The Jacksonville Port Authority's board of directors voted Monday to reopen its CEO search after Juan Kuryla withdrew from consideration, but public records show his salary would have been higher than that of the Port of Miami director.
Kuryla, 45, is deputy director of the Miami port. He accepted the board's offer April 22 to become JaxPort's CEO, but by May 3 he withdrew.
"Due to personal reasons, I decided late last week (May 3) to remove my name as a candidate. Jacksonville is a fantastic community and this would have been a great opportunity, but I have decided that it is best for my family and me to remain in Miami," Kuryla said in an email.
The draft contract presented to Kuryla offered him a base salary of $300,000. Kuryla's boss, Port of Miami Director Herbert "Bill" Johnson, was paid a salary of about $268,000 in 2012.
Kuryla's salary as deputy port director in 2012 was about $175,000.
"We either underestimated the bargaining power of (Miami-Dade County) Mayor (Carlos) Gimenez or (Kuryla's) commitment," said Citrano.
JaxPort's salary offer was between the average and high salaries for the South Atlantic region, according to the American Association of Port Authorities.
It lists the average salary in the South Atlantic in its 2012 annual salary report as $258,829 and the high salary $353,640. The average salary for the U.S. is $195,154, and the high salary is $364,825.
"I don't know what else I could have done. I didn't come back and say, 'What's it going to take to change your mind.' I didn't know if I was empowered to do that," said Citrano.
"I've been thinking about the process a lot over the last couple of days. Thinking about what could've been done to keep him here, but I don't know if we could have done anything else," he said.
The salary offer the port made also is below the $350,000 the Tampa Port Authority offered to former JaxPort CEO Paul Anderson, who resigned in December to take the Tampa job. The salary makes him one of the highest paid maritime executives in the state.
"We raised the bar when we went after Paul and he will get what the market will bear. I think Paul has, in maritime terms, rock-star status," said Citrano.
The JaxPort board said it expects to have a new slate of CEO candidates by its next regular board meeting May 20.
Citrano expected finalist and JaxPort interim CEO Roy Schleicher to be among the candidates to be considered.
During the first round of interviews, when each board member separately met with all eight candidates, Kuryla was ranked the highest.
His ranking was followed by Schleicher and Global Container Terminals President Michael Moore.
@photojoe71
(904)356-2466