Duval County School Board member Warren Jones said he was driving west on Beaver Street last month when he received a phone call from Sam Mousa, Mayor Lenny Curry’s soon-to-retire chief administrator. What followed was a conversation he’d later say “blew him away.”

Jones and his School Board colleagues were struggling to convince the City Council and Curry to allow a half-cent sales tax referendum on the November ballot that would bankroll sorely needed improvements to the district’s aging schools. Jones said Mousa had a few suggestions: Hire Mousa and an unidentified business partner to lead the effort. Push back the referendum to 2020. Promise charter schools an upfront $150 million payment if the sales tax were to pass.

Last week, the Times-Union revealed Mousa and his partner, Tim Baker, Curry’s close confidante and chief political strategist, sought as much as $450,000 to help the School Board overcome the daunting political barriers their proposed referendum faces at City Hall.

Mousa and Baker discussed overseeing the push for the referendum during a June 20 meeting with the School Board’s chairwoman Lori Hershey. Several weeks later, Mousa sent Hershey a written proposal for their services, which included creating a prioritized list of projects that the sales tax would fund and lobbying city officials, as any plan would need approval from the City Council and Curry before a referendum could appear on the ballot.

Jones’ recollection of his June 12 conversation with Mousa, which he shared during an interview Tuesday, supports Hershey’s claim that the idea of hiring the influential duo was first proposed by Mousa. It also provides insight into what the School Board may be required to do in order to earn support from charter school proponents, which includes City Council members and a number of influential political donors who have supported Curry and council members.

Mousa declined an interview Tuesday, but he maintained that he didn’t solicit the School Board for his services and that he sent Hershey the proposal at her request.

“I have the utmost admiration and respect for my long-time friend Warren Jones. Unfortunately, I don't recall the contact in that manner,” he said.

Jones said the phone call from Mousa felt serendipitous. At the beginning their conversation, Jones told Mousa he had been thinking of asking him to help refine the school district's master plan to spend the tax money, much like he did while working for former Mayor John Delaney during the 2000 campaign to approve the Better Jacksonville sales tax.

Jones said he didn’t expect to discuss hiring Mousa until after he retired from City Hall, but Mousa assured him there were no ethical issues.

He said Mousa, who he described as a good friend, assured him he could sell the plan to skeptical council members and Curry because they knew and trusted him. Jones said he didn’t envision hiring Mousa, an engineer, to lobby for the referendum.

The conversation took another unexpected turn when Mousa floated the upfront $150 million payment to charter schools.

“I was just blown away,” he said. “I just didn’t like the idea of hiring him and his partner. It just didn’t feel right. And it was for 2020. I felt like we needed to press forward for 2019.”

Even though the conversation didn’t sit right with him, Jones said he told Mousa that he’d relay their conversation to Duval Schools Superintendent Diana Greene. He said he held off on doing that, but when Mousa followed up on the request, he finally obliged.

School officials have encountered several lines of opposition to their plan, including pressure to provide the district’s 32 charter schools with a significant portion of any sales tax proceeds.

In response to that pressure, Greene tweaked the school’s plan last month by recommending charters receive the same funding as traditional schools for implementing safety and security measures. To receive the money, charter schools would have to agree to certain requirements, like conducting the same facility studies required of traditional schools and removing portable classrooms.

However, that measure wasn’t enough to appease charter proponents on the City Council, which continues to delay putting the referendum on the ballot.

“I can’t move this personally forward until there’s a guaranteed agreement in writing for money for public charter schools,” said Councilman Rory Diamond during a finance committee meeting last month, when a final vote on the referendum was last delayed.

At that same meeting, a frustrated Jones accused charter school supporters of holding the referendum "hostage" in order to receive more guaranteed money.

After a summer of struggles, the window for a 2019 referendum has all but closed. On Monday, Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan said his office didn’t have enough time to hold a special election on Nov. 5.

Jones said he remains frustrated and perplexed by the council’s unwillingness to let voters decide on the sales tax.

“I don’t know what it is,” he said. “That’s what prompted me to answer the phone call I got from a friend I’ve known for many years.”

Christopher Hong: (904) 359-4272

Emily Bloch: (904) 359-4083