The Volunteer Life Saving Corps of Jacksonville Beach received notification from the Supervisor of Elections for Duval County that it has officially met the minimum petitions certification threshold of 10% of registered voter signatures required to place a voter referendum on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
Official notifications were sent to the Corps Board of Directors and attorneys for both the Corps and the City of Jacksonville Beach. The mayor and all city council members were also made aware of the development.
To get the proposed amendment on the ballot, the Corps needed to collect petition signatures from at least 10% of the City of Jacksonville Beach’s 18,000-plus registered voters. Within 17 days, volunteers working alongside numerous local businesses collected 3,820 signatures representing over 19% of registered voters.
The Supervisor of Elections stopped counting after certifying 2,420 petition signatures, far exceeding the number required.
“We were thrilled with the overwhelming public support we received for the referendum petition,” said Jim Emery, Volunteer Life Saving Corps Board of Directors president. “It is now up to the City of Jacksonville Beach to act upon the wishes of voters and follow state laws governing its own duties to complete this process and get the referendum placed on the November ballot. The city’s constituents have indicated in a decisive way that they wish to vote on this matter.”
The Corps launched its voter petition campaign last month. The amendment, if approved, would require the city to preserve the 110-year-old Corps’ historical operations at the American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps Station and execute a deed of conveyance permitting the American Red Cross to convey the station to the Volunteer Life Saving Corps, for whom it was constructed 75 years ago.
The ARC currently owns the station building and it sits on land deeded to the ARC by the city.
The Volunteer Life Saving Corps and the City of Jacksonville Beach have been at odds since December 2021 following a Department of Labor investigation into Wage and Hours Laws violations stemming from some paid Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue lifeguards also serving as volunteer guards with the Corps. On April 5, the city terminated its 10-year agreement with the Corps for volunteer service on Sundays and holidays, while also locking the Corps out of the ARC Volunteer Life Saving Station.
The Volunteer Life Saving Corps has maintained that this will effectively dissolve the 110-year-old volunteer organization, the oldest of its kind in the nation. Labor attorneys have advised that as long Jacksonville Beach Ocean Rescue employees are not Corps members and each organization conducts its own training, all parties will be compliant with wage-and-hour laws.
The Volunteer Life Saving Corps is conducting a GoFundMe campaign to help support its legal efforts.
