The Nashville Town Council has worked out a way to allow a new, proposed shuttle service to operate within current ordinances.

What the council decided to do was to amend the horse-drawn carriage ordinance to add “or shuttles” — and to increase the number of total licenses to six. Three licenses are already in use, all for carriages.

Brian Yeatman had approached Town Manager/Economic Director Scott Rudd about operating a shuttle between Brown County State Park and downtown Nashville. Yeatman also operates the Nashville General Store (pictured) on East Washington Street.

His plan was to use a parking space on the street near his business to load and unload passengers. Rudd said current ordinances don’t allow businesses to operate out of a town parking space.

A shuttle is a needed service, Rudd and other audience members agreed. They clapped when the revision was approved after a lengthy and lively discussion.

Some of those audience members had taken issue with Rudd’s suggestion at an earlier meeting, that the council add one license for a shuttle. Yeatman told the council at an earlier meeting that that’s what he’d prefer.

Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Jane Ellis asked the council to offer more “so it doesn’t look like we’re trying to be exclusive.”

Rudd later clarified that a shuttle could operate on private property now; the only reason Yeatman wouldn’t be able to run his business as he wishes immediately is because he was seeking a town parking spot.

Council President “Buzz” King said shuttling tourists through the back roads of Brown County used to be a popular thing back in the ’60s, but no one had shown any interest in operating a shuttle for at least 15 years.

He had concern about taking up many more parking spaces for private business use, but “it’s a needed thing, and you’re right, we need more of it, so let’s get more of it,” he said about shuttles.

Nashville Deputy Clerk Debbie Ferry said June 3 that an application for a shuttle license isn’t available yet; the clerk’s and town manager’s offices will be working on it together.

Read more about Yeatman’s shuttle business plans in the June 15 Brown County Democrat business section.