Jill Dame questionnaire

8/7/2019 Jill Dame questionnaire

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FLORIDA TIMES-UNION QUESTIONSJill Dame

Candidate for Jacksonville City Council District 14

1. In recent years, the mayor and City Council have used a mix of revenueincreases and cuts in expenses to balance the city budget. Do you agree?If not, what would you do differently?

The Citys budget should be built after strategically looking at city operations and thenfunding based on a plan that prioritizes needs and services. The work of prioritizing andlooking at structure should occur many months before the start of the budget process. Areasonable budget process requires a lot of advance work spent developing thepriorities.

There are areas in the budget that could be trimmed. The first step is to get the Citysinternal structure in order. A thorough review of our local government structure couldlead to the elimination or consolidation of departments and positions. The next stepshould be a review of all operations for cost savings and opportunities for more efficientdeployment of resources.

A budget built without strategic priorities is likely to contain many items that should becut in times of reduced city revenues. While work is ongoing to improve our structureand efficiency we must continue the process of prioritizing our needs and services.

Local government has certain core functions that must be given top priority. We mustcontinue to fund public safety our police and fire/rescue departments must be properlystaffed, equipped and trained to protect the community. Infrastructure must be

maintained and improved to serve the community and allow for growth. Education is amajor concern and we must support our public schools. These are the top priorities for ongoing budget decisions but it must be based on wise investment, carefully managed,and not at the expense of other City functions that support our quality of life.

Only after expenses have been reduced or eliminated to the maximum acceptable levelwould it be appropriate to look for areas for revenue increases. This is painful but aconsequence of falling property values that have stopped the development thathistorically maintained the City government budget. Jacksonville has been known for avery favorable tax rate and for very low per capita spending and it is important tocontinue that historic approach.

2. Do you support the Jacksonville Journey? Explain your answer.

I support the Jacksonville Journey initiative and believe that the comprehensiveapproach that it utilizes is beginning to work, as evidenced by significant declines in thehomicide and overall crime rates. I also believe that it must be given more time to proveits success. Most of the problems that Jacksonville Journey is tackling dont have shortterm fixes, these are long term strategies. Changing strategies every time the City


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administration changes is counterproductive, as evidenced by the inability to developand implement a consistent plan for downtown redevelopment.

Jacksonville Journey programs attempt to reduce crime through acombination of law enforcement, prevention, rehabilitation and targetedintervention. Its citizen led Oversight Committee is responsible for monitoringthe progress of its implementation, offers recommendations for programmodifications and is in place to ensure that the taxpayers investment in thiscomprehensive public safety program produces maximum results. In additionto measuring outcomes, the oversight group has placed a priority ontransparency of its work.

While reductions in violent crime and murder statistics can not be totallyattributed to Jacksonville Journey, its mix of prevention, intervention andenforcement make a strong case for continued increases in the safety of ourneighborhoods. Crime is best addressed from multiple strategies and crimeprevention is a core service for local government. The monies spent on theseprograms are much less than the monies that would be required at the otherend if program participants instead moved into the criminal system. If wedont fund prevention and intervention, we will pay more later forenforcement and incarceration.

3. What endorsements have you received?

My campaign is supported by many individuals and area corporations. Severalendorsements are pending.

4. How much civic activity do you perform outside work?

For the past 17 year I have served as a volunteer, consultant and interim executive for nonprofit organizations, focusing on organizational development, fundraising, andstrategic planning. In this capacity I have been able to utilize my legal and educationbackgrounds and skills to serve extensively with organizations that have worked for thebenefit of our community.

Civic activities outside of my paid work have included: Chairing and restructuring the programs of the Mayors Commission on the

Status of Women Chairing the JCCI Implementation Task Force for the Role of Nonprofits in the

Community Study. This work led to my founding the Nonprofit Center of

Northeast Florida, an organization dedicated to enabling thriving nonprofitleadership, facilitating collective action and enhancing public understanding of the nonprofit sector and raising operating revenues from private sources for thefirst three years of the Centers existence.

