At the request of its CEO Paul Anderson, the Jacksonville Port Authority board of directors agreed to defer discussion of a proposed raise and bonus for its top executive.
“I appreciate the very difficult times that we are in and the difficulty of rewarding me monetarily while remaining sensitive to the economic climate and challenges that the city of Jacksonville is dealing with,” said Anderson.
The board’s Audit Committee, consisting of Chairman Jim Citrano, Vice Chairman Joe York and Treasurer John Anderson, conducted a review of Anderson’s performance and met to discuss the review Monday.
The committee voted to recommend a $16,000 raise and $50,000 bonus to reward Anderson’s accomplishments. The raise would’ve bumped Anderson’s salary from $320,000 to $336,000.
The board was required by Anderson’s contract to conduct reviews on an annual basis, but did not conduct a review in his first year. The board explained that because a review was not conducted for the first year, the compensation adjustments were for two years.
“I must ask you to delay any further conversation about my compensation and potential performance bonus based on meeting and exceeding my set goals. Particularly with the emphasis that was placed by board member John Anderson, and indepth discussion at the Audit Committee, in putting in a process that properly reflects best practice in this organization for compensation,” said Anderson.
Citrano agreed that a review was problematic with several people transitioning through the chairman seat.
“It was difficult to get done with five different people serving as chair,” said Citrano, the new chairman approved by the board at its Tuesday meeting.
“We will bring the issue back to the board sometime next year. I would hate to lose Paul to a competing port because we didn’t take it up,” said Citrano.
Anderson didn’t deny that he has gotten offers from other organizations, but did state what his focus is.
“Everywhere I’ve been I’ve gotten job offers, but I am committed to do everything I can to grow this port,” said Anderson. “Just like I did today in pushing for a better process for evaluating performance,” he said.
The board agreed to defer the discussion of Anderson’s compensation.
Citrano said the compensation issue would be addressed after the board made a decision on developing a strategic plan for the growth of the port.
In one of his first actions as chairman, Citrano proposed that the board hold a special meeting to discuss the offers submitted by consultants to develop a strategic master plan.
The port has secured about $600,000 in grant funding from the Florida Department of Transportation to pay for the majority of the cost of the plan. Martin Associates was the top ranked firm by the port’s Evaluation Committee. A date has not been set for a meeting to discuss the plan.
The board did approve two contracts for security at its properties. A three-year contract estimated to cost about $9.6 million that would serve the Blount Island Marine Terminal, Talleyrand Marine Terminal, TraPac Marine Terminal, port security operations center and access control center was awarded to U.S. Security Associates, which was the previous contract holder for security services at the facilities.
Another security contract was awarded to River City Security Services for the port central office building and cruise terminal. The three-year contract was estimated at about $900,000.
The board also approved a new slate of executive officers with Citrano as chairman, York as vice chairman, John Anderson as treasurer and John Falconetti as secretary.
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