‘Uplifting for the morale': Hendersonville mayor apologizes to fire department for recent drama
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Upset with their mayor, Hendersonville firefighters and their supporters packed into the city's council meeting on Tuesday to push for pay raises.
'The police deserve what they had [a raise], but so does the fire department,' said one speaker.
'Yes, this is what we signed up for, but we also came to this job thinking the city of Hendersonville had our back and would pay us a fair living wage so we don't have to work another job,' said a Hendersonville firefighter.
PREVIOUS | Hendersonville firefighters call out mayor, claim 'personal vendetta' toward their department
Four other fire associations showed up to support HFD on Tuesday: Wilson County, Dickson County, Murfreesboro and Gallatin.
Public comment lasted over an hour and, in the end, Mayor Jamie Clary took the microphone and apologized for the recent drama.
'We've got an exceptional fire department, one of the best in the state. I had more to say and, honestly, some corrections to make. But I want to move forward. I appreciate the firefighters, I really really do. I'm prepared to respond to everything that's been said, but I think I need to say nothing more than: I'm truly sorry,' said Clary. 'I want peace, we all want peace, and I will work harder and more deliberately for peace.'
This tension between Mayor Clary and the Hendersonville Fire Department has been building for some time, boiling over after the mayor's State of the City address earlier this month.
MARCH 2025: Hendersonville approves pay raises for entire police department
While stating their support for Hendersonville police and the raises they recently received, Hendersonville Fire believes they deserve more respect from the city.
An apology from the mayor is a good first step.
'It's so uplifting for the morale of our firefighters association,' said Matt Elliott, vice president for Hendersonville's Firefighters Association. 'There's still a lot of work to be done, and we plan to hold [Clary] to that. But we appreciate the mayor validating our anger… we're looking forward to where it goes from here.'
Where it goes from here is, likely, budget discussions with the city to sort out how HFD can see a raise in the next year. Hendersonville has their next budget workshop in early May.
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One key figure who has remained silent throughout this funding feud: longtime fire chief Scotty Bush.
'I've been the fire chief for 10 years in May, and my focus has always been on my staff and the citizens of the City of Hendersonville. And I will never stray from that,' Chief Bush told News 2.
Bush did not speak in direct response to Mayor Clary's apology. Instead, he praised his department for their continued 'professionalism and integrity.'
'We got 122 in the department, counting myself. I would match their skills, their interpersonal skills, their abilities to do their jobs, against anybody in the state,' Bush said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Los Angeles Times
7 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
This Los Angeles city official testified for four days so Karen Bass wouldn't have to
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It's David Zahniser, with an assist from Noah Goldberg and Laura Nelson, giving you the latest on city and county government. If Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass manages to hold on to her power to oversee the city's homelessness programs, she may well have one person to thank: City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo. Szabo, a fixture in the administrations of the past three mayors, was effectively the city's star witness in its legal battle against the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, the nonprofit group that sued the city in 2020 over its handling of the homelessness crisis. During a seven-day hearing that concluded Wednesday, the alliance pressed U.S. Dist. Judge David O. Carter to take authority over homeless services away from Bass and the City Council and give it to a to-be-determined third party overseen by the court. On four of those seven days, Szabo sat in the witness chair, defending the city's decisions and occasionally offering cutting remarks about the city's critics. Above all, he insisted the city would meet its obligation to provide 12,915 additional homeless beds by June 2027, as required under a settlement agreement with the alliance. Szabo, who reports to both Bass and the council, is well known within City Hall for his work preparing the city budget, negotiating with city unions and providing policy recommendations on homelessness and other issues. During his time in Carter's courtroom, he was also a human shield, taking the brunt of the hostile questions and helping to ensure that Bass and others would not be called to testify. Throughout the proceedings, the city's lawyers lodged hundreds of objections to the alliance's questions, sometimes before they had been fully asked. Carter cautioned them that the rapid-fire interruptions could make things difficult for inexperienced witnesses. He also made clear that the group did not include Szabo. 'Mr. Szabo,' the judge said, 'certainly is used to the stress.' The alliance had placed not just Bass but also Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez and Traci Park on its witness list, saying all three had made public statements criticizing the response system. Bass herself called the system 'broken' during her State of the City address in April, a fact highlighted by Matthew Umhofer, an attorney for the alliance. Those statements, Umhofer said, only reinforce the alliance's argument that the city's homelessness programs are beyond repair and must be placed into receivership. 'The city is not fixing that broken system,' he said during closing arguments. 'It's simply doubling down on that broken system.' Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl, asked to explain the mayor's use of the word 'broken,' said she was referring to a number of obstacles, including 'an urge from many to return to the old way of doing things that allowed homelessness to explode.' 'But change is happening,' he said. 