Metro Agency Asks Whoever Becomes Mayor To Hire More Diverse Staff

Nashville’s mayor hasn’t been chosen yet, but whoever wins the position is already being asked to consider diversity when hiring staff and advisers.

The request came this week from the Metro Human Relations Commission.

The
message to the future mayor comes after a stinging report that revealed a lack of diversity, and unequal pay, in Metro departments.

Nashville’s mayor has a lot of hiring power — including for almost 90 branches of city government and its boards and commissions. So it’s not too early to talk about what could be hundreds of positions, says Melody Fowler-Green, executive director of the small Human Relations Commission, which investigates discrimination complaints and connects the government to historically underrepresented groups.

“Surely, right now, the candidates are thinking about … who they’re going to hire and who they’re going to look to as advisors,” Fowler-Green said.

As
first reported by The Tennessean, her team previously found that Metro government has few African-Americans, Latinos and women in leadership and that they typically earn less money than white male city workers.

That study prompted work by
a diversity committee
that agreed to
ten recommendations
— including that a consultant be hired to improve diversity in the Metro workforce.

The point of diverse hiring, Fowler-Green said, is finding people who understand a variety of communities and who want the government to serve them better. It’s about more than simply hiring staffers who might change the demographics on paper.

“You know, often, you hear, you’d treat someone as you know you would be treated,” Fowler-Green said. “Cultural competence asks you to treat people the way they want to be treated.”

“We recommend that when filling the myriad positions within the administration, the Mayor think about deep diversity,” reads
the new six-page policy paper from the commission
, “ensuring that those with influence on policymaking and on setting the tone challenge us all to be more culturally competent.”

While the human relations commission wants to be friendly with the next mayor — either Megan Barry or David Fox will have
their hiring decisions tracked. Local computer coders with the non-profit Code for Nashville created a data project, known as
IncluCivics, that watches how Metro’s workforce changes over time.

More:
View the latest Metro diversity data

In a debate this week, both candidates vowed to make diverse hires to mirror the county population.

Outgoing Mayor Karl Dean has an office budgeted for 30 employees, although there are currently 19 employed there. The city charter gives the mayor direct hiring power for nine Metro department heads.

There are
more than 60 boards and commissions to which the mayor makes appointments, although those are on staggered terms.