Bill changes when Jacksonville officials can take new city jobs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville city councilman wants to ban certain city officials from taking new jobs within the city for two years after serving.

On Monday, City Councilman Rory Diamond said he expects to learn more about the failed attempt to sell JEA and the proposed Performance Unit Plan, or PUP, that led to the firing of then-CEO Aaron Zahn.

As the chair of the council committee investigating the embattled utility, he’ll be hearing from Pat Maillis, who works in human resources at JEA and processed the PUPs.

“What we’re going to learn is that Aaron Zahn was requesting that a Performance Unit Plan be created,” Diamond said. “If you look at the emails back and forth between her and the people that he was talking to, it’s clear that he was pushing this thing along, and that’s what we expect to learn on Monday, that he really was the center of the Performance Unit Plan.”

Diamond shared a proposed ordinance he plans to file Tuesday. He said it would mean elected and appointed officials with the city have to wait two years before taking another city job.

For example, a City Council member couldn’t go directly to the JEA board after his or her term or vice versa.

“I think it’s totally unacceptable that someone should be elected to the City Council and then turn around and get a job with the city, or turn around and start lobbying the City Council,” Diamond said. “I don’t think that’s right, and so the new law would say you can’t do that.”

Monday’s second committee meeting starts at 8 a.m. at City Hall. Action News Jax will be there.

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