By Mike Mendenhall and Max Marbut | Staff Writers
The Jacksonville City Council named Deputy General Counsel Margaret “Peggy” Sidman its next director and secretary.
Council voted 16-0 on April 12 to approve Sidman’s appointment to succeed Cheryl Brown, who retired from the post in January.
Sidman has served as legal counsel to the Council for 19 years.
She joined the city General Counsel’s Office in April 2003, was promoted to chief of the Legislative Services Department in 2009, becoming deputy legislative affairs in 2012 and managing deputy in 2013.
Before becoming a city attorney, Sidman was corporate counsel for Bombardier Capital Inc. and before that, worked in private practice, including with the Rogers Towers firm in Jacksonville.
Sidman graduated from the University of Florida in 1987 and the Washington College of Law at American University in 1993.
She is a former member of the city Historic Preservation Commission. Former Mayor John Delaney appointed her to the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women.
Sidman is a former president of Riverside Avondale Preservation and a former member of the boards of directors of Community Connections Inc. and the Catholic Lawyers Guild.
Sidman was selected after the Council Personnel Committee interviewed several qualified candidates for the position.
The committee comprises Council President Sam Newby, Vice President Terrance Freeman and members Aaron Bowman, Brenda Priestly Jackson and Ron Salem.
Council Vice President Terrance Freeman and members Matt Carlucci and Ju’Coby Pittman were absent for the vote.