A.G. Gancarski
The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee resumed on Monday morning after a three week hiatus. Highlights abounded.
Finance Committee Chair Bill Gulliford addressed the stalled out forensic audit of the Police and Fire Pension Fund, and the preliminary findings were not good. Essentially, the auditor got stonewalled for “informational needs” and Gulliford urged that the Finance Committee subpoena the PFPF for these documents.
Such a subpoena possibly will be delayed a few weeks; the Council Secretary is on medical leave, according to the Office of General Counsel. This didn’t mollify Councilman John Crescimbeni, who wondered why her absence would preclude a subpoena being issued.
The subpoena could involve calling people in front of the committee, or could constitute a simple documents request. Another issue: the filing system is Paleozoic in its primitiveness, relying on hard copy paperwork that only former PFPF Head John Keane can find.
And there seems to be some confusion about which documents do or do not exist, which adds to the intrigue.
— Former Councilman Bill Bishop returned to deal with “last-minute cleanup” issues on a bill that would impose liens on illegally parked vehicles, using a towed vehicle as security for the fines. The bill moved through Finance without objection.
— Another bill on the agenda (2015-477) dealt with an amended and restated agreement with Advanced Disposal Services, one of three local garbage contractors with an active lobbying group locally. During the agenda meeting, Jacksonville Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa said that issues with this contractor had been resolved.
Councilwoman Lori Boyer questioned the wisdom of extending a contract with a vendor with “performance issues,” noting that the city needs to retain the right to rebid the contracts if there are issues. Boyer noted that this is a “widespread problem” extending to all three city providers.
“We have had real challenges in the last year with missed pickups,” Boyer said, along with other problems.
Crescimbeni noted his comfort level with using the rate-review process to address performance issues with this and the other two vendors.
Those with Friday pickups have a unique issue. A pickup isn’t considered missed until close of business, which means that those who have pickups missed on Friday don’t have remedy until the week after.
Finance passed the bill 6-1, with Boyer objecting to keep the bill off of the Consent Agenda.
— From there, a discussion of a “highly confidential” report from August regarding JEA becoming more efficient and contributing money toward the pension solution. The report suggests that a “major organizational restructuring,” coupled with efficiency improvements, would benefit the city and improve the utility’s credit position.
Citing an “overemphasis on customer service,” Chairman Gulliford notes that JEA is a monopoly, and a “conversation” about JEA’s purpose is needed.
