With The Charter Review Commission currently ongoing, this is a historic time to examine the issues solved and created by Consolidated Government.
Rick Mullaney, as the General Counsel for all the independent agencies of government is one of the men most qualified to speak on the issue, and is providing brilliant insight and first hand operational knowledge.
After his basic treatise, the dialogue will begin, keeping in mind that as Counsel, Mullaney can explain, but has ethical obligations not to insert himself into the process of the City.
This should be an awesome opportunity for our readers: Can't wait!
Stephen Dare.
Richard A. Mullaney is the General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville. After serving as Chief of Staff to former Mayor John Delaney, Mr. Mullaney was appointed General Counsel in 1997 and 1999 by Mayor Delaney and in 2003 and 2007 by Mayor John Peyton. Mr. Mullaney is Jacksonville's longest serving General Counsel.
As General Counsel, Mr. Mullaney is the Chief Legal Officer for Jacksonville's $4.5 billion a year consolidated government and is responsible for a 40 lawyer public law office. The General Counsel's Office is one of the largest law firms in Jacksonville and represents all entities of Jacksonville's consolidated government, including the Mayor and Executive Branch, City Council, 7 independent authorities, 5 constitutional officers, and over 50 Boards and Commissions.
Mr. Mullaney grew up in Jacksonville and attended the University of Florida, receiving a George Smathers debate scholarship and graduating Phi Beta Kappa and number one in the College of Arts and Sciences. In law school at Florida, Mr. Mullaney was Executive Editor of the Law Review, received the Best Oralist Award from the Moot Court Team, and graduated with honors.
Upon graduation from law school, he practiced business litigation with the law firm of Carlton, Fields before joining the State Attorney's Office. He was a prosecutor for ten years, while teaching business law at the University of North Florida and lecturing nationally.
In 1991, he was named Prosecutor of the Year for the State of Florida.
Mr. Mullaney joined the General Counsel's Office in 1991 and has served as legal counsel to the Austin, Delaney and Peyton Administrations. Mr. Mullaney was trial counsel on the Better Jacksonville Plan bond validation trial and Cecil Field referendum, appellate counsel on the School District's high school graduation prayer case, and played a leading role in the creation of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC), Preservation Project and the Better Jacksonville Plan. As General Counsel, he has issued ten Binding Legal Opinions, with Opinions on competitive bidding, collective bargaining, zoning, land use, and the authority of the Council Auditor and Mayor.
Mr. Mullaney is a Master in the Chester Bedell Inn of Court (1998-2008) and is "AV" rated by Martindale Hubbell.
In 2003, Mr. Mullaney was named Lawyer of the Year for the City of Jacksonville at the Jacksonville Bar Association annual meeting. Subsequently, as Chairman of Jacksonville's Telecommunications Master Task Force, Mr. Mullaney received IT Florida's statewide award for innovation in technology and received the Good Government Award from the Rotary Club of South Jacksonville.
Mr. Mullaney is Chairman of the St. Vincent's Healthcare Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Directors of St. Vincent's Healthcare Medical Center, Gateway Community Services, Preservation Project North Florida and the ALS Regional Council. He is a member of Leadership Jacksonville (1988), and Leadership Florida (2001).
Mr. Mullaney is married and lives in Jacksonville with his wife, Lynn, and their three children, Taylor, Richie, and Katie. Mr. Mullaney and his family are members of Holy Family Catholic Church.
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stephendare
September 03, 2009, 11:55:46 AMI spoke with Rick Mullaney yesterday for a good while, and I have to say that there are seriously some issues that this group needs to know about and help resolve.
There are also some really great advantages that the city has that for one reason or another have never really been exploited to their full potential.
stephendare
September 03, 2009, 12:09:52 PMBy the way, the Daily Record is all over the Commission activities.
Don't know if our readers realize it but 15 community "volunteers" are making decisions about how the actual government should be restructured.
Here are some snippets from a recent Daily news column: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=52747
Former General Counsel Jim Rinaman was asked to give a presentation on the history of consolidated government.
“I want to congratulate all of you in volunteering to do this very arduous job, arduous in the sense that there are a lot of complicated problems and a lot of them are not easily solved,” said Rinaman. ......
Rinaman warned the Commission about taking on matters that should be left to the City’s representative form of government.
“Be careful about pursuing issues that could be better handled by the City Council or the mayor,” said Rinaman. “Don’t be tempted to cure a problem that should be cured by ordinance by City Council. There may be a time when that needs to be changed and then we have to go and change the charter.”
Along with the history lesson, Rinaman presented some ideas for changes to the City Charter. These ideas included revising the Council districts to bring more equality to the districts.
“Some of them are well over 100,000 people and some of them are less than 75,000,” said Rinaman.
Another issue was staggered term limits. The mayor and Council are elected to four-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms by law.
“The problem you run into when you try to stagger terms is that someone is going to have a short term and someone else is going to have a long term,” said Rinaman.
The Duval County Tourist Development Council (TDC) was another issue of contention for Rinaman. The TDC is the governing body that oversees the collection and distribution of the local-option tourist development tax —
......
Rinaman explained that all executive and administrative functions should be performed by the mayor and all legislative and budgetary functions be handled by the Council, according to the City’s Charter.
......
