The new commanding officer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, is ready to jump into his role.
He certainly has the experience.
Col. Alan M. Dodd assumed command of the Jacksonville District June 28 from Col. Alfred Pantano Jr. Before his appointment to the Jacksonville District, Dodd served as commander of the 27th Engineer Battalion, a combat airborne battalion, and he is a graduate of the 82nd Airborne Division Jumpmaster Course.
Dodd enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1983 as an Atomic Demolitions Munitions Specialist.
Now he is taking the role of commander of the second largest civil works district in the nation, which includes Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“If you look at the projects, the scope of them, the greatest thing we can have as we execute these projects is great dialogue and communication with stakeholders, so as we are executing these projects we can be sure that we are providing the best solution for Florida, the Antilles and the nation,” said Dodd.
“That only comes from a very collaborative process,” said Dodd.
The Jacksonville Port Authority and members of the logistics industries have been urging legislators and the Corps to streamline the approval process for projects.
Dodd plans to continue the district’s participation in the Corps’ Civil Works Transformation project as it works to reduce the time and funding needed to complete the studies required by the approval process.
“There is nothing simple about these projects. They are very large, very complex and there are a lot of competing interests as we are trying to move forward,” he said.
“We have to make sure we do the process right, but in the same way we want to be faster about it and we want it to cost less as we are trying to execute it,” he said.
The district is evaluating the deepening studies of the Jacksonville harbor, Port Everglades and Port of Palm Beach to find out how they can improve the process.
“We are trying to look at how we go about and do the analysis to make the processes go faster and smoother,” said Dodd.
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