Finance Committee - May 19, 2026

All right, looks like we do have a quorum, so we're going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. It's 1 o'clock, Tuesday, May 19th. We're going to go ahead and start our Finance Committee meeting with introductions to the left. Brittany Norris for the administration. Colleen Hampsey, Council Research. Mary Stafopoulos, Office of General Counsel. Philip Peterson, Councilor's Office. Kim Taylor, Council Auditor. Good afternoon. Rory Diamond, District 13, The Beaches. Ron Salem, Group 2 at Large. Will Lehman, District 3. Joe Carlucci, District 5. Good afternoon. Rory's, District 11. Hello, everybody. Kevin Carrico, District 4. Matt Carlucci, at Large, Group 4. For a little while, maybe. Good afternoon. Jimmy Peluso, just visiting. Nick Howland, at Large, Group 3. I'm a Finance Committee member, but I am sitting all the way over here because I have a little bit of a cough every so often. Everyone who went on the Austin Chamber trip last week came back with a little bit of the crud. I don't know if you did, Kevin, but I did. So I don't want to cough on anybody. So I'm self-isolating over in the far end of the day. Thanks. Okay, 397. All right, committee members, we are going to go ahead and go through the agenda. We've got some items that we're moving around to accommodate some of our folks in the audience. And then we have a couple of public comment cards that Ms. Rebecca is. It's okay. We got time. You don't need to rush. Taking up. So let's see. Okay. Do you need to speak? Okay. You're recognized. Thank you, Chair. I've asked Mr. Peterson to review our hurricane account to determine where we are in terms of collecting dollars from the feds. Since we've not had a hurricane in around 18 months, I think it's a good time to see where that fund relies. As he's indicated, the last meeting in June, he'll provide a report to the finance committee. Just wanted to let everybody know that. Thank you, Chair. All right. Thank you. We also want to welcome finance committee member Ms. Jacoby Pittman. And we also have Council Member Rockman Johnson that has just joined us. So, okay. So, as we were saying, we're going to go through the agenda. We have a presentation today by Ms. Taylor. Then we will go to our public comment cards. Then we'll get into the agenda. So let's just look through this real quick, and I can kind of give everyone a heads up of what we're going to be doing. So, items number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are all deferred. And then we are going to go to page 16, item number 24, 2026-337. That will be taken up first. Let me make sure we're there. So, yeah, 24, item 2026-337. That will be action item number 1. And then we're going to go back to page 4, item number 6, 2026-312, regular action item. Item number 7, regular action 8, 9, and 10, all up for normal action. Items number 11 and 12 are being deferred. Item number 7, item 13, 2026. I think Councilmember Gay is going to be joining us for that one. And then item number 14, 2026-322, Ms. Joyce Morgan. Are you here? She said she was going to be a little bit late, so we might skip over that one if her and her team are not able to be here. Okay, so after 14, we're going to go to item number 49, which is, I believe, the CIA. That's the CIA. Page 26. Item number 49, 2026-419. And that will be after item 14. So then item, we'll go to item 15, and then 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, all normal. And then item number 22, 2026-335. That's a Meridian Waste Bill. That's being deferred. And then item number 23, 2026-336. That's an Edward Waters University Bill. We have a Rules Amendment on that. And then item number 24 has already moved up. And then from there, I think the agenda is pretty much the same for the rest of the agenda, everybody. So we need to go all the way through it just for the sake of time. But, yeah, we'll kind of just go through the rest of the agenda in normal order. Mr. Holland, did I mention your bill? Okay. Well, make sure you get your request. No, I'm just kidding. Well, which one? 45? Okay. All right, we'll go to that before we go to CIA. So item number 45, we will take up after item 14. So that is everything. All right. So let's go ahead and get started with Ms. Taylor. Your presentations, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through the chair of the committee, one of the documents you have at your desk is the annual recapture. This is taking a look at all the funds. The finance department does it, submits it to us, and we go back and forth and review. So this is the final memo on any funds that received a general fund contribution to see if we can recapture those back to the general fund. Which they will fall into operating reserves. So the total amount related to the 24-25 year was $8.4 million. I mean, you'll see on page two of the memo the various funds that will be recaptured. I do want to mention that the solid waste disposal fund you'll see has $6.5 million. So that's less than that loan that was anticipated for 24-25. So that will reduce that loan amount by not having to utilize as much as was anticipated in the budget. So I'm happy to answer any questions. I do want to mention there are two negative cash funds. That's a budget ordinance requirement. So those funds will be addressed in legislation. I also want to mention that NBRC has already received an item related to the recapture. The mayor's administration, I believe this past week ago, Monday, is proposing to put that towards completion grants. So after they address the two negative cash funds that are about $150,000, they are proposing to take the balance and apply it towards completion grants. That will come before you as legislation for you to act upon. But I do want to mention that. I believe I've covered everything in this memo. If you have any questions before I move on to the next item. All right. We have no speakers in the queue for questions. Continue. Yes, sir. The next item that you have at your desk is just a brief summary of our quarterly summary report that we issued this past Friday. You have four pages related to the general fund that I just want to mention. If you turn to page two, you'll see your overall anticipated variance is about $30.4 million. That's your projected variance that you're in. So that would be a positive number. That is addressing still the 2% lapse is covered within that. And so you still have that remaining. That's the anticipated amount. You'll see in revenues, there's a projected $9.8 million positive and overage more revenues. There is an adjustment that will need to be made for some mutual aid that was about $9 million recorded incorrectly. But we do think some of these estimates are conservative. So overall, that $30 million-ish number appears to be a pretty good number. It's up from $20 million in the first quarter that was the year-end projected surplus. So overall, in the general fund, no big budgetary issues. I do want to mention, if you turn to, it's the third page in your document. This is the expenditures by department in the general fund. JSO overall, there are six departments that they have. When you group them, they have a $14.8 million projected surplus. So do not be concerned if you see some individual areas that have projected negatives. Overall, they're projected to be fine. There are eight departments that are projected to have negative variances or exceed their budget at year-end. Most of these are due to the lapse not being able to be covered, either through vacancies or trimming other costs. That's what's contributing to most of those. Other than, of course, I'll mention some of the anomalies. Mayor's department, that one was where the council had made cuts to that department. So that is projected to be over by $264,000 a year-end. And then fire rescue has some fleet, of course, diesel, gas, those sorts of charges, where they are projected to go over as well. But the majority is related to the lapse. I do want to mention just a couple of other funds. Special events, that is a separate fund within the city. They may have to come back to council because they are projecting to go over council authority on their spending level. Group health is projected to be okay. If you look at the report, it does not take into account the pharmaceutical rebate. That's an annual rebate. But by year-end, they should be okay within that. They will still have to utilize, likely, the operating reserves when they report because they will not have sufficient reserves within that group health fund. As far as independent agencies, I just want to briefly mention that all of them are projecting to be okay. The main issue is JTA. Other than that one, they are projecting significant revenue shortfalls that they are attempting to address this year by not impacting services, but they are doing furlough days for employees. They are not filling positions. They are eliminating some positions. They are cutting training, professional contracts, making a number of cost containment adjustments. I do want to mention on the CTC, that original budget was about $10 million lower than what it should have been to have full cost. While they are projecting a number to address that, I'm not sure if that's still too low to be able to get there. So I think they will still have some budgetary adjustments to make. They may have to use reserves. If you recall, we had a budget amendment in 2425 where they had to use some of their reserves to meet their budget. Of course, that's a one-time funding source, so that's not something you want to see to maintain their recurring budget. But that's the main independent agency that I wanted to mention that is having some budgetary issues to address. That's all in the quarterly summary, if there are any questions. All right. Any speakers in the queue on that? Okay. Council Member Landon, you're recognized. Thank you, Chair. Just a couple questions. Through the Chair to Ms. Taylor. Regarding the state shared revenues, I know JTA has been experiencing the same thing. I guess it's as we go into 2027, how do we ensure that we're budgeting on what the actual run rate this year is rather than over budget like we did this year? And I guess maybe that's an administration question more so than you. Through the Chair, I'm happy to try to answer. There are a couple things that are at play that we believe, at least. I think some of the holidays, the tax holidays, are on more items. And so we're seeing that impact a little more, and that's a little bit harder to predict and adjust to that. Also, there was a House bill last year, not in this session, but last year that passed, that does affect, there's a, basically it affects ours by about 1.7%. There's an amount that is going towards grants for, I'm not thinking of the right word, infrastructure in the right of ways. It's for economic grants. So it's pulling some of that money off the big bucket of statewide spending for sales tax. So it is impacting us by about $2 million as part of that $8 million to $9 million downturn. So we'll take a look at that again to make sure that that's taken into account in the numbers. Thank you. Through the Chair to Ms. Taylor. Next question. Self-insurance fund, it says that we're looking at a favorable budget variance of about $2 million at year end. Is that $2 million above and beyond the money we already took out? We had the surplus earlier in the year that I believe Council Member Carlucci had legislation that put that surplus to the shipyards cash grant, I believe it was. Is this, is this an additional favorable variance? Through the Chair to Council Member Lane. And yes, sir, that is for this current year. That was prior year monies that Council Member Carlucci had taken. So that's the projected for this year. Through the Chair. Thank you, Ms. Taylor. Okay. So that was my, so it looks like we budgeted correctly then this year. Instead of having a $25 million variance, we got a $2 million variance. Through the Chair, yes, sir. The first quarter projected about an $11 million variance. Of course, this one is very fluid in the projections change. But that methodology change seems to be helping not to have these large excess amounts. Thank you. And through the Chair, final question. It's actually a comment. JTA, I'm not going to harp on what's in here. I did meet with JTA. And I encourage all of my colleagues to. It is complex. They have a lot of changes that they're going to propose in the next year budget. But again, it could be its own hour meeting if we went through their financials here. So I just encourage you. I think it was last week or the week before they emailed all of us wanting to meet. So I'll just encourage you to take that meeting because it is in-depth and it's important. So I just want to put that out there to take them up on that opportunity. All right. Thank you for that. And now we have Council Member Salem. Thank you, Chair. Through the Chair to Ms. Taylor, the Mayor's office, how much of that $264,000 variance is due to the 2% and how much it is where they're just over budget? Through the Chair to Council Member Salem, their lapse that was put in their department was about $90,000. So it's kind of all mixed together at this point. But the Council had made a reduction of $435,000 in total to their budget. And then the $90,000 was on top of that. So it's just projected go over because all of those things being a factor. Through the Chair, have there been any efforts to transfer money from other departments to cover that deficit? Through the Chair to Council Member Salem, none that I recall on NBRC. We have not seen any so far this year to move dollars. Thank you. All right. We have no other speakers. Continue on. