okay i want to thank everybody for coming to our meeting today and i'd like to start out by letting us introduce one another starting down on that end and we'll come all the way around here different over here anthony ricardo school board district one melody bullduke school board district seven hi cindy pearson school board district three and good afternoon matt carlucci city council member at large group four good afternoon tyrone o'clock murray city council district nine okay thank you very much today's meeting um i called in its last minute but i would have tried to have called it a little earlier but state farm um had me strangled yesterday um i've got this pesky other job that i had to work on so uh but i felt this was important to call this meeting today and i was glad that council member areas called a meeting because that means council members that may have questions uh still about the resolution that we're looking at this coming tuesday hopefully will have two chances to have any questions that they have answered i also believe that it's a chance is that councilman jones down there councilman school board member i'd warren come on come on up here please sir it would it would warm my heart it it would warm my heart to to have uh my good friend warren jones uh up here for those of you who don't know warren is the longest serving council member since consolidation 29 years and warren come over uh here and sit next to tayrona that way you'd be close you gotta hug everybody on the way over to a seat assignment um i don't think so okay and so we have uh former council member warren jones why don't you introduce yourself say hello and then we'll get back to where we were good afternoon it's a pleasure to be here and uh when councilman matt kalucha calls i have to show up so uh thank you for the invite and i'm not going to thank you for being up here but i thank you for the invite thank you i would be or when you when you get a little older i got to tell you it almost brings a tear to my eye to see my friend up here and uh i i get i'm getting too much like that my voice starts cracking everybody says you know he's getting old he's getting old anyway um but i love him like i love all of y'all okay so we're called the order and uh first uh we're going to do is we're going to clarify the city council's role on this so i asked michael factler our general counsel um the head lawyer of this city to come and explain that and then we'll have um the duval county public school superintendent uh speak to the importance of this issue and i would like to hear from our school board members as well uh as to anything that they want to speak to um and any questions that tyrone or i might have or any other council member who might be wandering in this way uh for they to ask and then we'll take public comment so i want to thank uh our general counsel michael factler for being here and um so once you um just kind of lay it out for us and for everybody including the media that might be here and the gentleman over here the simple truth of what you know what our role is happy to um i think importantly this is not the shall versus may controversy that we had in 2019 in this case the shall has been interpreted conclusively by the second district court in 2024 in a case out of hillsborough county uh there the court said that in this case shall in the statute left the in that case the county commissioners no discretion to put the measure on the ballot it was a purely ministerial act and therefore the county commissioners had to do it uh the appellate court affirmed the trial court's issuance of a writ of mandamus which was essentially the court ordering the county commissioners to put the referendum on the ballot so this is a different statute than shall versus may in 2019 and it is our opinion as well as the binding law in the state of florida the act by the city council is purely discretionary and i'm happy to take any questions you may have any questions by you anybody here i have a question i'd like to ask but anybody have a question okay well my my question would be this um mr factor what what would happen if um because we do have a red button and people i suppose could vote no if they wanted to i don't know if that's me echoing that here out of my left ear but anyway um what what if people what what if we had 10 no votes just hypothetically because we may get some no votes because some people just you know want to vote no and that's they're right i would not take anybody's right of vote away from them but what would happen it that's a fascinating question uh that i don't know that we fully explored i mentioned the hillsborough county case and that appellate court affirmed a trial court's issuance of a writ of mandamus essentially a court ordering that that is a possibility i i guess i would have to talk to my client in that case that would be the school board regarding what their options are and how best to get it on the ballot um so to answer the question there might be some options out there but you are correct i in my role i cannot force somebody to push a green button or a red button but there are options potentially available for the school board to get their referendum consistent with the statute on the ballot in november okay uh i would if you could to the best of your ability with the time frame that we have hopefully we'll get a vote on it this tuesday um and and i would like between you and mr fopolis to share with us what our time frame is in the event somehow we were not to vote on it this tuesday but i i would like to know what would happen uh if if uh this council were to not meet the time frame or uh or to vote no uh on this and what those consequences would be uh and and i understand it's a little strange to have to vote yes i i get that completely but i also understand that you know there's a public body as a public body we are just a channel here for the school board which is an elected body and they're working on behalf of their constituents and they need us to channel this through to um the the ballot so uh if you if you could supply me and uh i i suppose the rest of the council members if if that's appropriate the answer to that question uh i would like that and then if we um if we don't wind up voting on it this tuesday what kind of time frame does that put us in in terms of getting it on the board or getting it on the ballot and and what kind of pinch does that put uh dr bernier and our esteemed school members school board members in um thank you for the question um and i know mr popolis is in the back and and i've learned this from her and her her excellent work and due diligence and compiling this information so if i get it incorrect i know i'll be corrected shortly but the we've worked with the supervisor of election to know what the absolute drop dead date is to get it on the ballot and that is august 18th so that is a date that i personally on behalf of my client the school board do not want to get anywhere near but that is the absolute date if it is not brought up on the 9th then it will go through the normal cycle again and go through finance again uh the following week which would be the 16th i believe and then it potentially be on the ballot again the 23rd there is also something to keep in mind there is a bill on the governor's desk which would potentially open a route for the school board to get its referendum on the ballot without having to go through council there would be several hoops that we would have to go through and we are prepared to work with the school board if that door opens to make sure that we have all our eyes dotted and t's crossed to make sure we go through that and again going back to your question of what what could happen i would have to work with my client the school board to see what their next steps were and whether that is um i i have looked at this and kind of pondered in my head i have some ability to issue binding opinions about the role and the interplay of the charter i don't think i have the authority to issue a writ of mandamus i cannot order one of my clients to do something i don't know if i want that power but i definitely don't have that power uh so i think if you've got the power you you ought to use it i do what what is the last um council meeting though that we have to vote on this to make sure it gets on the ballot that's i guess what i'm trying to find out and then i'm going to am going to turn to miss the populous or maybe the council auditors in the back i don't know the last meeting before then i know we have the three-week council break coming up in july and i knew that miss the populous would have to come in and correct me and keep me on track uh to uh council member carlucci and to the the remainder of the members on the dais so the um as mr fackler indicated if the matter doesn't come up for a vote on the um on tuesday the 9th it'll be in finance for consideration the following week and then has the opportunity to vote it out of finance that week to come back to city council for consideration on june 23rd if for whatever reason there's an additional deferral or delay the council will have one cycle in july where the finance committee could take it up on july 21st and then it would be voted on at council on july 28th and that's the last opportunity for this matter to be reported out of committee and to come to council for action that would allow the school board and the school system to meet their deadline with the supervisor of elections now um before i go any further does anybody have any questions um before i go any further because i got one more extension on that that question so what possibly could the council do to this legislation that might take us to july 18th i mean is there any amendment that we could consider that might improve or mold it in such a way that it might be more collaborative between the two bodies or as it is what it is and we have to vote on it as it is one way or the other through the chair to council member carlucci i apologize so the legislation is essentially as it it came to us via resolution from the duval county school board and what's in the legislation is simply a directive to the supervisor of elections to place it on the ballot for november 3rd so what what the the way it's written now essentially tracks what the resolution stated from the school board as well as the statutory language with respect to how it gets placed on the ballot so there's really nothing to amend it outlines the dates for the election it also establishes the ballot question and the way the ballot question is written is provided by the school board through their resolution so that cannot be changed either and otherwise it just includes somewhere as clauses that address the statute and the process by which it comes to the city council to have it then put put on the ballot by the supervisor of elections to defer it we wouldn't be deferring the bill in order to make some kind of a change unless there is a council member one of the things that came up during the finance committee meeting was whether there could be any substantive changes and my answer at that point was not that no you can't change the date of the election the statute sets which type of election that has to go on you can't alter the ballot language you can't alter the substantive information as it was provided by the school board so i there could be a minor modification that that a council member would want to discuss or could discuss but i in in this moment could not think of what would change in that legislation that would be such that you know it would have really affect the nature of the bill which is simply asking the supervisor of elections to place it on the ballot thank you and if i could clarify apart from the scriveners there there are no changes oh just one last then observation i'm going to make is the quicker this makes it through the council the quicker those who are volunteering to um run the campaign uh to to volunteer for the campaign because there's going to be a campaign for those who want to pass this there might be a campaign for those who want to fight it i mean it's a it's a free democracy you can fight it or you can be for it but there are people that want to campaign for it and the sooner that they have got this piece behind them the sooner that they have the certainty they need in order to um take this initiative and start talking about it with uh the voters of jacksonville so that's kind of another piece of the puzzle that i think is important that we get it out this tuesday so uh so i'm done with that and again i'll ask for anything else before we move to our school board friends anything else okay so um miss fackler thank you for coming i know you've got a meeting that you've got to run to i appreciate you being here mary thank you for your contribution and um so we're through on that one and dr bernier i'd like to turn this over to you and you can um talk to us about why um this is so important and explain maybe the history of where we've come from since we passed this some four years ago or so and whatever else that you have in your presentation um portfolio thank you councilman um i don't have a presentation portfolio i i spoke this morning i'll try to do the same thing that i've tried to do when i came here and stood where mr fackler just was we have a lot to be proud of in the great city of jacksonville um we have an amazing city that's growing developing you can see the beginning of breath and more life coming into downtown and it's surrounding amazing neighborhoods right it's been two years i'm starting to actually kind of figure this place out a little bit and i know i still have a lot to learn and somebody will quiz me at the end and you'll know that i still have still have a lot to learn but you can feel the energy in jacksonville and i believe that the school district last year contributed to that energy i believe that by coming in as an a graded school system for the first time in history with the leadership of these amazing board members and the others that could not be here today is a step in the right direction towards what our city is working towards through its civic council which is that concept of world class if you're going to be a world-class city you need a world-class education system so let me talk about what our system's done we've historically received an a grade for the first time in its history the pm3 data is in it's not final yet but we have the possibility of being close enough to be a rated again we have earned a 97.6 graduation rate amongst our high school seniors who graduate both college and career ready