Rick Mullaney: A History of the Consolidation Movement

[buckethead]

Outstanding conversation!  Bravo to the great questions and thoughtful answers!  This is the kind of dialogue that sets MetroJax above the rest.  I look forward to more...

Agreed. Please consider also Mr Mullaney, that there are quite a few more readers in threads like these than contributors. We one-line bandits tend to stay quiet and try to listen and observe when the discussion is more important/informative.

Thanks for sharing your time and mind with us.

[vicupstate]

This question is more on the 'history' of consolidation than the future, but here goes.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, this is from memory alone, so bare with me.  I believe in the '80's, there was a section of what is now Atlantic Beach that left the City of Jacksonville proper for Atlantic Beach.  I think this is the northern-most part of Atlantic Beach.  I think this section is called Seminole Road or Seminole Beach or something like that.

What were the circumstances around that, and how did it occur?  Was it implemented via the City of Jacksonville, the state or both?  Could it happen again?  There was some concern at the time that it could lead to an 'unraveling' of consolidation.  Given that it hasn't happened since, I guess that was not the case, still it is an interesting footnote. 

Thanks in advance for any info. 

 

         

[Rick Mullaney]

I want to thank all the readers for their comments and questions. They have really been good and this has been a great discussion. I also appreciate how thoughtful everyone has been.

I want to briefly clear up something that may be confusing from today's presentation of my comments to the Charter Revision Commission on July 30, 2009. When discussing duplication of services, and legal services in particular, I tried to express that other local governments have multiple city attorneys' offices and a county attorney office. For example, Miami-Dade has about 80 attorneys in the county office and multiple city attorney offices as well. For example, I believe the City of Miami has about 30 city attorneys and other cities, also within Miami-Dade, have their own city attorneys' office. This is true for other counties as well. For example, Hillsborough County has about 40 attorneys in the county office and the City of Tampa, I believe, has over 25 attorneys.

All of this is in contrast to Jacksonville. We have 40 attorneys in the General Counsel's Office. We are, in effect, both the county attorneys' office and the city attorneys' office all in one.

I hope this makes sense.

[stjr]

Rick, for more discussion and comments, see the other threads with Ed Austin and you and Tommy Hazouri.  Maybe you could relate some of our discussions/ideas to the Charter Revision Commission.  They would surely listen more closely to you than us.    Thanks!

Ed Austin and You:  http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,6577.msg107467/topicseen.html#new

Tommy Hazouri: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,6539.msg107465/topicseen.html#new

[Rick Mullaney]

Thanks again for the great questions. MJ suggested that I focus on a particular question instead of, as I tried yesterday, to answer as many questions as I could. So here goes.

A fair and I think important question from yesterday was why, if consolidation is such a great form of government, aren't other counties and cities doing the same thing? Good question.

In short, there are usually built in obstacles to adopting consolidated government and absent crisis and statesmanship (Jacksonville had both in the 1960's) it is unlikely to happen. For one thing, when you abolish the city government and the county government, to create the consolidated government, the incumbent elected officials lose their jobs. And, although this often is addressed through attrition, many public employees believe they will lose their jobs. Not surprisingly, those who may lose their jobs often oppose the change. In addtion, those who have access and relationships with the existing structure typically oppose change. Vested interests often oppose change. And, not surprisingly, change itself intimidates some. It is easier for many to simply stay with the status quo than try something that is such a significant change.

Despite these obstacles, many cities and counties are exploring the change to consolidated government. It is difficult to bring about, but I believe it is a far better form of local government.

[untarded]

Thanks again for the great questions. MJ suggested that I focus on a particular question instead of, as I tried yesterday, to answer as many questions as I could. So here goes.

A fair and I think important question from yesterday was why, if consolidation is such a great form of government, aren't other counties and cities doing the same thing? Good question.

In short, there are usually built in obstacles to adopting consolidated government and absent crisis and statesmanship (Jacksonville had both in the 1960's) it is unlikely to happen. For one thing, when you abolish the city government and the county government, to create the consolidated government, the incumbent elected officials lose their jobs. And, although this often is addressed through attrition, many public employees believe they will lose their jobs. Not surprisingly, those who may lose their jobs often oppose the change. In addtion, those who have access and relationships with the existing structure typically oppose change. Vested interests often oppose change. And, not surprisingly, change itself intimidates some. It is easier for many to simply stay with the status quo than try something that is such a significant change.

Despite these obstacles, many cities and counties are exploring the change to consolidated government. It is difficult to bring about, but I believe it is a far better form of local government.

I witnessed this in Orlando's consolidation effort.  The City Fire Department was strongly opposed while Orange County Fire Dept was strongly in favor of consolidation.  City employees had significantly higher salaries and benefits than their County counterparts.  The city employees feared they would largely be replaced by lower paid County employees after consolidation.

[Rick Mullaney]

Thanks stjr for telling me about the seperate threads. I am new to this and still learning. I was not aware of the seperate threads on consolidation. Thanks for your patience and helping me along.

Overall, I think this is a great way to conduct a community discussion. Thanks to MJ for proividing this opportunity to discuss consolidated government.

[stephendare]

Rick its a pleasure to have you amongst us, thanks for your insight and your effort.  This is a great forum for reasoned discussion, and I know that I have learned incredible amounts of useful information as a result of the posters and postings on the site.

