Jacksonville Mayor Orders Financial Training for City Board Appointees

The Jacksonville Mayor issued an executive order encouraging financial training for city board appointees and certification of financial submissions by agency CEOs.




Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan signed the executive order that encourages every appointee to a City board, commission, and independent agency to complete training in governance, audits, ethics, and public finance. The order also calls on each independent agency’s chief executive to certify the financial information the agency submits to the city.

The North Florida mayor announced she will work with the Jacksonville City Council to turn these standards into binding requirements through the legislative process.

Volunteers on City boards and independent agency governing bodies oversee billions of dollars in public assets, revenues, and obligations. The added training called for by this executive order aims to give them the tools to do that job well.

“Our board members are citizen volunteers who give their time to serve this city, and they deserve every tool we can provide them to do that job well,” said Democratic Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan. “Taxpayers deserve confidence that the people overseeing their money understand the budgets, audits, and ethics rules in front of them. This order puts that training within reach today. Working with the City Council, we’ll make these standards permanent through legislation.”

According to the mayor, the executive order:

• Encourages governance and audit training for all appointees. Topics include fiduciary duties, internal and external audits, internal controls and fraud awareness, Florida’s Sunshine and public records laws, and state and City ethics rules.
• Directs the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to offer financial training. Sessions will cover reading financial statements, the City’s budget process, and warning signs such as bond covenant, credit rating, and pension risks. Sessions will be available within 90 days and offered at no cost to appointees.
• Offers entity-specific briefings from the CFO’s office to any board chair who requests one.
• Calls for chief executive certification of financial submissions from independent agencies to the City, so the Mayor, City Council, and Council Auditor can rely on the numbers and spot risks early.

The executive order took effect immediately earlier this month.

The post Jacksonville Mayor Orders Financial Training for City Board Appointees appeared first on West Orlando News.