It is now 9 30, and I hereby call the uh JEU meeting to order.

Um, we will have public comments um at the end of our meeting.

Um, only matters that are on the agenda today.

Um we will have everyone introduce themselves, and then we will start our agenda, and we'll start to my left, Mr.

Delaney.

Good morning, Bill Delaney, Mayor's Office.

Stephen Libby, Council Research.

Carla Shell, Office of General Counsel.

Edward Lindsky Council Auditor's Office.

Jacoby Pittman, District 10.

Uh Matt Carlucci at large group four.

Good morning, Tyrona Clack Murray.

Happy St.

Patrick's Day.

I can't believe nobody mentioned that.

Councilwoman Clark Murray will pinch us all.

Good morning.

Rachman Johnson, District 14, the West Side.

Randy White, District 12, just visiting.

Michael Boylan, District 6, just visiting.

Well, good morning, everyone.

We're gonna go straight to the agenda.

We have a presentation this morning by the recycling report.

And I will ask Mr.

Riker if you would please come up and deliver your report.

Good morning, Madam Chair, Richard Rikert Administrative Services.

Happy uh St.

Paddy's Day.

Eric's gonna do a presentation for you guys, and um, we're here to answer any questions you may have afterwards.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, good morning.

Eric Fuller with Office of Administrative Services Solid Waste Division.

This is uh presentation on the annual recycling report.

We'll go over the summary of the report, what's required to be in the report, the highlights of the contents of the report, and then our department recommendations for the recycling program.

The in 2021 council passed a requirement in the code for an annual recycling report due March 1st of every year.

It's submitted to the council and it's required to be reviewed by the TEU committee.

Uh the requirements of the report are to include the efforts to establish uh the contents of the recycling program, which materials are attainable, which can be feasibly recycled.

We're to provide a list of the complaints received, the statistics of the materials that were recycled, our efforts with third parties, relationship to the recycling program, public education efforts, the accounting of the program, the revenues and the expenses, the performance standards by which the program is run, recommendations for improvements to the program, certification that we're using best management practices and any other information that the council requires.

Summary of our program uh 380 part five of the municipal code makes recycling mandatory of our residents.

It doesn't require that they uh take part in the city's program, but it does require that they recycle per the code.

Uh our curbside collections are done by three subcontract areas and the city's uh collection crew, city employees in the core, the historic core area of the city.

Items that we tick that we pick up, curbside that are ultimately recycled include yard trash.

We do about 80,000 tons of yard trash per year and uh average year.

Uh that yard trash is taken to Trail Ridge Landfill where it's mulched up and used in place of soil to cover up the trash, and that counts as recycling.

Our tires that we pick up, curbside and from the litter crew, those are ultimately taken to a tire recycler.

Uh the appliances that we pick up, those are uh processed by a metals recycler.

Then, of course, our uh curbside program recyclables, your metal, paper, glass, plastics.

Then also our items that are taken to our household hazardous waste facilities are picked up on our uh remote collection events, our e-waste, uh used oil, anti-freeze, things of that nature, those are processed and ultimately recycled as well.

Just a summary of again a reminder of how uh waste and recyclables are collected in the city.

You have the city core area, the historic core before consolidation that's picked up by city crews, then the rest of the city is divided into three areas that are bid out and serviced by private haulers through contract with the city.

Meridian waste has the two areas to the west and the north, and waste pro services the southeast.

The naval bases are responsible for their own collections, as is the beaches in Baldwin.

So our curbside program is what's called single stream recycling where everything goes into one collection bin.

Those are city owned carts.

You can either have a cart of 96 gallons or a smaller one of 64 gallons.

These are automated collections with the arm where you just have a driver in the truck.

The haulers all have just a single driver with the arm that comes out and empties the cart into the truck.

The city areas have what's called city semi-automated.

We have a tipper on the back of a rear load packer, and the city crews would then take the cart to the back of the truck to empty it.

All collections for recycling is done every other week.

That's taken to republic services.

They're under contract to process and sort and sell the recyclables.

They're located at 7,000 IMASI Road.

That's over in the northwest part of the city near 295 and Pritchard Road.

The current contract we have started in October of 2024.

It runs through 2028 with possible two two-year extensions.

And the rate of the contract right now is flat until 2028.

The materials that are financially attainable to be recycled.

So that's your paper, your junk mail, school paper, newspaper, catalogs, things of that nature, your cardboard boxes, your cartons like your broth cartons or the old gable style juice boxes, things of that nature.

Plastics one through three, five, and seven.

So that's going to be your turnance bottles, your plastic water bottles, your cleaning solution bottles, things of that nature.

Glass, we take brown green and clear glass.

Metals, of course, your soup cans, your aluminum cans, aluminum baking pans.

Things that we do not accept, either because they can't be processed feasibly by the processing facility, or there's not a market.

That's your number four plastics, so that's your grocery store plastic bags, that's your ziploc bags, that's your flexible plastics.

And so the reason why we can't take those is because they get wrapped around the recycling equipment and they jam up the processing facility.

You can recycle those if you take them to your publics or your target.

Most of them have boxes in front of their stores where they can be recycled if you want to, but we don't take those curbside.

Also, your styroform, your your uh styrofoam, your number six plastics, polystyrene.

We don't take those, like your packing peanuts and uh styrofoam cups, those just don't have a market and they're not feasibly recyclable.

Uh items to be recycled have to be bigger than a credit card to go through the facility.

So shredded paper isn't accepted.

If you think of the conveyor belts and the blowers and the magnets that all this material goes through, if you had shredded paper, it would just go everywhere.

So there is an annual shredded paper event that is held, I believe, by keep Jacksonville Beautiful, uh, or in correlation with them that has uh paper shredding that does end up being recycled.

Also, don't take uh dangerous items, hazardous items like aerosol cans, they can be a fire hazard.

Uh, then needles and flares, similarly are problematic to the people working at the facility or our fire hazard.

We are in constant communication with republic services on how things are going there, the market conditions and what's feasible, how the commodity values are with the recyclables, and we're always looking, reading on you know, potential new markets.

This is just a pictogram.

This was actually a flyer that was sent out during our education efforts a couple years ago.

It just shows you visually the materials accepted, and then at the bottom the materials that aren't.

So obviously no garbage.

Uh, one problem we have uh people putting their recyclables in plastic bags.

We don't want any flexible past plastics, don't want people bagging the recyclables, and then as we talked about, no foam, and of course, food and construction waste doesn't go in your recycle cart.

You think it's common sense, but I'm gonna tell you we've seen everything go through that facility from briefcases to bowling balls to dead animals to yard trash, you name it, it's gone through there.

So this next slide shows the complaints that we have received over the fiscal year, and again, this is fiscal year 24-25.

I should have mentioned that.

So the March first report that's submitted is for last fiscal year.

So these are the complaints that we received from the recycling program over that fiscal year.

The bottom right, you'll see 9452 total complaints.

If you look at the top right, you'll see over half of those are due to recycle cart issues.

Uh I can say that this year's budget was added money for recycle carts, and those numbers are significantly decreased.

Um just point your attention to the premise count, the premise count, that's the number of units we service.

If you add that up, we have about 300,000, just under 300,000 customers.

Uh if you look at the very bottom numbers, those are the if everyone set out their recycling every other week, those are the number of collection points we'd have for each area.

That totals a little over 7.7 million potential collections.

So the 9400 complaints, obviously, we're shooting for zero.

