A.G. Gancarski
Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Brown encountered some resistance the first time his bill to allocate $5,000 to each district council member for community events was in committee.
On Monday in Neighborhoods, Community Investments, and Services, the bill was back, in amended form.
The amendment consisted of “friendly suggestions” from the ethics office, said the general counsel rep on hand.
These amendments sought to sharpen distinctions between political events and events for community enrichment and education, the latter of which was the councilman’s intent.
Among its terms: city dollars would only pay for internal costs, such as city resources relative to police and fire/rescue, bleachers, and so on. Not for amenities like “bounce houses”, which Brown had advocated as something to give kids something to do while parents/guardians learned about city services.
As well, the council member could not promote the event before the event was approved by the affected departments, risk management, the finance and ethics departments.
While third parties could donate in support of the event, they would do so to the city, not to the individual council member, as that would violate ethics guidelines.
The committee approved the measure unanimously. Pending approval by the Finance and Rules committee, the full council will review this one next week.
One comment
Jimbo Breland
December 5, 2016 at 10:05 am
We live in a time when information about COJ Services is but a click away at your fingertips ! The City of Jacksonville, does not need to allocate $5000.00, a year to each council district to educate citizens through neighborhood events !
. COJ hasn’t even cleaned the easements and ditches in Garden City in 13 months and you want to throw away money for frivalous neighborhood meetings which would be a political boost to each council member ! Be ashamed !
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