by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
City Council members debated the future structure of the City’s Ethics Office and its director during a subcommittee meeting Thursday.
The Subcommittee on Ethics Legislation moved the last of three ethics bills to the Council Rules Committee for review Monday and the bills could be heard by the full Council June 14.
Thursday’s meeting focused on proposed ordinance 2011-197, which addresses the creation and organization of an office of ethics, compliance and oversight.
One of the main topics involved the guidelines for director of the proposed office.
Prior to Thursday’s meeting, the ordinance stated that the director “shall be appointed for a term of five years by the Jacksonville Ethics Commission, and shall be exempt from civil service.”
Subcommittee Vice Chair Richard Clark proposed to amend the length of time the director serves to two years to provide for a better review process.
“I just think the term is too long, and two years would give us a better chance to review the performance of the director,” said Clark.
Committee member John Crescimbeni explained that the shorter term also would shorten the applicant list.
“No one is going to come here or apply for that job if it has a two-year term. There’s no stability,” said Crescimbeni.
President-elect Stephen Joost helped to settle the issue.
“Three years is a good compromise,” said Joost.
“We have to have a mechanism to put the (position) in check. I think a three-year process is a good compromise. I don’t think we should have an at-will position,” he said.
“The term allows some independence, while it also gives me some comfort that this position will be reviewed on a regular basis,” he said.
The subcommittee voted to amend the ordinance to replace the five-year term with the three-year term.
Another issue was requiring the director to be a registered voter in Duval County for six months before taking office, also presented by Clark.
“I’ll take a page out of the books of both Council members Crescimbeni and (Bill) Bishop and ask that the director have the same requirement as the Ethics Commission members,” said Clark.
The Council members previously amended proposed Ordinance 2011-167 to require that Ethics Commission members be registered voters in Duval County for at least six months.
Crescimbeni further explained his position differed for the director’s position.
“There are two pages to the Crescimbeni book on that subject, and you need to read it,” said Crescimbeni.
“We need to be able to go out and look for the best possible person for the job,” he said, adding that restricting the search to Duval County is “doing a disservice to the City.”
The subcommittee agreed that the director should have a window of six months after the date of hire to become a registered voter in Duval County.
The subcommittee also approved amending the bill to allow for a different process for selecting the director.
The Ethics Commission was removed as the sole appointing body of the director. It would, instead, choose three candidates to submit to the mayor and the mayor would choose from that group. The appointment would be subject to Council confirmation.
Ethics Bills 2011-167, 197 and 232 will be heard at the June 6 meeting of the Rules Committee before it can be heard by the full Council.
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