Good evening everyone. I would
like to open our announcement
period. Today is Tuesday, JUNE
the 16th. I would like to open
by acknowledging that this
meeting is being held on the
unceded stolen land of the
Cherokee, Shawnee, and Yuchi
people. And to remind everyone
that no one is illegal on
stolen land built by stolen
labor. Before we get started, I
would like to wish everyone a
happy Juneteenth. Juneteenth
commemorates JUNE 19th, 1865,
the day when enslaved African
Americans in Galveston, Texas,
finally learned that they were
free. This historic
announcement arrived two and a
half years after PRESIDENT
Abraham Lincoln signed the
Emancipation Proclamation on
JANUARY 1st, 1863. Because
Texas was the most remote
Confederate state, the
proclamation was entirely
unenforceable until Union
military forces arrived to take
control, and this order
immediately affected more than
250,000 enslaved people in
Texas. So this is something
that we celebrate each year,
and I would just love to wish
everyone a happy Juneteenth
holiday. I hope you all enjoy
your celebrations and
festivities, and we have one
under presentation today, our
2026 1996 Council Member,
Quincy Tombs, a resolution
honoring the life and legacy of
Frankie Mae Keeling, Henry.
Civil rights activist, Freedom
Rider, educator, and beloved
Nashville. And with that
council member Toombs, you are
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Pro Tem. This
evening, we have the distinct
honor of reading this
resolution honoring the life of
Frankie Mae Keeling Henry, who
is one of our esteemed freedom
fighters, who sacrificed her
safety and devoted her life to
helping her community and where
we all owe her a debt of
gratitude for the work she did
for us. We are joined this
evening by her family. Her son,
Lamont Henry, as well as her
daughter in law Claudia Henry,
as well as their daughter and
grandson. Um, before we read
the resolution, I do want to
recognize COUNCILWOMAN Zoe
Suara, who always shares such,
uh, heartwarming stories about
MISS Frankie. And so I want to
give her an opportunity to
speak before we start reading
the resolution.
Thank you. Thank you,
Councilmember Tombs, for this
resolution. And thanks for the
opportunity to once again
express my gratitude for the
life and legacy of MISS
Frankie. As she
s ideally
known. In addition to being a
civil rights icon, she was a
pillar in the community and
does a whole lot of things. Uh,
as a teacher, as a community
member, as a Delta, uh, she
s
one of the people that you just
have to know her to love her,
uh, very fashionably dress. Uh,
are always on point. Uh, and a
community person, you just have
to be in a presence. It was an
honor for me to get to know
MISS Frankie, uh, for
everything that she did for our
community. Uh, we read a lot of
it in the proclamation, but
every opportunity that I get,
uh, to place, uh, homage to
these folks for what they did,
I never say no. So, uh, thank
you, Councilmember. Uh, tombs.
And then, uh, my big brother,
uh, uh, for for letting us have
your mom and for your family
sacrifice. And for that MISS
Frankie did. Thank you.
All right. A resolution
honoring the life and legacy of
Frankie Mae. Killen. Henry,
civil rights activist, Freedom
Rider, educator, and beloved
Nashville. Whereas Frankie MAY
killing Henry, one of
Nashville
s last living Freedom
Riders and a courageous
participant in the Civil Rights
movement, departed this life at
the age of 85, leaving behind a
legacy of service, sacrifice,
courage and unwavering
commitment to justice and.
Whereas a young student at
Tennessee State University,
MISS Henry, answered the call
of a generation determined to
confront segregation and racial
injustice in America, joining
the historic, historic
Nashville lunch counter, sit
after an encounter with civil
rights leader Diane Nash and.
Whereas killing enemies to
shoulder to shoulder with young
people who would go on to
change the course of American
history, including leaders such
as John Lewis demonstrating
extraordinary bravery in the
face of hatred, violence and
intimidation, and.
Whereas during the sit, MISS
Henry endured a physical
assault when a white woman
burned her arm with a cigarette
and attempted to set her poncho
on fire, yet she remained
committed to the principles of
nonviolence, dignity and
disciplined protest that
defined the national movement
and.
Whereas after peacefully
participating in the
demonstrations, MISS Killing
Henry and her fellow protesters
were arrested and jailed for
two years, two weeks, rather
suffering the consequences of
standing on the right side of
history during one of the
nation
s darkest chapters and.
Whereas because of her
imprisonment and participation
in the movement, MISS Killing
Henry received failing grades
due to missed coursework and
was forced to leave school. A
painful reminder of the
personal cost. Many young
activists paid in the pursuit
of equity in the pursuit of
equality and justice, and
Whereas.
Despite those setbacks, MISS
Henry persevered.
And ultimately.
Earned her degree.
From Tennessee State University
in 1970.
Exemplifying resilience.
Determination. And faith.
In the power.
In education.
And.
Where MISS Killing. Whereas
MISS Keeling Henry devoted her
professional life to educating
future generations, serving as
an educator who not only taught
academic lessons but also
carried forward the living
history of the civil rights
movement by speaking to
students across Tennessee about
black history, civic
responsibility, and the ongoing
struggle for justice and
equality, and.
Whereas through her life and
testimony, MISS Keeling Henry
ensured that the sacrifice of
ordinary citizens who
transformed Nashville and this
nation would never be
forgotten. Reminding
generations that progress is
not inevitable, but instead
requires courage, persistence,
and collective action and.
Whereas MISS Keeling, Henry
represented the very best of
Nashville, a woman whose quiet
strength, moral clarity and
willingness to sacrifice for
others helped move the city and
this country closer to its
ideals and.
And before I read this one,
whereas I want to say something
else, my apologies. I think
it
s very, very critical.
Honestly, as we remember her
and we continue to remember the
legacy, that we don
t tarnish
it by letting all the assaults
on our democracy and voting go
to waste. I think it
s very
important that we continue to
remember them and to stand so
that their life work, that they
put their life on the line. For
we don
t let it go away in our
in our time. So I
m encouraging
every one of you, wherever you
are, however you can, please
and please and please stand up
and fight for our democracy and
honor their legacy. Whereas
MISS Killeen Henry represented
the best of Nashville, a woman
whose quite strength, moral
clarity and willingness to
sacrifice for others help move
this city and this country
closer to its ideals and.
Whereas MISS Keeling, Henry
leaves behind a loving family,
including her son Lamont Henry,
among the countless former
students, community members,
friends and fellow freedom
fighters whose lives were
forever impacted by her example
and.
Whereas it is fitting and
proper that the Metropolitan
Council honor the extraordinary
life and enduring legacy of
Frankie Mae Keeling Henry,
whose courage helped shape the
city of Nashville and whose
legacy will continue to inspire
future generations to pursue
justice, equity and freedom for
all.
Now, therefore, be it resolved
by the Council of the
Metropolitan Government of
Nashville and Davidson County,
the Metropolitan Council hereby
goes on record to honor and
celebrate the life, courage and
legacy of Frankie Mae. Killing
Henry, Freedom, writer,
education educator, civil
rights activist, and treasured
daughter of Nashville. The
Metropolitan Council extends
its deepest condolences,
prayers, and sympathies to the
Henry family and all those
mourning the loss of MISS
Keelan Henry, while giving
thanks for a life that
profoundly impacted Nashville,
Tennessee in this nation. This
resolution shall take effect
from and after its adoption.
The welfare of the metropolitan
Government of Nashville and
Davidson County, requiring it.
And I want to say that this
resolution was sponsored by
every single council member
that was present and voting on
the day of its passage. And I
want to give MR. Lamont Henry
an opportunity to speak about
his mama.
Good evening everyone. First of
all, thank you so very much for
honoring my mother and the
dedication that she had for
this city. Uh, at a 19 as a 19
year old, uh, sophomore
student. Uh, she said it was
worse for all of us to be able
to sit together, to eat, to go
to the same restroom, to drink
out of the same water fountain.
Let
s make sure that we keep
this legacy going, uh, two
words discipline and fairness.
That
s what she wanted. So I
encourage all of you all to
make sure that you keep that in
mind. Discipline and fairness.
Thank you very much.
Issue
legacy.
Right there. Not don
t. Thank
you. Thank you, thank you.
Thank you. All right. Okay. She
took it from me like.
All right. Thank you so very
much. And we have some special
guests joining us today. We
have Brandi Bishop, who is
coming up representing mc
three, and we also have the
newest cohort of mc three, soon
to be graduates joining us. And
MISS Brandi is making her way
up.
Hello. Hello. Good evening. My
name is Brandi Bishop and I am
the Workforce Development
program coordinator for Music
City Construction Careers. Mc
three is an apprenticeship
readiness program that
introduces people to the union,
trades in the construction
industry, and we assist them
with starting a career in the
union trade apprenticeship
program that they choose. We
are currently in session with
our Summer 2026 class, and on
Thursday they will graduate and
share which union trade they
will pursue, not only is this
an exciting time for them, this
is also an exciting time for mc
three as this is our 20th
cohort for our community based
class. I also like to add we
are also in Maplewood High
School and this year we will
start a partnership with Hunter
Hunters Lane High School. I do
want to give a special shout
out to our school based
instructor, Angela Simpson, who
is also here with us today. As
you can see, our class, we are
here in attendance. Civic
engagement is very important to
us for us to bring that up in
our class, as they will become
members of a union. And I do
have one student here that
would like to share very
quickly.
Hi everyone. My name is Zaria
Hutchinson. I am a student here
at mc three. I just wanted to
say that the mc three program
has been an amazing experience
specifically for me. Um, it
s
leading me into my career and
I
m hoping to join the ib union
if possible.
There are so many more stories
like this. As you can see from
the 28 people that I have
standing here behind me. Again,
our graduation is this Thursday
and we do welcome all of you to
come join us at the ibew Union
Hall at 130 is when the, um,
the graduation will start. But
we thank you for your support
and helping to change lives
here in the Nashville area. And
thanks to all our volunteers to
help us.
All right. Thank you so very
much. And we will go into
announcements first. And q is
Council Member Bradford. You
are recognized.
Thank you. Pro tem, as a
reminder, for residents of
district 13. This Saturday I
will be having my monthly
office hours at the Dunkin
Donuts there on Broadway
Parkway. There is a change to
the time this month. It will be
from 11 A.M. To 1 P.M.. Uh,
the. I
ve been double books. I
wanted to make sure everybody
knew that the time is
different. This month we
ll go
back to the normal 9 to 11 next
month. Also, a reminder to
everyone that next weekend is
pride, and I look forward to
the Metro Council joining the
lgbtq caucus in marching in the
parade. There should be
information coming to the
council soon about that.
Thank you. Council Member Nixon
and q is Council Member Cooper,
before we get started, we are
in announcement period. So if
you all could please respect
the people that are speaking,
it will be appreciated. Council
Member Cooper, you
re
recognized.
Thank you, Pro tem. And if I
look tired today, it
s because
I was woken up at midnight with
some shouts of excitement. And
I want to wish a very, very
happy 12th birthday to our
goddaughter. She is very
excited as her birthday, day,
week and potentially month that
we are we
re working through
right now, but I wanted to just
wish her wish her happy
birthday today.
Happy birthday to the little
one. Councilmember Cooper and
Councilmember Styles, you are
recognized. Thank you. I wanted
to. Let people know that the
district 32 Community Meeting
for JUNE is going to be taking
place this upcoming. Tuesday on
JUNE 23rd at 6 P.M.. At the
Southeast Community Center. And
also because we have a bit of a
break after this community
meeting. Ah, Antioch, JULY 3rd.
Fireworks are on JULY 3rd from
7 P.M. To 10 P.M. At Mill Ridge
Park, so we will have
fireworks, dj and some food
trucks so hopefully everyone
can come out, bring a blanket,
bring some friends and family
and have a good time. Thank
you. Council Evans. You
re
recognized. Thank you, MADAM
Pro tem, um, the organization
that was created to honor the
late doctor Alisa Lockett.
Freedom move is continuing
their Greenway Walk audit
series. This Saturday, we will
be at the stones River Greenway
and I signed up to be the
council representative for that
particular walk. It is Saturday
morning from 9 A.M. To 10 A.M.,
and we are meeting at the Percy
Priest Dam trailhead for about
a three and a half mile walk
and audit of the stones River
Greenway. So anyone interested
can rsvp. We are free to
move.Org. Thank you, thank.
You, Councilmember Evans.
Councilmember gamble, you
re
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM.
Pro.
Tem, I
d like to.
Take a personal privilege and
wish myself a happy birthday
today. It is my birthday today
and I am happy to be here
sharing it with all of you.
Thank you.
Happy birthday.
Councilmember Gamble. I was
saying, but I
m not that good.
So do we have any other
colleagues? Oh, Councilmember.
Aurora.
You
re recognized.
Thank you. I think
Councilmember Gamble reminded
me. So I just wanted to stand
and wish my daughter, our
oldest child, the person that
gave us our first grandchild,
uh, doctor. Zaynab. Suara.
Happy birthday. She will. I
won
t say age. I will be on
Thursday, so happy birthday,
Zina.
Happy birthday Zainab. Kylie
s.
Is there anyone else I.
Would like.
To be recognized?E I.
Would like.
To be recognized?
Will the meeting please come to
order? Today is Tuesday, JUNE
16th, 2026.
Council as well as the public.
Please rise for the invocation
and remain standing for the
pledge of allegiance. The
invocation is being offered
this evening by MISS Shiva
asaad, MRS. Khaled, an mlk
graduate and current belmont
university student leader
serving as the diversity,
equity and inclusion chair of
the phi mu theta chapter at the
college. She is the guest of
district 18 council member tom
cash. MRS. I'd go ahead.
Good
evening council. Good evening
audience. My name is shiva azad.
I'm a current belmont
university student, a member of
phi theta, and I have the
immense privilege of calling
myself a nashville native. I
want to thank you all for this
opportunity today, when I think
of nashville, I think of
community. When I think of the
word community, I think of my
pottery class, my friends, my
roommates. I think of my
parents who immigrated here in
the 80s, and I think of my
neighbors. And what would this
community be without each and
every one of us? It can be so
easy to overlook the people in
our community whom we do not
know personally, but we can
make nashville a better
community for us all when we
with something as simple as a
little bit of empathy. Empathy
is defined as understanding a
person from their frame of
reference rather than one's own.
I personally define empathy as
a true devotion to the
well-being of others. I believe
empathy is a choice, and it is
one that we have a
responsibility to make every
time we make decisions about
our home. Tonight, each of you
are making important decisions
about our city's budget and
about how to spend money on the
wants and needs of a diverse
group of nashvillians. I hope
that as you do so, you put
yourself in the shoes of others
to see needs as they see them.
By thinking more like your
constituents, meaning all of
your constituents. I hope you
can practice empathy as a body
to working to understand each
other's perspectives, even when
you disagree, like the people
of nashville do every single
day, I hope you. I, in the wise
words of coretta scott king,
freedom is never really won.
You earn it and win it in every
generation. Those words remind
me that freedom is not only won
in big historic moments, but
also in the everyday decisions
leaders make for their
communities. You all have the
opportunity to make decisions
rooted in empathy and community,
and thereby a chance to take
one more step towards justice,
one more step towards equity,
and one more step towards
freedom. I want to thank each
ofyou for your commitment to
the city and for all the hard
work you do. It does not go
unnoticed, and I hope that in
every vote you take tonight,
you remember a little extra
empathy for the community you
serve and for the neighbors
whose lives in your decisions
touch. Thank you so much.
i
pledge allegiance to the flag
of the united states of america
and to the republic for which
it stands. One nation under GOD,
indivisible.
With liberty and
justice for all.
All right.
Thank you, MRS. Welcome,
council and community members
to what some would say is our
most consequential meeting of
the year, when the operational
budget and tax levy ordinance
are on their third and final
reading. Without objection, I
do plan to pull these
ordinances, agenda number 69
and 70 forward on our agenda
directly after the public
comment period. Members have
received a memo from me
regarding two vacancies on the
auditorium commission. I will
take those nominations at the
JULY 7th council meeting. So we
encourage you to think about
constituents who MAY be
interested in serving and
invite the community to put
themselves forward to their
council members if they wish to
serve. Metro government will
observe the juneteenth holiday
this friday, and we wish
everyone a happy celebration.
