I would like to acknowledge to open up our meeting by acknowledging that the land on which we gathered is the occupied heritage, unceded territory of the Cherokee Shiny and the Yuchi people.

I would also like to acknowledge Mexican Independence Day, which marks the beginning of Mexico's fight for freedom from Spain in 1810, and wish everyone a happy Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15th to October the 15th.

We will go ahead and open up for announcements.

Are there any council members that would like to be recognized for announcements?

Councilmember Kimbrough, you're recognized.

Thank you, Pro Tim.

Um I would like to announce that on next week, August 25th at 5 30, District One will have a community meeting regarding rezonings at the Word of Life Church on Clarksville Pike.

Thank you.

Thank you so very much, Councilmember Kimbrough.

Are there any other council members that would like to be recognized?

Councilmember uh Vo, are you asking to be recognized?

So I can't.

Oh, here's the queue over here.

Just get in.

All right, Councilmember Benedict, you're recognized.

Thank you, Pro Tem.

Um good to see you up there.

Uh so a couple things.

One is next Wednesday, the 24th.

We're having a tactical urbanism meeting to talk about that for the residents of Sunny Mead Drive in Englewood.

And then um from our former school board member Jill Spearing up in District Three.

Um, she is has put together an event called Music Can Heal the World.

It's um a gathering for children's safety and better gun laws.

That's Thursday, September 25th at 5 p.m.

at the Children's Memorial Garden at Centennial Park.

So please bring lawn chairs and open hearts.

Thank you, Councilmember Benedict.

Councilmember Harill, you're recognized.

Thank you, Program.

Um, I have two things.

Um tomorrow, Wednesday, September the 17th, we will be having the final Cain Ridge Antioch planning study meeting.

Uh it will be a virtual meeting.

Um, the link is posted on National.gov.

It's also posted on my socials.

Um that is again Wednesday tomorrow the 17th at 6 p.m.

Um also our monthly district community meeting is September the 29th at 6 p.m.

Hamilton United Methodist Church.

Thank you.

Thank you so very much, Councilmember Harrell.

Councilmember Gad, you are recognized.

Oh, thank you so much, Speaker Pro Tim.

Um Porterfield.

Um, I am actually wanted to uh raise attention to um one of our colleagues this evening um who may not make it um to us this evening as um councilwoman at large Zolfat Swara is receiving uh an award for her work around the eviction right to council, and um she's been working on that for many years now and has uh it's tonight receiving uh a first ever award around it um called the let's see here, the Bill Cole Impact Award.

And um, I just want to make our um um our colleagues aware of that, and so when we see her next for her the work on the eviction right to council, we can all congratulate her.

Thank you so very much.

May I ask can I so on a personal point here?

Um I know my spouse is not watching tonight, uh, but today is our wedding anniversary.

So yay.

Congratulations, Councilmember Gayett.

Wishing you many member, many, many more.

Councilmember Welsh, you're recognized.

Thank you, uh Pro Tem for recognizing me.

Um, this is a little bit of a of uh point of personal privilege.

Um I am a volunteer at the Heimerdinger Foundation.

And for those of you who do not know, the Heimerdinger Foundation was founded by the family of Mike Heimerdinger, who was the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans who died of cancer back in 2010.

The Heimerdinger provides meals for people undergoing active cancer treatment in Davidson and Williamson County.

So if you are interested in the in the Heimerdinger Foundation, either as a potential client or if you are interested in volunteering, you can get in touch with me at Ginny as in Gin and Tonic dot Welsh at Nashville.gov, and I can tell you how to get in touch with Heimerdinger.

Um it's a great program.

So if you need it in any in any capacity, um don't hesitate to ask.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Welsh.

Councilmember Vaux, you are recognized.

Thank you so much, Pro Tem.

There's a lot happening in District 17.

I do want to wish Nashville PBS a happy 63rd birthday.

Um we were able to celebrate with them, and I hope that they reached their goal of raising 63,000.

Um this Saturday um at the Adventure Science Center.

I'm very excited, Jerome Moore um will be in conversation with um Iman Jahunger.

Um he is the first Irini American to go to space.

Um and they will be doing a fireside chat called lift off at the Adventure Science Center.

And then I want to remind everyone um next Thursday, September 24th is my quarterly town hall.

It'll be from 6 to 7.30 at Live Nation, and we will be discussing music in the district.

Um and I want to thank everyone who participated and came to the annual Nashville fair.

Um and just a reminder that you know the fair is in a neighborhood, so let's be mindful about littering um and cleaning up after ourselves when we go to events um in throughout the district.

Um and last point, I want to just acknowledge that September is National Library Card Month, um Library Card Sign Up Month.

Thank you so much to everyone who's participated.

The theme this year is uh stream smarter.

So you can stream literally everything music, movies, TV shows, all for free uh when you sign up for your library card.

So go to your local library branch um and sign up today.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Vaux, Councilmember Sepulveda, you are recognized.

Thank you, uh Madam Pro Tem and congratulations on your first uh meeting.

Thank you.

Um we'll see how you do.

I'll grade you at the end.

Um I wanted to wish everyone a happy Hispanic Heritage Month.

And um today is also Mexican Independence Day.

Yeah, this is why I am uh you gotta do that on the microphone.

Uh Madam Pro Tem, I asked you to turn on Council Member Prepti's microphone so he may do El Grito.

Um but the reason I am wearing this hat is because for everyone who doesn't know uh the first cowboys were actually Mexican vaqueros, and uh wanted to show you all a little bit of Durango Mexico, the northern part of uh Mexico where my family is actually from.

So brought a little bit of that to you all tonight.

So give you a Mexico, give you al trabajador, que viva la comunidad.

Uh, and I also want to recognize some special guests with us here tonight.

If uh we could have the MC3 folks uh stand up, please give them a hand.

Yeah, so the MC3 uh program is a great pre-apprentip program.

My nephews actually went through the program and um they get the opportunity to you know experience many of the different trades and at the end decide which trade they would like to go in.

And so uh it's a great program.

It's uh it's free if anyone wants to apply and um you know have uh a career at the end of this that changes lives that that prepares them that um that um you know puts them in a union trade.

Um it's it's a great it's a great program.

It changes lives, and uh I have seen it um do wonders for my nephew Macaulay so uh highly recommend it.

Um Sam has has done wonders.

So um you all um can't say enough about this.

So and we are um, you know, we as a city give money to the to this program, and hopefully in the future, we could do so much more.

So thank you all so much for being here tonight.

One last thing, uh, my new intern uh is here too in the back.

If you all can say hi to her, yeah.

Um, Hispanic Heritage Month, go uh, shop locally, uh, see what you could do.

If you want to bring me tacos, that counts too.

So that's it.

Thank you, Madam Pro Tem.

Thank you, Councilmember Sapulva.

I also wanted to acknowledge that uh with our MC3 program, we do have uh the executive director of MC3 with us, Sam Petchela as well.

So, Sam, thank you for your service and commitment to the program.

Are there any other council members that would like to be recognized?

Uh, Councilmember Ellis, you're recognized.

Thank you, Miss Pro Tim, or Madam Pro Tim.

Um, I rise to uh let the viewing audience know that I have um continued on in your legacy with having the bulk item drop-offs on uh Saturdays.

Uh, and we have one this coming Saturday from nine A.M.

until noon, uh, next door to the Comptons Food Land.

It's uh free shredding, uh, free uh bulk item drop off.

So uh don't have to drop off your mattresses and living room furniture on sides of the road.

You can come drop it for for free at this event.

Uh and also Thrift Smart will be on hand.

Uh so if you have clothes that you no longer wear or can no longer fit, uh, bring those so that they can be uh rehoused.

Thanks.

Thank you, Councilmember Ellis.

Council Member Tones, you're recognized.

Councilmember Toons, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Pro Tam.

You look wonderful up there.

Thank you.

Next uh Monday, uh September twenty second at uh six thirty p.m.

is the monthly district two community meeting uh at the North Precinct in the community room.

Again, that is Monday, September twenty second at six thirty p.m.

in the North Precinct community room for the monthly district two community meeting.

We will be short and sweet because that is also my son's twelfth birthday.

Happy birthday, Jaden.

Hope he has a great birthday.

Are there any other council members that would like to be recognized?

All right, seeing none, I will bring this announcement period to a close.

I wanted to end with um sharing that my thoughts are with my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, as our governor is deploying the National Guard against Tennesseans.

And as we recognize that our collective fight for liberation, I would like to remind everyone that no one is free until we all are free.

And with that, I adjourn our announcement period.

Today is Tuesday, September sixteenth, twenty twenty-five.

This is the seventeenth meeting of twenty twenty-five and the forty-sixth regular meeting of the current term of the Metropolitan Council of Nashville and Davidson County.

May we not look to our own interests, but seek the good of all.

And above all, may we let the light of Christ shine through our actions by being kind, by serving with humility, and by loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Bless this council meeting tonight.

Lord guide their discussions, guide their decisions and their hearts, so that everything they do will help bring peace, justice, and opportunity to every corner of the city.

In Jesus' name I pray and give thanks.

Amen.

One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month, Council members and community.

I know uh Councilmember Sepulveda has probably already elevated this in announcements.

Um we had uh student guests from our sister city of Magdeburg, Germany, uh, with us in the council office earlier today, and they had great questions for me and several council members about our policy accomplishments and the state of our democracy.

To the question of what do you love most about America?

I responded, our diversity as it remains our greatest strength, even as many in leadership attempt to weaponize it.

We had a great discussion, and I appreciate them visiting us.

Citizen diplomacy and fostering international relationships and understanding is especially important in these times.

Tomorrow is Constitution Day, commemorating the ratification of the U.S.

Constitution on September 17th, 1787.

September is National Library Card Sign Up Month.

Um, members, please encourage your constituents of all ages to sign up for a library card.

Uh, as I said last year, over 700,000 folks reside in Davidson County, and some 300,000 of them uh do have a library card.

Uh but we want uh that number to be as close to 700,000 as possible.

And so I've got my library card here with me this evening.

I know many of you have uh brought it tonight as well.

Um, there is something for everyone in Nashville's amazing um and award-winning library system.

Today also marks National Voter Registration Day.

We encourage all Nashville's that are eligible to register to vote and exercise their right to vote.

Uh, starting tomorrow, early voting will be underway at six locations uh for the primary for the special election uh for Tennessee's seventh uh congressional district uh for the U.S.

House of Representatives.

One third of Nashvilleans will be represented by the winner of the eventual December special election.

Uh, if you did not register in time for the October 7th primary, you do still have ample time to register for the December 2nd election.

You can register at GoVote Tn.gov.

We appreciate our Davidson County Election Commission and all uh their volunteers and poll workers and encourage all Nashvilleans to find our election commission and follow them online and to vote early.

Due to the Tuesday, October the 7th election, the council's next meeting will be on Thursday, October 9th.

Council members, you have an updated committee roster on your desk.

All committee chairs have chosen uh their vice chairs, and the roster reflects uh those additions.

Um, so a special thank you to vice chairs uh for your willingness to serve.

All right.

Without objection, we will suspend the calling of the roll and ask the clerk to please record the names of the members present throughout the meeting.

Is there a motion for approval of the minutes of the meeting of September 2nd?

And I hear a second.

There is a motion properly seconded without objection, and seeing no one seeking to be recognized for a change to the minutes.

The minutes of the meeting of September 2nd are approved.

Mr.

Clerk, are there any messages from the mayor?

Yes, there is a message from the mayor.

Vice Mayor and members of the council.

Two years ago, we were elected together with the goal of dedicating ourselves to public service on behalf of our shared constituents and working to make it easier for more of us to stay.

We put our heads down, overcome challenges, and made progress on important issues.

School performances up.

We've invested in better city services and crime is down significantly.

Metro Schools followed up its record high graduation rate last year and was recently named one of 17 districts out of just 145 in Tennessee to reach level five status for four consecutive years.

Another historic first for Metro schools.

We continue to expand more reliable services across the county, like improved routes for clearing snow and creating a standalone department of voice services.

Safety is up and crime is down across the board as our Metro Nashville Police Department continues to work with community leaders and expands into a new Southeast precinct.

And we're standing up alternative community-based strategies like the Office of Youth Safety alongside proven co-response models like partners in care and reach.

Now we look ahead.

Choose how you move the landmark program you voted to put on the ballot and work to see passed with majority support in every single council district is on the go with implementation, are already delivering better, more reliable transit access.

And we're just getting started.

Together, we've created our first budget that implements recommendations from the unified housing strategy.

Our work together over the past two years is helping make Nashville more affordable, safer, and an even better place to live.

And we have much more yet to come.

It's been an honor to partner with you, and I'm excited to continue to work with you to make it easier for our neighbors to stay.

All my best, Mayor Freddie O'Connell.

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk, and thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

We appreciate the message, and we appreciate the opportunity to work together for the betterment of Nashville at what is roughly the midpoint of our term here.

So thank you.

All right.

Um with that we will move uh right on in to our agenda.

Uh first is uh section E elections.

Um item E one um is uh an election uh to the historical commission.

Um so there will uh be a consideration of nominees to fill one vacancy on the commission with a term expiring October 10th, 2029.

Um first uh chair cash uh for the report of the rules, confirmations and public elections committee.

You're recognized.

Thanks.

We approved both nominees to fill the vacancy uh in expiring August 10th, 2029 for the historical commission.

We approved uh 500 for both uh Phil Claiborne and Betsy Phillips.

Thank you.

All right.

Um uh having heard the report of uh the chair of rules confirmations and public elections, and with I believe uh your election voting system uh open on your tablets.

Um Mr.

Clerk, if you would uh please open the vote.

Um council members, uh, you are voting for one of these uh candidates.

Twenty-one votes is required.

Mr.

Clerk, with all votes in, would you please show the vote?

Council has elected Betsy Phillips with 23 votes uh to Mr.

The Honorable Clayborne's 11 votes um uh to serve on the uh historic commission.

Uh congratulations to Ms.

Phillips All right.

Um next on our agenda section F appointees and nominees.

This portion of the agenda shares all persons that were scheduled to appear before the rules confirmations and public elections committee for an interview this evening.

Referrals back to the committee will be by rule as part of the council's two meeting process for all elections and confirmations.

No votes will be taken by the body in this section of the agenda, other than for deferrals.

Uh Chair Cash, your committee report, please.

Uh first for any withdrawal withdrawals and or uh deferrals.

There was one withdrawal for um for the pure procurement standards board the reappointment of uh Shannon Raybon.

Okay, um uh Miss Ray Bon will be uh with drawn.

Um okay, uh go ahead uh Chair Cash again.

A brief um summary report um with just the name of the board and commission or committee and the persons who were interviewed today, and we'll be referred back uh for confirmation consideration on October 9th.

Go ahead, sir.

Okay, and I'm gonna add that uh when the term expires.

For the action commission, we had two, the reappointment of Michael Cousins for November 15th, 2028, or a term expiring then, and for Megan Godby for term expiring July 2028, both were six, zero and zero in favor.

We also had uh the appointment of Van Pinnock for the Auditorium Commission for a term expiring June 30th, 2028, approved six to nothing to nothing.

Um for the Board of Mechanical Plumbing and Engineers examiners.

We had um the we approved uh Weston Eiler for a term expiring September 24th, 2029, and Morgan Miller Wallace for a term expiring September 21st, 2029.

Six in favor, zero against zero not voting.

For the historical commission, the uh we approve the appointment of Caitlin Jones for term expiring August 10th, 2026, six to zero to zero, and for the historic zoning commission, um liaison same name, appointment of Caitlin Jones for term expiring June 30th, 2030, six to zero to zero.

So I think I got them all.

All righty.

Um so again, those uh will be uh referred back uh for confirmation consideration by rule um on October 9th.

Next, um uh section G of the agenda.

Um Chair, you are recognized for your committee report on the appointees in the second step of your two meeting process.

Yep.

Uh for the we see for the arts commission, the appointment of Camille Greer for a term expiring January 1st, 2027, approved five to zero to zero.

