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Metro Arts interim director outlines budget requests, hiring steps and proposed reduction in commission size
Summary
Interim director Ashley Gottschelder updated the commission about FY26 budget requests, recruitment for three staff positions, recent commissioner departures and a working-group recommendation to reduce board size to 11 members over time.
Interim Executive Director Ashley Gottschelder told the Metro Arts Commission that staff submitted the department’s budget modification requests and outlined hiring steps for three vacant positions while reporting commissioner turnover and a proposed change to commission size recommended by a Metro-wide boards-and-commissions working group.
Why it matters: Budget decisions and staffing directly shape the department’s capacity to implement grant contracts, public-art projects and community engagement. A proposed reduction in commission size would change quorum math and committee staffing over time and requires Metro Council action.
Budget and hiring updates
Ashley said the department requested a modest increase to its grants budget, restoration of targeted savings taken in an earlier Metro-wide exercise, funding for a court-involved-youth redesign program and resources to expand community engagement and communications capacity. She described the department’s next steps: Metro departments meet with the mayor’s office (she said her meeting was scheduled for the morning after the commission meeting), the mayor will submit a budget to council by May 1, and council holds public budget hearings and may amend those requests.
On hiring, Ashley said written-interview reviews were underway for a finance manager, with interviews anticipated the following week; the public information manager selection would follow; and the public-art manager recruitment would proceed after those two. She said the department has added temporary contract help to speed contracting for approved grants.
Commission membership, resignations and working-group recommendation
Ashley reported that three commissioners had left or had terms end: Commissioner Watts’s term ended and Commissioners Love and Nicholas Phillips resigned. She said a new nominee (Britney Cole) had been interviewed by the Rules Committee and expected to receive a final council vote the evening after the meeting.
Ashley also summarized a Metro-wide boards-and-commissions working-group recommendation to standardize board sizes to a range of 7–11 members; the working group recommended the arts commission reduce over time to 11 members. Ashley said this would not remove any commissioners midterm; the change would be phased in so bodies could continue to meet quorum and perform duties. She said the legislation had not been posted yet; commissioners would receive notification by email if the recommendation becomes formal legislation and would have opportunities to comment during the council process.
Questions and next steps
Commissioners asked for a clear timeline and the working-group rationale. Ashely said the recommendation aims to reduce bodies that have difficulty meeting quorum and to standardize practice across Metro, and she pledged to provide written follow-up with details on timeline and options for how seat reductions would be phased.
Ending
The chair announced a budget-and-audit committee chaired by Commissioner Jester to oversee pending audit implementation tasks and related finance work. The commission then moved to other items and adjourned.
