Council poised to largely approve Deegan transition initiatives in early test of collaboration

Mayor Donna Deegan is poised to cap her first six months in office by winning City Council approval for the lion’s share of spending she proposed for the first big ticket initiatives of her term – $27 million in the areas of housing, public health and youth programs.

The vast majority of programs recommended by her resident-led transition teams passed through council committees last week. But, council members cut about $1 million from the bottom-line amount after deciding some proposals duplicated existing city programs or could be done at a lower cost.

The final vote from City Council on Tuesday will come after Deegan faced both wins and losses since taking office July 1 as a Democratic mayor working with a Republican-controlled City Council. The political differences have brought some changes to Deegan’s plans, but the votes on her transition initiatives showed a willingness to cross the aisle.

Spending breakdown: Youth, health and housing drive priorities in Mayor Deegan's latest budget request

State dollars for Jax: State lawmakers field big-dollar requests. Here are top 10 for Jacksonville area.

Health initiative: Mayor Donna Deegan launches first city-wide health campaign: "Get Covered Jax"

Her latest appointment for general counsel also is moving toward confirmation, in contrast to her first pick of former City Council member Randy DeFoor. DeFoor withdrew as her nominee after it became clear she didn’t have enough support.

Deegan’s follow-up appointment of Michael Fackler to be general counsel sailed through the Rules Committee with unanimous support last week and has not triggered opposition on its way to a vote Tuesday by the full council.

University of North Florida political science professor Michael Binder said it is still too early to say what kind of relationship Deegan will have with the City Council over the next three and a half years.

He said that if Deegan attempts to gain backing from City Council for moving the Confederate monument from Springfield Park, that would offer a test of how much she can win over council to her agenda.

A deal for renovating the city-owned stadium to get a lease extension with the Jaguars also could be a test of mayoral leadership, though Binder said at this point, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between Deegan and the council on getting a deal.

“From the outside looking it, it seems like everybody is just lining up to give (Jaguars owner) Shad Khan a pile of cash,” he said.

He said that would make the budget she proposes next summer a better measure on what the political dynamics are at City Hall.

Binder said Deegan will not be able to govern with the “iron fist” approach that Gov. Ron DeSantis has shown in Tallahassee.

“I think somebody like Deegan is better at building relationships that she can maybe lean on as she goes forward,” he said.

Council looks to approve most of Deegan’s transition initiatives

Deegan referred to her collaborative approach in a statement about the transition programs, saying she was happy to work through them with council members.

“I’m truly grateful for their spirit of cooperation around our shared values,” she said. “I know we’re all ready to get this critical funding out into the community, and I’m looking forward to its positive impact on citizens across the city.”

Deegan’s transition teams developed the recommendations in the months after her election. The administration then advocated for the dollars during the summer budget process when council members tried to break up the funds for other projects, specifically related to housing.

The initiatives Deegan sent to City Council span Deegan’s top priorities: literacy, homelessness, affordable housing, youth programs, local business, health, veteran outreach, accessibility and public art.

The administration initially proposed the spending largely in one piece of legislation, but council divided the bill because of the high number of individual council conflicts due to their own or their family members’ jobs potential for city funding.

Nick Howland, who is chairman of the council’s Finance Committee, said council members wanted to give Deegan a chance to put the transition task force’s recommendations into effect while vetting them with a “fine-tooth comb.” He noted that council members filed 25 amendments.

“The whole council was engaged,” he said. “The whole council took the effort seriously and we were making sure we were good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

One of the amendments that got approved in council committees will require Deegan to report back no later than the end of 2024 on what each of the programs accomplished before deciding whether to put more money toward them in next year’s budget.

“We have time to see how they’re going to work and to see if they’ll move the needle,” he said.

What transition projects did council cut?

Council committees this week knocked out two of the items by rejecting $500,000 for the “Cool Communities” initiative because of the existing tree fund.

“Cool Communities” would have planted trees to boost shade in communities that are hot zones and added community orchards to provide fruits and nuts for neighborhoods that lack easy access to grocery stores.

Council members said that money should stay in the city’s tree-planting trust fund and that Deegan can apply for it through the Tree Commission using the normal process.

Council committees also struck $350,000 Deegan sought for an audit of the city’s Planning and Development Department because the city already is taking steps to improve the department, such as hiring more employees and upgrading computer technology to streamline the department’s services such as building permits.

The committees reduced Deegan’s $160,000 for “train the trainer” program meant to help residents learn how to assist people suffering mental health problems. The council set the amount at $50,000 after City Council member Howland worked with the administration to identify an existing organization that could do the training at that amount.

After those changes, the total amount of spending in the legislative package will clock in at about $26 million.

The bottom-line amount could drop further depending on what City Council decides Tuesday about the program that will pay for replacing roofs.

Deegan sought $996,000 to cover the cost of residents replacing the roofs of their homes so they could maintain insurance coverage. Council committees shifted $50,000 from that program to a different fund for fighting homelessness. City Council member Raul Arias sought to hold back another $546,000 from the roofing program until the council could see how the pilot program works out.

“Let them do their due diligence, get it started, let’s get some roofs replaced, and let’s see how the process works,” he said.

He said he expects it will be an effective program and if it is, Deegan can return to council and ask for the rest of the money she wanted for it.

Travis Jeffrey, chief of the city’s Housing and Community Development Division, said it would be better to have the full funding in place from the start. He said the need for the program is high and the city has decades of experience administering home repair programs.

“We don’t see any problems whatsoever in being able to administer these dollars in a timely fashion,” he said.

The Neighborhoods Committee rejected Arias’s amendment but the Finance Committee approved it, so the full council will have dueling recommendations at the Tuesday meeting.

What projects have the biggest price tags?

Though Deegan requested funding for her initiatives in one bill – broken into two by council – each program came with its own price tag.

Prior to council cuts, the biggest bucket of funding would go to youth and family programs totaling over $5.8 million, followed by health initiatives at over $5.7 million.

Two literacy programs, one for reaching students outside of the classroom and another multi-layer approach spanning ages and city offices, would cost $1.9 million each, keeping with Deegan’s priorities from her campaign.

The highest costing health initiatives include over $2.2 million to reduce food insecurity among older adults and $2.1 million to provide telehealth services for uninsured residents.

Other top projects come from the housing initiatives, namely $2 million each for emergency rental and eviction prevention, down payment assistance and funding for local nonprofits.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville City Council poised to approve Deegan transition projects