Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 149 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Group questions Friends’ finances
More discussion expected on Hemming Park nonprofit after audit By Max Marbut Staff Writer There was a distinct echo Wednesday evening at City Hall. It wasn’t throughout the building, just in the large conference room in the City Council suite. “Before we convene a committee, we ought to have a unified vision among stakeholders,” said council President Greg Anderson. A group was gathered to discuss the future of Hemming Park and the nonprofit that has programmed and managed the
venue since September 2014. Friends of Hemming Park, led by CEO Vince Cavin and board of directors President Wayne Wood, received $1 million from the city for the first 18 months of operations. The nonprofit received installments from the city based on reaching private fundraising benchmarks. Discussion began two weeks ago when the Friends approached council seeking an additional $250,000 set aside in the 2015-16 general fund budget
Randrr comes in under the radar
to finance the nonprofit’s operations through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Cavin said the Friends were out of money. He and Wood said if more funds were not transferred from the city, the group would suspend operations in the park by the end of this month. Council President-elect Lori Boyer pointed out one of the assumptions behind the management contract was if a private entity took over the park, it would be a self-sustaining venture.
“The city would get it off the ground,” Boyer said, and then the group would finance operations through corporate sponsorships and donations. That hasn’t happened. In addition, the Friends are proposing the city continue to fund its operations at the level of $500,000 per year, beginning with the 2016-17 budget that will go into effect Oct. 1. “It’s the city’s park. We feel the city should fund it at a level that’s sustainable,” said Wood. “We’d like to see a commitment
from the city.” Jim Bailey, board chair of the Downtown Investment Authority, said he’s impressed with the changes in the park, but questioned the nonprofit’s financial management. He pointed out the Friends spent almost $1,000 for all-access passes to One Spark 2015 and wrote a $500 check for funeral expenses. Cavin said the money was a gift to the family of a staff member who was killed. Bailey said he wants to better Hemming continued on Page A-4
Jeweler leaving Downtown after 82 years
Tech startup plans 200 jobs, $9M investment
A company you’ve likely never heard of announced Wednesday it will expand its operations in Jacksonville, employ 200 people in high-paying technical jobs and invest about $9 million. Terry Terhark, founder and CEO of randrr, said his company is developing a mobile app that will help people find a job. The company’s name is an acronym for the concept behind the app: to “reinvent and revolutionize recruiting,” he said. Terhark made the announcement at the JAX Chamber, joined by Gov. Rick Scott. The governor said Jacksonville was chosen for randrr’s new office because of the high-tech talent pool. Terhark agreed and said he’s hired about 20 software engineers, all from Jacksonville, who work in offices at Flagler Center, a Southside office park near Old St. Augustine Road and Interstate 95. The company should hit the 200-job mark in 2018, he said. What makes the announcement more notable is Terhark sought no city or state incentives for the expansion. “He didn’t ask for anything,” said Jerry Mallot, president of JAXUSA Partnership, the chamber’s economic development division. “Tech companies are different,” he explained. “They move fast.” The company has an office in Findlay, Ohio, near Toledo, where Terhark previously started and then sold two recruiting businesses. He said he was inspired to develop the company based on his daughter’s experience seeking employment through online job boards after she graduated from college. “The job search can be painful,” he said. Terhark described the randrr app as “a platform that helps people and companies connect.” It will “change the game for the recruiting industry,” he said. The app will be free, with revenue generated from advertising. Randrr continued on Page A-3
Public
Photos by Karen Brune Mathis
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Jody Bennett, who bought Knott & Co. Jewelers a year ago, and store associate Joyce Hamilton, the mother-in-law of the longtime owner’s son. The store will relocate from 222 N. Hogan St. to West Jacksonville.
Economy, parking issues and panhandlers led to decision
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor After 82 years in Downtown Jacksonville, Knott and Co. Jewelers will close June 30 and reopen at a Westside location July 5. “We regret the fact we have to leave, but it’s time,” said associate Joyce Hamilton. Owner Jody Bennett, a watchmaker and repairer, will move Knott and Company into Sharon’s Engraving, a business at 7200 Normandy Blvd. owned by his sister. Knott operates in a storefront at 222 N. Hogan St. in the Ed Ball Building, where it
legal notices begin on page
A-9
has been for almost 30 years after moving within Downtown several times since 1934. Passers-by recognize it from its glassblock storefront. It is diagonal from Hemming Park. It sells jewelry, watches and gifts to retail customers and also sells wholesale supplies to the jewelry trade as well as watch parts. Hamilton said about 75 percent of the business is repairs and 25 percent is retail. Of the repair business, 90 percent is watch repair and the rest is jewelry. Bennett said some fellow jewelers outsource
Published
for
watch repairs to him. Bennett will focus on repairs and selling parts after the move, but intends to store the remaining jewelry inventory for now. Hamilton counts judges, lawyers and police officers as Knott regulars, as they drop off items on their way to work. Contractors do the same as they visit planners and building inspectors in the city-owned Ed Ball Building. So do jurors reporting for duty at the Duval County Courthouse a block away. Knott was a tenant at the building when Knott continued on Page A-4
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