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Committee delays decision on relocating city disparity study, asks Human Rights Commission input
Summary
The JSEB committee discussed moving the city's disparity-study responsibility out of JSEB and into another department (suggested: Jacksonville Human Rights Commission or Chief of Data & Analytics). The item was tabled pending a formal response from JHRC executive director and further identification of the appropriate data/analytics owner.
The JSEB special committee discussed removing responsibility for the city's disparity study from the JSEB program and placing it under a department equipped for data analysis or civil-rights enforcement, but the panel did not take action and tabled the item.
Mr. Grant and staff recommended transferring the study to a department better suited to handle the analysis, citing cost savings from a prior procurement and the city's existing capacity to perform the work. Counsel suggested an ordinance re-write that would move the requirement (currently in Chapter 112 of the code) into Chapter 62 (the Human Rights Commission sections), naming the equal opportunity/equal access division as a possible home and proposing language to require a study update subject to availability of funds.
Council members disagreed on the right placement. Several members argued the Human Rights Commission (JHRC) performs investigations rather than primary data collection and recommended assigning the project to the city's Chief of Data & Analytics or another data-focused office. Others said the study should "land definitively somewhere" and emphasized the risk that an undefined assignment will result in inaction.
The committee chair asked staff to obtain a formal position from Executive Director Jamieson of the JHRC and asked that Jamieson attend the next meeting. The committee postponed action until that input is received and until staff identifies alternative departments that could perform the analysis if JHRC is not the appropriate home.
