JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Although Sheriff Mike Williams vacated his position by moving to Nassau County in March of 2021 according to the city charter, General Counsel for the city, Jason Teal, said Williams should be paid for his work for the past 14 months.
Teal said this is because he was acting in a de facto role.
Teal said although the sheriff moved to Nassau County in 2021, he was still the de facto sheriff, and served in this capacity, de facto meaning the person is in possession of the office, but not legally entitled to be there. He said the courts recognize the de facto's authority in order to avoid the potential chaos of a retroactive vacancy. This means Williams is entitled to compensation for the past year that he wasn't living in Jacksonville.
"The law gives us an out," Teal said.
"Even though he left the office, or left Duval County in March of 2021, he was still acting as sheriff. And the law allows him to do that, and to support the decisions that he made, even though he was in essence qualified for a vacancy in office. It's a legal concept, you know, and the reason that the legal a concept is there is because it addresses situations just like this," Teal said.
"Where, for whatever reason the law becomes, or the office becomes vacant, you don't just all of a sudden unwind all of the decisions that were made in that period of time. And so, the law says in order to avoid chaos, and to keep the government functioning properly, as well as to protect the rights of all of those people that were affected by his decisions since March of 2021, the law says that those stand until the vacancy is declared," Teal said.
Williams announced his June 10 retirement last week after it became clear his decision to move out of Jacksonville violated the city charter. The charter, which is essentially Jacksonville's constitution, says the sheriff "shall reside in Duval County," and says if he or she moves out of the county, the seat "shall become vacant."
The issue of when Williams vacated his seat and how to fill the vacancy created by his retirement was the subject of a special meeting of the Jacksonville City Council on Monday.
Teal told city council Williams sent his letter of resignation to the Supervisor of Elections. Councilman Matt Carlucci asked Teal what the difference between retirement and resignation is. Teal said if you leave office early for any reason, it's considered resignation. The reason for Williams' resignation is his retirement, in this case, Teal said.
City Council President Sam Newby rescinded his request for a binding legal opinion about the vacancy Thursday, but Teal provided a draft of the opinion to the public in an effort to address lingering questions.
The draft stated that the sheriff effectively vacated his post by moving to Nassau County last year. Teal said the sheriff can serve until his announced retirement date of June 10 because that draft opinion saying the vacancy was created June 2, when the opinion was due to Newby, was never officially released as a binding legal opinion. It was just issued as a draft.
Teal said in his draft this vacancy for the sheriff's office was effective June 2 at two p.m. because of that de facto status prior to Newby requesting the legal opinion.
"Even though he left the office or left Duval County in March of 2021, he was still acting as sheriff," Teal said.
The opinion didn't matter, though, because, once again, it was just a draft after Newby rescinded his request.
“The council president withdrew his request for a binding opinion, and so that opinion was never issued. I think that that everybody has a right to to understand what my decision was in my legal rationale for getting there, but right now, the vacancy is created by his resignation for his retirement," Teal said.
Teal said Newby didn't see the draft Thursday before rescinding his request for the legal binding opinion. He said Newby came to him after talking to the sheriff about his retirement announcement.
“I think that that he considered the issue to be closed, and that with the resignation for retirement, that he he felt like that there was not a need for for the opinion anymore," Teal said.
Newby confirmed Thursday that he felt like the opinion was a moot point because the sheriff decide to retire, creating a vacancy.
Teal said the legal opinion's purpose was to provide guidance about what happens if you move out of the county during your term.
“That was the legal opinion ... is our is our charter requirements, are they valid, legally valid. The sheriff had an opinion that the removal of the provision in 2010, from the state law said that that made our provision invalid. That was what the legal opinion was about. I didn't create the vacancy, I just said when it started," Teal said.
In 2010, the Florida Legislature repealed a state law stating sheriffs had to live within two miles of the county seat.
At Monday's special city council meeting, Teal explained why the city charter takes precedence in this case. Teal said Jacksonville is allowed to have its own requirements as long as the state law doesn't say the city can't.
He said the charter has the same weight as state statutes because the state legislature adopted Jacksonville's charter in the late 1960s, and renewed it in 1992.
