Chattanooga City Councilman Yusuf Hakeem is angling to get the Council some influence in the Enterprise Center, the driver of the city’s new Innovation District.
During a strategic planning meeting today, Hakeem suggested the Council pass a resolution asking the nonprofit to amend its bylaws and allow for some Council appointments on its 22-member, self-perpetuating board.
“They have received, and will request in the future, funding from us. And it’s a transformative entity. And if they mess up, we are going to get all that good credit,” Hakeem said. “And if we are going to be responsible, I think we should have some input. And by that I mean some appointments.”
But Councilman Moses Freeman vehemently opposed the idea.
“If we appoint someone to a board, they no longer have any fiduciary responsibility to us. The are responsible to that board,” Freeman said. “If we are out there monkeying around with boards, we are going to tear this place apart.”
Currently, Mayor Andy Berke is an ex officio, non-voting member of the board of the nonprofit, but the city has no other influence over the Enterprise Center.