City Council Meeting - Jul 28, 2026

Good evening. I call to order the July 28th, 2026 meeting of the full city council. It is 5 p.m. and we do have a quorum. Welcome to the first full council meeting of the new council year. I will turn it over to our new floor leader who's not new. He's very well experienced and that's council member Michael Boylan. Thank you Mr. President and thank you too for your expression of confidence in me to serve as the floor leader again. I look forward to doing my very best to move these meetings forward in a timely fashion. Our first order of business is the invocation and pledge. I would ask that you please recognize Councilman Lane to introduce senior pastor of Chet's Creek, Spike Hogan. You recognize her. Thank you Mr. President and floor leader. It's my honor tonight to welcome back Pastor Spike Hogan, the senior pastor of Chet's Creek Church. Pastor Spike has been a familiar face and he is retiring after nearly 30 years as being the founding and senior pastor of Chet's Creek Church. I'll be brief on his biography here because in a few minutes we will be presenting with him with a resolution honoring his service to our city. So with that Pastor Spike please. Let's pray. Lord thank you so much for this day. Thank you for these men and women who represent our city so well. We pray your blessings on them. May they use your wisdom and guidance in all they do and as they work things out may you bless them and continue to bless us to live in this wonderful city Jacksonville Florida. God thank you for this time together and we thank you Lord for the opportunity we have to enjoy serving together and most important of all we thank you for the life that we have that you gave us. We ask all these things in the name of the one who saved me Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag to the United States of America. Consider your report out by Mr. Virginia, one nation, one of our God, who is in the world, is the liberty of the Lord for the Lord for the Lord. President, if you have any announcements or roll call? Yeah, thank you Mr. Floor Leader. I would just like to note for everyone in the audience that the addendum will come up at the end of the meeting and on that addendum is the veto override that I think a lot of people are anticipating so just note that comes at the end of the meeting. That's it sir. Roll call. And roll call please. 17 present. Mr. President, it's now time for the approval of the minutes from the regular council meeting of June 23rd, 2026. I move for approval. We have a motion and a second on the minutes. We'll take this vote verbally all in favor of the minutes. Indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. Minutes pass. Mr. President, we have quite a number of communications from the mayor's office and other entities. Would you like those read or filed with legislative services? Let's file them please. Councilman Landon has an unscheduled presentation he would like to make at this time. And as he heads to the podium down below, it's my pleasure to introduce today's pages. Joshua Hartstock-Reed, please stand, and Chethru Suranani. How'd I do? Please welcome them. All right, Mr. Landon. You're recognized. Thank you. I believe Mr. Thiel was going to read the resolution. Resolution 2026-272. Pastor Spike Hogan has faithfully served as the founding and senior pastor of Chet's Creek Church in Jacksonville for over two decades, providing spiritual leadership, guidance, and encouragement to Jacksonville citizens. Under Pastor Hogan's leadership, Chet's Creek Church, founded in 1998 with its first public service in Chet's Creek Elementary School, has expanded to three locations and has grown into a vibrant and committed faith community. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Pastor Hogan earned degrees from William Carey University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and served at several other churches and on the staff of the Florida Baptist Convention before joining the team that launched Chet's Creek Church. Pastor Hogan's services extends beyond the church, serving on the board of directors of One More Child, the Florida Baptist Children's Homes, and previously serving as a trustee of the North American Mission Board and as a member of the Florida Governor's faith-based and community-based advisory council. Pastor Hogan has, on multiple occasions, led the opening prayer for the Jacksonville City Council meetings, offering messages of reflection, unity, and stewardship for council members and the citizens they serve. Upon his retirement, the City Council wishes to recognize and honor Pastor Hogan for his outstanding contributions and service to his congregants as the broader Jacksonville community. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Jacksonville. The City Council hereby honors and commends Pastor Spike Hogan for his distinguished service as pastor of Chet's Creek Church and for his many contributions to the spiritual and civic life of Jacksonville and wishes him continued health, happiness, and fulfillment in the years ahead. Thank you colleagues for approving this resolution and Pastor Spike. We appreciate everything you've done. The church has been a pillar in our community right there in the heart of District 3 and then like the resolution says, just all the work that have gone well beyond just the church and just all the great things you've done for our community, for our city. We're certainly going to miss seeing you here once a year at least. I think it's been a couple times, either you or another pastor at Chet's Creek Church has come here to help us in prayer, but I know the new pastor will be here as well. We look forward to meeting him and again just thank you for everything you've done here for your church and the citizens of Jacksonville. Just real quick, thank you. I'm honored and touched and be praying for you guys on a regular basis. We have some very important decisions to make in the weeks and months to come, I know. I've had the privilege of knowing every mayor since John Payton and it's been my privilege to pray for them and I will continue to pray for you. Even though I'm retired and I'm still in Jacksonville, anything I can do to be a help of service to you guys, please let me know and may God bless you and bless Jacksonville, Florida. Thank you. Mr. Vice President, given Council President is getting pictures. We'll go to the queue after the picture is taken because we do have some council members that would like to speak. Okay. All right, we have a few members in the queue. Council Member Freeman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Through the Vice President to pass this fight. One, thank you so much for your service. More importantly, thank you for your friendship. I truly believe in giving folks their roses while they can still smell them. And in 2012, in December of 2012, and you probably didn't know this at the time, but I was sitting in your congregation in the back. I'm a back row Baptist, all right? Preacher's kid. And you challenged your congregation to read a book. And one of the things that you said was, hey, everyone should be able to read this book. It's only about 80 pages, 85 pages. And it was called The Prayer of Jabez. And I said, you know what? He just said less than a hundred. I think I can get through this book. And I did. And I saw my life change dramatically from that day forward, because it was the first time that someone ever told me that it was okay for me to pray for myself. I was always growing up praying for others. And so that prayer, bless me indeed and enlarge my territory, keep your hand upon me, has radically done some amazing things. So I want to thank you for your leadership. I want to thank you for all those blessings that followed that prayer, and just continue to do what you do. Thank you so much. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Freeman. Ms. Pittman, you're recognized. Chair, and to Pastor, first of all, I want to say thank you for the work that you've done for this community. I met you at the Clara White Mission with Mr. and Mrs. Stafford. And one of the things they always said, you said go outside of the church walls and make a difference in the community. And of course, Mr. Stafford was one of our counselors there. And for individuals who are also getting out of prison, you helped some of those individuals. And so first of all, I want to just say what matters to you matters to this community. And so just thank you. And I hope when you grow up, you'll decide what you really want to do, because you have done a lot in the journey for this community. And we thank you so much. Thank you. And that concludes all the members in the queue. Pastor Hogan, thank you so much for all of your contributions to the community. You'll be sorely missed at Chet's, but I'm sure you'll continue to contribute greatly to Jacksonville. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Mr. President, we are now ready for quasi-judicial actions. I'd like to remind everyone that these items we are now taking up do not include public hearings, as these matters were thoroughly reviewed at the committee level where the public hearings were part of the decision-making process. Council members are reminded that to declare any ex parte communications. Our first item is on page 4, 2026-4308, a resuming at 23.3 acres from RLD 120 to PUD. 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. 17 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0438 passes. Next item 2, 2026-439, move the bill. We have a motion and a second on the bill. We have two speakers in the queue. We'll start with Mr. Carlucci, followed by Mr. Landon. All right, thank you, Mr. President. I just need to declare ex parte. I met with Cindy Trimmer and Richie Mullaney in my office on July 20th at 10 a.m. We discussed the site plan, community involvement, and the paperwork being filed with legislative services. All right, thank you, Mr. Vice President. Over to Councilman Landon. Thank you, President. I rise to declare ex parte. I spoke with Cindy Trimmer on May 12th to get an explanation of this bill right before it was filed, and I filed this with legislative services. Thank you, sir. No other speakers on the queue. We do have a motion and a second on the bill. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 17 yays, 0 nays. And by your vote, 2026-0439 passes. President, we are now ready for the consent agenda. I want to remind my colleagues that if you want to be added as a co-sponsor to any of these items, please let the Chief of Legislative Services know via email as council rules prohibit pulling items for this particular reason. Mr. Thiel, would you please read the bills? 2026-453, 496-515, 516, and 551. President, I move the approval of the consent agenda. Very good. We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. I've seen no speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 17 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, the consent agenda passes. President, colleagues, we have one more item to be taken up before moving to public comment. It can be found on page 38, item number 83, 2026-592. I move the emergency. We have a motion and a second on the emergency. No speakers in the queue. Let's take a verbal vote on the emergency. All in favor, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no, the emergency passes. Mr. President, we have no public participation cards on this. I move the bill as an emergency. We have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency. No speakers. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 17 yays, 0 nays. By your vote, 2026-0592 is approved. Mr. President, I would suggest you recognize the rules chair at this time. We recognize the rules chair. Mr. Gay. Thank you, Mr. President. We have just approved the following appointments as part of the consent agenda, plus the additional item we took up tonight. If you are in the audience, please stand up and to be recognized. Michelle Begley to the Chief of Accounting Division of the Department of Finance and Administration of the City of Jacksonville. Shirley Dasher to the Value Adjustment Board. Please join me in thanking them for their service. Mr. President, as per ordinance 2022-475E, we are now ready for public comments. Council members are reminded this is our time to hear from the public, and this is not a time for questions or answers or debate. However, a member of the public may be invited to the Robert Johnson room for further discussions. A council member subject to the rule of the presiding officer of the president may extend this invitation. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to speak, you should have filled out a green public comment card. No cards will be accepted after 6 p.m. Council rules a call for an allotment of 90 minutes for public comment. In the event there is an excessive number of cards submitted, the allotted time of three minutes may be shortened so that we are all wishing to speak, have an opportunity to do so. Presently, we have 23 cards, so 25 cards. We limit to, we not change the limits right now, so it will be three minutes per participant. During our public comment time, only the speaker will be allowed to the podium. Unless physical assistance is required, we provide this opportunity for the public comment beyond what the state law requires. As such, you must state your name and address before beginning your comment, or just say, my address is on file, assuming you put it on the card. I will announce five speakers at a time, in the order they are to appear. When I call your name, I ask that you move down to the front row, please, because we have reserved seats for you there. Your time will start when you arrive at the podium. We thank you for being here this evening, and our first five speakers are Kim Fontacheo, Roxy McLeod, Curtis White-Weich, Angela Tenbrook, Tennebrook, and Valerie Herman. If you come on down to the front. And while they're coming forward, I would ask Mr. Teal to 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. Mr. Teal, please note the start time is 5.17. Once again, our first speaker is Kim Fontecchio. Did I get it right that time, I hope? You did, Fontecchio. Yes, sir. Thank you. Again, please be sure to provide your name and address or note that it's on file. Good evening, City Council President and Council members. My name is Kimberly Fontecchio. I am the property owner and sole resident of 2729 Dahlonega Drive in District 2. I'm here tonight to stand in solidarity with Nathan and our local urban agricultural coalition to urge this Council to pass the Right to Garden Act. This matter is deeply personal to me because on July 13th of this year, the City of Jacksonville officially executed and approved my formal certificate of use for Fontecchio's community garden. Despite being fully permitted and lawful under municipal standards, operators like myself continue to face targeted harassment, ambiguous enforcement of selective covenants, and unwarranted interference from HOAs trying to dictate their interpretation of city zoning laws. Food independence, agricultural wellness, and gathering together in peaceful community connection are basic human rights. This Council has a historic opportunity tonight to protect its own permitted land use, defend its residents, and solidify our city's future. We ask that you pass the home occupation bill tonight and in the coming days commit to sponsor the Free to Garden Act so we can move it forward for filing an introduction. Thank you. Kim Fontecchio. Thank you, ma'am. Next we have Roxy McLeod. It's always so exciting to stand here in front of you. My name is Roxy McLeod and I very proudly live in District 10 at 8029 Buffalo Avenue and I am here to first of all do something I forgot to do last time I talked to you. I'll be wearing this hat when you come to see us at the community garden in Panama Park. It's right, I mean, it's like between here, it's just before you get to the zoo. You don't have to drive far. Just come and see the garden. You will love it. You will be allowed to pick some tomatoes, some okra, some peppers, okay? So please come to see our garden in Panama Park. It's called Common Ground where we grow together and I'll tell you a little story. Just this morning, I was in the garden where I love to be and across the fence, one of the little neighbors, she's five years old and she's going, oh, can I come to the garden? Can I come to the garden? She loves to come to the garden. Well, I was just about to leave so I broke her heart and said, no, not today. Tomorrow, tomorrow. You can come to the garden tomorrow. But the garden is so much more than all the perfect things that Kim just said. I'm not going to repeat it. I'm here to support that act for freedom to garden. Please, please, I'm asking you to support it too and all the things that she said. But I'm just telling you that it's not just for food and stability and it grows neighborhoods. It grows community. The people that come into that garden and work side by side are weeding side by side. They're telling stories, things they didn't even remember from way back when. They were sharing recipes with each other. The beauty and the strength that it creates in a neighborhood, in a community, cannot be emphasized enough. I cannot tell you how beautiful it is to see so many people of all ages, from that five-year-old all the way to the old people that can just barely get there. They love to share their wisdom. So anyway, community gardens are the way to go. So please, please, please support this act. And that's enough. But I want to see you and you know where I'm at. So come to the garden. Only one of you have come here to the garden so far. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Hurtis Weich, Jr. I hope I pronounced that correctly. Hey, how you doing? My name is Hurtis Weich. I am... And your address? My address is stated on... Thank you. How are you guys doing today? Doing all right? We're good. I'm here today to support the Free to Garden Act because I have seen firsthand how community gardens improve public health, strengthen neighborhoods, create educational opportunities for youth, and increase access to fresh and healthy food. Every week, I work alongside families, volunteers, and community members who are learning to grow their own food. Community gardens are more than places to grow vegetables. They are outdoor classrooms, spaces for healing, workforce development, and community connection. Unfortunately, organizations dedicated to serving their communities have often faced unnecessary barriers to establishing and operating gardens. Making community and market gardens clearly permissible will help schools, nonprofits, neighborhoods, and faith-based organizations focus on serving people rather than navigating uncertainty. We respectfully ask that you pass the home occupation bill tonight and the coming days commit to sponsoring the Free to Garden Act so it can move forward and for filing an introduction. Thank you for your time and your service. Thank you. Next, we have Angela Tenbrook. Good evening, Council President and members of the City Council. My name is Angela Tenbrook and I reside at 4920 Astoria Court. I'm the Executive Director for the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Excellence and Conservation. I was honored to serve as the City of Jacksonville's first and ultimately last manager of ag, urban ag, agroecology, fisheries, and land use policy. A role created to strengthen our local food system and improve food security for Jacksonville's residents. That position was created because many in Jacksonville recognized that food security is not simply an agricultural issue. It's an economic issue, a health issue, an environmental issue, and a community resilience issue. Our goal was straightforward to put more locally grown food into our neighborhoods, support our farmers, ranchers, watermen, and allied producer businesses, to create educational opportunities, conserve water, and strengthen local food systems. Although that position was eliminated, the mission did not end. Since leaving the city, I have continued this work around the world, helping communities in multiple continents develop sustainable food systems that conserve water, create jobs, improve nutrition, and increase food security. Everywhere I go, I see governments investing in policies that make it easier, not harder for people to grow food. That is why I stand here today before you to support the Free to Garden Act. This legislation is about empowering residents. It gives families the opportunity to grow healthy food, teach children where food and their food comes from, strengthen neighborhoods, and become more resilient during times of economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions. Jacksonville has an opportunity. We should be developing legislation that encourages food production, removes unnecessary barriers, and supports homeowners, schools, community gardens, nonprofits, and local farmers alike. Food security cannot rely solely on grocery stores and food banks. It begins in our own backyards, schools, churches, and neighborhoods. Every garden represents a healthier family, stronger communities, and reduced environmental impacts, and greater local resilience. Let's make Jacksonville known for the food we empower our citizens to grow. I respectfully ask you support the Free to Garden Act so that we can continue to build a city where every resident has the opportunity to grow, share, access fresh, healthy food. Thank you for your time, your service to our community, and your support of the Free to Garden Act. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Valerie Herman. In the meantime, I want to invite the following to please come to the front. Kathleen Pereira, Miriam Corney, Chaplain Jerry Woodham, Michelle Wilson, and Nathan Ballantyne. Please come on down to the front. Go ahead, Ms. Herman. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Valerie Herman. I'm Executive Director of First Coast Urban Ag. We create agriculturally immersive play spaces for children and families in the urban core. My address is on file. Thank you. Friends, neighbors, and members of the council. It was never about a hot dog and a coke, and today it's not about a tomato or a green bean. In the 1960s, opponents framed lunch counters as a threat to public order and neighborhood character. A threat to public order and neighborhood character. Absurd and yet sounds eerily familiar. Then, as now, it was never just about food. It is about human dignity. It is about equal citizenship. It is about healthy food sovereignty. And it is about our fundamental right to gather in public space. Because democracy is not born in City Hall. It is created in the daily, unscripted conversations, which usually happen over food, whether at a lunch counter or across a garden bed. If a city fears its own neighbors growing food, it is a city losing touch with its own people. When garden spaces are restricted by a generous amount of red tape, it does not create just a food desert, but a democratic desert as well. I think we can all agree our civic fabric needs tending. And the best place to do it is over lunch. Wouldn't you agree? Please commit to sponsor the Free to Garden Act so we can move it forward for filing an introduction. