Mayor Alvin Brown said Wednesday he was optimistic about the future of pension reform despite City Council's rejection Tuesday of his initial proposal. "This is just the beginning," Brown told reporters on the steps of City Hall. Council voted on the legislation after Council President Bill Gulliford discharged it from the committee level without review, citing a need for certainty heading into the City budget review. Brown said it "would have been nice" had the reform proposal been reviewed by Council and the Jacksonville Retirement Reform Task Force he created to study the measure, but "they decided not to support it." Brown said he talked to Gulliford in the week leading up to Tuesday's meeting, but had no idea the bill would be discharged. As for Council's decision to raise the property tax millage rate Tuesday, Brown said it "is not my issue." As for the future of the task force, Brown said he wanted to talk to Bill Scheu, who chaired the 11-member group.