Staff Writer
Other pressing issues, including the City’s landfill contract, may have caused the City Council to delay consideration of the findings of the City’s Charter Revision Commission, but the first piece of legislation has been developed from the Commission’s findings and is gaining support.
The City’s Ethics Commission voted 7-0 Monday to support a resolution sponsored by City Council member Glorious Johnson. Members Gene Filbert and Kirby Oberdorfer did not attend.
The resolution asks Council to support Local Bill J-1, which asks the Duval Delegation to include in the City’s Charter “an ethics policy, to authorize the establishment of an ethics code and an ethics commission, and to provide that the City’s Constitutional Officers shall be subject to the ethics code.”
Members of the Ethics Commission and City Ethics Officer Carla Miller met with the Charter Revision Commission during its review of the City’s Charter last fall to encourage the Commission to return the City’s Ethics Code to the City Charter. It is currently enacted by City ordinance.
“We owe it to the citizens of Jacksonville to move forward with this and get it right,” Miller told the Ethics Commission.
“We’ve studied this for the past year. We’ve had input from Miami, New York and Pennsylvania, so we need now to push on for our citizens,” she said.
Ethics Commission member Rhonda Peoples-Waters agreed.
“Two weeks ago, we didn’t have (Council member Johnson’s resolution),” said Peoples-Waters. “I think we need to support the J-Bill and move forward.”
City Council drafts legislation to submit to the Duval Delegation to resolve state issues that affect Jacksonville. The City’s Charter cannot be changed by Council vote. Those changes can only be affected by Florida statute, so the issue necessitates the J-Bill.
The Commission was informed by its coordinator Susan Stewart, who serves the same purpose for the Duval Delegation, that the Council will have until December to debate and vote on its stance on Local Bill J-1.
As the Ethics Commission continues to keep informed on ethics policies from around the state and the country, it will have a little help with research. The City’s Ethics Commission received its first class of interns from Florida Coastal School of Law.
“I visited Florida Coastal to give a speech on ethics,” said Miller. “At the end of the speech I told the group that if they would like to intern, I could use the help.”
Law school students Richard Brooks, Eric Burke, Jacqueline Jones and Shannon Blankenship will be assisting Miller. They attended Monday’s meeting and were introduced to the Commission.
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