We'll call this meeting to order. Good day. Colleagues, distinguished guests, members of the public, welcome to the Jacksonville Waterways Commission. The time is now 11.02 and we'll call this meeting to order. Before we begin the official business though, I wanted to just offer this briefly. The great American conservationist, Aldo Leopold, in his seminal work, A Sand County Almanac, said, a right thing is when it tends to preserve integrity, stability, and the beauty of a biotic community. And those words invite us to consider something greater than we are, and here in Jacksonville, that St. Johns River is that thing that's greater. So with that, we will start to my left for a roll call. James Hobson, Waterways Commission. Robert Bertalin, Waterways Commission. Matt Jones, Waterways Commission. Dean Black, Florida House of Representatives. Andrew Fraden, Waterways Commission. Rockland Johnson, City Council. Good morning, Jimmy Peluso, City Council, District 7. Mike Barker, Waterways Commission. Scott Thomas, Waterways Commission. Good morning, Mark Devereaux, Waterways Commission. Jerry Pinto, Jacksonville University. Jim Superwater, Waterways Coordinator. Thank you very much. And what I want to do is just start with a couple of housekeeping things and try to move us along. But first, let's all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you much. First, I want to make sure, as you know, we're charged with examining issues, evaluating evidence, and exercising sound judgment in our meetings. I want to reflect the responsibility of this, so I want to make sure that we know that when I had given some directive about presentation time limits, I tried to keep it to generally the same time as land use and zoning, especially when some of those issues are going to come here, and that expectation applies, though, to the informal presentations. I just want to make sure that we are reviewing those presentations before coming here, and that we're using this body as a place to ask questions and get additional information for what's there. Please try to submit those materials and presentations as soon as possible prior to those meetings so that the commissioners have the opportunity to review them, deliberate them, and have some questions ready for when we return. With that, I will ask for someone to move to approve the minutes of our meeting on September. It's been moved and seconded for approval of the minutes. All in favor, please respond with aye. All opposed? All right, the ayes have it. And the meeting minutes are approved. I do not, Rebecca, do we have any public comment cards? For those that are doing public comment, if you haven't filled out a card, please do so now, and I will entertain public comment. Yeah. Our only public commenter is John Nooney. You have three minutes, Mr. Nooney. All right. Hello. My name is John J. Nooney, Jacksonville City Council Resolution 2023-0819. I'm in City Council District 4, CPAC Planning District 3, School Board District 3. I am just want to share, I am just so proud, I am wearing my FWC, Fishing with the Crew shirt, Fishing with Crady. You know, there's another number of other acronyms, Fishing with Council, Fishing with Congress, Fishing with Commissioners, Fishing with Children, Fishing with Centurions. You know, fishing, it's just, it's worldwide. It is a unifying activity that just brings everybody together. And so anyway, just down to two minutes. I was just right next door to the TDC, the Tourist Development Council, you know, and, you know, what I also want to do is I am in full support of FIND and the recommendations from, you know, yesterday's subcommittee. FIND, it's the east coast of the state of Florida, it's 12 counties, you know, it's our ad valorem property tax money. I've been going to them for decades. And we also have the Northeast Florida Regional Council, that's seven counties. There are 10 regional councils in the state of Florida. And then also, under this, you know, also, I just want to mention Boat Ramp Billy. If you haven't heard, he's in St. John's County, look him up. And I had no idea, but right now we're marketing to the world, and it's happening. I'll just read off some pieces of legislation, 2026-0004, you know, that's our Parks Trust Fund, 2026-0396, you know, that's the movie trust fund. We can make a movie. 2025-0867, that is the joint legislation between the Newville County Public Schools, CIP, our Capital Improvement Projects, Office of Economic Development, Wendy Kahn, I'm in CPAC-3. You know, we were a complete total no-show, you know, during finance for that. But anyway, you know, and then it's the city of Jacksonville. Nick Howland's a sponsor. Awesome legislation. And the reason I bring up schools, you know, it's, here's the resilient Jacksonville thing. Biggest takeaway, I'm only down to 20-some seconds, was that public access on our waterways in Duval County, it's the worst ever. I'll show anyone. And if Amendment 3 passes, you're going to see everybody. Our place, you know, is, you'll be making money immediately. And I shared with somebody, you know, you know, I caught a fish yesterday after the meeting right north of All Wet Sports, 24-inch catfish. Let's go fishing. Thank you so