The budget wasn’t the only item on the City Council’s agenda. Here’s a look at a couple of other items council approved.
• Council members overwhelmingly supported a resolution reauthorizing the city’s legal team to pursue litigation to determine whether a specially created pension plan is illegal.
The Police and Fire Pension Fund board created the senior staff voluntary plan in 2000, with city officials not finding out about the benefit plan until 2012. Currently, it has three members, including fund administrator John Keane.
RELATED STORY: Council approves $1B budget after a few fireworks and a call from the president to 'chill out'
During discussions in recent weeks, opinions had largely boiled down to pursuing the issue on principle versus the cost such action might result in.
Council member Bill Gulliford initially fell into the camp of not pursuing the issue based on costs — a price tag that could end up almost $1 million by the end of litigation.
But, he had a change of heart after finding out money from the pension plan has been used to defend the fund in public records requests disputes. That, he said, could violate restrictive benefits laws and swing the issue in the city’s favor. The crux of his issue, he said, was the fund’s fiduciary responsibility.
Despite the council’s vote, it doesn’t mean the two sides can’t come to the table and find a resolution on the matter — a move Gulliford said he hoped would happen.
• Gulliford wasn’t the only one with a change of heart. Council member Tommy Hazouri changed his mind again, too.
Last week, he went into the Rules Committee meeting intending to vote for Kirk Wendland, Curry’s pick to lead the Office of Economic Development. Instead, Hazouri was the lone vote against the former Jacksonville Economic Development Commission head after he didn’t like the way Wendland handled comments about the old Shipyards deal.
Wendland was a project manager during that deal in the early 2000s, an agreement that had the city invest $40 million for the redevelopment of the riverfront site Downtown that went awry.
Wendland said last week he stood by the Office of General Counsel and former Mayor John Delaney’s administration for how the situation was handled, which drew Hazouri’s ire.
On Tuesday, Hazouri said since then he’s heard positive things about Wendland and respected him, but would continue to watch the city’s economic development efforts. Wendland ended up being approved 19-0.