1. How did people 'volunteer' for this?
2. Rinaman was one of the actual architects of the original consolidation and is a great asset to this discussion.
stephendare
September 03, 2009, 12:13:53 PMFrom Abel Hardings Jaxpolitics blog:
http://jaxpoliticsonline.com/2009/08/19/does-jacksonville-need-19-city-council-members-questions-for-the-charter-review-commission-to-consider/
One of the suggestions that has been floating around for the Charter Review Commission is a look at whether or not the Sheriff should be an appointed position.
stephendare
September 03, 2009, 12:16:57 PMhttp://jacksonville.com/opinion/columnists/ron_littlepage/2009-07-03/story/commission_has_plenty_of_topics_to_tackle_on_char
Ron Littlepage weighs in:
We have laws, such as our zero tolerance litter law, that aren't vigorously enforced, often because of a lack of money. The charter could demand adequate funding.
The subject of city elections undoubtedly will come up.
Should the City Council terms be staggered so the chance of a massive turnover on council would be less?
Should the city elections be changed from the spring to the fall? That would give newly elected council members more time to get up to speed before tackling difficult budget decisions.
Do term limits work?
There's also the debate about elected vs. appointed officials.
Should mainly administrative positions like the property appraiser, the tax collector and the supervisor of elections be appointed? Should School Board members? Or the sheriff?
Other suggestions for discussion made during Tuesday's meeting included examining the independent authorities, which some think have become too independent and forgetful that they report to the citizens of Jacksonville.
The role of the city's general counsel should be reviewed. Can the general counsel serve the mayor and the City Council without conflict?
Should JEA contribute revenue to the public school system as it does to the city's general fund?
Some want the charter amended to include a police review board.
stephendare
September 03, 2009, 05:39:21 PMHow about:
Should the JTA be split into two agencies and a new Mass Transit Authority be a stand alone chartered entity?
CS Foltz
September 22, 2009, 06:45:21 AMThe original Charter had a section that contained"Ethics Department" They were charged with overseeing all government agency's including the Independent Authority's. They had the power to subpoena and conduct an investigation and impose fines! Why was that removed and by who or whom? Ethics Officer COJ is a part time employee with no office or staff or funding.............why?
buckethead
September 22, 2009, 08:31:18 AMIs that^ a rhetorical question?
stephendare
October 06, 2009, 05:38:12 PMRick Mullaney getting hell from Ed Austin.
The Hot issue on the Charter Revision, Coming up next week in Rick Mullaney's guest blog
RICK MULLANEY: The short answer is no. You commingled different groups -- the executive departments, Public Works, Human Resources, I would not elect the department heads of the executive branch of government. I would not elect the executive authorities or the independent authorities, no, sir, I would not recommend that.
ED AUSTIN: What you've told us here was that the philosophy of the people who put this charter together, to have a strong mayor who would -- who would do -- make policy and handle all of the executive functions with a -- with a council that balanced it with the balance of power that we have at the federal system?
RICK MULLANEY: Yes, sir.
ED AUSTIN: At the federal level, if I'm correct, you have an elected president and an elected congress, and nothing else elected, right?
RICK MULLANEY: Yes, sir.
stjr
October 06, 2009, 06:45:03 PMThe problem with the City Council structure is it is both the House (i.e. district reps) and Senate (i.e. the at-large reps) rolled into one body. As such, those elected to look out for all of Jax (the at-large reps) can't control or veto the district projects approved through back room horse trading by the district reps who control a super majority of the council and tend to be more petty and backwards to placate their limited constituencies.
This has served to dilute the character of a consolidated government that is suppose to be more oriented toward the big picture for the good of the whole county, not specific districts. This part of Jacksonville has not fulfilled its promise as a result and we are being held back by it. It needs to top the list of changes.
stjr
October 06, 2009, 06:50:31 PMWhile we are at it, we need to create an independent Parks, Preservation, Beautification, and Historical Commission with its own budget and enforcement powers (park police, litter patrols, historic code/restrictions enforcement, etc.). Money could come from the city budget, park fees and rentals, and tax revenue derived from increased property values that result from its actions.
tufsu1
October 14, 2009, 11:01:44 PMShould the JTA be split into two agencies and a new Mass Transit Authority be a stand alone chartered entity?
I'd like to know if Mr. Mullaney thinks the City even has jurisdiction to make this change.
stjr
October 15, 2009, 01:00:47 AMEven JTA admits its unusual to have roads and mass transit in the same agency. This is from their 2007/2008 annual report:
modes of surface transportation – which link
together to form a transportation network
that greatly improves regional mobility – for
the surrounding area, JTA is one of the most
unusual entities of its kind in the country. It’s
one of only seven state agencies that provide
both transit and roadway engineering services.
tufsu1
October 15, 2009, 08:02:57 AMguess that doesn't include all the state DOTs....because every one of them does it.
stephendare
October 15, 2009, 05:28:30 PMWe are getting ready to launch the Consolidation Series by Rick Mullaney, the General Counsel for the City.
Rick will be joining us online to answer questions and engage in discussion during his guest blog, which is about the History and Structure of Consolidated Government as well as how it works, and possible futures for our city government structure.
Along the way, in associated articles we will be publishing dialogues between Rick Mullaney and Former Mayor Ed Austin as well as a blog by Former Mayor Tommy Hazouri.
Rick is widely consulted as an authority on the subject of our Consolidated form of government and has been quoted widely including Recollections From the Rebirth of a City, by Homer Humphries
and The Quiet Revolution, by Richard Martin
The input has been great so far, so keep your questions in mind, we will be publishing shortly.
Lunican
October 26, 2009, 11:05:35 PMThis series starts tomorrow!