Denise Lee takes leave from Lenny Curry administration to work for ‘Yes for Jacksonville’

On Monday, Jacksonville’s Director of Blight Initiatives Denise Lee tendered her resignation from the Lenny Curry administration. However, she will be helping to market the pension tax referendum as part of “Yes for Jacksonville,” Lee told FloridaPolitics.com Monday.

Lee, a Democrat on Jacksonville’s City Council until 2015 who notably counter-messaged advertising from Mayor Alvin Brown as “race baiting,” was hired by the Curry administration before the mayor’s inauguration to handle initiatives related to remedying blight.

The resignation is effective Monday, Aug. 1. And it is being described as a “leave” rather than a final separation, as she is expected to return after the vote.

“E. Denise Lee submitted her resignation on Friday, July 29^th, and has joined the Community Outreach team for Yes for Jacksonville. The duties and responsibilities she led as Director, Blight Initiatives, will be shared among existing staff, in the interim. Ms. Lee, based on her experiences with political campaigns and community outreach activities, requested a leave to support the pension reform efforts. The mayor accepted her resignation, and appreciates the service and leadership she has and continues to provide the City of Jacksonville,” wrote Marsha Oliver, communications director for the Curry administration.

Lee will take on a new role: working on the “Yes for Jacksonville” campaign during the final stretch of its marketing push ahead of the Aug. 30 primary. Reports are that the mayor was “thrilled” that Lee offered to help market the tax extension.

Given the correlation between a revenue shortfall and the erosion of city services in recent years, Lee is well-positioned to speak to the need for further pension reform and the need for a dedicated revenue source for the $2.7 billion unfunded liability.

And that is a role she embraces.

Lee told FloridaPolitics.com that people kept asking her at community meetings where she fell on the ballot referendum, but in her role she was constrained from advocacy.

“Pension is the number one issue,” Lee said, adding that the obligation keeps impacting the operational budget of the general fund.

“People out here do have legitimate concerns,” Lee added. “There needs to be a little more grassroots,” given that “some people are maybe giving the wrong message.”

On Council, Lee “voted to do something about the pension issue,” she said. In her previous role, she “wanted to say more but was not in position to do it” as she was “not assigned to speak on it.”