The Jacksonville Aviation Authority took formal action Sept. 29 to oppose what it has characterized as interference from Jacksonville City Council member Nick Howland and the entire Council over development of aerospace at Cecil Spaceport.
On voice votes, board members approved two resolutions expressing opposition to Council-approved amendments to JAA’s budget and Howland’s recent introduction of legislation aimed at changing the city charter to rename JAA the Jacksonville Aviation and Aerospace Authority and formally make it responsible for developing aerospace at Cecil, among other effects.
The board’s votes came after Michael Fackler, head of the city’s Office of General Counsel, told members that Council did nothing wrong with its budget amendments and said JAA stepped out of bounds in requesting an opinion from an outside counsel on the issue.
The opinion obtained by the JAA, on which it based its resolutions, was 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.
Fackler said the city charter established the OGC as counsel for the JAA and that only the OGC could issue binding opinions on JAA matters.
He said the charter bars JAA from taking the legal action suggested by Lawson.
“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.”
Fackler said the charter gives Council authority to move funding within the budgets of independent authorities – JAA, JEA, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and JaxPort being the largest – but does not require the authorities to spend the money as Council requests.
That issue is at the heart of the matter between JAA and Council, including a Howland-led transfer of $10 million for improvements to Hangar 14 at Cecil Airport.
The money is for a potential future JAA/Florida State College at Jacksonville Northeast Advanced Aviation Maintenance Training Center.
JAA, which leases the hangar to a private company Million Air, said spending the money would put it in breach of contract with the tenant and could bring punitive action from the Federal Aviation Administration. According to JAA staff, the FAA would consider the transfer an “unlawful revenue diversion.”
Fackler said he would advise JAA not to breach FAA regulations or its contract.
Howland, the Council liaison to the JAA, attended the Sept. 29 meeting and spoke against the resolutions.
He said he had sought to work with JAA on aerospace development at Cecil but had been rebuffed. In remarks that followed a presentation outlining JAA’s strategic plan for Cecil, Howland said he had requested such a plan before the budget hearings but JAA didn’t provide one.
“It’s now apparent there’s a lot going on at Cecil, and so I would like to think JAA would have no problem delineating its role at Cecil in the charter,” he said. “But instead, we get these two resolutions.”
Next steps unclear
The JAA resolutions do not require any further action.
Asked whether JAA might sue the city, board chair Michelle Barnett said the authority’s “goal is not to be adversarial” but that it needs “to make sure we have absolute clarity on this issue.”
Another possibility would be for JAA to lobby against the city in the state Legislature in relation to Howland’s proposed legislation, Resolution 2025-0693. That resolution calls for introduction of a bill in the Legislature to change the JAA charter to rename it Jacksonville Aviation and Aerospace Authority, make it responsible for developing Cecil as a “premier aerospace and related industries hub,” and requiring the authority to submit an economic development plan for the airport to Council during its annual review of JAA’s budget.
In addition, the state bill envisioned in the resolution would establish a requirement for one JAA board member appointed by the mayor and one by the governor to have experience in aerospace or a related industry.
Michael Stewart, director of external affairs for JAA, said JAA officials would work with Council.
“We will look at it and see what options we have,” he said. “My first question after they passed a budget amendment but said you don’t have to follow through with it is, what does that mean?”
JAA CEO: Council’s interference is unprecedented
Both JAA resolutions were introduced by board member Bill Gulliford, a former City Council member, who described the Howland-led actions as Council interference into the operations and management of the JAA. He said that during his eight years on Council, he never saw such incursion.
“And frankly, I resent it as a former Council member,” he said
Guiliford served on the Council from 2011 to 2019.
JAA CEO Mark VanLoh said the authority’s charter was created without ever thinking the Council would interfere in its operations.
“This charter was written when we were under the Port Authority, right? So none of this was contemplated,” he said. “We receive no money from the city or the taxpayers. The money we receive is from the state and the feds, and they get a say in our budget. So the city is doing something like, Bill said, that’s never happened before, right? It’s interfering.”
JAA was created on Oct. 1, 2001, when the Florida Legislature split the former Jacksonville Port Authority into two new entities, each focusing on distinct transportation industries.
Howland told the board that if Lawson’s opinion were correct, it could “blow up the consolidated government.”
Afterward, he said he believed Fackler’s opinion would keep consolidation intact.
“JAA is acting on its own,” he said. “I’m now confident this won’t affect JTA, JEA or JPA (Jacksonville Port Authority).”
Howland said he respected JAA’s authority to follow Fackler’s opinion and not spend the funding for Hangar 14 for the JAA/FSCJ facility.
“If that’s the ruling, then that’s fine,” he said. “But I would hope they do look to work with FSCJ in the future.”
He said he was interested only in bringing aerospace companies to Jacksonville.
“My motivation here is simple: Create jobs for Jacksonville families,” he said. “I have yet to figure out what JAA’s motivation is.”
Cecil’s past, present and future
Ahead of the votes, JAA Chief Operating Officer Tony Cugno gave a report on the history of Cecil Airport and the authority’s investment strategy for its evolution and expansion.
Formerly Naval Air Station Cecil Field, the site shifted in 1999 when the Navy closed the base and transferred 6,100 acres and four runways to JAA, the longest stretching 12,500 feet. Despite years of neglect and contamination, Cugno said JAA and state and local leaders saw potential.
By 2004, the airport was courting tenants including Boeing, the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs. A turning point came in 2005, Cugno said, when Cecil handled general aviation for the Super Bowl, showcasing its value. For four days, Cugno said, it was the busiest general aviation airport in the country.
Initially envisioned for air cargo, Cugno said competition from larger markets proved prohibitive, so officials pivoted to maintenance, repair and overhaul operations. Today, the airport supports more than 3,000 jobs and has contributed more than $2 billion in economic impact.
“How do we maintain those key performance indicators?” Cugno said. “Quite simply, with money and lots of it.”
Since taking over Cecil Airport, he said JAA has made $500 million in infrastructure investments, including more than 1 million square feet of office and hangar space, a $5 million taxiway, runway repairs, lighting and more. It also took risks, Cugno said, including pursuing a space launch license. In 2024, it invested $183 million in Boeing’s new 400,000-square-foot maintenance, repair and overhaul facility.
As a result of investments across its airports, Cugno said VanLoh assigned staff to update the authority’s master plan.
“We realized we’re going to the future,” Cugno said. “We were solidified, and we had to pivot our strategy. So as a result of that, beginning in late 2021 and early 2022 we started updating the airport master plan.”
The plan, last updated in 2006, reviews the airport in its entirety to create a development strategy and cost estimates.
“But more importantly, it identifies certain focus areas that you need to put all your efforts into increasing reach,” Cugno said. “That reality for us, was air and space integration development, continued focus on industrial MRO development and (Department of Defense) resiliency.”
It requires Federal Aviation Administration approval, which he anticipates by December.
“As that takes place, I’m sure Mark will keep the board up to speed on that, but I want you to know all the quantitative work has been done. All the planning has been done. The creation of the master plan has been done. The creation of the (airport layout plan) has been done,” he said.