Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Finance Committee meeting. We'll go ahead and start off with introductions, starting to my left. Brittany Norris for the administration. Colleen Hampsey, Council Research. Barry Stapopoulos, Office of General Counsel. Heather Reber, Council Auditor's Office. Will Peterson, Council Auditor. Good afternoon. Rory Diamond, District 13, The Beaches. Good afternoon. Chris Miller, At-Large, Group 5. Will Lane, District 3. Terrence Freeman, At-Large, Group 1. Mike Gay, District 2. Randy White, District 12. Nick Howland, At-Large, Group 3. Ron Salem, Group 2, At-Large, Just Visiting. All right. Good afternoon, everybody. Happy birthday to the Navy's little brother, the United States Coast Guard. Let's see. The way we're going to do the agenda today, I guess so, Council Member Diamond. So what we're going to do today, the order of events. First, we're going to take up a JSO bill, which I'm always going to try to do if there's a first responder bill, try to get that taken up early in the agenda. Then we have three CPAC representatives here today. We're going to do 20 minutes each, CPAC 1, 2, and 3. Then we're going to do public comment as well as a presentation from our Council Auditor, Mr. Peterson. And then we'll do the agenda. So, again, that's just the order of events. So we are going to go straight to item 45 so we can have JSO talk to us about this bill, take action on it, and then they can get back to work. So we're going to go to the second-to-last page, page 21, item 45, 2026-0586. I got a motion and a second on the emergency. Mr. Peterson, could you explain the emergency? I'm sorry, Ms. Reber. The emergency has been requested since the District 3 substation lease will expire November 7th, and the Sheriff's Office will need to complete a bill of the new leased space. Thank you. I have no one in the queue. All those in favor of the emergency, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Emergency passes. I got a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency. No one in the queue. Open the ballot. Record your vote. Seven yays. Zero nays. Fire Actions, we approve item 45, 2026-586. Thank you, JSO. I'm going to turn it over to the council president, who's going to kick off the CPAC presentations for us. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that. In my installation speech, I mentioned that this year we're going to focus on making local government work better for you, that is, the people of Jacksonville and the taxpayers. And we made sure to note that that included our CPACs, making sure that our CPACs' voices are heard, because I think we've heard over the last year or two that they sometimes feel they don't have a seat at the table. So I was very specific in that during the installation. And we want to ensure we listen to CPAC's concerns. There's no better time than with Finance Committee coming into the budget hearings. So what we set up through the finance chair was three presentations for this meeting and three for the next meeting. I think every CPAC will have 20 minutes to just talk about the things going on in their district that we should be mindful of in their region, that we should be mindful of as we approach setting the city's budget. So we should have, if you don't mind raising your hand, Ernest Smith is here from the Urban Core CPAC. All right. Thank you, sir. How about I see Mr. Dickinson is here from CPAC District 2, Greater Arlington and Beaches. And then finally, Scott Kozlowski, District 3. Are you here, sir? Raise your hand. Okay, not yet. Anyone from District 3, Southeast CPAC? All right. Well, we'll at least get going at the chair's discretion. We'll start with Mr. Smith. Before we do, I want to make sure that, you know, just because you're getting time to talk, we're absolutely going to hear and consider every single concern of the CPAC as we approach the month of August for the budget hearings. But it doesn't mean that we can take up every recommendation and make it part of the budget, because this committee has a gargantuan responsibility, and that is to approve about $2 billion of the city's budget and overall about $9 billion of the whole consolidated government's budget. So it has to take every consideration in light of the whole. So with that, I'll turn it back over. Mr. Chair, thank you again for letting the CPACs come and allowing their voices to be heard. Thank you, Council President, and a great idea you had to incorporate them into part of the budget process. So with that, Mr. Smith, I'm sorry, I got to pass President White. Do you mean to be in the queue? Yes, sir. I'm sure it's just oversight, and we'll go ahead and listen to this presentation. But we've got Chief Blanton out there, public safety thing that needs to get back to do some stuff. Maybe you can hear his bill after this presentation and would help him a little bit. Sure. What bill is that, Chief Blanton, if you don't mind? Item 29. 29. 