Um, but when you consider the number of residents that we serve and the number of potential collections, that's really a fairly low number.

And over the last three years, looking at the past reports, that number is decreasing.

This is a statistics of our composition of our recyclables.

So this is everything that goes in the cart.

This is how it's broken down.

This is what's an average of what's in everyone's carts.

Um, you see uh corrugated containers, cardboard, paper, uh and these are listed in the commodities and how they're sold on the market.

So that's just the breakdown there.

The next slide kind of puts it in more layman's terms, just general categories.

So we did about 38,700 tons last year, collected curbside, 15,600 of those, paper and cardboard, 4100 of different types of plastics, uh, 8300 tons of glass, about 1,800 tons of metals, and about 8300 tons of contamination or non-program recyclables.

So the efforts with third parties, typically, other than when we're doing grants, and we we really just work within different entities of the city.

So obviously uh we're tracking things amongst ourselves, uh public affairs office and the mayor's office to put out videos or to push our uh waste and recycling mobile app.

Uh we work with Republic Services, our recycling processor, and we get constant communication from various recycling and trade magazines to see what's going on in the country.

Uh the Florida Beverage Association, they helped us with the grant with the recycling partnership a few years back.

Uh we were in communication with them.

The recycling partnership, they did our feet on the street, our cart inspection program a couple years ago.

We we talked to them a couple times a year to see what grain opportunities are available.

Strategic materials, that's where our glass ends up.

We're we're having some struggles with the price of glass, and so we're talking with them regularly to try to uh change that number.

We also talk with other municipalities to see if there's any other things that we can do that they're doing to improve our program.

Public education efforts.

So we have our website that has videos on recycling, it lists all the types of recycling that we do.

One of the best things that we have is what's called our waste wizard, it's our Jacksonville waste and recycling app.

It's a free mobile app.

There's also a computer widget within our within the Jacksonville.gov website, usually on the home page and also in the solid waste division section.

You can get your collection schedule and it has a search feature.

Pretty much any material if you want to know how to dispose of it, if it's recyclable, where you can donate it, you can type it in there, and it'll it'll tell you what to do with it.

You can also print your collection schedule if you want a hard copy via the online widget.

Um, we also do flyers and brochures when we issue new carts and when we're doing compliance efforts.

Um lithium batteries has become a main major problem due to fire hazard.

Uh we had JFRD, the chief was on local news, and we've uh worked with other entities and trying to correct the problem of uh lithium batteries going in the garbage and the recycling stream.

Republic services, they do a great job.

They host field trips, so anybody that you know wants to have their kids' class go out there, you can contact them.

They do field trips all the time.

Uh they've been on the news to have uh for recycling uh information, and they also have a great website recycling simplified.com.

Uh there is a section on that website specific for educators for different uh ages of school children.

Elementary school, secondary school, high schoolers.

There's some great slides if an educator would want to teach recycling to their students.

It's kind of ready-made right there on that website.

We're going to talk about the financial accounting.

So this is the costs and the revenues.

So the collections, that's our hauler cost, fuel and the cost of carts, a little over 12 million.

The processing fee, that's the fee charged by Republic Services to take the materials and sort it into the various commodities.

That's just under 4 million.

Our contaminant costs, we pay contaminant disposal cost over 10%.

So our contamination is about at 21.5%.

So we're paying about 11.5% of the total volume we receive in contaminant disposal.

Our contract is structured so that we get 50% of the sale of our recyclables.

So we split that 50-50 with republic services.

That brought in a little over 1.8 million last year.

And then if you factor in the value of the materials that are saved by not going into the landfill or airspace savings, that's estimated at about $700,000 in savings.

So in the actual report, there's a table that provides detail of all the commodities, the value of each, and then the average price per ton.

I'm not going to go through this in detail, but I think the important thing to know is in the second column the commodity.

Again, that's what the market sees as each item is sold.

So it's different types of plastic are sold.

The metals, you know, steel versus aluminum, glass, and then they all have a separate rate.

So commodity values are just like stocks or any other commodities, they fluctuate based on conditions.

So they go up and down.

The glass has been the big problem.

That's something that we're striving.

We have to actually pay someone to take the glass.

It is ultimately recycled.

I get the question all the time: you all just taking the recyclables and throwing them in the landfill.

No, that's not true.

Everything that we take is ultimately recycled.

Everything that is a program recyclable, it is bailed, it is sorted, and it is recycled.

But the glass is an item that we actually have to pay someone to take to sort it and recycle it.

All the other items, pretty much we're getting money for.

So the compliance standards, so the standards that we follow are that in the municipal code 380 part 5.

We obviously have our residential hauler contracts in terms of missed collections and repairing carts and delivering carts, and then our recycling center processing contracts.

So those are the standards that we use.

So our recommendations, we need to encourage and uh get more people to recycle.

So we're trying to maintain and increase outreach, compliance, and education efforts.

So that's keeping the city's website current, our mobile app and our online widget, the Waste Wizard or the Jacksonville Waste and Recycling app, keep that going.

Reach out social media to try to get people engaged in recycling to keep up with grants that might be available, the recycling partnership and others.

Lithium battery safety and legislation.

So that is a really again, we've had uh fires in the back of our trucks, the recycling facility has had a fire.

Uh you know, we're talking e-bikes, we're talking scooters, we're talking, you know, the the batteries off of uh your portable drills, things like that.

Those are tremendous fire hazards, and they're being improperly disposed, especially if they get damaged, and that's that's an issue nationwide.

I could tell you Bill Brinkley with Republic Services, he's the chairman of the Florida chapter of the National Waste and Recycling Association.

There is legislation being proposed so that lithium batteries would be treated similar to your lead acid batteries, like your car batteries.

So when you take that to the shop to get a new battery, they take your old battery.

So there is some legislation going through the state to try to put that on the same stage as your car batteries.

So hopefully that that and other efforts will help.

This year we increased our recycle cart budget.

Again, when we looked at complaints, we saw that over half of our complaints were due to recycle carts.

We've uh we bought thousands of carts this year, and we're bringing that number way down.

We have about 14 to 17,000 people that move to Jacksonville every year, and those that go into our premise count.

Uh we need to have the carts to be able to uh supply them so that they can recycle.

So we we would want to keep up with that.

And then our recycle program, our our automated program, every area is at least 10 years old, so our carts are getting older, so some of them need to be repaired and replaced.

And then, of course, to continue monitoring our commodity markets.

Uh we're looking at better ways to clean up that glass and to have uh have these markets be as positive as possible.

With that, uh wrap up, and if the chair would like, I'll take any questions.

Thank you so much for your report.

Um Reggie Gaffney in the queue.

Hold on.

Sorry, hold on.

Uh thank you, madam chair.

Uh, just real quick, uh, how is it uh how's the glass market glass recycling market doing?

It's it's really through the chair to council member Carlucci.

It's it's we're paying about fifty dollars a ton for someone to take it and to recycle it.

So it's really you had a lot of uh a lot of communities in Florida that quit doing glass because of the cost of it.

Um and the the person the company that takes its strategic materials has also had some issues, but right now it's come down a little bit this year since we started this fiscal year, but we're still paying around $50 a ton to take it.

Uh we're you hear about potential other uses like putting it in concrete mixes and things like that.

We hear these all the time, and so uh none of those have come to fruition, but we're constantly looking at it.

But right now it's it's about $50 a ton that we're paying.