much, Mr. Nooney. Well, thank you for listening, and I'll take any questions. We appreciate you. Any questions? It's just public comment, sir. Thank you. Okay. Thank you for listening. With that, let's move forward. There is going to be a presentation from the next agenda item, the Jacksonville Riverfront Alliance. I'm pleased to welcome Lindsay Ott, the interim director of the Jacksonville Riverfront Alliance, to provide an update on the organization's work. And the work of the Riverfront Alliance contributes to that of the larger conversation of what we're doing here in Jacksonville. So, Ms. Ott, welcome. You have approximately six minutes for your presentation. Hello, committee members, and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your time. First of all, I want to thank you for your service. I, too, sit on a board, and I know that sometimes this can be a thankless job, and so I truly appreciate the work that you're doing for our city. My name is Lindsay Ott. I'm a born and bred Jacksonville native, and I'm thrilled to talk to you today about our riverfront in downtown Jacksonville. First, to set the stage, what do we want? What do we want our downtown riverfront? Like the chairman said, this beautiful, iconic river that flows through our city. What do we want this to look like? How do we want it to feel? We know, we've seen in other cities what this looks and feels like, whether you've traveled to a vibrant urban trail system or another vibrant waterfront or another vibrant riverfront. We know how this looks and feels, and that is what we want to bring to Jacksonville and Jacksonville's riverfront. So we are the Jacksonville Riverfront Alliance. We are a totally independent 501c3 that was created specifically to care for these riverfront public spaces in Jacksonville. The mission is to activate, to enhance, and to help create this partnership with the city for a world-class destination riverfront here in downtown Jacksonville. I'm going to breeze through all of this, and I apologize for not getting this to you sooner. I was suffering from some of the crud that's been going around. But the main takeaway for this slide is these two blue and green boxes. The partnership, really, it is a public-private partnership with the city of Jacksonville. We have a formal agreement executed through the city. So thank you, Councilman, for your support in that initiative. And so there is the gray boxes demonstrate some of the oversight that is over this independent agency. But the point is this 501c3 can help augment and supplement and amplify the efforts the city has already underway. And through both investment, the city and the private sector through this organization, we hope to activate and help create an even more thriving and vibrant waterfront. There's a lot of words on this slide, and we won't talk through all of this. But this slide is up here just to demonstrate that this conversation, this effort, has been going on a long time. The tiny words say pre-2021, starts at 2021 and all the way to the present. This conversation, as you well know, has been going on for years. What do we want for our riverfront when the landing was going to come down? That's really when we started feeling some urgency of what are we doing with our riverfront and the front door to this community. And so this is kind of just an illustration of the work that's gone into this organization and how we got here today. Today, we also, part of that work is studying peer cities and other benchmark cities. So if you have traveled or heard of any of these, you well know the success that organizations and public spaces like these bring to cities. And I know the pillars of the strategic plan, using the riverfront as the river, as an economic engine, as civic identity, as a classroom, and as the city's legacy. We're borrowing and picking the best from these models that you see here on the screen nationwide and bringing them to Jacksonville. So what does it look like locally? How do we fit in? So we, again, we have an agreement that authorizes us with the city to do some things on the riverfront, and that's the next slide. But we also are going to be partnering with as many of the stakeholders and organizations in our community as we can. We have great organizations doing great work already, and we want to make sure that we come alongside them and help amplify the work they're doing. The Riverkeeper has incredible programming. We want to partner with them. The Emerald Trail has incredible things planned, incredible work, incredible landscaping already, and we want to help force multiply the work they're doing. Their success also, you know, contributes to the riverfront's success. Excuse me. Downtown Investment Authority is at the tip of the spear for all of the private development in downtown, and we are talking closely with them. We have a DIA member on our board. So there is direct communication, and downtown vision, they have so much great work marketing and activating downtown, so we know we are going to be working closely with downtown vision. So specifically, what does it look like for us? We're using a phased approach. We're not starting out day one with all of the parks, all of the riverwalk, all