JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A scathing survey of Jacksonville City Council employees is leading to a leadership change as a former Jacksonville General Counsel will take over as Council Director.
A one-cycle emergency bill has been filed after a motion at a Feb. 24 personnel meeting to confirm Jason Teal, currently the Senior Assistant at OGC.
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The survey of 37 workers first reported by Action News Jax’s Ben Becker, was highly critical of both former City Council Director Margaret “Peggy” Sidman and Legislative Services Chief Merriane Lahmeur.
Lahmeur submitted her resignation for health reasons on Monday.
Read: Survey: City Council employees cite ‘ethnic discrimination’ and ‘toxic behavior’ by division leaders
The survey showed certain benchmarks were not even close to being reached. For example, team morale was just 13.5% when the benchmark is 71.5%.
The survey also returned significantly low scores for morale, teamwork, diverse hiring, ethical business practices, leadership values, communication, fairness, recognition as well as ethnic discrimination, micromanagement, fear tactics and toxic behavior.
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Action News Jax first reported in January that Sidman was placed on paid administrative leave. It followed complaints about the work environment and the opening of council members’ mail.
Teal was inherited by the Deegan administration in 2023, but was replaced by current General Counsel Michael Fackler, who now faces a vote of no confidence resolution filed by council.
Sources tell Becker by hiring Teal, it is council’s own way of having their own General Counsel.
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Kevin Carrico, Vice President of the City Council and vice chair of the personnel committee, released the following statement:
“After reviewing the survey, it is painfully obvious that the City Council Personnel Committee (of which I’m the Vice Chair) did the right thing in placing the Council Secretary Sidman on leave. Nobody should have to come to a toxic work environment everyday. I’m looking forward to moving forward and my colleagues confirming the appointment of former OGC Jason Teal. He will bring leadership and increase staff morale to create a better work environment for all the valuable employees of the Jacksonville City Council.”
A council vote on Teal is expected on March 25.
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