City Council members reached Monday for comment about Mayor Alvin Brown’s proposed City reorganization generally agreed that it would take longer than mid-December to make its way through Council approvals.
Council Vice President Bill Bishop said Monday that he and other Council members received draft reorganization documents Monday morning.
The Daily Record received a set of working documents on Friday and reported Monday about the reorganization outlines from the administration and from consultants Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services LLC and The Robert Bobb Group, both from Washington, D.C.
Both the administration and consultants’ reports showed a streamlined organizational chart and called for City savings from each department.
Bishop could not comment on specifics but said the administration’s legislative time line seemed “pretty optimistic.”
A reorganization time line in the documents show the reorganization legislation could be filed with the City’s Legislative Services Nov. 2, introduced to Council Nov. 8 during the full Council meeting, and the cycle could be completed for Council action Dec. 13.
“Considering the fact it’s the middle of October and we’re just now getting a draft, it does seem pretty optimistic,” Bishop said.
Bishop, a second-term Council member from District 2, hoped to see a way to run government with fewer people and realize savings throughout several areas.
He anticipates Council will review the plan “very extensively,” maybe as thoroughly as the City budget.
First-term Council member Lori Boyer, serving District 5, said she received documents early Monday but did not want to comment on any specifics. She said she has had conversations with the administration regarding reorganization plans, but nothing in detail.
When the final form is revealed it “needs to be a very clear vision and plan,” she said.
“I certainly want to understand what we’re trying to achieve,” she said.
Second-term District 9 Council member Warren Jones also doubted that the time line was realistic. He previously served on the Council from 1979-99 and served as Council president for two terms, 1991-92 and 1992-93.
“It probably will be the first of the year,” he said of legislation being passed. He said it would take time for new Council members to digest the information and see the impact of Brown’s new strategy.
“If he is going to make the type of drastic changes to generate the type of savings” proposed, then the review and passage will take time, he said, and will include public hearings so the community can be involved.
“In these budget times, we need to look at leaving no stone unturned,” he said.
Lumb: Plan should include ‘serious outsourcing’
At-Large Group 5 Council member Robin Lumb had not seen the latest information Monday regarding the City reorganization under review by Mayor Alvin Brown, but he said whatever the plan might be, it needs to include “some serious outsourcing efforts.”
“What we are looking for is the opportunity to find third-party private entities to outsource certain functions of City government,” said Lumb, who is serving his first term on Council. “I would feel better if his plan left room for a substantial amount of that.”
Lumb said the Council’s Special Committee on Privatization was looking at outsourcing options and said emergency and rescue services, information technology and the motor pool were examples of the areas of interest.
He also referred to an Atlanta suburb, Sandy Springs, that has outsourced “nearly all of their city services.” He said the city, with a population of 94,000, has a little more than 200 municipal employees.
Lumb said if Brown’s office can create more efficiencies by combining departments and changing the way they operate, “that’s great.”
“City Council will take a look at it and if it makes sense, they will have our support.”
Lumb expects the plan to move forward quickly “and make a serious dent in next year’s budget.”
He said a memo from the Brown administration promises a minimum 10 percent savings. “That is substantial. I hope he can achieve it.”
Lumb is concerned about who will be hired to replace the department heads who recently were let go by Brown. “I want to make sure we have capable, qualified people to replace them,” he said.
Gulliford: Looks for ‘major structural change’
First-term Council member and former Atlantic Beach Mayor Bill Gulliford said Monday he had not seen Mayor Alvin Brown’s reorganization information and would just as soon wait.
“I would just as soon not look at anything in-depth until he presents us a product. It can change quickly,” said Gulliford.
“I’m sort of neutral on it until he says, ‘here it is. What do you all think?’”
Gulliford, from District 13, said he knows what he would like to see, however.
“I would hope that whatever reorganization takes place that there is major structural change,” he said.
Guilliford specified central services as a big issue. He said the Jacksonville Public Library pays $5 million a year for information technology and is “not getting good service,” but that Orange County’s library system is larger and pays $3 million.
“It seems like on the face of things, the library is being overcharged and underserved,” he said.
He also mentioned that the motor pool is being discussed.
