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Photo of Jacksonville Councilmembers at bar sparks discussion over Florida's Sunshine Law

The four councilmembers were Aaron Bowman, Kevin Carrico, Rory Diamond and Nick Howland.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Several photos are raising eyebrows with some Jacksonville city leaders, showing four city council members at a downtown bar after a council meeting in late June.

Councilmember Matt Carlucci, who was not there, wants to know what was discussed and believes it could have violated Florida's Sunshine Laws, which are intended to guarantee public access to meetings among elected officials.

The four council members were Aaron Bowman, Kevin Carrico, Rory Diamond and Nick Howland. 

First Coast News reached out to all four and heard back from one, who says no city council business was discussed, but provided no further comment.

Darren White, the man who took the picture and posted it to social media, says he overheard the four discussing Councilman Carlucci, whose proposal to remove Confederate monuments was voted down by the city council two weeks prior.  

Carlucci believes even if lawmakers didn't violate the Sunshine Laws, they violated the public trust. 

"The optics are horrible, and it really reflects on everybody because they don't tend to look at certain council members. They put us in a group, the city council," he said.

White called it a 'strange' encounter. "I am not a political expert, but I just thought it looked pretty strange. I think that we should have the highest ethical standards possible in our city government," he told First Coast News. 

The Northside Coalition released several statements about the photos. Ben Frazier says, "This is a serious ethics violation involving trust, transparency and accountability on the part of our elected officials." 

He added, "Four city council members met for nearly an hour on June 28 at the Volstead Bar on Adams Street and were overheard loudly discussing city council business about the confederate monument!  Any such discussion would be a direct violation of the letter and spirit of the Sunshine Law."  

The city's ethics director says Florida's Sunshine Law is enforced by the state attorney.  

We've asked the State Attorney's Office in Jacksonville if it has received any recent complaints.  We have not heard back.

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