I am having a bit of a hard time understanding the ballot for the upcoming election. I know who I want for mayor. I have 3 of the 5 council-at-large members picked out.
Don't know who I want for my council person and I may write myself in as vice-mayor (feel free to write my name in on your ballot as well).
What I don't understand are a few of the amendments. There are 3.
I'm hoping that we can have a meet-up before election day, August 6th and talk about this among other things.
My suggestion is:
Saturday August 1st, 12:30 pm
B & C Melrose BBQ
2617 Franklin Pike
Unit #112
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 457-3473
Menu Here
Yes: Maybe:
1. Zen Trainer 1. Al Fondy
2. Anonymous 1
3. Anonymous 2
4. Your name here_____
#1. SUMMARY
This amendment would increase the term limits effective as of the August 2023 Metropolitan Government general election for the office of vice mayor, district councilmember, and councilmember-at-large from two consecutive four year terms to three consecutive four year terms.
This one I understand. I don't want to increase the number of terms they can serve. YMMV.
#2. SUMMARY
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.
Ok, this one is really two separate ones mushed together. We already know that I am against ratifying the first part. I don't want term limits extended. But, I do think our city council should be much smaller. We have one of the largest city councils in the country and we are not a big city. So I am for ratifying that part. NYC had 51 councilmembers and a population of 8,336,697. Nashville/Davidson County has a population of 668,347 and has 40 council members.
So it seems like I have to choose which issue is the most important to me. In the back of my head something is nagging me about why they put this term limit on twice. Why did they add it onto this? That makes me want to vote no right there. Even though if it isn't ratified it means we are stuck with a giant city council.
#3. SUMMARY
This amendment would provide that: The Division of Purchases, when expending funds of the Metropolitan Government in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more on a public real property improvement project, shall require that Davidson County residents perform forty percent ( 40%) of the total construction work hours worked by construction craft workers on each project. The Division of Purchases shall require on each such project that a significant effort be made to ensure that no less than ten percent (10%) of the total construction worker hours are performed by low income residents of Davidson County. The number of hours performed by non-residents of Tennessee shall be excluded in determining the total construction worker hours for each project. A procedure for reporting total construction worker hours and a penalty for failure to comply with this requirement may be provided by ordinance or the Division of Purchases.
These one seems to be saying that we'll hire Tennesseans first and that at least 10% of them have to be poor. Sounds good to me but there are a lot of numbers in this one and my brain just cannot compute.
So, how about a meet-up where maybe someone can explain this to me as if I were a 6 year old? Anyone up for it?