On a broader scale, Gulliford questioned whether the presumed benefits of the City-county consolidation are being realized.
“You build an empire. I am just wondering if we haven’t gotten so bloated about building an empire that we haven’t lost what consolidation was created to be,” he said.
Gulliford said he expects that it could take a year to put the reorganization into effect if it includes major structural changes, but said the time frame is a guess.
Council will play a role in the outcome.
“I know we are going to be involved in the process and we will be actively involved in the process. The ball is in the mayor’s court and he presents the reorganization,” Gulliford said.
“We are plowing some new ground here,” he said.
Anderson: Keep privatizaton on the table
First-term City Council member Greg Anderson said he received the reorganization documents in two sets, Friday and Monday, and has not had an opportunity to review them.
“I think the City is going to continue to wrestle with some tough financial decisions going forward and so what I am looking for is a new organization to be as effective as possible,” said the At-Large Group 4 Council member.
“That means meeting the needs of our City and being as economical as possible. I am looking for an effective reorganization that takes into account the new realities of our government,” he said.
“The second thing that we have always got to keep on the table is the idea of privatization,” he said. “Technology has changed, people change, the needs of the community change and so we need to keep on the forefront that if the private sector can perform a function of government, we at least ought to have them at the table.”
Anderson said that is being considered.
“The last for me is the biggest financial risk facing this city is the pension, the unfunded pension liability,” Anderson said, explaining he would like to see the reorganization address that.
“It is something that is going to have to be tackled.”
Crescimbeni: ‘More scrutiny than the average bill’
Second-term Council member John Crescimbeni said he expected that any legislation from Mayor Alvin Brown likely would not mirror the reorganization report from the consulting firm hired to assess City government.
“I am not going to waste a lot of time analyzing anything,” said Crescimbeni, who previously served two terms from 1991-99.
Brown is expected to introduce legislation soon for the reorganization of City government. Council members were delivered copies of a consultant’s report and other documents made available Friday to media outlets.
Crescimbeni said the legislation “could be something that includes half of those recommendations, some of those recommendations or none of those recommendations.”
He said there has been “zero communication with the mayor’s office other than dropping off the report.”
Crescimbeni also said it is unlikely that the legislation would be approved by Council by the end of the year, a time line envisioned by the mayor’s office.
He said it is possible, but to approve it within six weeks “is unrealistic in my opinion.”
“It is going to get a little more scrutiny than the average bill coming through Council,” he said.
Crescimbeni said Brown was the third mayor he has served with and this would be the third reorganization.
“Not knowing what Mayor Brown is doing, it will take some time to get everybody on board with it,” he said.
Crescimbeni said he remained open-minded.
“The mayor is the chief executive officer of the City and he is empowered and charged with running the City on a day-to-day basis. I am on the board of directors, so I am going to try to give him as much of an opportunity to run the government on as an efficient basis as possible and I am going to be pretty open-minded about what he brings to the table,” he said.
“He lives or dies on it, not the Council.”
Schellenberg: Determine City’s responsibilities
First-term City Council member Matt Schellenberg said the time frame envisioned by the Alvin Brown administration for Council approval of City government reorganization was “overly optimistic.”
Documents given to Council Monday included charts similar to ones presented to Council members in the past, he said.
The District 6 Council member said he would have preferred to have seen drafts and more detail up to 90 days ago.
As it stands and given the nature of committee work, he said he could see the plan approved in January or February instead of the Dec. 13 date the administration has proposed.
The documents given to Council include an “action step” for each department to submit cost reductions of 15 percent through right-sizing, innovation, contract negotiation and privatization.
Schellenberg said he has a different mindset.
He said he’d rather have each department start with no money and then determine what it needs. Cuts can be made from there rather than asking for a 15 percent cut across the board, especially considering that department heads have no control over some costs, such as health care and information technology.
“That way, you find out what you need,” he said.
As for what he wants to see in the reorganization, Schellenberg said he hoped it would involve reviewing the City Charter and “determining what the City’s responsibilities really are.”
“Focus on those first,” he said.
To date, he said the administration has had “zero dialogue” with him about the reorganization and engaging Council earlier would likely have sped up its final decision.