Daily Record Financial News &
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 118 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Cleanup nets $50M for other projects
The end of a successful career
‘We’re getting back to ground zero’
Madden Jones-Drew reacts to his father’s comments about retiring and being able to spend more time with his family. Former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew played nine years in the NFL. See more photos on Pages A-6 and A-7.
Photo by Fran Ruchalski
By David Chapman Staff Writer
New website launched for disabled job-seekers applicants to highlight their capabilities rather than their disabilities. “Employees with disabilities can work for any size company,” said Bonnie Barnes, who helped design
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
The more than 63,000 disabled people who live in Duval County have an easier way to find a job with the introduction of employmefirst.org, a new website launched Tuesday by The ARC Jacksonville. “People with disabilities want the same things we all want. They want a good job, a good home and friends,” said Jim Whittaker, who is president and CEO of the organization. Funded by a $125,000 Public Service Grant from the city, the website will match job seekers with job creators for a more inclusive workforce, he said, by allowing
Moran
the new website. “We want it to be the most user-friendly site because so many applicants don’t
fit the traditional mold,” she said. “And employers can use the site to evaluate job requirements to better match an applicant with an opening.” According to a 2014 U.S. Senate committee report, less than 30 percent of workingage people with disabilities participate in the workforce and twice as many people with disabilities live in poverty compared to those who are not disabled. Audrey Moran, Baptist Health vice president for social responsibility and community advocacy and chair-elect of the chamber, said Baptist has a long history of offering employment to disabled people. Baptist will consider the new website a Employment... Continued on Page A-3
It’s being called a financial “cleanup” bill, a way to rectify more than a decade of accounting errors. It’s been more than a mere tidying up by the City Council Special Committee on Capital Improvement Projects, though. More of a deep scrub that’s reconciled $590 million and identified $50 million or so for future capital projects. The latter being money that will better serve Downtown and all Jacksonville neighborhoods through ways like road and infrastructure improvements, said Lori Boyer, the special committee’s chair. Other results from that account cleaning? Closing more than Boyer 1,200 projects. Filing 15 bills. More than 40 hours of meetings, plus many more on the side. Boyer calls the errors systemic, but not malfeasance. The discrepancies stretch back at least 15 years, she said. They represent a failure in accounting for capital revenue and expenditures —errors like transposing numbers, a decimal point that’s off or double booking items. Boyer said she knew there were problems more than three years ago, when she saw different funding amounts attached to projects. After Mayor Alvin Brown sought to borrow $220-plus million last year, Boyer said it was time “to get our arms around this thing” and find out what’s really in the books. Why issue more debt when there might be money available, just not identified? Projects... Continued on Page A-3
Building a concrete house to ‘last forever’ Arsenault first to offer new option
By Carole Hawkins Staff Writer Lee Arsenault has been looking for better ways to build a home for 30 years. “I’m a construction geek,” said Arsenault, the president of New Leaf Construction. “I love doing things that are better and I love making things that last longer.” So it makes sense that Arsenault would be the first builder in Northeast Florida to build homes using structural concrete-insulated panel components, or SCIPs. An SCIP is a lightweight panel of foam surrounded by wire
Public
mesh that is faced on both sides with concrete during installation. Hurricane-resistant, energy-efficient and waterproof, SCIP construction has been used for more than 40 years in Europe and Latin America, but is new in this area. As general contractor for national homebuilder elecora, Arsenault will include an SCIP home as one of the options in Madeira, a master-planned community near St. Augustine. The introduction of SCIP to the market also kicks off Durabild Solutions Inc., a Westside firm that will supply the components and provide installation services
legal notices begin on page
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to residential and commercial builders in the Jacksonville area. Jim Arsenault, a former business developer for commercial construction and brother of Lee Arsenault, is president of Durabild. “I think people, especially engineering-types, are going to fall in love with this,” he said. “It’s a house that will last forever.” The lightweight SCIP panel is Durabild... Continued on Page A-2
Lee Arsenault, general contractor for elacora in Jacksonville, is building homes with structural concrete insulated panels.
Photo by Carole Hawkins
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