The Jacksonville City Council voted Tuesday to approve what’s known as the Transparency for Taxpayers Act. The ordinance rewrites city code on awarding contracts to lobbyists and grant writers and requires City Council approval for single-source contracts.

The legislation was filed by Finance Committee Chair Nick Howland in response to a no-bid contract for lobbying and consulting that Mayor Donna Deegan approved last year. The city awarded the contract to Langton Consulting, a company whose officer had supported Deegan’s campaign, without taking bids from any other companies.

Howland criticized the contract as a “sweetheart deal for a political supporter.” The mayor’s office defended the contract, asserting Langton was the only company that offered the specific combination of services needed.

Six council members voted against his legislation, including Jimmy Peluso, who called it “mean-spirited” and a “witch hunt,” and Tyrona Clark-Murray, who pointed out that the process the mayor used to award that contract had been in place for over 50 years and that the public, including council members, were already able to read contracts and contest them.

Terrance Freeman, on the other hand, was among the 12 members who supported the change. Freeman said it would break certain “habits that are being formed” by the Deegan administration.

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The debate over the contract echoes, in some ways, the ongoing fight over the mayor’s removal of the Confederate monument from Springfield Park, a move that many members argue should have required a council vote.

Lead image: Tyrona Clark-Murray was one of the council members who spoke out against the Transparency for Taxpayers Act during a council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024.