Jacksonville City Council to question city attorney over Confederate monument removal

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville City Council members will have some tough questions for the city’s General Counsel regarding last week’s removal of the Confederate monument in Springfield Park.

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General Counsel Michael Fackler’s appearance before the Council Rules Committee was requested by Council President Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large).

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This 17-page opinion circulated by the mayor’s office was used as the legal rationale and justification for Mayor Donna Deegan’s decision to use $187,000 of private money to remove the city’s last prominent Confederate monument.

“So, I asked the General Counsel, if I have private funds would I have the executive authority to do this? He researched it and said you absolutely do. It’s a separation of powers issue. You’re not asking the council for the funds. You’re privately funding it and so you can do it,” said Deegan in an interview with Action News Jax last Wednesday.

The opinion however immediately generated questions from President Salem.

One of those questions concerns who exactly wrote it, as the opinion is labeled a draft, has no signatory and no date.

“My debate here is on policy, not on the Confederate monuments,” said Salem Friday.

Salem said he wants clarity on what kind of limits there are on the mayor and other elected officials’ ability to leverage private funds to do work on public property.

“How about a councilman raising private dollars to do work on a park in his district for example,” said Salem.

Additionally, he wants to make sure the removal last week was actually allowed.

One outstanding question is whether the monument had special protections due to the fact it’s located within a historical district.

According to the opinion, a “strong argument” could be made that it did not, but Salem isn’t so sure.

“There were a couple of instances in the past where a building on that property as well as the fencing on that property had work done on it and it went to the Historical Society for approval prior to the work being completed. So, there’s precedence there for any work done in that park go through the historical society,” said Salem.

The opinion did contemplate what might happen if the monument did in fact have special protections.

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According to the opinion, the administration could face daily fines of at least $100 a day, but the author argued the likelihood of that happening “seems low”.

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