JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The race to pick new leadership on the Jacksonville City Council officially began Tuesday, and all eyes are on the slate of candidates running to become the next Vice President.
Current Council Vice President Nick Howland secured 16 commitments, which is more than enough to become the next Council President.
But there are four members duking it out to take the VP spot, and it appears to be an open race.
The position is important because the Vice President is generally teed up to become the Council President the following year.
Councilmember Rahman Johnson (D-District 14), Ken Amaro (R-District 1), Chris Miller (R-Group 5 At-Large), and Joe Carlucci (R-District 5) are all vying to become the next Council Vice President.
Carlucci is in a unique situation, despite receiving the most pledges of any VP candidate on day one.
Because Carlucci’s father also serves on the city council, the state’s anti-nepotism laws prohibit him from being selected for a leadership position.
Action News Jax told you last month that the city council hired an outside attorney to try and convince the Florida Commission on Ethics to reverse its stance on the nepotism issue.
But last week, the case was voluntarily dropped before a final ruling was made.
The rationale was tied to a carveout tagged onto an ethics bill in the Florida Senate that would allow Carlucci to run.
But that bill had still has not fully cleared the state legislature by the time Carlucci announced his candidacy Tuesday.
But Carlucci said he believes there’s plenty of time for it to make it across the finish line and be signed into law before the vote on council leadership is set to take effect.
The bill would immediately take effect after being signed by the Governor.
“I’m confident it will pass, and if it doesn’t, then so be it,” said Carlucci.
Councilmember Amaro made it clear he’s running for Vice President because he wants to see a major change of direction, and suggested the city council has been bogged down with controversy over the past year.
“We’re at a pivotal place in this legislative body where we need to turn the page on negativity. We need to turn the page on the bad headlines. We don’t have to have a Kumbaya every day,” said Amaro. ”We all have our own convictions when it comes to our politics, but our policy should all be moving this city forward.”
At least two council members are currently being investigated, one by the Office of Inspector General and the other by the State Attorney’s Office.
Council President Kevin Carrico (R-District 4) is among those under investigation related to a text in which he indicated he intended to replace a JEA Board member because he owed “a big favor”.
While the likely next Council President secured 16 pledges out of the gate, very few pledges were made for the VP spot.
Most members indicated they’re going to spend some time before coming to their final decision.
The vote to select the next slate of council leaders will occur in late May.
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