This year, elections in Nashville are drawing out a record number of voters in large part because of the Mayor’s race. But former Metro legal director Karl Dean and former Congressman Bob Clement aren’t the only ones in a runoff. Eight other candidates are vying for 4 at-large council seats.
Today, in the first of a three part series, we take a look at who’s running and we start with term-limited councilmen J.B. Loring, Ronnie Greer and Charlie Tygard. All three ran up against term limits for the district seat they held, and now are hoping to continue work on the Metro council representing the entire county.
Taking a break from campaigning in the heat of the day yesterday, Metro Councilman Charlie Tygard sits in a backroom of the Hermitage early voting site.
Tygard has served four terms in the Metro Council -16 years. He took one term off between two eight-year stints representing Bellevue, but now he’s looking to move straight into one of the four remaining countywide seats. Tygard says he supports the term limits and says he isn’t trying to get around them. He considers the five at-large positions completely separate from the 35 district council seats. Plus, he sees it as a case where his experience will benefit the next council.
TYGARD: “I think most people understand that in 16 years, we’ve had two mayors. We’ve had a stable vice mayor, but now we’re looking at a time with a new mayor, a new vice mayor, and somewhere between 21 and 23 new council members, so you’re looking at a city government that’s clearly going to be the most inexperienced in the history of Nashville.”
That may be a stretch, but many Metro officials agree that with this many new faces the learning curve will be steep. An at-large candidate who narrowly missed making the run-off filed a lawsuit against the three term-limited candidates saying they shouldn’t be able to run. A Davidson County judge ruled the suit came too late to stop the election and pointed out the differences in the district and at-large seats.
Councilman Ronnie Greer says he’s tired of talking about the term limits. He says the ballot boxes should be term limits enough.
Greer sits behind a desk in his tiny Edgehill campaign office, just a mile from the neighborhood he grew up in. The outspoken councilman says his experience has shown him that the at-large positions need to take a more regional role.
GREER: “As we grow as a community, as we are, I think now the councilman at large position needs to turn some of the focus to the metropolitan strategic area that we’re the center of. If I get elected, I should go down to Smyrna and listen to their council meeting sometime. I should go down to Lavergne and see how they’re planning their development because at some point in time, we’ve got to meet them.”
Greer has served his allotted two terms. Until four months ago, the outspoken councilman worked for the Woodbine Community Center managing their properties. He’s currently unemployed but says he may return to school to become a teacher.
Greer says the council can have the largest impact on development and that the city’s policies are pricing long-time homeowners out of his neighborhood. He says that’s the biggest issue facing the next metro council – balancing home prices and gentrification. Greer also considers himself a lookout for the city’s African American community.
77-year-old J.B. Loring says he also represents a distinct community – white-haired retirees.
LORING: “When you get up to my age, you’ve had a lot of experience in your life.”
Standing outside the election commission headquarters holding a cut out of his face, Loring says he hopes to build on his experience in the military, as a manager at the Nashville Electric Service and a two-term councilman representing Donelson.
Loring agrees with the general sense that financial woes will soon face the city. He says one of the most ominous hasn’t gotten much attention.
LORING: “One of the biggest issues could be if the federal government requires Metro to fund their retiree medical plan. The figures that have been produced so far is about a billion and a half dollars. Now that would be a gigantic thing to comprehend.”
Loring hopes to be around to help decide how to meet those financial challenges, but first things first. The three district councilmen in the race will appear at a hearing before a judge Friday morning to get what’s expected to be a final ‘Ok’ to run for an at-large seat.
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