2020 JACKSONVILLE BEACH ELECTION RESULTS

Congratulations to the Jacksonville Beach candidates who were elected on November 3rd to serve the citizens of Jacksonville Beach!

Mayor: Chris Hoffman

See Mayor ELECTION RESULTS

At-Large Seat 1: Fernando Meza

See At-Large Seat 1 ELECTION RESULTS

At-Large Seat 3: Chet Stokes

See At-Large Seat 3 ELECTION RESULTS

Special thanks to all the candidates who worked hard to have the opportunity to serve the citizens of Jacksonville Beach on the City Council. For those candidates who didn’t win, we hope they will stay involved because citizen involvement is key to good government!

JACKSONVILLE BEACH CHARTER AMENDMENT RESULTS

On November 3rd, Jacksonville Beach voters had the opportunity to vote on four Charter amendments. Here are the results:

Amendment #1: PASSED

This change requires a super majority of Council (support of 5 Council members) to remove the City Manager. It is currently a simple majority (support of 4 Council members).

See the Jacksonville Beach Charter Amendment 1 ELECTION RESULTS

Amendment #2: PASSED

This change requires a super majority of Council (support of 5 Council members) to remove the City Attorney. There is currently no language in the Charter since we recently hired an in-house City Attorney. The previous attorney was a contracted attorney and was not a member of the City staff.

See the Jacksonville Beach Charter Amendment 2 ELECTION RESULTS

Amendment #3: PASSED

This change establishes a procedure that, should City Council decide in the future to contract out police services or Beaches Energy, the decision would also need to be approved by the voters. All other City departments only require a majority vote (4 council votes) to combine, contract, or eliminate a City department.

See the Jacksonville Beach Charter Amendment 3 ELECTION RESULTS

Amendment #4: PASSED

This change provides clarity that those in elected and appointed positions, shall not interfere with City employees’ job duties.

See the Jacksonville Beach Charter Amendment 4 ELECTION RESULTS

For more information about the Jacksonville Beach Charter amendments, see the charter amendment details below.

LEARN ABOUT THE 2020 JACKSONVILLE BEACH CANDIDATES

JACKSONVILLE BEACH CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRES:

Beaches Watch asked the Jacksonville Beach candidates to respond to a questionnaire about Jacksonville Beach issues. You can see the candidate responses by clicking on the name of the candidate.

Mayor – At Large:

Chris Hoffman

Jeanell Wilson

City Council Seat 1 – At Large:

Fernando Meza

Frances Povloski

City Council Seat 3 – At Large:

Ken Marsh

Chet Stokes

JACKSONVILLE BEACH CANDIDATE INFO:

Click on the name below to see the candidates’ websites:

Mayor – At Large:

Chris Hoffman

Jeanell Wilson

City Council Seat 1 – At Large:

Fernando Meza

Frances Povloski

City Council Seat 3 – At Large:

Ken Marsh

Chet Stokes

Jacksonville Beach Candidate Forum

As a service to Jacksonville Beach voters, Beaches Watch sponsored a candidate forum for the Jacksonville Beach candidates on the General Election ballot.  The Jacksonville Beach candidate forum gives voters the opportunity to learn about the candidates and their platforms and positions on Jacksonville Beach issues before the November 3 general election. You can watch a video of the candidate forum to learn about the candidates before you vote:

LEARN ABOUT THE JACKSONVILLE BEACH CHARTER AMENDMENTS ON THE BALLOT:

The Jacksonville Beach City Council has placed 4 Charter amendments on the November 3 ballot to address several concerns/issues that have come up in the last several years. Jacksonville Beach voters are encouraged to read the language of each Charter amendment and understand each amendment before you vote. To read the the Charter amendments: CLICK HERE

To help you better understand each amendment, please review the below summary and notes about each amendment.

Amendment #1:
This change would require a super majority of Council (support of 5 Council members) to remove the City Manager. It is currently a simple majority (support of 4 Council members).

*** NOTE: This was placed on the ballot to give voters the opportunity to decide how you want the removal of the City Manager to be handled.

If you want it to be harder to remove the City Manager (requiring 5 Council votes in support), then vote YES on this amendment. If you think the way it is being done now is fine (4 votes to remove the City Manager), you should vote NO on the amendment.

Amendment #2
This change would require a super majority of Council (support of 5 Council members) to remove the City Attorney. There is currently no language in the Charter since we recently hired an in-house City Attorney. The previous attorney was a contracted attorney and was not a member of the City staff.

*** NOTE: If you want it to be harder to remove the City Attorney (requiring 5 Council votes instead of 4), you should vote YES on this amendment. If you think a simple majority (4 Council votes) is sufficient to remove the City Attorney, then vote NO on this amendment.

Amendment #3
This change establishes a procedure that, should City Council decide in the future to contract out police services or Beaches Energy, the decision would also need to be approved by the voters. All other City departments only require a majority vote (4 council votes) to combine, contract, or eliminate a City department.

*** NOTE: This amendment was added as a result of the 2019 approval to contract out the Fire Department to the City of Jacksonville. During the public hearings, residents asked for a referendum to allow citizens to have the opportunity to vote about keeping or contracting out our Fire Department. Also, recent events with the proposed sale of JEA raised concerns about what future councils might do with Beaches Energy. The City Council realizes that we have two very important departments that citizens want to have a voice in the future of those departments: Jacksonville Beach Police Department and Beaches Energy. So, this amendment would require a majority vote of the Council (4 votes in support) and a referendum, allowing citizens to have the final say in the disposition of either the Police Department or Beaches Energy.

In the event the Council votes to eliminate/contract out JBPD or Beaches Energy, you should vote YES if you want citizens to have the opportunity to vote to approve/disapprove the elimination/contracting out of either of these departments. You should vote NO, if you don’t want citizens to have the opportunity to vote on eliminating or contracting out the JBPD or Beaches Energy departments.

IMPORTANT: There have been rumors that this amendment is intended to eliminate the Police Department and Beaches Energy. This is not the case.

Amendment #4
This change provides clarity that those in elected and appointed positions, shall not interfere with City employees’ job duties.

*** NOTE: The language about interference with City employee duties already exists in the City Charter. This amendment is intended to clarify that neither the Council nor appointed Board members are authorized to provide direction to City employees. In a Council-City Manager form of government, the City Manager acts as the CEO of the City while the City Council acts as the Board of Directors. As the CEO of the City, all direction and supervision of City staff is the authority of the City Manager. Therefore, all interaction of the City Council and appointed Board members should be directly with the City Manager. This amendment is not intended to give the City Manager any more authority than he already has. It is strictly to make the Charter language clearerclarify that this also applies to appointed Board members and update the penalties for violations of this section..

If you support this clarification, you should vote YES on this amendment. If you don’t support this clarification, you should vote NO on this amendment.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at info@beacheswatch.com.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR VOTING:

General Election: November 3, 2020

Voter Registration Deadlines:
General Election: October 5, 2020
General Election Early Voting:
October 19, 2020 – November 1, 2020
Location: Beaches Branch Library, 7am to 7pm