by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
City Council committees function as far more than resume builders for budding politicians. The twice-monthly meetings are where the real debates take place.
To the casual observer, it may look like the full Council “rubber stamps” ordinances, resolutions and appointments. In a sense it does, mainly because the seven committees have already done the work to assure that every ordinance, resolution and appointment has been scrutinized several times.
In addition to serving on the Council, members are asked to fill seven committees: Finance, Public Health & Safety, Public Service & Utilities, Recreation & Community Development, Land Use & Zoning, Transportation, Environment & Energy and Rules.
Getting this work done means honoring the assignments of the Council president and attending committee meetings. Overall, the Council has an impressive attendance record at committee meetings, especially considering many have full-time jobs and the committees meet during the day. Out of 19 committee meetings since last July, several Council members have perfect attendance while many others have only missed a meeting or two.
One exception is Ginger Soud, who has missed 12 of 19 PSU meetings. Soud, however, provides a solid defense for herself, and one Council president Matt Carlucci admits is valid. Soud, who is a real estate broker and is running for mayor, contends that so much of what goes on in PSU is covered in her PHS committee that attending PSU meetings isn’t always a necessity. Also, the PSU agenda is often so short that it isn’t sensible to drive downtown for a quick meeting.
“PSU has an extremely brief agenda,” said Soud. “The agenda on it is so short and the legislation on it has already been covered. For me to drive from my private office all the way downtown for a 15-minute meeting is not an efficient use of my time. That’s why my attendance there has been less than perfect.”
Soud also contends that the creation of several ad hoc committees has taken away from what the standing Council committees were designed to handle. She believes that if most of them were dissolved and their work assigned to a Council committee, it would reestablish the value of committee work.
“Now, more than any other time, there are too many ad hoc committees,” said Soud, who was elected in 1995. “They are not permanent committees and they exist for a specific reason and for a limited time. What I’m hoping is to put the strength back in the standing committees and take out some ad hoc committees. There have been a lot of complaints this year by Council members that they have one too many assignments.”
Carlucci agrees with Soud’s assessment.
“There’s probably some merit to her thoughts on that,” said Carlucci. “I’ve thought about that lately. I’ve asked the Council members to tackle a lot this year. I have thought that some things could have been done in standing committees. On the flip side, Council rules have been set aside for special committees. They are there for a reason.”
As Council president, Carlucci has many jobs and responsibilities, as did his 36 predecessors since Jacksonville became a consolidated city in 1968.
In addition to running 26 full Council meetings a year, Carlucci also finds time to meet with Council members and constituents about anything and everything, chat with members of the mayor’s office about pertinent issues and attend Downtown Development Authority and Jacksonville Economic Development Commission meetings when possible. He’s also a husband, father and business owner.
Politically, one of Carlucci’s first charges after being elected Council president last May was to begin formulating the seven standing Council committees, who would serve as chairs and who would comprise the seven-member committees. Not an easy task when you look at what the committees do and the fact that 18 individual egos must be considered in the process.
For Carlucci, a Council veteran who has served on two different Councils and has twice been vice president (1991-92 and 2000-01), filling the Council committees and choosing a chair was a very difficult process for one reason: no matter who he asked to sit on what committee, he couldn’t lose.
“This is a good Council,” said Carlucci, who has about two months left as president before either Vice President Suzanne Jenkins or Jerry Holland fills the president’s chair. “I am darn appreciative of every one of my colleagues. Every one of them has made this a fulfilling and wonderful year.”
Carlucci said the task of assigning Council members to committees can be both easy and agonizing. Many factors have to be considered, including loyalty, the member’s interests and expertise. The Council president must also equitably divide the committee assignments to assure that no Council members find themselves on three or four committees while others receive only one committee assignment. Because there are 18 Council members eligible to serve on seven, seven-member committees, dividing the workload exactly evenly is impossible.
“It’s a process that has a lot of constituents,” explained Carlucci. “You appoint people to committees that, number one, you have built relationships with and have supported you. That’s the political constituent.
“Number two is the types of issues that each committee will be taking on and appointing a person with familiarity to those issues, passion and maybe even has other intangible traits to help that committee work.
“What I did was pick character people. Fairness and statesmanship played a big role in that, as well as other constituents. Somebody that’s fair to everybody; that’s of paramount importance.”
Once elected president, Carlucci surveyed his Council and started placing them on committees, chairs first. When choosing the seven chairs, Carlucci took several things into consideration. For example, he named Holland chair of RCD and Mary Ann Southwell chair of PSU because both of them expressed interest in those specific committees. And, because Carlucci wanted to give them an opportunity to lead.
“Because neither of them had led a committee before, it was important to see that they receive a chairmanship,” said Carlucci. “Every one of them has shown great statesmanship, so any of them can handle a chairmanship.”
In the case of Reggie Fullwood, whom Carlucci named chair of Finance — one of Council’s most important and prestigious committees — the appointment served as both a reward and a challenge.
“I wanted to afford the youngest member in Council history [Fullwood was elected in 1999 when he was 24] the opportunity to chair the Finance committee,” said Carlucci. “He was the youngest, he’s a minority and he has shown great stability. I thought he would make a wonderful chair and he has proven me right.”
For his part, Fullwood, who welcomed the assignment, knew it would be time-consuming and has used the job as an opportunity to learn more about how the City and its governmental processes work.
“I’ve enjoyed it, but it is stressful at times,” said Fullwood, explaining that in addition to regular Finance meetings, he also has to attend many others. “During the budget process, we might meet three or four times a week. I’m fortunate enough to have bosses here at Vestcor [his regular employer] that have allowed me the freedom to attend those meetings this year. They realized that it was an honor for me to serve as chair.”
Both Fullwood and Soud assert that attendance is important to the proper function of the committees, especially when you have been asked to chair a committee.
“If you look back at my record when I was chair of LUZ or Finance, you’ll see that I was almost 100 percent,” said Soud.
“I think it’s more of an obligation,” said Fullwood. “I enjoy it and I want to be at every meeting and see what’s going on. It’s just like school. I hated missing days.”