Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 14, 2017

Tuesday’s Jacksonville City Council meeting was postponed in the wake of Irma; it has been rescheduled for Monday afternoon. That’s the big takeaway from a memo from Council President Anna Brosche, who also had to reshuffle committee meetings to later in the week to accommodate the change. Here are the rescheduled dates, per the memo from […]

A.G. GancarskiSeptember 12, 2017

Tuesday afternoon saw what likely will be one of the last briefings on Jacksonville City Council members on Hurricane Irma. And it was a doozy — complete with recriminations and frustrations over another round of slow power restoration from JEA. Recovery is underway, with JEA crews having resolved roughly 20,000 outages during daylight hours Tuesday, […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 25, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee put Sheriff Mike Williams through the wringer during this year’s budget process. They pushed back against budget asks two weeks ago, compelling the Sheriff to return Friday morning, where he spent roughly an hour answering questions related to a poll his political committee ran. Among the items in suspension: 100 […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 25, 2017

Friday saw the Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee move toward wrapping up budget deliberations. However, there was still some unfinished business with various departments. And the most interesting bit of business was political business — not budgetary. — The big enchilada: the 100 new police officers and other proposals from JSO, which were not approved […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 24, 2017

On Valentine’s Day, the Jacksonville City Council voted to expand the city’s Human Rights Ordinance to include LGBT people. On Thursday, a group of local Christian conservatives, backed by the Liberty Counsel, united under the banner of Empower Jacksonville to challenge that law — and all laws that citizens deem to be “unjust.” Empower Jacksonville seeks […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 24, 2017

Thursday morning’s Jacksonville City Council budget review included a deep dive into improving workforce diversity in city employment. Council members discussed ways to fulfill the letter of the equal opportunity/equal access law, relative to ensuring that Jacksonville’s labor force reflects the city’s demographics. “It’s about priorities. Whatever the Mayor wants to do in that fashion, […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 23, 2017

Tuesday night saw the Jacksonville City Council reject a bill that would authorize an Aug. 2018 referendum to extend the current two-term limit to three for most city elected officials. The bill, sponsored by second-term Councilman Matt Schellenberg, would have applied to every office but that of mayor. It failed 6-11, however, despite Council President Anna Brosche supporting […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 23, 2017

The Jacksonville City Council located money via leftover fund balance from the current fiscal year, leading to discussions on Wednesday of how to spend the roughly $5 million on capital projects. One big project — Ortega Hills land acquisition — may help to solve a long-standing problem in the neighborhood, which sees ingress and egress […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 23, 2017

This summer, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry proposed a $131M capital improvement budget — a cornucopia of one-time spending designed to take advantage of budget relief created by pension reform, fueled by the confidence created by Jacksonville’s strong position with bond ratings agencies. And on Wednesday, the Jacksonville City Council’s Finance Committee — along with visiting Council […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 23, 2017

Should Jacksonville remove its Confederate monuments? It was the hot-button question that animated public comment at a Jacksonville City Council meeting Tuesday night. The monument debate, saved for the main event of the evening, roiled Council for hours. Though Council President Anna Brosche walked back her proposal to remove the monuments, in light of “alternative suggestions,” those […]

Tag: jacksonville city council

Jacksonville City Council reboots schedule in wake of Irma

Lenny Curry, Jax City Council frustrated with slow pace of power restoration

After venting about poll, Jax Council panel gives Sheriff 100 new cops

Jax Councilors feel ‘targeted’ by Sheriff’s poll pushing 100 new cops

Jax conservatives to make straw ballot challenge to LGBT rights law

Jax commitment to workforce diversity: just ‘words on paper’?

Lenny Curry is ‘glad’ Jacksonville City Council term limit referendum vote failed

Solution emerges to stalled train problem in Jacksonville’s Ortega Hills

$8.4M for Edward Waters College? Controversy on Jax City Council

Confederate monument controversy roils Jacksonville City Council meeting