In a 15-2 vote, City Council overrode Mayor Alvin Brown’s veto of an ordinance to appropriate $750,000 to buy new furniture for the new Unified Duval County Courthouse.
By law, the decision is final and the seventh-floor hearing rooms will be furnished using funds that were originally allocated.
Council met in a special meeting Thursday. The override required a two-thirds vote of Council members present.
Council members Richard Clark and John Crescimbeni voted against overturning the veto.
Council voted May 8 to buy the furniture. That vote was 18-1, with Clark opposing.
Two days later, on May 10, Brown vetoed the legislation at a news conference and read a letter he submitted to Council President Stephen Joost about his reasons for the veto.
The letter was read into the record at the beginning of the meeting Thursday. Chris Hand, Brown’s chief of staff, updated Council about events since then.
Hand said the judiciary and administration agreed that furniture from the existing courthouse should be moved to the new courthouse, but the administration maintains that ample furniture is available.
The judiciary has maintained that many pieces of existing furniture are in poor condition, including some with mold and water damage, and are not suitable for the hearing rooms that will be used by the public.
Hand said that 30 hearing rooms, down from 37, need to be furnished and that Public Works Director Jim Robinson earlier this week took an inventory to document City-owned furniture at the existing courthouse.
With the documentation, a revised plan was sent to Council members and is available online at the City’s website under “public information” in the Central Operations section.
Photos of the inventoried furniture are available to the public.
Hand said the veto was to save taxpayers money and that the $750,000 could be applied toward unanticipated emergencies.
“I would ask on behalf of Mayor Brown that you sustain his veto,” Hand said.
Shortly after Hand’s presentation, Council voted to override the decision.
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