by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“Representing the people in a City Council district is the kind of job that is what you make of it,” said Ray Holt, who was elected by the people of Dist. 11.
Holt said as soon as he began his term, he realized being a Council member was going to require “at minimum 15 hours a week, but if you wanted to go to everything, there are enough interesting things going on that you could devote 80 hours a week to the job.”
Holt said he plans to split the difference and between committee meetings and administrative tasks at City Hall plus spending time in his district, he’s looking at a work week of about 50 hours. He was assigned to the Public Health & Safety and Transportation, Energy & Utilities committees and also serves on the Jacksonville Waterways Commission and Value Adjustment Board.
Since 2005, Holt has published “North Jax Monthly,” a newspaper that serves the Northside neighborhoods and that put him in touch with the people, businesses and issues in the area. He said that experience educated him about the issues his constituents feel are most important.
“We covered a lot of public meetings and the thing that always came up as a topic was growth and how to manage it,” said Holt. “It’s a very far-flung district and stretches from Mayport to Oceanway to Dinsmore and Baldwin. It also includes Maxville and even a little chunk of Argyle Forest. Even though the population of my district is roughly equal to that of the other Council districts, it encompasses more than 25 percent of the county’s land area.”
Holt was born and raised on the Northside and believes the area is at a critical point in terms of what it represents to the county’s future in terms of residential and commercial development. He compared the area to the way Mandarin was years ago and said he’s looking forward to helping make decisions in the near future that will shape the area for years to come.
“The main issue I’ll be dealing with is how North Jacksonville will grow. I’m not opposed to growth. I love the area and realize it’s like a slice of heaven for developers, but I want to see it grow in a positive way,” he said. “Duval County needs to have a place where people can own a few acres and maybe even have a horse if that’s what they want. We must preserve part of Jacksonville for rural residential area and my district is all that’s left. It also represents our opportunity to slow the migration (out of the county) of people who want to live a rural lifestyle.”
After his first town meeting, Holt said he gained a new appreciation for the people in his district and the things that are important to them.
“What some people might consider small issues are not small issues to the people who live there and are affected,” he noted.
Holt also commented on the fast start he and his colleagues on the 2007-11 Council experienced. The group went to work as soon as they were sworn in due to the budget issues caused by the state’s modifications of property tax revenue.
“It was a steep learning curve, but we jumped right in,” he said. “Between the time we found out how much revenue the City was going to have and the day we had to pass a budget was less than a month, but I think we’ll be a better Council for it.”