Ivey appointed Sheriff, special election looms for vacancy

Ivey appointed Sheriff, special election looms for vacancy
Pat Ivey

On Saturday, June 11, Pat Ivey was sworn in as Jacksonville’s acting sheriff.

Appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Ivey is replacing former Sheriff Mike Williams, who announced his retirement on June 2 following reports he no longer resided in Duval County and had, therefore, rendered himself ineligible to hold the position.

According to the Jacksonville City Charter, “If the sheriff should die, resign, or remove his residence from Duval County during his term of office, or be removed from office, the office of sheriff shall become vacant.”

“After some consideration, I have decided that a court battle over my residency would not be good for our community,” Williams wrote in a letter announcing his retirement. “That being said, I have decided to retire on June 10th.”

Williams completed 31 years of service with JSO. He had served as sheriff for seven of those years.

Prior to this appointment, Ivey had served as Undersheriff since 2015; overall he’s worked for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office since 1994. Ivey’s biography posted on the JSO website states he “plans to carry on the mission of driving down violent crime by leveraging newer technology and increasing mental health and special needs awareness among officers and the public JSO serves. He recognizes Jacksonville’s success depends on the involvement of citizens from every neighborhood of the city, and every walk of life.”

Nick Burgos is now the new Undersheriff.

In a Special Council Meeting on June 6, City Council members approved a special election for a new sheriff, coinciding with the Primary Election on Aug. 23. The newly elected sheriff would serve the remainder of Williams’ term, which ends on June 30, 2023.

Ivey is not running in the upcoming election. The five candidates running for sheriff are Lakesha Burton (D), Wayne Clark (D), Tony Cummings (D), Ken Jefferson (D) and T.K. Waters (R).

If none of these candidates obtains a majority vote, the two receiving the highest number of votes will go on to a runoff election in November.

By Michele Leivas
Resident Community News

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