I have known and respected Scott Wilson for many years, but last July when he was sworn in as president of the Jacksonville City Council, I was not sure he would be able to provide the strong leadership required.
Wilson is a quiet individual who usually avoids the spotlight and dislikes confrontation. The council had so many new members, along with a disparate and strong-willed group of veterans who have their own ideas and agendas. I wondered how he would perform as their leader.
My concerns were totally ill-founded. Scott has made me and many others very proud. He continues to show us that he is the right person at the right time to make hard and right decisions for our city.
Since the beginning of consolidation, there have been many different council presidents, including a few who served two terms. Generally, council presidents come and go, seldom remembered by history.
Not Wilson.
His strong and unequivocal announcement Monday naming a special council committee to investigate the unseemly things surrounding the effort to sell JEA will ensure his deserved place in the history of Jacksonville.
Wilson boldly told this community, “The public has the right to know exactly what happened, why it happened, how it happened ... and who was involved.”
Amen!
He formed his three-member committee, “to investigate every aspect, turn over every rock, look behind every curtain and bring all that we don’t know ... and what we deserve to know ... into the daylight for everyone to see.”
I am so grateful that Wilson stood up for JEA’s embattled employees, saying, “During the secret process to sell the JEA, those employees — past and present — have been disrespected and treated unfairly. They, too, deserve to know the truth.”
While establishing the committee was the right thing to do, it wasn’t easy for Wilson. He received advice from all quarters on what he should or should not do.
He also faced threats of intimidation and retribution in an effort to pressure him to stand back rather that step up. That intimidation continued Monday, even as Wilson was making his statement.
During the process, he demonstrated why those who know him say he is a deliberate and steady leader. Now, they can add decisive and politically courageous to that description.
By comparison, Wilson’s behavior and leadership is as different from that shown by Mayor Lenny Curry as prime rib is different from spoiled hamburger meat.
His appointment of Rory Diamond, Brenda Priestly Jackson and Randy DeFoor, all experienced lawyers, shows that Wilson, a Republican, is only interested in the truth, not partisan politics.
I must say there was a time several months ago when I began speaking out about the proposed sale of JEA that I often felt like a lone voice in the wilderness. Where, I wondered, were Jacksonville’s business and civic leaders? Where were elected officials? Why were they silent?
But over time, thanks in large part to the great work done by the rock stars at the Times-Union, we learned more and more about these shenanigans, and gradually, others started climbing in that bunker with me; people like Matt Carlucci, DeFoor and Priestly Jackson.
Then, one morning I woke up to read the Civic Council, a powerful group of 75 Jacksonville CEO’s, had weighed in. All of a sudden, I had Michael Ward, retired chairman of CSX, and others as strong allies.
Recently, OurJax.com was formed with strong civic leadership and a mission to build a grassroots movement to restore transparency, integrity in the process, accountability and local control to our government.
And Monday afternoon Wilson announced his special committee to investigate JEA. It was a great feeling.
“The City Council,” he said, “needs to investigate to transparently document the history of this mess, from the day someone said, ‘Hey, maybe we can sell the JEA,’ until the day the ITN was pulled.”
When Wilson finished his declaration, it felt to me as if, for the first time in months, our entire community breathed a gigantic sigh of relief.
I couldn’t be more proud of Scott, members of the council, the media, JEA employees, our business and civic leaders and the everyday men and women of this community who have made their voices heard and are fighting to return integrity in our government and restore our damaged reputation.
Jake Godbold is a former mayor of Jacksonville.
