We're gonna go ahead and start with introductions to the left.

Brittany Norris for the administration.

Phil Peterson, Council's Office.

Kim Taylor, Council Auditor.

Good afternoon, Rory Diamond, District 13, the beaches.

Ron Salem, group two at large.

Nick Howland at large, group three.

Joe Carlucci, District Five.

Raw Wearies, District 11.

Will Lane and District 3.

Jacoby Pittman, District 10.

Peluso, District 7, just visiting.

Rachman Johnson, District 14, visiting.

Good afternoon, Michael Boylan, District 6, just here the visit.

All right.

Councilmember Arias wanted to go ahead and make a quick announcement before we get started, go through the agenda and so on.

So go ahead, Councilmember.

Thank you, Chair and colleagues.

Uh yesterday we had a public notice meeting to talk about House Bill 1134 as well as uh the funding of the uh Asian American Black Chamber and Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Um it was a great meeting, had a lot of participation from council members to to add value to this meeting.

Um I we did have uh a question for the administration and Ms.

Norris was there to answer it.

And I'm just gonna ask you now in a more public setting with with more individuals here.

Um is the administration gonna do good on their part to honor our commitment as the city council to fund these chambers effective immediately.

Um and that's the question I have for you right now.

Uh thank you, Councilmember to the chair to the uh committee.

We have finalized the term sheets, the contract with the entities that'll be going to the NBRC and they'll be looking um to move it very quickly through council.

Um so I'll actually probably be coming to you, Councilmember Arias, to talk about that.

All right, well, thank you so much.

That's all I want to hear.

And um, and thank you everybody for joining us yesterday because honestly, it was because of all the input that we all had to move the city forward and just FYI.

Um the bill comes uh in place January 1st, 2027, Houseway 1134.

However, moving forward, we could still fund these entities.

So if you feel you want to help out our community, um don't feel like you can't because of 1134.

You can.

Uh we just got to make sure that these entities are following proper guidelines set in uh in place by the state.

And so I'm gonna be working with Senator Yarbrough to get that checklist of guidelines to make sure that we give all these entities uh to make sure that they they meet the criteria.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

All right, no problem.

So committee members, we have two presentations today.

But before we go to the presentations and before we go to public comment, we're just gonna go to the agenda since we're moving like one or two things around.

Uh item number one is deferred, two is deferred, three is deferred, four is deferred, five is deferred.

I don't know if that's marked on y'all's agendas.

It probably should be or is, but five is deferred.

Six is up for action.

Seven uh is up for action eight.

It's action item number nine is uh there's an amendment, and then we will move that bill.

10 has a rules amendment, and then we will move.

11 has two amendments uh that we will be reviewing, and then uh 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 are all on second reading, and we will get those officially read into the record after we take up all of our action items.

Item number 23 on page 13.

We are gonna be taking that up first.

That's gonna be our first action item.

There's three potential amendments on that.

Um then yeah, everything else is also on second reading.

So with that, we will go ahead.

Oh, what?

Oh, go ahead.

Councilmember Salem, you're recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Through the chair to Miss Norris.

On the chamber staff, it was in the budget.

Why does it have to come back to the council?

Uh through the chair to the committee.

Uh Councilmember Salem, what you guys authorized was the funding in the budget, but there was no term sheet or contract attached to that.

So that's what's taken this amount of time is going back.

I understand, but why why does that still have to come back to the council?

We've been advised that needs council approval, but Mary can elaborate.

Through the chair to council member Salem.

I wasn't part of the discussion.

I imagine it was had with somebody in John Sawyer's group.

Um, but because it's it's originally it was discussed as a membership or dues, but if they're utilizing the funds to provide a service that's not in the in the line of just the city paying a membership fee, then that's a direct appropriation contract, and that's why it has to come back for council approval.

That's consistent with what with what we've done in the past.

We haven't contracted with some of these chambers before.

So we do have a contract that gets approved with for example with the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, and so it's in line with how we've treated that.

Um the funding being handled in the budget, so it's consistent with how we've handled that one.

Thank you for clarifying that.

All right.

We have no one, no one else in the queue, so now we'll go ahead and do our first presentation from Mr.

Freeman.

Dustin Freeman.

There we go.

Dustin Freeman procurement.

Good day, Mr.

Chair, committee members.

Uh this report in front of you is your second quarterly single source report for FY26.

The report reflects all single sources over 50,000 and the use and agency's justification is attached behind each uh single source.

In Q2, there are a total of 21 single source purchase orders totaling a little over 2.9 million, and two purchase order agreements totaling a little over 255,000.

Um there are five purchase order single sources that I would consider unique.

Item one, or excuse me, item 12, uh sports and entertainment, 155,000.

Item 13, natural and marine resources, uh little over 62,000.

Item 16, risk management, uh a little over 425,000.

Item 18, uh JSO jails, uh 99,000.

Item 21, public buildings, a little over 52,000.

Uh pinning questions, this will conclude my report.

Happy to answer any questions you got in regards to the process of single sourcing, but we'll defer to the using agencies uh to speak to the actual requirement itself.

Okay, great.

Um committee members just uh reminder for everyone, obviously our council auditors get a copy of this and they kind of vet it and then we hear the presentation.

So um for whatever that's worth.

But we have Council Vice President Howlin, you're recognized.

I just wanted to reiterate, I say this almost every time, but Dustin, thanks for producing this report.

Um, it gives us something to deep dive into if we need to.

Um you highlighted five that you would say are unique, um, and you've given us the backup on it.

And for any of my fellow committee members or anyone else on council, you can always reach out to Dustin with questions on any of those five.

And in this way, we do our job of of oversight and ensuring every single dollar of taxpayer money is spent the most wise.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

All right, we have no other speakers in the queue.

We'll go on now to our next presentation.

Ms.

Taylor.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Through the chair to the committee, we issued the purchasing card or your P Card audit uh report number 904.

Um overall, um, P cards are used generally for travel training, uh dues and memberships.

There are different instances where it is used, for example, for food for animals out of animal care and protective services.

Um you have your treasury division, accounting division, and procurement division that oversee these cards uh during the time frame we looked at, which was the calendar year 24.

Um, there were 111 active P cards across 33 departments, and um of those two of those are department level.

So, for example, for uh JFRD for emergencies and such.

Um so overall, our conclusion was that um PCAR transactions were appropriate, sufficiently documented, properly approved, accurately recorded, in accordance with laws and policies.

However, we did find um significant issues with timeliness and then several internal control weaknesses and findings.

And I'll just briefly go through these overall some of the items we had.

Um, a lack of written policies and procedures for um important uh PCARD tasks within the accounting division, uh, which they are going to address.

Um there was a lack of reconciliation between P Card expenses to the bank reimbursements.

So just like um where we would want um bank reconciliations, bank statement reconciliations to occur, we want those reconciliations to occur because that's going to detect fraudulent transactions, things that aren't recorded in the financial system.

It's very important to reconcile those two things.

Uh, there were 22 additional merchant category codes that should have been blocked.

Um, so they have a list out of all the merchants to try to prevent on the front end as a control um certain types of purchases.

We did identify those that also need to be added and blocked.

Um, out of the 200, there were 202 transactions totaling over $94,000 that were either that were not fully recorded in the financial system.

Um we looked at those again when we were completing our testing, um, and there were still over 45 transactions totaling 10,000 dollars that lacked the adequate support needed to really um legitimize what the purchase was for.

Um we also found that P cards uh for former employees were not canceled timely in a couple of situations.

