A.G. Gancarski
On June 1, Gov. Rick Scott suspended two Democratic Jacksonville City Council members who face 38 federal counts in a scheme to defraud local and federal taxpayers.
While Scott has not yet picked replacements for the currently suspended Katrina Brown and Reggie Brown, the Councilors have live bills that currently lack a primary sponsor.
Katrina Brown sponsored a number of ambitious bills, including a measure making the budget committee a committee of the whole, as well as a measure promoting a “bill of rights” for the homeless.
And Reggie Brown likewise had legislation, including an appropriation to extend city sewer and water to eight houses in his district.
Council committees grappled with bills from both legislators last week but were unable to move forward on the measures given the absence of the bills’ primary advocates, and a general lack of clarity as to legislative intent.
With that in mind, Council President Anna Brosche convened with Councilmen Garrett Dennis, Reggie Gaffney and Sam Newby to try to hammer out a solution so that the bills, as one said, would not “fall by the wayside.”
Among the moves: Garrett Dennis agreed to sponsor 2018-76, a bill that would compel JEA to fulfill promises to extend water and sewer to pre-consolidation areas of Jacksonville.
But Dennis and Gaffney, both on Finance, balked at sponsoring the aforementioned bill that would put everyone on Council on the budget committee.
Dennis agreed to sponsor the “homeless bill of rights” legislation (2018-308), but wanted to impose “a number of changes” on the legislation, deferred in committee.
A number of other bills are up at Council on Tuesday night, and those bills won’t have to be sponsored by anyone through the committee process.
Beyond the bill discussion, future projects desired by the indicted Councilors were discussed, with Councilman Gaffney spotlighting a discussion of an amphitheater at the Legends Center.
Gaffney didn’t want the projects to be forgotten.
Council members were desirous of discussing goals with the suspended legislators, but worried about potential Sunshine violations.
Given that the Council members were not thrown off Council, their reinstatement could, theoretically, make the communication a violation of the Sunshine Law.
Council President Brosche noted the impracticability of a noticed meeting with the two; a city lawyer vowed to look into whether that would legally be possible, before saying that it would be better to talk to the indictees’ assistants — as long as the assistants don’t act as a liaison between non-suspended and suspended members.
After Council members hashed out the allocation of bills, community activists spoke during an abbreviated public comment period, lamenting a lack of representation given the suspensions.
“Me stepping in to help handle things in District 10 is a very temporary situation,” Brosche said to one of many impassioned speakers.
Even as Council works to hash out these bills, Gov. Scott mulls a long list of potential temporary replacements for the suspended duo.
The list as of the end of last week: Joseph Willis, Darrin Williams, Terrance Brisbane, Brenda Priestly Jackson, Ju’coby Pittman, Tameka Holly, Celestine Mills, Terry Fields, Angela Nixon, Christopher Pendleton, Jean Tranquille, Randolph Hall, Charles Barr, James Greiner, Keshan Chambliss, Rahman Johnson, Clarence James, Dwight Brisbane, Niki Brunson, Ralph Chavers, Cornelius Cox, Theresa Graham, King Holzendorf, Kevin Monroe, Latangie Williams, Chandra Griffin, Charles Barr, Ralph Chavers and Pat Lockett-Felder.
New additions: former District 8 candidate James Breaker, former at-large candidate Mincy Pollock, along with political neophytes Leslie Harris, James Greiner, Barney Spann, and Nancy Walker.
Many of the candidates who filed last week, like Breaker and Pollock, have run for office before.
Priestly-Jackson was a former School Board chair. Pittman: a former 2015 Council candidate for an at-large seat. Holly: a current candidate in District 8. Mills: a past and present candidate in District 10.
Fields was a former state Representative and a 2015 City Council candidate. Nixon: a well-known political operative for Democratic candidates. Johnson: a former Soil and Water board member.
Brisbane: an operative/consultant. Brunson and Graham: former candidates for Council. Monroe: current candidate for Council in District 10.
Lockett-Felder, like Breaker, lost to Katrina Brown in District 8’s 2015 race.
