Managing Editor
Ron Barton, five years into the job as executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, might be asking more questions than he expects to answer today at the Economic Roundtable of Jacksonville.
Barton said Monday he intends to pose four questions “that really speak to the heart of the conversation the community is having right now about the budget.”
That budget is the proposed city budget that City Council must approve before the new fiscal year starts Friday.
Council is scheduled to vote on the budget tonight and citizens’ groups are expected to show their opposition to a proposed property tax increase designed to alleviate a $45 million deficit.
Barton said he doesn’t expect to speak to specifics of the budget, but to the philosophy of it.
“Are we in a crisis or are we in a time of opportunity?” he will ask the roundtable, a group of Jacksonville financial and economic professionals who will meet at the Jacksonville University Davis College of Business.
Barton said he will ask about crisis vs. opportunity because “the fundamental premise is that how you answer the question is the place you end up.”
Barton explained. “If you think you are in a crisis, you are going to act like you are in crisis. If you think you have an opportunity, then good things can happen.”
He plans to address four topics:
• Private sector leadership is critical.
• The role of government is important, but the more fundamental question is where do citizens want Jacksonville to go and what do they want it to be?
• Underinvestment in the community needs to change.
• Public-private initiatives will be required to achieve success.
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission serves as the city’s community redevelopment agency and industrial development authority.
Barton said government will execute “on where the community wants government to be. “
The situation now, he said, is that “the community has not expressed where they want to be, or at least I don’t believe the majority has.”
Saying he is a history buff, he also said he intends to talk about pivotal moments in Jacksonville’s history.
“In each of those cases, we executed well. We knew where we wanted to be, we harnessed our government and our private sector, we partnered and we funded.”
A primary example is the consolidation of the City of Jacksonville and Duval County governments in 1968, he said.
“Government didn’t lead that conversation. It was the private sector,” said Barton. “I am hard-pressed to name many major milestones in which the private sector did not lead the discussion.”
Barton, who is aware he has just 20 minutes for his presentation, said he will talk about public-private partnerships.
“Ask any 10 citizens of Jacksonville what our goals are. Where is our community vision? I am not pointing fingers at anybody, but if we can’t answer those questions, how can we expect local government to execute?”
Barton said nothing in history suggests to him that an answer will arrive without engaged private leadership, and he will challenge the Economic Roundtable members to consider their roles.
Asked whether he will talk about economic development, he framed his response as a leadership question.
“Jacksonville is competing every day and we are competing for jobs, talent, capital, fill in the blank,” he said.
“The questions are, are we doing the right things to influence our ability to win? Competing is one thing. Winning is another.”
He said the private sector gravitates to markets considered a safe investment.
“Jacksonville is a market like any other place. When there is someone or something that we are looking to make a part of our community, in this case a business and new jobs, do they see a community that they have a long-term future in?”
For more information about the roundtable, visit www.ertjax.org.
356-2466