City Council - Aug 25, 2026

Good evening. Welcome. I call to order the meeting of the full city council of August 25th, 2026. And Mr. Boylan, over to you as floor leader. Thank you, Mr. President. Our first order of business, of course, is the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. I would ask that you please recognize Council Member Amaro, our council chaplain, to introduce today's pastor. Thank you, Mr. Floor Leader. Tonight, we're honored to welcome Pastor Michael Popp of Grace Lutheran Church and School in Arlington to lead us into our opening prayer. Originally from the Midwest, Pastor Michael spent the first 30 years of his life there before moving to Jacksonville over 20 years ago, a move he thanks the Lord for every day. He began his career as a middle school math teacher in Nebraska and Iowa. But in 2005, he answered God's call to come to Grace Lutheran to help launch the middle school and the athletic ministry. In 2015, Pastor Michael entered pastoral ministry through Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and was ordained as an associate pastor in 2017. He has faithfully served as the sole pastor at Grace for the past three years, being a true shepherd of the Lord and the firm foundation of faith and guidance to the entire congregation, especially for those who, on some days, need it the most. In addition to his pastoral responsibilities, Pastor Michael serves as the director of athletic ministries for the Florida Georgia District and the president of the Jacksonville Christian Athletic League. He and his wife, Jessa, Grace's third grade teacher, have been married since 1998, and they're proud parents of two sons, Peyton and Addison, who both moved out of their house last year. Peyton is following in his father's footstep and is starting his fourth year as a middle school math teacher and athletic director at Grace. Pastor Michael is passionate about coaching basketball, cheering for his beloved Chicago sports teams, including the Bears, who might finally have the season where the quarterback throws a couple of thousand yards and officiating weddings for former students. Please receive Pastor Michael Popp for tonight's invocation. What I want to share with you guys tonight before we do the invocation prayer is simply what our grace theme is this year. We put together a theme of grit, grace, responsibility, integrity, and tenacity. And certainly that tenacity we're trying to help our middle schoolers have because we're in a world where they quit so easy. We're using the theme verse Galatians 6-9. I think it's very fitting as you guys start this new season too. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not give up. And so certainly I'm here to thank you all on behalf of our school, our neighborhood. What a wonderful place we have. We've been to a lot of big cities and none's as clean as Jacksonville. And they're safe. I love it. And I thank you for all what you do. Let's start this tonight by bringing the Lord here in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. We pray. Good and gracious Lord, once again, we thank you for the blessing of all these wonderful individuals who put themselves on the line where half the people will not be happy and they're going to hear it. And every thing that comes up has two sides and it feels like division. And yet when we look around, we couldn't be happier with the place that we have, the safety we have, the true clean city we have. So excited, everything going on. And we know it starts here. And so we're just thankful. Those of us who are ignorant almost all year about it, come back and we're thankful. So be with them. May they continue to be rooted in you and the decisions they make and continue to look after each other that we continue to bring that glory until you come back or bring us home. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you again. I pledge allegiance. President, I believe you have a couple of announcements. I do. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Floor Leader. I have two and then Mr. Romero has one. First announcement is the Finance Committee led by Chair Landon's doing a fantastic job. Hearings five and six are this week. Tomorrow is CIP Day and Thursday is wrap-up day. So all council members are welcome. Second announcement, I'll be putting out new committee assignments since we have one council member leaving and one joining on Monday. I'll be putting out new council assignments Thursday afternoon. So expect, expect them. And then Councilman Amaro, you are recognized, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. A couple of things come to mind when I think of this individual. Loyalty and dedication. Those are the backbone to the success of any organization, any entity. And three years ago, I came on the city council and my executive council assistant, Joe Johnson, was hired to fulfill that role. He's demonstrated in the three years that kind of loyalty and dedication that makes my job a lot easier. I think anyone on the dais would acknowledge that without a good CEA, you cannot be a good council member. And so tonight I wanted to recognize him for his five-year employment with the city. I just discovered he's been here five years, five years of dedication. And so he's gotten his five-year pin as a five-year mark for Joe to say thank you for your service to the community and your service to the city of Jacksonville and continue doing what you do, assisting not just myself, but everyone on this dais. Just want to do that. Thank you, Mr. Amaro. Congrats, Joe, on five years. And with that, we will take roll call. And we will pause until Mr. Amaro comes back in. 19 present. All right. We have a quorum. And now, Mr. President, it's time for the approval of the minutes from our regular council meeting of August the 11th. I move the approval. We have a motion and a second on the approval of the minutes. Seeing no one in the queue, we'll take the vote verbally. All in favor of the minutes, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say no. The minutes pass. Mr. President, we have a handful of communications from the mayor and other entities. Would you like those read or filed with legislative services? File them, please. All righty. At this time, I invite retiring council member, Terrence Freeman, to the podium for a very special presentation to a longstanding and outstanding community leader. Mr. Thiel, would you please read the resolution? Resolution 2026-114. W.C. Gentry has faithfully served the city of Jacksonville for decades as an accomplished attorney, former Duval County School Board chairman, and member of Jacksonville's many boards and commissions, demonstrating immense dedication and commitment to public service and the citizens of this city. Mr. Gentry was instrumental in the original Jacksonville journey, launched in 2008, serving on its steering committee, oversight committee, and education, truancy, dropout, and literacy subcommittee, which led to massive reductions in crime, school suspensions, and student absenteeism through increased prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation efforts. Built upon the success of the original Jacksonville journey, Jacksonville Journey Forward was established in 2024, and Mr. Gentry again committed himself to the city as chair of the Journey Forward Board, dedicated to reducing violence, strengthening neighborhoods, and enhancing overall quality of life for all residents. Mr. Gentry's service to Jacksonville extends beyond his work with the Jacksonville Journey and its newest iteration, having played a key role in establishing the city's first ethics commission in serving on numerous boards and commissions, including the Value Adjustment Board, the Task Force on Safety and Crime Reduction, the Charter Revision Commission, and the Safety and Crime Reduction Commission. Mr. Gentry, having been a teacher and basketball coach before embarking on an illustrious legal career, also served as a member and chairman of the Duval County School Board, further showcasing his deep commitment to the well-being and education of Jacksonville's youth. As Mr. Gentry steps down from his position as chair of the Jacksonville Journey Forward Board, the City Council honors his legacy and his commitment to improving the lives of the residents of Jacksonville and expresses its gratitude for his decades of service, the impact of which is immeasurable and enduring. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Jacksonville. The City Council hereby honors W.C. Gentry for his years of service to the City of Jacksonville and its citizens, which has resulted in marked improvements in safety and quality of life. The City Council expresses its gratitude and appreciation for Mr. Gentry's dedication to the City of Jacksonville and its citizens. Thank you. Mr. Freeman, you're recognized. Wow. Thank you, Mr. President. And unfortunately, I left my tissues up there. I got a feeling that tonight might be an emotional night for me. And I want to thank the president for this opportunity to share a few words about my good friend W.C. I genuinely want to thank each of my colleagues for unanimously supporting this resolution, recognizing so many of his life accomplishments. I've probably said it too many times, but I truly believe in giving people their flowers while they can still smell them. And as soon as I was sitting in a meeting and heard W.C. Gentry openly express one of his challenges that he was up against, I knew that this was the right thing to do. I want to tell you, W.C., that you have blessed me since the beginning of this process. As a novice back in 2006 that just went by coach, I was coach, coach, and you would talk sports to me all the time. But I watched you chair the Jacksonville Journey Oversight Committee, and I watched how you led with compassion to the point where I couldn't tell if you were the chair or just another member. And the reason why I share that is because then I watched every other leader that followed you, and they followed in those footsteps. And what I can assure you is if you watched me when I sat in that seat, I made sure that no one up there felt that I was one above any of the other 18 because we were truly one team. And I want to thank you for your leadership. I want to thank you for what you've done for our city on behalf of kids and prevention, intervention, and reentry programs. And I'll tell you, I just thank you for the contributions of Jacksonville. And I wish you nothing but the best years ahead as you take on the latest challenge that life has thrown at you. And with that, I would love to offer my colleague, Councilman Diamond, a few words, and then WCU support. Thanks, TF. I don't think I've ever been down at the podium for one of these things, and this is one I begged for the opportunity to say good things about you, sir. But when I first moved to Jacksonville, somehow Mayor Alvin Brown just put me on the Jacksonville journey, and I showed up. I had no idea anything about the city, didn't know anything about Jacksonville, and you took me under your wing. And you gave me full reign to help people and children in Jacksonville and juvenile justice, and we did some good. You taught me how important it is that kids need to know how to read. And when we had a summer reading program and the books weren't showing up, you stormed into the schools and demanded to know why the books weren't showing up, and then they showed up. And then the kids got to take those books home. When I think about what leadership in our town, which is unique, looks like, I think about you. And I just want to thank you for teaching me personally what it means to put everything else aside and just do what's right, because that's the leadership example you've made, and I love you, sir. And thank you for everything you've done for our town. I want to thank these two guys. They were the stars of that committee. And thank this council for awarding me this resolution. I don't usually get such nice things said about me, and they usually aren't said until the funeral. And so I'm very pleased. I just hope somebody doesn't know something I don't know about what's going on. Seriously, this is a huge honor coming from you. I grew up over on Tyler and Avenue 80 years ago. This city has changed immensely since that time. My mom thought we were very fortunate having lived through the Depression and always told me that we have a duty to help those who are less fortunate and also to make this a better place for our coming year. And I know each of you are driven by that same commitment to make this a better place. And Jacksonville is a much, much better place than it was 80 years ago, and it's in your hands to keep that ball rolling. I thank you for recognizing my small contribution over the years. I may be in the seventh inning of this game, but I'm still going, still gas in the tank. And I look forward to working with you in the future. Thank you. And by the way, this is my wife, Celeste Kruger. We have a couple members of the council on the queue. I'll start with Councilman Carrico. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise just to give a quick kind of a story, I guess, when Councilman Diamond mentioned the books. So I work at the Boys and Girls Club, and we were a part of this summer reading literacy pilot that was launched, and you were over that, and you got the word that the books weren't available, and you called this emergency meeting with all the providers, YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, and I was brand new. It was like 10 years ago, and I walked in the room, and I was like, okay, what's going to happen? And we were given all these excuses. Well, Amazon was out. We couldn't find them, and you would not take the excuses, and you led with tenacity, and you said, you better get those books in the hands of those kids, and we were all like, yes, sir. And we did it, and we got it done, and I just want to thank you for not just being compassionate and driven with purpose, but for being tenacious and willing to stand up for what's right and what you believed in. So kudos to all your philanthropic efforts, your success, and everything you've done for this community. Thank you, sir. And Council Member Carrico, I will say, if you don't know his history of sports and being an athlete, and he's still an athlete, that will explain a lot of the fire that you probably saw at that moment. And he will remind me of his athletic stories back in 2006 when I first started off on the council as a former professional baseball player, so we'll never forget those challenges. All right. Thank you, Ms. Pittman, followed by Mr. Matt Carlucci. All I can say is that you are a giant. I met you, and I was one of the agencies of Clara White Mission doing Journey. And the story that I want to tell is that there were two small agencies that wanted to be a part of the work that we were doing with Journey, and they didn't have all of the paperwork that they needed, but they were doing the work. It was grassroots. I don't know if you remember this or not, but we were in a meeting, and I said to you that I would be willing to take those agencies on with the Clara White Mission, and we would just develop a contract with them because they really wanted to be a part, and they were doing the work, and what I would say to you, you are a giant, you are a man of your word, and you have demonstrated over the years. You treat everybody the same, but you don't tell somebody how you really feel. And so what I want to say to you and your wife, thank you for giving him to Jacksonville. Um, he's been on the front line a long time, and he's not one that has to be seen. He's usually pushing someone else to be seen. So I just want to say thank you for giving me an opportunity to get to know you, to get to see how you don't look at people or organizations, whether they small, large, whether you're black or white, um, you are the man. And so I just want to say thank you. I've never had a chance to say that to you over the years, but I've been observing you. I've been up close and personal with you, and I just want to say thank you for your work. Thank you, Ms. Pittman. Over to, uh, Mr. Matt Carlucci, followed by Dr. Johnson, and let's try to keep it, uh, relatively short so we can move on with the agenda, despite all the accomplishments of WC. Well, there's no way I could keep mine short, but I will just for you, Mr. President. Um, WC, so great to see you and your sweet wife, and, uh, I just have to say, um, there's, there's no amount of time that, uh, you could go on and on about what this man has done for this city, um, and he has been the go-to man in this city more times than you can ever imagine, going all the way back to, uh, eliminating odor in Jacksonville back in the 80s, and I was on the council back then, and I saw this man in action, and it was unbelievable what he could do, and I've seen him give money for Little League. I have seen him come through for so many good causes, all good things Jacksonville. This man has been a part of, and as the council members have said, with the journey, but just over and over and over, he has given of himself, of his treasures, um, and I just, and then he took me hunting one time, and he shot 10 times more quail than I could even count, but we had a great time. Um, he's a very giving person, a very loving person, and I love you, and, um, and congratulations, uh, and I, uh, it's just great to see you, and I know there'll be plenty other times when Jacksonville will be calling your name for help to lead whatever cause we need to get us out of trouble or to take us to greater places, and that's what you've been called to do. That's been your calling in life is to been the answer to the, answer the bell, and we all appreciate it. We're all better for it, WC. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Carlucci. Dr. Johnson, please wrap it up, and real quick, please. Very quick, going to wrap it up. Uh, Mr. Gentry, thank you. Good to see you. I met you years ago around, uh, Insight Commission with, uh, former Mayor Austin, and I remember this note you sent me as a young man. You probably don't even remember it, but you would send notes, and the note I got from you said, continue on the path. You'll do well. I thank you for predicting me being up here before I did, and I also appreciate working with you, appreciated working with you when I was elected. I didn't think I would get the opportunity, but on the Safety and Crime Reduction Commission, where we worked closely to ensure that our community was taken care of, um, this Councilman Freeman, when he told me he was doing this, and when we saw he was doing this, we all wanted to get on board, because we knew who you were, and we're thankful Jacksonville is better because of you. Godspeed, my friend. Thank you, Dr. Johnson, and no other, uh, other speakers in the queue. I'll just, uh, wrap it up. WC, you and I served on the, um, Charter Revision Commission together, and your knowledge of the consolidated government is unsurpassed. Thank you, sir, for all your public service. This award is well-deserved. Appreciate it, sir. As they, uh, take some pictures here, it's my pleasure right now to introduce today's pages. Maya Brooks of Atlantic Coast High School, Maurice Polite III, Williams, William Raines, Jr. High. Please join me in thanking them for their assistance today. Mr. President, we are now ready for quasi-judicial actions, of which we only have one. I would like to remind all concerned that these items that we are now taking up do not include public hearings, as these matters were thoroughly reviewed at the committee level, and where public hearings were part of the decision-making process. Council members are reminded to declare any ex-parte communications. The single item is on page 5, 2026-0531. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. We got no speakers in the queue. Let's open up the ballot and the court's vote. 19 yays, zero nays. By your vote, 2026-0531 passes. We are now ready for the consent agenda. I want to remind my colleagues that if you want to be added as a co-sponsor to any of these items, please let the Chief of Legislative Services know by email. And council rules prohibit pro-polling items for this reason at this time. Please, Mr. Thiel, would you read the bills? 2026-318, 569, 573, 574, 575, 581, 582, 584, 593, 594, 595, 597, 598, 599, 601, 604, 605, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612, 615, 616, and 642. Mr. President, I don't hear any polls, so I move the approval of the consent agenda. Fantastic. We have a motion and a second on the consent agenda. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record the vote. 18 yays, zero nays. And by your vote, the consent agenda passes. Mr. President and colleagues, we have one more item to be taken up before moving on to public comment. It can be found on page 37, item number 77, 2026, 640. I move the emergency. We have a motion and a second on the emergency. We'll take the vote verbally. All in favor of the emergency, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against say no, the emergency passes. I have no public participation cards on this item, so I move the item as an emergency. We have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency. Seeing no speakers, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 18 yays, zero nays. And by your vote, 2026, 0640 passes. Mr. President, would you like to recognize the rule chair at this time? I would like to recognize Mr. Gay. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. We have just approved the following appointments as part of the consent agenda, plus the additional item we just took up. If you're in the audience, please stand to be recognized. Janice Curry to the Renew Arlington CRA Advisory Board. Jaton Kavirci as a member of the Duval County Tourist Development Council. Bruce Brian Beersley, Jr. as a member of the Opioid and Substance Use Disorder Grants Committee. Sarah A. Smith as a member of the Opioid and Disorder Grants Committee. Damaris Matos to the Council on Elder Affairs. Worley Richards to the Council on Elder Affairs. Alice Kurse to the Council on Elder Affairs. Jack Meeks to the Civil Service Board. And William Bruce to the Downtown Investment Authority. Please join me in thanking these individuals for their service to the city. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. All right. Thank you, Mr. Rules Chair and Mr. Floor Leader. I would like to recognize Council Member Terrence Freeman at this time as he makes his way back to his seat. Terrence, over to you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And I remember years ago seeing some of my other colleagues in this exact same position making the same speech and honestly it seems so much easier watching them do it. I have my family here. I've got one more that is working her way up. She's my 16-year-old and she's a lot like her dad. She gets lost in our own neighborhood. But I felt it right to just share some few words, three minutes maybe at the most, to really thank my family for what we're going through. Anybody that knows me, if you put it over on When Tears Would Come, I would put it at about three and a half minutes because it's going to be a difficult moment for me not to truly let it out. But if you've ever heard me speak, you know that I always start my speeches the same way. And that is when I always honor him by saying I'm the proud husband of Rachel Freeman, who in my opinion is the best coach in the house. She's already got one Division I athlete that is in college now and got several more. And she's been all of the girls' first coaches. Hey, there go two more of them. Yeah. And so she's been the best. And ironically, my devotion today, and I shared this with you, Council President, it's always listed by dates. And today's date was reminding me not to dwell on the past but to look to the future. So that is what this speech is going to be about. And I really want to take this time to love all my kids and share with them. But, Rachel, thank you so much for being the glue, getting these kids wherever they needed to get to. I promise I'm going to continue to try to do better. But you are the rock. And as I said, she's done all of this without complaining. The only complaint I've ever heard my wife make is, how can you be so nice to people who are so mean to you? True story. And I said, those were all distractions. And we won't be distracted. And we'll continue to serve. And so to my kids, and if you don't mind, girls, can you stand up just a little bit for me, please? And where's my little man? Is TJ there? Rachel, you can stand with him as well. There he is. He thinks this is still so cool. Thank you so much. And I want the world to see you all because when we first got sworn in, and I always say we because it's a family scenario, we stood right there. And I cried like a baby seeing my kids. But I cried when I saw them because I saw the future that I was fighting so hard for. And now that I have one that is in college, and I see these little things now that are growing up 10 years later, I start seeing that I'm fighting not only for their future, but now for my grandkids as well. You can have a seat. But thank you so much. So to my each one, my Evie, who's watching, I sent her a link, told her I'd be up probably about 530. At 5'5", you did what many people said you couldn't do, and that was to earn a Division I scholarship and basketball on track. And so, Evie, if you're watching, baby, your dad's proud of you, and I love you. To my Taryn, my 16-year-old that you saw just coming in, man, you've had so many tough breaks with injuries. And if any of you believe in the power of prayer from a dad whose heart breaks, and as a parent, you know when your kids hurt, you hurt. She's getting ready to go through her third surgery tomorrow in less than two years. Pretty serious one. Yes, I'll be sitting there right next to you, but I told you I'll be racing over the minute they tell me that she's getting ready to go back, and I'm going to see my child before she goes back. And as soon as they tell me she comes out, she's going to see this face again, cracking dad jokes, to make sure that they send my child back to me the same way I sent her to them. But I'll do my responsibility, Mr. Finance Chair, as well. But Taryn, we just want you to understand this. Regardless if you ever play a sport again, if you're just competing in life, your mother and I love you like none other. We're ready to fight and join in the fight with you. To my Patricia, I call my Tricia my overcomer. Patricia, look at you, Daddy, because it's because of you I'm not ashamed to tell this city that I learned differently. I'm dyslexic. I get it. Words flip. Letters flip. Numbers flip. I'm not ashamed to admit that. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm diagnosed ADHD. It's because of you, Tricia, because you know what? You think your dad's pretty cool and you think I've accomplished some things, and I know you're going to do even more. And so if I can make myself vulnerable in this space, and yes, I've been mocked sitting up here because sometimes people don't understand me, and I've never cried about it to make myself a victim because I wanted you. I knew you were watching, and I wanted you to understand that when people challenge you because we don't understand something on the first go around, or we ask a question that what's in our head is not coming out clearly in our mouth, that we still can continue to push forward. And I want to thank Councilman Boylan for being the Terrence Freeman whisperer up here because usually he'd be the one that would interpret my thoughts. And as I continue to close, my Lindy, my baby girl, the first time, Lindy, and I'll just tell you this as you get older, if you don't know it, my journey up here when I was first appointed, those beautiful faces you see there were put online with a home address, and people were told to go to my house and make my kids wish that I'd never taken the appointment. There were death threats placed. I didn't share that with you all. You probably know it now. But the first time I cried in this moment was when I was being sworn in that day, and they said that my little babies were going to have to walk in front of City Hall. And I probably shouldn't admit this because maybe I'm making myself a little too vulnerable, but I just kept saying she was three at the time, and I said she's too innocent to have to go through this because all she knows is love. And what I love is the fact that the city, I always say we always come together and get each other's backs, and my girls got to come into City Hall from a different entrance. And to this day, my daughter still looks at everyone in this room with the same love that we've taught her to, even though there were some bad actors out there waiting to do it. So, Lindy, I love you. Keep doing what you're doing. And then to my TJ, and I'm going to end this, but I call TJ my best friend, and I can't really tell you why he's my best friend, but I'll just say he's the only boy in the house. And so we have some like-minded things going on in our house, and he knows to make sure to put the lid down. Taught him that lesson first. But, man, I'll tell you this. Many of you remember my time on the council. I don't know if you guys remember his birth, but if you remember my son's birth, you will understand that I sat in that hot seat and watched our city go through one of the most heated moments where people were very emotional and passionate, and I welcomed that. Little did they know that my son, after birth, was in NICU fighting for his life. When you sit in that seat of judgment, when you sit in that hot seat, you understand that you're carrying a load that goes so far beyond you. It speaks to the generations of the past. It speaks to the generations of the future, and you have a responsibility and obligation to be a husband, to be a father, but also to be a good leader. And I hope one day TJ understands that although I did come up there and I fought for right redistricting and I went and led us through that process, that I was still fighting for him. And that little man, he's not going to remember this two hours from now. You can see the smile on his face. But that little man is a part of that exclamation point. And then to my colleagues, Doug Carter said it best. He said, Terrence, and I'm going to tell you all this. He says, it flies by quickly. I add this part, don't take a moment for granted. Truly do all you can for all you can. It's been a pleasure to serve with each of you, debating against you at times, or fully supporting your issues. And in the end, I'm positive of this, Councilman Peluso, that we all love Jacksonville. See, you guys had my back when I stepped away. I came close to dying, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. When you're diagnosed with cancer, they don't tell you in the diagnosis that you have stage one, two, three, or four. What they tell you is you have something in you killing you, and we must go through the stages to figure it out. Not one of you guys complained when I said in September that I must take a time away. Because the doctors told me stress was one of the biggest factors that could really, really prohibit my body from healing the way it needed to heal. I want to thank you all for the calls. I want to thank you all for the prayers, because I still believe this. We are a team. We are a family. We have our disagreements, but we are a team. We are a family. I want to thank those when I rang the bell that showed up. I can't remember all the names, truly speaking. A lot of the meds I was on kind of short-circuited, but there were quite a few of you there, and I want to thank you for it. And even when I came back, and I'm going to tell you the truth, I came back too soon. There were times I was struggling, and, Council President, you would notice it. I'm sitting up with a trench coat on, and it's 90 degrees in here, but my body was just not reacting well to the meds. But you always thought of it and ask, and I want to thank you all for that. So I'm just going to close, because I have so many more things to tell. But the last thing I want to say is, for those out there, and I said it in the last meeting in finance, that I say so many of my mentees watch. And I sent a text out today that I wanted them to watch these things. And for the young men that I coach, there's always four things I teach them in baseball, and I correlate politics to baseball. I always teach them, and the first thing was to always respect the game. So we are, if you're an affectionate lover of the game of baseball, you respect it. But also in this policymaking space, we've got to respect the process. I said, number two, I always teach them, you've got to respect the umpires. When you're an umpire, half the crowd is going to hate you, half the crowd is going to love you, no matter what call you make. So you've got to respect the umpire. In this space, I say, I've got to respect legislative services. I've got to respect OGC. I've got to respect the auditors. And on and on, and the ethics department. They may always tell me what I want to hear, but they're always telling me something that's for the better of the city and the better of myself. I said, you have to respect the fans. I know many of you have probably been like me, where you've had about 20-plus thousand people boo you, hoping you strike out. Boo you when you get a hit and cheer when you strike out. I've had that. And that was why I could sit in that seat with so much peace. When individuals would come up with so much passion to share what they were supporting of or against. And the last thing was respect your opponents. We may disagree on how we get there, but I truly believe we all agree what's best for Jacksonville. So I close with each of you this. Each day, you're blessed with an opportunity to serve. Never take it for granted. I pray that your service aligns with your purpose and with your why. And I'll end this prayer like I began my time here on council. And that is with the prayer of Jabez. And I pray that God would bless the city of Jacksonville indeed and enlarge its territory. God, I pray that you keep your hand upon our city. God, keep your hand upon my colleagues here. And God, I pray that you keep evil away, that we may not cause pain. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. Thank you so much, Mr. President. Terrence, we have a few members on the queue. Mr. Carrico, you are first, followed by Mr. Diamond. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know you don't want us to be here all night. And I could speak for an hour about my brother right here. First of all, I'm so proud of you that you didn't cry. I've seen you cry a bunch of times up here and for good reasons. All those memories that you shared with us, I remember where I was on every one of those moments. And I also think about my highs and lows and things that you helped me celebrate and the burdens that you helped me carry. And I'm just incredibly proud of you and your work on this body. Incredibly proud of where you're going and how you lead as a father first, as a husband, and as a man of faith. And you've done an amazing job. And I'm so proud of you. And I love you, brother. Thank you, sir. Over to Mr. Diamond, followed by Ms. Pittman. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll be quick, too. TF, I love that we're honoring WC tonight because he's like our dad getting us into Jacksonville. And you're like my brother. I remember working on your very first campaign, walking door to door. And all I knew was you. I didn't know the neighborhood. And I knock on doors. I promise you, this guy cares about people. And you have shown that to me so many times. You've shown me that kids are the most important thing in Jacksonville. And put everything else aside, we need to be focusing on kids. So God bless your incredible wife and your awesome team. And I'm so excited to see what you're going to do in Tallahassee because I know you're going to tear it up over there. Just don't forget home rule. Thank you. Ms. Pittman, followed by Mr. Boylan. Well, I'm not going to be long. But, you know, the first time I really, really met you is down in Orlando. We both got appointed. And we've shared a lot of meetings and times together. And I just want to let you know that I'm very proud. I'm proud, one, is that you're a father first. Well, God is first. And you always make that known. And you always make known about your family just like you did tonight. I know God has a lot more for you to do. And I know your purpose is open. Continue on the journey that you've been on. And God will keep you. And he will continue to bless you and heal you. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Boylan. Thank you, Mr. Chair, President. I do appreciate the opportunity to say, Terrence, thank you. Our Bob Everett's breakfast time and time again. Just get caught up on things and stay connected. One thing I'm so impressed about you is you treat each of us singularly and individually. When you've got your face in our attention, we have it undivided. You're never looking over our shoulder. You're always thinking about us and thinking about what we care about. I do appreciate you. I wish you all the best going forward. Thank you, Mr. Boylan. I will wrap up. Terrence, I asked ChatGVT earlier today to tell me all the things that Terrence Freeman has accomplished on City Council. And I swear to it, I must have been scrolling five or six times along the whole list. And some of the items were created jump, the Jacksonville Upward Mobility Program, the first millage rate reduction while you were council president in over a decade. You made workforce development a central issue for Jacksonville. You created the CQLI initiative, which Mr. Boylan shared. You led the anti-Semitic projection legislation, JSEB, microgrants. The list goes on and on. You did that having been an ECA, a district council member, an at-large member, a council vice president, a council president. What ChatGVT didn't say is that you did it while you suffered cancer treatment. You did it while you had a child. You did it while you and Rachel managed a family of seven. And you did it while you were being a good friend and a partner to everybody here. So I just want to wrap up and say this. T, you have had an amazing run. Rachel, thank you for loaning Terrence to us. And without doubt, the city of Jacksonville is far better off for the service of Terrence Freeman. Thank you, sir. With that, we'll move on to public comment. Thank you, Mr. President. As per ordinance of 2022-475, we are now ready for public comments. Council members are reminded that this is our time to hear from the public. And this is not a time for questions and answers or debate. However, a member of the public may be invited to the Robert Johnson room for further discussions. A council member is subject to the approval of the presiding officer before that can happen. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to speak, you should have filled out a green public comment card. No cards will be accepted after 6 p.m. Council rules call for an allotment of 90 minutes for public comment. Given that we presently have 21 cards, the allotted time for each speaker is three minutes. However, that may be shortened if we get additional cards. During our public comment time, only the speaker will be allowed at the podium unless physical assistance is required. We provide this opportunity for public comment beyond what the state law requires. As such, you must state your name, your address, before beginning your comments, or merely say that your address is on file, meaning that it is written on the green speaker card. I will announce five speakers at a time in the order they are to appear. When I call your name, I ask that you move to the several seats up front here, awaiting your turn to speak, leaving any bags you may have on the table over there on the left. Your right, my left. Your time will start when you arrive at the podium. We thank you for being here this evening. Our first five speakers are Tony Langels, Dutchie Stevens, King Brookins, Denise Scott, and Savelle Roman. While these five individuals are coming forward, I would ask Mr. Thiel to read the Council Rule 4.505 regarding the disruption of meetings. Council Rule 4.505, Disruption of Meeting. Any person who disrupts a regular meeting of the City Council, standing committees, special or select committees, subcommittees, or any other public meeting presided over by a City Council member may be forthwith barred, removed, or otherwise ejected in the discretion of the presiding officer from further attendance at that meeting. If necessary, due to the nature of the disruption, the audience may be cleared from the Council chambers or meeting location in the discretion of the presiding officer. Any person who refuses to leave the City Council chamber may be subject to arrest. Is that it? Okay. Please note that our start time is 5.45. Again, our first speaker is Mr. Langels. Please be sure you all provide your name and address as you begin. Otherwise, provide your name and note that your address is on the green public card. Mr. Langels, the floor is yours. Is your microphone on? Is it green? It is now. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. City Council members, my name is Tony Langels. Address is on file. And I'd like to just start off with greeting the City Council President and Vice President on their selection and election to the City Council position. I know they'll do a great job leading our City Council in the future, and good job with the selection and election process. I firmly support the Free to Garden Act, proposed allowing residents to grow, share, exchange, and distribute food from residential properties without zoning restrictions. I have a community garden. I'd like to discuss my process. I have a community garden, but instead of selling produce, I give my produce to the neighbors. For approximately 10 years, I've done this. I spend probably about $200 at least a year with spending money for vegetable plants through Halls Nursery and Ace Hardware. And I grow and nurture those plants. And once they're fully harvested, I just go around the neighborhood and give them to the neighbors. And they love it. I mean, it's something that they kind of expect out of me. And has anybody here had neighbors come up and knock on their door and give them fresh vegetables, especially ripe tomatoes and juicy and healthy? I mean, you want to get a name out to your community? Do something like that. They love the process. Nothing like fresh, ripe tomatoes. And I just want to say I spent a lot of money on, you know, Miracle-Gro potting compound. And I now have a compost bin. I go around the neighborhood collecting all the leaves, grass clippings, and I put it in my compost bin. I know Meridian Waste, they come and they say, man, where are all these, you know, bags of leaves at in this neighborhood? Because I collect them. And I just want to say also, I firmly support the FLOC cameras and automated license plate readers in the city of Jacksonville. The mass surveillance cameras assist JSO in analyzing solving crimes by aiding an enhanced conviction rate, which improves resident safety of the city of Jacksonville. Granted, private details may be exposed. But what makes it communities achieve such demographics as missing people located, stolen vehicles recovered, homicides solved, and many other JSO-related crimes, you know, resolved? FLOC cameras are relevant evidence for investigations without compromising safety and compliance. Just, you know, put FLOC cameras in my neighborhood and you see me producing produce. Thanks, we have Dutchie Stevens. Good evening, Dutchie Stevens, and the address is on file. First of all, City Council, we got to find out why that whoever brings y'all to catering, why hasn't it been still being shared with the First Coast security officers that I do to come in when the city councils are having the main meeting? We think that's very selfish because some of them have been in since 7 this morning. They ain't had a bite to eat because y'all ain't got nothing downtown. That's why it's called downtown because it's so down. I don't see some serious restaurants in Tallahassee, Florida, downtown like Cracker Barrel and Piccadilly. I ain't never seen something close to that in this downtown, but I think y'all need to go back to sharing whatever catering is delivered for you 19 councils. It'd be nice to let the security officers that's on duty get a paper plate of it, too. Secondly, I had to turn y'all's coal enforcement in for illegal fraud because they're not doing their job. That person who bought that three acres of land through the property appraiser auction two years ago, he hadn't mowed and cut that three acres of land in nine months. His weeds is crossing over on the ditch illegally. Then the ditch crossing on me, but it didn't start from the ditch. It started from the gentleman who bought that three acres of land through the property appraiser auction when Jim Overton was the property appraiser. His weeds are coming up so thick in between the sidewalk squares, pulling the sidewalk squares further apart from each other. I don't want to have to get the president of the United States of America to sue him because coal enforcement to me got too many N-I-G-G-E-R-S. And, baby, it's about to be a mess because I was in my yard when this guy named Moon came over. No, I spelled the word. I didn't say the word, okay, because we said enough is enough because there's a lot of people already talking about doing some wildfires. Y'all better send some funding to the fire chief appointed by the elected mayor because if he ain't going to mow and cut that lot, why hasn't there been a lien or anything put on it yet? Because, brother, we got the real papers when that ditch was created in 1953. I don't already sent it to President Donald Trump because enough is enough. But if somebody owns some private property on one side of the ditch and it's illegally crossing over on Public Works property, that's not Public Works' fault. It didn't start off on the Public Works side. It started off on the private property side. And then if you're on the other side of the city right away, ditch, it's crossing on your property. But it's Public Works and my military family, that's the illegal victims. But we haven't seen the code enforcement do their job because, and I had to turn them in for fraud. Because when Moon came on my property, because I told you we've been seeing some black pigs over there, I had my legal fire on me. And he came and touched that gate illegally. He could have got this right here. Thank you, Ms. Stevens. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have King Brookens. Brookens, I'm sorry. How y'all doing? I hereby submit this formal notice. I'm sorry, sir. Name and address, please. King Brookens, and my address is on file. Thank you. I hereby submit this formal notice to place Jacksonville City Council and the appropriate city officials on formal notice of serious concerns regarding the historical identification, racial classification, political representation, and preservation of indigenous identity related to the Tamookian peoples and persons who asserted descent from indigenous people of Jacksonville and Northeast Florida region. This notice is submitted in good faith for the purpose of requesting investigation, documentation, transparency, and an official governmental response. The Jacksonville region has a documented indigenous history predating European settlement. Jacksonville's own historical materials and knowledge that the area is the ancestral homeland of the Tamookian Indians and described the Tamookian presence in the region for thousands of years. The Florida Department of State likewise recognizes the Tamookian as indigenous people occupying North Florida at the time of European arrival. The National Park Service further explains that the term Tamookian historically encompassed multiple related indigenous communities rather than a single politically unified tribe. I therefore request that the city recognize and preserve the distinction between historical indigenous identity and later racial classifications imposed through governmental census, administrative, and other records. I formally object to any governmental record, database, document, application, historical record, or administrative classification that inaccurately identifies an indigenous person or descendant as exclusively black, African American, or another racial category when that classification does not accurately reflect the person's claim, indigenous, ancestry, or identity. Those terms were placed on the indigenous people to true, to erase the true history and identity of the indigenous people of this landmass to script them from their inheritance and tribal identities. All right, citizen and political status. I also expressly reserve my position concerning my claim political and legal status. I identify myself as a non-citizen state national of the Republic, Republic, Tamookian tribal nation, do not consent to having that assertion disregarded without examination. The applicable constitutional statutory, treaty, historical, and judicial authorities. I request that any governmental agency addressing this issue identify the specific legal authority upon which it relies when determining my citizenship, political status, jurisdiction, or obligations. I invoke the established doctrine of inherent indigenous tribal sovereignty and self-government, including the principle that indigenous nations possess pre-existing powers of self-government and authority to establish and enforce their own laws subject to lawful limitations imposed by treaties, federal statutes, and controlling judicial decisions. My reason for being here today is basically to put our city council on notice that I know who we are and who we are as the people. I am indigenous to this landmass, and I ask that we have our land back and our birthright. Thank you, Mr. Brookins. Next we have Denise Scott. Mr. Palouse, you'd like to meet the gentleman in the green room. Next we have Denise Scott. Good afternoon. My name is Denise Scott, and my address is on file. I noticed when the pastor spoke for his invocation, he asked for you all to look out for each other. So I'm hoping that when you discuss this budget, that you look out for your neighbors too. I'm still going to ask you about getting past this 90-minute threshold for PubMed Commons. We want our three minutes that we deserve. Our prayers are with the families of those children that lost their lives to the drowning and the retention part in the last two weeks. And I can almost appreciate what Councilman Gaffney wanted to have a meeting on Thursday. But to be honest, what more needs to be said but that we have to protect the most vulnerable children in our community? What more feedback do you need to gather? Make the legislation that we need to make the private companies and developers create a retention pond, that create a retention pond, make sure that they put a fence or a gate around it. I'm told that when the city owns a retention pond, they've already made the necessary statements. It seems like this should be the beginning. Please don't waste any taxpayer money with a meeting. Go ahead and do what needs to be done. Now for you, my friend, Councilman Carrico. You always give me another reason to wear my shame on Carrico button. With all the mishaps and embarrassments that you've made while on this council, why haven't you just stepped down already? Why would you last week call Mr. John and tell him he was fresh out of the Baker County insane asylum? When the public comments begin, you always make the secretary read the rules to us. Who gives him the rules? Where were the rules and decorum last week for him? The disrespect that Carrico shows should be grounds for dismissal. Was he reprimanded? Carrico needs to realize that you are a public servant and you need to start acting like one. Our city leaders prove to us on a daily basis that you all are so out of touch with the working class people. What and why would administration at that JFRD station four think it's okay for them to send those boys down there on taxpayer dollar while they're on the clock to have a Pilates class? We can't do that when we're on our time. When I was working, I had to either fill out a personal leave form or a sick leave form. And then they think that all you got to do is give them counseling? That don't make sense. Seems like this is the same fire station that had that paintball incident. Looks like more than counseling needs to be done over there. Also, about these flight cameras, you all need to do what the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, did. They are not just reading license plates. They've created a heat map, and that heat map is targeting our cars where we go day after day, point after point, on a routine map. It's not a one snapshot thing at a corner. It's a pattern. So you need to make sure that we stop doing this. It's not fair for all of us. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Cavell Roman, followed by Mickey Roman. Come on down to the front, please. Joy Vian, Rima Pastella, Deb Collins, and Raymond Day. Come on down to the front, please. Go ahead. Hello. My name is Cavell Roman. I'm a resident of Duval County, and my address is on file. I am here today to speak as a business owner of this community. We are creating jobs in this county. We are also allowing the deficit of housing, and we are creating housing opportunities. The name of our business is Cross Lake Arby Park. The people that come to our park, a lot of them are licensed professional people who come, and they have contracts here in Jacksonville to build critical infrastructure and do different types of construction projects. They are qualified people that we bring in and therefore allow economic influx to come into our city. However, the problem that we are having is that the taxation of our property taxes has been increased so drastically that it is very difficult for us to be able to continue to be in business because of this taxation. Our return on investment normally for any business, you know, you don't see that return on investment for many years, you know, and we are continuing to build and expanding our property, just my husband and I, and it really takes a lot to run a business like this. So, therefore, I am just wanting to present to you guys that, you know, I know that a lot of you know that there is a taxation increase going on, and, you know, thank you for the, Terrence Freeman, I heard that he had attempted to do a millage rate decrease. If there's anything like that, that could be possible, but it's a much deeper issue. So, therefore, I'm just bringing this to your attention, you know, we can't be taxed at such a high level because, you know, it's difficult for us to, you know, I'm having to pay taxes on money that I have not yet earned, and I am in business to earn and living, first of all, and to make a profit, second of all, and how in the world can I pay these large taxes before I'm even seeing any return on investment? And, oftentimes, I'm not even getting paid. I'm going to pay my workers first before I get paid sometimes, and that's just, you know, the privilege that I have as a business owner. So, therefore, with that in mind, you know, please, as we the people, we ask you to represent us because taxation without consent is outlined in the Declaration of Independence, and that is taxation without representation. We are asking you to represent us in this matter. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, we have Mickey Roman. Mr. and Mrs. Roman, once you get finished, Councilman Gaffney would like to meet you in the Robert Johnson room, all right? Go ahead, sir. Name and address. Good evening. From my perspective, it's been a very positive evening, and a lot of things have been discussed here, and so I'm just kind of like Debbie Downer, a little sad. We tried to work with the system concerning the property appraiser last year, Harry Gutherman and Keith Hall, and we went through the whole process, and we were penalized. The way the system is set up, if you go through that process, you cannot pay, you'll get your discount, you know, because you run out of time in December. You can't take your discount. But, you know, it seems that, I don't know, it appears that because of the budget cuts and everything, there's pressure possibly on Ms. Morgan's staff, and they're trying to, of course, pressure us. So, you know, we have lots that we're at 30% rentals on, and yet we're having to pay one to two months' worth of rent on, like my wife was just saying. There's all kinds of fuzzy math going on. I'd love to talk to whomever about that. I wish there was some oversight. We pulled the stats for every county in Florida. Duval County had 6,283 complaints last year. Clay County only had zero, and Baker County, one. So you can see why everybody's, a lot of people are moving out into the outlying counties. Why was there 6,200 disgruntled businesses and people here last year concerning the property appraisals? So I'd welcome anybody or everybody to try to talk about some kind of oversight concerning this fuzzy math and what kind of oversight we could have with the VAB board. Like my wife mentioned, you know, the last administration encouraged us to present, you know, low-cost housing. I think if you understand the RV world, there's a culture there. It's kind of fun, and you have a lot of people in between homes. You have a lot of people preferring to live in them, and yet it's just a bad model. You know, the heyday was 2022, but with inflation and the cost of money and interest and all, we've peaked. And so now before we pay the IRS or pay ourselves or anything, the city is demanding one to two months' rent. So it's just not a very good model. And the reason why I'm sad is because I had to hire a law firm out of Tallahassee. I'm having to sue the city now, you know, for four decades. So I've tried to serve the city. Most of you guys know me. I try to stay in my lane. And now I'm having to, you know, come against my city, and I don't like that. So with that, thank you. Again, Mr. and Mrs. Roman, Councilman Gaffney would like to meet you in the Robert Johnson room, if your wife wants to join you. Next, we have Joy Vian. My name is Joy Vio, and my address is on file. I'm a network member of iCare. We're very concerned about those who can least afford a place to call home in Jacksonville. Those in the 50% or less median income population, those working families that earn less than $50,000 per year. These folks spend more than 50% of their income on housing. There are roughly 200,000 Social Security recipients in Jacksonville. They receive an average of $1,900 per month, and the average one-bedroom rent is $1,300, 68% of their income. It's no wonder that people 50-plus years old are the fastest-growing victims of first-time homelessness. Also, the homelessness population in Jacksonville rose over 30% last year. Our iCare clergy tell us they cannot keep up with requests for emergency rental assistance and food. Many of their members are one car repair or temporary job loss away from life on the street. These are people that have either built our communities or are currently the financial backbone of our community, and they deserve better. We've seen progress on the housing issue in Jacksonville, especially for those in the 75%, 80% AMI range and above, but the work has just really begun for those in the low-income range. The good news is that we've learned that having the flexibility and transparency of a well-managed affordable housing trust fund can benefit all of us. We at iCare have met with community stakeholders and nonprofit organizations. They all tell us that they are struggling to meet the challenges of families on the brink of homelessness. A community-based affordable housing trust fund is more than an ask of a city council. It is a commitment to build a focused coalition in response to the problem of housing insecurity. This fund can draw from many funding sources, both public and private. We are confident that managed well by our city leaders, alongside nonprofits and stakeholders, and with input from people in the community affected by these challenges, this fund can become a vibrant and transparent dialogue that leads to action. We need sponsors and supporters for this legislation. In iCare, we say our faith informs our commitment to help our neighbors and to treat them as we would like to be treated. I am sure that everyone on this council can pinpoint a time in their lives when someone reached out a helping hand or mentored them to a better life or supported their campaign to run for office. Our city government should be a reflection of our community values to protect each other and to serve each other. You know, they say that charity begins at home, but first, you have to have a home. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Ramiel Pristella. Hello, my name is Ramiel Pristella, and my address is on file. Thank you. I'd like to start by saying that I am a six-year military veteran. I'm also a civilian IT. I have background in networking engineering and system administration. The Fourth Amendment does not say that Americans are protected from unreasonable searches only until technology makes those searches convenient. It says that the right of the people is to be secured, and it shall not be violated. For generations, the Supreme Court has applied that principle to new forms of surveillance. Katz v. United States established that the Fourth Amendment protects people, not merely physical places. United States v. Jones confronted technological tracking of a vehicle. Riley v. California recognized that technological capacity matters when deciding the limits of government searches. And in Carpenter v. United States, the Supreme Court confronted something remarkably relevant today, technology capable of creating a historical record of a person's movements. The court warned against allowing advancing technology to create the kind of persuasive police surveillance the Fourth Amendment was designed to restrain. That is precisely why FLOC demands constitutional scrutiny. This isn't simply about photographing a license plate. It's about what happens after that photograph is taken. A plate observed once on a public road is visible to anyone. But when thousands of observations are automatically collected, stored, interconnected, and made searchable, government acquires something fundamentally different. The ability to look back and investigate where a vehicle has been without having physically followed it there. The constitutional question is no longer simply, could an officer see my license plate? It becomes, should government be able to reconstruct my movements without first establishing probable cause before a judge? That question is being fought in the courts right now. In Schmidt v. City of Norfolk, a federal district court upheld Norfolk's use of its FLOC network. That decision is now in the appeal to the Fourth Circuit, where civil liberty organizations are arguing that aggregated ALPR surveillance implicates the principles established in Carpenter. So this constitutional boundary is not settled. And we should remember that a warrant actually represents. A warrant is not a bureaucratic red tape. It is the barrier the Constitution places between citizen and government power to investigate. It requires the government to establish probable cause before a neutral judge. Without that barrier, technology can transform surveillance that once required enormous manpower into a database search performed in seconds. The fact that FLOC is a private corporation changes none of that. When government purchases surveillance... Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Appreciate it. Next, we have Deb Collins. Good evening, counsel. Hold the mic. There you go. Thank you for the platform to voice my concerns. Name and address, please. Pardon me? Name and address. Deb Collins. And you have my address on file. Thank you. Florida Christian Apartments. I'm concerned about the fact that the city is going to ask citizens to pay $25 to have feral cats that they've captured, spayed, and neutered. Not in all circumstances, but in some. In 2008, Jacksonville was in the national spotlight because of its groundbreaking TNR initiative. We were national news. We were national news. It was such a great thing. The New York Times, everywhere, coast to coast, and what we did for stray animals was revolutionary, and people really were watching. Jacksonville's Feral Freedom Program became a pioneering blueprint for humane population control in America. National animal welfare organizations published dedicated manuals using Jacksonville's data to export the feral freedom model to hundreds of cities across the United States in many newspapers nationally. I read that last year the program saved a million dollars by stabilizing the feral cat population and cutting high operational costs for animal care and control. That's amazing. We were amazing. So I don't want us to start charging the citizens $25 to help with the cost of keeping the program going because it won't save money. People will stop spending their time and resources and energy and gas to do this important thing because it really is up to the people in the community to do it, to keep it going. In any given community, the demographic most statistically responsible for the hands-on care of homeless companion animals, they aren't raccoons, they're not possums, they're cats, they're pets, through sheltering, fostering, or volunteering are overwhelmingly female. 90% to 92% of them are women doing the work, middle-aged to elderly, and they already have a pet. So they're not doing it as a hobby. They just are very concerned with the integrity of the community, and they love animals. They're not crazy cat ladies, like people like to say, any more than, like, cattle ranchers or crazy cow men. And they care about the animals that they, you know, that they're dealing with, and we're supposed to care about ours, whether they're ours or not. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Time's up. Next, we have Raymond Day. In the meantime, I want to invite Samantha Series, Jamie Travis Leonard, Jennifer Joyner, Dragon Beloit, and Casey Jones. So please come down to the front. And Mr. Dan, the floor is yours. My name's Raymond Day, and my address is on file. I'm now Council President Howland, Vice President Carlucci, members of the City Council. I serve as chair of the True Commission, but tonight I'm speaking as a private individual, not for the Commission. I reported to you in late June that the True Commission would be reviewing city finances over the next several months. The city has great potential yet faces many challenges. Ad valorem revenues will grow by 6% for the new fiscal year. Non-ad valorem, non-departmental revenues will drop 6%. Departmental revenues will drop by 1.7%. Total general fund revenues will rise a mere 1.1%. We must be vigilant of our spending, so let us begin. In this budget, the mayor is proposing an increase of 10% for staff salaries. This stands in contrast to the previous year, which saw a decline of 7%. It is unfortunate that such discipline did not continue into the coming year. In the private sector, we limit salary increases to 3% unless there is a promotion. If this managerial principle were to be applied to the mayor's budget, that 3% cap would yield a savings of $247,000. I'm not picking on the mayor. I'm just identifying that if we begin there and apply such managerial principles, we can yield millions of dollars in savings throughout the entire city budget. The true commission will report back to the council over the next several weeks with other suggestions from monetary savings. Thank you very much. Next, we have Samantha Sears. Samantha Sears, address on file. I want to start with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. Think about that. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. And that is so true. There are so many things that matter to many people that live in Jacksonville, that live in Florida, that live in the United States that matter. And having public participation is really something that is an honor that you should feel that people actually want to come talk to you. Because when people stay silent, things stay the same or deteriorate. So I think it's important that we appreciate that people come here. Shockingly, more people don't come here. We have over a million people in this city. Could you imagine if you had, like, actual groups that cared? So let's just remember that. First of all, of course, over development, I would love for us to just be more cognizant of the abandoned buildings that we have, the empty lots that are already torn apart. We have buildings that are ready to be renovated and reused. I think that it's important. I know that we need more housing, and I understand that, but I do think we need affordable housing. And ways that we could do that would be to renovate places that already exist, buildings that are just falling apart that we aren't paying attention to. It's important that we regrow parts of our city that are dying off. There are neighborhoods that are just empty. You know, there's a ghost town. There's no need for that. We can revitalize areas. We can make them affordable. I know everything is about profit, but I think maybe if we just, you know, try some incentives with the developers, I don't know what they need. I know they need as much money as they can get, but I think if we give them some incentives that, you know, help revitalize our neighborhoods, that would be better. I would also like to ask about the jail. I know that if the property tax, you know, if that passes, that it's, like, on the first chopping block of what we're going to get in Jacksonville. So I just want to know, like, that $700,000 that we paid that group, like, has anything come of that yet? I just want to know about that. And if we could not make it a campus style, that makes absolutely no sense. It should not be in the north side. It would take hours for our JSO officers to get back and forth from the jail to downtown to different parts of the city. So north side jail makes no sense. And it should not be in a red-lined district, as usual, but, you know. And budget cuts, real quick, since I'm at my end of the time, I think we should be looking at the biggest piece of our pie for the budget cuts, the 53% that's going to JSO and JFRD, instead of trying to get the tiny slivers that we have for our arts and entertainment and things like that. So I think that's important. And do not build data centers. Do not use generative AI. Stop wasting water. That would be great. Thank you. Next we have Jamie Travis Leonard. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. My address is on file. It's good to see some of you again. I want to first start by saying thank you to everybody that attended Councilman Gaffney Jr.'s meeting earlier today, too, about retention pond safety. I appreciate everybody who was able to attend. I appreciate anybody who hasn't been able to attend but has been paying attention to some of the conversation around that. I hope that conversation continues and we are able to further our city's commitment to public safety because that is public safety. Mayor Donna Deegan has said that's the number one priority. She has committed 53% of our budget to it. Funnily enough, it's 53% of our budget. That's only going to two entities. But nonetheless, take up the call for public safety. Pay attention to what your community is telling you they need done. Speaking of the budget, 33% going to JSO. $673,613,389. That's an awful big chunk of the pie there, friends. 