The $2.2 billion Better Jacksonville Plan is not only the most innovative, aggressive taxpayer-funded project in the history of Jacksonville, it’s also one of the best sales jobs ever completed. Outside of Mayor John Delaney, no two people in town are more in touch with the Plan and its projects than Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa and Chief of Staff Audrey Moran. Daily Record staff writer Mike Sharkey met recently with Mousa and Moran about the Plan and where it’s headed.
Question: How is everything associated with the Plan going these days?
Mousa: Everything is going well. We’re on time and on budget with all our projects. Our designs are coming to fruition as we envisioned. It’s going extremely well.
Q: The Plan was passed over two years ago, the tax has been in effect almost two years and the projects have been underway almost a year. Are you pleasantly surprised at this point or are you where you expected to be?
Mousa: We expected this progress. You know, it’s always tough getting started. There were a lot of professionals that had to be hired. There was a lot of organization that had to be done. There was a lot of sequencing that needed to take place. I think it’s fair to say we expected to be doing this well when we first began.
Moran: We thought it was a huge task passing the Better Jacksonville Plan. Implementing the Better Jacksonville Plan is an even bigger task. The logistics, the planning, the hiring have gone very, very well. But every day, there is no higher priority than the Better Jacksonville Plan on the fourth floor [of City Hall in the mayor’s office]. And because it’s that high of a priority, I think that is why you are seeing the progress, that’s why it’s on budget, that’s why it’s on time. It is our A-No. 1 priority for every member of this team.
Q: Hindsight is always 20-20. Is there anything, at this point, you can look at and say, ‘We should have done it differently?’
Mousa: You always wish you could do things better, that you may not have done things just as well as you could have. But, anything significant? No. There’s some minor stuff that I would have thought about doing a little bit differently. But is it going to impact the projects in any way? No. Would it have made the projects any better? I don’t think so. But you always wish you could redo your decisions over and over again, but you don’t have the time. You just go with the best decision you can make, listen to staff, check it off with me and Audrey and others and then you go for it.
Q: The first year of the tax didn’t generate the kind of revenue expected. How is the revenue flow this year?
Moran: I’d say that we are doing very well as far as our numbers go. We keep very close tabs on the revenues we have coming in as well as what we’re spending. We meet every week with all the project managers and once a month with everybody involved with the Better Jacksonville Plan, along with the mayor, to continually update where we are from a money perspective, where we are from a design perspective and where we are from a construction perspective. That close watch on the dollars has really paid off for us.
Q: Will this year make up for last year’s shortfall or will it take a couple of years?
Mousa: Keep in mind, you can’t compare this year to last year. Last year, the tax started in January. This year, the tax basically covers from October [2001] through September [2002], so this year is going to have three more months. But the new half-cent is annualizing very closely to the existing half-cent and we think that’s a very good sign. It [the tax] started off a little rough, we don’t think some of the vendors may have been collecting it or charging it, but over the first year that has leveled out and the collections are right in line with our models and if they continue that way then, yes, you are probably looking at 22, 23 years as the mayor would say in lieu of the full 30. But, again, it’s so early. It’s almost two years into a 30-year program, so it’s too early to set the trend.
Q: Are the issues at the ball park and arena with illegal employees settled and will that be an issue at the library and courthouse?
Moran: We have been very proactive on the issue of undocumented workers. We have met with the Border Patrol. We have made it quite clear to them we want to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with law enforcement in making sure our job sites are legal and they have assured us we are doing everything we can and should be doing to support their efforts.
Q: What about the subcontractors?
Moran: We have also made very clear through our project managers and our program managers that those subcontractors are going to be held accountable. We have clear documentation in all the contracts on all the Better Jacksonville Plan sites that undocumented workers are not allowed, will not be allowed and can result in a termination of their contract. We think we are getting good cooperation. We have learned that this is a big problem in other cities all around the country that are going through a construction boom like we are. But I don’t think there’s another city in this country that is as proactive in making sure our jobs sites are legal as Jacksonville.
Mousa: We have also confirmed that most of those, if not all of those individuals who were found to be illegal, had forged documents that the subcontractor, the City, the contractor, anybody, couldn’t do anything about. They had green cards that were forged, they had Social Security numbers that were forged, they had driver’s licenses that were forged. It becomes very difficult to know who these folks are, especially when they show you actual paperwork. That’s a problem that’s just going to go on. And, as Audrey said, it goes on all over the country.
Q: Given the fact that there are two big projects — the library and the courthouse — that have yet to begin, combined with the local construction work force, is there any consideration being given to assisting illegal workers in becoming legal?
Mousa: I don’t think it’s our position to help our contractors get their work forces legal. That’s not our role. Our role in government is to hire qualified contractors. Keep in mind, they [the contractors] have federal laws they need to adhere to, too. It’s not just us subject to the laws. They know what they have to do to legalize people. We’re not going to get in the business of naturalization. We are going to get into the business of assuring our job sites are run by the contractors according to the law.
Moran: The contractors we hire are well-aware of the ongoing construction projects throughout this city. They assure us when they come on to the job they will be able to bring with them qualified workers in sufficient supply to get our projects done on schedule. That’s their obligation, they understand it and they’re going to be expected to meet it.
Q: What happens to the project managers after their respective projects are finished?
Mousa: Dave Schneider [arena and ball park manager] is unique. He was with the City before Better Jacksonville started. Dave will have a place with City government. He will probably go back to managing roadways or other Public Works projects. The others came on board with the understanding their jobs will be terminated once the project is completed. That was the initial understanding. There may be other needs for them depending on what’s in the hopper.
Q: Do you worry about the Plan and the projects regardless of who’s elected mayor?
Moran: The Better Jacksonville Plan is our baby that we have been nurturing and caring for and watching grow. To say that we aren’t wistful, perhaps a better word, about the fact that we will be gone and not get to see most of the work fully completed or our baby fully grown, would be untrue. We are wistful about that and we are concerned about that. That’s why as Jacksonville looks to who they want for their next mayor, they need to think very clearly about the fact that the next administration will take over $2.2 billion worth of construction in Jacksonville and that’s a big project and the next administration is going to have a huge responsibility.
Mousa: We also face a responsibility to leave the projects in the best possible shape from a schedule standpoint, a production standpoint and a financial standpoint. I totally agree with what Audrey just said, but in addition to that, we will work night and day to assure that the day we do walk out of here, nobody will ever come back and say, ‘Better Jax wasn’t managed correctly, wasn’t scheduled correctly, wasn’t produced correctly.’ It will, as it is today, continue to be on time, on budget and that’s the only way to turn the reins over to someone.
Moran: Mayor Delaney has already made clear that whoever is the next mayor, he or she and their team will be working with us very closely during that two-month transition period, getting them up to speed on the projects, getting them up to speed on the processes and programming that we have in place so that the transition will be as seamless as possible.