by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Reggie Fullwood went to bed Tuesday night as a City Council member. He woke up Wednesday morning as Jacksonville's mayor.
It sounds like a stunning rise to power for the District 9 Council member, but Fullwood owes his sudden ascension to the City's charter and Mayor John Peyton's travel agent.
With the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce's leadership trip to Boston keeping Peyton out of town until Friday and the three highest ranking Council members with him, the job of acting mayor fell to Fullwood. He's filling in for Council member Mia Jones (also in Boston) as the Rules Committee chair, a role that also landed him in the mayor's seat for three days.
The duty won't add much to Fullwood's agenda. The acting mayor assumes the powers of office only in emergency circumstances, and technology has stripped the job down even further.
"They'd just call the mayor on his cell phone if anything happened," said Fullwood.
But Fullwood has a couple of ideas for some minor tweaks to public policy he might pursue during his limited tenure.
"Some small things," said Fullwood, a smile spreading across his face. "I'm going to overhaul the Better Jacksonville Plan. The County Courthouse, I've got some ideas there. And I'm going to clear out Cecil Field and put in a Wally World."
That agenda seemed to gain some traction with Peyton when he popped his head in Fullwood's office. Peyton wished Fullwood luck as he headed back out the door.
"Just don't mess anything up," Peyton warned with a good-natured grin. "Things are running smooth around here."
If Fullwood's stay in the mayor's office was four years instead of three days, he said he'd emphasize economic development and infrastructure improvements in the City's urban core.
"There's been some inequality in terms of the way we address issues like drainage and infrastructure in those core city neighborhoods," said Fullwood. "Those are necessary steps if we're going to spur the kind of economic development we need in those neighborhoods."