Pride month continues and I
hope everyone will make plans
to join me and the lgbtq caucus
of the council for nashville's
pride parade on saturday, JUNE
27th. Pride is a celebration of
our lgbtq community and elected
officials showing our support
for this community continues to
be very important at this
moment in our country, and is
especially important for our
trans neighbors, who are sadly
subjected to dangerous
fearmongering. By far too many
state and federal officials. So
I want to make a point to
express that we stand with
nashville's trans neighbors
during pride month and all year
round. Before council meets
again, our nation will
celebrate its 250th birthday,
marking the 250 years since the
adoption of the declaration of
independence on JULY 4th. In
1776, when colonies of the
british empire said no to kings,
monarchy and autocracy, and
then fought for many years to
establish a government of laws
and not of men. With a clear
separation of powers, the
health of our democracy has
declined precipitously in
recent years, and thus this is
a perilous time for our nation.
So let us recommit ourselves to
civic education and engagement
and protecting and using our
vote so that we MAY secure our
messy, imperfect, and beautiful
democracy for another 250 years.
We hope everyone has a safe
celebration and enjoys their
time with neighbors and friends.
All right, without objection,
we will suspend the calling of
the roll and ask the clerk to
please record the names of the
members present throughout the
meeting. I want to recognize
council lady jennifer gamble,
who is celebrating her birthday
with us this evening. Is there
a motion for approval of the
minutes of the meeting of JUNE
9th, 2026? Okay. There's a
motion, properly seconded
without objection. And seeing
no one seeking to be recognized
for a change to the minutes,
the minutes of the meeting of
june 9th are approved, MR.
Clerk. Are there any messages
from the mayor? MR. Clerk,
would you say that again?
There
is a message from the mayor.
All right. Okay. So we invite
you, MR. Mayor, to come forward
and address us. Thank you, sir.
Good to see you.
Thank you.
Sorry for stealing your seat.
Well, thank you, MADAM Vice
mayor. Thank you to all the
members of the metro council,
to the staff from our office,
the council office and metro
departments who are represented
tonight in nashvillians. Good
evening. Tonight, as you heard,
the vice mayor mentioned, is
one of the most important
nights on our annual civic
calendar, passing a
structurally balanced budget in
the midst of spirited debate is
the ordinary yet critical work
of a healthy government. It's
how government should work. I'm
grateful for the leadership of
the vice mayor, budget and
finance committee chair quint
tombs and all the members of
the metro council who got us
here. I appreciate the
thoughtful discussion of the
budget, and I especially
appreciate all the nashvillians
who lent their voice to this
year's budget process. We had
extensive public comment on the
budget this year, and those
comments reinforce something we
all know. Affordability is one
of our biggest challenges, and
it's why my recommended budget
prioritizes addressing it. A
budget isn't just a list of
expenses, it's a statement
about our values, the kind of
city we are and want to be. My
recommended budget and the
chair's thoughtful substitute
both prioritize funding for
more housing, better schools,
higher employee pay, and
tighten spending in recognition
of slowing growth. I urge you
to pass the chair substitute
unamended so our residents know
we're the kind of city that
uses the power of the purse to
make life a little easier for
the people who live here. The
cost of housing is easily among
our biggest challenges, and
we're meeting it by
recommending the biggest
investment of local dollars to
date in housing affordability.
Since we launched the unified
housing strategy last year,
we've created or preserved more
than 3000 affordable homes. We
need many more, and I've
proposed a 150% increase in
funding for housing
affordability to double down on
those successes. But we don't
stop there. We're boosting
public education funding and
building on the many successes
we're already seeing from
students in our public schools.
The future of nashville is
being built in classrooms
around the city, and this
budget continues our commitment
to supporting teachers and
educators with improved pay
support to safely implement
healthier school start times
and protecting programs we
expanded during the pandemic.
The budget is built around
another important measure
before you tonight, cutting the
local grocery tax by 22%. Right
now, inflation is hitting all
of us. When we buy pretty much
anything. Lowering the grocery
tax lets nashvillians keep some
of that hard earned pay. So
while the folks up the hill
have balked at putting money
back into the pockets of
tennesseans by cutting the
grocery tax or funding this
reduction, I hope you'll
support $9 million of economic
relief for nashville families
and pass this reduction of
local sales tax on groceries.
We cannot MISS This opportunity.
Tonight. Let's deliver for
nashvillians. Cut the grocery
tax, invest in housing
affordability, support quality
schools, and deliver a balanced
budget that supports our
residents. Nashvillians are
asking us to meet this moment
with a decisive statement about
who this city is for. And as I
said in my state of metro
address, the answer is loud and
clear. The city is for all of
us. Thank you.
All right. Thank
you, MR. Mayor. I'll roll right
into our agenda. First is
section e appointees and
nominees. This portion of the
agenda shares all persons who
are scheduled to appear before
the rules, confirmations and
public elections committee for
an interview this evening.
Referrals back to the committee
are by rule as part of the
council's two meeting process
for elections and confirmations.
No votes will be taken by the
body in this section of the
agenda other than for deferrals,
or rather MAY not even need to
do that. If we're going to MR.
Cash. But a brief report, sir.
No vote totals necessary,
simply the name of those
interviewed and for which board
and commission, committee or
entity. And you are recognized,
sir.
Thank you. I'm sorry, did
you say no? Don't mention
deferrals.
No. You can mention
deferral. So we don't in fact,
have to vote on them. We used
to do that previously, but you
can just share with us when
those people will be with you
again. Thank you.
Okay. Bicycle
and pedestrian advisory
commission reappointment of
alvin haney, the central
business improvement district
board, appointment of
christopher carlson, a deferral
of the employee benefit board
reappointment of g. Thomas
curtis.
To which meeting, sir,
to your next meeting.
To the
next meeting to seven seven.
Thank you. The social, sir. The
next two have been withdrawn.
Social services commission
appointment of will acuff has
been withdrawn. The
sustainability advisory
committee reappointment of
jolin mazara has been withdrawn.
And then the. We approved the
tourism and convention
commission appointment of
darius mcdonald for a term
expiring JUNE 30th, 2029.
Okay,
so we did not confirm that
appointment at this time. That
person was interviewed. Okay.
And will be re referred back to
your committee. So at next
meeting, they will be on this
next section of our agenda f
confirmations. Chair cash
recognized again for your
committee report on the
appointees in the second step
of your committee's two meeting
process, this time with vote
totals and a consolidated
motion for the confirmation of
those persons, or first for a
deferral motion if there are
any. Go ahead, sir.
Thank you.
Contract and compliance board.
Reappointment of fabian bettini
for a term expiring JULY 27th,
2028. Eight to 0 to 0. The
hospital authority
reappointment of alfonso harvey
for a term expiring JULY 11th,
2031, eight to 0 to 0 and the
social services commission
appointment of mandy spears for
a term expiring APRIL 3rd, 2031.
Also, 800 move approval.
All
right, there is a motion to
confirm these three appointees
in a consolidated motion.
Properly seconded. Does anyone
wish to remove an item from
this consolidated motion for
purposes of an individual
abstention or no vote? All
right. Seeing none. All in
favor of these three appointees
for confirmation, please say I.
All right. Council has
confirmed these three
appointees to are confirmed
appointees. If you chose to
return to the council chamber
this evening, which is not
required, do please stand as I
call your names. Council has
confirmed the reappointment of
fabian bed nay, the honorable
fabian. Bed to contract and
compliance board council has
confirmed the reappointment of
alfonso harvey to the hospital
authority. And lastly, council
has confirmed the appointment
of mandy spears to the social
services commission.
Congratulations to everyone,
whether here in the chamber or
watching from home. We
appreciate your willingness to
serve our city. Thank you. All
right. We're going to roll
right on into section g of our
agenda, which is the public
comment portion and period.
Rather, members of the public
who are tennessee residents
wishing to speak during public
comment MAY sign up at a table
outside the councilchamber
from 5 to 6 P.M. On the day of
a council meeting. Public
comment is limited to 20
minutes total at council
meetings, and each speaker is
allowed up to two minutes to
speak. Person speaking on
agenda items must be
prioritized to comply with
state law and pursuant to rule
28, all public comment speakers
must present proof of tennessee
residency. All right. I will
share the first kind of 2 or 3
and ask those folks to go ahead
and come on forward so we can
move timely through our public
comment period. The first
person for public comment is
deontay williams. Deontay
williams will be followed by
shanika davis and then amy lee
brown. Deontay is speaking on
agenda item 69. This is our
budget and the substitute
budget regarding child care in
support. Go ahead, MR. Williams.%
you're recognized.
Good evening,
council members. My name is
doctor deontay williams. And I
stand here on behalf of the
equity alliance in support of
the extending funding for child
care facilities. I support this
investment because I know
firsthand what is at stake. I
was raised by a single mother
in the country town of macon,
georgia. My mother worked long
hours, often more than one job.
She kept a roof over our heads,
food on th table, and
opportunities in front of me.
Like so many working class
black mothers, she carried the
weight of an entire household
on her shoulders. Reason I
stand before you today as
doctor williams is not because
the path was easy. It's because
my mother had support systems
that allowed her to work,
provide and create
opportunities for me. When
families have access to
affordable, reliable child care,
parents can work. They can
pursue education, they can
build economic stability, and
children can thrive. How can we
celebrate nashville's economic
growth when many of the workers
fueling that growth cannot
afford or access the child care
they need to stay employed
years from now, when working
class families and black
communities ask, what did this
council do to address the child
care crisis? Will you be able
to say you acted? Or will you
say you had to explain as to
why we did not. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. Next will
be sciatica davis. Also
speaking on agenda item 69, the
budget regarding child care in
support after MISS Davis will
be amy lee brown and then
lindsey craig will be next. Go
ahead, MISS Davis.
Hello, it's
me. Davis. I live in council
member horton's district, and
the daycare that I own is in
council member capps district.
Since last OCTOBER, I've
watched this council listen to
providers, listen to families
and each other to take
meaningful actions to address
nashville's child care crisis.
You recognize that child care
is not just a family issue.
It's an economic issue, a
workforce issue, and a
community issue. Because of
your leadership, we've begun
removing barriers that have
prevented providers from
opening and expanding. Butwe
know the work is not finished.
Today. We have an opportunity
to continue that momentum.
Council member tombs substitute
budget includes an investment
in the child care stability
fund through the equity
alliance. This investment
recognizes that if we want more
child care seats, we must help
providers move from ideas to
open doors and from surviving
to thriving. I know I can count
on this council because you've
already demonstrated that child
care matters. You've shown that
you're willing to listen,
collaborate and invest in
solutions. Today, I'm asking
you to continue that commitment
by supporting council member
tombs, substitute budget and
the child care investment
included within it. Our
families are counting on it,
our providers are counting on
it, and nashville's future
depends on it. Thank you.
Thank
you. All right. Next is amy lee
brown. She is also speaking on
the budget related to child
care and support. After MISS
Brown will be lindsey craig and
then kelly chang. Go ahead,
MISS Brown. Hello.
I'm amy
brown. I live in council member
ewing's district. I'm asking
you to support council member
tombs, substitute budget and
the child care investment
included within it. I'm also
asking you to commit to
partnering with the equity
alliance over the next year to
develop nashville's long term
child care affordability
strategy and future investments.
I'm a national native, born in
1961, nashville is a great city
and will be an even greater
city with more affordable,
quality child care. Accessible
child care allows both parents
to work and or pursue advanced
college degrees. Higher degrees
translate into higher lifetime
earnings. Those earnings will
be spent in nashville. This
will increase the profits of
local businesses, lift the
local economy, and this will
benefit all nashvillians. Thank
you.
Thank you. All right. Next
is lindsey craig speaking on
agenda item number nine. This
is rs20262033. Regarding the
downtown sea bed in opposition.
Go ahead. You're recognized.
Good evening. My name is
lindsey kingston. I'm the
co-founder of open table
nashville. I've been working on
the streets for nearly 20 years.
I'm here to tell you about why
we're so opposed to the current
seabed budget. Despite some
good progress, on the evening
of NOVEMBER 16th of 2024, an
unhoused black 54 year old
woman was resting in her
wheelchair on broadway when she
was approached by off duty chp
officers. They were working for
a seabed contracted private
security firm. The woman was a
friend we knew through our
winter canvasing efforts who
had been in and out of the
hospital that night. The chp
officers didn't connect her
with resources or help her
access shelter. They arrested
her under the state's felony
camping law. She wasn't a
threat to anyone, yet she spent
several nights in jail for the
crime of existing in public
space. That week, seabed funded
chp officers arrested ten other
people experiencing
homelessness downtown under the
felony camping law. These
friends needed are but got
cages. Fast forward to MAY of
2025. In collusion with ice,
thp officers made almost 600
traffic stops in south
nashville in one week, which
resulted in the profiling,
harassment and arrest,
attention and sometimes
deportation of nearly 200 of
our immigrant neighbors.
Families were ripped apart and
lives were destroyed. Turk
recently launched a lawsuit
against chp for their alleged
constitutional violations and
their appalling behavior. The
chp officers, the ndp's new
private security contractor, is
employing to keep our downtown
safe are taken from the same
pool as the officers that have
terrorized some of our most
vulnerable community members
and friends. You have a voice
and power tonight, the sea
board seabed board sets their
budget, but you are the public
service representatives tasked
with approving it. If you share
our concerns about private
security downtown and the thp
officers who have, like,
constitutionally violated our
rights, please abstain or vote
no. Thank you so much.
Thank
you. Next is kelly chang. She
will be followed by christine
bugs and then frieda player.
MISS Ching is speaking on
agenda item nine, resolution
2026 2033 regarding thesea bed
in opposition. Go ahead.
Hi,
I'm kelly, I want to talk about
the sea bed and nashville
downtown as well.
The first thing I want to
address is the pitting of n, d,
p and block by block outreach
workers against those of us who
also work or volunteer with
people experiencing
homelessness and who ask for
accountability for ndp and
block by block. This is a
disingenuous game fueled by
executives and lobbyists at ndp.
Some council members have even
responded to our concerns
around any use of private
policing, with rebuttals about
ndp outreach team. To be clear,
we have stated time and time
again our issue is not with ndp
outreach program. Our issue is
with ndp and block by block,
continuing to utilize private
policing to target people
experiencing homelessness. The
same people that ndp and block
by blocks outreach team works
so hard to connect with
resources. In fact, some of us
have been multiple instances
uplifted and asked for more
outreach funding for downtown
through the mou fight and even
in this year's budget. So I
want to make it clear we are
not against ndp outreach team.
We know them, we respect the
work they do, and we know that
they work hard to take care of
our neighbors. Experiencing
homelessness downtown, we often
hear how great of a community
partner, ndp and block by block
are. Last meeting a council%
member who became very
emotional over ndp failed
budget vote told us to look at
the track record when we raised new
security arm of block by block
city. At this point, it's about
ten weeks old. Let's review the
most recent track record of ndp
and block by block, and what
their version of safe and clean
looks like. One lobbied for the
removal of the ninth avenue
cycle track, even threatening
to go to the state. Legislators
for anti bike legislation
lobbied for the removal of
benches along korean veterans
boulevard due to the use of
them by people experiencing
homelessness through negligence.
Blew up the downtown library
garage by storing dangerous
fuel in a completely
inappropriate manner. Most
recently, we've heard ndp has
considered suing metro over
their failed budget vote last
meeting. That is probably going
to pass tonight. These tantrums
from people in power have to
stop, and you all are the only
body of oversight we have for
them.
Thank you. Next is
christian bugs. She is speaking
on agenda item 52. This is
ordinance bill 2026 1436. In
support. MISS Bugs will be
followed by frida player and
then mohammed gay. Go ahead,
MISS Bugs.
Thank you MADAM Vice
mayor. I am christian bugs.
Thank you, council members. I
have the privilege, the honor
of being or calling myself a
fifth generation north
nashvillian. I am a former
educator, former student,%
current PRESIDENT Of parent,
former school board member. Yay,
politics! But I am so excited
to stand before you today as
PRESIDENT And ceo of the pencil
foundation, where we truly
believe public education is
everyone's business, we do so
in three ways. We make sure
that we advocate for and pull
in volunteers to go into our
schools. That totals more than
3300 zero hours every year of
volunteerism. We engage in the
background checks. We just do
anything to support and
resource our schools. Secondly,
we that more than $3
million worth of school
supplies are in the hands of
students, educators, and
schools across the city simply
by in-kind donations and
purchasing, with the city in
whole at wholesale prices.
Again, educators shop free of
charge every day in our schools,
I mean in our shop. Lastly, we
manage the background checks
and elementary school tutoring
for mnps. The running theme
here is that we see a barrier.
