President Barack Obama will be in Jacksonville on Thursday at the Jacksonville Port Authority to deliver remarks about his vision for rebuilding the nation's economy.
JaxPort board members and staff said Monday they hoped to talk to him about two projects — Mile Point and the Jacksonville Harbor Deepening Study — that require federal approval.
"We are still waiting on all the details, but we are hoping to get a few minutes with him," said JaxPort interim CEO Roy Schleicher.
The president included the deepening study in his "We Can't Wait" initiative in July 2012, which touted the project as a significant infrastructure project that will help modernize and expand the port.
The presidential initiative aimed to speed up the permitting and review process for infrastructure projects.
The deepening study is examining increasing the depth of the shipping channel to accommodate larger ships being used in today's cargo fleets.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study determined the best cost-to-benefit ratio regarding depth would be 45 feet from the current depth of 40 feet.
JaxPort has requested an additional two feet to compete with the port in Savannah.
The Corps has estimated JaxPort's cost for the project at $383.5 million.
JaxPort also is pursuing federal approval for the Mile Point project.
The state has committed $36 million for the construction to adjust the Mile Point section of the shipping channel to allow cargo ships a larger window of time to call on Jacksonville's ports. The port is seeking approval from the federal government to allow the Corps to perform the project's construction.
The confluence of the St. Johns River with the Intracoastal is known as Mile Point, an area that experiences difficult crosscurrents on the ebb tide.
The crosscurrents cause navigational restriction on the ebb tide that affect all vessels that have a transit draft greater than 33 feet inbound and 36 feet outbound, inhibiting the free movement of vessel traffic.
The recommended plan combines relocation and reconfiguration of the existing training wall, restoration of Great Marsh Island and the creation of a flow improvement channel in Chicopit Bay.
JaxPort is working to secure approval for the projects through the U.S Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration and the White House Office of Management and Budget.
"We were able to get the nod from MARAD and the Corps to work together to allow us to move forward and have the conversations with the authorizers and appropriators in (Washington) D.C. and that has never been done before," said Eric Green, JaxPort senior director of governmental and external affairs.
Green credited board Treasurer John Falconetti, board member Jim Citrano and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown for the progress with the approval process.
Green and Schleicher are seeking the opportunity to discuss with the president the delay the port is having with the White House Office of Management and Budget, also referred to as OMB.
"There are two things that OMB can do for us and (the president) can pull the trigger where other people can't," said Schleicher.
The JaxPort board and its choice for its next port CEO await an opinion from the Florida Commission on Ethics to find out if the port's choice for CEO can start work Monday.
The state ethics commission is scheduled to review its staff recommendation of "no conflict of interest" for Brian Taylor, former executive vice president and chief operating officer of Horizon Lines Inc., serving as JaxPort CEO while receiving a separation package from Horizon Lines.
"Ideally, assuming the Florida Commission on Ethics rules favorably on the staff opinion on Friday, we would like to have Mr. Taylor start Monday," said Joe York, JaxPort board chair.
The board set the terms of the proposed contract for Taylor at a July 2 special meeting, but York brought back an issue with the contract for discussion, which Taylor requested.
Comparing the offer the board made Taylor to what it had offered Port of Miami Deputy Director Juan Kuryla, who was the board's first choice, Taylor requested the language for "termination without cause" be removed from the contract.
The language was not included in Kuryla's contract proposal.
The board was unanimous in its stance to keep the language in the contract.
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