of the riverfront. Phase one will look like a focus on programming and really bringing activity and energy to the parks. We're going to be starting with two priority parks to focus on, Riverfront Plaza as well as Music Garden. Then our next phase will look at us expanding into taking on a little bit of the operations and maintenance as our team grows, as the city feels that we're ready, as the partnership grows as well. And then longer term, we will look at caring for an activation of the entire envisioned, or larger, not necessarily entire, but the larger system of connected parks and pathways on the riverfront. So speaking of that long-term vision, small map, but the idea is that eventually we will have these fabulous parks that the city has designed and built. They'll all be connected, active, and I tried to talk fast, but that timer still got me. You're fine. You can take a few additional moments. We want to just keep it tight because I'm sure the commissioners have questions. Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So we know that there are Riverfront Plaza Phase 2 is under construction. We know Shipyards Park, Met Park are about to get under construction. There's a lot in the works, and this organization, again, bringing private resources to the table to help force multiply the investment and protect the investment the city has already made in these spaces. That's really it. I would love to have the opportunity to come back and update you guys later on down the road as we progress. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Hatt. Stay with us. Are there any questions from any of the commissioners? Oh, wow. That's good. We do have a question. Yes, please. There we go. I was just wondering, when I'm looking at all the initiatives here, how does the access, in particular parking, play into the long-term plans? That always seems to be an issue or a problem. I personally love that question. I've been a downtown employee for 10 years now, and so parking is something that I have strong feelings about. We are working closely with the Downtown Investment Authority to coordinate. They also have a parking sort of study and master plan that they're trying to get off the ground because parking is going to be a significant factor in, you know, a mom with young kids deciding to come downtown and spend a day on the riverfront. Can they get off the interstate quickly, easily, see the directional way, finding nowhere to park, feel safe and comfortable walking from the parking lot and see how to get to the riverfront? These are all things that we're looking at and we're very interested in. Parking, we do have parking downtown, and it's a matter of how do we message that and make sure people are educated and it's easy for them to access. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Other questions? Mine's just funding. Funding-wise, how are things progressing? I know, because I know, I think James Weldon Johnson Park, I believe you said, is now part of the... James Weldon Johnson Park is not. It's not. It's not. They are with Downtown Vision. They're with DVI. That's the change that was made. Yes, Mr. Chairman. What, like funding-wise with your parks, how is that working with the funds you need to continue running the riverfront parks? Sure. So there is, we are grateful for an initial city investment these last two budget years. Yeah. And so we're grateful for that public funding. That public funding signals a commitment from the city, from the public sector to the private sector. So we are now in the process of starting to actually implement our fundraising strategy and going to the private sector, corporate partners, you know, individuals in the community that care about our waterways and doing the fundraising work. So we're early in the work, but we have begun. No metrics just yet. No metrics, but we have received great interest. Thank you for your service in this work. There are no other questions. Thanks for the presentation. Thank you so much. All right, we will move on to subcommittee and special committee reports. These reports provide an opportunity to examine ongoing initiatives and emerging issues. Our first one will be the Fort George River Sandbar Vessel and Speed Regulation Task Force. And before, I don't think there's anything to report out, but before, let me admonish, and it's already been published and noticed publicly. The first report is supposed to, or the report from the task force was supposed to come out in November. The task force requested an extension of the target, so the completion deadline will now be December 1st, 2026. It's been approved and the additional time is intended so that they can examine all of the pieces needed so that we can make the right decision. If there are any additional comments from Commissioner Jones, I'll take them at this time. Yes, you pretty much covered it all right there. We still have a little work to do. Right now, we're in the process of setting the meeting for the second task force. We really want to get this right the first time because it's focused around public safety, so we want to get it right. We want to be able to make it stick and protect that area out there, protect the citizens