by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Despite a narrow loss in his Dist. 5 City Council bid last spring, Jay Jabour is expected to make a different kind of public splash if legislation appointing him to a Downtown Development Authority advisory board passes before the Council next month.
The resolution, which was made at the request of Mayor John Peyton, had its first reading last week and remains under review in the Council’s Rules Committee.
“I’m really excited about it,” said Jabour of the appointment that would expire in 2007. “When the mayor called me about a week ago and asked if it was something I would be interested in doing, I couldn’t believe it.”
To be eligible to serve on the unpaid committee of seven — they are primarily responsible for providing preliminary analyses and reviews of JEDC projects, downtown — candidates must be at least 25 years old and have lived in the community for at least two years.
“There is a lot of good happening downtown, and this is a wonderful time to be involved with that,” said Jabour. “I’ve always been a big supporter of downtown.”
Jabour, who can serve up to two four-year terms on the committee, added there were no sour grapes in coming up short by fewer than 100 votes to Council member Art Shad.
“That has nothing to do with my participating with the DDA,” he said. “When I was running for the Council, I said I was doing it because I wanted to give back to the community.
“That hasn’t changed, and I’m looking forward doing that in any capacity.”
Shad, in response to being in the unusual circumstance of voting for or against his former opponent’s appointment, said he felt “comfortable” reviewing the bill.
“I know the mayor takes his appointments very seriously, and I would support most if not all of his recommendations,” he said. “I’m sure Jay would be an excellent asset to the DDA.”