under circumstances that when you and i went to high school we didn't have those same standards right have to pass algebra one they have to have a passing grade on regarding their english language arts if they can't get it on the state test they have to pass the act or act at a certain level they have to have 24 credits they must have a c average those are not things in the past and that graduation rate not too long ago hovered at about 60 percent it's now at 97.6 and the demographic breakdown breaks down between whites blacks hispanics free and reduced lunch ese students most of those gaps are less than one percent so not only have we moved it overall for the overall rate but we've moved every one of our other groups of young people in those as well and they're graduating both college and career ready and that leads me to one of the great things a public school system can do for a community we produce excellent graduates they're ready to go to college step into careers do both at whatever time they choose and they come back and they enrich our community by making it a safer place a better place being gainfully employed really driving the economic engine of this community but also driving the social aspect of it as being better fathers mothers husbands aunts and uncles it's just a really an amazing opportunity as an educator to have a legacy of knowing that we've helped improve the climate and culture of the city jacksonville under the leadership of the board and that we're living in a better place additionally for this august body and for the rest of the city and our chambers of commerce when you're out recruiting a business in iowa in february and it's minus four degrees as the wind blows across the plane the first thing that ceo is probably going to ask you about is what the beaches and the weather is like but right after that the next question out of their mouth is what does the public school system look like and for the first time in our history we've been able to take that message across the ocean into other places and say we have an a-rated school district we have a district that has risen in every single tested level we had 20 schools last year rise at least two grade levels we had another 10 that went up at least i'm sorry 35 that went up one grade level and 10 that went up um two we we're we're on the precipice of getting to the point where we will continue to install confidence in this system but the bottom line to all of this is the most impactful person in all of those statistics that i just read is a classroom teacher and the other educators that support them our paras our school psychologists our school counselors our slps pick anyone that interacts with a child along with a teacher statistically research proven they are the number one factor in increasing student achievement and this millage provides them evidence that their purpose and their impact and their value is recognized by this community what this body has to do on behalf of our school board who passed the resolution is they need to pass it through to the office of elections i stood at that podium and said i'm not asking you to continue a tax this is not a new tax it's a continuation of one that already exists what i'm asking you to do is do what is i think the best part of living in the state of florida we would move this item onto the people to vote and somebody said it beautifully this morning that's the great part of living in a representative democracy as representatives we we challenged and created a resolution that we brought to you your step in this process is to pass it through to the supervisor of elections and then in november the people get to decide if they want to continue this sense of income to our teachers supporting them and supporting our school resource officers and our safety officers to make sure that we not only continue to drive student achievement but that we make our schools as safe as possible i think our voters want a great public school system but it will be up to them to make the decision of whether this is something they're willing to pay for or not so let's let the voters decide what the future of dcps and this funding is and we will figure out no matter how that vote goes we will figure out a way to move forward and to create a situation where our teachers are appreciated but right now we've got to get it to the ballot so that people can have that opportunity in this wonderful state where that's how our constitution is written to have their choice i'm open to any questions that may come from you or other members of the committee if i have any questions i think that could have been any better any more well stated dr veneer and i thank you for that very much i i need to recognize uh mr school board member reginald blount thank you for coming today sir appreciate it in the good work you do um so i uh would like to now um ask um and i would like to include uh school board former school board member warren jones in this as well but any of the school board members that would like to speak as to their views on this as well i think it's important so um pearson my school board representative your school board representative that's right and you're my city council landlord thank you so much for calling this meeting and thank you for um being supportive um of duval county public schools as a city council member but also as a parent going all the way back to starting friends of hendrix which i had the privilege of being president of and running fundraisers at hendrix as well as a school board member um as an elected person i have two opportunities to interact with the one mill my first opportunity was to vote on whether to send the resolution to city council and i took that vote and i voted in the affirmative to send the resolution to city council and now city council has the opportunity to do their what we have heard is the ministerial duty to send the resolution on to the supervisor of elections to be placed on the ballot so that the people can vote i would make a plea that um while you could extend it all the way into august to please someone consider pulling this on tuesday if the city council president doesn't reverse to pull it and second it and vote on it because the sooner this item is settled and it is moved on it frees up the staff and school board members to do the important work that we do over the summer school is out for students it is not out for administrators it is not out for school board members we are still working and and so the time that we spend continuing to try to convince people to do something that they should do anyway it's time that we're not spending doing other things the second chance i get to interact with this is as a private citizen and i have said publicly that i am voting for um the voting for the renewal renewal of the one mill and i'm bringing four other votes from my household with me so five votes from the pearson household for this um a few things to know about this and and that i find compelling first of all by state statute the um when the tax money comes into us it is split eighty percent goes to duval county public schools twenty percent by statute goes to charger schools for them to use in similar ways and then as outlined the money is spent in three different ways in uh salary stipends or enhancements for teachers for paras for security for school resource officers for maintenance for the employees in duval county public schools and that is significant because we heard from dozens of teachers in the previous meeting that this is a difference maker for them it is a difference maker for them having the peace of mind to know that they can um afford to save for a home that they can pay medical bills that they can pay for prescription drugs that they can be freed up to help elderly parents that they can help their children achieve a college education these are these are not luxuries these are real life issues that teachers are having to work second and third jobs to pay for that if you have a degree and you have been in a profession you should not have to work a second or third job in order to afford basic life necessities and that is across the board for our employees the second part of the money goes into arts and athletics enhancements and that's just 12.5 percent of the budget but so so important arts and athletics enhancements happen on the elementary level on the middle school level and on the high school level that could look like a refurbished playground it could look like musical instruments for an elementary school it's scoreboards it's refurbished tracks on the middle school level it is converting um fields playing fields that have too much pressure on them that actually are not safe to play on to turf fields it can look like new band uniforms it can look like new audio and visual in an auditorium it can look like improved sound in a football stadium which is actually a safety issue so those are the kinds of things that go into that and i just want to point out that within duval county this year in athletics we have had three state champions reigns holds two of those state champion in football state champion in track and then fletcher girls volleyball state champion in volleyball and also ranked number one in the nation in beach volleyball we have a lot to be proud of and our student athletes deserve they don't have to be private school level facilities but they need good working facilities and that is not something that's covered in the state budget moving on to arts we have numerous schools and and our young musicians and artists who have been recognized on the state and national level and just this past weekend douglas anderson school of the arts students participated in the applause awards and if there were something that would be a state championship in musical theater the applause awards would be the state championship for musical theater and da took female lead male lead and female second or female runner-up three out of the top four positions that could be won at that at that competition went to da students they are doing amazing things and two of our local jacksonville students will be traveling to new york to compete in the jimmy awards which is the high school equivalent of the tonys our students and our and our teachers are doing amazing work and they do deserve upgrade facilities to do that work in so those are some of the reasons that i'll be voting yes i would encourage the people who sit at these seats and you out there to consider voting yes as well but the first thing we need to do is put it um get that over to the supervisor of elections as soon as possible super thank you very much and uh remember uh how do you pronounce that last name i'm so sorry balduk yes balduk oh balduk okay thank you dcbs is an a-rated district right now because under our incredible leadership of dr bernier and his staff and our board who have supported that leadership because of the excellent teachers staff programs and resources that we're providing for education excellent education and opportunities are foundational to a thriving and economically competitive city we want jacksonville to be the greatest city in florida and even one of the best in the nation property values go up i don't need to be redundant i think dr bernier did an excellent job pointing that out we serve over 98 000 students and employ over 11 000 teachers and staff members you don't do that and and raise salaries like you should without increasing a budget we have made so many cuts it hurts we have tightened the budget dr bernier has made staffing adjustments we have consolidated schools there have been countless changes in operational efficiencies and so when you pull those things they add up but they don't add up to the amount that we need to do the work that we want to do and also increase teacher salaries i want to point out that our teachers are below the survival salary so even our teachers who are veterans of 20 years are not making a salary that shows any kind of value for the kind of work they do for the amount of hours that they put in and i'm going to say too i really don't believe that anyone would argue that teachers need to be paid more i think that goes without saying i'm saying it anyway but i think the real argument and i'm going to say this as a strong fiscal conservative understanding that i was elected in order to create transparency scrutinize our budget and to find ways to save money and we have done that we have actually brought our um fund balance from three percent up to five five percent i say we dr bernier okay he has done an incredible amount of work to find that money and build up that fund balance so that we wouldn't be in danger of losing the ability to have local control over how we are operating and so we've already done an incredible amount of work and i know that we're going to continue down that path some of you are asking can can you close more schools yes we can we are every year we close schools that are not adequately attracting students okay and and it hurts every time we do it we hear from our community they talk about how important those schools are to their areas of town and so we hear that too it's a hard decision but we're making hard decisions even if we close schools we can't use that money to pay teacher salaries or staff salaries can you cut more positions i would love if some of you would visit the district office and i'll walk you around the building and you can see how many empty stations there are we have staff members who are telling us i'm doing the work of this person who used to sit here and that one who used to sit there too can you reduce contracts we're doing that too um what about third-party services and we're doing that we're looking at that we're doing the work but again you know we looked just last month at at a contract that it would cost millions of dollars more for us to take on that contract it would take a long time to save i don't know an average of about five percent and so that doesn't add up to what this millage does so i'm telling you and i'm speaking to my conservatives who are putting you know kind of a demand on i don't like asking for more taxes but i want you to understand that education is only funded through taxes we can't stand on our own feet because we don't we're not entrepreneurial we're not out there making money it is the job of our city state and local government to support education and i'm kind of in a position where i feel like why why do we have to beg for education to be supported in our city it's one of the few constitutionally required functions of government if we're spending money anywhere