The city of Tullahoma has fired Senior City Planner Samuel Luthi after a series of incidents ranging from allegedly being late for work and falling asleep on the job to an alleged domestic incident at his home.

Luthi originally served as planning director before being demoted to senior planner following his initial round of writeups by his superiors. He was hired by the city on Jan. 9, 2025, and was actually given a raise in March to $94,223, a boost of about $2,000. However, it was also early in his career that he received his first write-up, which came from then City Administrator Jason Quick chastising him for tardiness. Quick also criticized him for his tattoos, suggesting he was violating the city’s appearance policy. Luthi pledged to cover his tattoos by wearing clothes that would conceal them.

A central theme his termination papers kept returning to was his alleged sleeping on duty on two separate occasions in June of this year. On one of the incidents, he was photographed sleeping at his desk. He was also caught sleeping on the second occasion by Director of Planning, Codes and Life Safety Nick Kimbro. On that day, Kimbro had to shake him awake and then asked him if he had taken any medications or consumed anything.

“All I had was a biscuit,” Luthi reportedly responded to Kimbro’s question. “Someone must have put something in it.”

Along with the sleeping question, Luthi got in hot water by denying he had been on hand for a discussion about the 2045 Plan. City Administrator Jeff Damron pointed out that the claim by Luthi was determined to be false and that he had been at several discussions of the 2045 Plan.

“Providing accurate information and truthful information to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen is a fundamental responsibility of a department head,” his write-up pointed out. “Based upon the circumstances surrounding this matter, it has been determined that you have not upheld the standards required of a department head of the city.”

The write-up cost Luthi thousands of dollars as he was demoted to senior planning and his salary reduced to $85,577 on March 13 of this year.

While not listed as grounds of termination, an incident at his home was included in his personnel record. Police said Luthi’s wife had called for police, claiming a domestic situation. Stories about what had transpired on the early evening of June 9 between the two varied once police arrived. In the end, police did not find enough probable cause to make a domestic assault arrest, as neither party had any visible injuries.

In the end, the city pointed to six grounds for termination. The first two had to do with sleeping on duty on the dates of June 3 and June 16 of this year; the latter was witnessed by the city administrator who had knocked on his door. It was also on June 16 that Luthi was reportedly told to go home, but he instead stayed at work against orders, making him guilty of violating supervisory directives. The next reason for his termination was redacted from the report for unknown reasons.

His personnel file goes on to point out that he was placed on paid leave on June 17, after the second sleeping on duty incident. His hearing was held on June 25.

“Based upon the multiple violations listed, the evidence presented throughout this review, it is my decision as Director of Planning, Codes and Life Safety and in the best interest of the city of Tullahoma, to terminate your employment effective immediately,” wrote Kimbro in his termination notice.