Google official discusses use of AI to solve municipal issues With municipalities charged with handling more data and sensitive information than ever, artificial intelligence is offering opportunities for cities to find unique solutions to problems. TVA's Jeff Lyash talks Tennessee's energy future With concerns such as providing renewable energy sources, the expanding electric vehicle market, and ensuring American infrastructure can survive increasingly damaging weather events, the Tennessee... NLC Local Infrastructure Hub workshops to help small cities win big With the final push to award unprecedented levels of federal infrastructure funding underway, the National League of Cities (NLC) is hoping to help smaller cities get a bigger piece of the pie. TML thanks 2024 Annual Conference exhibitors The TML would like to thank all of the exhibitors who participated in the TML Annual Conference in Knoxville. News Across Tennessee Carthage, U.S. Corps of Army Engineers partner to prevent erosion at water plant The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers partnered with the town of Carthage on a streambank stabilization project on the Cumberland River, which aims to prevent further erosion on the riverbank near the Carthage Wastewater Treatment Plant. The city and the Corps entered a cost-share partnership for design... La Vergne cuts ribbon on new fire hall Officials with the city of La Vergne have officially opened the new La Vergne Fire Rescue Department Station 4. The opening ceremony included a ceremonial “push-in” ceremony for the new E-One pumper truck. The station provides better training facilities, new administrative offices, a 120-person... Nashville receives federal funds for housing development Nashville will receive $5 million from the White House and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to remove barriers to affordable housing production and preservation by creating a Faith Based Development Institute. Metro Nashville will also use the funds to bolster its Affordable Housing... Nashville Wire Products announces new operations in McEwen Nashville Wire Products officials announced the company’s plans to establish a new manufacturing site in McEwen. The facility is the company’s sixth base in the Volunteer State and will add 102 new jobs, increasing the company’s total workforce in Tennessee by 19%. In total, Nashville Wire Products... Dessert company to expand Cleveland location Newly Weds Foods, LLC,officials announced the company’s plans to expand its current base in Cleveland. The company is in the process of investing more than $2 million and creating approximately 40 new jobs as part of the move, which will help increase product capacity. Newly Weds Foods, LLC, started... Brownsville receives DRA grant The city of Brownsville has received $121,500 as part of more than $720,000 in grants recently awarded to six communities by the Delta Regional Authority (DRA). Brownsville’s funds will help develop a design-to-cost study for the establishment of a community resource center that will provide social... People Emily Wood Emily Wood Emily Wood has been selected as the new assistant city administrator for Morristown. Wood has more than 10 years’ experience in municipal government, most recently serving as the town administrator for Mount Carmel. Prior to that she served as a transit planner, city recorder, and certified... Scotty Smith Scotty Smith Scotty Smith has been selected to fill the unexpired Camden alderman term left vacant by the death of Travis Pierce in July of this year. Smith will serve the remainder of the term, which expires in November 2026. He is the owner of J & J Equipment in Camden and is a member of the Benton County Fair... Chris Cummins Chris Cummins Chris Cummins has been selected as the new fire chief for Columbia Fire and Rescue. Cummings has been serving as the interim chief of the department since March. He has more than three decades of experience with the fire service in Columbia, joining the department as a firefighter in 1990. He served... Samantha Burnett Samantha Burnett Samantha Burnett has been hired as the first full-time city attorney for Mt. Juliet. She comes to the city from serving as an associate at the Howell & Fisher, PLLC law firm for the past five years and will replace the previously contracted legal services for the city. Burnett served as a public... John Drake John Drake John Drake, chief of the Metro Nashville Police Department, has been elected president of the board of directors for the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the nation’s preeminent independent research organization that focuses on critical issues in policing. Drake began his career in law... Mark Gwyn Mark Gwyn Mark Gwyn, former director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), died at the age of 61 at his home in Nashville from natural causes. Gwyn served as director of TBI from 2004 until his retirement in 2018. A native of McMinnville and a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he began... State Briefs GIVE grants provide $41M to foster partnerships between TCATS, local industries Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced recipients of the Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education (GIVE) grant program, which prioritizes learning opportunities in rural counties and enhances career and technical education statewide. Tennessee has made notable progress in rural workforce development... DOJ joins Tennessee, seven states in lawsuit against software company accused of driving up rents The U.S. Department of Justice has joined a bipartisan antitrust suit against RealPage brought by the state of Tennessee and seven other states. The company sells software to landlords that collects nonpublic information from competing landlords and uses that combined information to make pricing... Tennessee July revenues $119.3M above estimates Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson announced that revenues for July were $1.7 billion, which is $51.2 million more than July of last year. The total growth rate for the month was 3.10%. “July total tax revenues grew more than expected in the final month of... Tennessee to receive $813M for broadband from BEAD program The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) announced the approval of Tennessee’s initial proposal for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program.The department has been allocated $813 million as part of its initial proposal... Middle Fork Bottoms becomes Tennessee's newest state park Middle Fork Bottoms has become the newest Tennessee State Park. Located between Jackson and Three Way, the park spans approximately 860 acres and is part of a floodplain restoration project boasting more than 200 acres of restored wetlands, two miles of revitalized streams, and 250,000 newly planted... Tennessee unemployment remains at record low for third month Tennessee’s July unemployment rate remained at a record-low of 3% for the third consecutive month. According to new data from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD), employers across the state added 2,000 new nonfarm jobs to their payrolls between June and July. The construction... TML Updates Delta Regional Authority announces funding opportunities Federal departments announce deadlines for major grant applications Restore Return Relief Advocacy