMA opted to hire Damron without drafting a contract so that Damron would be subject to the same expectations as other city employees.
When asked for his thoughts prior to BOMA’s vote, Damron responded with the following statement:
“I serve at the pleasure and the will of the Board. I’m happy for you guys to take a vote tonight, and I’m happy for you guys to do the process. I would like to speak on the contract part, and if ever at any time, there are five board members up here that do not think I’m doing a good job or would not like me to be on the Board, I’ll leave. You won’t have to ask me to. As far as the contract goes, I would rather work under the same rules all the under 175 employees work under. I’d rather work under the same rules and regs they do.”
