by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
This year marks the 35th anniversary of consolidated Jacksonville. The landmark moment in Northeast Florida government was, in part, the result of rampant corruption in government and a deplorable secondary school system that had been disaccredited. On Aug. 8, 1967, citizens voted nearly 2-1 for consolidation, though over half of Jacksonville’s voters stayed home that day, thus earning its nickname “The Quiet Revolution.”
Beginning with the first post-consolidation Council, inaugurated in December 1967, 95 individuals have represented their respective communities through city government. To celebrate 35 years of consolidation, the Daily Record caught up with former Council members from the last three and a half decades. Some have passed away. Some have put their public lives far behind them. Some have gone on to greater things. Others simply returned to the relative obscurity of their regular lives.
Take Ed Holtsinger, for example. The lone Republican from 1983 to 1987, he referred to himself as the 18-1 Councilman. After he left office, Holtsinger returned to his Mandarin farm where he remains to this day raising cattle and growing vegetables. Now in his eighties, he’s still passionate and fiery, but Holtsinger has put politics in his past.
Perhaps the most infamous group over the years was the inaugural Council, which took office Dec. 5, 1967.
“There’s no question in my mind the first Council had by far the toughest job that anybody could have. When you’re combining two governments, you travel a road no one’s ever been down,” said Homer Humphries, an attorney who served from 1967 to 1971. “You can imagine the problems that faced that first Council. You were combating two governments. You had two tax collectors, two tax assessors. You had a sheriff, a chief of police. You’re trying to mesh these two and everyone is trying to get the upper hand.”
Some names are well-known in the community, immortalized by boat ramps, government buildings and schools — usually not solely for their work on the Council, but it certainly played a factor. Look around town, you’ll see a Joe Carlucci boat ramp off Heckscher Drive, a Mary Singleton Senior Citizens Center, a John Goode Pretrial Detention Facility, an I.M. Sulzbacher Homeless Center and many more.
Some stories are tragic. Popular Don Gaffney was a standout football star at Raines High School and the University of Florida. After serving on the Council from 1983 to 1986, he moved on to the Florida House. He was indicted shortly thereafter for his misdeeds on the Council and sentenced to two years in prison. Gaffney was later caught trying to illegally obtain prescription drugs.
Some members used the Council as a stepping stone to greater political feats. Some succeeded. Some didn’t. Harold Gibson resigned in 1983 to run for mayor. He didn’t make it. Harry Reagan resigned to run for mayor in 1995. He didn’t make it. Jake Godbold ran for mayor in 1979. He made it. Joe Carlucci, Don Davis, Terry Fields, E. Denise Lee and a host of others successfully parlayed their fortunes on the Council into state legislative seats. Tillie Fowler used the City Council to launch her way to Washington, D.C. as a U.S. representative.
Most former Council members have not strayed too far from Jacksonville. Some have ventured out to Alachua, Tallahassee or even Atlanta. One, Sandra Darling, recently closed her Office Anesthesia Services, Inc. and now lives in Vermont.