An ethics dust-up hit Metro Council this week, as two East Nashville residents accused District 26 Councilmember Courtney Johnston of quietly sitting on the board of a kids museum tied to a major redevelopment vote. The complaint says Johnston failed to disclose her role with the nonprofit Music City Children’s Museum and then took part in a council vote involving the proposed site. Johnston has brushed off the filing as “nonsense,” and the Metro Council has put the related rezoning on hold while the dust settles.
According to the Nashville Banner, East Nashville residents Melanie Cochran and Elizabeth MK Sullivan filed the ethics complaint on Thursday. They allege Johnston did not list her seat on the museum’s board in her annual financial disclosure and did not recuse herself from a council vote involving the former scrapyard property on the east bank of the Cumberland River, where the museum is proposed. The complaint asks the city’s Department of Law and the Board of Ethical Conduct to investigate.
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