Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves is ready to launch the next phase of the city’s economic development.
Why this matters: Coming off his success in getting Triumph and state grants to relocate American Magic’s headquarters to the Port of Pensacola, the mayor wants to shape how the city attracts businesses and talent to Pensacola.
- “Now is getting our feet under us and really deciding what that unique profile of economic development is in the city,” the mayor said.
- He added that cybersecurity “would seem to be something that we could play a stronger part in than the city has in previous years, thinking that those businesses or those employees are going to want to live in the city.”
Dig Deeper: Mayor Reeves believes the city needs its own economic development office – “not in any way to be adversarial or territorial about any kind of topic, but I do think it’s our duty.”
- “I think cybersecurity is a good, perfect example.”
School Superintendent
The mayor wasn’t surprised by the vote to fire Superintendent Tim Smith but believes appointed is still the best way to select the superintendent.
- “Unfortunately it’s not surprising, especially with the two school board members that moved this forward,” Reeves said. “We’ve known kind of the direction they wanted to go since 2018, and this is something they didn’t want to do.”
Why this matters: Mayor Reeves doesn’t think the job should be political.
- “At the end of the day, this is a technician’s job,” he said. “I mentioned that at the school board in March. This is a technician’s position; the superintendent should be the best manager and educator…It shouldn’t be involved in politics.”
Dig Deeper:
