Nashville council names Steve Manganiello acting city manager, authorizes city attorney contract talks

The Nashville City Council voted 5-0 in closed session to appoint Steve Manganiello, the city’s director of public works and city engineer, as acting city manager and to authorize staff to negotiate a contract for the city attorney, the assistant city attorney said after the meeting.

The assistant city attorney reported, “As a result of that meeting, the city council has appointed director of public works and city engineer Steve Manganiello as acting city manager with a vote of 5 0.” The official also said the council “authorized staff to negotiate a contract for city attorney, and the vote was 5 0.” Both items were taken under Government Code section 54957(b)(1), which permits closed-session consideration of public employment matters.

The appointments were listed on the agenda as item 5.1 (city manager) and item 5.2 (city attorney contract negotiation). The council provided no further public details in its report out about the terms of the city attorney negotiation or any timeline for filling the city manager position permanently.

Mayor Morrison reconvened the meeting after closed session and the council adjourned without additional public comment.

The council’s actions were procedural personnel decisions reported publicly after a closed-session discussion; the assistant city attorney read the outcomes to the council chamber immediately following the closed session.