by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Will meet with Charter Revision Commission Thursday
There has been a lot of talk about the future lately in Jacksonville as City government grapples with its latest budget and the future of Jacksonville under that new budget, and its Ethics Commission has had similar discussions. The difference is the commission’s future is a part of its past.
The Ethics Commission held its monthly meeting Monday and discussed the presentation its members will make to the Charter Revision Commission tomorrow. The Charter Revision Commission has been charged with reviewing the City’s Charter and developing a report of suggested changes to the Charter. One of the changes the commission hopes to see discussed is returning the Ethics Commission to the Charter. The Ethics code was taken out of the City Charter in 1972 and addressed through City Ordinance.
“We would like to see the Ethics Code removed from City Ordinance and placed back in the City Charter,” said Braxton Gillam, commission member and legislative subcommittee chair, “with the concept that it would give us more authority over the independent authorities since we have, over the last 20 months, received complaints of independent authorities, not JEA, but other independent authorities, and have been sort of at a loss to respond.”
JEA, the City’s utility authority, has an internal ethics commission and hotline, and helped the City’s Ethics Officer, Carla Miller, set up the city’s ethics hotline. But the JEA hotline is an “in-house” program for employees. The Jacksonville Aviation Authority utilizes its internal auditor to handle ethics questions from both employees and customers. The Jacksonville Port Authority also has an ethics officer to handle ethics complaints.
The City’s Ethics Commission would like to see authority over the independent authorities added to the Charter, but some of its members weren’t clear as to why the Ethics Code needed to be placed back in the City Charter to do so.
“Can someone explain to me why (adding the Ethics Code to the City Charter) is so empowering?” said Prof. Patrick Plumlee, commission member. “How does it enable this to work in a different way than it does now?”
The question was answered by Chief Deputy General Counsel Cindy Laquidara, who is an expert on the legislative process.
“Once you are in the Charter you can only be modified by going back to the State Legislature, get back into the Charter and an amendment by State Legislature,” said Laquidara. “It’s a bigger deal to amend the Charter than an ordinance.”
Laquidara suggested to the commission that the best way to present the Charter amendment requests was through a resolution, which she would prepare.
In addition to being added to the city’s Charter and having authority to investigate ethics complaints pertaining to the independent authorities, the commission requested a budget in order to staff the Ethics Commission with a hotline operator.
“Currently, we operate as a commission without any budget or employees,” said Gillam. “Without Carla’s (Miller) hard work, and the resources that John (Phillips) shares with us and Susan’s (Stewart) help we would get zero done, because we are a staff of volunteers.”
Also included in the resolution will be requests for the power to subpoena witnesses during investigations and to be able to levy fines when violations are confirmed. The Ethics Commission will present its resolution at the Charter Revision Commission meeting tomorrow, tentatively, at 9 a.m.
The next meeting of the Ethics Commission is Oct. 26 at 5 p.m.
356-2466