Jacksonville City Council member Randy White, a former fire department administrator whose colleagues called him The Godfather for his ability to navigate city politics, has a new title.
On May 28, Council chose White as the body’s next president on a 19-0 vote. During the same meeting, Council members selected Kevin Carrico over Michael Boylan as vice president on a 15-4 vote.
“I will always treat you fair and try to get you to places you want to be on the Council and in your district,” White told his fellow Council members after the vote was announced.
White, a Jacksonville native who serves District 12, had no competition for the president’s position. He was selected as Council vice president in May 2023, when Council voted to elevate Ron Salem from vice president to president.
With the vote, White will succeed Salem beginning July 1. He enters as Council members begin weighing a $775 million expenditure of public funding on stadium improvements and face a potential 10-figure spend to move the Duval County jail.
White spent 32 years with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, retiring in 2011 as the deputy director assistant fire chief. He was heavily involved in the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, the politically influential union that represents local firefighters, and served as the organization’s president in 2002-03.
Council member Nick Howland nominated White for the president’s position, with Salem seconding the motion.
“Randy isn’t known for his flair or his fanfare,” Salem said. “What Randy is known for is being a quiet leader, one who listens to people and pays attention to details.”
Carrico drew votes from all but Boylan and members Matt Carlucci, Tyrona Clark-Murray and Jimmy Peluso.
Carrico told White he felt the two of them had “a lot of similarities.”
“I probably talk a little more than you, but I’d like to think I can be quiet when I need to be and speak when it’s time to be heard,” Carrico said.
“You do a great job of that. I’ve modeled myself after you and your leadership style.”
White and Carrico will assume their new roles July 1.
At the start of its May 28 meeting, the Council received drafts of the seven separate agreements that make up the deal to renovate EverBank Stadium into the Jacksonville Jaguars’ “Stadium of the Future.”
This month, Mayor Donna Deegan presented the framework of a deal that had the city and team splitting costs of the $1.25 billion stadium’s construction and the city providing an additional $150 million for deferred maintenance and capital projects to prepare the stadium for the project and allow the Jaguars to play in it while construction is underway.
A community benefit agreement would add another $150 million in funding from both the city and Jaguars to the package. That money would be used for workforce development, affordable housing and homelessness services in the Eastside neighborhood and elsewhere. Money for park development also is included.
Salem has scheduled Wednesdays through Fridays in June for the Council to examine the agreements.
The leadership vote came in the same month that a special Council committee on the jail issued its final report, in which it recommended replacing the 33-year-old jail with a campus-style complex with on-site health care services and separate buildings for various subgroups of inmates.
Boylan, who chaired the special committee, has listed a rough cost estimate for the project at $1.2 billion.
White, a Republican, was elected to the District 12 seat in 2018 during a special election in which he was the only qualified candidate. In 2023, he drew 65% of the vote in defeating Democrats Tammyette Thomas and JC Causey.
Carrico, also a Republican, won a 2020 special election for the District 4 seat with 53.3% of the vote over Democrat Nicole Hamm. That election was held after District 4 member Scott Wilson resigned to pursue another office.
Carrico won his first full term when he ran unopposed in 2023. His work on Council includes chairing the Land Use and Zoning Commission.
The son of a U.S. Army officer, Carrico graduated from high school in Jacksonville and serves as the vice president of operations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida.
Boylan, who represents District 6, also ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2023.
Howland told his colleagues he would vote for Carrico for vice president this year and president next year, but also nominated Boylan in respect of his leadership on Council committees and in the community.
Carrico drew support from the majority of the Council’s five Democrats – Ju’Coby Pittman, Rahman Johnson and Reggie Gaffney Jr.
Clark-Murray and Peluso backed Boylan.