'Under the Mayor's leadership, we are moving forward.' The city's newly hired legal team from Gibson Dunn, the law firm that persuaded the Supreme Court to uphold laws barring homeless encampments on public property, sought to amplify that message. They also claimed the mayor and council members were shielded by the 'apex doctrine,' which bars high-level, or apex, government officials from testifying except in extraordinary circumstances. The city's lawyers offered up just two witnesses of their own: Szabo and Etsemaye Agonafer, Bass' deputy mayor for homelessness programs, saying they were the most familiar with the issues. The alliance initially sought 15. Agonafer testified for about four hours, highlighting progress made by the mayor's Inside Safe program, which moves people out of encampments and into hotels and motels. Umhofer ultimately withdrew his subpoenas targeting Bass and the others, saying he didn't want to incur additional delays. But he called Bass cowardly for failing to show up. By then, he said, his team had enough evidence to show that the city's elected officials should no longer control homeless programs. 'We have quite literally put the homelessness response system in Los Angeles on trial,' said Elizabeth Mitchell, another alliance attorney, on the final day of proceedings. The alliance used much of the questioning to highlight problems at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, also known as LAHSA. That agency, overseen by a board of appointees from the city and county, has been criticized repeatedly in audits dating back to 2001 — documents highlighted by the alliance during the proceedings. Szabo acknowledged that LAHSA has faced issues with data collection. But he insisted that the city is closely tracking the beds required under its settlement with the alliance. 'We have taken steps to ensure that the data we are reporting is accurate,' he told the court. Carter, who has yet to rule in the case, did not sound as confident in the city's attention to detail. On Wednesday, he demanded that the city turn over records regarding its compliance with another agreement in the case — this one known as the 'roadmap.' The roadmap agreement, which expires June 30, required the city to produce 6,700 beds. In his order, Carter raised questions about whether city officials had double counted 'time-limited subsidies' — money used to help homeless people move into apartments and pay their rent — by applying them both to the roadmap requirements and to the obligations within the alliance settlement agreement. Szabo said city officials are collecting the records for the judge. Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, whose district includes Hollywood, voiced confidence in Szabo. He also praised Bass for taking on the issue of homelessness, pointing out that LAHSA reported that the city had made progress last year. 'We're doing things that are showing results,' said Soto-Martínez, whose office has participated in 23 Inside Safe encampment operations. 'Is it perfect? No. But we're working through it.' — ICE RAID OUTRAGE: L.A.'s elected officials voiced their anger on Friday over a series of federal immigration sweeps in Westlake, Cypress Park and other parts of the city. L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said the individuals detained were 'hardworking Angelenos who contribute to our local economy and labor force every day.' Bass issued her own statement, saying: 'We will not stand for this.' 'As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,' she said. 'These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.' — WELCOME, AECOM: Nearly five months after a firestorm laid waste to a wide swath of Pacific Palisades, Bass announced that the city has hired the global infrastructure firm AECOM to develop a plan for rebuilding the area and reconstructing utilities and other infrastructure. The firm will work alongside both the city and Hagerty Consulting, which Bass tapped as a recovery contractor in February, according to the mayor's office. — SWITCHING HORSES? Businessman and gubernatorial candidate Stephen J. Cloobeck offered praise for L.A.'s mayor last year, commending her for her work addressing homelessness. He even said he had donated $1 million to LA4LA, an initiative promoted by Bass during her 2024 State of the City address, an event he attended. But last weekend, while making the rounds at the California Democratic Convention, he told The Times he wasn't so keen on Bass' leadership. 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Benito Flores, who seized a vacant residence in El Sereno several years ago, recently holed up in a tree house he built in the backyard — and so far has warded off attempts by sheriff's deputies to lock him out. — AIRPORT AHEAD: The long-awaited LAX/Metro transit center at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street finally opened on Friday, bringing commuters tantalizingly close to Los Angeles International Airport. For now, free shuttle buses will run every 10 minutes along the 2.5-mile route between the transit center and LAX. — BREAKING BARRIERS: The first transgender captain in the Los Angeles Fire Department died last month at age 80. Michele Kaemmerer joined the LAFD in 1969, retiring in 2003. She transitioned in 1991 and later led Engine 63 in Marina del Rey. In a 1999 interview with PBS, Kaemmerer said that some firefighters who knew her before she transitioned refused to work with her. Despite those hardships, she 'always had a good attitude,' said her widow, Janis Walworth. That's it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@ Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Nashville mayor stands by ICE instructions, has no plans to remove executive order
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell isn't budging on the city's response to recent ICE raids. Amid growing pressure from state leaders, O'Connell stated he does not have plans to rescind Executive Order 30, which requires Metro Police and Metro Council to document and publish interactions with federal immigration authorities. This comes after House Speaker Cameron Sexton demanded O'Connell remove the order on Thursday. RELATED: TN House Speaker demands Nashville mayor rescind executive order tied to ICE interactions 'Our focus is on participating in conversations, having discourse directly with our community, and frequently, at a staff level, with people in state and federal government,' said O'Connell on Friday. 'We don't spend as much energy on statements, and so I haven't even fully reviewed the statement yet.' 'We believe that the transparency that is in that executive order helps everybody,' he continued. 'It helps make sure that nobody can accuse local, state, or federal entities of activity that did or did not occur. It also represents to the community that nobody is trying to hide anything here.' With that all said, O'Connell called it 'appropriate' to maintain the executive order, for now. He said he and his office are more focused on the city's 2026 budget. 