JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Downtown Jacksonville\u2019s effort to land the Culinary Institute of America was supposed to be moving quickly. But city leaders say they\u2019re still waiting for the school to publicly say what it decided.<\/p>\n
That uncertainty came into sharper focus during a Downtown special committee meeting on Tuesday, where council members pressed for answers on what came out of the Culinary Institute\u2019s recent board meeting and whether Jacksonville is any closer to landing the campus.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, Downtown Investment Authority CEO Colin Tarbert told council members the Culinary Institute has not made any public announcement and appears to be coordinating a joint rollout with local partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey met. I think they want to wait and do it in partnership with the folks here,\u201d Tarbert said. \u201cI believe they are working with the local parties here to do more of a formal announcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Councilmember Joe Carlucci pushed back in real time, noting he expected something more concrete.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK, I thought that was supposed to happen at their board meeting in June,\u201d Carlucci said. \u201cThat\u2019s really unfortunate because we passed an ordinance for that meeting. If they are listening, it feels like we did that for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarbert responded that the board did meet and the discussion took place, but said the school appears to be waiting to roll out its decision publicly with partners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that\u2019s fine, we will take that off line, but I don\u2019t like that,\u201d Carlucci said during the exchange.<\/p>\n