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Kathleen Pereira. My name is Kathleen Pereira. My information is on file. Congratulations to the new leadership of the Council. And special thanks to President Howland for strengthening the partnership with the six CPACs. Together we will continue to build a better city. By the way, did you know that you have an allotted amount of time to enjoy your peace and quiet and privacy of your home before development has the right to barge in and destroy it all? That is the impression I got from Sporting Jacks after my Fox Chase neighborhood's recent meeting with its representatives. Apparently our neighborhood's privacy and peace quota is 37 years. And so we should just accept the development that will be accroaching upon us. And then I guess we shouldn't feel sorry for the Windy Hill neighborhood if their septic tanks and well water gets get contaminated by this development since their peace quota expired 40 years before our neighbors neighborhoods. And the soccer stadium folks think that roughly one half mile buffer between our neighborhood and a stadium for 15,000 people is enough to dampen a loud concert or in branches soccer game. When if UNF had a loud concert tonight, we could hear it even with a mile buffer, mile buffer. And that doesn't include the extra 15,000 cars that will gridlock the current congestion in St. John's town center. The best scenario is to have Sporting Jacks partner with the Amada and build and share the soccer stadium already zoned to be built in the sporting complex downtown. Jacksonville does not need two major soccer stadium venues. Finally, please support 2026-0570, which is being introduced tonight for about the e-bikes. And please adopt a resolution to declare Charlie Kirk Day for October 14. And I think the right to grow is a pretty good idea, too. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Miriam Corney. Good evening. My name is Miriam Corney. My address is on file. And this is my second time to speak in front of you. So please, if I sound nervous, I am. But I would like to talk to you about the irreparable environmental damage of having a Sporting Jacks soccer stadium and development in Big Island Swamp. Construction and paving increased the runoff into the Pablo Creek Basin elevation, local neighborhood flood risk, and threatening natural water filtration buffers. Also, removing the tree canopy reduces the water absorption after drainage and causes flooding. Not to mention the environmental impact of destroying the nesting sites, food sources, and protective cover for native birds and amphibians and mammals. According to recent newspaper articles, our St. John's River is already experiencing massive amounts of pollution and algae blooms. This is going to the construction and the runoff and the fact that they're going to have to raise the water table for that property because it is a swamp will cause more problems for our St. John's River. So I'm begging you to remember this when it comes time to vote and say vote no for this soccer stadium and development. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Chaplain Jerry Woodham. Good evening. Chaplain Jerry Woodham, I want to thank President Howland and Vice President Carlucci for taking over leadership. I know they really want to make this a conservative budget that's coming up because we're all taxpayer dollars. We have to watch our budgets. But tonight I want to stand with John Labriel and the Christian Family Coalition group. I'm asking this city council to honor Charlie Kirk. This man is widely known to inspire our youth on our college campuses all around the country. Charlie has debated and held many events right here in Jacksonville. This young man used debate to educate and let the students find the truth and that a happy and blessed life. He modeled his Christian life by marrying the love of his life and becoming a dad to his children. He debated so people would understand that the unborn were a blessing and not a curse and that children are to be loved and raised by a mom and dad. His belief came from the Bible. He wanted other young people to have joy and peace that he had found. He was always respectful and used truth and logic to be his sword in his cultural battle. He even tried to wake up our churches to the Islamic threat. He was a watchman on the wall and he was evilly brutally assassinated. So I would like to see October 14th as Charlie Kirk Remembrance Day with his books displayed October 12th to the 17th in our libraries so children can learn and read from his books. I feel that this council needs to stand with the citizens and homeowners and not allow a soccer stadium right next to two neighborhoods. The sound, the traffic, the lights, put it somewhere else where there's lots of room where everybody can enjoy it. We have our CPACs that are not being listened to such as a Chick-fil-A that was built despite neighbors saying it would make it dangerous to leave their neighborhood and now many of my friends are dealing with those issues. It has not been that long ago that we were fighting an Islamic slaughterhouse. We stopped it but now there might be a mosque. So please research and listen before approving all these PUDs and over developments in our city. Please remember that the citizens voted for you. Respect and listen to them. I support the Free Garden Act. People should be allowed to grow a garden. Be blessed and have a great night. Thank you ma'am. Michelle Wilson is next. Good evening. My name is Michelle Wilson and my address is on file. Since January the 12th we have had a business that has moved into the residential neighborhood of Panama Terrace. I have made 23 MIJACS reports to report noise nuisance, not having a fence around their swimming pool, invasion of my privacy when they removed a brush, building on the property line, having an illegal business and a food truck and now dumping pool water in my backyard. Last Friday a city employee actually came out and did a reading and found out that they were in violation of the noise ordinance. I've made four calls to alcohol tobacco firearms. I've been to two Ask a Lawyer events where I was told that maybe I might try the media. Investigative reporter Anthony Austin came out and did a report and now I'm on an HBO documentary about neighbors. I've made 24 calls to JSO for illegal parking. Almost got hit twice by wrong way drivers going northbound in the southbound lane of North Pearl Street as well as not being able to see a left turn to turn on my own street. I've been told that no one has a decibel reader, none of the JSO, and then JSO even told me to buy my own decibel reader. And then I was told that it was up to JSO whether they give a citation or not. So city council can save money if the city is the one buying citations because they're not writing them. I was informed that there's one lieutenant in District 1 that has been trained, but no one seems to know who that is or when they work. Seven months ago on News for Jack's, Officer Christian Hancock showed a decibel reader and said what the citizens should do. There's even a flyer on the city's website of what to do when you have noise nuisance neighbors. I've made two calls to my beloved councilwoman. And I love seeing your face, photo ops, ribbon cutting and awards, but we need your help over in Panama Terrace. We have been terrorized by city bricks at 6843 North Pearl Street since January and they are not registered as a business under SunBiz. I don't know what else to do when I go in my backyard because I believe in the Free to Garden Act. I'm trying to get an edible schoolyard for individuals on special needs, but I can't go in my backyard. The music is just that loud. They think they see me and they yell F Michelle across the fence, F the neighbors if we call to get the noise turned down. And one night when I was working and I wasn't even there, they threatened to F my house up, which makes my daughter not want to go to sleep at night. So I'm asking for some kind of help. I'm going to be writing to the mayor and to JSO, but we need some help. And from what I'm getting from other sheriffs, they say, well, it is Jacksonville. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Nathan Valentin. In the meantime, I'd invite the others to come forward. These to come forward, Ruth Thompson, James Weston, Betty Saunders, Lazaro Salinas, and Laura McKeithen. And we're going to limit after Mr. Valentin, we're going to limit to two and a half minutes going forward because we picked up some additional cards. Go ahead, sir. And Mr. Peluso would like to talk to Ms. Wilson in the Robert Johnson room. So, Ms. Wilson, if you're still, go ahead, sir. Good evening, council president and council members. It's good to be here. My name is Nathan Ballantyne. Overalls Farm grows at 125 East 7th Street. I'm here to advocate for the Free to Garden Act, which will make market and community gardens permissible by right in Jacksonville. There is extensive legal precedent and best practices to draw upon that have been drawn upon in the drafting of our proposed legislation. Did you know that all of the following cities have defined and made legally permissible market and or community gardens by law? Tampa, St. Pete, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Gainesville, Lakeland, and Titusville, Florida, Atlanta, Savannah, Athens, Clark County, and Decatur, Georgia, Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Louisville, Kentucky, Raleigh, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Wilmington, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Richmond, Virginia, Houston, Austin, and Dallas, not to mention Kansas City, Baltimore, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. I could go on for a long time. Meanwhile, though our own comp plan says that the city of Jacksonville, quote, shall encourage community gardens. There are no zoning definitions or permissions to give that dictate legs. It is time we updated our zoning code with the Free to Garden Act. We're not asking for the world here. We're merely asking for the legal permission to grow food with and for our neighbors. We request that you pass the home occupation bill with all deliberate speed and then, in the coming days, commit to sponsor the Free to Garden Act. Thank you so much. Thank you, sir. Next we have Ruth Thompson. Good evening. My name is Ruth Thompson and my information is on file. I rely on the laws of the Florida Agricultural Department for my business, which is Bee Grateful Apiaries. It allows beekeeping in the urban area, and I would like to see Jacksonville pass the same urban agricultural rules for the Free to Garden Act, allowing people to farm in the urban area. One of the most direct economic benefits of urban farming is the stimulation of local economies through the farmers markets. That's where my daughter and I, who are partners in our business in beekeeping, do most of our work, is in the farmers markets. These markets create a platform for urban farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers, fostering a direct economic link between the producer and the community. This is what people, the citizens of Jacksonville, want. They want local produce, local food, to be able to purchase, and they want to buy it from the producer. This supports local agriculture and encourages the growth of other small businesses such as food vendors, artisans, and craftspeople, creating a vibrant economy. At most of the farmers markets, there are not enough farmers. You know, the market manager is always looking for producers of agriculture, but they're so limited. And one of the things that I really love about urban farming and beekeeping is that it has a relatively low entry level to the agricultural journey. I started our business with one beehive. We now have a hundred. People come to the farmers market and they say, oh, I want to visit your farm, because what do they think? Agriculture is way out in the country. And I say, well, my farm is in 25 people's yards throughout Jacksonville, from the beaches, Southside, Deerwood, San Marco, Riverside, Murray Hill, the Westside, Springfield. So I say, maybe we could spend it. You have to ask the owner if you can come to the yard. But this is what the future of urban agriculture should be, that there's farms throughout the whole city. And especially now, I just ask you to pass the Free to Garden Act. Thank you, ma'am. All right. Next we have James Weston. Good evening. My name is James Weston, and my address is on file. If you've been following the recent news about the parasite outbreak causing explosive diarrhea, you've probably been paying a little extra attention to where your food comes from. I know I have. That's one of the reasons I'm here tonight in support of the Free to Garden Act. We should be making it easier instead of harder to grow fresh local food for Jacksonville. Over the years, I've helped people grow food in our community, and I've seen the demand firsthand. Community gardens have waiting lists, families want access to fresh local food, and neighbors are ready to turn vacant lots into places what feed people instead of sitting unused. Growing food shouldn't mean fighting red tape for years. This is practical neighborhood-friendly legislation that expands access to fresh food and helps build a resilient Jacksonville. I respectfully ask for your support for the Free to Garden Act. Thank you for your time and your service to the community. Thank you, sir. Next we have Betty Saunders. Hello, my name is Betty Saunders, and I live in the Glenlia Grove Park neighborhood, and my address is on file. I'm here tonight to support and encourage the consideration, passage, and sponsorship of the Free to Garden Act, which would allow the community and market gardens permissible by right in Jacksonville. I want to add to what Nathan said earlier, because I just recently came back from visiting family in Detroit, and they also have a Free to Garden Act equivalent, and they have a lot of community gardens and apiaries there. Community gardens provide fresh, healthy food to our families and neighbors who need it most. They encourage physical activity, education, they strengthen family bonds, and they enrich the social fabric of our neighborhoods. When I learned about the challenges that Nathan and overalls farm and other similar things, similar farms encountered, I was actually shocked and disappointed that organizations dedicated to feeding our communities are forced to navigate costly administrative hurdles in order to operate. The current statute does protect the right to grow food for personal consumption, but does not address market gardens or sale of those things. The Free to Garden Act addresses this gap by creating a reasonable framework for nonprofit community gardens and local market gardens. It includes sensible standards for daytime operating hours, noise, lighting, and safe composting practices, so that these urban gardens can coexist in the current neighborhoods. In my view, requiring an urban gardener to obtain a planned unit development at a cost of $5,000 to apply is an unnecessary and prohibitive barrier. Currently, overalls farm provides fresh food to about 120 families through its subscription program. Imagine how many more families could benefit if these unnecessary barriers were removed. Rather than making it harder for community gardens to succeed, we should be creating opportunities for them to grow and serve even more residents. I believe the proposal also aligns with the goals of the city's developing state of the food plan, which seeks to strengthen our local food system and improve food security throughout Jacksonville. These gardens teach useful life skills and could even encourage younger children to go to environmental services. Thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. Next, we have Lazaro Salinas. Good evening, City Council. My name is Lazaro Salinas with the Jacksonville DSA chapter. My address is on file. I'm here tonight to speak on the Free to Garden Act, which aims to make community gardens permissible by right in Jacksonville. I have many friends and family in my communities that lack access to affordable groceries. The prevalence of food deserts and the lack of accessible transit creates hard barriers for the disabled, elderly, and overworked. The ability to create a growing space in our neighborhoods to feed ourselves and our neighbors alleviates the stress and financial burden of traveling to a grocer for basic foods like vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Our organization spent 11 months waiting on documentation that allowed us to grow food in a location we already had permission to grow from the property manager. Now, the garden produces peppers, tomatoes, beans, various herbs, and sunflowers for the neighborhood residents to eat and enjoy. As the price of basic groceries rises and financial burdens make us less able to satisfy our own needs, a community-led garden would materially improve our independence, sustainability, and health. This is a neighborhood-friendly, common-sense legislation that builds upon regional, state, and local policy foundations, and I urge you to consider the Free to Garden Act as a step in the right direction to improve the lives of our communities in this city. I would also like to oppose any honoring of Charlie Kirk, as he was a hateful bigot who weaponized people's fear and ignorance to normalize oppression of minorities all over this country. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Laura McKeithen. In the meantime, I'm going to invite the following to come down to the front, please. Dutchie Stevens, Ms. S. Charlie Smith, Samantha Series, Denise Scott, and Laura Marie Herman. If you'd please come down to the front, I'd appreciate it. Ms. McKeithen. Hi, my name is Laura McKeithen and my address is on file. I live in Springfield. I support the Free to Garden Act for so many reasons. Most importantly, it makes sense for communities, especially in times of economic challenge. I am so lucky to live where a neighbor, Nathan, tends nearby gardens daily. I pick fresh vegetables, spices, even flowers on a daily basis throughout the year. I do not rely on driving to a grocery store. Seriously, I almost never go to the grocery store. There is always something in season in Jacksonville. We are so lucky. With support of officials like you, tended community gardens like ours will become the model for other cities seeking to better the welfare of their citizens in fun, healthy, and engaging ways, regardless of the ups and downs of the economy. I appreciate your support for this. And like Lazaro before me, I am not in favor of a Charlie Kirk Act being associated with this city. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Ms. Dutchie Stevens. Good evening, Dutchie Stevens. The address is on file. I'm hearing all this argument and talking about these gardens and stuff, but you got too many contaminated cities right away ditches too. All this lettuce and stuff coming in with poison and stuff. I wouldn't recommend no garden until y'all get on Public Works about getting on their job, digging and cleaning out these ditches and mowing and cutting in every three months. Because it just seemed like ever since we have voted with a Democratic mayor, we've seen too much fraud going on with these cities right away ditches not being mowed and cut according to the federal law of environmental and protection. So if your environmental grounds ain't safe, that ain't safe for no darn garden. But y'all kind of give them contaminated food poison, because these ditches are stinking up the community. And I'm telling you, and I have sent our council, you know, in our district, she got more contaminated ditches in District 10, I think, than ever, because I don't see that Northside Public Works in mowing and cutting. They're not doing their job maintaining the city government grounds. And when you say enough is enough, we may have to borrow President Donald Trump to get the federal lawsuit for Public Works misusing their federal government funds. But our grounds are not safe right now, because you got too many contaminated city right away ditches throughout our city. And we got to get the ball rolling. I know they don't use the prison inmates no more, because a lot of them used to run off and try to escape some years ago when John Rutherford was our sheriff. So they can't borrow the prison inmates no more to help public works, you know, to mow and cut and dig and clean out the ditches, because they did have some that did try to escape some years ago. And that's why they can't use them no more. And they was coming from the pee farm, not the jail. So I don't know what to tell y'all, but ditches stink. And I think we're gonna have to get President Donald Trump involved, because I vote more Republican than Democrat. But it just seemed like we're not getting, we don't see the city maintaining their grounds in the mowing and cutting. And I think we need to buy John Patrick's back, or we need to find us a decent male that qualifies for the position, not a female. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Ms. Charlie Smith. Great day, City Council. And thank you for your service. I am Ms. S. Charlie Smith. My address is on record, and I'm in District 13. I'm here with men overalls to support the Free to Garden Act. The goal, I'm here tonight to support and encourage the Free to Garden Act, which I, which will take, will make the community and market permissible by rights in Jacksonville for the consideration of global supply lines are disrupted. Food prices are on the rise. And the community, the local community and market gardeners who are well positioned to help insulate us from these problems are stymied from growing groceries in Jacksonville. To put a personal spin on it, I am a combat veteran that has served myself. If it wasn't for the fellow garden partners that I had in the past two and a half years, I suffered a fire two and a half years ago. If I did not have that support, I would not be able to be in front of you today to ask for the permission to push it forward. As fellow veterans that I also service in the community, a plant club operator at R.O. Brown Academy, I help the children learn how to grow their own food at the elementary students that are there. I won't take up too much more of your time, but it's important for us to be able to grow our own food. If I'm not able to be at the school with these young people, they don't have the access to learn a new skill set. They don't have the access to know where their food comes from. They don't have the access to have extra food to come into their economic functioning in their household, which their parents did not know they could do until they were able to sit with me at the school. If you could please do your part kindly and respectfully, consider co-sponsoring the Free to Garden Act and also pass the home occupation bill. I'd be very grateful. Thank you for your service. Have a great day. Thank you, ma'am, and thank you for your service. Next, we have Samantha Serres. Samantha Serres, address on file. I'm here to talk to you today about over development. I understand that Jacksonville is a growing city. I just think that we could do a little bit more responsible development where we would take abandoned buildings, empty lots, and use those as places that could have mixed-use housing with, you know, maybe the community gardens can be part of it too. It would be a great time to have some walkable areas. It doesn't have to be all of Jacksonville, of course, but I think it's important that we start honing in on our developers to, you know, maybe encourage them to go towards places that are already torn down, already dilapidated, you know, and because I know the development is continuing, obviously, we cannot stop growing. We need to keep growing. I think it's important that maybe JA starts looking into desalinization because we're running out of water. Yes, our Florida aquifer is being over-drained constantly because of us in Florida, and 90% of Jacksonville gets their water from the Florida aquifer. That's right, and because we have over developed so much, we get a lot of runoff. That runoff goes into our water, into our streams, into our rivers, and it does not get to be filtered through the ground because we have developed it. So, now we have contaminated water. That's great. So, I think maybe JA needs to look into desalinization because that's where we're headed. I also think that JA should pressure some companies to take the very hot parking lots that are dead space, a heat zone really, and make them partially covered with solar panels. That would help with the community costs of energy instead of continually making our prices go up. I do understand they have some projects to cover with the gas plant that they need to build and everything like that, but maybe we could start encouraging these larger companies that have these huge empty lots that are just dead space. They're heat zones. Do you like getting burned when you go into your car? I don't really enjoy that. So, it doesn't have to be the whole parking area, just a partial one. That could save our community money. It's all about saving money, and this property tax might be coming up where we lose the property taxes. We need to start looking into other ways that we can generate money, have our energy cheaper for our communities, and just, you know, as always, try to stop that overdevelopment. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Denise Scott, please. Good evening. My name is Denise Scott. My address is on file. We hope you all enjoyed your time off, and we hope you're back and ready to take care of business for the people. With this being the first meeting under our new council president, Mr. Howland, I'm asking that you please restore public comments back to three minutes. We have council meetings twice a month as this is our time for your constituents to have public access to this body. When you give your instructions before comments, you always say that this is the time to hear from the public. We want you to hear from us, and we want our three minutes back. I don't know why, and I don't know why it stopped or when it stopped, but we want our three minutes back, please. As for this council, as you begin to have discussions concerning the mayor's proposed budget, I'm asking that this council please try to think about the citizens of this county, and not your special interest groups, or not your own selves. Since this mayor has been in office, the majority of this male-dominated Republican council has fought her on every turn. There are not many times that you've tried to come together for the sake of the people. I'm asking that you please stop being so selfish and so petty and put the people's needs first for a change. When you start discussing the budget, please remember where the bulk of this money goes. We all understand that we need to have public safety as a priority, but at what cost? I know that this is not a popular opinion, but it needs to be said. I'm grateful for the good officers that roam our city streets, but until this council reigns in our sheriff and its officers and teach them how to have de-escalation training instead of training in Israel Defense Forces, this city is always going to have to settle with victims with their lawsuits. Maybe, just maybe, if you would let the sheriff know that any lawsuits that would come from his budget and their pensions, and I'm not sure what's going on with this one to honor Charlie Kirk. No disrespect to anyone that believes the mess he said, but I thought we would finish hearing his name. The majority of the folks do not want to honor anyone that's spread so much hate and misinformation. Jacksonville doesn't need to honor another racist and white supremacist. Next, we have Lori Marie Herman. In the meantime, I would like to invite the following to come forward, and forgive me on this one. I believe it's Annette Marmon, Jennifer Joiner, Ronnie Burris, Addison Liberty Patrick, and Dragon Beloit. Go ahead, Ms. Van. Thank you. Good evening, President Hellman, honorable council members. My name is Lori Marie Herman. I'm an English teacher in the district. My address is on file. I'm here today to speak in support of the Free to Garden Act. I would like to ask you today to think of this act in terms of communities, in terms of building community, in terms of communities putting prevention to work, in particular putting prevention to work in the form of food security, which is more urgent than ever. From 2010 to 2012, I had the opportunity to observe the communities putting prevention to work grant in action on the island of Maui, Hawaii. As a result of that grant, over 32 gardens were planted across the island, which not only resulted in food security, obesity dropped by 30 percent, tobacco usage by 40 percent. The availability of healthy food for the community increased by almost 70 percent. These are big numbers. I believe that this type of positive change can happen here by putting prevention to work through building community with the passage of the home occupation bill tonight and the sponsorship of the Free to Garden Act in the upcoming sessions. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Annette, please help me with your last name. My name and address are on file. I need your name. Annette Maninov. Thank you. All right. I'm a local community organizer and I'm a teacher and I support the Free to Garden Act, which makes community and market gardens permissible by right. So I'm a teacher at John Rebelt High and I've seen firsthand the benefit that gardening has on our youth. I was teaching one day and there was something going on in the back of my class. I was trying to teach a novel and one student raises his hand wanting water, tears streaming out his face. They were all laughing. I was a bit annoyed at first until I realized what they had. A group of teenage boys had a hot pepper they had grown from the garden. And I went back there and I started talking to them and the way they lit up when they told me about how they'd grown it and they were showing it to me like with so much pride. And you know, these boys are usually like, you know, always causing me trouble and whatnot. But it's about so much more than the food, especially for our vulnerable youth in Jacksonville. And I want for all of the youth of Jacksonville to be able to experience that joy. But not only that, if you bring that joy, you bring votes because me and people with my mindset remember things like this. And we tend to be the types of people that care enough to vote and encourage others to vote or even run for office ourselves. I'm out in the community a lot and I promise this issue is of great concern between groups who otherwise may have nothing else in common, as I'm sure you've noticed tonight. So I'm not going to take up too much of your time, as you guys have heard this a million times, but just observe the walks of life that people are coming from and why they support this bill. It's a it's pretty popular. All right. So we ask you to pass the Home Occupation Bill tonight and in the coming days commit to sponsor the Free to Garden Act so we can move forward for filing an introduction. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next we have Jennifer Joyner. Hello, council. My name is Jennifer Joyner. I live in San Susi. My address is on file. I'm a member of the Southeast CPAC. With the next fiscal year's budget currently in the works, I'm here tonight to speak on the topic of animal welfare in Jacksonville and specifically regarding funds to cover spay and neuter surgeries. We pray to God before each of our city council meetings. We are here to be good stewards of God's creatures. And while city has taken steps in the right direction, we still have a long way to go. Animal welfare is hot on Floridians radar right now. Governor DeSantis has signed into effect several notable animal welfare laws over the last couple of years. More people are acknowledging that we need to take better care of all creatures big and small if we want to be a better society overall. One major way we can impact this is through trap, neuter and return programs also known as TNR. Jacksonville has an extensive population of community cats and without human intervention, their fate is not always a good one. TNR is the humane answer for controlling that population while helping the community cats that are already here. Controlling this population frees up resources for already overwhelmed shelters and rescues in our city so they can help more dogs and cats in need. The city of Jacksonville has not significantly increased funding for spay-neuter programs like Duval Cat Fix in many years, despite rising demand and increasing costs associated with providing these services. As a result, volunteer trappers must now pay a fee for TNR procedures. This will greatly reduce the number of cats brought in to be fixed. The chief of ACPS has stated that our city's shelter is working hard to achieve no-kill status again, so to that end we need more funding for spay and neuter surgeries. Per Jennifer Barker, the CEO of EveryPet, a reasonable request for additional trap-neuter return funding would be in the range of $100,000 to $150,000. TNR programs such as Duval Cat Fix continue to demonstrate tremendous community need with available funding often being exhausted quickly. An increased investment from the city would allow more cats to be sterilized, reduce burden on shelter intake, improve community cat health and quality of life, and help prevent the growth of community cat populations. Additional funding would represent a proactive, cost-effective investment in animal welfare. Thank you for your consideration. And thank you. Next we have Ronnie Burris. Hello, my name is Ronnie Burris and my address is on file. You all have heard me talk a lot about negotiations with JEA. Well, I'm here to tell you tonight we settled the contract and my bargaining unit passed it 240 to 14, so they're very happy with the contract that we were able to negotiate at impasse. Just so you know, we were the first union in over 20 years to go to impasse with JEA, so hopefully we're going to get them to 2026, and that's what I told them. But I just want everybody to know that we did settle the contract. Our members are happy, and I look forward for it coming to you and you passing it also. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Next we have Addison Liberty Patrick. Good evening. My name is Addison Liberty Patrick, and my address is on file. I am a Jacksonville resident taxpayer and party to case number 16-2026-CA-004155 in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. She's passing around some information there. I am standing here tonight to talk about ethics and basic due diligence because apparently someone around here needs to. Back in 2025, 10 sitting members of this council, Carrico, Howland, Amaro, Lannan, Carlucci, Arias, White, Salem, Miller, and Freeman, along with Sheriff TK Waters, rushed out to throw their official backing behind a single candidate for city council at-large group one. She was endorsed before basic legal questions were ever answered. So let's clear this up now. In this case, the one ending in 4155, no judge has actually heard the evidence on these residency claims. No judge has allowed discovery and no one has put Ms. Wesley under oath for a deposition. Her residency qualification has never been proven in a court of law, not once. In fact, as of today, a second lawsuit from an independent Duval County elector has officially been filed, challenging her residency from a completely separate source. 10 of you endorsed her so early in 2025 without checking the facts. Meanwhile, in 2026, state-level criminal investigations and subpoenas hover over our city council like a dark cloud. The irony is almost impressive. So what was the rush? Did 10 council members and the sheriff simply fail to do basic research or was political expediency more important than just transparency? I believe you hope the public would not pay attention to the fine print. But news flash, Jacksonville residents do pay attention. We read the fine print. So my question to you, with two active lawsuits now challenging her eligibility, does anyone have the backbone to retract or pause their endorsement until discovery takes place and the truth comes out under your oath? Or are you going to pretend these legal questions do not exist? The public record is watching. Thank you. Next, we have Dragon Beloit. In the meantime, I want to invite up to the front, please, Jamel Davis, Kiana Blalock, Nancy Murray Settle, Xavier Green, and Moriana Neves. Yes, ma'am. Hi, my name is Dragon Beloit. My address is on file. Hello again, everyone. Let's all be really, really excited for Liuna getting everything they wanted because it was crazy having them come up and go, hey, please help us, just over and over. It's always nice to see a positive result. I'm also here to speak on the Free to Garden Act. Sounds awesome. I like that. I have a little garden that I keep in totes because I can't put it in the ground. So I keep it in totes so I can move it back and forth. I'm growing peppers now. I also have another thing I'd like to say. I actually have a cat trap actively in my car to start doing the TNR program, and I'm really not looking forward to those fees. So hey, if you can waive those, that'd be awesome. But what I'm actually here for is to talk, once again, you're going to be so shocked about FLOT cameras. There are eight FLOT cameras around my neighborhood. I literally can't leave without a private corporation spying on me. We are the free state of Florida. Let's try and maybe look into that. Also, none of them have any breakaway plates at the bottom, so if a car hits them, they're not going anywhere, and that person's going to get really hurt. Who installed these? The one right in front of my house on Merrill Road, that one is just sitting right next to Merrill Road, which I don't know if you know how fast people go on that road, but it's pretty quick. Somebody hits that without a breakaway plate, they're going to die. And then their family is going to sue, not FLOT, but the city. I am letting you know that this is going to be an issue in the future as soon as somebody hits one of them. And we all live in Jacksonville, we know what drivers are like here. Someone's gonna hit one. So let's try and take some steps to try and maybe if they're going to be there, put a breakaway plate there. Also, if they're going to be there, inform the people that are being actively surveilled, because it is active surveillance. I really don't like living in a surveillance state. This is Jacksonville. Jacksonville is an awesome city. I don't want somebody looking over my shoulder when I leave my house. And right now, they do. A private corporation currently knows exactly where I am. I don't like that. I don't want that to be the kind of city I live in. And none of my neighbors do either. I can't get them out because they're all working, but everybody's pretty upset and they're going to vote that upset later. So please take action on FLOT cameras. Thank you very much. Bye. Next, we have Jamil Davis. Good evening. My name is Jamil Davis and my address is on file. I am here tonight also to say that I am in favor of the Free to Garden Act as well. I also think that the Free to Garden Act would be a great way for us to institute another way to have some sort of mental health practices within our city instead of putting more into the already inflated budget that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office currently gets here in our wonderful city and county. I am here standing as the North Florida Lead Regional Organizer for Black Voters Matter and also standing in solidarity with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee on behalf of Black Voters Matter in honor of being able to help institute a mental health response team that will answer a lot of our mental health cases instead of having our police department having to constantly and consistently go out and answer those particular cases as well. And I would like for many of our city council members to also sit with individuals within the community and help build out a budget that will benefit the people instead of corporate interests and our developer friends and well-being loved ones. And so that is my time that I will yield the rest to. Thank you all so much for listening to me. Y'all have a great evening. Thank you sir. Next we have Kiana Blaylock. Kiana Blaylock address on file. I am here with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee to demand that Jacksonville citizens have a say in the city's budget. We have seen that the portion of the budget that goes to public safety has increased over the years and much of that is going to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and yes while public safety is a priority giving and increasing the budget allocations that go to JSO seems like a contradiction only because they have proven time and time again that they do not know how to de-escalate especially when there are cases of mental health crisis is happening with Brian Gillis, Rashad Martin, Leah Baker. They have only escalated the situations and unfortunately a lot of them leads to Jacksonville citizens being killed. Many of the people here tonight have told you exactly what they want to be in this budget where the funds should be going whether that's a community garden whether that is the the stopping of certain developments and that we can have a more walkable city and in Jacksonville whether that be when when Dixie came to ask for money to be staying in Jacksonville and then the the reasoning was that there are food deserts and food insecurity when your council member here has said well there is a food desert fund or act however it just has gone ignored by most of you. So again people are telling you exactly what they want in this budget however time and time again you have proven that you it is falls on deaf ears it there studies have shown that over policing just leads to over policing it does not lead to a safer city but things that do lead to a safer city are the things that your constituents here have told you to your very face time and time again over the many city council meetings I have been over the years this the public the people's budget that JCAC is proposing provides a clear transformative alternative rather than the bloated JSO budget that we have gone gotten every single time and thank you so much thank you ma'am next we have Nancy Murray settle Nancy Murray settle addresses on file today I'm here to speak about law and order rules and regulation there's a lot of them when it comes to running a large city like Jacksonville and I personally can shape against many of them at times but I also realize that that's what makes our civilization work it makes government work it builds trust between citizens and elected officials when the rules are followed it brings order to what otherwise could be chaos when there is corruption greed for wealth and power nepotism and dishonesty a city or a state is bound to fail there's lots of sayings which show us that humans have a tendency toward corruption and dishonesty such as rules were made to be broken let's ask forgiveness rather than permission it was just a little white lie and everyone does it there's so many escape hatches from truth telling and honesty but we must attempt to shed light where we see that the bending of truth is becoming detrimental we must talk about hypocrisy sometime we give each other grace sometime we give a pass a waiver when we make mistakes and when running large organizations like Jacksonville I can see sometime the need for a waiver from following the rules the codes the ordinances but when it becomes a common practice I think we all need to take a look at what is happening I'm looking at specifically at the waivers from code um one one eight oh seven which requires a competitive bid before grants can be made I understand it on a certain level it speeds up the process of getting money to organizations that are large trusted have been doing business with the city for decades such as united way of northeast florida shoals backer center and however in this week's agenda there were 27 instances of a request for a waiver granted many of them were coming from the budget for next year um some of them made sense some of them does didn't however there were at least five other waivers ordinances attempting to give money to non-profits without a competitive bid I'm going to go to the one ordinance 0575 a request for ninety four thousand dollars to a great organization operation for new uniforms worthy for sure but when the president's fire watch has two of those members sitting on the board it looks a little bit like nepotism so let's be careful of that thank you next we have xavier green xavier green address on file good evening city council my name is xavier green and i'm a resident of jacksonville and i just have a question what message does it send to your constituents that our pre-trial detention facility has quietly become the largest mental health receiving facility in dubal county what message does it send when your own 2024 special committee report reveals a staggering reality that more than 31 of the jail population currently qualifies for diversionary mental health programs yet sit undiverted yet you also complain about how overpopulated the jail is sounds like an easy solution to this billion dollar issue am i right you all don't believe you all don't even believe that they belong in there so act on it that same report proved that individuals with mental illnesses stayed in the jail eight times longer and cost seven times as much draining millions from taxpayers through the jail and uf health at the same time jso has killed over five residents in mental crisis in 2025 alone contributing to a local police killing rate that is more than twice the national average while use of force incidents and complaints continue to rise and go unresolved according to jso's own open data and community reports we cannot afford to keep funding a broken cycle of incarceration and lethal policing the focus must shift immediately to funding a civilian-led mental health emergency response program we're pitching a 12-month pilot deployed deploying clinician first and co-responder teams to handle non-violent calls through licensed lsf mental health providers like mhrc the co-responder program through uh jso if there is a potential threat of danger and a police response if there is a direct threat of extreme violence diverting people who need it to community care like the souls baker center or mhrc before they even reach a cell and guess what it wouldn't cost the city much at all we've done the research the state has coffers specifically for mobile response teams or mrts so the time is now thank you and also charlie kirk y'all thank you sir next we have moyana neves in the meantime i want to invite gabriel peralta amina sharif jamie travis leonard and denise cook to please come down to the front go ahead ma'am hello my name is moriana neves address on file once again you've heard from the public about what it wants to see within its own community and i have an incredible and new transformative idea for our community the people of jacksonville will pay you tax money to put the things that we want to see the programs and initiatives that we want to see within our communities in our communities and you actually do it this time as the working class people of jacksonville continue to see more money being sucked into the city only to have fumes come out and have city leaders seemingly be more interested in the investment of death and stagnation within jacksonville we are done we are done with a 674 dollar million budget sorry and over a 150 million dollar increase over the years jacksonville can more more than afford to invest in invest in mental health initiatives and a mental health professional team in response to the mental health crisis in jacksonville and yet it chooses to invest heavily into armed forces meant to protect property and not people jesso jso's budget has increased from 638 million to 678 million over the last two years does anyone feel 678 million dollars safer no one does jcac's budget people's budget is clear it's transformative and for the people reinvesting millions of taxpayer dollars into the surfaces and the infrastructure that make our communities better and no more jso funding increases we need to implement a people's budget now and i know if charlie kirk was here with us he's looking up at us right now he would want this as well thank you guys thank you next we have gabrielle peralta good evening gabriel peralta address on file so the jc the jcac jacksonville community action committee has called for the inclusion of participatory budgeting in which additional funding going towards jso should be decided by the community to what priorities the community needs jacksonville should allow impacted