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CAMPBELL COUNTY, TN (SPECIAL TO WLAF)- Campbell County Board of Education Attorney Dail Cantrell shares a response to a portion of a story that was published on Wednesday here on WLAF.
From the publisher: After not speaking during Tuesday’s BOE meeting when she was allowed time, Emily Gaylor, with GCE Construction, approached WLAF’s Charlotte Underwood as Underwood was leaving the courtroom after the meeting had concluded. As written in the original story, School Board member Brandon Johnson offered to yield time to Emily Gaylor, with GCE Construction, if she had anything to say, but she declined. This is what Underwood wrote in her story quoting Gaylor:
After the meeting was adjourned, Emily Gaylor with GCE Construction provided WLAF with a copy of a Peremptory Writ of Mandamus dated July 27, 2026, from the Campbell County Circuit Court with Circuit Court Judge John McAfee requiring the BOE to “accept, review and act upon the Pay Application 9 submitted by the plaintiff’s” (GCE) in the amount of $188,667.38″.
A certificate of service dated August 31st, 2026, was also provided by Gaylor stating that a copy of the Peremptory Writ of Mandamus was sent to the Cantrell Law firm, the BOE chairman and the director of schools.
Gaylor said that this “legal ruling was why the BOE had approved pay application 9.” (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/09/2026-6AM)
Here is Mr. Cantrell’s response:
Ms. Underwood, I am responding to Miss Gaylor’s statement as the attorney for the CC BOE on the record, and I approve this statement for publication.
At the September 8th meeting of the Campbell County BOE meeting Miss Gaylor was given the opportunity to speak concerning Pay Application 9 which was under discussion. She declined and remained silent until after the meeting. Miss Gaylor then spoke to the media present and gave blatantly false information. I questioned her attorney this morning and was told “I spoke with my client this morning and they made no statements to the press.”
I then informed the attorney that Miss Gaylor’s statements had been published. I then received a second email from GCE’s attorney stating that she had been misquoted.
For the record, the BOE has been extremely patient with GCE which has made multiple false statements about the progress of the project and the quality of the work at both public meetings and on social media. The payment that was approved was for work completed in December and for additional concrete work. GCE removed approximately $100,000 of charges which the architect would not approve because they were not reasonable. Additionally, the BOE only issued a partial payment contingent on it retaining a full reservation of rights to proceed against GCE for the damage caused to the interior of the building and for the massive construction delays as well as to address multiple other issues.
Miss Gaylor’s claims were both false and misleading.
Dail R. Cantrell
(WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-09/09/2026-4PM)