Nashville’s city council will vote Thursday on an agreement that outlines how a $15 million state public-safety grant may be used in the city’s downtown district.
The grant was awarded to the Nashville Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit that manages the Downtown Central Business Improvement District.
The money comes from Gov. Bill Lee’s Downtown Public Safety Grant program, which provides funding to business improvement districts in Tennessee’s largest cities.
The agreement before the council would limit the nonprofit to a defined list of eligible purchases and require it to donate a portion of the funds to Nashville’s city government.
Those dollars would then require separate council approval before being used.
Under the agreement, the grant would fund technology focused on increasing monitoring and coordination in the downtown area.
The list includes new fixed video cameras to observe activity in public spaces and noise-detection cameras that can assist with enforcing local noise ordinances.
The proposal also includes a centralized “video wall,” which would allow staff to monitor multiple live camera feeds at once during large events or periods of heavy foot traffic.
Two software platforms — LeoSight and Fivecast — would support coordination across public-safety agencies through mapping tools, shared communication channels and digital evidence management.
The grant would also fund a new “downtown tech center.”
The center is described as a hub for managing camera networks, analyzing data and overseeing coordinated safety operations.
The plan also lists several pieces of equipment for the Metro Nashville Police Department, including an armored rescue vehicle, a mobile command post and a tactical support post for large events and emergency deployments.
The surveillance and equipment package follows a major debate last year, when the council narrowly rejected a proposed contract with the technology company Fusus.
That earlier proposal focused on integrating public and private camera systems and drew extensive discussion about data access and oversight of law-enforcement technology.
On Thursday, the council can approve the agreement, amend it or defer it for further review.
