Nashville has a new finance director — at least for the next few weeks.
Despite some reservations, Nashville’s Metro Council approved long-time lawyer Saul Solomon, who formerly led the Metro Law Department. He was most recently the interim director of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency.
The city’s charter gives the finance director significant power to make sure the city’s bills are paid, to ensure contracts are in order and to plan for the overall budget.
Councilmember Tom Cash supported Solomon and tried to address some concerns of his peers: “I believe he not only has great leadership skills that could be effective in any department in this government, but also he does have significant financial experience.”
Solomon’s nomination raised red flags for some councilmembers, since they say he mainly supervised people handling finances and hasn’t run them himself. Others had questions about his prior decision to represent an embattled Metro contractor.
“Mr. Solomon is an attorney with corporate management experience. He is not a municipal finance expert or a corporate finance expert,” Councilmember Angie Henderson says. “In private legal practice, Mr. Solomon can choose who he represents and defends. So you should ask yourselves why would he agree to do legal work for the most notorious firm currently doing business with Metro.”
But Solomon’s colleagues — former mayors Karl Dean and Bill Purcell — were prepared to fend off dissent. Purcell spoke in a council committee meeting to say there was no question of Solomon’s understanding of the law or his personal ethics and integrity.
Solomon’s first task will be making sure the city gets a good rating for its water bond issuance next week.
The mayor’s office says it’s working to nominate a permanent finance director in October.
Before voting, several councilmembers asked the mayor’s administration to do a better job of working with them on appointments.
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