You know, I got it. All right, let's call this meeting to order. I think it is. Nope, we got a minute. Mike, we're on time. No, we're going to be out real quick. No, I don't think we'll go. You got a notice meeting at three? I'm meeting news for Jax. And boom, let's call this meeting to order with Chairman Lainan. Introductions, Rockland Johnson, District 14. Will Lainan, District 3. Mr. Chair, thank you for coming to meet with me. This meeting, of course, is about leadership. There was, you know, this is, as you know, in the speech I gave about moving into this space, I think it's important that we have conversations with our colleagues. And this is something we don't get to do often. And so I would like to, you know, be able to do it. So the question for you, I guess, first question, what do you think it takes or what would you be looking for? And I hope we see you in this space to be, you know, I'm a big fan of yours. You know, as one of your committee members. And, of course, your fiscal accountability and responsibility, a lot of us defer to you. And I don't know what other councils did because they didn't have a Will Lainan on their council. But what do you think is needed at this time for the number two? Yeah, sure. And first, just to, you mentioned me in that space one day. I feel like I have been from the beginning. Yes. In fact, I was one of the first, I think it was the only year one vice chair of neighborhoods. And then I've been a chair every other year, including VAB chair, if you count that. I think we count that. Oh, yeah. Also floor leader. And then I've been very clear that I only want to do this job for two terms. No aspirations after that. And my highest political ambition is to be the finance chair, maybe even a couple times. So I hope that's coming sooner rather than later. Because that's really, as you know, that's the part of our government function I've been most involved in. And so kind of what I'm looking for in the next couple years is really two things, less drama and more numbers and less words. Because, again, like I view that as our most important function. People ask me like three years in now, tell me about the job. And I say, well, it's 90% about the budget, 5% about land use and zoning, and 5% noise. And that's really how I feel about the job. I like that. Because it's, again, like the budget is the big piece of our responsibility. It's making sure we're taking in enough revenue and that our expenses, we are really only spending that revenue on what is required to run a city of a million dollars. And then LUZ, yours may be different. I can tell you District 3, I have one item on the agenda tonight, and that's a rarity. You have your, what's the best way to put this? I'm kind of a more settled district. You're more of a growing district, I believe. And so I think that means you have, it may be 80-15-5 for you, whereas it's 95-5 for me is kind of how I describe that. So, again, that's really kind of what I'm hoping. I just want to see stable leadership to where we're focused on the real priorities of the city going forward. Because we only, I mean, at most we do this, there's a couple special election council members, so they may do it for nine or ten years. But most of us are going to do this for eight years, so I want to make sure that every year counts. And it's interesting you say that, while I'm not going to commit to saying I'm only going to do this, because I don't know. I don't know what the future holds. I'll tell you, interestingly enough, the question I get all the time is, like, what are you going to do next? Absolutely. I got that year one. And I'm like, I'm going to be a council member. I'm going to do this to the best of my ability, but where I live, the district that I live in, there's not a lot of other opportunities for service. While I may, when I leave this council space, be on a board or a commission or something like that, I do hope to be a part of the brain trust of this community. Like you, we're homegrown boys. We love this city. And so I do want to be a part of the brain trust that moves the city forward, but I am not in any way saying, like, oh, I'm setting up this to be the this. Yeah, and I think you see a lot of us, like, we were very involved in different things. This is one part I consider part of my continued community service, and I'll do things after this. Really, the only big difference with this one is it is more time intensive, but we also get paid a little for it, or a lot, however you want to look at it. We get paid for it, right? So, again, I think my mindset is just this is a continued part of my public service that I'll have, and excited to see what I do in my, what do you want to call that, the retirement from paid public office. Maybe that's what we call it, kind of see what we do, because it'll be here before we know it. I mean, it's, we're five years away from. From retirement. Hopefully, hopefully we're five years away from being out of work. Retired, yeah, yeah, I like the word that said. So, let's, I do want to, your perspective, thank you, your perspective on leadership. What do, obviously you have a really different perspective than many because of your military service, and thank you for that, your service to this country. But what do you, the qualities, while we did talk about what it looks like, like, are there specific things that you're saying, while, and I do, you know, of course, I'm going to disagree with you a little bit on finance, because I've been on LUZ for the last three years. And I have done so much work and research to understand land use and the fair land use and making sure that property owners that are residential property owners, but also commercial and business property owners, that the