We work with the school
leadership, the district
leadership, and then we
actually work to fill that to
meet that need. But even more
importantly, I'm excited
tonight to partner with metro
city government and with mnps
to take over a decommissioned
elementary school, one that's
been sitting vacant for four
years. We are happy to
fundraise to launch a capital
campaign to invest dollars into
this building that I believe
could eventually become an
education nonprofit hub again,
making sure we're identifying
barriers and then using the
community because we all love
nashville and know what it can
be, we will leverage those
resources that you all call
your constituents to really
pour into schools in a deeper
and more meaningful way. So I
thank you for even considering
us. It is truly our pleasure to
serve the district and to serve
the city, and we hope to
continue to see benefits to our
students, including my own. So
thank you for what you do. We
look forward to working with
you.
Thank you. Next is school
board chair frieda player.
Regarding agenda item 69, the
budget ordinance 1377. Go ahead
ma'am.
Thank you. I am here for
the pleasure. My colleagues are
with me. I'm here from the
metropolitan nashville school
board. The school board
believes in transparency and
accountability of the
efficiency of our strategic
initiatives. That's vital to
the health of our school
district. We meet twice
to perform this fiduciary
responsibility and review
various reports and evaluation
of our district. This is how we
conduct. This is how we conduct
performance oversight. As I
often say, we nerd out on data
as various on various types of
topics, from academic
performance operations of
our system. Considering the
school board's fiduciary
responsibility, the knowledge
of mmps investments, we request
a joint committee to oversee
the proposed performance audit.
We desire to work with you to
understand what performance
indicator that metro council
council prioritizes. In
addition, the school board
wants to work with metro
council to deliver the most
productive outcome. Considering%
the various wants of your
elected body. The school board
was not aware of any of the
metro council's previous
requests for performance
information, nor return on
investment details. Moreover,
it has not been articulated
precisely. The performance
audit will evaluate, given the
copious amount of data
collected on our programs and
initiatives. Hundreds of
nuanced performance areas that
m, mps monitors, and the
nominal education xperience of
most accountants. We believe an
ad hoc committee comprising of
a few metro council members,
school board members and expert
staff best supports the use of
taxpayer dollars. The school
board is committed to
council information, updates
and feedback that is outside
the crunch of this budget cycle.
We look forward to working with
you to identify the performance
indicators that is most
important to the metro council
to ensure the audit produces
useful, actionable results on
behalf of students, families,
taxpayers and the whole
nashville community. So I asked
to read the letter that I
submitted earlier today for
more details of the of our
suggestions for the audit and
for what we have accomplished
in school board.
Thank you,
thank you. Next is mohammed k
will be followed by john
cleveland and then antonio
tomlinson. Mohammed k is
speaking on agenda item number
nine, resolution 2026 to 0
three three. The sea bed in
support. Go ahead sir.
Good
evening, vice mayor henderson
and members of council haven't
heardmy name called out in a
while. My name is mohammed el
hajj malik, a known as malik.
And I'm speaking on behalf of
the nashville area chamber of
commerce. We view the sea bed
budget as something that's an
important extension of
nashville's business community.
And with respect to the
previous comments, I'd like to
explain why we see the sea bed
as a collection of property
owners in the downtown core,
both residents and business
owners, coming together to pull
money out of their pockets,
their employees and people who
visit downtown and benefit of
making downtown clean, safe and
all the things we heard
previously. In that spirit, we
believe that this is a
partnership that helps metro
and nashvillians work together
to invest private dollars to
make nashville a better place.
what we'd like to do is just
encourage members of the
council to keep the
collaborative spirit that's
been going on. And again, we
urge support of the currency
bid budget unamended. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. Next is
john cleveland, also speaking
on agenda item number nine
regarding the downtown, the
resolution regarding the
downtown sea bed in support. Go
ahead, MR. Cleveland.
Good
evening, council. My name
is john cleveland, and I'm here
to speak on my role as a team
lead with the parks, with the
downtown nashville partnership.
My role as a team lead could
vary day to day from setting up
a foam party event for the
public to enjoy, to setting up
a pilates class at the
riverfront park for 50 plus
people to join all free to the
public. But it doesn't just
stop there. It's a little bit
deeper. As a native nashville
ian, growing up here in
nashville, I used to get out
from it, will catch the mta bus
downtown and hang out at the
library downtown. And growing
up the library, church street
park was not the safest place
to be, especially back when
there was a fountain. And since
then it's been a full 180.
Since I've worked with the
company and I've seen the
growth, now I can set up
lunchtime events, have families
come out, take pictures. I've
been a part of
proposals and flash mobs, but
one of my favorite favorite
things ever working with the
partnership was the holiday
market that we just had this
past holiday season, where we
had a 3031 foot tall christmas
tree out, and I got to engage
with the public and really show
the heart of nashville and our
park ambassadors every day are
out there greeting with the
public, helping people navigate
the city, giving great
recommendations for live music
and food. And it's essential to
make nashville feel warm and
show the southern hospitality.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next is
antonio tomlinson. Go ahead sir,
I'm sorry. Also speaking o the
seabed agenda item nine in
support. Go ahead sir.
Good
evening. My name is antonio
tomlinson. I'm the operation
manager for outreach for the
nashville downtown partnership.
When people think of downtown
nashville, they think of the
restaurants. They think of the
events. They think of all the
things that MAY go on in
downtown nashville. But our
outreach team sees it from
another perspective. We see
people that are in need that
are suffering from mental
illness. They're suffering from
addiction, and sometimes they
just need someone just to talk
to. Our team goes out every day,
walk the streets of downtown
nashville, just trying to be
that ear, the person that they
listen to, the person that we
try to offer services to, to
try to give them a hand up
instead of a hand out so that
they can build a successful and
clear mindset of trying to move
forward. The partnership has
equipped us, trained us to do
these such things, and we come
to work every day with the
expectations of if we can only
help one person, we have done
something for our downtown
nashville. You have to think
about behind every outreach
contact is a person. Behind
every person is the partnership,
and behind the partnership is
the seabed. The seabed is
giving and doing their
contribution to make sure that
we can provide for everyone in
downtown nashville. I feel the
utmost. Glad and passionate
about what we do in downtown
nashville. And with the help of
the partnership and the seabed
budget, we can continue to do
exactly what we come to work to
do every single day is try to
help one person to be better.
Thank you for your time.
Okay,
folks, at this juncture, we
have almost four residual
minutes and is required by
state law. Once we dip into our
wait list and even prior, we
have to have a balance of
support and against. And so at
this juncture, in the order of
sign up, there were three
persons speaking in support of
the sea bid legislation and two
against. And so I'm going down
the wait list to the next
person seeking to speak in
opposition to that legislation.
And that person is trina, who
will MISS You. Are you present?
All right. Again, we at present
have two full residual minutes
here, and then we'll have a
subsequent about one minute and
55 seconds, effectively two
minutes for one other person.
Go ahead. Michelle, you are
recognized.
thank you. Crime is
down. Drones are up. Pedestrian
deaths are up. And we can't get
crosswalks down. I was here two
weeks ago raising concerns
about the nashville downtown
partnership's criminal
negligence, and a council
member echoed. The ndp doesn't
seem to consider pedestrian
safety part of clean and safe.
Then cma fest arrived our
single busiest pedestrian
weekend of the year, along
broadway from eighth avenue to
16th avenue and along eighth
avenue from broadway to grand
veterans, freshly repaved, had
and currently has no painted
stop lines or crosswalks.
During cma fest, I went looking
for answers. A council member
checked with mndot. The bill
sponsor elevated it to t dot t
dot told us the con contracted
completion date is SEPTEMBER
30th, so tourists navigating
broadway on foot just had to
figure it out. On JUNE 8th I
started trying to get answers
from ndp. Did they coordinate
with t dot to ensure crosswalks
were repainted before cma fest?
They have a documented working
relationship with t dot through
the connection downtown
initiative. I never got a call
back. I visited their office
under construction. I was
directed to their shadowy,
unmarked office on vine street
and was told to try the same
website emails I'd already sent.
I want to be clear that I
oppose this budget, but since
there's no public hearing
tonight for ten of you to avoid,
you'll probably pass this
budget. But before you do, this
organization now faces official
accusations of negligence from
the city's own insurer, and
they won't answer phone calls
or respond to emails from
constituents. It occurs to me
we can keep pedestrians safer
today with sidewalk chalk than
all these agencies and
corporations have managed with
millions of dollars. So I'll
ask again what do they mean
when they mean safe? When they
say safe and clean? Because it
sure ain't people. Just the
cash machine.
All right. Now,
to maintain the state required
balance among the items on
agenda, on the agenda. For
purposes of public comment on
our wait list, we will go next
then. And lastly to doctor
burkina about mckinney, who is
the vice chair of the school
board. She is speaking on
agenda item 69, ordinance 1377.
The budget. Go ahead ma'am.
Thank you. Are we live okay.
Good afternoon everyone. I'm or
evening. I'm doctor mckinney. I
serve as the vice chair of the
school board representing
district four in the donaldson
hermitage and old hickory
communities. I also come today
as the chair of the budget and
finance committee. I'm coming
to to have a conversation with
metro council to talk about the
spirit of collaboration
throughout this budget process.
I think we have missed an
opportunity of collaboration
and conversation. To learn more
about what metro nashville
public school does, what our
board is responsible for as
elected members of the body,
and how we can come together as
a body between metro council
and metro nashville public
schools to work together for
the children of nashville. So
as we consider this performance
audit that we're looking to do,
I join our chair and our school
board members. If you could all
stand that, we're here together
to ask that we do form a
committee to have a
conversation, a more detailed
conversation, to identify the
scope, the scope, objectives
and outcomes that we are
looking for in this audit. We
did not have these
conversations beforehand. There
is still opportunity to do it
as we continue to move forward,
and I ask all members to please
consider that as we have these
conversations also. Also, the
other thing that came out of
these conversations was many of
you, you received questions
from constituents about metro
nashville public schools. In
the spirit of collaboration, we
also asked politely and kindly
and humbly if you could forward
those to us, cc us in that many
of you do do that and we ask
you to continue to do so. That
way we can better support you
and help you and work together
as a city for the children.
Thank you.
All right. That
concludes 20 minutes of total
speaking time for the public
comment with the appropriate
balance as required. And thus
we will not dip any further to
into our wait list. And the
public comment period has
concluded. All right. As I
stated off the top, without
objection, I would propose to
pull the budget ordinance
agenda item 69, as well as the
tax levy agenda item 70 forward
on our agenda, such that. Next
we would be taking up agenda
item 69. All right. Seeing no
objection, we will now move to
agenda item 69, ordinance
bl2026. Dash 1377 sponsor tombs.
This is a bill to be entitled
the budget ordinance of the
metropolitan government of
nashville and davidson county,
tennessee for the fiscal year
2027. Councilmember tombs.
MADAM Budget chair. You are
recognized.
Thank you, MADAM
Vice mayor. Committee report,
budget and finance voted to
recommend approval of the
substitute by yours truly. Ten
in favor. Zero against zero not
voting. The committee also
recommended to not approve the
amendment as well as the late
file amendment one in favor,
nine against zero not voting,
and voted to recommend approval
of the bill as substituted. Ten
in favor, zero against zero not
voting. And with that, I move
for approval.
All right. Back
to you, ma'am.
I'd like to move
approval of the tombs
substitute.
Okay. Go ahead on
your substitute.
Thank you,
MADAM Vice mayor, I first, I
want to start by thanking
finance director janine reed,
budget director aaron pratt and
their staff, as well as council
director brian wilson and
council staff. Also, thank you
to my colleagues, to department
heads and all the community
leaders that work together to
create the content of the
substitute. As chair of the
budget and finance committee, I
really worked hard to create a
transparent and collaborative
process. Colleagues, if you've
read through the the substitute,
which shared early to get
input from all of you, there
are over 30 items in the
proposed substitute, including
adding an additional $2.1
million to eviction right to
counsel, bringing that total
investment to $4.5 million.
That allows that program to
scale up and provide additional
legal assistance to more
individuals who find themselves
in eviction court. $1.25
million for the hospitality hub
to continue its services at
rodeway inn. That brings a
total investment to $2.5
million, $1 million additional
to the barnes housing trust
fund, bringing that total
investment to $23 million
$401,500 to the nashville fire
department, which allows them
to have a second, fully funded
shift for the reach program,
$250,000 for workforce
development program with the
urban league, money for
$300,000 for the office of
entertainment, $300,000for a
new affordable housing tool
focused around community
housing, 25,000 for support for
child care, technical
assistance, and just a lot of
stuff. A lot of stuff. The
items that didn't make it into
the substitute were because
other funding sources were
found, for example, nashville
general hospital. There was a
lot of concern. They had a a
funding deficit. There was a
lot of concern around employees
getting promised raises. Thank
you again to finance director
reid and budget director aaron
pratt for helping to find
additional finance resources
for nashville general hospital
so they can be taken care of.
We have to take care of the
people's hospital. And so glad
to say that that was
accomplished. And one of the
things that the substitute does
as well is that it leaves the
grocery tax reduction as
proposed to them by the mayor
intact. It was one of my goals
to increase it. The numbers
were not on my side,
unfortunately, but it does
leave it intact. And I know
there is concern from some
about forgoing $9 million in
revenue. However, it is not
uncommon for us to forego
revenue. We do that all the
time when we do tax abatements
for affordable housing projects,
because we have decided as a
city that affordable housing is
worth the investment. And I
think that providing financial
relief to every single
nashvillian is worth the
investment. And with that, I
ask for my colleagues support
for the substitute.
All right.
There is a motion to substitute
with chair tombs substitute. It
is properly seconded. And you
have heard a description of
that substitute by chair tombs,
reflective of all her good work
and collaboration with you all.
So now we are on to discussion
on the motion to substitute.
Does anyone seek to be
recognized specifically on the
motion to substitute? Seeing
none. This requires a simple
majority and we can do it by
voice. All in favor, please say
aye. Any voting? No. Any
abstaining. All right. So the
substitute is on. And if you
would please renew your motion,
MADAM Chair.
Move for approval
of substituted.
Okay. There is
a motion to approve as
substituted. And now we are on
to discussion for that. First
in the queue for discussion is
council member evan siegel. You
are recognized.
Thankyou,
MADAM PRESIDENT. I would like
to move my amendment.
All right.
Is there a second for the
motion to amend? All right. Go
ahead. You're recognized.
Thank
you. I filed this amendment.
Spent a lot of time watching
and participating in the budget
meetings, thinking about the
best way to help nashvillians
with the cost of living crisis,
frankly, that we're facing. If
you look at the three well, I
guess we'll say four largest
sort of expenses for family.
You have for families, you have
housing, you have transit, you
have child care, increasingly
elder care and health care. All
of these are things that we
need to live. And then
following that, you have food.
And we obviously, we've seen
over the past year food
insecurity does to families,
but we have also seen over many,
many years what housing
insecurity does child care
insecurity can do. We have very
little power over health care
at the local level, though
certainly wish we could do more
there as well for people. And
when I weighed, the
conversations we've had around,
is the juice worth the squeeze?
And I thought, is the $6 a
month that we're going to give
to a family of four who's
spending at the top of the
estimates of there's a range of
like 980 to 1200, well, 1175 a
month, but we'll call it 1200.
We'll round up. That family is
going to save $6 a month or.
And that's all families, not
just those who need it most, or
whether we can recommit that
money to building housing and,
and putting it in the barns
fund, which would build housing
for folks who are really
struggling, but also by
building that housing, we're
taking the pressure off the
middle income earners who are
often going into that housing
stock, that those folks who
really need it are looking for.
We're creating moe of that
housing and actually lowers
cost overall for everybody in
the economy pretty
significantly. And it's not $6
a month, it's hundreds, if not
thousands of dollars a month.
And to me, that is where we
need to do the squeeze to get
the juice if we're going to
help people here. So this
amendment was filed in order to
talk about this and to talk
about whether lowering the
sales tax half a percent as
opposed to, say, removing all
local option sales tax or the
1% the chair talked about,
which would be a larger number
and a different conversation.
But whether this half a percent
is worth it when we raise taxes
here or when we lower taxes, we
always have conversations
because around property taxes
we have to do a levy. And we we lot about that.
Everybody gets their bill. But
that's not the case with sales
tax would just go through if
there was no amendment here to
talk about it, and whether this
is the right way to help
families today. I don't think
that this is the right way to
help families today. It MAY be
in bigger quantities later.
Having said that, I've got 15
seconds left. I would move to
amend my motion, to amend, to
add, to move the late filed
because an error was caught by
finance, even though they
prepared it before. And I would
ask if their objections to tha.
