Report on the 11/20/12 Metro Council Meeting

Congratulation to Duane Dominy on his victory and leadership

This meeting is just slightly over an hour long.

The Council is usually opened by a prayer by a local minister who is the guest of one of the Council members. This opening invocation is offered by Michael Hunter Ochs who is the guest of Sherri Weiner and it is not really a prayer but a promo for a concert and the performance of a song co-written by a Jew, a Muslim and a Christian, the Christian being Michael Hunter Ochs. The singer makes a plea for tolerance and the better treatment of Muslims in the Nashville area. The performance is a little long for an opening prayer running 4 1/2 minutes.

Other awards and recognitions take up the first fifteen minutes of the council meeting, including an award to Jane Alvis, Chair of the Metro Arts Commission. This award is used as an opportunity to praise Ms Alvis and government subsidy of public art.

There are no bills on public hearings.

There are thirteen resolutions on the consent agenda. Resolutions are on the consent agenda if no one votes against them in committee. However, any council member may ask a bill be pulled off of the consent agenda. None of the bill on the consent agenda are controversial and in my view are appropriately on the consent agenda.

Two resolutions concerning the HCA deal (488 and 489) had received all positive votes from the Budget and Finance Committee but they are deferred one meeting in order to track the bill on the same topic.

All bills on first reading pass without discussion. This is usually the norm. Bills are not sent to committee until after first reading. First reading is no more than a vote to allow a bill to be considered.

Last council meeting, Council member Moore invoked a council rule that kept Duane Dominy's Bill BL2012-293 from passing so it was back on first reading this time. This bill would require the city to consider Request for Proposals from private developers to operate the fairgrounds. The establishment does not want this bill to see the light of day. I was afraid there would be further attempts to sidetrack this bill, this meeting. All who want to keep the fairgrounds should carefully follow this issue and rally around Duane Dominy. The deck is being stacked to destroy the fairgrounds. For more on this bill follow this link.

Bills on Second reading:

What I thought would be a routine bill (ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-295) establishing rules for handling the eggs and keeping chickens on school property causes several members take to the floor to speak. Charlie Tygard is riled. He says he has been called a "law breaker," apparently referring to the previous comment made by Bo Mitchell. He praises and defends Bellevue Middle School's gardening program and feels that program has been unfairly attacked. Apparently there is more going on than meets the eye regarding this issue. (see 23:18- 29:50)

Councilman Duane Dominy takes to the floor to explain his bill that would require the Council to approve the city's annual contract with the Chamber for the Partnership 2020 program (BILL NO. BL2012-241) which was deferred indefinitely, and BILL NO. BL2012-294 which would require all sole-source contracts over $250,000 be approved by the council.

Bill 294 had failed the B&F committee by a vote of 3 for, 4 against, and 5 abstaining. This bill simply brings a minimum level of accountability and oversight to the purchasing process. I do not understand the opposition except that the Chamber has an enormous amount of influence over some council members. Over the last three years, there have only been eight such contracts. In a move that surprised me, Bo Mitchell sides with Dominy on this issue. Megan Barry speaks against it. It passes by a vote of 23 "ayes," and 14 "nos!" (For the discussion see 34:02- 42:24).

Given that the bill was defeated in the B&F committee, I did not expect this bill to pass. This was a good bill and deserved to pass. Congratulations Duane Dominy! He must have been doing a lot of lobbying his fellow council members to achieve this victory. Here is how the council voted:

“Ayes” Tygard, Banks, Bennett, Pardue, Stites, Stanley, Claiborne, Tenpenny, Allen, Gilmore, Evans, Holleman, McGuire, Harmon, Blalock, Dominy, Johnson, Potts, Bedne, Dowell, Duvall, Todd, Mitchell (23).

“Noes” Barry, Steine, Garrett, Maynard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Pridemore, Moore, Baker, Langster (14). All other bills on second reading and all bills on third reading pass without discussion.

Memorial Resolutions:

Memorializing resolutions do not have the force of law and are often not taken very seriously and often they do nothing more than congratulate a sports team for a victory or a person for being honored or congratulate a person on their retirement. The Council staff does not even analyze memorial resolutions. However, memorializing resolutions do represent the will of the Council and when they advocate a policy position they should be taken very seriously. Last council meeting, unfortunately, some of our most conservative members of the council voted for memorializing resolutions endorsing the EPA's regulation of Co2 which is an authority the EPA was never given but just assumed and which gives the EPA enormous control over the economy, including the right to stop industrial development and dictate power plan and auto emissions. Later some council members told me their vote did not really reflect their view.

There are two memorial resolutions on this agenda both by Councilman Stanley, one urging the school system and the other urging MTA to make "a top priority program the replacement of the entire fleet of public buses powered by diesel combustion engines with hybrid-electric buses." While these bills end up passing, I am pleased that they did not sail through unopposed.

