Should the city of Jacksonville’s lawyer have hired his father-in-law’s firm ?

That’s the controversy the City Council voted to resolve via soliciting an opinion from the Florida Ethics Commission. General Counsel Michael Fackler hired the Bedell Law Firm owned by his father-in-law Hank Coxe for “legal services directly rendered by his father-in-law for the Consolidated Government of the City of Jacksonville.”

Former General Counsel Jason Gabriel would be charged to solicit the opinion rather than a member of Fackler’s staff, via “a legal memorandum … prior to the Council taking final action on this legislation, providing the relevant facts and background and any legal analysis the City would request the Commission consider in providing a written advisory opinion.”

Asked what

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