While members of the public and Jacksonville City Council called for more time to review appointments to a city grants committee for the Eastside neighborhood, a Council committee voted to recommend six nominations for approval.
The Rules Committee voted 6-0 on April 20 to back nominations of Rochelle Stoddard, Rudolph Jamison Jr., Cleve Warren, James Edwards and Larry Swink. Terrance Freeman, an employee of Miller Electric Co., abstained due to the company’s financial interest in the city’s community benefit agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The committee, established to distribute funds from the CBA to Eastside residents and businesses, comprises four appointees by the mayor, four by the Council president and one representative of the Jaguars.
In the agreement with the Jaguars, the city agreed to provide $40 million in funding to the Eastside over seven years to fund affordable housing, workforce housing, economic development and homelessness services. The Jaguars committed to spend $2.5 million annually in the Eastside for the next 30 years.
The agreement was connected to the city’s $1.45 billion deal with the Jaguars to transform EverBank Stadium into the team’s “Stadium of the Future.”
Two Council members, responding to requests from residents at the April 20 meeting, asked for more time to review appointments to the Eastside grants committee. Those residents raised concerns that appointments would not adequately represent the community.
“I’m not in a place where I want to take a vote on anybody right now, until I fully understand how we’re getting here,” Freeman said. “There’s a conflict going on here, and I don’t understand why.”
Council members moved forward with the appointment process, citing the interest in pushing the CBA funding into the community as soon as possible.
“I’m just concerned about the time that we are seeing here. Now, we’re getting to the end of this budget year,” Council member Ron Salem said, referring to the close of the city’s budget year in September.
Mayor Donna Deegan is set to present the city’s next budget in July, which would include funding for the Eastside grants committee.
“I don’t agree with all the mayor’s appointments, but at this point, we have got to bite this bullet and move forward,” Salem said.
Stoddard, nominated by Deegan under Resolution 2026-0239, is president of Berman Bros. Inc., according to her resume. Berman Bros., which operates in the Phoenix neighborhood, is a metal service center, scrap metal recycling facility and custom metal manufacturer.
Jamison, nominated by Deegan under Resolution 2026-0240, is a Campbells Addition resident and executive director of the city’s Human Rights Commission, according to his resume.
Edwards, nominated by Council President Kevin Carrico through Resolution 2026-0257, is a Duval County Public School safety specialist, inspecting schools and administrative buildings for the school district, according to his resume. A former Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department station chief, Edwards is also president of the Jacksonville Brotherhood of Firefighters.
Warren, nominated by Carrico through Resolution 2026-0258, is chief investment officer for Florida State College at Jacksonville and chief investment and advancement relations officer for the FSCJ Foundation, according to his resume. He sits on the Leadership Jacksonville board of directors, Jacksonville Public Education Fund Advisory Board and others.
Swink, nominated by Carrico through Resolution 2026-0259, is president and CEO of Jackson Lighting & Electric Supply Co., according to his resume. Swink holds a substantial business interest in the Fairfield neighborhood.
Two more individuals nominated to the committee, Ariane Randolph and E. Shawn Ashley, withdrew from consideration.
The Florida Commission on Ethics ruled that Randolph could not sit on the board due to her employment for LIFT JAX, a nonprofit that advocates for the Eastside, according to Garrett Dennis, the city’s director of Boards and Commissions and liaison to Council from the city administration.
Council-approved legislation for the grants committee calls for appointments of members having a “substantial economic business interest” in the Eastside. No more than three of the appointees may come from the same neighborhood of the five in the Eastside: Campbells Addition, Fairfield, Longbranch, Oakland and Phoenix.
The committee was formed in February 2026 under Ordinance 2026-0036, which was crafted by a special Council committee. The committee determined what it decided was the best route for the city to honor its financial commitments to the Eastside from the CBA.
The legislation recommends that members be from the Eastside and have experience in affordable housing, workforce housing, economic development and homelessness services.
As outlined in Ordinance 2026-0036, the committee will request an annual funding appropriation from the city for Eastside grants and review grant applications. The city’s CBA funding will vary year-by-year based on the committee’s request.
Committee members will review the needs of the Eastside, recommend the selection process for grant recipients, review and score grant applications and participate in on-site evaluation of grant recipients.
Among other details of the committee’s structure, members will serve staggered two-year terms, and the Council president will annually appoint a nonvoting Council liaison to the committee.
The committee will be aided by a manager from the Grants and Contract Compliance Division of the city’s Finance Department.