'Our department of law leads everything that we need to do to make sure we are compliant with state and federal law. We are going to respond appropriately to any formal requests for documents or investigation,' O'Connell explained. 'But our office, our team are focused on the business of the city. We are working on our budget and we are working on doing what's right for Nashvillians.' Highlights from Mayor O'Connell's State of Metro Address and proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 Key components of the proposed budget, according to O'Connell, are public safety and housing. With public safety, O'Connell detailed an expansion of resources for Nashville Fire, the addition of more SROs in schools, plus new police precincts. As for housing, the Mayor said Nashville is in a crisis, which is why the budget would include the largest single-year investment into housing in the city's history. O'Connell referenced the 'stark contrast' between Nashville's budget plan, and President Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' specifically when it relates to health care and services for the lower/middle class. Overall, O'Connell said they feel 'very good' about their 2026 budget. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
a day ago
Points of Light, founded by the Bush family, aims to double American volunteerism by 2035
NEW ORLEANS -- The Bush family's nonprofit Points of Light will lead an effort to double the number of people who volunteer with U.S. charitable organizations from 75 million annually to 150 million in 10 years. The ambitious goal, announced in New Orleans at the foundation's annual conference, which concluded Friday, would represent a major change in the way Americans spend their time and interact with nonprofits. It aspires to mobilize people to volunteer with nonprofits in the U.S. at a scale that only federal programs like AmeriCorps have in the past. It also coincides with deep federal funding cuts that threaten the financial stability of many nonprofits and with an effort to gut AmeriCorps programs, which sent 200,000 volunteers all over the country. A judge on Wednesday paused those cuts in some states, which had sued the Trump administration. Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO of Points of Light, said that while the campaign has been in development well before the federal cuts, the nonprofit's board members recently met and decided to move forward. 'What our board said was, 'We have to do it now. We have to put the stake in the ground now. It's more important than it was before the disruption of AmeriCorps,'' she said in an interview with The Associated Press. She said the nonprofit aims to raise and spend $100 million over the next three years to support the goal. Points of Light, which is based in Atlanta, was founded by President George H.W. Bush to champion his vision of volunteerism. It has carried on his tradition of giving out a daily award to a volunteer around the country, built a global network of volunteer organizations and cultivated corporate volunteer programs. Speaking Wednesday in New Orleans, Points of Light's board chair Neil Bush told the organization's annual conference that the capacity volunteers add to nonprofits will have a huge impact on communities. 'Our mission is to make volunteering and service easier, more impactful, more sustained," Bush said. "Because, let's be honest, the problems in our communities aren't going to fix themselves.' According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps, the rate of participation has plateaued since 2002, with a noticeable dip during the pandemic. Susan M. Chambré, professor emerita at Baruch College who studied volunteering for decades, said Points of Light's goal of doubling the number of volunteers was admirable but unrealistic, given that volunteer rates have not varied significantly over time. But she said more research is needed into what motivates volunteers, which would give insight into how to recruit people. She also said volunteering has become more transactional over time, directed by staff as opposed to organized by volunteers themselves. In making its case for increasing volunteer participation in a recent report, Points of Light drew on research from nonprofits like Independent Sector, the National Alliance for Volunteer Engagement and the Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland. Sirangelo said they want to better measure the impact volunteers make, not just the hours they put in, for example. They also see a major role for technology to better connect potential volunteers to opportunities, though they acknowledge that many have tried to do that through apps and online platforms. Reaching young people will also be a major part of accomplishing this increase in volunteer participation. Sirangelo said she's observed that many young people who do want to participate are founding their own nonprofits rather than joining an existing one. 'We're not welcoming them to our institutions, so they have to go found something,' she said. 'That dynamic has to change.' As the board was considering this new goal, they reached out for advice to Alex Edgar, who is now the youth engagement manager at Made By Us. They ultimately invited him to join the board as a full voting member and agreed to bring on a second young person as well. 'I think for volunteering and the incredible work that Points of Light is leading to really have a deeper connection with my generation, it needs to be done in a way that isn't just talking to or at young people, but really co-created across generations,' said Edgar, who is 21. Karmit Bulman, who has researched and supported volunteer engagement for many years, said she was very pleased to see Points of Light make this commitment. 'They are probably the most well known volunteerism organization in the country and I really appreciate their leadership,' said Bulman, who is currently the executive director of East Side Learning Center, a nonprofit in St. Paul. Bulman said there are many people willing to help out in their communities but who are not willing to jump through hoops to volunteer with a nonprofit. 'We also need to recognize that it's a pretty darn stressful time in people's lives right now,' she said. "There's a lot of uncertainty personally and professionally and financially for a lot of people. So we need to be really, really flexible in how we engage volunteers." ___
