by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
With the National Football League playoffs in full swing, it’s appropriate that Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Executive Director Ron Barton used a metaphor from the gridiron to describe his understaffed organization.
“We’re playing iron man football,” said Barton at a Wednesday JEDC workshop.
The term refers to the sport’s early days when a lack of manpower forced players to play both offense and defense. Barton has plotted his own ambitious game plan for the JEDC in 2006. But he said he needs a full roster to make it happen.
Four months after taking the top job at the JEDC, Barton’s 28-position staff is only about 80 percent full. He needs to make five hires before the JEDC is fully staffed.
The job search is about to begin for the two priority positions, Chief of Business Development and Chief of Downtown Development and Redevelopment.
Barton said those jobs could be advertised as early as today. The JEDC is waiting for the City’s Human Resources Division to issue job descriptions, preferred experience and salary ranges for the jobs.
The JEDC also needs to hire a Compliance Coordinator and manager positions for downtown development and recruiting targeted industries.
Filling those positions is crucial as the JEDC embarks on an ambitious agenda in 2006. Barton hopes to bolster the commission’s presence as downtown’s Community Redevelopment Agency, guiding the allocation of development rights on the Southbank and the development of workforce housing in LaVilla and Brooklyn. The commission also has enhanced oversight responsibilities on several large-scale development projects.
The JEDC “without a doubt” needs to be fully-staffed by the end of 2006, he said.
The undermanned commission has received help in advancing its agenda from other City and state departments. The mayor’s office put together the Downtown Implementation Team comprising leadership from the Department of Public Works, Department of Administration and Finance, the Florida Department of Transportation and the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization, to foster a cooperative approach, said Barton. The team meets every two weeks.
“The City is doing all it can do to help us,” said Barton.
Shortly after arriving at the JEDC, Barton voluntarily cut his staff from 30 positions to 28. That ended more than a year of staff cuts following Mayor John Peyton’s campaign to streamline the organization. The JEDC had 40 positions when Peyton took office.
The staffing and other cuts appealed to the City Council, which at the time was threatening to take away the JEDC’s autonomy over its budget. Barton said his slimmed down staffing chart was particularly effective in lobbying the Council to free up part of the JEDC’s budget.
The Council also passed Barton’s staff structure. Now Barton needs it filled.
“We’re facing an overwhelming work plan with only 22 full-time employees right now,” he said. “We need to quickly rectify that problem.”