The Jacksonville City Council will hold a special meeting Monday to set a special election for sheriff, following the resignation of Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams on Thursday.
Williams announced his retirement just hours before a legally binding opinion from the city's Office of General Counsel was set to be released. A draft of the opinion shows General Council Jason Teal would have removed Williams from his office effective immediately for violating the city's charter. Williams moved to Nassau County with his family last year without consulting the city's legal department or elected leaders.
The city charter requires the acting sheriff to live in Duval County.
The legal opinion was never executed, as City Council President Sam Newby rescinded his request for it after Williams announced his retirement, which will leave the sheriff in office until Friday, June 10.
"In receipt of his resignation, there was no need to pursue the opinion," Newby said in an email to WJCT News. He said he was not aware Williams planned to announce his retirement. He did not answer the question of whether Williams should stay in office and continue to receive a salary from taxpayers for eight more days, given that Teal's opinion would have removed Williams on June 2.
WJCT News posed the same question in emails to all 19 council members and their staff. Most did not respond.
"A week one direction or another is not particularly relevant," District 13 Councilman Rory Diamond responded. "What matters is we had a great sheriff for seven years and our community will need to elect a new one soon."
Similarly, at-large Councilman Nick Howland did not directly answer the question but instead praised Williams. “Sheriff Williams has served our community for over 30 years, working every day to make Jacksonville’s streets and neighborhoods safer. As Sheriff, he’s led our city through hurricanes, a pandemic, unprecedented growth, and the implementation of new public safety technologies. I thank Mike for his service to our community and wish him a wonderful and well-earned retirement.”
District 5 Councilwoman Leanna Cumber, who is running as a Republican candidate for mayor in 2023, tweeted this: "As it is clearly stipulated in our Charter, Jacksonville's sheriff must live within the county. The public safety issues facing our city are real." Referring to the draft memo from OGC, Cumber said "it raises a lot of questions about transparency and process. We need these questions answered."
At-Large Councilman Matt Carlucci said that he understood Newby's decision but that he agreed with Cumber and District 10 Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson, who sent her own request to OGC asking for them to follow through on a legally binding opinion in Williams' case.
"I think there is some merit to having this go through as a binding opinion," Carlucci said in an interview with WJCT News. Carlucci, a Republican, echoed calls from Duval Democrats that DeSantis appoint an "apolitical" interim sheriff ahead of the special election.
"What I would hope the governor would do is appoint Pat Ivey as sheriff and let him do it," Carlucci said, referring to the JSO undersheriff who for the past year has increasingly been the face of the department at public meetings and press conferences.
"I would hope the governor would not appoint a candidate as interim sheriff that creates an uneven playing field. I think Jacksonville needs to look at these candidates, and they're all good candidates, without having an edge over one another."
Jacksonville will potentially have had four sheriff's in the span of 13 months. After Williams' retirement, the position will be filled via appointment by Gov. Ron DeSantis to serve until the conclusion of a special election that's expected to be set for this August and November.
The winner of that race will serve until June 30, 2023, the end of Williams' term. The city's regularly scheduled elections in March and May of next year have six candidates running, and the winner of that race will start their four year term on July 1, 2023, according to Election Supervisor Mike Hogan.
This story will be updated with any additional responses from Council members.
