What Happened at the Jan. 17th 2012 Council Meeting

 ORDINANCE NO. BL2011-49 sponsored by Council Member Blalock is the ordinance that would repeal Metro's limousine price fixing provision in the Metro code. The bill was deferred indefinitely. The action on the bill occurred in committee. To read all about it, click here and here.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2011-82 which would allow the city to take over incomplete infrastructure and complete it in those cases where developers have failed to do so, passed unanimously without discussion. There are about 13 subdivisions where the streets or drainage was never completed and the developer went bankrupt or abandoned the project. People who bought in those subdivisions are enduring unfinished streets with manholes covers extending above the level of the road and other inconveniencies and hazards.

This is what happened accord to the Council staff analysis:

A 2009 Office of Financial Accountability monitoring report regarding the performance bond process identified a number of failures by the planning department to adequately monitor and administer the bonds. Specifically, the report noted the failure of the department to follow its own policies and procedures resulted in expired letters of credit and a backlog of 248 breached performance agreements exposing the Metropolitan Government to potential liability of $6.2 million. The monitoring report made a number of recommendations to prevent future occurrences, which have now been implemented by the planning department.

I am disappointed that no Council Member expressed outage about this and demanded to know who screwed up and got assurance that this could not happen again.  This was a good opportunity for someone to show leadership.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2011-83 which would allow the extension of water mains to homeowners with wells at the city’s expense was deferred one meeting. (see 18:30)  The bill was deferred and rereferred to budget and Finance at the recommendation of the B & F Committee. Extending water mains in these circumstances has always been a responsibility of the homeowner wanting Metro water.

The Backyard Chicken bill: Video coverage starts at 28:20 and does not end until 1:14:34. For a modern Council, this is a long debate. The bill was approved by the Planning Commission, disapproved by the Health, Hospitals and Social Services and disapproved by the Planning, Zoning and Historical Committees. Council Member Bennett moved the bill. After lengthy discussion, with several members taking to the floor to speak on the issue, the Council passed the bill after Council Member Robert Duvall successfully exempted from the bill council districts 12, 20, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and 33.

Robert Duvall’s bill exempting the various district received the following 18 “Ayes” votes: Matthews, Hunt, Jernigan, Glover, Tenpenny, Moore, Allen, Baker, Langster, Harmon, Dominy, Johnson, Potts, Bedne, Dowell, Duvall, Todd, Mitchell. 

The following 17 members voted “no”: Tygard, Maynard, Harrison, Banks, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Bennett, Pridemore, Pardue, Stites, Stanley, Weiner, Evans, Holleman, McGuire, and Blalock.

These 3 members abstained: Barry, Steine, and Gilmore.

The final vote on the bill was as follows: “Ayes” Barry, Steine, Maynard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Banks, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Bennett, Pridemore, Pardue, Stites, Allen, Gilmore, Langster, Evans, Holleman, McGuire, Todd (21); “Noes” Tygard, Jernigan, Glover, Stanley, Tenpenny, Baker, Weiner, Harmon, Blalock, Dominy, Johnson, Potts, Dowell, Duvall, Mitchell (15); “Abstaining” Moore, Bedne (2).

BILL NO. BL2011-58 is the Lifepoint bribe bill  that exempts Lifepoint from real and personal property taxes for the next 15 years as an inducement to get that company to move from Cool Springs in Williamson County to a Davidson County location four miles away. (See 1:15:20) Councilman Stites took to the floor auguring that this action would set a president that would not serve us well. He argues that deals such as this are cut behind closed doors with no transparent criteria as to who gets such deals and who does not. Stites may be a Councilman to watch and someone who could emerge as a leader in the Council.  I think if I had been in the Council, I would have had to vote “no.”

The bill passes with the following vote: “Ayes” Barry, Steine, Tygard, Maynard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Banks, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Bennett, Pridemore, Pardue, Jernigan, Glover, Moore, Allen, Gilmore, Baker, Langster, Weiner, McGuire, Harmon, Blalock, Johnson, Potts, Bedne, Dowell, Todd, Mitchell (31); “Noes” Stites, Stanley, Tenpenny, Dominy, Duvall (5).

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