33%? Largest chunk in the entire pie. One entity. And yet, when I watch our finance committee, they're squabbling over tiny 1%, 2% areas. Kind of curious. Kind of interesting. Maybe re-center. Take a step back. Really think about what is servicing the community and what we're asking you to do. Maybe stop trying to undermine our public programs. We'd really appreciate that. Finally, protect our most vulnerable. That's really what this boils down to. And I will say, I do see some of you in the community trying to help, trying to protect us, trying to improve our lives. I want to thank Councilman Peluso for coming out for our cleanup and walking down Moncrief with us. Again, I do want to reiterate my thanks to all the people who have supported the retention pond initiatives that are trying to be built so we can have safety, especially for our young artistic children. And I appreciate everybody else that I see in the community. We are watching. We see whether you're out there or not. And if you're not out there, eventually, you won't be up here either. Thank you. Next, we have Jennifer Joyner. Hi, Council. My name is Jennifer Joyner. I am a member of the Southeast CPAC, and my address is on file. With the next fiscal year's budget currently in the works, I'm here again today to address funding for TNR. For anyone not familiar with the term, TNR stands for Trap, Neuter, Return. This is the process of trapping a stray cat, fixing it, and vaccinating it, then returning it back to its home. This benefits the cats because they're healthier and less stressed. They're protected from deadly viruses and suffer fewer injuries from mating fights. And it benefits the community. There are fewer nuisances, fixing cats stops yowling, fighting, and spraying, and it breaks the breeding cycle so colony sizes shrink naturally over time. And it helps shelters and rescues. It reduces shelter overcrowding, and it saves taxpayer money on animal control. That last one is particularly relevant right now as our own city shelter, ACPS, has put out a plea to everyone to please help a volunteer to foster to adopt because they are crucially over capacity. At a time when our city is aiming to regain no-kill status for our shelter, we're not going in the right direction. Duval Cat Fix is our city's program that covers TNR costs at every pet, the clinic that TNR's community cats, so that anyone who wants to volunteer can help and not pay out of pocket, but those funds have run out. Per Melissa Ross with the city of Jacksonville, Duval Cat Fix is funded at $232,402 annually, and that only lasted about the first quarter. After those funds were exhausted, every pet had to start using donations to cover the expensive, but costs have gone up and donations have gone down. And now they have to charge a $25 copay, which can be cost prohibitive, especially to large-volume trappers and to volunteers and to low-income residents. With our city rapidly growing, it's especially important that we get ahead of this problem before it exponentially increases. Right now, the program is insufficiently funded, and per Jennifer Barker, the CEO of Every Pet, they would need approximately $100,000 to $150,000 more investment in this program to make it where it needs to be. And investing in this now will save a lot more in the future for animal care. It is our blessing and responsibility to be good stewards of God's creatures. We can do better by them. I hope that as we're working on this budget, everyone in this council can keep that in mind, and hopefully we can invest more in the little guys in our city, too, while we're looking out for everyone. So thank you for your consideration. Also, Councilman Arias, you had actually wanted to address this with me at the last meeting. I sent a couple of emails. I haven't gotten a response yet, but hopefully they didn't go to spam. But I do hope we can have that conversation so that we can work together to hopefully do whatever we can to help this matter. And that's all. Thank you all. Thank you. Next, we have Dragon Beloit. I'm back with my papers. Hi, everyone. Dragon Beloit. My address is on file. This is a list of all the people that have signed the petition. I have gotten up 500 since we last spoke. I now have 662 on here. So I'm going to enter this into the record. I don't expect you to read it because I doubt that you've read anything I've given you, including the ordinances I wrote for you last year to restrict flock cameras and ALPRs in the city. I'm very excited to hear about Councilman Beluso's meeting at 1030 a.m. on Friday. I wish it wasn't at 1030 a.m. I have to call out work for that. But I digress. I want to point out, when Samantha was speaking, there were 11 of you here. 11 out of 19 is 57%. That is not a passing grade, people. ALPRs are a serious issue, but that's being addressed by Beluso at this next meeting, so I'm cutting that part of this short. We absolutely need a trap, neuter, release. One of the people that can't afford $25 is me. I don't get paid enough, and nobody else does either. Affordable housing, also a huge concern. I pay $2,000 a month. I have several roommates, and I get paid about $2,000 a month total. If my roommates slack, and I love them, but sometimes they have, I don't have money for food. We have a massive amount of people, and I work with people as someone who is in the mental health, behavioral health, rehabilitation center. I work with people whose biggest issue is I can't afford to live. I have a buddy. His name is Willie Carpenter. He lives on Pearl Street. He cannot afford to move out of his slumlord's house because, quite frankly, he only gets $700 a month from his Social Security, and a lot of that goes to paying for his treatment. This is a huge deal, and I've been trying to help him in my position and outside of it. I look for affordable apartments. I haven't found a single one under $850, and that's for one bedroom. I don't know how we're supposed to make that work. The math is not mathing. I'm not the best at math, but I know that $850 is more than $700. I know that a bunch of roommates isn't how we're supposed to end our lives. Once we are older, we should be protected. Once we grow older, we should be able to rely on the systems that we helped set up to support us. Also, Nick Howland, get off your phone. Thank you. Next, we have Casey Jones. In the meantime, I want to invite the following to come down to the front, please. Pastor Timothy Johnson, Nancy Murray Settle, James Matchett, Brooke Dubay, and Clarence Long. If you'd all please come down to the front. Mr. Jones. Casey Jones. I came last meeting, so my address would be on file. You know, one thing about the lady that just left, we're the exact opposite politically, extreme exact opposite. I'm red, she's blue all day long, but we're almost working together because we're standing up here for the same thing. It's called the Constitution, right? The Fourth Amendment. Everybody knows it. I'm sure you've looked it up. Does everybody know the quote that Benjamin Franklin made? One of our great, great founders. You know, why are so many people upset right now at the flop? I'm sure you saw it on TV. I'm sure it's, you know, people are taking matters into your own hands and cutting them down and destructing private property, public property, whatever you want to call them. I call them illegal. They're illegal. It's just a matter of time before the Supreme Court rules against them. So how was, how was, let me ask you a question. How was JSO solving crimes before the fought cameras? And they've been around for years. And all of a sudden, it's a big deal, right? They've never been vandalized. How many, how many have been vandalized in, in, in, in Duval County? Does anybody know? Nine. Man, I could probably do about 30 before I get called. Seriously. I'm a blue collar worker. I'm not a politician. I worked 12 hours today. I got up at 3 a.m. to be here. This is serious. Why is it this on the agenda? But let me, let me, let me, let me tell everybody, don't cut them down. Come here with me and talk to y'all and let's do it the right way. Because what's better than cutting them down? Getting y'all to take them down. That's what it is. But look up that, look up that quote from Benjamin Franklin. It's serious, man. And, and, and I don't know why y'all are dragging your feet. Why isn't it on the agenda? You're waiting for the state of Florida to ban them or suspend them. Let's suspend them now. Two cities have already done it. The other cities are dragging their feet, but let's do it. You know, a blind person can see that it goes against the constitution and the fourth amendment. Come on, take a stance. It's serious. It's called the constitution. Let's ban them now. Thank you, sir. Next we have Timothy Johnson, Pastor Johnson. Pastor Timothy Johnson. My address is on the file. City Council President, everyone in their prospective places. Representative Peluso, Representative Gaffney. Representing the Brooklyn Riverside Community Development Corporation. I just want to say thank you to Councilman Gaffney for bringing attention to the issue of safeguarding retention ponds. In the summer of 2014, I lost my four-year-old autistic granddaughter because she was able to maneuver her way out of the home into the neighbor's pool, and she drowned. Very, very issue that's near and dear to my heart. I just want to say this is a very real safety issue, particularly in Florida. Florida subdivisions where retention ponds may be located immediately behind homes besides sidewalks or near common areas. I looked into this specifically from the standpoint of private property owners and HOAs in Jacksonville, northeast Florida, and there are several layers of protection that can be put in place. The biggest opportunity, treat the pond like a child access hazard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends layers of protection around bodies of water to prevent unsupervised children from gaining access. While CPSC's fencing guidance is written primarily for pools, the underlying safety principles is directly relevant to the retention pond. Don't rely on supervision alone. Create a physical barrier between young children and the water. For an HOA or private owner, I'd look at systems consisting of child-resistant perimeter fencing, a design that doesn't provide easy footholds for openings for small children. Self-closing, self-latching gates where gates are necessary. The exact height, setback openings, and materials should be designed and approved based on the Jacksonville, Florida requirements and the property's stormwater permit. Controlled access points. Don't simply put up a fence and leave gaps where children can walk around it. Pay particularly attention to pedestrian paths, drainage structures, corners, and maintenance entrances in areas where the pond connects to another common area. Address this issue. Get it on the agenda. Let's put legislation to this. I've been here over 40 years, and every summer is the same thing. Please do something about this. We have to save the children. The rest of my time, I want to address an issue that's also near and dear to my heart, and that's veterans. I'm a 33-year veteran of the Navy and Coast Guard. I've been homeless three times, and this has been the worst experience I've ever had in my life. Thank you, sir. Next, we have Nancy Murray-Settle. Good evening. Nancy Murray-Settle. Address is on file. I live in Northwest CPAC 5, and I'm here to talk a bit about development. I live in Riverside, which is CPAC 5, but it also includes CPAC 5, King, and Soutel, where there are a lot of industrial zoning areas. I'm here to talk somewhat about redlining. You'll be able to make the connection, I think. But when I look at CPAC 5 in Northwest Jacksonville, I have to ask, why is there so much industrial zoning in that part of town? I ask, why was the morgue put in a predominantly black neighborhood without proper notification? And why now is there a plan to change land use to put in a concrete batch plant not far from residences? Yes, I live away in Riverside from King and Soutel, but this increase in industrial intensity from light to technically a high industrial use through a PUD does affect me also. How? Well, when potentially high-polluting activities are increased in a Jack's neighborhood, people will get sick, children, old people. It creates a public health expense that we as a society, a city, have to bear. Also, when city taxpayer money is spent to upgrade a historically disadvantaged area like the King's Hotel CRA, I mean, the city has spent millions recently, $12 million, as Ms. Pittman can attest to, to upgrade and make that area better. But then what are we going to do? Come right after that and plunk down a concrete high industrial use plant? That's a waste. We talk a lot about waste, fraud, and abuse. Now, that's waste of our money. We need to stop adding heavy industrial use to the northwest of Jacksonville through PUDs or land use changes. Also, a third reason, concrete plant on wetlands is wrong, and it allows water with a high pH content to pollute all of our water. There's also just the, you know, and this is kind of maybe too woo-woo, but there's a religious, spiritual, do the right thing. Let's protect people. Let's not put in things that are going to make people sick. Let's do the right thing. There's so many changes in land use, and a company should not come in, buy seven light industrial properties in December, and then May say, hey, you guys, let's change this to high industrial use. Why do they see Jacksonville as a pushover for them to do whatever they want to do? If they had a plan for high industrial use, look for high industrial use properties and buy that plan. Don't just say we're going to, I'm going to be the tail that wags the dog. Stop all this heavy industrial use in the northwest. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have James Matchett. James Matchett address on file. I've attended quite a bit of meetings since the beginning of this week. None was more productive, I think, than the meeting that I attended this evening here in the Lynn Roberts room. I think that was a very informative meeting. It was encouraging to see the interaction. It was encouraging to hear from the experts. But I was reminded by old Sergeant Major Henry Stokes. I'm going to invoke his name. He said he hate meetings. Because the greatest plan in the world is not worth anything without execution. So we need some action. We should not rest easy knowing another kid can simply walk down to a pond, retention pond, drainage ditch, swimming pool, and simply walk in there. And we, the adults in the room, have not done anything about it other than have a meeting. That being said, I want to talk about another issue. The vulnerable of our communities. It's time out that we continue to let the wealthy pilfer the rich, I mean the poor. We have mechanisms that we refuse to address. We are constantly, perpetually reacting instead of acting. There's a neighborhood bill of rights that have been put out and put before that's just simply trying to engage communities. Give them some authority to address you in a meaningful way with confidential, substantial evidence. And not just emotion and rhetoric. Let's move it forward. Let's collaborate and see what we have to do to tighten it up. Let's stop being reactive. And let's be active on these slumlords that we got into this city. Every one of your districts have a housing unit or housing units that are funded through HUD, that is a coalition with Jacksonville Housing Authority, that are substandard, that code enforcement hasn't done, that we have mechanisms that's supposed to inspect these things and make sure they're right. This is not picking on no one group of people or no one. Let's stop being reactive and let's act to resolve this issue. That is part of your legislative duty. You can do it. I've seen you do it. I've watched you make the sauces on some of this legislation. You just have to be pushed to the point that this is important enough for you to do. Next we have Brooke Dubé. Good evening. My name is Brooke Dubé. My address is on file. I'm here tonight to talk about something that benefits everyone in Jacksonville, and that is funding for spay and neuter programs, specifically Duval Cat Fix and TNR programs that help control our community cat population. Community cats are cats who live outdoors. Some have caretakers. Some live in colonies. And some simply wander through our neighborhoods. Regardless of where they came from, they cannot spay or neuter themselves. Each cat you see with an eartip represents someone who spent their own time and money on trapping, transportation, supplies, and getting that cat fixed. The problem is the demand for these services is much greater than the current funding can support. Each fiscal year, funding resets for every pet, but it was always exhausted very quickly. Last year, it was exhausted in only five months. That leaves seven months where people who are actively trying to help unowned cats are struggling to afford the $25 fee per cat themselves. I have personally seen many people asking for help on Facebook because they can't afford to fix more than one or two cats at a time. When TNR efforts are delayed, more cats are born, creating an even larger population that will eventually need to be helped. I'm asking the city council to seriously consider increasing TNR funding to a level that can support the community for the entire fiscal year. Looking at every pet's previous intake numbers could help determine what level of funding is actually needed. More Jacksonville residents are becoming educated about TNR, and I expect participation to continue growing. Investing in spay and neuter now means fewer kittens being born, fewer cats enter in shelters, and less strain on our animal welfare organizations in the future. The volunteers are already doing the work. We just need the resources to keep up with the demand. Please consider increasing TNR funding so that it potentially lasts the entire year, not just the first five months. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Clarence Long. In the meantime, I want to invite up to the front Denise Cook, Wells Todd, Etta Ettinger, Tom McGuire, Letitia Hobbs, and John Nooney. Come on down to the front, please. Mr. Long, time is yours. How are you doing? My name is Clarence Long. My address is on file. I've come a few times before to speak to the council and get ahead of a few things. I'm a representative of the GCTC. I'm sorry. Sir, could you speak just a little bit louder? There you go. How are you doing? My name is Clarence Long. I'm a representative of the GCTC as well as the Maldinian Inland Revenue Authority. I've approached the bench several times. I've been to several meetings. I've attended and waited after meetings. I've come to the city council. I've come here to this building to meet with the mayor as well. First and foremost, I have a problem within the city council that I wish to discuss with the board in private. If the opportunity is available, I would like for it to be extended to me so I can get a better understanding of what it is that you're doing. Moving forward, I'd like to talk to you about 2026-0574, which is the Stand for Service Act that you just put in for Cecil Field, seeing as in future developments for the city of Jacksonville as far as growth and expansion and economical developments. I closed the business deal earlier today for $131 billion to design and build the new F-15 fighter jets. I am a representative of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, as well as Northam Guntrum. I would like to take the opportunity to build here in the United States, as I did as well with D-Assault in France, because I based most of my business and companies outside of the United States because the representation and the respect that I was seeking, I did not receive from the United States and the city council of Jacksonville. But at the same time, I have to be honest with you. I have received better understanding through nonverbal communication or contact with you than actual physical contact and understanding. So I'm on, how do you say, I'm biased on if I could continue to move forward with you or continue to move alone. As far as the future developments of the city, with the Jacksonville City Completion Plan or the Better Jacksonville Plan changing from 2035 to 2040, I have been in talks with several investors as far as private investors, Maritime, Hansing, Team of Transportation, Mars Transportations, several others, Neo, X-Ping. I also have the opportunity to bring forth the Marine historical sightings of the naval bases, such as the USS Orlick. I have the defense contracts for the, oh, my bad. Like I say, three minutes was not enough time. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Next we have Denise Cook. We can finish, we can continue going forward. Excuse me, sir. Indicting everybody like I told you when I came to... Hi, good evening. My name is Denise Cook, and my address is on file. Whoops. Today's August 25th. On the eve of August 26th, let's remember the 19th Amendment was signed by Secretary of State, A. Bainbridge Colby. That gave us, us women, the right to vote. That was a monumental event that took hundreds of years. Of course, Jim Crow and the southern states took away that right for the women of color in 1970, and they've been fighting for that until 1965. We still know that there are travesties based on color. Redlining is one of those things. Redlining is real. I've told you over and over again, we're going to continue to talk about that on a regular basis, because we need to do what this council said they were going to do, and we need to do what consolidation was said. We need to make good on promises. With that being said, if we look at our city council, we have two women on city council. In the city of Jacksonville, we have 51.5% of women make up a population, and 48.5% are men. Should city council be a reflection of our cities? I don't know. Is it because men are better politicians? Is it because men have more money? Is it because this is what the city really wants? I don't know the answers to that either, but I do know we had a recent election, and we have another woman that's being added. I do know that we have a lot of women candidates that are running. I do know when I sit up here listening in these meetings over and over again, it's women that are speaking the majority of the time. I am a traditional woman, married for 32 years, raising my son, believing in my faith, and I believe that women can be strong and women can be valuable. So on this eve of the 19th Amendment, please thank the women in your life, celebrate the women in your life, remember that they are your equals, and we are your equals. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, we have Wells Todd. My name is Wells Todd, and my address is on file. This city council voted 19 to 0 to acknowledge the harm that redlining had on the black community, but there has been no reconciliation. In fact, the same behavior of abusing the community continues. In fact, right now, there is a proposal for the building of a concrete batch plant in the community, which will cause serious health concerns if built. Once again, there is no notice sent out. I just heard that there may be a meeting that one of your city council members was calling, but this is a repeat performance. The drive-thru liquor store, no community notice. The medical examiner's office in Borg, no community notice. Now a hazardous concrete batch plant. When will the disrespect for the community end? We demand that all the mandated steps be taken before one more step is taken regarding this plant. My last point is, at the last city council meeting, your city council member, Kevin Caracol's behavior was abhorrent, and you need to address it, and you need to do something about it. This is supposed to represent this town, this city council here, and you're not doing it. This man addressed a member of this community by saying he had been released from an insane asylum, and he's still on this city council. That's not only an embarrassment. That's a failure on your part. Next, we have Etta Etlinger. I think I got it right that time. Yeah, you did. Etta Etlinger, address on file. I'd also like to speak to what happened at the last city council meeting. With Councilperson Caracol, as he was calling out names of people to speak during the public comments section, introduced someone by saying, and now, fresh from Baker County Mental Asylum, Mr. This is outrageous. And by the way, Mr. Howland said nothing. This is outrageous on so many levels. There are rules of allowable behavior for us. In fact, at the beginning of this packet that we get every time we come here, there's a long list of rules for how we are to behave as citizens of Jacksonville in this setting. For example, we are not supposed to make any sounds. Are there no rules for city council members? I am asking that question. Are offensive, adolescent-like comments from you about people acceptable? Might some people feel intimidated to speak during public comment for fear that they'll be publicly ridiculed by a city council member, as what happened last week? What right does any city council member have to demean and stigmatize anyone about someone's presumed mental health status? Are you qualified to speak on someone's mental health status, Mr. Carrico? In this very chamber, weren't three people arrested for not upholding the rules for the public that you created for us? And one of them was arrested for videoing the arrest of two women. Frankly, and I was here that night, but on the other side of the room, I would have done the same thing. I would have videoed with a cell phone, given the many documented cases of police violence, what was going on in that arrest. And this person spent time in jail because of that. Anyone who saw the video saw what really happened. And as it turns out, the arresting officer does have a history of violence. What offenses are impeachable for the city council members? What plan do you have to address this behavior? Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Tom McGuire. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am Tom McGuire, 4711 Herter Road, Jacksonville, Florida, 32210. And before I get to my usual, let me just say that I totally agree with what was said at the last meeting about flock cameras. We are on a dangerous path here with abridgment of freedoms. At present, we are scheduled to have National Guardsmen in our nation's capital for almost the complete duration of our president's current term. No other democracy has armed troops in its capital city. Now, let's go on to my favorite issue, which I'm going to keep talking about until I actually see some indication that I've been heard. And that's the jail. And people keep talking about, oh, well, there are savings involved in having a new jail built. But those are, as I've said before, illusory and transitory savings. They're almost irrelevant. The larger facility must be secured. That's going to take more money. More security means more personnel. That is generally the biggest driver of cost in any operation. Transportation. We're talking about moving the jail to a large campus on the outskirts of town. Transportation cost alone will raise costs dramatically. Then you have a variety of legal issues that could wind up costing the city money. Let's just review some of them. Lawsuits are possible from the residents of the selected neighborhood for putting the jail in their neighborhood. Inmates have civil liberties and human rights issues that they can bring suits over, such as access to counsel, family visits, and excess time in transit, which deprives them of time to sleep, eat, and keeps them in shackles for extended periods of time. And should you think that you're saving the transportation costs, pardon me, by remote court, remember that's going to bring a constitutional issue because there's the right to confront one's accuser. Wow. We could actually make savings by increasing the use of civil citations and reducing the use of cash bail in nonviolent cases. And here's the kicker. What really bothers us with the fiscal responsibility this city has shown is we had a courthouse and we had to get a new courthouse because we neglected the old one. We had a JA building. We had to get a new one. Now it's a jail. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have LaTosha Hobbs. Good evening. My name is LaTosha Hobbs. Address is on file. And I stand before you as the mother of my forever only son, Maurice Hobbs, who was murdered on January 26, 2017. Today is day 3,498 of me fighting for his justice and speaking out to protect it. I know firsthand what it means for a family to live year after year without answers. That is why I speak in full support of FLOC cameras and why I believe we must use every tool available to help law enforcement identify violent offenders, connect evidence, and prevent another family from experiencing what mine has. One of these tools is licensed plate reader technology. According to the FLOC's Safety 2025 Impact Census, its technology supported more than 1 million investigations and incidents nationwide in 2025. In jurisdictions where FLOC cameras operate, the company estimated that approximately 20% cleared cases involved FLOC camera evidence. It also reports that its technology helps locate more than 10,000 missing people in 2025. But let's bring it home to here in Jacksonville. According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, license plate readers have helped investigators with 15 murder cases, 17 kidnappings, 6 forcible sex offenses, nearly 100 shootings, and 172 missing person cases over the last two years. Those aren't just numbers. Behind every number is a person, a family, a victim, a child, a mother, a life that matters. The data shows that FLOC technology can help solve violent crime, locate missing people, recover stolen vehicles, and provide investigators with critical leads and evidence. As a mother whose son's murder remains unsolved, I will continue asking one question. What more can we do? If technology can help provide answers, connect the dots, and protect Jacksonville families, then we have a responsibility to use it responsibly, transparently, and effectively. Because every family deserves answers, every family deserves justice. Maurice Hobbs, my son, deserves justice. Thank you for your time. Please keep the FLOC cameras. Thank you, ma'am. Our last speaker is John Nooney. Hello. I am John J. Nooney, Jacksonville City Council Resolution 2023-0819. I'm in City Council District 4, CPAC, Planning District 3, School Board District 3. Here's my rejected speaker card. You know, I'll tell you, the censorship is unbelievable. Ethics is gone. You know, I'll tell you what, I just came from Clay County. And, you know, here is the Clay County Board of County Commissioners. You know, I'm going to St. John's County. And the reason is, you know, in nine days, you know, we have the Northeast Florida Regional Council. And Agenda Item 11, Potential Impacts of Property Tax Reform, Miss Payne. And so the reason, you know, that I'm going, you know, and these are fiddler crabs, you know, Pottsboro Creek. Well, you know, in Clay County, they've got some unbelievable leadership. Jim Renninger, you know, he's on the Executive Committee, Naval Veteran, Betsy Condon. And, you know, let me just read to you. And this, you know, hopefully, you know, stuff, it's so different in different counties. Clay County, Commissioner Condon, Chair of the Florida Association of Counties, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, A-R-A Committee, Citrus Grove, 4-H, you know, I watched one of their meetings. You know, our place, you know, again, you know, I had 50 citrus trees. You know, the bottom line is, it's going to be a revenue source of Amendment 3 passes. There are 67 counties. Our place hits every bucket you could possibly think of. EV, electric vehicle charging stations, 2025-0522. That's four dealerships, Ford. You know, just like that, there's 104 dealerships, you know, just in the state of Florida. You know, here's another one. Like I said, you know, you've got Black Creek, you know, in Clay County. You have Pottsburg Creek. And let me just say, too, you know, CIP, you know, when you do that, you know, Classrooms in Pottsburg. You know, Cindy Pearson, unbelievable. She always said to me, Noonie, your place, fantastic for field trips. That's brilliant. And just remember, fine, it's the Florida Inland Navigation District. It's 12 counties, east coast of the state of Florida. And I'll tell you something. You know, it is, this is the lowest hanging fruit you could possibly imagine. So, yeah, in St. John's County, Boat Ramp Billy, the Palmetto Road Boat Ramp. You know, waterfront access is just, we're getting crushed, absolutely crushed. So, yeah, I was in Clay County. And here's my speaker card. This is Amendment 3. And if it passes, there's 66 other counties that are going to say. Thank you, Ms. Noonie. Welcome and visit Florida. Thank you. Hey, by the way, I still need a pardon. Mr. President, it's now time for public hearings. It's been on page 15. Council members should declare any ex parte communications. Anyone wishing to speak on the following bills should have completed a blue speaker card, and you'll be allowed three minutes to speak. If you've provided your address on the prescribed form and do not wish to state it on the microphone, then you are permitted to just merely state it's on record. But we encourage you to be as specific as possible, as your location likely will impact the weight of your comments. Like public comment, assuming approval of the presenting officer, a speaker may be invited to the Johnson Room for further discussion with a council member. Failure to complete a form provided, including the provision of an address on the form, will mean your name will not be called for public hearing. Mr. Till, would you please read the bills? 2026, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 560, 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 566, 567, 590, 623, 624, 625, 626, 627, 628, 629, 630, 633, 634, 635, 636, 637, 638, 639, 643, 645. 126, 127, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530, 553, and 554. Mr. President, I would ask that you please open the public hearings for all these items. These public hearings are all open. The mention will turn to page 15, item number 27, 2026, 0555. I have one speaker card. Folks, Huxford questions only. This public hearing is closed. Item 28 and 29, 556 and 557, I have no speaker cards. This public hearing, both public hearings are closed. Item number 2026, 0558, I have one speaker card. Larry Solomon. Mr. Solomon, come on down. You might need some assistance with a podium on this one. There you go. Thank you. Name and address, please. Good afternoon. I want to thank you for the loan. I'm sorry, sir. Name and address, please. Your name and address, please. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. No worries. Solomon. Larry J. 6549 Kenlock Drive, Jacksonville, Florida. 3-2-2-1-9. Thank you. I come before you because I, too, have served on the CPAC for the Northwest chair two times, I started my neighborhood association, and also CPAC. For 28 years, I've been the chair of my neighborhood association. I've served on code enforcement. I have served 31 years in law enforcement for the state of Florida. Corrections, parole and probation, counseling. I've served 15 years military time. All number discharge two times. While I may sit in a wheelchair, nevertheless, I'm still alive and I'm still moving. And I say to you that when I'm calling for it, several people have spoken in terms of the concrete plant. If you remember black lung disease, it was terrible back in the day. One of the things that you use in making concrete is arsenic. You're talking about killing people. That's what you're doing. And this thing being such close proximity to people, that's all it's going to do is kill us, the people. The thing that's being done is talked about along that way. Several people have been here, and we are, even presently, we smell. My caregivers, they come and they smell, something smells funny over here. I know what it is. I have to live with this thing. The bill that I, 5558, I desire to talk about, I would like to have a continuance on everything, because the whole thing is wrong. So, if anybody want to talk about me, ask me a question, so be it. I'm here. Other than that, I thank you for your time. Peace be with you. Thank you, sir. I have no more speaker cards than 558. This public hearing is closed. An additional public hearing will be held on September 22, 2026. Turning to page 16, item 31, 2026, 559. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item 32, 2026, 560, I have one speaker card. Nancy Murray-Settle. Settle, is he still here? Okay. Yes, Nancy Murray-Settle, address on file, CPAC 4. I have silver hair, and I'm old enough to remember sitting in Five Points when the Woolworths at the soda fountain drinking a soda from a paper straw. What I'm saying is I've been in Riverside for a long, long time, and I've seen Five Points change over the years from back when it was Woolworths to when we had the, what do you call that, Super Bowl, and it was in New York Times, and they called it a Bohemian area Five Points. I saw it in the 60s and 70s growing up, and it's changed, and things change. But now we have Fat Tuesdays, who was at the landing, and they want to come in and put their frozen daiquiri thing there, full bar, outside sales and service, and a nightclub. And it's the same thing I was talking about earlier. It's like, one, it'll probably go in. I understand that. At this point, you know, I guess the question I have is why do we have all these zonings when businesses just come in and say, well, I want to do my business here, and I want you guys to change it? I mean, the Five Points is not what it used to be, and things do change. Okay, what I'm going to ask you is, if you do pass this, I would say, let's look at Five Points. I know we had the special district set up, but what I recommend of going, living in that area and driving through it all the time, let's just close that street down at certain hours. Let's, it's, it's a bar. It's an open-air bar. Close the street down like they do in Austin, Texas, where you can walk around and there's not cars driving through. It's not, you know, it's a better scene. If that's what, if we're going to give this alcohol and make this available and lower the distance from alcohol to a church from 1,000 feet to 400 feet, then make that a different area. Close the street down. I mean, I said I'm opposed to it, but I see that things have changed so much in the years. But again, it goes back to zoning. Like, you know, do we want to really be like Texas with no zoning? That's one of the biggest polluters in the world. I mean, we have zoning for a reason. Are we going to stick with it or just let any business come in and say, hey, I want to do something different. And we say, hey, go ahead, let's do it. But if you do pass it, close the street down and let's make it a more walkable area because it's, it's, it's crazy. I have 25 more seconds and this, I'm just going to put this on the record. There should not be left turns at Lomax and Park Street. Thank you. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards in 560. This public hearing is closed. Ms. Murray-Settle, Mr. Peluso would like to meet with you in the Hartford Johnson room, please. Yes, item number 33, 2026, 561, I have no speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. During page 17, item 34, 2026, 562, no speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. Item 35, 2026, 563, I have two speaker cards, Andrew Messiana and Robert Mellon. Would you please come on down to the front? Mr. Messiana is first. Name and address, please. Andrew Messiana, and you have my address on file. Thank you. I'm here just to answer any questions you have. All right. Thank you, sir. Mr. Mellon. No speakers in the queue. I've got one more speaker here. Mr. Mellon. Robert Mellon. Robert Mellon, 5360 Astral Street. I live across the street from the rear of this property. This property faces Normandy, and it backs onto Astral Street. I'm just concerned that if, by approving this exception, you're going to allow a bar in the future or even now to become there, and it'll be permanent. I mean, I don't know what the purpose of zoning is if you just make exceptions to it. I have no problem with what the current owner wants to do, but I'm concerned about getting this changed so he could sell it to somebody else or some other person could go in there, and then that permanently affects the neighborhood. The building does not have any parking on Normandy. You would have to do the improvements to the rear to make the building functional for people to get there unless they're using some other off-site parking. That's all I have. Thank you, sir. I have no more speaker cards. The hearing is closed. Item number 36, 2026-564, no speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. Turn to page 18, 37, 2026-565, no speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. Item number 38, 2026-566, I have one speaker card, Joseph Babb. Mr. Babb. Yeah, my name is Joseph Babb. Just a little bit louder, name and address, please. Thank you. My name is Joseph Babb. Do you have my address on file? Thank you. The property next to me wants a right-of-way for a driveway, and I moved there in 1990, October 1990. They've been there 36 years, and a couple of years after I moved in, I realized that the property lines were off by 35 feet. So the cell phone company came in, and they put a right-of-way through there without—I've never seen the signs that I've seen now that they're trying to put a home driveway in there. I've never seen the signs. And if you look at it on the survey, it shows that the road is on my property by 35 feet, by 1,300 and—I mean, by 313 feet. And what they did is causing a flooding problem. At first, whenever they put the cell phone road in, it didn't bother us, you know. And then over time, they came—they was having problems with it because it wasn't nothing but a cow pasture. They was having problems with it, and now they have built it up, and now every time that it—I haven't had it the past two years because we haven't had no rain. But the flooding problem was so bad, the water stayed in the ditch so long it actually had fish in it, you know. I mean, that's how bad it was. And it floods my—floods my property worse now that they built—the cell phone company built it up. So I said something to them, and me and the guy had words. I told him that I would dig a ditch across it, threaten to put me in jail or whatever. But on my deed, it shows that that's my property. And, you know, I just wanted to address to—all the lines out there on there—right there are off. So something's wrong with it. And I just want to get it fixed where, you know, I don't have a problem—I didn't have a problem with my neighbors before whenever it was just a cow pasture. And I knew that it was off, you know. And then the cell phone company came in there, and I don't think they did the proper permitting to put the road in. You know, there was not a right-of-way there. So that's my concern now. And now it backs up. I mean, the drainage is no good. I mean, it just backs up. Like, right now it's not bad because of, you know, we haven't had the rain. But whenever they say that we're having normal rain, I'm flooded, you know. And I just want to get it fixed somehow, the lines. Mr. Babb, Council Member White will meet with you over in the Robert Johnson room, please. I have no more speaker cards on 566. This public hearing is closed. Item 39, 2026, 567, no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. We're into page 19, item 40, 2026, 590. I have one speaker card, Blake Harper. Blake Harper, information on file. Well, Mr. President, good to see you in the seat. Same thing, Mr. Vice President. Thank you very much for the good work you're doing. You have definitely demonstrated by bringing this ordinance to the quick presentation of the city council that you are a man of action. Many of you know that I stood while there was attempts to infringe on the Second Amendment, 2018, 2019, when people were claiming the gun show loophole, which is a complete farce. And I was very thankful for a man by the name of Eric Friday who helped with that. And that man is a very important man to us here in Jacksonville in terms of our constitutional rights, and we need to thank him for that. There are seven different infringements on our Second Amendment rights within City Code 7. Preemption means that the state is responsible for determining Second Amendment laws. That means you don't have a patchwork of laws county by county so that you don't drive across a county. You're legal in one and you're illegal in the other. There was a rationale to it that there are seven laws on our books with regards to the city of Jacksonville that violate our Second Amendment rights and violate preemption. It is a cause for immediate action. I don't think there's anybody here that really wants to deal with the lawsuits and the money that's going to come down on the city if you don't pass it. Thank you for your time. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. An additional public hearing will be held on September 8th, 2026. Item 41, 2026, 623. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Page 20, items number 42, 43, and 44, 624, 625, 626. I have no speaker cards. These public hearings are closed. Turning to page 21, item number 45, 2026, 627. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item number 46, 2026, 628. I have one speaker card. Jamie Travis Leonard. She does not wish to speak but supports the ordinance. This public hearing is closed. Item 47, 2026, 629. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item number 630. I'm sorry. Yeah, item 630. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item 49, 2026, 633. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I'm sorry. I apologize. Ms. Leonard does not wish to speak but does not support 633. This public hearing is reopened. We have a speaker card. She does not wish to speak but she supports and this public hearing is closed. Thank you. Item number 50, 2026, 634. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item number 635. I believe I have one speaker card. Blake Harper. Blake Harper, information on file. In an article dated December 13, 2022, it reads, Jacksonville pastor Gary Wiggins, 67, loses three-year battle with cancer. Dr. Gary Wiggins was one of the most consequential pastors in Jacksonville of Evangelical Temple Church. This is 2026. That's only four years ago. Between then and now, there was an effort to name a road after him. And that road, that effort was turned down because of the code requirements, the regulations, that the person will pass five years. Ben Frazier, the same thing happened. You tried to, there was somebody who wanted to change a name to Ben Frazier Way. And for the same reason, it was turned down. I fought that. I fought that for a lot of reasons. But also from the standpoint of consistency with regards to the rule about five years passing. That rule applies here. And as you turn those two ordinances down, you need to turn this one down. And there's a matter of consistency. A lot of times people wonder where I'm coming from. The reality is, if we're not consistent, we don't have a rule of law. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards on 635. This public hearing is closed. Item 52 and 53, 636, 637, no speaker cards. These public hearings are closed. Page 25, item number 54, 2026, 638. I have two speaker cards. Jamie Travis Leonard and Dragon Beloit. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. My address is on file. I come up here in support of 26, 638. I'm going to read some facts. I'm sure most of you will support it as well. We all understand how difficult it is, addiction, especially when it comes to opioids. But in 2019, the World Health Organization found that approximately 600 deaths worldwide were attributed to drug use. 80% of these were related to opioids, with roughly 25% of those, about 125,000, were caused by opioid overdose. Also in the U.S., the number of people dying from drug overdose was about 70,630, with 50% of those involving synthetic opioids. Addiction's tough. So you may not know, I am a volunteer with guardian ad litem, and one of the things that we see very commonly is drug use in our cases, whether it is the parents or even sometimes the children. And it's very hard to kick addiction. I sympathize so much with people who are dealing with the difficulties, which is why programs such as the one this ordinance is helping are so very important. I talked earlier about the most vulnerable people, people who are suffering from addiction, are part of that group. They deserve not only our support, but also our encouragement, especially for relapses. I know it's easy to sit and say, just get better, but that's not how it works. That's not how addiction works. That's not how the synthetic drugs that they're putting in their bodies enable them to physically be able to respond. So I appreciate everybody who supports this ordinance and everybody who is continuing to improve our drug and addiction programs in the city. Thank you. Next, we have Dragon Beloit. Ms. Beloit? She left. All righty. I have no more speaker cards on 638. This public hearing is closed. Item number 55, 2026-639, I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item 56, 2026-643, I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move to withdraw. We have a motion and a second to withdraw the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 19 yeas, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0643 is withdrawn. Item number 57, 2026-645, I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Mr. President, now it's time for public hearings on land use amendments, companion rezonings, and modifications to the comp plan, beginning on page 27. Item number 58, 2026-126, I have two speaker cards, Samantha Ceres and Jamie Travis Leonard. Both of them oppose this bill, but do not wish to speak. This public hearing is continued to September 8, 2026. Turning the page, item number 59, 2026-127. I have two speaker cards, neither of which to speak. Again, it's Travis Leonard and Ms. Ceres. They oppose this legislation, both of them. All right. No more speaker cards. This public hearing is continued to September 8, 2026. And yet again, item number 60, 2026-523, I have two speaker cards, you never guess who, Samantha Ceres and Jamie Travis Leonard. They do not wish to speak, and they do not support this bill. This public hearing is continued to September 8, 2026. Turning the page. Item number 61-524, I have two speaker cards, I believe. I do. Jamie Travis Leonard and Samantha Ceres, they do not wish to speak, but they oppose 5-2-4. Thank you, sir. This public hearing is continued to September 8, 2026. Two ladies are making me work here tonight. Item number 62, 2026-525, I have one speaker card. I believe it's Mr. Addison. Come on down if you're here still. Question. Oh, Duke, it's you. I didn't realize that was you over there. Welcome. Questions only for Mr. Addison. All right. No other speaker cards. No other speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Turning the page. Item number 63-526. We got to move. Oh, got to move the bill. Duke, we're not going to move. I changed my mind. We're not going to. Come back in two weeks. I moved the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. We have no speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. That's boiling. 19 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0525 passes. Duke, I never knew your first name. I can't read it. Grafton? Is that what it is? 2020, 2026-526. I have no one speaker card. Mr. Addison, Duke Addison, does not wish to speak, but supports the bill. Unless he wants to. Do you want to speak? Okay. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 19 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0526 passes. Turning to page 30, item number 64, 2026-527. I have no speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. Move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. We're experiencing a slight technical difficulty. It'll be a minute. 19 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0527 passes. I'm 65-2026-528. I have no speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. Move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 19 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0528 passes. Item number 66, 2026-529. I have one speaker card. Zach Miller questions only. Public hearing is closed. Move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. There are no speakers. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 19 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0529 passes. Turn to page number 31, item 67, 2026-530. I've got one speaker card. Zach Miller questions only, but there's going to be a floor amendment. So, Mr. Miller, if you're in the neighborhood, come on down to the front. You can respond to the floor amendment. Mr. Chair. All right. This public hearing is closed. I recognize Councilman Arias on the floor amendment. Yes, sir. You want to answer? Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. Currently, the floor amendment is being passed. I'm going to hand it over to OGC, Mr. Harvey, to go over the details on the floor amendment. We all could be in agreement with this. Thank you. So, the floor amendment simply adds the updated written description exhibit, revised exhibit number three, and carries over the LUZ amendment, which included five additional conditions. These were the conditions that were adopted at LUZ and agreed upon by the parties. All right. I see no speakers in the queue. Anything else, Mr. Arias, to cover? No, Mr. President. Just wanted to thank my colleagues on LUZ, Mr. Zach Miller, for being there for our community. He was literally there answering all the calls at the town hall we had. And I want to say that this was a win for our community, not only for the neighbors, the residents, but also the commercial community as well. So, you'll see online on this floor amendment all the details, but I think we're ready to bring this home. Thank you. Mr. Miller, do you want to invite Mr. Miller up to just concur with the floor amendment? Yes, Zach Miller, 3203, Old Barn Court. These are the amendments we agreed to at LUZ, and then I sent to Mr. Harvey the next morning, and they're incorporated both in the written description and in the legislation. I think we need to vote on the floor amendment first. We have a motion and a second on the Arias floor amendment. There are no other speakers in the queue. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor of the floor amendment, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say no. The floor amendment passes. You might want to close the public hearing. I did already, yeah. You did? Okay, thank you. I'll move the bill as amended. Second. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. Before we take a vote, I have a special request from Councilman White for Chief Golden and Chief Blanton, if you could meet him in the green room, please. Thank you. So we have now a motion on the bill as amended, and we have a second. Any discussion? No speakers in the queue? Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 18 yays, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026-0530 passes. Yeah, Chiefs, I love this. You're ignoring Chief White. That's appropriate. What's that? Councilmember White wants to meet with you in the green room. Yeah, Chief Planton. Chief Planton, too, as well. And Chief Golden, yeah. Former Chief White would like to meet you in the green room, if you could. He must still outrank you, I guess. Item number 68-2026-553. I have one speaker card, Samantha Series. She opposes this bill. I believe she wants to speak to it. Samantha Series, address on file. Just a quick note. When you guys voted, it showed 68, which is not the correct one up there. I'm sure your records are correct, but on the screen, it showed number 68. I just wanted to ask, kind of, what is going on this? I live 11 miles from here. It's only a 16-minute drive, though, so it's not that far. On the description in the agenda, it says LDR to CN, but that's actually wrong. It's supposed to be NC, Neighborhood Commercial. I just want to know, like, what the plan is here. I looked online. The exhibits didn't show exactly what they were wanting to do for us. I just would like to know what they plan on doing it. I could support it. Who knows? It might be interesting. It might be, like, a, you know, mixed-use. I just don't know. It doesn't give any information on that. So that's all I had. Thank you. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards than 553. All right. This public hearing is closed. An additional public hearing will be held on September 8, 2026. Mr. Floor Leader, before we move on, I'd like to ask Ms. DeFopolis, can you address the issue Ms. Series just said about whether we voted on item 0530 or item 0553? Yes, Mr. President. So while the screens to the audience and the live stream did reflect item number 68, the voting machines that you voted on did correctly vote on the prior item, 2026-530. So the vote was recorded to the correct item. Thank you, ma'am, for the clarification. Item number 69, 2026-554. I have one speaker card, Samantha Series, but she opposes this but does not wish to speak. This public hearing is closed. An additional public hearing will be held on 9-8-2026. All right. Let me get back to my notes here real quick. As it happens, Mr. President, there are no third reading resolutions today, so we move on to the ordinance beginning on page 32. For members of our audience, these bills have already had their public hearings with final committee reports and are now ready for full action. Our first item is number 70, 2026-572. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. There are no speakers in the queue. We'll take the vote verbally. All in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. Amendment passes. I move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. That's 2026-0572. For everyone watching, item number 70 on page 32. There are no speakers. Let's open the ballot and accord your vote. 18 yeses, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0572 passes. Item number 71. Thank you. 2026-578. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. There are no speakers. Let's take the vote verbally. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. Amendment passes. Move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and accord your vote. 18 yeses, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0578 passes. Turn to page 33. Item number 72. 2026-579. Mr. President. Yes, sir. Mr. Florida Leader, I'll note that this was discharged from rules. The chair agreed with this, and I discharged it as council president. I'll move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and accord your vote. 18 yeses, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0579 passes. Item 73, 2026-583. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers in the queue. All those in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. The amendment passes. Move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. No speakers. Let's open the ballot and accord the vote. 18 yeses, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0583 is approved. Page 34, item number 74, 2026-585. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment with no speakers. Let's take this vote verbally. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. The amendment passes. Move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. There are no speakers. Let's open the ballot and accord your vote. 18 yeses, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0585 is approved. Moving on now to page 35, item 75, 2026-587. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. The amendment passes. Move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. There are no speakers. Let's open the ballot and accord your vote. 18 yeses, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0587 passes. Page 36, item 76, 2026-589. Move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. There are no speakers. Let's open the ballot and accord your vote. 15 yeses, 3 nays. By your vote, 2026-0589 passes. We have a motion. Did someone, you withdraw your own motion to reconsider? You're not in the proper posture to make the vote to reconsider anyways. All right. We can continue on to the, hold on, Dr. Johnson, you're recognized. Mr. President, thank you. I just had a question. This is point of information. I think this is the general counsel's office. I'm just curious and I couldn't figure it out why. Is this because it's a council rule that there's a two-thirds majority needed? I didn't see it and I just wanted to make clarification of that. Thanks. Yes, Mr. President. Through the President to Council Member Johnson, pursuant to the council rules to amend the council rules requires a two-thirds vote as a full council. It's not dying on this one. All right. By your vote, 2026-0589 is approved. Moving on now to second reading resolutions and ordinances. We've already taken up the resolution, so I would ask Mr. Teal to please read the second reading ordinances. 2026-640, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622, 631, 632, and 644. We now move on to the, I'm sorry, we've got, yeah, we've got a reading here. We need to go to page 40, item number 87, 2026-681. I move the emergency. We have a motion and a second on the emergency. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's take this vote verbally. All in favor of the emergency indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say no. The emergency passes. I move the bill as an emergency. Did I hear a second? Okay, we have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency. Mr. Diamond, you're recognized. I move a council amendment. We have a motion and a second on a council amendment. Mr. Diamond, you're still in the queue, but you don't want to speak again. Okay. We'll take the vote on the council amendment verbally. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say no. Council amendment passes. I move the bill as amended. Second. As an emergency. Second. We have a motion on the bill as amended as an emergency. Seeing no speakers, let's open the ballot and accord your vote. 19 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0681 passes. Mr. President, we have two additional items to add to the agenda, neither of which requires action this evening. To that end, I move the addendum. We have a motion and a second on the addendum. No speakers. We'll vote verbally. All in favor of the addendum indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say no. The addendum passes. Move the bill. Oh, I don't have to move the bill. That's right. Never mind. Move me out of the room. Here's what we need to do. That concludes our business for the meeting. All right. Well, let's see. We will do roll call real quick, and then I'll recognize Mr. Freeman. I wish I was. It's just water. Roll call, please. Water burger or water. It's open on? 19 present. All right. Well, I will recognize Council Member Freeman. Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to bring to your attention. I placed this on each of your desks. You know, last year, Council, past President Carrico tasked me with the Youth Empowerment Committee. And we did a very in-depth study. A lot of diligent work went into it. And so we produced a report for you all to see where we're at in the process. And the RFPs are out on the street. They should be coming back soon. Because just like Council Member Joe Carlucci just experienced, where some monies that he had set aside hadn't been filed, and they kind of got moved. I wanted to make sure that everyone understood, like, these dollars are out, and people are now looking to get them. So they're basically appropriated. We're just waiting to appoint them with the right people. But this has an in-depth explanation of all that's been done. Also, you know, thank you to those who reached out while I was speaking. I was trying to finish. My boy usually goes to sleep about 730. And if he's not in that posture, he would have destroyed this whole room. So I was trying to get through the speech quicker. But there was one here that all of us, we couldn't do what we do without our staff. And Jerry, she's not here. She texted, did I need her to stay? And I'm like, Jerry, we walked into this space together. I would love for us to walk out together. When I first got appointed, that was the first question they asked was, who are you going to keep? And I'm like, there's no other choice other than Jerry. And she knew everyone in the district and helped me get off to such an amazing start. We're all aware of the backpack giveaways and things of that nature that I was able to amplify. But it was an idea that started with her. So I wanted to thank you, Jerry, if you're still here. If you went home, I do understand it's been a long day. But no, I did not forget you. I just had to prioritize. And it was my wife, my kids. And now I wanted to end with you. So thank you so much for your dedicated service. And I wish you the best in your endeavors as you move forward in your service. Thank you. Do we have any other announcements tonight? Mr. Gaffney, followed by Ms. Pittman. All right. Thank you, Chair. So this afternoon, I held a notice meeting about the children dying from retention ponds. We had a very productive meeting. We had members from the autistic community come out, the builders come out. We even had a mom that came out that lost her son. I think at the end of the day, what I learned from the meeting is that everyone have an appetite to move forward. But, of course, in the hour and 30 minutes that we was there, we couldn't fulfill every need. So I guess Dr. Selim, he provided a good recommendation. And the rest of my colleagues is that, and this will be the will of you, that we form a special committee. So you'll be receiving the email from me to move forward. We still have a lot of, I guess, data and facts and best practices that we need to figure out. You know, this is not new. You know, from any other city. So, I mean, I'll be emailing you, and you can just give us guidance and direction on how to move forward. But I do want to recognize our colleagues for coming forward today. You know, Councilman Matt Carlucci, Councilman Gay, Councilman White, Dr. Selim, Councilwoman Clark Murray, and Councilman Ken O'Meara, I really appreciate you guys for sacrifice of your time for coming out. You guys provide an insight, clarity, and help me guide this ship. So I'll leave on this. We had anywhere from 75 to 100 individuals in the room. It was standing room only. I think we even had another 20 to 25 people in the Don Davis room. I brought that up to go to show you that this is a very important issue to the community in the city of Jacksonville. And as I stated two weeks ago, you know, I don't want none of us to get a call again saying we lost another child. You know, and it's funny because it's not funny, but I guess it's ironic because when I spoke two weeks ago, we lost a child yesterday not knowing that I was going to have a meeting today. You know, so God really have a way of showing you things and giving you confirmation, you know. So, but like I said, I'll be sending you an email. You can just give me, provide guidance, direction on how to move forward. Like I said, some of the recommendations was maybe a committee, especially a committee to move forward and tackle this issue. All right, thank you. I look forward to seeing the email, and thank you, Councilman Gaffney, for leading on this issue. Ms. Pittman. So, I know all of you received this flyer regarding the fourth annual memorial celebration and ceremony for the three individuals who were shot at the dollar, General, Gerald, Angela, and A.J. So, tomorrow, this will be my last ceremony unless we do something different because I promised the families and the survivors that I would do this until my term is over. So, if you have some time, I'd love to invite you and hope that you will stand with me again. And I know that Councilman White don't like a whole lot of hoopla, but it was really because of him. I reached out to him regarding that shooting. And matter of fact, Dr. Johnson and I, we had gone to a housing conference, and Randy was there. He was home, and he came, and he supported us in a way that we could help the families financially. So, Randy, I will never forget that because that was a very emotional day, and it's still emotional for me, y'all. I mean, it's been four years since we've done the memorial and three years for the families. So, I want to just say this is one of the very important things that I've done since I've been on council, got a chance to know the families, and the survivors are still going through it, and so am I. And so, I'd just like for you all to be with me tomorrow. We're having a candle vigil. It's going to be hot. We were going to do a pilgrimage from Dollar General to the park, but it's just going to be way too hot. So, we're going to have a ceremony about an hour, hour and a half, if that. So, please come. You don't need to bring your candles. I have candles for you. So, thank you so much for your support. In the past, this means a lot, and I just hope that I can get y'all to stand with me one more time. Birthdays, we have the Godfather. September 8th is your birthday, and also Carol Register on September 6th. And I'd like to do something a little bit different tonight. We're also wishing Erin Seaton, the producer at News for Jax. She has watched us do this every, well, every two weeks. And I thought I would surprise her, and we're going to do happy birthday to her and Rand, if y'all don't know. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Randy and Erin. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, y'all. All right, and we have no other announcements. All we have left is to adjourn and then do the prayer. Before everyone gets up real quick, it would be an honor, Terrence Freeman, if you would do the honors of gaveling out of your last council meeting as a Jacksonville City Councilman. Mr. President, thank you so much for that. We're going to pray first, or we're going to gavel out? We can gavel out, then pray. We'll gavel out. And with this, we consider this meeting adjourned. Oh, okay. Before we say the prayer, Dr. Johnson, you're recognized. I was trying to get in queue. I'm so sorry, Mr. President. I didn't get a chance. I know I was looking through the Robert's Rules of Order. There's a little-known fact in there that says that if one of the members post-gaveling does want to be recognized, that that member can be recognized for a motion. So I'll say I got a chance to know somebody in this august body really well. And although he is a member of some other little organization, I forgot what it is. I'm sorry, Kevin. You know I got to mess with you. Alpha Phi, Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. But this gentleman has asked repeatedly for $200,000 to move forward some initiatives for small businesses and youth over and over again. And I don't want this person to leave here without those $200,000. So if it pleases the chair, Mr. President, could I get a motion from someone to, or I'd like to make a motion at least, to give Terrence Freeman the $200,000 before he leaves. Would you call for a vote, Mr. President, please? Yes. And knowing that this vote does not actually count for the record, we will take the vote verbally. All in favor of the motion to give Council Freeman his fabricated $200,000, say aye. Aye. So finally, on behalf of all the members of the Jacksonville City Council, I would like to present our colleague, our friend, my brother, that alpha man, Terrence Freeman, with this check for $200,000 so you can make those dreams of our community manifest. Terrence, this is from all of us. Thank you for your service on this council. We look forward to working with you in the future. Congratulations. And he's your $200,000, man. And with that, over to Chaplain Mr. Romero. Just don't spend it all in one place. You know, I think it's, oh God, was it Roosevelt that said people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. I think that today this body has demonstrated that we do care through a retention pond hearing, through resolution for WC Gentry, just through a number of actions for those who excrociate us day after day. I think we've demonstrated that we do care, and I thank you for that. Terrence, I wish you the best as you're moving to move up the next rung of the political ladder. I hope you find you. Thank you.