Um and we also found that um timeliness, as I mentioned, was one of the bigger issues.

thousand dollars that were either um that were not fully recorded in the financial system um we looked at those again when we were completing our testing um and there were still over 45 transactions total ten thousand dollars that lacked the adequate support um needed to really um legitimize what the purchase was for um we also found that P cards uh for former employees were not canceled timely in a couple of situations um and we also found that um timeliness as I mentioned was one of the bigger issues um 75 uh out of um 206 transactions were not submitted within the seven working day requirement and there are also requirements for the manager to approve it and then finally for the accounting division to approve it with their expense auditors all of those areas had timeliness issues um and then I will mention that out of that we did find and the department had discovered this previously but there were some fraudulent transactions that were able to be carried out um within one department uh because the the cardholder had not been reviewing um these items on a timely basis and creating their expense report for the transactions and so that's one of the biggest controls that we emphasize has to be in place to make sure any transaction that is occurring is legitimate and checking those and then there were some transactions tested uh couple of them related to travel of just not having the proper authorization in place um and then a couple uh immaterial but paying for sales tax again don't want that to occur um and then some credit card fees uh being paid but the city is revising their policy to allow transactions to occur even if they do have credit card fees as they will be going into a new bank provider that will provide rebates that they feel will offset those costs and then we did find a couple of transactions that appear to be split based on the um limit per transaction the dollar limit um within two departments within mosquito control and mayor's office um that to kind of uh to to circumvent the controls that are in place for those transaction limits because it was same day same card holder same items um so we want to make sure and they do have um an analytical software now to hopefully pick up on and flag things like that as well as inappropriate purchases that don't fall within the guidelines um so those kind of that gives you an overview of our report and I'm happy to answer any questions all right no one in the queue no questions so uh we will save the five minutes good job oh council member diamond recognized uh just I said this at Doge but one thing that's possible is simply to have uh policy or a program in place that does not allow P cards but it says has City of Jacksville cards issued by a private issuer like this or a MasterCard or whatever but that then the person is on the hook for and they get reimbursed within the window that's the 100% fix.

That's what they do in the Army for all army travel and all army stuff I think the other branches do the same thing and uh it definitely makes you very aware of the money you're spending and that that's one way to ironclad fix this problem.

All right.

Thank you for that and now we'll go to the public comments.

So we have first Reverend Dr Roi Gundy Yes sir good.

My name is uh Reverend Dr.

R.

Laroy Gundy I do have my uh address on file with you.

I come before you to address the issue concerning Win Dixie for a moment.

Win Dixie has always been a store of goodwill and good faith in the community.

I've been working with them way back before any of you even thought about running for office on city council.

But what is happening on 48th in Maine they are closing that store and uh with sixty five million dollars 12 million dollars going to corporate office I'm asking you to relook that because you're creating we're creating another food desert and I think that could be fixed now as we're moving through that because what happened if we didn't see the plan.

Maybe they plan on putting a store there maybe they plan on remodeling or rebuilding it.

We don't know but we tried to get some things squared away because they just put two new four story senior buildings directly in front of the store where it exists right now.

A few blocks down the road there's another uh senior living facility and the demographics which I've sent to all of you up here on the uh uh das uh up on the dash here that shows the demographics that it can support it has always been supporting it and we need your help we have pharmacy deserts we have food deserts and we don't need to go back and recreate another desert uh even Mr.

Salem's family a long time ago on King's Road always had fresh fruit always had fresh vegetables because I used to go there and buy it when I was coming up as a child so I'm just saying to you you can help us out you can help the community out we have some people here who who came to support this but I'm asking you to relook this $65 million 12 million dollars just to do the corporate office and you close a store and you don't have a plan that says exactly what you're gonna do with that area.

And if they're gonna put another store there remodel or rebuild it that's great.

But I think that's something that we ask you to take a look at.

Okay?

That's that's my comment concerning Win Dixie and the amount of money that we'll do.

So basically I'm asking you to ensure that Win Dixie, first of all, if they're gonna close the store, they put another one there, or they remodel the store that they have.

And because it's always been, and they make money, the medium income is anywhere from uh 45, 35 to 50,000.

There's a school that regular cross the street from the facility.

A thriving community is always crowded, a thriving mall, their anchor store, and we just need you to take another look at that.

We certainly would appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

Next we have Reverend Aaron Flag.

Good evening.

My name is Reverend Aaron Flagg.

My address is on foul.

Um representing the Baptist Ministers Conference of Duval and adjacent counties.

Also uh asking that we could try and not create another food desert.

We we got a lot of them.

And and uh instead of creating deserts, let's let's create oasis.

Let's let's do something that's just positive.

Wend Dixie has been doing a lot of good things for Jacksonville for since Dr.

Gund and I were in high school, they were given scholarships.

Wend Dixie was, and that's a great thing, and you've always been a staple in this community.

And we're just asking that we don't create another desert.

I look at a lot of Westerns, and you got to cross the desert, that's a long way to go.

I mean, you gotta leave 48th and Maine and go to Gateway to get groceries and you don't have a car, it's difficult.

I know there's also a developing in this city.

Um pharmacy deserts.

The closing Walgreens in our communities.

And when one Walgreens closed, all of the business goes to another Walgreens, and they're got two times the world load with the same amount of people still working there.

Something's wrong with that.

You got family dollars and dollar generals closing in our communities, and and it's making a hardship for those who don't have transportation to uh to get to these things.

So what we're actually doing here in Jacksonville from an overall point of view is creating problems instead of solving problems.

So let's get back to solving them for for everybody, the rich and the poor.

Thank you.

God bless you.

I love you.

Hope I have to come back.

Amen.

All right, thank you, sir.

Uh, next we have Carnell Oliver.

Um, my name is Carnegal, our addresses on file.

Uh, there's a difference between me and my elders.

I'm more nuts and bolts, and I'm all about actually trying to fix the problem.

And this is how I'm gonna look at it.

When you talk about Wendix, they're failing business model.

And just like any other investment this city has put in place, are we strategically focused on the interest of a particular neighborhood?

Are we in lining the pockets of where contributions from donations reach back in the hands of our local politicians?

Now I want to highlight something, Miss Taylor said.

There's a lot of financial gray areas in the city budget.

And I've said this before, we need to put the whole entire city budget on the blockchain.

So I can see clearly, dollar for dollar, where all that money is going and how we get in this community.

And what they don't know that the farm bill is finna get ready to get finalized in Congress right now.

I know your lobbyists up there in DC keep you up to date what's going on.

Their problems are gonna be solved.

But instead of giving Wendix 65 million dollars, if they shut down that grocery store, allow black American entrepreneurs get access to capital to serve the interests of their own people in their own community.

That's a real return on investment.

Or if they shut that property down, they donate it to the city, and we allow vendors to come in, open up a meat shop, a farmers.

If you're gonna put money in the hands of big corporations, put it back in the hands of little people.

And the thing about it is the problem with the issue right now that we have is that most communities, especially black American communities are not well represented.

And the issue with that is that most council seats are so big.

There's a Supreme Court ruling that came down that support.

No race based districts, then that means we need to reduce the council districts.

Bring the power back to the people.

These are common sense talking points for a conservative, especially if they embody Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Or James Madison.

I believe in the power of the people, especially my own.

These investments should empower the small, work hard, value based black Americans.

If you put $65 million out there, break that money down and support the interests of black American communities that have been neglected.

And I yield my time.

Okay, next we have Leo Dawson.

My name is Leo Dawson.

My address is on file.

Everybody knows me about Preacher Dawson, but just listen to my brother just a minute ago.

I was ready to come down and talk about 48th and Maine and the store and making sure that stores stay open for the community.

But I like the ideal about reinvesting in the black communities and those in the black community and entrepreneurs.

