by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
City Council president Jerry Holland may have caught a bit of heat for proposing a lump sum settlement from AT&T Broadband as opposed to payments to individual customers, but his decision to allocate the $2 million to three entities that affect all of Jacksonville may sway his detractors.
After careful consideration, Holland decided to equitably split the money between Jacksonville Fire & Rescue, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the Duval County School System.
“I went to the sheriff, I went to the fire chief and I went to the superintendent,” explained Holland. “I said, ‘There’s no guarantee, but if you had about three-quarters of a million dollars, how would you spend it?’ All three submitted a list.”
The money will technically come from Comcast — when they bought AT&T Broadband, they also bought the company’s debts — and, Holland explained, because it will come as a lump sum, it will in no way affect the class action suit that was filed against AT&T Broadband by attorney Woody Wilner.
All three entities submitted lists that Holland ultimately culled to 10 items. Topping Superintendent John Fryer’s list is $750,000 for computer and library enhancements.
“That money will help him do things at some of the challenged schools,” said Holland.
Among other things, JSO will get $226,267 for a mobile command unit and Jacksonville Fire & Rescue will get 20 new thermal imaging cameras to the tune of $206,680.
Ironically, the only thing standing between the new items and the money is City Council.
“First, we have to approve the new service agreement. With that behind us, we can do the settlement,” said Holland.
It’s expected to take about three months for the money to become officially available. Holland said he expects to introduce the service agreement bill at the Feb. 25 Council meeting. The bill will then have to work its way through the appropriate standing Council committees before reaching the full Council vote.
“The fastest it could take would be 10-12 weeks from now,” said Holland, adding he pursued the lump sum over individual payments for a couple of reasons. “I did not want to do it individually because it would block the class action suit and I wanted something that would benefit the most people. I hope it’s seen as something that will benefit everybody.”
The $2 million payment will be distributed as follows:
Jacksonville Fire & Rescue
$206,680 for 20 thermal imaging cameras
$250,000 for one Fire/Rescue boat
$75,00 for 15 portable pumps
$60,000 for extrication equipment
$12,600 for seven gas cans
JSO
$226,267 for a mobile command unit
$163,673 for 12 thermal imaging cameras
$204,780 for field force equipment
Duval County School System
$750,000 for computer and library enhancements
$51,000 for 18 portable defibrillation units