segments of the community who are traditionally excluded from conventional budgeting plans to decide how that money is spent dozens of cities municipalities school districts and other entities have effectively used participatory budgets to increase democratic input from communities more funding to jso hasn't paid dividends however increased opportunities economic development livable wages and enhanced public services provide the stability needed for the people of jacksonville to third to thoroughly flourish over the past decade the jso budget has consistently accounted for more than half of our city budget and is increasing increased nearly every year with an overall rise of over 200 million since 2013. a mental health crisis is not a death sentence when families call 911 for help they're asking for medical intervention not an execution with a 674 million dollar budget and over 150 million dollar increase over the last couple years jacksonville can't afford to invest in trade jacksonville can afford to invest in trained mental health professionals instead of letting armed officers act as first responders for those in crisis we are demanding a permanent mental health emergency response team mandatory de-escalation protocols and family and family records within seven business days because grieving family members shouldn't have to wait months for answers while jso's budget balloons also also no charlie kirk day please that sounds horrible thank you thank you next we have amina sharif good afternoon amina sharif address on file i am coming to basically repeat the same thing we've been saying over and over and over again and we as the community are faced with stagnation many of the things that we've been coming up here asking for have not been acting on connor the young man that was arrested for speaking regarding uh palestine is still in jail for his his his public comments he has made and he was uh basically arrested for that from the tape he was assaulted but that's another issue the other thing is i'm glad to see that alligator alcatraz is being closed it is because people have been outraged about how the environmental situation affected the animal now we have the same situation in brentwood where the environmental uh fumes that are coming from the forensic forensic forensic forensic lab in the morgue we the the uh residents of that area should be given the same consideration as the alligator alcatraz we're being affected by those fumes all right the other thing is the the uh criminal president who has uh basically pardoned the january 6 uh people that stormed the capitol he has pardoned them now he has put in for these people to be compensated for the crime they committed when in essence a subject like uh to be considered for something like that here you have victims of slavery asking for compensation for them being victimized they consider that not relevant but then you can ask for the january 6 people to be compensated thank you ma'am next we have uh jamie travis leonard good evening city council my name is jamie travis leonard my address is on file welcome back um so today i want to talk about momentum specifically in this community you may have noticed we have increasingly at least since i've been coming regularly which has been about a year and i've attended almost every one of these meetings and several lez meetings at this point built a lot of momentum builds a lot of community you've seen it with the neighborhood bill of rights you've seen it with the freedom to garden act so i want you to keep community momentum in mind as we come into our fiscal year i reviewed the mayor's budget i was very interested in the fact 53 is going to public safety and unless there's something wrong on the infographic that was shared that's over a billion dollars which uh public safety is priority number one and this budget reflects that i'm beginning to think this council and the mayor's office have a different idea of public safety compared to me so i'm going to tell you what i think public safety is public safety is access to nutritious food public safety is affordable housing public safety is pedestrian pathways that keep them safe public safety is heat shelters in our lovely florida summer public safety is feral population management and funding to help people in the community do that public safety is the freedom to garden act it's the neighborhood bill of rights it's not putting the jail on the north side so what i challenge this council to do this fiscal year is take up the mayor's call to prioritize public safety but give us actual public safety make our communities better safer and more accessible thank you next we have denise cook in the meantime i want to invite up to the front please kirsten gilmore john nooney and chelsea chapman hi good evening my name is denise cook and my address is on file give you three guesses what i'm going to talk about tonight y'all have been listening to me for years so i'm going to talk about jp smalls and i'm going to talk about the money that we've invested the money that we're continuing to invest and how exciting that is this is a huge opportunity for jacksonville for 32209 but we have to also put in place things that were destroyed during redlining there it is there's that keyword there's that buzzword um we use it we use it when it's appropriate to generate hype about what we're doing in city council we use it when we're generating hype about we want people on our sides we use it when it's appropriate when we feel like it's appropriate but what it really is is a deterioration of our communities and it has been in place for years we all know it we know we're still doing it we're doing it in different ways we're doing it by digital redlining environmental redlining there's a hundred different names and we should sit down and talk about them all but what we're doing now is we're investing in a an anchor into 32209 that is an excellent idea but how many of you have been down there in the last six months is there safe places to walk are there any eateries are there anything to support that is the crime in that area where it should be so that tourists can come so that families can come where we're going to put in a new museum i'm all for this i want us to have these anchors we have beautiful beautiful historic buildings we have wonderful rich history not just in 32209 but all throughout jacksonville but we need to do things purposely and thoughtfully and with intent and make sure we're not putting the cart before the horse i do also support the freedom garden act and as far as feral cats i got several rabies shots last year from a feral cat that uh was not trapped so if we need if we can swing some money that way it's a good thing that's very dangerous because raccoons carry them in florida but they don't demonstrate any symptoms thank you thank you next we have uh kirsten gilmore good afternoon my name is kirsten and my name my address is on file um i am here to speak about jacksonville jacksonville deserves much better than the scraps we are often thrown by the wayside um like we're birds searching for the scraps like you know how when you scatter seed and some of it goes right in the middle and some of it fails to meet the outer edges of the um of the the birds and unfortunately oftentimes like birds we're all trying to flock into one area to try and gain access to up to a resource to a need being met to a thing that we need and unfortunately jacksonville oftentimes leaves many many districts by the wayside um unfortunately jacksonville leaves many people many institutions many funding things by the wayside when we prioritize funding things that are not able to actually supplement the scattering the way that we are continuously scattering seeds the way that we are continuously only putting things in certain areas only putting things in certain districts only prioritizing planting trees in certain districts putting mental health resources in certain districts and things like that when we only prioritize those types of things it creates an unfortunate situation where people think that things don't exist in those districts people think those districts are trashy are disgusting are invaluable and i do not want that for our city i know that we've heard many many people say that they don't want that for their city they want to be able to build community gardens they want to be able to have food access access to nature access to creating sustainable living programs for not only the humans of jacksonville but also for the animals of jacksonville for the wildlife of jacksonville for the nature of jacksonville for the continuing infrastructure of jacksonville which is what the budget is supposed to be for when we highlight and over emphasize making sure that public safety is only administered in one way we often we often see that scattering of seeds only being concentrated in one area i highly recommend we listen to our constituents we listen to the people that come and speak to us weekly i know a few of them personally i highly recommend we write down those things and we write down those names and those groups that are coming and speaking to you guys and you guys continue to have conversations with them i would like to say that i would also like to support the the right to garden act i would not like a charlie kirk day and i would like to decrease jso's budget please thank you thank you ma'am next we have um john newney hello i am john jay newney ojo trace cinco seis bascom road jacksonville florida three two two one six jacksonville city council resolution twenty twenty three zero eight one nine shout out rd the real doge ron davis 600 wbob monday through friday six to nine governor desantis james upmyer president trump dean black scott wilson donnie olton the board of county commissioners of saint john's county jacksonville city council members pardon noonie twenty twenty four zero one zero seven three point five million direct contract twenty twenty four zero three two five direct contract university of florida septic tanks now i'm wearing my fwc hat you know fishing with corrections now at a recent ethics commission meeting and you can ask dylan reingold paige johnson kirby oberdorfer i asked we have six c packs representing near the entire city of jacksonville we have the mayor's disability council um the council on elder affairs why is ogc the office of general council not represented at these meetings the public trust is crushed especially on our waterways and i'll show anyone i'm just down in about a minute okay twenty twenty six zero zero two four is a recent legislative example twenty twenty six zero zero zero four that's our parks trust fund twenty twenty six zero three nine six movie trust fund twenty twenty five zero four six three veterans trust fund twenty twenty five zero eight six seven duval county public schools cip wendy khan coj 2009 40 42 that's the artificial reef trust fund now support the freedom to garden act okay true commission waterways you know that's a thing to the but here real quick i'm only down to 20 some seconds here is downtown jacksonville the visitors map you open it up and you know what the kayak launch on chelsea street it's not there here's the new handout look how much smaller this one is again the kayak launch on chelsea street it's not there and there's legislation coming but i'll tell you what i'll take anybody tourism it's the world that we're marketing to our last speaker is uh chelsea chapman chelsea chapman oh council members my name is chelsea chapman a single mother of two uniquely able sons and a resident of duval county since 2021 also a member of naacp and the founder of guided guarded protected inc which will be providing a youth academic community enrichment program for the youth in the near future of 2027 i came to jacksonville seeking peace growth in a stability after homelessness but instead faced repeated negligence delays and violations from the city of jacksonville that prolonged our hardship and endanger my family's well-being despite clear needs and eligibility essential services were mishandled or denied leaving my children without consistent disability support and forcing us to navigate in instability no family should endure these systematic failures cause emotional financial and physical harm while obstructing our past forward securing housing and economic independence even through these challenges i speak publicly because the residents of duval experience reflects a broader pattern of institutional neglect affecting vulnerable families across jacksonville i remain committed to advocating for accountability change in a future where families like mine receive the support they are promised council members i'm here to address the clear shift in jacksonville spending priorities between the budget of 2019 and the 2026-27 budget and what those changes mean for the people who live here in 2019 the city general fund exceeded 1.26 billion with nearly 750 million dedicated to public safety infrastructure improvements relied heavily on debt and social investments were limited that budget maintained basic operations but it did not deliver transformative change for residents in 2026 2027 the public safety still consumes about 55 percent of the general fund while people investments remain small at what 7.3 percent the capital improvement plan has exploded to 262 million for the year and 1.2 billion over five years with 1 billion funded through borrowing these this represents a major strategic shift towards debt driven infrastructure expansion the pattern is consistent public safety dominates social thank you ma'am programs we have two uh people who do not wish to speak but submitted cards jessica machin please support jcac's but people's budget create a mental health resource center and ann sembach do not want does not want the soccer stadium at the town center mr president before moving on to public hearings as per your request we're going to be moving up item number 144 on page 56 number 144 on page 56 2026 0576 i move the emergency we have a motion a second on the emergency and the applicant's representative is here if anyone did not get to talk to him during committee week seeing nobody in the queue we'll take the emergency vote verbally all those in favor indicate by saying aye aye all again say no the emergency passes mr president we have two public participation cards the first is john noone mr noone you're up three minutes on item 144 2026 0576 hello i am john j noone jacksonville city council resolution 2023 0819 i'm in city council district 4 cpac 3 school board district 3 uh i thought i marked on the card did not wish to speak but i just need to hear your voice my friend i'll take you for your word though it's not it's but i i just but i'm here and i and just for the record i do believe i marked i support the legislation thank you mr newton thank you all right thank you sir we have another speaker uh mr harden uh council president i have questions only if someone has anything they'd like to ask me now all right thank you sir yes sir having no more cards i move the emergency move the bill as an emergency we have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency again the applicant's representative is here for any questions seen none let's open the ballot record your vote 18 yays zero nays by your vote 2026 0576 passes mr president it is now time for public hearings beginning on page eight council members should declare any ex parte communications anyone wishing to speak on the following bill should have completed a blue speaker card and you will be allowed three minutes to speak if you provided your address or the on the prescribed form and don't wish to state it on the microphone then you're permitted to just to state it's on the record but we encourage to be specific as possible as to your location because it will likely impact the weight of your comments like public comment assuming approval of the presenting officer a speaker may be invited to the robert johnson room for further discussion with a council member failure to complete the form provided including the provision of an address on the form will mean your name will not be called for public hearing mr teal please read the bills 20 26 376 420 421 483 484 485 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 522 2026 122 123 123 124 125 126 126 127 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 and 482 the president i would ask you please open up those public hearings these public hearings are all open again as per your request we're going to jump ahead and take two items out of order item number 46 2026 477 on page 24. do you have any cards for that you have two cards on 46 three cards i'm sorry on 477 and um i'm sorry okay it is 77 and 78 all right we've got four cards first one is chrissy kinney followed by grady pope and laura bacchus i would ask you to come on to the front please and then mr harden and because we skipped ahead reminder to all uh my colleagues were on item number 46 2026 0477 we're in public here good evening chrissy kinney address on file i oppose bill 0477 as it has clearly identified comp plan deficiencies on behalf of the san jose neighborhood association and myself as a homeowner i respectfully request that the san jose neighborhood association confident substantial evidence binder exhibits 1 through 53 be entered into the record this exhibit binder represents months of research through public records city planning documents engineering reports environmental studies demographic data legislative history stare decisis judicial precedents and applicable statutes in case law it has been prepared to assist the council in developing a complete evidentiary support record for this proposed land use amendment and it is comp and its companion rezoning 478 the first section of the binder focuses on the land use amendment it contains demographic information planning analysis comprehensive plan resources and legal authorities that are supported by evidence and advances a legitimate public purpose which at this time we oppose due to failure points within the application the remaining sections are organized around five findings required by the san jose neighborhood association resolution 012026 and addresses the companion planned unit development which my neighbors will address for the next bill each tab corresponds to one of those findings and includes supporting documents related to traffic compatibility buffering environmental preservation infrastructure and housing standards and how our five asks reasonably repair the four mentioned failure points it has been organized as a working reference to help locate supporting documents quickly formulate questions as they arise and identify issues that may warrant further discussion before this matter moves to the luz committee the neighborhood presents that these exhibits to help complete the evidentiary record by providing information that was either not included nor fully developed in the applicant submission our intent is not to overwhelm the record but to assist the council in evaluating whether the applicable land use and zoning standards have been satisfied we were encouraged by the applicant statements after planning commission indicating a willingness to begin workshopping this application with us now we appreciate that commitment and look forward to a meaningful meeting of the minds on the five issues identified for final approval thank you very much thank you next we have grady pope grady pope 3704 constantly on avenue in san jose 32217 i oppose ordinance 20260478 bear with me as written the staff report for this ordinance recommends sir we're speaking on 477 i'm sorry i'll have a seat uh miss kenny just spoke for me uh miss kenny just spoke for me on that one i'll speak to you next all right next we have laura bacchus hi i'm laura bacchus my address is on file and i'm a i oppose 477 um the section of old king's road south between saint augustine road and powers avenue where the king's trail property is located uh does not meet current standards for a residential roadway um it has two 10-foot lanes no shoulder no parking lanes or turn lanes there's no bike lane and no jta bus route no space was planned for road expansion drainage ditches line about half of this section of old king's road south on both sides the road has 57 single-family homes across the 20-foot wide street facing the king's trail elementary school property and it is assigned as a suburban residential collector c3r by the fdot or a collector by the city with an acceptable volume of over 17 000 trips daily according to the classification in early july our neighborhood association hired an independent traffic engineer austin chapman he did his analysis and it indicates that old king's road south is non-conforming to current standards for a collector roadway there are currently no bus stops no routes along this section and the closest bus stops are on saint augustine road about a third of a mile away or half a mile to powers avenue to east this is important to consider when increasing housing density according to the comprehensive plan um and in 2025 the city of jacksonville traffic study um identified the section of road the king's trail school property is on gets about 2500 trips daily but fdot estimates 3600 trips daily in this section um as a comparison of collectors um to our west st augustine road um is classified as a minor arterial and it has four lanes but no parking or turn lanes and it gets over 16 000 daily trips and it's at 60 percent capacity according to projections to our east powers avenue a minor arterial it's a suburban commercial collector c3c has four lanes with the center turn lane it is estimated at over 21 000 average daily trips and is at about 58 percent of the projected volume powers also has bus routes bus stops and a bike lane the proposed land use change would open this area to medium density residential development according to the traffic engineers analysis thank you ma'am thank you paul hardin thank you mr chairman paul hardin 1431 river place boulevard i'll go quickly on this this piece of property is adjoining a parcel that you have zoned for the exact same use that we're making of this property less than six months ago we're proposing a down zoning on the site it's currently being used for a school the school board is closing down it's going from an institutional use to single-family residential the road that they're talking about uh old king's road at the spot uh that that we're planning our entry onto the road is serving capacity at 14 percent there's 86 percent capacity according to the planning department at this site everything that they propose in their booklet that they handed out to you is incorrect it is countered in the planning department's report and has information in those reports uh on those issues so i'll be happy to go over those with anyone if you have time thank you mr chairman mr president you also have four members who do not wish to speak for individuals lisa friedlander she opposes elise prescott prescott prescott opposes dragon beloit and amy kaffey all oppose 477 i have no more cards on 477. this public hearing is closed an additional public hearing will be held on august 11 2026. next we have item number 47 2026 478. i have two speaker cards to grady pope and paul hardy mr pope grady pope 3704 ponceliana avenue in the san jose neighborhood 3 2 2 1 7. i pose ordinance 2 0 2 6 0 4 7 8 as written the staff report for this ordinance recommends two conditions the standard traffic study and requiring guest parking to be provided in accordance with the code at a ratio of one parking space for every three townhomes and or cottages at the planning commission hearing on july 23 the attorney for the applicant agreed to the traffic study but but balked at being required to provide guest parking stating its burden to maintain if you look at page nine of the staff report it explicitly states that as the number of townhome and cottage developments has increased throughout the city the planning department and public works department have received a growing number of complaints regarding inadequate guest parking within these communities insufficient