I would prefer all of our buses be electric or hybrid, but replacing buses cost money. I don't like being behind a diesel bus no more than the next person but there may be other things that may have greater priority and in my view, no bus should be replaced until it has outlived its useful life.

Duane Dominy takes to the floor and argues against the resolutions. I congratulate those Council members who took a stand and had their opposition recorded. (To see the discussion see 52:02 - 1:02:10)

Here is the vote on 459, the school bus resolution:

”Ayes:” Maynard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Banks, Westerholm, Stanley, Claiborne, Tenpenny, Gilmore, Evans, Holleman, Harmon, Blalock, Bedne, Todd, Mitchell (17);

“Noes:” Tygard, Scott Davis, Anthony Davis, Bennett, Pridemore, Pardue, Stites, Moore, Allen, Baker, Langster, Dominy, Dowell, Duvall (14);

“Abstaining:” Garrett, Johnson, Potts (3).

Here is the vote on 460, the MTA bus resolution.

 ”Ayes:” Maynard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Banks, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Bennett, Stanley, Claiborne, Tenpenny, Moore, Allen, Gilmore, Baker, Langster, Evans, Holleman, Harmon, Blalock, Johnson, Potts, Bedne (24);

“Noes:” Tygard, Pridemore, Pardue, Stites, Dominy, Dowell, Duvall (7);

“Abstaining:” Garrett, Todd, Mitchell (3).

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Meeting of the Metro Council's Budget & Finance Committee on 11-12-12

This committee meeting is only 34 minutes long. Charlie Tygard ask some a good question about the settlement of a law suit. "What is a 'log book error'"? he ask. As least someone is thinking and asking. Tygard also ask other good clarifying questions on other bills. In fact he seems to be one of the only ones paying attention.

The bill transferring the Transportation Licensing Commission to Public Works passes. Councilman Garrett asks if the TLC has voted on it and he asks for the opinion of the Director of Public Works. Councilman Stein makes a good comment and says "I don't know who knows and who doesn't know but it is a good idea no matter who knows."

The bill concerning authorizing speed bumps hits a speed bump. (see 17:29-30:50 for the discussion) Hunt and Garrett join the discussion. Councilman Stanley is the sponsor and does a good job explaining the bill. However, it fails committee 0 for and 10 against.

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Update: What the Council did on Tuesday, October 16th.

Here is the video of the Council meeting from Tuesday, October 16th.  It is less than an hour long.  Below are the highlights.


Nominations are accepted to fill a seat on the Health and Educational Facilities Board. Council member McGuire nominates Walker Batts and CM Todd nominates Susan Kenny.

At 3:47 Council Tygard takes off his sports coat and puts on a Predators sweat shirt to make a presentation honoring the coach of the Predators.

The election of the Juvenile court judge starts at 8:33 in the video. The selected candidate will replace Betty Adams Green, a longtime juvenile court judge who announced her retirement in August. Each of the nominees is given five minutes which includes introductory speeches by a supporter, testimonials and comments by the candidate. The nominees are Shelia Calloway, who had received the most recommendations in a survey of 560 members of the Nashville Bar Association; Sofia Crawford, who currently serves as a Judicial Court magistrate; and Carlton Lewis, who had the support of former Juvenile court judge Richard Jenkins.

The vote was by machine vote and the vote total is Galloway 9, Crawford 18, and Lewis 11, necessitating a run-off. The final run-off vote was Crawford 25 and Lewis 13. Here is how they voted.

Voting for Crawford:

Barry, Steine, Garrett, Tygard, Banks, Bennett, Pridemore, Jernigan, Glover, Stites, Stanley, Claiborne, Tenpenny, Allen, Baker, Weiner, Evans, Holleman, McGuire, Harmon, Blalock, Dominy, Potts, Bedne, Todd (25); 

Voting for Lewis:

Maynard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Moore, Gilmore, Langster, Johnson, Dowell, Mitchell (13). 

The President declared that Sophia B. Crawford was elected Juvenile Court Judge for a term expiring August 2014.

I observe that except for Bo Mitchell, almost all of the votes for Lewis, who happens to be African- American,  were from the African-American members of the council. I don't know that race had anything to do with the vote, I am simply making an observation.

Positions like this can be hard fought. Whoever the Council selects to fill the vacancy is almost guaranteed to be reelected by the public and most likely has a job for life. Various factions line up behind this or that candidate and councilmen may be lobbied heavily by supporters and constituents for the various candidates. I suspect that people thought Calloway was the favored candidate. I really do not what was going on behind the scene to give the vote to Crawford. If anyone can shed some light on this contest please post a comment. This election process ends at 26:25 in the video.

