Many Tennessee residents — usually infuriated by what they perceive to be the slow pace of governmental bureacracy or angered by some action approved by elected officials — often wonder if workers in the state capital and Capitol operate “in the dark.” The questions in those instances, one hopes, are facetious. On Thursday, though, the question, had merit. The state Capitol and several other public and private buildings in downtown Nashville actually were in the dark. They had no power.
Nashville Electric Service workers apparently severed underground cables in the downtown area shortly before noon. The resultant outage affected the Capitol and several other state buildings — including the Supreme Court, War memorial, Tennessee Tower, Legislative Plaza, the Andrew Jackson, the Rachel Jackson and Library and Archives. The loss of electricity, of course, quickly brought work to a halt.
Workers used flashlights, candles and, in a nod to modern-day technology, the light from the screens of their mobile phones and other electronic devices for illumination. Though some buildings, like the Capitol, do have backup generators for emergencies, most do not. The result of the work crew’s mishap was predictable.
The combination of limited light and rising temperatures — the high reached 93 degrees in the city on Thursday — made it increasingly difficult and uncomfortable to work. Eventually, when the utility company said it would be late afternoon or early evening before service would be fully restored, state employees in the darkened structures were told to go home for the day. They had little alternative.
While some individuals no doubt appreciated the unanticipated time off, others likely were upset by the order. State employees who waited to be told to go home apparently were told to take administrative leave for the time they were unable to work. Others who went home before the official order to leave was issued apparently were to take annual leave. That’s unfair in both instances.
Generally workers get to choose when to take time off. That was not the case for many state workers on Thursday. They were, in a sense, forced to sacrifice time and, directly or indirectly, money because of the power outage. The state, too, lost money — in productivity. Why make workers foot the tab? The enforced vacation should come without penalty.
And, by the way, the lights were back on Friday in downtown Nashville. If anyone there was still laboring in the dark, it was purely in the metaphorical sense.