The Jacksonville City Council approved Mayor Donna Deegan’s choice to lead the Office of Economic Development.
Council voted 18-0 on Resolution 2023-0406 as part of the Aug. 8 consent agenda to confirm 19-year city economic development and planning professional Ed Randolph as the office’s next executive director.
The confirmation marks the first of the Democrat Deegan’s choices for city department heads to be approved by the Republican supermajority Council.
Randolph began serving in the role when Deegan took office July 1, replacing former Executive Director Kirk Wendland, who retired after serving eight years under former Mayor Lenny Curry.
Wendland also worked for former Mayors John Delaney and John Peyton at the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission from 1997-2005. He led the commission as executive director from 2001-05.
JEDC’s functions were moved into the Office of Economic Development during former Mayor Alvin Brown’s administration.
The Council’s vote makes Randolph’s status permanent as economic development officer, which is how the position is titled in the city code.
During his confirmation hearing July 31 with the Council Rules Committee, Randolph said the Deegan administration plans to review the city’s public investment policy to find areas that will make Jacksonville more competitive with other markets, “especially when it relates to the small business sector.”
Deegan made small business development a focus of her economic platform during her 2023 mayoral campaign.
In his opening statement to the committee, Randolph called the University of Florida’s $150 million to $200 million biomedical technology, financial technology and health care administration graduate center proposed for Downtown as a “game changer” for talent recruitment in Northeast Florida.
“One of the biggest concerns for any company when it comes to locating in a new market or expanding in an existing market is workforce talent. Incentive money doesn’t even come close to being their No. 1 concern,” Randolph said.
“If you don’t have enough employees to show up to your workplace every day, then you can’t run your business.”
He also expressed willingness to examine the aim of Committee Chair Terrance Freeman and Council member Rahman Johnson to create a city-led workforce development office to bolster Jacksonville’s labor pool for companies.
Randolph said July 31 that the city can “achieve some wins” in corporate relocations and expansions by focusing on financial technology; logistics and transportation; aviation; and medical science. Randolph said the city needs to continue to leverage the Jacksonville Port Authority and the two interstate highways that run through the city.
JAX Chamber and its JAXUSA Partnership economic development division promote those areas as Northeast Florida’s strongest sectors.
Randolph said the city should be “aggressive in showing our manufacturing prowess” to companies trying to find locations to make electric vehicles, solar power and battery components tied to $369 billion in federal funding from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
According to Randolph, the city has had conversations with “entities in the energy business” in recent months and is “hoping to land some projects of some significance in that space.”
Randolph was the director of economic development for JEA, the city-owned electric and water utility, for nearly a year before moving to the Deegan administration.
He said July 31 the city should work with JEA to attract energy sector companies.
Freeman expressed confidence in Randolph’s knowledge of how the city economic development office operates from Randolph’s 16 years there as director of business development from 2006-22.
In his resume, Randolph cites his contribution to negotiating and writing the $2 billion, 25-year master development contract between the city and Hillwood, the master developer of Cecil Commerce Center.
A former Naval Air Base, Cecil now houses Amazon.com, Wayfair Inc., battery manufacturer Saft America Inc., and solar panel-maker JinkoSolar.
The city recently announced a $270 million deal for Spanish sustainable surfaces company Cosentino Group to build a manufacturing plant on Cecil’s megasite.