Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiMarch 30, 2018

The Jacksonville City Council’s special committee on the “potential sale” of local utility JEA met Thursday for the first time since the Council decided to expand the panel from five to 19 members. The major item of interest: the testimony of JEA CEO Paul McElroy, previously summoned via subpoena. McElroy was compelled to address, among other […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 29, 2018

On the issue of the potential sale of Jacksonville public utility JEA, a narrative turning point occurred Tuesday. City Council members voted to expand the five-person special committee of sale skeptics to include the full council while divesting the panel of subpoena powers (such as those imposed on JEA CEO Paul McElroy two weeks prior). In […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 28, 2018

The Jacksonville City Council voted Tuesday evening to maintain the JEA Special committee, but not until after a heated debate that exposed historic fissures and spoke to the eternal struggle between the Council President and the Mayor’s allies. After a compromise motion to kill the committee’s subpoena power failed after a reconsidered vote, the Council […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 26, 2018

Jacksonville’s former Southside Generating Station was the subject of a City Council “lunch and learn” Monday. Specifically, the proposed District redevelopment, four years in the making, with construction proposed to wrap by the end of 2022. The proposal was described as a “labor of love” by the head of the Downtown Investment Authority, but which was […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 22, 2018

During a Wednesday public notice meeting regarding the pros and cons of selling JEA, John Crescimbeni, who chairs a special committee on the “potential sale” of JEA, advised a Council colleague who thought the local utility’s electrical component could fetch $5 billion on the open market to “stay tuned to our special committee.” That special committee met […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 21, 2018

Lost in all the drama and metadiscourse regarding Jacksonville’s potential sale of local utility JEA: whether the sale is good for the city or not. A meeting at 1 p.m. at Jacksonville City Hall between City Council members moved to resolve that question. Councilman Matt Schellenberg (the Council liaison to JEA, who is as open to […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 19, 2018

Committees run Monday and Tuesday for the Jacksonville City Council; high-profile measures ranging from cannabis regulation changes to a JEA sale straw ballot have already been deferred in Monday committees. JEA Referendum: Ordinance 2018-141 would set a public straw vote referendum on the November 2018 ballot regarding selling more than 10 percent of JEA. The […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 19, 2018

A representative of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department noted in a Monday meeting of a City Council panel that ‘fentanyl-laced cocaine’ is an emergent overdose trend. Jacksonville currently has a pilot program treating overdose victims. The program tests for 17 different adulterants, spanning a wide pharmacological range. Previous concerns have been fentanyl-based heroin, suggesting […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 16, 2018

Physical violence will be expressly prohibited on city property in Jacksonville if a resolution filed by Councilman Garrett Dennis this week to the City Council passes. Resolution 2018-171 would support policy designating city property “hit free zones.” This would create “areas in which no adult shall hit another adult, no adult shall hit a child, no child […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 15, 2018

Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford cut a solitary figure at the front of the Lynwood Roberts Room, as a few dozen stakeholders and interested parties convened to discuss the city’s continual struggle with affordable housing. Gulliford, not for the first time, described “neighborhoods in serious decline” locally, as spotlighted by the Block by Block study. And […]

Tag: jacksonville city council
Image via AP.

Jacksonville City Councilmembers hammer JEA CEO Paul McElroy over inconsistencies

Lenny Curry denies pulling strings, intimidating Jacksonville City Council members over JEA issue

Jacksonville City Council expands JEA special committee to 19 members

Jacksonville City Councilmen pan latest ‘District’ pitch

Jacksonville Council auditor throws cold water on JEA sale fever

Jacksonville City Councilor seeks $5B net for JEA electric sale; colleagues skeptical

Jacksonville City Council committee defers JEA sale straw ballot bill

‘Fentanyl laced cocaine’ an emergent overdose trend in Jacksonville

Jacksonville to mull making city property a hit free zone

Jacksonville affordable housing crisis continues, outside of media spotlight