The Jacksonville Aviation Authority and City Council member Nick Howland have come to terms on one aspect of a dispute over aerospace development, with JAA agreeing to establish a joint committee with Council to find ways to boost job growth in the industry at its airports.
Howland, the Council liaison to the JAA, announced the agreement during the Oct. 6 meeting of the Council Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee.
On an 8-0 vote, with Howland sitting in as an ex-officio voting member, the committee approved an amended version of Howland’s Resolution 2025-0693, which reflected portions of the agreement.
The Rules Committee then passed Howland’s resolution, as amended in Neighborhoods, on an 8-0 vote with Howland also sitting in as an ex-officio voting member.
Howland’s legislation called for the county’s state lawmakers to introduce legislation to amend the JAA charter.
The amended version would make JAA responsible for developing Cecil Airport into a regional, state and national aerospace and related industry hub and require the authority to submit an annual strategic plan to Council on efforts to attract aerospace businesses.
Under its charter, JAA owns and manages Jacksonville’s airport system, which includes Jacksonville International Airport, Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport and Herlong Recreational Airport in addition to Cecil.
Other changes in Howland’s original resolution would have renamed JAA as the Jacksonville Aviation and Aerospace Authority and required that two of its board members have experience in the aerospace industry.
Those plans have been dropped.
Howland said JAA was concerned about costs related to the renaming, such as revising signage and marketing materials, and did not want to hamper Gov. Ron DeSantis in finding qualified candidates for the board. The governor appoints four board members and the mayor three.
JAA says that since 1999, when it took over Cecil, it has invested more than $500 million into infrastructure improvements, including more than 1 million square feet of office and hangar space, a $5 million taxiway, runway repairs, lighting and more. Those investments include the spaceport and a space launch license.
A new joint committee
Not included in the charter legislation, JAA committed to creating the joint aerospace development committee with Council.
“Now JAA and City Council are marching in lockstep regarding the importance of Cecil Field for aerospace industry growth,” Howland said after the Neighborhoods meeting.
“I think our action, which hopefully will be repeated in the Rules Committee later today, basically promises the growth of Cecil Field as an economic driver for our city and a job creation engine for Northeast Florida.”
Details on the joint committee, including its makeup and the number of members, have yet to be determined.
Howland said that as it was presented to him, the committee would include two or three members of the JAA board, possibly a high-level JAA staff member and three Council members.
The dispute
The Neighborhoods Committee vote came one week after the JAA board approved two resolutions opposing what it characterized as interference from Howland and the entire Council over aerospace development at Cecil.
In August, JAA pushed back after the Council Finance Committee, at Howland’s prompting, voted to recommend transfers of $13 million in JAA’s budget to fast-track improvements to the spaceport. The money was moved from the JAA’s reserve fund. The full Council later adopted those recommendations.
The transfers were the source of one JAA resolution. The other was Howland’s legislation.
Michael Stewart, JAA director of external affairs, said the issue about moving the $13 million remains unresolved.
“That is going to be a board issue,” he said.
Howland said he was confident the funding issue would be resolved amicably.
“Now that we have a joint focus on Cecil, there could be opportunities to move funding around to invest where we need to attract aerospace growth,” he said.
JAA is an independent authority created by the state Legislature. As with other authorities such as city utility JEA, JaxPort and the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Council reviews JAA’s budget annually and approves it as part of the overall city budget.
JAA is user-supported and receives no funding from the city or the state. It can receive grants for projects.
JAA CEO Mark VanLoh said Sept. 29 after its board meeting that the authority decides how to spend its money.
The authority obtained an opinion authored by former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson of the Tallahassee-based Lawson Huck Gonzalez law firm. In it, Lawson said Council had overstepped its authority and that JAA’s options included taking legal action against the city.
Michael Fackler, head of the city’s Office of General Counsel, told the JAA board Sept. 29 that Council did nothing wrong with its budget amendments and that the city charter bars JAA from taking legal action against the city.
“You cannot run to court and sue the city,” he said. “That was the whole point of 1968 consolidation is to avoid these internecine disputes. You do not have a remedy other than coming to me and getting a binding opinion.”
Fiorentinio Group involved
Stewart said the breakthrough on Howland’s resolution came after David Hodges Jr., who was installed Sept. 29 as JAA’s board chair, recommended the compromise.
“Our new board chair clearly wanted to minimize the conflict,” Stewart said.
The Fiorentino Group, a government relations and business development firm, brokered a meeting Oct. 3 that included Hodges, Howland, JAX Chamber President and CEO Daniel Davis and others to discuss a resolution to the disagreement.
Howland said the negotiation was generally between him and Hodges, “who really wanted to see us move forward recognizing the importance of Cecil.”
“We all agreed completely that there have been amazing things done at Cecil and JAA has really pushed forward opportunities there,” Howland said.
“But we also acknowledged there’s a lot more to be done. And for that reason, we agreed, let’s enumerate it in the charter and let’s form a joint committee and move forward.”
‘Holding hands’
Neighborhoods Committee members praised JAA and Howland for reaching the compromise.
Noting “contentious discussions” between JAA and Council members during budget hearings, member Ron Salem commended Howland and the JAA for “having those discussions and coming to a point today where we’re all holding hands and moving this process forward.”
Referencing news coverage of the dispute, committee member Chris Miller said he hoped the compromise would set a precedent “that we get together and work through things, that we don’t work it out in the press.”
Howland’s resolution is next scheduled to be considered by the Council Rules Committee at 2 p.m. Oct. 6.
If approved there, it would advance to a full Council vote.