Bringing back a city neighborhoods department. Reviving the transportation planning division. Supporting a new convention center.
They’re among the many recommendations Mayor Lenny Curry’s transition committees officially bestowed upon him Thursday.
The eight committees comprised about 120 people, most of whom spent many hours in meetings to talk about government since Curry was elected.
“I’ve got a lot of reading to do,” Curry said, smiling as he held up a binder almost an inch thick.
Some recommendations have been addressed in Curry’s inaugural budget.
A traffic engineering chief recommended by the Streamlining Growth and Opportunity group is proposed to be funded. That person will be a professional engineer and be responsible for things like traffic signals, railroad crossings and operating streets and highways.
A Safer Jacksonville subcommittee suggested building three fire stations, a move that would lower response times throughout the region. Curry’s capital improvement plan calls for that in the next three years.
Additional funding for the Jacksonville Journey, suggested by the Prevention, Intervention and At-Risk Youth group, is proposed for this year — an extra $3 million added to the $2.9 million it received last year.
All the recommendations can’t be fixed with funding, though.
For instance, the Economic Development group was asked to establish an “accountability matrix” for companies that receive public funding. Curry campaigned on that point, calling for a “scorecard” to determine how much return on investment taxpayers are receiving.
But, as the group suggested, the city already has a matrix in place, which the Curry administration should “update and re-establish strategic policy objectives.”
Jeanne Miller, filling in for that group’s chair, John Delaney, provided the brief report to Curry during the recommendations handoff.
Sam Mousa, Curry’s chief administrative officer, said at the end of the meeting that Miller was “right on point” and must have been listening in on a meeting that had just taken place. He and several of Curry’s administration officials had just talked about strategy and what types of businesses the city wants to attract.
The current plan is open to any company seeking funding, instead of being targeted to specific types of industry or geography. For example, a business moving into an area that doesn’t have much might be more valuable than one relocating or starting in a saturated area.
John Crescimbeni wasn’t part of Thursday’s transition recommendations, but said he’s “all in” when it comes to having those types of discussions.
He leads the council’s Special Economic Development Incentives Committee, which has been reviewing the city’s economic development incentive policy. Those meetings have featured talks about geography playing a bigger role in what type and how much in incentives companies receive, but nothing has been recommended yet.
“I’ve long been an advocate for a better policy that targets certain industries and areas, as opposed to a blanket policy,” he said.
Creating jobs is positive, he said, but it should be more focused on areas that need them most. He said he’d welcome future discussions with the mayor’s office and his committee to talk about such policies.
The budget can’t bring back a Neighborhoods Department, either, but Curry said he and his staff are having “serious discussions” about reviving it.
The idea was the most prevalent trend throughout the transition subcommittees’ work, with several outright calling for it to return.
The return of the city Neighborhoods Department was a prevalent theme throughout the subcommittees’ work, with three calling for its outright return.
That would have to be handled through a reorganization of city offices.
If history is any indicator, any such reorganization might come after the budget — council in past years has opposed such shifting while it takes on the all-encompassing budget review during the summer months.
Curry afterward said he’d make any reorganizational changes as the law requires, but gave no indication of when that could happen.
(904) 356-2466