The state is appealing the decision by the Nashville Airport Authority to keep the mayor’s board in place.

By Pennie Spruill On Nov 30, 2023

A new notice shows that the state of Tennessee will fight a court decision that removed the Metro Nashville Airport Authority’s new board of state appointees.

On October 31, a group of three judges in Tennessee sided with Metro Nashville in its lawsuit against a new state law. This was a victory in the city’s ongoing legal fight to keep local control. The notice of appeal from the state was turned in Wednesday afternoon, just one day before the 30-day deadline set by law.

In May, Gov. Bill Lee signed a law that got rid of Metro’s previous Airport Authority board, which was made up of people chosen by the mayor and approved by the Metro Council. This means that state officials can now fill six of the board’s eight seats. In most of Davidson County, the law also gave the board more power over zoning choices.

On Monday, October 30, 2023, near the new satellite terminal at Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tenn., planes are getting ready to take off.

“To a clear and decisive resolution so airport leadership can focus on serving our community and our visitors,” the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. The office’s press secretary, Tim Meads, said the office looks forward to taking the appeal to court.

Wally Dietz, director of Metro Law, said, “The unanimous opinion of the three-judge panel was well reasoned.”

“I am sure it will be upheld on appeal,” Dietz said in a statement.

The Nashville International and John C. Tune airports are run by the Metro Nashville Airport Authority.

Only Davidson County could use the law because of how it was written. To be covered by the rule, other big Tennessee cities would have to greatly increase their populations and combine their governments in order to do so. Metro lawyers said that went against a part of the Tennessee Constitution that says the state government can’t make laws that affect how a city or county is run without first getting approval from voters in that area.

The state also didn’t appeal an order that stopped a law from going into effect that would have cut Nashville’s council in half before the local elections in August. The order let Nashville keep its 40-person council while the case goes on in court.