Clarksville City Council asks to be exempted from state Sunshine laws

During Thursday night’s regular session of the Clarksville City Council, members voted to ask the state to make the Sunshine laws not apply to the body and city government, with multiple council members stating the law, which states all things done on behalf of the public must be done within the light of the public, gets in their way of being collaborative and having private conversations.

The amendment’s sponsor, Wallace Redd, says he feels the local council body should simply be following the same rules as the state legislature, which he says has less restrictive sunshine laws and more restrictions on public records and communications between council members on matters of public interest.

An amendment, proposed by controversial council member Wallace Redd, asks the state to “allow local governments to fall under the same ‘Sunshine laws’ and rules that the state legislature follows.” While council person Brian Zacharias noted that the amendment should be that the state legislature follows the more open rules that local governments follow, Redd did not change the direction the amendment flowed and opined that local governments should not have to follow the current state Sunshine laws, which requires all conversations, decisions, and communications to be open to the public.

No matter Redd’s original intention, other council members quickly opined their feelings on the current sunshine law. Outspoken Council Member Karen Reynolds says she believes the “sunshine law as written stifles communication and collaboration.” Council Member Wanda Smith inquired how this would impact the ethics codes, with Redd replying that if it became law, violations of it would no longer be unethical. Council Member Wanda Allen says she agreed with the amendment and reiterated that current ethics violations would no longer be against the law if this became the new law.

The amendment passed 8-4-0, and will be included on this year’s legislative agenda – which will be presented to the state legislature as a list of the top items impacting Clarksville that the city wants the state to assist with. Voting yes: Zacharias, McLaughlin, Little, Redd, Marquis, Allen, Reynolds, Shakeenab. Voting no: Smith, Holleman, Streetman, Lovato.

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City won’t investigate touching/sexual harassment complaints on Roxy’s Ryan Bowie; he will continue working with children & the theatre

In the time since a half-dozen complaints have been received about Roxy Theater Director Ryan Bowie, alleging inappropriate touching, assault, sexual harassment, stalking, and inappropriate relationships with actors under his employ, two members of the Roxy’s Board of Directors have now resigned in protest as its own executive committee cleared Bowie of any wrongdoing, despite making changes including an HR director position and an “intimacy choreographer.”

Bowie’s name is closely associated with the Roxy Theatre, the City of Clarksville, and the Children’s Theatre programs; however, the city, led by Mayor Joe Pitts, says they can’t investigate the allegations because he’s not actually a city employee and isn’t bound to any ethics rules the city may have in place.

Emails obtained by Clarksville Today show the Roxy Board determined that “any of the allegations made against Mr. Bowie do not rise to the level of liability from a legal standpoint,” so they would no longer investigate the matter, either.

Citizens have been clear, whether there is a legal liability or not, where there’s smoke, there is likely fire, and this many complaints didn’t happen overnight or from single incidents. Citizens, actors, and even the APSU Threatre program professors have all made it clear — The Roxy can’t continue on its current path with the city and the children’s theatre program with Ryan Bowie at the helm, and if we’re waiting on a “legal liability,” the damage will have already been done to the Roxy & the City of Clarksville. Bowie is an agenda item on Thursday’s City Council Meeting at 4:30 p.m. [more documents inside full story…]

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Actors say Roxy Theatre Director Ryan Bowie harassed, stalked, touched without consent

An actor at the Roxy Regional Theatre says he and a dozen others have been victims of harassment and inappropriate conduct by Director Ryan Bowie for at least the past year, with some complaints going back much further. In January, after several actors detailed formal complaints, the theatre’s Board of Directors & the Executive Committee admitted “mistakes have been made” and determined that Bowie, along with other staff, would enroll in “extensive HR training,” and someone on-site would be trained as an “Intimacy Choreographer.” Additionally, an HR Director would be appointed. Now that the city is directly involved with the theatre and its liability, the actors, and some city council members, are still concerned about ongoing issues at the downtown Clarksville landmark and are calling for action — they want Bowie removed as the Executive Director, weary of several lawsuit threats involving his actions.

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CLOSED: Miss Ashley’s Tearoom ordered to close by State Department of Health

#BREAKING: A Clarksville restaurant that has been operating illegally in Stacey Steetman’s 10th Ward for nearly a year was closed today by order of the State on Friday afternoon. The restaurant, which was operated by Anissa Finney-Gold under the name “Miss Ashley’s Tearoom” was in a nondescript residential home, in the middle of a neighborhood, with 100% residential zoning on the property. The residential kitchen, which functioned as a commercial kitchen selling to-go orders for pick-up/curbside, DoorDash, GrubHub, and other delivery services had never been inspected by the state, as it’s illegal to have a commercial kitchen in those conditions.

Conditions which some delivery drivers reported as being “filled with pets”, primarily cats. According to state, county, and city records, there was no business or tax license on file, and no tax was being paid to the government, despite it being collected by the business. Multiple agencies have now confirmed open investigations into the operations of the business. #developing

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