by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
With a dozen City Council members taking part in Jacksonville Day and another few either running late or at another commitment, finding a quorum for Wednesday’s Council committee meetings was tough. In fact, so many Council members had excused themselves from the Government Performance, Audit, Technology & Education committee that chair Suzanne Jenkins canceled the meeting altogether.
Council President Elaine Brown, not up to par herself and on the way home, said this year was a bit challenging only because today’s Jacksonville Day Tallahassee fell during committee week and not during a regular Council meeting week.
“Obviously, this time it was tough, but I have not experienced this before,” said Brown. “A lot of the Council members opted to participate in Jacksonville Day and that’s OK because it’s an important year for us to talk to our legislative delegation about how they can help make an impact.”
The 12 Council members attending Jacksonville Day in Tallahassee are Michael Corrigan, Daniel Davis, Art Graham, Kevin Hyde, Mia Jones, Pat Lockett-Felder, Lynette Self, Gwen Yates, Sharon Copeland, Reggie Fullwood, Lake Ray and Richard Clark.
Brown said with Mayor John Peyton in Tallahassee lobbying Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Department of Transportation for funding to make up shortfalls in the Better Jacksonville Plan for road work, having a strong Council showing is important enough that some Council matters can easily be postponed. Unless there is an urgent matter before a particular Council committee, missing one meeting isn’t a big deal.
“In fact, what happens is the agenda gets shuffled,” explained Brown. “If it is a time-sensitive item, we will pull it out at the full Council meeting, put it on the floor and talk about it.”
Brown said other items high on the list at Jacksonville Day include funding for city-wide wireless Internet service and shortfalls in programs such as juvenile drug court, Legal Aide and teen court.