You would need to move to
suspend.
The rules. Move to
amend my motion, to suspend the
rules, to move the substitute,
you would.
Just need to move to
suspend the rules that that.
Okay.
I thought I had to amend
my motion based on.
You can
withdraw your motion while you
still have the floor, as I
understand it, and then move to
suspend the while you
still have the floor. Special
counsel, is that a proper
motion at this juncture?
Motion.
The motion that I described, I
think she was refining her
motion there at the end. Her
intent was she expressed
suspension of the rules prior
to the time expiring. But if
you could just speak to if
suspension of the rules at this
juncture with that other motion
pending is appropriate.
Okay.
First, we thought we'd play
this out, folks.
To answer your
question, vice mayor, a a
withdrawal and a request to
suspend the rules to consider a
late filed amendment which is
balanced would be valid. And
councilmember robert siegel, I
heard from you a motion to
amend your motion to consider
to consider a late file,
essentially, that would that
would require suspension of the
rules as well. So the best step
forward at this point would be
to move, to suspend. And then
we can go from there.
As long
as that's the prevailing motion.
I just want to make sure.
The
motion will still be on the on
the motion to amend the just be a
motion to amend your previous
motion.
A motion to amend my
previous motion to suspend the
rules, to move the file.
Whatever you just said, can we
go with whatever you just said?
All right, I would.
Yeah.
Where
we are with time still
available subsequent to MISS
Evan siegel moving to amend
with her timely filed amendment
prior to the expiration of her
time, she endeavored to express
a request to suspend the rules
for purposes of taking up her
late file amendment. So there
is a request to suspend the
rules. Is there any objection
to the suspension of the rules?
Okay. The rules are not
suspended because there are
multiple objections to that
suspension.
So parliamentary
inquiry then. So the motion to
suspend fails. But so the
motion to for the amendment is
still the prevailing motion.
That's correct. You have
replaced your initial motion
with the motion to suspend or
with the request to suspend the
rules. And that request has
failed. There is no residual
time. Counsel. Go ahead. And in
my estimation, before her time
expired MAY be in precisely.
She requested to suspend the
rules. Once we figure that out,
I put it to the body. There
were multiple objections. So
the rules are not suspended and
her time has expired. All right,
special counsel, go ahead.
You're recognized for
clarification. There's a
parliamentary inquiry as to the
status before us at this
juncture.
Vice mayor, at this
point, I would at this point,
we are still on the original
motion to amend. All right.
Request to suspend the rules to
change that original motion
that failed for for multiple
objections. We are we are still
on the original motion to amend
the substitute.
All right. I
appreciate the clarification. I
appreciate the parliamentary
inquiry, the motion that is
presently before us is a motion
to amend with the timely filed
amendment, which was followed
by a late filed amendment for
the purposes of addressing a
technical or mathematical error
that I do understand to be an
issue. Okay, so where we are is
on a motion to amend with the
timely filed amendment. And so
we continue on discussion on
the motion to amend. First in
the queue is council member
styles. Yes, ma'am. MADAM Chair,
you're recognized.
MADAM Vice
mayor, given that the timely
filed amendment is not
structurally balanced, can we
vote on that?
So. I'm going to
take that a little more. In the
space of a parliamentary
inquiry, point of order is kind
of where we are in the order of
operations. Special counsel,
can you speak to that, sir?
Yes,
vice mayor, this amendment is
not structurally balanced. It
is to answer the question. Yes.
It is something the council can
consider. However, if a budget.
Okay. So respectfully, I think
what we're trying to understand
it, it is proper at this time
to discuss this motion, to
amend it is it is a proper
motion. And we will discuss it.
As I understand you are asking
particular to our rules of
procedure, is there anything
that specifically precludes
debate on a amendment? And I
did not get the rest of your
words of. Were you asking
particular to the passage of
this. Because where we are now
is on debate.
Okay, I don't
have a question regarding
debate. I have a question about
the actual passing it.
Okay. So
in the substance of our
discussion. Anyone can elevate
that question or address a
question to the special counsel.
Okay, so there is a proper
motion beforeus, even if that
motion has some challenges or
problems inherent in it. We
will proceed with this. And
then at the end of that
discussion, you all can make
the determination on how you
choose to vote at that time.
Okay. Next in the queue is
council member styles, MISS
Styles. Do you seek to be
recognized on the motion to
amend?
No. Vice mayor actually
was getting in the queue to
speak on this subsequently.
Okay. Is there anyone that is
in the queue specifically on
the motion to amend with the filed amendment? Budget
chair tombs, you're next in the
queue. You're recognized.
Thank
you, MADAM Vice mayor.
Colleagues, this is not a
friendly amendment. We have
many tools in our toolbox for
affordable housing. We have the
barnes fund, with passage of
this budget, will have a new
revolving loan fund. We have
the new investment in community
housing. We regularly do pilots
for workforce housing
developments, and later this
year we will hopefully have in
place the use of bonds for
affordable housing. So there
are many tools in our toolbox.
I'm a big proponent of barnes,
but it is not the the single
tool that we have. We have many.
Yes, it's true that it's really
expensive to to purchase homes,
to rent homes. The folks who
are in themiddle are buying
lesser priced homes. And that's
really pricing people out. And
if we build new units,
eventually that is hopefully
will bring the prices down
eventually somewhere in the
future. We have the opportunity
today to provide tax relief to
everyday nashvillians. That's
important. We already have
instances, as I've stated,
where we forego revenue when we
do our tax abatements. We're
saying we will take less
property tax on a property
because we believe in
affordable housing. Let's
believe in people being able to
afford groceries and forego
this $9 million, which is not a
huge investment. And I wish it
was more. I wish it was more. I
tried to make it more. $6
matters. I can tell you, as a
mom of three, I coupon I. I
watch grocery prices. That's a
spaghetti dinner. I could buy
my box of noodles. I'm a kroger
girl, so I could buy my kroger
brand of spaghetti sauce and
some ground turkey. That is a
meal. So it's not it's not a
small thing. And so over time,
it could be a tank of gas. It
could be school supplies. It
could be much needed relief for
everyday families. And we can
do it now. So I encourage my
colleagues to vote against this
amendment.
All right. Debate
continues on the motion to
amend. Next in the queue is
council member suara. Yu're
recognized ma'am.
Thank you,
vice mayor.
I also rise against
the amendment. For some of the
reasons that councilmember
tombs highlighted, I, I, we
started this meeting with a
with a prayer and what the the
guest talk about empathy and
putting ourselves in the shoes
of others. Why $5. $6 MAY not
mean nothing to most of us. It
does for some people. I want
people to realize that when
people file for unemployment in
the state of tennessee, the
check that they get weekly is
around $30 to $300, depending
on your wage. For somebody that
is getting unemployment check
of $30 a week. Imagine what $5
means to them. Right. So we
cannot we cannot use our own
lives, our own experiences to
determine what works for
everybody. We have to think
about all of our constituents.
And so the people that this
matters to. And we have
received emails from folks that
said it does. The other reason,
which is also one of the
reasons why I shared yesterday
that initially I was against it
too, because yes, I am
privileged and that five $6
doesn't mean much to me. That
is a fact. But when people
started contacting me and then
I have to pivot and think about
he people that I represent.
One of the conversations that
we also had ourteachers, our
union members, when we're
talking about compensation this
year, we have an increase in
cost of living, but we also
have an increase in benefits
that is $5 off of insurance
premium that somebody will not
have to pay. And so let's take
a look at all of it that way. I
wish it more. I wish we could
do more. I wish we could
increase it. I support bonds, I
think it's a good thing. But
like chair said, we have other
tools in the toolbox we're
using for housing. And let's
look at things that is not just
for everyone. It's just for a
specific group, but it's for
everyone. Okay. I read a quote
yesterday about being
privileged is not looking at
the other people. I appreciate
my my colleague for bringing it.
I think she her heart is in the
right place. I thought the same
way initially, but I want us to
listen to the voices of the
other side. And that's a lot
with the social services. Spoke
here during one of the
committee meetings and said,
the people that are struggling
the most in nashville are our
teachers, our firefighters,
people that actually have a job
that don't need the bonds fund,
but need every dollar that we
can give them. And so with that,
I, I am in opposition of that
amendment, and I hope that you
all will vote against it as
well. Thank you.
All right.
Next in the queue on discussion
on the motion to amend is
council member sepulveda.
You're recognized.
Thank you,
vice mayor. And I do appreciate
the where the mayor is coming
from and where our budget chair
is coming from. However, I I'm
not on the same side of this
issue, having worked on this
for a very long time. Now, the
only reason this is an option
for us is because the state of
tennessee is passing the buck.
$6 means everything to me today.
I've had cereal. I save where I
can, I've had cereal, and I'm
munching on crackers. Right.
It's hard to make a living in
this city. They have the
opportunity to pay for this by
closing the corporate tax
loophole, and they choose not
to. They choose not to.
Quiet,
please.
Instead, they have
given corporations 1.5 billion
in refunds and incentives.
Fedex has filed 13 tax returns
in the state of tennessee. We
only file one. Only one. That's
an average of $400 a year in
groceries for tennessee
families, $400 in groceries. We
as nashvillians still pay. At
the end of the day, when we are
asking our departments to save,
we're still paying. At the end
of the day, I understand what
we're trying to do. I really do
understand. But at the end of
the day, there are davidson
county residents who cross into
kentucky to go buy groceries
because they don't have a
grocery tax there, and they're
trying to save money, and I
can't ask them to do that, I
really can't. So yes, I would
have voted for this amendment
if it would have been balanced.
Right now, I don't I don't know
what to do because I wish that
we wouldn't have voted to like,
not suspend the rules. I wish
we would have had this option
because it is absolutely
shameful that the state of
tennessee continues to do this,
because they want to give free
rides to corporations. I'm not
going to do that. I'm not going
to do the state's bidding. And
so when they air this, when
they write about this, I want
them to get this right. This is
on the state of tennessee. The
state of tennessee should end
the grocery tax. And they keep
putting a fake bill before the
the state legislature that has
no source of funding. When
there is an option to close the
corporate tax loophole and give
an average revenue of $891
million to the state of
tennessee, that is helping
tennesseans and not
corporations. So, no, I don't
want an option to end the
grocery tax for counties,
cities, municipalities. I want
the state of tennessee to end
the grocery tax. And it is
shameful, shameful that they
don't.
All right. Next in the
queue is council member
porterfield. You're recognized.
Oh I'm sorry. Go ahead ma'am.
Thank you, vice mayor.
How am I
supposed to come behind that?
Jeez, louise, can I can you
come back to me? No, seriously,
I, I agree with a lot of the
sentiment of my colleague,
council member sepulveda. I
don't know that we've ever
actually been on the opposite
side of an issue. So this is a
little painful for me right now.
I'm having an emotional
reaction, but I'm standing in
opposition to the amendment and
in support of cutting the
grocery tax. Tennessee is one
of I believe we're one of 11
states that is actually still
taxing people for groceries.
And I agree with everything
councilmember sepulveda said.
It is on the state. The state
should cut the grocery tax,
just like the state should be
funding more for our public
schools. And just like for our
public schools, we as a city
are having to pick up the slack
when the state does not do
their job. She's absolutely
right. They are doing the
bidding of businesses and
corporations. They are giving
tax breaks that we, the%
citizens and the residents
should be getting. They're not
doing their job. So we're
having to pick up the slack and
it totally sucks. But we cannot
absolve our responsibility to
take care of our constituency
just because the state isn't
doing what they need to do. So
for that reason, I am standing
against the amendment and I am
standing for. I want to stand
in support of the current
budget. I remember I shared a
little bit yesterday about a
friend that that I know that is
a business professional and by
no fault of their own based on
some federal cuts. This is a
person with a professional
degree in the medical field,
and they're currently
unemployed, and I watch them
week after week try to figure
out how they're going to feed
their family. And there are
literal times when they're like,
I have $5 and I'm trying to
figure out how I'm going to eat
this week and how I'm going to
feed my kids. So for us, $5 is
nothing. $6 is nothing. But for
many people that are struggling
to make the ends meet, I
vividly remember when I was 22
and I had just graduated from
tissue, and I was working in a
call center, and my colleague
and I, for lunch, we would go
to MRS. Winters all the time
and get this dollar 99 chicken
meal, because that was
literally all we could afford.
So that $2 literally stretched
for us. $6 would have been
three times that we could have
ate that week. And now it's
hard to find $1.99 meal, but
you can still get a wendy's
four for four. So it MAY not be
a lot of money for a lot of
people, but for the people that
need it, this does make a
difference. We never get the
opportunity to put direct
dollars back into the hands of
our constituents, and this is
one of the only opportunities
that we have to deliver a real
impact, real dollars that we're
giving back to the constituents.
So I respect my colleague's
position. I adore my colleague,
council member sepulveda. I
respect their position, but I
have to be against the
amendment this time.
All right.
Next in the queue on the motion
to amend is council member
benedict. You're recognized.
Previous question.
All right.
MISS Benedict has called the
previous question. Is there a
second? Second. Okay. This is a
non-debatable motion that
requires two thirds of those
voting that call. The previous
question ends debate on the
motion to amend. Okay. And so
we will move then to the vote
on the motion to amend with the
timely filed amendment of MISS
Evan siegel. We will try this
first by voice. As I remind
folks every time it is number,
not volume, please. So if you
are in favor of the previous
question, you'll say I to end
the debate. If you want the
debate to continue, you will
say no. All in favor of the
previous question, please say
aye. Any voting no. All right.
The ayes have it. And so the
previous question is called.
And so we will move to the vote
on the motion to amend. We can
take this also by voice. All in
favor of the motion to amend
please say aye. All against the
motion to amend. Please say no.
Any abstaining the nose have it.
The amendment fails. All right.
Now we are back on debate of
the motion to approve as
substituted next in the queue
for that discussion is council
member styles. You're
recognized ma'am.
Thank you
very much, vice mayor. I just
want to take this moment. And I
said this during the budget
work sessions to share what a
great job council member tombs
did on this budget, but also
the budget process itself,
holding the department hearings,
allowing for the budget work
sessions, allowing council
members to bring whatever their
cares or concerns were and
allowing them to share them and
let colleagues listen to them
and give feedback in a very
fair, a very fair manner. I
appreciate councilmember tombs
and her integrity. It was very
nice to have it. And
congratulations, chair tombs,
you've done an amazing job. You
should be proud.
All right. We on discussion on the
motion to approve substituted.
Next in the queue is council
member johnston. You're
recognized ma'am.
Thank you,
vice mayor. Every year this, I
think is my seventh budget to
work on. And I get frustrated
every year because our process
is incredibly. It's just a
frustrating process and
especially in a from a coming
from that is part time,
that doesn't have access to a
ton of information. And I think
we've had a, I've been watching,
I haven't been able to be here
because I've been recovering
from surgery, but I've been
watching and I we've had a lot
of conversation around
affordability. The largest bill
that davidson county sends
nashvillians is their property
tax bill. And we've been
talking about the grocery tax.
And I feel like we're we're
majoring in the minor talking
about, well, we need to have a
little bit of relief here and a
little bit of relief here when
meaningful relief could come
from really putting together an
efficient budget that has as
little waste as possible. And
where is that work? I really
appreciate council member evan
segal's thought processes
around what is the best way to
provide affordability. Is this
the right thing and really
digging into it? Because that's
the work that needs to be done.
When you take away a small
source of revenue, that revenue
has to be found somewhere, and
next year going to have
to find it. And the year after
that, we're going to have to
find it. And what that does is
apply pressure to then increase
the property tax again to make
up for it instead of pulling
robbing peter to pay. Paul. We
have businesses that are
shuttering. When businesses
close, people lose their jobs.
That's not adding anything to
affordability. When mortgages
go up, so do rents. Housing is
the most expensive thing that
people pay for every single
month. That is where I think
the work should be put into is
figuring out how can we, as a
government become more
efficient. I haven't in my
seven years seen us cut one
thing we continually add and
add and add and are we really
looking at the programing that
we're investing in to see where
is that roi? Are we really
getting from this programing?
What eshould? Are there
contracts that we're paying
every single month, year after
year, that we're not even
utilizing that? What product
are we negotiating the pricing
of our contracts the way that
we should do we even know what
we're paying for? Because a lot
of this gets gone through
professional services. So many
contracts people don't even
know in this room, don't even
know that we're paying for.
