by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Like the Olympic Games and the World Cup soccer tournament, getting ready to welcome a new City Council to the 4th floor suite at City Hall only happens every four years and according to Council Director Cheryl Brown, that’s often enough.
Brown and her staff of a dozen have been planning the transition since January. Hundreds of items on pages of task lists were checked off in sequence and this week it was all wrapped up and ready to go for the 2007-2011 City Council.
The outgoing members and their executive council assistants packed up their offices and prepared all their paper and electronic documents to be sent to storage. Then the offices were painted and carpets cleaned before the new Council members and their assistants arrived and began setting up shop.
In addition to the new Council members moving into their offices for the first time, only three incumbent members and their ECAs — Glorious Johnson, Mia Jones and Art Graham — are now in the same offices they had just a month ago.
Moving offices and people around also means moving phone lines and computers. New e-mail accounts have been set up. New name and committee assignment plaques have been procured and installed on each doorway. Even the names have been changed on the Council members’ boxes in the mail room.
“I tell people it’s a madhouse, but it’s an organized madhouse,” said Brown.
On the high-tech side of City government in the 21st century, Council Information and AV System Manager Steve Cassada has prepared a laptop computer with a touch-screen writing tablet feature for each member and updated every electronic information system used by the Council and the public.
“We’ve tried to make it completely user-friendly for the Council members and their constituents,” he said.
“Simpler is better for all the systems the public will use to communicate with their Council member,” added Brown.
She also said everyone knew this transition would be a record-setter for several reasons.
In addition to having new faces in almost half of the offices, some seats weren’t decided in the General Election and that created some challenges after the run-off elections, including making sure the members-elect had all the information they needed in order to vote for the 2007-08 Council President and Vice President.
“I had to have the information packages hand-delivered by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office,” said Brown.
Then there was the June 5 early installation of Council member Warren Jones, who filled Reggie Fullwood’s Dist. 9 seat that had been vacant since late December, to return the 2006-07 Council to the full complement of 19 members.
The calendar also came into play because some elements of the transition had to wait until after the Council Installation June 28. That meant beginning that phase of the process over a weekend.
“Try calling the phone company and getting them to come out on Saturday. Add it all up and we had a ‘perfect storm’ this time around but absolutely nothing fell through the cracks. It’s all about organization,” said Brown, who has helmed the Council’s personnel transitions since 2001.
Council staff’s transition “To Do” list
Legislative Division:
• Need list of new Committee members.
• Need date, times and agenda for Committee meetings.
• Post new Council calendar information.
• Seating for Standing Committees.
• Change information on Web page for voting and tracking of legislation.
• Update Committee and Liaison Roster.
Administrative Division:
• List of those who will be required to move and when.
• E-mail request for those moving to pack.
• Call moving company and arrange schedule.
• Arrange for painters.
• Schedule telephone and computer changes.
• Order new plates for wall outside Standing Chair’s offices due to renaming of Committees.
• Verify ordering of stationery and business cards for President and Vice President
• Update rosters.
Research Division:
• Make necessary Standing Committee reassignments.
• Schedule meetings with Auditor’s Office to discuss amendments on legislation from each Committee.
• Post summary of amendments from each Standing Committee on City Council Web page.
Systems Administrator:
• Update bios for all Council members.
• Update Standing Committee information - new Committee names, roster of members and meeting dates, times and locations.
• Update Web calendar with Standing Committee information.
• New layout for database to address cell/communications legislation passed by Council.
• Draft legislation with blanks to be filled in for new members of value Adjustment Board.
Transition schedule:
May 22: Official Photos of all Council members - incoming and outgoing.
May 22: Meeting of Council members-elect to vote for President and Vice President designates 2007-08.
May 31: New member orientation.
June 1: New member ethics orientation.
June 22: Deadline for moving boxes to storage.
June 26; Deadline for returning City-issued inventory and equipment.
June 29: Computer and phone lines relocated
June 29: Disconnect phone lines at Council members’ homes and offices (those with term limits or not returning).
June 25 - July 1: Painters and carpet cleaners in offices and chambers.
July 2: New members’ access to office.
June 27: Set-up and walk-through for Council Installation.
June 28: Council Installation at T-U Center.
July 2-15: Official Summer Break.
July 12; Executive Council Assistant orientation.
July 16: Mayor’s Budget Address.
July 16: Standing Committee meetings begin.
July 24: First meeting of new Council.