Cooper Says He’ll Keep Some Of Briley’s Key Programs And Staff

Nashville Mayor-elect John Cooper plans to announce the members of his transition team early this week, as he begins the city's unprecedented transition to a new administration.

The Metro councilman says his landslide defeat of incumbent David Briley gives him a clear mandate to take the city in a different direction. But he says he's not getting rid of all of Briley's signature programs or top administrators.

"This is not a federal government or a state government," he says. "This transition is going to be consistent service and then rebalancing of what we do."

John Cooper is the first person to defeat a sitting mayor in Metro Nashville's nearly six-decade history. And his 40-percentage point victory seems to signal broad backing for his plans.

But unlike when federal or state government changes hands, Cooper says the shifts will be incremental — not dramatic.

That means keeping some Briley initiatives, such as the Nashville GRAD program, which offers financial assistance to community college students. Briley expressed concern that it might be rolled back under a new administration.

Cooper also anticipates keeping a lot of Metro's leadership, including many department heads — in part because he believes he needs their expertise. Cooper says two of his first orders of business will be answering questions
raised by the state comptroller about the city's finances and putting together a plan to raise public sector workers' pay.

What will be reversed is Briley's affordable housing plan, Under One Roof. Cooper is calling for creating a new housing department separate from the Metro Development and Housing Agency.

Cooper also plans to reverse Briley's executive order barring local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Signed following news that probation officers were
helping with deportations, the order challenges a 2018 state law.

Cooper says he agrees with some of the arguments behind the order but believes the issue of cooperating with ICE has been "politicized."

"Our local police do need stay prioritized on local law enforcement," Cooper says. "We need to be sure they're doing law enforcment first and not serving non-judicial warrants for any agency of the federal government, whether that's the IRS, the EPA or ICE.

"But we're not repealing state law at the county level. So let's pretend that we're repealing state law at the county level."

It's not yet been determined when Cooper will take office. The Metro Charter doesn't set a deadline for the transition, and previous administrations have worked out the handover of power through direct talks.