All resolutions on the consent agenda passed.  Bills on the consent agenda pass as a group without discussion.  All resolutions were on the consent agenda.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-241 by Councilman Dwayne Dominy on second reading which would require the annual contract for services between Metro and the Chamber of Commerce for the Partnership 2020 economic development program be approved by resolution of the council, was deferred two meetings and rereferred to the Budget and Finance Committee.

Partnership 2020 is a public-private partnership developed by the chamber whose purpose is to recruit new businesses to the Nashville area. Metro’s appropriation for this program in recent years has been $300,000 a year. While the program serves a ten county area, Metro funds a greater share of the program than the other nine counties combined. Many feel that Metro funds the program, yet the bulk of new relocations to the Nashville area go to surrounding counties. This is a good bill that needs to pass.

Health care for ex-councilmen. The council passed by a vote of 19-17 on second reading, a proposal that would end Metro’s policy of offering former two-term council members subsidized health care in the city’s health care plan. The bill was supported unanimously in committee yet opposed on the floor, but no one spoke in opposition. The machine vote was as follows:

 “Ayes” Barry, Steine, Garrett, Tygard, Matthews, Harrison, Hunt, Banks, Jernigan, Stites, Claiborne, Allen, Weiner, McGuire, Harmon, Blalock, Dowell, Todd, Mitchell (19); 

“Noes” Maynard, Scott Davis, Westerholm, Anthony Davis, Bennett, Pridemore, Stanley, Tenpenny, Moore, Gilmore, Baker, Evans, Holleman, Dominy, Johnson, Potts, Bedne (17); “Abstaining” Langster (1).

This bill will be voted on on third reading at the council’s next meeting, on Nov. 13.  I, as a former council member, have benefited from this program but think it should be ended. At one time, there was little turn over in the Council so there were few former council members. With term limits there is greater turn over and more former council members. This is an expensive benefit. Also, the salary of a council member is considerably greater than it was in the past when this benefit was made available and health care is more costly.

The council gave final approval to a Green Hills rezoning ordinance that will permit a new office building in the Burton Hills office park. A large crowd turned out two weeks earlier at a public hearing, many expressing concern about the traffic impact of the development. The council approves the proposal with no discussion.

The Council approves expanding the locations where one may have a micro brewery.

Councilman Standley had on the agenda two memorializing resolutions proposing that it be “a top priority” “the replacement of the entire fleet of public buses powered by diesel combustion engines with hybrid-electric buses." In my view, no bus should be replaced until it has outlived its useful life. These two ordinances were deferred until the second meeting in November.

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Update: What is on the Council Agenda for October 16th.

Not much that is controversial. Partnership 2020 issue. Expanding Nano breweries.  Council should use caution before making replacing of good buses a priority. 

You can get your own copy of the Metro council meeting agenda at this link:Metro Council Agenda. From the agenda you can link to the analysis. Council meetings can be really, really boring if you don't know what the Council is voting on. With an agenda and analysis, they are just really boring.

I read the analysis and agenda for you so you don't have to. There is not much that is controversial on this agenda and I expect it will be a short meeting.  

All of the eleven resolutions on the agenda are on the consent agenda which means they passed the committees to which they were assigned unanimously and are deemed non-controversial and will be considered all together and pass by a single vote, unless someone pulls them off of the consent agenda.

Have you ever attended the big band dances in Centennial Park? Louella and I used to attend and for a couple of seasons we attended faithfully.  They are a lot of fun. Have you ever wondered how those free performances were financed? $5,900 comes from the state arts commission to the Metropolitan board of parks and recreation to supplement the Big Band dance program. Metro matches that grant with a $5,900 subsidy. Accepting this grant is one of the bills on the consent agenda. 

All bills normally pass on first reading without discussion.  One bill on first reading which will probably not be controversial but which is worth watching is BILL NO. BL2012-281. The effect of this bill is to bring the scandal-ridden Transportation Licencing Board under the authority of the Public Works department. The TLC will no longer be an independent agency and their employees will be employees of the public works department.  This was a recommendation of the consultants who studied the department.  You may recall that TLC inspectors were caught harassing drivers and impersonating police officers among other offenses.

ORDINANCE NO. BL2012-241 by Councilman Dwayne Dominy on second reading is a good bill that deserves to pass. It  requires the annual contract for services between Metro and the Chamber of Commerce for the Partnership 2020 economic development program be approved by resolution of the council. Partnership 2020 is a public-private partnership developed by the chamber whose purpose is to recruit new businesses to the Nashville area. Metro’s appropriation for this program in recent years has been $300,000 a year. While the program serves a ten county area, Metro funds a greater share of the program than the other nine counties combined.  Many feel that Metro funds the program, yet the bulk of new relocations to the Nashville area go to surrounding counties.