that are using it. It's a lot more than I expected, but I didn't expect it to come easy. I did write a quote down. Nothing worth fighting for ever comes easy, and public safety is totally worth it. The first part of that comes from Amelia Hutchins, and that applies to this 100%. If it was easy, it would have been done 30 years ago. So that's it. We're getting our ducks in a row. We're getting our I's dotted and our T's crossed. I would like to thank Ms. McGillis for her guidance. Without her, this would be completely impossible, but we're working on it. Thank you, Commissioner, and thank you for the work you're doing in that report. All right. Our next task force is the Florida Inland Navigation District. That's actually a subcommittee of the subcommittee. The next is about the important partner navigation waterways access marine infrastructure. Commissioner Barker, you're recognized for that update. Thank you. Hello meeting yesterday with the help of Brian Burkett gave us great guidance, and what I'd like to do is have Mr. Burkett brief us on exactly what we've got going on. Good morning, Brian Burkett, Parks Department. Do you see the slideshow? Yes. Okay. Very good. So yesterday the subcommittee met to review the staff recommendations for the 2027 proposed grant applications to the Florida Inland Navigation District. For those of you that may not be familiar, find is the government, is the agency that oversees the maintenance of the intercoastal waterway along the, this is along the Atlantic side. So there's 12 counties that participate, and part of your ad glorum taxes goes to maintaining the channel, and then a portion of that the board allocates to this grant program that all the local governments can participate in and apply for funds. So we've been very fortunate, and since the program has been around to improve our access to our rivers and waterways. So this year's list, we've got four projects that we're recommending, and they total up to just over $7 million for total value. One thing important to note is there's a cap per county that is kind of a soft cap, but there's a target cap that the board of fine sets for each county. And ours, every year, it kind of goes up about $100,000 every year. So last year we were awarded around $3 million. So this year the project asked is, totals up to 3.3. So we're pushing the envelope going over what we think, but we've been coached by our local fine commissioner to be a little more aggressive. So we've added a small project at the end, the last project that I'll go over, to try to maximize our return on this grant program. So this map just shows the spread of the projects for this year. While it's always a goal to spread them out geographically, to share some love amongst all the parts of the county, it's also opportunistic where the projects need to happen and where there's already effort underway. So the first one is Sisters Creek Transient Facilities. Last year we received a grant for Phase 1 construction, which is the bathhouse, which you'll see on the screen that's Phase 1. Phase 2 was too expensive to fit into last year's ask, so we separated that as a Phase 2 for this year's grant program. And that is 500 feet of new transient docks. Sisters Creek, Jim King Park at Sisters Creek, is also known as the home of the Kingfish Tournament. But it's right there at the intersection of the ICW and St. Johns River, a prominent location. It's a very popular destination for pass-through traffic as well as local visitors. But we have some transient docks at the north end of the property that are free to use. But they are always crowded and there's an opportunity here to enhance that and expand the transient voter support program at this park. So we've already had the commitment for the bathhouse where that star is on the map. And this is the completion of that larger project with the docks. And here's just a schematic showing the drawing of those plans. So again, this funding, this is a $2 million ask for a $4.4 million total value to add that 500 feet of docks, which also includes some dredging to get those in place. So those permits are in hand, so it's totally eligible and ready to go. We just need to secure those extra dollars. So this is a continuation project from an existing fine project. The next project is also a continuation project. Wayne B. Stevens Boat Ramp Improvement. So we received previous fine dollars for the design of improvements at this location. And due to the timeline for projects, we need to move this forward this year. Otherwise, we would risk not getting reimbursed for the design phase. They encourage you, they incentivize you to keep moving forward with these projects by not giving you your reimbursement if you don't proceed with a construction contract within a timely manner. So this one needs to move forward. The project includes conversion of an old busted up boat ramp at the end of Ortega Farms Boulevard into a kayak launch and fishing pier. Originally, the plan was to redevelop that boat ramp as an improved functional boat ramp. But once we got into design, we learned that that was no longer feasible since at some point in years past, J.E.A. put a force main line directly underneath the