Preparing leadership curriculum and instruction for teenagers throughLeadership Jacksonvilles Youth Leadership program


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Serving on the implementation of JCCIs Our Money/Our City: FinancingJacksonvilles Future study, focusing on government budgeting transparency,accountability and benchmarking.

Co-chairing capital campaigns for youth serving nonprofits, raising over

$5 million for education, sports, and mentoring facilities.


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5. How do you intend to comply with Floridas public records andgovernment in the sunshine laws? If you saw an elected official breakingthe sunshine law, what would you do?

The City Council receives entry level and periodic update training from the City EthicsOfficer to teach proper compliance with public records and sunshine laws. I will eagerlyparticipate in this training and enthusiastically comply fully with these laws. Where thereis any question, I will seek counsel from the Ethics Office. I have already takenadvantage of several Florida Bar trainings on Government in the Sunshine and certainlywould look to the local experts to resolve any specific questions.

Transparency and accountability are key components of public service ethics. Both of these laws seek to codify what is a basic, ethical component of elected service. I amrunning for office with the knowledge that my actions must always be transparent and for the good of the community, not personal gain or benefit.

My reaction to observing a violation of the sunshine law would be to first ask the officialto cease the activity and then to report the purported violation to the Ethics Office for follow-up and investigation. I would not knowingly participate in or condone any activitythat I believed to be a violation of the sunshine laws.

6. What can you do to help support the clean-up of the St. Johns River?

According to the River Accord Annual Report 2010, more than 54 of Duval Countys 152river tributaries have bacterial levels that are so high that the waters are deemed unsafefor fishing and swimming. The City has partnered to work to restore the health of the St.Johns, committing to spend $150 million in addition to monies from the JEA.

As a city we committed to reducing nitrogen discharge in several ways, in particular byeliminating failing septic tanks and capturing and treating stormwater before it goes intoour waterways.

My job as a City Council member will be to work with the administration to see thatstrategies with timelines are in place to meet these commitments, that progress is beingmade in both of these areas and that they are sufficiently funded to achieve the desiredresults.

7. How can you become engaged in the citys high murder, infant mortalityand suicide rates?

I believe that as a City Council member, my role in reducing murder, infant mortality andsuicide rates is to work to better understand the causes of these issues, recognize andsupport the available resources to address them and look for opportunities for the City tobetter perform its role in each of these areas.

Continuing funding and improvement for Jacksonville Journey programs is an effort toreduce the murder rates. These programs must continue to show progress.

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In 2008 JCCI released a study on Infant Mortality. The study indicates that many factorslead to Jacksonvilles high rate of infant mortality. Some of these are not Citygovernment related factors but should be addressed by the community at large. A keyfinding was that medical care, while very important, contributes to only 10 to 15 percentof pregnancy outcomes and that underlying societal and structural root causes of infantmortality also include stresses on the mother from racism, poverty, poor housing, crime,education, access to medical care, drug abuse, and joblessness. Improved education,crime reduction, more jobs, can all help to reduce some of the stresses indicated asfactors in infant mortality.

As a City Council we must also look to the mental health of our citizens. Is our community taking advantage of all available funding for mental health issues? Therehave been many changes in the mental health care delivery system in recent years.Can we as a city do better and support our local mental health care providers? Theseanswers dont always involve spending more local tax dollars but we should requiregreater understanding of the issues on the part of our leadership so that all theramifications of local budget decisions are understood.

8. Has consolidation been a good or bad deal for Jacksonville? Pleaseexplain your answer.

Consolidation has been a good deal for Jacksonville. It has removed one layer of government, reduced waste and duplication of services, allowed a unified vision for our community, and created many efficiencies.Compared to Dade County and the City of Miami, Jacksonville is more efficient, lesspolitical and more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

For council candidates:

What is the role of a council member? As mini-mayor? Or as legislator?City Council is a legislative body. Our form of government has a strong mayor whoexercises executive powers with the check and balance of the City Council exercising itslegislative powers. The City Council sets policies and guidelines for implementation bythe Mayors office and exercises an oversight role to insure that its policies areimplemented. The City Council has an obligation to make sure the government isresponsive to the needs and concerns of residents.

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Jill Dame questionnaire

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