A.G. Gancarski
This past week, there were four days of Lenny Curry Transition Team Budget Reviews, helmed by new Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa. There are three more days of them this week, running Tuesday through Thursday afternoons, but there already is ample opportunity to gauge the winners, and losers, so far.
Winner: Mousa. The “Godfather” has gotten laudatory coverage from more than one outlet; even Ron Littlepage, a critic of the Curry campaign throughout, wrote a column extolling Mousa and his $300K salary as the right choice for the new administration.
Winner: Mike Weinstein. Weinstein was not exactly a footnote in Jacksonville politics; he had already filed to run for public defender next year. However, where he might shine is in city hall. He brings the same old-school, data-driven approach to budgeting and priorities that Mousa brings to the office, as last week’s Budget Review marathon suggests. Another committee all-star: Shari Shuman, who always asks the right questions.
Winner: The Human Rights Commission. These folks have taken a beating in their budget and from the right wing in recent years, and now they are at a point when they can’t really perform any but skeleton functions. This hasn’t been helped by certain folks on city council who raised a fit over Parvez Ahmed in recent years. Well, the bulk of those folks will be off Council, and based on a sympathetic hearing from Mousa, it appears likely that the HRC will be well-positioned in the budget. Time will tell, of course.
Winner: Shands made the best case it has yet for an increased city contribution. This year, Shands/UF Health was in the news quite a bit, with its fate seemingly in peril for months. CEO Russ Armistead made a convincing case that the city has to step up and make more of a concrete contribution to its safety net hospital. The argument that will work with Jacksonville taxpayers is probably not a social justice one, so much as “if we don’t get what we need, your other hospitals will suffer.” The way the Curry administration addresses Shands’ recurring operational challenges will be interesting to watch in the next couple of years.
Loser: The Downtown Investment Authority. The DIA will be back in front of Mousa on Wednesday for a second budget review, which is not a great sign. Those on hand thought that the budget the group presented last week needed a “lot more work.” Mousa grilled Aundra Wallace about his budget priorities, and it will be interesting to see if Wednesday’s meeting is more amicable regarding one of outgoing Mayor Brown’s chief initiatives. You can add the SMG/Sports Entertainment/Special Events folks into this list.
Loser: Public Works. With two meetings full of blistering comments from Mousa, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some shuffling in this department. It didn’t seem that Mousa thought this group was managed as tightly as they should be. The labor force allocation issues and the elastic budgeting don’t seem to be things that Mousa buys into.
Loser: The Jacksonville Public Library. It might sound like a cliche to say run a department like a business, but the JPL seems locked into a 20th century mindset, if last week’s Mousa meeting was any indication. The JPL fine structure was last altered in 2009. Mousa didn’t buy into their preemptive demand to have Part Time and Overtime salaries restored to previous levels. They’ve neglected infrastructural needs. And so on. Yet they have a fund balance. The JPL is going to have to find a way to run its business more efficiently.