boat ramp crossing the river. We could not do any construction that would, you know, directly over that pipe. But the good thing is, within the yellow boundary of the park, we've got multiple boat ramps that are in good shape and well used. And we've done previous projects to maintain. This portion is just outside the yellow boundary, which is actually city owned and controlled right away, which we manage as part of the park. It's just technically outside the boundary of the parcel, but it is part of the park. So when we had to pivot for that project, we were like, how can we best provide a public enhancement of water access? And what this park was lacking was it was only exclusively for launching and landing boats. So here we just created an opportunity to give some distance and separate users and eliminate conflicts by creating a designated location for the kayak use as well as creating a fishing structure as well. So we're actually using the piles of the existing dock as the support structure for the fishing pier. So creative, adaptive reuse. And here's a bit of an image of what we've designed. And we're actually creating a green space there at the river too. So no longer will it be a hazard of potentially driving down the end of the road and into the river by accident. There'll be a park space protected by bollards. Please take a few more moments to continue. I know you all met briefly, and so you're trying to pull it together. But moving forward, just try to get us to presentations early. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, thank you. The next project is the St. John's Marina boat ramp. This is the only boat ramp downtown. This project is to replace and lengthen the existing boat ramp. I know we've had public comment here in previous months. People's concerned about the condition of the ramp and that it gets silted in. We already have a dredge project that's being planned for next summer through another fine project. This will replace that ramp, lengthen it, make it more functional for larger boaters. And the timing is kind of critical on this. This design will be done using dollars that DIA approved through the CRA just the other day. And we can turn around a permit because it's just a replacement in fairly quick order. But the timing is important because the ramp is currently closed down for the next two years because of the construction next door building a tower. And there's cranes swinging over this area. So this timing will allow us to rebuild this ramp during the closure period and have it ready to reopen at the same time as the tower is completed. And we can do a ribbon cutting at the same time. And I would hate to delay this project and then once the park was ready to be reopened because of the current closure only to shut it back down again. So this is taking advantage of the closure that's got to happen anyway and we can enhance this use. So this is a $1.3 million project. And then the last project is the replacement of the existing bulkhead at Stinson Park. This is on the Ortega River near the Grand Avenue Bridge. It's about 325 linear feet and it's a wooden boardwalk. You can see the condition of this bulkhead in these photos. We've got voids behind the wall and you can see the wood is just deteriorated to the point where materials is just slotting out under and through the filter fabric. So the plan is to replace this with a vinyl bulkhead with a concrete cap that will be more sustainable for a long-term use. So this is a $275,000 projected project. We already have quotes on it. It's just a little higher than what we can handle in-house with our maintenance dollars. So this is fine eligible and I can get an exemption letter from permitting to make us eligible for the funds next year. So that summarizes our four projects. When we met as a subcommittee, we did talk about alternative projects that were on the list, but these were supported by everybody in attendance and we present them to you for your support. If you approve this list, we will proceed with legislation to full city council to request authorization to submit the grant applications next spring. Thank you for that report. Commissioners, do you have any questions or comments? Please. Yes, sir. Commissioner. For those who are new, Mr. Burkett and I have been working together for a number of years on FIND. What he and his team have done is an exemplary job of keeping a pipeline full with the right funding design and construction money in the right place at the right time in the right amounts. And marrying all this up is a real chess match. And every year he's done just a brilliant job. And I want to commend he and his staff for the work that they do. It's absolutely fantastic. And I mean, he gets it done every year. It's just like a machine. And I admire the work and it's been very good working with him. Thank you. Any others? Hello. We'd like to thank Brian and team for all the work that you do because this, these projects do give public more access to the waterways. And I just, I just really want to point that critical, critical statement out. That's all. Thanks for everything. And if there aren't, it seems as though, and correct me if I'm wrong, Ms. McGillis, we can, they can take action to move on this. I can accept it. So that way they can move forward the grant process. So commissioners, thank you for that admonition. If there are, if there's a motion to move these forward. Okay. If there's a motion and then second it, that we accept the proposal, the fine grant projects of Sisters Creek, Wayne Stevens Boat Ramp, St. John's Marina, and Stinson Park. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor, please respond by saying aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Congratulations. I look forward to seeing these projects realized. Thank you. Our next report is going to be about George Quady Bridge. Councilman Gay is not here right now, but he did have something to share, so we will recognize him when he comes. Was there any discussion from any of the commissioners about Crady? All right. Let's move forward. All right. Please, please. In the course of the fine meeting that we had yesterday, I do want the supporters of Crady Bridge and action on the Crady Bridge to know that we did put that on a list of projects that are considered, but that we can't move on right now. And the only reason that we can't move on it is it's state property, not county property. And our purview was county money to county property. But Mr. Burkett did get back with FIND and speak with them about the potential for having some fine dollars that are available from the state, or to the state, excuse me, from FIND. And he's going to follow up with them on that. It's not enough money to solve the problem, but we're working on it every angle that we see. So I just want you all to know that we have not forgotten you and that every opportunity that I have to try and throw something to you, I'm taking advantage of it. If nothing else, I also want to add, and I know, Representative, you guys are working tremendously over in Tallahassee. I spoke to Senator Davis this morning on my way here, and one of the things that she assured me to please say that we are looking at the George Crady Bridge. So thank you, Senator Davis, and Representative, please, if you will. So, yes, this matter has taken up a lot of attention. And I think we have said before that there are things we want to try to do in the short run, in the intermediate run, and then we need a long-term plan. The Florida delegation will soon have its meeting, and we will soon be back in legislative session. And we will have conversations here in the city, but also at the state of Florida, and we will look at each of those timelines, short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term in due course. Thank you. Thank you, Representative. And if he needs to add something, if he's able to make it, Councilmember Gay will recognize him. Also on the artificial, our next item of business, the artificial reef subcommittee. For that committee, the final, the subcommittee is scheduled to provide the update at the November meeting, which is November 19th. So we look forward to receiving that subcommittee report next month. And with that, unless there's something from that, did you want to add something? Please, Commissioner Super, Mr. Super, yes, please. Through the chair, Commissioner Hardesty yesterday wanted me to make an announcement to you all that the Offshore Fishing Club and the group that's put the last reef project in. They have been given a cargo ship from South Florida that they couldn't deploy down there that is coming up here to be deployed in one of our permit locations, and that's planning to be actually sunk in the middle of November. So we just wanted to give you all that announcement and let you know that's what they're working on getting that through the process right now. But they'll have the full report on the 19th. Sure. The full report from the reef on the 19th still. Yes, sir. Yes, thank you. Appreciate that. All right. And now it's time for the, that concludes the subcommittee and task force reports. Now it's time for the St. John's River status report on water quality and manatees. Dr. Jerry Pinto of JU will bring that report to us. Dr. Pinto, you are recognized for that report. Thank you. So things are starting to quieten down on the manatee front anyway. But in terms of water quality in the river, we've had a lot of rain recently. You may have noticed that. We had torrential rain in the last couple of weeks. So that dropped the salinities in the river. So they're running a little bit lower than normal. Mayport is normally around 35 parts per thousand. It's down a few points here, 22 to 29. The lower numbers represent low tide. Higher numbers represent high tide. And so down at the Buckman, if we look there, the numbers are 3 to 10 parts per thousand. Normally it's less than a part per thousand. I think that there are some things going on in the river. It's a very dynamic system. And we get these pulses of rain and pulses of salinity. Sometimes they're not so easy to explain. But at any rate, all the rain we've had is still flushing through the system. And so in general, the salinities are down slightly. In terms of temperature, we're about, since the last meeting, probably 10 degrees lower as we move into the colder time of the year and the drier time of the year. In