Okay.

Well, as um long as we're doing it, I think we should continue doing it until we can find something that might be more profitable, but at least it's not going in landfill.

But but once you quit recycling glass, and then you try to start back up, that that you know that's kind of a given that we're gonna recycle glass, and I just I don't want to see us go backwards on that.

And um, and then there's the uh then there's the fact that it doesn't go into the landfill, but uh I just was curious.

Thank you, and just keep looking, I guess, for you know, uses for it.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you, madam chair.

Uh Eric, thank you for the uh presentation.

Got the three quick questions, if you will.

Uh one of the numbers that jumped out to me was the number of missing carts.

Um, if you can expound on that first.

Um second question is um, you said there needs to be um an increase in the number of people recycling.

Uh what is the desired goal and and uh you know how much education effort is being made to increase that number.

And my third question, Eric, uh just piggybacking on what council member Carlucci said just for uh clarification when you said we are paying fifty dollars per ton.

Uh is the city paying that, or is the uh contractor republic uh who has been charged and has a contract to separate and process, or are they the ones uh paying that going to the market to see if they can find buyers for uh for the glass?

So uh those are my three questions you can answer in whatever order.

Yes, sir.

Through the through the chair to council member.

So for carts, so we had a backlog of cart requests going into this fiscal year, and as part of the current budget, we requested an additional money to buy carts, which we received.

And so we have been receiving carts.

When you receive the carts, you got to put the wheels on them, and then they have to be delivered to the residents.

So we have made substantial efforts in that.

Uh waste provides their own carts per their contract, and their complaints are very low.

The city area.

When I looked yesterday, I think we're under 20 cart complaints outstanding for the city area.

The two meridian areas, because we had such a backlog, we we have whittled those down significantly, and we're continuing to do so.

So the cart issue we're aware of it.

We're addressing it we're hoping to to have a surplus of carts and be able to service uh our residents as they come online.

Through the chair thank you Eric in the category it says missing the conjecture is that someone is taking these carts if I can simplify there.

So that's why I was kind of startled by 2003 missing carts.

So either the category is kind of a misnomer or I'm I'm being left with the impression that carts are disappearing.

And so that's why I asked the question.

Yes sir that that could be people that move and the cart is supposed to stay with the property but people move they'll take their cart with them sometimes the carts do disappear and sometimes that's just the category that they get that they get uh put into the other question was about the glass I'll I have to think of what the second question was but in terms of the glass when I say we are paying so the sale of our program recyclables glass metal plastic we split that 5050 with our public services so that gives them an onus to get the best price to search the market and so when glass is 50 dollars that we have to pay we're splitting that we're splitting the pain as well as the success so we may get $50 a ton for paper so half of that goes to us and half of it goes to Republic.

But on the other end when we're paying $50 they're paying half of that and we're paying half of that so that's how the uh the commodities work with our recycling program.

I'm sorry if you could tell me what your middle question that I've forgotten.

The uh the third question was you you said we need to get more uh people to recycle and I was just curious if there is a uh an established goal uh are you at what 50% of households 60 70 percent you're trying to get to 90 uh I I and and how do you get there right um to councilman amoro uh we're estimating we're around 50 60 percent of course it varies by area uh we're paying our hauler to collect and to drive down that street whether someone has a cart out or not so it's gonna we want 100% participation if possible that's probably not attainable but certainly higher numbers keep keep materials out of the landfill protect our natural resources is certainly the goal so how do you do that?

That's a good question.

You know we have to get people engaged whether it's in the classrooms or through social media or whatever platform we can uh to do that so we like I say we've we've got an agreement with our hauler to drive down the street so that truck's coming down the street whether you put a cart out or not we'd certainly like to see people putting their carts out councilwoman cockmurry thank you chair good morning and thank you so much for a very thorough presentation many of the questions that I had were have been answered by my colleagues or answered by you and asked by my colleagues I'm curious about schools are schools participating in the recycling program and if they aren't why and how can we get them engaged through the chair to councilwoman uh Clark Murray we don't have any direct contracts through the city to the school now whether the school board has that I couldn't say whether or not they have a a recycling program themselves but it's not through the Solid Waste Division or Office of Administrative Services we're not providing any recycling services that we don't do commercial recycling we're just similar to our garbage and our yard trash we just do residential and small commercials so we're not engaged with those schools.

Okay and and I'm not sure how long you um through the chair I'm not sure how long you've been in your position and and with um this particular service for the city but previously did the uh school board have some type of um contract with the city or uh in regards to cycling but recycling because I do remember where there was the blue bin in every classroom and if you think about it a great deal of paper although there are many things that are electronic and we use computers for a lot of the work that we do at the um throughout the schools but still there's a great deal of paper that's used and so I see that as being a one of those places where we could definitely um encourage first of all the schools to use recycling uh to recycle in addition to if you want a program to continue if you want to teach something and you want it to continue you always start with the babies and so elementary school and teaching them the importance of saving the landfill because we don't want we want the one that we have we want it to last for a very long time and even me as I don't want to say how old I am but I remember back in elementary school

And so elementary school and teaching them the importance of saving the landfill because we don't want we want the one that we have, we want it to last for a very long time.

And even me, as I don't want to say how old I am, but I remember back in elementary school, we were taught in the 70s you cut the light off when you leave a room.

So my favorite council representative right here told me that I'm 35.

I appreciate that tremendously.

But uh anyway, the fact that and we we were taught about just being not necessarily um I don't use the term cheap, but just economizing, don't be wasteful.

And so if we want to start that trend, we've got to start with the elementary school.

And so the connection between the city and the school, especially in this particular area, is so essential in my opinion.

And I'm gonna start looking at how I can help because I think that is critical to saving our landfill and helping our um students and our future Jacksonville residents understand how important it is to recycle so that we can save our land and and our say and save our save our earth as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Johnson.

Thank you, madam chair.

Um I I kind of piggybacking on it's something I wrote down earlier, piggybacking on uh council member Clark Murray's question uh through the chair.

Is there a curricula?

I know you don't have a contract with the schools, but is there some kind of curricula that is shared with the schools at this point?

Through the chair or council member Johnson, uh no, we're not currently collaborating with the school board on any recycling program.

I'm not really familiar with the dynamics between the city and the school board in terms of things like that.

And recycle, you know, recycling does cost money, so it's so there has to be a budget there for schools to recycle, and whether that would come from the city or the school board or how that would be funded, uh, that's beyond me.

Well, more I'm speaking of less an actual contract to do the recycling and more of teaching it kind of goes into what council member Clark Murray said.

Um I know that waste management, waste pro those those organizations.

Um you may want to.

This is just a recommendation, and I'll be more than happy to work with you on it.

And you know, Councilmember Clark Murray is an educator.

Um, but I do believe that we should have some kind of curricula that we share with them that they could integrate into their classrooms.

I know teachers all the time are looking for additional things that they could maybe, you know, instead, especially in STEM schools, uh, there could be some kind of curricula developed that we share with them.

You know, it's kind of passive, you don't have to do anything, just develop the curricula, share it with the school board and get that out.

The other thing was I know, and and I'm not forgiving my ignorance on this, uh, when council member Lee was uh on the council.

Well, after she left the council and she was doing uh Denise Lee and uh she was working with Blight Initiatives, there was this recycling character, I think.

Do you all still use that?

And is that something that we can integrate?

