City Council member Bill Gulliford said Tuesday he will form a group of past mayoral administration leaders, led by businessman Ron Mallett, to study Mayor Alvin Brown’s proposed City reorganization.
Mallett said this morning that the group will include Sam Mousa, Steve Diebenow, Derek Igou and at least one more participant. Its first meeting is 4 p.m. Monday at City Hall.
“It makes sense to get help from a group like this,” Mallett said late Tuesday.
Mallett said Tuesday he was assembling a group close to the administrations of former mayors John Delaney and John Peyton. They will meet during publicly noticed meetings and initially aim to complete their work by Dec. 13. Brown has asked Council to complete its review and vote on approving his plan by that date.
Mousa was CAO for Delaney as well as a former City engineer and public works director. Diebenow was chief of policy and planning and chief of staff for Peyton. Igou was deputy CAO for Peyton.
Mallett is a former member of the City’s Public Service Grant Commission, former chairman of the Taxation, Revenue & Utilization of
Expenditures commission and chief of staff for Public Defender Matt Shirk. He also is the executive vice president and CFO of Thigpen Heating & Cooling.
Mallett said the group will look at the process of the proposed government to see “if it works” and offer opinions to Council members.
If Council takes longer than Dec. 13 to approve the plan, Mallett said his group’s work could last longer as well. Many Council members have said January is a more realistic date.
“I think it would be prudent to get some people with background to observe the plan and offer some suggestions,” said Gulliford, chairman of the Council’s Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee.
Gulliford said during the committee meeting Tuesday he would form the study group.
The idea of a joint Council workshop to educate Council members about Brown’s proposed reorganization of City government was pitched during Council committee meetings Monday and Tuesday.
Gulliford said the goal was for newer Council members not as familiar with such structural changes to potentially learn from others with past experience.
“We welcome constructive input from any direction,” said Don Shea, who serves as Brown’s Downtown economic development strategist.
“It’s gratifying to know the City Council has expressed interest in analyzing the mayor’s reorganization plan,” Shea said this morning.
Incentives approved, QTI debated
The Council Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee and the Finance Committee both approved $3.4 million in incentives for First Coast Service Options, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, to add 395 jobs.
If approved by full Council on Tuesday, the company will receive $671,600 in local support with a state match of $2.7 million for the job creation. Included in those figures are bonuses for the business being located in an Enterprise Zone and a Brownfield Redevelopment area.
An amendment lowered the amount of public policy investment required in such enterprise zones to $1.9 million, down from the standard $10 million. The company will still hire 10 percent of the new jobs from within the zone and meet the minimum of creating 250 jobs to receive the bonus.
The Finance Committee approved the measure 4-3, with Council members Richard Clark, Clay Yarborough and John Crescimbeni opposing. The Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee approved it 6-0, with Council member Matt Schellenberg excused.
The decisions didn’t come easily. It came after debate and discussion over the Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund program.
Among the discussion points:
• Crescimbeni wanted to see more assurance from companies that receive QTI tax refunds that the jobs created will be filled by Duval County residents. He said the money comes from Duval County taxpayers so the jobs should “primarily benefit the people of Duval County.”
• Council members from both committees asked Diana Haramboure, First Coast Service Options senior vice president and CAO, of the residential makeup of employees. She told members of the Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety Committee that 90 percent of the 1,080 employees live in Duval County and more than 10 percent live within the Enterprise Zone.
• Council member Warren Jones, who sits on the Finance Committee but also attended the recreation meeting, was among those who thought the QTI program needs to be reviewed. The amendment to reduce the public policy investment to $1.9 million was a point of contention for several Council members, but Jones said the $10 million requirement currently in place hurts Downtown. He said space is available Downtown for quick occupancy as opposed to the suburbs, where more construction might be needed. “This is a very good deal for bringing jobs to this area,” he said.
• Council member Reggie Brown asked if the jobs to be created were going to be filled by Blue Cross employees. Haramboure said the jobs would be posted publicly. Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Deputy Director Paul Crawford said that the state would not agree to incentives if the jobs were only transferred within the company to the subsidiary.
• Haramboure said the incentives would allow the company to make a lower bid on a federal Medicare contract for seven states. The award announcement should be in March or April, she said.
• Council member Lori Boyer was one of several members who approved the deal but voiced concern about lowering the public policy investment. She said that although it is a good community partner, the City has accepted a Blue Cross Blue Shield executive-on-loan for Brown’s Public-Private Partnerships Office as well as funds for his education commissioner’s office, which could lead to a negative perception. “It appears to be self-serving, even if it is not,” she said. “We have to have clean hands.”
The deal will now go to the full Council Nov. 22.
Managing Editor Karen Brune Mathis contributed to this report.
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