Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, June 6, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 146 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Medtronic realigns operating divisions
Leigh
Corey
Nelson
When Kenny Leigh filed to run as a write-in state attorney candidate, closing the primary, there was an uproar and a lawsuit.
Falcon
Cofer
Shirk
When attorney Roland Falcon did the same thing in the public defender’s race, the move was met with relative silence.
Same action, different reaction The outcry from certain 4th Judicial Circuit voting blocs was almost immediate when attorney Kenny Leigh filed for the state attorney’s race. A sham candidacy, it was accused. A cheap political trick meant to disenfranchise non-Republicans who can’t vote because Leigh filed as a write-in the same day as attorney Melissa Nelson, who pundits consider a formidable challenger to incumbent Angela Corey. It was Corey’s campaign manager at the time who filed Leigh’s documents. When Leigh told The Florida Times-
“
“
By David Chapman Staff Writer
It’s entirely a political tactic. And it’s a great political tactic.
Michael Binder University of North Florida professor about Kenny Leigh’s filing
Union he was a Corey supporter, it was enough for some. A lawsuit was filed. The state attorney’s race isn’t the only legal battle closed on the August ballot. The public defender’s race is, too. It’s a
contest that was closed due to a write-in candidate with ties to incumbent Matt Shirk. But there has been no loud outcry, no legal wrangling. “It’s literally the exact same thing,” said Michael Binder, emphasizing the word “exact.” He is a University of North Florida public opinion research lab professor. That race’s write-in candidate, attorney Roland Falcon, told the Times-Union Shirk is doing a good job. Falcon did not return calls Friday or Monday, but told Florida Politics after filing in early May he was trying to build name recognition in hopes of becoming a judge one day. He said then he wasn’t Races continued on Page A-10
As Medtronic plc reported its fiscal yearend earnings last week, the medical device company also unveiled a realignment of its operating divisions. The realignment includes its Jacksonville division, which produces surgical instruments for ear, nose and throat physicians. However, it will not affect operations, said Medtronic spokesman Eric Epperson. The ENT business was part of Medtronic’s Surgical Technologies division, which was technically headquartered in Jacksonville but didn’t add any jobs to its local operation. The company has a little more than 750 employees in Jacksonville. The Surgical Technologies division, which disappeared in the realignment announced last week, was one of four units under Medtronic’s Restorative Therapies Group, or RTG. The company is restructuring the RTG businesses to provide a stronger focus on the diseases and conditions treated by its products, Epperson said. Medtronic created three RTG divisions called Spine, Brain Therapies and Pain Therapies. The ENT business will be a separate unit but grouped with other businesses under Specialty Therapies. The important note is “nothing has changed with our businesses or the technologies they develop and market,” Epperson said. The realignment has more to do with financial reporting. “The business that’s been located in Jacksonville for Medtronic is still there,” Epperson said. The realignment follows Medtronic’s acquisition last year of Dublin-based Covidien plc. Medtronic moved its corporate headquarters to Covidien’s offices in Dublin, Ireland, after the merger but maintains Basch continued on Page A-2
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City to hire attorney exclusively for JEA General counsel says ‘blueprint is the first of its kind’
By Max Marbut Staff Writer The city Office of General Counsel will hire another attorney and he or she will work exclusively for JEA. The new hire will represent a new direction for the city. “This blueprint is the first of its kind where the assigned attorney is completely dedicated to a particular authority, while at the same time employed by and under the house of the Office of General Counsel,” said General
Public
Counsel Jason Gabriel. City Council authorized increasing the employee cap in the city’s law firm by two positions to allow hiring an attorney and a paralegal to serve the legal needs of the municipal utility. The combined salaries of the two positions through Sept. 30 — $120,075 — will be transferred to the Office of General Counsel from JEA’s internal service fund revenue. Continuing salaries will be budgeted for 2016-17 and subsequent fiscal years by JEA. How the city provides legal
legal notices begin on page
B-2
services to the utility was one of the topics studied by the council’s Special Committee on the JEA Annual Contribution. Melissa Dykes, JEA chief financial officer, said with $2 billion in revenue, $8 billion in assets and 2,000 employees, JEA is a large and complex organization with diverse legal-service needs. After conferring with Gabriel to determine the best course of action, based on how legal services are provided to other municipal utilities, the decision was made to hire dedicated coun-
sel, she said. Gabriel said the attorneys currently on his staff are “local government generalists” who have a working knowledge in many areas such as contracts, ethics, employment and labor, land use, public records law and procurement. He said having an attorney working exclusively for JEA is in accordance with the City Charter and upholds the foundation of central services under Jacksonville’s consolidated government. JEA continued on Page A-10
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