by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Lad Daniels has a busy and important year ahead. Though still a week away from being installed as City Council president, Daniels isn’t wasting any time preparing himself — and the Council — for what’s ahead.
Daniels called a meeting Friday with the chairs and vice chairs of the newly-appointed Council committees, most of whom are new faces at City Hall. All but Lake Ray and Lynette Self attended.
“I’ve given a lot of careful consideration to what I believe to be the key issues for Jacksonville’s future,” said Daniels. “Beyond that, it’s important for all of us on the Council to think of them in both the short and long term.”
Topping Daniel’s list of 19 key issues — what he called “the meat” of the meeting — is the City budget.
“It’s a priority and we have a responsibility to treat it as one,” he said. “There’s no doubt about that. Jacksonville is experiencing a relative prosperity right now. There’s some good money coming in, but this is an issue we are going to have to handle with a great deal of discipline this year and the year after that and the year after that. We need to look at how we can improve our economic well being. If we can do that, some of our other problems may also go away.”
Other areas of concern for Daniels are work force preparation, education and the much talked about Intelligent Traffic System.
“[ITS] may be a way to significantly increase traffic capacity and extend the need for capital improvements,” said Daniels.
To address those issues, Daniels called for a running dialogue between the committees.
“I’m playing the role of the professor today and I don’t mind being a mentor,” he said, “but everyone’s input is valuable. I’m looking forward to having more informal, non-stilted conversation. I hope all 19 on the Council can contribute in some way. We have to get out of thinking that we have to do things the way they have always been done before.”
The symbiotic relationships among districts and Council members was a running theme during the meeting.
“When I made my appointments for these committees, I looked at each person’s individual skill sets,” said Daniels. “We have the right people working for the City. It should be interesting to watch the dynamic that we’ll have the new administration.”