Former City Council member George Banks, translator Miroslav Atich and Dist. 13 Council member John Meserve (standing) hosted a delegation of business leaders and government officials from Bulgaria Thursday morning.
After waking up and having breakfast at the Wyndham Hotel, the group went to City Hall where they learned about how local government works. Meserve explained how the Council and the administration work together to enact legislation and how property taxes are levied to pay for services.
The group was fascinated when Banks told them the building at 117 W. Duval St. was at one time a department store but had been converted into the seat of Jacksonville’s consolidated government.
“It was going to be demolished but the City’s Planning Department reasoned it would be less expensive to convert it into City Hall than it would be to construct a new building,” he explained.
The group also toured Mayport Naval Station, the Blount Island port facility, Cecil Commerce Center and the Florida State College at Jacksonville Aviation School. They return to Bulgaria today.