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What’s next for JEA? A turnaround expert.
There were a few times in my career when one of my CEO clients got into a situation that required a Turnaround Expert to be called in to help. Sometimes that situation was their own doing and other times, it was someone within the organization that had messed things up pretty bad. CEOs call in…
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Want to zip around Jacksonville on a rented electric vehicle? Your chance may be coming
Jacksonville continues to move into mass transit, hoping to interest a public that has not embraced it in the past. Some of the earliest efforts did work well – under private operation. The old trolley system ran into Ortega and Springfield about a century ago. Later, well into the 1960s, the old bus system, also…
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Amid questions about the effort to sell the JEA, pertinent questions are not being asked
Details of how a public relations company prepared opinion pieces for a local newspaper that ran under the names of a JEA official and another person have been provided by News4Jax. Dalton Agency employees recruited Henry Brown, who is on the JEA board, and HCI Group CEO Rick Caplin and then prepared the commentaries for…
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Everyone in Jacksonville will miss Jake Godbold
Jake Godbold, one of Jacksonville’s outstanding political figures, has died at the age of 86. He was the second mayor of the consolidated government, following Hans Tanzler. Before that he was a city councilman and served as a council president. During his two terms as mayor the city experienced a construction boom as the city…
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Wink Alert: Scott Wilson forms special committee to investigate the mess at JEA!
City Council President Scott Wilson has formed a committee to investigate JEA. This committee will have subpoena power and will work independently of the Federal investigation into JEA. The difference between the two investigations is this: The Federal government moves slow and will be looking for criminal intent. Believe it or not, cronyism and favoritism…
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Eye Report: School officials provide answers to questions about the need for new schools
Questions raised by Eye on Jacksonville concerning the proposed tax for new school buildings got a response from school officials. The school district says on its Web site that the district has been affected by state funding cuts and it acknowledged that Eye was correct in pointing out all districts in Florida were affected the…
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Can downtown be saved? Lori Boyer is trying
It must be tough to be Lori Boyer right now. Lori is a former City Council Member and now runs the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA). Downtown development is not easy and has been a thorn in Jacksonville’s side for many, many years. Jacksonville is in a messy situation with a federal investigation and loss of…
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City trampling all over the Request for Proposal process and we need your help
While the Feds are in Jacksonville looking at the JEA sales process, we believe they will stumble upon some unfair business practices…specifically the Request for Proposal process. A Request for Proposal (RFP) allows our government entities to compare various products and vendors. By receiving multiple proposals, the government entity can do a side-by-side comparison of…
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JEA Board: It’s time to Admit. Apologize. Act.
The headlines in the local newspapers created head-shaking. But I wasn’t surprised. All the fingers are pointing and those who made poor decisions are looking for others to blame. It’s pretty typical of weak leadership. And at this point in time, the JEA Board is weak and here’s why from the stories of yesterday: Former…
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Local schools want more money for new buildings, but how badly are they needed?
Government schools in Jacksonville are conducting a sales campaign in favor of a half-cent sales tax they hope local taxpayers will approve. But their main sales point is a little suspect. The school system says it needs to build new schools because it has not kept up with the maintenance and replacement of its school…
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Care about our city? Join this group
OurJax is a newly formed group of concerned citizens who care deeply about the governance of our beloved City of Jacksonville. Sounds like our kind of people!! Because of the recent JEA debacle and some other issues that have raised red flags about our city government, a small group of citizens decided to take this…
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BREAKING NEWS: Two Melissa’s do the right thing for our city today!
It is not a great day in Jacksonville yet it’s a great day in Jacksonville. What was great? Two very strong leaders in our community, Melissa Nelson and Melissa Dykes, both did the right thing today. Melissa #1: State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced she has handed off the JEA investigation to the U S Attorney’s…
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Crime rates are not as malleable as the media seems to think
The local media in Jacksonville is going through another spate of hand-wringing over the crime rate and looking for someone to blame. The usual remedy is to hire more police. That decreases response times, which means police get to a crime scene quicker. But it does not prevent many crimes, especially violent crimes. Mayors and…
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Fight over 5G wireless technology is heating up in Jax
Residents of Jacksonville who are concerned about the new 5G technology are continuing to press the City Council over proposed changes in local law that would enable its rollout in Jacksonville. Last week at a workshop, city laws provided a comparison of what the council could do vs. what is preempted by state law. Another…
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Mayor Curry’s legacy: The toxicity of our City
I’ve seen Mayor Curry’s “leadership” traits before. Sadly many of you have seen similar leadership in the workforce. His leadership style is toxic. Books have been written about toxic leadership and in an article in Psychology Today, dated July 6, 2016, it lays out “8 Traits of Toxic Leadership to Avoid.” One of those traits…
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All the Mayor’s Men have made a mess again
Over the weekend another news outlet uncovered information about the men around Mayor Curry. According to the Florida Times Union, Mayor Curry’s political strategist, Tim Baker, sat in on numerous JEA “closed-door” meetings at the insistence of Aaron Zahn – now the former CEO of JEA. Not only is this wrong – it stinks to…