When it became clear Monday the Jacksonville City Council would not spend $320,000 to prevent fire department demotions, the firefighters’ union president sent out a flurry of text messages to council members in a last-ditch, real-time — and private — lobbying push for a second vote.
Whether his efforts persuaded council members is unclear, but the money was approved in a second vote about an hour later after three council members switched sides. One of them, Scott Wilson, exchanged messages with Randy Wyse, the union’s president, during the meeting. Continue>>>
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