2026, 542. It's pretty cut and dried. You know, Mr. Smith, if you don't mind, this will take us about two minutes is my estimate. Chief Blanton, you want to come on down? So let's go back. I think you passed President White because I did not recognize there was a JFRD component to that. Item 2026, 0542. Can I get a motion on the amendment? Got a motion and second on the amendment. Councilman Freeman, you're in the queue. Are you on the amendment on the bill? All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Amendment passes. Got a motion and second on the bill. As well as amended, Councilman Freeman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Chief Blanton, for coming. I was hoping that actually Chief, I'm drawing a blank, helped me with the name. Golden was here. He was here yesterday. Surprised he's not at finance today. But I was trying to, I had a meeting canceled yesterday, and this was one of the things that I wanted to talk about as well, and not rescheduled. I don't have an issue. Love Cindy. Love Salzbacher. But I do have a problem with the meeting being canceled the day of, when we're members of finance committee, and now having to say this in an open space. I know Chief Golden is probably watching. One, through the chair to Ms. Norris, amazing work that we've been doing together so far. We just have a philosophical disagreement on, do you have to be in when we meet with JFRD? I understand public works. I understand code enforcement. But you're not in there with JTA. You're not in there with JEA, the authorities. And I see JFRD as similar. The challenge that I have, and I've gone around and asked my colleagues, am I the only one that is having to have the administration sit in and meet? And the answers have kind of been back and forth. But here's what I'll say on the record. And thank you, Chief Blanton, for coming. But Chief Golden, your predecessors, Chief Wilson, Chief Powers, came to my office many times by themselves. The whole homeless initiative that we're doing, the $10 million, Chief Powers and I talked. When Chief Golden was brought in, there was a mandate given that it be a person from a diverse background. I'm going to say it as politically correct as I can. And now all of a sudden, we have a leader from a diverse background, unique from his predecessors, and he's now not allowed to meet with me by himself. But the other two could. And I find that a bit challenging. And so I would like for you to take that back, Mr. Golden, Chief Golden as well, and share that your predecessors didn't have to. If the administration is mandating that you do that, please explain why. Because they were in office when Chief Powers was here. And why are we showing differences based off of their mandate of having a diverse candidate? And I got a problem with that as well. And so to my colleagues, I'm good with this today because I understand it. But the budget, they've canceled on me. They've told me I tried to invite them to lunch today, something that I could have an intimate environment, talk to them one-on-one. I've been pushed out, been told every meeting needs to go through the administration. And a meeting for me, a council member to have to go through an administration, makes no sense to me when they've said they're the executive branch, we're the legislative branch. Our job is to appropriate. Their job is to execute. Okay? So I just wanted to put that on record. Sorry that you had the view that. I was hoping it was Mr. Golden, Chief Golden. And if you don't mind, when we're done, can I meet with you in the green room alone, please? Sure. Thank you. Ms. Norris, you're recognized. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council Member from the Beach. Your concerns have been heard through the Chair. I did reach out yesterday to reschedule that meeting. I will relay your concerns to the CAO and to the Mayor, to whom Chief Golden reports. Chief Blanton, I'm happy to walk into the green room with you, but we will not be having one-on-one meetings. This is a directive that we have put out to staff, and it is the Mayor's desire. So thank you. Thank you. And this is where I say the budget is about to go sideways, through the Chair. And I hope I have three other colleagues that join with me. And if they are going to set some lines in the sand that have never been done before and make a precedent, I'm sorry, but that's not how government works. I keep hearing this trust. We've got to trust each other. I keep hearing disparities. I keep hearing all of these things that sound so good on the news, but now I'm watching them walk out something completely different. So get ready for a bumpy road. I know that we have a good plan in place. I'm sure you've met with them. But I can assure you, if they have to sit in on every meeting, then these folks that have been appointed to represent their divisions and their departments are not going to speak freely. And I'm going to have a huge problem with that because I don't agree with it. Thank you. And if I can, or actually, I'll go to the Council President, and then I have some comments as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the Chair to Brittany, does this apply to every department head, and that includes JFRD, this rule that no meetings can be done without presence from Mayor's staff? We have requested to all department heads, not just the chief, the firefighters, that they notify us of all meetings with council members. We have asked, too, that it is only higher-level staff who will be engaging with council members, not anyone lower than division chiefs. And we make an attempt on my end with the legislative team to be in most of those meetings. There are a lot of meetings. There are 19 of you, not so many of us, so we do our best. The meeting on, oh my gosh, it's