The Jacksonville City Council agreed Tuesday on new boundaries for Council and Duval County School Board districts for the next 10 years.
The City Charter and ordinance code require the City to reapportion Council districts every 10 years after release of U.S. Census data.
Council member Denise Lee said she was pleased with the process and was encouraged by the desire of the Council members to work together rather than focus on what is best only for their individual districts.
“I believe that some of the new members will look out for other areas,” said Lee. “When we all work together to do that, we won’t have a tale of two cities.”
The Council approved the new districts by a vote of 16-2. Council members Robin Lumb and Matt Schellenberg were against the plan.
Some of the changes on the new map include the reduction of districts crossing the St. Johns River.
“It’s a good plan. Is it perfect, no, but none ever is,” said Council Vice President Bill Bishop.
Bishop chairs the Council Rules Committee, which gave final approval before the ordinance was sent to the full Council for a vote.
Council members worked on the plan up to the moments before the vote was called. The balancing act included four minority access districts, Districts 7, 8, 9 and 10.
District 8, represented by Lee, has the highest percentage of minorities at 71.52 percent.
It was also Lee who recognized the work of Bill Killingsworth from the City’s Planning and Development Department.
“He is an example of having a lot of faith and being able to turn the other cheek. He could have walked away when he was fired and lost his job as planning director,” said Lee, referring to Mayor Alvin Brown’s reorganization efforts with the new administration.
Killingsworth was hired back by Brown at a different position.
“I am so glad we have an employee who didn’t turn his back on us, because I don’t know too many people that have been fired and would continue to do what he has done,” said Lee.
After the meeting, Killingsworth talked about wanting to see the plan through to completion.
“We got it two-thirds of the way through the process and I didn’t want what happened to me to affect the process,” Killingsworth said.
“I was happy to see that council was able to work together and compromise to get this done.”
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