I know she I think if I might remember correctly, she had this character created and they were putting it out there.

Is that something that you all still use?

Yeah, the K and Man, I don't I don't know where that costume is.

I don't think it was able to be located last time we we looked at it for.

I think there also might have been a scum character at some point.

Um but to your point about the schools, yeah.

I can just in terms of any school collaboration, our recycling center does do field trips.

So if anyone wants to go out there, they can contact Republic Services for their field trip.

And again, their their website, recycling simplified, has got a great slideshow and information for everything from elementary school to high school, or so certainly any educator, I would direct them to look at that.

Would love to see that if you could send that over to us in some way, I would love to see it and also to be able to share it with schools in my district.

Um but I would I last I checked, last I saw, I think it's in public information on the second floor, the cam man, but I think it's a good thing, and it it did get some goodwill.

So we could get that back, that'd be great.

My next question, we talked about the recyclables going to market, which means obviously the recycling companies that are using um these recyclables are able to take them and earn some additional uh revenue for their company.

Does that mean that the revenue comes back to the city?

Do we get a break on what we're paid from them?

How does that fit into the equation?

Right.

So every month we get a report from our public services that talks about each commodity that was sold and what it was sold for, and we split that revenue with them 50-50.

So if they're selling and again, that fluctuates day to day, month to month, week to week.

So you know, with the war going on, I'm sure some prices of plastics probably went up because there's less petroleum available, but that's just uh just part of it.

And if you look at that table of the report, it it will tell you uh our average price that we received or we paid for that, and that's just that's part of our contract, it's 50-50.

So we get half and they get half.

I'm just and I don't see it in the table, and you don't have to tell me now, but I would like to know what that revenue brought in last year, if I could, and again, I won't hold you to it right now, but if you could when time permits, I'd love to see that because that way it would help us if we are knowing this is what we brought in in revenue from these recyclables last year.

Team community, Jacksonville.

If you join us, here's what could come in in the future, which again would keep us from having to, if if needed down the line, raise the millage rate, come up with other funds.

If you do your part, it can help the city keep your taxes low.

So that's a great way to do it.

But if you could get me those numbers uh on what that brought in in revenue, I'd love to get in.

Thank you, and thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Eric, I have one question as well.

Um along the educational aspect.

Um, do your department have the capacity to work with the school board or colleges, you know.

I'm thinking about sustainability and recycling and that kind of thing.

Have we ever work with local colleges as well?

And if not, um maybe developing uh uh internship for colleges as well.

Um can you talk a little bit about that as well?

Sure.

To the chair, and you know, we don't have a designated recycling coordinator position.

Um, so you know, uh is there time to do it?

Certainly, uh you know, there may be some ability to do some general things, but we don't have a person sitting around just waiting to go do presentations every day or every week for that, but certainly, you know, there are some things that we can leverage, there's some information that we can put out that doesn't take a lot of manpower, like I say, social media and outreach and things of that nature, uh sharing the recycling simplified website that has the slideshows, things of that nature, but um that's really the extent of what we have.

You know, you mentioned about the can.

Um I know we have this program called put your trash in the can, not on our land, and when we looked for the mascot, we couldn't find it.

But do you all do any work with um Mr.

Ferraro as well in terms of certain areas in the community when it comes to recycling?

Uh to the chair, we work with Mr.

Ferraro all the time, really on the bite and the litter and the homeless camp cleanups, not so much from a recycling perspective, more on a blight and cleanup type perspective, but we we are working with him every single day.

Okay.

So it seems I know there's three of us that are interested in the educational um piece of it, and you know, maybe we can look at internally to see if there's some cross um opportunities with some of the departments, even with Mr.

Um Richardson, who has the environmental piece.

There may be some alignments that y'all may be able to work together, or even Jay um EA.

I mean, we have them in the house as well, um, in terms of environment apiece, something maybe out of the box, and it it appears that there may be a capacity um issue as well.

You know, we're we're looking at it on the educational standpoint, and you just looking at it, you know, on it's the job of getting the recycle done.

But um, I'd like to see if there's something that we can do.

Councilman Johnson said that he would be willing um to work with you, and we have an educator here, Clock Murray as well.

There may be some synergy where we can um provide programming um for that.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank I like to thank you and uh Richard for being here today, and we really appreciate you giving us up.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Um, yes, um, Councilman Bolan.

Thank you, madam chair.

I uh I apologize for the the micro question.

Bottle caps on, off, or not at all.

Okay, yes, through the chair to Councilmember Boyle.

And so if they are the same material as the bottle, then you can leave them on.

So as an example, if you have a plastic bottle with a plastic cap, you can leave the lid on.

If you have a glass bottle, most of those are gonna be metal lids, you take those off because those are dissimilar materials.

Thank you.

That concludes uh presentation.

We really appreciate you all being here.

And we're gonna get right into um our agenda.

Um item number one, 2026 0005, um public hearing open and closed.

Um this item requires a public hearing.

Um I will um open the public hearing.

Do we have any cards?

Any speakers?

No speakers.

This public hearing is open and continue to April 7th.

Item number two.

Did you want to defer that item, Madam Chair?

I'm sorry.

Say that again.

Did you want to that item is marked to defer?

You finish the public hearing.

Would you like to defer that as it's marked on the agenda?

Yes, we'll defer that.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Um, due to a notice requirement, is that correct?

Okay, thank you.

Item number two, um, 2026 0136.

Um need a motion and second on the amendment.

Mr.

Linsky, could you please give us an explanation?

Yes, ma'am.

Uh through the chair of the committee, the uh amendment is technical in nature and authorizes an amendment of the five-year CIP to transfer the funds from construction to the land acquisition account.

It also is accompanied by an attachment of a CIP sheet and then a correction on the BT document as well.

Um there's also Scribner's corrections in the bill.

Thank you so much.

Seeing no speakers, no discussion.

All in favor say aye.

The amendment carries amended.

Thank you.

I have a motion and a second on the bill as amended.

Any discussions?

Seeing none, open the ballot and record your vote, please.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Trying to do three things at one time.

Five yes, zero nays.

Okay.

Thank you.

By your actions, we have approved 2026, 136 as amended.

Item number three, 2026, 0137.

I have a motion and a second on the amendment.

Mr.

Linsky, please explain.

Through the chair of the committee, um, the amendment for you to before you today was approved in rules yesterday and clarifies that in the event that there are two excused absences, the quorum for a standing committee would be reduced back to the four that it is right now.

Thank you so much.

I see we have speakers in the queue.

Uh Councilwoman Clock Murray.

And this is on the amendment.

Yes, thank you, Chair.

I I actually just wanted to make sure that the amendment was read so that I would know what it is.

I know in uh neighborhoods we did not make any amendments, so I wanted to know what the rules amendment was, and Mr.

Linsky did a great job of telling us what it is, so I'm fine with it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman I'm sorry.

On the bill, okay.

Councilman Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um, I want to I have a question about this.

So through the chair to, I'm assuming either council of the auditor or maybe the bill sponsor.

Currently, it stands, if I'm not mistaken, is the majority of members present.

Is that correct?

What is the necessity of changing that?

Because if you have the majority of members present already, it's like we're legislating the legislation of the rule that's already established.

Can someone help me understand what the necessity of this is?

Of this particular amendment.

Do we have an Mr.

Council?

I appreciate the question.

Uh the the rationale being it's commonplace, unfortunately, that many of our evolve there is a quorum, some people walk out of the room when a particular vote is being taken.

