A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville’s Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa on Tuesday pitched the Neighborhoods Department reorganization to Rules as a move toward “cost control and fiduciary responsibility.”
“The reorganization does create a stronger focus on neighborhoods,” Mousa said, in alignment to Mayor Lenny Curry‘s vision.
“Several department heads will no longer have a direct report to the mayor,” Mousa said, allowing Curry to “focus on the big picture” and the “strategic vision” rather than operations.
Among the changes are parking enforcement put under authority of the Downtown Investment Authority, as most of the parking enforced is downtown.
Two positions would be added, including a philanthropic officer, privately funded at first, then by the third year 50/50 public/private split. A data management and analysis officer would be publicly funded. The philanthropic officer would function as a sort of rainmaker for the city, including securing private funding and donations.
The idea is to find “trend lines and synergy” in the copious data the city has but lacks the resources to properly analyze.
The Office of Blight Initiative, Mousa said, “requires higher prominence” and is a “high priority to the mayor” with “direct oversight by the Chief Administrative Officer.”
Military Affairs will be retained as a department because it “requires the prominence and recognition of a department,” Mousa said..
The Office of Economic Development will now report to the CAO as well.
“Our most significant change is the re-establishment of the Neighborhoods Department,” Mousa said.
“The department itself will have an ultimate director.”
Questions came from Rules Committee members.
Chairman Matt Schellenberg noted the organization chart, not provided to media, didn’t have names in the slot; Mousa said that will be rectified.
“It’s very important for that data guy or somebody in the IT to go to … the Florida League of Cities or counties,” Schellenberg said, in pursuit of methods that might be helpful.
Mousa agreed, adding that IT has a “tremendous backlog… much of which nobody knew anything about.”
“We’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Mousa said, and that after the backlog is resolved, that may be an option.
Council President Greg Anderson spoke up next.
“The most significant operational change,” Anderson said, is the move of parking enforcement to the DIA.
Anderson wondered whether that requires board action; Mousa said “discussion has been held with the executive director and the board’s chairman,” adding that in each of the board’s 43 meetings, public parking has come up.
“We gave that a lot of thought.”
DIA Chairman Aundra Wallace affirmed that was the case.
“No positions are being eliminated, and there are no additional positions … and status quo plus or minus on the money, but not in the hundreds of thousands … 10 or 20 grand,” Mousa said.
Schellenberg noted that he would support the reorganization even though it could be “very disruptive.”
Legislation will follow to authorize new chiefs in the coming weeks, Mousa said. There are two vacancies for chiefs in the parks department now posted.
Interviews are being conducted this month.
The bill got through Rules without objection. The previous Neighborhoods Department had some issues that second-term Council members recall, but the Curry administration has long held that restarting the department is the way to go forward.
