Brentwood Commission Candidates: Mark Gorman

The Williamson Scene interviewed Brentwood’s five candidates for the three open seats for the Board of Commissioners in the May 2025 election. Voters can cast their ballot early at either the John P. Holt Brentwood Library or the Williamson County Election Commission through May 1. Election day will be Tuesday, May 6 and voters can cast their ballot at either the library or Brenthaven Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  

Incumbent Brentwood Mayor Mark Gorman is seeking another term on the Board of Commissioners, having served on the commission since 2013.

In April, Gorman took part in a candidate forum hosted by League of Women Voters of Williamson County and Bike Walk Brentwood, which can be viewed in full online here, as well as an advertised forum with Preserve Brentwood, and candidate interviews with Williamson Inc. 

Gorman would not speak to the Williamson Scene like the other candidates. When asked why, he stated it was a matter of time and to get to all media requests. To still provide value to our readers we did agree to email him questions since it was the only way he said he would speak to us. We asked him similar questions as we did the others about his positions and priorities including the hotly-debated proposed racquetball facility.

TOP PRIORITIES

“Public Safety, Zoning Standards, Quality of Life in Brentwood, Financial Management, Low Taxation, Quality Education, Bike and Walkability, Health and Wellness, Historic Preservation, among other areas.”

Gorman said that if reelected, he plans “to keep Brentwood a top ranked city,” noting its current AAA bond rating.

PROPOSED RACQUET FACILITY

“All of my fellow commissioners support and understand the need for a racquet facility. There are three commissioners (Andrews, Dunn and Little) that originally sought to fund a racquet facility with county and city taxpayer funds. The four commissioners (Travis, Gorman, McMillan and Spears) representing the majority are currently evaluating all and every option to see if there is a way to fund the project without using city and county property tax revenue.”

An election flyer circulating in Brentwood urges “pickleball and tennis families” to “only vote for 2 in 2025: Mayor Mark Gorman and Commissioner Allison Spears,” hinting that some proponents of the project appear to believe Gorman is committed to voting “yes” on the proposed facility.

It’s unclear what, if anything, would be a deal-breaker for Gorman related to the project, as he chose not to answer that question.

“There really hasn’t been a big challenge in this election cycle but in every election there seems to be a manufactured issue that distracts voters from important considerations like candidate qualifications, service and leadership,” Gorman said. “I hope voters will take time to sort through the election noise and fully evaluate the candidates and their records of service. Actions speak louder than words.”

That “manufactured issue” is a reference to an April “ethics inquiry” letter sent to the city by a lawyer representing the Governors Club Property Owners Association regarding Gorman that raised questions about what they say are the mayor’s potential conflicts of interest.

Gorman previously declined to address the details of the letter, only calling it a “smear letter.” 

Brentwood City Attorney Kristen Corn said in an April 10 email to commissioners that the letter “does not set forth an ethics complaint against Mayor Gorman.”

On April 25, that “ethics inquiry” led to an official ethics complaint against Gorman, which alleged that he used his position on the Board of Commissioners to obtain private business deals and failed to disclose any potential conflicts of interest when voting as a commissioner.

“This is yet another false claim against me conveniently around election time,” Gorman said of the complaint in an email to the Williamson Scene on April 27. “There have been many since I was first elected. The Brentwood voters see through this smear campaign.”

ON POLITICS

“The quality of life that we all enjoy in Brentwood should not be taken for granted. A change in one vote on the city commission can irreversibly ruin the city we all know and love — which is why every vote matters in this city commission election,” Gorman said in an email.

“I will continue to work hard and serve Brentwood residents by providing proven and reliable leadership based on sound decision-making and business experience.”

Gorman is the only commission candidate who declined an in-person interview request with the Williamson Scene, despite having taken part in other in-person interviews and forums with other organizations.

“Since I announced my candidacy there have been nearly a dozen media requests so it is really a product of time and answering questions with brevity. There are some candidates that tend to ramble; I think voters appreciate direct, clear and concise information,” Gorman told the Williamson Scene when asked why he wouldn’t speak in person.

Gorman’s refusal to speak to the Williamson Scene in person began during the April 14 commission meeting when he said that he would only communicate with the Williamson Scene by email.

In that meeting, Gorman addressed the “ethics inquiry” and read aloud Corn’s April 10 email, an email that he provided to the Williamson Scene, and referenced our reporting, saying, "the news failed to report it accurately." When in fact, Corn’s statement was reported in the initial story about the inquiry. The Williamson Scene did speak to Gorman about this and his seemed to grow agitated when confronted about the statement being in the story. 

He was unwilling to answer any questions in person following the conclusion of that commission meeting, repeatedly telling the Williamson Scene, “please send any inquiries to me in writing.”

In an email, Gorman took issue with our quoting of the relevant portion of Corn’s email, and our exclusion of text such as “please stay safe in today's forecasted storms," instead of publishing the email in its entirety. 

While Gorman confirmed on April 15 that he’d read the story, it remains unclear whether he’d actually read it before claiming that our reporting was inaccurate, and later calling it “slanted.”

Gorman’s apparent aversion to the press did not begin on April 14, however.

In March, the commission unanimously voted to hire Jason Gage to serve as Brentwood's new city manager in a public meeting which was neither livestreamed nor video recorded.

The Williamson Scene was the only news outlet in the room throughout the day as five finalists for the job took part in in-person interviews with the commission. No members of the public attended the public meeting.

During that meeting, Gorman, who was leading the meeting, attempted several times to pressure the Williamson Scene out of that public meeting.

Gorman expressed that he wanted the commission to “have conversation amongst ourselves” about who they would hire, with some concern about if the Williamson Scene was going to report the commission’s choice prior to its ability to make the eventual offer and subsequent salary negotiation with Gage.

“We can’t stop you from being here, respectfully, I would ask that you would exit so that we can do that, but ultimately that is your call, because we can’t stop you from being here. We’re not going to violate open meeting [law], but it would be good for us to be able to have a very open dialogue.”

The Williamson Scene did not leave the meeting, and the commission successfully discussed Gage’s hiring publicly, as is required by the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, which “declares that the formation of public policy and public business must be transacted transparently and not in secret.”

It was after this that Gorman seemingly began to shy away from speaking in person with the Williamson Scene.