A draft of the legal opinion prepared by city General Counsel Jason Teal regarding the validity of the residency requirements for Jacksonville’s sheriff indicates the city charter’s requirement for Duval County residency is enforceable.
Under the city’s consolidated government charter, “If the sheriff should die, resign, or remove his residence from Duval County during his term of office, or be removed from office, the office of sheriff shall become vacant.”
The residency issue came to light when property records were discovered indicating that Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams and his wife sold their Jacksonville home in March and listed a Fernandina Beach address in Nassau County on the deed for sale.
Williams announced June 2 that he is retiring effective June 10, writing that a court battle over his residency “would not be good for the community.”
Teal’s opinion states that while there is no state statutory residency requirement for constitutional officers such as sheriff, the city charter’s requirement is valid and enforceable:
“While the Charter does not explicitly state that the sheriff shall at all times during the course of his term in office maintain his residency in Duval County (neither does the Charter explicitly state that the sheriff must remain alive and un-resigned during his term), the Charter is clear that doing so is a legal requirement and that failure to do so results in a vacancy in office.
“Therefore, while the Florida legislature eliminated the residency requirements in Section 30.11, Florida Statutes in 2010, it specifically left in place its enactment of the Duval County Sheriff residency requirement in the Charter.”
Teal points out that while under Florida law, the establishment of residence depends on a judicial determination, “considering the sheriff’s recent statements to various media outlets, I will assume that when he sold his house and moved out of Duval County he intended to become permanently domiciled or reside elsewhere than in Duval County.”
The question of whether the city can revoke any actions taken by Williams or to require Williams to return his salary earned since he moved out of the county is addressed in Teal’s conclusion to the opinion:
“I hereby determine that the office of Jacksonville Sheriff is hereby deemed to be vacant in accordance with Section 8.03 of the Jacksonville Charter as of 2:00 P.M. on June 2, 2022.
“Any actions taken and compensation received by the Sheriff between such time as he removed his residence outside of Duval County and the effective date and time of this vacancy determination are valid actions and compensation of the Jacksonville Sheriff by virtue of his de facto status in that office.”
Teal prepared the opinion at the request of City Council President Sam Newby with a deadline of 2 p.m. June 2.
Teal sent the draft opinion to the Jacksonville Daily Record in response to a public records request.
Newby told News4Jax.com that he withdrew his request for the opinion after Williams announced his retirement because it resolves the issue for now.
Duval County property and court records show Michael S. and Jodi Williams sold their home at 2976 Marsh Elder Drive S. in Jacksonville on March 4, 2021, for $397,000. They bought it in 2002 for $228,310.
