A candidates debate for those vying for positions on the Brentwood City Commission has been rescheduled for April 19.
The debate was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was canceled.
“We have had some major issues scheduling this debate for Brentwood,” Matt Largen told The Tennessee Star. Largen is president of Williamson, Inc., the chamber of commerce and economic development office for Williamson County.
Wednesday’s debate time ended up conflicting with a meeting on school rezoning and construction of a new school in Brentwood, which drew the candidates and several hundred community members, Largen said.
The rescheduled debate will be held at 6 p.m. at Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain, the same place as originally scheduled. LBMC is a CPA firm in the new Hill Center development at the corner of Franklin Road and Maryland Way. Williamson, Inc. board chair Jeff Drummonds is the CEO of LBMC and offered space for the event, Largen said, noting that it’s a central location.
Four candidates are running for three seats on the city board in the nonpartisan race. The election is May 2.
Three candidates are incumbents. They are Mayor Regina Smithson, Mark Gorman and Rhea Little. The only challenger is John Byers. The commission has a total of seven members elected at-large for four-year, staggered terms. The mayor and vice mayor are appointed by the commission for two-year terms.
A Williamson, Inc. blog post noted that “incumbents are likely to point to the Hill Center project and other examples of growth management as positive legacies of their tenure” and that “other accomplishments cited by incumbents were traffic mitigation measures (Gorman), first responder readiness (Gorman, Smithson), and financial support for schools (Little).”
The blog post quoted Byers, the challenger, as saying he would engage the under-45 demographic. He also is a proponent of what he calls “strategic growth.” He praised the Hill Center, but said, “Maryland Farms is going in the wrong direction. It has continued to be downgraded to B-class office space.”
For more information on the debate, click here. For profiles of the candidates, click here.
