by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
City Council vice president-elect Lad Daniels has suggested that the make up of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission be revamped — not the multi-dimensional economic engine, but the seven-member voting body. Daniels, speaking at the end of the last meeting of the Special Committee on Economic Development Incentives, said that he’s not sure the Downtown Development Authority chairman should be an automatic member of the JEDC.
“I’d like to take a look at the make up of the JEDC,” said Daniels, going through a “laundry list” of items the special Council committee didn’t get to during its 10-month existence but that he’d like to see addressed in the future.
Jim Citrano, managing director of CB Richard Ellis, is the current chair of the DDA and by virtue of that position is also a member of the JEDC. Daniels contends that Citrano may have an unfair advantage in that he gets to vote twice on projects that must receive approval from both the DDA and the JEDC before being sent on to City Council. Daniels calls it taking “two bites of the same apple” and would like to see a seventh separate appointed member of the JEDC.
Along with the rest of the committee, chair Alberta Hipps was surprised by Daniels’ statement.
“Are you saying there is a conflict of interest?” questioned Hipps.
Hipps pointed out that she serves on the Cecil Field Redevelopment Committee and often votes on projects that will eventually go before the full Council.
As a member of both entities, Citrano does have the ability to vote twice for projects. However, he has a history of abstaining from a vote if a project remotely presents an advantageous situation for him personally or his real estate management company.
Ironically, as a Council member, Daniels finds himself in the same situation as Citrano. In fact, Daniels will spend the next year as not only Council vice president but also as a member of three Council standing committees: Finance, Land Use & Zoning and Transportation, Environment & Energy. During that time, he will vote multiple times on multiple ordinances and resolutions due to the fact that a huge majority of ordinances and resolutions must make it out of at least one standing committee before being heard by the full Council. Daniels said it is a point well-taken.
“But,” he said, “there are only 19 of us elected to represent over 800,000 people. Can’t we find seven separate people to sit on the JEDC?”
Daniels also said he can’t take the credit for such a proposal.
“I wish I could say it was an original idea, but it actually came from people who have served on the JEDC in the past,” said Daniels. “The initial thought was that groups who routinely recommend projects to the JEDC, why do they have the right to vote again on projects? From a public perspective standpoint, we need another vote at the table.
“I never had any selfish intentions when I brought this up. It’s just food for thought. It’s one of those things that you throw out there against the wall. Some stick and some don’t.”
Both the DDA and the JEDC are positions appointed by the mayor that require Council approval.
Citrano, who is a good friend of Daniels, took no offense to the suggestion, but couldn’t explain it either.
“I don’t think it had to do with conflicts of interest. I don’t know why he said it,” said Citrano, adding that if he ventured a guess “it would be conjecture.”
Audrey Moran, Mayor John Delaney’s chief of staff, explained that by law the DDA chairman is a standing member of the JEDC and, when Delaney formed the JEDC in 1996, the law was written specifically to include the DDA chairman regardless of who it is at the time.
“When we formed the JEDC, we didn’t want to lose focus of downtown and what the DDA was doing downtown,” said Moran, a former DDA chair and JEDC member. “Keeping the DDA chair as a standing member of the JEDC is a way of keeping that focus. It is outlined by law as to who is on the JEDC and to change that would require a legal change.
“The mayor is a supporter of having the chair of the DDA on the JEDC and he wants downtown to remain a priority in this community. He is always willing to talk to Councilman Daniels about his ideas and welcomes input about the JEDC.”
Citrano explained that having a member of the DDA occupy a seat on the JEDC is a way of assuring downtown isn’t forgotten. When it was originally created, the DDA, obviously, concentrated primarily on providing economic incentives in the immediate downtown area. When the JEDC was created, the geographical boundaries of those incentives grew dramatically, especially north and west of the river.
“When the JEDC was formed, the concern was because the JEDC was county-wide, that redevelopment of downtown would lose some emphasis,” explained Citrano. “We wanted to assure them there was still progress in the downtown area. It’s an emphasis thing. The DDA has its own importance in recognizing how the revitalization of downtown affects everybody.”
Citrano also said that he and Daniels are in similar situations.
“What’s interesting is that being DDA chairman is very much like being a Councilman at-large, which Councilman Daniels is,” said Citrano. “You don’t really have your own district, but rather the whole county to worry about. At the same time, each area has its own district Council member.
“It’s not personal, he’s just trying to make a point.”