An idea to put a museum inside City Hall has some merit.
Council Member Matt Carlucci is leading the effort. He says it is an idea he and Teresa Eichner, public information officer for the council, have been working on for a while.
It would utilize a small vacant room on the first floor of City Hall next to the council chambers.
Carlucci envisions putting old artifacts related to the council’s history in the museum. That would include old books found in the basement of City Hall containing minutes of meetings going back to before the time of the Great Fire of 1901.
Other topics that might be on exhibit might relate to the consolidation of the former city and county governments in 1968, the acquisition of the Jacksonville Jaguars and other matters that have involved the council.
Carlucci said the cost is minor. He is asking for “up to” $35,000 from a $100,000 contingency fund that is set aside for council use, but he said the actual cost could be even less.
Materials could be kept with the Jacksonville Historical Society, he acknowledges, but he said school visits are regularly made to City Hall so it makes sense to have the exhibit there.
“We’re trying to make it part of civics instruction,” he said, “a supplement to the educational experience.”
