JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Councilman Nick Howland was critical of the city’s decision on Wednesday to remove a Confederate monument from a park in Springfield.
Howland, a Republican, said Democrat Mayor Donna Deegan overstepped her authority by removing the more than 100-year-old monument to the Women of the Confederacy and said it was City Council’s decision to make.
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“Donna Deegan is our Mayor, not our Monarch. Waiting until the cover of night -- on a holiday evening no less -- before taking a backhoe to the 100-year-old ‘Women of the South’ monument in Springfield is a blatant overreach of her authority. The City Council Finance Committee specifically mandated that any funding to be spent on the statue -- whether for removal, relocation, or contextualization -- must follow a Council policy decision. This was unanimously approved by the Council and signed by the Mayor. Regardless of anyone’s personal opinion of this historic monument, Mayor Deegan’s actions are both an abuse of power and a blatant disregard for transparency. This was City Council’s decision to make. Period.”
Councilman Nick Howland
In 2021, while Mayor Lenny Curry was still in office, the City Council said the price tag to remove the monument in Springfield Park would be around $1.29 million, and in June 2022, the City Council opted not to immediately remove the monument.
In a statement, Deegan explained that the large statue within the monument and the smaller statue on top were being removed Wednesday with funding made available through a grant that the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and anonymous donations made to 904WARD. The plaque is also being removed and engravings of the pedestal will be covered with temporary plaques.
The cost of the work is $187,000 in an agreement between 904WARD and ACON Construction, the Mayor’s Office said.
Because city funds were not used or requested for the removal work, the Office of General Counsel found that council approval was not necessary and that the mayor could order the removal by executive authority.
The same process Republican Mayor Lenny Curry followed in 2020 when he removed a Confederate statue from what was then known as Hemming Park outside City Hall.
That removal was accomplished overnight, with the statue off its pedestal by daybreak.
RELATED: Confederate statue removed from park overnight; others in Jacksonville also coming down
Crews also staged overnight to remove the Springfield Park monument and began work before sunrise.
The work continued through the morning before the statue was removed as onlookers gathered.
Duval GOP Chairman and Member of the Florida House of Representatives Dean Black echoed Howland’s sentiment and called the move a “stunning abuse of power.”
“The unilateral decision to remove the Women of the Southland Memorial at Springfield Park is a stunning abuse of power by Mayor Donna Deegan. This action, undertaken in the middle of the night, during the holidays, without consultation of city leaders or a vote by the council, is another in a long line of woke Democrats’ obsession with Cancel Culture and tearing down history. Choosing to erase our history is not ‘brave’ -- it is a cowardly act done by a lawless Mayor who hides under the cover of night! We call on the City Council to seek immediate accountability -- the people of Jacksonville expect no less.”
Duval GOP Chairman Dean Black
Republican Matt Carlucci had a strong response to Black’s statement.
“Representative Black, you need to understand more about Jacksonville’s consolidated government and our strong mayoral form of government. Also, I think he should be concerned more with the economy and jobs than a silly mission to save Jim Crow monuments.”
Jacksonville City Councilman Matt Carlucci
Deegan defended her decision in a statement.
“Symbols matter. They tell the world what we stand for and what we aspire to be,” Deegan said in the statement. “By removing the Confederate monument from Springfield Park, we signal a belief in our shared humanity. That we are all created equal. The same flesh and bones. The same blood running through our veins. The same heart and soul.”
When Curry removed the statue outside City Hall in 2020, Republican leaders like former City Council president Anna Lopez Brosche praised the executive action.