So they don't have to participate in the vote.

Now I can speak to that in more detail in a few minutes, but the rationale was to make certain that if you are present that you that you that you participate in in each and every vote.

So that's essentially what that what that means.

The uh accommodation to four when there's two excused absences is saying it's going to be difficult if there are seven members of the committee and two of them are excused, uh, then and the only all the only way those two can be excused if one of them has an excused uh provided by the committee chair, and the second one is he has an illness issue that they're dealing with or a military issue.

So those were the two in very unusual circumstances where you would only have six members or five members in present.

But that was an accommodation for one of the committee members in rules yesterday.

But I'll speak uh I'll speak to the larger issue in a minute if you don't mind.

I can hold it off on that.

I don't I don't mind.

Thank you.

And to the chair, I'm still this it if if uh parliamentary procedure states that it's the majority of members present, if that's the rule that the rubric that we're using, and then we turn around and then tinker with the numbers, I think it could in some ways be confusing.

While I do understand trying to uh keep a member seated at the dais, I also know that all of us on this dais and those who will come after us are juggling multiple balls, doing multiple things, whether it be family, career, whatever it is, and to and I know the general counsel's office does a really good job at ensuring that we're at the dais when we're here when we're around.

Um I don't know this is in the words of former council member Earl Johnson Sr.

It looks like we're trying to find a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.

And that's what is an anthem to me as to why we're we're putting this in.

And I do have some more questions about the bill, but that's that's my intrepidation here.

Thank you.

Anything you all like to add, Ms.

Collar or the Chair, I'll just add this.

That reduction in quorum, I think in in that was approved in rules yesterday, has the effect of so you have seven members on standing committee.

If you've got two excused absences, and Councilmember Boylan kind of addressed how that can happen, you still by reducing the quorum to four instead of maintaining the five that this legislation does, that allows one person could use the bathroom or take a phone call and still have quorum and still be able to take up business during the committee.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

My question to the chair, then does that mean when this says members present, doesn't that mean members, I was thinking members seated on the dais.

Am I c incorrect in that assumption?

You're correct.

Traditionally we have interpreted, and in the council president is the ultimate interpreter of the council rules, but traditionally it's been interpreted that present means either sitting in a chair or within arms reach of your voting device.

But this would assist this this new amendment or this amendment that was passed in this other committee would assist in ensuring that there could be some flexibility, because that was one of the things that I heard discussed yesterday, which I will get to when we discuss the bill, but I I have to trust that the people's um representative that's elected to those positions, if they're in the chairmanship, I do not want to have the chair um I want the chair to have discretion while I understand it could go either way.

I still don't, I believe in the process, and I at least want the chair to have the flexibility to be able to arbitrate if necessary, what those things mean as a real as it regards to his or her committee.

So just want to put that out there.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh next we have um Mr.

Matt Calucci.

Thank you, Matt.

Chair, is this uh so I I'm trying to get clarity on this.

Does this mean there has to be five people there to vote at a committee?

Mr.

Borland.

And the in the event that there are six members present, it is five.

If there are five members present, because the two excused absences, it would be four.

And the whole point of to council member Johnson's concern, this provides some flexibility to the process.

As you know, it require four votes in one direction or another.

There and somebody uh we got a tough vote come.

I don't mean to interrupt here, but we got tough vote coming up.

Six people are there, and uh the votes coming up and suddenly uh somebody's got a got a um has got an emergency and has to go out in the johnson room to visit um another room and uh they're gone.

So they don't have to vote.

Uh then we wouldn't be able to vote.

Correct.

And uh ironically, right now it is at the discretion of the chair to make that decision.

He can table an action or she can table an action until such time they have this bill, it could not be.

That's correct.

However, it forces that and it it takes the pressure off the count of the committee chair to have to make that decision.

Right.

Now, can that be waived though by the the number of council members that are that are in attendance while the others out there uh plucking his chicken feathers off?

Well, I think if I could speak to the larger bill have a better answer to the question.

So you know, maybe you want to hold off on the amendment until we have a conversation on the larger bill.

You will touch on that.

I will touch on it.

Okay.

All right.

Oh, uh Madam Chair, if you wouldn't mind, I'd suggest we'll hold off on the amendment until we walk through the larger bill and the rationale for it.

Okay, if you don't mind.

Can we do that?

I don't think we can, can we?

So to the chair, uh before you now is the rules amendment has been moved and seconded.

Um, go ahead and take it up then, and that's fine.

Uh if it passes it pass, if it doesn't, it doesn't.

Okay.

To the extent you feel like you need to talk to the larger bill to inform your decision on the amendment, I think that would be acceptable.

So can you give me some direction on how we do that or can't we do that?

So if you want to take up the rules amendment now, which I think would be prudent, and then you need to, to the extent you need to revisit it later, someone could move to reconsider the rules amendment or make a different amendment and have a TEU amendment that it adjust that further.

Okay.

So we have moved in to second to take the TUE TEU amendment.

Rules commitment, I'm sorry.

Yeah, kind of okay.

So vote.

Hand vote, please.

All in favor, say aye.

Passed.

Thank you.

All right.

So we're gonna take up move the bill as amended.

All in favor, say aye.

Well, we want to some discussion on the bill.

Okay, discussion on the bill.

I know Mr.

Johnson does, so I don't want to preclude him from that opportunity.

Uh thank you, uh, and I appreciate your patience.

As you might well expect, there was an awful lot of conversation on this bill.

Um, in both the neighborhoods and rules yesterday.

So I I feel pretty well prepared today to speak to it.

I I gave you a handout and a couple of things in the handout that I wanted to point out in particular.

Uh if you read the whereas of the bill, which I duplicated in this handout, really speaks to the responsibility we as uh we as elect officials have in this process.

One of the uh arguments is that well, this is a part-time job, and I have other responsibilities.

But the fact of the matter that this bill addresses only standing committees and council meetings, both of which are well published a year out nearly, uh, or at least you know at the beginning of the year, so we all know when those meetings are.

And on average commitment any given week is only probably on average five hours, unless you're in neighborhoods, and then it's seven.

Um I just kind of felt I saw a trend coming that spoke to uh some, I don't call it abuse, but taking advantage of or a really ignoring the council rules as it relates to that.

There are two places in the council rules, and bear with me, Mr.

Madam Chair, as they go through this process with respect to attendance.

Section 2.202 says each council member shall attend every regular or special meeting, or each standing meeting, special or select committee to which he or she is appointed unless excused by the committee chair.

So right now, people submit their excused absences as a notification without getting the permission of the committee chair.

You as the committee chair person know if someone's gonna show up or not show up.

It's their discretion to do that and not to do that.

And I think that's that's shows a lack of respect to the chair in my mind, as as well as the council president.

So the the opportunity for the committee chair to excuse or not excuse somebody is already in the council rules.

All I'm doing is limiting the number of people that they can excuse from a given meeting is one.

Now a person can say, Well, I'm not coming anyway, that becomes an unexcused absence.

And if they do that three times, then they are no longer a member of that committee.

Section 4.501, there are two points in here.

First of all, it says any member who is unable to attend a council or committee meeting due to sickness or a duly authorized reason, which we talk about here, which is military, shall notify the council secretary or the or the chief of legislative services who shall notify the president, committee chair, or legislative aid.

So that uh my bill is in keeping with that.