That's where the work needs to
go, where we can meaningfully
reduce the largest bill that we
send to our constituents every
single year, which is their
property tax bill. So this
budget is extremely frustrating
to me, but it's frustrating year. So I can't
in good conscience vote yes for
it.
All right. Next in the
queue is council member nash.
Recognize, sir.
Thank you,
MADAM PRESIDENT. Very short. I
know that this small cut in
grocery tax means a different
will have different impact on
different families. And it's
not real large, but it's the
first time in my 74 years that
i remember any tax being cut.
And I think that's important to
show the state how it's done.
And and maybe we can do better
again next year.
All right.
Next in the queue is council
member benedict. All right.
Council member benedict has
called the previous question. I
have heard a second. We have a
rule relative tothe amount of
time of debate on the operating
budget. We have achieved that
number. Okay. All right. So
that is a proper motion at this
juncture. Again, non-debatable
requires two thirds of those
voting. If you vote yes or I in
favor the previous question,
you want to end debate and move
to the vote on the budget. If
you vote, no discussion will
continue. All in favor? The
previous question, please say I.
Those against the previous
question, please say no.
No.
The ayes have it. All right. We
will now move to the vote on.
Approval of the operating
budget as substituted. This. By
our rules recall requires a
roll call vote. And so, MR.
Clark, if you would please load
the vote.
With all votes in.
MR. Clark, please show the vote.
All right. The budget has
passed its third and final
reading, as substituted, with
35 votes in favor, two against
and zero abstentions. All right,
next we move on to agenda item
70. This is ordinance bl
2026-1378. Sponsor tombs. This
is an ordinance establishing
the tax levy in the general
services district for the
fiscal year 2026 2027, and
declaring the amount required
for the annual operating budget
of the urban services district
pursuant to section 6.07 of the
metropolitan charter budget
chair tombs, you are recognized.
Thank you MADAM. MADAM Vice
mayor, committee. Report.
Budget and finance voted to
recommend approval. Nine in
favor, zero against zero. Not
voting.
All right. With that
report in, it's back to you.
Move for approval.
All right.
There's a motion to approve
1378 the tax levy. And we are
on to discussion. First in the
queue for discussion. MR.
Eastlake, do you seek to be
recognized on the tax levy
gallery? Audience folks,
quietly please depart the
chamber very quietly. No
speaking. Please. Thank you. Go
ahead, sir.
Thank you. I will
not be able to support this
agenda item as it continues to
use the same week study done by
ralph tillis last year as the
guide for the u. Sdausdgsd tax.
The way this worked, there was
no real data used. It was
assumptions and just really
assumptions that everybody was
getting everything equally when
it came to the u, s, d, g, s, d,
what it allowed was the usd to
grow and the gsd to pay for it.
The people in the all gsd
districts are paying more. They
got a double bump on the tax
increase last year, not just
the property tax increase, but
the actual shift from u, s, d
to gst happened s well. So we
in the outside areas are not
getting the same amenities. We
don't get the same services,
nor do we use the same services.
We don't have stop street
lights, we don't have sidewalks
and we don't have trash
collection. I understand the
trash collection was subtracted
from the u, s, d, g and it's
basically what the u, s, d pays
at this point, but it is not
separate and equal throughout
this whole area. And the g, s d
people are carrying the weight
of the growth of the usd. I ask
that in the future. We study
this to make sure that the data
is real and that it's an actual
good plan for the g, s, d
people. I get it if you're one
of the council members that has
usd or is all usd, you're not
going to do this. There's no
reason for you to support
having your people pay more to
get nothing. But that's what
happened to us in the g, s d
last year. We didn't get
anything else, but we had more
tax burden shifted to us and we
should look at this before we
go forward. It certainly
doesn't make sense if you read
the ref telus report. Thank you.
All right. Discussion continues
on agenda item 70, ordinance
1378, the tax levy. Next in the
queue is council member koopman.
You're recognized sir.
Thank
you, MADAM PRESIDENT. And I
want to say first that I deeply
appreciate COUNCILMAN Tombs and
the fantastic job that she has
done to make sure we are all
welcome and had our opinions
heard and our voices heard in
this process. And as
COUNCILWOMAN Johnston said, the
budget process to me continues
to feel backwards andout of
order because we we do the best
we can. Ithink we've done a
really great job this year,
shifting things around a little
bit to get the best impact, but
we don't have the time or
resources to really dive deep
into the, you know, the meat
and potatoes of the budget. I
get calls, texts, emails every
day as recently as this morning,
learning that burger up after
16 years is shutting its doors,
watching nashville staples,
watching the soul of our city
close, close, close
close. Due to taxes due to due
to property taxes, I get phone
calls from families that are
getting kicked out of their
homes because they just got
their new tax bill. I support
the grocery tax reduction or
support we did there, and I
looked at could we do more
before w went to the budget
process, I looked at an 18 cent
property tax reduction. It
would have cost 130 million in
revenue. That light turning off
was part of the cuts. It would
have cost 130 million in
revenue, which I didn't want to
find on the backs of our
workers, which are already
substantially underpaid or
cutting, you know, essential
programs. I would have wanted
to look through contracts and
ways to be more efficient, ways
to deploy resources better, and
that tax reduction would have
saved $450 a year for a
residential home valued at $1
million. So six times this
grocery tax reduction. So it
would there's a way to really
substantially reduce this
burden. But the issue is that
by the time I get to that, by
the time the budget is out, as
a district council person,
there is no no space for that.
There's no time for that.
There's no resources to dive
that deep. Even a budget chair
who would want to do that is
not able to with the time and
resources we have. And I know
we've we've looked at salary,
we've looked at salary savings,
we've looked at contracts. But
still, I can't just continue to
stand here and support a tax
levy that I know is breaking
the backs of our city, breaking
the backs of our residents. And
that runs the risk. Again, we
talk about revenue reduction.
We talk about grocery tax,
sales tax revenue dropping.
Well, at the rate we're going
with these businesses closing,
with residents getting pushed
out, we're going to see a
substantial reduction. So
sometimes there's a there's a
short term pain, long term gain
process. So I'm going to vote
against the the tax levy. I
understand there's a lot of
parameters. I understand that
there's, you know, we do the
best we can with what we've got.
But I need to I need to stand
up for my constituents and
recognize the challenges that
that we are facing and
hopefully going into next year
and starting to go into another
reappraisal cycle, we can look
at how we can ease this burden,
but still, you know, deliver
the services we need to deliver.
All right. Next in the queue is
council member aaron evans.
You're recognized, ma'am.
Thank
you, vice mayor. So I think
there's a lot of sentiments
that some of my peers have
shared tonight that I would
like to echo on a very succinct
way, but I think the the
underlying cause is we, we
really do the best with the
bandwidth that we have a
council. And the budget chairs
process was really strong. But
the reality is we're, we're
essentially between a rock and
a hard place when it comes to
setting the rates and how we
navigate a rate that is higher
than optimal. In particular,
you know, my colleague from old
hickory, you know, reiterated
his feelings around the
original study that got us to
the the differential between
the u, s, d and the gst. And I
want to just reiterate that we
are three about $0.03
difference between usd and gst.
There is a difference in the
services that you get in the
gst. Some of it is warranted.
Some of it do not feel is
warranted. Essentially, by the
time we get to the next
reappraisal period, we will not
have a gst anymore, for better
or for worse. And so there
needs to be a plan. And I
appreciate my council member,
colleague from bellevue, who
was renewing kind of that call
for what's the plan for the gst
areas, because when we start
making these rate adjustments
in the future and somebody in
the next council can mark this
conversation, you know, we're
going to have a conversation
about trash collection, street
lights, sidewalks, all those
things. And there's going to be
an expectation that we're
brought up to the same standard.
So I'm just flagging it again
with my vote in opposition for
the rate. Thank you.
All right.
Next in the queue regarding he
tax levy ordinance is council
member spain. Go ahead sir.
Vice chair, you're recognized.
Thank you, MADAM PRESIDENT. I,
I share the concerns that that
my colleagues have expressed
about the the impacts of the
changes we made in last year's
budget cycle, shifting expenses
between from the usd to the gst.
I appreciate the council's
overwhelming support of a
resolution to continue that
study and continue that
conversation. I appreciate the
mayor, including funding for
that study in his budget and
chair tombs for maintaining in
her substitute. I look forward
to that, that conversation
continuing as we go into the
next budget cycle. I also want
to add my thanks to chair tombs
for the incredibly inclusive
and transparent process that going back to even
before we got here in this
chamber, the public budget one
on one sessions that were held
around the county back in MAY
through the departmental budget
hearings and the working group
sessions that allowed
everyone's voices to be heard
and to advocate for things that
were important to them. And, as
you saw by the vote, created a
very inclusive substitute that
that truly reflected the
priorities of this body. So I
appreciate that and look
forward to, to voting in favor
of this.
Thank you.
Thank you,
vice chair. Next is council
member suara. You're recognized,
ma'am.
Thank you, vice chair,
and I applaud the budget chair,
too, for a job well done. And
since we're still speaking on
the operating budget for me, I
always get a reaction when I
felt like there is a
misinformation or inaccurate
information that I feel like we
need to address or speak to. I
think it is very important to
know that, yes, I agree with
all the sentiments. We could do
better. There's always room for
for us to do better, and we
should keep looking at making
the budget process a whole lot
better. I have my concerns and
I have things that I want to
share, but to say that we never
look at cuts is not appropriate,
because I think that starting
with the mayor's budget, the
departments were actually asked
to put a 1.5% cuts in their
budget this year. And last year
we did the same thing. There
were cuts in the budget. We
look at it. I also remember
that there was a special work
group that was set up by the
budget chair last year. One was
looking into salary savings and
to look at how we can actually
look at that through the budget
process. Another we're talking
about, we just don't look at
spending. I remember we spent
the committee that worked on
procurement, spent weeks, maybe
months looking at that process.
So as we talk about what is not
working, what we need to
improve, I think it's we acknowledge the work
that we're doing and not make
it look as if this body is not
doing anything. Finally, I
think it's important for
everybody to also understand
that the way it works, it's in
your budget. Think about it.
It's a 3.8 billion budget. The
chair is only able to move less
than 9 million. And so if
people really want to make an
impact on the budget and they
want the conversation to start,
they start with the mayor
before it's published on MAY,
everybody comes to the council
and everybody wants the council
to perform magic. And in all my
years of being on the budget
for seven years, I think the
most we've ever done was the
year that we have the surplus
that we're able to do maybe 20
million. It's always been very
minimal, less than 1%, very,
very small amount. And so
people put a lot of weight on
the council, and the council
budget does a good job of
moving around and trying to
move it. But it is a mayoral
system. It is a mayoral budget.
And so everyone should start
talking to the mayor ahead of
time so that whatever change
needs to happen, need to happen.
At that point, I just wanted to
put all of those in. The budget
process. I read the budget
process, I look into the
process and it can get better,
but I also don't want us to
discount the work that's gone
into it. Council member tom did
a wonderful job getting all the
department heads and the
previous budget chair, so this
body is trying to do the best
it can with what he got and
with the time that he has. But
we also have to understand the
process and how things work.
And we cannot just make claims
just to make claims. I
understand we want to get our
constituents that we want to,
you know, it's political and
it's all of that. I get all of
that. But we have to be factual
in it as well. Thank you.
Thank
you. Next in the queue again on
the ordinance establishing the
tax levy is council member
porterfield. You're recognized.
MADAM Pro tem.
Thank you so
very much. Vice mayor, I
appreciate that I am standing
in support of this, of everyone
who just voted yes, should be
voting yes for this because in
essence, we just passed a
budget and this is the
mechanism to pass the budget,
excuse me, fund the budget that
we just passed. So if you don't
pass this, there's no way to
fund the budget that you
literally just voted for to
pass. So you are saying, yes, I
believe in this budget. This is
a great budget and I support it,
but I'm not going to support
funding it. I also want to back
up something that council
member sawyer just said,
because facts matter and it is
important to get facts on the
record. We did a 1.5% reduction
to departments this year. We
did a 1.41% reduction in fiscal
year 25. So for the three years
that this body has passed a
budget, two of those years we
did budget cuts. So it is
factually incorrect to say that
we are not cutting budgets and
that we are not looking at cuts.
And again, I think it's
important that we put that on
the record. So again, if you
just voted for the budget, you
really should vote for this
because this is how we fund the
budget. And then the last thing
that I want to say is I
completely understand, and I
understood last year the
tensionthat people felt about
having to pay more if they were
in the g, s, d, this is not
asking the gsd to not pay their
to pay more. This is asking the
city to pay their fair share.
That was the conversation last
year from the results of the
study is. We are simply asking
people to pay their their fair
share if their services have
been subsidized. Up to this
point, we're saying that we're
asking you to pay your fair
share. So I'm asking my
colleagues to please support
the tax levy for the budget
that they just voted to pass.
Thank you, MADAM Pro tem. Next
in the queue is budget chair
tombs. You're recognized, MADAM
Chair.
Thank you, MADAM Vice
mayor. Obviously, I stand in
support of the tax rate to fund
the budget that we just passed.
I do want to point out that the
budget that we just passed does
include 1.5% cuts across the
board. I want to lift up the
work of our finance department
and our budget office, both of
whom have been working with
department heads to help them
identify how to absorb those
cuts. Because it's in recent
years, it's not often that we
cut departments. That is true.
However, when you think about
reducing the tax rate, you're
reducing revenue. We're
reducing revenue, you're
reducing the amount of money
that we have to fund the
government. And at a certain
point, you're looking at
cutting departments. If
colleagues are comfortable with
cutting departments and not
knowing the consequences, then
you can propose a reduction to
the tax rate next fiscal year.
When we raise property taxes,
we didn't raise that to pay for
lavish trips. We raised the%
property tax rate so that we
could pay to fund government.
Because if you look at our
funding sources, we are very
limited in the sources
on the local government level.
That's why when there was a
conversation about capping the
property tax rate at the state
level, every local government
across the unified and
saying, please don't do that,
because it's going to cut off
local government at the knees.
Every other revenue source that
we have grows barely at 1 or 2%
a year. 57% of our revenue is
property taxes. We get a lot of
requests, a lot of requests
coming to us. A lot of us deal
with constituent services where
people are wanting things, and
those things cost money. And I
understand the hardship to
folks is it's a hardship to me.
My property tax bill went up as
well. You have to make
adjustments. I understand that,
but we have to be able to fund
government. We have to be able
to provide services. And those
services are not cheap. Just as
the cost of living increases
for residents every year, the
cost of governing increases.
Every year we have to for
our schools, 80,000 kids,
11,000 employees, the thousands
of employees that
metro and provide the services.
People talk about public safety
and affordable housing and and
all the different departments
that provide service. All of
that costs money. The bulk of
our budget is personnel, the
people providing the services.
So I am all for efficiency. And
again, lifting up our budget
office and our finance
department. So are they. And
they are always looking at how
we spend money, how to save
money and how to be responsible
with taxpayer dollars. So I
encourage any, all my
colleagues to meet with them
and start that conversation. If
you want to look at cuts, you
got to be prepared what the
consequence is for that. Thank
you.
Thank you, MR. Eastlake,
you have spoken before on this
matter. I cannot recall if you
used the entirety of your time,
but I would ask you please, to
be concise, sir.
Thank you, I
generally don't. Okay. First
off, facts do matter. And cuts
versus savings. Temporary
savings. I think it was 25 when
there was temporary savings.
And then when the new budget
came up with the tax increase,
those were given back to those
apart, those departments. I
checked that, I asked about it
and they were said. I was told
they were given back for budget
consistency. So that's the
difference between a cut, a
real cut that it doesn't come
back and a temporary savings,
which is what I found out the
last time. Secondly, we talk
about not being able to cut.
We're fighting over $6. We
could cut the amount we pay. If
you look at some of the things,
the goods and services that
metro pays for, it is well
beyond a premium versus what
the general public pays for. If
you've been in the apple
committee with me, you know I'm
upset about the $100,000
outdoor bathroom that was
prefabricated from another
state shipped here for $100,000. In this room
that could convince me, a
general contractor, a regular
person in our city could not
build that a whole lot cheaper.
So we're spending money at a
monopoly money rate. We could
cut these departments without
losing anything. Just pay what
the regular public pays for the
same exact good or service. And
secondly. Or last, we could
talk about this all day long
about the rate split. The rate
split based on roof tiles does
not justify their changes. They
talk of broad concepts. They do
not talk about individual
statistics or usage based data
or anything like that. It is
just a concept. And I believe
raf tillis is used by this
government because they tell
the government what they want
to hear.
