JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Republican Councilman Terrance Freeman is calling for a full audit of Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s recent European trip.
Freeman, a member of the Finance Committee and former Jacksonville City Council President, said the reason behind the call was a recent report that the mayor also took a personal vacation to Italy during the international trip earlier this month.
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Freeman claimed it was a “taxpayer-funded trip,” but a spokesperson for the Democrat mayor said Monday the only taxpayer expense for Deegan’s travel was her $2,978.18 hotel stay in London and said her trip to Italy was pre-planned. She also paid for her own flights to London and meals like she did last year, the spokesman said.
“Transparency is a priority for Mayor Deegan, and her travel for city business is a matter of public record. As such, this information will always be made available to the public regardless of who is requesting it,” the mayor’s office said in a statement along with a detailed itinerary. “The mayor was in London from October 12-15. She participated in the UK government’s International Investment Summit, met with multiple banking and fintech companies, met with the US Ambassador to the UK and embassy staff, and gave economic development interviews. All these efforts were geared to bring jobs and businesses back to Jacksonville. Mayor Deegan also had a pre-planned vacation to Italy starting October 16, which she personally paid for. JAXUSA was aware of this and arranged the most important meetings and events on the days she was always scheduled to be in London.”
Deegan said Tuesday she doesn’t understand where the scrutiny is coming from and called it a whole lot of nothing.
Even after hearing the answer from the mayor‘s office, Freeman said he’d still like to see an audit.
“Some of the things that you mentioned, I have read as a rebuttal to the request going forward. I think that just further supports my action. If there’s a statement already produced...and they stand by that statement, then it’s going to be made clear to the taxpayers that one the council is willing when needed, when their questions, ask or raise to hold the administration accountable, to hold ourselves accountable, and the best way of doing that is through an audit, and the audit will support the responses that they gave, and we can move forward, or the audit will reveal other things, and we can address those things as they may come,” Freeman told News4JAX.
According to Florida Politics, the mayor’s office said around $21,000 total was spent on the trip.
Freeman also made note of the controversial statements the mayor made during the trip and the fact that she did not attend the Jaguars game on Oct. 20.
News4JAX also received a statement from the president of JAX USA, which handled the logistics for the London trip. It acknowledged it was aware of her schedule when they planned the agenda and arranged the meetings where she was needed on days that she was going to be in London.
News4JAX asked Freeman where this all stands in terms of starting an audit. He said it would start with filing legislation.
It’s worth noting that former mayors Alvin Brown and Lenny Curry all have joined trade trips to Europe during their terms over the past decade.