this is where it should be our per people allocation didn't even increase as much as inflation so we're operating on maybe more dollars but fewer fewer less we'll say less spending power than we had before um so we do make great use of donations and grants wherever we can we do have a lot of unfunded mandates from tallahassee i mentioned the per pupil funding issue we will continue to speak with our legislators about it i think we can do better but i think we do have to make a fair case to them but for this this gives us local control over dollars you the taxpayer and our city councilman can give them that power the taxpayers get to make the decision as to how this money is spent and we are we are committing 87.5 percent of it to teacher and staff salaries the rest of it is going to arts and athletics um i would also be happy to anyone who wants to come and tour my schools i will sit down with a principal and i'll let you see what our cafeterias look like what our kitchens look like there is update that's needed um if you want excellence it costs money so um we can't we we need you to trust that if we are asking and i'm again i'm speaking to my conservatives out there because i know so many of you are out here um agreeing and nodding your heads but i need to win over my people i need them to understand why we're asking for this trust us you put us here to steward your resources why wisely we are doing that we have auditors we have um we have volunteer committee members that we get to appoint to ask all these questions and to really scrutinize things this is among the most audited money the most scrutinized money that we have in our budget so um i would i think i just want to close with just some thoughts about you know our teachers they're here because they want to be they're not here for the money i say it all the time when i started teaching 26 years ago i didn't decide to teach because i knew i was going to bring home the big bucks i did it because i loved it and it was a privilege and i chose to be there but our teachers don't have to choose to be here anymore they have degrees and they have a skill set that's high in demand they could go to the corporate world and become trainers not to give them any ideas i mean they could become entrepreneurs and start their own schools guys we want duval county to be the top choice and that's what we're here to do is to make our schools amazing to make them the best place for our students to be they shouldn't i support choice but they shouldn't have to go somewhere else they should be able to come to their neighborhood school and get a fantastic quality education so i'm going to ask you to help us make duval county the best choice and i'm gonna i wrote something that i want to share i wasn't going to but i'm gonna anyway i have a dream that one day we'll live in a community where teachers no longer have to choose between paying their own bills and serving the children of our great city i have a dream that one day our educators will not leave school at four o'clock only to begin a second job at five o'clock just to support their families i have a dream that teachers will no longer spend their own money on pencils paper books snacks deodorant and basic classroom supplies because their community has already provided what students need to succeed i have a dream that principals will spend less time begging for funding and more time leading thriving skills filled with opportunity creativity music art science and innovation i have a dream that we'll stop asking educators to perform miracles on a hot dog and soda budget while expecting champagne and caviar outcomes i have a dream that jacksonville will fully recognize that strong schools are not an expense to endure but an investment in the future of our city and i have a dream that one day every one of our children will walk into a safe beautiful fully restored school and know that their community believes they're worth investing in that's the dream it's worth fighting for that was uh that was uh wonderful and i think you should frame that and i think uh that's that's a that's a framer it was beautiful thank you now fellas i hate to tell you this but um i've granted these ladies a lot of time because what they had to say was so good and i wasn't about to stop them i think they've covered so much great territory um and um and women usually do cover territory better than what we guys do but i'm gonna have to ask you guys and uh possibly uh council member jones uh to uh to do what the council members up here asked me to do and that is uh shortened up a little bit and uh believe me i get asked to shorten it up all the time but uh but we uh want to give time to the public to speak and there's a lot of folks here that we want to hear from the public uh because they don't they get that time often but they've they've driven it's friday a lot of them are probably missing some work but uh i i would never silence you and take the time that you need but that if you'll just kind of keep that in mind we need to um i want to get to our to our public but i'm also want to give um any questions for uh tyrona or council member tyrone clark murray and myself we have any questions to ask along with anybody else okay so go ahead sir introduce yourself and and thank you for your service in district one i think okay uh well thank you sir yes sir and i don't know i'll keep it very short but i don't know if you remember four years ago back when i was just a citizen i was very finance uh financially physically uh very conservative and i asked the question about this same issue and i was uh i was of the mind that you know the school needs to operate inside the budget and and again as a normal citizen you don't have the insight into what uh is involved in a budget a school budget in particular and so now again just like my colleagues have just said we're trying to explain to other fiscally uh conservative folks why we need to ask for this this is not a new tax and um i'm just going to put a little different spin on it you've already heard from my colleagues they've done a great job um you talked about certainty just a little while ago um deferring the issue i think would cause a lot of uh uh distress on the teachers that are in on their break right now they're worried about where their income is going to uh be at least kept the same or improved and whether their financial situation is going to be at risk um the florida teachers are among the lowest paid in the united states among all the states and that's a shame as a former teacher myself i remember all these same stories and it's amazing that over 40 years the stories haven't changed we all worked second jobs third jobs had to worry about whether or not we were going to be able to pay a health bill if it came up whether we could fix the roof if it went bad or a tire blow out on your car uh that was that's a real struggle and so i have that in mind with this and i'm going to ask that uh the resolution b uh brought up for a vote as soon as possible to reduce that certainty for our teachers and reduce that stress we have a world-class uh bunch of teachers that have done a great job this past year as as we've already outlined and uh we want them to come back we want to make sure we keep them and so i think in going forward i would like not to have to do this in four years again so the attack will be to go to tallahassee and see if we can't get the funding approved there so that this doesn't have to keep coming up for a vote and i appreciate and i defer back yes sir that was a great observation and uh i'm sure there's uh talk about certainty every four years that's that's pretty roughed up to campaign for that uh school member blot nice to see you thank you for coming and thank you for being here and have an opportunity to um advocate for this resolution and i'll be really quick um after spending a lot of time overseas uh afghanistan isbekistan iraq and those places working in civil governance i saw us build schools for millions of dollars just to see them get blown up the next week by the taliban it really was disheartening to see that and i always say when i come back when i retire and get out of the army i want to come back and serve my community nowhere else back home to jacksonville but i never anticipated some of the issues and the problems that we actually have i'm seeing a city that's developing quickly a lot of housing a lot of boom everywhere but i'm seeing the education system our schools some of them are crumbling apart and falling apart and we're having to make tough decisions the one thing i want to do i do want to thank dr bernier because the operations section when people ask well what are you guys doing they have done a tremendous job in cost savings one of the things that i advocated for is i want to see these contracts looked at very carefully i want them trim lined i want i want when we build new schools i want the best product for the school at a reasonable price and not just throw them up and take whatever the contractors say and they have done an excellent job in doing that we have asked the superintendent to do a certain job we gave him a certain direction and he has actually he's actually doing it along with his staff and i said i really appreciate that um when i look at this resolution a lot of uh my constituents ask why are you raising our taxes again blunt i said well i'm not raising your taxes i said this resolution is just keeping in place what we actually have we just need a little after being on the board about a year and a half we just have a had a little bit of time to work with to really work through some of the issues we are having in the system and we just want to keep this going for a period of time so that we can balance some of the issues and problems that we are balancing them out and i don't want to see teachers in a bad situation just because we want to stop this resolution i'm asking that we more than anything that we participate or allow our citizens to participate in the democratic process of being able to say yes board we want this or no board we don't want this but they won't have that opportunity if we can't put this on the uh the ballot for november so i'm going to support it i support it with the school board vote and uh i continue to support this and we will see in the future um what we need to do um in order to to get better funding for our police officers our teachers and our staff thank you thank you very much and thank you for the wonderful job that you do as well and uh and certainly a well-deserved courtesy i'd like to ask uh uh former school board member and chair thank you warren jones to say a few words and then uh tyrone if you and i have any questions we'll ask them and and um unless anybody else has anything to say we're going to go right to the public and give them a chance um and uh so go ahead thank you mr chairman i'll be brief just three quick quick points uh when we considered the half penny sales tax uh former board member lori hershey was chairman of the board and she thought the hardest part was getting it approved by the voters didn't realize the pushback we would get from the city council i think that's when cindy got involved and wonder why are they holding this up and it's very clear legally that the city council has a responsibility to put it on the ballot that has already been litigated we had to go matt you and i sit in this chambers in 2020 waiting for them to approve it we ended up having to go to court the judge ruled and the school board's favor and it was put on the ballot in november of 2020. uh so it's just frustrating you know and i hate to see our board members having to spend time here advocating for something that we know is needed i think the city council realizes needed but to go through the gymnastics political gymnastics of having to come here and speak to them about why it's needed that is unnecessary and i apologize for that it's sad that an elected body would not want to give the voters the opportunity to decide well i agree with the tax or not let the voters decide and that's what the school board is asking they're simply asking the city citizen of duval county if they want to continue a one meal tax to pay teachers salaries and improve our facilities so for that i uh and then we got to realize too that this is a competitive environment when i mean mean competitive i'm talking about surrounding counties if i'm a teacher and i can make the same thing working on a surrounding county why not when i have fewer issues i mean we have schools in this county where i had one principal when i was on the board was kept asking the superintendent for a washer and dryer i said why does she want to wash and dry it because the students needed to have clean clothes and she wanted to wash them so they wouldn't be harassed when they got to school and that those are some of the challenges our teachers face here in duval county they wouldn't check face necessarily in a surrounding county and finally a majority of the council i think supports this the question is getting it out getting before the council to get it approved i think this it's too it's an excellent opportunity to do that because as you well know matt and others that we need to raise funds to advocate for this one meal continuation and the more time we have to raise that with some assert with some assurance that it's going to be on the ballot in november i think is very important thank you for this meeting and i look forward to hearing from uh many of the people who support and some of those who don't support this thank you uh thank you my good friend uh school board member retired uh warren jones uh council member clark murray do you have any comments you'd like to make okay i i i do too and um and so um we have a lot of folks i'm sure want we don't have any green cards so i'm going to just ask you to come up and uh first come first serve and uh now i i uh i guess i understood that now uh yes sir you you can and if your meter's running out uh you get on up there as quick as you can now look um i'm supposed to put a meter i'm supposed to put the timer on i guess for three minutes um so we're going to do the timer at three minutes if you run a little over i'm not going to you know give you a royal wrap with a knuckle um on the knuckles but i i will need you to kind of wrap it up for me if you could help me with that i i appreciate it and i want to thank everybody for coming here uh for or against and so um just introduce yourself give us your address and um and and uh and and we're happy to hear what you got to say thank you sir my name is john lewis meeks