Tuesday, yesterday, we were led to believe it was about budget, so we want to be there. We are making a cognizant effort for any meetings on the upcoming budget to be there to make sure that wires don't get crossed, that information gets back to the person we've met with. We were not able to staff that meeting, so unfortunately, we had to cancel. Okay, I will talk to Mr. Weinstein if he's listening about this. There have to be some exceptions, and public safety needs to be one of them, and Mr. Freeman's concerns are valid to me. Thanks. Thank you, President. And my comment on that, I guess my concern is we're, what, six business days away, and I've encouraged all my colleagues, do your research, get the information, and I'm worried about just the actual mathematical possibility of a staff member from the mayor's office being at the right department head meetings with just six business days left. So again, I just want to make sure the administration, whether or not a representative's there, like we've all done this for three or seven years at this point, so we know who has the information that we need. So I don't think it should be, well, we can't meet because there's not a mayor's office representative available. We know who the directors are. We know who has the information. So if you could, Ms. Norris, let's talk after this, because I want to get kind of more information on this directive and make sure that my finance committee members are able to go next Thursday, because again, we're heading into the last week of this. So Council Member Diamond and then Ms. Norris. Yeah, through the chair to Ms. Norris. I mean, I understand what your policy is, totally disagree with it, but in a practical sense, you've got 14 district council people, and we've got to talk to people who work in the administration in order to help our constituents. Like if someone calls me and says, hey, my dog's at ACPS, can you help me get my dog back? I, you know, I'm going to call Director Bricker. Same thing with Parks. If there's any issue, I'm going to immediately call Daryl. I'm not going to check in with you guys. I'm just not. I'm just going to tell you right now, you want to go fire somebody, because I'm trying to help a constituent get their stuff done, fire them, and then enjoy the lawsuit, because we've got to be able to do our job. And I'm not going to stop. I'm just not. I hear your policy. Lovely. I'm ignoring it. Ms. Norris, and then let's vote so Chief Blanton can get back to work. Thank you, Chair. Sorry, this is longer than two minutes. I'm happy to walk through the policy with any of you. I think every member of finance is known at this point that I have reached out multiple times to help provide insight into the budget, to get the answers that you need. That has been offered to everyone via text, an email. So we are not trying to provide a roadblock. We have our department heads who are answering many questions right now with the auditors. We are trying to manage their bandwidth as well, but not stand in your way. So we are more than happy to meet, to get the answers that you need. Thank you, Ms. Norris. With that, no one else in the queue. Open the ballot. Record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. Fire actions. We have passed 2026-542. Thank you very much, Chief Blanton. All right, with that, Chief Blanton, if you could, to the green room with Council Member Freeman, if you got the time. All right, Mr. Smith, that was more than two minutes, but we are ready to start your 20 minutes and look forward to hearing what you can tell us about CPAC 1. All right. And if you could start with just your name and address, and then we'll start the clock. Yes, I'm Ernest Smith, Chair of the Urban Corps, CPAC 400 East Bay Street, 32202. Again, I'm not going to take the whole 20 minutes. Thank you for allowing us CPACs to come up and present to you on the things needed in our district, especially for the CIP for fiscal year 2027 through 2031. The first initiative was from the Planet Watch Neighborhood Association, and they're requesting installation of curbs and gutters at Davis Street North at 8th Street West and Davis Street North to 18th Street West, and also from 18th Street West at Davis to 18th Street West at the Boulevard. The reason for this is this area of Jacksonville has had a problem with flooding for over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, the neighbors can't get to their houses and their properties without allowing the water to recede. This is something that's very big in the neighborhood that they would like to see done, and unfortunately, the infrastructure is just not there to accommodate people getting to and from their houses after a water event. The second proposal, and again, I have a packet for all of you to see the proposals. The second proposal is from SPAR, the Springfield Preservation and Revalorization Council, and they're requesting to repave Perry Street from 8th Street to 10th Street with historically appropriated brick, and also to repave Clark Street from 2nd Street to 6th Street with the same brick, and that includes curbs, sidewalks, and drainage as needed. Again, that's something that's needed over in the Springfield area. Those streets are not up to par, to say the least, so they've been looking to have that work done in their area. The last proposal that we received is from the Brentwood