The main event at Tuesday night’s Metro Council meeting was continued discussion around Fusus, a software program that would have allowed the Metro Nashville Police Department to access security camera footage from willing private business owners.
The legislation failed by a single vote, as the Metro Council voted 20-18 in favor of it. The resolution required 21 votes to pass, and two members (Jennifer Gamble and Sandy Ewing, who told the Banner she was planning on voting no) were absent.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell and interest groups applied pressure as the vote approached. Groups including the NAACP, Community Oversight Now and the Urban League urged councilmembers to vote no, citing concerns about privacy and federal or state misuse of the footage. Business groups and O’Connell were among those asking councilmembers to approve the contract.
After a public hearing last month at which the vast majority of speakers opposed Fusus, Tuesday’s public comment period was split evenly between those in favor of and opposed to the legislation.
The administration offered a substitute proposal this week that sought to assuage community and councilmember concerns. The new language would have established a “kill switch” that would end the contract if the tech were misused and explicitly prohibited the use of facial recognition.
Metro Councilmember Bob Nash, a former police commander, said he supported the guardrails included in the substitute proposed by the administration.
“I know people are scared,” he said. “We have to move forward with doing things that are right for this city.”
Metro Councilmember Joy Kimbrough said no level of guardrails could make the proposal palatable.
“I don’t think this is something we can play around with,” she said. “We can’t even entertain this.”
Supporters of Fusus have been warning in recent days that an adverse vote on this or the looming license plate reader contract would attract state intervention, with any state-level implementation lacking the guardrails instituted by local officials. House Majority Leader William Lamberth said as much last year, warning of state action on license plate readers if the Metro Council voted them down.
The council held off on other pieces of public safety legislation on the agenda. A proposal from a local nonprofit police advocacy group to fund an MNPD subscription to a public survey tool was withdrawn. Some councilmembers had questioned whether the survey software should be overseen by an independent agency or whether the program would violate residents’ privacy. Police officials said the software mostly asks social media users their opinions about the police department.
Councilmember Jeff Eslick moved to defer his resolution, calling on MNPD to ramp up its traffic enforcement for two meetings. He said he is continuing to discuss possible changes to the language and wanted to avoid the drama of the Fusus debate. Nashville traffic enforcement dropped 95 percent between 2012 and 2022.
Everything else
- Funding for the mayor’s proposed capital spending plan was deferred by rule and will be considered further at an upcoming meeting.
- As part of the consent agenda, the council approved legislation requesting the creation of a new advisory committee to oversee the implementation of Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s newly established dedicated funding stream for transit projects.
- The council approved a resolution seeking funding for an environmental grant that includes funding for a study of possible uses for the closed Bordeaux landfill. Councilmember Joy Kimbrough, who represents the Bordeaux area, was the lone no vote.
- The council voted to accept funding to study potential contamination of riverfront land on the East Bank.