The issue is, many years ago, the developer of the subdivision went belly up and skipped town without putting the final layer of asphalt on certain streets. Under the planning rules at that time, developers were required to maintain a letter of credit, with their bank, just incase they didn't finish their work. That letter of credit could then be cashed in by the city to finish the unfinished work.

At the January commission meeting, Aikens told commissioners that former city/county planner, Russ Newman, had allowed the letter of credit to expire. Aikens maintained that Newman was a county employee and as such, the county held some responsibility for the cost to finish the streets. Further investigation and research refuted Aiken's claims on both accounts.

Former city/county planner, Russ Newman, was not a county employee and there was no evidence that Newman allowed the letter of credit to expire. Mr. Newman was hired by and was employed by the Executive Planning Council of the Regional Planning Commission in 1999. The Regional Planning Commission was funded by Loudon County, Lenoir City and Loudon City. The Executive Planning Council was established in 1994 and continued till 2009 when Lenoir City pulled out of the Regional Planning Commission to instead have their own planning commission.

The research also found that all documents pertaining to the Allenbrook subdivision, including Letter's Of Credit, were passed to the newly established Lenoir City Planning Commission on June 12, 2009. According to the Allenbrook HOA president, those Letter's Of Credit can not be found by Lenoir City Planning office now.

With the new and additional information available, a majority of county commissioners voted at Monday's meeting to rescind the February vote giving the city $55,000.00. The good news for the Allenbrook residents is, back on February 25th, the city voted to pave the Allenbrook streets regardless of whether the county participated or not.