LAKELAND — He’s back home in Wisconsin now. He spent his last day cleaning out his office, enjoying a retirement party then he hit the road.
Mark Jackson, 72, stepped down as director of Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing in mid-August after 34 years, but the impact and legacy of his tenure during his years in Polk County — also home to him, he said — won’t soon be forgotten.
The budget his first year for tourism and sports, he said, was $2 million and he had a staff of one — just he and his secretary — with an economic impact of about $17 million. Now the budget is $42 million with a the staff of nearly 40, which includes the addition of tourism in 2003, and economic impact of $200 million…