Board of Mechanical Plumbing and Electrical Examiners and Appeals, reappointment of James Lasseter for a term expiring August 1st, 2029, approved five to zero to zero.

Um for the employees benefit board, um, appointment of Bradley Penson for a term expiring June 30th, 2028, approved five to zero to zero.

And um for the fire and building code appeals board, reappointment of Marina Dupey for a term expiring June 20th, 2029, approved five to zero to zero.

All righty.

Um may I have uh please chair cash uh collective um motion uh to approve uh these appointments.

So moved.

Okay.

Is there a second for that motion?

All right.

Um is anyone seeking to remove um an item uh from the collective vote for purposes of a no voter abstention.

Okay, hearing none, um all in favor, please say aye.

Okay, council has confirmed all appointees.

Uh to our confirmed appointees.

If you chose to return to the council chamber this evening, which is not required, um, do please stand and be recognized if you are here as I read the names of everyone confirmed this evening.

Um council has confirmed the appointment of Camille Greer to the Arts Commission, James Lasseter to the Board of Mechanical Plumbing and Electrical Examiners and Appeals, Bradley Penson to the Employee Benefit Board.

Uh Marina Ntupi to the Fire and Building Code Appeals Board.

Um and yes, and so we appreciate you very much whether you are here in chamber or watching from home for your willingness to serve our city.

Congratulations and thank you.

Members of the public who are Tennessee residents wishing to speak uh during public comment may sign up at a table outside the council chamber from 5 to 6 p.m.

Um on the evening of a council meeting.

Public comment is limited to 20 minutes total at council meetings, and each speaker is allowed up to two minutes to speak.

Um uh agenda persons speaking on agenda items uh must be prioritized to comply with state law.

All right.

Um I will uh call out the names of uh several of people who are in line to speak, and I would ask if you would go ahead in the interest of time and come forward.

First uh to speak is Manon Hall regarding the We Go Journey Pass.

After uh Manon Hall will be Ashley Massey and Cynthia George, if you would go ahead and come forward.

Um go ahead, you are recognized.

Hey, um uh I'm here tonight to speak in strong support of we go's journey pass program.

Um it's a renaming from what they originally called the low-income fair ticket program.

Um I'm here to advocate for a simple idea that will make this program a national leader.

Automatic enrollment.

We should not ask people to come to us to prove their need.

This approach creates a time tax and burdensome burdensome hurdles that have caused similar programs in other cities to fail.

We can and must do better.

Instead, we should take a lesson from successful models like Philadelphia Zero Fair Program, which automatically enroll people based on existing government data.

And Nashville, we can easily do that by leveraging data from multiple programs within Metro.

These eight the agencies here already have the documentation.

We just need to use it to mail passes directly to those who qualify.

This will boost participation and preserve the dignity of our residents instead of requiring them to come downtown and show that they're under a certain income level.

Finally, I urge you to be bold and set a high income limit of 300% of the federal poverty line or more.

Nashville has the funding, and I'm so glad that y'all supported time, and it's gonna be an incredible program.

And we have the capacity to create this program.

An expansive Lib will ensure that the journey pass benefits not just those in deep poverty, but also the working families who are just above the traditional poverty line and still struggle to get around Nashville and have burdensome burdensome car notes.

Um would love for y'all to continue to support um better transit to the airport.

You know, it was all over the news yesterday.

So it'd be really great.

Um, one way to make it easier is um on Friday and Saturday.

Um we're piloting bus lanes just through downtown, which is a huge um uh slowdown.

And so making you know temporary lanes to the airport or just running more frequency to the airport would be incredible and to support that.

Thank you guys.

Thank you.

Uh next is Ashley Massey speaking on agenda item 28, resolution 2025 uh 1504 in support.

Go ahead.

Hi, my name is Ashley.

I'm from Nashville, and I'm 16 years old.

I've been diagnosed with six rare diseases, four can only be fixed surgically, and the other two are incurable.

They have affected so many aspects of my day-to-day life, and I realized how many things we take for granted, like having a healthy body and access to medications.

I have had four surgeries in the last two years in search for answers in 15 states, and I'm currently relying on the hope that pharmaceutical companies will use their own time and resources to conduct research and develop a cure.

The orphan drug development is beyond important not only for me, but the 30 million other Americans living with rare conditions, and it's drastically slowed down in the last several years.

In 2017, the orphan drug tax credit was cut in half from 50% to 25%.

Cameron's law proposes um restoring it to 50%, incentivizing pharmaceutical companies and hospitals to work on developing possible cures for rare diseases.

I strongly urge you to vote for this resolution demonstrating support for Cameron's law.

It will grab the attention of our members of Congress, and um that's a vital step in getting this bill passed.

Cameron's law has 10 codesponsors in the House right now, but has not yet been introduced in the Senate.

It's my hope that passing this resolution will not only lead to more co-sponsors in the House, but lead Senator Blackburn or Senator Haggerty to take this issue into their own hands and be the sponsor of Cameron's Law.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Next will be uh Cynthia George.

Um, after uh Cynthia will be Steve Ryder and Shannon Foster, so be ready.

Um Cynthia George is speaking on agenda item uh 27, resolution 2025 um 1503 in support.

Um uh and I will be turning on our extra mic.

Let me turn off the other one.

I apologize.

Um just a second.

We I do have the ADA mic on um and the public mic off.

Um, so they should not be conflicting with each other, but ITS, we may need some assistance there.

But ITS, we may need some assistance there.

Only the ADA mic is on, and when it is on, we are hearing some challenges.

Uh the public one okay.

Okay.

Um uh we're gonna provide assistance so that the public mic um can be put at the same level of the ADA mic because we're having some difficulty.

I do apologize.

That works for me.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate your patience.

Um, okay.

Um hi, I am Dr.

Cynthia George.

I am a professor of social work at Tennessee State University.

And I also serve on two of the subcommittees uh for the mayor's advisory committee on people with disabilities, the transportation and the outreach subcommittees.

And I also chair a group working with the night mayor called Disabled to the Front, which is working to promote disabled people's access to nightlife and recreation in this city.

And um, I'm here to speak about how important uh performing a citywide audit is and uh people with disabilities will often suffer in silence, and unless you have disabilities, it's difficult to understand the challenges that we may face.

And um, I'm here with my friend Emily Grooms tonight who is blind, and even though I use a chair or a walker, I don't understand all of her needs, um, even though she's one of my dear friends, right?

And so we have to communicate and we have to audit, um, we have to test things, and uh, and that is why this resolution is so important.

Um, and above and beyond that, um, thank you all for your service.

Um, I'm proud to be a Nashville.

Most of the people that I encounter here want to support people with disabilities.

They want to serve us, they want us in their business establishments.

They may just not necessarily know how.

And sometimes that lack of knowledge, sometimes that fear um will shut things down.

And a citywide audit will help promote communication and build that collaboration and give the disabled community in this city an opportunity to be a part of the solution and to feel like a fabric, um, feel like they're part of the fabric of the city.

And um, I hope that you will see fit to pass it and conduct a great audit.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

We appreciate you both being here.

Next is uh Steve Ryder.

Uh he is speaking about agenda item 53.

Um 2025-1011 um in opposition.

Uh go ahead, Mr.

Ryder.

Thank you, madam chair and members of the council.

Um, I'm addressing the losing of uh Commerce Center Park as uh as a public park downtown.

Uh the property of the adjacent property owner uh is the leasey proposed lesie of this at 211 commerce, and that footprint they have there is half an acre.

This public park is three-tenths of an acre, so they're expanding their footprint by 60 percent, and that property there, the three-tenths of an acre, that's worth millions of dollars.

There was no appraisal done in the file that I saw regarding what the value of that piece of property, and trust me, it's worth a lot of money.

Uh the terms and conditions that they put down there on this three-tenths of a property is they pay no rent.

The operation maintenance and management of that is their discretion.

They can set the operating hours, they can schedule it as they see fit.

And I'm just I just don't think losing a public park is in the best interest of Dash Villians.

Now, part of this transaction has uh some fire station space, office space that they're going to build out, I guess, in the P1 parking garage.

That's right, in the parking garage.

I just want to let you know that if you talk to a commercial real estate person, there's plenty of office space downtown.

Plenty of office space at favorable rates.

You don't have to do this type of transaction.

It doesn't make any sense.

And this is a passive park.

I know we hear these people come here and say we want to activate the park.

Well, you know, some something sometimes people really don't want that.

One of the most popular parks in London, one of the most popular is a passive park.

It just has trees, grass, and park benches.

And guess what?

Everybody loves it.

Everybody loves it.

But if we're gonna go out there and just have people say, hey, there's there's some space over there.

We want to activate it for our purposes.

We don't want to go out there and get a permit, but we just want to do things our way.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Uh next is Shannon Foster.

Um after Shannon will be Michelle Jackson.

Shannon Foster is speaking on agenda item 53, ordinance BL 2025, um 1011, speaking in support.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Vice Mayor and members of council.

I have a I am the general manager of Dolly Parton Song Teller Hotel and Dolly's Life of Many Colors Museum, and I have a letter from Dolly Parton that I'd like to read.

Thank you, Vice Mayor and members of council.

I want to take a moment to thank each of you for your support so far of my Life of Many Colors Museum and Song Teller Hotel projects.

Since I first arrived in Nashville back in 1964, fresh off the bus from Knoxville, and the very morning after graduating high school, I have called Nashville home.

I have seen so much change in all of these decades, but the spirit of this wonderful city has never wavered.

I have long dreamed of the right business venture to bring to the heart of downtown Nashville.

I always knew it had to be something that would complement what we've been able to do in East Tennessee with Dollywood and our affiliated properties.

I believe in my heart that the hotel and museum is the perfect venture for the perfect time.

As we continue to work through the permit approval process, I feel it important for you to hear directly from me so you can understand that my heart is fully vested in bringing this to life.

I have called Music City home for more than 60 years, and it has been the birthplace for so many of my dreams.

As you may know, for the past year, we just workshopped my musical here at our studio south of town.

And then thanks to a partnership with Belmont University, I was so blessed to get to Premier Dolly, a true original musical right here at Nashville's Fisher Center.

Additionally, we were even able to incorporate students into the process for the school's Dolly U Fellowship Program.

I'm a Tennessee girl and proud Nashville.

So any time I can be of help to this community, I want to support projects that can create jobs, create memories, generate tourism, and lift people up from all walks of life.

So know as we move through this process, if there is anything else you need from me, please let my team know.

Like I often say, I wake up with new dreams every day.

What we're building on the corner of Third and Commerce in downtown is one of the most important things I want to see come to life.

Thank you for your help.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Michelle Jackson speaking on agenda item 27.

This is resolution 2025-1503 in support.

Michelle Jackson, are you present?

Oh, hello, Ms.

Jackson.

No name, so I was hesitant because I'm not going to be able to do that.

I apologize.

Um good evening.

My name is Tika Jackson.

I'm a legal professional with Tennessee state government, an advocate and appointed by the mayor to serve on the mayor's advisory committee for people with disabilities.

The purpose of the committee is to promote education and awareness of the contributions, potentials, and needs of individuals with various disabilities.

I'm speaking today in strong support of the resolution calling for a disability audit across Nashville and Davison County.

This issue is deeply personal to me.

My oldest brother is part of the disability community.

He is nonverbal and was clinically diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities at birth.

My mother has, or my mother is his primary and full-time caregiver and has been an advocate for him her entire life.

As well as mine.

And I proudly support her efforts and I too assist with his care.

We've experienced firsthand the systematic barriers that people with disabilities face every day, whether it's in transportation, housing, public spaces, or just assessing assessing public basic services.

We spent years not only advocating for my brother, but for the disability community as a whole, because we believe in a city where everyone has equal opportunity to belong, participate, and thrive.

This audit is necessary and long overdue towards steps to that goal.

The disability audit is not about pointing out flaws.

It's about finding solutions.

It's giving us data, the feedback, and the direction we need to make a meaningful change from sidewalks and signage to public restrooms and digital communication.

And the best part is that it's the changes that are needed and necessary for everyone.

Families with strollers, elderly residents, tourists, and more.

By supporting this resolution, the Metro government is saying to the disability community, we see you, we value you, and we're willing to do the work to make our city better for everyone.

Let's continue to lead with commitment and building a more inclusive Nashville.

I respectfully urge you to pass the resolution.

Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Jackson.

All right.

Um, last for public comment is Sam Patulet.

Sam, are you here?

Here you are.

Um Sam is speaking on uh workforce development.

How are you all?

We are good.

You are recognized.

Am I allowed to share the mic in my two minutes?

You may, sir, yes.

All right.

Good evening, everyone.

I'm Sam Petula.

For those of you that I uh don't already know, I'm the executive director of Music City Construction Careers.

Um I wanted to come out here tonight uh to say thank you to the council and to the city of Nashville uh for supporting the work uh that we've been doing at Music City Construction Careers since 2019.

Um I've got a couple of guests and partners in crime with me up here.

Uh my program coordinator, Ms.

Brandy Bishop, um, and a couple of uh pre-apprentices that are in our program right now.

I wanted to just give them a chance to say hello real fast and uh what they're working on.

Go ahead.

My name is Miyasha Hassel.

Oh.

Oh, I want to give a shout out to Ms.

Delicia.

She's very helpful in our program.

And as well as Sim is and Brandy, I'm uh interested in being an electrician.

Oh, guanesses sheet metal.

Thank you.

Go ahead, sir.

My name is Alana Ashley.

I just want to give a shout out to the whole MC3 program because it gave me is giving me an opportunity to get to this apprenticeship of my choice, which would be seat medal.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thanks, Alon.

So Alon uh in particular heard about this program from his brother RJ, who's out there uh making about four times as much money as he ever made in his life as a first-year sheet metal apprentice.

He just finished building the pinnacle downtown.

Um, so I've seen first town how this first hand, how this program really helps uh people out.

Uh, we like to say that uh we work with people, some coming back from incarceration, some that are unemployed, some that are underemployed, some that just really don't like their job.

Um, you know, I know I'm talking to folks that do a really hard job right now, who probably have fallen into at least one of those categories.

Uh, you know, maybe not in the not so recent past.

So uh thank you again, and uh, and we look forward to continuing our work with the city.

Thank you very much.

All right, um, that concludes our public comment.

All right.

Um, next uh we're moving into section I of our agenda, um, our consolidated consent agenda.

All resolutions and second and third reading ordinances on this agenda are included on the consent agenda if recommended for approval unanimously by all committees to which the item was referred.

Items on the consent agenda will be voted on at a single time.

The item number along with the resolution and ordinance number of the items on the consent agenda will be read by me.

And then members of the council may remove any item from the consent agenda by request before the consent agenda vote is taken.

All right.

Um the first uh item proposed uh for the consolidated consent agenda is agenda item one, resolution 2025-147.

Next is agenda item three, resolution 2025-147.

Agenda item four, resolution 2025 dash one four eight zero.

Agenda item five, resolution 2025-1481.

Agenda item six, resolution 2025-1482.

Agenda item seven, resolution 2025-1483.

Agenda item eight, resolution 2025-1484.

Agenda item nine, resolution 2025-1485.

Agenda item 10, resolution 2025-1486.

Agenda item 11, resolution 2025-1487.

Agenda item 12, resolution 2025-148.

Agenda item 13, resolution 2025-1489.

Agenda item 14, resolution 2025-1490.

Agenda item 15, resolution 2025-1491.

Agenda item 16, resolution 2025 dash 142.

