A full slate for City Council: immigration, garbage and more

The Jacksonville City Council will take up a potpourri of legislation this week — ranging from new immigration policies to the conclusion of a monthslong debate over the rates for a city garbage hauler. 

During its meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, council also is poised to take up measures that will allow more city money to raise six JEA power lines over the St. Johns River; more time for the Museum of Science & History to build its new Northbank museum; a possible new home for a historic Mandarin farmhouse; and much more. 

Here is a rundown of some of what the council could decide:

Immigration

Council will vote on one of two immigration bills that would set new local penalties and oversight related to undocumented immigrants.

Ordinace 2025-0147, introduced by council Vice President Kevin Carrico, would authorize $76,250 to buy 25 more fingerprint scanners for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to use in the field to identify the immigration status of someone suspected of committing a crime.

The bill also sets mandatory local jail sentences of up to 60 days for undocumented persons entering or reentering the city.

Opponents of the bill say it duplicates existing state and federal immigration laws, and Jacksonville General Counsel Michael Fackler told council committees last week that pending federal litigation over local enforcement of immigration law could make Carrico’s bill unenforceable.

A second immigration bill, introduced by council member Rory Diamond to stop city grant funding from benefiting undocumented immigrants, is expected to start committee debate March 31. 

Waste hauler

The city could soon have a new contract with trash hauler Meridian Waste Florida LLC, which would increase the company’s pay and end a monthslong dispute between City Council and Mayor Donna Deegan.

Ordinance 2025-0207 would eliminate the rate review process, extend Meridian’s contract by six years through September 2033, and establish a new residential curbside solid waste and recycling collection rate of $22.39 per premises. This would add about $1.9 million in costs for the city in the current 2024-25 fiscal year.

General counsel

Council is considering Resolution 2025-0081 expressing a lack of confidence in the city’s general counsel, Michael Fackler. The action is connected to his binding legal opinion siding with the Deegan administration in a dispute with city lawmakers over separation of powers in the Meridian contract negotiations.

The bill, introduced by council member Ron Salem and co-sponsored by eight others, was amended during the committee process to say “some Council members have had” confidence issues in the city’s top attorney after pushback from Michael Boylan, Matt Carlucci and others. The Jacksonville Bar Association also has come out in support of Fackler. 

Power lines

Costs for the plan to raise six JEA-owned power lines that extend across the Fulton Cut in the St. Johns River to allow larger cargo ships into Jaxport has climbed from $42 million to $117 million since 2022, after a multiyear dredging project.

Council is poised to approve Ordinance 2025-0194, which includes an updated agreement between the city, the Jacksonville Port Authority and JEA to reallocate more city money to the project and reclassify $17.5 million in existing city funds from a loan to a grant.

MOSH’s move

MOSH will receive another six months to complete its plan for a new facility on the Downtown Northback if council approves Ordinance 2025-0103.

The bill extends the completion date for the new $85 million museum complex that will sit east of the Jacksonville Fire Museum and the USS Orleck naval ship museum on the riverfront. The amended deal includes a lease for MOSH in what will now be a city-owned building.

Jacksonville agreed to contribute $50 million to the project as part of the city’s Capital Improvement Plan that went into effect in October. 

Mandarin farmhouse

The future of a historic farmhouse in Mandarin is back before council. Resolution 2025-0035 would grant an appeal by the owner of the 145-year-old Henry Arden farmhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, that would allow the structure to be demolished. Council has delayed the vote twice since Feb. 25, while the owner worked with council member Michael Boylan and a local contractor who says he could move the house to a new site where it could be restored. 

City Council appointment

Jason Teal, a longtime deputy and former head of the city’s Office of General Counsel, could become the next City Council director and secretary. Teal has been serving as acting director and secretary for nearly two months, after questions of ethics and job performance were raised in January against the former secretary. Resolution 2025-0195 would make Teal’s appointment to the position permanent.