This week’s installment in our series of conversations with the members of the Nashville Metropolitan Council features Tonya Hancock, who represents Metro Council District 9.
Tell us about yourself. What’s your day job? What would you like to share about your family?
“After college, I was a YMCA professional, and at the end of my YMCA career, I got my master’s in Business Administration. That led to a one-year, grant-funded position at the Department of Education in South Carolina. I then moved to a career in education technology and was recruited by a Fortune 500 company, Texas Instruments, working with math and science — still an education focus.
“After doing that for 10 years, my husband and I accepted an assignment overseas in Bulgaria. He’s a major in the Tennessee Army National Guard. Ever since the fall of the wall, Tennessee has partnered with Bulgaria to help with their military infrastructure, so we always have one officer stationed over there. While over there, I earned a position in the Foreign Service as a political economics officer. That’s what started my interest in government. I got to learn more about our government living overseas than I ever knew living here in America. It was fascinating to me how our American hands are in everything, everywhere.
“My husband is deployed currently this year on the stateside deployment to a city that normally we consider safe, but it’s been exciting this year in D.C. He’ll be back in August, so we’re really excited about that. My son’s a rising third grader. He got on the principal’s list for having straight A’s this past school year. He’s also just been selected for the A team on a travel soccer team for the fall. We’re proud of him.”
Why did you decide to run for Metro Council? How long have you served?
“When we came back from Bulgaria, my son was 5½. I took the first few months to teach him that he’s an American and get to know our extended family, and then enrolled him in Metro Nashville Public Schools. I made it my mission to help improve the public schools. And so that was the first reason I wanted to run for council. … So I ran for council, and that was my big mission was to fully fund the schools. And I’ve gained some other passions on council over time.”
What are some of your top accomplishments since taking office?
“The first thing I did in my first month on council was I started a veterans caucus. Being a military spouse, I’m very passionate about the military. At one point in our city, we actually lost our veteran services officer to the havoc of the budget. That’s something that was brought back in 2014, I believe. So I wanted to make sure that there would be a focus on veterans, and I knew there were a couple of veterans actually serving on the council. So former Air Force member and council member John Rutherford is co-chair of the Veterans Caucus with me. We also are currently working on a special committee that meets weekly to make a recommendation to the mayor on veterans issues and whether we need a veterans commission in the city.
“I was selected by the vice mayor to chair a special committee on school supplies and textbooks. That fits right in with my passion for education. We had a council member and citizen committee that worked together for three months and made a recommendation to MNPS to budget for the full curriculum. Oftentimes they’re afraid that $16 million for literacy for the entire district might sound like too much and only budget for $3 million. We made a recommendation for them to always budget for the full amount and to expand the teacher supply fund by $500 per teacher, as well as move to 1-to-1 student technology in the next three years. Some of that was accomplished, but then the pandemic hit. They had to get to 1-to-1 technology immediately, and council provided the funding to do that. They also got the full curriculum. So that was just amazing and a big win in my books. If you have to like anything about the pandemic, that’s what I like.
“Most recently, I rolled back the lifetime benefits plan for council members. It is an effort that’s been underway since 2012, and it’s never gotten past second reading. I worked with the special committee of citizens and council members for almost four months. We worked every week to study all of the concerns on both sides about this issue and make a recommendation. In the end, this was a nine-year effort, and 34 people voted in favor. It was a huge win for the citizens. We need to let the community know that we’re not special — we don’t deserve fancy benefits because we’re in a council seat. We’re doing this as public servants. None of our Metro employees get lifetime benefits after eight years of employment; they have to wait for 20 years. I think it should be the same for council, so I’m very proud of this legislation that passed.”
What matters do you hope to address in the future?
“I think budget is a huge problem. I’m very proud of the budget we put in place last year, even though it was a bit of a painful pill to swallow with the larger tax increase that was a result of having not increased the rate for so long after a major reduction. I think we need to realize the cost of the city and budget for that.
“I think that our infrastructure is quite old. I have one sewer line in my district that has busted open three times within six months. We were finally able to get emergency funding to get it replaced instead of just patching it. I know that that’s probably not a unique issue. We have to realize that those things come with a cost, and the infrastructure was a lot cheaper when it was put in over 60 years ago. It is something that we can’t do without.
“The biggest buzzword around my community is sidewalks. People want sidewalks on every single street. Sidewalks also cost money. I have sidewalks approved for beside Amqui Elementary School, which is a really hot spot because children are running across the street where cars are going 40 miles per hour to get to a different sidewalk. I want them to be safe. I would like to see sidewalks along all bus routes. I think that should be a priority.”
How can Nashvillians keep up with you?
“They can email me at tonya.hancock@nashville.gov, and I can put them on my newsletter list. Or they can go to tonyahancock.com and sign up for my newsletter list. And they can follow me on Twitter @TonyaHancock or on Facebook.”
What are some of your favorite places to eat in Nashville? Coffee?
”To eat would be the Blue Crab Shack at the ‘Ville, which is on Gallatin Pike in my district. They also serve Yazoo beer — the Yazoo Brewery is also located in my district. I’m there once a month for my evening meeting. The coffee shop in my district closed down. It was a small coffee shop called the Tin Cup Coffee Co. It closed just a couple months into the pandemic.”
If you have family or friends visiting, what are some of your must-sees and must-do’s around town?
”We definitely take them out on Old Hickory Lake. We always take them on a walk or bike ride at Peeler Park. And then it just depends on what they’d like to see. The Nashville Zoo is an awesome location for kids. The Parthenon is always great whether or not people have not been to Greece, so that we can show them our ‘Athens of the South.’ “
What do you think is the best thing about Nashville?
“It’s just such a beautiful city. I grew up in East Tennessee, and we just thought of Nashville as city buildings. We didn’t realize that this river just circulates in and out of all parts of the city, and the river itself makes communities. I live in the Neely’s Bend area, which is in one area of the bend. And then we have the Stones Creek Bend Park across the river, also made by the bend. Opryland is circled by the river. I think that the Cumberland River itself just really makes Nashville a really unique city.”
