Council 'too nice' to buck Dean on convention center board

Metro Council members might be holding their noses when they vote to confirm Mayor Karl Dean’s appointees to the new board, which will oversee the proposed Music City Center.

Skepticism remained among Council members about Dean’s picks for the new board, which will eventually manage development of the $600 million convention center and its attached headquarters hotel.

As one Council member put it, however, “I think this Council is too nice to stand up and speak against or vote ‘no’ on any of these appointees.”

Dean’s appointees will be considered at the Oct. 6 Metro Council meeting.

“I had some reservations about some people on the board and what value they brought,” said District 33 Councilman Robert Duvall. “I had some concerns about some folks, their credentials, their time they’ve been in Nashville. Just because you’ve made a business investment doesn’t mean you’re qualified to be here on this board.”

Duvall would not specify, but he’s likely referring to Dean appointee C. Mark Arnold, who moved to Nashville in June from Atlanta, when he purchased Gray Line Bus Tours. Arnold registered to vote in August just days before Dean appointed him to the board.

Also receiving some pushback from Council members is Dean appointee Leo Waters, who has a deep political history in Nashville and has collected his share of detractors. Waters has previously served as an at-large Metro Council member and as a member of the Nashville Electric Services board.

Dean aide Richard Riebeling, Metro’s finance director, expressed confidence in the administration’s appointees two weeks ago when an opposition movement led by Councilman Michael Craddock formed. Craddock took exception to the administration’s decision to have all nine appointees considered at once.

The outspoken Madison-area Councilman rallied opposition, which left the resolution in jeopardy. The Dean administration chose to withdraw the bill and file nine separate resolutions for each prospective member instead.

The administration always planned to put the Convention Center Authority in place, but moved up its timeline following a series of media reports about the Metro Development and Housing Agency’s management of predevelopment contracts.

MDHA approved increasing the communications contract, originally capped at $75,000, to more than $450,000. As a result, Dean called for an independent audit and the public relations firm McNeely, Pigott & Fox resigned from its contract.

Besides Arnold and Waters, Dean’s appointees are former AT&T president Marty Dickens, The Temple Church pastor Darrell Drumwright, Vector Management co-president Kevin Levitan, Union Steel Workers Local 1055 representative Vonda McDaniel, banking industry veteran Willie McDonald, financial advisor Luke Simons, and freelance event coordinator Mona Lisa Warren.

Financing for the proposed Music City Center will be presented to Council before the end of the year, the administration said.