A.G. Gancarski
One of the most hot-button issues before Jacksonville’s City Council is the decision whether to increase the number of terms city officials can serve. On Monday, it cleared its fourth and final committee.
The Matt Schellenberg bill seeks to boost consecutive terms for the Jacksonville mayor, City Council, and Duval County constitutional officers from two to three terms.
Selling it to the community will be the proverbial heavy lift, with The Florida Times-Union and other news media questioning the need for it.
The bill would authorize a binding referendum on the subject, positioned in August or November, a decision depending on when/if the sales tax extension to tackle the amortized unfunded pension liability makes the ballot.
Proponents make the “experience counts” argument. Opponents, meanwhile, recoil against the potential for a permanent political class to take hold.
The bill passed through Finance by a 4-3 margin, after clearing two previous committees in January by 7-0 and 6-1.
The TEU discussion opened with a Tommy Hazouri amendment applicable to Council, starting in 2019, with “staggered terms” starting with Council members elected in 2019.
The proposal’s terms would start with even-numbered districts, with odd-numbered districts and at-large districts rolling out two years later.
Hazouri said the school board and state Senate handle their terms that way.
“Yes, some of us would have two extra years,” Hazouri said, adding that he knows it’s “contradictory to what the [Consolidation Task Force] recommended.”
Hazouri, who voted against the bill in Rules, said the amendment would help provide “continuity” and preserve “institutional knowledge.”
Pushback manifested against what essentially was seen as a substitute bill.
John Crescimbeni noted that he’d introduced a staggered term bill in 1998 that went nowhere because all parties were considering their self-interest.
“You’re going to get bogged down in parochial politics,” Crescimbeni said.
Crescimbeni added that constitutional officers are “very interested” in being involved also.
“To add this to the term limits bill,” Crescimbeni said, would “make [voters] heads’ explode.”
Hazouri, still opposed to term-limit expansion, said, “The public’s not going to vote for three terms for this Council.”
The Hazouri amendment, described as “extremely confusing to our body” by Joyce Morgan, was a nonstarter and withdrawn.
The amendment done, Hazouri said that it was a “bad bill” that the public wouldn’t support. Reggie Gaffney agreed. Scott Wilson agreed, regarding the public, but voted it through anyway.
As the committee went through its positions, Lori Boyer came down to give a history lesson on the Consolidation Task Force.
One issue she brought up was “turnover” in administrative positions, and she echoed Bill Gulliford‘s comments from Finance that “the lobbyists have more institutional knowledge than some of the people around here,” which leads to a repeat of the same mistakes, a loss of momentum.
“There’s real value in having continuity and longevity,” Boyer said.
Regarding the referendum succeeding, Boyer noted that Council will have to make the sale.
The bill carried 4-2; after a pro forma approval by the City Council next Tuesday, the populist counterarguments will begin in the press for the months leading up to the referendum.