terms of the basin and rainfall, we're still at a deficit. But in Jacksonville, we've had all this rain. And so we're back up to almost an inch above normal for this time of year. If I talk about the algae blooms in the river, yes, we have algae in the river. There is some what we call blue-green algae further south in the river, Doctor's Lake and Green Cove Springs down to the Shands Bridge. Mostly mixed algae, but there is some microcystis going on. But no toxins to be reported. So the last sampling was on October the 12th by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. But no toxins to report. In terms of manatee deaths in the area, no change since the last meeting. So there's no changes there. Very few manatees in the area. The last flight I did, I think I mentioned last month, was only about seven animals spotted. So most of them have left the area. And with that, I would be happy to take any questions. Commissioners? Please. Mr. Thomas. To the chair and through the chair. Doctor, I noticed that in August there was a manatee death in Little Pottsburg Creek. And I believe I asked you this before, but is there any correlation? Because there's been a lot of construction within like a thousand feet from there with a development. I think they're putting, they put like 40 homes in there and they put a bunch of docks out there. And there's been some barges out there. Is there any correlation with that manatee death and all that construction? And I believe the construction is Oak Creek Preserve. Yeah. So normally these construction projects that impact the waterways have to have a manatee observer. And so they keep an eye out for manatees. They're supposed to stop work if a manatee gets within 50 feet of their operation. They can't shoo it away. Manatees tend to be sort of inquisitive. So they approach those operations sometimes. And there is correlation for that happening. But it's very difficult to pinpoint unless someone observes it and records it on video. So it's hard to say. And when they do these necropsies, like this one wasn't necropsied, I don't think. So not all of them are necropsied, which is, they're either in bad condition or when they're recovered in there, it's difficult to do that or it's just not possible to do it for some reason. And so you wouldn't know unless their necropsy was done and you saw, you know, indications of broken bones or some kind of vessel impact or something that would indicate that. And I hope that helps. It's not a definitive answer to your question, but it's... Thank you, Doctor. With that, it looks like, thank you for the report. It looks like there are no questions. So thank you for that report. And we will move forward. I do want to recognize Vice Chair Gay. Vice Chair, there was some talk about the George Crady Bridge. If you had something you wanted to update, I also wanted to put on the record, Senator Davis spoke this morning and she's... And of course, Representative Black has said as well that the delegation is looking forward to do whatever they can to help move this process forward. Councilman Gay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's always encouraging. The more we get teamed up with us to help push us over the line, the better. Mr. Burkett, if you would come on up. We've had some discussions and meetings with DEP as well on this recently. Some of the issues that we're challenged with is for us as a city to go request grant funding for this, this is not our property. This is the state property. And Mr. Burkett, if you could elaborate on a little bit about that and what possible grants that we've discussed with Public Works and all that we can possibly get to do, to this within our reach to get, but then what is out of our reach because of the state ownership of the bridge. Right, thank you. To the Chair. Yes, sir. Brian Burkett, Parks Department. We alluded to this earlier, but, right, the George Crady Fishing Pier being a state-owned and state-managed facility, you know, the responsibility lies with them. So for most or every grant that I'm aware of, you have to have site control of the project area that you want to work in. The city does not have any site control of that facility. So I did identify another grant program through the Florida Inland Navigation District. It's a separate one that we use. It's designed for federal, state, and regional governments called the CAP program, which is the Cooperative Assistance Program. And they've got a separate bucket of money that they use. And from my understanding, from speaking with my liaison at FIND, it's rarely tapped. So the state governments don't use it very often. So that money is usually available. There is a cap on the CAP each year. So I know this total build-out new numbers and the tens of millions of dollars have been talked about. So this wouldn't be necessarily an avenue to rebuild the bridge, but there's sufficient dollars there to do, you know, like a study and a design of what that solution could be. So I think that would be a potential first step in that process. But the state would have to be the applicant for those grant dollars through FIND. So that's the one that I thought had the best chance of moving forward. Right. And