by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
State Rep. Stan Jordan and Tax Collector Mike Hogan are working to change the way the City selects its top lawyer. The current system, they say, creates too close a relationship between the City’s General Counsel and the mayor.
The pair are pushing legislation that would change the composition of the committee charged with choosing candidates for the General Counsel position and would give the school board, City Council president and a designated City constitutional officer more influence on the final decision.
Under the current system, the mayor makes the hire from a candidate pool chosen by a five-lawyer selection committee. That process creates the perception that the Office of the General Counsel works for the mayor’s office rather than the city as a whole, said Jordan.
“The problem now is that the mayor basically selects the general counsel,” said Jordan. “In most cases, it’s been a good choice and it will still be a good choice. But it’s only appropriate that the City’s constitutional officers, as stakeholders in a consolidated government, have some input.”
The bill, which requires state legislature approval as a change to the City’s charter, would designate one of the City’s five constitutional officers — the sheriff, property appraiser, tax collector, supervisor of elections and clerk of the court — to serve on a selection committee with the mayor, City Council president and the chair of the Duval County School Board.
That committee would select a five-lawyer committee to recommend three candidates to head the OCG. The top committee would then vote to choose the general counsel, with the mayor’s vote counting twice.
Hogan’s experience in City government — he served on the Council prior to his election as tax collector — convinced him that the change is necessary.
“There’s a perception of the General Counsel as the mayor’s lawyer,” said Hogan. “There were times when I was on the Council when bills that I had asked to be drafted (by the OCG) were being read in the mayor’s office before I had a chance to submit them.”
Hogan’s move to the Tax Collector’s Office didn’t change his perception of the OCG. He said he was left out of the loop when the OCG designated a lawyer to work for his office.
“They selected someone and sent them over for my approval,” said Hogan. “It should have been just the reverse.”
The mayor’s office is supporting an alternative bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Mahon and backed by Council Vice President Michael Corrigan. That bill would give the Council president, School Board chair and all five constitutional officers the exclusive right to choose the selection committee. But the final decision would still rest solely in the hands of the mayor.
“We’re supporting that bill as a more balanced approach to choosing a general counsel and a better framework for involving all the parties,” said mayor’s office spokesperson Kristin Key.
Jordan dismissed the Mahon bill as a “watered-down alternative,” and said he thought he had the votes from Duval County’s legislative delegation to advance his bill to the Legislature. The bill was first proposed last year, and Hogan thinks it would have passed then. Jordan withdrew the bill last year after the mayor’s office offered to work with him to find a compromise. That never materialized.
“We had the votes to pass it last year, but they asked if I would give them a year to work with me on a compromise,” said Jordan. “I said ‘no problem,’ and I waited a year and I’ve heard virtually nothing from them.”
Key said the mayor’s office has remained open to working with Jordan.