jr my address is on record um 3500 north university boulevard jacksonville florida 32277 i am the teacher first vice president of duval teachers united aft local 3326 but i'm also a history teacher so let's do some some let's put class in session would you believe that six decades ago duval county public schools was in the toilet we were disaccredited colleges looked us looked at us sideways we were segregated we were full of strife and pain and sorrow in the 1960s we went through a crucible of each of the hockey sticks to improve our schools over the years so would you believe that today we have the highest graduation rate that was never even envisioned two or three generations ago would you believe that we have a school church that's diverse and full of children from all backgrounds and and and in diverse areas that we serve today to the best of our abilities our educators and educate staff professionals so when we ask about can we afford to go forward i'm going to ask you all can we afford to go back we cannot afford to go back we have made it to mountaintop with a fantastic school board a fantastic superintendent i remember growing up seeing the horrible days of herb saying and i know you haven't forgotten those days either i remember those days when lou ann bennett went to war with the superintendent but now we have cooperation and collaboration between president tamerbroke sevens and dr bernier we should be proud of the fact that we're working together to move our kids forward i want us to keep on trucking and this is not a tax increase this is an investment which maintains what we we decided to follow up on four years ago and in the election of 1864 lincoln won re-election by ask americans are you willing to trade horses midstream let's not shoot the horse right now let's keep on that horse keep moving forward to invest in our kids for better schools of duval county thank you very much thank you that was uh put you on the campaign trail all right sir uh your name and address mickey roman my uh address is on file um miss mold boldeck you made a very compelling argument uh our position and and it's uh um very well and we're we're at the point where we're almost willing to concede i um appreciate uh tony you're mentioning tallahassee but um and i i concur that you shouldn't have to constantly be begging and asking but you know the end doesn't justify the means i mean we've got a we've got a perpetual problem here of uh i represent business people um and you know uh struggling and and the business pool is shrinking to the point where a lot of my friends are now wanting to move out of duval county we can't make it you know just last year i got one part of the city for three years i've been trying to get a permit i got another part of the city that took me from six thousand to sixty six thousand dollars in personal property tax the property appraiser refuses to give me my bill this year unless i give him my personal financial information i mean i can go on and on right there now we've got the school board you know with this continual ask and uh now last night it was brought to my attention um the the vocational uh uh programs for the duval county school board and and i am just thrilled it just boggles my mind you know because i came out of the trades that's how i got my start was electrical trade school but now there's two pages of schooling for nurses and for this and so i mean i am totally for that but but the end doesn't justify the means you can't keep taking from the businessmen because you know one argument that you all have given us is that not today but that it's only twenty seven dollars per household but that's that that that's not the business side the business man is paying a hundred times that i mean the amount that i'm having to pay for this half cent is completely different from the homeowner okay half center of the millage we're talking about the millage today oh okay all right well then i won't touch on the half cent right we're not even discussing the half cent what uh no sir and i and i'm i probably should have made that clear but we're talking about the the millage that was in to stop the the time for this gentleman take it back a little bit steve if you would so what what we're talking about today is the millage was increased by a mill about four years ago which gave the teachers i guess what they call the bonus but actually was a salary increase and it also increased the the cost the pay for school uh coaches uh police officers and other staff members right and that's what those dollars were donated were dedicated towards since then we've become a an a school district uh but the state law says you have to go uh you you have to uh after four years for them to keep those dollars in their salary uh they have to go back and have that revoted on to retain that millage so this is not like a a new taxes it's retaining or renewing the tax that was voted in the last time uh it's easy to get them mixed up because the half cent or the half penny sales tax was voted in maybe a year prior to the the millage so i understand how you could get that but this public comment you could talk about whatever you want to sir i just want to make sure that you know what this particular meeting was on so i want to make sure you have uh i'm not sure where your time got cut off but let's make sure he has at least two minutes left okay to speak all right well thank you for that clarification yes sir and of course i would like to suggest that maybe a business council the um advisory council to help the the school board um because uh you know enough is enough the model is is wavering and you know the pool the monies um of us from us business men you know you know we're you know we're getting hit on every side bureaucracy on every side you know to the point well why not move out to baker county why not move out to nassau county why not go somewhere else you know where where i mean i'm 60 i don't look it but in two months i'll be 67 so i'm on social security you know and i never thought i'd be in this position i've been for this council before saying why should i on social security you know be pulled on so heavily to fund so many different things now you say well you know uh we want excellence well i want excellence too i want to be proud for jacksonville you know but if you give me enough money with my rv parks i'll have the finest rv park in jacksonville so i mean that's not a valid point if you keep saying give us more money and we're going to have an excellent school board system sure you'll have an excellent school board system you're doing up mud against the wall you know so i'm saying hey we will help you tony we will help you go to tallahassee another thing that businessmen can do is i'm so excited about your vocational program i'll be more than happy to underwrite some of these students if you give if the student graduates and i get them for a year after they graduate not for the rest of their life but you see what i'm saying there's things out of the box that we can do to help you guys but this perpetual constantly coming back to us you know like miss boldock said it's not fair to you all and it's not fair to us and that's all i basically want to say okay thank you very much and we appreciate contrary and different points of view and uh and the offer to underwrite students that's something i would encourage you to get with your school board member on and um and i'm sure the school board takes everything you said into consideration uh sir you're up next thank you name and address my name is mark tumanero my address is 10547 fair lane drive jacksonville florida 3218 good afternoon members of council members of school board staff and members of the general public for all being here me personally i've invested interest my son goes to school here in jacksonville his mother is a teacher i have a vested interest in the success of duval county schools i would love to see more safety higher teacher retention better quality education in our county me personally i'm all for this um retention because it continues the progress and compelling stories that uh evidence everything that you all just sat here and told us about it rewards your hard work and it progresses the hard work that you're already putting in i yield the rest of my time thank you thank you very much i appreciate you coming down here for that okay who would like to go next come on good afternoon city council members who are present as well as our school board members who are present my name is jamie travis leonard my address is on file i'm a familiar to face through most of you i do have two students currently in the duval county public school systems they are both part of our magnet program which is actually why i bought my house in duval county so you get my tax dollars because of the school system you get to see my face every city council because of this school system i actually graduated from clay county and we won't go into that but i have strong feelings on their school system this renewal is about upholding a promise we made to our teachers and our students we promise them a quality education and if we don't have teachers who are being fairly compensated if we don't have art programs that are being funded if we don't have athletic programs that are being managed and upkept we aren't giving them a quality education so i think everyone has belabored the point at this stage that really the city council's responsibility is to put this on the ballot for voters to then vote on so i appreciate the meetings that have happened because i think it has brought some clarity that maybe was missing from a few of our city council members i appreciate those that didn't have clarity that did come out so councilman uh arias i appreciate him having a meeting i am curious as to why council members salem and diamond did not appear at either of the public hearings to have their uh confusion cleared up but that's not the point my point is this is a renewal it's not a new tax it's not something that's unheard of and the voters overwhelmingly support it so if council continues to delay having this on the november ballot what it says to me as a homeowner who pays taxes as a parent with children in this public school system as a concerned constituent that is active in public comment is that you don't care about me as a voter you don't care about my rights as a voter and you don't care about my kids rights to quality education so please let's put this to bed on tuesday let's get this council to pass what needs to be passed which is simply to put this on the november ballot for voters to vote on and then let the voters decide thank you thank you very much and by the way anybody that wants to come to this tuesday night at five o'clock for public comment are welcome to come whether you're for or against uh but that'll be crucial because uh we're hoping that we'll get the uh item off the finance agenda so we can vote on it okay who's next okay hello i am latrice carmico my address is 1360 mile barn 32211 i am a parent of individual who had a young man who graduated in 2024 and i am an educational advocate for all students here in duval county one day i picked up my son from school and he said mom this was even in kindergarten i'm not like the other kids i'm not smart enough he started crying and so did i we subsequently got him an iep and it was at one of those iep meetings that the esc um liaison over at love grow said miss carmichael stop focuses on what he's not good at and focus on what he's good what he is good at and he developed a youtube station talking about sports at that game school he had so many teachers who showed up to his outside sports football basketball mishnar um and mr ronnell showed up to all of his games and they also created learning um um i guess activities about sports because he loved the philadelphia eagles so he could figure out math talking about football better than he could about apples in a tree in middle school at the leadership academy there was miss cook who showed up at all of his baseball games who set set with him every single math assignment and helped him and he and he said one teacher i know she loves teaching it's just i can just tell the way she talks to us she loves what she do it was at high school at andrew jackson when he had a medical emergency when he fell down some stairs and knocked out three of his teeth a week before his senior pictures where the coach rode with him to the hospital and we did not think he was going to make it that same coach i had bumped heads with but he rode to him on that ride and stayed with him and talked to him weeks and weeks after that to make sure he was okay he was also a baseball player so that coach had an added um investment in him too my son now is a junior at alabama state in montgomery alabama he is school he received all aids the last semester never happened for a kid with an iep he walked across the convocation stage and they celebrated him for the first time for academics but he was celebrated because he walked across the dcps school at graduation on on the on the shoulders of teachers who stepped outside of the classroom and gave him the education that he deserved he told me just the other day mom that day i didn't think i was going to make it i did not think i was going to be here we celebrate his success today i'm an advocate i'm going to be there i'm gonna fight for him i did not do that alone i did that on on hand in hand with teachers and so if i could show up every single time to vote for something like this i would because every single teacher in our district deserves that and when i heard teachers that said they have to do extra work just to take care of their families while they were stepping outside on weekends taking care of my son that brought tears to my eyes i'm talking to the person who's looking online who was at work who couldn't show it today come up today i talk to people about this i'm sorry all the time but do what is right celebrate our teachers so that all of our kids can walk across stage and be celebrated every single day thank you thank you very much okay who's okay there we go i don't want to follow her i'm i need your name and address and tammy brooks sevens i am the president of do all teachers united and my address is 43 24 nice to see you nice to see you too sir um short and sweet pull it on tuesday vote on it move it pass it on my teachers that were there this morning who are on summer vacation can they just know that there's some certainty in what's going to happen in their life come 2028 because we're going to vote and we're going to pass that thing