Daily Record FINANCIAL NEWS &
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2017
Vol. 104, No. 042 • Two SecTioNS
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
Hidden Hills club going public
Tracy and Russ Libby, owners of Hidden Hills Country Club.
Debate on HRO bill more calm than before
Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
Golf course, clubhouse and dining available to all
Hidden Hills Country Club, developed 50 years ago in the Fort Caroline area, will cease to be a private country club and its golf course will become public Feb. 1. Dining facilities and the clubhouse also will open to the public. However, the tennis facility, pool, fitness center and clubsponsored events will no longer operate, owner-manager Russ Libby told members in a letter dated Jan. 3. Memberships will end Jan. 31. Libby said Tuesday there are demographic changes in and around Arlington. Also, people
don’t seem to have extra money to spend on private country club memberships. At the same time, there is interest in access to golf courses from nonmembers. “We have seen a demand on the public side that has been pretty positive,” he said. Libby and his wife, Tracy, own
the club at 1301 Monument Road in East Arlington under the name Lucas Fairways LLC. Tracy Libby is director of sales. Russ Libby said the decision to open to the public was pro-active. His letter said it has been their desire to manage the club as a private facility. “However we feel that this new business model is the best one for the future of Hidden Hills,” he said. The decision was made after almost 14 years of serving members. MATHIS CONTINUED ON PAGE A-2
Familiar viewpoints shared on ordinance
City Council convened at 5 p.m. Tuesday with a prayer for “peace and blessings to all” and a petition to “give us the wisdom to do the right thing.” It adjourned about 8:45 p.m. with an expression of appreciation for decorum. In between was the first public hearing for new legislation that would expand Jacksonville’s human rights ordinance to include protection for the LGBTQ community. After about an hour of public comment and after the last speaker was called to the podium, council President Lori Boyer said she appreciated the way representatives from the two sides of the issue behaved during their presentations. “Everyone was civil and respectful of one another,” she said. “I’m very proud of you.” Public comment on the ordinance was scheduled for the latter part of the meeting, after all other business was concluded. Boyer directed staff to divide the speaker Boyer cards into three groups: those in favor of the ordinance, those against and those who are undecided. Names were called alternating the viewpoint with each speaker until about 8:30 p.m., when the remaining speakers all were in favor of the bill. Many of the same arguments were presented Tuesday that were heard in the two previous attempts to expand the regulations. Several speakers in favor of the ordinance quoted from the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Pledge of Allegiance. One speaker cited the inscription on the Liberty Bell –– that its ringing proclaims liberty to all. COUNCIL
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Photos by Fran Ruchalski
By Max Marbut Staff Writer
Alexandria Klempf, or Alex as she goes by, stands by the corporate logo for the BAM Investment Group on the wall of the company’s conference room. She is president of the group.
Returning home like a boomerang Alex Klempf enjoying key roles in father’s businesses By Fran Ruchalski, Contributing Writer
Klempf began working for her father when she was in high school and during summers off from college.
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Alexandria Klempf is proud to be a boomerang. One of the 20- and 30-somethings who left Jacksonville for other places, only to return when they realized there was much to miss about the River City. Klempf’s back now, as one of the partners in Forking Amazing Restaurants, which was co-founded by her father, Jacques. She is leading the company’s highest-profile project — the redevelopment of the historic Bostwick Building Downtown into the Cowford Chophouse. But it was a six-year journey before she made her way home. After graduating from The Episcopal School of Jacksonville, Klempf went west for a degree in literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Then northeast to Boston for her master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts.
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