Agenda item 13 resolution 2025 dash one four eight nine agenda item fourteen resolution twenty twenty five dash one four nine zero agenda item fifteen resolution twenty twenty five dash one four nine one agenda item sixteen resolution twenty twenty five dash one four nine two agenda item seventeen resolution twenty twenty five dash one four nine three agenda item eighteen resolution twenty twenty five dash one four nine four agenda item nineteen resolution twenty twenty five dash one four nine five agenda item twenty resolution twenty twenty five one four nine six agenda item twenty one resolution twenty twenty five one four nine seven agenda item twenty two resolution twenty twenty five dash one four nine eight agenda item twenty-three resolution twenty twenty five-one four nine nine agenda item twenty-four resolution twenty twenty-five-one five zero zero agenda item twenty-five resolution twenty twenty-five-one five zero one agenda item twenty six resolution twenty twenty five-one five zero two agenda item twenty-seven resolution twenty twenty five-one five zero three agenda item twenty eight resolution twenty twenty-five-one five zero four agenda item twenty nine resolution twenty twenty five-one five zero five agenda item thirty resolution twenty twenty five-one five zero six agenda item thirty-one resolution twenty twenty five-one five zero seven.

All right, that concludes our resolutions proposed for consent.

Next we will go to items on second reading proposed for the consolidated consent agenda.

First among those is agenda item forty-eight ordinance BL 2025-1003, agenda item 49, ordinance BL 2025-1004.

Agenda item 52, Ordinance BL 2025-1010.

Agenda item 54, Ordinance BL 2025-1012, agenda item 55, ordinance BL 2025-1013, agenda item 56, ordinance BL 2025-1014, agenda item 57, Ordinance BL 2025-1015, agenda item 58, ordinance BL 2025-1016, agenda item 59, ordinance BL 2025-1017, agenda item sixty, ordinance BL 2025-1018.

Right.

Now on to items on uh third reading proposed for the consolidated consent agenda.

First on third reading is uh agenda item sixty-two ordinance BL 2025-796.

Agenda item sixty-six, ordinance BL 2025-874, agenda item sixty-seven, ordinance BL 2025-875, agenda item sixty-eight, ordinance BL 2025-882.

Agenda item 69, ordinance BL 2025-883.

Agenda item seventy-one, ordinance BL 2025-946, agenda item seventy-two, ordinance BL 2025-948.

Agenda item seventy-four, ordinance BL 2025-976.

Agenda item seventy-five, ordinance BL 2025-977.

Agenda item 76, ordinance BL 2025-978.

Agenda item 77, ordinance BL 2025 dash 979.

Agenda item 78, ordinance BL 2025-980.

Agenda item 79, ordinance BL 2025-981.

Agenda item 80, ordinance BL 2025-982.

Agenda item 81, ordinance BL 2025-983.

Agenda item 82, ordinance BL 2025-984.

Agenda item 83, ordinance BL 2025-985.

Agenda item 84, ordinance BL 2025-986.

Agenda item 87, ordinance BL 2025-989.

Agenda Item 88, ordinance BL 2025-990.

Agenda item 89, ordinance BL 2025-991.

Agenda item 90, ordinance BL 2025-992.

Agenda item 91, ordinance BL 2025-993.

Agenda item 92, ordinance BL 2025-994.

Agenda item 93, ordinance BL 2025-996.

Agenda Item 95, Ordinance BL 2025-998.

Agenda Item 96, Ordinance BL 2025-999.

Agenda Item 97, Ordinance BL 2025-100.

Agenda Item 98, Ordinance BL 2025-1001.

And the last item proposed for the consolidated consent agenda is Agenda Item 99, ordinance BL 2025-1002.

Do any items need to be removed from the consent agenda?

If so, members please join the queue to request that.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I would like to remove agenda item number three, RS 2025-1479.

Okay.

Ms.

Porterfield has uh requested the removal of agenda item uh three.

Uh this is resolution 1479.

It has been removed from consent.

Next, uh councilmember Ewing, uh, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I'd like to take 27 and 28, RS 2025-1503 and 1504 off the consent agenda.

Okay, council member Ewing has uh requested the removal of agenda items 27 and 28.

These are resolutions uh 1503 and 1504, and they have been removed from consent.

Next is council member Koopin.

Uh Mr.

Koopin, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

Item number 30, please.

Okay.

Councilmember Koopin um has requested the removal of agenda item 30.

This is resolution 1506, and it has been removed from consent.

Next is Councilmember Cortez.

Councilmember Cortez, you're recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I would like to remove uh agenda item number 29.

Okay.

Uh councilmember Cortez has requested the removal of agenda item 29.

That is resolution 1505.

It has been removed from consent.

Um uh next is council member uh Benedict, you're recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I'd like to remove numbers 68 and 69, bill 2025 882 and 883.

Okay, um council member Benedict has requested the removal of agenda items 68 and 69.

Um council member Benedict has requested the removal of agenda items 68 and 69.

Uh these are ordinances 882 and 883, and those have been removed from consent.

All right.

Um do any additional items uh need to be removed from consent.

All right.

Uh seeing none, um uh Mr.

Clerk, are all committee reports in for the items uh remaining on the consent agenda?

Yes, all committee reports are in.

Thank you, Mr.

Clerk.

Um members, is there a motion for approval of the consent agenda?

Okay, properly moved and seconded.

Uh all in favor, please say aye.

Um any voting no or abstaining.

Okay, council has passed all items on the consent agenda.

All right.

Now we will go back in agenda order um to items that were not on uh consent.

So back uh now to uh the section of our agenda on resolutions.

Um first among those is agenda item uh two, resolution uh 2025 uh dash 1478, sponsor tombs.

Uh this is a resolution setting the compensation of the chair and the members of the Metropolitan Board of Equalization.

Uh Ms.

Tombs, uh Chair of Budget and Finance, you are recognized.

Thank you, madam Um Vice Mayor, committee report, and that is me.

Budget and finance voted to recommend approval of the resolution as substituted, eight in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay.

Umrighty.

Um so that is uh good to know at this juncture.

Um I do know that we have a late um substitute.

Um and so uh I move this in the rules.

Okay.

Um uh councilmember tombs um has uh moved to suspend the rules um for the purposes of taking up a late substitute that was responsive to um questions uh elevated uh in the budget and finance committee.

Um the sponsor of that late substitute, which members will have received, um, is uh Ms.

Benedict.

Um is there any objection to a suspension of the rules for purposes of taking up the late substitute?

Okay, seeing nine, Mr.

Cash, do you have a report um from your committee?

Uh yes, we uh voted six in favor, zero against on that on that late filed item.

Okay, all righty.

Um uh so having re heard the report of Chair Cash and um seeing no one uh here to be recognized uh for purposes of uh uh objecting to suspension of the rules, the rules are suspended.

Um, and as such, uh Ms.

Toombs, uh if you would like to uh offer the late substitute, you may, or we can um defer to Miss Benedict.

I'll defer to Councilmember Benedict.

Okay.

Um right, let's so let's um see at this juncture.

We have a committee report.

Um have you made a motion to approve though to get the bill before us?

Okay, um would you please do so?

Move for approval.

Is there a second?

Okay, so the bill is properly before us.

We've heard the nature of that uh substitute by way of committee reports, and now um Ms.

Benedict, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Um, so colleagues, this resolution increases the pay for the members of the Metro Board of Equalization.

And as you know, the MBOE hears in rules on appeals for assessed values of properties.

Uh they meet frequently four days a week, often for seven to eight hours a day, and I believe that they deserve a pay raise, which is what this resolution does.

At the same time, though, most of us have received a plethora of phone calls and emails this year about the unprecedented increase in property values from this year's reassessment.

Uh people are concerned.

And so when people appeal their value, it makes it to this board, and the board rules against the and if the board rules against their appeal, people are disgruntled.

Uh and they're watching.

And in many, many cases this year where constituents feel like they aren't heard.

Um, they they you know, again, they're watching us.

So people already have a diminished view of their government these days, and so when they don't feel heard after all of the work and research that they bring to the MBOE, then they start to look for reasons that further erode trust.

Giving these board members a pay raise can be perceived as a bias, especially when that raise is paid out of the assessor's budget.

I've heard from tons of Nashvilleans that they feel like the deck is stacked against them.

They find it hard to go to meetings because it's behind closed doors.

They can't access recordings because they are afraid to contact the department that is perceived to have just denied their appeal.

A lot of this is not accurate, of course.

The assessor doesn't deny the appeal, the MBOE rules on that.

And the recordings are readily provided upon request.

But what I've heard is that it feels to the public like there's an obstacle to get to it.

So with all this in mind, since we're increasing the pay of the MBOE, it's important that we clarify and improve where we can.

So I have a substitute, Vice Mayor, that I'd like to move.

There is a motion uh to substitute with the late filed uh substitute.

Uh is there a second?

Okay.

Um we are now on the motion to substitute.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

So um the late filed nature, as was said earlier, is due to feedback in the budget and finance committee yesterday.

But this the substitute, the new substitute does three things.

First, it requests that finance pay the MBOE members, and that improves the perception of the financial independence between the assessor and the MBOE.

Second, it requests that the Metro Clerk hold all audio and video recordings since the clerk is the city's public information coordinator.

And then finally, it requests that the assessor find a meeting place outside of the current location, which is as we know behind closed doors in the department.

This last point is what was changed with the late file.

It now requests general services to locate the space in consultation with the assessor and further the request is for general services to provide a space that will allow for future video uh broadcasting and recording.

There's an email from the assessor in your inbox and a letter on your desk indicating the assessor's support of the substitute resolution.

And uh again, I renew my motion to approve the substitute.

All righty.

Um uh Ms.

Ellis, um, are you seeking to be recognized on the substitute?

Okay, go ahead, ma'am.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

So I just wanted to read into the record or letter from our uh assessor of property, Miss Vivian Wilhoit.

Um, thank you all for your service to the citizens of Metro Nashville and Davidson County.

I am unable to be with you tonight as I am attending an assessor retreat with fellow assessors from the other 95 counties administered by our governing body, the state of Tennessee's Comptroller of the Treasury, and the Department of Property Assessment.

I express support of this legislation in the council's budget and finance uh meeting on Monday, September the 15th, 2025, with some changes.

I want the full Metro Council to be aware of my support for the late filed resolution, RS 2025-1478, that indicates increased compensation for the hardworking independent MBOE.

Moving the independent MBOE to another secured location, separate from the office of the assessor of property, and further removing the compensation to the independent MBOE from the assessor of property's budget and removing my amazing staff as the payer of the compensation to the independent MBOE.

Uh the independent MBOE is not my board, it is your board.

Other than the state laws requiring us to assist the independent MBOE, the independent MBOE is a separate entity from the assessor of property and staff.

The members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by you, the Metro Council.

Since being blessed by Davidson County voters to be the assessor property in 2016, I question why the independent MBOE was structured to operate in the office of the assessor property and be compensated from the assessor of property's budget.

Former assessor of property, the beloved Joanne North stated that she questioned the process when she was the property assessor from 1992 to 2008.

We were both told, that's just the way it is.

I asked the Metro Legal Department to research the issue.

According to recent research by Metro Legal, the structure of the independent MBOE operating out of the assessor of properties office and their compensation placed and paid for from the property assessor of properties budget has been structured this way for close to 30 years.

As I stated in the audit committee on June the 24th and on August the 7th, it requires legislation by the mayor and the Metro Council to restructure what was established by the mayor and the Metro Council 30 years ago.

I am happy to read that the substitute has been mended to remove the assessor property to be responsible for finding another separate secured location for the independent MBOE, and that our suggestion of this responsibility be appropriately assigned to the Metro Department of General Services.

While the passage of tonight's resolution codifies the increased compensation, uh the mayor and you provided in recently passed budget FY 2026 to the independent MBOE.

My amazing staff and I look forward to the ordinance that removes and the rest of the letter.

Thank you, uh, Madam President.

And I look forward to the ordinance that removes the assessor of property as the payer of compensation to the independent MBOE and the ordinance to assign the relocation of the independent MBOE to the Department of General General Services.

I ask for your support of the late fault substitute RS 2025-1478 as provided to me today by the Metro Legal Department.

Thank you, Miss Ellis.

Um is anyone else seeking to be recognized on uh the motion uh to substitute this resolution.

Seeing none, um, all in favor of the substitute, please say aye.

Any voting no um or abstaining?

Okay, um, all right.

Now I will go um back to um I think I have to go to Miss Timms because she's the primary sponsor, but would you like to renew uh your motion um for approval as substituted, please, ma'am?

Move for approval is substituted.

Okay.

Properly seconded.

Um, so I apologize.

Hey, this doesn't happen often, but it is now Ms.

Benedict's legislation.

So um thank you.

Uh special counsel, um, Ms.

Benedict, if you would like to renew uh or rather initiate the motion um uh for approval is substituted.

I would love to approve it as substitute, and I'd love if council member tombs wanted to second that.

Okay, all right.

Seconded, signed on okay.

We're all good.

Everybody's uh go ahead, ma'am.

Brief comment.

I just I'm excited to see how these changes, you know, help build trust with the public uh that were put in the the substitute now.

And you know, once we see how this goes, I hope that we'll be able to pass an ordinance to make these changes permanent.

So once again, appreciate my colleagues' support.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh thank you, Miss Benedict.

Um, all right.

Um, is there any uh further discussion on the motion to approve this resolution is substituted?

Okay.

Um Ms.

Hancock, you're recognized.

Um maybe this is a point of inquiry, but since we have the buttons, I use them.

Are we voting on the bill as substituted or the late substitute?

You are voting on the resolution as substituted with the late substitute.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Okay, sure.

Um inquiries or or discussion.

Okay, seeing none.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right, you have adopted this as uh substituted.

Next is agenda item three, resolution 2025-1479.

Sponsored Tombs.

This is a resolution authorizing the Metro Department of Law to compromise and settle the civil rights claims of Alan Dosky against the Metropolitan Government of National and Davidson County in the amount of $70,000 with set amount to be paid out of the judgment and losses fund.

Um Ms.

Tombs, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Committee report myself.

Uh budget and finance voted to recommend approval.

Eight in favor, zero against, zero not voting.

And with that, I move for approval.

All right.

Um, is there a second?

Okay.

Um, you've heard uh the committee report of um chair and sponsor, Tombs.

Um, and it's uh she's made a motion to approve.

It's properly seconded.

We're on to discussion.

Um, Councilmember Porterfield, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh, I stand in support of the legislation and for us to approve this settlement.

Uh, however, I will say that the circumstances that led to this uh settlement are uh beyond unfortunate.

We talked about this yesterday in our budget and finance uh committee meeting, and I I spoke about it at that time, but I just wanted to um rise to put this on the record.

Um, you know, one thing that did not mention yesterday is we have seen an influx of hoax calls when it comes to uh students, uh, whether those are students or other individuals putting in false claims and false threats that they that there have been school shootings.

Um, and that is something that is completely unacceptable.

It's not something that can happen.

So I do understand uh the severity of a hoax call and why that cannot happen.

Um, in this instance, a student put in a call for what they believe to have been a active shooter.

This student was handcuffed without being questioned, and under no circumstances should MMPD be handcuffing anyone, uh whether that's a student or an adult, but no one should be put in handcuffs and taken away from a building without even being questioned and having the opportunity to speak on what happened or to speak from their purview on what it was that was happening.

This student was also expelled without being questioned by their principal, and that is completely unacceptable.

And again, I understand the severity of hoax cause.

Um, so and and I I understand why MMPD and MMPS have to act on this with such seriousness, but no matter the severity of the issue, people should have due process.

People should have the opportunity to speak on what is happening.

This student experienced the trauma of being not only being afraid in school because they thought it was an active shooter, but then they were handcuffed and taken out of the school.

We don't know the level of embarrassment that that student had by that.

Um and furthermore, this was then put in the student's permanent file.

Now we did receive information from uh MMPs uh with regards to uh this being put in the student's file because one thing that we brought up yesterday is we wanted to make sure that there was not any uh long-term uh adverse impact on the student.

The expulsion was overturned.

So thankfully that student uh did not have to undergo uh that the uh unfairness of that expulsion, but again, this should never have happened.

Um so I um just again want to speak to the fact that no one should have this happen to them.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Pro Tim.

Uh next, Councilmember uh Glenn Evansiegel, you're recognized.

I thank you, Madam President.

Um, I echo my colleagues' comments.

We talked about this in committee yesterday.

And I also want to make clear to our students that they should feel like they can call 911 if they believe somebody is shooting in a school, somebody has a gun in a school.

