The rift between Jacksonville City Council and General Counsel Michael Fackler widened as council members designated two former general counsels as their go-to attorneys for legal advice.
The council’s Personnel Committee voted 2-1 in favor of giving Council Secretary Jason Teal a second role as in-house legislative counsel for City Council. The Personnel Committee also supported contracting with the Burr & Forman firm so Jason Gabriel, a partner in the firm, can be called on as needed to advise the council.
Council member Rahman Johnson voted against the moves at the Aug. 19 meeting. He said the Personnel Committee was moving too quickly and questioned whether the City Charter, which spells out the duties of the council secretary, allows Teal to also be legislative counsel.
“This could be a Charter crisis,” he said.
Teal and Deputy General Counsel Mary Staffopoulos said the Charter does not prevent Teal from serving in dual roles as council secretary and legislative counsel.
Teal worked 24 years in the Office of General Counsel, including two years as general counsel through July 2023. He moved over to the legislative branch this year when City Council hired him as council secretary, a post that oversees staff for administrative services, legislative services, public information and research.
Gabriel was in the Office of General Counsel for 11 years including as general counsel from 2014 to 2021.
Gabriel was chairman of the city’s General Counsel Qualification Review Committee that found Fackler was “imminently qualified” in 2023 to become general counsel when Mayor Donna Deegan announced she was appointing Fackler.
City Council then unanimously confirmed Fackler’s appointment to the post, which is one of the most powerful in city government because it steps in when there are legal disagreements between different parts of the government and can issue binding legal opinions.
A majority of City Council members have since soured on Fackler. The council voted 11-6 in March on a resolution expressing no confidence in Fackler.
“We’ve had some differences and disappointments with our Office of General Counsel,” council President Kevin Carrico said during the Personnel Committee meeting.
He praised Staffopoulos but said she reports to Fackler. He said that means there are times “we feel there’s not the attorney-client privilege that we really seek” while crafting legislation and policies.
Carrico, joined by council member Nick Howland in voting for the changes, said it would “get the legal representation that we need with all the trust and faith in the system that we all want.”
Fackler still would be the chief legal officer for the city with the authority to issue binding legal opinions.
In the most recent disagreement between Fackler and City Council, the council voted 12-6 to require Fackler to hire Gabriel in seeking a written opinion by the Florida Commission on Ethics about Fackler retaining the Bedell Firm whose partners include his father-in-law Hank Coxe.
City Council overrode Fackler’s choice of former deputy general counsel Lawsikia Hodges to draft the legal memorandum that will go to the state ethics commission. Fackler told City Council that if it preferred to use Gabriel, council could hire him as legislative counsel. But City Council inserted the requirement for Fackler to hire Gabriel into the legislation.
The city’s ethics office told Fackler in May that state ethics law does not prohibit the contract with the Bedell Firm.
Johnson said during the Personnel Committee he supports having “varied opinions” for legal guidance but he said the committee should consider hiring other outside attorneys such as Fred Franklin, a former general counsel who is chairman emeritus at the Rogers Tower law firm.
The Personnel Committee still must decide how much the city will pay Teal and Gabriel for work they do as legislative counsel.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: City Council picks council secretary Jason Teal to also be in-house legal adviser
Reporting by David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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