guest parking often results in vehicles being parked along internal roadways or on adjacent public streets creating potential traffic circulation issues and impacting neighboring residential areas requiring guest parking at the standard ratio will help accommodate visitor parking demand reduce on-street parking conflicts and maintain compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods the san jose neighborhood association wholeheartedly agrees and adds that relying upon on-street parking will also create an unnecessary hurdle for emergency responders due to the proposed denser nature of the project and limited availability for on-street parking we respectively request that you consider approval to account for adequate guest parking thank you thank you sir next we have mr harden thank you mr chairman paul hardin 1431 river play school award uh we have proposed at the planning commission that the uh guest parking be in front of the houses uh the the the the lots are a lot wider than 31 feet they have room for parking on the front otherwise what you would have is guest parking scattered throughout the uh subdivision there there people use them for storage they're not used for parking people don't want to park and then come visit somebody and walk uh three or four houses away we'll have some of the folks uh from dream finders here to answer the questions on that but we we think that the proposed plan of proposed in the site plan in the application fits this uh requirement thank you mr chairman president i have no more cards for uh for item four i i do have one more you do have another card i believe i do actually i have four more cards five miss kenney lisa fredlinder elise brosch amy keffel gordy pope he just spoke on that one and then laura bachis so miss kenney again chrissy kenney address on file as written zero four seven eight should not pass for nearly 75 years our san jose neighborhood settled beside the king's trail elementary school it was not perfect but it was predictable families understood the relationship between their homes and that property the school served a profound public purpose and the surrounding community rooted around that reality that chapter is changing and we understand that properties do not remain frozen in time we understand that housing demands are different and we're not asking this council to stop progress quality planning asks a significant question when one land use gives way to another will we build the right bridge between the old and the new because the city is not simply approving housing it's granting a new set of development rights that will remain attached to this property with the pud long after we're gone the former school property in the proposed development are not equivalent uses simply because they occupy the same acreage one was a public institutional use with activity concentrated around school calendar and activities the other creates 110 permanent households and the intensities of such that difference matters it is why the pud written description matters a pud is not a contingency it is the legal instrument that defines what can and cannot happen on this property the applicant suggested that many of the protections our neighborhood request seem unreasonable but will likely happen anyway under intent respectfully likely is not a zoning standard and if our community cannot think feel and believe to substantiate our requests neither can the applicant this is still a school board property our ask is the language you approve our neighborhood has requested five reasonable additions to the pud written description they are not unreasonable demands they are modest safeguards intended to ensure that the transition from a long established suburban neighborhood to a higher intensity urban residential development occurs respectfully for all property owners for four months residents have asked for collaboration we've reviewed plans studied impacts and offered solutions we've not come here to oppose we've come here to improve during the planning commission hearing all of those efforts were dismissed rather than examined but disagreement should never replace evidence and frustration should never replace planning do not ask this neighborhood to trust what cannot be enforced to rely on assurances never written down how can we be expected to do that next we have lisa friedlander hope that's close lisa friedlander my address is on file i respectfully urge you to oppose ordinance 2026-0478 unless it is amended to require meaningful protection of this property's wetlands and mature tree canopy in the last three years within 1.6 miles of our san jose neighborhood we have lost 105 acres of forest that served as a major ecosystem to our area clear cut by developers for affordable housing apartments luxury apartments and town homes 105 acres of beautiful trees and wildlife gone i would be lying if i said i believed that the planning commission or dream finders cares about the 1.2 acres of wetlands behind the king's trail elementary school but we care instead of an extensive clearing of the 1.2 acres of clearing of the 1.2 acres of wetlands mature live oaks and cypress trees the builder could choose to utilize this land for the benefit of themselves new homeowners and the existing neighborhood there is research supporting this path please refer to your binder the san jose area is one of the few remaining gems in jacksonville from bay meadows north uh to san marco it's a pleasant drive with mature trees and no strip malls every few miles i have so much respect and gratitude for the san jose neighborhood association i belong to they have worked tirelessly giving their time and money to try and preserve our neighborhood even though the game seems stacked against the people jacksonville is blessed to have such caring citizens as a part of their community i respectfully ask you to vote no on this ordinance 0478 unless environmental protections are made a condition of approval once these wetlands are filled and these trees are removed they cannot be replaced we have an obligation to ensure growth occurs responsibly and in accordance with the standards the city council has already adopted thank you for your time next we have elise brosch good evening my name is elise brosch address on record and i'm the president of the san jose neighborhood association i'll be speaking to purple tab 5 in your binders and submit those documents for the record i oppose ordinance 2026 0478 not the project itself but the pud as written there are things about the project we can support but the pud written description leaves many questions unanswered and leaves a blank check for the developer to cash without community input at the planning commission hearing on july 23rd mr harden colored our requested conditions as unreasonable but that may seem like a true statement to someone who doesn't live in the area and travel the roadways on a daily basis or even to someone who doesn't live directly across the street from the project site our neighborhood is asking for five specific conditions to protect the character of our neighborhood all supported by the comprehensive plan florida statutes and prior council actions one of those conditions is housing for the elderly which the applicant has identified as one of the principal permitted uses within this pud because the written description does not define what qualifies as housing for the elderly the ordinance should expressly require that any development relying on this authorization comply with the federal housing for older persons act and its implementing regulations for the life of the development requiring compliance with hopa simply ensures that it if it if this permitted use is pursued it functions as a true age qualified community consistent with both the applicants representations and federal law we recognize the need for and would welcome a 55 plus independent living active adult community in our area in fact of the four active adult communities within a 10 mile radius of this project site only one offers detached single family homes and it's the farthest from this site i'd like to mention that despite our best efforts we've not been given the opportunity to meet with mr harden or have a town hall although the affected parties were afforded some type of virtual meeting the san jose neighborhood association was not notified or invited lastly in june the southeast cpac voted unanimously 19 to zero to submit a letter recommending a deferment to provide the planning commission and the public with additional time to carefully evaluate the benefits and concerns associated with these ordinances and their potential effects on the surrounding neighborhood a copy of the cpac letter is in your binder the planning commission declined to defer but if we're given more time we're confident we can work with the applicant to reach a solution thank you for your time thank you next we have amy calphill good evening i'm amy calphie um writing one wing here sorry about that um yeah so amy calphie with san jose neighborhood association my address is on file and i'm speaking in opposition to the proposed ordinance um 0478 as written um having spoken here before you all have asked us to don't just don't say no bring some ideas so in your binders and we keep referring to that it's quick reference material full of competent and substantial evidence supporting the puds conditions that we're requesting so you've heard about wetlands you've heard about traffic i'd like to talk to you about building heights and the buffer along old king's road south first height the application allows structures up to 35 feet on 31 foot wide lots right up against our neighborhood boundary that's a sharp jump next to primarily single-story single-family homes and after the planning commission hearing last week the applicant's representative confirmed that the product is intended to be single-story cottages across the whole site and if that's the case and we take him at his word then writing that commitment into the pud language should be straightforward single-story limit along our shared boundary stepping up only on the far east side near powers avenue simply locks in the transition the site plan already implies it protects the existing neighborhood without stopping the project second is the buffer along old king's road south we're asking for continuity with what's already there reclaim the school brick from the walls um torn down from the school and set the the buffer depth um uh at 35 feet from the right of way that matches the established buffer and keeps the streetscape uh consistent with more safety and more safely walkable there's a practical upside too um adaptive reuse credits are available instead of demolishing all the brick you can repurpose it and it's in uh part of uh historic reuse requirements of the comprehensive plan it's better for the project saves money for the developer good idea neither of these conditions are unreasonable nor are they anti-development um but simply make the pud match what the applicants already described finally i want you to see this handout in your binder that talks about our neighborhood we are 1100 single-family homes with roughly 26 2 650 residents and nearly 73 percent of those homes are homesteaded and owner occupied so it's a stable tree line data set in your binder that i just shared with you representing a full long-term resident base asking for reasonable transition thank you thank you our last speaker is laura bacchus i'm laura bacchus and my address is on file um i was talking about the road condition um earlier old kings road south um egress for and i'm opposing 478 as written um egress for the new housing development via old kings road south is is not the best solution um development on that property um could explore getting an easement to powers avenue which is better designed for the volume of traffic 110 units could just generate and have easier access to multimodal transportation widening old kings road south in the section between st augustine road and the intersection with powers avenue to meet current collector roadway design requirements could be required according to the city land development procedure manual vehicles excuse me when developments have a volume of left turn and right turn traffic that exceeds 20 to 30 vehicles per hour they recommend a specified storage turning lane when deemed necessary this would be a roadway improvement that could be required according to the independent assessment of traffic engineer austin chapman current space constraints are impossible to overcome without potentially seizing property of adjacent homeowners by eminent domain a possible solution has been proposed by our neighborhood association we have approached ymca leadership their property is also for sale and is adjacent to the king's trail property and the duval county school board representative for the king's trail property about requesting a shared easement using an existing service road at wilson high school that would allow ingress and egress for both properties via powers avenue the ability to provide an access road that meets current roadway design standards is possible with this solution ymca leadership is interested as it would enhance their ability to sell jacksonville ordinance code also supports a solution like this for easements and cross access there's been a recent precedent that was set that also supports a solution like this ordinance 025-449-e for the normandy cove pud included language that made the rezoning approval subject to conditions it required the development to secure an agreement with the duval county school board for access to the property and via a specific roadway prior to the first certificate of occupancy or the functional equivalent a condition like this for access on powers avenue via an easement through two school board properties with the agreement of the ymca is our recommended solution thank you thank you mr thank you ma'am mr president we have no more speaker cards in 478 this public hearing is closed additional public hearing will be held on august 11 2026. moving back to the start of our items on public hearings page number eight item number eight 2026 376 i have one speaker card john nuni and mr floor leader vice president carlucci is going to the green room for those from the neighborhood who want to meet in there regarding the last two public hearings we just had mr nooney three minutes sir hello i am john philanthropic good boy resiliency intangible nooney 83 56 bascom road jacksville florida three two two one six i'm city council district four cpac three school board district three all right uh gosh yeah this is massive stuff home occupations we're going to amend sections we've got our rural residential category low density residential category medium density residential category high density category sub part b residential use categories and zoning districts now this is massive it's in rules l-u-z but not waterways and you know the c-pacs is it going to go to the c-pacs and you know the reason i want to speak to this it gets back to the quality of life throughout this entire city and then the waterways component for access and i'll tell anybody i'll show anyone i think we're just getting absolutely crushed so when you do increase this in every category then keep in mind there's 67 counties in the state of florida our waterways is one of the most critical unifying features and you know i just wrote on a whole bunch of different like facebook stuff like keep in mind like we just had the power lines like a a thing with the jackson well mr nooney stay on the bill please yeah well i am i mean can you you know again you know all all these home occupations occupations density requirements and it doesn't matter what whether it's jta all the independent authorities you know what i want to just focus on and what i hope this council focuses on just remember that reed island before we had public access now also not the bill please mr nooney okay okay okay last last time last time all right i i know okay well anyway uh wanted to bring that uh why not just send it to waterways and then maybe that discussion can happen there all right thank you for listening thank you sir that's no no more speakers cards for 376 this public hearings continue to august 11 2026 page 9 items numbers 9 10 and 11 420 421 483 i have no speaker cards number uh 2026 0 420 and 2026 0 421 are continued public hearings continue to august 11 2026 and then item number 11 2026 483 i have no speaker card this public hearing is closed turn to page uh 10 item number 12 2026 484 and 485 i have i actually i have one speaker card on 485 hold on 484 i have no speaker cards this public hearing is closed on 485 i have one speaker card questions only and christian reed seeing no questions this public hearing is closed and moving on now to item 14 2026 533 i have one speaker card jorge gonzalez mr gonzalez hello uh george gonzalez uh 135 west 9th street um i don't have anything a little bit closer to the microphone please uh i don't have anything additional to say i just was here uh if someone needed any questions questions only yeah thank you sir i have no more speaker cards and seeing no questions this public hearing is closed we've got now to page 11 item number five three twenty twenty six five three four i have no speaker cards this public hearing is closed item 16 2026 535 i have one speaker card jamie travis leonard do you wish to speak miss leonard good evening city council my name is jamie travis leonard my address is on file so when it comes to 26 535 i do support uh this ordinance uh what i'm handing out right now is the fdot flyer on roundabouts so my only request is i don't know if it could be applied technically to this ordinance but in the future when we are uh expanding some of our roadways roundabouts are the safest way to integrate turning into uh when we're redeveloping roads it is safer for cars it's safer for pedestrians also as i've mentioned previously in public comments we don't have to worry about uh people ignoring safety in the rain outside of what they're normally going to do because roundabouts don't require electricity which means when we have our torrential downpours they are still functional uh so my public comments predominantly on uh potentially incorporating roundabouts into uh the turn lanes that are going to be uh the subject of this bill if possible if not i understand i kind of came at the end of the process but for the future i hope you guys consider that when you are looking to improve our roadways thank you thank you ma'am i have no more speaker cards on 535 this public hearing is closed item number 17 2026 536 i have no speaker cards this public hearing is closed during the page 18 number 18 2026 537 i have four cards samantha series followed by jamie travis leonard followed by nancy murray settle samantha series address on file this bill provides forgiveness to jacksonville fraternal order of police foundation the fob foundation received 200 000 city grant to support various charitable and educational initiatives under the fiscal year 2024 2025 city grant agreement sections 118.201 and 118.202 the fob foundation was required to provide an audit report by april 30th 2026 for funds received during its fiscal year ending december 31st 2025 the fob foundation submitted a limited procedures audit report that did not meet the requirements and did not provide required audit and was therefore placed on the council auditors chapter 118 non-compliance list on june 12 2026 because that placement renders ineligible for the city grants that is why the fob foundation is requesting forgiveness for their non-compliance and removal from the list i do not support this i would like to know if they are going to provide an audit that does in fact meet the requirements that they need to meet i don't know about you guys but usually when an audit isn't being met fraud is involved that's usually how it works if you are not auditing these places you and you're just forgiving them without having any backup to any reason that you're forgiving them you're just okay i'll take them off the list give them more money where's the money going why can't they give us an audit that actually meets the requirements they agreed to they received money two hundred thousand dollars they said they were going to give you an audit that met the requirements for the money that they received and it doesn't meet the requirements why why are we just forgiving this that there needs to be discussion about this are we getting an audit because again that is where fraud slips in that is when you see monies being used that are not allowed to be used for what they're being used for that's the only reason why you wouldn't give an audit because you don't have the backing you don't have the receipts that's usually why an audit isn't being provided because you don't have the full correct receipts i think we need an audit i think you all need to discuss this and i'm sure it's going to pass but honestly it's concerning that we're just allowing forgivenesses for things that are required to have audits not have audits and i would think that you guys would be concerned about that it's your it's the money for our city you know our budget's coming up we're probably going to give them another grant we need to be careful about this thank you next we have jamie travis leonard good evening city council my name is jamie travis leonard my address is on file i'm back so i also oppose uh 26 537 i don't know if there's like a miscommunication with like what is being expressed to the community but from what i've read basically what happened was the fop foundation failed to meet their obligations to provide audits based on our ordinances and now they are asking for forgiveness for that to continue to receive public funds i don't know about you but if i fail to pay my taxes the irs doesn't just forgive me so i'm not sure why we would even entertain a forgiveness now if maybe they were late and they have finalized a and submitted an audit that meets the requirements i can understand if that happened that information is not communicated in this so there's a lack of communication and transparency with the public in that case at which point i may move to support but at this time i oppose based on the information that was uh provided in accordance with the bill online i don't even know again i'm not sure why we'd entertain this if they aren't meeting their audit obligations we have those ordinances for a reason it's checks and balances do we not have duval doge up in here are they not questioning this isn't that their whole thing is to find waste fraud and abuse i work in health care it's a big deal i'm assuming it's a big deal for you all to pay attention to that so unless there's again information that hasn't been transparently provided to the public i expect you all to not pass this thank you next we have nancy murray subtle nancy murray subtle addresses on file again i'm sticking with my um same theme for today i'm here to speak about law and order rules and regulations i oppose bill 0537 to forgive the fraternal order of police for non-compliance and auditing it should they should not be forgiven they broke a rule and they should live with those consequences it's law and order they are not above it when citizens here in council break the rules by clapping they're tossed out or even worse and again in proposing this ordinance even the hypocrisy is evident if clapping in support of council is good and grace is given then yet clapping in support of a citizen that disagrees with the council that's bad and must be punished there are rules and regulations we're either going to follow them or not and for the fraternal order of police they also need to abide by those regulations um why why are we even why is it out here i mean is it just because they're the police and i mean we give a lot of money to police and we don't question i mean we have a police problem inmates are dying there's lawsuits about police brutality but we don't question and we continue in the budget to give money is it just because police is in the name we have a problem obviously with the