New Jacksonville City Council president makes change after transparency report is released

New Jacksonville City Council President Aaron Bowman told Action News Jax he’s changed public records protocol after reading the recent findings of the Task Force on Open Government.

The independent task force, appointed by Bowman’s predecessor Anna Brosche, found the city of Jacksonville needs to be more transparent.

Brosche asked the task force to make recommendations on how the city can make sure members of the public have the access and information they’re entitled to by law.

Bowman said he’s already taken steps to streamline the process when the public makes a request to City Council for public records.

But Bowman said he’s skeptical about the task force’s recommendation that the city post all council members’ email messages on the city’s website, as the mayor’s messages already are.

He said that sometimes, people accidentally send sensitive business emails to his city account.

“We’ve always got to make sure that we don’t hide anything, but also we’ve got to make sure that if something is sent to us inadvertently, it doesn’t get exposed either,” said Bowman.

The task force’s final report said it invited incoming City Council leadership, including Bowman, to meet with the task force, “but we were told they were unavailable," Bowman said.

“I thought it would be inappropriate. I mean, here’s a committee that’s taking an independent look at what we’re doing, and I did not want to influence what they were going to report,” said Bowman.

The mayor’s administration is refuting the task force’s No. 1 finding, which is “The Administration requires mayoral appointees to review and sign off on public records requested by the media before they can be released even after these records are deemed public by general counsel.”

Marsha Oliver, spokesperson for Mayor Lenny Curry, told Action News Jax that neither the mayor nor chief of staff Brian Hughes was available for an interview about that finding.

Oliver instead sent Action News Jax the following statement from Hughes, denying that mayoral appointees “sign off” on public records before they’re released to the media:

“The administration fully supported the Task Force on Open Government, participating and providing information for their review. We have received their final report, and value the committee’s shared interest in our work to strengthen public trust with citizen engagement and transparency. While the Committee and its purpose ‘to undertake an in-depth review of Jacksonville’s legislative processes’ are well-meaning, the findings demonstrate time, clarity, and understanding of roles and practices may have been lacking. The administration has never denied or altered any records. We do, however, receive notification of media public records requests and responsive information being disseminated. The mayor is not a part of this notification process and the characterization that such notices are ‘required’ or need ‘sign-off’ is incorrect. Nevertheless, like any information we receive, we will examine it to determine how it can help us strengthen our operations and services to citizens.”

Action News Jax asked Hank Cox, the rask forces co-chair, about about Hughes’ statement.

“I do not believe that the task force’s Report made any mention of ‘denying or altering’ any records. I also do not believe there was ever any mention of the Mayor regarding this issue – only mayoral appointees. Beyond that the Report speaks for itself,” said Coxe in an email.

The task force also recommended the city make the budget easier for people to understand and create a system to notify people when a bill they care about is up for discussion.

Cox Media Group