Lenny Curry renews vow for ‘real reform’ in Jax kids’ programs

Curry warns beachgoers to follow the rules.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry rolled out his re-org of Jacksonville children’s programs, the Kids Hope Alliance, amid hoopla this summer.

While no fewer than 14 Jacksonville City Council members made a vow to co-sponsor the measure at a presser in early August, momentum has stalled since.

The bill is deferred in committees for a second straight two-week cycle this week, after meeting resistance in the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee in August budget hearings.

For Curry, this plan to roll up the Jacksonville Children’s Commission and Jax Journey into one omnibus board appointed by the Mayor’s Office is a major priority, one that Curry says will be back in committees in the “near-term” future.

However, hopes to have the legislation pushed through in time for the budget that will be passed Tuesday apparently have been dashed.

So where do things go from here? We asked Curry Wednesday morning,  at an event where the Mayor was joining solid waste collection crews to start off an expected 1m cubic yards of debris pickup over the coming weeks.

Curry called the Kids Hope Alliance bill “real reform,” saying “I will see it through to the end.”

“I’m not going weak on this,” Curry added.

Regarding discussion among some legislators that significant changes are needed to the bill to make it palatable, Curry stood his ground, saying the aftermath of Hurricane Irma led to a temporary pause in the reform push.

“I met with experts,” Curry said, “tweaking it. But the delay right now is storm-related.”

Curry also “fundamentally rejected” the central “premise” in a Florida Times-Union article by Tessa Duvall on the reform process. Duvall made the case that the program was devised in secrecy, outside of the sunshine and looping out certain stakeholders and experts.

“I think we laid the record out pretty clearly that I started talking about reforms many, many, many months ago,” Curry said.

“I directed an audit, convened conversations, and as with everything I do, I create a plan and product that makes sense, and then it goes before City Council and is debated in the public sphere,” Curry added.

We also asked about the attrition of pre-pledged co-sponsors for the legislation, which as yet does not have 14 Councilors helping to carry the bill.

“It’s process right now,” Curry said. “We’re tweaking it. I’ve met with a number of experts because we want it to be right.”

“Once we get through this hurricane stuff,” Curry added, “you’ll see the final bill and a discussion in city council in the near term.”

We asked if the entire seven-person board would be comprised of Mayoral appointees, as was the case in the originally filed legislation.

“I don’t want to speak to the final product until we get there,” Curry said, “but I think you’ll see that it accomplishes the intent that I said needs to be accomplished.”