A.G. Gancarski
Whatever Labor Day might have meant in bygone eras, these days it means a three day weekend at the end of the summer to most. Collective bargaining disappeared with the gold standard, and dwindling resources and a cost of living rise against which COLA falls flat ensure that no employee, including a public employee, can feel truly secure.
One of the recurrent pressures in Jacksonville; the reality that the rank and file employee feels less than appreciated in compensation. An economic boom has come and gone without raises for many city employees outside of the equivalent of the C-Suite; indeed, some had salary reductions. These pressures are felt in Jacksonville government except for in the executive branch, including the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, where a six year officer (Kyle Veatch) wrote Mayor Lenny Curry and Council President Greg Anderson to let him know why he was headed out.
When the Summa Cum Laude graduate started with the JSO six years ago, he said that “he took great pride in my job and was excited to work for one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the country. Nearly everyone you spoke with at the agency had the same mindset when I began 6 years ago. It is sad to say, but a lot has changed in 6 years.”
“I will not go into too much detail about specifics,” Veatch continues, “as I am sure everyone is well up to date with the details, but the most important factors in my decision were that of a competitive salary, affordable health insurance for my family, and a lack of confidence in my retirement. I know it is hard for a new administration to be thrown into these circumstances, but this is the reality of our city and its employees. Young families and employees and not going to wait around to see if things will get better,” Veatch says, reinforcing a narrative that came to light during the 2015 campaign that a lot of officers feel underappreciated.
“I saw such a lack of direction from this city for too many years that I lost confidence that things were going to get better. If that sense of direction and urgency was there for the beginning, I am not sure I would have ever started thinking about leaving my position. On top of that, I still have my doubts about where this city is headed,” Veatch wrote, before going on the political offensive.
“While this is my personal opinion only, I just do not see how this city is going to improve the lack of competitive salaries, properly funding a pension, reinvest in basic infrastructure, return our libraries to their normal state, and many of the much needed improvements, all with a new administration that promised “no new taxes” before they even were elected. I refuse to put my family and my career in such a situation,” Veatch continued.
“I would like to say that so far I do like some the changes and direction the new administrations in both the city and sheriff’s office have made for the most part, but my decision was made before new administrations began, and it will most like be many months or years before we start seeing the changes that the new administration has to offer. I only hope that things get better for not only my brothers and sisters with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, but all the city employees,” Veatch continued.
“I am only one of many officers in recent years to leave the department for other agencies, and I personally know of many more great officers who are currently processing for other agencies. As the local FOP chapter has outlined in recent years, our department for decades had an amazing reputation and it was unheard of for a single employee to leave to another agency, but recently dozens of officers are leaving for other agencies within the state and country. As we all know, this comes at a huge cost to the city, not only in the loss of investment for training, but the loss of great families and citizens that no longer reside in the city.”