I like that idea better.

We see a lot of money flying out to different organizations, different um tax interest.

We see money flying in other areas instead of in our community.

So we we like to see that on another level instead of nonprofits getting money.

We look at investing in entrepreneurs within our communities that have business ideas on the black farmer that was mentioned earlier.

That would be something else that would be investing in.

I'm talking about something that's gonna be practical for our communities.

So again, when I'm really going at, I have something else I was gonna talk about, but when I'm going on about it, I need more investment in our communities instead of in the people rich in their pockets.

And I noticed one other thing about the money that's going into pockets of council means and all that kind of stuff on that level.

I noticed that as well with these investors in our community.

So I needed to go into entrepreneurs that's within our community that's gonna make a difference.

So that's why I'm gonna go over that.

I had some mess I was gonna talk about, but I'm gonna go on that part.

Let's put that money into entrepreneurs within our communities, farmers, black community owned entrepreneurs in general.

That's what I'm going.

I'll give them a time.

All right, thank you, sir.

Next, we have James Matchett.

James Matchett address on file.

Uh the evidence has already been said about the Wendix closing or potential closing.

When we, the community are advocating and telling you about infrastructure, these are the kind of things that we're talking about.

When on the books and in the city, there's a zeal to raise the density in our communities without bringing the resources.

They are under construction right now, a senior facility within walking distance of that windsy.

Logistically, that was brilliant to close it down and to reduce those folks to having to go across town to do their shopping.

Use the same conscience as we build these workplay communities in our areas.

Let's have that same thing for Brentwood.

Let's have that workplay community.

Let's have that walkable community.

Moving this Wend Dixie is counterproduction to that you say.

So if you say the investment is to build these communities, why can't we structure these communities all over Jacksonville?

Why can't we make Brinkwood a walk play community?

Why can't we bring the pharmacies back?

Why can't we invest in money?

I heard a phrase.

Passive language, unintentional consequences.

There's a lot of passive language that goes into these things.

Affordable housing, things that makes a straw argument.

How can you argue against somebody wanting to make affordable housing?

Well, it's affordable to the city, but not the communities that they build in.

And I just think this project has felt short because it showed up as a number on the balance sheet.

I don't think nobody took a real deep dive and saw what the impact of removing that out of the community might be.

And if they got a plan, tell the community about the plan, and that reduces the anxiety.

All we asking for is that the dollars that we have to pay in taxes do as much work for us as it do for everybody else in Jacksonville.

Have a great day.

Thank you, sir.

Next we have Lydia Bell.

Good evening, Lydia Bell.

Address is on foul.

North Side is a no man's woman's, no man, woman, no man's, no woman's island.

It's as if we don't even exist.

Everything that comes over in our area, we have no planning hearing.

You have a drive-through look of store, 300 body morgue, forensic lab, 100 homeless unit, not one planning hearing.

Now we have Wend Dixie leaving out.

We didn't know anything about that out either.

Also, this senior citizen building, we had to run around like we do, like Chicken Little, the skies falling, what's going on?

No notices, no zoning notices of any kind to let us know that that was gonna be a double senior citizen building.

But our question if you building this building for seniors, and you have a store right there that will be convenient for the senior citizens, it's disappearing.

Why is that?

And then you have so many other things.

It's like our tax dollars go everywhere else besides our neighborhood.

So maybe it's time for the Brentwood residents to start boycotting these businesses so our tax dollars is not going to everybody else.

That we can, I think this someone said that there's been no structure in Brentwood since maybe Gateway Shopping Center was built.

We have no representation in District 10 because no one tell us anything.

We have to find out when we see it happening.

And then it's not right.

When I'm coming to City Council, I've been coming to city council for three years, and when I'm coming to city council, I look at all of downtown on almost every corner is being built.

Communities are being enriched because the purpose is for people to enjoy their communities.

But we don't get that on the north side.

All we get is the worst of the worst, what any other community wouldn't want, nor would they be imposed upon like that.

So we can use that building to come back and be a store and make things comfortable because Brentwood is basically a senior community.

And if we can have things in our community that's gonna benefit the residents because we are taxpayers, but our money is not going to us.

And we got to change that.

We got to change it.

We need our council people to know what's going on.

We need our council people to let us know what's going on, but it is time for a change.

It's time for the old to get out and the new to come in.

We need people that's gonna do something for the citizens of Brentwood.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

And we have no other public comment cards.

So, committee members, we're gonna go through the first five items, which are all marked as deferred, and then we're gonna go back to uh page 13 to take up that bill.

So, item number one, 2024 627 is deferred, item number two, 2024, 966 is deferred.

Item number three, 2025 361 is deferred, item number four, 2025 775 is deferred.

Item number five, twenty twenty-six two two seven is deferred.

So now we will go ahead to item number twenty-three, twenty twenty-six three twenty-six.

All right, we have a motion and a second on the first amendment.

Can someone please explain the first amendment?

Through the chair of the committee, uh the first amendment is all technical, uh, correcting the number of grocery store locations to 13 within the bill to match the RDA, uh, correcting various scriveners errors, placing a revised agreement on file to do a number of things.

First, correcting the headquarters to a level one economically distressed area, correcting the job creation schedule to reflect a total of 90 new jobs created in years four and five.

Clarifying the city is not obligated to pay the headquarter retention grant if the required affidavits are not provided, uh correcting the final year of the rev grant payment to fiscal year 4647, clarifying the timing of the headquarter retention grant disbursements after they've reported on the required number of jobs to be created, correcting the oversight uh department to OED, revising exhibit A to correct various things related to the headquarters parcels, RRE numbers, zip codes, et cetera.

Uh revising exhibit F to allow for the base year values to be uh put into the agreement once they're finalized by the property appraiser, and then correcting scriptures errors in the agreement itself.

All right, thank you so much for that explanation.

Uh is everyone in the queue on the amendment.

Okay, if you're not on the bill, or if you're not on the amendment, then please get out of the queue because we've got three amendments that are coming.

And we're not going to be speaking to the bill until then.

All right, Councilman Aries, you're on the amendment.

Okay, you're recognized.

All right, thank you, Chair.

Uh Mr.

Peterson, uh I'm looking at uh 3B, 90 new jobs in year four and five.

Um is it is that correct?

In or by year four and five.

Are they not gonna start hiring now, or is it gonna be are we gonna wait until year four for them to start hiring 90 new positions?

Through the chair to council member areas.

So the table that was in the RDA was mislabeled.

And so it was supposed to be 90 jobs by year five.

So in years four and five, there would be 90 new jobs.

Councilmember Lane has a separate amendment that's going to restructure that table.

Perfect.

I'll wait on that one.

All right.

Anyone else?

Ms.

Pittman on the amendment.

Yes, ma'am, you're recognized.

Chair, I just was curious.

I know the number of grocery stores location uh changed to 13.

Um, I just was wondering, are they all over the city or in certain neighborhoods?

Can anyone address that for me, please?

Yes, ma'am.

I think Mr.

Peterson.

Through the chair to council member Pittman, I have the addresses.

Um I can read out the streets to you.

They're on uh on Bay Meadows Road, Sago Avenue, University Boulevard, Norwood Avenue, Roosevelt Boulevard, Normandy Boulevard, Argyll Forest Boulevard, West University Boulevard, another one on Normandy Boulevard, Beach Boulevard, another on University Boulevard, Moncrief Road, and one on San Jose Boulevard.

So I would say over the across the city.

Thank you.

All right.

We have no other speakers in the queue.

All in favor of the amendment signified by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The first amendment carries.

Now we're looking for a motion on the auditor recommended amendment.

