The Jacksonville City Council Rules Committee voted to replace City Planning Commissioners Lisa King and Joey Mckinnon Tuesday afternoon. The matter now passes to the full Council.
Mayor Lenny Curry asked both members to resign mid-term, saying their goals do not align with his, but they refused.
Councilman Tommy Hazouri, a former Democratic Jacksonville mayor, was the lone member to vote against replacing them. He says they did nothing wrong and should be allowed to finish their terms.
Two Rules Committee members, Jim Love and Anna Brosche, were absent for the vote. Love wrote a letter to the committee saying King should stay.
But Councilman Matt Schellenberg disagreed, saying King and Mckinnon’s replacements are upgrades.
Mckinnon is a licensed geologist. His proposed replacement, Abel Harding, works in commercial and residential banking.
King is a neighborhood activist who has worked in development. Her proposed replacement, Donald Adkinson, owns several businesses and says he’s been on the other side of planning commissions many times.
At the last City Council meeting, more than 40 people showed up to protest the replacements. Meanwhile, a petition circulating online in support of replacing King and McKinnon has collected about the same number of supporters.
