The Southbank Riverwalk project is in line to receive the extra funding needed for completion, but several City Council members aren’t exactly happy with how the conclusion was reached.
They shared their frustrations Tuesday before the council Finance Committee voted 8-0 to spend an extra $2 million to ensure the entire project is completed.
The current 3,600-foot wooden boardwalk was slated to be replaced and upgraded with concrete and amenities for $15 million. But those plans stopped 900 feet short because of budget constraints. The reduced project would have left out the portion along the Duval County School Board building, stopping instead at the Wyndham property.
City officials in recent months have said it’s been a known change, but it came as a surprise to several council members in mid-March.
“To not complete this project would be narrow-minded,” Matt Schellenberg told Finance Committee members.
Schellenberg said he blamed Mayor Alvin Brown’s administration for “not stepping forward nine months ago” when the changes were decided.
Council members Robin Lumb and John Crescimbeni were critical of Brown for “pulling the trigger” on the project, knowing it would stop short.
The alteration was enough for Crescimbeni to ask the Office of General Counsel for an opinion as to whether a mayor has the authority to substantially change the scope of a project — in this case, 25 percent — without coming back to council.
The answer, according to Assistant General Counsel Stephen Durden, is yes. The mayor had the discretionary authority to complete as much of the project as the budget permitted.
There isn’t a percentage change in scope that would mean the issue on any project return to council, but there could be “some point that a mayor has abused the discretion inherent … to execute the budget.” But, the standard of determining abuse is “arbitrary and capricious decisionmaking” and can’t be set in terms of a percentage for a project, Durden opined.
Furthermore, council can’t legislate away that discretion, he said.
Despite the mishaps, others such as council members Don Redman and Lori Boyer said the project needed to move forward for, as Boyer said, the “sake of the city as a whole.”
David DeCamp, Brown’s spokesman, said the administration appreciates the partnership displayed by several council members to complete the entire project.
As for others in the committee meeting, the statement said, “The destructive approach by a few other Council members provides little benefit to our residents and quality of life.”
The little more than $2 million will come from other Riverwalk development funds that have been authorized for borrowing in the past.
The final vote is slated for full council Tuesday; the project completion date is later this year.
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