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through the Chair to the committee, the next one is we issued a follow-up on the stormwater fee audit. So this was our second follow-up. And this was looking at really the accuracy of the fees, the billing of those fees. And I'll just mention a couple items, still policies and procedures to make sure that we're accurately calculating those items to make sure that that revenue is being collected. And then the main other thing is they are now utilizing a third-party vendor for helping with those calculations. They just need to make sure they're using that consistently. So that's really, we'll follow up again for a third follow-up to make sure that that's being properly calculated. Happy to answer any questions on that one? No questions? Okay. If not, the last item that I have, Mr. Chairman, is our report on employee reimbursements. This was report 906 issued last Friday. And this is kind of the third leg that I've mentioned in working for Council Member Salem. We've had the accounts payable and then the P-cards and then employee reimbursements is related to any, it's mainly related to city travel where employees are turning in for reimbursement items. That's the main item that's utilized. I'm going to do 50,000 foot level for purposes. I know you have a very busy agenda. Overall, we looked at the 24, 25 year, about 403,000 was the total population. We looked at sample testing, we also did some analytics on it, and found that from an overall standpoint, reimbursements were appropriate, sufficiently documented, properly approved, and accurately recorded. We did have some issues with timeliness, so people turning in their reports, managers approving them timely, the accounting division doing their review, some timeliness issues there, some other areas that I'll just briefly mention. Incomplete policies and procedures, again, to ensure that people know what can be reimbursed for, that if they don't have receipts, all of those sorts of things, we have a list in our report. Cash advances are a rare item, but people are still advanced for travel when they are gone more than five days. So ensuring that those processes are working right, we did have issues with those not being timely processed or not properly closed. And so you run the risk of people being potentially reimbursed twice. We only had minor issues with that, but we want to ensure that those are closed out when you're getting advances and going on a trip, that you come back from that trip and report those. But we looked at a five-year period, and there was about 22,000. So it is not a common occurrence to have cash advances. We had timeliness issues on some expense reports that were not fully processed, kind of hanging in the system, not recorded in the GL, configuration of the system not being set up properly for meal reimbursements. Some inaccuracies, very limited amounts. Again, we overall concluded that they had met the accuracy. There were minor employee reimbursement policy violations. This just related to people getting reimbursed for mileage. They do have to have their city training certification for your city driver's license that you're issued. So ensuring that occurs. Deactivation of terminated employees for access to the system. And then just overall improvements to the system to help the process overall. If you have any specific questions afterwards, I'm happy to get with you on that. But that's the end of my report, Mr. Chairman. All right. We have Councilman Versailles on. You're recognized. Thank you, Chair. Through the Chair to Ms. Taylor, did you perform the work-at-home audit earlier in the year? And has there been any follow-up with the new policy and procedure on work-from-home? Through the Chair to Council Member Salem, we did not perform an audit of that. Was that the Inspector General through the Chair, to your knowledge? I believe so. I believe so, yes. Wasn't there a commitment through the Chair to the Council that there'd be a new policy and procedure that would be put out to reflect the changes? Through the Chair, I believe that's the case, but we were not involved at all in that. Through the Chair to Ms. Norris, are you aware? Has that new procedure been published? Has anybody seen it? I am not aware. I will have to double-check and get back to you. Please. Thank you. All right. We have Council President Carricko. You're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Not related to the report, just wanted to acknowledge some past presidents, of course, in addition to past President Salem and past President Carlucci, who was here. We have past President Sam Newby, my favorite president, in the house. Obviously, Jerry Holland is here, past president. While we're going around, Greg Anderson, past president, is in the building. And Fire Chief Golden is in the house. And being that, past president, Newby is here. I think he's waiting on the EWC. I know he has an engagement later. If we can move that up at any time at your convenience, that would be great. Thank you. All right. Thank you. I didn't realize we had so many past council presidents in here, but that is really impressive. Yeah. We'll go to Bill number 45, and then we will go to what bill is EWU? Okay. Then we'll go to 23, and then we'll go to 49. So, after item number 14, 2026, 322, we'll go to Mr. Holland, past President Jerry Holland's bill, number 45. And then we'll go to item number 23, past President Sam Newby's bill. And then we'll go to item number 49 with the CIA. So, that is the new order. Happy to accommodate that. Ms. Norris, you're recognized. Thank you, Chair. Is this an agenda change? Actually. No, I was going to say, our CFO, Anna Brochet, is here. I can speak to Council Member Salem's question. Also past President. Oh, okay. Good afternoon. Anna Brochet, Finance. Through the chair to Council Member Salem, the policy for work from home has been issued. I think it was in April. I'm not exactly sure of the date. I'd like to see it. I don't know that it was sent to the council. I don't recall seeing it. I'll get with Ms. Hayes. Thank you. Okay. All righty. We have no one else in the queue. We have some public comment cards. There will be two minutes available for public comment. And then we are going to get into the agenda. So, first up, Chad Muncy, followed by Jonathan Insetta, Tom Gray, Sam Efron. Good afternoon. Thank you. Chad Muncy, 1808 Kings Avenue. Here in support of Bill 2026-0419. I'd just like to read a little short note. Food is the fabric that defines a city. Restaurants have made celebrities out of chefs and made cities destinations for travelers. When visiting a new city after booking a hotel, what's your next search? Where am I going to dine out? Dining out from food trucks to fine dining is the way our community socializes. It's not just about fueling our body. It's about family celebrations, date nights, catching up with friends. Ask any local restaurant owner what is their greatest obstacle in operating their business. And I can assure you on the top of that list will be finding quality staff. From line cooks to managers, our city struggles to find qualified, enthusiastic staff to help run our restaurants. I believe this is in due part to the negative perceptions that seem to plague our industry. The Culinary Institute of America prepares its graduates to treat the industry as a career, not just a fill-in, part-time job until someone gets a real job. And that is the key to shifting the dynamic from perceptions to realities. The reality that the hospitality industry is a viable, invigorating, and exciting career choice that personally has been both incredibly fulfilling and financially successful. Bringing the Culinary Institute to downtown Jacksonville will shine a spotlight on our city that only a few select others can lay claim. The CIA's reputation brings immediate respect and attention from all of the hospitality world. As we continue to develop downtown, it is imperative to include decisions that go beyond just residential and entertainment. Decisions that help increase our city's ability to not only attract talented individuals to move here, but to encourage our local talent to stay here. Much like the UF campus being developed, the CIA will be an absolute game-changer for our incredible city. I encourage all members of the committee and the entire council to move forward with these incentives. It will only have one result, putting Jacksonville on the nation's hospitality map, further positioning us as a city for the future. Mr. Jonathan Ncetta, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to speak and thank you for all the work you all do. Jonathan Ncetta, 4987 Riverpoint Road, Jacksonville, Florida, Restaurant Norse. I just want to speak on the importance of having the Culinary Institute of America here. It's a rare opportunity to get such a prestigious school to a smaller market like Jacksonville. I think there's a great opportunity for national attention to strengthen our needs as restauranteurs, which are skilled restaurant workers in general. This could be a sea change for our culinary scene in Jacksonville at a level that we've never seen. There's been so much good work done by so many great chefs up until this point, and I really feel this could be the catalyst to take us to the next level. Competing with other markets in Florida like Miami and Orlando, who already have Michelin-sarred restaurants and already have a reputation for food, this allows us to take what we built and take it further. My biggest need right now is quality workforce in general, quality cooks and chefs, and this would be a game changer for all of us for sure. This is not just about downtown or this area. This is about Jacksonville as a whole, an opportunity for people seeking to better themselves in this chosen vocation. You know, a big part of it, too, is a lot of our talent leaves this city to go elsewhere in our industry, and this would allow them to stay here, do the education here, and hopefully reinvest in the community that they grew up and care so much about. I think it would be a huge sea change and a game changer for our industry, and I know it would be for us as restauranteurs. Appreciate you all listening to us, and thank you for the opportunity again. Thank you. All right, thank you. Next, we have Tom Gray, followed by Sam Efron. Hi, I'm Tom Gray here to speak on item 0419, on behalf of the Culinary Institute of America coming to Jacksonville, Florida, with the support of the city of Jacksonville. I'm both a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, as well as a former employee of Greystone, the CIA's campus located in the Napa Valley. After graduating from CIA Hyde Park, I lived and worked in cities across the country building my craft. I was hired by the CIA to open the West Coast campus, where I was a sous-chef and ultimately executive sous-chef at Greystone Restaurant. I arrived in Napa Valley in 1995 to join the opening team of the new campus. It was housed in a historic winery building that had undergone a renovation to turn it into the Culinary Campus, Classrooms, Administrative Offices, Restaurant, Retail Store. After driving across country for days and making the exit at the south end of Napa through downtown Napa and heading north to 29 to St. Helena, where the campus is located, I can honestly say I was fairly disappointed. I expected a community bursting with exciting restaurants, cutting-edge cuisine, styles, amazing design, epitome of farm-to-table cooking. It was not what I saw. In fact, it was fairly similar to Jacksonville in the early 90s, as far as I could tell from initial impressions. That quickly evolved, however. In the five years that I was there, I saw the evolution not just of downtown Napa, but also of St. Helena, Calistoga, Healdsburg, and the other neighboring communities. The little town started to grow with new energy of restaurants and culinary students. Within the short years, it evolved not only to be a world-class wine destination, but a world-renowned culinary destination. Since opening my first restaurant here in 1999 until today, our restaurants have literally created thousands of jobs. In addition to the jobs off-campus, the campus would itself create, if we had a culinary school helping to develop and train students at the highest level, it would benefit all the currently operating restaurants as well as provide a location for graduates to establish roots, grow their own concepts. As the community grows, the culinary scene should grow with it. This is the type of opportunity that will help all of Jacksonville become a culinary destination. Ten seconds. This is an opportunity to now present itself at Jacksonville. We should not pass it up. This is not just a culinary school seeking to establish roots. This is the Culinary Institute of America, the preeminent school for developing culinary talent in our country. It's a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-generation opportunity. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Sam Efron. Hi. My name is Sam Efron. I'm the chef-owner of Taverna Restaurant, 1986 San Marco Boulevard, and Oceana as well. I'm here to speak on for the Culinary Institute of America for Ordinance 419. I just want to speak from the heart. I am also a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. When I spoke with the president when he came here to visit the CIA, my first question was, like, why Jacksonville? Why would you want to come to Jacksonville for when you have all these other cities in Florida that just seem more prominent? And it would make more sense. And he convinced me. He's like, Jacksonville has so much going on and the potential for what Jacksonville has. And it's a lot like their campus in San Antonio. And it's for what Jacksonville needs. This brings so much. You know, it's such a prominent place. The Culinary Institute of America is such a prominent establishment that it helps put Jacksonville on the map and helps us to attain the employment and the talent that we need as restauranteurs that, as you've heard, we are all lacking. You know, we've, me, John, Tom, we all went to Culinary Institute of America. We left Jacksonville and we came back here because this is our home. We love Jacksonville and we know the potential of what they could bring here. But our biggest struggle is finding the staff and the talent to help us be on the level that we really want to be. We all are sharing employees all the time because they're training at one place with us for a couple years and then they'll move on to the next. The school helps bring that education that's needed that we can help develop staff. It's going to, you know, it's also going to bring so much to the city of Jacksonville as far as events, everything else that Jacksonville is looking for to help develop. All right. Thank you. Next we have Jonas Lowe, followed by Tyra Smood. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm here to talk about the... Name and address. Name and address. Oh, Jonas Lowe, BB's Restaurant, 1019 Hendricks Avenue. Thank you. And Biscotti's Restaurant, 3556 St. John's Avenue. He'll talk about CIN, how important the Culinary Institute of America being in downtown Jacksonville. As far as we know, a lot of people would like to talk about the quality of food, employment. All those are very important points. But the most important thing is to have, to be in a staple in Jacksonville. Because we all go to Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and all have all great restaurants, and we want to make sure that Jacksonville also play a big part. And in order to do that, we need quality. We need strong chefs, strong cooks, people that understand, and not just an hourly person that come in to, you know, just to grill a steak. But we need a lot of creativity, innovation, and all this will come from a good school like CIA. And I'm not from CIA. I'm from Johnson & Rills University. But I definitely support the, you know, the school being in Jacksonville. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Next, we have Tyra Smoody. Hi, I'm Tyra Smoody. I'm here to, my address is on file. I'm here to speak to 0356, resolution to recommend that the jail should not be in a historically redlined neighborhood area. Primarily, I'm here because I don't think it's fair. Redlined areas need to be supported and protected. Their communities need to be nurtured, not undermined. And because the city does not have a great track record on this, if you look at what's happened in Brentwood with the morgue, and also by evidence by your own eyes, when you go through a redlined neighborhood, I believe that this recommendation needs to go through to protect these areas, to have, to limit them being further undermined. People here today before me have been talking about trying to make Jacksonville a city of hospitality. And I certainly, I chose to make Jacksonville my residence. I chose it about six years ago. And I've lived in other places. I'm originally from Minnesota. I have visitors from there coming here. I lived in London. I have people coming here from there. I've also been in Miami, and I have people coming from those areas to visit me. I have to explain to them what is this redlined area. I have to explain to them why I live in a great little neighborhood in Avondale, but just across the tracks is not so cool. Jacksonville will never become this hospitality city until we deal with this stuff. We can't sweep it under the rug. We are a quilt. Okay, we're all maybe different neighborhoods, and we'll never be exactly the same. But we have to take care of that whole quilt all as one, so we don't. So it all fits together, not one part of it's rotting. Anyways, thank you. All right, thank you. Next we have Carnell Oliver, followed by Wells Todd, and then Bobby O'Connor, Jake Jacobs, and Latrina Dowdell. Carnell Oliver, address is on file. I want to have a conversation real quick about the budget coming in 2027, 2028. I expect the mayor, when she leaves office after she loses her re-election, she's going to leave a mess behind for the next mayor to clean up. But every mayor does it. So we need to start having conversations about impact fees. Number one, focus on stabilizing neighborhoods, dealing with housing. That's number two. If I can get that done, that's one strategic piece I can move on the chessboard. The second strategic piece is to break this city up, go back to the old city limit. It's either y'all do it, or I take it to the Florida state legislature. Because the bill 2026-056 ain't nothing but a political talking point. It has no substance. It has no backing. If communities like mine are so important, they should have took care of that and underneath consolidation. The lessons that I'm learning from the past has pissed me off to a point I want to break everything up. Everybody stays in their own lane. Nobody gets in nobody's business no more. Because there's too many policies coming down the pipeline from the federal level for us as black Americans to miss our opportunity. The opportunity zone is the number one key driver to it. So I need to break this city up. All right, next we have Wells Todd. Good afternoon. My name is Wells Todd. I'm with Take Em Down Jackson. My address is on file. Yesterday in this chamber, we talked about redlining. And I'm here to talk about this proposal to keep the jail out of neighborhoods that have been redlined. And some of you said you understood the history of redlining. And if you understand the history of redlining, that's all the more reason to make sure that a jail is not built in a redlined area. If you understand the psychological and economic exploitation that has happened in the African American history and communities, then you will understand the need to make sure a jail is not built. If you continue to consider putting this institution in a redlined community, what you are doing is perpetuating the racism and bigotry that already exists. I don't think you really understand the damage that redlining has done to the African American community. And right now, we don't have enough time to break some of that down. But once again, if you continue on this march of even considering putting a jail in the black community, I will repeat, you are perpetuating an institution of racism and bigotry. Thank you. All right, next we have Bobby O'Connor. My name is Bobby O'Connor. And my address is on file. I feel like I need to get a cot down here. This is the third day I've been with city council members. So good to see you all. I'm here to talk about the resolution that Council Member Peluso has put forward, 356. I've spoken about that yesterday at the Neighborhoods Committee and also the Rules Committee. And I'm here again. Some of you gentlemen up there were here yesterday. So you could probably say what I had to say. And I'm going to say it again. I do not think a jail should be put in a redline community. I want you to please support Council Member Peluso's resolution. I'm back, even though yesterday it was unanimous that you all voted who were on those committees against this proposal. I'm back because I believe in miracles and I believe that sometimes people do wake up to what is the right thing to do. This is a symbolic gesture. It will cost no money. A lot of the questions you all are the finance committee and the questions today to the council auditor are about money. This will cost nothing. There is nothing negative about this proposal, this resolution. It's all positive. As I said yesterday, if you know anything about acupuncture, it is about the energy system that lives in our bodies. And an acupuncture treatment interrupts the energy flow so that it can flow more smoothly. This would be an acupuncture treatment to our city. And the energy would flow more smoothly if you all stood in solidarity with this group of people. This group of people, African Americans, whose communities have been redlined forever since, you know, 1930s for sure. And we still, the scars are still there. All right. Next we have Jake Jacobs. Jake Jacobs, 1415 Pine Island Drive. I'd like to first thank all the committee members that have taken the time to meet with me one-on-one to discuss the need for the Hogpen Creek watershed analysis. And those that have supported the upper or will support Councilman Diamond's line item in the budget for this year's study. To those members that I haven't been able to meet with yet, I'd greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss this one-on-one. I just want to give two updates. One, I went to the Florida Inland Navigation District meeting on Friday. When I was there, I got an unsolicited proposal for the study. Councilman Diamond, hopefully this will be useful to you and the Public Works Department as you try to determine what amount of money needs to be set aside for the study, the scoping, and the timing. And secondly, in terms of the scoping and financing, I think it would be appropriate to have JEA participate in the scoping and the financing. They're a key stakeholder. They've got seven huge towers in Hogpen Creek. They did a lot of work to those towers in 2013 through 2018 and in 2023, during which they left massive barges there for much longer than was expected and caused these massive sediment bars. So I think it would be to the city's benefit to have them involved as well to that regard. And I appreciate your time, and I hope to meet with the remaining city council people that I have not yet been able to. Thank you. All right. Next, we have Latrina Dowdell. And then we have final speaker, Jalicia Lewis. Hello, I'm Latrina Dowdell, 3316 Gladys Street, Jacksonville, Florida, 32209. I'm speaking about the issue we're having with the jail being considered for our red line community. And I just want to say that our bad habits has become your hustle. We're woken, we're woken now, so there's no need to tell us no woke. What we want to do is to support you in growth and elevation, spiritual elevation. We've become poor that you may become rich. We no longer want to do that. What we want you to do is consider us as part of humanity instead of using us as the foundational stone in which you build your hierarchy. We are tired of being the bottom because we know better than that. So who's the master, the person that starts the fire, observe the fire, or overcome it? We've done that several times, pretending that we've been less than in our community. So we know that you know what you're doing. Because if you didn't know it, you wouldn't bring us programs over programs, oversaturating communities with housing development and give them a limitation on how much money comes into the community on how much you could build. Or you have to make $50,000 and you say, oh, the social determinants of health is that you need more education. Is it our education that's needed? Because we research all the time how to survive. Or is it academia? That's starting these fires in our communities and expecting us to be in survival mode all the time. We don't want to do that anymore. We want just living just like everybody else. And I've said several times with the social determinants of health, if you want to clear out and clean up Jacksonville, we have the largest landmass. Take that hierarchy of the three-fourths of our community that gets most of the money, bend that paper in half, and anybody that's pissing each other. Learn to share the wealth, the health, and all the disparities in the community and stop putting it in one particular area, causing a hard problem for us. Thank you for your time. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Next, Jalicia Lewis, and then LaShonda Holloway after her. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jalicia Lewis. Address is on file. I'm here to speak and support the resolution introduced by my council member, Jimmy Peluso. I believe it's 2026-0356. So I know based on yesterday's vote, a lot of the folks up here are against this, and I imagine there could be a very different amount of reasons. One, kind of view it as a talking point, as someone mentioned before, or you see this as making something that's economic about race or racializing something. Or you, you know, maybe just think that it's economic pandering, that there's better ways that we can help protect our communities. And to all of that, and I've thought about that as well, and I think I was really inspired hearing, you know, the Culinary Institute of America coming, the incentives, the things that we can do to help promote growth in downtown and its surrounding areas. And what's important to remember, downtown and its surrounding areas includes those red-lined communities, those that have been historically impacted and need, you know, the same sort of economic support. We're talking about people's property values, talking about their homes, things that ensures generational wealth. Putting a jail in those historic neighborhoods where most other modern cities, historic neighborhoods are tourism attractions. I think about historic stay and the school that I graduated from and my great-grandmother graduated from, and right now it's hollow. That could have been an amazing African-American museum that could attract tourists and also pay homage to the people that still live in those neighborhoods that are making the core where Jacksonville started on North Bank. And so I understand there's a lot of reasons why you might be against it, but I really do hope that you consider doing this. It might seem small, but for a lot of people who might not trust city council right now, this more so is drawing a line in the sand. So to show that if you come and show out like other neighborhoods have before and successfully have kept things out of their neighborhoods that they don't want, that goes true for our red-lined communities, historically, area, however you want to define it. There are so many ways to define it. So, again, I hope you consider more options, and thank you. All right, thank you for your time. All right, our last speaker card is LaShonda Holloway, and if there's any other cards that come in, they will be heard at the end of the meeting, if time permits. So with that, Ms. Holloway, the floor is yours. Good afternoon, council. My name is LaShonda Holloway, and my address appears on file. Every cycle, we have to come to this council and complain about the kinds of conditions that are on the north side, yet you continue to cut money from the budget, from things that are preventative. Now, you want to put a jail on the north side. We know that you have denied investment, you have denied opportunity, and denied the same protections given to other communities. Those policies created concentrated poverty, environmental burdens, underfunded schools, and disinvestment that residents are still fighting to overcome today. So to place a jail in one of those same communities is not progress. It is repeating the same pattern under a different name. When a city chooses where to place its burdens, it reveals who it values. Wealthier neighborhoods are rarely asked to absorb facilities that bring stigma, traffic, surveillance, and depressed economic growth. Yet historically marginalized communities that are redlined are repeatedly expected to carry those costs. That is not equitable planning. That is institutional continuation of redlining. A jail does not create the kind of long-term prosperity that this city says it wants. It does not increase home ownership. It does not attract grocery stores, health care clinics, parks, or quality jobs. It sends a message to residents and children that their neighborhood is seen primarily as a place for containment rather than investment. Imagine instead what could happen if the same political will and funding were directed towards affordable housing, mental health treatment, and workforce development. Thank you. All right. Committee members, that concludes our public comment. And again, if there's any other cards that come in after that, we will take those up at the end of the meeting, if time permits. I also want to welcome Council Member Gay for joining us. Thank you, sir. I know you have an action item on the agenda. So with that, we're going to go ahead into the agenda. To page two, item number one, 2024-627 is deferred. Item number two, 2024-966 is deferred. Item number three, 2025-361 is deferred. Item number four, 2025-775 is deferred. Item number five, 2026-227 is deferred. And that brings us to item number 24 on page 16, 2026-337. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Can someone please explain the amendment? Through the chair of the committee, the amendment clarifies within the reverter section the restricted use period is the greater of five years or the time period in which the vehicle retains any JSO insignia, changes oversight of the vehicle monitoring from fleet management to JSO, and then attaches a revised donation agreement to clarify the sheriff can approve an assignment of the agreement and correct various scriveners. All right. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The amendment carries. Motion and a second on the bill as amended. No one in the queue, open the ballot, record your vote. Item number 24, 2026-337. That's okay. All right. There we go. Eight yays, zero nays. By direction, you've approved 2026-337. All right. We're going to go back to page four, item number six, 2026-312. All right. We have a motion and a second on the bill. No one in the queue. No discussion. Open the ballot, record your vote. We have eight. Oh. All right. We have a vote on 2026-312. Six yays, eight yays, zero nays. By direction, you've approved 2026-312. Councilmember Arias, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And to the auditors, do you know if this portion of the funding goes towards our commitment towards the CBA contributions? Through the chair to Councilmember Arias, it would still count towards those dollar amounts. Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Item number seven, 2026-313. Motion and a second on the bill. No one in the queue. Open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. By direction, you've approved 2026-313. Item number eight, 2026-314. Motion and a second on the bill. No discussion. Open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. By direction, you've approved 2026-314. Item number nine, 2026-315. Motion and a second on the amendment. Can someone please explain the amendment? Through the chair of the committee, the amendment detaches the corrected budget document from Harbor Waterway Dispendent Special District. All right. No one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The amendment carries. 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 direction, you've approved 2026-315. Item number 10, 2026-316. Motion and a second on the bill. No speakers in the queue. Open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. By direction, you've approved 2026-316. Item number 11, 2026-318 is deferred. Item number 12, 2026-320 is deferred. Item number 13, 2026-321. All right. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Can someone please explain the amendment? Through the chair of the committee, the amendment clarifies the solid waste mitigation fund landfill facility that the dollars are coming from, 72,000 from the real coast site and 110,000 from the coastal recycling site, and then attaches a revised exhibit 1BT to correct some account codes. All right. We have no one in the queue on the amendment. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The amendment carries. Motion and a second on the bill as amended. Council Member Arias, you're recognized. Thank you, Chair. Just had me as a co-sponsor to this. Thank you. All right. No one else in the queue. Let's open the ballot, record your vote. Did you want to speak, Council Member Gaye? Okay. Thank you for being here. Eight yays, zero nays. By direction, you've approved 2026-321. Item number 14, 2026-322. Motion and a second on the amendment. Can someone please explain the amendment? Yes, sir. Through the chair, this attaches a revised exhibit 1 to reflect the removal of funding for the salary for one position that was originally added back in. There were two unfunded positions in 2526. Only one of those is being restored. Add a footnote about the change in salaries and adjust formatting, and those revised schedules are located at your desk if you would like myself or former Council Member Morgan to go through those as property appraiser. All right. We have no one in the queue, so all in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The amendment carries. Motion and a second on the bill as amended. Ms. Morgan, questions only? Questions only. All right. Open the ballot, record your votes. As a pass to L-U-Z, committee member, you appreciate that. Eight yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-322. We're going to go ahead and do number 15 since that's going to— Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. We'll go to 15, and then we're going to go into— Congratulations to Kim Paylor. Right on. All right. Item number 15, 2026-323. Motion and a second on the bill. No one in the queue. Open the ballot, record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-323. All right. Now we're going to go to page 25, item number 45, I believe. That's Mr. Supervisor of Election Jerry Holland's bill. Am I correct? Or he's here for? Okay. Whoa, whoa. All right. We have a motion and a second on the emergency. All in favor of the emergency, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The emergency carries. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. Can someone please explain the amendment? Through the chair of the committee, the amendment will clarify the initial board of supervisors is being revised to reflect the current membership. Also place the revised charter on file to correct the listing of the initial supervisors and then correct various scriveners. All right. We have no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The amendment carries. All right. We have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency as amended. No one in the queue? Open the ballot. Record your vote. Seven yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-397. Thank you for coming down, Mr. Holland. We appreciate you. All right. That brings us to, I believe, item number 23, EWU. That's where we're going next. And then we're going to item number 49 after that. So what page? 14. Thank you. All right. We have a motion and do we get a second on the rules amendment? We have a motion and a second on the rules amendment. Can someone please explain the rules amendment or do we want to just glance at it? All right. I think everyone's familiar with the rules amendment. Okay. You want it? Okay. For Mr. Vice President Howell. You got it. Through the chair of the committee, the rules amendment revises the Section 118-107 waiver justification originally approved by Bill 2025-781 to reflect this new project going from the Living Learning Center to now the track field improvements. Reflecting the revised project scope and completion date of December 31st of 28 for the track, including Public Works as the oversight department. And then we'll attach a revised term sheet to require a retainage of 10% of the city funds until project completion and repayment of any city funds paid to Edward Waters if the project is not completed by the December 31st, 28 deadline. Revises the project scope to allow funds to be used for any aspect of the construction of the track, including planning, design. Includes provision that no funds will be applied to the residence hall component or any other component of Edward Waters' broader capital project that they are undertaking. Includes acknowledgement of a dual institutional and public purpose use of the dollars and includes the term of the use agreement in the term sheet. It also attaches a revised use agreement to reference this 2026 legislation rather than the prior 2025 legislation. Reflects the revised project scope. Revises the term of the use agreement to 10 years subject to automatic one-year renewals unless terminated by the city with prior city council approval. Provides for designated hours of general public use of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and then on Sundays from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Increases, excuse me, the minimum number of annual community-wide wellness events from four in the filed version to six. Allows the city to require additional insurance coverage as determined by risk management. Allows the city to sue for specific performance on the use agreement if EWU remains in default. And then revises the assignment right to terminate and execution sections as recommended by OGC and agreed to by Edward Waters at rules yesterday. All right. Thank you so much. We have no one in the queue. No questions on the rules amendment. So all in favor of the rules amendment signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The rules amendment carries. Motion to second on the bill as amended. Council Member Arias, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just wanted to be out as a co-sponsor to this, but also this is part of the missing piece of the $15 million that we passed several months ago. So I'm glad to see it here and I'm glad to see that the previous committee is also unanimously to approve this. So I look forward to us unanimously approving it too and moving forward next week. Thank you. All right. We have no other speakers in the queue. So let's open the ballot. Record your vote. Eight yays, zero nays. By your action, you've approved 2026-336. And I do just want to say thank you to the Neighborhoods and Rules Committee for the laborious time that they put into this to make it easy for us. I know I sat in on neighborhoods to be prepared for this meeting. I know a lot of my other colleagues on this committee are also on those two committees. So excellent work for those two teams. All right. So now we're going. Someone shouted out. Where are we going now? CIA, page 26, number 49. 2026-419. Motion and second on the emergency. All in favor of the emergency, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? Emergency carries. We have a motion and second on the amendment. Can someone please explain the amendment? Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will correct language regarding the Tourist Development Council's support of attracting this project. They are not able to fund the CIA directly, but can take on other things that the city funds so that the city can redirect dollars. So we'll get that correctly identified in the legislation. There's section numbering that need to be corrected and then scriveners. All right. We have no speakers in the queue on the amendment, so all in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? The amendment carries. All right. We have a motion and second on the bill as an emergency as amended. And with that, we will go to Council Member Arias. You're recognized. Does anybody else want to speak today or am I the only one? I mean, all right. So very quick. We heard from these amazing chefs here today, all in your district. Thank you. There's also one big restaurant in District 3 as well. So yeah, Capitol Grill as well, too. Yeah. All right. I'm Raul Arias, Mambo's Cuban Cafe. But anyways, I wanted to just talk about the importance of having an institution of this caliber here in our city. When we saw that over the weekend, the Ironmen coming to Jacksonville, that's a global event. We've seen in the past the Super Bowl coming to Jacksonville. Now when we have something like the CIA coming to Jacksonville, it once again puts us in the world map. To have maybe a handful of CIAs in the United States, having one in our backyard is a huge deal for us, no matter what industry you're in. So it's just another key component of our city, how fast and how far it's progressing. So I want to just recognize the work that we're all putting up here in Council to make sure that we continue this momentum. And I just want to thank all the chefs. I know everybody was here today from District 5. But I just want to co-sponsor this, and I hope that we see it through the end, because this is going to be truly an important, critical piece of our city's growth. Thank you. All right. Councilman Landon, you're recognized. Thank you, Chair. And yes, Mambo's is a fine, great District 3 establishment. So we heard from a lot of cooks, but not a lot of accountants. So I think we need to have a serious discussion on if this gets approved, how we pay for it. So my thoughts on this, I mean, pretty much the, sorry, I figure we do that ahead of time this time, and that's a lot of my discussion on cash completion grants is all the ones we've had to deal with that were unbudgeted when they were approved. So, I mean, I think the only line of sight here on how we'd pay for this, we just spent $2 million on the bill from 2025 385. $30 million of that was designated for downtown use. And pretty much all $27 million, that's the first part of this, would have to come out of that. There is no other available cash funding source that I'm aware of at this time. And I realize this is a resolution, this is not an appropriation. Ms. Murray, you may want to clarify that. I see you're shaking your head after. Let me say these comments, then we'll go back to you if that's okay with the chair. So there's the $27 million piece. Again, we may have some other budget good guys to where we're able to find another cash fund, but if it came back to us right now, that would have to be the funding source. Then there's the $8 million for the community benefit agreement. And through the chair, this was going to be a question to you, Ms. DeFopolis. The community benefit agreement, even though it's not all directly budgeted, we know we have that liability. And I'm fine with that $8 million piece over how many years it was, as long as I have the warm and fuzzy that it would count as part of our community benefits agreement for workforce development. And then, I mean, there's going to be an opportunity cost for this. So we approved this resolution. My understanding is we find out in June whether the CIA agrees to come here. We got to put everything on hold. Like, don't I see our DIA CEO out there, but we certainly can't entertain any other sort of cash incentives between that time, between when we send this resolution, hey, if you come here, you're getting $35 million, but we're about maxed out. Because, again, the only available bucket of money I know of is that $30 million that we set aside. So if this comes to fruition, this will probably be kind of our, for us first-termers, this will be our second-termer big downtown thing. So other things on the table, Ambassador Hotel, the Gateway Publix, Laura Street Trio, the Baptist Hotel. Like, we just got to agree that we think this is the best investment for downtown, because there's not going to be the available funds to do all of this. So I'll listen to the discussion. I'll support the resolution, but I just want to make sure we all know that, hey, by supporting this resolution, we are tying up most of our available cash balance for downtown incentives by the vote of this resolution. Yep. So, and real quick, just to clarify some semantics and language there. It is an ordinance. It's not a resolution. But it's ultimately the sentiment of a resolution. And we have people in the audience that can speak to why it's an ordinance and not a resolution. And also, just to clarify, it says a package up to $35 million. So we are not obligated to give them $35 million just for whatever it's worth. They can ask for up to that. But obviously, as things progress and negotiations happen with DIA, that number can come down. But I think, you good, Ms. Stavopoulos? Or did you have something that you wanted to add? We have a full queue. Through the, to the chair. So I was just going to address that it was an ordinance. And the reason we created it as an ordinance was because we were attaching that preliminary term sheet to it for, as part of the legislation. It was a discussion back and forth with the council president as the introducer. And that's ultimately where we landed on that. But it does, it is in the vein of a resolution that's how you would normally see something like that, but for that term sheet. And then to address Council Member Layton's comment that he had indicated he kind of wanted me to provide input on. Preliminarily, it does look like that this could qualify as workforce development. So it could speak to your countywide strategic focus obligations. Obviously, we would have to see kind of the final product of what this looks like and how the city's incentive package is built. But preliminarily, it looks like it would qualify for that subject to, you know, additional information that would come in that we would look at at the time. All right. Thank you for that. I know that's a big, that was a big question of mine and pretty much everyone else on the committee as well, I'm assuming. But all right, Council Member Salem, you're recognized. Thank you, Chair. And I guess this is to the auditors. As I recall from the downtown, there was $30 million there, and we're talking about taking $27 million of it. Is that correct? Up to $27 million. Through the chair to Council Member Salem, that's correct. Why is this being split $27 million to add up to $35 million? What is magic about the $8 million coming from workforce development? I don't quite understand that. Is anyone here that would like to speak to that regarding the breakdown? We have Mr. Andre Wallace. There we go. I mean, I've heard, I've had phone calls in regard to this, but I don't understand. Well, Council President Carrico can, let's get that addressed, and then we'll go back to Council Member Salem, and then if Mr. Wallace needs to come up, we can hear from him. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the chair to past President Salem, the $27 million would be earmarked for the actual construction of the building to build the facility, to build the culinary school, and the rest would be for operations and ramp-up for actually getting the program started. They're going to have to operate in the hole while we recruit and get students, and so that's operational dollars versus capital. Okay. That explains that. Why are we not amending this ordinance to lock in those dollars? That's what I prefer to do, and we could state the amendment that up to $27 from this particular fund and up to $8 million from the CBA dollars. I see my president waving his hand. Yeah, through the chair, the CIA hasn't voted to come here yet, so this is really a strong ordinance or resolution, if you will, for them to present to their board. So we don't want to earmark dollars based on a vote that hadn't happened yet. So they're going to vote in June. If they vote in June, they're going to have to go back and get term sheets from the DIA and all the other economic incentives. They're going to have to come back to council to actually get the money. Okay. But we're showing them a strong sign that Jacksonville is wanting them to come here and serve our veteran population and serve our culinary population. Well, then I'm looking at my colleagues. This is what we're looking at. If they vote for it and it is $35 million, it's a $27 and $8 as we've spoken about. Is that what I'm feeling? That's my desire, yes, sir. Okay. Yeah, that's pretty much it. I mean, again, all this has to go through negotiations with economic development agreement and so on and so forth. But, yeah, this is a little different one because, like the council president said, the vote hasn't happened. But, yeah, those things will happen. It's very unusual. I don't know that any of us are real comfortable with this. But if this is what it takes to bring this thing, and I've had all the e-mails, and just like the rest of you are, I'd love to see this thing come downtown. It seems like a Super Bowl for the city in terms of long term. But I prefer more meat on the bone. But if this is what we need to do, I'll support it. Thank you. All right. And we will go to Ms. Pittman. You're recognized. For the chair, I want to ask Mr. Wallace to come up, please. Thank