They should feel that they can call law enforcement to help them.

They shouldn't have to stop and say, is law enforcement already here?

Is this the right time?

Our children are terrified.

They are watching YouTube videos about how to survive school shootings because they are terrified of getting shot in school.

They are often afraid to go to the bathroom alone because if an active shooter situation happens in a school, they will get locked out of the classroom if they are not in a classroom.

There are girls who don't go to school when they have their periods because they know they're gonna have to go to the bathroom at some point during the day, and they don't want to get shot doing it.

We should not have children who have good faith beliefs that they are going to get shot or somebody's gonna get shot or that shooting is happening, feeling like they cannot call the police.

And I would urge our schools to be very careful in these situations.

Obviously, we should never have hoaxes.

Those are incredibly disruptive to the day, but they're not as disruptive as somebody's child going to school and not coming home, and that's what kids are living with right now.

Thank you.

Is there any further discussion on this resolution?

Seeing none.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

Okay.

We have adopted this resolution.

Next.

Sponsors Ewing Welsh Ellison Evans.

This is a resolution urging the Metro government to conduct a disability audit as requested by the mayor's council for people with disabilities to evaluate the accessibility and inclusivity of facilities and accommodations for the disabilities community in Nashville and Davidson County.

Uh, Councilmember uh Ewing, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Um, committee reports, please.

Okay.

Um, first for the report of the rules, confirmations and public elections committee chair cash.

We approved this resolution.

Five in favor, zero against.

All right, thank you, sir.

Um uh Chair Hill for the report of government operations and regulations.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

We were uh recommended approval, seven in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay, thank you, ma'am.

And it's back to you, um uh Ms.

Ewing for a motion on your resolution to get it before us.

Move for approval with a brief comment.

Okay, is there okay?

Go ahead, ma'am.

One in four people have disabilities of some sort, and we have a large aging population, some of whom have some sort of physical limitation or challenge.

This is a lot of Nashvilleans who must be considered in the equation as we grow and change as a city.

We must aim to be the kind of city that goes above and beyond to create and maintain the highest standards of usability and accessibility.

And we have good examples to benchmark our efforts too.

I'd like to take a moment to commend those in our city government who work on these issues of ADA compliance on a daily basis.

There are ADA coordinators and managers in each of our departments, and they have been working tirelessly to address issues as they arise.

The point of this legislation is to encourage a broader collaborative effort that folds in the nonprofit and private sectors to what Metro Nashville government is already doing.

We can and should do better, not just because we stand to host the 2034 Special Olympics, which in and of itself will bring myriad disabled athletes and their families to our city, but because we have citizens who are counting on us to continue upping our game and continue forward progress.

So I'm asking our city to get a consultant on board to assess our city's efforts to increase usability and accessibility to benchmark us against similar cities who are known to be at the forefront of ensuring um accessibility for all and to provide actionable items that need to be addressed, particularly in the lead up to the Special Olympics.

Specific to those Olympics, we need to focus on technology based solutions.

One example is specialized QR codes that expand access and navigability of transportation, streets, and buildings.

We also must focus in on transportation and infrastructure, adding to our existing efforts.

For those thinking that nine years until 2034 is a long time.

When we are talking about transportation, technology, housing, and infrastructure, nine years is actually a very short amount of time.

With the collaboration of the nonprofit and private sectors, we must also look at how our tourism industry functions functions vis-a-vis disabled visitors.

What could our city working together create in the nine years leading up to the Special Olympics?

And what would that do to open up our city and ensure equity of access and opportunity to our fellow citizens with disabilities?

I'd like to see.

And I'd like to ensure that those working so hard in our Metro government have the support and collaboration needed to succeed in preparing for the Special Olympics and ensuring forward progress throughout our city.

Lastly, I'd like to thank my friends and colleagues for coming to speak to this bill.

They all spoke very eloquently of the need for this, and I'm excited to see what we come up with.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there any further discussion?

All right.

Councilmember Prep T, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Um, and I want to thank the lead sponsor for bringing this resolution and for um leading in this particular issue.

Um, oftentimes I have said too frequently that those of us who are differently abled and aging in the city are out of sight, out of mind for very many people.

Um, and I think this is an amazing first step for us to undertake in understanding that I believe that this is a step that is a rising tide that will lift all votes that will benefit all Nashville yans regardless of our level of ability.

Um, similar to to um a lot of the changes that were brought about after the passage of the ADA um that benefited so many different people that benefited families who we're going on walks with with uh young children and strollers to now have curb cuts to allow for further accessibility.

Um so this is a rising tide that will lift all votes, and I am glad to um be voting in favor of this.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Benedict, you're recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I stand in support of this.

I just I wanted to call out that you know, we uh our public commenters tonight.

Um, you know, we've made adjustments in this building for uh to uh to we've put that microphone up there last last term, and we're still not in the process of you know, and used to using it all the time.

We've made changes in the tunnel downstairs for access because somebody is differently able than the mayor's office this term.

So, you know, we do these things, but we clearly have more room to do.

So I'm thrilled to support this legislation.

I'm really glad that it's here.

I know we have a lot of people within Metro, as the sponsor said, working on this.

I just want to say, you know, as as leaders and for the mayor's office, let's invest as much as we can to get this done.

It's it's it's good for Nashville.

And I also wanted to call out for CHIME, for instance.

One of the small things that happened on Gallanton Pike in District 7 was um ramps, disability ramps were added to uh to some streets around Gallanton Pike.

Those types of changes are small but very significant to anybody who's using that infrastructure.

So I would commend the administration for continuing that and just uh double down on how much we need to do this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Benedict.

Um, is anyone else seeking to be recognized?

Um, Ms.

Ewing, would you like me to recognize you again?

Oh no, that's fine.

Just want to make sure.

Um, all right.

Um, seeing no further discussion, um, we will move to the vote.

Uh, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right.

You have adopted uh this resolution.

Uh next um is agenda item 28, resolution 2025-1504.

Uh sponsors Druffle, Ewing Welsh, Ellis, and Evans, a resolution supporting the passage of Cameron's Law, which accelerates rare disease innovation and access by United States Congress.

I'm gonna recognize you, Ms.

Ewing, because I know uh lead sponsor DREFL is not presently with us.

Um, so you are recognized.

Go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

That that actually takes care of my point of inquiry.

No work.

Um, so committee reports then, please.

Yes, um, Chair Cash.

We uh supported the resolution five in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay.

Um, with that report in, it's back to you for a motion on the resolution, Ms.

Ewing.

Move to approve with a brief comment.

Okay, is there a second?

Go ahead, ma'am.

Uh, first of all, I would like to thank Ashley Massey for bringing this to our attention um for coming to speak about her personal experience.

It takes a lot of personal uh courage and strength to do what she's doing.

Um, she has done a lot of work on this, and she has inspired a whole cohort of uh peers to come up with an advocacy coalition to work on issues related to rare disease advocacy, and I'm beyond impressed with her and her efforts.

Um Cameron's law.

We need to accelerate rare disease innovation and research.

I have a son with a rare disease, as many of you know.

I've mentioned it several times.

Um point being that that in some cases, uh rare diseases can also lead not only to innovation for that specific disease group, but it can lead to breakthroughs for other disease groups.

Um so my hope is that in putting this resolution forward, we can get a light shown on this issue and get our um national legislators that represent our state to be champions for this bill.

Um hopefully Marsha Blackburn and Bill Haggerty will consider this.

We've brought it to their attention, and um I am hoping that they see the the utility of this.

Without this law, the 25% tax credit is not going to be enough to inspire the research that is necessary to make these breakthroughs in rare disease um uh medications and um interventions.

So my hope is that that this will garner the attention that it needs.

And um again, thank you, Ashley.

Thank you, Ms.

Ewing.

Um, is any other member seeking to be recognized um uh regarding this resolution?

Okay, um, seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting, no or abstaining.

All right, um council has adopted this resolution as well.

Next is agenda item 29, resolution 2025-1505, sponsors Cortez Welsh, Ellison Evans.

This is a resolution urging the Tennessee General Assembly to support reforms to the state's property tax freeze program to include those with disabilities.

Uh Mr.

Cortez, you're recognized, sir.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh, I would like to say thank you to uh my constituent Patricia Scrabus for bringing this to my attention.

I would like to read a uh a comment from her.

Unlike many seniors, disabled residents often haven't had the opportunity to build savings through decades of employment.

They frequently live in single-person households, rely solely on fixed incomes, and experience costs far exceeding those of non-disabled peers.

These individuals face steep financial barrier barriers, yet remain excluded from relief programs designed to protect those on fixed incomes.

In fact, households with a disabled adult require 28% more income to maintain the same standard of living as those without disabilities.

The average SSDI benefit in 2025 is 1,581 a month, just over $18,972 a year, which falls below the federal poverty guideline for a two-person household.

Nearly half of disabled individuals live in households earning under $30,000 a year, well below the current program's $60,000 cap.

So I want to thank Patricia Scrabus for bringing this to my attention and her advocacy.

And I would urge my call colleagues to vote yes.

And I would like to move for approval.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh, Mr.

Cortez.

Um, okay.

So um uh we also need for you to please ask for your committee reports, sir.

Okay, that's okay.

No worries, it's on me as well.

Not all good.

Um, Chair Cash, um, for the report of rules, confirmations, and public elections, please.

We voted approval.

Five in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay, um, all right.

With that, if you would please move approval, which maybe you did um in move for approval.

Okay, thank you.

Seconded.

All right, so it's properly before us.

Um uh you've heard the committee report, um, and you have heard the the perspective of sponsor Cortez and his constituent.

And so we are now on uh to discussion.

Um, is anyone else seeking to be recognized for discussion on this resolution?

All right.

Um seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right.

Um, we have adopted this resolution.

All right, um, next is agenda item 30, um, resolution 2025-1506.

Sponsors Coup and Gad, Bradford, Greg, Huffman, Wiener, Johnston, Nash, Suara Hill, Spain, Hancock, Cap, Webb, Welsh, and Ellis.

This is a resolution recognizing the 45th anniversary of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the centennial anniversary of the war memorial auditorium.

Um, Mr.

Coopin, you are recognized, sir.

Thank you, Madam President.

Committee reports, please.

All right.

Uh Chair Cash for the report of rules, confirmations and public elections.

1506.

Uh, we voted and uh we approved five in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay, thank you so much.

Back to you, Mr.

Koopin for a motion.

Thank you, Madam President.

Move approval with a comment.

All right, is there a second?

Go ahead, sir.

Thank you.

Um Alan Rickman said that actors are agents of change, film, a piece of theater, piece of music or a book can make a difference.

It could change the world.

Uh and it's only fitting that as legislative agents of change, we recognize this meant as occasion.

T PAC is stood as a cornerstone for Tennessee's cultural life, advancing the performing arts and arts education.

It is hosted two million students and 14 million audience members in 45 years.

They also manage the war memorial auditorium, which was dedicated on September 21st, 1925, 100 years ago, and has since stood as a landmark venue that has twice hosted the Grand Lopary, uh, once from 1939 to 1943, and once again after the 2010 flood.

T Pack and the War Memorial Auditorium embody a century of Tennessee's dedication to artistic vision, advancing opportunities for both established institutions and emerging artists and reinforcing Nashville's role as a center for performance, culture, and education.

We know that discussions for the new location of TPAC is ongoing, and I look forward to visiting the new facility, ushering in a new area of fablish fabulous programming.

Umgratulations to TPAC.

Um, and with that, I'd like to amend my motion to include Rule 12.3, please.

All right.

Um, so there is a motion uh uh to amend the motion with Rule 12.3 applied such that all members voting in the affirmative will be listed as co-sponsors.

Um I believe I heard a second um for that motion.

Um right, um, it is properly before us, and we are on to discussion.

Um are any members seeking to be recognized regarding this resolution?

Okay, seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

Oh, um uh Ms.

Evan Siegel um will be recorded.

Um, Mr.

Clerk, as an abstention, please.

All right.

Um council has adopted uh this resolution.

All right.

Um next, agenda item K, a late resolution.

Um uh taking this up uh will require um a suspension of the rules.

I will go ahead and read um the caption.

Um this is a resolution approving um uh agenda item K1, a resolution approving a 260,000 settlement agreement between the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and David County by and through the information technology services department and Comcast Nashville uh LLC um sponsor uh tombs.

Um Ms.

Tombs, you are uh recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor Moods has suspend the rules.

Okay.

Um uh Mr.

Cash, um can you give us um a report on the nature of the late file, please, sir?

Oh, I'm sorry, sir.

Go ahead.

Yes, we supported the late filed nature.

Six in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay.

Um having heard the report of uh Chair Cash, um, is there any objection to the suspension of the rules?

Okay.

Um seeing none, uh the rules are suspended.

Um and so uh Ms.

Toombs, uh, you are recognized.

Thank you.

Committee report, budget and finance voted to recommend approval, seven in favor, zero against zero not voting, and with that a move for approval.

Okay.

Um, all righty.

Um I guess we also had a secondary report from rules, but you may have already shared that previously.

That was only just on the nature.

Okay, got it, got it.

All good.

Um okay, so this is uh properly uh before us, uh, and we are on to discussion.

Is there anyone seeking to be recognized?

Okay.

Uh Councilmember Welsh, you're recognized.

Um, thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um, I am trying to figure out why we are not suing Comcast for the money that we're owed, and and instead settling for such a lesser amount.

Maybe I'm misreading the entire thing, but that would be my question why we're not actually gonna take this to court.

I am happy to direct that question to the administration table and a representative of the legal department.

Um, you are uh recognized if you would please introduce yourself.

Sure.

Macy Amos from Metro Legal.

Um, our department made a decision uh along with Comcast to accept this negotiated settlement agreement.

I know that there's a time sensitivity to it, so we will miss out on the funds if it is not approved by this body by September 30th.

Um if I could ask Vice Mayor why we are settling for such 25% of what's owed to Metro?

All right.

Um Ms.

Amos, can you elaborate on that?

Um the question of Ms.

Welsh is the settlement appears to be um 25% of what she asserts or is owed.

If you could just address that, please.

My understanding is that um the lawyer that worked on this in our office believed this was in the best interest of Metro.

Um I don't know if more went into it behind the scenes.

The information that I have is what was in in the letter that was presented to you all.

Back to you, Ms.

Welsh.

What would be our options if we did not approve this tonight?

Could we file suit against Comcast to get them to pay what they overcharged us that they actually owe us?

Um Ms.

Amos.

My understanding is that if we do not approve this tonight, we will miss out on the 260,000 doll that they have agreed to pay.

But my question.

The question is actually about the remaining $800,000 that they actually owe us that we're just giving away.

Oh I don't have an answer to that.

I'm I'm sorry.

Okay.

Um there is no answer from the legal department on that front, Ms.

Welsh.

Um I'm I'm not quite sure how that makes me feel because I feel sometimes that we settle when we're at fault for too much and now they're at fault and we're settling for too little.

Um I'm not sure what my next question would be.

I really have to think about that.

Thank you.

All right.

Um uh discussion continues.

Um, Chair Porterfield, you're recognized.

Uh thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh continuing um from uh Councilmember Welsh's line of questioning.

Um I am curious if we do not accept the settlement, would that force us into going into some type of like litigation or going to trial?

And I was wondering if we had that information from Metro Legal.

Um, Ms.

Amos, can you um address that?

If the settlement were to be rejected, um is then there an opportunity to litigate this further.

Is that the question, Ms.

Porterfield?

That is the question.

Ms.

Amos, you're recognized.

Sure.

That's a determination that would be made by um the department of law as to whether or not um we deemed it worthwhile.

I I'm not sure.

I'm just not familiar with the facts here.

Um, so I just can't really say one way or another.

I know that you know what what's before you right now is accepting or not accepting 260,000 from Comcast.

Ms.

Porterfield.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

It would be um these questions would have been more appropriate for budget yesterday.

