• Two more names have been added to the list of applicants for the Charter Review Commission. Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer Gary Oliveras is a 10-year veteran and a member of the board of directors of the Fratenal Order of Police and the Police and Fire Pension Fund Advisory Committee. Robert Jones III is an attorney with Blackburn & Company and a member of the City’s Taxation, Revenue and Utilization of Expenditures Commission. Both applicants reside in School Board Dist. 6.
• Now that the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for the new County Courthouse has been established, the Courthouse Architectural Review Committee is going back to work. An e-mail has been sent to committee members noting that chair Jim Rinaman has selected May 21 for a presentation by the City’s architects and builders concerning the project’s interior design elements.
• If imitation is the best form of flattery, then Dr. Seuss would be welcomed in Jacksonville. The late author was quoted at least twice last week during speeches. Both speakers used the same line from The Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot more nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
• Tom Goldsbury, chief of the City’s Building Inspection Division, confirmed the issuance of the certificate of occupancy for the Haverty’s Building last Thursday. The building was obtained by the Police and Fire Pension Fund in 2006 and is being renovated for use by the City.
• Speaking of the Pension Fund, it got good news from the legislative session. The Legislature passed a bill that will allow Pension Fund Executive Director/Administrator John Keane to increase the Fund’s investment in real estate from 10 percent to 20 percent. Another bill that passed will allow Keane to increase the investment in international stocks from 10 percent to 25 percent. Keane has been lobbying for that change for 10 years.
• Nice addition to the Friday Farmer’s Market in Hemming Plaza: tables with umbrellas in front of the area the band uses.