GOP wants Nashville leaders to act quickly on NES
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said Thursday that "the Three Stooges could have done a better job" preparing for last month's ice storm than the Nashville Electric Service leadership.
Why it matters: McNally's criticism shouldn't be dismissed as a pithy burn. Republican lawmakers want Mayor Freddie O'Connell and Metro to act quickly on NES reforms, or else they are primed to make changes themselves.
What he's saying: "We are waiting to see what Nashville does," McNally told reporters Thursday.
- "I think the [CEO] of NES needs to go. I think many of the board members need to be reexamined and possibly taken off the board and a new board formed, because there wasn't a proper response" to the storm, he said.
Friction point: At a weekly media briefing Thursday, top Senate Republicans pushed Metro to make changes to NES before the end of the legislative session.
- That's much quicker than Metro appears to be moving. O'Connell created a commission to review the city's storm response and recommend potential changes to NES.
- O'Connell gave the commission until August to submit its report, well after the end of the session in late March or early April.
Zoom out: Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson says the General Assembly should look at how NES board members are appointed.
- Republicans have taken issue with the fact that NES serves Nashville suburbs even though those municipalities don't have the ability to appoint members to the NES board of directors. Under the current setup, Nashville's mayor appoints the board members.
- "I certainly would like to look into getting diversity in representation on the board," Johnson says.