we just need you to get it on the ballot we need you guys to honor the time that teachers have so that i'm not having to call them and have them keep showing up to your meetings because that's what we're going to do we're going to keep bugging them and they're going to be like oh my god this summer is the longest summer ever because it's mid-june before i can actually go on break and take a breath because i know that the thing that has helped me and my family to survive will continue to be there for an additional four years after next year so i need the city council to do what you're supposed to do pass it on to the elections so that they can now get ready to just take a breath just take a breath because you don't realize the anxiety and stress that you're causing to teachers by having this happen we have a group about 35 in our office taking a class that they need to take this summer so they can renew their teaching certificate and they are all watching this live streaming hello everyone because they're in class supposed to be learning about teaching beginning reading but they're worried about this i need you to allow them to stop worrying about this and just do the job that you're supposed to do which is just pass it on to elections so that we can all move forward and so that these lovely people we don't have to keep seeing each other every other day thank you you're welcome and uh if there was any good reason to pass it besides all of that so they don't have to keep coming up here to public comment every every other tuesday night okay who would like to go next yes me and i you haven't been up here yet i'm not waiting on you all right come on there there's there's here's my friend come on up oh it's nice to be known as a friend good afternoon my name is tiffany clark and my address is on file um i think my shirt says it all if you haven't read it this is the same shirt that uh we had designed and you probably remember this board member jones for the half penny sales tax we then brought them out again in 2022 yep 2022 and so here we are 2026 we get to sport the shirts once again and um i think board member cindy said it best just because you can doesn't mean you should i counsel just because you can hold this up does not mean you should hold it up what we should do is stop and i know you said you're going to say it a lot nicer so i won't this foolishness because this is foolish these teachers these single parents they depend on these funds gas groceries tampons tide you name it that's what that money goes to and no teacher should have to take away from their own children simply because we are going back and forth on an item that you really don't have the right to take away from them and so i say to every council member please stop this please if these were your children if that teacher was your daughter or your son would you want would you do that would you do something that you knew wasn't right and just because you could no it almost doesn't make sense it almost just does not make sense and so i'm hoping that our council just does the right thing and that they let the voters decide it is their decision so thank you guys i thank you for your hard work i thank you for your servanthood but i also thank you for thinking think about it if these teachers were your sons and daughters that you brought up in this city would you want them to have to go through this would you want them on a friday afternoon when they're supposed to be in a training on pins and needles worrying about if our council is going to say yes i said it earlier it's a pole frog who won't celebrate in his own pond these teachers are something to celebrate please do the right thing thank you so much and uh i want to recognize council member ron salem ron why don't you come up here and join us okay well you're so welcome to come up and make any comments even though uh you weren't able to get here earlier i thank you for coming very much i'm sure everybody else appreciates it as well okay jasmine i've been summoned so i wanted to come and speak for you mr carlucci i don't have any remarks prepared but i'm just going to go off the cuff and i know i'm preaching to the choir but i'm happy to see a council member salem here um for starters our our teachers shouldn't have had to come and be vulnerable the way they were this morning it was a pretty emotional meeting it was uh demeaning it was a little bit taking away their dignity of how they had to put their self out there in terms of begging for a stipend or a line item in their check to keep ends being met and i have to echo the sentiments of board member bold duke i have a dream where we have a legislator who wants to invest in the true education of public schools in the state of florida and not in the investment of of vouchers and allowing wealthy people to have the voucher system and access to everything unchecked and and and the list goes on we have a public school system that is supposed to be designed to serve all children not just pick and choose who they want to serve and we need to have the resources to support that and this millage is essentially becoming a resource for our teachers to make ends meet with two children in the system the school system they are supported by the teachers that are here today and that were here earlier and the board members that make decisions on policy that impact my kids at the school level so all that to say i know i'm preaching to the choir i know matt i know you councilman carlucci will do the right thing i know you councilwoman tyrona clark murray will do the right thing i hope that we can get the rest of them to unanimously to unanimously do the right thing as well thank you for your time thank you and thank you for coming and uh for everything you do for our community and in in the circles that you're in are considerable okay any other uh members of the public that would like to speak okay is there anybody um up on the panel here that would like to say any last words i would emphasize what you said earlier is that the community has another opportunity to speak about this matter on tuesday it should be the june the 9th at 5 p.m come down to the council chamber you'll have an opportunity to fill out the blue cards so that you can speak publicly about this issue and emphasize to the full council or the council members that are there how important this issue is and we emphasize our role our role is not to determine whether or not the um resolution should pass our our we're just a pass-through it's going through our hands and on to the supervisor of elections and it's just our job to be just that the pass-through not the one who decides so once again just to emphasize tuesday five o'clock be here fill out the card so that you can speak and so you can speak your mind in regards to this issue it is so very important i look at my own paycheck and i compared it to when we didn't have the mill and when we do have the mail and it makes a huge difference and you're right it is it is much easier to teach when you know you can pay your bills thank you matt you are so welcome and thank you uh council member clark murray for what you do and in your real life as a teacher you don't mind if i share a story with you real quick on how our family wound up in the public school system if you don't want me to i won't but if but but but if but if you don't mind i i i'd like i'd like to share with you a story that is kind of relevant if i can if i can get through it that i told you i i think ron's a little bit like this too but maybe not but the older we get the more sentimental we become and then those sentiments turn into eyes that tear up so um my wife and i started our our children in a private school uh in elementary kindergarten and elementary and i wasn't really for that but but but my wife really wanted our children to go and to this one particular private school and it was a very good private school and and um it cost a lot of money so i said okay well we'll do that it felt like sin to me because i went to hendrix avenue elementary school and um and i loved hendrix avenue elementary school and i do to this day you can sprinkle my ashes if i were to go that way over there on hendrix avenue elementary school but um yeah really uh maybe h-a-b too but but anyway at the end of the day our kids weren't quite um getting the reading skills that they needed at this private school they taught reading in a different sort of way and i'm not criticizing them but it wasn't working for the carlucci boys i have two boys i have a matthew jr who's like 41 i can't believe it and i got joseph otherwise known as joe and he's uh 37 i think and um so my youngest son joe was struggling he was four years behind matthew and and um so we we uh in first grade he got through first grade of course he went into second grade and and his second grade teacher said he's struggling with his reading and we said well that's why we we we brought our kids to hendrix avenue elementary and that's why we left the private school because we just didn't think they were getting what what they needed especially for the price that we were paying um and um and so uh we talked and had a conference with miss pils susan pils um and uh and we said look we'll read with him every night we'll read with him on the weekends uh what else do we need to do uh do we need to get him like a tutor uh to help him uh get his reading up and so on and so forth and this is what susan pils said i mean we couldn't believe it she says no you don't have to do all that she said that's my job that's my job so let me tell you how we're going to do this she says you get him here a little bit early and i'll read with him a little before class i'll read with him a little bit during lunch our lunch together and then after school i'll read with him a little bit you let me take care of his reading i'm going to tell you in six months that boy was reading and he would even find books at the house to read i mean i was like wow this lady is unbelievable in our family i mean she's a gold letter lady uh in our family and now that that youngster is vice president of this city council joe carlucci and uh and that's just one testament as to why i love public schools i could give you some other testaments i'm going to give you one other testament i'm going to give you one other story if i can so i bought a flag i got a flag from congresswoman fowler i've lost my buddy salem but anyway uh sorry you you should you really should stick around for this story ron um come on yeah there you go that that that that a boy i i listen i i i listen to your stories and i don't get a chance to tell my stories because see i'm kind of in the dog house y'all you just need to understand that but um so i bought this flag that that uh and i got or i bought i got it from tillie fowler who's our congressperson flew over the capitol and um so i took it to our private the private school we were in for a couple years and i said hey look i got this flag that's flown over the capitol and we can make a big deal out of this if you want it would you like the flag and then maybe you could use it as a learning tool for the kids and they kind of yawned oh yeah thank you very much and they put it on the shelf and that was it and i said yes will somebody call me when y'all will use it for whatever um sure never heard a thing not one thing so i just kind of forgot about it then by the time we took our kids and put them over at hendrix avenue elementary school i decided to do the same thing so i got them a flag and i took it to them oh man they were like wow this is so great we love it thank you thank you so much now hendrix avenue elementary school that's the home of the eagles they are a national model school and they're very patriotic in that school and so i said well if there's anything you can do to use it i would love to see that and uh so i get a call uh about six weeks later mr carlucci we want you to come we have got an event planned at our school to raise that flag and we're going to celebrate every flag for the beginning of our country's time until now and then we're going to take the old flag down and we've got the uh the military is going to be their retired military they're going to burn the old flag the right way and show the kids and they want to raise the new flag that you gave us that flew over the capitol and so i went there and they had all the kids out the courtyard now they got the tallest daggum flagpole you have ever seen in your life they they went through so all of a sudden a parade of kids comes out with every flag for the beginning of our countries or that's been associated with our country it's in a revolution uh and they sang and then we sang uh it's a grand old flag and then we sang the star of spangled banner and then we did the pledge of allegiance that we raised the flag and then i don't know how it concluded oh it concluded with the song of henry sadden elementary school which i can only get about a sentence or two through because then i get a lump and i can't even talk much less sing they took a simple flag that i got them and they made it a complete learning experience about the history of this country while the other school just yawned because it was like an entitlement to them now i i don't like to be critical of anything but i'm just showing you that's why i love public schools because they they they have those middle kind of those middle class values that teach what's great about this country and i loved it and uh anyway i think i've taken up my time uh thank you for listening to my two stories i i appreciate it and i hope they meant something to you my three minutes is up my 30 minutes is up meeting adjourned that's been that's we can just walk from our house and come here coming to greet us and meet us and find out the things that we need in the community instead of going to city hall and can't get to you uh you know whatever but i think it's a great idea and i think it would motivate the community as well knowing that you're out there doing the work for us so i hope that this is just not one thing and not just for our community but maybe experience throughout the city of jacksonville all the other districts and areas onto the same thing since we've been having these events we've been averaging anywhere you know um from 20 to 25 people coming on the office on the block so you know and some people just want to discuss what's going on in their neighborhood some people just want to meet me you know some people you know just want to give us ideas all right just find out what's going on at the end of the day it's about bridging the gap meeting the community