you. Yes, that'd be great. Thank you so much for coming up. You know, I'd like to just talk a little bit about details, which I know you probably have already done. I just want to ask the question about Florida Community College having a strong culinary program as well. And has any communications been with any of the leaders there, the president there, if we're looking at spending this kind of money on bringing an institute to Jacksonville, one, are they supportive of it, or will it be some type of feeder program as well? Because I do know that the CIA is an institution that is highly rated for shifts all across the country, not just, you know, starting at the bottom. So I want to know how is that going to work? And then secondly, if you all are going to be also working with the Duval County School Board. Yes, ma'am. I'm Andre Wallace with the Jacksonville State Partnership. To address your first question, over the past 18 months, the developer, Cornelight Development Group, as well as Jacksonville State has had conversations with numerous community stakeholders, including Florida State College of Jacksonville's president, Dr. John Avendonno. Dr. Avendonno is supportive of this particular project and looks to partner with Culinary Institute of America going forward. That will all be subject to a negotiation between the Downtown Investment Authority and Corner Lot Development Group as we move forward and progress. What was your second question? Yes. And school board, you know, if we have some type of tracking program that's going to start with maybe the students from high school to Florida Community College to the Institute. Yes, ma'am. As you look at the Culinary Institute of America, they have an extensive track record in working K-12 equals well. So I know there are culinary programs in K-12 through Duval County Public Schools that will be at the table and be part of this conversation. And how would the Restaurant Association be involved with this as well? Do you know? Equally as well, bring it in part. This is an all-tent conversation that we do recognize, do not take lightly the amount of ask in terms of financial support. So that means everybody, citywide, this is not just about downtown, even though this is where the project may very well reside. This is about making sure that the culinary industry of Jacksonville has the prepared talent that they need to work in the respective small business restaurants as well as our large established restaurants. This is all-encompassing. This is a tent for Duval County itself. As well as the state. I mean, are we looking for a robust marketing program to get other cities here? I mean, is this, will this be the first one in Florida or in Jacksonville? So, so, culinary institute of America, here are their locations. New York City, Napa Valley, California, San Antonio, Texas, Singapore. Their southeast location, they're looking at Jacksonville. Okay. All right. Good enough. Thank you so much. Yes, ma'am. I was going to say, Mr. Wallace, you can just grab a seat up here just in case we need anything else. All right. Council Vice President Howland, you're recognized. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the Chair to Mary, can you just confirm for me, this is a strong ordinance or resolution, but there's nothing binding here, right? Through the Chair to Council Vice President Howland, you are correct. In fact, the legislation clearly indicates that it's subject to future council action to approve any sort of incentive package and subject to future council appropriation of any dollars towards the project. Fantastic. Thanks for clarifying that. And, you know, my normal concerns would be, just like Councilman Landon's, to go right to what is the funding source? Is this a prudent spend of taxpayer dollars? And I think Mr. Landon summed it up perfectly for me. Government spending is always a matter of priorities. But to me, this is potentially, if we had the money and we do in that fund, a high priority. One thing we kept hearing about from many folks in the audience was about how it can feed so many restaurants in the area. But that's not the only thing there is to CIA. If you actually – I went on the chamber trip last week. They're in San Antonio because San Antonio is a military city. CIA actually has contracts with the Department of Defense, Department of War now, where they train a lot of the chefs and kind of the mess specialists in the Navy on how to make all sorts of meals for folks deployed, underway, whatever. There's no other school that has that kind of contract with the Department of War that CIA does. And that's one of the big appeals to Jacksonville, to CIA, is the fact that, you know, our largest workforce is the United States Navy through NAS Jackson, Naval Station, Mayport. So when I always talk about my priorities, it's always jobs, it's always workforce development, it's always veterans, and CIA hits all three. So to me, it's a high priority project, and I fully support this resolution. Thank you. All right. Before we go to Council Member Arias for the – did we already come to you for – we already came to you. Yeah, hold on, hold on, hold on. All right. We'll go to Council President. You're in the queue. Did you want to speak again, or were you in the queue from something else? I was just in the queue to answer the past president's questions, but since I am in the queue and I'm called on, I'll just give my kind of edification of why I really believe in this. You know, my background is in hospitality. That was my first career. And there was a point in my life when I was probably 22, 23 years old where I had worked enough, worked hard enough, and got to a place where I was earning a salary that I know if I did nothing else with my life, I've gained the skills to be independent. I can work. I can take care of a family because I've gained those skills through the hospitality industry. So we're giving thousands of people across Jacksonville and thousands of veterans an opportunity to get a second career with the veteran aspect. And then for people to be trained up as professional chefs who are working in the hospitality field, you're giving them a sustainable life and a path to independence. I also worked at the Claire White Mission School for Hospitality back in the day when I first linked up with Councilwoman Pittman, and I saw people that had nothing to even think on, like people that were coming out of prison or formerly homeless and taught them just basic entry-level skills in a 12-week program where that turned their life around, giving them a skill set. And some of those guys, I follow them on social media, are working for the PGA Tour, traveling around the country, still cooking and still living the life. So this is important to me because of my military connections as well, my hospitality connections, and the potential that this could just skyrocket downtown Jacksonville and around with culinary mastery that people would come visit our town for. So we're building all this great stuff downtown. We're going to put a campus right in the middle of it that will spawn off in some great restaurants, great opportunities for jobs and tourism. And I think it's the full package, and I'm happy to have been alongside the team working on this for the past 18 months, and I appreciate your support. All right. We have Councilmember Peluso for the first time, and then we have Councilmember Arias for the second time, and Councilmember Landon for the second time. Go ahead, Councilmember Peluso. Thank you, Chair, and I appreciate the ability to speak. From what I understand from Councilmember Arias, if bringing the CIA to the city of Jacksonville means the food and mambos is bearable, then I am very much in support of this. Just kidding. Mambos is perfectly edible. Best visitors in town. I do want to make a few things of note as well. This would be a campus not just for, you know, Florida or Jacksonville. It'll be for the southeast region, right? I mean, it's my understanding, so, you know, pretty much south of, you know, New York City, right? I mean, there's a lot of land there. So this would not just be a Jacksonville, Florida, or a Florida thing. It would be for all parts of the southeast, which is a massive value for the city of Jacksonville, is that people could say, wow, I got my education here. The veteran point is, you know, that was something that was sold to me as well when folks from CIA came to speak with me. So I couldn't agree more. I'm very excited about that. It is still the Department of Defense, by the way. But otherwise, the one thing that I want to make sure does kind of get, we all put our foot down on a little bit more, is this will be a downtown campus. I hope, I know that we still have been talking about that this could go somewhere else. But I heard you, Mr. Wallace, a moment ago saying that's the intent. I just want to make sure, unless you do want to come up and speak to it. But my hope is that, not hope, but my next vote on this will be in support, especially if it's a downtown campus. Do we feel pretty confident about that? I was with CIA last week. Their number one objective is for this to be in downtown Jacksonville. Excellent. That makes me extremely happy to hear. As the downtown council member, that's incredibly important to me. I will say some of the folks that have been pushing for this behind the scenes really have a great mindset of what will help, you know, set Jacksonville apart compared to the other places that CIA was looking for. So I want to be grateful to them. I don't want to call them out because I don't know if I'm allowed to. But I'm very, very grateful to everyone being on board with this. This will make downtown really something special, and I'm very grateful. Thanks. All right. Councilmember Arias, you're recognized. He was the chair. So I just want to clarify one thing for Mr. Peluso. Actually, two things. You're there almost every weekend, and I have proof of that. So, all right. Actually, yes, it has to be and can only be a downtown building, and I'll tell you this why. Because the funding source that we're talking about is specific to that little geographical map. So if they want to tap into $35 million potentially, like the only money we have for them is if they put it in that spot or that area that we have. So it's going to have to be downtown, which I think they have no issues with it. But the biggest part that I want to talk about today is the bill that we passed just right now for EWU, as well as the $15 million, part of that $15 million piece, had NEFBA, and FSCJ, and EWU in it. And one thing that caught my attention today, and I walked over to the auditors and Mr. Fopolis to ask them was, why only $8 million is going to go towards CBA credits? When we put the money towards FSCJ and NEFBA, for them to build their building that has workforce-related activities in it, all of that was considered CBA appropriations. If I'm mistaken, please let me know. But I want to say, if this building is being built specifically for a workforce program, not for a hotel, not for commercial uses, for a restaurant, whatever, but a workforce environment to be able to train chefs, then this building should count towards a CBA obligation. All $35 million of it, not just $8 million. So correct me if I'm wrong, but can we have that conversation right now, please? Yeah. Mr. Peterson or Ms. Fopolis, if you want to address that. Through the chair to Council Member Arias. So we did not add a section, or y'all did not add a section to that Bill 2025-781, appropriating the $15 million, specifically identifying the NEFBA and FSCJ as meeting the workforce development requirements of the Community Benefits Agreement. There was language added to the bill that addressed that there are workforce development facilities that were being constructed, but it was not a CBA-acknowledged response. I'll have to defer to Ms. Fopolis, but I don't think the attorneys in OGC who are doing the analysis on all the CBA dollars to make sure that we meet our requirements as it relates to the Jaguars Agreement, looked into that aspect. So as of now, it is not being tracked as meeting that $40 million countywide strategic focus minimum. Thank you for that. The problem I have is that this building is only going to be used for workforce, similar to FSCJs and F-Buds, so I don't understand why we wouldn't count it towards the CBA obligation. I mean, that's a significant amount to just be able to say, ah, it's okay, we're not going to count it. So I definitely, I want to say, and I'll have to find the videos, but I want to say I definitely ask that question because I know Mr. Howland and Mr. Landon, being on finance, they probably asked the same question during that vote that we did for the $15 million. So I'll follow up with you guys, but the