rights of both of those are protected. And I don't struggle with it. Because it's a quasi-judicial committee and there is that competent substantial evidence mandate, I look at the law and I evaluate based on it. So, that's, for me, LUZ has just been my bailiwick. And then, if there's something finance-related, I say, call Will Lane, and I literally say that. But what are those qualities, being that you served and you led troops? Yeah. So, and again, it's a question I've probably answered 10 times now, because, again, we've all done interviews in the past before in office, but now everybody wants you on this show or that show, that podcast, whatever. And the story I tell is everybody thinks I'm going to have some nugget of information they've never heard, but it goes back to one of my first captains on a submarine that one of his standing orders was, and be nice. And if you think about it, you've got 180, at the time it was men only, there's now co-ed submarines out there, but 180 men in 500-something feet for three months at a time. And his point was, we've got to be nice and get along, because it is just us out here in the middle of the ocean or closer to some countries than others. And so, I think that's a great leadership lesson for the 19 seats we have up on the dais. It's like, hey, we can all be nice to each other. We can be civil when we attack these problems. Disagreements on issues doesn't mean we can't be nice and civil about it. And then my big thing, which you know, is I do 99% of my talking on the dais. There's no social media out there, nothing. It's just if I have something to say, I want it to be a notice meeting. And so transparency is a big thing for me, because I think sometimes the public thinks there's all these other meetings taking place. With me, there certainly aren't. I mean, I can tell you anything I have to say, like, I'll script out sometimes what I plan on saying about a certain bill in a committee. And it's, I mean, News for Jacks, I saw you were on last week. I've been on that a couple of times. Every now and then, if there's a special project, like, I'm the jail liaison, so I got a meeting with News for Jacks. They wanted some more information about that. But I'd like to see us trying to every possible communication to be up on the dais. Yeah, yeah. While I do, you know, I just had a notice meeting with Councilman Boylan, and that's one of the things, while I wish there were more opportunities like this for us to converse about so that I can know your priorities. Yeah. Right? Obviously, there's not a lot in your district. And I was literally combing through. If you notice, every one of the leadership letters, and you may or may not know this, but every one of the letters that I sent out to all of you, all of my colleagues about leadership, had information about you and about your district. You were, and I pointed out to Jamie. It was the first ever personalized leadership letter, I guess, so I appreciate it. And that's what I want to know, what can I carry forward for, because the Will Lane and carry forward is not going to be the same as the Jacoby Pittman or what have you, right? Right. And that's important. I want to be able to know that as I work through it. And I think that, for me at least, looking at something that you said that was most key to me is no drama, right? And I want to have conversations, but it's no secret that philosophically that Councilman Diamond and I don't agree on a lot, but I will say the most wonderful thing that happened to me on Council, it kind of goes back to what your captain said about be nice. Because I was his seatmate for a year, and I consider him a friend. Yeah. You cannot sit next to someone for a year and not, you know, there was a night where we had a very tough vote and the police had to follow him home. I called him. Did you make it home? Are you okay? Right? And it wasn't because it wasn't something public. It was because there was a human that was in a situation, and I just wanted to say I'm here for you. And he is always very clear on where he stands. Oh, my goodness. I appreciate that. I appreciate him being clear, and then he – I was hoping to catch up with him. I don't think it's going to happen on no votes on cash completion grants. I think he has too big of a lead. But he also stands by – he has set principles he always follows. So he – again, going back to we may not always agree on everything, but he has been consistent and he has been transparent, which is something we could ask – that we should request from all of our colleagues as well. Well, I will say this, and I appreciate you giving me your perspective. I hope – for the reason I have not specifically asked, and you'll be getting email from me coming up and the request, while I do appreciate the pledges of votes, and I will be asking, and I hope you will consider first. But then on May 26th – my 50th birthday, by the way. I learned that from News for Jet. Yeah, here's the thing. I did – I had it on my schedule as the first Tuesday, not the second Tuesday, because of the Jazz Festival. And they're like, no, it's the second Tuesday. And I looked, and I'm like, wait a minute. That's my day. So it's a fun – regardless of what happens, I'm honored to be in this space. And I think the winning, at least for me, is just being in the arena, right? I feel like I've accomplished something, because this is the first time in a long time that we've had a really – a cadre of candidates, so I'm told. But the other thing that was shared with me is that the pledge forms, while I do appreciate them, and I do hope you will give me your vote and support me in my quest for leadership to lead and be a part of moving the council forward, but in the end of the day, they mean