Jacksonville City Council wrestles with public comment confrontations

Jacksonville City Hall had the kind of law enforcement presence Tuesday evening that is generally only seen when collective bargaining agreements are ratified.

And this was because of what happened just 13 days ago, when Council chambers were emptied in the wake of protest.

As First Coast News reported, the Chambers were emptied at the order of Council President Aaron Bowman after audience members objected to a motion to loosen public comment laws being squashed.

A chant of “No justice, no peace” broke out, and the sponsor of the motion — Democrat Garrett Dennis — said Bowman was “absolutely” to blame for the fracas.

Tuesday night saw the Council reconvene, and questions of order — though not on the agenda — were on the minds of  people throughout City Hall.

“Spillover rooms” were set up for potential scofflaws. However, for some Councilmembers, the question was one of abiding by the president’s decision. And no one was particularly interested in undermining Bowman.

Sam Newby, an ally of Bowman, noted that “this is America and people have the right to protest,” but that Bowman has the prerogative to disallow exchanges between elected officials and constituents from the dais.

Bill Gulliford noted that if a similar scene were to unfold Tuesday night it would not go “very well” for the protesters.

The scene was different Tuesday night, including “overflow rooms” for potential protesters, and approximately ten police officers in those conference rooms and even the green room space in which Councilors congregate.

During agenda meeting, Bowman noted his belief that public comment does not equate to “dialogue.”

“If I do have to clear the Chambers tonight, I’ve given control to JSO,” Bowman said during agenda. “If that happens tonight, we’re not going to open the Chambers back up.”

As the meeting began, however, there didn’t seem to be the critical mass of potential protesters.

And if there had been, enthusiasm was blunted, with discussion of a technical amendment on a bill regarding the precise size of 5G boxes to be put in city rights of way helping to remove the kind of emotion that typically drives protests from the room.

As public comment kicked off, Bowman noted that the previous iteration was “not proceeding safely,” reminding the crowd that he would not hesitate to ice the proceedings.

However, that wasn’t actually required, even as there were moments of pitched critique, especially relative to gun violence.

One speaker compared giving the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office more funding to “rewarding a dog after it tears up your house.”

“We voted you in, we will vote you out! And if you don’t aid in taking these Confederate statues down, Andrew Gillum will do it for you,” Rumsey added.

Another speaker, discussing her son who was killed last year, noted the lack of facial expression on the faces up on the dais.

And still another speaker posed a question to Bowman, asking for a poll to “close the gun show loophole” as the President of the Council.

Bowman was mute.

Ben Frazier, meanwhile, noted that Bowman didn’t “clear” the Council Chambers. Rather, people left in “protest” of the “paramilitary sham” that was the meeting two weeks prior.

“What about the voice of the people,” Frazier thundered, repeating the phrase over and over, his broadcast television training facilitating his raspy boom, until his time finally elapsed.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.