halfway and that's what we that's why we're here today i just want to take the load off their plate you know if i can make their life a lot easier by coming to their homes or coming to their backyard i i made a big difference right there so for me it's how can i make the constituents and the community lives a lot easier that's what we're here for to make a difference what makes our cookies unique to other shops is that they are a taller cookie due to baking directly from frozen and our recipe so our cookies are gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside it makes for the best of both worlds truly and honestly our most popular cookie is chocolate chip and truly once you've had a bite it's probably going to become your favorite too but another extremely popular one that we have for jacksonville is called the duval delight or the duval double chip and so it's semi-sweet chocolate chips walnuts and heath bits the heath bits kind of caramelized and that one is unique to our city and our store something that's also unique to us is our frozen dough to go so we are able to package all of our frozen dough and you are able to bake it in the comfort of your own home we're also looking to get more involved in different community events it's something also that makes cookie fix unique so you will see us out at the j fund which will be coming up here in early 2026 and we look forward to getting more involved with some of the school fundraisers and ptas so we're very grateful to be here and thank you jacksonville for all of your support jacksonville you do not sleep you surge from downtown to durkeeville la villa to riverside springfield to san marco from the north side to arlington from the west side to the beaches where the tide keeps time this city hums in voltage through the saint john's river like a current that refuses stillness it is beautiful neon light powered by an unseen force that binds us all noir shadow and brilliance in constant negotiation and somehow we make contrast look like culture because here we do not wait on light we become it doris mcneill stood in classrooms and opened worlds not teaching lessons unlocking lenses turning curiosity into passport stamps students into seekers time into legacy 40 years of saying see deeper derek trucks and susan tedeschi turned sound into sanctuary blues blending into soul soul rising into something sacred and then they gave it back instruments in young hands stages built for voices not yet heard proof that when greatness circles home it does not echo it expands willie evans jr saw no lines oh yeah he saw the lines were not there and erased them music became motion film became fleeting frame broke open you don't watch his work you enter it and that is art refusing limits katie yellow looked at space and saw possibility streets turned to stages and walls to witness communities turned to collaborators you see she did not bring art to people she revealed the art that was already living inside of them inside of you darren daily lifted voices until they sounded like tomorrow hundreds then thousands harmony is discipline excellence is inheritance every note rising like a promise kept you could hear the song the lol jacks film festival build a movement out of joy where jacksonville finds way to carry its weight where local stories take center stage where creators find each other and say let's build something that last because sometimes that's where growth becomes life and art the gfwc jacksonville beaches women's club made service a signature hands extended lives lifted a culture of care stitched into the fabric of this city of jacksonville not for recognition but because of responsibility candace clark candace clark created rooms where artists stands tall where mirrors of belonging were there with access you see she didn't just design it she created a rival this is neon war durkeyville doing brooklyn building ortiga observing moncrief moving south side stretching beaches breathing a city alive in every direction at once not light despite darkness light because we understand the light so tonight we honor more than names we honor ignition and intention we honor those who leave brilliance lingering long after they've left the room jacksonville look at what you've done a city that learned how to glow on command early on a city that decided that darkness would never have a foothold here that darkness would never have the final word and that glow you see it's not temporary or borrowed it's built it's neon and it is power sacrifice these all these men on the wall the 28 men on the wall the sacrifice they made and their families it means a lot to us to bring their families here and support them and show them the love the city has for their family members and the jfrd and employees today is a time for us to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice those who were selflessly serving our city and died in line of duty and so once a year we come together and not only remember and honor and reflect on what they did for us but we also make sure the families that they really know that we're all here for them and that we will never forget their loved ones who have given their all for us and so that's that's what it means for us but also it's a time for us to say it shouldn't just be one day a year so let's make sure every day we remember and respect and honor those who serve us not only those who have gone before us but also those who are still serving we need to make sure they understand we have their back and we're going to be there for them no matter what so this is a tough job this is a dangerous job and if we've got to remember them because then there will be unfortunately more names in the future added to this wall we do all we can to make it as safe as we can but there's things that's likely it's dangerous so we've got to always remember them and we will holiday spa is a place for women who are dealing with any of the challenges of life when you come here this is a luxury spa that donates a percentage to our private foundation so this is not a non-profit spa this is a for-profit spa that gives back the stories that i've heard are miraculous and just getting to give back and love on them has it's been amazing and so if you come you're a part of that so just coming and getting a massage here you're not only taking care of yourself but you're giving back welcome to jacks plus jacksonville's public information television channel your go-to source for the stories services and updates that shape our city from public safety messages and essential news to in-depth profiles community features and city-wide developments jacks plus keeps you connected and informed whether you're a resident business owner community leader or stakeholder this is your channel for all things jacksonville updated regularly and available anytime jacks plus airs on roku youtube apple tv amazon fire and streams live on the city of jacksonville website this is your city this is jacks plus please welcome council member rockman johnson to present a lifetime achievement award maya angelou once said on the pulse of morning and this morning our city gathers again to remember and to recommit to progress before i move on i'd like to recognize although he is not here it is in the program our president of the jacksonville city council kevin carico vice president nick howland and members of the city council who are there could you salute my colleagues please from the city council who work so diligently to ensure thank you council members to make sure these things like this breakfast continues moving now today we're standing in a space where history breathes and responsibility listens there are people who understand dr king's legacy was so much more than just speech speeches it required structure and discipline but most importantly love that was strong enough to endure and mrs lenny hilliard finley is one of those people who understand now at the beginning of this breakfast there were visionaries like someone seated here with us ronnie ferguson who at the time was president of the urban league state representative willie dennis bill and sandy bond and later wally lee who helped to create what this gathering is and has become but it was one small and i won't say quiet but certainly dedicated individual and that was lenny finley who took the idea from that table of brotherhood and made it a reality as vice president of community development for the jacksonville urban league she built the operational soul of what we know as this breakfast mrs finley booked speakers cultivated tomorrow's leaders and did the work to align partners that solved problems before they even arrived she did this year after year and made sure the trains ran on time and when challenges appeared mrs friendly pressed forward when obstacles arose lenny finley could find a way now this moment is deeply personal for me because i was there at the beginning at the table watching her work i was the first youth speaker for this martin luther king breakfast i'm not gonna tell you how many years ago that was uh but mrs finley believed in me before i knew what belief was you see the breakfast committee had asked me to say the i have a dream speech and as you can imagine i was a kind of different child and i told them that i would rather not say the i have a dream speech dr danford i would rather write my own speech and instead of pushing me pat pushing me back mrs finley said that she believed in me i said i'd rather speak to a moment that was here instead of repeating familiar words and she protected my voice and ensured the truth remained intact and that's who she's always been a builder of people and institutions so that is why today it's my honor to present the first ever martin luther king jr lifetime achievement award to mrs lenny hilliard finley now i will say this i do have the award here mrs finley is not here with us today she's not here in person because she has some health challenges but i want you all to know this she is watching she knows we are here and her legacy lives in this room please recognize in table dh to my right your left her family the hilliard and finley family would you please stand for mrs finley i see her niece her brothers and sisters best friend the family of mrs finley will make sure she gets this award and as well as the urban league family because of her leadership we are better because of her sacrifice we are stronger because of her vision i'm looking at my colleague jacoby pitman who also jacoby was the president of the urban league auxiliary and mrs finley was right there ensuring that this community did the right thing so today even though she is not here let's honor her with our prayers our positive thoughts but most of all in the spirit of brotherhood let's give mrs finley our love thank you miss finley for being the best of us and making us better you are how we move duval forward congratulations god bless you all and god bless the great city of jacksonville thank you hello and welcome to city hall we invite you to learn a little bit about how jacksonville city council works and how young people can have a front row seat for city government every law we have in place starts with an idea those ideas come from a council member the mayor or even a citizen it is then drafted into a bill assigned a number and introduced at a council meeting from there it's sent to one or more committees where council members study it ask questions and get input from the public after committee review the city council debates the bill and takes a final vote if it passes it's sent to the mayor for signature or veto this process ensures transparency and gives our community a voice in shaping policy one of the best ways for students to see the process in action is by serving as a council page pages help during council meetings by assisting legislative services division and experiencing local government up close it is a unique opportunity to learn about civic engagement leadership and how decisions are made that impact our community every day if you or someone you know would like to be a page we encourage you to contact the jacksonville city council office and we look forward to welcoming you to city hall hey guys today we're here at river city science academy at the elementary students here for fourth graders 10 year olds and every time i do the reading i always get extremely nervous here they are walking in 20 students that i'm going to read to today so let's see how this goes wish me luck hi i would not be the same person seeing philadelphia as when i left home the horses are eating all that straw that's what they put over the belt to cover it to hide it that was one of the best things i think we've done because it has to do with safety to make sure that nobody gets into car accidents so today we visited river city science academy as you saw the kids were extremely engaged in the book but also just asking questions just like any kid would ask one of the biggest questions was what do city council members do for a living well i told them we repair a lot of potholes we're a customer service hotline essentially for all of jacksonville they asked about laws and legislation so they were definitely engaged and eager to learn more about what the city council does that's one of the most important things about what we do is the fact that we actually get to give back to our community it's not just about being at city hall in an office going back into the community talking to students talking to the community in general educating them as to what we do definitely inspires kids to actually want to do this as a profession or even inspire others and mentor them so we had a great day today at river city science academy with the fourth graders 10 year olds uh like you said reading the books and just being being with them together this today was a very impactful day and i love doing what we do this right here is the reason why i ran for city council and i encourage any of my council members to do the same all right guys so today we are here river city science academy this is our third reading in one week for read across america the goal is very simple to motivate children and teens to read to promote literacy across america we've read to third graders and fourth graders and today like i said we're here river city science academy just reading to all these kids and enjoying some time with them this is what it's all about being a city council member connecting not only with the adults but also the children to motivate them and inspire them to do good for our city bye riverfront family friendly park that connects the rest of the south