by Liz Daube
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office got a step closer to receiving the money it needs to keep extra patrols in high-risk crime areas at Tuesday’s City Council Finance Committee meeting.
The committee deemed the need for the legislation an emergency and passed it unanimously. The proposed ordinance would give JSO $2 million from this year’s budget to pay for overtime hours for off-duty police officers.
There were 70 off-duty officers patrolling the high-crime neighborhoods as of Aug. 5, according to Michael Edwards, JSO’s director of homeland security.
“Since we have deployed the additional hours in the high crime areas, we have not had any murders in those areas,” said Edwards. “Things are going extremely well.”
Council member Gwen Yates said she thinks the extra patrols are worth the expense. She compared the escalating murder rate to a bleeding wound.
“We need a tourniquet, we need a Band-Aid, we need something to stop it,” said Yates.
“Police actually are communicating with the people (during these overtime patrols). People are going to feel a little bit safer.”
Other developments at the Finance meeting include:
• The authorization of the Main Library Cafe lease and operating agreement passed unanimously. Council member Suzanne Jenkins asked for a more thorough explanation of the proposed lease.
“My initial reaction was a negative reaction, prior to getting into the document,” said Bob Williams, chief of real estate for the Public Works Department. “But this is a very acceptable deal because when the smoke clears, we have what we wanted — we have an operable cafe.”
Jenkins asked if the documents included any penalty clauses that would require the cafe to stay fully-staffed and open.
Williams said no, but he added, “The inclination so they can pay the rent is upon them.”
• An ordinance passed (5-1) that gives $400,000 from the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s fund balance to the Growth Management Task Force’s Vision Plan. Council member Elaine Brown cast the only vote against the ordinance that would allow the Planning Department to hire consultants to help it create three new vision plans for the urban core, Arlington and Southside areas. Brown said people in those areas have already invested time and effort in creating neighborhood plans, so she wants the City planners to better explain the expected outcome of the new vision plans. “Let us just concentrate on what we already have and using that as we start looking at the bigger picture,” said Brown. “Without knowing the scope of this, without knowing how much time it will take, I say we have got to take the advice of the planning we’ve done in the past.”
• An ordinance amending the City’s investment policy passed, 6-0. Council member Art Shad expressed concern over the new policy, questioning the need for the City to hire outside money managers. After learning that Mickey Miller, the City’s chief financial officer, would be responsible for implementing the policy, Shad said, “That’s a lot of power in one position. I don’t know if one person should be allocating five million dollars. Most cities have committees.”