[Dog Walker]

Rick, we have also learned that Stephen's definition of "reasoned discussion" is a bit flexible. 

[Jaxson]

Correction to previous post:  Atlantic Coast Line did not own The Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville Journal.  Florida East Coast Railway owned what was then known as Florida Publishing Company.  FEC also owned the St. Augustine Record.  Morris Publishing purchased the newspapers from FEC in the early 1980s.

[stjr]

Correction to previous post:  Atlantic Coast Line did not own The Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville Journal.  Florida East Coast Railway owned what was then known as Florida Publishing Company.  FEC also owned the St. Augustine Record.  Morris Publishing purchased the newspapers from FEC in the early 1980s.

How many MJ readers know that, at the time, the Times Union was owned by Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (now CSX)?  That also had a lot to do with how they covered the community.  The paper was far more "establishment" than its now.  When RR's competed for passenger service, RR schedules were carried prominently in the T-U along with plane crashes.  RR wrecks were back page if they were covered at all.  Famously, once a wreck was so bad they couldn't ignore putting a photo in the paper, but they painted out ACL's name to remove any connection to them.  The stuff of legends.

Jaxson, sorry, you are incorrect.  You took your info from Wikipedia it appears and it's wrong.  That's sometimes the problem with a user updated site like Wikipedia.

Here, from Morris Publishing's (current owner of the T-U) own web site, they show that they bought the Times Union from Seaboard Coast Line, successor to Atlantic Coast Line and predecessor to CSX:

Newspapers in Jacksonville date to the mid-1830s. In 1864, an olive grower named J.K. Stickney teamed with W.C. Morrill to start the Florida Union. The two parted in April 1865. Stickney kept the paper and established physician Holmes Steele as editor.

Steele smashed other Jacksonville papers - the Herald, the Mercury, the Times - in the year following the war.

In 1867, Stickney sold the paper to Edward M. Cheney, a Boston lawyer and Union army captain. Cheney tried unsuccessfully to turn the Union from a three-times-a-week paper to a daily, but it didn't work out. He sold the Union in 1873 to Walton, Fowle & Co., headed by Canadian newpaperman, Charles H. Walton. The paper nose-dived. It abandoned daily publication. It appeared doomed. Soon it was sold to Baptist preacher H.B. McCallum and a partner.

Charles H. Jones, who had run away from home at 14 to be a Confederate drummer boy, tried to buy the Union. When that failed, he recruited an old friend from Chicago and started a rival paper. The Florida Daily Times began in November 1881.

By 1883, the professionally produced Times had eclipsed the preacher-edited Union. McCallum, ridden by illness, sold to the interlopers. The first edition of The Florida Times-Union came out on Sunday, Feb. 4, 1883.

The newspaper, along with the afternoon Jacksonville Journal, the St. Augustine Record and the weekly Courier Journal in Crescent City, were purchased by Morris Communications Jan. 1, 1983, from Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.

http://www.morris.com/divisions/morris_publishing_group/daily_newspapers/florida_times.shtml

By the way, I was born and raised here and am old enough to have lived through this.  Can't beat first hand experience. 

[north miami]

I arrived on scene/Jacksonville in the mid 70's and vividly recall my meetings with Florida Times Union William Swiesgood.Bill's pen hallmark was River protection causes.
What a different time and outlook.Destined to be subjected to trial.
Twenty years later FTU reporter (D.Baierlein) would track me for two days including lengthy interview and track all the way down to the Water Management District permit offices.The provocative-yet prophetic- information relating to emerging sprawl within our region's water recharge basin shared with the FTU yet never shared with the readers makes good reading.
Sad legacy.

[CS Foltz]

Mr Mullaney, much thanks for participating in this discussion! Some very unclear or half truths have been made clear and I appreciate your taking the time to clarify some issue's. I have done some research for Ms Miller regarding "Ethic's" and have one further question regarding this which is - The Independent Authorities were under the original umbrella of "Ethic's Guidelines" and when the guidelines were moved to the City Ordinances in 1972 the Independent Authorities were no longer controlled or guided by same. The Ethics Commission has made the presentation regarding this issue that "Ethics" be set in black and white and in stone and cover all COJ Agencies. Do you feel that having guidelines in place will help or hinder having an efficient transparent government and do you support having guidelines that control all employee's for the City?

[bayst220]

The Beachs and Baldwin are USD's (urban service districts) of the consolidated goverment and I don't see the need for thier existance.

[Rick Mullaney]

I really enjoyed the live blog last week on consolidated government. It was the first time I have done that and it is a great way to have a community discussion.

As a follow up, I spoke briefly today before the Charter Revision Commission on consolidation and specifically on the role of legal services. As the 3 part series last week set out, I believe that through luck and genius (don't ever underestimate luck) the founding fathers of consolidated government devised the best local government structure in the State and centralized legal services and financial authority are fundamental to this structure working. Today I reemphasized the unique and critical role that I believe the General Counsel's Office plays in making consolidated government work. Representing all entities of the consolidated government directly contributes to our ability to operate as a single enterprise and pursue significant countywide policy objectives with one voice. I hope my testimony today was helpful. Developing a community wide understanding and appreciation of our consolidated government is important to our future.