No confidence resolution filed targeting Jacksonville's top attorney
No confidence: that's the message one city councilmember wants their colleagues to send to the city's top attorney, General Counsel Michael Fackler.
The spat between the city's top attorney and city council is coming to a head.
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Council Finance Chair Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large) filed a resolution Tuesday, that if approved, would express a vote of no confidence in Fackler.
'I think the council is extremely frustrated with his tenure,' said Salem.
The resolution lays out several of the battles the council has fought with Fackler, starting with his opinion that green lit Mayor Donna Deegan's removal of the city's last public-facing Confederate monument.
Following that battle, the city council went as far as to hire its own legal counsel.
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'It seems like every significant challenge goes to the mayor's side and that's very disturbing. He's supposed to represent the entire city,' said Salem.
The most recent dispute revolves around city council's decision to approve a $4 million contract boost for Meridian Waste.
Fackler issued a binding opinion that determined the council doesn't have the authority to authorize the increase.
That opinion gave the mayor the go ahead to withhold the extra funding, even though council overturned her initial veto.
Now, Salem expects Meridian to sue the city to enforce the contract.
'If Meridian sues the city, he's gonna spend several hundred thousand dollars, if not more, defending a bad decision,' said Salem.
Salem noted the resolution wouldn't carry any legal weight in terms of forcing Fackler out, but he said he hopes it pushes Fackler to resign or for the mayor to ask him to resign.
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But the mayor's office responded to the resolution with a statement backing Fackler.
'When calls didn't go the way of the Mayor's Office, we didn't call him biased. We respected his opinion. Under our charter, the Office of General Counsel is the glue that holds our Consolidated Government together,' said Deegan in the statement. 'Mr. Fackler has done exactly what he is supposed to do: make difficult and sometimes unpopular rulings based on the City Charter.'
If Fackler stays, Salem suggested the council could consider legislation giving itself the ability to vote him out.
'That would be the last straw if we aren't able to resolve this in some other fashion,' said Salem.
Fackler declined to comment directly on the resolution.
Salem said he expects the resolution should come up for a final vote in six weeks.
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