Neighborhood Association, and they're proposing a Brentwood Park Community Health and Cultural Revalorization Initiative to transform Brentwood Park into a fully activated, ADA-compliant, health-promoting community. And with that, I want to go ahead and give you the price estimates for each. The first, the Planet Watch Neighborhood Association is anticipating the price to be no more than 2 million. Again, that is major infrastructure going into those streets that I told you. The Springfield Preservation and Revalorization Council is requesting those streets to be updated at a cost not to exceed 4 million. The most important thing is getting the historically appropriate brick that is in that area. And last but not least, the Brentwood Neighborhood Association is proposing their amount not to exceed 1.35. So those are the three requests that the Urban Court CPAP received earlier this year during the CIP process. We go through this starting at the beginning of the year to get all of the proposals in. And again, you have before you the proposals as they were sent to me. And if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer. Thank you, Mr. Smith. No one in the queue right now, but one question I had for our audit team. I want to make sure you get a copy of this because I think at some point what we're going to want to be able to see is here are the requests, were they in the CIP or not. And Council President, I don't know if that's something that maybe your ECA was tracking as well. I just want to be able to make sure we can take this input and see what did make the CIP or whatever part of the budget was. So at least we know and are able to articulate that at the end. Council Member Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the chair, Mr. Smith, thanks for coming today. Thanks for this and the details associated with it. I just wanted to ask you through the chair, have you coordinated these with the departments, with the administration, like public works, parks, et cetera? Okay, you have. Yes, yes. Our, my admin with the neighborhoods department has sent these to the various departments that need to see them in order to incorporate them into the CIP. Okay, very good. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And Mr. Smith, if I understand your list correctly, what you presented to us was the same thing that you presented in January when the request for your CIP requests from the CPACs were made, correct? That's correct. Okay, thank you. With that, no other speakers. So I thank you very much for your time, Mr. Smith, and coming down here and telling us about your priorities for CPAC 1. Thank you. CPAC 2, where is my CPAC 2 rep? Oh, how you doing, sir? Good afternoon. My name is Gary Dickinson. I'm the chairman of the Arlington Beaches CPAC District 2. Mr. President, Mr. Chair, members, thank you very much for this opportunity. Unfortunately, I'm going to come here and say unfortunately. Our last CPAC meeting was during one of the tremendous storms that we're getting in the afternoon. I did not have a quorum, and I don't feel comfortable not being able to discuss this with my CPAC members at a meeting and then presenting it to you. So I'm hoping perhaps at the next meeting I can do a presentation because we'll have another meeting scheduled and I can get the input from the full group. Sir, that would be fine. You will have another opportunity two weeks from now. We'll probably ask that you maybe reduce your time from 20 minutes down a little, but if you want to take the two weeks, regroup with the CPAC and come up at the next finance committee meeting, we will make sure that we allow you to have some time. I'm a fast talker. I'm sure I can get it done in 10 minutes. Thank you very much. Absolutely. Thanks for coming down tonight. CPAC 3, my understanding is we did not have a CPAC 3 rep. Is that correct? Or I'm sorry, Council Member Johnson, you were in the queue. Just thank you, Mr. Chair, for recognizing me. I just wanted to ask, if possible, I'm not sure when your next meeting is, forgive me for not looking at the schedule, but as I know I've been pouring through this budget every day, just to ensure that we have the best information, if you could email it over to us through the chair prior to your coming to present, I think it would help all of us to be prepared. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. And no CPAC 3 representative, is that correct? All right. Well, with that, we will now go to public comment. Do I have any public comment cards? No public comment cards. Wait, she's walking up with green cards. Okay. She was scaring me there. That may be a finance committee first. Someone go check on Mr. Nooney. Let's see. So, Mr. Peterson, you have a presentation for us. Through the chair to the committee. A quick presentation. We released an audit of the property appraiser portability calculation yesterday. The focus of our audit was on the Save Our Homes Portability Transfer Calculation that is performed by the property appraiser's office. As you're probably aware, Florida statutes allow as a homeowner for moving from one property in Florida to another property in Florida to transfer the difference between their assessed value and their market value to that new home as long as they establish a new homestead at that new property. The scope of our audit was the 2025 tax roll and the portability