JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville City Council President Ron Salem has released legislation that would prevent the mayor of Jacksonville from using private donations or any funding for any city project without council approval.
The legislation, which was obtained by First Coast News, prevents the Mayor of Jacksonville from using any monetary funding to "alter, demolish, relocate, transform or in any way modify any city-owned or managed property, object, thing or anything else of substance without prior Council approval and appropriation.”
Salem took up the issue after Mayor Donna Deegan used her executive authority and $187,000 in private funding to remove a Confederate monument from Springfield Park. She took this action after the Office of General Council attorney Michael Fackler who drafted a legal memorandum that concluded: “The mayor has exclusive authority over city parks…through the use of non-city budgetary funds, the mayor can remove and relocate a monument from the city park.”
During a Rules Committee meeting, Salem called the process used by the Office of General Council claiming it was flawed, lacked transparency and infringed on the power of city council.
“He didn't do some things I think he should have," Salem said. "This has got nothing to do with monuments, this is about the influence of the Jacksonville city council and a strong Mayoral form of government."
Deegan called Salem's questioning of the integrity of the General Counsel, calling it inappropriate.
“The general counsel has made rulings that I don’t particularly like, he made a ruling that the council president didn’t particularly like and that’s fine, but that’s not a reason to question his integrity and I thought that was unfortunate," Deegan said.
As far as the legislation, she believes it's an overreaction.
“I think it’s unfortunate that there’s this overreaction to a one time situation where we had a relic to Jim Crow that was sitting in the middle of a black neighbor, that I use my authority to take down because I had the authority to do just that," Deegan said.
The mayor says council was aware she was exploring options to remove the monument after inaction on the part of City Council to use $500,000 in budgeted funds towards the Women of the Southland statue in Springfield Park.
“To suggest that there was no knowledge on that side of the isle that this was under consideration is disingenuous and I think it’s interesting that the folks that seem to squawk the loudest about transparency are the very folks that seem to have had transparency issues in the past. So I think that’s a lot of projection but that’s not anywhere near the truth," Deegan said. “Just as counsel president Salem is concerned about the counsel’s authority, I am concerned about the executive powers of the Mayor and I think that for this counsel to try and diminish those power is shortsighted."
The legislation will be formally introduced during the city council meeting on Jan. 9.