So I want to start by acknowledging that I wish that this was raised yesterday in budget, because I think that that would have been it would have been more prudent to have that conversation at that time uh while acknowledging that I will also say that it is um we we really need to make sure that we can get the information that we need to be able to make the decisions that we need to make and is really hard when we don't have all the information in front of us.

Um, but we also have the opportunity to get that information before the meeting.

So thank you, uh, Vice Mayor.

Um thank you, Ms.

Porterfield.

Uh Councilmember Parker, you're recognized, sir.

Um thank you, and I apologize.

I'm just not reading this letter for this late filed settlement.

So um uh I the I believe my question is addressed in the letter, but um I have another question, which is the accounting firm that we engaged to review these franchise fees.

Um what is their uh were they are they party to the settlement?

Did they because I assume that the reason that we would not be getting the full amount from Comcast is because we gave them an incorrect calculation of what was owed, which was which was um in excess.

I I I'm just I'm not clear.

Like, so does the firm have any culpability here?

I guess that's a question for legal.

Okay.

Um Ms.

Amos, uh, you are recognized uh to address the question of Mr.

Parker, if possible.

Oh, um uh Mr.

Rosenberg for the administration.

Go ahead, sir.

Thank you, um, Madam President.

Um if the body would be willing, we would suggest maybe this be rolled to the heels so we can hunt down all the information that to the questions that are being asked.

Um that is is there any objection to that, colleagues?

Um go ahead, Ms.

Porterfield, you're recognized.

Uh thank you, Vice Mayor.

No objection to that, but if we could continue the conversation so that all the questions could get out so that we could know what information we need to get at the Hue.

Fair point.

Um, all right.

Uh so um, I guess at this juncture, knowing that we were gonna move it to the heel for the answers.

Um, Mr.

Parker, have your questions been posed at this juncture, or are there further questions that you want to pose at this time?

Um I'm sorry, sir.

Go ahead.

My my primary question was related to the auditor and their sort of positioning after the error.

Um, and then just some clarification on the timely nature of this, like why a decision needs to be made tonight would be helpful because I'm trying to read through this letter as we as we go through this discussion, and I I haven't quite gotten there, but I just if that could be explained clearly, thank you.

Okay, I appreciate that.

Okay, so um, what I am suggesting at this time, Ms.

Amos having responded previously that she did not have the information to provide the answers, that we will move through the queue per regular discussion, but we will ask Ms.

Amos and the administration to basically garner these uh questions in an effort to hopefully be able to be responsive to them when they we pick this up on the heel of the agenda.

Is everybody clear on kind of how we're proceeding at this point?

All right, uh Mr.

Rutherford, you're recognized, sir.

Uh thank you, Madam President.

My question is simply if we uh approve this settlement uh tonight, then is that the be all end all, or can Metro legals still pursue litigation with just the fact that we've approved this so it can go that way too?

Is it that's that's my question?

Okay, um, and so that sounds like a question that could be answered at this juncture, Ms.

Amos, if um we were to approve this, Mr.

Rutherford's question is would that preclude um I would presume as part of the settlement it does, but um, would that preclude future uh litigation?

So if you accepted the 260,000 tonight, we would not move forward in any sort of subsequent litigation against Comcast for this.

Okay.

Um any further questions, Mr.

Rutherford, to register for uh when we take this up later.

Okay, um, Councilmember Johnston, you're recognized.

Um Mr.

Preptee, um, your colleague is recognized behind you, so I just want to yep, all good.

Thank you.

So um I understand the late file is because I guess we have to make this decision or whatever by the end of this month.

I'm just it seems arbitrary to me.

So who is putting that deadline?

And it and it and it sounds if it's uh I would assume that it would be Comcast putting on that deadline versus Metro legal, putting us in a situation where we have a late file with not a lot of information.

To me, that's a form of bullying to say we know we owe you a million dollars roughly, but we're gonna give you a quarter of that if you agree right now.

Okay, well, let's agree to it right now.

So to me, I would say kick rocks.

Um, so I can't wait to hear the answer to that.

But if I don't have a a specific answer, like lawyers are supposed to be bulldogs, if you ask me, and we just got through raising taxes on every single Nashville, and we're gonna accept pennies on the dollar, it's bravo, Sierra.

Bravo, Sierra.

So I'm looking forward to the answers, but if it if it's not if it's not acceptable, I'm gonna vote no, and I hope that everybody else will too.

All righty.

Um we go.

Uh Ms.

Benedict, you are recognized.

Thank you, by Madam Vice Mayor.

Um, so I'm looking at the document.

I think kind of similar, but the root cause here though, maybe to give the administration an exact um measurement here is in the letter for the late file that says uh um the tolling agreement is what except is set to expire at the end of this month.

And so that's an agreement that Metro and Comcast entered into.

So my ask would be can the tolling agreement not just be extended in order for us to defer this and and you know, potentially when we get to this at the at the end of the meeting.

At the heel of the agenda, okay.

Thank you.

Um Ms.

Evan Siegel, you are recognized.

Uh thank you, madam president.

I'm gonna just squat down for a second, but I am standing because I'm gonna read, and I just can't see this if I'm standing.

Okay, um my question in here is it says this was an agreement that started in 2013.

It said near the end of the franchise agreements term, we hired an independent accounting firm to perform an audit of payments made by Comcast to us between September 22 2022 and August 21, 2023.

So roughly one year at the very end of the contract is all we audited.

So question one, based on that, is are the damages calculated based just on that year?

So that if we were to pursue further claims, are there other years that should be audited?

Thank you.

All right.

Ms.

Toombs, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Um, I just want to make some clarifying points for the view and audience.

So the audit period is April 1st, 2019 through March 31st, 2022.

I have the same statute of limitations question as uh councilwoman Evan Siegel in terms of um the time limit for us to bring a claim and recover any fees.

And also I want to point out that ComCAS is disputing that they owe what the auditor found, which was the 957,598 dollars in additional franchise fees.

They are disputing that amount.

So it is 260,000 in order to resolve that dispute.

They're saying we'll pay you this 260,000 dollars.

And as councilwoman Benedict said, that toll and agreement um that the that Metro and Comcast entered into expires on September 30th.

Not sure if we can get an extension at this late hour, but hey, it's it's worth um looking into that as well.

All right.

Um thank you, budget chair tombs.

Um, do any other council members um seek to be recognized to register a question pertinent to the discussion of this item, such that Ms.

Amos and the legal department can garner those questions and that we can come back um to our discussion at the heel of our agenda?

Anyone else?

Okay.

Um Ms.

Darby, at this time, anything we need to do from a proper standpoint other than just indicate that we will take this on the heel.

Okay, without objection, we will move this item to the heel.

Okay, seeing none.

All right.

All right, um, now we are on to um section uh L of the agenda, bills on introduction and first reading.

All items on first reading shall be voted on at the same time, unless requested either by the primary sponsor individually or by two or more other members.

Do any items need to be removed um from the collective first reading vote?

Okay, um, oh, Mr.

Koopin, um go ahead, sir.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh, item 40, please.

Okay, and please remember to stand when you speak.

Thank you.

Um, okay.

Um item uh Mr.

Coupen has requested item 40 um to be removed um from first reading uh consideration or the collective vote, um rather, the collective vote um on first reading.

Um is any other member seeking to be recognized to remove uh an item from the collective vote?

Okay.

Um is there a motion for approval of all items remaining on first consideration?

So not item 40.

Um is there a motion?

Okay, um, and properly seconded.

Um without objection, you have approved all items on first reading.

Um, and now we will go back to agenda item 40.

Uh Mr.

Koopin, um, you are recognized, sir.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, would like to move a one-meeting deferral, please.

Okay.

Um uh is there second for that uh motion?

Okay, um, Mr.

Koopin has moved um a one meeting deferral of agenda item 40.

This is ordinance BL 2025-1055 sponsors Coopin Horton and Evan Siegel.

This is an ordinance authorizing Nashville Downtown Partnership to construct, install, and maintain an underground encroachment at Korean Veterans Boulevard at First Avenue North.

Again, a one-meeting deferral properly moved and seconded.

Is there any discussion?

Okay, seeing none, uh all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting, no or abstaining.

Okay, so the first reading of this bill will be moved to the meeting of October 9th.

Okay.

All right.

Um, with that, all other items on first reading uh or introduction and first reading have been approved.

And so we are now on to Section M of our agenda, bills on second reading um that were not a part of our consolidated consent agenda.

First among those is agenda item 46, ordinance BL 2025-954.

Uh this is an ordinance amending title six of the Metro Code to amend the definition of entertainment transportation vehicles and to regulate the operation of seated sightseeing vehicles sponsors are Koopin, Alan Rutherford, and Styles.

Sponsors are Koopin, Alan Rutherford, and Styles.

Mr.

Coopin, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um committee reports, please.

Okay.

Um let's see.

Uh Chair Evan Siegel for the report of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, please, ma'am.

Uh Transportation Infrastructure Committee voted seven in favor, zero against and zero not voting on the substitute, and to approve is substituted.

Seven in favor, zero against and zero not voting.

Alrighty.

Um okay, it's back to you for a motion, Mr.

Koopin, to get the bill um properly before us.

Thank you, Madam President.

Move approval.

Okay, properly moved and seconded.

Back to you.

Can we move the substitute, please?

You may.

There's a motion to substitute, it's properly seconded.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Madam President.

So um you all have heard quite a bit about this bill.

Uh I've been working hard on it for some time.

Um, as we know, there are currently under the ETV category regulated by the TLC.

There's um two subcategories.

One is party bus, which is standing and drinking, and one of them is sightseeing, which is sitting and touring.

Um, this bill separates them out into two categories so they can appropriately be um addressed as they are different um uses.

Um the bill also uh tightens up the alcohol restrictions on the seated sightseeing vehicles right now.

Um there are seated sightseeing companies that are not supposed to be serving alcohol, and yet on their website say things like come drink with us.

Um so this bill makes clear that they have to indicate on their website and point of sale that there's no drinking on these vehicles.

Um additionally, that this um creates a 4 p.m.

to six p.m.

permit.

We know that congestion in downtown is incredibly important to address.

Um we've got connect downtown, which I'm hopeful to start to see more implementation of.

Um that being said, um, these vehicles, there's some of them that are transporting people from point to point throughout downtown.

And so we want to make sure that um for folks that are getting in and out, which does take weight off of the congestion, um, similar to a bus, for example, um is able to navigate.

So this um is a four to six permit.

Um I deferred it last meeting to continue to work with some of the downtown stakeholders to try to tighten the bill up a little bit, and I think we did some really great work on it.

Um so it the four to six permit, you have to move the speed of traffic.

Um, you have to be going point to point, um, transporting people at regular stops that are approved by the TLC director and the chief engineer of NDOT.

So we worked really hard on this bill.

Um, I'm really proud of the the effort that that we put forward.

Um, I think it's a great bill and hope my colleagues support it.

All right.

Uh thank you.

We are on a motion to substitute.

Um, you've heard an explanation of the substitute uh from the sponsor.

Is there any discussion on the motion to substitute?

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining.

Okay.

Um uh Mr.

Eastlick was an abstention, Mr.

Clerk, on the motion uh to substitute.

Um so uh the substitute uh is approved.

Um uh and on to the bill, and Mr.

Koopin, if we you would renew your motion for approval is substituted.

Thank you, Madam President.

Move as substituted.

Properly moved and seconded.

And so now we are on to general discussion of the motion to approve as substituted.

Um, or rather, motion to approve on second reading.

Um Mr.

Parker, you're recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I just want to rise in support of this legislation.

Uh, appreciate Councilmember Cupin's uh work on this.

Uh these some of these operators, you know, have been in Nashville.

You've seen them for for decades.

Um the sightseeing um folks and I think creating a legal distinction makes sense because they are sort of fundamentally doing a different activity than the kind of um move slow, loud music, stand up and drink, um, entertainment vehicles.

Um I you know, when I first saw this, I was like, oh boy, we're doing this ballooning regulatory thing and adding tons of stuff to the code, and you know, that's fine.

I I the body uh last term rejected my perhaps more elegant um approach to to this question.

Um and so I think that that given the regulatory landscape we have today.

I think this is the right move, and I think it it's it's uh good bill and appreciate Councilman Coopin for working on it.

Thank you, sir.

Um next is Councilmember Cash.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

I just want to echo what uh council member Parker said.

I think it makes a lot of sense to separate these two and and look at them kind of differently.

I do have a quick question.

I think I know the answer to this, but I want to be sure.

Um, and that is like a couple of years ago, we empowered the TLC to come up with a number of permits that they thought was appropriate.

And I think it was just kind of the both types that we're looking at today were bunched in together.

And I guess just with this change, with this kind of like looking at having two classes or designations, um, does the we the TLC still has the same authority?

We're not touching that at all about how they look at how many permits are appropriate and adjust every year is needed is needed.

Is that correct?

Mr.

Koopin, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

Yes, my understanding is that the TLC would still have the ability to regulate the number of permits that they deem appropriate.

Thank you.

Mr.

Cash, any further question or comment?

Okay.

Um Councilmember Eastlick, you're recognized, sir.

Thank you.

My issue with this bill isn't what the work that Coop's done.

I believe he's worked hard on this, and he does have a good understanding of the downtown area.

I to work in that area and understand that some of the changes we're making are making things more difficult downtown.

With the dedicated bus lane, it's not helping with the regular employees and the regular people getting through there.

This is another layer on top of it that may not be as helpful as we think it is.

And one of the things that I've been harping on the whole time, and it's applicable here as well as enforcement.

Who's going to enforce the 4P to 6P rate of speed?

Who's going to make sure that the people uh that these vendors are adhering to their routes and making sure that there's not drinking on it or whatever parameters are out there?

I do support the work being done, but I want to make sure that we're bringing along enforcement or understanding there will be an element of enforcement with this as it goes forward.

All right.

Um Mr.

Parker and Mr.

Cash having spoken already.

Are you okay if I recognize Ms.

Evan Siegel who is yet to speak?

Um Councilmember Evans Siegel, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

I um I happen to live less than a block from where these run pretty frequently.

I see them throughout my day.

Um, and I I just want to point out that I view these as fundamentally different from a lot of the entertainment vehicles downtown.

These are a form of transportation, they're a form of mass transportation.

And I and I know my neighbors um really do not want all the people who are on these buses coming into our neighborhood on individual cars, um, or you know, having to use hundreds of scooters and leaving them around our sidewalks.

It's actually a pretty neat, nice thing for people to be able to get around Nashville in mass and see it without having to drive.

Um, sometimes after having left a bar, drive to see what they want to see.

So I really appreciate Councilmember Coopin's work on this and making sure that we can provide it as a service to people who visit here and a safe one and one that actually makes traffic better and not worse.

All right.

Um uh councilmember Evans, you have yet to speak on this item, so I'll recognize you.

Um go ahead.

Previous question.

Uh okay, Miss Evans, that really wasn't in the spirit of uh what we were doing there.

Um so uh um is there a second um okay.

Um so uh the motion to call uh the previous question um uh ends debate.

Um it requires two-thirds of those voting.

Um we will try this first by vote.

Um all in favor of calling the previous question, please say aye.

Um all against the previous question, please say no.

Okay.

Um uh the previous question prevails, and um we are on to uh the vote.

Um and so uh um all right.

Um with that, um in favor um of this ordinance on second reading as substituted.

Um again on second reading, um please say aye.

Any voting no abstaining?

Okay.

So uh we have an abstention registered by council member Eastlick and um Council Member Welsh.

Okay, all right.

So this has passed.

It's second of three readings as substituted.

Um right.

Next is agenda item 47, um ordinance BL 2025-995.

This is an ordinance amending sections 10.26.010, uh 10.28.010, and 16.24.330 of the Metro Code of Laws pertaining to intentional designs for vegetative growth.

Sponsors Parker Hill, Bradford, Vo, Benedict, Allen, Gadd, and Cap.

Um, Mr.

Parker, you are recognized, sir.

I will move approval for the purposes of uh allowing councilmember Hill to move her amendment.

Okay, um let's also get our uh committee reports first.

