For three recently departed Metro Council members, public service is likely to continue in another form: sitting on various Metro commissions.
Mayor Karl Dean has nominated former council members Jim Forkum, Kristine LaLonde and Greg Adkins to fill openings on the Metro Historical Commission, Social Services Commission and Metro Planning Commission, respectively. The Metro Council is set to consider the appointments at its Tuesday meeting.
Forkum and Adkins were term-limited from their former council seats. LaLonde opted against running during the council’s recent August and September election rounds. All three ex-council members were on board with most of the mayor’s initiatives.
In addition to nominating LaLonde to the social services board, Dean also named her chair of the Nashville Poverty Council, a citizen-led board created last year to help implement Nashville’s Poverty Reduction initiative.
“Kristine brings a great deal of passion and commitment to this initiative,” Dean said.
Pending council approval, Adkins –– CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality Association –– is set to fill former commissioner Ana Escobar’s seat on the planning commission. Dean recently appointed Escobar as Metro clerk to replace Marilyn Swing, who retired.
Among other nominations, the mayor has nominated former at-large Metro Council candidate Renard Francois to Metro’s Social Services Commission. Despite raising a healthy sum of cash and aggressively running for the seat, Francois lost out to the council’s five at-large incumbent council members, who all won re-election.