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A.G. GancarskiJune 20, 2017

The real story in Jacksonville’s City Council on this committee week goes deeper than the bills under consideration, extending to a radical shift coming in both committee leadership and how business will be conducted. On Monday, Council President-Designate Anna Brosche announced her new committees starting after this legislative cycle. The next Finance Chair, Garrett Dennis, had some […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 19, 2017

Jacksonville City Council President-Designate Anna Brosche announced new committee assignments starting in July, when she takes over. [2017-2018 Council Committee Assignments Letter ] Some interesting takeaways abound. One of which: veteran Republican Bill Gulliford is not on any standing committees, with Brosche apparently calling a bluff Gulliford made in the pledge process when he vowed not to serve […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 19, 2017

In May 2016, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and Councilman Garrett Dennis came together to announce a drowning prevention initiative. Swim lessons for children in poorer areas of town were paid for by private grants, and at the time it was one of those stories that some observers didn’t even think was worthy of coverage. Over a year […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 12, 2017

Three bills that had been expected to highlight the Tuesday evening agenda of the Jacksonville City Council won’t. The end result: an anticlimactic meeting, mostly because the committee process weeded out three bills that may have been sound policy, but were inconvenient politics – at best. Extra Pension Payment? No Thanks! Councilman Danny Becton had […]

A.G. GancarskiJune 6, 2017

Rumors of the Jacksonville TRUE Commission’s demise were overstated after all, with a proposed sunset of the oversight body withdrawn in Tuesday’s City Council Rules Committee meeting. Councilman Tommy Hazouri has been unhappy with the Taxation, Revenue Utilization and Expenditures Committee for much of his term – and Hazouri filed a measure to slash the membership of the […]

A.G. GancarskiMay 24, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council Officer Elections have wrapped, and now comes the inevitable post-game analysis…. ____ PROLOGUE A year ago, the Jacksonville City Council – like Jacksonville itself – was in a different place. Pension reform was a concept, ethereal on some distant horizon. And you couldn’t go a week without a thinkpiece on the […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 17, 2017

The press releases promoting Jacksonville’s celebration of National Community Development Week are similar between 2015 and 2017. Both the 2015 and 2017 versions discuss how much money Duval County has derived from federal Community Development Block Grants. This year’s model says that the city has derived $393M from CDBGs since 1975; the 2015 iteration said it […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 5, 2017

Controversial Jacksonville commission nominee Mike Anania had his day in the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee Wednesday. And that, it turns out, is the end of the road for his nomination. Anania, originally nominated for the city’s TRUE Commission in January, saw his nomination stalled out in recent months, with the Rules Committee having voted to approve […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 4, 2017

The normally sedate Jacksonville City Council Rules committee was popping on Tuesday afternoon, with a controversial board appointment highlighting the agenda — with resistance from Democrats and party-line adherence from Republicans. While it looked like the vote was going to go in favor of that nominee … a “hard stop” of the meeting at 3:15 […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 3, 2017

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. […]

Tag: Garrett Dennis

The uncivil war: How Jacksonville City Council committees got ugly this week

Seismic change awaits Jacksonville City Council in Anna Brosche Presidency

What $200K for swim lessons says about Jax fiscal philosophy

The bills Jacksonville’s City Council won’t consider this week

Jacksonville TRUE Commission sunset bill withdrawn

Winners and losers emerging from the 2017 Jax Council leadership elections

With federal block grants in question, Lenny Curry admin watches and waits

Citing controversy, Mike Anania withdraws from consideration for Jacksonville board

Controversial board pick roils Jax City Council panel

Friends with benefits: Committee week for Jacksonville City Council