A.G. Gancarski
In some ways, northwest Jacksonville Councilman Reggie Brown is the most interesting member of the Jacksonville City Council right now.
For one thing, talk that he might run for a State House seat (the gossip says HD 14, where the only competition at the moment is Leslie Scott Jean-Bart) persist. Brown, for his part, isn’t saying that he’s running, or even looking into that. However, sources familiar with his thinking say that he believes an experienced politician is needed to advocate for that district in Tallahassee.
That field will get crowded, as I’m sure he’s not the only one thinking those thoughts.
Beyond that, though, Councilman Brown is proving to be more of a maverick this term than he was in the previous.
Consider his move at Finance Committee on Monday. He pushed for a resolution to put COLA salary increases for employees in the current budget and all budgets going forward.
The mood of the room was not with him on that. The resolution may have legs (it was deferred Monday), but it would be applicable starting next year (when the budget gets more interesting for the Lenny Curry administration, because of capital commitments, the pension obligation, and a lack of a 90-Day Audit to find unused money in city fund accounts).
But even more interesting was a conversation he had with Florida Politics after that meeting on Monday, at the Mary Singleton Center in attendance for a U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown event.
He put into words a question many outside City Council think but don’t say: “Is Jacksonville really a consolidated city?”
Brown asks, in part, because Baldwin, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, and Atlantic Beach all have their own mayors.
Is that, he asks, “consolidation with exceptions?” Has it “veered off from the true direction” of what consolidation was meant to be?
Of course, the arguments for and against consolidation have always existed. Back in the late 1960s, people had issues with the competence of Jacksonville’s municipal government. This opened the door to what The Florida Times-Union in 2010 called “daring, modern” Consolidation itself, the civic equivalent of a string bikini in a world of stodgy bodysuits. The Beaches were allowed to vote for and keep their own governments. As we’ve seen, interlocal agreements have been a point of constant negotiation and frequent consternation since.
Does Consolidation benefit the folks inside the beltway? he asked.
What eventual legislative action, impact, or discussion that may take place on this front is anyone’s guess at this point.
The 2014 Consolidation Task Force recognized that one issue with Consolidation was that the “rationale behind Consolidation was no longer in the forefront as a guiding principle for government decisions.” Another issue: “unpaved and unmaintained roads in urban neighborhoods.”
Extrapolate that last one to other infrastructure also. Drainage and sidewalks, just to name two.
The task force made many interesting assertions in 2014, including one that neatly forecast the fate of former mayor Alvin Brown.
“The skills, personality and approach that a particular Mayor brings to the office are critical in light of the Strong Mayor model that places not only ceremonial responsibilities but all administrative responsibility on the Mayor, as well as primary responsibility for leadership, direction, and innovation. … The success of the structure depends on the performance of all of these functions by a Mayor. … Our structure does not work as well when one or more dimensions of the role of Mayor are given inadequate attention or avoided altogether,” wrote the group.
Some of Jacksonville’s best minds were on that task force, and the report is worth a read. However, even the best task force report can’t solve the real issue, which is that Brown speaks for a large constituency in his district (elected with about 70 percent of the vote). Furthermore, of Districts 7 through 10, the minority-access districts, Brown is the sole councilman who isn’t new to the body.
All of this is to say that one should not be surprised when Reggie Brown takes a leadership role on issues going forward.
