Does Jacksonville Need 19 City Council Members? Questions for the Charter Review Commission to Consider.

Abel Harding

Now that we have celebrated the 40th anniversary of Consolidation, we should perhaps acknowledge that it's time to take a another look at the efficiency of our consolidated government.  The Charter Commission, a once-a-decade group appointed to consider changes to the city's charter, is currently looking at suggestions for improving the form of government that Jacksonville/Duval County pioneered to the rest of the country in 1968.

One of the suggestions that has been made includes re-examining the role of the General Counsel's Office in regards to any potential conflict of interest that might arise between representing the Mayor's Office and the City Council (as well as the other Constitutional Officers).  Another suggestion that has been made is the adoption of staggered terms for City Council members.  The ideas are numerous, and many sound quite reasonable, but there are a few that have yet to be mentioned that should also receive attention.

First of all, why does a consolidated government need 19 elected City Council members?  (This, of course, on top of the five constitutional officers that are also elected.)  Do 19 representatives for a population of 850,000+ suggest an efficient consolidated government?  Orlando has 6 City Commissioners, which when combined with the 6 County Commissioners equals a total of 12 representatives---for a population nearly 200,000 larger than Jacksonville.  Tampa and Hillsborough County are similar.  Their City Council, when combined with the County Commission, equals 14 representatives---for a population of 1.2 million.  Even Miami and Miami-Dade have 1 less combined City Council/County Commissioner than Jacksonville---for a population 3 times as large.  With a proposed City Council budget of $9.5 million, perhaps it's time to re-visit the need for 5 at-large seats and explore reducing the number of council districts.

One of the suggestions that has been floating around for the Charter Review Commission is a look at whether or not the Sheriff should be an appointed position.  This would, in my opinion, be a bad move.  Duval County has benefited from a Sheriff who is directly accountable to the public.  It's hard to imagine an appointed Sheriff willing to take the Mayor's Office and the City Council to task over the budget like John Rutherford has.  While the Sheriff's Office should be forced to justify expenditures just like any other city department, it's hard not to admire a man willing to put his political capital on the line to do what he feels is in the city's best interest.  Appointing future Sheriff's would likely lead to "Yes Men (or Women)" who were unwilling to challenge the Mayor who appointed them, even when they felt it was in the best interest of their department.

On the other hand, the City and the Tax Collector have been at war for several years over who is responsible for doing what functions and, many counties have already moved to consolidate the functions of the Tax Collector within county government.  Perhaps Jacksonville should explore that option.

Another suggestion that has been floated has been the possibility of an appointed school board filled with volunteers.  This idea, which the Times-Union touted in a June 7 Editorial, is intriguing.  The plan would be modeled after the university board of regents model where appointees---often distinguished community leaders---serve without a salary.  As it is, the Mayor and the City Council are often incorrectly viewed by voters as being responsible for the City's education system, this type of system would place the responsibility for high-quality appointees at their feet.

One final suggestion to explore would be a review of the city's independent authorities.  With the tremendous growth at the JaxPort and the consistently-high profit margins maintained by JAA, wouldn't it be nice if JEA wasn't the only independent agency that made an annual contribution to the city's revenues?

Tags: Duval County, Duval County Charter Review Commission, Duval County School Board, Duval County Sheriff, Duval County Tax Collector, JAA, Jacksonville General Counsel's Office, Jacksonville International Airport, Jaxport, JEA, JIA, John Rutherford, Local Politics

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 11:02 AM and is filed under Local Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.