Metro Nashville on Tuesday told The Tennessee Star that Metro estimates it will need until July 10 to provide documents justifying the nearly $1.5 million in grants awarded to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors (TNJFON) in the fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget passed earlier this month.
The response from Metro came six business days after Metro confirmed receipt of the public records request on June 12, at which point the request had been sent to the Metro Department of Finance, the law department, the mayor’s office, and the Metro Council.
If Metro completes the request by its July 10 estimate, this means that, excluding weekends and the dates Metro employees work to observe Independence Day and Juneteenth, it will take the city 18 business days to find documents that justify the $1.5 million in grants.
Filed by The Star under the Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA), the request specifically seeks copies of the most recent application, proposal, statement of proposed use, scope of services, spending plan, audit, financial statement, or other document submitted by the nonprofits in order to justify the FY 27 grants.
The request comes as Metro officials publicly contradict one another about what the funding will be used for, as a spokesperson for O’Connell told The Star that the money would not go toward providing legal representation, advice, or advocacy for illegal aliens, but Metro Clerk Austin Kyle revealed that the FY 27 budget merely extends existing grants with a different funding source.
Scheduled to expire at the end of June, the current contract between Metro and the nonprofits was originally signed in 2022, and is funded with Biden-era stimulus money sent to Nashville through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
The Star filed the public records request after the Metro Clerk asserted that Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 7-3-314 did not require the county to make such reports available for public inspection and that contracts between Metro and nonprofits are made available only after they are signed.
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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 “Mayor Freddie O’Connell” by Freddie O’Connell.
