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“I got probably six or seven calls regarding ongoing concerns at Ironwood and also at Walmart and I wanted to see if Mike could stand up and talk to us about anything that we can do as a city that might address what is a borderline nuisance problem at two locations,� she said.

Early Tuesday morning, police arrested suspect Davin Rolle at the Ironwood Apartment Homes complex on Rome Pike in Lebanon.

“[City Attorney Andy Wright] might could tell you more about the nuisance laws. We’ve tried to do a nuisance law befor,e and it didn’t go very well for us. Some jurisdictions are different,� Chief Justice said.

Legal precedent has defined a nuisance as anything which annoys or disturbs the free use of one’s property, or which renders its ordinary use or physical occupation uncomfortable.

This has been cited in several lawsuits in Tennessee, including Pate v. City of Martin in 1981 and Caldwell v. Knox Concrete Products, Inc. in 1964.

The Tennessee Municipal League, a voluntary association between cities and towns of the state for mutual assistance, says municipal governments employ nuisance ordinances as a means of protecting the health, safety and welfare of citizens and give local officials police power to compel or prohibit certain conduct within their jurisdiction to maintain a standard and quality of life.

“I will say the stats I sent out [on Tuesday] are pretty self-explanatory. It looks like we’ve been to our Walmart at least double the amount of cities that are neighboring to us. That’s concerning,� Chief Justice said.

Lebanon Police responded to Walmart 1,808 times in 2024. Gallatin police responded to their Walmart 658 and Mt. Juliet Police responded to theirs 694 times in 2024.

“Those are not quick. Those officers are tied up for sometimes a couple of hours. By the time you go get warrants then take them to jail...so this is not a really quick process,� Chief Justice added.

“What about the drain on our resources? Can we require that [Walmart] provide extra armed security?� Councilor Ashley asked. “I mean, how can we allow them to continue to drain all our resources with those kinds of calls?�

City Attorney Andy Wright responded. “That’s where you get into the nuisance issues. State law is very specific about when you can bring a nuisance suit against a business. It usually involves gang activity, drug activity or prostitution activity.�

“I’ll get with Mike and see if what we’re looking at would qualify for state law. It’s fairly hard to bring one of those suits successfully,� Wright added. “Even Nashville doesn’t do them that often because it’s so hard to prove.�

The lights in Walmart’s parking lot not working have been a topic discussed by residents across social media. Comments on Facebook have criticized Mayor Rick Bell for not fixing the lighting problems in Walmart’s parking lot.

“I’m hoping that he’ll get us some lights,� Chief Justice joked.

“I know the mayor will do what he can,� Councilor Camille Burdine added to the joke, but then clarified that since Walmart’s property is privately owned, the city has no power to replace the parking lot lights on its own.

“I think there’s going to be some conversation in the next few days about what we require as lighting. I know when you do a site plan, there’s requirements on lighting. That’s out of my lane as far as who holds their feet to the fire,� Chief Justice said. “We do plan on writing some suggestions to Walmart on what we see is a problem.