Brickbats to Jacksonville Port Authority

Brickbats to Jacksonville Port Authority for its method selecting a new CEO to run the city’s ports. Board members voted unanimously on April 22 to begin negotiations with Juan Kuryla, deputy director of the port of Miami, to take over the post. Most of the selection process was behind closed doors as board members met individually with eight candidates, skirting the state’s public meeting law. By meeting one-on-one, they didn’t have to open the meeting to the public, which kept the other board members and the general public from hearing the candidates’ views. At its meeting, the Board first narrowed the list of candidates from eight to three before offering the job to Kuryla. The two other finalists were interim JaxPort CEO Roy Schleicher and Michael Moore, Global Container Terminals CEO. Kuryla has been the deputy director of Miami’s port since April 2009. Miami, like Jacksonville, is working to deepen its harbor so it can compete for super-sized ships.