JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There’s a shakeup with the CBA.
The Community Benefits Agreement, which was agreed to in conjunction with the Jags Stadium Renovation deal, will seed $40 million from the city into Jacksonville’s Eastside over seven years.
But major changes may be coming to the way those dollars would be disbursed, with the city’s Inspector General telling council members the current plan is a “recipe for disaster” in a Tuesday workshop.
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Nine members of the city council attended that meeting and got an overview of the current bill that would establish a framework for disbursing the CBA funds.
The dollars have to be spent on programs, projects, and initiatives related to affordable and workforce housing, economic development, and homelessness.
During the meeting, Inspector General Matt Lascell raised red flags about the current plan to give a non-profit control over how and to whom that money would be awarded.
He warned that while the city would have oversight of the non-profit, the city’s ability to oversee individual grant recipients would be greatly diminished.
He called the model “ripe for fraud, waste, and abuse”.
Lascell and Councilmember Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) both expressed support for a city-run board that would be staffed with city employees.
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Salem explained that it would give the city direct oversight of award recipients.
“You’ve got city employees monitoring the system, making sure the grants are awarded correctly and the grants are monitored correctly so that the entity that gets the money does what they said they were gonna do. That’s the key part of it,” said Salem.
But Councilmember Jimmy Peluso (D-District 7), who represents the Eastside, argued community members who live on the Eastside have expressed support for the independence and efficiency offered through the non-profit model.
“We have a real opportunity to kind of create something independent and long-lasting and built and made for the community. So, like that’s what made this an exciting possibility,” said Peluso. ”There’s a lot of concerns that were had and made by members of the community about, okay the city has said they’re gonna do a lot of things. The city hasn’t come around in years.”
The CBA bill is set to come up for a hearing in neighborhoods next week.
In that meeting, Councilmember Salem plans to introduce a substitute bill that would replace the current non-profit model with a city-run framework.
The Council President said it’s his hope to get a final version passed in time to get a board together by March 1st.
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