While Metro Charter Amendment 1 got the bulk of the headlines (and the money) in what qualified as the 47th Metro election of 2018, Nashville voters did have to make choices in five other charter amendments.

The only amendment that failed was an effort to add a third term to the limit for the Metro Council, rejected by roughly 55 percent of voters. A less jaundiced, more philosophical analysis might suggest that it got smacked down because it maintained the language of the early-’90s fad that insisted on term limits for everything, from congressman to road commissioner, as if voters are incapable of voting out incapable, overripe politicians on their own.

The vestigial language in this case requires the council to express their collective support — via formal letter! — for state legislative and congressional term limits. Despite the term-limit extension's downfall, the epistolary requirement remains, and with the passage of Amendment 4, councilmembers are now oath-bound to send said letter (and follow the rest of the charter, for that matter).

And "councilmembers" is the right word now, because Nashville voters overwhelmingly approved gender-neutral language in the charter, making all the "hises" into "his and her," "they" and similar such edits.

Amendments 2 and 3, which established clear succession methods for mayor — an eventuality no one really anticipated prior to Megan Barry's dalliance in the City Cemetery, et al. — also passed easily.





