OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL

 

CHERYL L. BROWN                                                                                                         117 WEST DUVAL STREET, SUITE 425

            DIRECTOR                                                                                                                                                                                 4TH FLOOR, CITY HALL

   OFFICE (904) 630-1452                                                                                                                                                          JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA  32202

     FAX (904) 630-2906                                                                                                                                                                                                              

  E-MAIL: CLBROWN@coj.net

 

 

JOINT RULES/FINANCE/REORGANIZATION COMMITTEE ON 2013-209

MEETING MINUTES

 

December 9, 2013

4:00 p.m.

 

City Council Chamber

1st floor, City Hall

117 West Duval Street

 

Attendance:  Rules Committee – Council Members Warren Jones (Chair), Doyle Carter, Bill Bishop, Lori Boyer, Richard Clark, E. Denise Lee, Don Redman

Finance Committee – Council Members Greg Anderson (Chair), Stephen Joost, Richard Clark, John Crescimbeni, Robin Lumb, Matt Schellenberg, Clay Yarborough

Reorganization Review Committee – Council Members Bill Bishop, Warren Jones, Stephen Joost, E. Denise Lee, Richard Clark

 

Excused: Council Member Reggie Brown (Finance)

 

Also: Marilyn Allen – Legislative Services Division; Jeff Clements – Council Research Division; Kirk Sherman and Kyle Billy – Council Auditor’s Office; Peggy Sidman – Office of General Counsel; Karen Bowling, Cleveland Ferguson and Teresa Eichner – Mayor’s Office

 

Council Member Yarborough called the meeting to order at 4:16 p.m.  

 

Deputy General Counsel Peggy Sidman explained the handouts, which reflect  the sum of the committees’ actions through the last meeting and the OGC’s exercise of the committee’s delegated authority to make necessary technical clean-ups and corrections to the Ordinance Code.

 

Motion (Boyer): authorize the OGC to add “or mobility fee” in places where the Code currently mentions the concurrency management and fair share systems since the mobility fee has succeeded the fair share system – approved.

 

Council Member Crescimbeni expressed a preference for a different name for the former Waterfront Parks Division of the Parks and Recreation Department, believing that the proposed Natural and Marine Services Division diminishes the importance of concentration on the St. Johns River and its assets.  Kelley Boree, Director of Parks and Recreation, explained that the name was chosen to reflect the division’s current responsibility for both oceanfront parks and for management of the City’s conservation and preservation land holdings.

 

The committees discussed Council Member Clark’s proposed amendment (#5 on the handout) to move the Office of Economic Development from a direct reporting line to the Mayor to a division under the Finance Department, and to shift the Chief Financial Officer/Finance Director (CFO) from a direct reporting line to the Mayor and place the Finance Department as a report to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).  The merits of reporting through the CAO versus directly to the Mayor were debated, as was the concept of a mayoral cabinet comprised of functions that don’t fall within the typical departmental structure. The committee discussed the appropriate location for the economic development function, whether as a direct report to the Mayor or as a function under the Finance Department.  Paul Crawford, Deputy Director of Economic Development, described the history of the former JEDC’s governance structure and organizational location.

 

The committees reviewed a list of proposals entitled Council Member Proposed Amendments.

 

Motion (Clark #5): amend to move the Office of Economic Development from a direct reporting line to the Mayor to a division under the Finance Department, and shift the Chief Financial Officer/Finance Director (CFO) from a direct reporting line to the Mayor and place the Finance Department as a report to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO):  Rules – fails; Finance – fails; Reorganization – fails

 

Motion (Bishop #2): amend the qualifications for the Director of the Regulatory and Compliance Department on p. 24, line 11 to remove the words “or in government” and insert language indicating that experience in governmental environmental regulation is preferred: Rules – approved; Finance – approved; Reorganization – approved.

 

Motion (Lee #1): within the Public Works Department, create an Operations section with the Right-of-Way and Stormwater Maintenance, Mowing and Landscape Maintenance, Public Buildings, and Solid Waste divisions reporting to the new Operations Director while the Engineering, Real Estate and Traffic Engineering divisions report to the Public Works Director; rename the Infrastructure Division to the Right-of-Way and Stormwater Maintenance Division: Rules – approved; Finance – approved; Reorganization – approved.

 

Motion (Boyer/Lee #3): insert in the Planning and Development Department’s Housing and Community Development Division a duty to create a liaison relationship with City neighborhood organizations and to staff and coordinate the needs of the Citizen Planning and Advisory Committees (CPACs): Rules – approved; Finance – approved; Reorganization – approved.

 

Motion (Joost #4): leave the Military and Veterans Affairs Department as a direct report to the Mayor and transfer the Disabled Services Division out of that department to the Parks, Recreation and Community Affairs Department: Rules – approved; Finance – approved; Reorganization – approved.

 

Council Member Lee requested confirmation from Deputy CAO Cleveland Ferguson as to whether Victor Guillory, Director of the Military and Veterans Affairs and Disabled Services Division had previously submitted his resignation from the directorship on one or more occasions. Mr. Ferguson indicated that Council Member Boyer had expressed interest in changes to the application of the Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business (JSEB) program requirements to projects in the Capital Improvement Program.  Since Ms. Boyer had left the meeting for another engagement, discussion of this matter was postponed to a future joint committee meeting.  The committees determined to schedule one final meeting in January to consider a new draft of the bill prepared by Peggy Sidman incorporating all of the changes made to date and to review the latest revision of the organizational chart.

 

Mr. Ferguson distributed information on the number and location of City employees involved in the writing of grants.  Five General Fund employees and seven grant-funded employees work in the Grants and Compliance Office in the office of the Director of Intra-governmental Services, while a number of other employees in the various departments devote part-time to grant writing as subject matter experts in their areas of expertise.  Council Member Crescimbeni asked Mr. Ferguson to verify the truth of a report he heard indicating that the City had lost the funding for two employee positions in this year’s budget because of a failure to apply for a grant renewal in a timely manner. Mr. Crescimbeni also asked for information on the City’s contractual services with private firms for grant writing purposes.

 

In reference to the earlier discussion about the proper organizational location for the Military and Veterans Affairs Department, Council Member Lee stated that Jacksonville has always been a very military-friendly city and has continually and strongly supported the military, its bases, its personnel and their families in Jacksonville.

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m.

 

 

Jeff Clements, Council Research Division (904) 630-1405

 

 

Posted 12.10.13

4:00 p.m.