The Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County held a special meeting on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 6:00 PM in the Historic Metro Courthouse. The primary purpose was to adopt the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Capital Improvements Budget (CIB), as required by the Metro Charter on or before June 15. The council also took up eight additional bills on third reading. Roll call showed 30 members present and 11 absent; the transcript refers to a '40 member council,' a discrepancy with the 41 names listed in the minutes. The invocation was offered by Vice Mayor Angie Henderson, and the Pledge of Allegiance followed. The minutes of the regular meeting on June 3, 2025, were approved without objection.
Today is Tuesday, June tenth, twenty twenty-five. This is a special meeting of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County to take up the Capital Improvements Budget and a few other items, which the Metro Charter uh requires to be adopted on or before June fifteenth annually. I'm going to remain seated for now as I will be offering tonight's invocation. I keep a file of potential invocations in my office for council members in case their guest is delayed, and just for reference, and at the back of that file this afternoon was an invocation from a guest of Council Member Johnston. Loving God, we ask your blessings on the people who have been called to lead our city to make decisions for the community in which we live, work, worship, and play. Grant them curiosity about what is possible. Help them listen and converse with creativity and lead them toward innovative solutions to the many issues with which they must wrestle. Remind them as they both serve and lead our great diverse city that in the midst of the noisiness of a politically divided world, great possibilities exist because of that diversity. Help them to be mindful that throughout history, prophets have called the leaders of people to respect and protect the least among us the children, the elderly, the poor, the hungry, the unhoused, the ill in mind or body, the strangers, the immigrants, and all those who are too easily forgotten. Grant them as they conduct the business of Nashville and Davison County wisdom and courage to know and do what is right and good and true. May they speak when it is time to speak and listen with patience when it is time to listen. May the spirit of community guide us all by the spirit of justice and by the spirit of love. This we pray in the name of all that we hold sacred and holy, all that we hold to be good and right and true. Amen. Again, these were the words of Pastor Beth McCaw of Southminster Presbyterian Church, and we thank her for sharing them with us. I pledge allegiance to the black of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So tonight we take up the capital improvements budget. So all manner of infrastructure, from schools to sidewalks, is on our minds. Um evolve from what used to be called a quote, meaningless wish list into a more accessible, transparent, and data-driven document. I recall early in my council service actually departing a family vacation early, so that I could be at this very meeting to amend the capital improvement budget with several projects in my district. Um one I recall was a crosswalk. And my amendments were just a few of many. Tonight we have no amendments proposed, which I think speaks to uh our improved process. The capital improvements budget for the public awareness details improvements that are necessary or desirable to be constructed or provided during the next six years. The capital improvements budget is a planning tool to prioritize and coordinate investments in long-term durable improvements. Investments are considered capital improvements when they have a lifetime greater than 10 years and cost more than $50,000. All right. Um that said, um, with all these improvements, um, we are a city that is still struggling somewhat to find our way on implementing projects at the lower cost end of this spectrum. While we have brought a crosswalk striping crew in-house, a real improvement at EndOT. We want to make sure also that projects that come from programmatic buckets like Vision Zero and traffic calming are also visible and accountable. We sadly had a fatality in a crosswalk on Sunday in Councilman Coopin's district. And given that we do not have an announcement portion to our meeting this evening, I did want to extend him a brief uh point of personal privilege to speak about this loss. Mr. Koopin, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you to the body for indulging me. Um normally I'd wait for the for the next meeting, but this I think needs to be needs to be said and shared that a light went out in Germantown this weekend. Um we lost Dot Dobbins. She was a self-proclaimed recovering lawyer, uh, an activist, an advocate for violent interruption, and she was a neighbor, uh, the best kind of neighbor, the one who comes over every year with handmade Christmas ornaments and always has your back. And tragically, she was hit and killed in a crosswalk, leaving the dog park, dog in hand, um, just trying to get home in the crosswalk, following the rules, doing everything she was supposed to, and she was still hit and killed. And this is an area where we've been advocating um for additional support. Um, I don't know, and Dot's working on that. No, I don't have to tell the the folks in this room that we have so many areas in our district and in our city that are working well and so many more that need work. Um and I spoke in depth about this at the traffic and parking commission uh yesterday, and we'll be continuing to advocate for pedestrian bike and road safety. Um, but I just ask that um through this meeting and through this week, you guys keep uh Dot's dog Angel, um, her family and her friends in your prayers. It really, this is really a tragic loss. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Koopin. All right, um, we'll move forward uh with our agenda without objection, and given that Mr.