A proposal to let teenagers run Nashville was recently floated at a couple of meetings of the Metro Council Charter Revision Committee.

That might overstate the proposal just a bit. What it actually sought to do was to lower the minimum age for Council membership from the current 25 to 18.

John Rutherford, council member for District 31, made the proposal.

“My thought process is that local government is the form of government that is closest to the people,” he said at the first meeting. “I think that anyone who is otherwise eligible to vote ... should also be eligible to serve in that level of government.”

Rutherford specifically downplayed the possibility that I exaggerated for effect in the first paragraph above.

“I think if we go forward with this and it happens, I don’t think Council is suddenly going to be inundated with 18-year-olds,” he says. “I just don’t see that happening.”

Be that as it may, the question would seem to be this: Is one 18-year-old on the Metro Council one 18-year-old too many?

This country and its many government entities have set a variety of age thresholds for public office. At the top of the list is U.S. president, 35. Senators must be 30; House members 25. The sliding scale represents, at least in theory, the degree of maturity and competence we expect from each occupant of the office.

When it comes to state officials in Tennessee, the requirement for governor and senator is 30; for representatives, it’s 21.

“So ours is currently a higher standard than to serve in the state House,” Rutherford noted. “The research shows there are quite a few councils around the country and in Tennessee that have the 18-year age,” he adds.

Among those is the Memphis City Council.

Clay Capp, Metro council member for District 6 (which, coincidentally, includes me) was among the committee members who supported Rutherford’s notion in concept.

“My general view on this is the political process should be open,” he says, “and if the voters of a district want to elect an 18- or 19- or 85-year-old then they should be allowed to do that.”

Capp’s reservation was a matter of timing: With a transit proposal likely to be on the ballot for Nashville this fall, he says he prefers not to add the potential distraction of a charter amendment. He reiterated that concern at the second committee meeting on the age topic.

“Eyes on the prize for transit is how I view this ballot in November,” he says.

At the second meeting, Tom Cash (District 15) offered an amendment to Rutherford’s proposal, specifying a minimum age of 21. That’s the standard used by both Knoxville and Chattanooga, and Cash says that might be an easier sell to make to voters, who would ultimately have to approve any change.

Kyonzté Toombs (District 2) raised the obvious question regarding the younger age: “Is there any concern about the maturity of an 18-year-old?” she asked, later adding: “I’m just trying to think of what 18-year-olds would bring to governing conversations. Not saying there’s no value there. Just wondering.”

The committee chairwoman, Sheri Weiner of District 22, offered reservations.

“My personal opinion continues to be that 18’s too young,” she said at the second meeting. “For the simple reason I want somebody in this body that has more life experience. That can address a myriad of issues that become quite complex in that room and when we’re dealing with constituents. Twenty-one makes me more comfortable. I still prefer 25.”

That’s my opinion and preference, as well. And in the end, the committee rejected Cash’s proposal to adopt 21 as the standard, and then on a tie vote also rejected the change to 18.

But Rutherford did make a good case for letting voters decide who is mature enough to serve.

“We have immaturity, if you will, in candidacies all across the board for the various levels of government, all the way up to the top,” he says.

“Everybody knows what I’m talking about. And it’s not about age.”

Joe Rogers is a former writer for The Tennessean and editor for The New York Times. He is retired and living in Nashville.