A.G. Gancarski
Friendship on the installment plan. Golf carts at the county line.
A date with Joe Camel? You’d better be 21.
A “bully” on a commission. A gag rule for the public. And incentives for the donor class.
These are just a few of the concepts and bills the Jacksonville City Council mulls in committees this week.
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Friends with benefits: Movement in the Friends of Hemming Park saga was foreshadowed earlier this year, with Mayor Lenny Curry asserting that he’s willing to fork over $415,000 to the current management to run the park for six more months. $240,000 for operations, the rest for hardscaping and landscaping (work to be contracted out and completed by the end of FY 17).
This bill starts off in Neighborhoods, Community Investments, and Services on Monday morning. Then Finance on Wednesday morning.
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Golf carts in Nocatee: NCIS considers a measure (2017-66) to make Nocatee a “golf cart community.” Drivers would have to be 16 and older. They could drive golf carts in the public right of way during daylight hours, provided the carts are equipped with lights, turn signals, and other accouterments that make them street legal.
This bill was deferred four weeks as certain components were worked out, including the addition of “low-speed vehicles” and alignment of Duval ordinance with that in St. Johns County, which is also blessed to house part of Nocatee.
If it passes NCIS, the bill goes to Public Health and Safety (PHS), followed by Transportation, Energy, and Utilities (TEU)
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Absence makes the heart grow fonder: It’s hard to find time to do all the things you want to do in a day. Sometimes you just need a little more schedule flexibility.
Many people aren’t in position to request that. But many people aren’t Tom Petway, a Jacksonville donor class all-star who also sits atop the JEA board of directors.
For proof, check out the justification of 2016-764, which TEU mulls Monday, before the Rules Committee takes it up Tuesday.
“At a Rules Special Meeting, JEA’s Chairman of the Board, Tom Petway, requested that the City Council amend the City’s charter to enable the JEA’s Board to meet every other month instead of the monthly basis that it currently meets. He explained that monthly meetings were particularly hard on JEA staff. Mr. Petway explained that the JEA Board wanted to have a meeting requirement similar to that of the Port Authority.”
Some language to be added: “JEA may meet at such times and places designated by it but shall hold regular meetings as necessary, and generally once a month.”
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Tobacco Road: Jacksonville’s not going to be Marlboro Country for the under-21 set, if John Crescimbeni has anything to say about it.
2017-211 would offer a resolution of support for Florida Legislature bills to prevent the sale of tobacco to those under 21.
While the future of those bills in Tallahassee is in flux, Crescimbeni would like to see a local ban on sales of tobacco to those under 21.
The councilman is also drafting a bill that could impose a local ban on tobacco sales to those under 18, though there are still issues to be resolved with that bill, regarding questions of local ordinance potentially conflicting with the state, and other home rule questions.
Whether with the bill he filed, or the bill he’s yet to file, it’s clear that Crescimbeni is determined to raise the age of legal tobacco sales to young people. As he continues to lead in the pledge count for the Jacksonville City Council president’s race, this issue is worth watching for both policy and political reasons.
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Anania Agonistes: For those looking for a showdown in a committee, get your popcorn ready for Rules on Tuesday.
2017-76, the consideration of appointing former Jacksonville City Council candidate Mike Anania to be appointed to the Taxation, Utilization of Revenues, and Expenditures Committee, promises to be a hot mess.
How hot? Let’s ask Rules Chair Garrett Dennis.
“When I met with him, he was very combative. I explained the process to him and he basically said ‘regardless of the process, because of the people backing him, he was going to be on the TRUE Commission,” Dennis said.
“[Anania’s] someone who came in, basically being a bully,” Dennis said, regarding a meeting in his council office.
Dennis urged Anania to ask himself a question: “Is it worth it to continue this fight, to split the council? Or do I love Jacksonville and the process enough to step back, to say ‘I’m going to put my selfish ambitions to the side and step aside’.”
Rules voted on Anania twice already, moving him through both times.
But Dennis put the brakes on the council floor vote.
Now Rules and Finance (on Wednesday) have to approve the irascible Arlington Republican.
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Silence is Golden: Public commenters will have to learn their elevator pitches.
The Jacksonville City Council mulls allowing a committee chair or council president to truncate speaking time from three minutes to a lesser interval (2017-160).
The Rules Committee punted on this one two weeks back, after robust semantic discussion. It will be in front of Rules Tuesday.
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Money Changes Everything: Also on the Rules agenda: a resolution supporting Enterprise Florida.
Gov. Rick Scott has made the hard sell of his incentive programs in Jacksonville in recent weeks, and Councilmen Aaron Bowman, Tommy Hazouri, and Jim Love all support the resolution.
Finance also hears this bill.
