by Tammy Taylor
Staff Writer
A familiar face to City Council members now has a new role.
On March 8, Paul Crawford begins his duties as the City Council liaison for Mayor John Peyton.
Crawford, currently chief of strategic planning for the Planning Department, has spent the past four years developing a relationship with members of the Council.
“Throughout my career, I’ve worked closely with the City Council,” said Crawford. “In fact, 60 percent of all things that go through City Council are rezoning, land use amendments or amendments to some portion of the zoning code. In that capacity, we have to have a direct dialog to let City Council members know what’s going on in their district and express our concerns not only in a format such as Land Use and Zoning committees, but in other committees, as well as at the City Council, at which point I deal with each member on a one-on-one basis to express our concerns and positions.”
Being a mediator between zoning applicants and Council members will allow Crawford to take on his new duties with little transition time.
“Paul is an experienced professional who has dealt extensively with the City Council,” said Mayor John Peyton. “He can hit the ground running and I look forward to having him on our team.”
As Council liaison, Crawford will take his previously established relationships with Council members and utilize them from an administrative perspective as he “tries to build a consensus between the executive branch and legislative branch” of the City government.
Working with the mayor’s office will allow him to learn a new perspective on Council he said.
“(Being Council liaison) will give me the opportunity to figure out which sides of various issues, other than land use and zoning, affect the citizenry and the different sides of each issue,” said Crawford.
Crawford, a graduate from Louisiana State University, moved to Florida soon after receiving his bachelor’s in landscape architecture.
“I interviewed with several different firms throughout the state of Florida. I knew that was where I wanted to go. The opportunities here are tremendous,” said Crawford.
Crawford signed on with the Jacksonville development firm of Parsons, Harland, Bartholemew and Associates where he became a development planner.
Crawford came to work for the City when he took a position with the Department of Public Works, and four years ago, Crawford moved to the Planning Department.
Crawford said he may enter the political arena one day, and working to help an elected political figure is a step in furthering his own career.
“But right now,” he said, “my first priority is to see what I can do for the mayor.”