LIVE OAK, Fla. — Alvin Jackson doesn’t start his new job until next month.

And while Suwannee County quickly advertised for Jackson’s replacement as economic development director, the Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners discussed Tuesday the need for temporary assistance until a permanent hire could be made.

“We’re still going to have a void there that’s going to be an empty spot,” Chairman Ricky Gamble said in broaching the topic near the end of the county’s regular board meeting.

“It wouldn’t be day-to-day, it would a point of contact, a face if someone does come in.

“The last thing I want to do is miss something.”

The board was in agreement that Jimmy Norris, the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, would be an ideal fit if the Chamber’s board was OK with the plan. The Chamber board met Wednesday morning and is willing to help.

Norris said the two sides would hopefully meet in the next few days to come up with an agreement for the Chamber to assist through the transition period.

“We’re team players and are more than pleased that the county reached out to us,” Norris said. “We want to help in any way we can.”

Gamble said at Tuesday’s meeting that Jackson and Norris have already worked together on projects and if an agreement could be reached quickly Jackson could help inform Norris on anything currently being worked on before he leaves at the end of the month.

Jackson agreed that someone needs to be available to provide information on the county and various sites to prospective businesses.

“I think you’d be doing a disservice to your effort by not having somebody respond to the calls and the requests,” Jackson said, adding he would make himself as available as possible for consulting on topics that arise.

Kerry Waldron, who serves on the Chamber’s executive board, told the commissioners that the Chamber wants to make sure the county continues to move forward on economic development.

“When companies call, they don’t give you three days or four days to respond, they give you 24 hours to respond,” Waldron said, adding that Norris and Jackson have worked well together. “We would definitely consider an agreement to help facilitate the process while you look for a replacement.”

Norris agreed that there’s been a good working relationship between the two entities, adding Wednesday he has gone out to different sites with county representatives when prospective businesses came to visit.

“We’ve worked really closely with Alvin and the county,” Norris said.

The board also felt that with Norris’ help, it could ensure a better choice on the county’s search for Jackson’s replacement.

Gamble said he hoped the board would follow the process used four years ago when it hired Jackson. Each board member would go through the applications and choose their top two candidates to bring forth before the entire board for an interview. From those 10, the list would get whittled down through a grading process until the county found its new director.

“I think by having someone in that position, even part time or whenever needed kind of way, it allows us the time to do due diligence on selecting a candidate that would best represent our county and do what has to be done,” Commissioner Ronnie Richardson said.

Gamble agreed.

“That was the other thing I had thought about, with us having that void there, I didn’t want us to rush through the selection process and maybe take a risk of hiring somebody because we felt like we had a void,” he said. “I’d rather us be in control and not feel like we were rushing through the process.”