by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The Mayor’s Office confirmed Thursday that several positions at the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission will be eliminated as early as next week.
When Mayor John Peyton took office July 1, 2003, one of his first objectives was to look at the JEDC and implement ways in which the economic development agency could function more efficiently. Next week’s cuts will be the final piece of that downsizing process.
“The mayor has said from the beginning that he wanted to get the JEDC from 42 people to 30 and we are halfway there now,” said Susie Wiles, Peyton’s Chief of Special Initiatives & Communication. “We are anticipating that the staff will be further streamlined. Mayor Peyton has been looking at the JEDC to make cuts and this budget is coming at a difficult time.”
The streamlining process began last summer when Peyton and others on his executive staff began the task of evaluating the JEDC from top to bottom. That evaluation also included the formation of strategic plan and master agenda for the JEDC once the staff has been pared to Peyton’s preference of 30.
The first change implemented was to move the JEDC’s international division over to the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce. Three other positions were eliminated when three former JEDC staffers who worked on the Super Bowl Host Committee were not retained after their Host Committee duties
ended.
“Others were pared through attrition,” said Wiles, who said the positions that will be eliminated have been determined, but she declined to divulge those positions or who has those jobs. She did say most of the positions were in the mid-management level. “They will all be told about the changes during a one-on-one meeting with their supervisor.”
One of the key issues during this downsizing is going to be severance packages. All of the employees who will be let go will be vested — that is they will have at least five years with the City — at the time. Wiles said she was not sure whether any of them, regardless of their time with the City, will be offered a severance package, but they will be paid for any unused vacation time.
That policy contradicts what happened earlier this year when Michael Payne left the Office of Faith Based Initiatives after a little over four months and was granted a severance package that pays him salary and health benefits through the end of June. When asked how Payne could receive a severance package and JEDC employees with several years on the job may not, Wiles said, “That question will be there forever.”
When asked who authorized Payne’s severance deal, Wiles said “I plead the fifth (amendment) on that.”
The new face of the JEDC will also come with possibly a new executive director and definitely a chief operating officer. Jeanne Miller is currently the interim executive director, a job she has held since February when Kirk Wendland resigned. Over the past few months, the mayor’s office has been conducting a national search for a new director. That search, being done by Jorgenson Consulting, came up with eight names, one of which was Miller. Wiles said that list has since been pared down to three and an announcement is coming soon regarding the new executive director.
Under the reorganization, the JEDC will remain primarily an agency devoted to generating new business for Jacksonville and working to improve downtown on both a commercial and residential front.
“It will focus solely on economic development activities,” said Wiles. “It will be a purely economic development agency. Once we make these changes, we will leave it alone for a while and see how it works. The new matrix plan for incentives is fact-based and data driven. The mayor has set lofty goals and those are a vigorous focus on downtown and raising the per capita income in Jacksonville. Businesses that do that are his number one priority.”
The JEDC was formed by former Mayor John Delaney in 1997 to serve as an economic engine for downtown and the Southbank. While the agency has had its setbacks — the recent Shipyards Grand Jury investigation, for example — the agency has been responsible for many downtown commercial and residential projects. The JEDC has partially incentivized the Hyatt Regency (formerly the Adam’s Mark), 11 E., The Carling, River City Marketplace, San Marco Place and dozens of smaller projects all over downtown and the Northside.