I read the story in today's Tennessean about the football stadium discussions. These stadium discussions are important. I hope the administration can find a way to speak more precisely about what they are negotiating. I don't have much time today. I'll just quickly hit on two statements attributed to the Mayor.

It's hard to know how to think about football stadium news stories when the numbers are different in nearly every story. I've been working on coming up with a framework that I'll be able to use once the numbers stop moving around on us. At this point, I’m not for or against anything. I’m just fishing around for a frame of reference to understand whatever ultimately gets proposed.

On February 1, 2022, the Council will consider the third and final reading of BL2021-961, which would authorize the Metro Nashville Police Department to use license plate readers. Although it got 22 votes on second reading on January 18, I am hopeful that we can still defeat it.

There is game playing going on with the Mayor’s proposed $568 million capital spending plan. It’s intentional and disappointing. Let me walk you through what’s going on.

The Mayor’s Office announced on October 22, 2021, that it is proposing a $568 million capital spending plan for the current fiscal year.

Late on Friday, August 27, the Mayor sent an internal email appointing former Legal Director Saul Solomon to be the Interim Director of Finance effective September 7, 2021. I like Solomon very much as a person, a lawyer, and an administrator. But there are significant questions about whether he is qualified under the Metro Charter to hold the Director of Finance position even on an interim basis.

On July 20, 2021, the Metro Council is going to decide whether to approve Vice Mayor Shulman’s appointee for the Fair Board. It’s shaping up to a lengthy and unpleasant debate. In this era where the city is under constant scrutiny and attack from the state legislature and even the Davidson County Election Commission, this will be a self-inflicted, unnecessary fight that risks damaging relationships among Council members, the Vice Mayor, and maybe the Cooper administration.

If you would like to join me in urging the Election Commission to not appeal the ruling, you can email: ElectionCommission@nashville.gov, jim.delanis@nashville.gov, tricia.herzfeld@nashville.gov, jeff.roberts@nashville.gov

At the Council’s June 15, 2021, meeting, I will propose four amendments to the Capital Improvements Budget, or CIB. That’s different than the operating budget, which gets the most attention. The CIB is often called the “wish list” for large capital improvement projects.

I’ll update this information as we go through the FY22 operating budget process, but here is some early information.

I want to share some quick thoughts now that we’ve heard yesterday’s State of Metro address, but before we see the actual budget ordinance. Yesterday’s State of Metro was an Oprah-style political speech — there was something for everybody.

Mayor Cooper will deliver his State of Metro address on April 29 and he is required by the Charter to propose a budget by May 1. I’ll share with you what I’ll be looking for first in his budget.

Check out this email I received yesterday and the attached audio clip.

The shadowy “4GoodGovernment” group is back messing with Metro again. Its effort last fall to trigger a referendum fell short when a court ruled that its petition language was fatally flawed. Now they are trying again.

Metro’s FY20 audited financials have been posted online. These are through June 30, 2020. Typically, the final audit is released in December. With all the crazy events of last year, it took a little longer this time. The audited financials package is 312 pages long. I’ll run through the main things I looked at in my first pass through the audit.

I end the year on a hopeful note because I know Nashville will recover from the Christmas suicide bombing, and COVID, and everything else that 2020 threw at us. That said, there is plenty of frustration over the revelation that the bomber’s former lawyer called the police in August 2019 to let them know that the bomber’s girlfriend thought he was making bombs in his RV.