Attorney Bill Scheu has been tapped again to lead a panel on a hot-button issue, this time Mayor Alvin Brown's new 11-member Jacksonville Retirement Reform Task Force.
Brown announced the task force this morning. He said it comprises community leaders who will review the proposed public safety pension reform agreement, talk with those involved and interested residents and make recommendations for how the City should proceed.
The first meeting is scheduled 2-6 p.m. July 10 at City Hall. Scheu expects to conclude the review and make recommendations in August, said a news release from the mayor.
Brown has proposed pension reform legislation, 2013-366, which is in review at City Council.
Task force members are:
The news release quoted Scheu.
"This will be a thorough, though expedited, independent review that will consider the full range of issues involving pension reform," he said.
"These panel members are longtime community leaders with a variety of experiences and perspectives," he said.
Scheu has been tapped for several task forces and other appointments, including serving as interim supervisor of elections, chairing a citizen oversight panel to review the City's incentives policies and being hired to conduct an independent review of Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Scheu's work as a community mediator stretches back for decades.
A Florida Times-Union story in 2004 about Scheu said he had "played a role in defusing and resolving some of Jacksonville's most contentious issues."
According to the Times-Union report:
In the late 1980s, he helped resolve a redevelopment dispute between the city and residents of the Blodgett Homes public housing project.
In the early 1990s, he helped mediate between Planned Parenthood and the Christian Coalition, which eventually led to a unanimous agreement on a sex education program in the public schools.
In the mid-1990s, he helped mediate between the NAACP and the School Board on the issue of desegregation.
In the late 1990s, he helped bring homeless advocates and social service agencies to agree on City policy on the homeless issue.
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