Donna Deegan defends embattled Jax General Counsel, rejects calls for him to step down

Jacksonville’s City Council may lack confidence in General Counsel Michael Fackler, however Mayor Donna Deegan doesn’t share their sentiment, she said Wednesday.

“Michael Fackler is a man of great integrity who has always called balls and strikes, which is what the City Council and I asked him to do. I haven’t always agreed with his decisions, but I respect them. The Office of General Counsel is the glue that holds our Consolidated Government together. It’s my hope that we can let the office do its job without involving politics moving forward,” said Deegan.

The City Council voted 12-5 Tuesday to show a lack of confidence in Fackler’s ability to be objective, with the majority contending the lawyer gives Deegan and the executive branch more deference and guidance than he provides the legislators.

Deegan also addressed Councilman Rory Diamond, one of ten sponsors of the resolution who said that if it passed, Fackler should resign.

“That is the type of politics we need to move on from for the benefit of our citizens and Consolidated Government,” Deegan said.

The Council voted unanimously in 2023 to confirm Fackler, who was Deegan’s second nominee for General Counsel after her first nominee, former Republican Council Member Randy DeFoor, couldn’t get sufficient support to be confirmed.

But since then, Fackler has confounded the Council on issues ranging from greenlighting the removal of a Confederate monument without their approval to infringing on the legislative branch’s historic role in setting rates for trash haulers.