The mayor’s legal team concluded that, “The mayor has exclusive authority over city parks.”
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A more than 100 year old confederate monument has been removed from a park near downtown Jacksonville after Mayor Donna Deegan made the decision to use private funding and have the monument taken down.
The move has angered some city council members who believe they should have been consulted first.
Removing the Women of the Southland statue from Springfield Park was a promise the mayor made during her campaign. Tuesday morning, construction equipment was dropped off at the park, but there was no official word on what it was for.
It’s a decision that council member Nick Howland took opposition to, he said in a statement:
“Donna Deegan is our Mayor, not our Monarch. Waiting until the cover of night – on a holiday evening no less – before taking a backhoe to the 100-year-old ‘Women of the South’ monument in Springfield is a blatant overreach of her authority. The City Council Finance Committee specifically mandated that any funding to be spent on the statue – whether for removal, relocation, or contextualization – must follow a Council policy decision. This was unanimously approved by the Council and signed by the Mayor. Regardless of anyone’s personal opinion of this historic monument, Mayor Deegan’s actions are both an abuse of power and a blatant disregard for transparency. This was City Council’s decision to make. Period.”
About $500,000 is included in the budget for Confederate Monument Removal, Relocation, Remaining & Renaming. Using that money would need approval from city council.
The Office of General Counsel reviewed the mayor’s executive authority and in a 17-page briefing, found that because of the separation of powers, City Council approval was unnecessary since city funds were not being utilized or requested for the work that was completed. The counsel concluded that; “The mayor has exclusive authority over city parks … through the use of non-city budgetary funds, the mayor can remove and relocate a monument from the city park.”
About $187,000 in private funding was used for the removal. The money came from a grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and anonymous donors made to 904WARD. The plaque is also being removed and engravings of the pedestal will be covered with temporary plaques.
“I think we’ve done a really good job of working together on a lot of issues. This has been a tough one for the council. And I get that. I’m glad that I had the executive authority to go in and make this move. But I think it’s going to be really important for us to work together to determine next steps,” Deegan said.
As far as the timing of the removal, the Mayor said there was no intention of hiding the removal.
“This removal did not happen under cover of darkness. We moved the materials in yesterday afternoon, then we set up just before it was dawn this morning. And both removals actually happened in broad daylight. So we knew that this was going to be a lengthy process because we wanted to take great care to make sure nothing happened to the pieces,” Mayor Donna Deegan said.
Following the removal, City Council President Ron Salem sent a statement.
“I acknowledge the removal of the Confederate monument from Springfield Park this morning, recognizing the complexities surrounding historical symbols. While understanding the desire for change, it’s crucial to ensure open dialogue and legislative oversight in an effort to promote a unified approach to addressing historical artifacts. I was made aware of the removal this morning by Mayor Deegan. I encourage constructive dialogue to address any concerns among my colleagues and to find a shared path forward.”
For now the statues are in storage. The mayor said she’s open to relocating them to a museum.
“I’m certainly open to having conversations with counsel, if they want to consider other places to put it, if we want to try to get it into a museum or try to think about a place to repurpose it. I’m certainly happy to have those discussions. I think it really should be a community discussion,” Deegan said.
