Camden JDA Board meeting.

I attended the 9:30 meeting of the Camden County JDA Board of Directors this morning at the county annex. There were a few more people there than usual (or so the board noted) but hardly a crowd. This was the first time I had attended one of their meetings. Here is my impression. All of the members seem to be fine gentlemen well met. They are all seemingly well educated and successful in their fields. I'm sure they would all feel right at home in any country club and on any golf course in America. Clearly, none are in it for the money. I believe they are all in it out of a sense of noblesse oblige. I believe they are all well intentioned and actually believe that they have done a really good job for the people of Camden County during their tenure. I, of course disagree. One expressed the opinion that the reason the public less than satisfied with their performance is a failure on the part of past executive directors to adequately impress upon the public just what a good job they are doing. Doing just that will be written into the job description for the new man. I truly believe that they all truly believe all of these things. I Think what we have here is an experiential inability on the part of these successful gentlemen to relate to the dire straits of the working poor in this county. Ergo, they have absolutely no sense of urgency to bring about the as yet unrealised flowering of a vibrant economy which Camden has been poised for for a least two decades now. I know this group has the innate ability, but they have not yet awakened to the severity and the urgency of the need. I addressed them at some length this morning on all that Camden had to offer to prospective businesses and tried to impress upon them that this search for a new JDA Executive Director is a golden opportunity for a fresh start with an aggressive search for new businesses and jobs in the community. I also asked that they not succumb to the temptation to give extra favor to local applicants, when in fact it was patently obvious from the spread sheet of the qualifications of the 47 candidates that the group from out-of-town was self-evidently more qualified than the locals by virtue not only of educational credentials but by the germaneness of their current jobs to the position offered. Hopefully, they will come around and we will see the dawn of a new day at the JDA. If not, then they should all go - well intentioned or not. By the way, the chairman says they have already narrowed down the candidates and may well announce a choice by their next monthly meeting. In other news, the chairman announced that "the Allen Company" (?) plans on building a 900,000 square foot distribution center behind Collision Auto Center off of Hwy 40 , across from the auto dealers. Apparently, the proximity of rail service to the Port of Jacksonville is what ostensibly "landed" that deal. No word as to how many jobs or pay scales as yet. They are also spending 90,000 to clear off another building lot up off of Harriet's Bluff Road at the county industrial park. No prospects - purely on spec. By the way, the moving and storage company that bought the old spec building is closing down their operation there and moving back to Jax. They continue to own the building, but he JDA sees their leaving as a good thing because they can now say there is a building readily available in the industrial park.