applications process that occurred during that time. There were 2,524 parcels that received a portability transfer during the 2025 tax roll at a value of $311,369,000. Overall, we found the property appraiser is calculating this transfer portability amount correctly. We did find a couple issues. First was they had an outdated and undocumented standard operating procedures. There were some items that were missing, some things that need to be updated, some things that need to have their information that was just out of date. So, they have agreed to update those and they're in the process of doing that. And then we did have a finding as it related to some incorrect portability calculations. During our detail testing, we found that 2 out of the 149 that we recalculated were incorrectly calculated and the property taxes were underbilled to the tune of $1,518. We did some additional analytical testing as related to multiple approved applications with the same RE number. In that testing, we found that 1 out of the 14 that we recalculated was done incorrectly and taxes were overbilled to the tune of $664. The property appraiser has already addressed those miscalculations and are putting in additional procedures to prevent that from occurring in the future. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you, Mr. Peterson. I have no one in the queue. So, with that, we will go ahead and get into our agenda. Item 1, 2024-0627 is deferred. Item 2, 2024-0966 is deferred. Item 3, 2025-361 is deferred. Item 4 is deferred. Item 5, 227 deferred. 318 is also deferred, as is 320. Item 7, item 8, 2026-0377 is also deferred. I've got a lot of budget bills on second. So, item 9, 0501, budget bill. Item 10, 0502, a budget bill. Item 11, 503, another budget bill. Item 12, 504, budget bill. Item 13, 505, budget bill. Item 14, 506, budget bill. Item 15, 507, budget bill. Item 16, 508, another budget bill. Item 12, 17, 509, a budget bill. Item 18, 510, budget bill. Item 19, 511, budget bill. Item 20, 512, a budget bill. Item 21, 513, also a budget bill. Item 22, 514, a budget bill. And item 23, we get to do something. 2026-0535, can I get a motion on the amendment? Got motion, second, on the amendment. I have no one in the queue. All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Amendment passes. Got motion, second, on the bill, as amended, no one in the queue, open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. Barer actions, 2026-535 passes. Item 24, 2026-536. Got motion, second, on the amendment, no one in the queue. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Amendment passes. Got motion, second, on the bill, as amended. I see Ms. Eichner down there, but we have no one in the queue, so we will open the ballot and record our votes. Eight yays, zero nays. Barer actions, 2026-536 passes. Thank you, Ms. Eichner. Item 25, 2026-537. Got motion, second, on the bill, no one in the queue, open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. Barer actions, 2026-537 passes. Item 26, 2026-538. Can I get a motion? Got motion, second, on the bill. I have no one in the queue. I will note that, although this is a big dollar amount, it is simply making changes within the CIP, and there's no incremental financial impact. Open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. Barer actions, 2026-538 passes. Item 27, 2026-539. I got motion, second, on the bill, no one in the queue. Open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. Barer actions, 2026-539 passes. Item 28, 2026-0541. One, this one is being deferred at the request of DIA. My understanding is a two-cycle, at least. This was the $28 million cash completion grant for one of the blocks downtown under development by Gateway. I know a lot of us have talked to this team and given feedback. The hopes is, as this goes back and gets reworked, it is that they find a way to where we can avoid a big cash completion grant with this. In my talks, just to be transparent with my committee members up here, I said I'm open to certainly looking at the REV component of it. We already got $40 million on the liability side of our balance sheet that we're going to pay out to Gateway for the four prior completed ones. I'm even willing to looking at the timing of those, if there's an option to change the timing of some of those. But my hopes, as this goes back, gets reworked through DIA, there is a non-cash completion way forward here. Because I think over the past couple of years, I mean, or past couple of months, really, myself, Council Member Miller, we both had separate pieces of legislation that have to do with how we manage cash completion grants. And so I do hope we can get to a workable place to where it's something that the body can support and greatly minimizes what the cash completion grant portion of that deal would be. But for now, it is deferred. Did anybody, any other committee members, I'll give you the option if anybody else wants to say anything. Okay. Item 29, 2026-542, can I get a motion on the amendment? Oh, we already took that one up. How did I forget that one? All right. Item 30, 2026-543. Got a motion and a second on the amendment. No one in the queue. All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Amendment passes. Got a motion and a second on the bill as amended. No one in the queue. Open the ballot. Record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. By