This ordinance would require the grant contract with the chamber to be approved by the council by resolution receiving 21 affirmative votes. The contract would have to be approved by resolution annually before any funds are disbursed to the chamber.

BILL NO. BL2012-249 on third and final reading is a good bill that should not prove controversial. It passed second reading without opposition. It would permit "nano breweries" in mixed use and commercial areas. Now, microbreweries are permitted only in the downtown area or in industrial zoned areas if out side of downtown.  Now one could not open a craft brewery establishment in 12th South or Five points, or Hillsboro Village or any of the other growing sections of town that might be good location for such establishments. It this passes, they could.

Caution! Caution! Councilman Standley is proposing two memorializing resolutions urging the school system and the MTA to make "a top priority program the replacement of the entire fleet of public buses powered by diesel combustion engines with hybrid-electric buses."  Wait a minute. That is pretty ambitions and pretty strongly worded. In my view, no bus should be replaced until it has outlived its useful life. If however we were under a court order to clean up our air or we would have to halt construction, then that may be a reason for such a move, but as far as I know that is not the case. If this does not make economic sense we shouldn't do it.  I hope these resolutions get serious discussion in committee. While a memorialize resolution simply expresses the will of the council and does not carry the force of law, I do not think the council should go on record with such a resolution. There are a lot of public needs. Is replacing serviceable buses with hybrid buses more important than other needs?

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Highlight of the October 18th Metro Council meeting

A Muslim led prayer, Election of Speaker Pro Tem, Fairgrounds, and Storm water.


A cleric from the Islamic Center of Nashville offered the invocation as a guest of Councilman Ronnie Steine. I certainly don't have a problem with that but given the anti-Muslim sentiment in this community, I am sure some are upset. I am pleased but surprised I have heard no one sounding and alarm about "creeping Sharia."

Karen Bennett of District 8, a Republican member of the Metro Council, lost an election to the position of President Pro Tem of the Council to Erica Gilmore by one vote. The vote was Bennett 17 votes; Gilmore 18. Five members were present but did not vote. One of the members not voting who I would have assumed would have been a vote for Bennett had he voted, was Robert Duvall.  A non-voting member who I would have assumed would have been a vote for Gilmore was Bo Mitchell. Those voting for Bennett were Bennett: Garrett, Tygard, Harrison, Anthony Davis, Bennett, Pridemore, Pardue, Glover, Stites, Claiborne, Tenpenny, Baker, Langster, Weiner, Blalock, Dominy, and Todd. Those voting for Gilmore were Gilmore: Steine, Maynard, Matthews, Hunt, Banks, Westerholm, Stanley, Moore, Allen, Gilmore, Evans, Holleman, McGuire, Harmon, Johnson, Potts, Bedne, and Dowell.

President Pro Tem  is not a terrible important position but how members voted can give you some idea of who is aligned with who on the Metro Council. The position of Pro Tem is mainly symbolic. The Pro Tem conducts the council meeting in the absence of the Vice Mayor. To see the speeches view the above video starting at 2:28. If any councilmember who did not vote wants to explain their vote or why they did not vote, I welcome their explanation and will post it.

Steve Glover, nominated by Tim Garrett, was one of two members appointed to the audit committee. A good choice.

Mark Rogers, a well known Republican activist, was reappointed to the Historical Commission. I was unaware he served in that position. Congratulation Mark Rogers. Citizens who serve on the various boards and commissions do so without pay and little recognition. They are to be commended for their willingness to serve.

Robert Duvall spoke out on several issue clarifying metro's legal and financial obligations asking probing and clarifying questions. As an example, see 19:37 in the video. Even if a bill does pass unanimously in the Budget and Finance Committee, I am still glad that issues are raised and clarified on the Council floor. Robert Duvall is a real asset to the Council and one who takes his job very seriously.

A resolution which appropriated funds to buy a dishwasher and other equipment for Corinthian Baptist Church was recommended for a two meeting deferral 12-0 by Budget and Finance and by Health, Hospitals and Social Services. I think this resolution should be defeated. Public funds should not be used to remodel the kitchen of a church.

Fairgrounds. A bill on second reading that would have required the Board of Fair Commissioners to solicit proposals for the partial development of the fairgrounds as a theme park was withdrawn. To see the sponsors comments see 35:16.

Storm Water. Following Committee recommendations, Councilman Bruce Stanley moved to defer a bill on second reading that would require quarterly storm water reports to be submitted to the Metropolitan Council instead of big annual reports. He explains the logic behind this bill. He wants more transparency in Metro's storm water program and wants reporting that will be more helpful to Metro Council in providing oversight. His comments (starting at 42:30) are worth viewing. He convinced me that what he is attempted to do needs doing. I am glad to see someone has a passion for seeing that money being spend on storm water projects is being spent wisely.This is my first impression of Councilman Stanley and I am impressed.

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