by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
City Council president Jerry Holland took a contingent of six other Council members and all seven Duval County School Board members on a day-long retreat Monday in Ponte Vedra Beach. No, there weren’t massages, tanning sessions, mud baths or champagne brunches.
It was a working retreat designed to bring together two entities that rarely interact on a group basis. After five hours at Outpost Adventure, the groups left with a better understanding of each other as individuals and elected bodies. And, they left wanting to come back.
“It was good from the standpoint that it was an excellent chance for us and the School Board to build on our relationship,” said Holland. “In the end, everyone said we need to do this again and we need to do it twice a year.”
Based out of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, Outpost Adventure takes its clients to Guana State Park. The day-long program is designed to help people understand the easiest way to get from Point A to Point B is through the cooperative efforts of either teams or an entire group. This is accomplished through a variety of outdoor activities that include everything from solving a maze to getting over a wall. While some activities are more physically strenuous than others, all require two things: teamwork and thinking.
Usually, Outpost’s clients consist of businesses whose bosses have decided a day of working together outside will translate into more production back at the office. In the case of Jacksonville’s two elected bodies, the retreat was an opportunity to take entities that traditionally struggle to communicate and force them to succeed — together.
“I thought it was a great way to get to know people,” said School Board member Martha Barrett, who also spent several years in the mayor’s office under former mayor Jake Godbold. “I don’t know why we’ve never done this before. Maybe nobody ever thought about it. There’s never been any great animosity between us.”
Barrett believes the outing served a better purpose than gathering for lunch or drinks ever could.
“It was better because were away, we were in beautiful surroundings on a gorgeous day and the team-building exercises were really fun,” she said. “And, we all enjoyed sitting around at the end talking. We talked about their goals and we talked about our goals.”
Both Holland and School Board chair Kris Barnes said it took getting together on an informal basis to realize that, in the end, they are all in the same boat.
“The idea was to really forge that relationship and understand that we have a common goal. We need to make sure we know we are part of the same team,” said Barnes, adding that with Council working to make Jacksonville a better environment it will be easier for the School Board to create better schools; all of which will benefit the entire community. “All 14 of us were a team; we were not broken up into smaller teams. Whatever we did, we had to be successful as a team.”
“We have different roles, but serve the same customers. Those are the kind of things we learned,” said Holland. “They [the instructors] made you think and work together and think outside the box; all the things we could relate to as elected officials.”
Holland was not pleased that only seven of 19 invited Council members attended. Considering he paid for the entire outing out of his Council president reserve fund — about $10,000 a year — Holland said he expected a better turnout.
“All seven of the School Board members participated, but the City Council participation was not too good, and that was a little disappointing,” said Holland. “Some had legitimate excuses and those things happen. Still, we cannot make the comment that education is the number one issue and not have more participate. I think more Council members should have been there.”