fraternal order of police they did not submit audit statements that's a requirement to be able to receive city money waivers all these forgivenesses are we going to just let the fraternal order of police off the hook as well i say no they did not complete the audit as required and we want to make more city money available to them again how does that make sense it doesn't it would not be good stewardship stewardship stewardship of our money please vote no on bill 0537 ladies uh councilman johnson would be glad to meet with you in the robert johnson room the three ladies who just spoke if you were interested in meeting with him mr johnson there was a fourth card uh on this item by john nooney he opposes it but does not wish to speak that closes uh that can this public hearing is closed item 19 20 26 538 i have no speaker cards this public hearing is closed item number 20 20 26 539 i have one speaker card john nooney hello i am john jay nooney jacksonville city council resolution 20 23 0819 i'm in city council district 4 cpac 3 school board district 3 all right the reason i'm speaking on this piece of legislation we're appropriating 115 000 and 90 you know it's from the duval county tax collector but we've got 25 000 from the saint john's river water management district and so it's going to be posted you know my first thought was are we getting a manatee stamp i mean the water management district you know i hope someone's here to speak to that because there's legislation i filled out another you know there's there's stuff coming in the next but anyway you know if we're just going to be just moving some stuff around the water management you know 25k you know uh if that's the way then just let's uh let's get ready to really open up our waterways for some public access all right thank you for listening no more speaker cards 539 this public hearing is closed item 21 20 26 540 no cards this public hearing is closed items 22 and 23 on page 14 5.1 and 542 i have no cards these public hearings are closed page 15 item 24 20 26 543 i have no cards this public hearing is closed item 25 20 26 552 i have two speaker cards john nooney and jamie travis slandard who is in the green room but mr nooney hello i am john j nooney jacksonville city council resolution 2023 0819 city council district 4 cpac 3 school board district 3. now this one man bring the water management district in on this okay what we're doing you know this is in neighborhoods finance but but not in rules or waterways we're getting ready to to spend 1.6 million from the general fund and we're going to be creating the jacksonville riverfront alliance it's like wow you know and we're just waving everything you know we're going to allow for a direct contract waiving the provisions advancement i mean so anyway you know and at this point you know i'm just down to two minutes but i want to share with all we are marketing to the world and remember that this legislative body created trust funds and so right here with this legislation which is part of the permanent record i am making two donations one is the 2026 0004 that's the parks trust fund the next one 2026 0396 that's the movie trust fund spielberg call me you know that et movie we're redoing it um but and i will bring this up and donate it so here we have we're creating something the st john's river alliance you know i put on there you don't vote no i mean what do we need to do with this you're creating a whole new level and it is uh i'm just down to 50 some seconds but again you look at our waterways and i will show anybody when someone says you think we're getting more act we're getting crushed and so uh um yeah 1.6 million and uh at the very least send it to waterways and i hope i i can't understand why there's people not lined up to speak to this because you only get one shot at speaking to a piece of legislation so in the meantime again we're just marketing to the world the free market you know and just remember pottsburgh creek public park it connects to downtown jamie travis leonard does support this bill but does not wish to speak public hearings closed press now it's time for public hearings on land use amendments and companion rezonings and modifications to the comp plan beginning on page 16. item 2026 2026 122 i have no speaker cards this public hearing is continued to august 11 2026. item number 27 2026 123 i have one speaker card samantha series i believe she's in the green room just does not want to speak and opposes this item this public hearings continue to august 11 2026. item 28 20 124 125 we have no speaker cards these public hearings are continued to november 24 2026. item i did have one speaker card on 125 samantha series she did uh does not wish to speak but she does oppose it i apologize we're good i no i i doubled up mr president it would probably be appropriate to reopen the public hearing to allow him to announce the card so it's on the record for that hearing and then continue it 20 26 0 1 2 5 this public hearings open and mr president i do have one speaker card who miss samantha series who opposed this this legislation but does not wish to speak thank you this public hearing is continued to november 24 2026. item number 30 20 26 1 2 6 i have one speaker card miss samantha series who opposes but does not wish to speak this public hearing is continued to august 11 20 26. and item number 31 20 26 1 2 7 again samantha series uh opposes this legislation but she does wish to speak but she's not available she's in the green room the series if you can hear me all right i have no more speaker cards this public hearings continue to august 11 20 26 during the page items number 20 30 number 32 20 26 4 2 2 i have two speaker cards we'll start with randy baker questions only correct and miss series is still locked up in the green room so we will close mr president that's all i have seeing no speakers we will close this public hearing uh move the item 422 we have a motion and a second on the bill 20 26 0 4 2 2 seeing no speakers in the queue let's open the ballot and record your vote 15 yay 0 nays by your vote 20 26 0 4 2 2 passes item 33 20 26 4 2 3 i have no speaker cards this public hearing is closed 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 15 yay 0 nays by your vote 20 26 0 4 2 3 passes item 34 20 26 4 2 4 i have no speaker cards this public hearing is closed move the bill we have a motion and a second on the bill no speakers in the queue open the ballot and record your vote 15 yay 0 nays by your vote 20 26 0 4 2 4 is approved during the page item item number 35 on 20 26 4 2 5 i have no speaker cards public hearings closed move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no speakers we'll take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment 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 queue let's open the ballot and record the vote 15 yay 0 nays by your vote 20 26 0 4 2 5 passes item 36 20 26 4 2 6 i have one speaker card brenda iselle questions only she supports the bill seeing no questions this public hearing is closed move the bill we have a vote 20 26 0 4 2 6 passes item 37 20 26 4 2 7 i have one question one card question brenda iselle questions only she supports seeing no speakers on the queue this public hearing is closed move the bill we have a motion and a second on the bill seeing no speakers let's open the ballot and record your vote 15 yay zero nays by your vote 20 26 0 4 2 7 passes bring to page 21 item number 38 20 26 4 2 8 i have five speaker cards but call your name i'm going to ask you to come down to the front and please uh be ready to come to the podium first we have uh jamie williams williams still here hilliard graham paul stassi laurie stassi and bishop arty braun whoever wants to go first please identify yourself come on up my name is jamie williams address on file and i serve as director of social services with the city rescue mission in 1995 i graduated from robert e lee high school now known as riverside high school having spent my teenage years in the lakawanna and riverside community i have witnessed both the strength and challenges that have shaped this neighborhood over the years in 1998 i began my career with the city rescue mission the same year the mission purchased the mcduff campus during my tenure i have worked at all three of our locations our thrift store our state street location which is called the new life then and our mcduff campus over the years i have had the privilege of watching the organization grow significantly in the number of services provided the beds offered and the lives we've been impacted as we look towards expanding our mcduff campus i often reflect upon when many people in the surrounding community were unaware of the services we provided for many years the city rescue mission functioned as a community within a community the mission has always been a safe haven and a temporary home for individuals facing significant life changes and complex barriers throughout our history we have worked hard to not be a nuisance or burden to the community rather we have been and continued to be a valuable community resource providing hope stability and support support to those most in need our policies programs and expectations are guided by grace and compassion which is why many of the men and women we serve come to view our staff and our services as family the growth of the city rescue missions mcduff service is truly a win-win for our community because we'll help we are helping return transform men and women to their families return them to their families workplaces churches and neighborhoods our objective is not limited to meeting an immediate need rather we focus on creating lasting generational change that produces a positive impact throughout the community thank you council for your service to the community and we appreciate and pray for your support as we continue in our endeavors thank you thank you good evening my name is hilliard graham address on file and i'm a recipient of the services of city on city rescue mission i'm proud and i'm proud to stand before you today as a graduate graduate of city rescue mission life builders program i came to city rescue mission at a time when i was tired alone disappointed in myself because of the choices i made my drug addiction had taken control of my night life and i knew something had to change growing up life wasn't always difficult in my early years i was surrounded by love and support my mother owned a home and a neighborhood store our family was close i grew up in the riverside like a one in brooklyn communities here in jacksonville intended school on the west side but life changed when my older brother got in trouble her mother sacrificed so much trying to help him that she eventually lost her home in her store times became hard and eventually she sent me to live with my family up north because she couldn't no longer afford to care for me not long after that i was introduced to drugs from that point on my life became a blur poor decisions addiction and missed opportunities then i heard about city rescue mission actually i knew it was in the community because i stayed like a block away um but coming to the one of the city rescue mission was one of the best decisions i ever made here i found more than shelter i found hope i found guidance most importantly i found myself through the life builders program i learned discipline responsibility accountability and purpose i discovered that i'm capable of being a leader and positive influence on others most importantly i learned that god never stopped loving me today i'm living proof that change is possible the city rescue mission didn't just help my life it changed my story thank you thank you sir thank you for sharing bishop brown good evening i'm a local pastor in the lakawanna area and um i've personally seen many lives change uh over the years through this program so i give my full support behind them mr brown bishop brown if you again just note that your address is on file please address is on file thank you sir next we have laurie stassi my name is laurie stassi and my address is on file i reside in riverside i would like to speak on behalf of city rescue mission as a volunteer for 10 years two individuals had spoken in raising concern previously about city rescue mission and i would like to give my perspective i have always felt safe on the mission campuses when people come to the mission for help they are ready to comply to the rules and program requirements there's a fence and security gate to limit access and to make sure troublemakers do not come on campus when people come in to the program they have been wounded by the world and they need to feel safe and secure it is a very loving family-like christian environment the mission tries to present well in the community by keeping their buildings up recently with a one million dollar grant they began a painting project and installing new windows they keep their grounds neat and landscaped and have put in several gardens for the residents to enjoy the hope is that others in the community would also keep up their properties as well and we would be good neighbors someone had raised questions in the past about increased traffic most of the residents in our programs do not own cars they use public transportation gradually as they get on their feet and get a job and become responsible citizens some will purchase a vehicle to aid in their goals of living a productive life we are very proud of those who accomplish this but it is a very limited amount of people and certainly would not create traffic jams in the area but if that were the case i would be extremely thrilled to have that kind of success of getting people off the streets of jacksonville and back to living a beautiful life every big city has homeless people and individuals with drug addiction and alcohol problems i am proud of how city rescue mission has 24-hour care so that the streets around the mission are not littered with encampments i see their work as a service to the entire population by those in need by helping those in need we have mothers who would be sleeping in their car if the mission weren't open we had a man who was a self-proclaimed belligerent drunk living on the sidewalk in the west side until he decided to get help he met jesus and he was filled with joy and he was transformed we have individuals who were working functional alcoholics until they couldn't keep up the charade any longer they lost their jobs and they came to us for help we get people from all over jacksonville city rescue mission's work is extensive and having the proper zoning would aid them in their amazing work thank you for voting yes thank you next paul stassi hi paul stassi executive director of city rescue mission and address on file thank you mr president members of jacksonville council and everyone here today in 1946 three business men in downtown walk the streets carrying thermoses of soup offering food compassion and hope to people who had nowhere else to turn they could never have imagined that their simple act of kindness would become city rescue mission a ministry that has faithfully served jacksonville for 80 years today city rescue mission provides meals shelter addiction recovery transitional housing workforce development and medical and medical and dental care every day we see lives transformed as you heard as people move from homelessness to housing from addiction to recovery from unemployment to meaningful work and from despair to hope none of that would happen without a place where healing can begin today i'm not asking for funding i'm simply asking for the ability to better utilize our property at the mcduff campus which city rescue mission has owned and operated for nearly 30 years this rezoning does not change who we are or our mission it simply allows us to steward our existing campus more effectively and meet the growing needs of jacksonville for three decades we have worked to be good neighbors our campus is professionally maintained staffed 24 hours a day and committed to being a safe positive president's presence in the lackawanna and north riverside communities we believe that serving our neighbors also means being a good neighbor earlier this year this council honored city rescue mission's 80th anniversary with a resolution sponsored by councilman johnson recognizing our decades of service to jacksonville we are deeply grateful because it affirmed our partnership that has existed between the city and the mission for generations we understand that there might be questions that were raised through this process and respect the opportunity for them but our record stands by itself past performance is one of the strongest predictors of future performance for all these years we have operated both campuses responsibly safely and in partnership with the community this rezoning simply allows us to continue doing what we've already demonstrated that we can do well we respectfully ask for your support so the city rescue mission can continue transforming lives strengthening families and serving jacksonville for another 80 years thank you mr president i have no more speaker cards this public hearing is closed i move the bill we have a motion and a second on the bill no speakers on the queue let's open the ballot and record your vote 17 yays 0 nays by your vote 2026 0428 passes item number 39 40 20 24 20 26 429 i have one speaker card mr stassi paul stassi executive director city rescue mission address on file again thank you president howland and members of city council jacksonville is facing an affordable housing crisis every day city rescue mission helps people overcome homelessness addiction and other life challenges but too often when they're ready to move forward they cannot find housing that's affordable we are asking for your support to build studio apartments on the hunt street portion of our existing six acre campus along with the other things that are in this bill this is not new for the mission it is the next step in a proven one for more than 10 years we have successfully operated transitional housing that helps people move from homelessness to independence this project simply creates more opportunities for people to have who have who have already done the hard work of rebuilding their lives there may be questions about traffic and height of the building the reality is most of our residents as you heard don't have vehicles so traffic impact is minimal and we already have a four-story building on our campus so this proposal is consistent with what exists today and has for years consider what currently lines the section of edison street which should be the the backyard of this section where we're looking to add the uh apartments it's a jea parcel a vacant lot a boarded up house which actually since the luzz committee last week i've been in no negotiation with the owner to purchase ourselves and then another vacant home that is reportedly occupied by squatters instead of vacant properties and blight we want to offer safe well-managed housing attractive landscaping and a campus that continues to serve both its residents and the surrounding neighborhood we are investing in this community because we believe it deserves better this request is not about changing who city rescue mission is it's about allowing us to do more of what we have faithfully done for the last 80 years helping people move from crisis to stability dependence to independence and homelessness to home i respectfully ask for your support of this bill thank you mr president we have no more cards in 2026 429 this public hearing is closed i move the bill we have a motion and a second on the bill i recognize miss clerk murray thank you chair i rise to declare ex parte i met with steve deep now and paul stasi beginning on march 18th of this year and steve deep now on june 25th of this year our discussion was primarily what the applicant wanted to do in regards to the zoning change and which was primarily to bring all of the parcels and buildings under one zoning and that has been filed with legislative services additionally i met with richie mulaney and paul stasi on june 16th at the north riverside community center during their neighborhood meeting and once again they explained the reason for the zoning that proposed construction for the crm's vision for the next 20 years lastly i met with robert freelich on june 23rd here at city council and he just expressed his concerns in regards to the rezoning and all of this has been filed with legislative services thank you all right thank you ma'am we have no other speakers in the queue we have a motion and a second on the bill let's open the ballot and record your vote 17 yeas zero nays by your vote 20 26 0 429 is approved bring on now to page number 22 items number 40 and 41 20 26 430 431 i have no speaker cards these public hearings are continued to august 11th 2026 item number 42 20 26 432 i have two speaker cards questions only travis i'm sorry jv travis jamie travis leonard supports and christian reid questions only she supports as well no speakers in the queue this public hearings closed move the bill we have a motion and a second on the bill no speakers let's open the ballot and record your vote 17 yeas zero nays by your vote 20 26 0 432 passes page 23 items number 43 20 26 4 0 433 i have two speaker cards uh jamie travis leonard who wants to speak on this and christian reid questions only supports the bill miss leonard good evening city council my name is jamie travis leonard my address is on file i'll be quick for this i do support this ordinance i really just wanted to come up and say that i appreciated the um developer and the owner and how much uh in planning and really community thought they put into this proposal um i was at the lez meeting where it was presented and you could really tell that they took into account not only their needs but also the needs of the community around them and how what they are proposing could impact that community i hope to see more proposals like this where they really are working with us to ensure that what they're giving us not only meets their needs uplifts the community but also is in conjunction with the area they're in versus what we are seeing more and more where there is friction between the uh developers and the community at large thank you i have no more speaker cards this public hearing is closed item 44 20 26 475 i have oh actually we have uh i'm sorry move the amendment we have a uh motion and a second on the amendment seeing no speakers in the queue we'll take the vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against saying no 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 17 yeas zero nays by your vote 20 26 0 4 3 3 is approved item number 44 20 26 475 i have one speaker card samantha series she's questions only or comment no does not wish to speak but does oppose i see no speakers for questions this public hearing is closed actually and an additional public hearing will be held on august 11 2026 item number 45 2026 476 i have no speaker cards this public hearing is closed an additional public hearing will be held on august 11 2026 we've already taken up items 46 and 47 moving on now to item number 48 2026 479 i have three speaker cards i have three speaker cards i believe it's solomon rags charlin corbett walter and trevor peters all do not wish to speak all support this public hearing is closed an additional public hearing will be held held on august 11 2026 items number 49 2026 480 i have the same three folks settlement ross shall run corbett walker and trevor peters do not wish to speak but do support this bill this public hearing is closed an additional public hearing will be held august 11 2026 items number 50 and 51 uh i can do that yes 2026 481 and 482 i have no speaker cards these public hearings are closed additional public hearings will be held on august 11 2026. as it happens mr president there are there are no third reading resolutions today so we move on to the ordinances beginning on page 26. for members of our audience these bills have already had their public hearings with the final committee reports are now ready for full council action our first item is number 52 2026 319 