Um which also chairhill um go ahead, ma'am.

Uh thank amendment vice mayor.

Uh government operations recommended a one meeting deferral.

Oh, okay.

All right.

Um one meeting deferral.

Um is that by rule?

Yeah, so that's gonna be yeah, rule 8.1.

Thank you.

Okay.

All right.

So um the second uh reading of uh this ordinance um will be deferred one meeting by rule to the meeting of October 9th.

Um uh at that point it will still be on second reading.

Um, and uh we have potentially a proposed amendment there.

Okay.

Next is agenda item 50, uh ordinance BL 2025-1005.

Sponsors Alan Rutherford Coop and Nash Gamble, Evan Siegel Swara, Bradford Porterfield, Huthamman, Gadvo, Ewing Welsh, and Benedict.

This is an ordinance establishing a voluntary attainable housing incentive program for Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County for the purpose of authorizing certain incentives to be provided to property owners who seek to build multifamily attainable housing.

Uh council member uh Allen, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I I think it's one zero zero eight for the record.

I apologize.

Thank you.

Just checking the recognition.

Uh committee reports, please.

All right.

Um for the report of budget and finance.

Chair Times, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Budget and finance voted to recommend a deferral to no the November 4th meeting.

Eight in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay.

Um, all righty, and then uh this is on second, but it's a text amendment.

Did planning and zoning take this up already?

Okay.

Um uh Vice Chair Harrell, you're recognized.

Planning and zoning also voted to the deferred to the first meeting of December.

Um, nine in favor, uh zero opposing.

Okay, the first meeting in November.

Um November the first meeting in November.

Okay, first meeting in November.

Okay, it's back to you, uh, Ms.

Allen.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

I would like to defer to November 4th with a brief explanation.

Okay.

Is there go ahead?

Okay, thank you.

Um, this is this is a much needed tool in our uh quest to help solve Nashville's housing affordability issue.

Um, it is based on state enabling legislation.

The planning department has worked very hard to create this program, which will um allow some units in um in a new development to be set aside for a portable.

Uh it is paired with the new RL zoning district, and that is um moving at a slower pace to allow for its public hearing later.

So this allows for further engagement on this one as well as that one, and they will they will move together.

So for that reason, we're deferring.

Umrigy.

Um you have uh heard uh an explanation of the sponsor uh for the motion to defer uh to the first meeting of November.

It was properly seconded.

Is there any discussion on this deferral motion?

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

Okay.

The second reading of this ordinance is deferred to the meeting of November 4th.

Next is agenda item 51, ordinance BL 2025-1009.

Sponsors CAP, Tombs, Gamble, and Allen.

This is an ordinance approving a lease agreement by and between the Metro Government of Nashville and Davidson County by acting by and through the Metro Board of Public Education and KIP Nashville, a Tennessee nonprofit corporation.

Uh Mr.

Capp, you're recognized, sir.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh committee reports, please.

Okay.

Um, for the report of budget and finance, uh, Chair Toombs, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Budget and Finance voted to recommend approval.

Six in favor, zero against, and one not voting.

Okay.

Um, and then for the report of the planning and zoning committee, Vice Chair Harrell, you're recognized.

Planning and zoning um recommended approval, nine in favor, zero against.

Okay.

All right.

Um, so it's back to you, uh, Mr.

Cap, um, uh for a motion to get the bill before us.

Thank you.

Move approval.

Okay, properly made and seconded.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um, I will refer everybody to the discussion we had yesterday evening in the budget committee.

We covered this pretty thoroughly, but I'll recap it briefly.

Uh, this charter and this lease agreement were both passed unanimously by our school board.

Um, and there are criteria under state law about whether or not a charter school should be renewed.

The school board felt unanimously that this school met those criteria.

Um, if the school board for some reason had denied a renewal of the charter first granted in 2015 up for renewal uh this year.

Um the school would have had the ability to go uh to the appeals process and become a state charter school, which almost certainly would have happened because it is a uh they met the the criteria for renewal.

There have also been some changes in state law that give this school the right of first refusal uh for the use of their facility, but there are other uh important changes in state law as well.

The most significant of which is that it gives us the ability to charge the school uh market rate uh for their lease.

Up until now, they have been paying way, way below market.

So this lease agreement, this renewal agreement, if if we all approve it this evening, puts Metro schools in a much stronger position uh vis-a-vis this lease, uh vis-a-vis the school through the lease agreement.

And there's been another important change as well, which is that this elementary school is no longer a zone school.

When it was chartered in 2015, it was a zone school.

There were children assigned to it as a as their zone school.

That is changed.

This is no longer a zone school.

Um, and so I think that's an important change.

I appreciate everybody's uh attention to this, and I asked my colleagues uh to support this tonight.

All right.

Um uh we are on to discussion on the motion to approve.

Uh first in the queue is council member Bradford.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

Well, I uh um I'm happy to see that our school system is starting to charge a more fair rate for the use of these properties.

I still have a fundamental uh disagreement with the charter school model, and so I want to request that I be marked as an abstention on this bill.

Okay.

Um I uh appreciate that.

Um uh is there any further uh discussion um for this ordinance on second reading?

Okay, seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no?

No.

Okay.

Um council member Welsh is a no.

And then um any additional um abstentions um to Mr.

Bradford's council member Porterfield.

So, Mr.

Clerk, um, as well as Ms.

Kimbrough.

Okay, are there any further abstentions?

Kimbrough, Bradford, Porterfield.

And a no from Ms.

Welsh.

All right.

Um, so this uh ordinance has passed its second of three readings.

Next, we're on to agenda item uh 53, uh ordinance BL 2025-1011 sponsors Coopin, Tombs, Gamble, Huffman, and Horton.

This is an ordinance approving two lease agreements between the Metro Government and Nash of uh between Metro Government of National and Davidson County and PNH Properties LLC for use of space located at 123rd Avenue North and 211 Commerce Street.

Um all righty uh councilmember Koopin, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

Committee reports, please.

All right.

First for the report of the budget and finance committee, Chair Toombs, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Um budget and finance voted to recommend approval of the Evan Siegel amendment eight in favor, zero against zero not voting, and approval of the bill as amended eight in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay.

Um for the report of the planning and zoning committee, uh, Vice Chair Harrell, you're recognized.

Planning and zoning recommended uh approval nine nine in favor, uh zero against zero no voting.

Okay.

Um for the report of the public health and safety committee, Chair Huffman, you're recognized.

Just everything.

Thank you, Voss.

Mayor public health and safety uh recommended approval as amended non in favor, one against no not voting.

Okay.

Zero not voting, sorry.

All righty, and then um one of these times when we've got four referrals.

Um uh for the report of the arts parks, libraries, and entertainment committee.

Uh, Chair Vowe, you are recognized.

Thank you so much, Vice Mayor.

The Apple committee recommended um the amendment seven in favor, zero against zero non-voting, and in favor as the bill as amended, six in favor, zero against one non-voting.

Okay.

Um, all right.

Uh, with all committee reports in, it's back to you, uh, Mr.

Koopin, uh, for a motion to get this ordinance on second reading before us.

Move approval with the brief comment.

Okay, is there a second?

Okay, go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Madam President.

Um, I encourage members of the public who want to learn more about this to view one of the many committees that you've heard um come before, but just a quick snippet.

This is a lease for a um park-owned space, but it's really a patio effectively um in downtown.

It's not an active space, it's not a place that people go to or really utilize.

Um, and this um lease is a 30-year lease.

We're not giving up park space, we're not getting rid of park space, but we're leasing it to an operator who's gonna do a couple things.

First of all, they're going to program and activate it to make it somewhere that people um want to go, want to enjoy, which I know myself and many downtown constituents are very excited about.

Um, but additionally, they will be um building a fire substation um under underground in that area.

The police have one downtown, and it's been a huge help for them to have a place to um break officers and store their gear and things like that.

So and fires wanted this for a while, and so being able to get provide that to our first responders is huge.

So um it's an additive benefit to the city, it's an additive benefit to my constituents, and I um encourage everyone to support it.

Um my understanding is there's also a friendly uh amendment uh that I welcome as well.

All right, thank you, Mr.

Koopin.

All right, we are on to discussion, and first in discussion um is uh councilmember Evan Siegel.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

I would like to um move my amendment with a brief comment.

Okay, it's properly moved and seconded.

Um so we're on to a motion to amend.

Go ahead.

Um thank you, madam president.

Um, this amendment updates the lease terms to do a few things.

One is just a kind of legal comment, but on the substantive front, it um requires that the park be open to the public when no private events are occurring.

The lease had already defined when private events could occur, but this just makes sure that when those events are not occurring, that the park has to stay open to the public.

It also updates the insurance provisions.

Um, this is a really long lease, it's a 50-year lease, and the insurance threshold set today will not be appropriate in 2030, 40 years.

So this allows us every five years to update those insurance provisions to make sure that we are ensuring the spaces for the appropriate amount.

And then finally, I forgot to mention in committees um uh committee yesterday, the um termination rate under this lease as originally proposed was was pretty high.

Our buyout costs would have been pretty high, and it didn't take into account revenues that the lessee was receiving under the lease.

So the um amended or the updated lease includes a clause that if for some reason we have to terminate this lease, um that payment will be reduced by the revenue received by the lessees so they're not essentially double profiting off of the space.

Um, thank you, Ms.

Evan Siegel.

Um, is there any uh additional discussion on the motion to amend?

Okay.

Seeing none, all in favor of the amendment, please say aye.

Any voting, no or abstaining.

All right.

So the amendment has passed, and back to you for renewal on your motion, Mr.

Koopin.

Thank you, Madam President.

Move approval as amended.

All right.

Um, is there any further discussion um for approval on second reading as amended?

Um uh council member Welsh, you're recognized.

Um, thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um, I understand that this particular piece of property that parks didn't necessarily know they they owned is actually you know, concrete and tile and just a patio, and we don't own the air rights and we don't own the rights underneath.

Um, but it really gives me pause that um we're not getting any revenue from this deal at all.

In fact, we would owe them if we break the lease, and I appreciate very much uh my colleague CM Evan Siegel making sure that we wouldn't be taking a bath if we ended actually ended up breaking this lease that we wouldn't have to pay as much.

But once what is built there is built there, that is going to increase the value of that particular piece of property.

Um and more things are going to be scheduled there, and so we once again will be as a city will be losing out on a revenue stream since we don't have any rental payments, and what we the only thing we're being paid to to allow them to use the space is the substation.

And I 100% support a substation being built.

I know that we need that, but on a 50-year lease, a two million dollar substation doesn't seem like a fair um trade, um, especially when the lease very clearly says that all revenue generated there actually goes to um PNH and not anything to Metro and Metro again, should we break a lease for whatever reason we would actually owe them?

Um so I don't feel like this is uh very fiscally responsible and it is giving up park space that might right now might not seem very valuable and might not, but once other things are built around it, it's going to become much more valuable.

And that I think that some that is means that Metro shouldn't be so easily giving away yet a valuable piece of property for not nearly enough money.

So I will be voting no on this bill.

Thank you.

All right, noted.

Um is there any uh further discussion on this ordinance on second reading?

Okay, um, seeing none, um uh we're on to the vote on the motion to approve on second reading as amended.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no?

No.

Other okay.

So, in addition to Ms.

Welsh, Ms.

Kimbrough.

Um, any abstaining.

Okay, um, Miss Ellis um would also like to be recorded as a no, Mr.

Clark, um, as well as Mr.

Harrell.

Okay.

Anyone else seeking uh to be recorded as a no on this second reading vote?

Okay.

Um any abstentions.

Uh Ms.

Lee, you will be recorded as an abstention.

Okay.

Anyone else?

All right.

Um this uh ordinance has passed its second of three readings as amended.

Next on second reading is agenda item 61, ordinance BL 2025-1019 sponsors tombs, Evan Siegel, Alan Ellis, and Swara.

Um, an ordinance accepting and appropriating public water system settlement funds from the 3M company to the Metropolitan Department of Water and Storage Services.

Uh Ms.

Toombs, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Committee report.

Budget and finance voted um to recommend approval of the amendment.

Seven in favor, zero against zero not voting, and voted to recommend approval of the bill as amended.

Seven in favor, zero against zero not voting.

All righty.

And for the report of the transportation infrastructure committee, uh, Chair Evan Siegel, you're recognized.

Transportation Infrastructure Committee voted on the amendment.

Seven in favor, zero against, zero not voting, and to approve as amended, seven in favor, zero against zero not voting.

All righty.

Um so it's back to you, Miss Tombs to get the bill before us.

Thank you.

Move for approval.

Is there second?

Okay.

Like to move the amendment.

All right.

There's a motion to amend.

Is that seconded?

All right.

Um, anything you want to share about the amendment, Ms.

Tombs, at this time?

Not at this time.

Okay.

Um, all right.

There is a motion uh to amend um this bill also again on second reading.

Um uh is properly seconded.

Is there any discussion on the motion to amend?

Okay, seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

Okay, back to you.

Move for approval as amended.

Right.

Is there second?

Okay.

Any discussion um on uh this bill on second reading, the motion to approve uh as amended.

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right, this has passed its second of three readings as amended.

Now we are on to section N of our agenda, bills on third reading.

Uh first among those is uh agenda item 63 ordinance BL 2025-837.

Sponsors Huffman, Greg, Evans, Horton, Spain, Parker, Coopin, and Benedict.

Uh this is an ordinance amending section 17.20.030 of the Metro Code of Laws to eliminate minimum parking requirement for the bar or night club use.

Uh Mr.

Huffman, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Withdrawal.

All right.

Um, this bill is withdrawn.

All right.

Um so uh again, 837, Sponsor Huffman has been withdrawn.

Uh next, agenda item 64, ordinance BL 2025-862, and its companion agenda item 65, ordinance BL 2025-863, both sponsored tombs.

862 is an ordinance to amend Title 17 of the Metro Code of Laws, the zoning ordinance of the Metro Government by changing from R8 to SP zoning for property located at West Trinity Lane, unnumbered, approximately 655 feet west of McKinley Street.

This is one acre to permit 17 multifamily residential units, and again, 863, its companion requires certain materials to be restricted in the construction of buildings at the addresses in 862.

Ms.

Tombs, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

I like to move for a one meet and deferral of both 64 and 65.

Okay.

Um properly moved and seconded a one meeting deferral for both bills 862 and the companion 863.

Is there any discussion on the one meeting deferral motion?

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right.

Um these both these bills will be uh their third and final reading will be uh deferred to the meeting of October 9th.

Okay.

Next is agenda item 68, ordinance BL 2025-882, sponsor Benedict.

This is an ordinance to amend title 17 of the Metro Code of Laws, the zoning ordinance of the Metro Government by amending a specific plan on properties locating it located at 1007 and 1009 Salee Drive, approximately 150 feet west of Gallatin Pike, zoned RS 7.5 and SP.

This is 3.31 acres to permit 55 multifamily residential units.

Uh Ms.

Benedict, let's see.

This also has a companion.

Is that correct?

Okay.

And um its companion agenda item uh 69, ordinance BL 2025-883, also sponsored Benedict, which requires certain materials to be restricted in the construction of the buildings uh in uh 882.

Go ahead, Miss Benedict, you're recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Committee reports.

All right.

Um, for the report of the planning and zoning committee, uh, Vice Chair Harrell, you're recognized.

On 882 and 883, sir, sponsor Benedict.

Oh, they're approved.

Zero nine in favor, zero against.

Okay.

Um uh nine in favor, uh, zero against on um both uh bills.

Back to you, uh Ms.

Benedict for a motion on your bill.

Thank you, Vice.

I'd like to move a deferral to the second meeting in October, so October 21st.

Okay.

Um is there a second for that motion?

Okay, there is a motion to defer um the third and final reading of 882 and 883, Sponsor Benedict to the second meeting in October.

That is the meeting of October 21st.

It's properly seconded.

Is there any further discussion?

Seeing none, all in favor of the deferral motion, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

Okay.

Um, this will be taken up um October 21st.