bank what i love about this playground is it was designed to obviously get kids out of the house and play outside but the way it was designed is to challenge them and for them to take risks on the playground that's something that we need more of in my opinion just for our young generation district five south bank has three four five other projects in the works that are all going to be similar to this style like we are taking our our public spaces to the next level in jacksonville especially on the south bank we're going to have more pickleball we're going to have a dog park we're going to have more tennis courts we're going to continue to push that forward so this is just the start and this is just the the taste of what we're going to see more of my name is scott alters and this is my wife gabrielle we are the owners along with our business partners david and matthew mador of salea riviera cafe here in san marco so the original idea for this restaurant started while gabrielle and i were on vacation in the french riviera in the city of nice sitting in a restaurant an oyster bar on the plasma cena enjoying the the town square there in nice drinking champagne and we thought man san marco could really use something like this favorite is going to be our porchetta sandwich roasted pork loin it's served with fresh baked focaccia that's made every day with caramelized onions cocktail program is focusing on the aperitif itself i've got a list of five different negronis on the menu and a whole spritz menu happy hour features ten dollars spritzes and negronis and we're open late night well we're so happy to be here for the full city council for our annual serve day with the salsbacher center it's an annual tradition that we've been doing for years and i'm happy as the council president to keep the tradition going we've got a great turnout it's something that really builds camaraderie for for the members sometimes we have our little issues from time to time with our meetings but a day like this is not just good for the community but it's good for the body for the council to get together with a common purpose and help out the community and it means a lot to the folks we've been serving today they've been so appreciative they've all said thank you we appreciate you you know taking the time to come out and it's good it gives them hope that their city and their leaders care about them because we do and it's just my pleasure to be here as the council president to to lead this group today know that the political process is is sometimes tough to see a lot of solutions for but there are solutions we are working to make sure the lives of everyone who live in duval county is getting better is getting more prosperous and for folks that are here today we expect to to see them being productive members of society in the next several weeks months and years everyone's going to get a piece of the pie that's what we should be pushing for to go out into the community so that the community sees us basically emulating what we want the communities to do we don't want it just to be city council and we don't want it to be just the community but it needs to be a partnership and i think it shows that we're putting forth the effort they see the jackson city council out here we care about them we put a lot of resources over the last year or two into the homeless population and hopefully they see that well i think it's really important for us to be out in the front lines where the services are working the nonprofit sector is so vital to our community and we as a as a council need to appreciate that and be able to see it firsthand really is helpful well during the holidays people are suffering a lot they're missing their loved ones or they're together with their loved ones or they might be missing the essential needs and solzbacher helps fill that void for those who have the lease in the city of jacksonville the least we can do is help serve them and bring them a little christmas cheer i wish them the very best through the holidays be safe be happy connect with family and just take care of themselves and enjoy themselves soul sparker does a wonderful job of feeding and there are other homeless entities here in town and we want to try to help them get back on their feet and be a productive citizen i'd love for them all to know that we care you know that their their situation their life situation their journey matters to us and i hope that we can share that in our comments just want to wish them a happy holidays and let them know that if they're going through something there's always a resolution on the other side stay in prayer stay positive and no matter what your situation is it can always improve and there's always hope and opportunity and this city loves them jacksonville has no shortage of wing spots but not all wings are created the same at bold city wings everything starts from scratch fresh chicken clean prep and seasoned the right way here it's not about covering the flavor with sauce it's about building it from the ground up every sauce is made in-house crafted to complement the seasoning and yeah it might cost a little more but that's because you're paying for quality for the care and for the time that goes into every single order this isn't fast food this is an experience built on jacksonville roots family tradition and a passion for doing things the right way if you're looking for cheap wings this might not be your spot but if you're looking for real flavor you just found it a lot of seniors a lot of individuals without cars call my office and let me know they can't make it to city hall it's in the area where i live in you know we can just walk from our house to come here coming to greet us and meet us and find out the things that we need in the community instead of going to city hall and can't get to you uh you know whatever but i think it's a great idea and i think it will motivate the community as well knowing that you're out there doing the work for us so i hope that this is just not one thing and not just for our community but maybe you're spreading throughout the city of jacksonville all the other districts and areas onto the same thing since we've been having these events we've been averaging anywhere you know um from 20 to 25 people coming on the office on the block so you know and some people just want to discuss what's going on in that neighborhood some people just want to meet me you know some people you know just want to give us ideas all right just find out what's going on at the end of the day it's about bridging the gap meeting the community halfway and that's what we that's why we're here today i just want to take the load off they plate you know if i can make their life a lot easier by coming to their homes or coming to their backyard i i made a big difference right there so for me it's how can i make the constituents and the community lives a lot easier that's what we're here for to make a difference what makes our cookies unique to other shops is that they are a taller cookie due to baking directly from frozen and our recipe so our cookies are gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside it makes for the best of both worlds truly and honestly our most popular cookie is chocolate chip and truly once you've had a bite it's probably going to become your favorite too but another extremely popular one that we have for jacksonville is called the duval delight or the duval double chip and so it's semi-sweet chocolate chips walnuts and heath bits the heath bits kind of caramelized and that one is unique to our city and our store something that's also unique to us is our frozen dough to go so we are able to package all of our frozen dough and you are able to bake it in the comfort of your own home we're also looking to get more involved in different community events it's something also that makes cookie fix unique so you will see us out at the j fund um which will be coming up here in early 2026 and we look forward to getting more involved with some of the school fundraisers and ptas so we're very grateful um to be here and thank you jacksonville for all of your support jacksonville you do not sleep you surge from downtown to durkeeville la villa to riverside springfield of san marco from the north side to arlington from the west side to the beaches where the tide keeps time this city hums in voltage through the saint john's river like a current that refuses stillness it is beautiful neon light powered by an unseen force that binds us all noir shadow and brilliance in constant negotiation and somehow we make contrast look like culture because here we do not wait on light we become it doris mcneill stood in classrooms and opened worlds not teaching lessons unlocking lenses turning curiosity into passport stamps students into seekers time into legacy 40 years of saying see deeper derrick trucks and susan tedeschi turned sound into sanctuary blues blending into soul soul rising into something sacred and then they gave it back instruments in young hands stages built for voices not yet heard proof that when greatness circles home it does not echo it expands willie evans jr saw no lines oh yeah he saw the lines were not there and erased them music became motion film became fleeting frame broke open you don't watch his work you enter it and that is art refusing limits katie yellow looked at space and saw possibility streets turned to stages and walls to witness communities turned to collaborators you see she did not bring art to people she revealed the art that was already living inside of them inside of you darren daly lifted voices until they sounded like tomorrow hundreds then thousands harmony is discipline excellence is inheritance every note rising like a promise kept you could hear the song the lol jacks film festival build a movement out of joy where jacksonville finds way to carry its weight where local stories take center stage where creators find each other and say let's build something that lasts because sometimes that's where growth becomes life and art the gfwc jacksonville beaches women's club made service a signature hands extended lives lifted a culture of care stitched into the fabric of this city of jacksonville not for recognition but because of responsibility candace clark created rooms where artists stands tall where mirrors of belonging were there with access you see she didn't just design it she created a rival this is neon war dirkeyville doing brooklyn building ortiga observing moncrief moving south side stretching beaches breathing a city alive in every direction at once not light despite darkness light because we understand the light so tonight we honor more than names we honor ignition and intention we honor those who leave brilliance lingering long after they've left the room jacksonville look at what you've done a city that learned how to glow on command early on a city that decided that darkness would never have a foothold here that darkness would never have the final word and that glow you see it's not temporary or borrowed it's built it's neon and it is out sacrifice these all these men on the wall with 28 men on the wall the sacrifice they made and their families it means a lot to us to bring their families here and support them and show them the love that the city has for their family members and the zfrd and employees today is a time for us to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice those who were selflessly serving our city and died in line of duty and so once a year we come together and not only remember and honor and reflect on what they did for us but we also make sure the families that they really know that we're all here for them and that we will never forget their loved ones who who have given their all for us and and so that's that's what it means for us but also it's a time for us to say it shouldn't just be one day a year so let's make sure every day we remember and respect and honor those who serve us not only those who have gone before us but also those who are still serving we need to make sure they understand we have their back and we're going to be there for them no matter what so this is tough job this is a dangerous job and if we've got to remember them because and they will be unfortunately more names in the future added to this wall we do all we can to make it as safe as we can but there's things that's likely as dangerous so we've got to always remember them and we will ala day spa is a place for women who are dealing with any of the challenges of life when you come here this is a luxury spa that donates a percentage to our private foundation so this is not a non-profit spa this is a for-profit spa that gives back the stories that i've heard are miraculous and just getting to give back and love on them has it's been amazing and so if you come you're a part of that so just coming and getting a massage here you're not only taking care of yourself but you're getting back welcome to jacks plus jacksonville's public information television channel your go-to source for the stories services and updates that shape our city from public safety messages and essential news to in-depth profiles community features and city-wide developments jacks plus keeps you connected and informed whether you're a resident business owner community leader or stakeholder this is your channel for all things jacksonville updated regularly and available anytime jacks plus airs on roku youtube apple tv amazon fire and streams live on the city of jacksonville website this is your city this is jacks plus please welcome council member rockman johnson to present a lifetime achievement award maya angelou once said on the pulse of morning and this morning our city gathers again to remember and to recommit to progress before i move on i'd like to recognize although he is not here it is in the program our president of the jacksonville city council kevin carrico vice president nick howland and members of the city council who are there uh could you salute my colleagues please from the city council who work so diligently to ensure thank you council members to make sure these things like this breakfast continues moving now today we're standing in a space where history breathes and responsibility listens there are people who understand dr king's legacy was so much more than just speech speeches it required structure and discipline but most importantly love that was strong enough to endure and mrs lenny hilliard findley is one of those people who understand now at the beginning of this breakfast uh there were visionaries like someone seated here with us ronnie ferguson who at the time was