19 hours ago
Jacksonville mayor responds to city council's debate over free Jaguars tickets for elected officials
Action News Jax is hearing Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan's reaction to a debate between city council members over whether they will get free tickets to Jaguars games and who will be responsible for giving them out.
Right now, the city's policy says the mayor's office has the power to distribute free tickets to Jaguars games for city council members and those working in the mayor's office. Last week, city councilmember Ron Salem filed a bill to change the policy so that city council members and the mayor's office can have power in deciding how the free tickets are given out every year.
Original SALEM BILL by ActionNewsJax
In response, city council president Kevin Carrico sent out a statement saying he's working on his own bill to eliminate the free Jaguars tickets for the city's elected officials, which he is naming after Mayor Deegan. In his statement, council president Carrico said:
'The proposal formally named the DEEGAN Amendment (Denying Elected Elites Gameday Access Nonsense) closes the door on elected officials using public dollars for gameday perks…I'm calling on Mayor Donna Deegan to back this reform and prove she's on the side of taxpayers, not perks.'
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Mayor Deegan told Action News Jax she believes there are more pressing problems to deal with.
'There are so many important issues for us to deal with. I say we dispense with this and move on to those important things,' Mayor Deegan said.
After Carrico sent out his statement, Mayor Deegan had sent out her own statement in response, saying:
'While I'm flattered this amendment was named after me, I'm not the one asking for more tickets. I've been a Jaguars season ticket holder for decades. I'd be happy to return to my longstanding north end zone seats, which I still pay for. If the City Council wants to update the ticket system that has been in place for many years before I took office, I'm all for it.'
The mayor said she hopes that whatever policy is decided upon goes beyond just Jaguars tickets.
'Council seemed to want to change that policy. And then now they want to change to a different policy,' Mayor Deegan said, 'but at the end of the day, I think that if we're going to do it for Jaguar tickets, we should do it for all city venue tickets.'
Council member Ron Salem's bill is moving through committees and will be heard again next Tuesday. Council President Carrico said his bill will be filed sometime in the next few days.
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