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment we have no speakers in the queue let's vote verbally all in favor of the amendment 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 17 yeas zero nays by your vote 2026 0319 passes turning on now to page 23 item 53 2026 2026 445 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no speakers in the queue let's vote verbally all in favor indicate by saying aye aye all against say no amendment passes i move the bill as amended required as it requires a two-thirds vote 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 17 yeas 0 nays by your vote 2026 0445 passes item number 54 2026 448 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment seeing no speakers in the queue let's 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 let's open the ballot and record the vote 17 yeas 0 nays by your vote 2026 0448 passes moving on now to page 28 item number 55 2026 449 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no speakers in the queue will vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against say no all right the amendment passes move the bill as amended we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended open the ballot and record your vote 17 yeas 0 nays by your vote 2026 0449 passes item number 56 2026 0489 i believe there is a motion a floor amendment yes indeed there is let me uh call on mr peluso please thank you mr president uh i'm going to move to withdraw this bill um i believe that through some of the conversations that we've had in committee seems like there's a little bit of disagreement about what uh the purpose of this bill is and different processes within the hic happy to come back with a better bill later on so move to withdraw we have a motion and a second to withdraw 2026 0489 and everyone you're getting a floor amendment that's for a bill two from now so the motion here on the table is to withdraw nothing to do with the floor amendment you're getting um seen no speakers on the queue let's open the ballot and record your vote a yes is a withdrawal welcome back 17 yeas 0 nays by your action 20 26 0489 is withdrawn item number 57 on page 29 20 26 490 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment we'll take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against saying no the amendment passes move the bill as amended we have a motion second on the bill as amended before we vote i'll recognize ms pittman to the chair to out of abundance of a caution i work at the clara white mission and my staff may be partnering with someone that may be receiving this so i just want to make sure the paperwork has already been signed and submitted thank you thank you ms pittman no other speakers in the queue we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended let's open the ballot and the court to vote 16 yeas zero nays one abstention by your vote 20 26 0490 passes before we move on uh ms pittman you just want to state for the record that you abstain from the amendment as well chair i was supposed to do that on 58 instead of 57 so i do apologize oh okay well you just abstained you don't want to reopen the vote do you okay all right or do you would you like to reopen the vote oh we need to don't we um actually uh hold on let's yeah let me get from mary what you think i should do i apologize yeah abstained on the wrong one i did it on 57 instead of 58 i apologize all right no problem give us a second for mary to see if you have to uh vote on out of abundance of caution we could just move to reconsider through the president to council member pittman this is for the home investment partnership funding i don't believe that you have traditionally abstained no ma'am that's what i said my recommendation mr president is if somebody who was thank you um and we can then um take a vote on the reconsideration and assuming it passes you would just need to move and second all right mr diamond just moved to reconsider 20 26 0 4 9 0 and i heard a second from dr johnson so uh we have a motion uh now let's entertain a um motion reconsider we vote verbally on the reconsideration yep so we'll take a verbal vote on the uh motion to reconsider all in favor indicate by saying aye aye all against say no the motion to reconsider passes and mr floyd yeah okay sir let's go ahead and move the amendment on 2026 490. all right we have a motion and a second on the amendment take the vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against say no the amendment passes now move the bill as amended we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended see no speakers in the queue let's open the ballot and record your vote 17 yeas zero nays by your vote 20 26 0 4 9 0 passes item number 58 20 26 491 i will recognize miss pittman yes sir thank you i'll recognize councilwoman pittman on 20 26 0 4 9 1 please thank you chair i'm on the right one now um i'd like to abstain um from 491 um due to me working at the clara white mission and some of the staff may apply with the partnership with another agency thank you thank you ma'am i'll turn to mr carrico former council president hey thank you mr president i rise to abstain from this legislation out of an abundance of caution as my employer the boys and girls clubs of northeast florida has received cdbg grants in the past and may receive them in the future we're actually not listed as a recipient of these funds but i just feel a name of transparency and caution to abstain from any cdbg legislation so i will be abstaining thank you thank you sir and now i will recognize councilman peluso thank you mr president i'd like to offer a floor amendment i'm going to have mr populous uh explain it if you'd like thank you through the president to the council the floor amendment encompasses the committee amendment which is listed on the blue sheet but it adds a couple of additional technical corrections for the bill it attaches a revised exhibit one which is the bt to correct the revenue and expense amount for sidewalks to 500 000 and correct the revenue and expense amount for the edward waters university project to two hundred thousand dollars and changes that expense account code code it also attaches a second revised exhibit two which is the schedules of funding to correct the amounts and remove the edward waters university project from the included in cip category to the not included in cip category on page two of the schedules you'll just want to get a second on that if you haven't already mr i heard a second anything else mr peluso all right we have a motion and a second on the peluso floor amendment uh before we take a vote on it uh dr salem you're recognized thank you mr president i just heard edward waters university mentioned a couple of times are they on board with these changes just to make sure through the chair to council member salem and i i will let miss reaver mr peterson correct me if i'm wrong but i think the issue was there was a a belief at the time that the bill was originally filed that they were on the project was going to be on city owned property and it's not city owned property it's private property so it can't be listed under our cip and so i'll let miss reaver address any additional detail for that miss reaver you're right to be uh through the chair to council member salem yes we had to remove it from the cip because it's not city owned property so that's why we're moving it into the other category of non-cip project so it really has no impact upon it has no impact it's the same dollar amount that they were going to receive previously thank you so much all right mr lane in here okay down on the queue great then we have a um motion and a second on the peluso floor amendment we'll take this vote verbally all in favor of the peluso floor amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against saying no amendment passes move the bill as amended we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended no speakers in the queue let's open the ballot and record your vote 16 yes zero nays two abstentions by your vote 2026 zero four nine one passes moving on to page 30 item number 59 2026 492 move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no speakers in the queue let's take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against saying no the amendment passes move the bill as amended we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended there are no speakers let's open the ballot in the court you're in noxious weed you're invasive 18 a zero nays by your vote 2026 0492 passes thank you mr president i didn't want to get in the weeds on that one 20 i had to do i had to save it had to save it it was invasive and obnoxious i get it 60 2026 493 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no speakers we'll take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against saying no amendment passes move the bill as amended requiring a two-third vote we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended no speakers let's open the ballot and court the vote 18 a zero nays and by your vote 2026 0493 passes page number 31 item 61 2026 494 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no speakers in the queue let's vote verbally all in favor of the amendment 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 let's open the ballot and court the vote 18 a zero nays by your vote 2026 0494 passes item 62 2026 495 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment before we move on did we okay good we're back on 62 all right we have a motion and a second on the amendment 2026 0495 uh we have mr diamond before we vote on the amendment you want to speak back on 2026 0494 don't mind uh well we have a motion it's just a comment it's just a comment okay yeah no i just wanted to thank kara tucker for her hard work on all this ada compliance stuff which has been in the entire department over there they've done really good work and if you all don't know she she lost her dad a month ago lost her mom six months ago and she's still soldiering on helping literally anyone in the city who's who has uh you know challenges and so you know i just want to send all of our love to kara as she's literally at work today after all this stuff amen thank you mr diamond all right we have a motion and a second on the amendment for 2026 0495 no speakers on the queue let's uh take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all again say no amendment passes move the bill as amended we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended there are no speakers let's open the ballot and record the vote 18 yeas zero nays by your vote 2026 0495 passes turning to page 32 item number 63 2026 497 before i move the amendment i think we need to recognize councilmember pitman miss pitman you are recognized to the chair um again i'd like to abstain from this one and the next one um i am employed at the clara white mission and some of our staff may be applying in partnership with another agency and providing um service to individuals with aids thank you and the paperwork has been signed thank you ma'am no other uh expertise or abstentions just for clarity she is standing only on 497 right now only 40497 thank you move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no speakers let's take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying 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 let's open the ballot and cordial vote 16 yeas zero nays one abstention by your vote 2026 0497 passes item 64 that's it 2026 498 i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendments no speakers in the queue let's take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment indicate by saying aye aye all against say no the amendment passes move the bill as amended we we have a motion and a second on the bill as amended no speakers in the queue let's open the ballot and cordial vote 18 yeas zero nays by your vote 2026 0498 passes we're in the page 33 item number 65 2026 499 this time i think we do be recognized council member pitman miss pitman you're recognized i'm on show tonight um again i like to um abstain because the clara white mission serve um clients and we've already submitted the paperwork for this and thank you thank you no one else on the queue move the bill i move the amendment we have a motion and a second on the amendment no one's on the queue let's take this vote verbally all in favor of the amendment 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 record your vote 17 yeas zero nays one abstention by your vote 2026 0 499 passes mr president we have five resolutions and ordinances are in second reading and 10 ordinances on second reading although none of these items will be taken up to see if anyone to remind colleagues there is an opportunity for public participation regarding for the resolutions mr teal would you please read the bills 20 26 544 545 546 547 548 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 and 532 given we have no public participant patient cards participation cards we now move on to the introduction of first reading resolution to north's ordinances beginning on page 38 starting with item number 81 2026 500 there are no public participation cards so i move the emergency we have a motion and a second on the emergency seeing no speakers in the queue we'll take this vote verbally all in favor of the emergency indicate by saying aye aye all against say no emergency passes again i should note there are no no cards for this one so i will move the bill as an emergency we have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency and i believe at this point mr peterson you would like to oh we did yep you would like to speak through the president to the council so this bill is moved as an emergency tonight to notify the property appraiser by august 4th of the city's rollback rate uh the proposed millage rates for the upcoming budget which are staying the same as last year's council approved rates and then also the september 8th public hearing that will occur where the public will get to come and talk to you about the millage rates this just as i said keeps the rates the same as last year it does set the high watermark for the millage rates for the proposed year so from this point forward finance committee and the council can lower the millage rate but after tonight it's nearly impossible to raise the millage rate above what you approved tonight all right thank you mr peterson so we have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency we have no other speakers in the queue let's open the ballot and record your vote 17 yeas 1 may by your vote 20 26 0 5 0 0 is approved all right now moving on now to page 39 item number 87 20 26 5 9 6 i move the emergency we have a motion and a second on the emergency seeing no one in the queue let's take this vote verbally all in favor of the emergency indicate by saying aye aye aye all against saying no in the emergency passes move the bill as an emergency i have no cards on this one other than mine very suspect mr chair if i might before we take a vote on this one i just want to make a comment i really appreciate this is my seventh year serving on the canvassing board i can't tell you there's a more important job that i've had during my tenure on the council somewhat disconcerting to me we had our logic and accuracy test last friday it was learned at that point in time that the number of mail-in ballots has dropped dramatically and i'm concerned about the prospect of that i want to assure constituents out there the due diligence that i and the other members of the canvassing board do in combing over those ballots as they come in so if it's a matter of convenience for you it's also a matter of importance that you take the time to vote and do so by ballot is still a viable way to work so thank you mr chairman thank you sir do we have a motion on the bill as an emergency with a second yes we do we do all right with the motion uh and second on the bill is an emergency on the table and no other speakers let's open the ballot and accord your vote 18 yes zero nays by your vote you've approved 20 26 0 5 9 6 30 page 40 item 91 20 26 600 i move the emergency we have a motion and a second on the emergency no speakers let's take this vote verbally all in favor of the emergency indicate by saying aye aye all against saying no emergency passes i have no public participation cards on the public participation cards on this one so i move it as an emergency we have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency no speakers let's open the ballot and accord your vote 18 yes zero nays by your vote 20 26 0 6 0 0 passes moving on now to item number 98 on page 41 20 26 607 i move the emergency we have a motion a second on the emergency no speakers let's vote verbally all in favor of the emergency indicate by saying aye aye all against say no emergency passes i move i have no public participation cards on this one so i move the emergency we have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency no speakers let's open the ballot record your vote 18 yays zero nays by your vote 20 26 0 6 0 7 passes president there are two first reading ordinance ordinances to be taken up this evening the first can be found on page 53 item number 136 20 26 568 move the emergency all right we have a motion and a second on the emergency again it's item number 136 20 26 0 5 6 8 you'll find it on page 53 i have no speakers on the emergency we'll take the vote verbally all in favor of the emergency indicate by saying aye aye all against say no emergency passes i have no participation cards on this one so we will go ahead and move it as an emergency we have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency mary would you mind just explaining what this bill does yes thank you through the president to the council so this legislation would reschedule the finance committee teu committee and luz committee meetings that are regularly scheduled for tuesday august 18th to wednesday august 19th as the 18th is the date of the primary election and it will also reschedule the finance teu and luz committee meetings of tuesday november 3rd to wednesday november 4th so that the general election which occurs on the 3rd can be observed by individuals who might want to attend to that versus attending count council committee meetings so this is an adjustment that the council makes with the when the election dates fall on committee or council days so it's in keeping with past practice of the city council thank you mary and there's a companion bill or a related bill running through that schedules um reschedules meetings for may of next year um yes mr president that one was not done as an emergency but there is a bill item 137 on the agenda that would reschedule finance teu and land use and zoning on that are currently scheduled for tuesday may 18th to wednesday may 19th in observance of the election date that would occur on may 18th and it also just acknowledges the council rules already provide that when a regular meeting of the council occurs on election day that that is an automatic rescheduling to the next day so while the bill doesn't accomplish that because the rules would automatically do that it does acknowledge that so it's another opportunity through this legislation when it gets noticed that the public be made aware of that additional change thank you very much uh we have a motion um and a second on the bill as an emergency i see no speakers let's open the ballot in the court of vote 18 yeas zero nays by your vote 2026 0568 passes mr president before we move on to the addendum item number 159 on page 63 2026 591 happens to be a duplicative bill to item number 14 2026 054. in order to dispose of the duplication i move that we withdraw 2026 591 and i need a second we have a motion and a second to withdraw 2026 0591 as you said it is duplicative there's a bill that is exactly the same that is earlier on the agenda i see no speakers in the queue let's open the ballot and record your vote to withdraw 18 yeas zero nays by your vote 2026 0591 is withdrawn mr president we have two additional items to that end i move the addendum we have a motion and a second on the addendum this is also a voice vote all in favor of hearing the addendum approving the addendum indicate by saying aye aye all against say no the addendum passes item number 160 pursuant to council rule 4.1001 we now take up the matter of the mayor's veto of ordinance 2025 872 i move it be approved approved not withstanding the veto of the mayor all right we have a motion and a second the floor leader's motion is to approve ordinance 2025 0872 not withstanding the veto of the mayor which has been and of course that's been seconded the question posed to everyone tonight for consideration is as follows quote shall ordinance 2025 0872 be adopted and become effective not withstanding the veto of the mayor with that we'll open up the floor to for debate and the queue is lining up mr peluso you're first thank you mr president thank you for recognizing me first i just want to clarify voting no on this basically supports the mayor and it ensures that this veto remains so uh mr popolis can you just clarify so voting no is the right thing to do correct mr president would you like me to address that please do okay so the motion on the floor is to approve ordinance 2025 872 not withstanding the veto of the mayor so if you pressed green or yes the that is a vote to override the veto of the mayor and approve the ordinance if you press red or no that is a vote to sustain the mayor's veto and defeat ordinance 2025 872 thank you mr president and thank you mr popolis i mean we've had this debate numerous times let's just get out of here this evening vote no vote no on this stupid process we actually really shouldn't even be here but regardless of why we are vote no thank you thank you sir i recognize dr salem thank you mr president i'll just make a few points some of which i've made before um mr fackler indicated when we first got into this he wanted to get this right i entertained several past general counsels to talk to him as well as past experts in our government they convinced him that we have the authority to make appointments to these to these boards that had been the policy for 55 years in this city up until when mayor deegan came in and mr fackler became the general counsel this is nothing new and i want to make emphasize that point why these two boards kha as i've said before there are all sorts of issues with kha their budget approaches 60 million dollars we should have input into those board positions for the library board again 40 plus million dollars we should have appointments to that board this this bill respects the strong mayoral form of our government we get three on kha and five on the library board those appointments occur as people come off the board this in no way shape or form disrupts those boards or anything similar to that the council president will only get an appointment as people come off those boards a couple of things that i've heard discussed we're taking power away from the mayor this mayor this bill isn't just for the next year while mayor deegan is mayor this bill goes on past that it goes past my tenure on this council this is a permanent change to these boards it's the question is should the city council have appointments to these boards we have the authority we voted for this it passed now we have to override this veto if you want to maintain that we are co we are a co-equal branch of this government and i feel strongly we should have these appointments this bill is similar to the downtown investment authority dia our president has an appointment to the dia board that he has because that board is shared he will get the he will have that appointment coming up so in summary this bill is not disruptive it is consistent with this government for the past 55 years other than the last three i believe we should have appointments to this board as we do with dia and i encourage you to vote yes on this ordinance thank you thank you dr salem over to councilman layman i think mr president uh councilman salem touched on the budget and like i said when this came up the first time that was my biggest motivation for