University of North Florida President John Delaney, who served as chancellor of the State University System in 2008-09, said Thursday evening he was not interested in serving permanently in the newly opened chancellor position.
Delaney said he signed a five-year "revenue-neutral" contract Monday at UNF, which he joined in 2003, "so I plan on staying."
The Jacksonville.com database on public salaries lists Delaney's 2012 base salary at $372,394, not counting bonus pay.
Chancellor Frank Brogan, 59, announced Wednesday he would take the position as chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on Oct. 1.
"I am not interested in the permanent position, and it has not been offered," Delaney said in an email.
"It has been offered multiple times in the years before both Mark Rosenberg and Frank Brogan served, but I love Jacksonville and UNF. In 2008-09, I did serve as the Interim Chancellor as what we called President-in-Residence for legal reasons," he said.
"I did double duty as I remained UNF President. I would always be willing to help the Board of Governors but I think we have some other options for replacement," he said.
Delaney, 57, did not want to comment on those options.
Delaney, a Republican, served as Jacksonville mayor from 1995-2003. He was named president of UNF after his two consecutive terms as mayor.
Delaney earned his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Florida.
According to news reports, Brogan said he had planned to vacate his current post when his five-year contract expires late next year. He also is nearing the deadline for exiting the state's Deferred Retirement Option Program, he said during a news conference.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that Brogan has been involved in public education or government in Florida for the past 35 years, including serving as the head administrator over Florida's public universities since 2009. Previously, he was president of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. He was lieutenant governor under former Gov. Jeb Bush and was state commissioner of education from 1995-99.
According to the State University System Florida Board of Governors site, flbog.edu, Brogan was elected lieutenant governor in 1998 and re-elected in 2002.
A year later, Brogan was selected to be president of Florida Atlantic University, a position he held until 2009, when the Board of Governors of the State University System unanimously chose him to serve as chancellor of Florida's public universities, the site says.
He is a native of Ohio, earning a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Cincinnati and a master's degree in education from Florida Atlantic University.
Rosenberg, the fifth president of Florida International University, served as chancellor from 2005-08.
Delaney's name regularly surfaces for City, state and educational offices.
He said he has heard the rumors about serving as president of the University of Florida or running for Jacksonville mayor in 2015 against incumbent Democrat Alvin Brown.
"I am not running in 2015," he said of the mayor's race. The first election is March 24, 2015, and the general election is May 19, 2015.
As for the Florida presidency, "I did not apply for the most recent UF opening though I was approached by numerous UF board members who wanted me in that job."
University of Florida President Bernie Machen had announced his retirement for the end of 2013, but decided to remain at the request of Gov. Rick Scott and UF Board of Trustees Chair David Brown.
Delaney said one's alma mater "always has a tug on one's heart."
He said he met and married his wife, Gena, there and nine members of his family are graduates and his closest friends remain from those days.
"Once again, I love Jacksonville and love UNF. Two of my college-age kids have graduated from UNF, a third is getting a graduate degree from here and the fourth has UNF as his No. 1 college destination," Delaney said.
"All had great grades from a college prep high school and great SAT scores — they could have gone anywhere so I really believe in UNF's educational experience," he said.
Regarding the mayor's race, Delaney said he has "always sat out mayor's races as UNF president."
"I concluded that a Jacksonville mayor's race was too personal for the community," he said. "The community is typically divided in that race, so I stay out."
He said close friends have run, including Nat Glover, Mike Weinstein, Rick Mullaney and Audrey Moran. All lost their bids for mayor.
Delaney said that businessman Herb Peyton was one of four people who recruited him to run for mayor. Peyton's son, John Peyton, succeeded Delaney as mayor for two terms, 2003-11.
Delaney said he remains involved in most other races, always on the Republican side or in nonpartisan races.
Value Place OK'd for 2nd new hotel
The City approved the permit for EMJ Hospitality to build a Value Place extended stay hotel in West Jacksonville at 6916 103rd St., the second Value Place approved in a week.
The four-story, 45,528-square-foot hotel will be built at a construction cost of almost $3.42 million.
The City OK'd construction of the West Jacksonville hotel on Tuesday and the North Jacksonville hotel at 10520 Balmoral Circle W. on Thursday.
That one is the same size at a construction cost of $3.5 million. The FaverGray Co. is the contractor for that.
The ValuePlace.com site shows Value Place hotels operate at 8341 Dames Point Crossing Blvd. in Arlington and at 3425 Saland Way at Beach Boulevard in Southside.
Ocenture/HCI putting name on Southpoint building
Ocenture/HCI Group is putting its name on the Southpoint building where it is expanding.
The City approved permits for Brown Enterprises to put up two wall signs, at a cost of $17,000, on the 6440 Southpoint Parkway building.
As the Daily Record reported Jan. 29, Jacksonville-based Ocenture, a private-label product developer, was moving and expanding in Southside toward its goal of doubling in revenues within 24 months.
Ocenture founder and CEO Fraser Burns said the company was leaving about 10,000 square feet of space at 4899 Belfort Road, Suite 400, for a move to the third floor of a building in the Summit at Southpoint, where it is leasing about 26,000 square feet of space.
The Summit at Southpoint comprises buildings at 6410, 6420, 6430 and 6440 Southpoint Parkway, facing Interstate 95 off Butler Boulevard.
Burns said Ocenture plans to expand its product lines and increase sales efforts nationally and internationally.
"The current expansion plan should double the size of the company within 24 months," he said.
Ocenture's services include working with clients to develop and launch new products and market them.
Burns said he is an equity owner and partner in Ocenture and The HCI Group. Both operate in the same office, he said.
He said Richard Caplin is the CEO of The HCI Group. HCI is Healthcare Clinical Informatics.
Thehcigroup.com site says HCI is a specialist health care IT consulting company with operations in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Middle East.
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