If somebody says, hey, I'm sick, or I've got military responsibility, all they need to just notify.

Uh so the only time in which the committee chair or the council president is pulled into the conversation if someone arbitrarily for business or other social or family reasons decides not to come to a meeting, they need to have the permission of the committee chair and or the council president.

And the comp take and the com as the context of the council off the president meetings and council meetings, it is he is uh he or she is allowed to eliminate or uh excuse two members.

As to the question with respect to and again, some this some of this is an enforcement, it's a practice that's in play.

The rules are there, we're just not applying them necessarily.

Section 4, 6.02.

Each council member present at any meeting of the council shall vote on each question put.

Well, Ms.

Schill mentioned the fact that with an arm reach of the ballot, but traditionally, if you're in the green room or in the building, you're expected to be defined as present to the meeting because your intent is to be there.

If you're counted as part of the quorum when the meeting opens, that's you know, you're considered present for the meeting.

Goes on to say any council member who refrains from giving his or her vote when required to do so by this rule shall be deemed to have given his or her vote in the affirmative.

So when those scenarios where someone steps away, as we talked about yesterday, walks away from a vote, their vote is a yes, whether they want it to be yes or not, and maybe they do, they just don't want to put it on there.

So all I am trying to do in the context of this bill is to codify a couple of things.

Number one, that truly excuse absences are absences that are uh uh that are approved by the committee chair and or the council president.

Um the other thing I wanted to uh on the the quorum thing we just talked about, so I'm not gonna spend a lot more time on that.

But uh the work through uh yesterday, we did get a 6-0 vote in neighborhoods, or 6-1 vote in neighborhoods, I'm sorry, and a 6-0 vote in rules, and the one who voted negative in in neighborhoods voted in the affirmative on rules because of the accommodation we hear.

So I think we're on the right track.

And quite frankly, if you put this into place and council members live up to their responsibilities, this becomes moot over the long run.

If people show up to the meetings as they're scheduled to do, standing meetings and city council meetings, and uh unless they have the excuse absence or a bona fide reason for not being there, then uh then this becomes all I'm trying to do is codify what I think should be typical business practice.

All of us who have presidents or CEOs of companies or have department heads, it we would not work well as an organization or business if you just arbitrarily let your employees decide for themselves when and when or not they're gonna show up to work.

And I'm all I'm trying to do is to codify that and give both the council president and the committee chairs the respect they deserve by allowing them to have a voice in whether or not a person's uh excuse absence is appropriate.

I hope that's helpful, madam chair.

That's a lot of moving parts.

And we have uh Ms.

Carla.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to clarify a couple of things, and my apologies if I wasn't clear on this yesterday.

But when you are present at a meeting, meaning you were here for quorum purposes and and counted as present, and you have stepped out into the green room to take a call or the bathroom or going up to your office, your and in a vote occurs, you are not recorded as voting in the affirmative.

You you're you have no vote recorded for that purpose.

Um what that rule speaks to is if you are here sitting in your chair and there's a voice vote and you refuse to speak or you refuse to press on your thing, then you would be considered to have voted in the affirmative.

But as far as um there is no like proxy voting allowed, that's not allowed under council rules that's not that would violate Florida case law and AGO opinions, votes by proxy are not permitted.

Um I just wanted to clarify that in terms of like current practice.

Um and if there are any other questions, I can take those.

Councilman Carlucci.

Okay.

Uh thanks for clearing that up.

Um so I'm gonna support the bill.

Um I um I I think I agree that we've had um we've had some absentee and some tardies and some people not here when they should have been here to listen to the vote.

Uh I wish we could um somehow apply this to public comment section when people public comment section, some people just get up and out.

And um, and have you going out to eat your dinner, you know, and you couldn't eat your dinner before the meeting, then I guess I can go along with that.

Or, you know, if you gotta you know get up and go to the you know, restroom or you need something to drink, whatever, but you come back, I get that.

But just to skip out, um, that's just that's just rude.

That's uh, you know, our job, one of our most basic jobs is to listen to the public.

And I get it, you know.

Sometimes you listen to the public and they're beating us up, but you gotta listen to them.

So, but I guess we can't get that in there somehow.

Uh but you know what this bill is doing is it's making us do what the hell we ought to be doing anyway.

Excuse my French madam chair, and that's kind of like things we were taught in kindergarten, you know.

Uh now we gotta have a law to make us do that.

And uh so, but I'm gonna support it.

But the uh only one thing that concerns me, and I think we gonna need to keep an eye on this, is sometimes um leadership could be punitive.

And depending on the way that uh they want to interpret somebody's lack of an excuse, or oops, I couldn't get an excuse because I had an emergency, I didn't have a chance to get it, or it happened at the last minute, or whatever, uh as a reason to take someone off a committee, uh that that would be my only concern.

Um I'm over this punitive business.

I mean, it'll always exist as long as there's a city council, believe me.

I I get it.

So when I got when when I when I was uh when I uh had my dose of punitive uh castor oil, look, I know that the council president gets to do what he or she wants to do.

So you deal with it, and I've dealt I've dealt with it.

I didn't whine, I didn't complain.

Um I I uh I lived with it.

But um I just um I I I've never quite seen the kind of politics that we have today in a long time.

I mean, I've never seen it before.

Uh just haven't.

And um so I uh say we go with it, but if we see some type of habit where uh a council president or a chair decides to use it as a weapon in order to um to uh eliminate somebody's voice uh from representing their constituents in a committee or in a council, um then I'm gonna be angry as can be, and then I'll file legislation to uh to re repeal the bill.

But I know uh you are well intended, and I trust your instincts, I will support it, Mr.

Morland.

But I had to say that.

Thank you.

Councilman Johnson.

Thank you, Ms.

Pitman.

I do have a litany of questions, but I do want to ask first um the issue or say at least before us, uh, is does attendance matter?

And Madam Chair, I believe it does.

Uh, I think Councilman Boylan said it, Councilman Carlucci, all of us know that attendance matters, of course it does.

But the question is whether this legislation actually improves governance or simply replaces discretion with rigidity, and that's an issue for me.

Uh, good rules are supposed to strengthen institutions, uh, not create mechanical penalties that fail to realize the realities of public service and everyday life.

And that's why I I'm not really a fan of the rigidity of saying it's gotta be in this small space because it does not give as much discretion as it as I think it should.

So I do have a few questions, and I gotta say something before we move on.

Um while I certainly respect uh Councilman Carlucci, I must say um I know how to walk and chew gum at the same time, and I'm sure that most of us sitting on this day is due as well.

So in those times when I know I've stepped off the days to go into the green room to meet with constituents, um, I am also kind of one ear to them, but also one ear to hearing the things that are most people may or may not know, but the council meeting itself is piped in to the speakers back there.

So if you're in the restroom or you're in the green room with a conversation, you can still hear that.

Additionally, I make it my point, and I've had several constituents who um I've gone back and sent letters to or emails, I go back after the meeting and listen to public comments again to see if I miss something.

Sometimes I'll go through and it folk can tell you that um I don't think I'm the only one that does that.

I think there are others who go back and listen to public comments.

So again, here we go with this you have to be doing the thing in this way for it to work.

That's just not true.

I don't have to be sitting here looking in someone's mouth to hear what they're saying and to act on it.

And I think we need to uh understand that and maybe move on from that.

Um, maybe not everybody does it, but we have to make sure that we're giving people the opportunity before turning into uh this into a police state.

