Al Ferraro, Deegan’s pick for director of neighborhoods, owed thousands to same department: report
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FLV) – Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s recently picked director of neighborhoods appointee reportedly owed thousands of dollars in fines to the same department he was appointed to serve.
Action News Jax reported they obtained records showing Director of Neighborhoods Al Ferraro was hit with 27 campaign sign violations totaling $2,635 between February and March of this year.
Ferraro said those fines were officially paid as of Tuesday morning.
As of May 16, Ferraro, a Republican mayoral candidate at the time and former city council member, had paid $415.
“I went ahead and I paid for the first ones, just thinking that you know, that’s going to be the first two of four or whatever that number was,” said Ferraro in an interview with Action News Jax Tuesday.
The outlet said Ferraro recalled the citations just kept coming.
“I needed paperwork to show me, this is what I owe because I didn’t want to pay something off and have this lean against my house or business. I didn’t know what would happen to it,” said Ferraro.
Action News Jax submitted the public records request that yielded documentation of Ferraro’s outstanding fines. After the records request was fulfilled Tuesday, the outlet was informed Ferraro had paid off the fines the same morning.
“It goes against my gain to pay something that I don’t believe in, but I just felt like being in this office and working for the mayor, I don’t want any black eyes on anything,” said Ferraro.
Before paying the fines Tuesday, Ferraro had challenged the outstanding fines in court and had a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
“I wanted to tell the story that I didn’t think the signs that we were getting charged for was from our campaign. We weren’t putting them in these places that we were getting fines,” said Ferraro.
Court records reportedly show Ferraro received the most in fines. Deegan also received 22, Property Appraiser Candidate Danny Becton received 19, Property Appraiser Joyce Morgan received 14, and City Councilmember LeAnna Cumber received nine.
Former Republican mayoral candidate Daniel Davis received four, and property appraiser candidate Jason Fischer received one.
“We were going against the machine,” said Ferraro.
“That’s not the way that politics and elections are supposed to be working in our country. We’re not a banana republic,” Ferraro said. “So, I think what I’m doing is the right thing to do to kind of put this to bed so that people see that we’re moving forward, but it also enlightens people of what we have to go through just running for office.”
Ferraro said he received the notices in different ways and it was “difficult” to identify what he owed. He told Action News Jax in the future he will look into ways to streamline the process.
