Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, March 7, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 081 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Higher rating, lower premiums Fire department’s scores may save homeowners
Jacksonville Giants owner Ron Sholes during a recent game donated $10,000 to Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. Sholes also is an attorney and made that evening’s game in honor of the nonprofit legal firm.
Special to the Daily Record
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Playing in two courts Lawyer juggles firm and basketball team
By David Chapman Staff Writer
Some attorneys take up sports in their spare time. They might hit the golf course, aiming to have a little fun while perfecting that swing. Some might play weekend softball with the church league. Many others lace up their running shoes and simply run. Attorney Ron Sholes is more of a basketball guy. His spare time away from his law office of 20-plus attorneys, though, doesn’t entail practicing his three-pointer or working on his post-up game. Instead, it’s as owner of the Jacksonville Giants, the successful American Basketball Association team he brought to town in 2010. It’s been a love of Sholes’ that’s helped him give back to the community, such as through a recent night dedicated toward Jacksonville Area Legal Aid that provided $10,000 in funding. Or through several education-related Sholes continued on Page A-11
People who live and own businesses in Duval County and purchase insurance to protect themselves from loss due to fire are probably be in line to save some money. The Insurance Services Office has upgraded Jacksonville from a Public Protection Classification Class 3 rating to Class 1 for 95 percent of the county, which indicates superior fire protection. Jacksonville has held the Class 3 rating since 1974. The rating scale, with Class 1 being the best and Class 10 meaning available fire suppression services do not meet the organization’s minimum requirements, is based on three factors: • 50 percent is derived from fire operational capacity, including the number and locations of fire stations and how the department maintains and tests its engine and ladder companies. • 40 percent is based on availability of enough water to fight a fire, focusing on on whether the community has sufficient water supply for fire suppression beyond daily maximum consumption, as well as the number and location of fire hydrants and how often hydrants are inspected and tested. • 10 percent of the score is from the level of communication with the public, such as how well the fire department receives and dispatches fire alarms, including the level of technology and number of personnel in the emergency call center. In addition, the calculation takes into consideration community risk reduction efforts such as fire prevention, public fire safety education and fire investigation. Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Chief Kurt Wilson said the improvement in classification is due to reducing response time, improved documentation of training, preFire continued on Page A-6
Sholes started the local American Basketball Association team in 2010 and has had the same coach, Kevin Waters, ever since. The two have won two championships and been perennial playoff contenders.
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Canadian Pacific CEO keeps talking CSX
Like almost all major corporations, CSX Corp. officials have a policy of not discussing merger rumors under any circumstances. However, the CEO of one major company who would like to acquire CSX doesn’t mind talking about it at all. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. approached Jacksonville-based CSX for the second time in January about a merger, and was rebuffed for a second time. Usually these stories come from anonymous sources such as investment bankers who might
Public
benefit from a merger negotiation. In this case, it was Canadian Pacific CEO Hunter Harrison who confirmed the story for the Journal. “We’ve said all along that if we looked at the synergies between the two eastern carriers, right now both of them would work for us,” Harrison said, according to the Journal. Canadian Pacific has been trying to buy the other major eastern railroad, Norfolk Southern Corp., since November. Like CSX, Norfolk Southern has rejected Canadian Pacific’s advances. All through this process, Har-
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rison has continued to talk about CSX. During a conference call in December to discuss the bid for Norfolk Southern, Harrison said he understood CSX was “in play” as a potential takeover target. Last month, at an investor conference hosted by Barclays, Harrison didn’t discuss any merger talks with CSX but did take the
opportunity to criticize CSX’s operations. Harrison said after Oscar Munoz joined CSX in 2003, Munoz invited him to Jacksonville to talk about ways to improve operations, according to a transcript of the investment conference posted by Canadian Pacific. Harrison said other CSX officials were resistant to his ideas. “People don’t want change, they don’t want to switch models and there is a resistance to it. And organizations I find that are willing to do that, that are willing to really look in the mirror, see what opportunities there are and then
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… to take the steps to see if they are right, produce success and others don’t,” he said. Harrison also said at the conference that CSX CEO Michael Ward “is probably going to be leaving” the company, after Munoz left in September to become CEO of United Continental Holdings Inc. Actually, when Munoz resigned as president of CSX, Ward said he committed to stay for at least three more years as the company considers a new succession plan. He had been prepared to possibly retire this year and let Munoz take over. Basch continued on Page A-10
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