A trade-off proposal to give the Downtown Investment Authority more independence in granting incentives but also place the Jacksonville City Council in greater control over the organization prompted disagreement and a highly unusual situation between Council members during a May 29 committee meeting.
In discussion about DIA-related Ordinance 2025-0395, Council President-elect Kevin Carrico called for the chamber sergeant-at-arms after being approached on the dais by Council member Matt Carlucci.
“I feel threatened by Mr. Calucci,” Carrico told the officer.
Carrico, referring to Carlucci, then said, "We’re in the middle of committee sir, you can leave or you can have your seat."
The situation ended quickly, with Carlucci walking out of the chamber unescorted, but it highlighted disagreement between members over how much more control, if any, Council should have over the DIA.
Currently, the DIA board has sole authority to hire the CEO, along with the implied power to remove the executive.
Council does not have direct control over the CEO position. It selects four of the DIA board’s nine members, with the mayor’s office in control of the other five.
The ordinance would make the selection of the CEO subject to a Council vote and would also empower Council to fire the CEO on a simple majority vote of its 19 members, meaning 10 votes would be required for the firing.
The proposal was the product of the Council Special Committee on the Future of Downtown, which discussed it during the committee’s final meeting May 29.
That is where Carrico and Carlucci had a verbal exchange that preceded what Carrico described as the threatening behavior.
Tension on the dais
The situation occurred after Carlucci repeatedly asked Carrico, the committee’s chair and a co-introducer of the legislation, to explain why he sought fast-tracked passage of the ordinance. Carrico, after answering twice, told Carlucci he was moving on to another speaker.
Carlucci walked to Carrico’s seat and stood near him, leading to Carrico calling for the sergeant-at-arms.
Carlucci said after that he had no intention of threatening Carrico but rather wanted to say something to him privately. He said he felt Carrico owed him a better explanation on the request for passage on an emergency basis, and that Carrico had treated him disrespectfully.
“I want what’s best for Kevin,” he said. “What I wanted to tell him is that he needs to lead with an even hand and that he needs to respect everyone. I didn’t want to embarrass him by saying it on the floor.”
Carrico declined to comment after the meeting.
Longtime city administrators and former Council members said they could not recall a member calling the sergeant-at-arms over a perceived threat.
Sources said the closest similar situation occurred in the early 1990s when Council President Tillie K. Fowler called for officers to bring several absent Council members back into the chamber for a vote on the city budget.
Carlucci, a former Council president who is in his fifth term as a member, said it is common for members to speak offline to committee chairs and the president on their way out of meetings.
He said it was outlandish to think he was threatening Carrico.
“Am I going to blemish 18 years of public service and trying to be a voice of reason on this Council? No,” he said.
On May 27, Carlucci cast the lone no vote in balloting for Carrico’s nomination as president for Council’s 2025-26 year. Carrico, who was elected on a 17-1 vote, will become president July 1.
The debate
Carrico and Joe Carlucci, who is Matt Carlucci's son, introduced the ordinance, which among other things would raise the limit at which a Council vote is required for some DIA incentives, thus allowing the DIA board to operate more independently.
It also would allow the DIA to steer legislation directly to Council versus skipping the current requirement for approval by the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee.
Carrico said that provision would reduce the time for approval of DIA-related projects by several weeks.
Another provision of the ordinance provides a five-year extension of the final year of eligibility for Recapture Enhanced Value Grants to 2050. A REV grant is a refund on ad valorem tax revenue generated by a new development.
Carrico said that allowing Council to hire and fire the CEO provided a balance between holding the DIA to greater accountability while also giving it more flexibility.
“It’s not a power trip, it’s an accountability thing,” he said. “The likelihood of this Council wanting to remove the DIA CEO is pretty extreme.”
If passed on an emergency basis, the ordinance would be subject to a final vote in June.
DIA CEO Lori Boyer is set to retire at the end of June. Board member Cameron Hooper told the Downtown committee that the board had vetted three candidates to replace Boyer.
Carrico said he requested fast-tracked approval because of the timing of the DIA’s selection process and because the special committee had worked for more than a year to come up with its recommendations.
Matt Carlucci said that was not a legitimate basis for seeking emergency passage.
In a text message, he said: “I helped create the Downtown Investment Authority with many other community stakeholders and leaders to keep politics out of downtown development. This rushed legislation to give Council firing power over the DIA CEO undermines that independence. We should protect the progress we’ve made — not inject more politics into it. This is a power grab, plain and simple.”
‘I trust our DIA board’
The DIA’s independence was designed partly to maintain continuity in Downtown redevelopment, free from changes in elected leadership that could bring new philosophies and visions in how to go about it.
Council member Jimmy Peluso, whose District 7 includes Downtown, questioned why Council would need to directly control the firing when it can urge DIA board members to do so or pass legislation calling for DIA action. Council appoints four of the board’s nine members, with the mayor’s office appointing the remainder.
“I trust our DIA board,” Peluso said. “I don’t see why we need to get involved in that process.”
Joe Carlucci suggested a compromise in which Council would pass a resolution asking the DIA board to place the CEO on notice, then would gain the authority to fire the executive directly if the board did not act.
Carlucci’s proposal also would increase the majority needed to fire the CEO to two-thirds. He said he made the suggestion after a discussion with DIA board chair Patrick Krechowski.
Several Council members said they supported the increased majority.
The ordinance is scheduled to go before the Council Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee on June 2.