{"id":6324,"date":"2025-06-22T21:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T21:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6324\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T21:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T21:42:10","slug":"incoming-council-president-kevin-carrico-outlines-priorities-for-jacksonville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6324\/","title":{"rendered":"Incoming Council President Kevin Carrico outlines priorities for Jacksonville"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Jacksonville City Councilman Kevin Carrico is set to take the gavel as council president on July 1.<\/a> On This Week In Jacksonville, Carrico shared his vision for the year ahead, emphasizing a focus on youth, public safety, and fiscal responsibility.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>\u2018I feel threatened\u2019: Tensions reach boiling point between two prominent Jacksonville city council members<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Carrico, who will serve as the 57th council president since consolidation, brings a background with the Boys and Girls Club and said his work with youth will continue to guide him in office. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who knows me knows that my career has been with the Boys and Girls Club for the last ten years, [I\u2019m] extremely passionate about young people and youth and really the next generation,\u201d Carrico said.<\/p>\n

He said his leadership will center around three core values: \u201cfaith, family, and future,\u201d explaining that faith provides guiding principles, while the future focuses on creating opportunities for youth. <\/p>\n

He also expressed interest in forming a special committee on park programming, saying that although the city has invested over $100 million in park capital projects, \u201cIf we don\u2019t have the programming and the people in those parks\u2026 then we just have world-class parks with no momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Downtown development and public safety also rank high on Carrico\u2019s agenda. He described a vision of Jacksonville as a \u201cworld-class downtown that attracts tourism, that attracts economic growth and companies to come to our town.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the financial front, Carrico called for a zero-based budget and suggested a rollback rate to offer tax relief to homeowners burdened by rising property values. \u201cI\u2019d like to see us spend what we bring in and not dip into the reserves,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the taxpayers need a little relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about his leadership style, Carrico described his approach to managing the 19-member council as family-oriented. \u201cWe are a family. We might be dysfunctional\u2026 but we got to have fun and get along when we can, and when we disagree, let\u2019s do it\u2026 professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also addressed a recent exchange with Councilmember Matt Carlucci, who was asked to step back during a tense committee meeting. Carrico clarified that the decision wasn\u2019t personal. \u201cIt was just a moment of, we just need to keep the meeting going,\u201d he said, adding that the two have since spoken and remain cordial.<\/p>\n

Carrico also commented on his relationship with Mayor Donna Deegan, acknowledging political differences but emphasizing a shared commitment to the city. \u201cYes, we disagree sometimes on policy issues. I\u2019m a Republican. She\u2019s a Democrat. We don\u2019t always agree\u2026 but I think both of us love this city,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to do anything that\u2019s going to harm the ability to move Jacksonville forward to a world-class city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Jacksonville City Councilman Kevin Carrico is set to take the gavel as council president on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,5310,3188,723,7310,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-6324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-city-council","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}