A.G. Gancarski
The logrolling continues in Jacksonville’s City Council. Vice President Lori Boyer wants to be president. On Thursday, Boyer sought the support of VP front runner John Crescimbeni.
Not much convincing was needed.
In the middle of Boyer’s pitch, Crescimbeni told Boyer to stop midsentence, declaring himself a “Boyer supporter.”
After the transactional part of the meeting was wrapped, Boyer asked Crescimbeni what he wanted to see going forward.
One of Crescimbeni’s priorities: getting the 11 new Council members ready to “take over the ship” in 2019, by “providing responsibility to folks” in terms of committee chairs.
His worry is that there would “not be a lot of institutional knowledge when 2019 rolls around” if the new class isn’t given a heavier lift and brought “up to speed.”
Boyer agreed with that, before describing one of her priorities.
“We’ve got to figure out the Unfunded Liability. If the Curry plan goes through,” the current Council VP said, there could be a “different focus.”
Even so, Boyer said, at least “some of the year” would be spent “selling the plan.”
If the plan doesn’t go through?
There will be “challenges.”
Boyer added that, during her four years on Council, a lot of focus has gone on that pension liability.
Another desire of Boyer’s: to have standing committees address recurrent topics relevant to their focuses.
Crescimbeni noted that Boyer brings focus and “passion” to the meaningful issues, such as the Capital Improvement Plan, which has been one of Council VP Boyer’s focuses.
“A lot of people,” Crescimbeni said, “have time constraints” and some are “reluctant” to put in the time.
“I don’t know if anyone puts in the hours you do,” Crescimbeni added.
Boyer, after the meeting wrapped, spoke of her desire to advance newer members to leadership, specifically “people who haven’t been in the role before.”
She cited her own learning curve in the legal field, moving from school to research to client meetings, and then getting business, a strong analogy to the work people do on Council.
“Everyone comes into this with some background and experience,” including from the campaign trail, which is always an adventure.
Boyer’s clear feel though: that experiential learning is the ultimate teacher.
Boyer’s take on her CIP work: “the numbers just can’t disagree” like they have in the past.
Boyer, the current VP, in all likelihood won’t face even nominal opposition. That said, she is taking the opportunity in these meetings to get a sense of each council member’s priorities, as she works on what seemingly will be an inevitable presidency.