Okay.

Um, next is agenda item 70, uh ordinance BL 2025-908 sponsors Benedict and GAD.

This is an ordinance amending chapter 17.08 and 17.16 of the Metro Code uh zoning regulations to amend and add regulations pertaining to the beer and cigarette market use.

Ms.

Benedict, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Committee reports, please.

All right.

Um, for the report of the planning and zoning committee, Vice Chair Harrell, you're recognized.

Planning and zoning recommended uh this bill as amended with both amendments um in nine in favor, zero against.

Okay, nine in favor, zero against recommendation as amended with both um the proposed amendment and the proposed substitute.

Okay.

Um uh did you take a separate vote on the amendment and the substitute?

Yes, they're both nine and nine in favor and uh no opposition.

Okay, thank you.

Appreciate that.

Um, Miss Benedict, it's back to you um to get the bill uh before us, please.

Thank you.

I'd like to move the bill.

All right, uh, is there a second?

Properly moved and seconded back to you.

I'd like to move the substitute.

Okay.

Um uh there is a motion uh to substitute.

Is there a second for that motion?

All right, properly seconded.

Anything you want to say about the substitute?

Go ahead.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

So, colleagues, this is the bill about vape shops, uh, beer and cigarette markets, and putting a minimum distance between them.

Um and so one thing that the planning commission came back with in the planning department uh incorporated into the substitute is it removes the 100-foot boundary for residential that uh aligns with other things in our other uses in our uh zoning code.

So we did remove that.

That's acceptable to me.

And then um the other thing is it removed downtown from the original bill that I had.

Um having said that, uh, the downtown council member has a friendly amendment that um he's gonna present that will incorporate that back in.

All righty.

Um uh you've heard an explanation of the substitute um uh from sponsor Benedict.

Um, is there any discussion at this time?

Okay.

Um uh seeing none, uh all in favor of the substitute, please say aye.

Um any voting no or abstaining.

Um would you renew your motion um for approval as substituted?

You but okay.

Um, do I hear a second?

All right, we are on to discussion.

Um uh Mr.

Coopin, uh, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

I believe I need to suspend the rules before I can move my late amendment.

Is that correct?

Um yes.

Um, okay.

Um, so there is a request for the suspension of the rules um in order to get the late filed friendly amendment um before us.

Um chair cash, did you all?

I don't remember the order of operations here as far as timeliness.

Mr.

Cash, did you take this up in rules?

Okay, go ahead, sir.

We did, and we supported the late nature of the filing uh five in favor, zero against zero not voting.

Okay, so having heard the report of Chair Cash on the late nature of uh the amendment um from Ms.

Benedict uh that it is a friendly amendment.

Is there any objection to the suspension of the rules to take up uh Mr.

Koopin's amendment?

Okay, um, seeing none, um the rules are suspended for that purpose.

Um and Mr.

Koopin, um, you are still recognized, sir.

Go ahead.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Whoops, go ahead.

Thank you, madam president.

Um, I'd like to move the amendment with a brief comment.

Okay, go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, so uh as far as the late filed nature of it, um there were some changes to the the bill language that needed to be put in there to make it more in line with the substitute.

So that was more of a technical typographical um late file change.

The um there was a timely filed amendment that just needed to be tweaked a little bit.

The timely filed in this this amendment both achieved the same goal, which is um as councilman Benedict said to bring downtown code areas into this.

This is a big area in downtown as well.

I appreciate uh the sponsor bringing this, and so this uh would would put downtown code in the bill with a smaller distance requirement of 500 feet versus what it would be for the rest of the county.

Um and so my constituents are very supportive of this, and I hope my colleagues will do the same.

Thanks.

All right.

Um uh you've heard a description of uh the amendment.

We are on a motion um to amend.

Um is there any further discussion on the amendment?

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right.

Back to you, Miss Benedict.

Um I'd like to move the bill as substituted and amended.

All righty.

Is there a second?

Okay.

Um so we are on discussion of um for approval motion to approve as substituted and amended.

Um is there any further discussion?

Seeing none, um, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or uh abstaining.

All right.

Um uh this has passed its third and final reading as amended um and substituted.

All right.

Um next is agenda item 73, ordinance BL 2025-949.

Sponsors Eastlick Hill Gamble, Ellis Parker, Huffman, Bradford, Styles, Vaux, Benton, and Spain.

This is an ordinance amending the Metro Code of Laws, Section 17.40.600 to provide that notices of violation are not required for subsequent violations of the same offense under Title 17.

Uh, Councilmember Eastlick, you are recognized, sir.

Thank you.

Committee reports.

Okay.

First for the report of the government operations and regulations.

Committee, Chair Hill.

Thank you, Mm-hmm.

We recommended approval of the amendment.

Eight in favor, zero against zero night voting.

And then we recommended recommended the approval for the bill as amended.

Eight in favor, zero against zero night voting.

All right, thank you, Chair Hill.

Um, and for the report of the planning and zoning committee, Vice Chair Harrell, you're recognized.

Planning is only recommended, nine in favor, zero zero against four amendment, and for the bill as amended, nine in favor, zero against.

Okay, thank you, sir.

Um, and that is all your committee reports.

So it's back to you, Mr.

Eastlick, for a motion to get the bill before us.

Thank you.

Uh I make a motion with a brief comment.

Uh BL 2025.

Would you move approval, sir?

Uh sorry, move the bill for approval.

Okay, and I've heard a second.

Go ahead.

Now it's you.

Thank you.

PL 2025 949 is um supported by the code's department as well as the mayor's office.

It doesn't affect which violations the inspectors pursue or add to the land use uh violations.

It's a simple bill.

It will help uh residents understand that we're taking quick action on issues in the neighborhoods by closing a loophole that should have been closed a long time ago.

This bill is a win for the residents and should increase their confidence in us and Metro for getting things done.

Again, the length of time it takes sometimes to get things cleared up is frustrating.

Residents get impatient as they should when they complain and after a while nothing seems to be getting done.

This will help clear those up sooner and get the property owners that are not compliant to maintain the same laws that we all uh everyone else in uh hears to.

This bill is a win for the residents, and I think if there was a little like or love button that made a harder uh fingers come up on these big TV screens, they would hit those in support.

So I ask for the council support on this and move the motion forward.

Move the bill forward.

Okay, um, so we are on uh to discussion.

Um is anyone uh seeking to be recognized?

Uh council member gamble, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I rise as support of this bill.

I want to thank Councilmember Easlick for bringing it forward to address uh bad actors or bitchal offenders of this code.

However, I would like to move my amendment.

All right, there is a motion to amend.

It is properly seconded.

Um would you like to share about the amendment?

Go ahead.

Yes, thank you.

This amendment came out of discussion from the planning commission when we were considering uh this this uh legislation.

Uh there was concern that they could be it could be present undue harm to particularly elderly or long-term residents.

Uh the coals administrator advised that the coles uh administrators would use discretion uh if needed in in certain cases, and what this amendment does is just outline what those cases are so that everybody is aware of what discretion uh the Coles administrators would use uh with that.

And I want to thank Joey Hargis with Coles and Matthew Wilkison with the council office for helping draft this legislation so that it doesn't water down the intent of the original bill, but it does uh outline what discretion administrators would use so everybody is clear on that.

So I ask for approval.

Okay, appreciate that.

Um uh so we are on the motion to amend it's properly seconded.

Do you seek to be recognized, Mr.

Eastlick on the amendment?

Go ahead, sir.

I just wanted to say I find this amendment friendly and hope my council members will support this.

Thank you.

Um all right.

Is there any further discussion on the motion to amend?

Seeing none, all in favor of the amendment, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right.

So Mr.

Eastlick, it's back to you.

Um, do you want to move approval on the bill as amended?

I move for approval on the bill as amended.

Okay, um, and it's been seconded.

Um, is there any uh further discussion on uh the motion to approve on third and final reading as amended?

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or um any abstentions?

All right.

Um this has passed its third and final reading as amended.

All right.

Next um is agenda item uh 85 and 86.

They are um companions to each other, sponsor Cortez.

I'm gonna read the caption of 987.

Mr.

Cortez, we will have to take it up first, singularly for purposes of amendment.

But once if you are successful in your motion to amend, then you can amend your motion and we can pass both the companion and the main bill at the same time.

Okay.

So 987, uh, sponsored Cortez and Gamble is an ordinance to amend title 17 of the Metro Code of Laws, the zoning ordinance of the Metro government by changing from AR to A to SP zoning for properties located at 6355 Nolansville Pike and No one's will pike unnumbered.

Approximately 90 feet west of Sugar Valley Drive.

This is 13.8 acres to permit 273 multifamily residential units.

All right.

Um Mr.

Cortez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh committee reports.

Okay.

For the report of the planning and zoning committee, Vice Chair Harrell.

Madam Ismer, would you prefer that do 85 and 86 together?

Go ahead.

Um, and just if you could do uh 987 and its companion as long as you're giving your report.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Um for the proposal and planning is only recommended, nine in favor, zero against.

Uh and for the bill that's a minute, it was nine in favor, zero against.

Okay.

And do you have a report at this time for the companion legislation nine eight eight, as long as we're at it?

I do.

Um it is uh planning is only recommended or approval nine in favor, zero against great, got it.

Okay, um, it's back to you, uh, Mr.

Cortez.

First to get 987 before us, sir.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Uh uh will we move the bill?

You just move approval.

Move for approval.

Is there second?

Okay.

Um it's uh back to you.

Yes, uh, move the amendment with a brief comment.

Okay.

Is there uh second on the motion to amend?

Okay, go ahead.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um during the public hearing, uh there was a concern that where the ingress egress for this property was moved to, um, it would cause extra traffic in the Sugar Valley neighborhood.

So I want to thank uh Councilman Rutherford for his help with this.

Uh, we worked with the developer to get this amendment put together where they're going to add traffic calming measures uh with the help of NDOT to the Sugar Valley neighborhood.

All righty.

Um uh you've heard an explanation of uh the amendment from Sponsor Cortez.

Um it was properly seconded.

Is there any uh discussion on the motion to amend?

Okay, uh seeing none, all in favor of the amendment, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right, so it's back to you.

And if you would renew your motion for approval on 987 as amended, in addition to approval of the companion uh 986, which just or rather 988, which is agenda item 86, and just for the record, that uh ordinance requires certain materials to be restricted in the construction of the buildings.

Um you can just say so moved.

Yes, so moved.

Okay.

Um uh is there a second?

Okay.

Um uh is there any discussion on the motion to approve 987 as amended and uh 988 its companion in a consolidated um uh approval motion.

Any discussion?

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any voting no or abstaining?

All right.

Um uh nine eight seven and nine eight eight uh passed uh their third and final reading as amended.

Okay, all right, uh colleagues.

So at this juncture, um we moved to the heel agenda item K1, um, which was a late file um regarding uh the Comcast uh settlement uh resolution.

Um if you will recall and I will share for the public or anybody watching, uh we suspended that discussion so that the legal department uh could garner the questions of the body and hopefully in the intervening time uh provide answers to those questions.

Um and so uh for that purpose um in asking just special counsel if you will please kind of keep an accounting and make sure that Ms.

Amos is addressing all the questions of the members um uh without objection then um uh we are uh back uh then on K1.

Um uh Ms.

Toombs, uh, just to be in proper order, would you renew your motion um for approval just to get it before us again?

Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am.

Go ahead.

Renew my motion for approval.

Okay, all right.

Um, and so uh with that um previous committee reports and all that in.

I'm going to recognize um uh Ms.

Amos um from the Metro legal department um to answer council's previous well, not previous questions, but the questions that were posed previously.

Go ahead, Ms.

Amos.

Sure.

Thanks again, Macy Amos from Metro Legal.

Um first I just want to say I'm I apologize if I'm reading some from my screen.

I'm just trying to read some of the answers that came in.

Um I also want to address why this was late filed.

So settlement negotiations took place at the end of August.

This went to the CATV committee on September 4th, where it was unanimously approved.

But because of um the filing deadlines and how the council meetings fell, um that's why it had to be late filed.

So um, why we are not getting the full amount from Comcast or have we considered pursuing litigation?

So Metro hired an expert accountant to help us with um the audit here.

And our expert unfortunately um miscalculated some of the damages, and so he has been discredited because Comcast is the one that notified us um that the amount was miscalculated.

So um we're relying on his interpretation, but also his accounting has been discredited.

Um for the time sensitivity piece and why it's necessary that you all take action on this tonight.

We entered into a tolling agreement that expires on September 30th.

You all do not meet again before September 30th.

The parties agreed to that deadline, and Comcast um has stated that they will not extend it further.

Um the damages are not uh based on just the one year, so they're actually based on the audit period, which was April 1st, 2019 through March 31st, 2022.

Those are the relevant years.

Um we're time barred on any years prior to that because pursuant to the franchise agreement, um, any year that you did not audit becomes final if it's not audited within three years of payment.

So that's where the 2022 piece comes in.

Um there was a question asked about the statute of limitations and um for contract statute of limitations are six years, but in this case, um my understanding from the attorney who worked on this is that it is shorter because of this type of agreement.

So it's not six years, but I don't know, I don't know what the time period is.

Um I also know that our office has uh consulted with an outside attorney who is an expert in franchise agreements um at every step of the way, and the legal grounds for recovery are very untested, and so um the attorneys in our office believed that this was in the best interest of Metro.

If we pursued litigation in federal court, there's no guarantee that we would be successful.

And um the damages are very untested, and there are not a lot, there's not a lot of case law um on this particular topic in the Sixth Circuit.

All right, I think that covered everything.

Um Special Council Darby, I know you registered the questions of the members.

Does that did that cover every did Ms.

Amos cover everything?

Hang on, Ms.

Darby, if you could just articulate that question.

Go ahead.

I believe there was a question about whether um if we don't approve the settlement, if there's still an opportunity to litigate.

I understand that you've answered the question about the likelihood, but whether there's the opportunity.

I do believe there would be an opportunity to litigate.

Uh again, I don't I don't know that we will be successful, but there is an opportunity.

Um all right, Miss Darby, any further questions to your understanding?

Um members uh were uh there any questions that were registered previously um that members did not have answered.

Um okay.

At this point, we are on to discussion.

Um uh with that new information.

Um and first in the queue for discussion is Councilmember Welsh.

You're recognized.

Um, thank you, Vice Mayor.

Um, I would like to ask.

So Comcast is the one that pointed out that there was a miscalculation, and in the documentation we got, it said basically that the initial number was like 1.2 million and went down to 949,000 or something like that.

So are you are are we to believe that Comcast said that this accountant miscalculated by 75%?

Or this they pointed out that it was only a couple hundred thousand dollars, and they just think that we should just take it on the chin and only accept settled, take this because we discredited your guy who made a 200,000 dollar error, but we're gonna take another 800,000 from you.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

Um Ms.

Amos, you are recognized as to the discrediting of the accountancy if it was um the just the deviation between 1.2 and 9.47.

And I'm just gonna allow you to respond because it didn't quite get the second part of Ms.

Welsh, but um we'll make sure it gets answered, Ms.

Welsh.

Uh go ahead, Ms.

Amos.

Go ahead.

My understanding is that the amount was actually reduced by about one third, so not quite down from the 1.2 to the 260, but um, I think from around 1.2 or 1.3 to 9 900 and some change.

Which that was the point that I was making, Ps mayor, from 1.3 down to 900, and yet we're gonna now take 250,000.

So I'm trying to understand that why we would just throw that out.

Uh obviously Comcast knows that they actually owe us that money because they only pointed out a discrepancy for 300,000 or whatever, 400,000.

And now they're saying, but we should just give them an additional, you know, $600,000 for that.

Um I'm not understanding why we would do that.

Um and also, do we have any legal recourse to this um accountant who made this error that is actually costing us now close to a million dollars, which is effectively what it means if we accept a settlement?

Um Ms.

Amos, um, can you respond to that as to the legal recourse for the contracted accountant or consultant with whom we worked if we got bad advice from um someone that we contracted with?

