Daily Record Financial News &
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 097 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Mayo investing $100M locally Hospital adding medical building, PET radiochemistry facility
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor Mayo Clinic announced today it will invest $100 million in construction projects at its Jacksonville campus, including a fourstory medical building with the potential for 11 more floors. “With our vision to be the destination medical center of the Southeast, we are making sig-
nificant investments in people, facilities and technology to meet the needs of all of our patients, especially those who come to us for help with complex medical problems,” said Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida, in a news release. Farrugia is expected to discuss the investment today at the JAXUSA Partnership first-quarter luncheon meeting at the Hyatt
City Hall veteran makes return
Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. He is scheduled as the keynote speaker. The partnership is the economic development division of JAX Chamber. Mayo Clinic will add about 40 physicians and scientists and 250 allied health employees to support the medical building and a new PET radiochemistry facility, according to the news release. The health care organization
has 5,351 employees in Jacksonville and said it contributes more than $1.6 billion to the Florida economy. Mayo Clinic said it will begin construction this summer on the destination medical building that will provide integrated services needed for complex cancer care, as well as neurologic and neurosurgical care. A news release said more than
‘Borderline miraculous
Mayor Lenny Curry came up with a plan to fund the pension woes. He got help from two neighboring lawmakers.
Igou named director of neighborhoods effort
By David Chapman Staff Writer
Mayor Lenny Curry was willing to spend his political capital to get the Legislature to approve his proposed pension fix.
A week after Mayor Lenny Curry’s reorganization plan passed, one of its focal points has been structured with a familiar face at the top. Derek Igou, a former deputy chief administrative officer and longtime City Hall veteran, has returned to lead the Neighborhoods Department as its director. Igou has served as chief operating officer for the Duval County Clerk of Court the past several years after resigning from City Hall in 2011 when former Mayor Alvin Brown took office. Igou on Monday said making the switch from the courts back to City Hall after a successful stint was “probably the most difficult professional decision I’ve made.” He said the refocus on neighborhoods and again working with many of the teammates Curry assembled were deciding factors. “I just want to be a part of it,” he said. “I think we can do some good things.” Igou That starts with paying attention to an area he said has been neglected the past several years. The new department structure is different, he said, but beneficial in ways such as having liaisons to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Public Library — two links that are vital to successful neighborhoods. His first day was Monday. He said rather than come in with ideas, he’ll do what many other new leaders do — he’ll listen first. That means reaching out to groups like Citizen Planning Advisory Committees and neighborhood organizations, as well as employees, to determine what efforts are needed where. “You have to listen,” he said. He’ll make $142,000 leading the department, a bump from the $115,000 he made with the courts. Neighborhoods
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126,000 patients are expected to visit the first year it opens. It is scheduled to open 18 months after construction starts by early fall, which puts the opening in spring 2018. The building will include two floors devoted to hematology and oncology care; a chemotherapy area; a floor for neurology and neurosurgery; patient care Mayo continued on Page A-3
By David Chapman Staff Writer
Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, built support among his fellow senators for Curry’s plan to extend a half-cent sales tax.
Hours after Gov. Rick Scott signed a much-heralded pension deal for Jacksonville, three of the main advocates found themselves around a table again. This time, though, Mayor Lenny Curry, Sen. Rob Bradley and Rep. Travis Cummings weren’t talking strategy. They were at Orsay in Avondale with their wives at a dinner planned weeks before. Bradley said it was genuinely a coincidence that it came after the Friday’s news. Scott had signed their pension bill, an avenue for Jacksonville to help itself out of a $2.7 billion problem. The effort still has a way to go, including voters deciding whether they want to extend a half-cent sales tax another 30 years. That will be decided in the months ahead. Getting to that point Friday wasn’t an easy task, though. Not with a Florida Legislature that takes a microscope to anything even mentioning taxes. “It is a sensitive topic and it should be a sensitive topic,” said Bradley, the Fleming Island senator Curry recruited to help guide the bill through the Senate. Cummings, Bradley’s Fleming Island counterpart in the House, looks back and calls the several months of effort and results “borderline miraculous” the way it played out. The Tallahassee part of the equation began back in November and was capped off at that Avondale dining table Friday evening — a coincidental moment to celebrate before the next chapter unfolds.
Preparing for the starting line
Rep. Travis Cummings, R-Fleming Island, lobbied his 119 colleagues to allow Jacksonville voters to decide on the extension.
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Although Florida’s legislative session began in early January, the work began well before. Senators and House members spent the fall months in committees and preparing bills, all while Curry and his team were Pension continued on Page A-4
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