I love Jacksonville. I love our beautiful St. Johns River, and I dream of the day our downtown riverfront is filled with families, restaurants, music, beautiful parks, and people enjoying everything this city has to offer.
But something caught my eye this week, and it got me thinking about a much bigger issue facing our city.
The Jacksonville Riverfront Alliance has hired its first CEO, Tony Moore, following a national search. He comes to us with experience developing major parks in Tulsa and Dallas. I wish him well and hope he does wonderful things for Jacksonville.
But I have a question.
Do we really need another organization, another board, another CEO, and another layer of bureaucracy to accomplish what we’re already paying other organizations to do?
We have a Downtown Investment Authority. We have a Parks Department. We have Downtown Vision and other organizations promoting and improving our downtown. Now we have the Jacksonville Riverfront Alliance, a private nonprofit that will help manage and program our riverfront parks.
And taxpayers are already contributing to the effort.
City Council approved $1.57 million in combined funding for the Alliance and downtown park maintenance, including $570,159 directly for the Alliance. Council also waived the city’s normal competitive nonprofit funding process.
Maybe there’s a perfectly good explanation for all of this.
But shouldn’t we be asking some questions before we create yet another silo?
The Trouble With Silos
I’ve spent much of my life working with CEOs and business leaders, and I’ve learned something about successful organizations.
They don’t succeed because they have more departments, more executives, more boards, and more meetings.
They succeed because they have great leadership.
Leadership that communicates. Leadership that listens. Leadership that demands accountability.
And most importantly, leadership that embraces transparency.
Silos are dangerous. Everyone gets busy doing their own thing behind their own walls. Communication gets lost. Responsibilities overlap. People begin protecting their own little kingdoms.
And sometimes, bad things happen inside those silos while everyone outside assumes somebody else is paying attention.
Then one day, someone notices a little smoke and starts waving their arms.
“Hey! I think that silo is on fire!”
And what happens?
Sometimes the person sounding the alarm is shooed away.
Nothing to see here. We’ve got everything under control. Move along.
Until suddenly the entire silo is engulfed in flames.
And what burns along with it?
Our taxpayer dollars.
Our confidence in government.
And perhaps the most valuable thing of all — our trust in leadership.
Sound familiar, Jacksonville?
How Many More Fires Do We Need?
Look at JEA. We’ve already lived through a scandal that sent a former CEO to federal prison.
Look at JTA. Financial problems, a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, and serious allegations about what its board knew — or didn’t know. Some people were raising concerns long before the problems became front-page news.
And now the Jacksonville Housing Authority. Its board recently fired its CEO following a controversy over a proposed executive compensation arrangement, amid questions about the agency’s finances and operations.
These are different organizations with different circumstances. I’m not suggesting their problems are identical.
But I do see a common question running through all of them.
Where was the leadership before the alarms started ringing?
Where were the people responsible for asking difficult questions? Where were the boards? Where were the checks and balances?
And why does it sometimes take a public controversy before anyone looks closely inside these organizations?
We should not have to wait for a five-alarm fire to discover what’s happening with the public’s money.
Who’s Talking to Whom?
Here’s the question that troubles me most about the Riverfront Alliance.
Who is coordinating all these organizations?
The city has designated its Parks Department to oversee the Alliance agreement. Meanwhile, the Downtown Investment Authority has its own responsibilities for downtown development. And the Alliance has its own board and CEO.
How will these groups work together?
Who makes the final decisions? Who approves the spending? Who resolves disagreements? Who ensures we’re not paying multiple organizations to perform overlapping responsibilities?
And perhaps most importantly, who makes sure the public can see what’s happening?
The Riverfront Alliance may have every intention of operating openly and efficiently. I hope it does.
But good intentions are not a substitute for clear accountability.
In fact, when City Council approved the Alliance arrangement, it waived the normal competitive nonprofit funding process.
That’s a decision that deserves an explanation to taxpayers.
Not because we’re accusing anyone of wrongdoing.
But because transparency should never depend on someone having to ask for it.
It should be built into the organization from day one.
Maybe It’s Time to Get Everybody in One Room
Here’s a thought for the people I know in leadership positions across Jacksonville.
What if, instead of creating more bureaucracy, we started looking for ways to reduce it?
Get the people responsible for running these organizations in a room.
Put the organizational charts on the walls. Put the budgets on the tables. Show us who reports to whom, who is responsible for what, and where our taxpayer dollars are going.
Look for duplication.
Look for efficiencies.
Look for opportunities to combine responsibilities, reduce administrative costs, and improve communication.
I’m not suggesting we need another permanent committee, another consultant’s report, or another expensive government initiative.
I’m suggesting we practice something successful businesses do every day.
Run a lean machine.
One where everybody knows the mission, understands their responsibilities, and is accountable for the results.
One where problems are addressed before they become scandals.
One where people who raise concerns are thanked for their courage instead of being treated like troublemakers.
And one where transparency isn’t something we promise after the fact.
It’s how we operate in the first place.
Leadership Is Jacksonville’s Biggest Issue
I know many of the people serving in leadership positions around Jacksonville. I believe there are good people who genuinely want our city to succeed.
But I also believe we’re at a moment when good intentions are no longer enough.
We’ve had too many troubling headlines. Too many questions about financial management. Too many leadership shakeups. Too many times when the public has been left wondering who was minding the store.
And with every new controversy, something precious slips away.
Public trust.
That trust isn’t restored with another press release, another organizational chart, or another CEO.
It’s restored when leaders are willing to open the doors, answer the questions, admit mistakes, and make changes.
It’s restored when people stop protecting their silos and start protecting the public interest.
And it’s restored when the people in power recognize that leadership isn’t about having authority.
It’s about accepting responsibility.
So before we build another silo in Jacksonville, let’s take a good look at the ones we already have.
And before another citizen has to shout that a silo is on fire, let’s make sure somebody inside is paying attention.
Because Jacksonville doesn’t need more walls separating people and organizations.
We need leaders willing to tear down the walls that keep information, ideas, and accountability from flowing freely.
I want our riverfront to become something spectacular. I want our downtown to thrive. I want Jacksonville to be a city other communities admire.
But most of all, I want a city government that runs efficiently, operates openly, listens to its citizens, and treats every taxpayer dollar with respect.
Leadership is the biggest issue facing Jacksonville today.
Get leadership right, and the rest has a much better chance of falling into place.
And wouldn’t it be wonderful if Jacksonville became known not for how many fires we’ve had to put out, but for how well we learned to prevent them?