Motion and a second on the auditor's recommended amendment.

Mr.

Peterson, can you please explain the amendment?

Through the chair to the committee.

Um so this agreement is different from the majority of agreements we see in that the Rev grant can start being paid out prior to their full implementation of their capital investment norm.

Most agreements, the Rev grant doesn't kick in until they have done their full investment.

Um so this one, the Rev grant can begin paying paying out um in 2028, and at which point they're required to create certain number of jobs.

But if they don't invest the full 65 million as is proposed, there's a proportionate reduction in the Rev grant as it relates to also with the number of jobs being created.

So the Rev grant will pay out a hundred percent in years one, two, three, four, five, as long as they've met their jobs requirement.

But when the full Rev grant kicks in, it could be a proportionate reduction of which the city there's no recruitment for the first five years payout of the Rev grant.

So our recommended amendment would be to recoup any proportionate reduction in the first five years of the payout um to the entity to then match up how all other rev grants would be treated.

Okay, understood.

And is someone from do we have an agreement or from Wendix on that?

Can someone from Wendixy come down and put it on the record, please?

Okay, let the record reflect they gave a thumbs up and they're good with it.

So no speakers in the queue.

All in favor of the auditors recommended amendment signified by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The amendment carries.

So now we have Mr.

Lane's amendment.

You recognize.

I'll do a second.

Okay.

So uh chair with the uh the motion is second on my amendment.

It does a a do a number of things here.

Uh first, if you notice section 3.1, that was the job creation schedule.

Uh here on the sheet that Mr.

Pearson passed out, this is how I want it to look like.

Previously, in year one, it had 10 jobs created.

Uh I'm asking for 15.

And the simple math on that is uh they would get the first retention grant that year, and I kind of want the guarantee that hey, they're supposed to average uh 100,000 or better average jobs.

I want to know that they've at least created 1.5 million dollars of payroll for the city before we give them 1.3 million.

Uh the second part this does is the previous uh display had years basically one, two, three, and then five.

It lumped together the last two years into I believe the number was ninety.

Uh this breaks it out to where there's a goal for each year.

So instead of getting paid out year three, and uh, Councilmember Arias, I believe you uh you were asking a similar question of the concern I had.

This is giving them distinct yearly goals to get to on that ramp up to uh 200.

Otherwise, we could have conceivably given them the grant on year three, year four got around, they didn't have to meet anything because the next step up wasn't till year five.

So this is just ensuring we see meaningful progress each year of those uh the grants that we're giving out on the retention side.

Uh the second part here, this is a little bit more complicated.

Uh this is revising section 10.2 part D.

Uh the way it worked, this was if uh they did not retain the 200 jobs.

Uh there essentially was no downside risk on their part unless they got to below 100 jobs.

In other words, by the time all the retention grants were paid out, uh on year seven, they could reduce their new jobs from 200 to 100 and no have have no financial penalty.

Uh what this does, it does now have a penalty uh starting if you go down to 175 jobs, and then it kind of scales it all the way back to where if you drop below uh 100 jobs as well.

So the reason it says 700 is 675 because that's adding the 500 retained jobs to the newly created jobs by this.

Uh so again, y'all know how I feel about cash grants, but at least this uh it does two things.

It's ensuring they're creating more payroll dollars for Jacksonville before we give the first cash payment down the road, and then on the back end, if they don't keep those retained jobs uh that the grants were based on, or I'm sorry, if they don't create if they don't keep the new jobs that the grants were tied to, there's a financial penalty on the back end as well.

All right, we have one speaker in the queue, Council Vice President Howlin.

Fantastic protection of taxpayers, Councilman Lannon.

Um did Wendixie and OED agree with the amendment.

All right, I see thumbs up.

Um terrific.

Before uh we vote on, I do have a question um for Mr.

Peterson.

I know that the headquarters cash grant and the rev tax rebate grant are or uh tax discount grant are kind of a cocktail.

But does the headquarters completion grant and the way I'm looking at it, that is supposed to be a reward for job retention and maintenance of the headquarters here, and the rev grant is supposed to be a reward for the capital investment of 65 million plus jobs.

Is that how it is, or is it just a all together one cocktail of through the chair to uh council or council vice president Holland?

That's correct.

So the the Rev grant is tied to the investment and the jobs.

The headquarter retention is tied to the jobs.

I don't think there is a it's tied to retain jobs.

It is also tied to capital investment.

Yeah, headquartered retention.

They have to invest at least 25 million to be able to keep the headquarter retention.

If under 25, they would owe back the city everything that we paid them.

Okay, and and technically with Mr.

Lennon's new schedule there of how that headquarters completion grant cash grant would pay out, it also ties to the new jobs.

So basically they both tie to everything we want to do.

Keep Win Dixie's headquarters, retain the jobs, do 65 million of CapEx and create 200 new jobs.

Okay, thank you.

All right, uh Councilmember Salem.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

I I think Councilmember Lane is much more persuasive than I am.

I I had recommended some changes here.

I had gone to 40, 40, 40, 40, 40 in terms of the jobs and got quite a bit of pushback.

So you obviously were more persuasive than I was.

Uh but I I agree with you.

The year four blank was a real gave me real heartburn.

I think this clearly is a it's better for the city, and if they're agreeing to it, that makes it even better for my vote.

Thank you so much.

All right.

So we have no one else in the queue, no further discussion.

All in favor of the Lane and Amendment, 65 by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The amendment carries.

Move the bill as three times amended.

Let's roll that up and do a finance amendment.

That's better.

Move the bills amendment.

All right, we're moving the bill as one or three times amended rolled up in the finance.

Now we have everybody coming back in the queue for a bite at the apple.

All right.

Councilmember Diamond, you're recognized.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I cannot vote no with more glee today than any vote I've had in, I can't remember how long.

This is a the extortion of the people of Jacksonville.

Okay.

If any company, and this isn't picking on Win Dixie, Publix got 50 million dollars to build a public in downtown Jacksonville the other day.

I mean, this is such a waste of taxpayer money.

We are literally picking and choosing winners.

What about Safeway?

What about Kroger?

What about every other person who's got a headquarters in downtown Jacksonville?

When do they get to come up here and stick their nose in the trough and take the hard working taxpayers' money?

No one who is a conservative, no one who is a Republican, no one who says they're a steward of the taxpayer dollars can vote for this and honestly keep their their face straight when they say it.

This is extortion.

If you want to go, go.

Don't beg for the money of the people of Jacksonville and say this to us that they're gonna go.

I find this so outrageous.

This is what people get so frustrated about.

This is why people don't like politicians.

This is corruption.

Shame on the mayor for proposing it.

Shame on Win Dixie for asking for it, and shame on us if it passes.

All right, Councilmember Air is recognized.

All right.

Um thank you, Chair.

So I do have a question for Win Dixie.

Obviously, we heard some of the constituents and their concerns uh regarding 48th in Maine.

Um, if anybody chair, if anybody could come from Wendix or who represents Win Dixie, I want to know more about what's happening in not only in that area, but also across our city.

Um, if if we potentially pass this and you guys get your 65 million dollar investment um from the City of Jacksonville, um, how do we safeguard our neighborhoods to make sure that a we don't have any food deserts and b that we maintain a high level of excellence within our stores because um what I heard today was a little bit um disheartening uh to to hear that potentially you guys may be closing that store.

So what's gonna happen so we could give them an answer, number one, and number two, what are we doing to mitigate any of these issues happening across our city of closing stores?

Yeah, just name and address and yeah, title.

Uh Zach Bingham, 5050 Edgewood Court, uh 32254.

Uh to the um committee chair, um, through the committee chair to the council member uh areas.