Um there is humanity here, and I believe in the humanity, regardless of if we see some of our colleagues do that or not.

But let me ask um Councilman Boylan, this is a pretty severe penalty getting kicked off of a committee.

So through the chair to the council member, um, what research have you done in other markets or other uh councils that have this rule in place or a rule that removes a member from the committee?

Well, if you take a look at the council rules presently, it says failure to attend three consecutive regular meetings of a standing committee, three meetings of a special committee or select committee with without excuse, may upon recommendation of the chair of the president constitute automatic withdrawal.

So the the rules in place, and my rule is actually softer because it only speaks to standing committees and it doesn't address consecutive.

So I haven't done homework in other places, but I can tell you the experience the last six and a half years that I've been on this council, I see an increasing trend for the lack of regard of attendance.

And I don't I don't mean to disparage anybody in that process, I'm just seeing a trend here that I'm trying to stem.

And I do appreciate your your comments.

And I think there's it's valid.

You know, when I yes, I'm building a wall here and saying this is you know you can't cross this line.

And but I I think it it's it's warranted, and frankly, it's probably totally unnecessary if every council member lived up to their responsibility.

So uh why not put it up there and just say, hey, you know, we know you're not gonna do this.

I think Councilman Omero yesterday used the Tom Landry analogy, and I love for him to repeat it, because basically he says if you do what you're supposed to do, this isn't a problem.

And it shouldn't be a problem for any member to vote for this because they're saying, hey, it's not an issue for me.

I don't I know my responsibilities.

I show up to meetings.

You know, I live up to the responsibility and commitment I made to my constituents by attending meetings.

And so I have a voice, so I'm their voice in that meeting.

So I I agree it found it sounds a little hard, it sounds very mechanical, but at the same time, it uh and and beyond that, it takes the pressure off the council member, the council committee chair to say, well, I'm you know, I I don't know.

And just say, look, I can only release, I don't want two people missing from my meeting.

And to say I can only give you one of you permission to do so, that's that's the discretion of the chair.

So I I get your point, and I don't disagree necessarily, but I just think this is certainly worth worth uh a bite of the apple.

Thank you, council member.

And I'll say I did do the research, and the number is zero.

Um there there's not a lot of removal of that, and we're still working through, obviously, I've only had this bill about a week, but we're still working through to get some more information.

Let me ask how many committee meetings in the past two years, can someone answer this?

And I know I have research working with me to pull this data as well.

Uh, how many committee meetings in the last two years of council have were um not able to happen due to lack of quorum or attendance?

Do we know that?

How many?

Council Councilman Warlin.

During my tenure, one.

I it was an LUZ committee meeting that where myself and uh Reggie Gaffney Sr.

were the only members of the committee, and so there was absolutely no work done at that meeting.

Okay, because there was no one there to stop that from happening.

So it it can happen and it has happened.

And all I'm trying to do is to preclude that from happening.

Was there any formal study or attendance analysis done before this uh legislation was proposed?

Uh yes, through the chair at uh legislative research to do some work on that.

I don't have the email before me, but Colleen did provide me that information.

And there seemed to be some frequency, increased frequency in uh in absences.

Okay, and and I'll tell you, as one who has been on LUZ since I've been elected to this council um and I've attended other committee meetings, I don't know of.

I think there was one, like you said in your time, uh, that has happened, and to me, one does not constitute a pattern.

Uh let me ask was based on those that those data that you received, was there a pattern um that led to this that the existing rules failed to address?

If could you share that pattern with us if you have it?

Well, clearly you go back to 202.

Hold on a second, I wasn't 202.

It was actually in 451.

Any uh no member present at any meeting of the council and can absent himself from the meeting with permission without permission from the chair or prior notice given.

So as a practice now, council members create a notice of excused absence, which is not signed off on by the either the council president or the coun or the committee chairs.

So the practice is already there, and this actually speaks to council member uh Carlucci's concern with respect to people walking out even during public comment.

It really is when the council president says councilmember Johnson would like to meet me with the agreement, he is affirming and giving you permission to leave the dais.

But the council president and or the committee chair has the wherewithal today of saying, no, you need to stay in your seat and do your job.

Uh and that's not happening.

So all this bill does, it it affirms what's already in place and and strengthens it.

Let me ask uh, because I I know that there's a very tight uh to me there seems to be some due process gaps, but there's like a tight thing there where it says like who can make the uh determination.

I don't know.

So is is it only those like medical military service?

Is it that tight, or is it can the chair still exercise discretion for whatever?

Case in point, I'll tell you, um, I serve on LUZ.

This is just anecdotal data, and uh there was an event that I needed to attend uh across the street at the library.

Uh I let the chair know, I came in, I did my part, which I do my work, but I came in, I did my part, I went over to the library, did my part there, came back to the meeting, and I as council members, we are expected.

While this is a part of our duty, there are other things that are parts of our duty as well.

And I don't want it to be so rigid that someone says if I'm not sitting in this chair at this moment that I'm not doing my job.

Well, uh you yours is a perfect example.

You advised the co committee chair that you were gonna have to step out.

He he gave he or she, I guess would he give you consent to do so?

That's executing the the practice that's in place.

So, yes, that's consistent with this bill.

This bill doesn't preclude that from happening in this process unless you are the fifth member who's walking out that precludes them the opportunity for them to have a vote on an item.

But that's the only difference in this process to make sure that we have a substantial number of members of the committee present to discuss and take actions on individual items.

I do have some, once I get this data back, and I hope I'll get it soon.

Uh, I do have some recommendations as to how this bill could be more applicable.

While I certainly understand the council members uh and I deeply respect Councilmember Boylan, I understand why this legislation was proposed.

Um, but I do think it's creating this problem that adds additional layers for something that if as the councilman said earlier, if the rules were enforced as they are, um, which I think they are, then we there's no need for this legislation.

I also want to say I remember uh the judiciary in Jacksonville and around the state, uh there was uh a push, and I want to say this was like early 90s, maybe, council member uh madam chair, 1020 life.

You remember that when they were pushing to do 1020 life in the legislature for people that had committed certain offenses, and I remember the judiciary kind of pushing back a little bit saying, now you are mandating what I do as a judge instead of allowing me to use the education that I have to well it was and as the council member said, these three strikes you're out, 1020 life.

There were these mandatory sentences, and the judiciary was was very they were not complimentary of that.

They were saying, wait a minute, that's why I went to law school.

That's why I studied the law, so that I can make a determination and decide what extenuating circumstances, if any, apply to what's going on here.

And so I think when we get into the space of being mandatory on what chairs may do, while I understand leadership may try to weaponize it, while I understand there may be some issues that come about, I would have to defer on the discretion of the chair and the committee or the president and the committee chairs.

Uh, and I'm not sure that this bill allows them to have that kind of flexibility.

So I want to get there.

I'm probably going to vote yes to move it out of committee.

I'm still looking at it now, but I may have an amendment if this makes it to council.

Thank you.

Okay.

I just wanted to let you all know we have to get out of here by 11 o'clock.

But I'd like for Ms.

She Ms.

Collet.

Can you put us in the right posture?

Sure.

If I may I just um I would like to address one thing, Madam Chair.

The correct point.

Yes.

Where we are in the meeting is the rules amendment has been approved and a bill has been moved as amended.

So whenever you're ready, a ballot vote would be appropriate after discussion has concluded.

But if I might just remind you all, this is an amendment.

