Jacksonville City Council approved most of Mayor Alvin Brown’s government reorganization plan Tuesday night, meeting the Dec. 13 deadline he sought, but altering – and even leaving out an entire part of – his proposal.
Among other amendments, the Jacksonville Children’s Commission was removed from the legislation and will be addressed in the coming weeks.
Brown said Tuesday night that he was pleased with the results and his Dec. 13 deadline being met.
“I’m very happy,” Brown said. “It’s about working together to make Jacksonville better. I think that’s what the people want and that’s what the people have seen.”
The first phase of reorganization dealt solely with the structure of government. Brown said Monday the new structure will allow for greater efficiency pursuing economic development for the city.
Just hours before the 5 p.m. Council meeting at City Hall, it looked like the legislation would be delayed until after the New Year. Heading into the final Council meeting of the year, the lengthy measure had not emerged from the three Council committees.
However, the legislation was moved onto the agenda and, after several amendments, it was approved 16-1 with Council member Matt Schellenberg opposing the bill. Council member Richard Clark was excused and Denise Lee was not present at the time of the vote.
Brown said he was agreeable with the Council changes, including carving out the Children’s Commission.
“It’s OK to revisit it,” he said. “I want to answer all the questions. We’ve been meeting with the stakeholders and we will continue to do so in the next few weeks until it’s worked out,” he said.
Brown said the second phase of reorganization will be ramped up now that most of the structural components of government have been approved. The next phase will include looking at individual departments for financial savings.
With the structure in place, Brown also said he would meet with his staff in the next several days and begin making more appointments to his administration in key areas. If not by the end of the year, announcements will likely happen in early 2012, he said.
Appointments could include a head of the newly created Economic Development Commission and Downtown Development Commission.
In Brown’s proposal, the Children’s Commission executive director and staff would have been appointed by the mayor and approved by the Council instead of hired by the commission’s board. It also would have put the board into an advisory role and moved grant disbursal to the mayor’s office.
An amendment by Council member John Crescimbeni would have kept grant disbursal with the commission.
Council President Stephen Joost, member Warren Jones and other Council members heading into the full meeting were aware of a disconnect between the mayor’s office and the Children’s Commission over the changes.
Children’s Commission Chairman Ken Wilson told the Council that the board had not had an opportunity to meet and discuss the changes.
Wilson said he was “all for reorganization” but was personally concerned about securing funds from non-City sources should the mayor’s proposed changes take place and alter the format of the organization to a more politicized one.
He said that non-City funding comprises more than half of the commission’s budget.
Accountability was already in place with the Council’s oversight, he said. He asked for 30 days to meet with the board regarding the changes.
Council member Denise Lee agreed and told others that moving forward with the changes would “somewhat be derelict” on the part of the Council.
Council member Bill Gulliford offered an amendment that struck the Children’s Commission from the reorganization altogether.
He said the administration could return with a separate bill to specifically alter the organization.
Kevin Hyde, Brown’s chief administrative officer, said the administration was amenable to the request in order to not jeopardize the entire reform bill.
Wilson said after the vote that he was encouraged to have the 30 days to continue the review.
“It’s time to work out the details,” he said. “Right now, I’m encouraged by Kevin Hyde’s spirit of cooperation.”
Just before the final vote on reform, Joost offered an amendment to require the administration to pay for the estimated $40,000 it could cost to publish the changes in the City code. “It will touch almost every page of the code,” said Council director Cheryl Brown.
Joost’s amendment called for the cost to come from the mayor’s contingency fund, which City CFO Ronnie Belton said had about $125,000.
Cheryl Brown said past reorganizations have cost $18,000-$23,000 in required publication fees but that the mayor’s plan was more substantial and the price could be higher.
Belton said the administration would “find the dollars” from a non-contingency source.
The Rules Committee, Finance Committee and Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee each amended the reform proposal and rolled their changes into a substitute measure that was deferred until it was put onto the agenda.
Changes accomplished at the Council committee level included changing the “commissioner” titles to “officers” and moving the City’s Planning and Development Department from the Economic Development Commission, as Brown had proposed, into the Chief Services Commission.
While not originally on the agenda, Joost placed the reform measure on the Council addendum Tuesday afternoon during the agenda meeting, triggering a two-thirds majority Council vote requirement to have it discharged from the committee level and placed on the agenda.
It was discharged with a 15-3 vote after lengthy discussion, with Council members Schellenberg, Lee and Jones opposing.
After being placed on the agenda, it required a two-thirds Council majority to pass instead of a simple majority. With 18 members present Tuesday, 12 votes were needed.
The approval also sets up a clearer focus on the second phase of Brown’s reorganization dealing with real and potential savings within the City.
Brown has proposed 10-15 percent in government cuts, totaling about $76 million.
Parts of phase two have already begun, Brown and administration officials have said, but details on those actual savings are undetermined until the first phase of reorganization is complete.
With the first phase of government reorganization in the books, Brown and administration officials will look deeper into departments for the cuts, which will come from department head recommendations and possibly service cuts that might include layoffs.
“There will be difficult choices that will have to be made,” Hyde told Council members during a workshop discussing reorganization.
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