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Administrative Services Department Reorganization

At a glance

  • What: Bill 2026-0722 would rename the Office of Administrative Services (Chapter 23 of the Ordinance Code) as the Administrative Services Department, headed by a director, with Code qualifications for the director and division chiefs and a revised organizational chart. (The captions-based earlier text called this an environmental quality office; the official minutes show the Environmental Quality Division chief provision was only the section struck by the amendment.)
  • Where it stands: the Rules Committee approved it 6-1 as amended on 2026-10-19 (see the 2026-10-19 section); it goes next to the full council. Earlier, an amendment was adopted on 2026-10-05 (keeps the bachelor's degree requirement for the division chief, who must be a professional engineer; fixes scrivener's errors; removes the Jacksonville Sports Foundation from the chart as it is not a city board). The bill was then deferred to allow a notice meeting.
  • Open question: the director post would allow "experience in lieu of a degree" (at least five years of progressively responsible executive experience), citing Senate Bill 1310, which lets a public employer substitute work experience. Dr. Salem objected to dropping a degree requirement for one department head and wants a broader debate; he said he would vote no. The administration said pay stays in the existing range, so there is no budget impact.
  • Official minutes (2026-10-19, Rules): introduced at the mayor's request with Johnson as co-sponsor. Amended and approved 6-1 (Gay, Amaro, Boylan, Lahnen, Pittman, Clark-Murray in favor; Salem opposed). The amendment, explained by Carraher, struck the change to Section 23.802 (Environmental Quality Division chief), corrected scrivener's errors and attached a revised Exhibit 1 organizational chart without the Jacksonville Sports Foundation. The Salem amendment to keep the bachelor's degree requirement for the mayor's cabinet and remove the 'experience in lieu' language failed 2-5 (Salem and Lahnen in favor). As drafted, the director needs a bachelor's degree or higher and five years of progressively responsible executive experience, or commensurate training and experience in lieu of a degree; division chiefs may also qualify with commensurate training and experience. Mike Wienstein (as spelled in the minutes) of the mayor's office said some positions do not need a degree.

Rules Committee, 2026-10-19

  • A technical amendment again struck the proposed change to the division chief's qualifications (a professional engineer license, which needs a degree, is also required), fixed scrivener's errors and attached a revised chart without the Jacksonville Sports Foundation.
  • Dr. Salem moved to strike the "experience in lieu of a bachelor's degree" language for every chief and director, keeping the department conversion. It failed on a show of hands with two in favor.
  • The mayor's office (Weinstein) said eligibility lists screen out strong candidates, that the department should have been one from the start, and that the administration will bring a broader bill reviewing which positions need degrees. The Office of General Counsel said the state statute (cited as Florida Statutes 112.19) authorizes rather than requires experience in lieu of a degree, and that staff found no position requiring two-thirds to waive a degree, so a waiver is a simple majority.
  • Supporters of the language: Amaro, Boylan, Pittman, Clark Murray. Lahnen said he could support the Salem amendment since the vote threshold would not change. Gay, the chair, wanted guardrails on what counts as equivalent experience and reserved the right to change his vote.
  • Passed 6-1 as amended; Dr. Salem voted no though he supports department status.

Sources

Discussion time

About 53 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-19 - Rules Committee 39
2026-10-08 - Rules 14

Log

2026-10-19 - Rules Committee

Technical amendment adopted; Salem amendment to keep degree requirements failed (two in favor); bill approved 6-1.

Minutes: amended and approved 6-1; Salem amendment failed 2-5.

2026-10-08 - Rules

Amendment adopted; Gay deferred the bill for a notice meeting with Dr. Salem and the administration.