by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The idea is to keep money and create jobs in Jacksonville by giving preference to companies headquartered in the area during the selection process for professional services contracts.
But just as the recent early morning fog has made the commute a little slower, trying to determine who should get the preference, and how much, has slowed the path of Ordinance 2008-1055 sponsored by Dist. 12 City Council member Daniel Davis. Further discussion of the ordinance took place at the Seaport and Airport Special Committee meeting Tuesday at City Hall before the regular full Council meeting.
“I met with some of the opponents and proponents of the ordinance today to get some suggestions and thoughts on adjusting some of the language,” said Davis, who is chair of the committee. “We plan to meet within the next week or so in order to bring some resolution to the issue.”
Davis has proposed to amend the criteria used by the City’s Professional Services Evaluation Committee (PSEC) to award contracts for professional services to include a weighted system that would give the most preference to a company headquartered in Jacksonville and the least to a company with no presence in Florida.
Davis has stated that the reason for this legislation is to create jobs and keep money in Jacksonville through the awarding of government contracts to local companies and to be wary of “the person that flies in from Philadelphia, fills out the paperwork and flies back to Philadelphia.”
Committee and Council member Stephen Joost argued that economic barriers would do more harm than good.
“I think adding to the local preference actually does the opposite of what you think it does,” said Joost, before referring to the Web site for Reynolds, Smith and Hills (RS&H), which has its corporate headquarters in Jacksonville. “One of the consequences of putting up barriers is retaliation. I know for a fact that other counties in Florida have taken note of what we are doing and have said there will be consequences. When you start restricting trade, especially for companies like Reynolds, Smith and Hills, in the long run you’re actually going to hurt jobs in Jacksonville for companies that have a broad reach.”
Joost later stated that he was for leaving the PSEC Procedures section of the City code as it is currently written, and not upsetting the “status quo.” One of the evaluation criteria of the PSEC is , “Proximity to the project involved.” And in the event of a tie, “(5) In determining the best-qualified proposers, PSEC shall give preference to persons having local places of business where no other differentiation in qualifications can be made.”
The Seaport and Airport Special Committee requested at its last meeting for Devin Reed, director of Central Operations for the City, to report on the history of professional services procurement since the adoption of the Better Jacksonville Plan.
“The status quo is currently resulting in 56 percent of our design-related professional services being awarded locally,” said Reed, “meaning headquartered in Jacksonville.”
The term “headquartered” continued to be a sticking point with some in the audience.
“I think it’s safe to say there are some minor points that we will forever more disagree on,” said Hugh Mathews, president of England-Thims & Miller. “But we all want to create jobs in Jacksonville and we all see that creating jobs in Jacksonville is good for us regardless of whether we are working for the City or a private developer. Growing the economy is good for all of us.”
Mathews and other business leaders met to discuss how they would like to see the language changed and the group suggested that companies that use local staff be placed on the same rung as companies headquartered in Jacksonville during the evaluation process.
Time is running out for people to contribute to the drafting of the ordinance.
“Our goal here is to create jobs and keep tax dollars flowing through Jacksonville,” said Davis. “We will continue this discussion and my intent is to vote something out of here in two weeks.”
The next meeting of the Seaport and Airport Special Committee is Feb. 10 at 4 p.m.
356-2466