• Former City Council Auditor Bob Johnson will join the Jacksonville Economic Development Commision for a temporary stint helping the commission install project monitoring and compliance systems.
• Jill Gleeson, vice president marketing/specialty events at BlueCross BlueShield of Northeast Florida, is the newest member of the Volunteer Jacksonville board of directors.
• City Council Vice President Michael Corrigan attended the Military Appreciation Night at the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens last Thursday to thank military personnel for their service. Also at the event were Colonel Jim Hooks, Captain Chip Dobson and Commander John Lobb, commanding officers for Blount Island, NAS Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport, respectively.
• Things aren’t looking sunny and dry for TV-12/25 meteorologist Tim Deegan on Wednesday. Deegan will be participating in Duval Honda’s annual Dunking Booth fundraiser to benefit the “Blow the Whistle on Asthma” walk for the American Lung Association. He’ll brave the booth from 9-10 a.m.
• KB Homes has a new director of public relations. It’s Juleigh Furlong.
• It was a stalled train in San Marco that wreaked havoc on rush-hour traffic Monday morning. Cars were backed up well down I-95 South.
• The Property Appraiser’s 2005-06 budget has been tentatively approved. It’s $8,701,862 and the office has 129 people working in it.
• The Ortega Member Services Center of the Navy Federal Credit Union will have its reopening ceremony this Monday.
• The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens has three new members of its board of trustees: Bob Helms, Florida CEO of Wachovia; longtime Cummer volunteer Linda Roe Alexander; and Russ Jollivette, senior vice president of public affairs for BlueCross BlueShield. They all begin five-year terms in September.
• The Chamber of Commerce is studying the value of the Area Councils. A survey will be sent next month to all Area Council members — that includes the Downtown Council — and members are encouraged to complete and return the questionnaire.
• An exciting morning at the Dyal-Upchurch building at the corner of Bay and Main streets. Fire trucks and police cruisers converged on the building mid-morning on Monday but there was no fire. Apparently the emergency call came because there was a vagrant sleeping on the fire escape behind the building.