We take the concerns and questions we've received today um in great seriousness.

These are not concerns that we take lightly.

We have been part of this community for nearly 100 years and understand that those in the community depend upon us.

In terms of our assurances for the concessions or the um incentives that are being offered to us as part of this proposed legislation.

We feel that there are um very reasonable and um certainly the incentives um and stipulations that will hold us to account and that we willingly accept those.

We have a very long tradition of partnering with the community.

Um we intend to uh continue with that commitment.

Every year, we provide approximately 750,000 dollars of charitable value to Duval County on average, and that comes through a variety of ways through charitable donations, through food donations, and and certainly through volunteerism.

Last year alone, we donated over 70 tons of food to feeding Northeast Florida.

We understand and absolutely empathize with those who are food insecure in our communities.

We go to great length to um ameliorate those those concerns.

I do appreciate where you're where you're educating with us on, but my question was specifically 48th and Maine.

We have people right now in the audience that want to know what's happening with that store.

That's that store is cited for for closure.

Okay.

So we are investing into you guys, and in return, we're getting stores being closed.

That's the problem that's happening right now.

So I I appreciate your 700,000 plus in in investments for charitable contributions to our city, but at the end of the day, the facts are the facts.

We're giving you guys money, you guys are closing a store.

That's the problem I'm having.

Now we're gonna have a food desert in that part of town.

I don't know if that's Mr.

Peluso's or Ms.

Pittman's district.

That's a serious issue because she continues to have food deserts in her district.

So I don't know what's gonna happen today.

But what you just told me is not good.

Number one.

Number two, if you do indeed do um 70 tons of feeding Northeast Florida plus 700,000 in contributions, um, you need to look at your map, look at your stores that you're closing and focus those dollars to those two to those areas and not on the south side.

I don't need your money on the south side.

We need those monies in those parts of town where you where you guys are closing stores.

Um so um I'll let the committee continue having the conversations, but I want you to know that we take I know I for a fact, and everybody here takes this very serious seriously the fact that we don't want any food deserts, we're constantly fighting that, and these are examples of what we're we're fighting against.

So um I'll leave it at that and I'll let the rest of the committee continue the conversations.

Thank you.

All right, Council Vice President Halan, you're recognized.

Thank you.

And gentlemen, if you don't mind staying up here, and Mr.

Anderson may want to come up, but but I'm not sure.

Um your choice, sir.

You don't you don't need to.

Um I have a whole bunch of questions.

Uh the the first one is I know you recently had a change of control.

I want to say it was about a year ago that uh a bunch of investors bought um Win Dixie from Aldi.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

Um was it corporate relocation factored into that buy case when you did that?

No, it was not.

It was only recognized that approximately at some point within the next year, we would need to find a long-term sustainable uh location for our corporate headquarters.

Did you consider other locations aside from Jacksonville then for the corporate headquarters?

Yes, we did.

Did um did any of those offer you incentives?

Yes, they did.

Okay.

Um did you find lease rates or utility rates or labor rates cheaper in some of those other locations?

We've been in this community for a long time, and we found that the business conditions here are very favorable, which has ultimately led us to the decision that we would like to remain within Jacksonville and Duval County.

Fantastic.

Uh so um that's glad to hear because my next question is have you found the cost of doing business is more expensive here in Jacksonville than other locations?

And it sounds like you you think the conditions for in the business climate is more favorable here in Jacksonville.

Uh very clearly, we prefer to stay in Jacksonville in Duval County in Jacksonville.

Okay.

Um I already asked a question of Mr.

Peterson that I was gonna ask of you, but I do have one question on your you are closing one store in your grand plan.

How many employees do you have per store and what is the average wage?

I'm sorry, sir.

I'd have to get back to you in terms of the average wage.

The number of average employees would be distinct for the store, but let's say somewhere between 65 and 85 on average.

Per store.

Okay.

Yes, sir.

Um, uh Win Dixie is a part of the fabric of Jacksonville.

They've been here forever.

That's why I'm inclined to support it.

But I'm also inclined to support this for several other reasons.

Um I don't like that they're closing the store um that folks just uh were upset about in the north side, but I very do uh very much do like the fact that they're gonna be adding 200 more jobs um at its location in in Lackawanna, right there at the Cassett and Edgewood area.

I used to work um run a business about five minute walk from there.

Um that area is desperately in in need of more employment, and these are average hundred thousand dollar wage jobs.

Um I also am in favor of the sixty-five million dollar um increase in CapEx, which is what was behind my question to Mr.

Peterson of what part of this Rev grantslash completion grant cocktail um supports the 200 new jobs or the 65 million dollars of investment.

Um because of that, uh I'm never inclined to incentivize companies who are already here to uh not move away from here.

And I certainly was uh very much against Everbank trying to ask for 10 million dollars um cash grant to move from one part of here to another part of here.

Um but this not only retains the corporate headquarters of Win Dixie in Jacksonville, it also brings 200 more high-paying jobs in an area of the city that is needed most and 65 million dollars more of capital investment, which we can tax uh commercial property and TPP.

Um so uh thank you to uh OED and to the chamber for doing what you can to not only retain them but more importantly to um help support and incentivize Win Dixie's further growth in Jacksonville.

Thanks.

All right, we have uh we have Ms.

Pittman, Mr.

Salem, Mr.

Peluso, and Mr.

Johnson.

So first we will go to councilwoman Pittman, recognized to the chair and um I just want to say I know I just met you all today, um, but very disappointed that the store is closing.

Um I had several um other residents call me.

I actually shop at that store um as well, and I found out about your all closing um with one of the customers.

I was in there shopping one day, and and I also asked the manager that day, why are you all closing?

He couldn't give me an answer.

And I am very disappointed because again, I have probably one of the largest districts, have four districts into one, and um between the pharmacists closing and now another store on Wendix, who have been a partner in district seven or district eight at that used to be for several years, but for someone to not contact me and me finding out when I was actually in the store, um, I was a little bit taken back.

Um the residents are concerned because there's not another place other than Gateway, and the main street area is an older district.

Um you have Panama Park, you have Eastside, um, and a lot of those residents depend on one bus transportation to get there.

Um, and then of course we have uh new um apartment complexes that are coming in that area.

So, you know, I I I must share my frustration.

I'm not really sure how did you access what store to close.

And I also want to know is that the only store that you're gonna close within the next year or the next two years since we're getting upgrades in the other areas.

Um I know that there was some upgrades that was made to um when Dixie a few years ago, as well as the one that you mentioned in Norwood.

Um that's probably and I shopped there too.

So I try to shop in all of the areas um that are in proximity, so I can just see you know how the how the business work, what what products and produce that are in the area, but I gotta tell you that's gonna be a really, really big loss in that area.

So I guess my question to you is how did you assess on closing that store?

Um, and what were some of the reasonings why through the chair to council member Pittman?

There are a variety of considerations that are made in terms of closing a store, leaving a store open, investing in a store.

Those are market specific.

It's a highly competitive um business in which we participate.

There are a lot of macro uh economic factors outside of our concern.

Another um factor that certainly weighs into our decisions is our ability to strategically and reasonably negotiate uh lease rates with the landlords and all of those things factor into current decisions and certainly have factored in decisions made in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

One more question in terms of was the store making money or losing money.

The store uh had a reasonably strong performance, ma'am.

Okay.

So if it had a strong performance and I'm almost over, um why would we close the store?

There are a lot of people, not only that who live in that community, um, work in that community.

Those are jobs.

So if the store was making money, I'm very disappointed to know now that you're closing the store.

And that is unacceptable.

Um I don't know if you're closing any other stores, but I'd like for you to reconsider if the store is making money, or maybe you know, you mentioned also about the leased um agreement um for that area to talk to the person that owns it.

But what you're telling me now, I I'm I'm not happy with what you're saying to me right now because we're losing a store.

Completely understand the concern, council member council member Pittman, and we are absolutely willing to hold conversation uh not only with you but with community leaders to see how we may help alleviate the situation moving forward.

Well, I'll be happy because I am the community leader that represents that area, so I'll be happy.

I think really more important and meeting with the people in the community.

And if you all have had a long history in that community, if you think about it, when you close it, we don't have any other store from Main Street where MLK is, all the way down to one of my other council members um district.

So we really need to look at it.

You're talking about thousands of people who live in that area and now won't have access to a grocery store.

Thank you.

Likewise, thank you.

All right, we have Councilmember Salem, and then we'll go to Councilmember Peluso, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Aries for the second time.

Councilmember Salem, you recognize.

Thank you, Chair.

Tough vote really is.

Um not crazy about uh paying money to keep someone here as we went through with Everbank that I think my colleague mentioned earlier.

But emotionally, this is a tough one.

As I think I've told some of my colleagues, my very first job was at Win Dixie in 1972 at the corner of I 10 and cast it.

The store is no longer there, next to the Crispy Cream, and spent many summers home from college going from store to store, cutting meat, bagging produce, running the cash register.

So I I have uh great memories of my time with Win Dixie, and y'all have a long, long history in this city, and it would really bother me to see Wendix leave when when I had a chance to hopefully stop that.

So I I have great compassion for Councilmember Pittman and that community.

Um I hope you're serious about that, and we'll have meetings with Heard and the community about trying to save that.

Uh I grew up in the grocery business.

My dad had a small grocery store on King's Road.

So it's in my blood, frankly.

And I hope we can save that store, but I'll be supporting it today.

But I hope you're serious about trying to help out Councilmember Pittman.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we're gonna go to Councilmember Pelusa, and then Councilmember Johnson, and then we're gonna go to Councilmember Lane for the first time, and then Councilmember Arias, and then Councilmember Pittman, just to give everyone a little heads up.

Thank you, Chair.

And and and I and I I know there's probably gonna be a lot of conversation on this, and there should be.

I'm grateful to you guys for for having your headquarters here in Jacksonville and for you being here today.

But I think, and I hate to even admit it, Councilmember Diamond makes a pretty damn good point sometimes.

And he actually made a pretty good point today.

I I too am not enthused to to be supported.

I mean, Wyn Dixie is incredibly important in the Jacksonville community.

The Davis family is here in Jacksonville, they still are in many ways, and do a lot of good work, and we love them for it.

But I've spent a lot of time in Lakeland and in Winter Haven, and I can't envision public doing this to Lakeland.

And it makes me a little upset that the the grocer that's supposed to be the hometown hero of Jacksonville would would come to us with such a large incentive deal.

I'm not gonna lie to you, I don't know how I'm gonna vote when this does come to before council.

But hearing about this closure is concerning to me for a lot of reasons, especially now that I hear that it it's a relatively productive uh uh grocer, grocery store.

Uh spoke to Pastor Gundy and spoke to a number of individuals that have been in the crowd and spoke today.

It's it's it's a little it's a little jarring um to think that that we would even be discussing the closure of grocery stores while giving an incentive of this size.

I I I would almost rather this is gonna sound terrible to the finance committee.

I would even rather give more if it meant we got to keep all the stores open and expanded some of these stores.

Um as I look at the deal, uh uh it says that and perhaps Mr.

Mr.

Randolph can actually answer this one.

So define what is the definition of the um of the uh economically distressed areas.

Sorry.

And just for just for because I'm seeing the queue continue to light up, let's go ahead and start the clock if we can down there.

Um you can put it on four minutes and yeah.

Uh through the Ed Randolph OED through the chair to Councilman Peluso.

Um, I don't have the definition in front of me, but roughly I think it's uh within that census tract and it's done by census tract.

Um each the the average household income is less than 60 percent.

I'm sorry, do we define it by the HUD?

Uh did the HUD targeted areas?

Yeah, again, I I don't have that definition in front of me.

Sorry, Councilman.

I have them I have them up in front of me.

I just want to make sure that we assign them to the same thing.

All right, so so effectively that is a lot of 3209, some parts of of Brentwood and and and kind of north and northwest.

Um so if a store does get closed, there needs to be another store opening of a similar size within 18 months.

For the chair to Councilman Palooza, yes, we stress that, and I think broadly speaking, for this deal, uh to go back to some of the comments earlier.

The headquarters element, which is 500 existing employees adding 200 at an average wage of a hundred thousand dollars in an economically distressed area, that is key, and that is sacrosanct, and then making sure that any stores that are existing and are going to stay open, especially in an economically distressed area, that if they were to close in an economically distressed area within 18 months, the company has agreed to reopen another store within that within an economically distressed area to address the food deserts.

To our friends at Win Dixie, does that include this this store right now in Brentwood?

It it through the counts to the chair and to the council.

No, it does not because that was already planned to be closed.

So going into this um agreement, that was already slated to be closed, but there are a few other stores on the list that fall in that bucket.

To to committee members who have the ability to make an amendment, I might encourage an amendment similar to that.

I I also, and I brought this up before, uh I'd be also fine deferring this bill for another cycle to kind of discuss this a little bit more.

I I feel like it did kind of we've got a lot of questions coming up.

There's a lot of food deserts in our city, a lot.

Um and they're only getting worse.

And my personal concern is I've got no problem doing an incentive.

I got no problem keeping a great business here in Jacksonville.

But if it's going to be a grosser and one of such prestige, well, let's make sure we all win a lot on this one and make sure that if we could open up even more grocery stores, and they don't even need to be of such large square footage.

Because that's something else that I even noticed in here where well do they need to be the similar size?

Because we all know people do need to make money.

I understand that.

Like if it's a does do they all need to be a hundred thousand square foot feet?

I don't know.

Probably a lot smaller.

I know Deb Store is a much smaller footprint in the East Side community and it's doing quite well.

Point being is to the to the to the body.

I I'd be fine do we seeing a deferral.

I'd be so be fine seeing some more amendments.

I just want to make sure that Wendixie agrees with them.

Is there a major timetable on this?

Is that why one of the reasons for the speed?

Is there a time?

I'm sorry.

Like, is there a timetable you guys need to know if this gets voted on?

Like, does it need to be this month?

Can it be in five months?

Yeah, what's motivating our sense of urgency on this?

Um, Councilman is that we would like to give certainty to the hundreds of people that count on our corporate headquarters to reside at for their primary employment.

That and that is a point to be made, right?

There are there are a number of Jacksonville residents right now who who might not know if they if they're gonna be staying here in Jacksonville long term.

So I understand that.

I I I fully I fully recognize that.

But I but I do think if we could chew on this a little bit longer as a body and take a look at these stores and give ourselves a much better idea of what is the next five years look like of when Dixie here in Jacksonville, I would have no problem with that.

I would think that'd be great and wise.

I'd love to have a notice meeting sometime this week if the bill does come out of finance to discuss this a little bit more, hopefully with some members of the community.

Uh if you guys would be willing to do that, I'm hoping councilwoman Pittman would join me and maybe others.

But you know, we we spoke on the phone, you've been very gracious to me.

It's just a matter of, you know, we we we do need to make sure if we're spending taxpayer dollars on this kind of stuff, that it really is a win-win-win for everybody.

And and I I just I don't know if I'm 100% there yet.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Councilmember Johnson, you're recognized.

