Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 214 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Local economy brings optimism Increasing inflation in Northeast Florida is sign of growth
By Mark Basch Contributing Writer The recent volatility in the stock market may be making people jittery about the state of the economy but signals are pointing up in Northeast Florida, according to the University of North Florida’s Local Economic Indicators Project, or LEIP. “We are generally optimistic as we move into the 2015-16 school year and start the holiday season,” the organization said in its quarterly newsletter, LEIPLINE.
In fact, UNF economist Paul Mason, who runs LEIP, said the outlook for Northeast Florida is better than the rest of the nation. “I just see things are still improving and better than a lot of the country,” Mason said. One indicator of the improving local economy is an increase in inflation this year. “Inflation is up which, while painful for purchasing power, generally signals increased consumer demand and willingness by sellers to pass on costs through price increases,” LEIPLINE said.
Contract oversight changes coming
Based on LEIP’s consumer price index for the Jacksonville metropolitan area through the first seven months of this year, the annual inflation rate has been high at 3.75 percent. LEIPLINE said the index increased significantly in June, because of a rise in housing prices and sales. However, the inflation rate declined slightly in July as housing growth slowed, and there also were lower prices for used cars and trucks and some food categories. “Overall, the outlook is for
more inflation than Jacksonville has experienced since before the Great Recession, an indicator of improving economic conditions,” LEIPLINE said. The unemployment rate in the Jacksonville area “is still somewhat higher than most desirable, but moving in the right direction, albeit slowly,” the newsletter said. “The summer so far has revealed an escalation in the size of the local labor force compared to prior summers with greater employment percentages
as well,” LEIPLINE said. “We are not back to full employment but we are moving in the correct direction with improved employment not just in lower skilled jobs but better paying jobs as well.” LEIP’s index of Jacksonville area stocks has lagged behind the national indexes this year. “Because our local companies are generally smaller than those in the Dow, it perhaps is not surprising that in a climate whereby bigger is viewed to be better, local stocks are being outperformed,” Economy continued on Page A-3
By David Chapman Staff Writer
Meeting
Public
continued on
Page A-4
Mayor Lenny Curry’s office at City Hall is being renovated at a cost of $80,000-$100,000.
A ‘freshen up’ 20 years in the making $80,000 renovation underway
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Photos by Max Marbut
In the past year or so, about 80 percent of city contracts with athletic associations that help run area parks expired. It happened without the knowledge of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, said City Council member Lori Boyer. No replacements had been named because the contracts hadn’t been bid out. Council ended up authorizing agreements with the associations to continue to use, manage and maintain those parks for Boyer several months. Another time, money awarded to the city from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development expired. Boyer said if that deadline and information was available, council members would know it needed to be used accordingly and would have been. The city’s management of contracts has weaknesses. Terms and conditions aren’t always enforced — contractors are paid without meeting their end of the deal, services run delinquent without timely repercussions. Others, like those of the athletic associations, just expire and end up being extended. Sam Mousa, Mayor Lenny Curry’s chief Hazouri administrative officer, sees all this. He attributes it not to purposeful wrongdoing, but more a lack of training. The city, he said, doesn’t have a formal contract management process in place. The city’s Taxation, Revenue, Utilization and Expenditures commission, also known as TRUE, identified such weaknesses in a 2011 report used by Boyer’s Task Force on Consolidation last year. One of the consolidation group’s recommendations about contracts has been implemented: the oversight agents are now explicitly stated
The former casual seating area with a sofa and chairs is being replaced with a collaboration space.
Out with the old and in with the new. That’s the basis of a project that’s underway for the next three to four weeks at City Hall while Mayor Lenny Curry’s 4thfloor office is redecorated and upgraded. Designed by Gresham, Smith and Partners, the $80,000$100,000 project is being paid for with private donations via the Jacksonville Historical Society,
said Curry’s Chief of Staff Kerri Stewart. While some of the furniture has been replaced over the years, it’s the first time the space has been renovated from floor-toceiling since former Mayor John Delaney moved into the office in December 1997. After almost 20 years, it was time to “freshen up” the carpet, walls and technology, Stewart said. mmarbut@jaxdailyrecord.com (904) 356-2466
$8M park proposed on Johnston Island By Max Marbut Staff Writer Ten single-family home sites and a small marina or a public waterway park and welcome center with a kayak launch, boat ramp, fishing pier and cafe? Those two options for Johnston Island — eight acres of dredge spoil in the Intracoastal Waterway underneath the Atlantic Boulevard bridge — were presented Wednesday to the Jacksonville Waterways Commission. “The owner is at a fork in the road,” said Rogers Towers land use attorney T.R.
legal notices begin on page
A-9
Hainline. The property is owned by Bridge Tenders LLC, which has secured zoning from the City of Atlantic Beach and a permit from the St. Johns River Water Management District for the residential development. Years ago, before the drawbridge along Atlantic Boulevard was replaced with the existing span, the bridge tender’s house was on the island. Development of the site’s 3.5 acres of uplands, including roadway access from Atlantic Boulevard, has been under consideration for 30 years.
Published
for
Landscape architect Brian Burke, president of Burke Design, said he’s been working with the property owner for about a year and suggested the alternate use of the island. “I kind of hijacked this project,” he said. The waterway park Hainline would improve public access to the Intracoastal Waterway and the adjacent protected marshland and also provide a site for a welcome center for Waterway continued on Page A-3
26,744
consecutive weekdays