MARIETTA - Dwight Brown's 31-year employment with Cobb Electric Membership Corporation came to an end Monday - perhaps temporarily.

In an unexpected turn of events on the day of his court-ordered retirement, the Cobb EMC board on Monday filed a declaratory judgment action seeking approval from a Cobb Superior Court judge to bring back the embattled co-op leader.

While the settlement in the civil suit called for the cooperative's president and CEO to step down on the last day of February and "not seek an extension of his employment," EMC board members said the agreement does not "preclude the board from rehiring him as president and CEO."

Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster, who has lived with the case since it was filed in October 2007, is expected to make the call.

In the meantime, the board has chosen EMC Chief Operating Officer W.T. "Chip" Nelson as interim president,

"Based on how the court rules, the board will either offer the position to Brown or move to name a permanent replacement," according to a release sent at 7 p.m. Monday from an Atlanta public relations firm hired by the co-op.

Additionally, the board has decided to keep Brown on as an independent consultant for a cost that was not disclosed as of press time. Calls and e-mails to EMC spokesman Sam Kelly went unreturned.

The release states that an EMC committee, with assistance from Russell Reynolds search firm, ultimately interviewed eight candidates, not including Brown, and concluded that none of them were as qualified as Brown.

In a prepared statement, Cobb EMC board Chairman Larry Chadwick said, "Nobody knows our co-op and the electric industry better than he does and his expertise will help us continue meeting the objective of supplying reliable and affordable power to our members."

Pitts Carr, lead attorney for plaintiffs in the civil suit, said he would have to review the filing and other documents before making any comments.

Interim President Nelson has been EMC's COO since 2004 and has 38 years of experience in the electric industry, according to the co-op. At Cobb EMC, he has secured power contracts and overseen operations of the co-op's power management and distribution system.

Brown's retirement comes three days before a motion hearing regarding his recent indictment and while the Marietta-based cooperative awaits a Supreme Court decision in the civil suit.

Brown, who was born in Centre, Ala., joined Cobb EMC in 1980, coming from Georgia Power, where he worked after graduating from Auburn University in 1969. Then-Cobb EMC President Paul Weatherby hired him as vice president of engineering and operations. Brown took over as president and CEO in 1993.

Possibly his best known accomplishment came in the late 80s and early 90s, when he decided to fight Oglethorpe Power Corp., the company Cobb EMC and many other electric co-ops purchased power from. He refused to sign a contract with Oglethorpe, which ultimately forced a structural change at Oglethorpe that gave more power-buying flexibility to co-ops, according to earlier reports from the Journal.

A decision by Brown to start up a for-profit affiliate called Cobb Energy in 1997 was also praised by many at the time, but came under fire a decade later in the civil suit filed by a handful of customer-owners. As deregulation of the electric industry threatened the customer base of Cobb EMC, Cobb Energy was formed to stave off a possible takeover. Cobb Energy then started up a number of companies, many of which, however, bled money.

The civil suit against the co-op, filed in October 2007 by members led Butch Thompson and Bo Pounds, alleged breach of fiduciary duty, gross mismanagement, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment in relation to the management and operations of the co-op and Cobb Energy. The settlement, approved Dec. 2, 2008, called for Cobb Energy to be brought back under the umbrella of the co-op, for all failing companies started by Energy to be liquidated and for Brown to retire when his contract is up at the end of February.

Then came Brown's indictment.

Brown is charged with 16 counts of theft by taking, three counts of racketeering, ten counts of making false statements, and one count each of conspiracy to defraud Cobb Government and conspiracy to defraud the Cobb County School District, both of which are EMC members. The Cobb grand jury indictment, handed down Jan. 6, alleges that Brown used Cobb Electric Membership Corporation as a piggybank to fund various operations and activities of Cobb Energy without approval by the cooperative's members, as required in EMC's bylaws. Without revenues from these various business dealings by Cobb Energy, funded by the co-op's members, Cobb Energy could not have paid Brown millions of dollars in salary and compensations, dividends in preferred stock, and forgiven a $3 million loan Brown used to purchase the stock, according to the indictment.

A motion hearing to dismiss the indictment is scheduled for Thursday at 9 a.m. before Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy III.