{"id":279332,"date":"2026-05-21T11:02:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279332\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T11:02:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:02:33","slug":"jacksonville-city-council-hears-arguments-for-against-hb1038","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/279332\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville City Council Hears Arguments For\/Against HB1038"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/aol_wnct_greenville_articles_762\/9542e7bd3600e1fd9f2d83ef9b372de8.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>JACKSONVILLE N.C.- (WNCT) The public got to voice their opinions on HB1038 during Jacksonville\u2019s city council meeting Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>The packed, roughly four-hour long meeting, heard support both for and against the bill, which proposes getting rid of Jacksonville\u2019s ward system and instead making every seat at-large.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs discrimination on race okay if your tribe or your side is on the benefitting side of it? We all know the answer to that question,\u201d one person said during public comment.<\/p>\n<p>Another said, \u201c\u2018The present ward system ensures that each neighborhood has representation tailored to the unique needs and concerns of its constituency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Councilwoman Mickey Smith played audio from the state legislature\u2019s recent committee hearing on the bill where it was later pulled to look over additional information and solutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want municipal authority,\u201d Smith said during the meeting. \u201cPreserve ward-based representation of voter equity and ensure this council represents Jacksonville\u2019s brand as the all-American city caring community. Our city. One city. My city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chairman of the Onslow County Republican Party Laura Deptola argues that having wards that include Marine Corps bases Camp Lejeune and Air Station New River creates an unfair advantage since most people living on those bases do not vote in municipal elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou only need around 100 votes to win, where in the other two wards you need over a thousand votes to win,\u201d Deptola said. \u201cOnslow County has proven that we can and do elect minorities, which is clear with Bill Lanier, Robin Knapp, Louis Rogers. It\u2019s not about not electing minorities. It\u2019s about setting the playing field even.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ylk=\"slk:For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wnct.com\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WNCT.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE N.C.- (WNCT) The public got to voice their opinions on HB1038 during Jacksonville\u2019s city council meeting Tuesday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[27489,116,118,117,119221,119222],"class_list":["post-279332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-city-council-meeting","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-mickey-smith","tag-ward-system"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}