A.G. Gancarski
A crowded agenda greeted the Jacksonville City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday morning, ahead of two Public Notice meetings featuring Finance Chair Bill Gulliford on the ever-controversial Police and Fire Pension Fund.
Matt Schellenberg’s bill to allow a ballot measure to increase the maximum number of consecutive terms for council members to three met with pushback from council Vice President Lori Boyer, who wanted to defer the bill to one of “any number of state election cycles” in the next few years. Boyer would like more conversations, “broad-based throughout the community,” to educate as to the efficacy of this measure, which would boost “institutional knowledge.” John Crescimbeni, a veteran councilman, noted that “this isn’t the first time this has come out of the woodwork,” and that the measure would open the door for reconsideration of term limits for constitutional officers.
Schellenberg noted that “eight is not enough” in terms of combating the “huge problem” of navigating other governmental bodies, forfeiting prerogatives on bodies, and “taking away freedoms” from people.
The bill has been deferred.
In other action:
- A second Schellenberg bill, to restore a 2 percent salary cut for Executive council Assistants, was passed 6-0. The council auditor’s staff gets similar consideration in this measure.
- A bill to restore the 2 percent cut to council members’ pay led to a wide-ranging discussion of restoring 2 percent pay to all city employees, as well as an amendment to bring council member pay in line with state guidelines at $46,700 (not including benefits), was passed 6-1. Danny Becton was the sole objector.
- Finance moved a bill 7-0 for a dog park in Riverside. $100,000 of City Council bond money will go to the John Gorrie Dog Park, in what bill sponsor Jim Love says exemplifies a public-private partnership. Delores Weaver, wife of the former Jaguars owner, is chipping in $50,000. Love, in whose district this park will be, says this will turn a “not-so-nice area into a nice area.” For local activists who have wanted this park for years, this is one step closer to a victory.
- Finance also approved $266,210 from the Jax Journey budget for the Library Enhancement Access Program. There will be oversight from the Journey Oversight Committee. This matter came up during the Finance Committee budget review meetings in August, and is now one step closer.
- A bill addressing “prohibited outdoor storage” of items such as abandoned or inoperative appliances and vehicles, pushed through the NICE Committee, was deferred a fortnight hence.
- A bill addressing the prevalence of unsightly tarps covering roofs beyond a thirty day period was considered; tarps were considered, in the bill language, to be a “rebuttable presumption of an unsound or unstable roof condition.” councilwoman Boyer wanted strict delineation of what a “natural disaster” might be. Crescimbeni, meanwhile, noted that after Hurricane Andrew, the rebuild took years in some cases, far beyond the six months allotted for in the bill in the case of a natural disaster. Even a thunderstorm with a lot of wind, he added, could wreak havoc. Code enforcement would allow for exceptions in the case of an active building permit, and would allow appeals to defend the rights of property owners. council members Gulliford and Reggie Gaffney raised concerns about how this bill would affect property owners, before launching into a Socratic dialogue about how tarps on roofs for many months or even years might affect the property values of surrounding houses. The measure passed without objection.
- A measure regarding a cooperative agreement between the St. Johns River Ferry Commission and the city, regarding a capital improvement grant for slip wall improvement, passed without objection. Meanwhile, an emergency bill, reauthorizing the Joint Participation Agreement with FDOT, passed without objection.
- A bill regarding the IT development budget, with suggested minimum spending amounts, did not sit well with Aaron Bowman, who noted that during his military service, that led to money being spent just because it is in the budget. Lori Boyer countered that there were issues with capital budgets in information technology in the previous administration, which led to serious backlogs as council wasn’t aware of issues in a timely manner. Crescimbeni noted that needs, when not budgeted, don’t go away; rather, they are compounded going forward. Bowman failed to get the minimum threshold eliminated. He was the sole dissenter in the 6-1 vote