I presume that we could um you know f file a claim against them uh of some sort.

Uh we typically do those by contract, and so I I don't know what the contract with our accountant may or may not have said.

Um but in theory, yes.

Um Special Counsel Darby, do you want to opine on that at all?

I I don't have anything additional to add.

I would have to look at the contract between Metro and the accountant to determine what type of um damages might be, you know, account of uh accounted for in there, or whether we would have to just to determine what what type of prevent and I don't have that in front of me.

Okay, um, Ms.

Welsh, I will just extend your time momentarily because we've had a fair amount of questions um and responses in here.

So for your time, go ahead.

Um, I I just have two quick ones.

Number one, did we actually did anyone go back and actually verify that what Comcast told us was true?

Um and number two, I'm still not understanding why Metro Legal would not want to go after we have an in-house legal department why we would not want to go after either Comcast or this accountant, because this is effectively costing us a million dollars for an error that Comcast made taking what they owe Metro is what ultimately this is.

So I just want to make sure.

Did anybody double check that what Comcast told us was true?

Um uh Ms.

Amos, um, as to uh Comcast's assertion of the um incorrect accounting, was that verified by somebody other than the accountant whose work was discredited?

You're recognized.

I I'm honestly not sure.

Um that wasn't a question that came up before, and so I I didn't ask that question of the the attorney who who handled this case.

Um that that's that's an okay answer.

Um now um we continue discussion.

Ms.

Wiener, uh, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

I appreciate it.

I just want to ask a couple of clarifying questions.

Um, what happens if we say no, the agreement expires?

What is the impact of not having this agreement on Metro?

Um, Ms.

Amos, uh, you're recognized.

In theory, Metro could pursue litigation against Comcast.

Um, Comcast does dispute that they owe us um that amount that's in that's in the agreement and what's before you tonight.

Um in theory, we could pursue litigation against them.

Metro's um contracted attorney that is advising us on these franchise agreements uh has indicated that they don't believe it will be successful in court, which is why this is before you now.

So beyond that, let's let's put that on a shelf just a minute.

If we don't have this franchise agreement, what happens?

Um, Ms.

Amos, if it expires, what happens?

Do you mean the tolling agreement?

Uh-huh.

Oh, the tolling agreement.

Okay.

So the tolling agreement um expires on September 30th.

So if this expires before you all take action, um, we would not receive the 260,000 dollars.

The department of law could make uh a decision as to whether or not it's interested in pursuing litigation against Comcast.

Okay, I'm gonna go beyond legal.

And I'm gonna send this over to the mayor's office if that's okay.

Mr.

Rosenberg, can you explain what happens when you don't have a tolling agreement?

Um, Mr.

Rosenberg, you're recognized.

I can explain.

Uh council member, thank you, Madam President.

Dave Rosenberg with the mayor's office that our settlement opportunity for this settlement ends September 30th.

To be clear, that doesn't end everything.

Number one, I would like to clarify that the expert has admitted that they were wrong.

We're not taking Comcast word for it.

And number two, it's really just a matter of what your risk aversion is and how you like to roll the dice.

It's 260,000 sure thing, or maybe we've got a shot of spending a bunch of money in court and recovering more money.

That's kind of the status of the case.

Okay, so Ms.

Leener.

Thank you.

So there's no operational issue to Metro if that tolling agreement expires.

Mr.

Rosenberg.

That's only about the legal process.

It has nothing to do with franchise.

Okay, just checking.

Um okay, so that was question number one.

Question number two.

If it has to be recalculated again, are we prepared to find yet another accountant to do that?

Would you like me to direct that to the administration?

I would Mr.

Rosen, please.

Or I guess that's more legal.

Um Ms.

Amos, um, you're recognized.

Sure.

I feel confident that Metro would would hire a different um accounting if we did another audit um on these franchise payments.

Okay.

I don't know that we're a lot closer, but at least we've got more clarification.

All right, thank you, Ms.

Lehman.

Councilman uh Bradford, you're reconnaissed, sir.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh, this question probably would be for uh special counsel Darby.

Um what came up in some of the conversations was mentioned that we have uh I believe it was a time frame.

We can only we've got three years in which to conduct audits, and we can only do this on years that are audited.

So my question is what is the typical procedure or process?

Like, is there a mandate in the Metro Code that all these are audited on a routine basis so that we are not in situations where oh, you know, there's three years we can't do anything about because we waited six years to do an audit.

Thank you, Mr.

Bradford.

Uh special counsel Darby, you're recognized.

I don't believe that there's a mandate in the Metro Code for us to do the audit.

I believe that that the contract with the franchise contract that we've entered into states that we can do an audit under certain circumstances, and we can only go back three years in order to do that audit.

So this is not something that could we could try to fix through ordinance that require that all contracts are audited on a regular basis so that we're not missing years.

It's it's possible we can look into that.

Let's do that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Bradford.

Um, Councilmember Evan Siegel, you're recognized.

Thank you, Madam President.

I should have asked this earlier, but um sort of uh response to a question, which is do we know if there are fee shifting provisions in our franchise agreement?

Should we prevail in court?

Or lose in court.

Ms.

Amos, you're recognized.

I am admittedly not familiar with the franchise agreement.

I've tried to get up to speed um as quickly as I could since this first came up, but I I'm just not sure.

Um would you like to direct that to special counsel?

Yes, please.

Um special counsel Darby um uh fee shifting in the same position.

I have not looked at this agreement and ordered the franchise agreement to determine whether there are fee shifting provisions in there.

Okay.

Um it makes it sort of hard to do our job when we can't see the contract that is being disputed.

Um would really appreciate if that could be provided in the future.

I I have a lot of heartburn over this because it feels very rushed.

Um I I think I have more clarity now as to why the settlement is being recommended.

Um still not totally sure how I feel about it, if I'm being honest.

And and I think it's also complicated by the fact that we are seeing lease issue after lease issue after leash lease issue, whether it is insurance provisions, failure to exercise audit rights, um, failure to manage our leases to get them renewed in time, doing licenses when we should have leases and leases and we should be doing licenses.

Um audit rates are heavily negotiated, and um in an ideal world, you have the right to audit your lease for your receiving revenue every three years, and every lease that we have should be being touched every three years, and that should be programmatic.

Um I can guarantee that in the private sector that's what's happening.

Um it is upsetting that with taxpayer dollars, we're not doing the basic work we need to to protect our property and those funds.

Um there are a lot of people in the queue behind me, and so I'm gonna listen and see what they say, but I think overall we have got to do better, and when we are presented with settlements like this, we need the contract because it's just not helpful to not have it.

Thank you.

Uh Councilmember Benedict, you are recognized.

Thank you, Vice Mayor, and all that she said.

Um there's been a lot of great, great comments, and I appreciate that.

I appreciate the last minute research, and that we're basically having a committee meeting on the council floor.

So thank you to everybody for that.

Umcast is number 35 on the fortune 500 list with 123.7 billion dollars in revenue.

Um I presented with I met with a church group on Saturday of this week, and it was a lot of seniors talking to me about their property tax bills and how they can get help with that.

And I take very seriously that we're talking about taxpayer money as we are discussing here.

We've got a large corporation, and I don't want to be strong armed into this decision tonight.

I think that this warrants us having a specially called meeting just for this to get answers.

And so I would like to hear from my colleagues what their thoughts are on that.

Certainly we have a hard time getting quorum for specially called meeting, but I think it's critical that we look as stewards of this taxpayer um money when we have failures as a government in situations like this, we should not be rushed to make those decisions on you know, for three quarters of a million dollars.

We've spent um far more time on far fewer dollars.

Um so anyway, I guess what I'm gonna go for is I I'm gonna make a motion for a specially called meeting uh one week from today.

Um that's I'm not even sure how that motion is supposed to work.

So let's maybe have a point of parliamentary increase.

We can ask uh special counsel derby how or if that would be effectuated before you fully articulate this motion, if it's proper at this time, and if we are gonna get a second for it.

So let's just kind of get into a hold pattern here.

Um and uh special counsel in the midst of the discussion on the motion to approve.

Um whether it be a motion or just to kind of uh honor the the intent here, um uh what feedback do you have um as to the uh inquiry here on special about a special meeting, yes ma'am.

The charter provides for special meetings, um, section 3.04 special meetings may be held when called by the mayor or the vice mayor, um, or when requested in writing by a majority of the members of the council, 21 members.

Thank you for that.

So is there even such a thing at this juncture of calling or making a motion for a special meeting for the purpose of um uh what I just heard is no discussing was that if we want to have a specially what I heard was go ahead.

What I heard was that if we want to have a specially called meeting, then we would take action tonight to probably defer this and then request a specially called meeting from 27 of us via um uh paper, right?

Or email or whatnot.

Or vice mayor, you could call one, right?

So um I guess you know, with that in mind, I'd love to hear from my colleagues as they're in the queue what their thoughts are about, you know, potentially deferring this in order to have a specially called meeting.

Uh to Mr.

Rosenberg's point, yes, we're rolling the dice.

So which way do we want to roll?

What's our risk?

Um, in my opinion, I think we should hold this corporation to account uh on behalf of our taxpayers, folks that I know couldn't afford, you know, $500 more a year in taxes.

We need to fight for this money.

Thank you.

Um, what I may suggest at this juncture in special counsel, tell me what you think about this would be um, I don't know if it would be a motion that lacked specificity, but for purpose of discussion, so I can ascertain the will of the body before just making a decision such as that, would it be proper at this time um for a motion to uh defer um to a uh special called meeting, the date of which to be determined, but prior to September 30th or something to that effect.

Uh for a point of order, Ms.

Porterfield, yes, please.

Uh point of order could could we uh continue the discussion, vote on the legislation.

Uh if the legislation fails, then give us that opportunity because the legislation could still pass.

We don't know that the majority of the body wants this yet because we haven't finished discussing it.

Understood.

I think what I'm trying to ascertain at this time is if Ms.

Benedict wanted to offer it a deferral motion by any member of this body in the midst of discussion for approval is a proper motion, but um that's not how this has been articulated, and thus I just want to from a point of inquiry.

This is a very unusual territory here.

If Ms.

Darby could just opine, because effectively what we initiated here was a point of inquiry.

Um is that an appropriate um would that be an appropriate motion?

I'm not saying you're offering it or do you do you seek to?

I want to be clear that I don't I'm not offering a deferral motion.

Okay.

Not offering that.

All right.

So at that for that point, then I think we need to continue discussion on um the motion to approve.

Okay, unless you wanted to offer a deferral motion.

I okay.

Um, all right.

So uh we continue discussion on the motion to approve uh Ms.

Tombs, budget chair, you are recognized.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

So I do want to point out that as a body, we don't have a a good track record of substituting our legal judgment for that of Metro Legals.

Um we have had our Metro legal department has contracted with an attorney whose expertise is in franchise law.

That attorney has reviewed the contract, has determined that it's a little bit shaky uh in terms of whether or not we would be successful in court.

I understand that you know folks believe certain things to be true, but once you get into court, you're in a trial is what you can prove.

Uh the rules of evidence apply.

And no one's gonna care that it's a big corporation.

It's what can you prove?

And Comcast is disputing that they owe the $950,000.

They have agreed we'll give you $260,000.

I haven't heard anything.

We're kind of getting into the wheeze because I haven't heard anything that says that we weren't auditing the contracts.

It's for this past three year period that we did audit the the contract.

There's no discussion or anything that from the three-year period before that, we could have audited then and didn't find any discrepancies.

But for this 2019 to 2022, we have found some discrepancies.

Comcast disputes it.

There's they the parties have agreed to the 260,000 dollars, because you have to keep in mind that yes, you can go and try to fight for what you believe is the rest of the money.

You have to prove that, but then you got to add litigation costs on top of that, which can be substantial.

And that's when it does come into play that your your opponent is someone with deep pockets.

They can bury you in paper.

They can prolong litigation.

And so I really want folks to keep that in mind.

I want us to trust Metro Legal who uh have gone the extra mile of getting an expert auditor, of getting contracting an attorney to who has uh expertise in this area of law, and all those legal minds have gotten together and said that this is a good thing to do, that this is a good settlement.

Settlements don't always make you feel good.

Uh, you know, as an attorney, I've I've had to have conversations with clients and they don't want to settle, and but when you weigh the risk that is your uh legal judgment as an attorney that hey, this is a a good decision to make, even if you don't really like it or don't really want to.

And so I do suggest that we approve this uh based off the advice that we're getting from our legal department.

Thank you, Ms.

Tombs.

Uh next, uh council member Porterfield, Madam Pro Town, you're recognized.

Uh thank you, Vice Mayor.

I have one question before I make my comments.

Um, do we know how much Comcast has uh stated that they believe that they owe?

Um uh Ms.

Amos uh for Metro Legal.

Can you respond to that question, please?

I think the only information that we have is that they will agree to pay the 260,000 dollars.

I think they dispute that they owe us anything.

Okay, thank you.

Um thank you uh for that information.

So um this is one of those where we we've kind of said it before a couple of times when we talk about holding our nose and voting for something that we don't want to vote for.

This is one that I'm gonna hold my nose and vote for.

Um I agree with uh the sentiments of council member Evan Siegel with the frustrations about having limited information when we're having to make this level of a decision.

I also agree with um Chair Toombs about uh her assessment of this.

So what we see right now is that our auditor said that that Comcast owed us owed almost 1.5 million dollars, 1,493, 311, almost 1.5 million dollars.

Then came back and said, okay, there was a miscalculation, and it's only 957,598 dollars.

That's almost a third.

That's about 35 percent uh reduction.

Um that's a huge mistake that they made.

And Comcast is disputing that they owe this.

We don't know what Comcast believes that they owe, but for whatever reason, the settlement that is before us is only 260,000.

And it completely sucks.

And we do want to get uh more money, and we want to get everything that we're owed, but at this point, if we cannot prove that, and now we're looking at going to court and getting more money in legal fees with no guarantee that we're gonna win.

Uh, we could end up empty-handed and not get any money out of this settlement uh, or not get any money if we choose to deny this settlement.

Uh I am all for holding uh corporations accountable.

Uh and we'll sing that song all day every day.

I think that we should uh uh fight, and I think it is prudent for us to get all money that is owed to us, but in this instance, it appears that we are going to be fighting a losing battle, um, possibly not getting any money out of this and costing more money to the taxpayers.

So I'm going to hold my nose and I'm going to vote for it.

But I would also like to thank Councilmember Welsh for bringing this up because we did not have this robust of a discussion uh yesterday when we were in budget.

Um so council lady, thank you for for bringing this concern up and raising this concern because I think that there were some very uh valid points that were brought up, and I hope that moving forward we could be uh very uh more cognizant about uh the information that's being provided to council members um in as much of a timely fashion as possible.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Pro Tim.

Um next in the queue, uh Councilmember Wiener, you're recognized.

I'm going to hold my nose and call the question, please.

Okay.

Um there's a motion to call the previous question.

It's been properly seconded.

This is uh non-debatable.

Um we will try it first by voice.

It requires two-thirds of the body.

Again, I always remind members it's about number, not volume.

Uh, all in favor of ending debate and moving to the vote by calling the previous question, please say aye.

Uh any against the previous question, uh, please say no.

Okay, um, the previous question prevails, and we will move to the vote.

Okay.

Um, so we are on a motion to approve uh this late filed resolution.

Um it has been uh properly seconded.

Um pardon.

Oh okay.

Um uh if we have any no's on this, we will have to um so I'm just gonna go ahead and say um uh Mr.

Clerk, um could you please open the vote, please?

Um we're gonna do this one um by roll call, colleagues.

It is a resolution, even one no vote requires a roll call vote.

Um, and it sounds like we may have a no.

So I can all votes are in.

Mr.

Clerk, please show the vote.

Okay, um uh the motion passes.

Council has adopted this resolution with 25 votes in favor, three against, and six abstentions.

Um that concludes this evening's agenda.

Our next council meeting will be on Thursday, October the 9th, with some of our committee meetings on Wednesday, October 8th.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

We're adjourned.

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