A.G. Gancarski
On a Tuesday agenda largely bereft of drama, the Jacksonville City Council moved bills related to microlending for small businesses, jobs for ex-offenders, and a boost for the council’s travel budget.
All approvals were unanimous.
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Microfinance: 2016-486 revives the city’s Access to Capital program for Jacksonville’s Small and Emerging Business program, allowing microfinancing from $5,000 to $100,000 for Jacksonville’s small and emerging businesses.
A sum of $979,380 will be provided for this third-party administered program from the city. Of that money, $150,000 goes to administrative capital, with the balance going toward the JSEB capital pool.
The hope among policy makers: that more loans can be advanced to local small and emerging businesses. The previous pace was 10 a year, and the hope is that more loans — to be granted at an 8.99 percent interest rate for up to five years — can be offered.
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Ex-offender jobs: A watered-down version of a bill (2017-35) requiring that city contractors hire ex-offenders looks poised to get through the full council.
The substitute version of the bill allows contractors to hire ex-offenders who did not emerge from city-subsidized re-entry programs while requiring “satisfactory evidence” of at least an attempt to hire an ex-offender.
Program providers would be responsible for providing a list of ex-offenders with skill sets, and contact contractors after they win the bid.
The Associated Builders and Contractors balked at the original version of the bill, asserting that it imposed an onerous burden on contractors by requiring them to do the legwork of reaching out to program providers — that argument proved more persuasive to council members as the bill worked through committees, leading to a deferral and the current substitute two weeks prior.
Councilman Al Ferraro noted that, while he is “all in favor of helping offenders,” he’s “not for big government,” which gave him pause on this bill.
Bill sponsor Garrett Dennis explained what had happened during the long and tedious committee process on the legislation at hand, explaining that the bill came down to “consider[ing] hiring an ex-offender.”
That was good enough for Ferraro.
Dennis thanked the council for supporting the measure, saying that it shows “how serious we are about fighting crime.”
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Safe Travels: One unintended consequence of a hard cap of $3,000 on travel budgets for council members has been an impediment to traveling to association events, such as those held by the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties.
The issue has percolated for some time, and 2017-97 resolves that issue, with $15,918 appropriated from the current year’s budget for such travel.
Going forward, $20,000 or 10 percent of association membership fees will be appropriated for delegation travel.
