Nashville’s Metro Council jumps right into business in its first meeting of the term

Nashville’s newly elected Metro Council wasted no time, as it kicked off its term Tuesday night.

It opened with a speech from Mayor Freddie O’Connell, who celebrated the council for being “historic.” Of the 40 council seats, exactly half are newly elected, and for the first time, the group is made up of a majority of women. All five at-large councilmembers are women, and include the first openly trans woman, Olivia Hill, to be elected to office in Tennessee.

The council will also be led by a woman — former district Councilmember Angie Henderson unseated the incumbent, Jim Shulman, for the vice mayor seat. Henderson’s win also marks the first time any vice mayoral candidate has triumphed over an incumbent. Throughout the meeting, many councilmembers referred to her as “Madame President.”

During the meeting, the council appointed a handful of commission and board members, adopted resolutions and advanced its first bills.

One of those adopted resolutions initially resuscitated a familiar debate: whether to accept state funding to add school resource officers.

Resolution 16 would accept a $3,375,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security to place SROs in all MNPS middle and high schools. It would not require a cash match from Metro Government.

Hillsboro High School senior Seamus Purdy was one of the three community members to speak during the public comment period. He urged the council not to pass the resolution.

“I’ve spoken about the dangers of police in schools before y’all countless times. Multiple studies have shown they disproportionately punish minority students, heavily increase suspension rates, decrease graduation rates and more,” Purdy said. “However, Resolution 16 has a number of separate concerns. Nashville funded 74 SRO positions for $7.3 million in 2022. Why, after an increase of $4.3 million just four months ago, are we trying to accept over $3 million for more SROs?”

The council opted not to vote on the resolution to allow more time for reviewing the funds. And new Councilmember Jeff Preptit encouraged his colleagues to consider the student’s comment.

Cynthia Abrams WPLN News

District 25 Metro Councilmember Jeff Preptit at the Oct. 3 council meeting.

“What we do in this chamber is just as important as how we do what we do,” Preptit said. “I rise and speak in favor of this deferral to make sure that we are doing this in the right way. Make sure that we are answering these questions. Make sure that we are giving credence to the voice of our constituents that come here and bear their hearts in telling us what they need from us.”

The resolution will be taken up again at the next meeting in two weeks.