As the Downtown and transportation presentations wore on, Richard Clark leaned back in his chair.
It wasn’t a chair at the head table anymore.
Instead, he was in the crowd, three rows deep, listening to Downtown Investment Authority CEO Aundra Wallace tell a Skyway committee about the urban core and its transportation needs.
Clark was learning on the job, less than two weeks after he joined the Jacksonville Transportation Authority as a government affairs officer. The 10-year City Council member left office in July and now finds himself on the other side of the table.
The newly created jobs are part of a recent boost the transportation authority has made to its government relations team.
Clark and Jessica Shepler, a longtime policy official holding roles with the JAX Chamber, Mayor Alvin Brown and Advanced Disposal, are on board. Shepler leads the team as government affairs director making $145,000. Clark, as an officer, makes $100,000.
Leigh Ann Rassler, JTA spokeswoman, said the hires come at a time when the authority has many big projects in the fold. They include JTA Mobility Works, the Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center and the Skyway, complex issues that require additional help with state and local officials, she said.
“There’s no way one person could keep up,” said Rassler.
Both bring a wealth of government-related experience that will help.
While Shepler will run the government affairs team, Clark has a more finite role. His position includes working with JTA CEO Nat Ford, educating lobbyists on authority projects and communicating with those elected officials.
The reason he’s only handling capital projects and not day-to-day government affairs is because he’s still attempting to again become an elected official, too.
Clark will continue his run for state House District 13, a race that for now features one opponent in his former council colleague Don Redman. The run for office did come up in his pre-hire talks with Ford.
“We agreed it was still the right thing to do,” Clark said.
Until then, though, Clark will be working with some of his former council colleagues on JTA work. Responding to their questions, making presentations, trying to deliver on projects. He began in mid-October and said Monday he is getting up to speed on all the intricacies with projects. A decade at City Hall, dealing with projects on that side of the table, is helping that cause, though.
“It’s one thing to be on that side and asking about them,” he said. “But to actually be here and deliver? That’s the challenge.”
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