City Council - Special Meeting

[music] The Clarksville City Council will now come to order. This is the continuation of the special session that was recessed on February 11th, 2026. Uh ladies and gentlemen, please register your attendance. Madame clerk, please take the role. All members are present.

All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk. A couple of things before we get started. Um, Councilman or former Councilman Mclofflin sends her regrets. She intended to be here tonight, but duty called with Congressman Van Eps and she needed to be out of town on a very important matter. So, she sends her regrets that she could not be here. Uh, secondly, the posture we find ourselves in is we have two finalists for the war two position. We will continue to vote uh on those two according to city code and we will vote until a candidate receive seven votes which is the majority of the membership of the city council. Um should we remain deadlocked we will continue this meeting I hope and stand in recess and we'll come back in a couple of weeks and try it again. So anyway, that's the position we are in. And uh before we get on to round 33 of the no joke, round 33 of the voting uh Councilman Streetman, for what purpose?

Mayor, I was going to ask, would it be possible in an effort to maybe hopefully speed this up some that each of us had the opportunity, if we so chose to speak as to why we're voting for the candidate we're voting for?

You've heard the request. Any objection to that? This is if you would like to speak to the candidate you're voting for or supporting. Let's put it there. There is an objection, so we'll put it on the board. Uh we're voting to allow each councilman, if they choose, to speak um as to why they're voting for a particular candidate. As soon as the clerk gets it on the board, we will vote. and just for the sake of time, we will do this in a twominut increment for each council member. Okay, it's on the board. Every member, please cast your vote. Every member voted. Any member wish to change their vote. Madame clerk, please take the vote. [laughter] Six yes, six no, zero abstaining.

Motion fails. We are now uh we are now voting um round 33 on the two candidates, Eric Clunchch and AC Lopez. We are starting with Councilman Chandler, which is where we left off when we recessed on February 11th. So, Madame Clerk, whenever you're ready. Councilman Chandler, Eric Clounch, Councilman Marquee, AC Lopez, Councilman Smith, AC Lopez, Councilman Hollowerman, AC Lopez, Councilman Haywood, AC Lopez, Councilman Brown, Eric Clunchch, uh, Councilman Streetman,

Eric Clunch, Councilman Shaab, AC Lopez, Councilman Lovado, Eric Clunchch, Councilman Zacharias, Eric Clunch, Councilman Peters, Eric Clunch, Mayor Pitts, Eric Clunchch, Madam Clerk, take the vote. Eric Clunch has seven votes and AC Lopez has five. Congratulations, Mr. Clunch. You've been duly and legally elected to [applause] as a member of the Clarksville City Council. We'll invite you to come forward. I'll administer the oath of office to you and then we'll ask you to take your seat and you'll be able to offer remarks. All

[snorts] [music] right. Are you ready to take your oath of office? Yes, sir. I am. Raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I state your name. I, Airqu Swear solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution the Constitution and will obey all of the laws and will obey all of the laws of the United States of the United States and of the state of Tennessee and of the state of Tennessee. And that I will and that I will in all respects in all respects support and obey support and obey the charter the [snorts] charter and all ordinances and all ordinances and resolutions and resolutions

of the city of Clarksville of the city of Clarksville. and that I will demean myself And that I will demean myself in my official capacity in my official capacity as city councilman as city councilman faithfully faithfully honestly honestly and with due regard With due regard to the welfare of the city to the welfare of this city to the best of my ability to the best of my ability. Congratulations and welcome to the council. Thank you, sir. All right. I'm going to give you an opportunity to make remarks from your seat. Yes, sir.

Thank you, sir. You are ready to speak. Councilman Clunch, you are recognized. Uh

Mr. Mayor, first of all, thank you. I would uh be remiss to not thank uh Uh first and foremost, my daughter who couldn't be here. Uh Diana Mclofflin, uh the city council members that have spent a lot of time talking to me uh over the past week. Uh Ross St. Louis, um the citizens of this great city. I've understood why those that voted no did after I walked the streets of my ward after I went to get my beard trim yesterday and got stopped and couldn't leave because of conversations that people wanted to have. Um, also the invite to u some upcoming very exciting things that are happening in Clarksville that I'm pretty [clears throat] excited about. Uh, and again, if if I'm out of order with this, I have noticed that there's issues in Clarksville, we have this us and them or them and us. And I feel with the walking around that I did and everybody that I talked to even today, there are issues. So all this decisiveness of red, blue, blue, red, if we come together with a common understanding of what the problems are and start there as opposed to opposite ends as a city collectively, I think we have a much better chance of continuing to make Clarksville better than it was with respect to the way that it is, but moving forward in the future of our great city. Sir,

thank you very much. That deserves a round of applause. [applause] I WANT TO SAY say thank you to every every member of this community who put their name forth to be considered for this this appointment. And thank you to Mr. Lopez for your patience during this process. Just took 34 rounds to get here. So you are now an official member of the beard caucus apparently. [laughter] All right. So got to step my game up. All right. All right. We are now ready for public comment. We allow three people, five minutes each. If you're a member of the public, wish to address the council, you can come forward now. All right. The purpose for which this special session of the Clarksville City Council, having been accomplished, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn.

Without objection, we're adjourned.