This legislation is amendment to your council rules, which is guides your how you conduct your your business as a counsel.

But as you all I'm sure recall, and let me remind you if you have forgotten, there is a Florida statute 286.012, which requires you all as members of this, as elected members of this body, if you are present at a meeting, you are required to vote.

And you may only abstain or not vote if you have a conflict or a possible conflict under any one of the various Florida statutes that are listed there.

But you are expected to vote on every item when you are when you don't have an excused absence.

So to the extent, and I believe that is in line with um this legislation that has been proffered by councilmember Boylan.

Um is it's completely in line with that voting requirement already that you already um are obligated under.

Okay.

So at this time I want to make sure that um I'm in right posture, basically, to have a motion and a second on the bill as amended.

You already have one, so if discussion has concluded and you're all ready to vote, you could open the ballot and and everyone can record their votes.

Okay.

Okay, sis.

You do.

Yes.

Um the ballot has been amended.

I'll see Councilman Johnson.

We really gotta get out of here.

I'm sorry, but I gotta, if I'm gonna make this vote, madam chair.

I have a question.

Because I'm looking at it, there was a 6-1 vote in neighborhoods.

That means this cannot go.

I just want to clear, this will not go to the consent agenda.

This will be a separate uh uh piece of legislation that the council has to vote on council night, correct?

That's correct.

It will not be on the consent agenda.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

Seeing no other discussion, open your ballot and record your vote, please.

Five yes, zero knees.

By your actions, we have approved 2026 137 as amended.

Okay.

All right.

Number four, item number four, 2026 0140.

This item requires a public hearing.

I will open the um public hearing.

Do we have any speakers?

Yes.

Blake Harper, if you'll please come forward.

Blake Harper information on file.

So Paul in this in his uh letter, second letter to Corinthians chapter seven, read uh says uh says the following.

Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led to repentance.

Chapter 10, it says 10, it says, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

This is an offensive picture to me.

I hope it's an offensive picture to each one of you.

This is an actual political campaign ad from the recon the reconstruction years in the 1860s and 70s.

It says the Democrat platform is for the white man.

So when Donna Deegan tells me as a as a white man, I don't understand white supremacy.

I think she needs to see this to understand what supremacy white supremacy is all about.

The salt and I'm reading this in case you I don't get through all of it.

The assault on Jacksonville's history started nine years ago with Ben Frazier and his self-confessed Marxist wingman Wells Todd have taken down in for me.

Their demands include removing all Confederate.

I need you to speak to the bill, please.

I am speaking to the bill.

This is 140.

This is the one, this is the street name renaming.

I'm speaking to the street renaming.

And I'd like my time back, please.

I need someone actually it does.

We're talking about the renaming of the street.

I need no no.

Can you you may not like it, but that's what it is.

And I spoke this twice already.

I'm not giving you your time back, so you need to finish.

Do I get my time back?

It's still ticking off.

No, go ahead.

This is shameful.

The assault on Jacksonville's history started nine years ago with Ben Frazier and his self-confessed Marxist wingman wells taught of taking down infamy.

Their demands include removing all Confederate statues, edifice, changing all the names of Confederate origin and changing the names of all the bridges, even the name of the city.

Besides loud intimidating public demonstrations outside City Hall across and across the city, Fraser Todd and Company harassed city council meetings.

I am speaking to the bill.

Please read this.

Okay.

And again, you're interrupting me.

Um with their rate racially divisive and verbally abusive tactics.

This abuse of public comment was so disruptive that city council cut us uh public comment back from two to untimed sessions to one session.

Can we cut that off, please?

People are offended by the word of confederate.

Thank you.

Thank you for uh thank you, Mr.

Harper.

Thank you, Mr.

Harper.

Number five, item number five, twenty twenty-six zero one four one.

This item requires a public hearing.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Oh, Madam Chair, yes, yes.

I'm sorry.

Are there any other public comment cards?

No.

Okay.

Excuse me, can you put me in the right?

Yes, if there are no more um public comment cards on 2026-140, you can continue that.

Yes, the public hearing is open and continues to April 7th.

Item number five.

Can I go on now?

Madam Chair, if you want to state that that is deferred due to the noticing requirements, um, that would be great.

I'm sorry.

That item um has additional noticing requirements, so it's marked as defer, and it would be appropriate to announce that it is deferred.

Yes, we're gonna defer it and due to noticing requirements.

Is that correct?

Thank you.

Item number number five, 2026 141, public hearing.

Open and close.

This item requires a public hearing.

I will open the public hearing.

Do we have any speaker cards?

We have two speaker cards, and please speak to the bill only.

If not, I will cut you off.

John Nooney.

Hello.

Happy St.

Patrick's Day.

Okay.

I am John J.

Nooney.

Jacksonville, City Council Resolution 2023 0819.

I'm in City Council District 4, CPAC Planning District 3 School Board.

Cindy Pearson, District 3, Duval County Public Schools, 2025 0867, 2025 0141, JEA.

Solar Field Trip Charter School Public School Park on Pottsburg Creek, 2025 0019, 2016 18.

CIP, classroom, Pottsburg.

Mr.

Nooney.

Yeah, speaking of the bill.

I am speaking to the bill.

Are we gonna come to I am?

I'm speaking right to it.

Uh JEA, public hearing, open and closed.

Huge news story.

Renee Hunter with the real estate division is awesome.

A tremendous asset for our city.

The three unnamed pieces of land is over two acres, about the same size for the JEA River Record, Duval County Public Schools, COJ, 2025 0867, 2024 0325.

Subject Tank Solar Park on Pottsburg Creek, Shea Hill, Katie Jeffries, Ann Coglianis, James Richardson, Vicky Cavey, and the JEA board.

The closure is requested by JEA for the construction of a solar facility.

So solar facility, I'm in solar facility at a park.

On Pottsburgh Creek.

What a win-win, you know, for the state of Florida.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Mr.

Blake Harper.

No, I'm sorry, Carnell Oliver.

Yes, um, I want to um I'm gonna say I'm in support of the bill, but also I want to raise conditions.

Um about maybe Jacksonville need to open up a American Freeman's division.

Because if uh if I recall history, the very first Civil Rights Act in this country was the 1866.

And I've done my genealogy, I fall underneath the 1866 Civil Rights Act that gives us power over land, jobs, and land.

And by me exercising that right, I want to put some conditions into if this project is to move to the board.

This if this project, I am the very first, I'm aboriginal to this country.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful.

We're gonna cut you off, okay?

Because you're not, no, sir.

Cut them off.

Cut him off, sir.

We don't have any other speakers.

Any questions?

Seeing none, I will close the public hearing and bring it back to the committee.

Have a motion.

Okay.

Move the yeah, I have a motion and a second.

On bill.

Oh, yes.

Okay.

Open the ballot and record your vote, please.

Yes.

Yes.

Five years, zero knees.

By your actions, we have approved 2026 141.

Item number six have been deferred at the request of JTA.

And item number seven is on second.

Thank you so much.

I would would like to say condolence to you, Councilman Omaro, and I really appreciate it.

I'm gonna ask it you all to pray for me.

My mother had a massive um stroke.

Um, and I'm just not myself yet, but I owe to coming here.

I know councilman um Lane and is out of town, but I wanted to make sure that I let you all know, and I'm asking y'all to please, please pray for me and my mother.

Thank you.

This is adjourned.

Meeting Mr.

Chair.