our actions, 2026-543 passes. Item 31, 2026-552, can I get a motion on the amendment? I got a motion and a second on the amendment. I'm going to wait and ask some questions on the bill. So for now, all those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Amendment passes. I got a motion and a second on the bill as amended. I have a number of questions on these. I did not see anyone else in the queue for now. So I think Mr. Joseph is where the majority of my questions are going to lie for now, as well as probably some to the auditors. All right, Mr. Joseph. So in reading this bill, and I will acknowledge you tried to reach out to me a little earlier today, but just with the meetings, we could not connect in person. I know the amendment has lowered the appropriate amount to $570,000, but there's still $1 million that I did not understand where that million that's designated to go to parks. What is that million for? Good afternoon, Daryl Joseph, Parks Department. Through the chair, to the chair, as it relates to the million dollars, last year in finance, there was an additional $2.6 million that was placed in a contingency account. The thought and the goal was for JRA to take over the maintenance as well as programming of these park spaces as of April 1, 2026. Parks has been maintaining these park spaces for the full year while we work closely with JRA to get to a point of agreement that protects the city as well as puts JRA in a position to be successful. So that million will basically allow us to continue to maintain the remainder of the year and help cover some of the expenses that we've incurred during this year. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Parks. So I think that mostly alleviates the concern I had. You may recall, and a number of you were on finance with me, when we had the really big jump of what the total waterfront parks amount was. And I think we made it clear, I believe it jumped from, it rounded to $100 million-ish, and then it rounded to, I think, $200 million-ish just in one year. And we made it clear that that was the number. So it doesn't sound like this million is going into capital related to the new parks as much as parks taking care of the parks. Is that correct? Sure. Yes, sir. This is all for day-to-day operations. This does not impact or does not touch any of the capital funding that we already have. Okay. Thank you. That was really my biggest concern. I just want to make sure we weren't using this as a way to basically increase the total capital costs. And it sounds like we're not. The second question is, if we approve this bill, and I believe this is now you, Mr. Peterson, we're still going to have a million that is below the line that is unused from what we put in last year, correct? Through the chair to, Councilor, or to the chair, you're correct. There was a million that will remain in that reserve. This bill carries that million over into fiscal year 26-27. But it will stay below the line until a further time. Thank you. And with that, Mr. Peterson, looking ahead to next year, there is a line item in the budget. Riverfront Parks, $1.257 million. Again, without knowing the exact detail, I imagine it's for more programs or the Parks Alliance. Could we use that $1 million? That's probably not going to be spent or no one's going to have legislation to bring it above the line for anything else, at least as far as I know. Could we not use that $1.03 to offset that budget request, to just reduce the budget by a million? To the chair, if it was not used for another purpose, you absolutely could do that. Okay. Thank you. So, committee, we've got to remember we've got to start doing that stuff this time of year, stuff that's going to carry over into next year. I mean, if I don't bring it up, one of you bring it up, that I think we found the vast majority of that line item. And again, that's if we keep it in the budget. But if nothing else, we could use money unspent from this year and reduce next year's budget by about a million. Council Member Howland. Council President Howland. Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was going to ask the same exact thing with that million dollars. Through the chair to Mr. Peterson, how could we do that right now and take the million that's under the line and allocate it towards future contribution to riverfront parks in the next budget, and therefore it can't be swept between now and the 30th of September? So, through the chair to the council president, if I understand you correctly, you want to go ahead and allocate this million dollars to JRA's operations for next year's budget, thereby when you get to what will be meeting one, you could cut that. You could do that. My hesitancy would be JRA is required to submit a budget to you for how they're going to spend dollars in next year's budget that we do not yet have. So, until you see that budget, because you sign off on this, you're okay with spending whatever number you allocate towards them, I think that until we get that budget, you don't know what you're spending on. So, you may not even be in favor of spending a million dollars. So, that would be my hesitancy. But you could do that if you wanted to. Okay. Well, I think at the very least, this conversation has locked in all of our minds that that million is there and that million could be used for that purpose. And it