The government of Jacksonville is governed under the city charter and provides a "strong" mayor board system. The most prominent feature of the government in Jacksonville, Florida is that it is consolidated with Duval County, a setting brought in the 1968 Consolidation of Jacksonville.
The Mayor of Jacksonville was elected for a four-year term and serves as the chief executive branch of the government. The Jacksonville City Council consists of nineteen members, fourteen representing the electoral district and five more in the big seats. The mayor oversees most of the city's departments, although some are independent or semi-independent. Law enforcement is provided by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, headed by an elected sheriff, a public school supervised by Duval County Public Schools, and some services are provided by mostly independent authorities.
Video Government of Jacksonville
Struktur administrasi
The most important feature of the Jacksonville government is its consolidated nature. The Duval County-Jacksonville Consolidation of 1968 eliminated all sorts of separate district executives or legislatives, and replaced these positions with the Mayor of Jacksonville and the City Council of Jacksonville City, respectively. Because of this, voters living outside the city limits of Jacksonville, but inside Duval County, are allowed not only to vote in the election for this position but to run for them as well. In fact, in 1995, John Delaney, a resident of Neptune Beach, was elected mayor of the City of Jacksonville.
In 1968, the town of Baldwin, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville Beach chose not to join the joint government. Four separate communities, comprising only 6% of the total population of the region, provide their own municipal services, while retaining the right to contract with the consolidated government to provide services. In December 2005, Baldwin city council in the far western part of Duval District chose to wipe out their police department. In March 2006, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office assumed police responsibility for the city a square mile.
Maps Government of Jacksonville
Executive
Mayor
Jacksonville uses the form of the mayor-city council government, also called the Strong-Major form, where a mayor acts as chief executive and city administration official. The mayor holds veto over all resolutions and ordinances made by the city council, and also has the power to hire and fire the heads of various municipal departments. The current mayor is Lenny Curry. He started his first term on July 1, 2015.
Law enforcement
Jacksonville and Duval County have historically maintained separate police agencies: the Jacksonville Police Department and the Duval County Sheriff's Office. As part of the consolidation in 1968, the two joined, creating the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO). The JSO is headed by Sheriff who was elected from Duval County, currently Mike Williams, and is responsible for law enforcement and corrections in the area.
Firefighter and rescue
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Service (JFRD) is responsible for all fire protection and ambulance services in Duval County with the exception. Jacksonville Beach has its own department, while Atlantic Beach provides JFRD-managed and equipped fire station facilities. Baldwin has a fire department (most) and Neptune Beach relies on Atlantic Beach for fire protection. The current JFRD Director/Fire Chief is Kurt Wilson . This position is appointed by the Mayor.
Autonomous Bureau
Some government services remain - as they have been before the consolidation - independent of both municipal and district authorities. In accordance with Florida law, the Duval County School Council continues to exist with almost complete autonomy. Jacksonville also has several semi-independent government agencies that only nominally answer consolidated authorities, including JEA, the Port Authority of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Transport Authority, the Jacksonville Housing Authority and the Jacksonville Aviation Authority. The main environmental and agricultural agency is Duval District Land and Water Conservation, which works closely with other regions and state institutions.
Office of the General Counsel
The Office of the General Counsel (OGC), currently headed by Jason R. Gabriel, including 39 lawyers, makes him one of the largest and most diverse law firms in Jacksonville. It operates like a private company because the "client" is billed in detail for the legal services provided. Clients include public utility providers (JEA), school districts (Duval County Public Schools), Airport, Ports, Transportation and Housing Authorities, constitutional officials (Mayor, Election Supervisor, Property Appraiser, Sheriff, Tax Collector and Clerk of the Court), 10 departments, 19 members of the City Council, and 40 councils, commissions, and agencies. Due to this unusual list of clients, the General Counsel website states that they offer support for areas that include commercial, personal, constitutional & amp; litigation of civil rights, real estate, land use, environmental law, labor and employment law, educational law, workers compensation, domains, seizure, eviction, bankruptcy, torts, city finance, procurement, contract negotiations and drafting, various economic development and transactional areas.
The 1967 charter that created a consolidated form of government in Jacksonville included provisions for the Office of the General Counsel. Under the Charter, the OGC represents all Jacksonville government entities and the office has developed expertise to advise clients on city law and the Jacksonville Charter and consolidated forms of government. The Charter also states that any legal opinion provided by the General Counsel is binding on all consolidated governments. Since 1968, the General Counsels has issued more than 370 binding legal opinions. In the early years of consolidation, legal opinion was critical to the successful establishment of the Jacksonville consolidation government and the elimination of litigation between entities.
Legislative
City Council
The city council has nineteen members, fourteen of whom are elected from single-member districts where each member must live in the district he represents.
The other five members were selected under a unique hybrid district/system system. Prior to the early 1990s, these members were elected in general, without special residency requirements. However, over time the five members were all selected from the same city side. To increase participation from other regions, voters approve changes in the city charter that divides the city into five "super districts" (unrelated to 14 single-member districts), with one member from each district. However, the five members are still widely selected.
Regional Representatives
In general, most cities are in the 4th district, represented by Republican John Rutherford. Most of the center of Jacksonville is in the fifth district, represented by Democrat Al Lawson. Jacksonville is represented in the State Senate by Aaron Bean (R) and Audrey Gibson (D) and in State House by Cord Byrd (R), Clay Yarborough (R), Tracie Davis (D), Kimberly Daniels (D), Jay Fant ), and Jason Fischer (R). Jacksonville, as well as other Florida states, served in the US Senate by Bill Nelson (D) and Marco Rubio (R); and by Gov. Rick Scott (R).
Judiciary
Federal Court
Jacksonville is in the United States District Court for the Central District of Florida. There are 15 official judges in the district designated by POTUS and confirmed by the Senate. In addition, there are 7 judges with Senior status who are eligible to hear the case. The District Chief Judge was Patricia C. Fawsett.
A new Federal Courthouse in Jacksonville completed in late 2002 and opened in 2003 to replace the old facility, built in 1933. On 8 February 2005, a 492,000 square foot (45,700 m 2 building) at 300 North Hogan Street is named, John Milton Bryan Simpson's United States Courthouse.
Country court
Jacksonville is in Florida's 4th Judicial Session, which includes Duval, Clay, and Nassau County. The Court of Justice has jurisdiction over serious crimes, tax matters, real property, juvenile issues, probate, family law (dissolution of marriage, father and adoption) and determination of competence. There are 29 judges selected for the Duval region: (8) Civil, (1) Probate, (7) Family, (8) Criminal and (4) Teenagers. Mark Mahon is the chief judge on the circuit.
The State Prosecutor's Office has the responsibility to prosecute persons accused of crimes. The State Attorney's position is the elected position and is currently held by Melissa Nelson.
The Office of the Public Defender has the responsibility of defending persons accused of crimes imprisoned and sentenced to imprisonment. The Public Defender's position is the chosen position and is currently held by Charlie Cofer.
The previous court building was built in 1958 and the district population grew by more than 50% in the last forty years. The $ 190 million Duval County Courthouse was a key component of the Better Jacksonville Plan, approved by voters in 2000. After ten years and several missteps, the complex ($) $ 350 million opened in 2012.
District court
County Courts primarily handling civil cases in which the controversy amounts to less than $ 15,000, small claims courts, minor offenses, civil offenses & amp; urban planning and traffic tickets. There are 17 elected district judges for the Duval region.
Politics
Jacksonville, like most of North & amp; Central Florida and a small town, historically inhabited by conservative Democrats. However, the city began to move away from its Democratic roots faster than any other part of Florida. With the exception of Jimmy Carter in 1976, the city has not supported a Democrat for president since 1952. Even as the city became more and more willing to support the Republicans nationally, the Democrats continued to dominate most local offices until the 1990s.
Beginning in the 1980s, thousands of Republicans moved to Florida and Jacksonville from the northern states or moved from southern Florida to avoid overcrowding, state income taxes, high prices and crime. They slowly undermined Democratic dominance at the local level. At the same time, many of the local Democrats became increasingly willing to vote Republican for state and local offices after years of splitting their tickets on national elections. This peaked in 1992, when Tillie Fowler became the first Republican to represent much of Jacksonville in Congress since Reconstruction. Two years later, Republicans swept most city seats in the state legislature, and Democrat Mayor Ed Austin actively switched sides to become a Republican. In 1995, John Delaney became the first elected mayor of the Republic since 1887.
From 1995 to 2011, Republicans dominated the politics of Jacksonville, although Democrats still have a majority of registered voters. Republicans currently hold a majority in the city council but lost the position of Mayor in 2011, only to get back in 2015. They also hold five of the seven seats of state houses and two of the three state senate seats of the city.
Politics of Jacksonville has become increasingly polarized racially. While most urban white people support Republicans since the 1990s, African-Americans provide most of the city's Democratic base. Five of the six Democrats currently in the city council are African-Americans, and all Democrats represent a significant part of the city in the African-American state legislature. Also other non-white groups like Asia-America and Hispanic Americans also tend to support the local Democratic Party base. A white Democrat has not represented a significant portion of Jacksonville above the county level since 1995.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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