Even with legislation introduced that seeks to replace her, Lisa King was selected by her fellow Planning Commission board members to serve as chair for 2015-16.
King was asked to resign from the board Tuesday by Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration. In response, she submitted a letter to him Wednesday saying she declined to step down.
King was at today’s meeting, as well as a commission subcommittee tasked with making nominations to the full board about upcoming leadership.
The three-member group of Daniel Blanchard, Nathan Day and Tony Robbins unanimously picked current chair Chris Hagan to serve another year. Blanchard was chosen as vice chair while Robbins was selected as secretary.
But, when the full commission met shortly after that meeting, the slate of candidates was altered.
Robbins said King, the commission’s current vice chair, should be added to the ballot with Hagan. Others agreed and after a 5-3 vote, King was selected to the leadership post despite the pending legislation for her replacement.
Jerry Friley III, Marvin Hill, King, Joey McKinnon and Robbins were in favor, while Blanchard, Day and Hagan were in opposition.
In unanimous votes after, Hagan slid to vice chair while Blanchard was named secretary.
McKinnon and Lara Diettrich also were asked to resign by Curry. Diettrich did so immediately. McKinnon said he has not made his decision.
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EARLIER STORY:
Lisa King rejects Mayor Lenny Curry's push for her to leave Planning Commission
Mayor Lenny Curry continues to purge city boards and commissions of members with ties to his predecessor, the latest shakeup coming on the Planning Commission.
This time, though, he has some pushback.
Curry’s administration Tuesday sought resignations from three members of the nine-member quasi-judicial group whose duties include reviewing land use and comprehensive plan changes and zoning exceptions.
Lara Diettrich, Lisa King and Joey McKinnon each were appointed by former Mayor Alvin Brown.
With the exception of one member, the remaining members were appointed by former Mayor John Peyton and reappointed by Brown or are representatives from other entities.
“While unfortunate and sad, it’s his prerogative,” said Diettrich, who tendered her resignation.
King isn’t stepping aside as easily.
A Democrat who lost her bid for City Council in May, King was reappointed last year to the commission for a term that ends in 2017.
She sent Curry a letter Wednesday, saying she respectfully declined to resign because she felt it was in the city’s best interest.
A fourth member, Nathan Day, is term-limited and being replaced by Nicole Padgett.
“I am convinced that the unprecedented appointment of four new members simultaneously will slow the work of the Commission to a degree that it will negatively impact the development pipeline and job creation in our City …,” her letter read. “… Today’s action seems to be in direct conflict with your stated goals and objectives.”
King said she was told that Curry wanted people on boards and commissions who shared his vision. It was a reason that left her puzzled, she said, as the two shared many of the same endorsements during the recent election.
“I thought our visions were compatible,” she said.
McKinnon, the third member asked to resign, said Wednesday evening he didn’t have the conversation with Curry’s administration until that afternoon. He said the call “came as a bit of a surprise” and, like King, said the reason provided was for “fresh faces” to serve.
McKinnon has served on the Planning Commission for about four months, with the resolution confirming his appointment approved by council May 12. A geologist, McKinnon said he’s enjoyed serving thus far and using his expertise to help the commission, especially environmental issues that arise with the commission’s work.
McKinnon said he hasn’t decided whether he’s going to resign. He said he wanted to take the next couple of days “to decide how he could best serve the city.”
He asked to speak with Curry to determine how their visions aligned, but was told the mayor was unavailable.
McKinnon’s background also includes serving as president of Jacksonville Young Democrats and supporting Brown’s re-election campaign.
He said he sought the Planning Commission appointment well before then and his recent support for Brown wasn’t a knock on the other candidates.
He doesn’t view the Planning Commission as a political position and didn’t know if any political motives were behind it.
“I hope not,” he said.
Curry spokeswoman Marsha Oliver said the sought resignations weren’t in response to anything the three had done wrong. Instead it was about populating the board with a “wealth of experience” to make the city more business friendly.
The sought resignations weren’t rooted in politics, she said.
Council member John Crescimbeni said he’s heard the public response that politics aren’t involved, but that line of thought “is starting to get a little bit old here.”
“I’m having some concerns,” he said. “It’s in poor taste to have people resign when there’s been no malfeasance … I’m perplexed.”
Curry is the fifth mayor Crescimbeni has worked with on council and he said he’s “never seen anything like this before” in terms of sought resignations. Typically, he said, inherited appointees are allowed to serve out their terms and “everyone has lived with that.”
If such appointments were intended to run concurrently with a mayor’s term, it would be in the charter, he said.
Council member Tommy Hazouri, a former mayor, said it’s been “just one Democrat after the next” being pushed from boards.
“He has tunnel vision,” Hazouri said of Curry.
In the past several weeks, Curry has sought the resignations of Ernest Isaac from the Jacksonville Aviation Authority board; Melody Bishop from the Downtown Investment Authority board; and Nancy Soderberg from the Jacksonville Port Authority board.
Isaac appeared in a commercial for Brown’s re-election. Bishop is the wife of former mayoral candidate and council member Bill Bishop — who ended up supporting Brown. And Soderberg has been appointed to positions by former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.
Isaac was initially appointed by Peyton and reappointed by Brown. Bishop and Soderberg were Brown appointments.
Legislation to replace Deittrich, King and McKinnon was filed Wednesday and is set to be introduced Tuesday.
Diettrich is set to be replaced by Ben Davis, owner of Intuition Ale Works. King is to be replaced by Donald “Marshall” Adkinson, CEO of Adkinson Towing. And McKinnon’s replacement is Abel Harding, former Brown spokesman and current North Florida market president at Iberia Bank.
King vowing to fight her sought resignation ensures the appointments will not go as smoothly as others Curry has proposed.
To successfully fend that off, she’ll need 10 votes from council.
She already has been meeting with council members, but declined to say which members have offered support so far.
The Planning Commission meets today at 1 p.m.
@writerchapman
(904) 356-2466