Metropolitik is a recurring column featuring the Scene’s analysis of Metro dealings.
Judge David Briley opened his courtroom — a nice corner spot on the fifth floor of the Metro Public Courthouse — early on Monday morning. Mayor himself for a brief 18 months that ended with a runoff loss to John Cooper four years ago, Briley presided over the swearing-in of Mayor Freddie O’Connell, elected by a wide margin on Sept. 14.
The moment between Judge Briley and Mayor O’Connell was an approximation of continuity for the city, which has been subject to a five-mayor pileup in eight years: Karl Dean, Megan Barry, Briley, Cooper and now O’Connell. With the exception of Bill Boner (who served a full four years in the late 1980s and early ’90s), there was strong multiterm precedent that ended after the second term of Dean, the city’s sixth mayor in 52 years. At his first press availability as mayor, just moments after his oath, O’Connell gestured at long-term thinking, if not a second term.
“It will be a multiyear effort to try to get universal aftercare in place,” O’Connell told a handful of reporters in the courtroom. “It will be a multiyear effort to try to change high school start times. It will probably be at least a year effort to get all of the legal arrangements and staffing arrangements to make solid waste not a part of our Metro Water Department anymore.”
Those three bullet points are part of his “15 Fixes on Day One,” a campaign short list of policy promises ranging from the very concrete (create a Metro department dedicated to housing) to the broadly philosophical (“Transparency”). None could be accomplished on day one or week one. Just before 8 a.m., O’Connell told the room that his day would mostly be spent doing paperwork and administrative tasks — this meant signing certificates for police academy graduates, O’Connell said later on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
At the request of a TV news reporter, O’Connell stole some minutes discussing that morning’s breakfast. The softball quickly turned into a monologue about his family’s before-school routine, though O’Connell stopped short of identifying himself as his two daughters’ primary caregiver. His partner, Whitney Boon, is a pediatric neurologist at Vanderbilt. Since a tweet about sandwich-making for his daughters went (sort of) viral, O’Connell — an avid internet user — has leaned into the meme-ificiation of his dad-ness.
After breakfast, O’Connell’s first-order problem is figuring out who he wants around him at work. Rumors about who’s staying, who’s going and who’s coming with O’Connell into his first-floor suite have percolated since before he was officially elected.
Wally Dietz will stay on as Metro legal director. Dietz has quarterbacked Metro Legal since 2021, when he moved up Second Avenue from Bass, Berry & Sims, the Metro-cozy superfirm where Dietz worked on government investigations and anti-corruption cases. His son Scott helped run O’Connell’s field campaign. Wally’s predecessor, former Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper, left the Metro job to work in compliance at BB&S. Dietz has overseen significant legal tasks like defending the city’s sidewalk ordinance, a legal albatross he inherited from Bob Cooper, and proofing the Titans’ lease, a main priority of his former boss, outgoing Mayor John Cooper. Perhaps Dietz’s magnum opus, though, has been shaping the city’s various legal arguments against a state hailstorm of preemptive legislation over the past year.
Dietz notched a win in April when a court halted the state law seeking to halve the Metro Council. Earlier this month, Metro won again by blocking a state effort to assist lobbyists’ push to land NASCAR at The Fairgrounds Nashville. Nashville’s losses come when state laws go unchallenged or stay pending, as is the case with Metro’s suit against the state’s airport authority putsch. In the meantime, BNA has two airport authorities, and has embarrassed itself in front of the Federal Aviation Administration. Dietz briefed the new council on state overreach at the body’s orientation last week. He referenced Metro’s latest defense, a suit against a state law seeking greater control over the Metro Sports Authority, the city’s pro sports intermediary. Because of its bonding capacity and billion-dollar leases across three stadiums, the sports authority is a linchpin for the city’s financial future.
Keeping Metro’s anti-preemption architect in the heat of multiple legal battles — and with the promise of several more — is a no-brainer. O’Connell told media on Monday that the city-state relationship will be a top priority heading into the next legislative session, which starts in January.
“The governor reached out personally on election night,” O’Connell told reporters. “We’ve stayed in touch about getting something else down soon.”
Finance director Kelly Flannery is out after three years under John Cooper. Nashville’s finances have been rock-solid under Flannery, and O’Connell hasn’t been an outspoken critic, referring to her only once in his constituent newsletter as “clearly qualified” before her confirmation in 2021. The ouster could clear the way for a political ally, or a finance professional more explicitly tasked with O’Connell’s agenda. The finance director works more closely with the mayor’s office than perhaps any other department head.
Campaign spokesperson Alex Apple will be O’Connell’s deputy communications director. Apple, nephew to District Attorney Glenn Funk, helped run and win a competitive race with an underdog candidate. Though Councilmember Sean Parker has taken credit for O’Connell’s signature slogan, “I want you to stay,” Apple did legwork for an outfit that crushed opponents on messaging. A little bit of photo chaos at the swearing-in and an incomplete press list for a Friday afternoon release show that Apple’s still getting used to day-to-day logistics at the high office, but the Scene welcomes a new staff that promises a new era of transparency and outreach.
On Tuesday, O'Connell announced several other staffing decisions, including selecting Katy Varney, a veteran public relations executive formerly at MP&F Strategic Communications, as an interim director of communications. Campaign manager Marjorie Pomeroy-Wallace will be O’Connell’s chief of staff, while Bob Mendes — an O’Connell ally when both served on the Metro Council — will be O’Connell’s chief development officer. Bonita Dobbins will remain as an executive assistant, and Kathy Floyd-Buggs stays on as director of neighborhoods.
O’Connell’s formal inauguration comes Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Public Square Park.
