Tennessee House Bill HB2652

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/3/26
• Refer: 3/9/26
• Refer: 3/16/26
• Refer: 3/24/26
• Engrossed: 3/31/26
• Enrolled: 4/2/26
• Passed: 4/16/26
• Chaptered: 5/1/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Chapter 167 of the Private Acts of 1994; as amended by Chapter 39 of the Private Acts of 2020; Chapter 30 of the Private Acts of 2023; Chapter 26 of the Private Acts of 2025; and any other acts amendatory thereto, relative to the charter of the Town of Oakland.

Summary

HB2652 is a private act amending the charter of the Town of Oakland, Tennessee. The bill revises local governance provisions governing key administrative positions, specifically the Town Recorder and Town Manager. It gives the Board of Mayor and Aldermen authority, by majority vote, to appoint and remove the Town Recorder, who serves at the board’s pleasure. The bill also rewrites the Town Manager section of the charter. It confirms that the Board appoints the Town Manager and sets the salary, and that the manager serves at the will of the board. The Town Manager is designated as the town’s chief administrative officer and is given broad authority over day-to-day administration, including supervising departments, appointing and removing department heads and subordinate employees, enforcing laws and ordinances, preparing budgets and reports, making purchases, and carrying out other duties assigned by the charter or the board. The board and its members are directed to deal with town administrative services through the Town Manager rather than giving orders directly to subordinates.

Impact

The bill changes the private charter law governing Oakland by clarifying and centralizing administrative authority in the Board of Mayor and Aldermen and the Town Manager. It affects the appointment, removal, and employment status of the Town Recorder, Town Manager, department heads, and subordinate employees, and it reinforces the manager-council structure for town administration. The act takes effect only if approved by a two-thirds vote of Oakland’s legislative body, making local ratification a condition of implementation.

Sentiment

The available voting history shows strong support for the bill at every stage. It received unanimous or near-unanimous committee recommendations and passed the House on consent calendar with only one dissenting vote, followed by a unanimous motion to adopt. No committee transcript is available, but the vote pattern suggests the measure was viewed as a routine, noncontroversial local charter update.

Contention

There is little evidence of substantive controversy in the available record. The only notable structural issue is the allocation of authority between the elected board and the Town Manager, including the board’s power to appoint and remove the Town Recorder and the manager’s authority over department heads and employees. Any concern would likely center on local control, administrative independence, or employment protections for town officials, but the recorded votes indicate broad agreement rather than division.