JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The spat between the city council and the mayor’s office over the distribution of free Jags and concert tickets has the Council President declaring “game over”.
Council President Kevin Carrico (R-District 4) is proposing in a yet-to-be-filed amendment he’s calling the “DEEGAN Amendment”.
“Denying Elected Elites Gameday Access Nonsense. Let’s take it away,” said Carrico.
The spat over ticket access gained attention after Councilmember Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) filed a bill last week that sought to evenly split tickets to Jags games, concerts, and other events in city-owned venues between the city council and the mayor’s office.
Carrico said that legislation came in response to a change made by the mayor’s office that required council members to get approval before gifting tickets to constituents and other guests.
The mayor’s office told Action News Jax the change was made to ensure transparency and prevent ticket distribution from being abused.
“Kids are fighting over a toy, and let’s just take the toy away. And the optics are horrible in a time when we’re trying to save constituents’ dollars on taxes,” said Carrico.
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Carrico said under his amendment, the council and mayor’s office would still evenly split city tickets as proposed in Salem’s bill.
The tickets are guaranteed as part of the city’s contract with ASM Global.
However, Carrico explained that local elected officials would be barred from using the tickets for their benefit.
“Let’s make sure we give them to teachers, firefighters, guys who come and clean the parks and work for the city to pick up your garbage,” said Carrico.
And Mayor Donna Deegan said she supports the idea, but pushed back on the suggestion that her administration started the ticket tit-for-tat.
“While I’m flattered this amendment was named after me, I’m not the one asking for more tickets. I’ve been a Jaguars season ticket holder for decades. I’d be happy to return to my longstanding north end zone seats, which I still pay for,” said Deegan. ”If the City Council wants to update the ticket system that has been in place for many years before I took office, I’m all for it.”
And with that apparent endorsement from the mayor, it seems the DEEGAN Amendment may have a clear path to the end zone.
Councilmember Salem told Action News Jax he also supports Carrico’s amendment, which will be formally drafted over the next few days.
The bill will work its way through the council over the coming weeks.
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