The City Council set aside more than $1 million to hire an independent attorney to help it review a sale of JEA. The measure passed 15 to 3.

The Jacksonville City Council on Tuesday set aside $1.8 million to hire an outside lawyer to help it evaluate any deal to sell JEA, easily defeating a small faction that argued the decision was premature or the amount was too high.

The measure passed 15 to 3. Council members LeAnna Cumber, Aaron Bowman and Terrance Freeman voted no.

At times, the lengthy debate strayed from the merits of setting the money aside and provided a glimpse on concerns council members had about the potential sale of JEA, an idea the city-owned utility has been exploring for several months.

RELATED | Read the Times-Union's comprehensive coverage of the possible sale of JEA

JEA received 16 proposals in response to its invitation to negotiate a deal to privatize the utility. Its staff has selected nine of those offers to proceed to a second round of evaluations.

In July, JEA's board of directors voted to allow CEO Aaron Zahn to explore privatization after he said the utility faced a grim financial future. Zahn has said shedding its government ownership would allow the utility to find new revenue streams. Zahn said the utility would have to immediately move forward with terminating hundreds of employees and would be forced to raise rates if it remained on its current track.

Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson said she was “deeply troubled” by an independent agency of the city moving forward with shedding city ownership without the council’s input. Councilwoman Randy DeFoor said she’s still unsure whether JEA faces a "death spiral." Councilman Al Ferraro said he’s concerned about JEA being undervalued.

"If we've got people stumbling over each other to put in bids for this, it tells me it's worth more than we're being told it is,” Ferraro said. “Everywhere I go, everywhere in this city, I've got people asking me what's happening. And I can't tell them ... I don't think anyone on this council knows."

Bowman argued that it was premature to set aside money for legal services the council may not ever need. He said JEA, which has hired a team of outside attorneys to assist on the issue, has pledged to provide information to the council. If the council still had unanswered questions, he’d then support hiring an attorney.

Cumber said she had concerns about how the council determined the amount and bigger concerns “about the procedure.” She said the council should select a law firm before setting a budget.

She also said they should determine how council members would interact with the attorney to avoid stacking up legal fees associated with open-ended communication with 19 council members.

Councilman Terrance Freeman said he supported the council hiring its own attorney, but that he couldn’t support a figure as high as $1.8 million.

Councilman Danny Becton, who is the council’s liaison to JEA, offered an amendment to reduce the amount to $500,000. However, a majority felt comfortable with the original amount and rejected his change.

Councilman Michael Boylan said the city has created a scope of services and is now asking for proposals from law firms.

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Christopher Hong: (904) 359-4272