that's, in our meetings, that's what we kind of zeroed in on. And that's what I want to bring to the Duval delegation is to get this grant, to be able to get a plan to put before the people to see what we can do and get a goal. Because right now we've kind of just been going in a circle saying we need to get it fixed, but there's really no direction to say we need to move forward and here's what we're going to do. I was encouraged by, I believe, out at Mayport, we, there was a, what, a $10, $12 million grant that was issued for that pier through the chair, Mr. Burkett. Yes, that was a federal ports grant. So that was specific to the commercial docks that we're building out there in Mayport. But yes, that was a, a very generous grant of over $10 million. Right. So I got hope and my hope would be to, let's get the, the whole, the whole bridge restored. Uh, dollars amounts go from one extreme to the other. But until we can get this, this initial grant to get, uh, a plan of knowing what, what we're, what we're going to do and what it's going to cost. Uh, I think that's the first step that we need to do to, uh, be able to start moving forward with this. And so this, that was the best news I had heard in quite a while. And so I'm, I'm definitely hopeful that, that we can pull the do all delegation and everybody all together on the same, same page on this. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Commissioner Black. Representative Black. Thank you, Chair. Vice Chair, thank you for your leadership on this matter. Your leadership and your vision has been exemplary and I'm grateful. I have a question for Mr. Burkett. Is he still with us? Yes, sir. Um, and thank you for your work. What is the cap on the cap? I'd have to refer back to my notes, but I think it was up to maybe $4 million. That rings a bell in my head. It was, it was a number, it was in the millions, but I think it was three or $4 million per year. If you could get a definitive answer, I would appreciate knowing that and look forward to taking this up in the delegation. I think it's a way for us to take some sort of a decisive step forward so that we can ultimately bring some sort of resolution to this. Again, thank you, Mr. Burkett. Look forward to receiving that from you. And again, Vice Chair Gay, thank you for your leadership. Thank you, Representative. All right. With that, we will move forward with the agenda. I want to try to stay to that hour timeframe if I can. Um, so there's a little bit, I want to say here, agenda item number 10, future business. Uh, I'm not sure how that made it onto the agenda. There is no such thing. Uh, it was supposed to be action items. So I'm going to say on the record, this should be action items that we take. Um, moving forward, we'll make sure that that is, uh, those things are corrected. Items, uh, A and C are not going to be available for commission consideration for action while they are there. They mistakenly made it into the agenda. And then items B and D, uh, Ms. McGillis from the legal standpoint, can you update us? These are supposed to be, from my understanding, taken up at the November meeting. Can you give us an update for those items, please? Yes. Thank you, Chair. To the chair and through the chair to the committee. As to items 10 B and 10 D, those are quasi judicial rezoning matters that are outside of the authority of this body. They were, um, put on the agenda in error. Um, I tracked down the error. It was simply an error. Those will not show back up. They are going to be discharged by the council president. So, um, yet this body does not handle quasi judicial matters regarding zoning. Which would be items B and D. Yes, sir. And those are, if I may, just to interrupt, if I may, that is, uh, item B is 2026, 784. And item D would be 2026, 788. And then you're going to address, uh, so I got that transposed. That's why I wanted to put it on the record. And I want, uh, items number, uh, 783 and 87 are the items that we'll hear in November. But your items, again, B and, uh, A and C. Any questions about those items, commissioners? And thank you for the update, Mr. Gillis. Any questions about those? If not, we'll have those reports in November. I want to express, again, my appreciation for all of you. I know this is, uh, sometimes especially with all of the committee meetings and other meetings. And subcommittees and everything else going on. Thank you for taking your time, uh, and, and volunteering your efforts, uh, during the day to make sure that we get it right for our waterways. Uh, just a reminder, if there are presentations coming in, please try to get those to, uh, legislative services. Rebecca, thank you so much for the great job that you do from legislative services. Please try to get those two legislative services, if possible, a week in advance. But at minimum, 24 hours in advance, so they have a chance to load them into the system. But most importantly, so that the members of this body get a chance to review them prior to getting here and can have questions available. With that, if there are no other questions or concerns, we can adjourn this meeting at 1151. Thank you again for your service. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.