nothing. They – you know, I was told by several former council members that they could meet, and the night of the council or the day of the council election, the person that they pledged they didn't – it was like, hey, I'm not voting for that person. Yeah. I will say it's definitely different than our first three years, right? Ooh. It was – I don't want to say preordained, but you knew we had a – I guess it was a nearly consensus vice president the year before, so you knew who was going to become the president, and then you just didn't have as many VP candidates. And so instead of March 10th being the deciding date, that's kind of – in my mind, that is when the auditions have begun, if that makes sense. And so we have a lot of important votes coming up, and so I'll certainly be keeping an eye on all the candidates to see really who aligns best with how I think the votes best move our city forward. And so – and the other good thing, too, is, I mean, we have four people that care deeply about Jacksonville running for city. The council vice president. So there's no – there's no one out there that I have great fears if that person wins versus the others. And the thing is, and, Will, I say this all the time, and some people look at me like I have a snake on my head. We all genuinely like each other. Yeah. Like, everybody on this council, there's no one that I can say I just don't deal with that person. I genuinely look at us as a family. And, you know, whoever wins, I'm going to support them and applaud them and hopefully be a part of that leadership team. Yeah, I just hope May 26th, on May 27th, we have gotten around, whoever it is, forget about if you didn't win this time, and let's just keep rolling forward. Yes, yes. Things are going to get harder, not easier. They are. Regardless of who is president, vice president. And then the great thing about our body is there's 19 people whose votes all count the same. So, yes, you get to decide who's on what committee, whatever, but for big votes, it is – 10 votes are required. Yeah. And there is no vote that is worth more or less than any other person's vote. I agree. Thank you for that. I hope I can count on your vote, and I will be reaching out to you. Thank you so much. And with that, we will – before we adjourn, we do have one public comment card. Because of the time, and I know you have a meeting to go to, I'm going to keep this to two minutes, and it is Mr. John Nooney. And he did tell me before the meeting that by allowing him to speak here, he will not speak on any bill tonight. You sure? Did we get that on the record? What I want to share with all of you, and this is the agenda from last night's CPAC-free meeting. I want to share with you, understaffed reports, we used to have JDA and JTA, and that should be a real concern, considering what has been going on recently. And also, what I want to just share with you is, you know, with leadership, you know, whoever it is, you know, the public access on our waterway is probably the worst. And I also want to say this, you know, I went to an ethics commission, and I asked, we have 60 people representing the entire city of Jacksonville, the mayor's disability, you know, and the council on Elder Earth Day, you know, the senior citizens. I mean, why is OGC, the Office of General Counsel, not represented? I just want to say, I'm going to these OGC is not there. It's like the wild west when it comes to have any kind of forum or anything useful. And with the Irving Corps CPAC, I'm in CPAC-3, you know, it's tough. Irving Corps, last one I went to, 2026-0024, you know, that was a re-zoning on the Claire White mission. And what I want to say with that, you know, okay, I'm going to wrap it up. But, you know, JTA, there's a board, ride everyone, same boat. You're talking about getting along with that. And bring back public participation in 2017-16 to the Jacksonville City Council Legislature. I'll try to limit my speaker. Thank you, John. And I will say, if I may, do you want to share something? I was going to say, are you on the rules, Councilman Johnson? Not this year. Okay. The first two years. I will say, John Nooney has brought up this point, and it's a good one. There are a couple councils out there that don't have a council liaison. Elder Affairs, Disability Council, I think there's one or two others. And if you were on rules, I was going to say maybe that's something, because I think rules would be the appropriate place to bring that up, or just tell the council president, because it is kind of inconsistent who we have liaison responsibilities with and who we do not. Mine was going to be, and I appreciate that, and I will work to move that forward. Mine was going to be, I think, what Mr. Nooney said about the general counsel's office being at CPAC. I'm literally, just putting it on the record, I'm literally in conversation with the general counsel himself right now, because having attended the CPAC and seeing the rules of order be just, you know, they're just kind of making it up as they go. And unfortunately, I can't put it on the neighborhood coordinator at the CPAC, because that person is trying to run a Zoom, make sure signing sheets are done, give out agendas, and then they can't be, like, looking at, did the, because I was at a meeting, and the chair seconded a motion. And I'm sitting like, what? Like, you know, I can't. But obviously, as a member, I didn't want to interrupt their process, but it was a pretty important vote. So I think that's something, just putting it on the record, that's something I've been working on for about a month or so now. And so hopefully, we'll be able to get some lawyers at those meetings. Thank you. Thanks, council member. Thank you, Mr. Nooney. This meeting is adjourned.