All right. With no one
else in the queue, we will move
to the vote on the third
reading, third and final
reading of the tax levy to pro
tem's point, which funds the
budget that has already passed.
I will remind the body from a
technical perspective that
pursuant to the metropolitan
charter, if the tax levy
ordinance is not adopted on
third reading, it requires 21
votes. A new tax levy ordinance,
if sufficiently funds this 2027
budget must be filed and heard
at three separate readings
prior to JUNE 30th. So I would
ask that you keep that in mind
as we move to the vote. Our
rules do require that this is a
roll call vote. So, MR. Clerk,
if you would please load the
vote.
Thank you. So you don't
have to do that for me.
With
all votes. And MR. Clerk,
please show the vote. All right.
The tax levy ordinance has
passed its third and final
reading with 29 votes in favor,
seven votes against and zero
abstentions. All right, that
concludes our two budget items
that we pulled forward on our
agenda. And so at this juncture,
we're going to go back to the
top of our agenda and move on
through in agenda order.
All
right. Section eight, our
consolidated consent agenda,
all resolutions and second and
third reading ordinances on
this agenda are included on the
consent agenda, if recommended
for approval unanimously by all
committees to which the item
was referred, items on the
consent agenda will be voted on
at a single time. The item
number, along with the
resolution and ordinance number
of the items on the consent
agenda will be read by me, and
members of the council MAY
remove any item from the
consent from the consent agenda
by request before the consent
agenda vote is taken. All right.
The first resolution proposed
for consent is agenda item two,
resolution 2026-2004. Agenda
item three. Resolution
2026-2005. Agenda item four.
resolution 2026-2006.
Resolution or rather, agenda
number five resolution
2026-2008. Agenda item six.
Resolution 2026-2030. Agenda
item seven. Resolution
2026-2031. Agenda item eight.
Resolution 2026-2032. Agenda
item ten. Resolution 2026-2034.
Agenda item 11. Resolution
2026-2035. Agenda item 12.
Resolution 2026-2036. Agenda
item 13. Resolution 2026-2037.
Agenda item 14. Resolution
2026-2038. Agenda item 15.
Resolution 2026-2039. Agenda
item 16. Resolution 2026-2040.
Agenda item 17. Resolution
2026-2041. Agenda item 18.
Resolution 2026-2042. Agenda
item 19. Resolution 2026-2043.
Agenda item 20. Resolution
2026-2044. Agenda item 21.
Resolution 2026-2045. Agenda
item 22. Resolution 2026-2046.
Agenda item 23. Resolution
2026-2047. Agenda item 24.
Resolution 2026-2048. Agenda
item 25. Resolution 2026-2049.
Agenda item 26. Resolution
2026-2050. Agenda item 27.
Resolution 2026-2051. Agenda
item 28. Resolution 2026-2052.
Agenda item 29. Resolution
2026-2053. Agenda item 30.
Resolution 2026-2054. Agenda
item 31. Resolution 2026-2055.
Agenda item 32. Resolution
2026-2056. Agenda item 33.
Resolution 2026-2057. Agenda
item 34. Resolution 2026-2058.
Agenda item 35. Resolution
2026-2059. Agenda item 36.
Resolution 2026-2060. Agenda
item 37. Resolution 2026-2061.
Agenda item 38. Resolution
2026-2062. Agenda item 39.
Resolution 2026-2063. Agenda
item 41. Resolution 2026-2065.
Agenda item 42. Resolution
2026-2066. Agenda item 43.
Resolution 2026-2067. Agenda
item 44. Resolution 2026-2068.
Agenda item 45. Resolution
2026-2069. Checks for bills on
second reading proposed for the
consent agenda. First among
those is agenda item 64
resolution or rather ordinance
bl2026-1393 and second reading
short. So the second and last
among those is agenda item 65,
ordinance bl2026-139. For. For
items on third reading proposed
for the consent agenda. First
among those agenda item 66
ordinance bl2026-1328. Agenda
item 67 ordinance bl2026-1356.
Agenda item 68 ordinance
bl2026-1358. Agenda item 71
ordinance bl2026-1379. Agenda
item 73 ordinance bl2026-1382.
And that is the last bill
proposed for the consolidated
consent agenda. Do any items
need to be removed from the
consent agenda? If so, if
members would please join the
queue to request that. Council
member koopman. You are
recognized, sir.
Thank you.
Chair number 40, I believe was
off consent, but just wanted to
make sure.
That's correct.
Council member 40 is not on
consent. Next in the queue.
Council member ellis, you're
recognized ma'am.
Thank you,
MADAM Chair. Two things I
wanted to confirm. 2031 that's
on consent.
Okay. Is this an
ordinance or resolution? Okay.
Resolution number seven, or
rather agenda number seven is
on consent.
Okay. And then for
resolution 2026-2065, I wanted
to pull that off. Consent.
Okay.
Do you have an agenda number,
ma'am? Okay. Agenda number 41.
This is resolution 2026-2065,
and it will be removed from
consent. Okay. Next in the
queue is council member gamble.
You're recognized.
Thank you,
vice mayor. I'd like to remove
number 45 hours 2026 2069.
Okay.
Agenda item 45. Resolution 2069
will be removed from. Consent
has been removed. Next in the
queue, council member suara,
you're recognized, ma'am.
Thank
you, vice mayor. Item number 73.
Bill 2026 132, please.
All
right. Council member suara has
requested the removal of agenda
item 73, ordinance 1382, and it
has been removed from consent.
All right. Any other members
seekingto remove an item from
consent? All right. Seeing none,
MR. Clark, are all committee
reports in for the items
remaining on the consent agenda?
Yes. All committee reports are
in.
Okay. Thank you, MR. Clark.
Members, is there a motion for
approval of the consent agenda?
Okay. All in favor, please say
aye. Council haspassed all
items on the consent agenda.
All right. Next, we will move
back through our agenda again
in agenda order. First, for
resolutions that were not on
consent. And first among those
is agenda item one. This is
ordinance. Or rather resolution
2026-1961. This is a resolution
reducing the local sales tax on
the sale of groceries. Sponsors
tombs coop and bradford hoffman,
allen porterfield, ellis and
spain council member tombs. You
are recognized.
Thank you,
MADAM Vice mayor, committee
report, budget and finance
voted to recommend approval.
Nine in favor, two against zero
not voting.
All righty. In
favor. Two against and zero not
voting. Okay with that
committee report.
Move for
approval.
Okay, there's a
motion to approve and properly
seconded. We are on to
discussion on this residue,
reducing the local sales tax on
the sale of groceries. Is
anyone seeking discussion at
this time okay. Seeing none. Do
we have a quorum in the room? I
think we do. Okay. Just want to
doublecheck on that. Okay.
Let's see. I guess we will try
this first by voice. Even
though we did have some no's in
committee. We'll try it first
that way. All in favor of this
resolution approval, please say
aye. Any voting no. Okay with
that? Because it is a
resolution by rule. We will
have to do a roll call vote.
MR. Clark, if you would please
load the vote.
MISS Hancock, do
you seek to vote on this? With
all votes? And, MR. Clerk,
please show the vote. All right.
This resolution has passed with
28 votes in favor, three
against and one abstention. All
right. Next is agenda item nine.
This is resolution 2026-2033.
Sponsor coupon. This is a
resolution approving the fiscal
year 2027 central business
improvement district budget and
accepting previous central
business district improvement
budgets. Council member coupon.
You are recognized, sir.
Thank
you, MADAM PRESIDENT. Committee
reports please.
For the report
of the budget and finance
committee. Chair, tombs.
Budget
and finance voted to recommend
approval. Eight in favor, two
against one not voting.
All
right, back to you, MR. Koopman,
for a motion to get this bill.
Before approval. Move approval
with brief comment, please.
Okay, sir. Second. Go ahead,
sir.
Thank you. And I know
we've we've seen this before,
but did want to highlight some
some things that, that have
occurred over the last year
with the central business
improvement district. First,
among those that the seabed and
seabed board. I've encouraged
to and been happy to see them
lead the effort. I've reminded
colleagues that our
relationship is not with
nashville downtown partnership.
It is with the district
management corporation, made up
of board members that are
downtown residents and
stakeholders and business
owners. And so I want to make
sure that those folks are here
and engaged and knowing what's
going on, and they've done a
great job of that. You the
letter you got today was signed
by all of them. And so that's
been that's been a huge
improvement. Again, thanks to
COUNCILMAN Parker for elevating
the fact that we do need to
even have this budget process.
We've got activities and
interaction report from
COUNCILMAN Properties amendment.
And then we've also seen
progress on what the bid is
allocating funding for. Right.
You've seen that that n, d, p
and the sea bed have committed
to funding reach mental health
workers downtown. They are in
the process of a commitment for
funding red frogs, which is
huge. So we're seeing a lot of
movement, a lot of progress on
that. The conversations ongoing.
I've said this a hundred times,
I think in the last couple of
weeks that I am the ex officio
member. I represent this
council on the ndp board, on
the seabed board, on the g bid
boards. If there are concerns,
questions, issues, come to me,
share them with me and
specifically around the the thp
private security issue. I've
said this a number of times,
but day night, 4:00 in the
morning, it doesn't matter.
Call me, text me, you know I'm
available if there is an issue,
if there is someone being
harassed or treated poorly,
call. Call me. Let me know. I
want to know about it. I'll
come down. I'll come address it.
But again, we've got a new
provider in that space and, you
know, keeping a close eye on
what that looks like. But we've
seen a lot of changes, a lot of
progress. At the end of the day,
this is about 22,000 residents,
countless stakeholders downtown.
This is the budget they want
this the budget that they put
forward. And I hope my
colleagues will support it.
So
we are on to discussion on the
motion to approve this
resolution. First in the queue
is council member parker.
You're recognized sir.
Thank
you, vice mayor. First, I have
a technical question which I'd
like to direct to our special
counsel, if I MAY. Yes. So,
special counsel, the text
2.177.070 reads that the annual
budget shall be reviewed and
approved by the metropolitan
council or, if not approved,
shall be returned to the board
of directors for revision and
resubmission until the
metropolitan council shall
approve the annual budget. This
is precisely the same document
they submitted before. We did
reject that document and sent
it back to the board of
directors. They have not
revised it. They have sent back
the exact same document. So is
this properly before us?
According to the metro code.
Special council, you're
recognized.
Council member
based on my review of the
legislation considered last
week in the legislation
considered this week, there is
a change between accounts of $1
and in. And based on that,
however minor, that is a
revision.
That's very cute and
I think it shows how seriously
the district manager
corporation takes this
responsibility. So I think, you
know, members of this body,
we've heard substantive
concerns about this entity for
the last 18 months from the
public, from members of this
body. We have rejected the
budget they sent us. We sent it
back to them. They did this
cute little movement of a
dollar, which I did not find.
So thank you, special counsel,
for digging through that and
finding that movement of a
dollar. We are tasked with
oversight of this body. No one
is coming to fix this for us.
We are the oversight entity of
this body. We need to be the
adults in the room. Vote this
down and have them send us a
budget we can approve.
All
right. Next in the queue is
council member porterfield.
You're recognized.
Thank you,
vice mayor, I appreciate that.
I second and echo everything.
My colleague, council member
parker just stated, when we act.
When I asked if this was a
change in the budget, my
interpretation of the email
that we got, we got an email
that basically that basically
said, I'm kind of paraphrasing
here, that there were a lot of
council members out. So we're
going to bring back the same
budget because we'll have more
people, not that we are looking
to make the changes or
addressing the concerns that
several council members lifted
up. Council member evan siegel
brought up some really great
concerns around safety. I hope
she gets in the queue to talk
about them again. She brought
up some really great concerns.
We brought up multiple concerns
about thp and the chp is still
in the budget even though we
shared those concerns. And they,
in essence, brought back the
same budget because they
believe that they don't have to
make any changes because they
just feel like they have the
vote. And I think that that is
very prideful. That is hubris.
And I think that if you want to
show that you are a good
partner and that you truly are
trying to work with this body
and you want us to approve this
budget, then you would have
considered bringing in a
revised budget is four
positions. It is literally four
positions. So they had the
opportunity to remove t, h p
and they did not. Yesterday, a
comment was made by, I guess
this is one of their vendors,
but a comment was made by a
gentleman who accused the city
of busing unhoused neighbors
from downtown. When there are
big events like the cma and I
went on the record and I asked
the administration if that was
true. And of course, the
administration confirmed that
that wasn't true. But I did a
little digging. And in 2016,
news channel five actually
wrote a story about a group
pays to bus many homeless out
of town. I'll just read the
first line, the nashville
downtown partnership, that is
the group that was busing
unhoused neighbors. And granted,
this was this story was back
from 2016. So hopefully they
don't have that practice but I just thought
that it was very disturbing that one of
their vendors made against our
city is what they were, the
ones that were actually doing.
and here we are again with the
budget that hasn't been revised
that we're asking to to approve
this budget, we have the
opportunity to vote this down.
They d a lot of good stuff. We
want them to do the good stuff.
We want them to keep downtown
clean. That's an amazing use of
tax dollars when you are
keeping downtown clean. But
what we're saying is we don't
want t, h, p and we want a more
robust look at public safety.
Public safety is not just
policing. So we are I'm
standing again in opposition to
this budget, and I'm going to
keep opposing it every time it
comes back. If it fails today,
I'm going to keep opposing it
every time it comes back until
they get it right.
All right.
Next in the queue is council
member johnston. You're
recognized ma'am. Previous
question. All right. Roll call
for previus question. Okay.
All righty. So there is a
second for the previous
question. This is non-debatable.
It requires two thirds of those
voting. There is a request for
roll call. It is seconded
multiple times as appropriate.
And so rather than starting by
voice we will go straight to
roll call machine. MR. Clark,
please load the vote to call
the previous question.
With all
votes in. MR. Clark, please
show the vote. The motion to
call the question fails with 18
votes in favor and 17 against
and zero abstentions. So debate,
will and discussion will
continue in the order of the
queue. Next is council member
benedict. You're recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor. So,
colleagues, I'm mostly
concerned about the financial
burden that the sea bed has put
on all nashvillians. The
district management corporation
has selected nashville downtown
partnership and they contract
with block by block. So block
by block, as we know, had some
responsibility in the library,
garage, fire. The fire
department and f d identified
their storage room as the
fire's point of origin. We
don't know how much. Block by
block vis-a-vis and d p vis a
vis the sea bed. We don't know
how much they're liable for.
That's currently being
litigated. However, last year,
prior to any litigation, we
were told by metro legal that
the sea bed did not have enough
insurance coverage for the
damage. That means that all of
our constituents across the
entire county from bordeaux,
bellevue, old hickory,
hermitage, inglewood, madison,
all of us would pay for it. The
sea bed doesn't provide a
backstop. We're the backstop,
and we didn't sign up for that.
This budget should include
parameters requiring the sea
bed back all expenses incurred
by their vendors. The sea bed
board has brought us a budget
that still puts the financial
burden on residents of
davidson county, and there's
nothing in this budget that
fixes that. As a couple of my
colleagues havesaid, it's
pretty audacious of them to
bring back the exact same
budget, less $1 change. It's
tone deaf to those of us who,
you know, want to work towards
an improved sea bed budget. I
actually had a couple of good
conversations with the with
downtown partnership this week.
I'm interested in collaborating
to find a solution that works
for all nashvillians, and it's
a strong arm move to just bring
the same budget back and it
erodes trust with this body. So
I think that with collaboration,
we could make this better. And
before passage, I'd like the
dmc to come to us and explain
what they plan to do to remove
this financial burden on
nashvillians. And so I'm going
to move a one meeting deferral,
so there'll be enough time to
get the sea bed in front of us,
or dmc in front of us to review
this request and provide
updates to their budget. That
takes these this burden off of
davidson county voters and
taxpayers.
There is a motion to
defer one meeting. Is there a
second?
Second.
Okay, so we are
now on the debate of the motion
to defer one there's
quite a few folks in the queue.
I'm just going to go through
and see if they seek to be
recognized specifically on the
motion to defer. MR. Fulvida on
the motion to defer. Go ahead,
ma'am.
Thank you, vice mayor.
I'm I'm going to vote in favor
of the deferral motion. What
more can be said? There are so
many questions that need
answers. There are still.
