A special meeting of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County was held on June 11, 2024, at 6:00 PM at the Historic Metro Courthouse. The primary purpose was to adopt the Capital Improvements Budget (CIB) for fiscal years 2024-2025 through 2029-2030, as required by the Metro Charter by June 15. The meeting also included a consent agenda for seven sewer and water infrastructure ordinances and a public comment period. Vice Mayor Angie Emery Henderson presided and offered an invocation honoring the late Reverend James M. Lawson, a civil rights leader and nonviolence advocate.
Well, the meeting please come to order. Today is Tuesday, June 11th, twenty twenty-four. This is a special meeting of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davison County to take up the Capital Improvements Budget, which the Metro Charter requires be adopted on or before June 15th annually, as well as a few third reading consent items. Will all members of the council as well as the public please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance? I am going to remain seated as I will be offering the invocation this evening as we are out of our kind of regular meeting order, but also to mark the passing yesterday of the Reverend James M. Lawson, whom many of us in this room were fortunate to hear speak this spring at the dinner organized by Pro Tim Swara celebrating Diane Nash, who counted Lawson as a beloved teacher and mentor. Reverend Lawson was also a close ally and friend of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. He served as the architect of the nonviolence movement in America and was the central advisor for student protests and lunch counter sit-ins here in Nashville. In Walking with the Wind, uh published in 1998, John Lewis shared regarding the student nonviolent nonviolent coordinating committee that Jim Lawson knew, though we had no idea when we began, that we were being trained for a war. Unlike any this nation had seen up to that time, a nonviolent struggle that would force this country to face its conscience. A sole force that would be or would see us through the ugliness and pain that lay ahead, all in pursuit of what he and Dr. King called the beloved community. Also from James Lawson, the student nonviolent coordinating committee statement of purpose. We affirm the philosophical or religious ideal of nonviolence as the foundation of our purpose, the presupposition of our faith, and the manner of our action. Nonviolence as it grows from Judaic Christian tradition seeks a social order of justice permeated by love. Integration of human endeavor represents the crucial first step towards such a society. Through nonviolence, courage displaces fear, love transforms hate, acceptance dissipates prejudice. Hope ends despair. Faith reconciles doubt. Mutual regard cancels enmity. Love is the central motif of nonviolence. Love is the force by which God binds man to himself and man to man. Such love goes to the extreme. It remains loving and forgiving, even in the midst of hostility. It matches the capacity of evil to inflict suffering with an even more enduring capacity to absorb evil, all while persisting in love. Just in case anyone was confused. Okay. Let's see. Without objection, uh, we will suspend the calling of the roll and ask the clerk to record the names of the members present throughout the meeting. Is there a motion for the approval of the minutes of June 4th, 2024? Okay. Um properly moved and seconded. Without objection, the minutes of the meeting of June 4th are approved. Mr. Clerk, are there any messages from the mayor? Mr. Clerk just said there were no messages from the mayor. I'm sorry, Mr. Clerk. Um now we are moving into uh section E of our agenda, uh, the public comment period. Members of the public wishing to speak uh in public comment time may sign up on the council meeting sign up sheet at the Metro Clerk's office counter on the day of the scheduled meeting. Public comment sign up for council meetings begins at 5 p.m. and it ends at 6 p.m. Public comment is limited to 20 minutes total at council meetings, and each speaker is allowed up to two minutes to speak. Um as of this meeting, public comment is not limited to items on the council meeting agenda pursuant to the update to council rule 28. Uh that said, persons speaking on agenda items must be prioritized to comply with state law. Okay. Um who have signed up uh uh regarding uh public comment. Um first among them um is Ramona Hamilton who is uh speaking on uh custodian raises. Ms.