Nelson Andrews will ‘roll up his sleeves,’ run in Brentwood city commission race
PHOTO: Brentwood resident Nelson Andrews signs documents at the Williamson County election commission office in Franklin on Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. Andrews picked up his petition Friday for his candidacy in the 2019 Brentwood Municipal Election and is running to be a city commissioner on the Brentwood Board of Commissioners. / Photo by Rachael Long
By RACHAEL LONG
Nelson Andrews is a businessman, a community leader, a resident of Brentwood, and now, a candidate for Brentwood’s Board of Commissioners.
He picked up his petition at the Williamson County Election Commission on the morning of Friday, Dec. 28, making him the third person to do so for the 2019 Brentwood municipal election.
The 52-year old has lived in Brentwood since he was a kid and says he’s running because it seems like the natural next step.
“I have lived here since I was a kid, I’ve worked here, I’ve raised my family here,” Andrews said. “When I found out there were going to be open seats on the commission, I thought, ‘Hey, this is a good opportunity to use my many experiences to work for Brentwood.’”
One of the issues Andrews stands behind is maintaining adequate support for city services like the codes department and public safety. According to Andrews, it’s “not a sexy issue,” but an important one.
“I think there are times when we maybe take that for granted because we have had extremely good city services for a long time, but I don’t think that happens all by itself,” Andrews said. “I think it’s really important that we continue to focus on that.”
Andrews added that his experience in business provide the commission with more expertise on things like developing health benefits and retirement plans, as he has done for his own company.
At the heart of Brentwood, Andrews believes, is its residential character, something he says must be protected.
“Brentwood has a great feel and is a great place to live, and I think it’s really important that we defend that,” Andrews said.
Andrews said Brentwood’s green space and growing park system make it a great place to raise a family. For that, he credits Brentwood leadership. Continuing that kind of growth is something Andrews takes seriously.
He’s the president of Andrews Transport Group, a two-building and three-dealership company located in Brentwood. He’s a businessman by trade and a man of the community by default.
Andrews has four children: two in college and two in Williamson County schools. He’s been married to his wife for 23 years, and the family has two dogs.
“It’s a great time of life, we really enjoy it,” Andrews said. “I feel very lucky.”
He attended Vanderbilt University where he earned both his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and his Master’s Degree in Business Administration.
Until now, Andrews has been a community leader through his seat on many boards, including the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce and the Owen School of Business at Vanderbilt’s Alumni Council. He’s been a rotarian since 2008 and is still a member of the Brentwood Morning Rotary Club.
It’s funny, Andrews mused, that as soon as the Commission seats opened up, so too did his schedule.
“It was funny that my biggest volunteering commitments all just happened to coterminously end,” Andrews said. “People started calling me and saying, ‘You really ought to take a look at [running].’”
If elected, Andrews says his first priority is to learn all he can about how to do a good job and be a good commissioner. Andrews added that he hopes to learn from those who have served on the commission before and the glean all the wisdom he can from them.
He’s looking forward to the election process and all the people he will get to know through it.
“To have Brentwood be the kind of place we want, you can’t just cheer from the sidelines,” Andrews said. “You have to roll up your sleeves and get involved.”
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