Concerns about thp you know,
that was one of the biggest
problems that many of us had in
regards to the last budget
proposal that was put in front
of us. And it's, quite frankly,
very arrogant for it to be
proposed in this way, minus a
dollar or plus a dollar,
whatever it ended up being. And
so I, I would encourage us to
exercise our responsibility of
holding these entities
responsible, because unless we
do, it's going to continue to
happen. And quite frankly, it
is. I, I take it like a slap in
the face. And I, I don't
appreciate that at all. And so
I'm going to be voting in favor
of this deferral motion. What I
do want to see, I want to see
the board come before us. I
want to see them answer
questions. And if this doesn't
pass, my my next recommendation
is that we hold accountable all
of the recommendations that
they bring before us, before
the rules committee and before
this body for approval for
their board, because I had
questions today and rules
committee for their nominee in
regards to the budget that was
put forward today, and if they
agreed with the process that
was happening today, and since
I didn't feel like it was an
adequate response, I did not
vote in favor of that nominee.
And so we have to take the
paths of accountability
seriously. And so I'm going to
take this path seriously, and
I'm going to vote in favor of
the deferral.
Thank you. Next
on the deferral motion, MISS
Tombs. Go ahead, ma'am.
Thank
you, MADAM Vice mayor. So I
have some concerns about the
the deferral. So there's
language in the substitute that
we just passed that grants the
finance director the authority
to withhold the assessment
funds. If the council does not
approve the budget. My concern
is whether or not on JULY 1st,
if there's no. Because we don't
meet again until if
there is no passage of the
budget today, if they will have
funding to pay their employees
and continue to provide
services downtown. My concern
with a further with a deferral,
you're talking about a two week
time period, but what I'm
hearing is a concern about how
security is handled downtown.
So downtown is not your typical
neighborhood. There's 17
million people that go through
downtown on a yearly basis. So
you do need additional security.
And we've heard from mmpd that
they don't have the capacity to
provide that additional
security. But I think that from
here, from some council members,
there's a for there to
be mpd rather than thp, and I
don't know if that can be
resolved in a in a two week
period. So for that, I, I don't
know if I'm going to abstain or
vote no on the deferral, but I
do have a concern regarding the
financial resources come JULY
1st for the sea bed. Is there
someone that can answer that?
Would you like me to address
that question to the department
of finance or special counsel?
Finance?
Okay. Special counsel
can answer as well, but MISS
Wiggins. Okay, let me see.
You're at the planning table,
MISS Wiggins, and not in your
usual spot. Go ahead ma'am.
Mary jo wiggins, finance. Thank
you, vice mayor. It is my
understanding that the services
downtown would cease on JULY
1st without the passage of a
budget by that date.
Would you
like me to have additional
follow up from special counsel?
Special counsel? Can you engage
further in response to chair
tim's question?
Yes. Vice mayor,
I can I have the language in
the substitute in front of me.
It says that when metro code
requires a district management
corporation to submit an annual
budget to metro council for
review and approval, no portion
of the appropriation for a
special assessment revenues
shall be made available until
the budget has been approved.
All right. Is that sufficient
to address your question, MISS
Tombs?
Yes, yes. So that
language was put in there so
that to give the council the
the leverage to be able to
approve or disapprove the
budget. But I think that's
important information for, for
colleagues to have the budget
that we just passed does not
include any additional funds
for pd to provide additional
security downtown. So I just
want those that information to
be out there as colleagues are
making their decision.
All
right. Next in the queue on the
motion to defer is council
member allen not seeking to be
recognized on the deferral,
MISS Evans? Siegel? No. Okay.
On the deferral motion. Mr.
koopman, you're recognized.
Thank you, MADAM PRESIDENT. I
appreciate all the conversation
here. A couple of questions.
First, if I could, to special
counsel, special counsel, the
library, garage and ndp.
Contractually, what is that
relationship in which parties
are involved in it?
Special
counsel, you're recognized.
The
parties in the contract you're
referencing are the
metropolitan government and
nashville downtown partnership.
And from a liability
perspective, my understanding
was that the department of
transportation also was not
carrying full insurance on that
garage. Is that correct.
Special counsel?
I'll have to
defer to legal for an exact
answer on that.
Could legal
answer that.
MISS Amos for. The
metro legal department. Go
ahead. Ma'am.
COUNCILMAN
Koopman, can you.
Repeat.
Your
question?
Yes. So so my
understanding from a prior
meeting was that the director
of the department of
transportation shared that the
department of transportation
was not carrying adequate
insurance on the library garage,
and that was one of the fiscal
concerns, was wanted to confirm
that.
I don't think that I'm in
a position to weigh in on that
now. I think we are involved in
some litigation, and I would
also share. MR. Koopman, you're
on a deferral motion, sir.
So
my point to that is that those
are questions that were raised,
and by the individual asking
for the deferral. And my the
the relationship between
nashville downtown partnership
regarding the library garage, I
understand hear all those
concerns, but that is that the
metro issue. I would encourage
transportation infrastructure
chair, who has concerns to call
a special meeting to address
those. But we shouldn't be
penalizing the district
management corporation or the
downtown residents because of
that issue. And as we've heard
JULY 1st, if this is not passed,
the sea bed would just cease to
exist, and JULY 4th would be
really tricky. And you want to
talk about a burden on metro
taxpayers. We're not going to
let the city go to ruin, right?
We're not going to let the
streets go messy and trash
everywhere. So that burden is
going to come from the whole
city. That's where $20 million
worth of downtown investment
goes to. I continue to get
frustrated by these
conversations because people
downtown, when cost of living
is so high, when it is hard to
make ends meet, when it is hard
to put food on their table,
they put extra money in the
pocket so that we can generate
revenue so that we can fund the
budget we just passed. And so
to to shut this down for a
deferral because, you know,
again, COUNCILMAN Porterfield,
i think said it best that she's
going to oppose it again and
again and again until they do
what we want them to do. And I
continue to hear one issue and
one issue alone, and that is
thp and private security. I'm
looking at the budget now. If I
moved $700,000 out of economic
development into cleaning, if
we move that, that wouldn't
change anybody's vote here
tonight, right? We can move
hundreds of thousands of
dollars. That won't change the
vote. So I urge everyone to
vote no on the deferral. Let's
pass this budget. Let's keep
the work going. There's great
things happening.
Your time is
concluded. Next, moving through
the queue. Folks have declined
to speak at this time because
we're on the deferral motion.
MR. Benton, do you seek to be
recognized specifically on the
deferral, sir? No, MISS
Porterfield on the deferral
motion. Go ahead, ma'am. You're
recognized.
Thank you, vice
mayor. I stand in support of
the deferral. I did just hear
the. I did just hear that. If
we don't pass this tonight,
then they don't get funded. And
I go back to something that I
have always heard, which was
lack of planning on your part
does not constitute an
emergency on my part. And we
were very clear about our
concerns. They chose to play in
our face and bring back a
budget with a $1 difference.
That was a choice on their part.
If they wanted to work with us,
they could have chosen to make
better decisions or different
decisions and come back and
address the concerns. The email
that we got didn't even address
the concerns adequately about
the concerns that were raised,
and it was more than one issue.
I just want to highlight that
because an issue that myself
and others brought up was issue
that councilmember evans
brought up was that the loss of
lives was not a pedestrian loss
of lives was not considered
public safety. That's more than
one issue. Also, mmpd is not
pulling out of downtown.
There's no way that we're not
going to have coverage downtown
for the 4th of JULY. So, I mean,
we just that's not going to
happen. So I would urge my
colleagues to support the
deferral and let ndp come back
with a revisd budget.
All
right. Next on the motion to
defer. Councilmember parker,
you're recognized.
Thank you,
vice mayor. I'll be brief. You
know, this talk of of a
doomsday scenario in JULY 1st,
if this entity of this size
doesn't have two weeks worth of
operating reserves, then the
board has no place being the
board, the governing board, the
director has no place being the
director, that that would be
completely absurd. If they
don't have operational reserves,
then I think we need to take a
bigger look at what's going on
over there. So I think they'll
be fine on JULY 1st.
Right. We
continue discussion on the
motion to defer for one meeting.
MISS Benedict, do you seek to
be recognized? I think you made
the initial motion, ma'am.
Right. Okay.
I said about 38
seconds left.
But okay.
I'm
rising.
I appreciate you
watching how much time you have
left. Go.
Previous question.
Okay. Pardon? Okay. Yeah. Got
it. There are sufficient
seconds for the motion to call
the previous question. It is
non-debatable. It requires two
thirds of those voting. If you
are in favor of the previous
question, that means we will
conclude the debate on this
deferral motion. If you vote no
on the previous question, that
means you want to continue the
discussion on the one meeting
deferral motion. We will try
this first by voice. I will
remind you again it is number,
not volume. So all in favor of
the previous question, please
say I. I all all against the
previous question, please say
no. Okay, the ayes have it. And
so now we will move to the vote
on the deferral motion in an
abundance of caution. MR. Clark,
if you would please load the
vote. This is a one meeting
deferral motion.
With all votes.
And, MR. Clark, please show the
vote. The motion to defer has
one meeting has failed with
nine votes in favor, 22 against
and five abstentions. So we are
at this juncture, back on the
preceding motion, which was a
motion to approve. And so the
discussion now continues. Top
of the queue for that
discussion is council member
alan, you're recognized, ma'am.
Thank you, MADAM Chair.
I want
to again acknowledge the
important discussion that we've
had. I appreciate the issues
that have been raised by some
of the council members here and
the improvements that I think
we have to acknowledge that
have been made to the process,
including this actual budget
approval, as opposed to simply
a line item, and the fact that
we get the annual report now so
that we can actually see what
the encounters between law
enforcement or security are,
and people downtown of all
types. My understanding is that
many of the encounters are with
our visitors who are not
behaving well. I understand the
concerns about ensuring that
our people experiencing
homelessness are treated with
dignity and respect. I think
that is of the utmost
importance. I appreciate the
outreach team who says that
they give their all to do that,
and I hope that wth the
scrutiny that's on this, that
continues to be the tradition
that they that they move
forward with. I would just say,
in a zoning process, when we go
through and say, we want these
changes to be made and the and
the builder or the developer
makes those changes, then we
acknowledge that we have made a
difference, and we often pass
it because we've had a good,
robust discussion back and
forth. I think that it is not
in that same spirit to say, we
see these five issues and one
of them is still remaining, and
so we're still going to dig our
heels in. I know that those are
important issues. I think that
the attention has been paid to
this hopefully has not fallen
on deaf ears. I don't think it
has. I would encourage the
seabed board directors to
continue to take our concerns
about the thp very seriously
and to work to solve that issue
as soon as we can, but I am
going to acknowledge the
concern, the the progress
hat's been made, and I would
ask my colleagues to support
this and to continue to push
for the things that we still
think and think are important.
Thank you.
Right. Discussion
continues on the motion to
approve council member benton,
you're next in the queue.
You're recognized, sir.
Thank
you, vice mayor. I understand of people in
here tonight or colleagues that
just don't like the downtown
partnership. I want to remind
my colleagues that sea beds are
not a standard municipal
department. These districts
exist under strict state
frameworks designed to protect
commerce and protect the
commercial property owners who
voluntarily tax themselves to
fund the street level safety,
cleaning and hospitality.
Obviously, this body speaks
like many speak like it prefers
to provide all the dollars to
keep the downtown nashville to
their standards, which is fine
if you have the funds to
protect our visitors or the
goose that lays the golden eggs
for the city and the state of
tennessee exist, this will cost
us quite a bit more one way or
the other. I'm just bringing up
what we actually face. Let's
pick our battles carefully.
Realistically, we could lose
all control over this entity.
All right. Next in the queue,
councilmember sapulpa, you're
recognized, ma'am.
Yes. And if
we lose control, I would think
that we would sue the state and
the downtown partnership, which
we have been winning these
cases lately. Thank you.
Director dietz, who has done a
great job in regards to that. I
would say I'm not going to vote
in favor of this. This doesn't
make any sense to me. It has
been, what now? Seven years,
seven years with this body.
Next meeting, I will be. 33.
And it will be my birthday next
meeting. And it has been seven
years. And in these past seven
years I have spoke to you all.
Not all of y'all, but a good
number of y'all. And three
years to some of y'all, about
the importance of the immigrant
community and the importance of
workers and making sure that
they are safe and taken care of.
And I feel like it falls on
deaf ears. Thp is a group that
partners with ice. We have many
service industry workers
downtown in our hotels and our
restaurants, in our bars. And
when ice had the raids here in
nashville, a lot of those bars
closed. A lot of those bars
closed because their workers
were not there. What message
does it when thp is on the
streets? I have ridden the bus
home from the council office
back to south nashville, and
the bus is packed, packed with
workers with logos from the the
the hotel they work for on
their shirts and their sweaters.
They're all going home. They're
all immigrants. They are filled
with people that look like me.
It is important. It is. It is for, for for people.
It is much more than that. It
is a message. It is a message.
So I would have voted in favor
of this budget if that would
have been taken out. I am not
an unreasonable person. I am
asking for there to be
collaboration, a partnership.
This is not a partnership. And
if the downtown partnership
cannot work with us, then they
shouldn't be in charge of the
downtown. It is our
responsibility as a city to
take care of our city, just
like we do in other parts of
town and the county. And we
could absolutely continue to do
that. We don't need this.
Thank
you. Next in the queue is
council member hancock. You
recognized ma'am.
Previous
question.
Okay. If you want to
end debate and move to the vote
on the motion to approve here,
you will vote I. If you want to
continue debate, you will
vote no. It requires two thirds
of those voting. We will first
try by voice. All in favor of
the previous question, please
say aye. All against the
previous question. Please say
no. The ayes have it very
clearly. And with that we will
move to the vote. This is a
resolution several members have
said from the floor that they
are a no. Any one no vote
requires a resolution to have a
roll call vote and be on the
boards. This requires 21 votes
for passage. MR. Clerk, please
load the vote.
With all votes
in. MR. Clerk, please show the
vote. This resolution has
passed with 23 votes in favor,
ten against and three
abstentions. All right. Next on
the agenda. Is agenda number 40.
Resolution 2026-2064. Sponsors
coop and truffle, alan stiles,
ewing and evans. This is a
resolution urging the nashville
department of transportation
and multimodal transportation
and the mayor's office to renew
and accelerate its commitment
to vision zero initiatives to
eliminate pedestrian fatalities
in response to a sharp increase
in pedestrian and cyclist
deaths in nashville and
davidson county in 2026.
Councilmember, you're
recognized, sir.
Thank you,
MADAM PRESIDENT. Committee
reports.
For the report of the
transportation and
infrastructure committee chair
evan siegel.
We had one that
was different. So just.
No
worries. This is on MISTER
Coupons 2064. Regarding vision
zero initiatives.
Okay. It was
a recommended two meeting
deferral. This was our one that
was different with ten in favor
of that recommendation. Zero
opposed zero. No voting.
Okay.
Got it. Back to you, MR. Cooper.
Move to many deferral with a
brief comment.
All right. Is
there a second? All right. Go
ahead, sir.
Thank you, MADAM
PRESIDENT. And as we have
talked about earlier, we have
folks dying on our streets. And
there since this resolution has
come about, there have been
even continued deaths. And I've
continued to have to update
this. And it's unacceptable
that people should be dying on
our streets, whether it is
downtown or in east nashville
or wherever throughout our city.
And so this is asking not to
recommit to vision zero and the
mayor's office to come to come
up with a new plan, a five year
plan which is expiring, and to
present to the transportation
and infrastructure committee. I
had some very good
conversations with. And they
are currently in an rfp for
vision zero program and are process of hiring their new
director. So I'm going to defer
this for two meetings. But but
we need to do work, not two
meetings, not two weeks, not
two days, but now. And we'll
continue to push on that work
there. It should be zero deaths
on our street. Nobody should be
getting hurt here. And it's
important that we commit to
that.
All right. There's a
motion to defer to meetings. It
was properly seconded. Is there
any further discussion or any
discussion? Seeing none. All in
favor, please say aye. Any
voting no. Any abstentions. All
right. This has resolution has
been deferred to meetings. Next
is agenda item 41. Resolution
2026-2065. Sponsors. Ellis,
gadd, benton allen. Cash.
Coupon prep, tea. Huffman, greg.
nash. Rutherford. Evans. Siegel.
Spain. Bradford. Wiener. Gamble.
Capp, benedict. Tombs. Evans
and suara. This is a resolution
honoring wallace w wally deeds
for his distinguished service
as director of law for the
metropolitan government of
nashville and davidson county
council member. Ellis. You're
recognized, ma'am.
