JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — City Council members are looking to leverage more authority over the city’s downtown development arm with a newly filed bill.
The legislation would also strip away some of the mayor’s ability to influence downtown development projects.
After a year of meetings, Council Vice President Kevin Carrico (R-District 4) is looking to put into practice some of the fixes identified by the Special Committee on the Future of Downtown.
“We were tasked with coming up with a bill that would take care of some of these choke points and give a little more autonomy to the Downtown Investment Authority so they could get deals done,” said Carrico.
Carrico is sponsoring a new bill that makes some changes to the Downtown Investment Authority.
First, it allows DIA to file legislation directly through the Council President, sidestepping the Mayor’s budget review process.
Carrico estimated it will cut the time it takes to get deals approved by the council in half.
“So, the DIA can now come straight to the city council and take out a couple months’ worth of pain points and timing,” said Carrico.
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The bill also requires DIA’s CEO to be confirmed by the council and gives council and or the DIA Board the authority to remove the CEO with a majority vote.
Currently, no one has the authority to fire the DIA CEO.
With current CEO Lori Boyer set to retire soon, Carrico argued it will ensure council has a say in the selection of the next CEO and a means to hold them accountable.
“If we give that trust away and that trust is broken and things aren’t going right, then the council has the ability to remove that person as well. Is that a likely scenario? Not at all, but it just gives us checks and balances in my opinion,” said Carrico.
But the mayor’s office is already taking issue with Carrico’s proposal.
“Council does not have that authority now, which is by design to keep DIA out of politics,” the mayor’s office told Action News Jax in a statement. ”Currently, the DIA board chooses the CEO. We don’t believe it’s wise to change that.”
But Carrico argued with the mayor already having the ability to appoint all of the DIA board members, it’s important for council to have a voice as well.
“So, this is really just dividing some of the power and authority over that because we all care about downtown,” said Carrico.
With the bill being filed on an emergency basis, it should be ready for a final vote within four weeks.
Carrico said he is hopeful it will be in place before the next DIA CEO is named.
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