Metro Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office on Friday produced just five documents in response to public records request from The Tennessee Star, which sought his justification for appropriating nearly $1.5 million in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON).
The office claimed the remaining responsive records were exempt from disclosure under the Tennessee Public Records Act because they contain privileged communications between Metro and its attorneys.
O’Connell and his office appear to contend that attorney-client privilege covers the overwhelming majority of records sought by The Star, namely any FY 27 application, proposal, funding request, audit, or renewal request that could have explained the decision by O’Connell to include appropriations of $735,000 for TIRRC and $718,000 for TNJFON in his budget.
In response to the TPRA request, the mayor’s office provided The Star with just five internal emails. All but one of the emails were sent by Metro employees in response to press inquiries from media outlets, including The Star, as well as in response to the records request.
Lacking any information to indicate why the nearly $1.5 million was added to the budget, the response also seems to put Metro in defiance of Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 7-3-314(b), which mandates that nonprofits seeking grants from metropolitan governments must provide “clerk of the legislative body a statement of the proposed use of the funds and the program that serves the residents of the county and a copy of an annual audit.”
Once filed, “The report will be open for public inspection during regular business hours of the clerk’s office.”
Notably, Metro Clerk Austin Kyle previously told The Star that TCA 7-3-314(b) did not apply to the $1.5 million appropriated for TIRRC and TNJFON, which is instead governed by TCA 7-3-314-(c).
This portion of the law mandates that metropolitan governments publish the names of nonprofits to which they appropriate money. Nothing about this statute appears to invalidate the previous section or imply that funding appropriated by metropolitan governments for nonprofits may comply with one section but not the other.
While Kyle did not provide information about the TIRRC and TNJFON appropriations as required under TCA 7-3-314(b), one of the emails provided to The Star from the Metro Clerk’s office appeared to reveal that Metro’s legal strategy for withholding its justification to spend nearly $1.5 million on pro-illegal alien nonprofits was first communicated by Metro Assistant Director of Law Lora Fox.
After Kyle asked for clarification in response to a press inquiry from The Star, Fox told the Metro Clerk in part, “The grant referenced in the email is a direct appropriation in the Mayor’s budget, addressed by T.C.A. § 7-3-314(c) (not (b). T.C.A. §7-3-314(b), cited in the email, generally deals with grants approved by resolution of Council.”
Fox told Kyle, “After Council approves the budget reflecting the appropriation, Metro enters into a contract with the nonprofit addressing use of the funds, which is filed with the Metro Clerk.”
The Metro Council passed an amended version of the budget proposed by O’Connell last month, effectively rubber-stamping the requests to appropriate nearly $1.5 million for TIRRC and TNJFON.
Previously appropriated with funding from former President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2022, the nonprofits’ original contract with Metro includes a document from the Vera Institute of Justice that urged American cities to use temporary federal funding to implement permanent programs that provide legal assistance to illegal aliens.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Freddie O’Connell” by Freddie O’Connell.
