Metro Council discusses appointments, rules and bills

Because Monday is a holiday, the Metro Council is cramming its usual two days of committee meetings into one day, prior to the council’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

A new group of chairs will oversee the meetings after Deputy Mayor Angie Henderson appointed a number of new leaders to mark the end of the council’s first year of office.

Below you’ll find our rundown of what to watch on Tuesday.

Appointments and confirmations

A slate of nominees will be considered for various Metro boards and commissions. Mayor Freddie O’Connell has selected former Metro Councilmember Colby Sledge and real estate professional Brittany Campagna to serve on the board of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency. The board has vacancies for seats previously held by Paulette Coleman, now interim director of the Metro Arts Commission, and Emily Thaden, a former Habitat for Humanity official who took over as chair of a national affordable housing organization in July. Sledge and Campagna will appear before the council’s rules committee for interviews ahead of a possible vote at the next Metro Council meeting.

Other appointments and confirmations that need to be discussed can be placed at the top of the meeting agenda.

The Metro Council will also accept nominations for a new president pro tempore, a replacement for council leader Vice Mayor Angie Henderson, following the completion of Metro Councilmember Zulfat Suara’s one-year term in the role. The council will vote on a new president pro tempore at its next meeting on Sept. 17.

Changes to the rules

Suara is back with her proposal to change Metro Council rules to require speakers during the body’s public comment periods to prove they are Davidson County residents. The move comes after a mob of neo-Nazis showed up at a Metro Council meeting in July.

Resolutions

RS2024-686: US special forces stationed at Fort Campbell plan to hold a training session in the city’s closed nursing home in Bordeaux in October, including helicopter landings, the use of flash grenades, paintballs and breaking open doors and windows.

Bills in first reading

BL2024-469: This bill was first introduced in July before being postponed for further consideration with the Metro Nashville Police Department and others. The legislation, sponsored by 12 council members, would prohibit police officers from having “unlawful association with criminal hate groups and paramilitary gangs.”

BL2024-509: This legislation, along with three others filed simultaneously, came in response to racist demonstrations in the city, including during a Metro Council meeting in July. This bill would ban the distribution of flyers on private property after dark. Another (BL2024-510) would clarify the city’s mask-wearing laws. The third (BL2024-511) would establish a buffer zone around public buildings. The final bill (BL2024-512) would ban banners over freeways. O’Connell said Friday that he has heard support for the measures from city officials, the Jewish community and others, but that “there are concerns about what the risk would be of misapplication of some of these measures and that’s why we’re paying a lot of attention to that.”

BL2024-515: Councilmember Emily Benedict has introduced an amendment to Nashville’s zoning code regarding approvals for two-unit projects in certain residential neighborhoods. She said the move is needed to ease the workload at the Metro Zoning Department. Benedict wrote on the council’s public discussion page Friday that she planned to withdraw the legislation as city departments continue to study zoning changes “that will hopefully include this update.”

Bills in second reading

BL2024-476: An effort to change the makeup and mission of the beleaguered Metro Arts Commission continues to unfold. Councilmember Joy Styles introduced her own legislation on the topic earlier this year, but she withdrew it when Councilmember Delishia Porterfield succeeded in removing a provision that would have added a councilmember to the commission as a voting member. Now, Porterfield is back with her version, and Styles has said she plans to try to roll back the legislation to her original proposal.

Bills in third reading

BL2024-477: Council members are considering giving the Metro Board of Ethical Conduct more options, including a written warning, when an elected official violates the city’s ethics rules. The council decided earlier this year that Styles violated the rules by failing to file financial disclosures, but declined to impose a penalty.