could, therefore, potentially reduce the upcoming budget by a million dollars for this particular purpose. So, well said. I do have one more question, if you don't mind, for Mr. Joseph. And that relates to the million that is coming above the line that is going to go to park maintenance. How did you come up with that million-dollar estimate? Thank you, Chair, to Council President Howland. So, we've been operating these parks now for several months. Learned a lot over this time frame to make sure that we are maintaining and programming at a high level. We're at about $190,000 to $100,000 a month to be able to maintain these park facilities. So, those are contracts. Those are actual real numbers as it relates to being able to maintain the facilities. Okay. And that's kind of what I expected your answer to be. You've been maintaining that specific number of parks since October 1st through April or whatever it was, March 30th. And so, then for the next six months, you know that that's going to cost about a million bucks. Because I'm suspicious of any round numbers, particularly one that has, you know, six zeros after it. Because then I wonder if the thought has gone into truly, you know, estimating how much something's going to cost. But I understand you've got a good basis. Through the Chair, the Council President, I started to put some change on the end of it, but I decided not to. So, I would always err on putting change at the end of it, either just under or just above, you know. Or more importantly, I would err on showing how you got to that number at any given time. But for clarity, and just for the record, no, we haven't been operating these parks for the full year. Riverfront Plaza came online in December. Shipyards, Riverfront, River's Edge actually came online right around that same time as well. But we were preparing for the full year to make sure that we could maintain. One other point of clarification, and it may be premature to say this, we have been working with Council Vice President Carlucci on a bill that he will be bringing forth at some point. I'm not sure exactly where that is, but just a point of reference. Very good. Those were all my questions. Thanks. Thank you, Council President. Mr. Joseph, you're saying that Councilman Carlucci is trying to use that million dollars that's available? To the chair, I don't know if it will be the full dollar amount, but he has been working to come up with a dollar amount that he would use, understanding that there will be some dollars remaining. Okay. Well, and I think we're going to have to balance that, right? It's either reduce next year budgets by a million with that, or we see what he brings to us, and we'll have that debate when we see that, I guess. So, okay. Well, thank you. And again, apologies. We couldn't connect. Thank you for answering my questions on the dais. Council Member Johnson, you dropped off. You're back in now. Do you wish to speak? You are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the chair to Director Joseph, thank you for putting this together. And I do have a quick question. If we do follow the rubric of taking the million dollars that is allocated to reduce the budget by a million for the upcoming budget, does that, because I was under the impression that you were just doing facilities maintenance. I didn't realize it was going to go into programming, and obviously you're kind of doing both to make sure the parks are up and stones are not turned over, people can walk in them. My question, though, if that does happen, does that affect the things that the organization or your department, as you hand off, in the next programming year, if that's just across the board saying, oh, the money's there, we can just pull it down? Through the chair to Councilman Johnson, so we have a clear divide. As of the passing of this agreement, JRA will be solely focused on the programming of the parks as well as fundraising. Parks will be focused in on the maintenance of the parks. So there's a divide there. Our funding only speaks to the actual maintenance component, and JRA's funding speaks to staffing up and really focusing in on the programming side. Thank you. Ms. Ott, did you have anything to add, or are you good with us voting now? All right. Well, with that, no one else in the queue, open the ballot, record your vote. Seven yays, one nay. Our actions, we have passed 2026-0552. Item 32, 2026-569 is on second. Item 33, 2026-571. Can I get a motion on the, can I get a second? Got a motion and a second on the emergency. Ms. Reber, may you explain it, please? The emergency is to make the funding available as soon as possible, since the funding was approved as part of the FY25-26 budget process. Thank you. Knowing the queue, all those in favor of the emergency, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Amendment passes. I'm sorry, the emergency passes. Can I get a motion on the amendment? Got a motion to say on the amendment. Ms. Reber, please? The amendment will add carryover language to the bill and attach a revised VT to correct the account information. Thank you. All those in favor of the amendment, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Amendment passes. Got a second. I got a motion to second on the emergency, or to move the bill as an emergency, as amended. Knowing the queue, open the ballot, record your vote. Seven yays, zero nays. By our actions, we have passed 2026-571. Item 34, 2026-572 is on second. As are items 35, 36, 573, and 574. 