City Council - Jun 23, 2026

Good evening and welcome. I call to order the June 23rd, 2026 meeting of the Jacksonville City Council and according to Office of General Counsel we have a quorum. FYI today I am filling in for Council President Kevin Carrico and Mr. Floor Leader. Over to you please. Thank you Mr. Vice President. Our first order of business tonight is the invocation and pledge of allegiance. I'm going to have our council liaison to JFRD, Council Member White, introduce tonight's chaplain the JFRD Chaplain Percy Golden Sr. Thank you. Dr. Percy Golden Sr. is a senior pastor and bishop of the Holy Church of the Living God Revival Center in Atlantic Beach. He retired from the JFRD after 26 years where he wore many hats while protecting our city. Some of his roles were chaplain of JFRD, union chaplain for the local, and vice president of the Fellowship of Christian Firefighters. He served as administrator over the Critical Incident Stress Management Team. He also served as administrator over the Honor Guard and Pipe and Drum Team. He also served as coordinator for the Emergency Preparedness Region 3 CISM Team. After a couple years of retirement, Dr. Golden was asked to come back as chaplain for JFRD and to be the critical incident officer. He is the administrator also of the peer support team. I've known Dr. Golden for many years, and congratulations, and thank you, sir. Thank you. Before I pray, I want to, again, extend my gratitude and appreciation for each and every one of you that sits on this council. For many years, I've been serving the city as well for over 30 years, and I've seen and worked with many of you as I've not only within the fire service, but in the community. I've been on a lot of stages where we have met and done. So I just want to thank all of you, again, for what you've done, for your dedication to our community, for the growth and well-being. And I want to thank you for the timeless efforts and thoughtful decisions and the commitment that you're making to our city that will be a better place. I also want to thank each and every one of you and appreciate you for the countless hours that you have put in, listening, planning, and acting for the good of our community. Thank you all for your leadership and making a real difference in the lives of so many. Let us bow for a word of prayer. Father God, we come now before you today with grateful hearts. We thank you for the opportunity to serve the community, and thank you for the gifts of this city, for the people at home, and for the privilege of working together for the common good. Grant wisdom to each council member as they gather here, guide their thoughts, guide their words, and guide their decisions, so that they may be rooted in fairness, integrity, and compassion. Help them to listen with open minds and speak with respect and act with courage in the face of challenges. Bless our mayor, bless our citizens, bless our neighborhoods, and all who labor to make our city safe, vibrant, and we welcome peace that we may work together and reflect over division and service of self-intent and hope over fear. We ask you to protect us over the days to come and protect our community and to guide us through tough times, and we ask this in our holy name. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. 16 present. Any announcements, Mr. Vice President? Yeah, thank you, Mr. Floor Leader. I actually have three announcements. First, there will be a jump in the agenda. After we hear public comment, we'll jump to page 34 and hear item number 72, which is 2026-0418, the JSO parking bill, first, and then we'll proceed with the agenda. Thank you. Second, I look forward to seeing everyone at the Council President and Council Vice President installation here in the chambers Thursday night, two nights from now, at 5 p.m. And then, lastly, FYI, for the record, the current Council President has directed that we postpone a vote to override the mayor's, sorry, we postpone a vote to override the mayor's veto of our Council Bill 2025-0872. You probably saw that item, 2025-0872, in the first addendum published just before noon, and then you saw it omitted from the updated addendum published later in the afternoon. I, if it were my preference, we'd take it up tonight, just because when there's a disagreement between Council and the administration, I prefer it not linger. I prefer we deal with it openly and quickly, but we will make sure that this gets cleaned up on July 28th in the first meeting the next Council year. With that, back to you, Mr. Floor Leader. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. One announcement from me, everyone already knows up here, at least, that there will be no regular Council or Committee meetings scheduled from June 29th through July 17th, so our next Council meeting will be the morning of July 20th with the mayor's budget presentation. That is my only announcement. And with that, Mr. Vice President, we're going to move on to approval of the minutes from the regular Council meeting of June 9th. I move the approval. We have a motion and a second on approval of the minutes. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor of approving the minutes, indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All against saying no. The minutes pass. Mr. President, we have three communications from the mayor's office and others. Would you like them read or filed with legislative services? Let's file them, please. Very well, sir. We have no presentations tonight. At this time, I would like to recognize our pages, Daryl Shelton and Daniel Shelton, both from Paxson School of Advanced Studies. Thank you for serving with us tonight. Thank you, Daryl and Daniel, for being the pages tonight. Before we proceed, Mr. Floor Leader, Councilman Freeman is on the queue. You'd like to say a few words. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just an announcement you made earlier about the postponing of the vote of the veto. Can I just get clarification? Is there a way, if there's a will of the group tonight, to vote on it? Is that a possibility that we could still take that vote tonight? Or I'll just stop there and wait. Mr. Freeman, let me turn to Ms. Stifopoulos. Would you mind opining on that? Through the president-designate to Councilmember Freeman. So we reviewed the rules with respect to this matter and have a lot of discussion. And Rule 4.1001 provides that an ordinance or resolution, budget appropriation item, or sum of money disapproved by the mayor in return to the council shall be considered by the council at the regular meeting at which it is returned by the mayor unless otherwise directed by the president or the rules committee. So the decision of the president to direct that it be taken up at the next meeting is within his authority under the rule. And this is non-appealable. Mr. Freeman, you still have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Okay. And thank you for that clarification. And then just one other point of clarification. And can it be deferred again as we move forward? Or is this, this is it, and no matter what, we're taking a vote on the next meeting? That is a great question. Thank you. Through the president-designate to Councilmember Freeman. So that same rule also says, in no event shall consideration of the returned ordinance or resolution, budget appropriation item, or sum of money be delayed beyond the meeting of the council next following its return. So at the next meeting, it does have to be taken up pursuant to that rule. All right, Mr. Freeman, thanks for clarifying that. Mr. Fablos, thank you. Any other speakers in the queue? All right. Seeing none, Mr. Floyd, the leader back to you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We'll now take up quasi-judicial items, the first of which is found on page five. These items we are now taking up do not include public hearings as they were thoroughly reviewed at the committee level where public hearings were part of the decision-making process. Councilmembers are reminded to declare any ex parte communications. Item number one, 2026-472. I move the amendment to grant appeal. We have a motion and a second to grant the appeal. I see no one in the queue, but before we take the vote, I would like to declare my ex parte communications, Mr. Floor Leader. I had a conversation with Mr. Mike Herzberg yesterday, June 22nd, 2026 at 3 p.m. by phone. We'll make sure it's filed with legislative services. And seeing no one else on the queue for ex parte or to comment on the amendment, which is to grant the appeal, let's take, yeah, do we have a second? We have a second. Let's take this vote verbally. All in favor of the amendment to grant the appeal indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. The amendment passes. I move the bill as amended to grant appeal. And colleagues, as a reminder, a green vote is granting the appeal on this. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. Seeing no one in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 yays, 1 nay. By your action, 2026-04-72 passes, granting the appeal. I'm to 2026-304. Council Vice President, please recognize a council member and our LEZ chair, Council Member Joe Carlucci. Council Member Joe Carlucci, you are recognized, sir. All right. Thank you. Oh, hold on. I have right here. Sorry, I got kind of caught off guard here. Ms. Mary, can you help me with this? I just got handed this and I forgot. It's nothing serious, but if you could go ahead. Yes, sir. So, and I'll also defer to Mr. Harvey to the extent that I get any of this wrong, but the Land Use and Zoning Committee heard item number two, 2026-304 at its last meeting. And if you see by the short title on the agenda, the motion to approve the bill failed by a vote of zero to five, which in land use and zoning, when we handle quasi-judicial legislation, they're written in the affirmative. So, normally when the Land Use and Zoning Committee's intention is to deny an application, they have to amend the bill to revise the language to turn it into a denial. And so, rather than doing that at the committee level, which would have required a reconsideration and another action by the committee, this evening, the floor amendment that's being offered by Council Member Joe Carlucci would amend the bill to reflect the proposed denial or the reported denial of the Land Use and Zoning Committee. All right. Great. So, I'm moving the floor amendment. Looking for a second. Second. All right. We have a motion and a second on the Carlucci floor amendment. Just a reminder, if you vote yes on this floor amendment, you're voting to deny, consistent with how LUZ voted, as you can see on your agenda. I see one member in the queue. It's Ms. Pittman. I do apologize. This is, I'm sorry. I do apologize, but I wanted just a little bit more information on this because it is in my district. So, Ms. Mary, can you give me some information, please? Because I know I've been out. Yes, go ahead, Mary. Through the chair to council, through the president designate to Council Member Pittman, are you wanting more information about the application itself? I'll defer to Mr. Harvey on that. Taryn, you're up. Yes. This was a, through the chair to Council Member Pittman, this was an ordinance for rezoning from CCG1 to CCG2. The committee considered the application. It was heard at Planning Commission and at LUZ, and both committees decided to vote it down unanimously, and it was at the recommendation of the Planning Department. There were one person in opposition who spoke to it as well, and the committee came down to that decision to unanimously deny the application. Yeah, can you tell me what the project was? She did not go into detail. It's in the application. I defer to staff, but I believe it was related to a more intense industrial use on that. Oh, okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Seeing no other speakers in the queue, we do have a motion, a second on the amendment to deny. So if you vote yes, you are voting to deny the bill before we vote on the full bill. You're voting yes on the amendment to deny the bill, which would put it consistent with LUZ. All right. Seeing no speakers, we'll take this vote verbally. All in favor of the amendment, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no, the amendment passes. I move the bill as amended to deny. Looking for a second. All right. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended to deny. We have Ms. Clark Murray on the queue. Thank you, Vice President Howland. I just want to speak in regards to this, just to help Ms., well, to help everyone basically on the dais. So this was a proposal for CCG2 in basically the block of Kings Road and 45th Avenue, which is across the street from a residential area residential, a large residential neighborhood. It would have been a bad idea to change the zoning to CCG2. And so I am in full support of the amendment as we saw earlier and in regards to denying this particular bill. And once again, in addition to the fact that I have family there and I know this area very well, and this particular zoning application would have been, once again, a very bad fit for the community. Thank you. All right. So you know there's speakers in the queue. Before we open the ballot, just again, want to remind everyone if you vote yes on this motion as amended to deny, you're voting consistent with how the LUZ voted on this particular matter. So with that, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, you have moved to deny 2026-0304. Item 3, 2026-309, move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0309, passes. Item 4, 2026-373, move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's take this vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All again, say no. Amendment passes. Is 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 record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0373, passes. Item 5, 2026-374, I'll declare my ex-parte now. I had a conversation yesterday with Josh Cockrell, the applicant. We discussed this overall bill, and this has been filed with legislative services. Thank you, sir. We also have Mr. Miller in the queue. Thank you, Mr. President-elect. I also rise to declare ex-parte communications. I had a conversation with Mr. Josh Cockrell today, and we'll file this with legislative services. Thank you, sir. No other speakers. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Seeing no one in the queue, let's take this vote verbally. All in favor of the amendment, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All again, say no. The amendment passes. 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 record your vote. 12 yays, 4 nays. And by your vote, 2026-0374, passes. Item 6, 2026-440, move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0440, passes. Item 7, 2026-441, move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. We have Mr. Boylan on the queue. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I stand to declare ex parte on this item. I've received multiple emails, all asking me to vote to deny this application, and it's been filed with legislative services. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any other ex partes? All right. No one on the queue. We do have a motion and a second. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 yays, 1 nay. By your vote, 2026-0441, passes. Item 8, 2026-0442, move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0442, passes. Item 9, 2026-0443, move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026-0443, passes. Mr. Vice President, we're now on page 9 to take up the consent agenda. Colleagues, if you want to be as a co-sponsor on any item, please reach out to legislative services as council rules prohibit items from being pulled for this reason. Mr. Thiel, would you please read the bills? 2026-364, 444, 450-460, 467-468, 473, 519, 520, 521, and 522. Mr. Vice President, I have a pull on 444 by Council Member White and a pull on 522, I believe, from Council Member Diamond and Johnson, if that's correct. Okay, well, those are the two I have a pull on. So I move approval of the consent agenda with the exception of items 2020. Looking for a second. All right, we have a motion and a second on approving the consent agenda minus item 0444 and 0522. We have Mr. Matt Carlucci on the queue. Are you waiting on one of those two other bills, sir? Okay. We have no speakers on the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, the consent agenda minus 0444 and 0522 passes. We're going to go back to item 11, 2026-444. I move the bill. Before we move the bill, Mr. White, I think you have a floor amendment, right? Yes, sir. I don't get Ms. Merritt to explain that, please. Is that okay? We didn't, yeah. Through the President designate to the Council. So Council Member White's floor amendment would reflect that the grant term has been adjusted. It was extended by the Department of Children and Families. It originally was for March 23rd, 2026 through June 30th of 2026, but it is now July 1st, 2026 through September 30th of 2026. And it also attaches the grant award letter reflecting the grant award and the revised grant term as an exhibit one to the bill. And you'll just need to get a motion and second on that amendment, Mr. President designate. All right. Did you move it, Mr. White? All right. And do we have a second? I second. Okay. We have a motion and a second on the white floor amendments. Seeing no speakers in the queue. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor of the white floor amendment indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against say no. White floor amendment passes. Read the bill as amended. We have a, actually, we need a second. We got it. All right. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. Ms. Clark-Murray, you're in the queue. Thank you. I need some clarification. I'm looking at the actions from the previous committees and it says to withdraw. So, though, and we just passed an amendment. Please explain, through the vice president to Ms. Stapopoulos, please explain what we are voting on, considering the fact that it does say that the actions earlier are to withdraw. Yes. Through the president designate to council member Clark-Murray. So you are correct. It was originally reported out of the committees as a withdraw at the request of JFRD because they weren't able to receive word from the state that the extension to the grant term had been granted such that they would have had an opportunity to spend the funds. That came late after the committee actions were taken. They did receive that grant award letter that had the extended grant term. And so they've asked the council to consider the item this evening. Thank you for that. So what action are we taking today? Because if the action is to withdraw, does it need to be changed to approve it? So it was pulled off of consent and was moved. The floor amendment was moved and approved, and the bill has been moved for approval as amended. So you're not taking it up as a withdrawal. You're taking it up as an action to approve the bill with the amendment. All right. Thank you. Ms. Clark-Murray, thank you for clarifying that. Appreciate it. So I think we heard it clearly from Ms. Stapopoulos what we're voting on, and we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026-0444 passes. Going on to item 20, 2026-522. I'll move the bill. We have a motion, and can we get a second, please? On the bill. All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second. On the bill, and we have Mr. Matt Carlucci, followed by Mr. Rory Diamond. Yes, sir. I'd like to be added as co-sponsor. All right. Let the record show that. Over to Mr. Diamond. I think it'll just move the floor amendment. Second. Second. We have a motion and a second on a council amendment. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All against say no. All right. With that, Mr. Council Secretary, I wonder if you would please read this bill out loud for us before we take a vote. Okay. I move the bill as amended. We have a motion on the bill as amended and a second. Now, Mr. Council Director, would you mind reading it, please? Resolution 2026-522. On July 4th, 2026, the United States of America commemorates its semi-quintessential, semi-quincentennial. Thank you. And that's why we asked you to read it. That's an A-C-T word. S-A-T word. Marking 250, I should have read this before now. Marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of a nation endeavoring to be free from any allegiance to a king, America was founded upon the enduring ideals of liberty, self-determination, representative government, and the belief that all people are created equal. America's history has been shaped by patriots and pioneers, dreamers and dissenters who dare to imagine a more just society for future generations. The semi-quincentennial offers an opportunity for celebration and for reflection and a recommitment to the work of maintaining a nation worthy of its highest ideals. At 250 years old, America remains one of the greatest democratic experiments in human history, not without flaws, but founded upon the courage of ordinary people doing extraordinary things together in pursuit of opportunity and hope. Jacksonville's history reflects the very essence of the nation itself, a city forged through struggle and perseverance, rebuilt from fire and hardship, strengthened through diversity. Generations of Jacksonville residents have answered the call of military service, supporting national security and installations like Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport. The city of Jacksonville recognizes that patriotism can be displayed through service to our country, but also by the willingness to serve one another, to practice democracy, and ensure that freedom is experienced in every community. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Jacksonville. The City Council hereby honors and celebrates the semi-quincentennial of the United States of America and joins communities across the nation in honoring the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. The City Council affirms its commitment to ideals upon which this nation was founded by striving to build a Jacksonville where opportunity is expanded, democracy is protected, neighborhoods are strengthened, and every resident is empowered to participate fully in the American dream. The City Council encourages everyone throughout the city to commemorate America's 250th anniversary through acts of service and the continued pursuit of liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Well done, Mr. Council Director. And I also want to thank one of the original introducers, Councilman Johnson, as well as Council staff, namely Colleen Hampsey, Council Research, for writing such a beautiful resolution. And it's fitting as we enter America's 250th birthday, and we won't have another Council meeting until then, that that resolution got read into the record. So thank you very much. We have a motion and a second on that bill. Seeing no one in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0522 passes. Mr. Vice President, we're going to jump ahead to third read to item number 77 to take up an appointment. That's 2026-456. I move the amendment. All right, we have a motion and a second on the amendments. Seeing no one in the queue, let's take the vote verbally. All in favor of the amendment, which again, we're on item number 77, page 37. All in favor of the amendment, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All again, say no. The amendment passes. Move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. No one in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0456 passes. Mr. Vice President, please recognize our rules chair. Mr. Miller, you are recognized, sir. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We've just approved the following appointments as part of the consent agenda, plus the additional item we just took up. If you are in the audience, please stand to be recognized. Steve W. McMickle, appointed to the Jacksonville Duval County Council on Elder Affairs. David Monk to the Building Code Adjustment Board. Dr. Truett L. Moreland to the Jacksonville Journey Forward Board. And Ivy Henderson to the Downtown Development Review Board. Please join me in thanking them for their service. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Mr. Vice President, it is now time for public comments. 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, and council rules call for an allotment of 90 minutes for public comment. Give the number of cards submitted. Each speaker will be given 3 minutes, so that all those wishing to speak will have an opportunity to do so. This may change if more cards are submitted between now and 6. I'll announce five speakers at a time. When I call your name, please come down to the reserved seats of the front row while awaiting your turn to speak. Your time will not start until you arrive at the podium, and remember to state your name and address before beginning, or you may say my address is on file. A speaker may be invited to the green room for further discussion at a council member's discretion. I'll read the first five names now so they can begin to make their way down, and then I'll have Mr. Thiel read Council Rule 4.505 regarding disruption of meetings. First five speakers, please come on down. Ms. Kathleen Pereira, Melanie Carr, Deborah Karstaridis, and I'm sure I'm pronouncing that wrong. I apologize. Alan Skinner, and Becky Boyrie. Mr. Thiel, may you please read Council Rule 4.505. 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. Thank you, Mr. Thiel. Legislative Services, note the start time as 5.33, and Ms. Pereira, you may start. My name is Kathleen Pereira. My information is on file. Do we have to accept the old cliche that progress is inevitable? Does every neighborhood have to continually fear that the city will reflexively change zoning and land use codes so that big developers can callously ruin their community? Does the city want its citizens to swallow the notion that all big money will have their way? That is what neighborhoods that have had to endure the threat of an oil depot, morgue, slaughterhouse, and now a 15,000-seat soccer stadium can attest. Instead, when will the city involve citizens from the very start of a project with proactive plans that will save big developers money and protect neighborhoods from unnecessarily encroachment as the 2045 Comp Plan boasts? And why has the 1995 Neighborhood Bill of Rights been ignored, and why wasn't it codified? Everyone should know by now that smart planning and development should be the norm. The current helter-skelter approach should have stopped in the last century. The soccer stadium in Site John's Town Center is a very bad fit with the two surrounding neighborhoods. And finally, thank you for withdrawing 2026-0364. It would have further eroded the Neighborhood Bill of Rights, whatever is left of it, since it could have been used to hamstring all neighborhoods in fighting encroachment. Finally, please honor the 4th of July. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pereira. Ms. Melanie Carr, you're next. Good evening. My name is Melanie Carr with Riverside City Stead in the Lackawanna District. My address is 663 Willowbunch Avenue, 32205. I'm here tonight to support and encourage the Free to Garden Act, which will make community and market gardens permissible by right in Jacksonville. I currently grow vegetables and herbs on a 1-8th acre city lot. This helps provide me with fresh produce and my family with a modest income from selling plants. Growing plants has helped provide additional income for me for years, at times when I had little or no other income. It's helped ease the pain of temporary unemployment. I would like to see more of my neighbors involved in similar activities. I feel that having these urban gardens can help with economic resilience and utilize open space. We should encourage our neighbors to turn unused space into a resource for their families. On a larger scale, it can help revitalize neighborhoods by providing economic activity in areas where there may be none. It can provide jobs close to where people live, caring for the growing spaces, and harvesting produce. In conclusion, I feel the Free to Garden Act will help build our communities and create economic opportunity in the neighborhoods of Jacksonville. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Debra, last name Kay. Good evening. I'm Debra Kuceratis. My address is on file. From January of 24 to August of 25, between my husband and I, we were diagnosed with the following. Pre-cancer is colon lesions. Diabetes type 1. Hydrogen SIBO. Malabsorption. IBS, severe osteoporosis, CNS demyelination, and a brain lesion that carries mimics of autism, like adherence to strict routines, sensory sensitivity, and communication challenges. It is my belief after some figurative and literal digging, these are all linked to my latest diagnosed condition, glyphosate toxicity. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in many herbicides and pesticides that have been sprayed increasingly on lawns, golf courses, and public spaces in America since the late 1970s. In fact, a recent JAMA study linked living within one mile of a golf course to a 126% increased chance of getting Parkinson's. Even non-GMO crops are sprayed pre-harvest to help them dry quicker. The EPA relied heavily on a study from 2000 to establish safety limits for human exposure to glyphosate. That study was retracted in December of 2025. Based on our lifestyle lack of knowledge, we became overexposed. Only after I reduced exposure, switched to organic diet, and started growing my own food did I begin to heal. I'm not the only one. People are sick of being sick. In fact, Jacksonville now has the opportunity to be known not only as a major hospital hub for the ill, but also as a choice for those of us who now realize that food is a better medicine than pills. I beg you, please join us in support and help us create the Free to Garden Act. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Alan Skinner. Good evening. Alan Skinner. My address is on file. I am in support of the Free to Garden Act. And I have a business called Soil Life Organics. And I consult all over the southeast with farmers and landscapers to try to get them off the chemical train and get them into more regenerative biological methods of farming and running and landscaping. And I'm in favor of the Free to Garden Act, mainly for a lot of reasons. There's a lot of good reasons to support it. Number one is the human health factor. You know, when you have your health, you've got everything. And when you don't have your health, you're fighting, you know, an uphill battle the whole way. And the only way you really have control over that is to eat, you know, grow your own food and eat safe food you know you're grown without any chemicals or anything, which is what I do at my house and at other places. And so you have to have the ability to do that at your house or in your neighborhood. And that's why it's so important to get this thing passed. There's also a community aspect to it, too. I've been the soil health manager at Earth is Farmer Market down in Moncrief. And it was a remediated brownfield site that was in bad shape in terms of the soil they brought in to fix everything was still pretty bad. We brought it to life. And now it's a Garden of Eden. Now it's like a destination. And there's people come there. There's community. There's kids running around. They're having a good time. And so all around, having the right to grow your own food either in your front yard or locally in a neighborhood is so important. And so for that reason, I'm in favor of the Free to Garden Act. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Becky Boyrie. And then the five after that, please come on down. Regina Clark, Donovan Castelli, Wells Todd, Samantha Ceres, and Lisa Korpru. My name is Becky Boyrie. I live in Jacksonville. My address is on file. I'm affiliated with Overalls Farms. I've worked for the United States Navy for the past 23 years as a civil servant. And in my spare time, I volunteer at Overalls Farms. And I participate frequently in many of their community activities. I'm here tonight to support and encourage your support for the Free to Garden Act, which will make community and market gardens permissible by right here in Jacksonville, Florida. For the better part of the last decade, I've seen up front and up close the benefits that these gardens, these community gardens, they're amazing for the people in our community. They not only provide fresh, healthy, easily accessible food directly to the people in our local community, minus the carbon footprint, but these gardens also enrich the social fabric of our community. They're family-friendly and provide enriching activities for people of all ages to participate in. And plus, they increase food security for everybody here, all of our neighbors. So with so much global uncertainty at play right now with the current food supply, and food prices continuing to rise, these local community gardens are really relevant and so important in our community right now. Local market gardens might actually become a necessity at some point in the future. So creators and supporters of these local market gardens shouldn't need to fight for years on end just to get permission to grow food for our own selves and our own people in our communities, for our neighbors. So we kindly request, please, that you consider approving and providing support for the Free to Garden Act so that it will support the health and the well-being of those in our community, and it has so many other benefits as well. Thank you so much for your consideration. Thank you. Regina Clark. Good evening. My name is Regina Clark, and I'm here in support of the Right to Garden Act. I believe Jacksonville residents deserve that freedom to grow food and strengthen communities. Instead of creating more red tape and bureaucracy hurdles, why not create partnerships? Why not involve schools, students, community organizations, and volunteers? Imagine students learning science, nutrition, agriculture, responsibilities through hands-on experience. Imagine community gardens supplying fresh produce, beautifully neighborhoods, and giving young people a sense of ownership and pride in their communities. Rather than viewing a garden as an obstacle to future development, we should view them as an opportunity to educate our children, strengthen our neighborhoods, and make protective use of land that might otherwise be vacant for years. A garden does more than grow vegetables. It grows a community. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Donovan Castelli, from Van Wells Todd, after Donovan. Hello. My name is Donovan Castelli. My address is on file. I support the Free to Garden Act. This is because the benefits it brings are worth the time and effort. This act directly supports the growth of community, education, and the development of smaller businesses by making small-scale urban agriculture uses as permissible by right. It's been said before that food deserts aren't going to become less of a problem unless more options to buy and sell food are made available, and the Free to Garden Act helps with solving this problem. Also, as a grower, I see too many people that don't know where their food even comes from. We need more people to understand the value of the food that sustains our society, and so it needs to be easier for people to start growing food and community. Please support the Free to Garden Act. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wells Todd. My name is Wells Todd, and my address is on file, and I'm a member of Take Them Down Jacks. I might be mistaken, but it appears that JWB has great influence over the city council and the administration. It also appears that the Zionist community has great sway over this body. The conviction of Connor Carley by Jacksonville Kangaroo Court proves that point. If I am wrong on any of these points, please speak up now, forever hold your peace, but your job is to work for the working people of this town, but time and time again, you have proven that the rich come first and that those who support genocide come first. A number of you will be terming out, and that is a very, very, very good thing for Jacksonville. Thank you. Samantha Sirius. Samantha Sirius, address on file. Since we had 26-522 read onto the record regarding the celebration of our 250th year, I feel it is appropriate to read a Theodore Roosevelt quote. Americanism is a question of principle, of purpose, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent. Another quote I would like you to think about by George Washington, few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. I would also like to say that I would like to support the Free to Garden Act. I hate to see how many lawns are wasted around Jacksonville and in Florida. Do you all have lawns at your houses? Do those lawns have St. Augustine grass? Did you know St. Augustine grass isn't even native to Florida? Not sure why they allow that name, but it's something to consider. That grass has a lot of pesticides that's used. I think we should encourage people of Florida and Jacksonville to be able to garden in their own lawns, their own space. We don't need the... It's actually less environmental, have this green St. Augustine grass than just having native plants there. It doesn't absorb any of the heat. It doesn't retain the water. It doesn't clear it out because it's full of pesticides. It's not meant to be in Florida. And I think that the Free to Garden Act would actually help people transition from having these pesticide-ridden lawns to more natural native plant lawns. I also just want to mention, of course, let's work on trying to develop smartly and not overdevelop areas that don't have any grocery stores or anything like that or sidewalks or transit. I think we should start concentrating on the empty buildings that we have and maybe incentivize the owners of those buildings to either start developing with the developers that are trying to take over Jacksonville or, you know, start finding them, maybe make some money off of them because they're just wasting space downtown. They're wasting space everywhere. When other developers are trying to tear down trees, tear down our natural areas, when we have plenty of empty buildings, it's easy to make a trade. Just, you know, give them a nudge. Why don't you look into this area instead? And like the soccer stadium, which I hope this does not come up, but we have a sporting complex. Isn't that where the sports are supposed to go? The sporting complex? I think things should make sense. I know it's hard for cities to run and make sense, but I think we should start maybe looking into that. I also would like to mention the jail. It should not be campus-style. It makes zero sense to have a campus-style jail in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is too large. At all times, there's 2,600 inmates in our jail. Do you think a campus-style jail makes sense? No. I used to live in Gainesville. They have a campus-style jail. It's one story. They have no, they have barely any inmates. Thank you. Next up, Lisa Korpru, and then the five after that, come on down, Mohamed Beshidi, Dutchie Stevens, Jennifer Kelly, Kelsey Harrell, and Risa Grant. Go ahead, Ms. Korpru. Good evening. My name is Lisa Korpru. I'm the founder of the Melanated Grows Foundation. My address is on file. I am here tonight in support of the Free to Garden Act. As the founder of a nonprofit organization that has built and supported community and school gardens throughout Jacksonville, I want to emphasize that urban agriculture is indeed agriculture. Too often, the word urban causes people to view this work as beautification, when in reality, it's food production, it's economic development, it's public health, it's education, and it is community resilience. I respectfully ask this council to consider three things. One, grant us access to vacant city-owned lots and underutilized public spaces. For community gardens with public access. I understand that we are greening up our spaces in Jacksonville. We're making beautiful lawns in Jacksonville. The Emerald Trail is beautiful. There are no food gardens along the Emerald Trail. I'm asking that you create pathways for modest startup funding to help communities establish gardens that can become self-sustaining over time. I'm also asking that you allow community gardens to operate small, fresh markets with proceeds reinvested directly back into the gardens to support operations, programming, and growth. At Melanated Grows Foundation, we have seen firsthand how gardens transform communities. They reduce food insecurity, which is a real problem in Jacksonville, Florida. We have over 40 areas that are designated as food deserts. They beautify the neighborhoods, indeed. They bring residents together around a shared purpose. The Free to Garden Act should do more than just remove zoning barriers. It should create opportunities and provide resources that allow communities to thrive. The Melanated Grows Foundation stands ready to partner with the city of Jacksonville by providing oversight, technical assistance, volunteer coordination, and community engagements for these projects. When we invest in urban agriculture, we are investing in healthier residents in stronger neighborhoods, we are investing in the local economy, and we are investing in a more resilient Jacksonville. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Mohamed Bashidi. Hello. My name is Mohamed. My address is on file. We, the people, demand that the Sergeant of Arms Officer Aliaga be removed from city council as the Sergeant of Arms, or to remove the ridiculous sentencing of Conor Colley to stay away from Aliaga. How can Conor practice his First Amendment right at city council if he cannot be within a thousand feet of Aliaga? Either remove Aliaga or remove the sentence. I'd say both. As Aliaga has issues with domestic abuse, and that Conor is being made into an example for all of us who even think about speaking up. And I want to be clear. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, nor is it anti-Judaism. I also love all my fellow Americans, my family, and I'm not suicidal. Criticizing a foreign state is my right, and I'm going to do it. Israel is a terrorist state that is committing genocide and influencing our government to help continue that genocide. Our government is complicit in this genocide, doing cover for the genocide, and possibly for a criminal blackmail, sex trafficking, pedophile ring, and that it is our duty to stop it. Israel is not aligned with U.S. values. It is not a democracy. It is an apartheid state where Jewish supremacy is enforced. It does not allow the freedom to practice one's fate, as it is consistently hostile to all faiths in the region. I am a second-generation Muslim-Palestinian-American. My ancestors were dispossessed, displaced, and killed by U.S. imperial colonialism. Ever since I entered the public education system in middle school, I have been called a terrorist, a sand N-word, and whatever racist term you can think of for Arabs. I accepted it because I wanted to fit in. It took a lot of learning and unlearning to be able to see America for what it really is. It is an oligarchy. It is fascist. It is imperial. It is colonial. It is racist, and it is terrifying. I know I might seem alarmist, but then why am I not allowed to boycott Israel as a business in Florida? Why did Trump pay himself $1.7 billion? Why am I not allowed to make a joke about Netanyahu dropping a bomb in a group chat? Why are people being arrested and deported for speaking truth to power? Why do we have masked ice chuds in the street kidnapping people and placing them into unaccountable detention centers? Why are we merging the U.S. and Israeli militaries against the wishes of the people? Why did Trump bomb Iran just to surrender to them weeks later? Why are we still allied with Israel? Why the corruption? Why? Where is our humanity? Also, I support the Right to Garden Act. Free all our people everywhere. Thank you. Dutchie Stevens. It's Miss—oh, there she is. Dutchie Stevens. Address is on file. Well, this past Saturday, councils, we had some four wild black peas that had showed up at Singleton Park, and boy, it was a mess, because there was some private boys' football teams that were showing up, playing games, where they paid the city parks and recreation to borrow the usage of the park. It shouldn't have took Zone 6, JSO, over four hours to show up. Them pigs could have ran out there and been attacking those kids. I believe some people are dropping wild animals off on the state right away, New King's Road, and then they'll start wandering all through the cities right away, people yards and the park, but it was something else. But we couldn't understand why nobody from either the Animal Care and Protective Service couldn't have came and picked them up, you know, because that's a city right away, and that's not no wild area. Ain't no full woody area. This ain't Georgia, but we got to get something done where if something like that occurs in a residential neighborhood where it could be in danger in the public safety, I feel like the city Animal Care and Protective should be the one coming to pick them up and take them way out of where they should take them, because we were just worried about the safety of the kids that was using Singleton Park to play the game, and the pigs was on the park. They was on the city park property. They say Singleton Park. They don't say Singleton Wildlife. Thank you. Jennifer Kelly, and then Kelsey Harrell after Jennifer. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jennifer Kelly. Address is on file, and I'm here to exercise my constitutional right and express my opinion, but really I'm just here to put a bug in your ear about something for the budget process that I think you need to be aware of, so please listen up. This is important to the community. I'm here tonight to ask for a modest but important increase of $100,000 to $150,000 to the DuVal Cat Fix program. If you live in Jacksonville, you know we have a feral cat overpopulation issue. I can't even go to my local Winn-Dixie and Ocean Way without seeing 40 to 50 stray cats after work. Currently, the program has actually exhausted its funding that it gets from ordinances from pet licensing fees, and after it exhausts the funding, it uses Rosie's Fund, which comes from private donors. It's very nice, and it's great that Jacksonville recognizes this as an issue, but for a growing city that has a feral cat issue, this is just not enough money to take from pet licensing fees. Jacksonville is one of the fastest growing cities in America, and it's one of the most important port cities. We have people coming and going, and we have a lot of people that are putting their savings into homes, and they don't want to move into neighborhoods where there are large, unmanaged colonies. I'm actually somebody that goes out and traps cats as a volunteer. I will tell you that I have trapped a cat under the Dames Point Bridge that had mange. His eyes were crusted so badly, he couldn't even open his eyes. I brought the cat to every pet. He was neutered. He was vaccinated, and within a month, he was restored to great health. The problem with this program exhausting funding halfway through the year is there's currently a fee of $25. That doesn't seem like a lot, but for people who are going out and getting cats and managing colonies that the animal control is not getting, that adds up very quickly. When I went to get this cat under the Dames Point Bridge, the person didn't call the animal control. They called me a volunteer. I'm very concerned about the ripple effect this is going to have, because people who are dealing with lots of cats, 40 to 50 cats at a time, they're getting turned away by Humane Society. They're saying you can't bring all these cats here. So I'm asking you in the budget process, please consider this. You're growing the city. More people are coming. More of these cats are just everywhere. I know you know it. We all know it. A pet licensing fee by ordinance is not enough, so please consider that for the budget. Thank you. Thank you. Kelsey Harrell. Hello. Good evening, City Council. My name is Kelsey Harrell. My address is on file. I'm a Jacksonville resident and voter. And I'm here today to speak about the exhaustion of funding for the Trap-Neuter Return TNR program that every pet on Norwood Avenue does. For years, this program has provided a critical service to our community. TNR is a humane and effective way to reduce the population of free-roaming cats. The cats are trapped, spayed, or neutered, vaccinated, and returned to their colonies. Over time, this prevents thousands of unwanted kittens. Being born reduces nuisance behaviors, improves the health of the cats, and decreases the burden placed on the local shelters and animal control services. The success of this program depends heavily on volunteer trappers. These individuals donate countless hours of their time to identify colonies, trap cats, transport them for surgery, monitor the well-being afterwards. They perform work that directly benefits the Jacksonville residents and saves taxpayer resources. Unfortunately, due to funds running out, volunteers are now required to pay $25 per cat. While this may seem like a very nominal fee and manageable for someone who brings in two to three cats from their local neighborhood each year, it creates a significant financial burden for those dedicated trappers, like my friend Ms. Kelly, who could bring in hundreds of cats annually. These very people that are helping Jacksonville control its cat community are now being penalized for their efforts. This issue also has implications for Jacksonville's long-term growth and development goals. As our city continues to expand and attract new residents, unmanaged cat populations can create challenges in neighborhoods, parks, commercial corridors, and residential development areas. Large colonies often generate complaints from residents and businesses and can damage public health. With an effective TNR program to stabilize and reduce these populations, the city may face a lower demand on this. A growing city requires proactive planning and managing cat populations through TNR is far more effective and cost effective than attempting to address the consequences of their unchecked overpopulation later. We've reached out to every pet regarding this issue, and we were informed that it would take about $100,000 to $150,000 of continued funding to be able to continue this program for free for Duval County residents. I personally have reached out to Mayor Deegan, as well as my city council representative, Mr. Arias, to seek information and assistance in this issue, though today I have received no response. And as a resident who participates in every election, I find that this lack of communication deeply concerning. When constituents take the time to raise concerns about a growing community issue, they deserve acknowledgement and engagement from their elected leaders. I want to be clear, however, that this issue is bigger than cats. It's about responsible stewardship of public resources, support for volunteers who are providing valuable community services, and ensuring that Jacksonville has effective, humane solutions for the ongoing challenges. I would like you all to support this. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Risa Grant, and then the five after that. Come on down, Roxy McLeod, Addison Patrick, Denise Cook, James Matchett, and Anthony Brown. Come on down. Go ahead, Ms. Grant. Thank you. Good evening, council. I'm Risa Grant. My address is on file. My friends Jennifer and Kelly have kind of let the cat out of the bag. Get it? I'm going to tell you that male, unneutered cats like to have sex, and lots and lots of it. Just as a little stat here, an unspayed female cat, her male and all of her offspring producing two litters per year with 2.8 surviving kittens per year per litter can total, after eight years, over 2 million kittens. And if you think about that exponentially citywide, we're talking about oodles and oodles of kittens. So we think that $100,000 to $150,000 per year to help curb this is a relatively small ask in the grand scheme of things. And if you've ever been trying to fall asleep and have heard the sound of mating cats under your bedroom window, you'll know that it's pretty unpleasant. So this is a pretty small dollar amount to help solve a pretty big problem. I'm also a volunteer on the Jack's Litter League, and that means that I go and pick up trash around Jacksonville's ocean white area for fun. I know that sounds a little crazy, but I do that to try to help make my community look better. And one of the things that I'm often picking up are old plates and trays of cat food that very nice people put out to help feed the feral animals, because they're just trying to be thoughtful and caring for the animals that they see that need food. But they're not helping the situation. Feeding feral animals, while it may seem kind, is really just helping to foster this problem. So if we can get those animals neutered, we're really going to help curb this situation. So if you're thinking about this planning, the budget coming up, if you can throw in a few bucks for this situation, this relatively small amount for a city this large, we would really be very grateful. Thank you for hearing me out. Thank you. Next up, Roxy McLeod, and then Addison Patrick. Good evening. It's so good to, it's an honor to be here and speak before you. My name is Roxy McLeod. My address is 8029 Buffalo Avenue, and that is in the middle of a food desert, just four and a half miles north of where you're sitting. This morning, I walked down to our community garden. It is awesome. It's four years old. It's growing. And okay, I'll calm down. I'm here, guess what? To support the Free to Garden Act. And this morning when I got there, the flowers greeted me, the tomatoes and the okra greeted me. And after I worked in the garden just a little bit, along comes Miss Emily. Miss Emily walks down to the convenience store. That's the only grocery store we have for miles there along Buffalo Avenue in Panama Park. And she stopped, she stops by sometimes on her way to the convenience store to get her beer, not just once a day. It's three times a day there's a beer that she goes down to get, and then she comes back. But sometimes she'll stop in the garden and weed a little while. And today she took down, she took an armful of the leftover cabbage and collard greens that are still alive from the winter crop. And then I also want to introduce you to Daybriand. He lives in our neighborhood in Panama Park on the north side. And he has spent hours sweating in the garden, just helping out. But now he's not alone. There's a lot of boys that will join him and come running into the garden when it's open and say, what can we do? What can we do? Can we weed? Can we water? What can we pick? And they always leave with a handful or stomach full of strawberries or maybe some greens or okra to take home to their mom to cook. And I just want you to know the gardens, the community gardens make a huge difference in our city, in our neighborhoods, and in the lives of those kids that would otherwise continue to believe that real food is the TikTok chips that they buy at the convenience store. They're now learning it's not that. So do consider the Freedom Free to Garden Act. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Addison Patrick. Good evening, city council members. My name is Addison Liberty Patrick, and my address is on file. I've got a lot of things I'm going to talk kind of quickly. I'm 26-446. This is about voting locations. It looks like those are going to be in effect immediately. Not sure that you can do anything about that. But I do not like that we're changing locations and things in such a tight turnaround time before an election that can cause voter confusion and lower turnout. I do want to encourage everyone to check the registration status online to confirm their polling location. 26-458. I do like that we're going to adopt something here to have a list of real property as Jacksonville does not need to be in the housing business. Let's get those things off of our books. I also support the Free to Garden Act for a lot of reasons, and I've talked about it before. 2026-0489, to clarify the process for making recommendations for the Committee on Homelessness, I would like to support pushing that through so they can get the clarification they need. I would also like to humbly ask to consider my application for that committee as well. We have food deserts, affordable housing issues, and we are fighting existing homelessness. Meanwhile, JEA is kind of a political playground right now. We've got a monopoly with our public utility and scandal. While not to downplay the importance of these current issues, we have more pressing matters, like the ones that I mentioned before that are essentially basic needs, you know, Maslow's hierarchy of needs. So, let's sell the properties and get Jacksonville out of the real estate business, as I mentioned. That includes the old morgue. The proceeds from the sale of that building should directly benefit the underserved areas, most of which have been directly affected by redlining. Our zoning laws are criminal. We need to stop supporting crony capitalism and support these local interests in the way of the Free to Garden Act and small business owners, instead of giving, I believe it's $28.25 million in taxpayer dollars towards that new development that's going to be mixed use that would potentially have a public's. I look forward to the findings of the jail consultant that we paid $750,000 for a site of search and evaluation for. And I just want to say, like, our community is speaking here. If you notice, there's a big overlap in political parties, and we're all saying essentially the same thing. So, these are the issues that are important to us, and I hope that you will, these will lay heavy on your heart, and you will pay attention and listen and do the best thing to, like, move Jacksonville forward. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, Denise Cook. Hi, good evening. Denise Cook, my address is on file. I don't have a lot to talk about tonight, but I wanted to talk about the CPACs. I've been mentioning those for the last six months, and I was in a recent meeting, and one of the councilmen did indicate that this council wants to have the CPACs be more of an integral part of decision-making and have more teeth. And I just want to know if there's somebody that's leading that up. I want to know how that's working with the mayor's office, since this is the mayor's program, the CPACs are, not the city council's. Is this going to be a recommendation? I've been attending CPAC meetings in my own district for quite some time, and I'm still not a member. I'm not a member because I haven't had my homeowners association sign off on my form. There are many of us that don't have homeowners association, neighborhood associations, and you are not permitted to become a member of your CPAC. So I would be very interested in what the next steps are that I heard reference to in my recent meeting, and I would volunteer to assist in any way that I can assist. I do support the Free Garden Act. We need to still continue to talk about redlining. I know it sounds like a broken record, but we have not had any resolution. We've had some. I mean, there's been some sidewalks. There's been a study. There's, you know, there's been a few things that have been done, but we need to keep moving forward on this. There's a huge potential for the northwest side of Jacksonville to be gentrified as UF comes into our city, and housing is needed. So we need to make sure that we're protecting the people and getting generational wealth passed down to people as it should be. Other than that, I thank everybody for their service. As we move forward to the 4th of July, and we celebrate that together, I hope that we truly can celebrate it together, not by party lines, not by differences, but by Americans. And I thank each of you, and have a safe and good night. Thank you. Next up, James Matchett. James Matchett, address is on file. Everybody should take vacations. I just got back off minds. I've been absent a while, a lot to catch up on. While I understand that this body can't do much about geopolitical situations that are happening, and things that we might feel passionate about, or some people might feel passionate about that's happening outside of the scope of what y'all can do. But what you can do, as we start this budget process, is service the needs of our community. Everyone in here uses the road system. There's an opportunity to put money on there, resurface the roads. That's eye candy for the community. That's something they can see that's tangible. Your work can be done from your seat. This free to garden, I think, is a good positive movement. It gives that community something to do with these properties that we're called blight. We can clean them up, and we can put gardens on them. I understand that you're going to be taking up a bill here shortly about what to do with those city-owned properties. I would encourage you to find smaller developers and give them an opportunity to develop. These big developers are taking over these facilities, and they're putting affordable housing as defined by the average minimum income of the whole city. But when it goes into a community where the median income is 50% of what the city minimum income, the house becomes unaffordable. So let's quit playing with words affordable housing, and let's use the proper term, houses people can afford. We can do this. We can find developers here locally, put them to work, these small business. There's opportunities in our community that we can do, and then build houses that people can afford. Y'all have a modern and minimal task coming up. A lot of decisions got to be made, and there's going to be a lot left on the floor. I just think when you make those decisions, think about the people. Thank you. Next up, Anthony Brown and the five after that. Come on down. Leo Dawson, Raymond Day, Candace Knutson, and Alexander Sheridan. Mr. Brown. Name is Anthony Brown. My address is on file. As I look you in your eyes and scan across the city council, there are 19 of you. In 2024, all 19 agreed that redlining was a debilitating issue in our community. That stunted the growth of some of these communities, that depressed some of these communities. Seven of the 19, which is a third of this city council, will be completely termed out by the end of or the middle part of next year. And you would think that with so many city council members terming out, this was an opportunity, a prime opportunity for you to do something in the area of legislation. You're leaving. You don't have to worry about it. So if some of the other communities or some of the other people criticize you, here's an opportunity for you to do something right for a change on your way out. The other thing that I would press upon you is I've had meetings with quite a few of you. A lot of your intentions are in a right place, but sometimes we don't know where to start. I'm a fan of reaching out to people when I don't know exactly where to get started and ask questions when I don't know what I'm doing. There are several cities that are dealing with these issues. I've been in meetings with them, like Asheville, North Carolina. They've dealt with redlining and they've come up with some tangible solutions. It's a city that's much smaller than Jacksonville. So we should be able to reach out to them when it comes to affordable housing. Everston, Illinois right now has a really good idea that's on the table. So for those men who want to reach out outside of the city, we don't necessarily have to just think inside the box. I would encourage us to think outside the box for a change. The other thing that I want to press upon is we really need some grassroots representation, excuse me, here on the city council. And if you're trying to stunt the growth of a progressive city council, that's really disappointing. You know, August 18th, there's going to be a special election, and I would hope that everybody who wants to participate in the electorate has a fair opportunity to do so. We don't want to stunt democracy. We don't want to give off the impression that we want to continue to do the status quo with the city council. So I just want to encourage you that you still have an opportunity to do right by redlining. How communities change is by policy reform and by institution building. When you go to other communities, they have thriving institutions, and they have policy that protect their community. That's what all of these other communities, particularly depressed, redlined communities need as well. So I would encourage you to think about doing the right things. Reach out to the people who are on ground zero, trying to make a difference, and come on to our meeting every now and then. The next one is July 16th, 1405 State Street West. We had a nice turnout, and we want to see the majority, if not all of you, come out. It is not a tack on the city council. It's an opportunity to build. And with that said, thank you. Hope you do the right thing. Thank you, Mr. Leo Dawson. Okay, thank you. Raymond Day. Leo Dawson, I was reading the record. He was here to talk about the redlining bill. My name is Raymond Day. My address is on file. Vice President Howland, members of the council, I serve as chair of the taxation, revenue, and utilization of expenditures, or the true commission. And I'm here tonight to deliver our annual report pursuant to the requirements of Ordinance Code Section 50.110B. The following is the true commission's annual report to be presented to the council. It will be transmitted to the council in writing in July. We have 18 members, eight appointed by the council president. I'm sorry, six by the council president, six by the mayor, and six by the, each of the six CPACs gets one appointment. So a total of 18. As of June 26, we have 10 seated members and eight vacancies. The mayor has five appointments still to make. The city council president has an appointment to make. And we recently had to declare two positions vacant among the six CPACs. So there are two CPAC vacancies. We meet monthly, August through June. And we have met 11 times during this year, from August of 2025 until June of 2026. We have reviewed 18 council auditors' reports during the year. We have discussed various topics, including revising the true commission bylaws, city accounting procedures, council auditor methodology, grant compliance and oversight, the city P-card procedures and processes, city budget drafting and legislation, procurement, and millage rate reductions. We have a total of 11 invited speakers that presented to the commission during the last year. We passed two resolutions. We passed a resolution supporting the one-eighth mil reduction in the Avalorum taxes. We also passed a resolution supporting that the city council adopt the mayor's budget as she presented with a pro-rater reduction in each of the line item spending pursuant to the reduced revenue. In the year ahead, we will review spending of all city departments in a comprehensive manner. Thank you very much for your service. Thank you, Mr. Day. Next up, Candace Knudson. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of city council. I, although I know that the particular topic... Ma'am, may you say your name and address, please? Okay, yes. My name and address, my address is on file. My name is Candace Knudson. I'm speaking for myself. Back to what I was about to say. I know that y'all are not having a public hearing on this topic I'm going to speak on, but I only bring it up because you have the comp plan that comes up every so often. You have numerous chances to check out zoning and doing it systematically and in order. These two bills that are voting on do not do this. They deprive the average person the right to speak against certain zoning issues that take place because the developers want to come in and steal our community rather than doing it systematically like the legislature and like the law and like precedent has had it. Please, get back to reason and follow the protocol that's been set for years. Don't start letting these outside developers come and steal our property. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Alexander Sheridan followed by, please come on down. Alex, I cannot read the last name, but lives on Royal Turn Road. Alex, Felix, Bonventure, Nancy Murray Settle, Derek Anthony, Bermudez, and last name, Reed. Go ahead, sir. Gotcha. Hello. My name is Alexander Sheridan. All my information should already be on file. I'm coming up here to talk about Connor Colley, a love member of the community, who, as is clearly documented on some particularly disturbing video footage that I hope all of you have seen. If not, just look up Connor Colley footage and you'll probably find it. He was suddenly and violently assaulted in this room while exercising his constitutional right to free speech. Even if you don't agree with the content of his beliefs, you can at least respect that he peacefully stood up for what he believed in through the appropriate channels. In response, as, again, as well documented on video, he is suddenly and violently assaulted and then was charged with bogus charges. To add insult to injury, Connor is now legally required to stay 1,000 feet from Officer Aliaga, who was the one that instigated and attacked him. Again, all of this is on video. This, the thing where he has to stay 1,000 feet away from the officer, effectively silences his constitutional rights to free speech because he cannot come here and speak his voice anymore. Earlier this evening, the city council affirmed to empower every resident to participate in democracy. Only very lightly paraphrasing there. To speak said words directly to your citizens while knowing that that right to dissent is not being safely protected, and in fact, the city will resort to blatantly lying, charging you with jail time, and then silencing your constitutional voice, all because they disagree with the content of your voice, is shameful. Shame on you. If you have not seen the video, go watch the video. Please punish the officer who violently overreacted, Officer Aliaga. Drop all of the charges against Connor Colley that are bogus, and support the Free to Garden Act. It's pretty cool. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, again, I believe it's Alex, and I cannot read the last name, but lives on Royal Turn. Sorry about that. It's actually Alette Wiest. That happens all the time. So it's all right. Good evening. My name is Alette Wiest. I'm representing myself and my garden club. My address is on file, and I'm here tonight to support and encourage the Freedom to Garden Act, which will make community gardens and market gardens permissible by right in Jacksonville. Community gardens provide fresh, healthy food for neighbors who need it. Right now, Nathan Ballantine currently has hundreds of families on his waiting list who want to patronize his community gardens, including myself. And even though I'm not currently patronizing Nathan's Gardens right now, I do rely on market gardens. And our farmer's markets need more market garden vendors. I get my produce from organic market vendors because a lot of the organic produce at the grocery store that is USDA organic is no longer reliable. The USDA has been lowering standards for organic produce since 2002, allowing many herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides that were once traditionally not seen as organic practices on produce. And at some point, sometimes, they even allow synthetic pesticides. We shouldn't have to fight for years to just get permission to grow affordable and safe produce for our families, neighbors, and communities. Instead of being known as the most boring city in the United States, it would be nice to be known as the most beautiful city in the United States. I kindly request you to review the Free to Garden Act and consider how it would update our zoning code to raise existing community and market gardens out of legal limbo. Legal limbo. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Felix Bonventure. And then Nancy Murray Settle after him. My name is Felix Bonventure, and my address is on file. First, I want to point out the hypocrisy in allowing everyone to clap earlier for the bills you passed celebrating this country, but not allow us to clap during public comment. You call it celebration when it's convenient for you and disruption when it's not. But I don't remember the part in the First Amendment where it says that you only have the right to free speech if people agree with what you're saying. The arrests and the cases against Connor Colley and Leah Grady prove that everyone on this council is a hypocrite and a coward. Connor is still sitting in jail for the alleged crime of disrupting a council meeting. As if getting arrested wasn't enough of a violation of his First Amendment rights, he's now effectively been barred from coming back to council meetings once he gets out of jail, thanks to Officer Aliaga's restraining order against him. It makes no sense that if you're a cop, you can throw someone around by their neck, then turn around, claim to be the victim, and get a restraining order against them. That is insane. This officer is the one who does not belong at council meetings, not Connor Colley. And acting as though this situation isn't your fault or your responsibility to make right just makes you look like you'd rather stay in Zionist's pockets than stand up for the people who genuinely care about this community. Second, redlining. You could do something about it. You could do something concrete about it instead of just acknowledging that it exists and it's a major problem in this city. That's not enough. Do something about it. Third, the Free to Garden Act. Please support it. It really doesn't have any negative consequences for the community. And as everyone has said, a lot of people in Jacksonville are living in food deserts and in situations where the ability to grow their own food would majorly impact their quality of life. So I do ask that you support that. Nancy Murray Settle. It started. I didn't get up here. I have a few seconds. But Nancy Murray, address on file. A lot of the stuff that that young man spoke about was exactly what I was going to say. So I'm going to skip over that. Conor is being held unjustly. 25522 asked for citizens in power to fully participate. Yet he's not allowed to do that. But basically, I want to talk about that. There are so many issues in front of city council right now. I mean, I look at the agenda on Friday and it's just, there's so many things to look at as far as zoning, housing, affordable housing, gardening, overdevelopment, downtown buildings, the land use. There's always changes in land use and zoning. I mean, it's almost like we do not even have a zoning code anymore because it's so easy to come in and get a PUD and change it. So you should definitely let the Gardening Act go through, Free to Garden Act. That would be easy because we changed zoning so easily. I mean, I wonder if you guys know like about Barth Road. I mean, that's kind of interesting. I had to go down that little rabbit hole a bit. I mean, it's just a lot of changes. And if someone in that neighborhood doesn't notice and care about it to speak up, it just goes through. And then they're like, hey, I didn't know about that. We need a better way to inform people about changes that are coming up to get more civic engagement. All of those things that are in the agenda, though, it really is mind-boggling. You guys have a lot to look at. Unfortunately, you start picked to investigate JEA. What a waste of our money. I mean, listen, a former CEO is in prison for his dealings with JEA. And you're going to play with that fire? There's something that's not right. Where there's smoke, there's fire, and there's something not right. I hear citizens asking you to get rid of flock cameras. Go investigate that. Stop the surveillance of our citizens. Stop police brutality. People should not be dying in our jails because they're getting beat up or they don't have medicine or getting beat up here in City Hall in our council meetings and then having to be in jail. It's wrong. We need grocery stores. We need housing, more affordable housing, a fishing bridge, jobs, JTA buses, where the affordable housing is going. All of these things need to happen. It's a lot of work to it. Things are getting done. And I think you're going to pass affordable housing. But I have to think, I don't know. You guys hate Deegan so much, you might not want her to have any wins. So it worries me about 494-91. Speaking of Deegan, I just want to say, while at Hub, I'm proud that they said that Jack's government is Florida's best run city and 18th in the nation. So Deegan does have wins despite opposition from this house. Thank you. Next up will be Ms. Reed. And I cannot read the first name, but lives on Caney Oaks Drive. And then I'm going to go ahead and call out the remaining speakers. Go ahead and come on down. Derek Bermudez, Dina Zacharia, Jamie Travis Leonard, and Sarah Posey. Please come on down if I called your name. And Ms. Reed, go ahead. Good evening, my name is Nikisha Reed. I'm also known as Nikki Reed. My address is on file. So I am the vice president of Eric B. Mays Foundation. And I want to take a moment to tell you who Eric Mays was, because his legacy is why I'm here today. Eric was a councilman, activist, and a union fighter and politician from Flint, Michigan, who's known as the nation's favorite councilman. He lived at 125 Russell Street, and he died at 125 Russell Street, because he refused to leave his community. He fought for the poorest community. He fought for the poorest residents of Flint over a decade. He answered every phone call. He knew every name of the children in his ward. And he held the government accountable when it even made people uncomfortable. Eric was known for his bold, bombastic style in city council meetings. He was also never afraid to speak his mind, challenged the status quo, and demand better for his people. He was also widely known for famous catchphrase, Mr. Point of Order, which made him very beloved, a feature across the nation. He was even recognized by Robert Kennedy Jr., and through his strong Democratic voice, he respected, loved people, parties, lines across his constituents, because people knew he would fight, and it was never about politics. He always—sorry. It was always about the people. The energy is what made the people across the nation fall in love with him. He was featured in one of the largest African-American magazines, the Ebbing magazine, when he died two years ago. He had every opportunity to walk away and pursue more comfortable life in richer communities, but he chose to stay at 125 Russell Street until his very last day. People from across the country would find him on TikTok and call him for help, and he answered every single phone call. I can attest to that, because we were very good friends. Eric was a man of faith. He never cheated his time with the Lord. In one of his last public speaking at the city council at Flint, Michigan, he said to the city council people, when you hear about my home going, do not cry for me. I'll be okay. Because he knew he'd given everything he had to his community. The first award of Flint, Michigan, and nationwide. I had the honor of being his power. I had the honor of being a power attorney for Eric B. Mays, his sole heir, Eric Hakeem Deontay Mays. Yes, my name is that? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Next is Derek Bermudez, please. Good evening. How's everybody doing tonight? All right. My name is Derek Tatine Bermudez Hendricks, the keeper of the flame and the tip of the spear for the Ndongo tribe. I saw Judge Lansday in the courthouse and he thought I was a Prince Hall Freemasonary. And I told him I'm not a Prince Hall Freemasonary or Jonathan Ogden. I know they from Bermuda and the other one from Antigua. And your address, sir? Oh, sorry about that. My address is on file, bro. Thank you. Sorry about that. It's just been a while since I've been down here at city council community meetings. No problem. But I want to share some of my unmatched history. I'm from the United States Virgin Island. I am a victim of the whole Jeffrey Epstein deal and the traffic in my family on the most farmland and the most history and culture in the entire Virgin Island. So I am a heir and a descendant of the first queen of St. Croix, Queen Jessica at the time, Mona and Christian St. Hendricks, who the farmer's market in the Virgin Island, the town of Christian state, is named in honor of my grandfather. And that market has been in use since the early 1750s. If you haven't known and don't know the story, Alexander Hamilton is from St. Croix. Alexander Hamilton grew up on the island of St. Croix. Alexander Hamilton was best friends with George Washington. He took our rum, our sugar cane, and the molasses is actually what the troops drank at the Battle of Gettysburg before they went into battle. Alexander Hamilton, he's on the $10 bill. This here is my great, great, great granddaddy. This is John Frederick Tatine. I know y'all have my name on file. It's Tatine and y'all mess it up a little bit, but that's fine. That's John Frederick Tatine. He's a Danish ship merchant owner. He actually bought Alexander Hamilton to America, and on his ship, on our ship, we took John Jay and Benjamin Franklin to go meet King Louis XIII during the time of the Revolutionary War. You had to have a certain bloodline and a certain royal family in order to go meet with the kings and the queens. And I have one more thing I want to show you. This is the royal crest for the Tatine right here, the royal crest. I'm legit. It's in my bloodline, my history, my DNA, and my genealogy. This right here is my great, great grandmother, John Frederick Tatine's mother. You're going to see my face. This is Perlina Tatine. She's on the Danish $20 bill, the Danish $20 kroner. And if I'm not mistaken, the island of St. Croix, out of all the islands in the Virgin Islands, they was once ruled by the Dutch and the Dutch family is who colonized America. And we also have a lineage into Harvard University. So I just want to share a little bit of my American history and my Virgin Island history. And this is my grandmother right here, the first queen of St. Croix. Ken America could also validate who I am and everything about my story. So thank you. Thank you, sir. Have a great day. Notice my grandmother have the sugar cane in her hand. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Next up, Dina Zachariah. Dina Zachariah, address on file. I'm standing here with the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network to say our rights to free speech in chambers are under threat. The council members and officials in front of me, some of them not in their seats today, have encouraged and allowed the brutal attack against Connor Colley and Leah Grady. Leah and Connor were targeted for being regular attendees and regularly speaking out for their community. Director Teal was quoted saying that an example needed to be made of Leah and Connor's cases. How is an official allowed to peddle such egregious and vindictive attacks on our amendment rights, a lawyer no less? Teal actually has a track record of not quite comprehending First Amendment rights, like when he drafted rules for the Duval Canvassing Board that was met with condemnation across the board from Democrats, Republicans, and countless First Amendment organizations. So that's who the director is. And Teal and the council before me condoned JSO grabbing Connor by the neck and throwing him to the ground for being a concerned citizen recording an unlawful arrest. And now he's sitting in the county jail for 60 days because of it. If council members support what Aliaga did to Connor, they'll wholeheartedly support any of us here facing that same fate and cheer if more of us get put in jail. We need representatives that speak up for their constituents and not against them. I sat through both trials and it was clear that this case was never about Leah or Connor or about following the rules. It was about silencing the people who speak out like any of us here at Public Comment, like speaking out against redlining, plaguing our city, and wanting affordable housing, food sovereignty in their communities, and proper representation. You're allowing officers with a record of citizen complaints and domestic violence injunctions like Officer Aliaga to consistently work at these meetings. There's no screening to keep violent cops off the streets and out of these rooms. Who's to say that the cops around us don't have similar records, domestic violence or otherwise? The attack on Leah and Connor was co-signed by the people sitting in front of me. How are you keeping the rest of the people in this room safe? The judge ruled that Connor can't be within 1,000 feet of Officer Aliaga, so as long as you allow him to work at these meetings, this council is infringing upon Connor's constitutional right. Remember that 250th anniversary, right? It's coming up, so constitutional rights are important. Constitutional right to be at Public Comment. We demand that Officer Aliaga be removed as Sergeant of Arms. Aliaga's presence prevents our right to free speech, and he undoubtedly poses a risk to public safety. Thank you. Jamie Travis Leonard. Could you restart my time? It started before I was at the podium. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. My address is on file. I want to come up and talk about community. We have a lot of members from the community out here all the time. They come to these meetings. They come to LUZ. They come to other committee meetings. We're also forming our own meetings and our own groups in our community. I had the chance on June 10th to go to Riverview Park for the first time and meet with a lovely group of people, including the Jack's Oyster Conservation, Northside Pride, Jack's, or excuse me, St. John's River Keeper, and RCC, and they are trying to restore our oysters in the river. I had never heard of this. I saw it on social media. I took my lunch break and went out there, and I got to place posh. It was difficult work. I see my council member knowing this is something that's known, but I didn't know, and I'm glad I got that opportunity. I'm glad I got to connect with my community. I met some lovely people. I found out about some organizations in my area I didn't know about. I found out that Riverview Park, which is right around the corner from my house, has a lot of exciting things happening that I didn't know about, and that's on me. But what's on you all is supporting us in our community endeavors, like Riverview Park, like affordable housing, like the Freedom to Garden Act, like Interrupt Redlining, like addressing systemic issues with our housing and systemic issues with food deserts that we have. And I know many of you are trying. I do see that. But what I don't see is, as a collective, this body doing what I think is everything you can. I see a lot of people hesitating to take a stance, specifically against putting the jail in redline areas. I see people hesitating to take a stance on holding our developers accountable to give us things we actually need instead of another storage unit or another liquor store or another vape shop. I live in a food desert. Now, I bought my house there. I knew what I was going into. But my neighbors who have lived there 20, 30, 40, 50 years did not. They moved there with the intent to not only spend their lives there, but allow their children, their descendants to live there. And they are also impacted by this. So, as we close out this course and we start a new year of planning, I need you all to get it together. And I need you all to address the community. Thank you. Next up, Sarah Posey. My name is Sarah Posey. My address is on file. I am here with the Jacksonville-Palestine Solidarity Network. I want to first take the opportunity to voice my support for the Free to Garden Act. I first heard about this a couple months ago while volunteering at Eartha's Farm up in Moncrief as they worked on their own community garden. And the Free to Garden Act just makes a lot of sense. This would support local food production. It would reduce the food insecurity in our city. And it would help put any wasted, empty land to valuable use. Now, I'm here primarily to talk about Connor Colley. As part of his sentencing, Connor was ordered to stay 1,000 feet away from Mikel Aliaga Ruiz, who, as far as we know, still serves as Sergeant of Arms here in these meetings. I'm going to break this down a little bit because during Connor's trial, our Council Secretary, Jason Teal, requested a ban on Connor from attending public comment. But the judge ruled that unconstitutional. And according to a 2021 article written by the Florida Trib, which is a nonpartisan newsroom, highly regarded for their public interest and investigative reporting, this is not Jason's first time misinterpreting the law of the Constitution, but it should be his last. While Jason was getting his unconstitutional request denied, Mikel, who has a violent history on and off the streets, was claiming that he is a victim of Connor. So Judge Borrello used Jason and Mikel's testimonies to rule that Connor Colley stays 1,000 feet away from Mikel, the cop who violently assaulted him. This is a workaround that ensures that Connor cannot attend these meetings. So long as Mikel is still employed here. Now, we haven't seen Mikel in the chambers for a few meetings. It can be assumed that this is a matter of keeping him comfortable and far away from the scrutiny or that he's here and I'm simply not recognizing him because they all look the same. But if instead you have already committed to removing him as Sergeant of Arms, I just ask that you let us know and make the choice a permanent one. Connor deserves to speak freely in these chambers with the rest of us without worrying about running into his abuser. And for everyone else, we deserve to know that you will make it a new standard to never employ officers in these chambers who have documented violent histories. It's public knowledge. It's an extremely low bar and it's a very reasonable request. To any of the council members or anyone else in the room who has heard of Connor's sentencing and thought something to the effect of, well, at least it wasn't worse. I just need to counter that right now because this alludes to some world where mercy was involved. There is no merciful sentence for an unjust conviction. There is no mercy from a state attorney who attacks our rights and constantly rules in favor of cops who keep murdering our neighbors. And there is no mercy from a council who works with the state to silence the community members that they disagree with, can't stand up for families losing their loved ones daily to ferocious cops. And still somehow you guys are able to sleep at night while proudly claiming that our city supports the bombs that are still being dropped on families daily in Gaza and in Lebanon as your favorite Zionist entity keeps pushing its expansion. So yeah, it could have been worse. I'm not interested in what's worse. We need better. Thank you. I also have two speaker cards that did not wish to speak. Pat Gidnett was here to talk about the $25 feral cat, I believe the spay and neutering fee, and then Ulysses Cromedy Sr. was here to talk about the Grady Bridge, and that concludes public comment. All right. And colleagues, to proceed for the rest of the agenda, we need 14 on the dais. Right now we got 15, meaning please check with staff before you leave. And if there's anyone out in the green room, please return. Thank you. We can proceed. With that, well, he checked, did not wish to speak on the card. Did he change his mind? Ulysses, if you're here and you do wish to speak, we can give you three minutes still, but it has to be right now. Got it. Thank you for the time. It's very short and sweet. Please start with your name and address, sir. Ulysses Cromedy Sr. Thank you. My address is on file. I'm here to talk about the George Crady Bridge. I had a great opportunity this weekend to enjoy a 74th birthday, a good Father Day, and a good yesterday, which is June the 23rd. We gathered through the George Crady Bridge. I had the opportunity to be among the many. Mel, excuse me, the Mel was here, there. Mel Deegan was there, and many other representatives to help keep this bridge open. Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow councilmen, please hear my pleading cry. This bridge means so much for me and many more. That's why I'm here this night, to state my life. I have lived 74 years here and have enjoyed that bridge. And I hate to see it demodish, unusable, as the last three or four years that I have experience that I cannot cross that bridge. Mel Deegan and the rest of us revenge you from the Nassau side to the George Crady Bridge was on the Jacksonville side. I like to see that bridge open also for the bridge fishermen, the one who want to ride the bike, and the one who want to walk. It's a safe bridge. You can see it from the main bridge when you look down to the right coming from the Fernandina side. It's a hard, it's third bridge. It's a bridge that's been there for years. I like to see in my lifetime, before I leave him, I can see that full bridge from Nassau to Jacksonville side open for the public. We thank you very much. Thank you, sir. With that, Mr. Vice President, we are done with public comment, and we're going to go ahead to page 34 and take up item 72, which is on third reading first. So item 72, 2026-418, I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's take this vote verbally. All in favor of the amendment, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All again, saying no, the 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 record your vote. 15 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0418 passes. We're now going to go back to page 14 and begin public hearings. Council members should declare any ex parte communications and anyone wishing to speak on the following bill should have completed a blue speaker card. You will be allowed three minutes to speak. You may state your address is on record, but you're encouraged to be specific with your location as that may impact the weight given to your comments. Like public comment, a speaker may be invited to the green room for further discussion at a council member's discretion, while also keep in mind that we are pretty quorum limited for the night. Mr. Thiel, please read the bills. 2026-376, 420, 421, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 493, 494, 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499, 2026, 122, 123, 126, 127, 293, 294, 295, 311, 365, 366, 367, 368, 369, 370, 371, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 429, 430, 431, 432, and 433. These public hearings are all open. Item 21, 2026-376, one speaker card, Jamie Travis Leonard. And while Ms. Leonard is walking down, for anyone out there in the crowd, if you filled out a blue card to speak on any remaining bill tonight, we would ask that you come down and sit in one of the first few rows so you can get to the podium quicker and have your three minutes. So, again, if you filled out any card on any remaining bill tonight, we'd ask that you come forward. Thank you. Go ahead, Ms. Leonard. Thank you. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. My address is on file. I'll be quick. I previously came and said I support this. I still support this ordinance. I just am curious if there's some of the gaps I previously mentioned in the wording, if those were going to be filled. So, and for reference, let me pull out my old. That's be anywhere where it says reserved. So, an example would be page 3, line 28. I'm just curious about what that means. And I've been checking the portal to see if any updates have been made. I haven't seen anything. So, that's really what I came up here for. So, thank you. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is continued to July 28, 2026. Everyone know what it says on the agenda closed, but it's not. It's continued as stated. Thank you. Ms. Leonard, Council Member Palouse, I would like to talk to you in the green room. I'm 22 and 23, 26, 420 and 421. I have no speaker cards. These public hearings are closed. Additional public hearings will be July 28, 2026. I'm 24, 25, 2026, 434, 35. No speaker cards. These public hearings are closed. I'm 26, 2026, 436. I have two speaker cards, Samantha Series and Jamie Travis Leonard. Jamie Travis Leonard is in the green room. She does not wish to speak, and she opposes. Samantha Series, come on down. Samantha Series, address on file. I'm going to be quick, but I just don't think that this is a good idea to add the ability to do industrial light uses to 161 acres. I guess, I'm not sure if this is going to be another city council public hearing, because I see it goes to LUZ in July. I don't see it being continued for city council, though, so I'm not sure how, is it going to? Perfect. So I won't take much more time. I oppose this. Thank you. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item 27, 2026, 437, no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Item 28, 2026, 438, one speaker card. Ms. Jamie Travis Leonard does not wish to speak, but she opposes. This public hearing is closed. Item 29, 30, 31, 32, 2026, 439, 486, 487, 488. I have no speaker cards. These public hearings are closed. Item 33, 2026, 489, one speaker card. Ms. Jamie Travis Leonard does not wish to speak, but she supports this ordinance. This public hearing is closed. Item 34, 2026, 490. I have one speaker card. Nancy Murray Settle. Yes, Nancy Murray Settle, address on file. It should be short. But now you didn't start the clock, so I'm up. But anyway, it's on affordable housing and justice that I want to speak about. Housing is a human right. It's not a commodity for corporations to make a profit off of. And with this, there's a couple of 490, I think it's 490, 491. I think I made a mistake on a card I wasn't going to speak about. But all the federal and state grants that are going to affordable housing, I do support. We have a lot of work to do in Jacksonville related to that. Marginalized communities have often been excluded from housing due to redlining. And so we've talked about that in the council chambers. When we increase the quality of life for any citizen in this community, we increase the quality of life for every citizen. And I look at these ordinances and I think, well, of course we're going to pass them. But due to some of the toxic nature that happens in city council, city hall, the partisan politics, it worries me that these will not pass. So I do support that these pass and we do need to put a lot of work into affordable housing. Every human being has a right to housing. It is not a commodity. Thank you. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I'm 35, 20, 26, 491. One speaker card does not wish to speak. Ms. Nancy Murray settle. She supports this ordinance. No more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I'm 36, 20, 26, 492. One speaker card. Jamie Travis Leonard does not wish to speak, but she supports this ordinance. This public hearing is closed. I'm 37, 20, 26, 493. I have two speaker cards. Jamie Travis Leonard does not wish to speak and supports. Nancy Murray settle. Does not wish to speak. Also supports. This public hearing is closed. I'm 38, 20, 26, 494. I have one speaker card. Nancy Murray settle. Does not wish to speak, but she supports this ordinance. This public hearing is closed. I'm 39, 40, 41, 42, and 43. 20, 26, 4, 9, 5, 4, 9, 6, 4, 9, 7, 4, 9, 8, and 4, 9, 9. I have no speaker cards. Nicely done. This public hearing is closed. I think we are moving a little bit too fast, so we're going to take 30 seconds here just to regroup. Item 44. All right. Items 44 and 45. 20, 26, 1, 22, and 1, 23. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is continued to July 28, 20, 26. Both of them. Item 46, 20, 26, 1, 26. I have one speaker card. Ms. Samantha Series. She opposes, but does not wish to speak. This public hearing is continued to July 28, 20, 26. 20, 26, 1, 27. I have one speaker card. Ms. Samantha Series does not wish to speak, but she opposes this legislation. This public hearing is continued to July 28, 20, 26. 20, 26, 2, 9, 3. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 yays, 0 nays. I have your vote, 20, 26, 0, 2, 9, 3, passes. I'm 49, 20, 26, 2, 9, 4. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. I want to make sure we have a quorum. 16 yays, 0 nays. I have your vote, 20, 26, 0, 2, 9, 4, passes. I'm 50-2026-295. I have no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yeas, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026-0295 passes. Item 51-2026-311, one speaker card, Jamie Travis Leonard, and I believe she does wish to speak on this one. Can you restart my time again? I wasn't at the podium. Thank you. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. My address is on file. So if you were at LUZ, some of this is going to be information you have heard and seen before. What's currently being handed out is a map of a food desert analysis that was done in 2019 for the city of Jacksonville. I do want to clarify that I do support 26-311. I just have concerns as we develop this plan on the areas that are being targeted. If you look at the map that was provided for the target growth area, as well as the map for current food deserts, there's overlap. You heard other people during public comment talk about food deserts. I know that during LUZ, the planning department mentioned that this would not necessarily be part of this piece of the target growth plan, but would come down with future ordinances related to it. So just to clarify, I do support this target growth plan. But as we proceed with building out the plan and the areas that are going to be impacted and what that's going to look like, I would like us to consider how we can serve the community, specifically with addressing some of the shortages as far as the food deserts go. It was brought to my attention that there is the Northwest Jacks Economic Development Fund, which I know that Councilman Freeman had mentioned a trust when I brought this up at LUZ. Councilman Arias had mentioned potentially a tax to address some of these issues. The purpose of my comment today is really just to, as this plan grows, to continue to highlight some areas that I don't know are currently being addressed, but I think should have at least a component as it gets built out. So I appreciate your all's time. And again, I do support. I think we do need growth in these areas. I know that there's also some discussion of mixed use and some ways to incentivize our developers to try and bring items to the table in this growth plan that would serve the community. I just want to make sure that we are really pushing for that and not letting developers, again, get away with things like tobacco and liquor and other things that aren't really servicing the community as a whole. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers in the queue. We'll 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. Ms. Clark-Murray, you're recognized. Thank you. Once this particular bill was discussed by Ms. Parola a few weeks ago, I had several concerns about the parameters that they used to determine the target areas. And this bill seems very familiar to a bill that was submitted maybe a few years ago. Based on that discussion I had with her, in addition to listening to Ms. Pierce's description of the committee that they held in regards to determining the parameters and this bill itself, there seems to be a confusion with quantity and affordability. Quantity has to do with the amount of housing that's available. Affordability has to do with the fact that the housing can be afforded by the average person and that it doesn't take up, which is typically about 30% of their income. So while this is looking at the quantity, it's not addressing the affordability aspect. And I know there's an idea that supply and demand, if you have more in supply, you have demand, you have more in supply, then the cost will go down. There's a correlation. I understand that. But this bill does not address the affordability aspect. And I think that's being lost in this particular bill. Additionally, thinking about where the target area map, the different areas that it identifies, public transportation, low flood risk, those are good factors to consider when you're building housing. The 20% of affordability is what's going to be affordability aspect, which is going to be required of developers. That I have an issue with because think about you have 20% that's going to be for affordable housing, whatever they decide to bill. But then you've got 80% that won't be. And so the idea, once again, has to do with money. Can someone afford the housing? Not so much whether or not there is a large supply. Because believe it or not, we have lots of housing that's available. The issue is that people can't afford it. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Ms. Clark-Murray. There are no other speakers on the queue. We have a motion on the bill as amended with a second. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 yays, 1 nay. By your vote, 2026-0311 passes. I'm 52-2026-365, one speaker card. Samantha Series does not wish to speak but opposes this. No more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0365 passes. I'm 53-2026-366, one speaker card. Samantha Series opposes this and does not wish to speak. No more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0366 passes. I'm 54-2026-367, one speaker card. Samantha Series opposes and does not wish to speak. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. All right, before we vote, I would like to declare ex parte communications. I had a conversation with Ms. Cindy Tremor by phone on June 9th, 2026, and we'll make sure it's filed with legislative services. And seeing no other speakers in the queue, we'll take this vote on the amendment verbally. All in favor indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All against saying no. Amendment passes. Leave the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 yays, one nay. By your vote, 2026-0367 passes. On 55-2026-368, one speaker card, Chris Paul, and he does wish to speak. Is Chris Paul here? There he is. Questions only. He is here for questions only, and I have no more speaker cards. All right. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, zero nays. By your vote, 2026-0368 passes. I'm 56-2026-369, one speaker card, Chris Paul, and questions only is checked. No more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, zero nays. By your vote, 2026-0369 passes. I'm 57-2026-370. I have one speaker card, folks, Huxford, questions only. No more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. I move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, zero nays. By your vote, 2026-0370 passes. I'm 58-2026-371. I have one speaker card, folks, Huxford, questions only. No more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No speakers in the queue. Open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, zero nays. By your vote, 2026-0371 passes. I'm 59-2026-422-1 speaker card, Randy Bacar. And I apologize if I'm pronouncing that wrong. Is there a Mr. Randy out there? Questions only, sir. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. An additional public hearing will happen on July 28, 2026. Item 60-2026-423, no speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. Additional public hearing July 28, 2026. Item 61-2026-424, one speaker card. Samantha Ceres, she opposes and is, or she does not wish to speak. This public hearing is closed. There will be an additional public hearing on July 28, 2026. Item 62-63-64, 2026-425-426-427. I have no speaker cards. These public hearings are all closed, and additional public hearings will be held on July 28, 2026. Item 65-2026-428, one speaker card, Robert Freilich. Come on down, sir. Hi, Robert Freilich, address on file, Lackawanna. I am a property owner and investor in the 32254 area, and I'm writing regarding ordinances 2026-428 and 2026-429, known as the Mission at McDuff PUD. I respectfully request that these ordinances be deferred until the public has been provided complete information regarding taxpayer funding, occupancy levels, traffic impact, public safety, and the long-term effects on future investment and redevelopment within the surrounding community. I respectfully request answers to the following questions. What are the funding sources for this project? Will any taxpayer-supported grants, incentives, fee waivers, infrastructure improvements, or public resources be used? What is the projected cost to taxpayers for any additional law enforcement, code enforcement, sanitation, transportation, or municipal services associated with the expansion? I'm also requesting information regarding the scale of the proposed development, how many beds currently exist at this location, how many additional beds are proposed, will be the maximum occupancy permitted under the PUD? Will future increases in occupancy require additional City Council approval, or can occupancy be expanded administratively? I'm also concerned about traffic impacts. McDuff Avenue is already a heavily trafficked corridor connected to the I-10 interchange. Before approving a project of this scale, I believe residents should have access to any traffic impact study or transportation analysis prepared for this development. I'm also requesting disclosure of any economic or planning analysis related to the project, including economic impact studies, fiscal impact analysis, property value impact studies, redevelopment or market analysis, corridor planning studies, community impact assessments. If any such studies have been completed, I respectfully request that they be made available to the public before any final vote is taken. Many property owners, business owners, and investors have committed significant resources toward improving the 32254 area and supporting future development. Before approving a substantial expansion of this use, I believe the City should carefully evaluate the potential impact on future business investment, economic development, property values, and the long-term vision for the McDuff Corridor. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I have no more speaker cards. This public hearing is closed. An additional public hearing will be held on July 28, 2026. Item 66, 2026, 429, one speaker card. Mr. Freelich, again, do you wish to speak on this one again, sir? Okay, thank you. He does not wish to speak. That was the companion bill. This public hearing is closed. An additional public hearing will be held on July 28, 2026. Item 67, 2026, 430, as well as item 68, 69, and 70, 2026, 431, 432, 433. I have no speaker cards. These public hearings are closed. All will have additional public hearings on July 28, 2026. It is time for a third reading, starting with 71, 2026, 358. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment on 2026, 0358, which is on page 34. Seeing no one in the queue, let's open up. Sorry. 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. Mr. Miller, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I'd like to be at his co-sponsor, and I'd like to thank Mr. Atkinson for all his work and his advocacy and helping us understand the details of his business and linking up JSO and the concerns that were there and working through all these with members of our council and the administration. So thank you very much, sir. All right. And there are no other speakers in the queue. We do have a motion for the bill as amended on the table with the proper second. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026, 0358 passes. We already took up item 72, so we'll go to page 35, item 73, 2026, 446. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers in the queue. Let's take the vote verbally. All in favor of the amendment. Indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All against, say 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. Record your vote. 15 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026, 0446 passes. I'm 73, 2026, 446. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers in the queue. We'll take the vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say no. The 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 record your vote. We are on 0447. Oh, want to redo it? Okay. We have a motion and a second on 2026, 0447 as amended. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026, 0447 passes. I'm 75, 2026, 0454. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers in the queue. Let's take the vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say 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 record your vote. 15 yays, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026, 0454 passes. I'm 76, 2026, 0455. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers in the queue. Let's take the vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say 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 record your vote. 15 yays, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026, 0455 passes. We already took up item 77. That was an appointment we took up at the beginning. So item 78, 2026, 0457. Council Vice President, I actually have a floor amendment. Yes, sir. You're recognized. Yeah, so I do have a floor amendment. If I could get a second, I'll explain it. We have a motion for a floor amendment, the lane and floor amendment, and a second. Go ahead, sir. Thank you, Council Vice President. So this bill, when it went through neighborhoods, the first change that was made to this originally came through. And we're going to take out short-term debt, essentially, to fund it. We changed it to the general fund. A lot of us, we are very hesitant when we use the general fund. But after finance, talking to the auditors, there was an additional funding source available. And that's because we were running very favorable on our budgeted debt expense for the year. So this simply changes the funding source. It's the third change of the funding source, essentially, to where we're using current year savings from our budgeted debt expense rather than using the reserves for this. So it's simply the change of substance of funding source for this bill. Okay, we have a motion and a second on the lane and floor amendment. I see no speakers in the queue. Let's take a verbal vote on the lane and floor amendment. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no, the lane and floor amendment passes. And I believe that wipes out the need to take up the other amendment. To the Council President, does it make correct? So the lane and floor amendment contained all the other aspects of the committee amendment rolled into the floor amendment. Fantastic. And I see Dr. Salem in the queue. Go ahead, sir. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Through the Vice President to Council Member Lane, how much money is there in debt savings? And we're taking a million out of that for this. Yeah, okay. Let's entertain a motion on the bill as amended. I move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. Now, Dr. Salem, your question again, if you wouldn't mind, and if it's directed to the auditors. Okay. Through the chair to the auditors, we're taking a million out of debt savings. How much is in debt savings? Through the Vice President and Council Member Salem. Currently, there is $2.6 million in this account of debt savings. So this would reduce it down to $1.6 million. Thank you. All right. And Mr. Peluso, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm sorry that I'm not listed here as a co-sponsor. I'd like to fix that right now. I will tell you this. I am very grateful to you, Council Member Boylan, for this bill. This is a long time coming. This is an eyesore in the community. And there's a lot of bad history with that building. So I'm very grateful to you. And I'm very happy that we're passing this through. Thanks. And there are no other speakers in the queue. We do have a motion on the bill as amended with a second. All right. Seeing no one else, let's open the ballot and record the vote. 14 yeas, 1 nay. By your vote, 2026-0457 passes. I'm sitting in line, 2026-458. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's take the vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say 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 record your vote. 15 yeas, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0458 passes. Item 80, 2026-459. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. No speakers in the queue. Let's take the vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against, say 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 record your vote. 15 yeas, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0459 passes. Item 81, 2026-463. I move the amendment. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Seeing no speakers in the queue, let's open, sorry, let's take this vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All against, say no. Amendment passes. Move the bill as amended. We have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. And we have, first, Mr. Lainon, followed by, nope. Yep, Mr. Lainon, please. Thank you, Council Vice President. So, in finance, the way this bill traveled, it went six to one, then five to one, the first couple committees. Finance, we had a more prolonged discussion on it, and a lot of us asked the question really based on the auditor note that said, pursuant to the cost disbursement agreement, we were not obligated. There were a lot of moving parts on this. I know Mr. Weinstein tried to answer some of the questions on the fly. Anyway, we were not briefed on this ahead of time, so I do think that would have cleared up a lot of confusion if we just would have been met with from the beginning. After a conversation with multiple parties, I think the term wheelhouse was used in finance. What that is, that was a project within ASM's project list that they have agreed they are not doing in return for having this capital investment. That was the subject of the debate. And so, I have their project list now, and I'm fully expecting that when they submit for next year, it'll be the dollar amount we're talking about less than that. And certainly as a finance committee, we can then enforce that to make sure that's truly what they are saying they are doing instead of being on the city list of approved projects. So, with that additional understanding and understanding it's not truly incremental, I will support it now. But again, I just think that next time there's something this complicated with three or four moving sub funds, just to make sure that we're met with ahead of time to fully understand the accounting and all that. All right. Thank you, Mr. Landon. Mr. Freeman, you're in the queue. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I, too, had some concerns, not necessarily with the makeup of the bill, but I saw a lot of the no votes. And so, I spoke with one of the representatives from the Jumbo Shrimp, and I asked him, I said, when I look at the 19 members up here, only one made a career out of playing professional baseball. Only one scouted for seven years in Major League Baseball. And why is this the first time I'm talking to you? And so, I do my best to try to watch committees, try to keep up with it. Unfortunately, I missed this finance committee. And so, I saw these notes, and then when I talked to them, I said, I'm not very comfortable with it unless I hear those in finance committee share with them. So, my comment is made simply to say that this upcoming year, I really hope that we don't just talk to the finance members, especially when it feels this important. And when I talk to the Jumbo Shrimp, they understand that. Now, new to the city, and there's Mr. Weinstein, he understands that as well, I think we should try to get to a point, especially in this next upcoming council, where all 19 of us have a vote. And so, instead of just talking to who they think they can get a vote from, educate all of us on the process. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Freeman. Over to Mr. Gay. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I voted against this in neighborhoods and rules, and I'm still a no on this. Of course, we can sit here and say we're taking it from here, moving it over there, this kind of a shell game that's going on. But the whole principle behind what my no vote on this is, across the parking lot, the neighbor has got a bigger project going on. And that project has the same stipulations as this, any overruns is borne by that entity. And this is creating a bad scenario here that potentially could come back for an ask, because we've done it before. And if they've got money to allocate from different buckets of money, well, that's where it should have went to begin with, and not being put in this format. So, I'm still going to be a no, and thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Gay. Over to Dr. Salem. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I agree completely with Councilmember Lane, and he's correct. New ownership with the jumbo shrimp, they didn't handle this well. They realize it, I don't think it'll happen again, but I would urge you to vote yes. I think the issues have been resolved. Thank you. Thank you. No one else on the queue. Let me hand the gavel to Mr. Carlucci, and I'd like to speak on this one. Council Vice President Howland, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Vice President-elect. I also am going to change my vote, something I rarely do. I was a no in finance, I'll be a yes tonight. And I'll do that because I had the same concerns in finance that Mr. Gay had, which this would set a very bad precedent when both at the ballpark and the football stadium, we agreed with those contractual partners that they would cover overruns. In this case, new information arose, which the ballpark will indeed, as Mr. Landon said, decrement a future expected expense. And because Mr. Landon will be the finance chair, and he's going to be able to hold that up when it comes to review, I am fully confident that we'll be able to ensure that we enforce that offsetting decrement of a project in turn for getting this one done for the jumbo shrimp. So in that case, because of that, I will be a yes tonight. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Carlucci. We have no one else in the queue. We do have a motion on the bill as amended with a second. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 13 yays, 3 nays. And by your vote, 2026, 0463 passes. With that, it's time for second reading. Mr. Thiel, may you please read the second reading bills. 2026, 515, 516, 517, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, and 485. Thank you, Mr. Thiel. We're going to jump to page 45. We have two items on emergency. We're going to take up the first item, 101, 2020. I do not have any public participation cards for the record. Item 101, 2026, 549, I move the emergency. Do we have a second on the emergency? All right, we have a motion and a second on the emergency. Councilman Diamond, are you on the bill? Okay. We'll take a vote for the emergency verbally. Actually, Mr. Carlucci, before we vote, on the bill also? Okay. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor of the emergency indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no, the emergency passes. Mr. Vice President, I was going to introduce a council amendment on this one, but I believe a number of my colleagues may have been doing the same. We have a council amendment, proposal and a second. Second, and Mr. Carlucci and Mr. Salem, you still want to speak on the bill? Okay. Then all in favor of the council amendment indicate by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All against say no. Council amendment passes. I move the bill as an emergency as amended. We have a motion to move the bill as an emergency and as amended. Do we have a second on that? All right, and we have a second. Now let me go first to Councilman Diamond. I think you wanted to speak on this bill, right or no? You were just going to make the council amendment? Okay. Mr. Carlucci, did you want to speak on the bill? Sounds good. And Dr. Salem, you're still in the queue. You want to speak or you were on the council amendment? Great. Then let's see no other speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and court your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0549 passes. Can we clear the queue, please? Thank you. All right. Okay, Adam, 102-2026-550. I move the emergency. We have a motion. Do we have a second on the emergency? We have a motion and a second on the emergency for 2026-0550. No speakers in the queue. Let's take the vote on the emergency verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. Emergency passes. I move the bill as an emergency. And we have a motion and a second to move the bill as an emergency. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and court your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026-0550 passes. We're now going to go skip ahead to page 53 for Unfinished Business, item 125-2026-363. And I believe you need to recognize Councilmember Diamond. Councilman Diamond, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. President-elect. I appreciate it. Sorry. It's always bad to be the last thing before it gets everybody out of here, especially at the end of the year. But it's important, Bill. So let me just walk through a few things. First of all, thank you for everyone allowing me two extra weeks. I couldn't be here two weeks ago. I was on orders. But we made good use of it. So I've been working with Ms. Norris and Ms. Sickler with the administration on this bill for the last, oh, at least month. But in particular, the last couple of weeks, we went back and forth, thanks to Terrence for all his good work on the language. Super helpful. And so in working with the administration, here are the changes that we made on the substitute. And just for official sakes here, I'll move my substitute if I can get a second. Second. What this does, first of all, the administration wanted some sort of training component in there. And so we worked out language to ensure that there is training is required, that it's in there, and that folks need to certify that they understand the laws here in Jacksonville. That was one. Second thing the administration asked for, and it made perfect sense to me, was to harmonize our definitions with the state definitions. And we did that. And then the third was one, candidly, I just didn't think of, but Ms. Sickler and Ms. Norris brought it up, which was, if something that is like a horizontal plan, if there's a new community being built or whatever, and there's a section of that that is public right-of-way that's going to be built and designed and then approved by someone not in the city, would you, and then the city has to take it over as part of the right-of-way. They wanted to have some earlier knowledge about it. And I fully agreed with that. So we changed the language. It said, if we have over 1,000 linear feet of public right-of-way, then the administration, the building department will get an extra 10 days of the kind of draft affidavit and all the attachments that would go through, so the full application packet, and get 10 extra days to be able to look at that to make sure that they felt that, you know, all the boxes have been checked for something that the city is ultimately going to have to take care of. And so those were all the big issues that we had. I would like it if Ms. Norris could come up. I hate to speak for you all, but I don't believe there's any attention points left. We've covered everything. We found common ground on literally everything, and hopefully we've got a good bill here. All right. Ms. Norris, you're recognized. Brittany Norris for the administration through the chair. I don't get to say this a lot, but thank you, Councilman Diamond, for working with us. We appreciate it. But yes, we were good with those amendments. Thank you. Hell, it's frozen over. All right. Anything further, Mr. Diamond? All right. We have a motion and a second on the Diamond floor substitute. Mr. Miller, you want to speak on the floor substitute, or you want to speak on the bill? Very good. Let's take a vote on the floor substitute. Verbally, all in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. The floor substitute passes, and that accounts for the original floor substitute, no need to take that up. Correct. To the Council President, doesn't it correct? It included all the other aspects of the Land Use and Zoning Committee substitute, and with the addition of the few items that Councilmember Diamond went over, so you don't need to take up any other substitutes. Thank you, ma'am. I have moved the bill as substituted. We have a motion. And do we have a second? Second on the bill as substituted. We'll go over to Ms. Tyrone Clark-Murray. Thank you, Chair. But if you would recognize Councilmember Miller first, I would appreciate it. Oh, okay. Yeah, sorry. You just jumped quicker on the queue. We'll go to Mr. Miller first, and we'll come back to you, Ms. Clark. It's fine. Either way, thank you, Mr. Vice President. I just wanted to be added as co-sponsor, but also, I just want to thank everybody for working together. I know we're at the end of the year, so there's always a first time. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No, really. I'm serious. That's what everyone would expect us to do. So thank you all very much. Thank you, Chair. Over to Ms. Clark-Murray. Thank you, Chair. I'm just going to continue the love, because this is a great bill. It is. It's a very, very good bill, and I know you all are wondering what may happen when you walk outside of here today, seeing that the introducer was Councilmember Diamond and our wonderful, loving relationship that he and I have. But it is a fantastic bill. First of all, once again, it is an example of great collaboration between the executive branch and the legislative branch. Additionally, it's the thing that I look for the most for us to do, which is to solve problems. This bill solves a problem. And at LUZ, a couple of weeks ago, Councilmember Diamond mentioned the fact that if there's any tweaks that need to be made, he's open to having those tweaks made. So I'm especially grateful for the work that he's done. And I'm going to call for, if you don't mind, a council amendment so that you can all sponsor this because, co-sponsor, because it is a great bill. We have a motion and a second for a council amendment. I have two speakers on the queue. I want to just make sure they're on the bill. Mr. Gay and Ms. Pittman, you're on the bill, not the council amendment, correct? Yeah. I know, I know, but I didn't know when it popped up. Okay. So we'll take the vote for the council amendment verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. Council amendment still passes. Would you go ahead and move it? I move the bill as substituted, as amended. We have a motion and hopefully a second on the bill as substituted, as amended. We'll go to Mr. Gay, followed by Ms. Pittman. Thank you, Ms. Vice President. Through the Vice President to Councilmember Diamond, you mentioned about training. Is it training or is it a test that they'll have to? Through the President to Councilmember Gay, it's training. So what you would do is you'd sign that you have kind of learned about our laws and that you understand them, and that's it. So originally, when there's an idea of a test, there's no test. Okay. Thank you. I support it. Thank you, sir. Over to Ms. Pittman. Are you speaking on the bill? No. Oh, you're done. Okay. Over to Mr. Peluso. You're on the queue. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. So one of my questions and concerns to the sponsor of the bill. So the 10 calendar days that keeps getting brought up, I just want to verify. So calendar days is a little bit concerning to me, given what if we are going into a holiday weekend or something along those lines. Was there any conversation with the administration about whether that be business days as opposed to calendar days? Talking about on page five and six about the affidavits. Yeah. Through the President to Councilmember Peluso. We did discuss this. I felt like we got to business days. There's a Florida statute that covers this. We're essentially memorializing Florida law, and we would be borrowing whatever theirs was. Maybe through the chair to Terrence, are we at calendar days or business days right now? The legislation speaks to calendar days, but it is business days in the statute. So if you're willing to make that. That's fine. And I'll make the quick amendment to change that section. Can we do that, Mary? Well, let me ask you this. I can come back with a fix in two weeks. I promise to do it. That way we can do it today without having to keep everybody here. I would sponsor it. By the way, that was the reason why I did not say yes to the council amendment, is because I wanted to verify this, because I know calendar days can be very controversial. Thank you. So to address Councilmember Diamond's question, that's an amendment I would need to draft, distribute this evening. If there's a desire to not have to do that on the floor this evening, there can be a motion to postpone the item to the July 28th meeting. But I'm happy to work on drafting that amendment immediately. Mr. Chair, I'd rather pass this right now. I know going through a whole other thing, but I bet you we'll have some other tweaks coming up here soon enough. The administration's heard it's on the record that we're talking about business days. We'll get it cleaned up before then. So you want to postpone? I mean, I'd like to just make the motion. Actually, we're allowed to suspend that rule. I move to suspend the rule that it has to be in writing. Okay, we have a motion and a second to suspend the rule that it has to be in writing. Mr. Fopolis, will you please weigh in on that? It's two words, Mary. Through to the council president-designate, if the motion to suspend the rule has been made and seconded, it requires 13 votes to approve. But I would recommend that if it's approved to not have the amendment in writing that Mr. Diamond put on the record the exact line and page number of the change and what it would be so it's clearly established verbally on the record. I would ask if OJC's office could give the exact line and page number, and then I'll say yes. Mr. Harvey, I'm assuming we're looking at page six, line three? That is correct. So it would say on page six, line three, instead of 10 calendar days, it would say 10 business days. Yes. It would be a change of calendar. Okay. But I would say, Mr. President, the motion on the floor is to suspend the rule to not require the amendment to be in writing. Okay. We have a motion on the floor to suspend the rule to not require an upcoming amendment to be in writing because we've not done that amendment yet. So first we have to suspend the rule. Then Mr. Diamond will have to make that amendment. So we have a second on that. We're going to do this by hand. This is the vote to suspend the rule. All in favor indicate by raising your hand. We need a count of 13. Mary, could you confirm the count? All right. The motion to suspend the rule passes. Mr. Diamond, you got the floor to make the amendment. I'll make the amendment, Mr. President, but it looks like the administration has something to say. Apologies to the chair and to Council Member Diamond. Director Sickler says on line 22, also just references days. I don't know if you need to also clarify that as well. Give me the line again. 22. 22. Mary, can you reread that? That'll be my motion. Three and 22 on page six. Okay. So through the president-designate to the council, so the amendment that Mr. Diamond is prepared to move would change the word calendar on page six, line three of the floor substitute to business days, and it would state on page six, line 22, no fewer than 10 business days prior to the affidavit being submitted. There is currently just says 10 days, so it would be adding the word business there. So moved. All right. We have a motion. Do we have a second? All right. We have a motion and a second, and now I have two people in the queue, Mr. Carlucci and Mr. Peluso. Would you like to speak on the amendment, please? No? And Mr. Peluso, you would? Okay. Go ahead, sir. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just to verify, also number 11, line 11, also says 10-day period, just to verify for the purposes of, anytime it says 10-day, it should be 10 business days. It says prescribed 10-day period, so it's referring back to what is already going to say 10-day business days. That's fine. I wanted to verify that was the case, and then fine. Sounds good to me. Thank you. Okay. Then we have the motion for those two changes, to amend it with those two changes on the table. It's been properly seconded. We will take this vote verbally, all in favor of the Diamond Amendment, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. The amendment passes. Now let's see if you can get this one right. I move the bill as substituted as twice amended. All right. Do we have a second? All right. We have a motion on the bill as substituted as twice amended. Well done, Mr. Landon, and we have a proper second. We are ready to open the ballot and record the vote. Oh, wait. Sorry. Mr. Peluso, you want to speak? Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I'm always standing to speak and say, well done, Council Member Diamond, and I appreciate your flexibility on this. I appreciate the administration's flexibility on this. And I'm glad that I was able to, I think, make the bill a little bit better in the last minute. Sorry. I was gone, too, from my two-week annual training. Thank you. And Mary's flexibility to nod to change the rule. Mr. Carlucci, we also have you on the queue. Thank you. I want to compliment Council Member Diamond on his hard work on this, and I'm supporting it all the way through. Hard work and good legislation based on its merits, I always try to support. And I'm going to ask, so I'm going to jump on this little love train that we've got going on here. But I'm going to also ask Council Member Diamond to put a little work into the Art Museum Drive Road between Atlantic and Beach. That's a project that's been on my radar for a long time, our disabled community. And anybody that knows me knows that my first three terms, I spent a lot of time on disabled issues, and that's a very dangerous road, and it's very expensive to try to put a sidewalk on there. It's not like laying a... Mr. Carlucci, please do stay on the bill, if you would. Okay. Where's Mr. Nooney when I need him? I think you get my drift. I'll leave it at that. Thank you. All right. Thank you, sir. And no other speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record the vote. 16 yays, zero nays. And by your vote, 2026-0363 passes. Congratulations, Mr. Diamond and the administration. With that, we're going to go to the very last page where the revised addendum is. I move the addendum. We have a motion and a second on the addendum. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no, the addendum passes. With that, Mr. Vice President, that concludes the business of this council year. Fantastic. Let's do roll call, then get into announcements. 16 present. All right. And with that, if you have any announcements, let's get in the queue. I will call one person up briefly. That's Mr. Joe Inderhees. No one else is up there. And then we'll turn over to Ms. Pittman. Mr. Inderhees, I wanted you to briefly, if you could, tell us about what's going on on July 3rd and 4th for America 250 since we won't be meeting again. Sure. The difficulty here in doing that briefly is we've got so much to talk about. There you go. Suffice it to say, July the 3rd on the South Bank from 530 to 10, our friends at the Wounded Warrior Project are partners in this, participating partners in this. So we really appreciate their support. Lots of activities. A lot of fun. Concerts, music, apple pies. And I want to say that Harrison Conyers was on the Bring Back the Apple Pie train long before McDonald's decided to get in on that. So congratulations to Harrison for putting together a great program. And then on the 4th, from 4 to 930, over on the North Bank and the South Bank, but the main activation will be on the North Bank, Riverfront Plaza, things for families, things for kids to do, bounce houses, face painting, food, games, all the stuff. And then 10 o'clock, largest 4th of July fireworks show in city history will launch from the bridges and the barges. So please get the word out to your constituents, come down and celebrate with your families. And my hat's off to Office of Sports and Entertainment, Veteran Affairs, Harrison, Alex, their teams, and the folks at DVI also participated in the planning for this. And then, of course, all of the supporting partners, JSO, JFRD, you guys know the list. So thank you and congratulations on closing out the council year. Enjoy the break, and we look forward to getting back together again mid-July. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your hard work, the administration's hard work, and all those partners you mentioned in putting together America 250. Thank you. Thank you. Over to Mr. Freeman. You are on the queue. Thank you, Mr. President Desinant. Just want to remind everyone, bring to your attention, July the 11th will be the 9th annual pack your sack, pack the sack giveaway, partner with Walmart. And I will tell you, this year we're giving away 6,000 backpacks. It was the gold Jerry in the back. If she can hear me, please excuse me not being able to read without my glasses on. But here's what we're doing different this year. We're also having a teacher's corner. So unlike any year before, we were partnering with Duval County Public Schools. I know that was a big agenda, and it was important to our president. So I reached out to them. And so they're going to have their space there as well, that teachers are going to come and get supplies for their classrooms as well. So really excited about it. Many of you have come and volunteered and helped, and we love you. See, there's no face. My face is not on it. No one's face is on it. This is something that we're doing on behalf of the city. As the council, in previous years, my name would be on it. But this is not the case anymore. I really want to lead this council, as many have said tonight, with a unified front. So we'd love to have you there. We give away haircuts. There's food that's given away to the kids. We've done eye exams. I'm going to try to have voter registration again. But we really try to make this a community event. My Masonic brothers will be there. The Divine Nine will be there as well. And we'd love to have each of you at least stop by. I think Ron's come in the past. Many of you have come by in the past. So we'd love to have you guys come by. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Freeman. Ms. Pittman, did you have anything to wrap up? Update regarding Winn-Dixie. So if y'all have not had an opportunity, and thanks for reminding me to say that. This past Saturday, they had a ribbon cutting on Main Street. If you have not gone into Winn-Dixie, you need to stop by. Prior to that, I wanted to let you know, for two weeks, I had gone into the store, had an opportunity to talk to people who shopped there to see how they felt about the new renovations and the inventory that is there. This store looks amazing. This store looks amazing. Some of the comments were, we love the lighting. We love the variety of products that we have. We have. It's very clean. I feel proud when I come in here. And their whole team was there this Saturday. Last month, they did a ribbon cutting for the one on Moncrief. Same results. Y'all just would not believe how proud the seniors are when they come in there. So, I just want to give you an update and tell you thank you for saving that store and giving the people in that neighborhood an opportunity to not be a food desert. So, we have quite a few birthdays. One, I want to start with the council staff, which Angela Green, her birthday is June 25th. Evance Bento, I hope I'm saying that right, birthday is July 7th, and Jessica Denson is July 8th, and then we have Brianna, who is the ECA council member Clark Murray. Her birthday is also on June 25th, and of course, our sweet Jackie Lee, President Carrico, ECA, her birthday is July the 19th. And of course, we have birthday, we got three birthdays on, Mike Gay. Stand up, Mike. And then we also have Chris Miller. Stand up, Chris. So, you know, we're going to do something different. We all are going to sing happy birthday to each one of those. And I also would like to say a happy belated Father's Day to all of our fathers who are on the desk. So, y'all ready? Let's go. So, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, Chris and Mike, happy birthday to you. Did y'all know Chris knew how to sing? Listen, we got to get a choir. So, next year, I don't know, it's too late to sing Thursday, but next year, we're going to get a choir out of the council, okay? All right. Thank you so much. All right. With that, no one else in the queue. We are adjourned at 753, followed by the prayer. Dr. Johnson. Thank you. Very quickly, Psalms 91 said, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Let's pray. Dear Father, thank you for the opportunity of this amazing council year and the amazing people around this day as we are blessed to be in a space to take this city forward. And now, as we take a much-needed vacation or break for just a couple of weeks, God, keep us. Bring us back together. Father, allow us to have a recharge in spirit, a recharge in purpose so that when we come back, we come back filled, God. Touch our new council president and vice president-elect. Touch those who are in leadership, God, and allow us to be open, ready, and prepared. These and all of the blessings we ask in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen? Amen. Thank you all, and have a good night. Thank you all, and have a good night.