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Nashville-Davidson Metro Council Member Reduction and Term Limit Extension Ballot Initiative, Amendment 2 (August 2015)
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A measure to change the form of the metro council was on the ballot for voters within the limits of the consolidated city-county metro of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, on August 6, 2015. It was defeated.
If approved, this measure would have reduced the number of metro council members from 40—a representative for each of the city's 35 districts and five at-large council members—to 27. It would also have extended council term limits from two to three terms. In 2015, the metro's 40-member council was the third-largest council in the country, falling under only New York and Chicago. Nashville was the 25th largest city in the U.S. according to 2013 census data.
In the metro's municipal election on August 6, 2015, 22 of the 40 city council members were ousted by the city's term limits. The term-limited members and some early retirements left more than half of the city council seats up for grabs with no incumbent defending the position. Mayor Karl Dean was also term-limited, leaving the office of mayor open to one of the seven challengers that filed as candidates for the office. Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors was also term-limited. The large, forced turnover in city leadership was hailed by supporters of Amendment 1 and Amendment 2 as an argument in favor of extending term limits. For details on the outcomes of the municipal election races, see this page.
Voters approved the city's term limits in 1994. Between 1994 and the beginning of 2015, three separate ballot measures seeking to extend or remove the city's term limit law were defeated by voters. Amendment 1 and Amendment 2 were brought the count up to five.[1]
Election results
| Nashville Amendment 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 No | 61,177 | 62.31% | ||
| Yes | 36,999 | 37.69% | ||
- Election results from Nashville Election Commission
Text of measure
Ballot summary
The following summary of Amendment 2 appeared on the ballot:[2]
| “ |
This amendment would: Increase the number of terms that a person is eligible to serve in the office of vice mayor, district councilmember, and councilmember-at-large from two consecutive four year terms to three consecutive four year terms. Beginning with the September 1, 2019 term, reduce the size of the Metropolitan Council from forty (40) to twenty-seven (27) members, reduce the number of Council districts from thirty-five (35) to twenty-four (24), and reduce the number of councilmember-at-large seats in the Council from five (5) to three (3). Require the Planning Commission to submit to the Metropolitan Council district boundaries for the twenty-four (24) Council districts not later than August 15, 2017.[3] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the amendment is available here.
Support
Supporters
Nashville Council Member Emily Evans, who was term-limited in 2015, was one of the chief backers of this initiative.
The group called Council Next 50 was also behind Amendment 2.[4]
Arguments in favor
Nashville Council Member Emily Evans argued that having just 27 members representing larger districts would increase involvement on the council and allow the council to dig into the city's more detailed issues instead of leaving large portions of governance to the discretion of the mayor. Speaking of a recent, failed proposal for a new bus line, Evans said, "I think that as a city, [the issue of Metro Council's size] was made clear with the whole Amp discussion. You had seven affected council members and everybody else was like, 'What's going on?' We missed a valuable opportunity to really move that conversation forward within the council about long-term transit planning." Evans also pointed out the approximately $300,000 in annual salaries and benefits that the city would save with a smaller council. Supporters of the proposal also stressed that, with a two-term limit, council members were always newly elected or on the way out, while the three-term limit proposed by this measure would allow more long-term thinking.[4][5]
Supporters of this measure also argued that the huge turnover forced by the city's term limits—epitomized by the 24 members of the city council, including the mayor and vice-mayor, being term-limited this year—results in a large contingent of inexperienced council members faced with the complex issues of city governance. Describing the city's term limit law as "draconian," Council Member Evans argued that it did nothing but reduce the influence and authority of council members and impede active representation of the voters.[6]
Editorials
- The Tennessean: The editorial board of The Tennessean wrote an editorial urging voters to approve Amendment 2. An excerpt of the editorial is below:
| “ |
Opponents argue that a smaller Council would dilute minority representation and reduce neighborhoods’ access to their councilor, but, in fact, it would empower coalitions and neighbors even more by encouraging them to unite in larger groups with a singular voice and effect change. [...] Fewer councilors would make organization and decision-making more effective. [...] We recommend voting “Yes” on Amendment 2.[3] |
” |
| —Editorial board of The Tennessean[1] | ||
Opposition
Opponents
The Metro Council's Minority Caucus opposed Amendment 2.[7]
A group called Nashville Term Limits opposed both this measure and Amendment 1.[8]
Opposition
Critics of the proposal said it would reduce representation, especially of minorities. Council Member Ronnie Steine said, "This is really an elitist attempt to cut down on the number of minorities that will be involved in leadership in our government at a time when the population is becoming more and more diverse. [The proposal would also] increase the power of money and special interest in council races because larger races will cost more to run, which will force some ordinary people out of seeking jobs."[5]
Council Member Fabian Bedne stated, "Most of the people who are in favor of this, they say this will be good for minorities, but there's not a single minority in the council that supports this."[7]
Minority Caucus chairman Frank Harrison said, "Personally, I don't feel like it would adequately represent the minorities of the city who feel like it's hard enough for a lot of minorities and average citizens to get elected to office in the first place."[7]
Council Member Lonnell Matthews Jr. said, "When you talk about responsiveness and you talk about accessibility to your council member and being able to get in touch to address constituent services — those are all things I see diminishing if we reduce the size of the council."[7]
Path to the ballot
Evans and a group called Council Next 50 backed a signature petition for this measure. Petitioners submitted 14,700 signatures on May 15, 2015—more than twice the 6,845 required to force a question onto the ballot. In June 2015, the Davidson County election commission certified that enough of the submitted signatures were valid to qualify the citizen-initiated measure for the election scheduled for August 6, 2015.[5]
Related measures
- Nashville-Davidson Metro "Ban the Box" Initiative to Remove Criminal Background Questions from Metro Job Applications (August 2015)
- Nashville-Davidson County Metro Marijuana Decriminalization Initiative (August 2015)
- Nashville-Davidson Metro Council Term Limit Increase, Amendment 1 (August 2015)
- Nashville-Davidson Metro Local-Hire Mandate for Taxpayer-Funded Projects Initiative, Amendment 3 (August 2015)
Other elections
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Nashville council reduction Amendment 2. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Laws governing local ballot measures in Tennessee
- City governance on the ballot
- Local term limits on the ballot
- Davidson County, Tennessee ballot measures
- August 6, 2015 ballot measures in Tennessee
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Tennessean, "Vote No, Yes, No on Nashville charter amendments," July 22, 2015
- ↑ Nashville Elections Office, "Sample Ballot for Election on August 6, 2015," accessed August 3, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Council Next 50, "Home," accessed May 27, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Tennessean, "Nashville voters could decide whether to shrink council," May 15, 2015
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Reduce Nashville council size, extend term limits," June 28, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 The Tennessean, "Minority caucus reaffirms opposition to shrinking council," July 8, 2015
- ↑ Nashville Term Limits, "Home," accessed June 15, 2015
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