On May 16, 2024, the Metro Human Relations Commission (MHRC) presented a budget request to the council committee. Executive Director David Tucker, along with commissioners Miriam Abba Faso, John Mestringa Holmes, and Dr. Ben Tran, testified in support of a $250,000 appropriation to fund one new position and adjust salaries for existing staff. The meeting included discussion of MHRC programs, the commission's historical underfunding, and the challenges of operating with a staff size unchanged for 25 years despite a tripling city population.
Thank you, Madam Chair, for this opportunity to come before your committee. I'm David Tucker. I'm the executive director of the Human Relations Commission. I have with me here tonight the Chair, Miriam Abba Faso, Commissioner, Ms. Jr. Jim Nestringer Holmes, and Dr. Ben Tran. If I can, uh, can they make short comments, please? Ms. Holmes, if you would start, and Ben, if you would come right behind and Miriam, you wrap it up. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. My name is John Mestringa Holmes. Um, I have been on um commission for the last two years. Um, I would like to say that uh the office that um Dr. Tucker leads, they are amazing. They are doing amazing work, but they're also doing the work of that the work of people from 25 years ago, the same size as a staff, but yet our city has tripled quadruple in size and needs. So I'm hoping that tonight what you hear from us and the needs for the budget to be increased, that you pay attention to the details of the work they've done just in the last uh uh six months, as well as the work that is needed to be done to keep our city the vibrant city that it is uh good evening. Uh my name is Ben Tran. Um, and uh I am um very honored to be a commissioner on the Metro Human Relations uh Commission here in Nashville. Uh commissions like ours uh came with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in order to then sure that when the country desegregated, that there would be a check uh of power and balance of that desegregation from the state level to the federal level in the municipality level, and we were at the municipality level. And so as we continue we've continued that work, and we've done great work in the recent years. Basically, I am proud to be a part of this commission because it is a true platform and channel for which public citizens can make sure that they're the public public goods and public venues are for the public. We carry out investigations, we do hearings, we make sure that there's balance of power and authority uh at different levels uh in the city. And as we've seen recently um with our great Metro Arts report, we played a big role, and I truly am grateful to the staff in terms of how much work they've done. Uh in that report, we raised issues about um different policies, about interpretations and applications of of the law and jurisprudence, the role of commissions and even the shady area of conflict. I mean not shady, but like the gray area between conflicts of interest and as our society and economy become the the line between public and private becomes more and more blurred. It is truly important that what is good for the public is good for all of the public. And so with that, I ask that you uh support our budget requests in order one to maintain this to keep the wonderful staff that has been doing all the work. They carry a much heavier load than they typically would have. Uh, and also for us to have uh new positions, a director of advocacy for us to continue and expand our work. Um as of now, for example, the Metro Arts uh investigation took all of the manpower, uh, even more than we could afford. Um, but if there was another investigation, for example, it would be very difficult for our commission to do the work. So with that, I I thank you for um giving me the time to speak. Okay, um, I'm gonna say a few words and then we're gonna pass it to the director to um lay out sort of what's in the actual budget. Um my name is Miriam Apple Fazley. I am the chair of the Metro Human Relations Um Commission. I have been a member of the commission, I think going on four years, um, and had a rare opportunity to be chair for about two years during a transition period. Uh I have seen this commission uh grow its heft and impact in the city over time with intention and um with the same, if not less resources a lot of the time. Um what you saw this year in terms of bringing that Title VI complaint into a real full investigation with a very small staff uh was Herculean in my mind. Um typically you are uh one a commission or an investigation like that would require uh much more manpower uh to get done. But they were able to do it, and so what I'm asking from you is if this agency, if this commission is truly kind of the backbone of Metro or the integrity holder of Metro, kind of the equity uh keeper of Metro, then we really need to look at what we are valuing it at. Our currently our executive director uh is at the lowest echelon of payment in terms of his salary, and that does not reflect, I don't think, the value that this commission uh holds in this city. It certainly does not reflect the value it's come to hold over the last year. And so I I deeply request that you look at that as a city that is growing faster than any of us can even imagine. Um many of us who were born and raised here uh forget that how big and how cosmopolitan we're becoming, and we need to value our equity organization uh at that level, at the level that we're at as a city. Uh so that's what I'm requesting. Please let's consider what Nashville is today and for how many people and what uh an agency, a commission that holds um our integrity and our equity in check means to us, and um please fully fund the request, particularly of the salaries of the existing um staff that are there and those that we need to continue to do this work. Thank you.