next question, I guess, would be who should we check in to make sure that it is a CBA requirement? Through the chair to Council Member Arias, I will coordinate with the appropriate attorneys in my office. One of the things I would say is that the plain meaning of workforce development is actual training of a workforce. So providing money to outfit capital improvements to a facility or structure to construct a new structure, which may never be used ultimately to provide the training, is questionable with respect to meeting our obligation under the CBA. And so I think I'm hesitant to suggest that those dollars that go to capital improvements, because there's not actual training of a workforce that's occurring with those dollars, that they would be counted towards our obligation under the CBA's countywide strategic focus. Sure. All right. But I'm happy to have the conversation with members. And we'll continue because, I mean, this is an ordinance that we're going to eventually take up later on. We have time. But I will say that it's obvious. They're coming here. It's going to be a workforce. And maybe we could even ask stipulation, should they decide to eventually not make it as a workforce, then we could probably not count it towards the CBA. But we'll continue this conversation. But I think we're missing the mark if we're not attributing all $35 million towards the CBA. Thank you. All right. Council Member Lehman, you recognize. Thank you, Chair. Just to wrap it up here. First off, that's actually a great question, Council Member Arias. I never thought to ask, what about the $27 million? So I know you said probably not possible, but it's at least worth running to ground. And again, it's clear that it's the will of the body to support this. And like I said from the beginning, let's go all in on CIA. But again, that means we're going to have to say no because we are tying up all the available cash we have for any sort of cash incentive. So again, I will support this. I am excited to see about everything I've read and researched. It looks like it will be a great economic driver. But again, just pointing out that I'm hoping stuff does not come to us asking for more cash grants that we do not have cash on hand to support because we cannot get into the trap to where we're looking at over $100 million of unbudgeted cash completion grants again. Thank you. All right. Council Member Zaylen, you're recognized. Thank you, Chair. Through the Chair, I meant to follow up on the TDC comments that one of you made. What dollars would TDC contribute to this? Through the Chair to Council Member Salem. So we looked extensively with the OGC attorney who staffs TDC to see if TDC could contribute dollars directly to this project. And based on Florida statutes, they cannot. However, there are other items in the city's budget that TDC dollars could be used for. One is the Gator Bowl game, the Florida-Georgia game, other items that attract tourists. So the motion and approval at TDC was to work with the administration to see if there are funds that the – if there are items that the general fund regularly funds to free up general fund dollars so that additional dollars could go from the general fund towards the CIA. So that was the nature of the conversation. I guess we'll get into this when we get the ordinance, official ordinance. Thank you. All right. Council Member Palouseau. Thank you, Chair. And it was not my intention to speak on this, but we had better not touch CBA much further than what we've done. Homelessness and affordable housing are still major components of the CBA. It's not all just, you know, workforce development. It's fine that we can touch some of it if that's the agreement with the administration and within this body. But we have other parts of the CBA that we need to be discussing and talking about. And if we were to spend it all just on this one project, I think that would not be in keeping with the – what the initial plan was for CBA. Thank you. Right. We have no other speakers in the queue. I'll just go ahead and add my two cents, being that this is a transformational project. I mean, this is exactly what we wanted to do when we set aside that money in a designated area, is saying, hey, look at Jacksonville. Come here. This is where we want you. So I don't know who made the point of whether it can be in Jacksonville or somewhere else in town. So, yeah, it's – for me, yeah, it has to be in downtown. Otherwise, I don't know where the money's going to come from. So – but I've been also very clear with, I don't – I guess all the parties involved with the Chamber and Cornelot and DIA. My preference would be for them to get the number down. I would love it if it wasn't $27 million coming out of the $30 million because that would leave virtually three to do, you know, a very, very small thing with. So I've said I would like that number to come down. I know that they're seeking funding from the state. I know that they're seeking other money from just various pots or whatever. So I think this is a bill that is going to progress very nicely. And I won't belabor all the points, but, look, culinary, military support, workforce – I mean, or workforce development, these are all three huge things that we want to see in Jacksonville. So I applaud the team that has been working on this for 18 months. Council President, I know you've been working on it for a long, long time. So that is where we are at right now. So let's – oh, did I get added as a co-sponsor? I just want to make sure I said that. Council Member Arias, Council Member Salem. So with that, let's open the ballot and record your vote. Oh, did you want to go too? Okay, Council Member Pittman. Oh, this is the bill. Seven yays, one nay. All right, by your action, you approve 2026-419 as an emergency as amended. All right. Committee, that takes us back to page 8, item number 16, 2026-324. We have a motion and a second on the amendment. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Any opposed? The amendment carries. 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 your action, you approve 2026-324. Item number 17, 2026-327. Motion and a second on the substitute. Can someone please explain the substitute? Through the chair of the committee, the substitute is in lieu of a really long amendment. It attaches a revised Exhibit 1 to correct an account code, includes details on the steps taken by the city in making the declaration of necessity as it relates to these parcels being needed for the project. It also contributes towards the future possibility of imminent domain proceedings. It will include applicable surveys, studies, and reports in the on-file document. As it relates to that, and then attach a listing of the 17 affected properties as a new exhibit. All right. We have one. Mr. Diamond, are you on the substitute? Okay. All right. Let's vote on the substitute, then we'll go to Council Member Diamond. All in favor of the substitute, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Substitute carries. We have motion and a second on the bill as substituted. Council Member Diamond, you're recognized. Two issues on this one. One, the amount of money we're spending on downtown parks and on the emiratory, it was just outrageous. I mean, hundreds of millions of dollars, and it's hurting other parts of the community. There's simply no question. The administration just decided to cancel a $10 million project that would have opened up waterways, conserved land, and done all sorts of other good things in Jacksonville Beach. I'm going to be making a lot of noise about what the administration is doing with the CIP and how parks and other parts of the city are absolutely getting hammered by this administration. This is just more of it. That's one problem. Second problem, if you all want to put your name on putting cash aside for eminent domain, taking people's private property, taking their private property by forcing them to, go ahead. But this is wild. I do not support eminent domain for a park on tiny little pieces in order to do a right of way or something like that, to do a circle on Penman Road, I understand. What this is talking about, I don't want any part of it. Council Vice President Howland. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Actually, Councilman Diamond took the words right out of my mouth. I have a question for the auditor, or Mary, whoever wants to answer it. But there's a bullet there that says the Office of General Counsel is authorized to institute appropriate legal proceedings to acquire these properties by condemnation if negotiations are unsuccessful. Eminent domain. Is that the same language that was in the old Middleburg Road? It's just that this, that was for a road. That was for roadways. This is for a park. Through the chair to Council Vice President Howland, yes, this is the same language that in the similar guardrails that were instituted on Old Middleburg Road. And there was another, Chafee Road was another project where this mimics the similar language that was in both of those projects as well. Yeah. I mean, government's supposed to work for the people, not bang people over the head and threaten them. That's what I think we're doing here. You know, when it's not expanding a roadway to, you know, help the citizenry in general, it's instead parks. Do we know anything about the properties that we're looking to potentially acquire and, if not, declare eminent domain? Through the chair to Council Vice President Howland, and I know Ms. Hunter, Chief Hunter was able to address some of this in the rules committee yesterday afternoon. I think it's 17 parcels, all of which except one are zoned as commercial. One was commercial residential office. Most of them, I believe, they were double-checking, and I see Chief Hunter coming forward, were vacant. They did not have active businesses on the parcels, and just remember that not all of this is contemplating that the entirety of all of these parcels would be the subject of the negotiations or a potential taking. It's potentially just we're obtaining easements, temporary or partial easements, or construction easements, that kind of thing. So I want to be mindful that just because we have a list of 17 properties doesn't mean that we're talking about taking the entirety of that property or all of the rights associated with that property, but I think Ms. Hunter would be able to address. She was looking into whether there were any active businesses on any of the sites, and that might be helpful information for the committee's consideration. Through the chair, please, if Ms. Hunter could address those questions. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Through the chair to Council Vice President Howland, that is correct. I mean, Mary basically got everything correct. I do have my staff actually going out to the field to double-check to see if any of these properties have active businesses on them right now, but they do range from less than a tenth of an acre up to one property, 7.42 acres. They are all zoned commercial, except one of them is zoned CRO, so it's Commercial Residential Office. And, yeah, I mean, that's pretty much everything's consistent with what was in Chafee and the old Middleburg Road legislation. So this would be for the Emerald Trail and for Hogan's Creek and for flooding and things like that. So that would be the distinction between this and the other bills that you've seen before you. Thank you. And, Mr. Chair, if you don't mind, I have one more question through the chair to Ms. Tafopoulos. Would it be worthwhile to amend this legislation or amend the amendment to the substitute, I guess, that says that the Office of General Counsel has to come back to City Council before instituting appropriate legal proceedings to acquire these properties by condemnation if negotiations are unsuccessful? Through the chair to Council Vice President Howland, I would defer to Mr. Garrett. Deputy Chris Garrett is here, and he's the one that actually handles these proceedings. He might be able to help address if there's a timeline consideration and how these things progress through negotiations, et cetera, that would potentially impede the process to do that. But I'll defer to him to address your question. Please, and Mr. Chair, if you don't mind. Yeah, absolutely. Good afternoon. Chris Garrett, Office of General Counsel. To answer your question, there's a process that's followed by statute, which requires that we make a good-faith offer before instituting eminent domain. And that good-faith offer is based on an appraisal. Often, the appraisals for commercial properties are very expensive. And essentially, we would make an offer if there's negotiations, and then it takes 30 days. And if there's no agreement, then at that point, we can institute the proceedings. It