Metropolitan Council Meeting Summary – February 18, 2025
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Metropolitan Council Meeting Summary – February 18, 2025
The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County met at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, in the Historic Metro Courthouse. The meeting included confirmations, public comment, council rule changes, a large consent agenda, several resolutions, and first- and second-reading ordinances. The meeting adjourned early on a 24–13 vote before completing the second-reading agenda, with remaining items moved to the March 4, 2025 meeting.
Call to Order, Roll Call, and Minutes
- The invocation was offered by Council Member Nash, and the Pledge of Allegiance followed.
- 39 members were present and 2 were absent (Suara, Bradford).
- The minutes of the February 4, 2025 meeting were approved.
Appointments, Confirmations, and Nominations
- Arts Commission appointee Brittany Cole and Health and Educational Facilities Board nominee Matt Wiltshire were re-referred to the Rules, Confirmations, and Public Elections Committee for further interviews; no council vote was taken. (Note: the agenda listed Cole’s term as expiring February 2, 2025, while the minutes list it as February 2, 2029.)
- Dr. Chike M. Nzerue’s appointment to the Hospital Authority was deferred one meeting by voice vote.
- Confirmations approved by unanimous voice votes: Frank Stevenson to the Metro Development and Housing Agency Board; Katy Varney to the Public Library Board; Catherine Armwood to the Sustainability Advisory Committee; Christina Karpynec to the Zoning Appeals Board.
- For the Advisory Committee on Transportation, 13 nominations were made for five vacancies; the election was set for March 18, 2025.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Several speakers opposed BL2025-690 (community safety camera network, FUSES), including Trina Huell, Luis Mata of Turk Votes, Michelle Flynn, and others. They argued surveillance harms marginalized communities, is not effective prevention, and lacks true guardrails.
- Chrissy Bubis and Chase Mitchelleck supported the camera network, citing neighborhood crime, a December 29, 2024 car theft, and police resource limits. Bubis noted 24 car break-ins in one month in her district and said Tennessee’s violent crime rate is 68% higher than the U.S. average.
- Matthew Bond, Rebecca Freeman, and Ellen Hurd (president of Historic Nashville Inc.) opposed BL2025-742 (historic commission reorganization), saying it was rushed and threatened historic preservation. Freeman cited 35 historic districts and over 11,000 households in them.
- Carl Meyer spoke about affordable housing, urging public-private partnerships and citing decades of corporate subsidies as a cause of Nashville’s housing shortage.
Rules of Procedure
- Rule 12 amendment (moving honorary/memorializing resolutions to proclamations) failed: 14 yes, 23 no, 1 abstention (Spain), short of the required 27 votes.
- Rule 53.2 amendment (mandatory one-meeting deferral of rule changes) passed by voice vote.
- Rule 40.1 amendment (eliminating committee reports for consent-agenda items) passed 33–5, with Kimbrough, Gamble, Harrell, Styles, and Lee voting no. The rule changes take effect 30 days after passage.
Consent Calendar
- The consolidated consent agenda passed 37–0. It included resolutions RS2025-1037, 1038, 1040–1053, 1055, and 1056; second-reading ordinances BL2025-694 and 707–711; and third-reading ordinances BL2024-681–686 and BL2025-691–693, 695–702. RS2025-1057 was removed by Council Member Kupin before the vote.
Resolutions
- RS2025-992 (T-Mobile location agreement amendment) was deferred one meeting.
- RS2025-1015 (My Goat robotic mowers contract) was adopted 32–3, with Parker, Capp, and Benedict voting no.
- RS2025-1039 (HIDTA drug investigation grant) was adopted, with Council Member Kimbrough abstaining.
- RS2025-1054 (MNPD evaluation of school safety plans) was adopted 27–8–2. No votes: Porterfield, Evans-Segall, Kimbrough, Parker, Welsch, Vo, Sepulveda, Lee; abstentions: Toombs and Gamble. Debate included concerns about framing MNPS as unprepared and support for gathering MNPD recommendations.
- RS2025-1057 (supporting a WNBA franchise in Nashville) was adopted 36–0, with all affirmative voters added as co-sponsors under Rule 12.3.
Bills on Introduction and First Reading
- BL2025-742 (Metro Historical Commission / Historic Zoning Commission reorganization) was pulled from the first-reading block. A motion to defer it to April 1 with a public hearing was tabled 28–8–1; a previous-question motion passed 37–1; the bill then passed first reading 34–4 (Capp, Hancock, Gadd, and Lee voting no) and was referred to the Planning and Zoning Committee.
- BL2025-743 (drag racing), BL2025-744 (Habitat for Humanity greenway easement), and BL2025-745 (code readoption) each passed first reading and were referred to committees.
Bills on Second Reading
- BL2025-688 (Nashville Music, Entertainment, and Film Commission changes) was deferred one meeting to March 4, 2025.
- BL2025-690 (community safety camera network) was under debate. Amendment 4, requiring audit trails and prohibiting machine learning and automated lip-reading, was adopted by voice vote. While Amendment 2 was being debated, the council voted 24–13–1 (Kupin abstaining) to adjourn. The bill, along with BL2025-706, BL2024-687, and BL2025-689, will be taken up at the March 4, 2025 meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Confirmations of four appointees; one deferral.
- Two of three rule amendments passed.
- All consent items approved 37–0.
- Resolutions adopted include school safety evaluation and WNBA support.
- The council adjourned early, leaving BL2025-690 and three other items for March 4.
Meeting Transcript
Gracias, Concejal Gamble. Any other council members. If you would like to join us, we also just did blind date with the book. Those are located in our little libraries. Um Link Tree. Will the meeting please come to order today is Tuesday, February eighteenth, twenty twenty-five. And this is the thirty-second meeting of the current term of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville in Davidson County. Please rise for the invocation and remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Go placidly amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence as far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant. They too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, their vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however, humble. It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of tickery, but let this not blind you to what virtue there is. Many persons strive for high ideals and everywhere. Life is full of heroism. Be yourself, especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment is perennial as the grass. Take counsel, take kindly the council of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of use. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune, but do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe with no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. And whether or not is clear to you. No doubt the universe is unfolded as it should. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive of him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations and the noisy confusion of life. Keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams. It is a beautiful world. Be cheerful and strive to be happy. As we just passed uh President's Day, and we're in the midst of uh uh historic uh Black History Month. I think a couple of lines that stuck out to me with uh everywhere life is full of heroism, and we think of Diane Nash, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, and many of the presidents that let their life on the line to create this country, and then the fact that uh you have a right to be here. We're all here for purpose. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, and justice for all thank you very much, Councilman. Council members and Nashvilleans, as uh Mr. Nash uh just touched on and shared. Black History Month continues, and as always, I encourage you to share the many diverse cultural and historical opportunities that Nashville offers with your constituents and neighbors. I enjoyed attending the Metro Historical Commission's 44th annual Nashville Conference on African American history and culture on Friday at TSU. If you were unable to attend, the event was recorded. So please be on the lookout for that and make plans to attend the 45th annual conference next year. One of the speakers on Friday was Elliot Robinson from the Nashville Library team, and a real civil rights hero in his own right. He did an amazing job, and you and all Nashvilleans can appreciate his good work at the civil rights room at the downtown library. This is Tennessee Severe Weather Awareness Week. And surprise, um, hopefully not surprised, but um Nashville is currently under a winter weather warning uh with looming snowfall and very bitter cold. We've seen the Nashville Department of Transportation hard at work yesterday and today in preparation, as well as other departments.
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