South Jacksonville sits on board and makes plans
New South Jacksonville administrator Jackie Killion is ready to get down to business after being approved by the board on Thursday and taking her seat.
“I am a sponge,” Killion said. “I’m just trying to learn all I can for the job.”
Killion also serves as chair of the board’s public planning committee and joins other committees. She said she was ready to settle down and learn as much as possible to help the village and its people.
While she expects it to take some time for her to learn how the different processes work, she is excited and believes she can be the voice of the residents, she said.
“I want to be useful… we have to do something other than work and pay the bills,” Killion said. “I want to do something that matters in someone’s life. I want to help people be heard.
In addition to naming Killion, the board was also given a deadline to create an outline for the full-time fire chief position, a topic that has been under discussion for several months.
President Mike Broaddus said he gave the board of directors a Jan. 3 deadline to create the position.
The position will go through committees – personnel, public protection and finance – before being discussed in plenary committee and then voted on by the board of directors.
“In the past, these things didn’t go through the right stages,” Broaddus said.
In addition to the deadline for the chef’s post, Broaddus also asked the board to develop an oversight role for recreation, which would oversee recreation and tourism, and a public information officer.
The October 25 storm that caused high winds and extensive damage to the village underscored the need for a central contact person for media and centralized distribution of information, Broaddus said.
Although the village has people disseminating information on its behalf, the creation of a public information officer would provide a central person to coordinate the dissemination of information during critical times and provide a contact person for the community, Broaddus said.
“It will take longer,” he said.
The storm of October 25 also led Broaddus to another decision – to present more citizenship awards.
“We had complete strangers, someone who doesn’t even live here, here that first morning to help,” Broaddus said. “We have to recognize the people of the village, the people who help the village. ”
Residents can nominate people for the award by contacting him, Broaddus said.