City Council recently elected its top leadership for the next fiscal year, choosing Bill Gulliford as its president and Clay Yarborough as vice president. They take over July 1.
The votes were barely counted when Gulliford, a wily political veteran, fired off an email to Mayor Alvin Brown's chief of staff, Chris Hand, accusing the mayor of grandstanding and engaging in self-promotion while disrespecting the Council.
That's an observation that you hear frequently in private by people who watch City Hall.
It's certainly a frustration shared by several members of the Council, and the chorus of complaints from Council members seems to be growing.
But it surprised a lot of people that Gulliford would fire off a public shot before he is sworn in as Council president.
Why did he do it? Was it out of frustration? Or is there a strategy behind the missive?
After all, Gulliford was mayor of Atlantic Beach for five years, and he has some sense of how he thinks a mayor should act.
If nothing else, Gulliford sent a message to Council members that he will stand up to Brown, and he opened the door for others to openly speak their minds.
But, in challenging Brown, Council members need to be careful that their complaints don't sound whiny or petty to the public.
Brown and his administration behave like they think the Council is a nuisance.
From all reports, Brown is not someone who bothers to talk with Council members about administration policy or critical legislation.
It almost seems as if the mayor is being advised not to worry about the Council or sweat the details and instead should keep playing to the audience, self-promoting and keeping his popularity poll numbers high.
Many Council members think Brown is great at making news announcements and walking away, leaving them to worry about the particulars.
As a result, there's a growing gap between Brown and the Council. As the Council gears up for what should be three busy months, that gap can get in the way of the City's business.
For the past two months, Brown has not had a Council liaison, a critical staff position for building relationships and communicating with Council members. Brown should fill the vacancy quickly.
The biggest order of time-consuming chaos during the summer will be to dissect and approve the City budget that must be submitted to Council by the Mayor by July 15. By law, the proposed budget must be balanced.
Brown already has proposed a pair of tentative budgets that address pension reform. Both budgets have big holes.
If the Council picks the budget that includes Brown's pension reform package, the projected deficit for next year is $18,863,583.
Behind door No. 2 is a budget without pension reform and a projected deficit of $63,971,895.
It's almost as if Brown is daring the Council to accept his pension reform package or figure out how to cover that $64 million pothole.
Last year, straightening out and approving Brown's budget proved to be quite a task for the Council.
Many think the way John Crescimbeni handled the budget deliberations as Finance Committee chair cast him in a different light on the Council.
Crescimbeni, who is serving his second tour as a Council member, has mostly been viewed as an independent thinker, often a maverick and sometimes a lone wolf.
As a Democrat, Crescimbeni is in the minority (13 Republicans and six Democrats), adding to his status as an outsider.
During his first term, from 1991-99, Crescimbeni was seen by many in the business community as a naysayer and obstructionist because of his blunt questions and opposition to favored issues.
As an example, Crescimbeni was one of only two Council members to vote against the reconstruction of the Gator Bowl that led to landing the Jacksonville Jaguars National Football League franchise.
But, over the past 18 months, Crescimbeni has shown himself to be more of a team player, while maintaining his independent thinking. He has become a "go-to guy" on the Council.
I've not kept a record, but I suspect Crescimbeni is quoted more often in the media than any other Council member, primarily because he does his homework and speaks his mind.
Unlike his peers, Crescimbeni refuses to hire a Council assistant, opting to handle his own constituent services, research and other Council business.
It takes a lot of time to be a Council member, whether you have an assistant or not.
There are plenty of committee meetings and community events to attend.
For Crescimbeni, chairing the Finance Committee and serving on the Rules and the Public Health and Safety standing committees should be demanding enough.
But on top of those assignments, he is a member of the Courthouse Oversight Committee, member of the Waterways Commission, chair of the Value Adjustment Board and chair of the St. Johns River Ferry Commission.
Perhaps most impressive is that during his 13 years on the Council, Crescimbeni has not missed a Council meeting, according to the Council website.
As described in the City Charter, being a Council member is a part-time job that currently pays $41,500 annually.
It's been a part-time position since City government was consolidated, when most members of the first Council had full-time regular jobs or were retired.
The creators of the Charter purposefully made Council membership part time because they did not want to encourage full-time politicians doing the City's legislative business.
Back then, Council members shared secretarial help, and no one had an assistant.
For the 19 members, Council service takes up a lot of time, especially for members who have separate careers or full time jobs.
Over the years there have been discussions about making changes to the Charter that either would make Council service full time, reduce the number of Council members, or both.
When he was Council president in 1997-98, Property Appraiser Jim Overton proposed cutting the number of Council members to nine. It failed.
The public didn't seem interested in Overton's Council reduction idea, and incumbent Council members were not about to vote themselves out of office.
I suspect most people either don't give the Council much thought or they view Council members like they do most elected officials, believing they should be tossed out of office or provide their service for free.
I'm not suggesting we need fewer people on the Council, or that being a Council member should be full time, or that Council members should receive a raise because many of them spend 40 hours or more each week on Council business.
But I do think we need to recognize the time these citizens dedicate to their jobs, even if we sometimes disagree with their actions.
Certainly, they deserve respect from the mayor and his administration.
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