doesn't mean we stop negotiating. Ninety-nine percent of these ultimately work out. But at that point, we would get it set for an order of taking hearing, which is where we can actually get title to the property so the project could proceed on the timeline. And that appraisal needs to be relatively current when we get there. So if we proceed with appraisals, do negotiation, and then come back, then we'll probably have to pay for more appraisals. That would be the main consideration. Thank you. And through the chair, that's my, I mean, an order of taking. I mean, that just is not great. For me, the, it's, I mean, I know if we take out the phrase there that you can, I know it's governed by statute, but authorized to institute appropriate legal proceedings, it's, you don't have that hammer to negotiate with. But we want to build a park, and we can't just seize people's property to build parks. It's just, it doesn't sit well with me. The streets are different. Parks are another thing. I would rather, you know, not build that section of the trail than seize people's personal property, which is the foundation of American society, you know, individual property. I'd rather just not build the Emerald Trail than do that. So unless we can take that out and make, make the city have to come back to council before it implements any legal proceedings related to eminent domain, I'm going to have to be a no on this. Thanks. If I could, Mr. Chair, and Ms. Sickler or Mr. Garrett might be able to correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Vice President. So I think there's also a, this is in a, these properties are in a flood area. So I think there's some mitigation of repetitive flooding that's being addressed through this potential process. And it's not just with respect to building a park. So I think Ms. Sickler could probably address that a little bit more. I just want to, there's more than just building a park, I think, associated with this project. So through the Chair of the Council, Vice President, that's correct. Ms. Staphopoulos described that this project, while this particular portion of it is part of the trail, it's related to the Hogan's Creek restoration and flood mitigation. So this is on the southern end, the outfall end of the, of the Hogan's Creek outfall. And so part of this project is related to, to restoration of that creek and reduction of flooding. The parcels that we're looking at are, are generally vacant, and we are not displacing any homes or businesses as part of this, this outfall work with the trail. In addition, many of these properties are within the hundred year floodplain. And so they're not as, as utilized or as useful from a commercial standpoint as you would if you were going in other locations. All right, we are going to go to Councilmember Landon. Yeah, thank you, Chair. First off, on the financial aspect, because I did ask Mr. Peterson quite a few questions last week on this, and then I asked some public work questions in TEU this morning. But again, my understanding, that got me to a yes on just the financials. To be fair, I did not ask any eminent domain questions, so maybe that is something we need to look into further. But this is just shifting money around that's already been approved as part of the $30 million portion that COJ was going to do originally. This was never going to be either a JTA or a federal grant portion of the trail. So there is no incremental money expense here. It's still a $30 million CIP project. This was moving it from one fund to another. And I see Ms. Sickler nodding to that. So I just want to point out here that it's a big number on here, but it's basically an inter-fund transfer is how I understood the financial aspect. That being said, Chair, if there is a lot more discussion on the eminent domain piece, I don't know if maybe a deferral is an option, because I don't know if we're going to hammer that out here. Yeah. I mean, I'm willing to hear. We have a full queue on this. And to be perfectly honest, I'm hearing a lot of concern. Just I haven't, I guess, done a lot of the work on this, but I also just searched my email, and there wasn't anyone that reached out on it either. And if you did, I'm sorry, I just didn't see it. But I would personally like to sit down. I'm not in a comfortable position to vote on this. As far as the number goes, I agree with Council Member Landon. Like, that's probably not a concern at all. The points brought up by Council Member Diamond and Council Member Howland, those are concerns for me. So is there any specific deadline for this, or would a deferral totally just, you know, derail this entirely? There is some grant money associated with this project that we're making sure that we, you know, we're in a good position for. Or I'd have to get with Groundwork Jacksonville as well to determine how this work fits in with the grant money that they have available. What was, so what happens if we defer it? Are you saying they lose the grant money, or? No, I don't think we're in that critical time frame. Okay. If it's a reasonable delay, it should not jeopardize any of that. What? Okay. Okay. So, as of right, did you want to say something? I think we need to defer it, but I'm willing to hear you out. I know you were on some of these other committees that heard it. Yes. Thank you, Chair. I appreciate it. I raised this issue, I believe, in neighborhoods, and Ms. Hunter committed to researching these properties, because I'm hearing different things here today. I hear Ms. Sickler saying there are no businesses, and I hear Ms. Hunter saying there may be one business. I want to know specifically, if they're vacant properties, I have less of a concern than it is if there's an active business there and just taking it. So, if I voted yes, I prefer a deferral, frankly. Okay. Because I want those properties researched individually and to find out if there's any of them that are potentially residential. So, I hear they're not, or is there an active business going on at any of those properties? That's what I want to know. Okay. Yeah. And what district is it in? And that's something that I want to know. We'll go to Council Vice President Howland, and then we're likely just going to end up deferring this. But go ahead, Council Vice President. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I'd appreciate a deferral. I think that's great. Particularly that Ms. Hunter is still out looking at some of those properties, or her team is. But Mr. Peterson actually had an idea. He just brought it over to me that was responsive to my, you know, request of could the city come back to Council before it institutes eminent domain? Mr. Peterson, would you mind addressing that idea? Through the Chair. I would want OGC confirmation. I believe Mr. Garrett can provide it. But the legislation authorizes public works, real estate, to go and negotiate the sale of these properties. And if they aren't successful in the negotiation, to go into the eminent domain proceedings. I don't see why they couldn't, you couldn't authorize them to go to negotiate with the stipulations that are outlined in the agreement. And if they needed to do eminent domain, come back to you on those individual parcels. The reason they do this is because there are a number of parcels. This is probably on the smaller scale of the ones that the city has done, where I believe Old Middleburg was like 73 or plus properties. Chafee was a large number of properties. This being only 17, there may be only one or two that would need eminent domain. I would have to work with Mr. Garrett to identify what would need to come out of this bill. But I think that's a possibility that you may want to consider based on your comments. Okay. Okay. So, I mean, we could amend it to do that if OGC concurs. Or we could defer and think about that amendment in the future, whatever you prefer to do. I think we're just going to defer it for now because I think doing that, I still want to see kind of the map. I want to see where the lines are getting drawn, so on and so forth. But we might end up going that route. But let's give everyone a little time to work through this. So, item 7. Thank you, sir. Yep. Yeah. All right. 2026-327 is deferred now. One cycle. And then we're going to go now, committee members, to page 18, item number 27 for Councilmember Peluso, 2026-356. I think he's here in the green room. All right. We have a motion. We have a motion. A second on the bill. Open the... Oh, Councilmember Peluso. Go ahead. You're recognized. Thank you, Chair. Not sure if everyone had heard some of the conversation over the past day on this bill. Councilmember Landon did a great job, you know, showing I'm just ready to kind of explain, hey, you know, as the jail liaison, like, we are trying to make sure that this process is transparent as possible. Couldn't agree more. Understand that the work that you're doing with the contractor seems to be going in the right direction. What my concern is, and the reason why I even filed this bill is because we've just had a number of individuals come before us over the past three years talking a lot about medical examiner's office, different things that were less transparent in the past. And so this is meant to allay a lot of those fears and also be an extension of the bill that we passed three years ago that I filed discussing redlining and how we as a city recognize that our part, that we played in it back in the 1920s, 30s, and et cetera, our state and our federal government as well. But it was us apologizing for it and saying we were going to work towards steps to make sure we do not fall back into any of the actions that would look like we're kind of, you know, doing anything that redlining had sort of insinuated or had done in the past. And for those to remind you, redlining was basically loans and mortgages were rarely provided to black and brown communities. And it was based off of an FHA, a federal program for supporting banks. And so basically the FHA said, hey, we would support your loan just if you don't invest in these specific areas. A lot of those areas today are still heavily deprived of resources. And so this is just to make sure that, you know, as we consistently see people show up and feel, I think they feel a kind of way about how city council and how government operates. And it's just to make sure that we kind of say to them, listen, we hear you. We understand we are doing everything we can to make sure that we as a body are encouraging that we do not build any part of the jail. Because I do think there might be an annex, for instance, that might be a smaller scale of maybe 50 beds or something. I want to make sure that's not built in like Brooklyn or La Villa or the east side. And so that's why I have this resolution. I don't think that anyone who votes against it is, you know, some kind of, you know, Jim Crow, whatever, this is not meant to be a, this is not, this really was meant to be a pretty easygoing resolution. That's why it's not an ordinance or anything else. But I do hope that you guys recognize this, that we respond to the needs of those who show up here week in and week out, and that we do say, hey, we understand the horrors of red lining. Let's make sure we don't do that again with this jail. Thank you. All right. Council Member Landon. Thank you, Chair. And as Council Member Peluso says, I am the chair liaison. I was appointed by Council or past President White in 2024. And I urge you to vote no on this. And in fact, if it was any one of you that was bringing forward a resolution to rule out any part of your district, I would encourage you to oppose that. I feel like I've done a good job of keeping everyone up here updated. If you recall about, I think it was two months ago now, myself, Director Goff and Mike Weinstein gave an update. Happy to answer any questions. If anyone wants me to remind everyone where we're at in the process, contracts already signed with a third-party expert that does this type of work. And we're probably early next year is when we're expecting to get a preliminary report to us. It's going to have up to three selections or site selections for consideration. But then the actual statement of work has five deliverables, and I think it's 13 sub-deliverables. Site selection is just one of the many parts of this process that we have undertaken. So again, it's here to urge you to support no. And it has nothing to do with where this resolution, what part of town or anything like that. It's just we cannot add more noise to what so far has been a political process. With the mayor's office, JSO, and the council, at least through me, your council rep for the new jail, completely being in lockstep with each other. Thank you. All right. Council Member Diamond, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair.