• Jacksonville Aviation Authority Board Chair Ron Weaver said his selection committee has hired Miami-based Spencer Stewart to help find a permanent replacement for departed executive director John Clark, who left earlier this month for a similar job in Indianapolis. The selection committee is co-chaired by JAA board members Jack Demetree and Russ Jollivette and includes Weaver and board member Deborah Pass-Durham. Weaver said he’d like to hire a new executive director within the next 90 days.
• Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swafford has indicated Jacksonville will be in the mix for future ACC baseball tournaments. The City is seeking the 2011-13 tournaments. “We have had an excellent run in Jacksonville and I very much appreciate how well things have gone with our baseball tournament,” said Swafford in a letter to Mayor John Peyton.
• Each year during the naturalization ceremony at the Federal Courthouse, Senior United States District Judge Harvey Schlesinger introduces the guests in attendance. Michelle Barth regional director for Sen. Bill Nelson’s office, attended Thursday’s ceremony and was recognized by Schlesinger, who said each year he reminds everyone federal judges haven’t had a raise since 1989 but he sort of chose not to this year. “It hasn’t gone anywhere in 20 years,” he said.
• Speaking of the ceremony, it is usually accompanied by a message from the president. Not this year. President Barack Obama hasn’t recorded his naturalization message yet.
• Regardless what happened at Thursday’s City Council meeting on the Trail Ridge Landfill contract, the City’s Taxation, Revenue and Utilization of Expenditures Commission is on the record in support of putting the contract to bid.
• The recent addition of Curitiba, Brazil as a Sister City of Jacksonville is already paying off. According to Joshua Riggs of the Jacksonville Port Authority, Mayo Clinic is working in partnership with a major TV station in Brazil to record a program about Mayo’s transplant options.
• Wachovia Director and Senior Economist Mark Vitner is going back to school. The University of North Florida Coggin College of Business alumnus will present his views on the current economic crisis at the school’s University Center Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. as part of the Coggin Alumni Speaker Series.
• Downtown Vision, Inc. has officially weighed-in on the Downtown pay phone issue. According to DVI Executive Director Terry Lorince, the phones should be removed to 1) deter loitering and panhandling on public rights-of-way, 2) improve the Downtown pedestrian experience, and 3) support the Downtown Action Plan and its goal of making Downtown safer.
• Maarten van de Guchte, former director of the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, has been appointed executive managing director of GiftCounsel.com. He has an extensive background in the nonprofit field, starting with the United Nations as an architectural heritage and preservation expert for UNESCO. GiftCounsel.com is a full-service capital development firm that specializes in philanthropic consulting, cultural planning and project management for private schools, colleges, arts and cultural centers, universities, healthcare, faith-based and social service organizations.
• Dr. Neel G. Karnani, who has been serving as medical director for Haven Hospice, has been named to the newly created position of regional medical director for the organization’s Jacksonville office. He will continue to serve as medical director until a new vice president chief medical officer assumes the position and was also recently named the Duval County Medical Society vice-president.