“A lot of people think, 'well, our charter is just a local law.' Our charter is actually much more than just a local law. It’s a special act by the legislature that’s only applicable to Jacksonville, so that’s the reason why a lot people describe the charter as the constitution of the City of Jacksonville,” Teal said.
According to Teal, the residency requirement in the charter doesn't require the elected official to resign before it's initiated, or before the office is deemed vacant. He said instead, it's effective when it's triggered by death, resignation or removing his or her residence out of the county during his or her term.
The de facto status of the sheriff, however, comes into play.
Teal said he was asked "Is there any way to fix this? Can the sheriff just move back? Is the position automatically deemed vacant?"
Teal said the answer is no. Once Williams triggered the vacancy, it could not be un-done by moving back. He said, once again, the vacancy is self-executing.
"We don't need a resignation before it's effective. It's effective once it's triggered," Teal said.
"Our charter controls," he said. "I had to establish what the time and date was the vacancy is officially declared legally, and that was what I did with the June 2 date," Teal said.
A few people spoke at the city council meeting calling for further investigation into the sheriff's move, including community activist Ben Frazier.
"This is about honesty," Frazier said. "This is about integrity ... no one is above the law, not even the sheriff," he said.
Teal, however, said there aren't plans for further investigation into the sheriff's move. He said the issue here isn't a criminal one. He said it's an issue about what happens if you violate the charter.
"The issue here is what happens if you do this under our charter, and if you want to say that there's a penalty, the penalty is that the office became vacant. He could resign. He could have done any of those things during any time, during the course of his term, which would have created the vacancy,” Teal said.
Teal said it's people's rights to take legal action if they choose too, but he doesn't think they have a case.
"I think the law is established that the de facto officer is legally serving in that capacity. Even if the vacancy is there, from a purpose of the decisions that are made, I think that they will be upheld in court. So again, you can't control whether somebody is going to sue us or not. If somebody wants to expend the resources to do that, and think that it's worth it, then, obviously, will will respond. And I think they'll know what our defenses are," Teal said.
Regarding the question of the office of the sheriff becoming vacant after the sheriff moved last year, Teal said Williams was effectively de facto sheriff until he was replaced.
"He's serving as a de facto officer until somebody that has a better legal right to be in that office assumes office. Had the governor said it's [the appointment of the undersheriff] effective right now, he'd be out of office," Teal said.
What's next?
Williams' last day is Friday. Governor Ron DeSantis appointed Undersheriff Pat Ivey as interim sheriff at a press conference Monday.
“Pat Ivey will get the nod on Friday,” DeSantis said.
"I think Pat is very, very highly regarded, recommended. I think he's going to have respect from people from day one, and I think he's going to be able to continue the work that the department is doing without having major interruptions," DeSantis said.
City council unanimously approved a special election for sheriff on Aug. 23 at its special meeting Monday. Anyone wanting to run in that race has between June 10 and June 17 to qualify.
If nobody wins the August race with more than 50 percent of the vote, it will head to a runoff Nov. 8. The winner will replace Ivey, and will serve out the end of Williams’ original term, through June 2023.
Regardless of who wins the special election, there will be another sheriff’s race in March of 2023, which is part of Jacksonville’s regularly scheduled city elections.
Any runoff required in that race will happen in May, and the winner of that contest will begin a four year term as Sheriff on July 1, 2023.
DeSantis endorsed Chief of Investigations T.K. Waters Monday as the next sheriff following interim Ivey. Waters did not take any questions, although he was at the governor's press conference.
First Coast News Crime and Safety Analyst Mark Baughman notes it's truly an unprecedented event in Jacksonville's history.
"Let's face it, you've had five sheriffs since Consolidation [in 1968]," Baughman said. "Now, with the way things are, you could have four sheriffs [including Williams] within a very short period of time the way that this election cycle may play out."
What do we know about Williams' pay?
Sheriff Williams collects a roughly $180,000 annual salary. He also currently receives a city pension for his 23 years of service with JSO, a job he quit to run for sheriff.
That city pension, paid out through the Police and Fire Pension Fund, totals about $90,000 a year.
Pension fund officials tell us his city pension will remain unaffected since it predates questions about his residency.
As for whatever pension he might receive as sheriff, city pension officials say that would come from the state retirement system. Officials there have not responded to questions about the sheriff’s pension.