JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Big changes are ahead for Jacksonville’s City Council.
A new president will be in place in five months and a new council member will be on board starting Wednesday. On Tuesday, council members heard from both.
There have been some tough issues for the city council in the last year. The coronavirus pandemic, downtown development —or the lack of it — raising taxes and the death of its president Tommy Hazouri.
Each year, there is a new president and right now it’s Republican Sam Newby. But in July the role is expected to fall to fellow Republican Terrance Freeman. On Tuesday he met with the majority of council members who for the most part are backing him in the leadership role.
Freeman talked with News4JAX about his goals and how the council will have to address tough issues during his term.
“The first goal is unity. It is just establishing that love each of us has for our city, for the council and for each other,” Freeman said. “We had some tough issues over the past month and years that kind of pitted us at each other at times. I look forward to that and workforce development and apprenticeships is something you are going to hear me talking more and more about growing Jacksonville’s workforce.”
Also at the meeting Tuesday was Nick Howland who was just elected to the seat to replace Hazouri. While officially he is not a council member until tomorrow when he will be sworn in he’s already supporting the future council president.
“There is no one better than council vice president Freeman, soon-to-be-council president, leading that. He is a coach. He knows how to bring a team together and I look forward to him do it,” Howland said.
Other council members agreed and suggested Freeman’s work could be difficult. They suggest he have a very open ear when it comes to listening to public comments. during meeting that might get out of hand.