Sixteen years ago, Ginger Soud stood on the same Jacoby Symphony Hall stage as Greg Anderson did recently.
Next to King Holzendorf, her friend and one of the few familiar faces on City Council, she remembers looking up and down the ranks of new members.
Fourteen new members. Fourteen of 19. And she was being installed as president.
“What crossed my mind was I was supposed to be leading all these people,” Soud recently recalled with a laugh. “It was a little daunting, but I had confidence in them.”
The 14-member turnover is a record, but this year’s 11 isn’t far behind. And it could even be more daunting.
It’ll be Anderson in the leadership role Soud held, leading the mostly new group through a public service. An adventure he likened recently to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s trek through the Antarctic Circle.
It’s a different type of excursion than it was back then.
The scenery has changed
In 1999, “The Sixth Sense” was a blockbuster. Britney Spears was on top of the music world. Harry Potter was taking root.
John Delaney was entering his second term as mayor. The economy was bustling.
Today, it’s “Jurassic World,” Taylor Swift and “50 Shades of Grey” that remain popular.
Newcomer Lenny Curry is taking the mayor’s office and the economy is still recovering from drastic drops of several years past.
Delaney proposed a budget that included a minor property tax decrease, but still the general fund pulled in an almost $38 million more.
His budget also included 100-plus more police officers, boosted reserves and spending for programs dealing with parks, anti-littering and Springfield homeownership.
Curry’s spending plan won’t be known until July 20, but he also wants additional police officers.
During the campaign, he continuously hammered to voters the need to hire 147 more, but won’t be able to implement that all at once. Other areas he pushed were for improved neighborhoods and expanding economic opportunity.
Curry will have an additional $20 million from increased property values, but also mandatory expenditures that rise, too.
All told, council members will have their work cut out for them once that budget is delivered.
“This group is going to face more challenges,” said Matt Carlucci, one of those new members in 1999. He’d previously served two terms that began in the late ’80s, though. “A good economy makes for a much better time than when you’re scraping for money,” Carlucci said.
Gwen Chandler, one of the five returning members then, said the city’s needs were met. It was the “wants” within each district — like her priority for water fountains and bathrooms at an Eastside park — where the budget push began.
That first year, maybe the most contentious issue wasn’t the budget but a tree ordinance. Delaney and council members had differences of opinions on the growth issue, which impacted the area’s builders.
Soud also implemented a task force for expedited roadwork and there were infrastructure needs, all a precursor for the Better Jacksonville Plan.
Today, it’s about finding enough for the needs in areas like public safety, libraries and parks — much as it has been the past several years.
Learning the job
Jerry Holland was one of the 14 new faces on council in 1999.
He agrees with Carlucci’s assessment on city finances — it’ll be difficult for the new people without money.
“Everyone who ran, they made promises,” said Holland.
And working with a mayor like Delaney who “knew the ropes,” said Holland, was a plus.
It boils down to basics beyond that, though. There’s a learning curve that comes with a mass influx of newness. It was — and still is — harder for some, he said.
Council protocol, Robert’s Rules of Order or even just becoming familiar with the city staff and surroundings can be a challenge.
Soud said she and Don Davis, the council president the year before, realized the huge change coming council’s way. They spent time bolstering improved orientation and training for the incoming class. It was an improvement from years past.
“When I was elected, I didn’t even know where the coffee pot was,” she joked.
Council members also took bus tours around the city, trips meant to familiarize each other with what was happening in their districts. Or for some, introducing them.
Soud also went fresh with her committee appointments. Five of the newly elected were made chairs, slated to lead groups like Finance and Rules.
“It concerned me for them,” Soud said. “Those are not easy positions; you’ve got to know a lot of things. We tried to help that during orientation.”
But coming together and working as one, “wasn’t difficult at all” said Chandler. She said she helped newer members where she could, providing advice and some of the “dos and don’ts.”
“The learning curve is always going to be difficult,” she said. “But as I always told them, do your research.”
Like Chandler, Alberta Hipps, council vice president during the year, said she always tried to be supportive.
“You know how it feels,” she said.
It’s one thing, she said, to be on the outside looking in — people gain somewhat of a sense of the role. But once you’re elected, “the phone rings more often than you think.”
“You want to fix it all real quick,” she said. “Some things can be fixed quickly. Some things you have to get in the queue.”
It’ll be a lesson they’ll quickly learn.
Doyle Carter might understand the situation best.
He was one of the new members in 1999. He’s also on council, starting his second consecutive term last week.
“Everybody at the time said ‘Oh my goodness gracious,’” said Carter, remembering his first foray with the office. “And it took a little bit of time for everybody to catch up because the learning curve was there.”
But, he said, new blood brings life to everyone else involved.
The group today
Anderson said going into his term as council president, he wanted to put an emphasis on orientation and learning. Anything that could help ease that learning curve.
There was a mock council meeting, with help from current and incoming members playing bit parts to throw out different scenarios.
Extensive Sunshine Law training. And a “Foundations of Local Government” program at the University of North Florida meant to educate new members about some of the community’s problems.
But he knows the task at hand.
“It’s 11 new council members, with 11 backgrounds and 11 goals and opportunities,” he said.
He said he’s talked with them all to begin building a relationship and wants to put them in a position to succeed. He didn’t do what Soud did with committee appointments, though.
Only one new member, Scott Wilson, will lead a standing committee. And Wilson has been involved before, serving as council member Don Redman’s executive council assistant for eight years.
Instead, several new members will serve as vice chairs to learn.
To a person, those interviewed from the 1999 year all have high praise for the group about to begin its term.
“It’s a pretty darn good class,” said Holland.
The new faces, they said, have the right blend of financial acumen and leadership experience to be quick studies. To quickly jump the learning gap.
“The city is going to do just fine,” said Carlucci.
And despite the turnover, the group will work together. It will have to be like it was in 1999, Carter said, if anything is going to get done.
“We didn’t miss a beat in 1999 and we won’t miss a beat in 2015,” he said.
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