Council approves immigration crackdown, $8 million purchase option for UF campus site

Undocumented immigrants found in Jacksonville will soon face mandatory local jail sentences under a bill the City Council approved Tuesday night. 

City lawmakers voted 12-5 to pass Council Vice President Kevin Carrico’s proposal, Ordinance 2025-0147, which could result in up to 60 days in jail for undocumented immigrants in the city. 

The bill also directs $76,250 in unused Economic Development Grant fund money for the Sheriff’s Office to add more fingerprint scanners to the 150 already deployed, which Carrico says officers would use in the field to check the immigration status of someone suspected of committing a crime. 

During the nearly six-hour meeting Tuesday night, council also approved a new contract with garbage hauler Meridian Waste Florida; approved a non-binding censure of General Counsel Michael Fackler; set aside $8 million to purchase property for the future University of Florida Jacksonville graduate campus; and more.  

Immigration enforcement

Carrico’s immigration bill passed Tuesday despite backlash from members of Jacksonville’s immigrant communities and allies. Efforts by opponents to introduce substitute legislation failed Tuesday. 

Those proposals, by Council members Michael Boylan and Rahman Johnson, would have kept funding for the police fingerprint scanners but stripped out the mandatory jail for undocumented immigrants, as well as demands for support from all city departments.

Carrico said those were efforts to gut the bill.

Arlington council member Ken Amaro, who voted in favor of the bill, worries that it could get tied up in litigation and prevent JSO from receiving the finger printing equipment. 

The general counsel told Council members last week that pending federal litigation over local immigration enforcement could make Carrico’s bill unenforceable. 

Johnson says he wants JSO to have the equipment it needs to enforce state immigration law but that the bill “turns fear into policy.”

“If you’re telling me I don’t vote for this bill that I don’t support the police, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m supporting our law enforcement and fire and our first responders. But I do not support using this council, using this dais as a bully pulpit for national issues,” Johnson said.

Boylan argued that supporters of the bill on Council were not being consistent with previous positions on local legislation that duplicates state and national law. 

Beaches council member Rory Diamond argued the bill supports the wishes of Duval County voters who elected President Donald Trump.

“I promise you, the vast majority of the people of Jacksonville support this effort,” Diamond said. “They are against illegal immigration, they are against rewarding it and they are against spending our money on it, and they want to make sure the citizens in Jacksonville are safe.” 

Council member Jimmy Peluso, who has been a lead opponent to the local immigration legislation, was absent Tuesday night on military duty, he told Jacksonville Today. Peluso is in the U.S. Navy Reserves. Council member Reggie Gaffney Jr. was also absent for the meeting. 

A second Immigration bill introduced by Diamond, which aims to audit city agencies that award grants and prevent that funding from benefitting undocumented immigrants, is scheduled to be debated in council committees next week.

Here are seven other bills the city council approved Tuesday: 

Meridian Waste contract  

After months of back-and-forth between council and Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration, the city council approved a new contract with Meridian Waste for collection on the Northside. Council voted 16-1 on Ordinance 2025-0207 that approves the deal, with member Matt Carlucci casting the lone no vote. Meridian’s new contract eliminates the rate review process except for in response to extraordinary weather events. It also extends Meridian’s contract by six years through September 2033, and establishes a new waste and collection rate that adds about $1.9 million in city costs in the current fiscal year. Council had approved a contract with a 29% rate increase in December, but Deegan vetoed the agreement. After council overrode the veto, the general counsel struck down the bill again with a binding legal opinion that said council violated the separation of powers in the city charter. 

General Counsel backlash

Fackler’s binding opinion during the Meridian debate was a tipping point for some council members. They voted 11-6 on Tuesday on a nonbinding resolution expressing a lack of confidence in the city’s top lawyer. Resolution 2025-0081, introduced by member Ron Salem, was amended during the committee process to say “some council members have had” confidence issues in Fackler. Salem says he plans to try to get the separations of powers opinion overturned. Diamond called on Fackler to resign. The no votes were Michael Boylan, Ken Amaro, Matt Carlucci, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Ju’Coby Pittman and Rahman Johnson.

Mandarin Farmhouse deal

A deal that could save the 145-year-old Henry Arpen farmhouse in Mandarin from demolition, passed as Resolution 2025-0035. The property owner, Michael Danhour, will provide up to $65,000 to move the historic structure to a nearby site and install a new foundation. Danhour and Tracey Arpen, who’s been trying to save the farmhouse built by his great-uncle, agreed. Arpen was previously skeptical that $65,000 would be enough to pay for the relocation, but he told Jacksonville Today on Tuesday that budget will be sufficient. Sponsor Michael Boylan calls the agreement a “winning situation.” (Jacksonville Today reporter Dan Scanlan contributed to this report.)

$8 million starting offer

Council is willing to pay developer Gateway Jax $8 million to buy the former Interline Brands building on West Bay Street so the University of Florida can have space to start classes in the fall at its Jacksonville graduate campus. Council voted 14-2 on Ordinance 2025-0135, introduced by Salem, which sets aside the money and authorizes the mayor to enter into negotiations with Gateway as one option to acquire the building. The second option is a proposed land swap deal where Gateway Jax would give the city the Interline Building and its 2.85-acre site in exchange for a lot on Riverfront Plaza where the developer says it will build a 17-story mixed-use tower. That deal has been supported by the Downtown Investment Authority board. The $8 million in Salem’s bill would be a loan from the council’s contingency fund that he says will be repaid when the city receives its annual general fund payment from city utility JEA. UF and city officials announced in December that it had selected LaVilla for its new graduate campus centered on high-tech fields and semiconductor research. UF’s ultimate plan is to ultimately use 22 acres of land near the Prime Osborn Convention Center for campus housing and facilities

Raising power lines, rising costs

Council also voted 16-0 to approve Ordinance 2025-0194 to update an agreement between the city,   JEA and the Jacksonville Port Authority to address the rising costs of raising JEA-owned power lines that extend across the St. Johns River to allow larger cargo ships into JAXPORT. The price tag for the project has climbed from $42 million to $117 million since 2022, after a multiyear dredging project. The bill reclassifies $17.5 million in existing city funds from a loan to a grant. Council member Mike Gay abstained from the vote Tuesday due to what he said is a possibility that one of his companies could pursue a contract to work on the project. 

A new MOSH 

City lawmakers also gave the Museum of Science and History another six months to complete its planned move and build a new facility on the Downtown Northbank. The new development agreement in Ordinance 2025-103 pushes the completion date of the estimated $85 million museum from the end of 2027 to July 31, 2028. It also includes terms for MOSH to lease the facility, which 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. 

New council director-secretary

The city’s former lead attorney and 24-year employee of the Office of General Counsel Jason Teal is the city council’s new director and secretary. City lawmakers voted 17-0 for Resolution 2025-0195 to appoint Teal to supervise their staff and administrative operations. 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. Council also honored Teal’s service as a city attorney with a resolution on Tuesday. 

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Corrected: This story was updated with correct vote tally about the resolution regarding General Counsel Michael Fackler.