Thank you so much uh through the chair, and I appreciate everything uh that everyone said.

Um I must say uh I remember uh Mr.

Davis and Ms.

Flo, and when I was uh a student at Edward Waters University, the Davises uh invited us as students into their home and when Dixie was an integral part of the Jacksonville community, so I could not um imagine them if they were here today being okay with the fact that we were closing down stores in the community because they were so community-centric and focused, and that's not something I heard, that's something I saw with the work that Mr.

Davis and Ms.

Flo did.

Uh let me ask you a couple questions first.

Uh, and I know Council Palooza, Councilman Palooza started down an area talking about um a smaller footprint.

Is there a possibility in this space to have maybe a I I noticed that um there's some smaller footprint stores that you have?

Are though would that be a possibility for that space, at least so the people that are in that immediate community have the option and opportunity to get those fresh fruits and vegetables that was spoken about earlier?

We remain open to conversation and ultimately the store footprint should be a reflection of what the particular members of that community require.

So as I've stated previously, we remain open to conversation.

So that is a possibility, and maybe that's something that as if the bill is deferred, we could work to maybe having a smaller footprint and working with uh that community.

I know, of course, I do have a couple indexes in my district.

I'm on the complete opposite side of town, but I know the people in my district want to make sure that everybody's taken care of, so that's why it's important.

Second question: if these incentives do not come through from the council, uh, does that mean the immediate movement of would you then take Jacksonville off the list and start looking at other cities, or would you do something else?

Where what happens if you don't get these funds?

As I've stated several times here today, it is our very clear aspiration and our hope that we remain in Duval County and in the city of Jacksonville.

If this incentive package does not pass, then yes, we would be forced to reconsider our options.

Thank you.

That's all I have for now, Mr.

Chair.

All right.

We will go uh to Councilmember Lane for the first time.

Thank you, Chair.

And I'll be real quick with this.

Uh first off on the deferral.

I don't want to defer, and the reason for that is I had questions, and I think Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, they answered my question.

So we've had time to research this, ask the need questions.

Uh I mean, speaking to the entire deal, uh, I don't like how this leads with the word retention because most of my questions were on these 200 new jobs, and that's 20 million dollars in annualized present value that's coming into our city.

Forget the 500 they're keeping, it's 200 new.

And then with the amendment that was passed, I didn't like some of the back end protections on what would happen after those jobs were uh here.

What if they went away?

Now we got financial protection on the back end as well.

Uh but I will say probably the most surprising thing I've heard today is that we're potentially closing a strong performing store in my colleagues' uh district.

So I think we need to we need to figure this out.

Like why why would we be closing a strong performing store?

Because if I understand correctly, we're basically creating a food desert if that store closes.

So again, very far away from the part of town I represent, but I would like to see more conversation on that because uh again, when uh Ms.

Pittman asked that question, I was not expecting to say it was a strong performing store.

So I just don't understand why we would not just keep open a strong performing store in a part of town that really needs it.

Thank you.

Councilmember Arias, you're recognized.

Oh, okay.

All right, Chair, thank you.

Um gentlemen, um, I want to support this.

I really do want to support this, but as it states right now, if we have to take a vote today, I'll be voting it down.

Tell you right now.

And I could count right now, and I could probably count three more voting it down.

You're taking a gamble right now.

You have a business decision to make.

Number one, I'm gonna request a deferral, uh, Chair.

Uh yes, Mr.

Allen, we've had time to have conversations, but new news has has actually broken right now.

Right.

We're looking at a potential food desert, an additional one.

I don't take that lightly.

You guys have a decision to make, all right.

Very simple.

This is a negotiating table.

You guys want 65 million dollars from us?

We want you guys to keep a store open.

I'll weigh the what what makes more sense for you guys?

I'm not gonna support this if you guys are closing the store.

I like Mr.

Johnson's idea about create possibly creating a micro store.

The problem that I have is that, and and I and I'm not saying that I don't trust your your word or your judgment, but for us to say, yeah, we'll vote it up now, and you'll have the conversation with Ms.

Pittman two weeks, a month later, that's it.

The vote is done.

We can't do anything else about it.

Right now, we have the leverage.

I never want to be without the leverage.

So until you have a conversation with Ms.

Pittman, I will request respectfully to defer this.

Um and un so I could feel better about the decision.

You guys are talking about retention, creating 200 new jobs, but the way within five years, the way I see it, you're starting out at a net negative 85 lost uh lost jobs right now.

You're closing a store that you said has 65 to 85 employees.

You're starting with losing 85 jobs.

You're not creating 200 new jobs, you're actually creating 15 new jobs by the time you uh you count in the 85 jobs that you're losing.

So let's be real about the numbers.

Once again, I want to support you all, but I also want to support my colleague and I want to support our community because at the end of the day, these are taxpayer dollars.

And if we're losing jobs, we're not doing it right by our taxpayers.

So I request to defer this, Chair.

Thank you.

All right, I will give my answer on the deferral after we hear from Ms.

Pittman.

I'd like to know if I could make an amendment um to develop a bill to prevent store closure, because as of today, I can't support you.

Um but I feel like if we can do an amendment and we can have the conversation, um, I'll feel a whole lot better about it.

So, you know.

I think that's kind of gonna be the main crux for a few people.

I don't know if that's an amendment we can workshop here on the floor, but I would support that amendment, but I don't know if we can do that okay right here.

Ms.

Defoples, can you just kind of put me in in the right place, Ms.

Mary?

Sure.

Through the chair to council member Pittman and the committee.

So I think if you're talking about adding an amendment that would address not having that store close as part of this incentive package, that's something I would think that needs to be taken up and to see if they can reach an agreement and produce a modified economic development agreement for consideration.

So that would be a reason for a deferral potentially.

Um to allow them to do that over the next couple of weeks and bring it back.

Um and then you would move an amendment to incorporate those changes if they're able to reach an agreement.

If they can't reach an agreement, then the council has to decide whether they approve it without that additional um change or not.

So Chair, what I would say I would if if that's the case, I don't want to, you know, workshop this in the meeting, but to defer it.

Um because as of today, um I can't support this, and I really appreciate you all because you know how much I fight um for the community and and not knowing and knowing the inequities um already in district 10.

So um I'd like to defer this um if possible.

Okay.

Um all right, so this is what we're gonna do uh because I think um that's new information for me at least.

Um I'm very supportive of you know all the structure or anything.

I was very taken aback when I heard what we all heard, which was it's a well-performing store, and it's gonna make such a negative impact in a community that already has a lot of negative impacts.

That is unacceptable.

We are not gonna approve anything here with y'all standing there telling us you're closing a store that's profitable in one of our most least fortunate areas.

Like that's not that's not gonna happen.

Um we are deferring this bill.

We are gonna keep the leverage on our side of the table so that you can work with Ms.

Pittman um to hopefully come up with some type of new arrangement.

Um I think this is a small ask.

I think it's a very small ask.

So with that, this bill is deferred.

Um we don't make it quick, one minute.

Councilmember Salem and then Councilmember Lanen.

If negotiations can occur between now and Tuesday, the bill could be discharged, and we could still vote on it Tuesday night.

That would be my recommendation.

If you're prepared, I mean that that this is gonna happen all again at council.

I want it to happen here.

Well, it could in on paper that could happen.

But I it's a it's an opportunity.

If if they could get their heads together, meet with this pitman, come to a conclusion on that store before.

That's the main sticking point.

Yeah.

And then the bill could be discharged, and we could vote on it Tuesday night as an option.

Yep.

I'm I'm just putting it out there on the table.

And I'll put my uh that on the record for me.

If if this store stays open, I will support the bill.

