The Jacksonville Consolidation was the city-county consolidation of the governments

of the City of Jacksonville and Duval County, Florida. It was effected on October
1, 1968.

Contents
1 Background
2 Yates Manifesto
3 Commission established
4 Plan promotion
5 Results
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
Background
In 1934, the Florida Constitution was amended to give the Florida Legislature the
“power to establish, alter or abolish, a Municipal corporation to be known as the
City of Jacksonville, extending territorially throughout the present limits of
Duval County,"[1] but for many years thereafter, the Legislature did not exercise
the power.

Through the 1960s, Jacksonville, like many other large cities in the US, suffered
from the effects of urban sprawl, with the city losing tax base to new residential
and business development in the suburbs, which also drew out jobs.

Both the city and county suffered corruption scandals, following virtual one-party
rule by Democrats since the turn of the century, when the state legislature had
disenfranchised most African Americans and effectively hollowed out the Republican
Party, with which most blacks had been allied since they were granted the franchise
as freedmen following the Civil War.

In the 1960s, a grand jury indicted 11 Jacksonville and Duval County officials on
142 counts of bribery and larceny including:

4 of 9 city councilmen
2 of 5 city commissioners
the city auditor
executive secretary of city recreation department
1 of 5 county commissioners
the county purchasing agent
The city tax assessor took the Fifth Amendment, refused to testify, and resigned.
[2][3]

Yates Manifesto
Claude Yates had recently retired as vice president and general manager of Southern
Bell in Jacksonville and been named president of the Jacksonville Chamber of
Commerce in 1964 when all 15 public high schools lost their accreditation; they
were still segregated despite the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling by the US
Supreme Court. That year Congress had passed the Civil Rights Act that ended legal
racial segregation of public facilities, and the state was working to adapt to
other changes.

On January 19, 1965 Yates called a lunch meeting of the chamber at the Robert Meyer
Hotel to decide on a course of action for the region. Attendees included Glenn
Marshall Jr., Roger L. Main, W. S. Johnson, Charles W. Campbell, Gert H.W. Schmidt,
Edward Ball, C. G. Whittaker, Luke Sadler, B. D. Fincannon, George B. Hills, Jacob
F. Bryan III, B. N. Nimnicht, James R. Stockton Sr., J. T. Lane, J. H. Coppedge,
Gen. Maxwell Snyder, Harold Meyerheim, Joseph W. Davin, Thompson S. Baker, Richard
Lewinson, Henry M. French and S. Kendrick Guernsey.[4]

The date was significant as it was the deadline for submitting requests for the
upcoming state legislative session. At the time, the legislature met for only 60
days every other year. These business and civic leaders signed a 45-word petition
to the Duval County legislative delegation, consisting of State Senator John E.
Mathews and Representative Fred Schultz, that would later be dubbed as the "Yates
Manifesto".[5] It stated:

We, the undersigned, respectfully request the Duval County Delegation to the
Florida Legislature to prepare an enabling act calling for the citizens of Duval
County to vote on the consolidation of government within Duval to secure more
efficient and effective government under one governmental body.

Under the Florida Constitution as it existed at that time, cities and counties had
limited home rule powers and often needed special legislation by the Florida
Legislature to accomplish many objectives. The Legislature generally deferred to
the decision of the county delegation on whether to enact such special legislation,
which gave the county delegation in a particular county great political influence.
Following the adoption of a new Constitution, effective January 7, 1969, home rule
powers of cities and counties were expanded,[6] and the influence of the county
delegation declined.

Commission established
In response, the 1965 Florida Legislature created the Local Government Study
Commission (LGSC).[7] The legislature chose J. J. Daniel as chairman to design a
new government and write its charter. Daniel was known, according to The Florida
Times, for his "powerful personality, unquestioned integrity, strong leadership and
history of civic involvement."[8] Lex Hester was hired as the executive director of
the LGSC. He was the "key architect of Jacksonville's consolidated government",
transition coordinator and chief administrative officer following consolidation.[9]
Claude Yates was among the 50 business and civic leaders invited to participate;
elected officials and government employees were intentionally excluded. On October
1, 1965 the commission was established and given until May 1, 1967 to complete
their work. In January, 1967, after 15 months of effort and three months ahead of
schedule, the LGSC submitted a consolidation proposal entitled, Blueprint for
Improvement.[10] The legislative delegation altered the plan slightly to make it
more appealing and ordered it to be placed on a referendum in 1967.[11]