president of the urban league state representative willie dennis bill and sandy bond and later wally lee who helped to create what this gathering is and has become but it was one small and i won't say quiet but certainly dedicated individual and that was lenny finley who took the idea from that table of brotherhood and made it a reality as vice president of community development for the jacksonville urban league she built the operational soul of what we know as this breakfast mrs finley booked speakers cultivated tomorrow's leaders and did the work to align partners that solved problems before they even arrived she did this year after year and made sure the trains ran on time and when challenges appeared mrs friendly pressed forward when obstacles arose lenny finley could find a way now this moment is deeply personal for me because i was there at the beginning at the table watching her work i was the first youth speaker for this martin luther king breakfast i'm not going to tell you how many years ago that was uh but mrs finley believed in me before i knew what belief was you see the breakfast committee had asked me to say the i have a dream speech and as you can imagine i was a kind of different child and i told them that i would rather not say the i have a dream speech dr danford i would rather write my own speech and instead of pushing me pat pushing me back mrs finley said that she believed in me i said i'd rather speak to a moment that was here instead of repeating familiar words and she protected my voice and ensured that truth remained intact and that's who she's always been a builder of people and institutions so that is why today it's my honor to present the first ever martin luther king jr lifetime achievement award to mrs lenny hilliard finley now i will say this i do have the award here mrs finley is not here with us today she's not here in person because she has some health challenges but i want you all to know this she is watching she knows we are here and her legacy lives in this room please recognize in table d8 to my right your left her family the hilliard and finley family would you please stand for mrs finley i see her niece her brothers and sisters best friend the family of mrs finley will make sure she gets this award and as well as the urban league family because of her leadership we are better because of her sacrifice we are stronger because of her vision i'm looking at my colleague jacoby pitman who also jacoby was the president of the urban league auxiliary and mrs finley was right there ensuring that this community did the right thing so today even though she is not here let's honor her with our prayers our positive thoughts but most of all in the spirit of brotherhood let's give mrs finley our love thank you mrs finley for being the best of us and making us better you are how we move duval forward congratulations god bless you all and god bless the great city of jacksonville thank you hello and welcome to city hall we invite you to learn a little bit about how jacksonville city council works and how young people can have a front row seat for city government every law we have in place starts with an idea those ideas come from a council member the mayor or even a citizen it is then drafted into a bill assigned a number and introduced at a council meeting from there it's sent to one or more committees where council members study it ask questions and get input from the public after committee review the city council debates the bill and takes a final vote if it passes it's sent to the mayor for signature or veto this process ensures transparency and gives our community a voice in shaping policy one of the best ways for students to see the process in action is by serving as a council page pages help during council meetings by assisting legislative services division and experiencing local government up close it is a unique opportunity to learn about civic engagement leadership and how decisions are made that impact our community every day if you or someone you know would like to be a page we encourage you to contact the jacksonville city council office and we look forward to welcoming you to city hall hey guys today we're here at river city science academy at the elementary students here for fourth graders 10 year olds and every time i do the reading i always get extremely nervous here they are walking in 20 students that i'm going to read to today so let's see how this goes wish me luck hi i would not be the same person seeing philadelphia as when i left home the horses are eating all that straw that's what they put over the belt to cover it to hide it that was one of the best things i think we've done because it has to do with safety to make sure that nobody gets into car accidents so today we visited river city science academy as you saw the kids were extremely engaged in the book but also just asking questions just like any kid would ask one of the biggest questions was what do city council members do for a living well i told them we repair a lot of potholes we're a customer service hotline essentially for all of jacksonville they asked about laws and legislation so they were definitely engaged and eager to learn more about what the city council does that's one of the most important things about what we do is the fact that we actually get to give back to our community it's not just about being at city hall in an office going back into the community talking to students talking to the community in general educating them as to what we do definitely inspires kids to actually want to do this as a profession or even inspire others and mentor them so we had a great day today at river city science academy with the fourth graders 10 year olds uh like you said reading the books and just being being with them together this today was a very impactful day and i love doing what we do this right here is the reason why i ran for city council and i encourage any of my council members to do the same all right guys so today we are here river city science academy this is our third reading in one week for read across america the goal is very simple to motivate children's and teens to read to promote literacy across america we've read to third graders and fourth graders and today like i said we're here river city science academy just reading to all these kids and enjoying some time with them this is what it's all about being a city council member connecting not only with the adults but also the children to motivate them and inspire them to do good for our city bye riverfront family friendly park that connects the rest of the south bank what i love about this playground is it was designed to obviously get kids out of the house and play outside but the way it was designed is to challenge them and for them to take risks on the playground that's something that we need more of in my opinion just for our young generation district five south bank has three four five other projects in the works that are all going to be similar to this style like we are taking our our public spaces to the next level in jacksonville especially on the south bank we're going to have more pickleball we're going to have a dog park we're going to have more tennis courts we're going to continue to push that forward so this is just the start and this is just the the taste of what we're going to see more of my name is scott alters and this is my wife gabrielle we are the owners along with our business partners david and matthew mador of salea riviera cafe here in san marco so the original idea for this restaurant started while gabrielle and i were on vacation in the french riviera in the city of nice sitting in a restaurant an oyster bar on the plasma cena enjoying the the town square there in nice drinking champagne and we thought man san marco could really use something like this it's going to be our porchetta sandwich roasted pork loin it's served with fresh baked focaccia that's made every day with caramelized onions cocktail program is focusing on the aperitif itself we've got a list of five different negronis on the menu and a whole spritz menu happy hour features ten dollar spritzes and negronis and we're open late night well we're so happy to be here for the full city council for our annual serve day with the salsbacher center and it's the annual tradition that we've been doing for years and i'm happy as the council president to keep the tradition going we've got a great turnout it's something that really builds camaraderie for uh for the members sometimes we have our little issues from time to time with our meetings but a day like this is not just good for the community but it's good for the body for the council to get together uh with a common purpose and and help out the community and it means a lot to the folks we've been serving today they've been so appreciative they've all said thank you we appreciate you you know taking the time to come out and it's good gives them uh hope that uh their city and their leaders care about them because we do and um it's just my pleasure to be here as the council president to to lead this group today know that the political process is is sometimes tough to see a lot of solutions for but there are solutions we are working to make sure the lives of everyone who live in duval county is getting better is getting more prosperous and for folks that are here today we expect to to see them being productive members of society in the next several weeks months and years everyone's going to get a piece of the pie that's what we should be pushing for to go out into the community so that the community sees us basically emulating what we want communities to do we don't want it just to be city council and we don't want it to be just the community but it needs to be a partnership and i think it shows that we're putting forth the effort they see the jackson city council out here we care about them we put a a lot of resources over the last year or two into the homeless population and hopefully they see that well i think it's really important for us to be out in the front lines where the services are work in the non-profit sector is so vital to our community and we as a as a council need to appreciate that and be able to see it firsthand is helpful well during the holidays people are suffering a lot um they're missing their loved ones or they're together with their loved ones or they might be missing the essential needs and solzbacher helps fill that void for those who have the lease in the city of jacksonville the least we can do is help serve them and bring them a little christmas cheer i wish them the very best through the holidays be safe be happy connect with family and just take care of themselves and enjoy themselves solzbacher does a wonderful job of feeding and there are other homeless entities here in town and we want to try to help them get back on their feet and be a productive citizen i'd love for them all to know that we care you know that their situation their life situation their journey matters to us and i hope that we can share that in our comments just want to wish them a happy holidays and let them know that if they're going through something there's always a resolution on the other side stay in prayer stay positive and no matter what your situation is it can always improve and there's always hope and opportunity and this city loves them jacksonville has no shortage of wing spots but not all wings are created the same at bold city wings everything starts from scratch fresh chicken clean prep and season the right way here it's not about covering the flavor with sauce it's about building it from the ground up every sauce is made in-house crafted to complement the seasoning and yeah it might cost a little more but that's because you're paying for quality for the care and for the time that goes into every single order this isn't fast food this is an experience built on jacksonville roots family tradition and a passion for doing things the right way if you're looking for cheap wings this might not be your spot but if you're looking for real flavor you just found it a lot of seniors a lot of individuals without cars call my office and let me know they can't make it to city hall it's in the area where i live in you know we can just walk from my house and come here coming to greet us and meet us and find out the things that we need in the community instead of going to city hall and can't get to you uh you know whatever but i think it's a great idea and i think it will motivate the community as well knowing that you're out there doing the work for us so i hope that this is just not one thing and not just for our community but maybe you'll spend throughout the city of jacksonville all the other districts and areas onto the same thing since we've been having these events we've been averaging anywhere you know um from 20 to 25 people coming on the office on the block so you know and some people just want to discuss what's going on in their neighborhood some people just want to meet me you know some people you know just want to give us ideas all right just find out what's going on at the end of the day it's about bridging the gap meeting the community halfway and that's what we that's why we're here today i just want to take the load off they plate you know if i can make they life a lot easier by coming to their homes or coming to their backyard i i made a big difference right there so for me it's how can i make the constituents and the community lives a lot easier that's what we're here for to make a difference what makes our cookies unique to other shops is that they are a taller cookie due to baking directly from frozen and our recipe so our cookies are gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside it makes for the best of both worlds truly and honestly our most popular cookie is chocolate chip and truly once you've had a bite it's probably going to become your favorite too but another extremely popular one that we have for jacksonville is called the duval delight or the duval double chip and so it's semi-sweet chocolate chips walnuts and heath bits the heath bits kind of caramelized and that one is unique to our city and our store something that's also unique to us is our frozen dough to go so we are able to package all of our frozen dough and you are able to bake it in the comfort of your own home we're also looking to get more involved in different community events it's something also that makes cookie fix unique so you will see us out at the j fund which will be coming up here in early 2026 and we look forward to getting more involved with some of the school fundraisers and ptas