voting yes on this because i do want us to have more input on this if you go back just four years kha's budget has gone from 35 to 65 that's 86 in four years public safety which i think we all agree should be the largest part of growing government public safety has gone up 41 in fact if kha had grown at the same rate of public safety their budget would have been at 50 million instead of 65 million this past year so i do want to make sure we have some sort of input on who we're appointing to this board because the reality is we're going to need board members that can either do more with the same amount of money or potentially uh do the same with the less amount of money so i want to make sure we are able to uh vet and put people that we think are going to do the best uh and make the best use of the money that kha gets so i'll be a yes on this again tonight thank you sir over to councilman boylan thank you mr president i appreciate the comments of both uh council member salem and elena on this but uh i wish council member romero was here you know if any broke why are we trying to fix it we do have control we do have control at the end of the day we see up or down on on these appointments so we do have that control and the questions and concerns with respect to kha in particular certainly we can make clear our intent to see this managed better or well if it isn't already and to put people in place in order to do that you know many of you may know this but i put out a bi-weekly email after the city council meetings and in that email i talk about the various bills and why i supported them or didn't when i and it goes down to about 5 000 constituents and so i use that as a pretty good barometer as to whether or not items like these are important to my constituents i got one response to it he was supportive of my vote against uh this bill the last time it came around people looking at this is something that's not critical it's this is inside baseball and if we've got the opportunity to stay up or down on any of these appointments we have all the power we need to make sure these boards are properly populated and so i need see no need to do this and for the record i'm not doing this because donald deegan is mayor i would have done this five years ago when councilman uh president mayor curry was in was in place it doesn't make sense to me that we we want to make changes to the these kind of voices you might recall kha when it was established it was assistant upon mr mayor curry that he have all the appointments in that process and we it was not challenged at that well maybe it was challenged but it didn't happen that way if they broke don't fix it let's leave this thing alone and move on and deal with the things that people care about thank you mr chair president thank you sir over to miss clark murray thank you chair this bill by its nature is disruptive so i talk with previous council members often about the history behind bills and so mayor austin was the first to basically establish the children's commission which is very similar to this and so he had the wisdom to say that as a mayor there was a certain amount of power that he didn't want to have in regards to the financial aspect because he thought that this could create a problem in regards to just power by its nature corrupts and then absolute power corrupts absolutely so he maintained the idea that you the mayor gets to recommend and then the council approves and then going on mayor delaney not exactly sure but i remember that i would say that i remember that being the most productive years of this city and i was a young younger person then but then payton had the jacksonville journey and kept the appointment aspect the same then going on to brown not exactly sure but just going and just kind of piggybacking on what you said council member boylan mayor curry had the inclination to keep the same type of structure so i'm not sure exactly why it needs to be changed but it doesn't it this current mayoral administration it being able to appoint and recommend persons to the board doesn't diminish our power and it's been said before that it does and it doesn't and it creates a balance and once again i go back to the information that i received in regards to mayor austin and that was the fact that he thought about the fact that at this point kha is which which is what the bill or this particular organization became under mayor curry the amount of money that goes into that board is very enticing and so having this particular structure where you have the mayor to recommend and we approve is a balanced way to form this board and once again let's think about our perception or not just our perception but how we're perceived by this county by the people do we want to keep that or maintain or help to further that perception by changing the structure of this board and of course i didn't think that any of us thought that the mayor would approve it or sign it certainly she shouldn't and whether it's a female mayor male mayor democrat republican once again the structure of the board isn't broken and it doesn't need to be fixed thank you chair thank you ma'am over to councilman miller thank you mr president to the president um i'd like to take a slightly different approach um thankfully the uh auditors and researchers helped me with this but i just want to take a factual approach on the past and the current situation with our boards and commissions um and so by the numbers you know i heard the comments um we get uh up or down votes so that's that's enough for us to have what the implication was and also mayor recommends the council approves but the facts of our current boards and commissions uh don't support that we have 52 boards and commissions and of those 52 35 have multiple individuals nominating or appointing um even though we we actually confirm this body does but 35 of the 52 current boards and commissions are at least duly and in some cases three different individuals with different individuals with different organizations give nominations for those boards of those boards the mayor appoints 10 solely the city council appoints four solely and the mayor and the council appoint jointly 12. so we're not doing something here that i think uh hasn't already been done obviously it has by the numbers and does that diminish someone's power i don't think so and and from my past as inspector general and commander of many organizations i'm always looking for ways to make things better i personally believe after doing this research looking through this and sitting on the library board as a liaison i believe a better representation throughout our city is achieved when you have multiple individuals appointing like for instance mandarin has somebody really would be great on one of these boards instead of having one person the administration and the mayor to go to when there's an opening if this is approved we can go to one of our colleagues in this case our colleague council president howland or whoever comes after him and i i believe having those options is a good thing and you get into more more diverse board makeup by each of you in your districts especially being able to recruit and bring someone to the table to represent your your libraries and your boards staying on kha so i just see this as a as a positive way to improve the overall process and systems thank you mr president thank you sir over to councilman diamond uh there is no one in the queue um so uh we have a motion and a second to call the question um i don't see you in there yeah it's doesn't matter it is undebatable whether in the queue or not um the question has been called or the motion to call the question has been made so we will take this vote by hand on calling the question um all in favor of the motion to call the question indicate by raising your hand the motion to call the question fails mr carlucci recognized i suppose my light goes off it just gets tired of being on so long um we are co-equal perhaps but this council has different responsibilities in the administration we are the checks and balances to the branch that makes most of the appointments we did that one time on the library board we did not appoint somebody that was up who probably should have been appointed i i think this is um i i don't even know what brought this up i think i do but i don't want to venture into that but this is this is just a a problem that came up that somebody invented or decided we needed more power to grab we're the checks and balances we're a madisonian type of government we're not a a government where the mayor is a part of the council the mayor is on the other side of the building administrative executive and we are the checks and balances i understand what councilman miller said that we do make some appointments but i don't think that's reason to suddenly start grabbing up more and i think some of those appointments are at a lesser level um at the same time and some of those appointments are appointments that the council made in terms of creating certain commissions like the true commission and so forth folks every time we start messing with this kind of thing we're messing with our consolidated government and that's what bothers me we keep chipping away at it this is partisan that's what it is i already know what the vote's going to be but it's partisan for for most of us not everybody there's some folks here i think genuinely believe that we should change it but by and large i think this is a partisan effort for a grab power what reason what is the problem we're solving here nothing and frankly i think many times the mayor's position better to make appointments no matter who the mayor is because the mayor has a broad reach across this community just because of the executive position that she or he holds i pray that you vote to sustain the veto thank you sir there are no other speakers i'm going to hand the gavel to the vice president and speak you recognize my sir council president howlin you're recognized thank you mr vice president uh i did not get a chance to vote on this bill in committee when it went through because i was only on finance committee and this went through neighborhoods and rules um i would have voted yes then i'll vote yes tonight um handful of reasons uh like councilman miller said i don't think it's unprecedented i don't think it's unreasonable um as councilman layden said i think we have an opportunity to exert more control on a large chunk of the operating budget and then finally as councilman salem said emphasizing that it's not unreasonable ogc has ruled it's allowable um the executive branch maintains a majority on both of these boards and uh we only get to nominate one as someone rolls off so um with that i'm a yes tonight thanks you want to speak councilman freeman you're recognized followed by councilman kerricka thank you mr president and i i really wanted to hear my colleagues speak on this one um if anybody knows me you know that i i love serving kids and that is the reason solely that i am sitting in this seat uh and will continue to try to pursue the efforts to make kids lives better but there are a few things that i do want to share regarding this bill um one i heard we talk about the growth of kha i know that i'm guilty as a council person of um putting forward what i think is good policy that lands in the lap of kha and so i think that their budget sometimes seems to grow because of the work the good work that we do as a body i did serve on the kha board and i was one of the original members of the jacksonville journey oversight committee that's what it was originally and at that time it was council member ronnie bustle who appointed me that was back in 2008 um prior to the change when i came on the council or shortly when the last the class before us came on and they switched to kha but i do want to share this i don't think this is partisan and i don't make my decisions with kids based off of a party affiliation i understand what party affiliation lies in this i base everything off of common sense i base it off of what damage is going to be done and how is this going to negatively impact kids and i've done nothing but listen i've talked to the board i feel like i'm a good liaison i listen i ask they're not supportive of this and i respect their opinion many of them i appointed but at the end of the day what's important to me is that we get people on there who truly see that our futures are walking the streets and sitting in classrooms right now our workforce is sitting there what i think is ultimately important and this is where i will land is i look at how we as council members have been treated at least this council person over the last year and if i get a chance now to try to give us a voice not one of you all can sit up here and say that you didn't see two hundred thousand dollars for a whole year get moved from one committee to the next not one of you sitting up here can say that you did not hear them say we appropriate they execute so if there's an opportunity for me to have a say in what happens with kids based off how i've been treated i'm sorry i feel like i am i'm going to support this tonight and i feel like i'm supporting it because i want to help kids because my voice has been silenced for a year and this is a chance for me to speak thank you thank you mr freeman we have uh mr carrico followed by mr arias and then dr salem for the second time uh thank you mr president um didn't mean to jump in after you it was kind of blinking in the uh in the queue but um i'll be brief uh obviously i supported this in committee i'll support it today but what i really want to do is just acknowledge and thank dr chrisner who has been sitting in this audience numerous times following this bill and spent hours and hours and hours with us she uh as you know served us at the dubal county school board or that school system and uh stepped in as the interim ceo of kha job well done i know they've uh found a replacement so i just want to thank you for hanging in there and showing up and representing for uh kha and for kids so thank you for that and i do support this and i hope that you all will too thank you sir councilman arias thank you mr president i wasn't going to speak but i'm just hearing all my colleagues i just got motivated to speak so here's the thing um the thing about if it's not broken why fix it that doesn't mean anything because realistically people have to adapt things adjust and business people and business just they evolve and this is us evolving as a government evolving as a city um you know we represent different districts some at large some district members but at the end of the day we still have a voice and the way i see it is let's let's be you know united as a city we're a team sport here the mayor has our appointment we have our appointment hopefully um and i don't see anything wrong because we have other boards and commissions that we also point to and there's nothing wrong with it so nothing would change here the only thing that changes is the fact that these boards um for the longest part have been formed by a mayor and obviously they they kept the whole all the appointments to themselves but at this point like i said i just think that it makes sense for all of us to just work together as a city and the council and the mayor as well too to just work together and have appointment at the end of the day she still has more appointment than we do anyways so i'll be supporting um this bill and not the veto thank you thank you sir back to dr salem second time two quick points who do you want making some of these appointments do you want randy white as president do you want ron salem as a as president do you want uh president howland making some of these appointments i do i think they have a different view of this government and what can be done and i want their diversity making appointments to these boards i've made the commitment that i am not going beyond these two boards i think these two boards are substantial they got huge budgets and i think it's important that we have diversity and the other point that i i keep hearing is there's nothing wrong why change it we write legislation all the time to improve specific ordinances that are already there why are we here if we're not writing legislation to improve things that's what i think this does it adds diversity of appointments to these boards dia was set up this way nothing's nothing's going wrong at dia as we make appointments i know people want to make this partisan i've been working on this since late last year because i believe 55 years was right and we finally convinced this general council that that's the case and i thought this was the place to do it so vote your conscience thank you mr president thank you sir and final speaker in the queue uh councilman pelusa thank you mr president if council member salem speaks a second time i might as well and i wasn't really going to speak much on this bill i'm surprised we talked this long this is so stupid read the charter we have a lot of power we have the power to vote down an appointee it's happened before by this body we have power it exists no the this process is we're don't don't say whether it's partisan or not this is it clearly is kha was created by the former mayor of the city no one said a word about the appointments all of a sudden now they do it's just it's just bizarre to me let's vote this no let's go home thank you all right thank you sir one more time to mary um would you please explain the vote what yes means what no means of course mr president through the president to the council so if you press the green or yes button you are voting to override the mayor's veto and approve ordinance 2025 872. if you vote the red button or no button it is a vote to sustain the mayor's veto and defeat the ordinance mr president with 18 present you will need 12 votes to override the veto thank you for clarifying we have a motion and a second let's open the ballot and record your vote 11 yays 7 nays and by your vote the override fails 2025 0872 with that mr floor leader i think that concludes our agenda you're absolutely right it does thank you mr president all right we will take a roll call please 18 present all right and uh then we open up for announcements i know mr lanon has an announcement yes thank you mr president just reminding everyone on july 1st miss bernadette smith sent out the budget hearing schedule so make sure you look at that and we look to have you join us if there's a specific topic on the agenda that you want to be there for thank you thank you sir over to mr peluso you have an announcement thank you mr president it's not so much announcement i would like to apologize for use of the word stupid i don't want people to think that i was calling any of these council members stupid i was talking about this process in which we were going through because i don't believe we were allowed to do the vote the veto the way we did this evening so this is not me calling a council member stupid thank you thank you for that apology uh mr carlucci matt carlucci you recognize thank you um i thought on a happier note i might remind some of those who know bob johnson that yesterday was his birthday and uh quite the notable birthday and if you haven't had a chance to send him a text and wish him well you might want to do that and um i spoke with him at length yesterday and he and his family went out to dinner last night and had a good time and uh he's like the timex watch you know he takes a licking sometimes but he keeps on ticking and uh we just had a great time talking about old times and so i know some of y'all are very close to him might want to give him a call thank you all right thank you sir i've seen um miss pitman do you have anything all right miss pitman over to you i almost skipped you we have a lot of leo's um on the council as well as ecas so so the first one is council member chris miller his birthday was on july the 11th and then we have jimmy councilman jimmy your birthday is on august 4th and then we have jackie lee her birthday was 7 19 and bethany her birthday was 7 26 and my assistant celestine her birthday is on 7 31 and then we have jessica in the pit her birthday is was uh 7 8 and we have teresa's birthday which is 7 29 and we have avance veto bloto and his birthday is on july 8th so let's give all of the leos a big round of applause for their birthday thank you miss pitman final call for announcements all right with that we are adjourned and we turn it over to dr johnson for the prayer and i figured i'd do the announcements at the end if everybody could stand two things first of all i want to celebrate the life and time of uh billy plumber aka bigger rankins he was an amazing community member this council passed a resolution honoring 30 years of service i was scheduled to give it to him on august 8th at a community book bag giveaway he was giving away unfortunately he lost his battle with kidney disease just a few days ago and he'll be funeralized so one time for billy plumber uh run it my selecta and uh last but not least i want to recognize a former member of this most august body and my dear friend and one of the reasons i became besides ken amaro of course and joyce morgan uh an anchor reporter and that is harry s reagan uh harry reagan was certainly an amazing community leader um he was 87 years old he served this council with integrity i remember as a young man watching him nightly on the news after the news he would come on and give those wonderful editorials and he was just as genteel and amazing when he came on this council his wife rita and my mother were dear friends and they were both historic um aficionados re-establishing the filmmakers that museum over in arlington and so many other wonderful things so i wanted to tell you from the family of harry reagan as you see there is a resolution honoring his life his celebration of life will be on sunday august 16th from 1 to 4 pm at the jacksonville history center i'll make sure to send it around to the council so you can rsvp but let us remember one of our most esteemed members harry reagan who is now at the dais in the sky with that history will never ask how long our meeting he is in the dais in the sky he with the lord you know you know that's what i'm just saying history will never ask well he is he's gone on history will never ask how long our meetings lasted it will ask whether our service expanded opportunity protected dignity and left this city more hopeful than we found it please let us pray dear god thank you for the opportunity of coming together we may not all agree but what we can certainly agree on is that this city the place that you've given us stewardship over is an amazing community of so many unique individuals and places and landscapes and we pray that the work that we do continues to expand this city in a great way to not just attract people but take the people that are here and nurture them and care for them so that our neighbors and community build and show the world just how wonderful not only we are but that we can be thank you for these blessings please touch those members who are not here keep them safe and bring them back these and all the blessings we ask in the father the son and the holy spirit amen amen thank you all for your service to the city tonight to my colleagues and staff and have a safe drive home jacksonville not for recognition but because of responsibility candace clark created rooms where artists stands tall where mirrors of belonging were there with you see she didn't just design it she she created a rival this is neon war turkey building brooklyn building ortiga observing moncrief moving south side stretching beaches breathing a city alive in every direction at once not light despite darkness light because we understand the light so tonight we honor more than names we honor ignition and intention we honor those who leave brilliance lingering long after they've left the room jacksonville look at what you've done a city that learned how to glow on command early on the city that decided that darkness would never have a foothold here that darkness would never have the final word and that glow you see it's not temporary