Nashville mayor adds to transit team ahead of fast-approaching transit referendum decision
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell announced another key hire to his transit team as his administration nears a decision on whether to push forward with a transit funding vote in November.
Michael Briggs, director of mobility at Vanderbilt University's Transportation and Mobility Office, will join O'Connell's staff as director of transportation planning in partnership with the university, O'Connell said Friday.
Briggs will work with O'Connell's Director of Transit and Mobility Tanisha Hall to evaluate the feasibility of getting a tax raise dedicated to transit funding on the November ballot as recommended by O'Connell's transition team.
The timeline to prepare for a November vote would be tight — state law requires a detailed transit improvement program to be developed and approved by an independent public accounting firm, the state comptroller and Metro Council before the proposal can be posed to Nashville voters. The Davidson County Election Commission finalizes ballots after Aug. 22, giving Metro just over seven months to clear all of those hurdles.
O'Connell said Friday he anticipates his administration will know if it's possible for Metro to meet state conditions for holding a transit referendum on that timeline by the end of January.
More: Could Nashville vote on mass transit next year? What a successful path may look like
Hall joined the administration in mid-December to "lead the effort" in that evaluation. She has more than a decade of experience in transportation planning, having served as director of long-range planning for the Tennessee Department of Transportation from 2012 through 2018, and serving as the founding CEO and principal of transportation planning firm Fairpointe Planning since then. Hall's firm recently oversaw the community and stakeholder engagement process for Metro's ConnectDowntown draft study.
Briggs will help with feasibility evaluations and work with Hall, the Nashville Department of Transportation and WeGo "to do some of the technical advisory pieces that would potentially go into a referendum," O'Connell said Friday.
Briggs joined Vanderbilt in November 2019 as assistant director of mobility after serving Metro Nashville as manager of multimodal transportation planning from 2010 through 2019. He became interim director of Vanderbilt's Transportation and Mobility Office in March 2022 and took on the position full-time that May.
Nonprofit Walk Bike Nashville recognized Briggs in 2019 for his contributions to improving Nashville's walkability and bikeability, awarding him the Kibby Clayton Lifetime Achievement Award.
When Briggs' work in the mayor's office is complete in about one to two years, he will return to his role at Vanderbilt, O'Connell said.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville mayor hires transit planner ahead of looming referendum decision
