by David Ball
Staff Writer
City Council member Bill Bishop said he understands the reasons JTA is attempting to change its charter, and he isn’t opposed. But he still wants to know why the Council wasn’t being better informed.
“Why is it so difficult to tell the City Council what the intentions are?” Bishop asked JTA spokesperson Mike Miller and JTA attorney David Cohen in a meeting Tuesday.
JTA will have a chance to answer that question and others likely to be posed by Council committees, which next week will begin vetting a resolution introduced at Tuesday’s Council meeting.
Resolution 2008-302, introduced by Bishop and Council member Johnny Gaffney, states the City’s “strong encouragement that the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) utilize the traditional J-bill process of amending its legislative charter; expressing opposition to the manner in which the JTA is proceeding to amend its enabling legislation and the substance of that legislation.”
“We want to come to an amicable and expeditious resolution,” said Gaffney to the Council. “We want to make sure we protect the citizens of Jacksonville’s interest.”
The resolution comes nearly three months after Council Auditor Kirk Sherman informed Council members of proposed changes to JTA’s charter. The changes include ones that affect the decision-making ability of the executive director and exempt JTA from the City’s Professional Services Evaluation Committee process, which looks at all major bids and contracts, in favor of JTA’s own evaluation process.
Miller said JTA was seeking the changes, most of them procedural, through the State Legislature, which is the correct procedure according to state statute. However, Sherman argued the City should’ve been apprised of the changes, especially since JTA receives more than half of its $200 million budget from the City.
The resolution Bishop and Gaffney are sponsoring urges JTA to follow the J-bill process, which requires a recommendation from the City to the Duval Delegation and approval by the Delegation as a whole before being introduced at the state level.
The Council members discussed the resolution before Tuesday’s Council meeting, along with Miller and Cohen and members of the Council Auditor’s Office and the Office of General Counsel.
“We as a city appropriate a lot of money to JTA, and we should have some say,” said Bishop. “What concerns me is that we find out about this at the 11th hour, the last second through a back door channel.
“The whole philosophy just concerns me.”
Both Bishop and Gaffney said they spoke with State Rep. Audrey Gibson, the house sponsor of the JTA bill, and heard about several different versions of the legislation that have apparently already passed through two house committees.
Sherman said most of his issues have been resolved through several meetings with JTA officials, however there’s still an issue of having JTA communicate any potential charter changes to the City. The JTA board recently passed a resolution stating JTA would contact the City Council president and mayor 30 days prior to any changes, but Sherman questioned if that is enough.
“That can be rescinded at the next board meeting,” said Sherman.
Miller said the latest changes to the state legislation incorporating all of the Council Auditor’s comments will be introduced as an amendment, and Miller gave a copy of that version to Sherman at the meeting.
Sherman said he would review that version and give a presentation to the Council Rules and Transportation, Energy and Utilities committees in the coming week. Miller and Cohen said they would also present their stance to the committees and answer questions.
Photo by David Ball