Cross-body comparison
How the bodies compare
Three mechanical measures — how often a body votes unanimously, how often it defers items, and how frequently it meets — side by side for every body we cover, each figure shown with its denominator. This is a comparison, not a ranking: there is no composite score, and the rows are ordered by name. A high unanimity rate is itself a finding, not a verdict — we present the number and let you read it.
| Body | Unanimity rate | Deferral rate | Meeting cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Knoxville, TN City Council 7,565 recorded decisions | 90% 6,395 of 7,074 adopted | 2% 124 of 5,507 tracked items | ~14 days across 258 meetings |
| Knox County, TN Board of Commissioners 4,615 recorded decisions | 91% 3,803 of 4,186 adopted | 5% 172 of 3,527 tracked items | ~19 days across 123 meetings |
| Town of Farragut, TN Board of Mayor & Aldermen 429 recorded decisions | 92% 387 of 422 adopted | 0% 0 of 141 tracked items | ~14 days across 55 meetings |
How these are counted
Every figure is a deterministic count over each body’s published record. Bodies are listed by name; there is no composite score and no ranking — each measure stands on its own, with its denominator beside it so a thin record never reads as a finding.
- Unanimity rate = adopted motions with at least one aye and no dissent or abstention, divided by all adopted motions. Withheld as a percentage below 10 adopted motions.
- Deferral rate = tracked items (those with an official identifier) deferred at least once, divided by all tracked items, following the same item-lifecycle definition as each body’s process page. Withheld below 10 items.
- Meeting cadence = the median number of days between consecutive published meetings. Shown with the meeting count it was computed over; blank with fewer than two meetings.
Only unanimous, gate-passing items auto-publish; split and deferred items publish once finalized, so a body still finalizing its recent record can show a high unanimity rate and a low deferral rate simply because the contested record hasn’t landed yet. See the general methodology and coverage pages.