A.G. Gancarski
“August is a tough month if you’re on Finance, because you’re keeping up with your regular council work and the Finance Committee meetings,” Greg Anderson said Monday, providing a preamble to the regular Finance Committee meeting.
There will be a special committee on public service grants, Anderson said, and in about two weeks there will be short-term recommendations for the current budget cycle. Longer-term recommendations will follow from this committee.
As well, the Sept. 22 Council meeting likely will be moved up a day, Anderson said, to allow “transparency” and resident participation in the process. There will be a bill introduced to that effect at the next full council meeting.
Moving on to regular business, a leitmotif emerged, with council members asking tough questions of Lenny Curry administration members.
• A bill [2015-143] was discussed about Jacksonville accepting a grant from the 100 Resilient Cities group, a subsidiary of the Rockefeller Foundation. The bill, which was to be withdrawn, occasioned discussion from Councilmember John Crescimbeni regarding who signed the contract on behalf of the administration to authorize a Chief Resilience Officer and a deputy.
The grant authorized $225,000 for a two-year period. Jacksonville had applied to be part of this program in 2013.
Ali Korman Shelton mentioned that this administration did not sign the contract, to which Crescimbeni said that the position “had gotten nothing but resistance” from the council, and “if that employee is still on the clock, I have a problem with it.”
Shelton assured the councilman that he would provide a copy of the grant. The administration also intends to rewrite the bill.
• 2015-322, referred again to committees in Tuesday’s Council meeting, got some discussion.
The bill deals with SHIP funding, amid Duval County’s Affordable Housing Assistance program for the next three years. Kerri Stewart of the Curry administration noted that the bill established criteria of eligibility.
Committee member Lori Boyer sought further clarification on, among other things, who makes decisions regarding funding dispersal. Boyer noted that the council’s options are limited by the timing of getting the bill.
Stewart responded that the decisions are “made by the community” through “community outreach,” and the applications are ranked and scored. Stewart mentioned that “getting ahead of that” is something that needs to be looked at.
One of Boyer’s concerns is that the process privileges people who are “already in the loop” and that we “may need to rethink how we do this,” not “doing it how we have always done it.”
The program is advertised through The Florida Times-Union and one other paper in Jacksonville throughout the process. Crescimbeni wanted to know how many applications the ads drove; the answer: 58. The bulk of them came through nonprofits.
Just six applications related to SHIP.
After some discussion, Crescimbeni wondered how council gets input, given the process. An administration member offered to have individual conversations, which the councilman called “closed-door” and “nontransparent.”
Chairman Bill Gulliford advocated collaboration with the NICE Committee in the process.
There was a public hearing related to the process earlier in August. It got no comments. Crescimbeni asserts that since “we’re probably paying for a $15,000 newspaper ad,” the public hearing notice could have more substance, because it isn’t “inviting.”
“We’re the policymaking body for the city, and without direction for the board,” Crescimbeni said, fretting that they aren’t making policy.
Councilwoman Katrina Brown, meanwhile, speaking for the 11 new council members, wanted more input in the process; she echoed Crescimbeni’s concerns.
As the discussion proceeded, Reggie Gaffney lamented that the committee was “beating up the staff,” which was working hard getting people involved in the process.
“I can sense the frustration here,” said Gaffney, who went on to say that Stewart and Councilwoman Brown (the liaison to the Housing Authority) should be key in refining strategy and communication.
Boyer, meanwhile, said that for the money allocated, there simply has not been a large enough “best positive impact on the community” and that there has been a reactive approach up until now.
Despite the qualms, the bill passed 7-0.
• 2015-508, which increases penalties for unlicensed contractor violations to align with state levels, passed without discussion.
• 2015-519, which would increase the value of abandoned property that the city may donate from $25,000 to $50,000, occasioned discussion. It would cover abandoned properties with structures, or just vacant land.
Boyer mentioned, after some discussion, that there needed to be “greater opportunity for others,” beyond “previously approved” developers, to be part of the process.
Chairman Gulliford pushed for deferral with more discussion of the bill’s parameters, which would include a public notice meeting, to refine terms.
One of the concerns, as Crescimbeni pointed out: the scoring criteria, again.
Other concerns: proper dispensation of lots unsuitable for building.
• A discussion of the Forensic Investigation of the Police and Fire Pension Fund. Councilmen Crescimbeni and Matt Schellenberg raised concerns about the record keeping over at PFPF. Council Auditor Kirk Sherman mentioned that no one anticipated, including the independent investigator, the burdens of trying to aggregate these records. Questions have emerged as to whether or not the investigator can meet his September 30 deadline. One pressure: at least some of the documents being reviewed only exist in hard copy form.