Thank you,
MADAM PRESIDENT. Colleagues,
some people spend a career
chasing titles. Wally deeds has
spent his earning trust after
nearly 40 years at bass, berry
and sims. He didn't need this
job. He took it because he
loves this city. And you could
feel that in everything he has
done. When the state came after
the city's right to control, to
govern itself, to control our
sports authority, our own
airport authority, the very
size of this body, wally deeds
stood in the gap he defended,
currently defending our home
rule, he defended equal
protection for the people of
davidson county, and he did
that with a steadiness that
made him indispensable across
every department of this
government. And in drafting
this resolution, I came across
an old tennessean article about
his father, who covered the
birth of the metro charter as a
reporter for the tennessean
back in the early 60s. So for
me, when wally grew up around
this government, he grew up
around this government then and
now. He has given the last half
of his career to protecting it.
There's a kind of love in that,
the long, unglamorous climb.
And when he had a stroke last
march, he didn't step away. He
kept showing up for us. And he
will gracefully do so until he
decides to drive off to that
beautiful scenic area in
tennessee, where al capone used
to take his respite. Colleagues,%
this is what public service
looks like. Thank you wally,
thank you for joining us
tonight. Our city is better due
to your service. Thank you for
your wisdom, your decency, and
for guarding our city like it's
your own. Because it is.
Well
said. Thank you. There are
other members in the queue.
First among those is MADAM Pro
tem porterfield. You're
recognized.
Thank you, vice
mayor. I echo everything that
council lady ellis said so
eloquently. Council lady did an
amazing job. Just kudos to
everything that she just said.
And over the years, being a
council member, there have been
many times that I have had to
call director dietz, and he has
always just been so available
and accessible, and he really
has a heart for protecting our
city. I really appreciate his
willingness to stand up to the
state and to stand up for
nashville and to protect
nashvillians. And one thing
that I want to add is that it
is one thing to be an amazing
human being that does great
things for the city. And it's
another thing to also be a
great parent. And not only does
director dietz do amazing
things, but he has two children
that do amazing things. And if
you look at carrie and scott
and the things that they do and
the things that they do for the
community, I think that's a
testament of director dietz and
his morals and his principles,
that not only is he doing great
work, but he is making sure
that the people that come
behind him do that great work
as well. So I just want to
congratulate director dietz on
his retirement and thank him
for his service.
Thank you. Pro
tem. Next is council member
suara. You're recognized.
Thank
you, vice mayor. I want to
stand and give MR. Dietz's
flowers as well. And there was
a time that there is a meeting
not in chambers, outside,
somewhere, where what he did
was speaking about this chamber
and this council and the states
are planned for the reduction,
and you just have to be in the
room to see the passion and the
knowledge, the history. He was
there telling all of us about
the votes and when it happened.
And it was just so beautiful to
watch. And you realize that
this was not just a job for him.
This was something like
COUNCILMAN Bailey said he grew
up watching, learning, but he's
come to respect. And for me,
the diversity of this city. He
spoke eloquently about why it
was 40 members. He spoke
eloquently about the plight of
the minority community, spoke
eloquently about why he became
40. So we can have that
representation. And I was
sitting there just staring at
him like, this was not just and
this was not just a lawyer
speak. This was a human speak.
Knowing what nashville needs
feeling for those of us that
are crying about representation,
that did not want that to go
away. And I felt that I heard
that in that room that day. And
my respect for you from that
moment, I've always respected
you. But when somebody can
relate to what you're saying,
put theirselves in your shoes
to that level, that they can
actually articulate what you're
feeling way beyond what you
said. That was what I felt in
that room that day. And I felt
like this man is actually going
to do a very good job
representing us because he gets
what we're trying to say. Thank
you for defending the city so
beautifully. Thank you for
being a wonderful human being.
Thank you for being a brilliant
lawyer, I mean. So it takes the
knowledge, the spirit, but also
the passion and the love. And
please do know that you have
the utmost respect of many of
us and the love. And on a
personal note, it's been a
pleasure working with you as
well. Yeah, we don't always do
everything. We didn't sue them
for the cob and we will always
talk about that. But the things
that we did sue them for, and I
know that's a separate
conversation, but what I saw,
what I learned was that you do
have a passion for the people,
and you understand the plights
of the minority in this city,
and you took it upon yourself
to be something you want to
champion. And for that, I'm
very grateful. Thank you.
Thank
you, MISS Suara, councilmember,
you're recognized.
Thank you,
madam vice mayor. First and
foremost, I want to associate
myself with the comments of my
colleagues who have spoken
before me, especially council
member ellis, who very
eloquently and and I honestly
could not have said it better,
better myself over the past
three years or so, I've had the
distinct honor of being able to
represent director dietz here
on the council floor while he
represents all of us. And it's
it's it truly has been my
distinct honor and privilege,
especially being in a position
where director dietz and I have
had difficult conversations
about legal theories and. And
we've been at odds at times,
but I appreciate not only his
passion for the law, but his
passion for nashville, his
passion to be an objective but
zealous advocate for what the
city actually needs. And so
truly, director dietz, you
deserve all the flowers that
that you are receiving both
tonight and in perpetuity,
because you truly have left
behind a legacy that you, your
children and, and your parents
would would be proud of. So
well done. And thank you for
all that you've done. Thank you,
MADAM Vice mayor.
Thank you,
MR. T. Councilmember tombs,
you're recognized ma'am.
Thank
you, MADAM Vice mayor. I want
to stand in support of this
resolution. And from one
brilliant attorney to another.
Can I congratulate director
dietz on a job well done. Thank
you for standing up for
nashville. Thank you for being
available to discuss legal
issues and legal matters. I
appreciate your wisdom. I
appreciate your service, and
I'm so glad you're getting your
your flowers so that you can
hear them and smell them. And
just want to say that I truly
appreciate you. Thank you for
what you do.
Thank you, MISS
James. Next. Councilmember
evans, you're recognized ma'am.
Thank you, MADAM PRESIDENT. I
think it says a lot that most
of the lawyers on this body
have either stood up or are
still in the queue to speak
tonight. There's a a phrase
that you're told early in your
career, oh, that person's a
lawyer's lawyer. And there's
nothing better as a lawyer to
be called a lawyer's lawyer,
because that's the lawyer, the
lawyer's trust. It's funny,
when I got on this body,
another lawyer who had said in
this row said, the hardest
thing about being on the
council is you can't be your
own lawyer. You have to be a
policy maker, and you have to
rely on the lawyers to be your
lawyer. And I'm really bad at
that. Like I am not improved. I
heard the advice and I
internalized it and I have not
executed. But I do know that
when there is a really hairy
thing that I'm very upset about,
if I talk to wally about it,
I'm talking to the lawyer's
lawyer, and I feel better about
it. And I know that it's
handled, and I know that the
advice that I'm getting is the
right advice. And so I want to
thank you for dealing with all
of us who are trying to be our
own lawyers and being our
lawyers lawyer, because it
makes the city better. All the
advice that you're giving and
everything that you have poured
into it.
Thank you. MISS Evan
siegel, councilmember kapp,
you're recognized sir.
Thank
you, council member ellis, for
bringing this beautiful
resolution. And thank you,
director dietz, for all your
service to the people of this
city. It speaks more loudly
than any of us can in this room.
When someone with the
credentials and experience and
learning ability of someone
like director decides to serve
the people of the city, that is
not the choice that many people
in his position would make. And
that resounds loudly for me,
and I hope it does for all of
us to choose service. Courage
is, I fear, in somewhat short
supply these days in the united
states generally. But director
dietz has it, and his office
has it. There's more than. Than
only his own work. But he's
also led an amazing team of
litigators and client advisers
to coordinate across a gigantic
range of issues with a lot of
success. But critically,
courage, the cause of self.
Government is under attack in
nashville. It's under attack
across the united states.
Director dietz is writing and
has written a chapter of
success in the struggle for
self-government. That is the
struggle of our time. Thank you
for that. Thank you for serving
the people of nashville, and we
wish you all the best.
well
said. MR. Thank you, council
member hill. You're recognized
ma'am.
Thank you, MADAM Vice
mayor. I want to just speak to
you directly and be selfish and
say that there are an awful lot
of attorneys that all can talk
shop with you. I want to talk
to you directly and say what an
amazing human you are, and how
respectful you are to every
single person in this body, and
especially myself. Every single
time I've come to me, you spoke
to me as if I was just another
human. And that doesn't always
happen. And I know that that
goes to your heart and what you
are as a human, and you're also
a great attorney, but as a
human, you're a good person.
And it's an honor to know you
and you deserve every bit of
these good words.
All right,
well said colleagues, all okay?
No one else in the queue. We're
going to move to the vote. All
in favor, please say aye. Any
voting no. Any abstaining? All
right. We have passed this
resolution and we appreciate
jyou so much, director dietz. We
thank you for your service. All
right. Next is agenda item 45,
resolution 2026-2069. Sponsors.
Gamble, harrell prep, tee.
Porterfield. Vo. Suara. Ellis.
Stiles. Lee. Taylor, tombs,
welch, koopman, benedict, ewing,
and evans. This is a resolution
recognizing JUNE 19th, 2026 as
juneteenth in nashville and county council member
gamble. You're recognized,
ma'am.
Thank you, vice mayor. I
just really wanted to publicly
thank the nashville public
library. You all have on your
desk a pen, a juneteenth
freedom day pen, the nashville
public library. I want to thank
them for partnering with the
metro council black caucus in
recognizing and honoring
juneteenth this year for 2026
juneteenth activities. I want
to remind everyone that
juneteenth activities are
happening across the city
actually have started
happening. Juneteenth is
actually this friday, JUNE 19th,
but it is celebrated on the day,
the week, the entire month of
JUNE. Some of the activities
that I hope you all might be
able to attend and participate
in, they are activities of
culture, art, music, food and
business, including black owned.
Buchanan actually happened this
past weekend the music city
juneteenth, freedom day five k
the nashville african american
wind symphony juneteenth
concert. It was wonderful this
past sunday at the horn, and
they will also be performing
this friday at the juneteenth
615 at centennial park and
moore. So just wanted to
highlight the wonderful
activities and the celebrations
that are going on across the
city for juneteenth and ask for
approval. I don't need a
committee report, do I?
Yes,
ma'am, I apologize, that's on%
me. I should have reminded you,
chair cash, sir, for the report
of the rules, confirmations and
public elections committee.
Please, sir.
Favor zero against
zero not voting.
Okay. MR. Cash,
i apologize. I did not have
your button pushed, but I heard
your report. Thank you, sir,
and MISS Gamble.
Move for
approval.
Okay. All right. Any
discussion on this resolution?
Seeing none. All in favor,
please say aye. Any voting no
or abstaining? Okay. Council
has passed adopted this
resolution. Next is agenda
section that concludes our
resolutions agenda section j
bills on introduction and first
reading. By rule, all items on
first reading shall be voted on
at the same time, unless
requested otherwise, by a
primary sponsor or by two other
members. Do any items need to
be removed from the collected
collective vote? Okay, council
member johnston, you're
recognized. Ma'am.
Item 54,
please.
Okay. Item 54 is
ordinance 1438. It will be
removed from the first reading
consolidated motion. Okay.
Anyone else seeking to be
recognized? Okay. Is there a
motion for approval? Seeing
none, is there a motion for
approval of all items remaining
on first consideration? Okay.
Properly seconded. And thus,
without objection, you have items on first
reading. Okay, so we'll go back
to the one item that was
removed from the consolidated
vote and that is agenda item 54,
ordinance bl2026-1438. Sponsors
johnston, huffman, evans and
spain. This is an ordinance
declaring a temporary
moratorium upon the acceptance,
processing, approval and
issuance of zoning,
grading permits for data center
developments on property within
nashville and davidson county.
Councilmember johnson, you're
recognized.
Thank you. So this
bill was filed so that it would
be timely filed to meet that
deadline, just in case on the
last meeting, the rules, the
suspension of the rules did not
prevail. So this was my fail
safe. So the bill that we
passed on first reading during
the special meeting last week
will be on second reading, next
meeting and public hearing.
It's going to be at the public.
I mean, it's going to be at the
planning commission next
thursday for public hearing
there. So with that, I'm
withdrawing this particular one
because this was my back.
All
right. It has been withdrawn.
All right. That concludes bills
on introduction and first
reading. And now we will move
right into section k bills on
second reading. Of note.
Actually no because those are
all on consent as. Okay. So now
we're moving to third reading
of agenda section l. And we
have several items here that
were not on consent. First
among those is agenda item 72,
ordinance bl2026-1381 sponsor
coupon. This is an ordinance
approving the fiscal year 2027
gulch central business
improvement district council
member coupon. You are
recognized, sir.
Thank you,
madampresident. Committee
reports. No.
You already had
those. Okay. There's a motion
to approve and it's properly
seconded. Is there any
discussion on this ordinance on
its third and final reading?
Seeing none. All in favor,
please say aye. Any voting no
or abstaining. Okay. Okay. With
the no vote for this ordinance
onits third and final reading,
that will require a roll call
by rule. And so, MR. Clerk, if
you would please, sir, load the
vote. This requires 21 votes
for passage.
With all votes in.
MR. Clerk, please show the vote.
This ordinance has passed its
third and final reading with 32
votes in favor, one against and
one abstention. Next is agenda
item 73. Ordinance bl 2026-1382.
Sponsor. Suara. Horton, gad,
allen. Porterfield, alice.
Cooper, ewing evans, tombs, bo
taylor, stiles, welsh and
benedict. This is an ordinance
to amend title two of the metro
code of laws to create a new
chapter establishing an
eviction right to counsel
program to be administered by
the housing division of the
department of planning. Sponsor
suara. You are recognized.
Thank you, MADAM Vice mayor.
Committee report saying.
Yes
ma'am.
They are.
All right.
I'll move for approval with a
very short comment.
Go ahead
ma'am.
Thank you. Colleagues,
you know, we sit in this
chamber, we talk about a lot of
things, and I do respect that.
While we MAY disagree,
sometimes we're all trying to
do the best that we can. But
it's also very great when we
actually do something that we
all come together t make
happen. And this eviction right
to counsel is one of those. It
has been a true collaboration,
not just with the people in
this chambers, but with
the community. This program,
thanks to all of you that we
started about five years ago,
got it into a pilot, and now
it's going to be codified. The
good thing about codifying is
that at least you won't hear me
standing up and talking about
every budget season. So that's
a plus in that sense. But I
wanted to thank the mayor for
funding it. I would like to
thank the budget chair for
adding more to it. We're now at
4.5 million of the 9 million
that is needed. I want to thank
MR. Rosenberg and MR. Sexton
for their help with this. The
housing department, MISS
Herbert and his department.
Kelsey, I want to thank the rtc
group that is actually working
on this, that we're able to
provide the results that allow
us to support it. Legal aid,
hispanic bar, rooftop,
nashville conflict resolution,
the american muslim advisory
council, and all of the
organizations that actually
lobbied and talk about it and
ask us to vote for it. Stand up.
Nashville noah, the people's
budget coalition, equity
alliance, open table, there are
just so many organizations.
This is our collaboration works.
This is all of us working
together for the betterment of
our citizens. And I'm so
grateful that we finally got it
here. Nashville now joins only
four states in about 18 cities
in the country that have an
eviction right to counsel
program. And as we talk about
affordability and helping, this tool in the tool box
that we now, thanks to all of
you, we're now able to carry to
the finish line. And hopefully,
we'll continue to help a lot of
people in nashville. And with
that, MADAM Vice mayor, I renew
my motion for approval.
Alrighty. Is there any further
discussion on this ordinance on
its third and final reading?
Seeing none. All in favor,
please say aye. Any voting no
or abstaining. All right. This
ordinance has passed. That
concludes this evening's agenda.
I want to thank and
congratulate budget chair
toombs again on her budget by
charter. The urban council,
which is comprised of the three
at large members residing in
the urban and urban services
district, must meet down front
here, please, with the clerk
after the meeting. Our next
council meeting will be on
tuesday, JULY 7th. The council
office will be closed this
friday in observance of
juneteenth. Is there a motion
to adjourn? Oh, I'm sorry, MISS
Lee. Go ahead. Ma'am, I'm sorry.
I would like to ask the council
to join me in wishing MISS
Jennifer gamble a happy
birthday today.
Yes, ma'am. We
did that off the top during our
roll call, and we'll do it
again. Thank you for spending
your birthday with us. All
right, we are adjourned.
Second.
i know her hand like that. She
looks.
Like it.
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