Tuesday’s Metro Council meeting featured dozens of agenda items in addition to the end of Nashville’s vehicle emissions program and the allocation of $3.15 million to the Metro Nashville Police Department for tasers.
In all, the Metro Nashville City Council addressed 84 items on the agenda published prior to the meeting. The municipal body dealt with issues ranging from children’s safety, building codes, and zoning to allocation of taxpayer funds, allocation of COVID-19 relief funds, the election of notaries, and more.
Six additional items totaling roughly $16,500,000 in taxpayer funding was approved.
– $1.5 million in funds were appropriated for “Juneteenth Holiday – Salary and Fringe – $1,500,000.”
– Resolutions RS2022-1314, RS2022-1315, RS2022-1316, RS2022-1317, and RS2022-1318 dealt with the investigation of internet crimes against children. Those resolutions were sponsored by councilmembers Allen and Evans. They established intergovernmental agreements between the Metro Nashville Police Department, the Cookeville Police Department, the Dickson County Sheriff’s Office, and the City of Spring Hill Police Department, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to distribute “state grant funds to assist with investigations of internet crimes against children.”
MNPD was previously awarded $1.2 million from the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Criminal Justice Programs to use for the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit with the agreement that part of the funds would be sub-granted to other local law enforcement agencies.
– Resolution RS2022-1305, sponsored by Councilmember Sean Parker, exempted All People Coffee from beer permit minimum distance requirements.
– Resolution RS2022-1306, also sponsored by Councilmember Parker, was passed at the last meeting. The initial rule, enacted in September 2020, enabled certain restaurants impacted by COVID-19 and the capacity restrictions to expand their seating. It specifically allows “sidewalk café dining facilities within the public right-of-way throughout the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Government and to allow bars and restaurants located within a Specific Plan (SP), Planned Unit Development (PUD), or other overlay district where restaurants and bars are permitted to use parking areas for additional seating.” The resolution “extends the permissibility of sidewalk cafes throughout Davidson County through November 15, 2022.”
– Resolution RS2022-1311, sponsored by councilmembers Jennifer Gamble, Courtney Johnston, Burkley Allen, Zach Young, and Brett Withers, appropriated $15,000,000 in American Rescue Act funds for the the Metropolitan Development and Housing Authority to increase safety at Cumberland View and improve infrastructure at Cayce Place creating more affordable housing units.
It was noted in the resolution analysis section, “Fiscal Note: This appropriation, along with the appropriations per Resolution No. RS2022-1307, Resolution No. RS2022-1310, and Resolution No. RS2022-1313 would be the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th resolutions appropriating from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARP) Fund for a cumulative total of $75,764,250. The total grant award is $259,810,600 and the first half of this amount was received in July 2021.”
– Resolution RS2022-1324 authorizes Metro Nashville to enter into a 10-year agreement to sell the city of Brentwood up to 1,000,000 gallons of water per day. Brentwood is required to purchase a minimum of 320,000 gallons of water per day. The cost to the city of Brentwood is the non-residential rate of $2.86 per CCF (hundred cubic feet). According to the USDA, a hundred cubic feet of water is 748 gallons. This represents a commitment by Brentwood to pay Nashville roughly $445,000 per year through 2032.
The next Metro Nashville Council meeting is currently scheduled for Tuesday, February 1st at 6:30pm, at the Metropolitan Courthouse.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