37 is on second, 575. Item 38, 2026-577. Can I get a motion on the emergency? Got a motion to second on the emergency. I have known the queue. Although, Ms. Reber, since this one does have a couple things, can you read the, or can you tell us the reason for the emergency? The emergency is to make the funding available as soon as possible to expedite the implementation of the program. Thank you. I have known the queue. All those in favor of the emergency, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Emergency passes. Got a motion to second on the amendment. Knowing the queue, all those in favor of the amendment, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Amendment passes. I got a motion on the bill. As an emergency, as amended. Knowing the queue, open the ballot. Record your vote. Seven yays, zero nays. By our actions, we have passed 2026-577. Item 39 and 40 are on second, 578 and 579. Item 41, 2026-580. Can I get a motion on the emergency? Got a motion to second on the emergency. Ms. Reber, please explain the emergency. The emergency is to make these funds available as soon as possible so the Public Works Department can proceed to put the project out for bid. Thank you. I have known the queue. All those in favor of the emergency, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. And then the emergency passes. I got a motion to second on the emergency, on the bill as an emergency. I have known the queue. Open the ballot. Record your vote. Oh, Councilman Diamond. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know this is Councilman Boylan's CBA funds. That being said, this is a very slippery slope when it comes to dredging. And I think people need to understand that there are dozens of communities in Jacksonville, particularly in my district, that need dredging. And there is not city money to dredge everybody's district. There just isn't. So this is how Councilman Boylan chose to do this one thing in his district. For someone who's got like 20 of these, there is not funds to do it. So I just want to be clear. Thanks. Thank you, Councilmember Diamond. And correct me if I'm wrong on what Councilmember Boylan said yesterday in rules, because he did speak to this yesterday in rules, anticipating some questions. My understanding is that this specific community is also clear that this is a one-time endeavor and they will be self-funding it in the future. So that was made clear, because I probably would have had the same question if he had not said that, since I deal with some of the same issues you have on the other side of the ditch. So with that, Councilmember Miller, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Real quick, because if anybody was watching yesterday's meeting, I made a comment at neighborhoods joking about Hogpen Creek. But as Councilmember Diamond has mentioned, that and other dredging projects are much more extensive than this one, long, over three miles of area, very complicated, multiple entities involved in the process. So they are very complex. So for those of you who may have watched yesterday, I was just a little bit of a joke, but I acknowledge though also on small projects, smaller projects, even though he's been working this for years, Councilmember Boylan, there is a way forward with some of these projects, and he's proven that outworking with public works. However, bigger projects, obviously, will take other partners and sources of funding to be able to make this happen. And I will say, I'm not mixing the two, but I'm happy to help in another way. I'll just put it that way. For anybody pushing, dredging projects forward, there may be some other ways we can go about this, and I'd be happy to help those who want to work on those types of projects. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. I have no speakers. Open the ballot. Record your vote. Seven yays, zero nays. By our actions, 2026-580 passes. Items 42, 43, 583, 584 are on second, as is item 44, 2026-585 is on second. That is the end of the agenda, so let the record reflect at 44 minutes. Despite a longer agenda, we went faster than rules and neighborhoods. Which one? Please read for the record the last two seconds on the agenda. Did I not read those already? Where did page 22 go on my agenda? There we go. 2026-587-588. It got disconnected. That's why. Okay, so still, 44 minutes. Anybody on the committee? Council Member Freeman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I just wanted everyone to know that I simply apologized to the chief when he came into the green room, because he was not prepared for any of that, and so when you saw him go in there, and so I hope there's no backlash that falls on him for him coming in and having a council member look him in the eyes and say, look, I'm sorry you had to endure that process. That was the extent of that conversation, so I wanted you all to know that. And then, two, thank you for the support, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the council president as well weighing in, because I hope that we can get something scheduled in the near future. Thank you. Thank you. I got no one else in the queue, and Ms. Norris, like I said 45 minutes ago, if we can talk about this after the meeting, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.