Mayor Alvin Brown plans to ask City Council today to add the administration’s proposed economic development reorganization to the Council agenda, confirmed Chief of Staff Chris Hand.
Council meets at 5 p.m., preceded by a 4 p.m. agenda meeting, at City Hall.
The proposed legislation would be an addendum to the Council agenda.
Hand said this morning that staff was “working through the legislation to resolve any outstanding issues.”
“Final decisions are being made this morning,” he said.
Council President Stephen Joost said Thursday that he was asked by the administration to add the pending legislation to today’s Council agenda.
“I told them I would put them on the agenda,” Joost said, deferring to the mayor’s office for details.
Hand said Thursday that the administration plans to have economic development reform legislation ready for introduction today.
Brown pledged a reorganization of economic development upon taking office in July.
In one step toward changing the structure, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission moved Friday from the Police and Fire Pension Fund Building to City Hall and its name was changed to the Office of Economic Development.
The 15-year-old commission was started by former Mayor John Delaney in 1997.
JAXUSA Partnership President Jerry Mallot, an adviser to Brown, told the Meninak Club of Jacksonville on Monday the City’s new economic development structure is expected to be introduced very soon, but did not say when.
“We’re close to introducing a new structure about economic development,” Mallot told the group.
He said the structure will include policies to streamline economic development.
Mallot is one of two executives on loan to Brown to develop strategies for countywide and Downtown economic development. He has been working on overall strategy while Jacksonville Civic Council Executive Director Don Shea has been focused on Downtown strategies.
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