by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Mayor-elect John Peyton has assembled a multi-layer Transition Steering Committee to help him evaluate personnel and issues as he prepares to lead a city of one million.
Sheriff-elect John Rutherford is busy doing the same, and he’s already pitching a massive reorganization effort.
Jim Overton is doing much of the same, but on a smaller scale. The soon-to-be-former Dist. 14 City Council member handily defeated William King May 13 to become Duval County’s next property appraiser. In succeeding longtime appraiser Ernie Mastroianni, Overton is inheriting arguably the second-most important — behind City Hall — elected position in Jacksonville. For at least the next four years, Overton will help determine the property tax rate in Jacksonville, a topic that not only hits home, but hits the wallet.
Like Peyton and Rutherford, Overton has assembled a transition team made up of several people from both the public and private sector. He’s also trying to familiarize himself with the office, how it works and who’s there.
“I’ve been to the office to talk about budget stuff a couple of time now,” said Overton, who served on Council for 10 years and will step down June 30 because of term limits. (His district will be handled by Michael Corrigan.) “I’ve had one meeting with Ernie that lasted about an hour and a half.”
Overton’s transition team includes former assistant appraiser Edgar Smith, who recently retired, Wilson Abboud, who retired from the property appraiser’s office a few years ago, Tom Sandlin, a private tax advisor, Walter Lampe, a master appraiser, Bill Jeter, a private real estate attorney, Council auditor Bob Johnson and Cal Ray, director of finance for the City.
With his team, Overton intends to spend the next few weeks learning about the office and his job. Unlike Peyton, very little, if any, time will be devoted to poring over resumes and evaluating current employees.
“The transition team has met weekly, going through the typical things,” said Overton. “One of those is the organizational chart. We haven’t gotten into looking at resumes. We have looked at the organizational charts for Hillsborough [Tampa] and Orange [Orlando] counties, which are most comparable to us. We have not made many decisions, but we are getting closer.
“I expect there will be a lot to do after July 1. This is different from the mayor, who wants everyone in place by July 1. That’s not going to happen here.”
In addition to facing pressing issues such as his budget (which must go before Council within a month of taking the job) and a tax roll that is due July 1, Overton will also have to deal with an audit — the same one Johnson, under the direction of Mayor John Delaney, has been trying to conduct for the better part of the past year. Overton says he’s ready.
“I welcome the audit,” said Overton who intends to use it as almost a learning tool. “It will tell me what to worry about from an evaluation standpoint. I have no clue what’s in the audit and Bob Johnson hasn’t hinted about anything. I know he’s looking for some help with the commercial property downtown.”
(Actually, Johnson won’t be doing the audit. He, too, is retiring at the end of June and assistant Council auditor Richard Wallace is expected to get the nod as his successor.)
Despite 10 years on Council and plenty of good help around him, Overton still expects it will take time for him to fully learn the job and the ins and outs of the office.
“I think it will take probably the first year to figure out the things I don’t know,” said Overton. “I won’t truly be effective in the job until after that. There will be no wholesale changes in the office. There are a couple of positions up in the air at this point. We’ll go at it a little at a time with incremental changes.”