Council Investigation Of Former Mayor Shifts Focus

NASHVILLE, TN -- With her resignation and guilty plea rendering the investigation into whether she misused Metro funds moot, the Metro Council decided to change the focus of a special committee.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to charge the special council committee - which was created to investigate whether now-former Mayor Megan Barry misappropriated funds as part of her affair with former security chief Rob Forrest - with to look for the "mechanisms" that allowed the misspending to occur and to see how frequently such things happen.

"We're not able to tell the citizens of Davidson County what the mechanism of theft of services was, and we're not able to tell the citizens of Davidson County what, if anything, is going to be done to keep the mechanism ... from happening again," at-large Councilman Bob Mendes said.

Barry pleaded guilty to theft shortly before resigning as mayor March 6, ending a tumultuous six weeks that started with Forrest's retirement and Barry's admission she'd had an affair with him.

After admitting to the years-long affair with Forrest in late January, at least three investigations - from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Metro's ethics board and a special Metro Council committee - began looking for evidence of malfeasance, particularly related to spending and travel with Forrest while he was on city time.

The mayor repeatedly insisted she would not resign, despite mounting pressure and increasing questions about her commitment to cooperating with the investigations. An affidavit filed with a search warrant seeking access to her phone alleged that Forrest had nude photos of a woman on his city-owned phone taken while he was clocked in for overtime on Metro travel.

Also during the affair, the procedure for approving travel for the mayor's security detail changed. Previously approved by the chief of police, it was re-routed to the mayor's office, though the paperwork still indicated that it had been OK'd by MNPD Chief Steve Anderson, who apparently had never actually seen the approvals.

Forrest also pleaded guilty to theft charges.

The council also voted Tuesday not to hire an outside law firm to assist with the special council committee's investigation.

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