10/03/2025
Brandon Steeneck has worked for Vermillion Light & Power for nearly 10 years. He's the guy who keeps your lights on during storms, fixes power outages, and responds to emergencies. His record is spotless - never missed a call-out, never been late, never failed to respond when the community needed him.
Brandon is a military veteran who served his country before returning to Vermillion to raise his family and serve his community in a different way. He and his wife Kristina live on their generational family farm near Alcester, about 17 minutes from downtown Vermillion. That's just 2 minutes beyond the city's 15-minute residency guideline.
Here's the key part: Brandon has never hidden where he lives. When he started this job, his supervisor worked out an arrangement - Brandon stays at his sister's home in Vermillion (6 minutes from downtown) when he's on call for emergencies. This arrangement has been in place for 6 years. The city has known about it the entire time. Department heads have approved it. And it worked perfectly. Not one single instance where Brandon wasn't available when needed.
What's Happening Now
Suddenly, without warning or explanation, the city has decided this 6-year arrangement is unacceptable. They want to terminate Brandon immediately. Not because of any performance issue - his record remains perfect. Not because the arrangement has failed - it hasn't, not once. Simply because they've decided to reinterpret their own policy.
Here's what makes this worse:
No due process: Brandon wasn't warned, wasn't given a chance to discuss alternatives, wasn't offered any way to address their concerns
Selective enforcement: Other Light & Power employees who have actually been late, missed calls, or had performance issues face no discipline
Policy misreading: The city's own policy says employees should "generally" live within 15 minutes and specifically allows department head approval for exceptions.
