• City Council auditor Richard Wallace is retiring and his going away party is Friday from 2-4 p.m. in the Renaissance Room on the first floor of City Hall.
• Speaking of Wallace’s office, it recently conducted an audit of the Chamber’s Blueprint for Prosperity initiative. According to the audit, a little over $300,000 was spent between April 1, 2005 and Sept. 30, 2005. Of that, almost $14,000 was spent on food or food-related gift certificates for meetings, including $2,195 for a chocolate fountain and hors d oeuvres. These and other expenses have led the Council Auditor’s office to recommend that the City and the Chamber get together and come up with a better way to oversee the Blueprint budget.
• For the second consecutive year, Carnival Cruise Lines’ Jacksonville embarkation team at the Jacksonville Port Authority’s cruise terminal earned top honors in the cruise line’s annual guest comment card survey that ranks the nine home ports in a variety of service-related categories.
• The concierge staff at the Hyatt won January’s concierge contest at the Twisted Martini at the Landing. The staff will get a bottle of liquor from the Twisted Martini’s “Captain’s List” as well as $100 worth of food.
• It was a long year for the Jaguars’ second-year receiver Reggie Williams, who has taken a lot of heat in the local media for a recent arrest and for lack of production on the field. But Williams distinguished himself in one area according to rotoworld.com. The fantasy sports blog called Williams the NFL leader in “dances per reception.”