by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
A bill that would substantially limit a City employee’s ability to take a private sector job has raised more than a few eyebrows at City Hall. Introduced by City Council member Art Shad in late June, the bill would impose an up to $10,000 fine on all public officials and employees who go to work for a business with which they have helped receive City contracts or funds within three years of leaving the City.
But since its introduction, little discussion or debate about the bill has taken place on the Council. Shad said Tuesday he had requested it be deferred for at least another month so that the mayor’s office and the City’s Ethics Commission could properly review it.
“I’m perfectly fine with letting a bill like this work its way through the proper channels,” Shad said. “I always envisioned we would have a special meeting or two about it because of its sensitive nature.”
Shad admitted that, at this time, the bill may be too broad and that if it were to pass as is may result in the City “throwing the baby out with the bath water.”
“The last thing I want to see happen is that we deter people from wanting to come to work for the City,” he said. “If we do something too far reaching, it’s completely within reason that we wouldn’t be able to hire anyone.
“We may have to look at where we draw the line and that’s understandable.”
Council members Sharon Copeland and Elaine Brown agreed the bill was too restrictive in its current form.
“At first blush I can see the merits of what (Shad) is trying to do,” Brown said. “The perception by the public is that it’s not right for a person in a position of power with the City to use that power to get a better job in the private sector. But at the same time, is it fair of us to limit the right of someone who has an opportunity to move on?
“Unfortunately you never really know someone’s intent when they leave, but having good business contacts is a big part of getting a better job.”
Copeland said the bill could make it difficult for some of the City’s top officials to find work anywhere in Jacksonville.
“We come into contact and work with just about all of the big companies in town so don’t know how it would work,” she said. “The way it’s written now, I don’t even know if I could go work for my husband’s law firm because they work with the City all the time.”
Steve Rohan, an attorney with the General Counsel’s Office who’s working with the Ethics Commission on the bill, said that no specific issues have been raised thus far by any of the Commissioners, but that once a formal review takes place that might change.
“I know the Commission at least wanted to take a look at it because it is an ethical matter,” he said. “That’s what they do.”
Referencing the recent hirings of Kirk Wendland and Mike Weinstein by LandMar and TriLegacy, respectively, Shad said he first requested a “comprehensive review of (the City’s) ethics code” earlier this year.
Wendland and Weinstein are both former executive directors of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. Shad said at the time that because both men had “played substantial roles with the City” to secure incentive packages for those companies it presented a conflict of interest, if not an ethical lapse.
“I just know that don’t want to repeat what happened with Weinstein,” he said. “Maybe we’ll ultimately just place heavier restrictions on the JEDC or on our division chiefs. Obviously we don’t want to prevent a ‘John Smith’ from Procurement from taking a job with Publix if he wants to.”