Jacob Gordon was confirmed Wednesday as the second executive director of Downtown Vision, for the second time.
The former executive director of the Business Improvement District in Camden, N.J., was the unanimous choice among four finalists for the $115,000-a-year job.
He will succeed Terry Lorince, the Downtown advocacy organization’s executive director since it was established in 2001.
“The interview process was me telling them what I thought. Now, I can meet the board members individually and find out what they want,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
His first day on the job is scheduled May 11.
The selection committee agreed that Gordon’s more than eight years of experience managing a district similar to Jacksonville’s made him the clear choice among the candidates.
“He has a deep body of work around what we want done here,” said Debbie Buckland, DVI board chair.
A dissimilarity between Jacksonville and Camden is that property owners in Camden make voluntary contributions to create the BID’s $1.3 million annual operating budget. In Jacksonville, property owners within the 90-block district are assessed an additional 1.1 mills of property taxes to support DVI’s $1.3 million budget.
Gordon said not having to raise funds every year will allow him more time to “get things done,” but the difference in the mechanism for contribution doesn’t change his or DVI’s responsibilities.
“The businesses contribute to the organization and we have to show them value,” he said.
Committee member Steve Crosby cited Gordon’s background in a voluntary contribution BID as a factor in his decision.
“He showed more than any other candidate the ability to generate a lot of money,” Crosby said. “That’s something we haven’t taken advantage of at DVI.”
Ex officio board member Keith Brown said Gordon’s ability to overcome perceptions about lack of public safety in Camden will translate well to Downtown. Even though there is far less violent crime in the core than in the suburbs, many people regard Downtown as unsafe.
“Camden is one of the toughest cities in the country. We deal with the perception of safety in the urban core every day,” he said.
Board member Bill Prescott said Gordon could face an early challenge in that he is from another city and doesn’t know the key players in Jacksonville and Downtown. There will be a “learning curve,” Prescott said.
To make the new executive’s education about the local contacts easier, Buckland plans to establish an “integration task force” to introduce Gordon to city government officials and Downtown stakeholders.
The committee previously selected Gordon during private proceedings between April 1 when final interviews were conducted and April 9, when the decision was announced to the full board.
The meeting Wednesday was necessitated due to the committee violating the Government in the Sunshine Law earlier this month by deliberating and selecting Gordon outside a properly noticed public meeting.
“It was a teachable moment,” said Buckland, who also scheduled training about the Sunshine Law for board members.
The other candidates were Jason Dennison, president of Downtown Sioux Falls, the South Dakota city’s BID; Sunny Gettinger, a former Google department manager and former chair of Riverside Avondale Preservation; and Abel Harding, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville board chair.
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