Remarks by Mark Billingsley
32 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 2
Director Tipton, it absolutely was a pleasure to work with you in the previous administration. Yes. And I cannot tell you just what a job well done. You were always so confident in your work, which led me to confidence when I was listening to the numbers. I knew if you said them, I could depend on them. So again, thank you to your family for the many years of service they've offered you up for. But please enjoy your next months and years away from Shelby County government. Come and see us and visit. But thank you so much.
Commissioner, that item was heard. I mean, it passed a favorable recommendation.
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
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Yes, Madam Chairman. This passed with a favorable response. However, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office has asked us to pull this item today.
If the health director is here, could I ask a question, Madam Chairman?
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Yeah, would this item prohibit carbon-based electricity?
So again, we're clear, and I appreciate your explanation. So we're not adding anything up and above...
OK. Thank you for the explanation. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I was very happy to bring this resolution to us and that this body, eight of us were not on this body when the previous commission and the previous mayor adopted this on May 4th, 2026. If you wanna talk about transparency, there's been zero in this building and that on October 7th, when this county commission was in committee, in committee, in this building, the majority of us were in this building, Shelby County shopped this lawsuit and went to Chancery Court without sharing it with this body and went into Chancery Court on October 7th, filing a new lawsuit. and a…
Yes. I would like to withdraw my name from consideration, please.
Thank you. Colleagues, I respectfully ask for your vote to serve as chairman of your Shelby County Commission at a critical moment for our county. We have serious challenges and we need leadership that is willing to confront them honestly and bring this commission together around solutions. Our finance department demands immediate attention. We must restore fiscal responsibility and protect Shelby County's ability to make its own decisions. If we fail to act, we risk state intervention and decisions being made in Nashville instead of here. But our challenges go beyond the budget. Our trauma…
Thank you, Madam Chairman, and congratulations on your election. Thank you. I am a former Shelby County Commissioner. I served in this role for nine years. I'm known to be incredibly fair. I'm known to be fairly nonpartisan, even though I'm a Republican. And I would be honored to serve as vice chair. I will support the chairwoman to the very best of my ability. We have very serious issues in Nashville and here locally. And I think Commissioner Avant and I would do an incredible job bringing this team together. So I thank you for your consideration.
Thank you, Chairwoman Avant. Out of an abundance of caution, I'm going to recuse myself from this item. I raise funds for Alliance Healthcare Services. While I'm not an employee of Alliance Healthcare Services, I do support their organization. And in the future, they may be a future vendor with this related to Welford Health Services. So I'm going to be recusing today. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I'd like to call the question.
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Before they begin, can I, Chairwoman Sugarman, I want to recuse myself on this item out of an abundance of caution. I feel like I should recuse myself. I am the executive director of the Alliance Foundation. While I do not work for Alliance Healthcare Services, and I have a separate board of directors, a separate 501c3, my work day-to-day is to raise money for people with mental health issues. I believe at some point, over the next couple of years, Alliance Healthcare Services may contract with this group potentially as they did with WellPath. So again, Chairman, out of abundance of caution,…
Thank you, Chairwoman, and I appreciate the Chairwoman's comments. Many of the new commissioners just attended a CTAS meeting to try to do our very, very best and do our due diligence. One of the things they talked about at CTAS is social media is not an adequate form of informing the general public. I find Nextdoor to be pretty hit and miss and so little participation. I, if, if it requires a revisit of the code but we've been appropriately notifying people for many, many years in a good way. So I don't know where this fell off. I also can only speak for myself, but I, I give tremendous…
Madam Chairman, can I ask you for a point of privilege? Mm-hmm. And I understand why we're behind today, especially with the lengthy health care discussion. Today, Madam Chairman, as you know, under general government, we've got quite a few attorneys in front of us that actually have to go to court today. They were set to start at 10 o'clock. Is there any way you'd consider moving up general government and going to item number three, just so some of our candidates... can be heard by this body without having to leave, without being heard. I just ask that for your kind consideration. Thank you,…
Yes, ma'am. I'll make a motion to move up general government for item number three. Second.
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I just asked a county attorney about what those salary levels are. Can we go ahead and proceed and just get what regular commissioners currently make and what the current chair currently makes?
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
So it's a $2,000 variance. Yes. Okay. That's what I thought. All right. I just wanted to be sure we knew what we were voting on. Yes, sir.