So with that scenario, yeah, that's fine if that's a simple amendment to get done between now and then for sure.

Um Councilmember Lannon.

Thank you, Chair.

Just a point of clarification.

Is it being deferred, but with the amendments we already approved?

Yes.

Okay.

That was why I was in the queue, Mr.

Chair, was to ask if you still wanted us to file the finance amendment of the items that were approved today.

Yep, thank you.

I'll define this amendment, and then if there's any other amendments, we can do that.

Yeah, yes, sir.

Go ahead.

Did y'all have a comment that you wanted to?

No, sir.

Did you see them say something?

Oh, okay.

So are y'all comfortable with everything that you understand from where we're coming from as far as what the the goal is?

Excuse me.

Josh Arenfeld, uh, one independence drive, uh Jacksonville, Florida.

I'm with fully enlarged.

Just to clarify, um Councilmember Arias's question on the jobs.

The jobs that are counted in the in the package don't include store jobs, it only includes uh headquartered jobs.

So the the 200 that are being created are specifically at the store support center.

The jobs that are created, you know, and maintained among the 13 stores aren't included at all in the package and not referenced anywhere.

So just see comparing apples to apples.

Keep in mind that where the jobs sit.

All right.

There's no other speakers in the queue.

I think everyone has their marching orders.

All right, we're gonna go back to page number what Ms.

Pittman.

Oh, you want to go?

Oh, gentlemen, uh OED, everybody, if y'all can meet Ms.

Pittman in the green room, that would be uh that would be great.

All right, number seven, 2026 260.

Looking for a motion on the bill.

Sorry, we're on page four.

Oh, wait, we are on page four.

We're actually going to item number six.

2026 259.

We have a motion and second on the bill.

No one in the queue, open the ballot, record your vote.

Six Jeroen A's.

By your action, you've approved 2026 259.

Item number seven, 2026 260.

You know, all right, we have a motion and second on the bill.

No speakers in the queue.

Councilmember Johnson, if you'd like to share anything, you can.

Questions only.

Great.

Open the ballot.

Record your votes.

Okay.

We're standing by.

No.

You said you said questions only?

Okay.

I I got a question.

Man, Hallens Howans over two today.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um Mr.

Peterson, will you clarify where this funding is coming from?

Because it's it says general operating reserves, which I think is true.

Um, but it's not new funding, correct?

It was supposed to be funded last year, fell into the reserves, and now we're pulling it out.

Can you clarify?

Through the chair to Council Vice President Howland, that's correct.

These dollars were previously appropriated, carried over into fiscal year 24-25, fell to reserves on September 30th of 25.

So this is just pulling them back out.

Sounds good.

It's got my support.

All right.

Okay, we have no one else in the queue.

Uh how's the ballot looking down there?

Still a little hunky dory, no?

Okay.

There we go.

Five yes, one nay.

By ration you've approved, twenty twenty-six two sixty.

Item number eight, twenty twenty-six two six four.

We have a motion and second on the bill.

No discussion.

Open the ballot, record your vote.

Five yes, one nay.

By direction you've approved twenty twenty-six two sixty-four.

All right, guys.

Thanks for for coming to run your bills.

Appreciate it.

All right, 2026 265.

Looking for a motion on the amendment.

Second.

All right, we have a motion and second on the neighborhoods amendment.

Mr.

Peterson, can you explain the neighborhoods amendment?

Through the chair to the committee, the neighborhoods amendment will extend the term of the contract to September 30th of 28.

Require reporting on the enrollees into the program and also provide for a clawback for any of the enrollees who drop out to be re for their city would be reimbursed at the amount that was contributed to the entity for each enrollee.

All right, great.

Thank you for that explanation.

We have no discussion.

All in favor of the amendment signified by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The amendment carries.

Second.

Motion and second on the bill as amended.

Councilmember Aries, you're recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh Mr.

Peterson or Ms.

Defapis or Ms.

Taylor.

Um sorry, Mr.

Peterson.

The 675, is this coming from the $15 million that I allocated towards the uh workforce?

Yes.

Through the chair to Councilman Harris, that's correct.

Now my question to Miss Norris.

Uh this will complete the full $15 million package that I submitted, and we support it here in council.

I want to know where are we at with everybody else?

Because I'm hearing from a lot of people that they haven't gotten funded yet.

And I fear we're having the same issue that we're having with the the chambers right now.

Funding is being held up.

What's going on with that?

Obviously, this has nothing to do with that, but this is part of that $15 million package.

So where are we at with everybody else?

EW, let's go in order.

EW, NEFPA, WIT, uh, this one, as well as the other entities.

Uh FSCG and UNF.

Good questions.

Uh, through the chair to the committee.

So EWU was just filed.

Um, so it's in your legislative flow right now.

I don't remember where it lands as far as it was just this last week, so I think you'll be taking up a committee in another yes.

Um, as UNF and the other education and FSCG, I believe we are in terms our contract negotiations right now, figuring out terms for all these.

We do have to identify a public purpose.

Um, and then for NEFBA, I would have to double check to see where they are, but I imagine that's what is happening.

It's just going back and forth to create terms.

Because NEFPA just opened up or they're they're about to open, and so obviously the money has been needed months ago, not later.

So we need to be more reactive.

And then what about the last one?

WIT Workforce Industrial Training Center.

I imagine it's also caught up in contract negotiations, but I will confirm for each of these and get back to you.

Thank you.

Um I just want to make sure that obviously these this is re regarding uh workforce, and so this this bill is part of that, so that's what we take seriously here.

And if you guys could just be a little bit more expeditious on that matter, will be ideal.

So thank you for that.

All right.

We have a did we get are we all cued up for the all right?

Great.

Open the ballot, record your votes.

Um did we uh seven yay, zero nays.

By your action you've approved, twenty twenty-six two sixty-five.

Item number ten, twenty twenty-six two sixty-eight.

All right, we have a motion and second on the rules amendment.

All right, Mr.

Peterson, can you explain the rules amendment?

The chair of the committee, the rules amendment removes the emergency language, correct, Scribner's, and then the rules added revised uh language to reflect one presentation be given to the JEA board upon completion of the survey.

Okay, excellent.

Are the speakers in the queue for the amendment?

Yes.

Okay.

Council Vice President Hallen, you recognize.

Thank you, sir.

Uh Mr.

Boylan, thanks for being here today.

I think you introduced the amendment.

I would love it if you could explain your reasoning for it, sir.

Thank you.

Uh through the chair, uh to Councilman, Vice President Holland.

Yeah, I I really wanted to, and I appreciate uh Councilmember Salem's a combination to this process here.

I made it quite clear throughout this process that Article 21 clearly stipulates that management personnel, et cetera, regarding JEA is in the hands solely in the responsibility of the JEA board.

Uh the fact that we uh have a concern about mismanagement and or racial issues, et cetera.

I think I understand the rationale for the survey.

My thought process was let's go ahead and execute the survey, but put it in the hands of the JEA board to take actions as they deem warranted.

It just seemed that but consistent with the Article 21, uh which is very detailed as it speaks to that.

So that was my point uh in in pushing it forward.

In principle, it didn't support it, but recognizing the reality is probably gonna get passed.

I want to at least put it in the situation we made clear that is it is the JEA board who has the responsibility of acting upon whatever comes out of that survey.

Mr.

Boylan, I guess I still have the the floor here.

Thank you for that.

That's productive amendment.

I'll support it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, Councilmember Salem, you recognize.

Thank you.

And I was very supportive of it's it's not my goal to get into the personnel decision of the JEA board and their leadership.

That's their responsibility.

I've said that from the very beginning.

But two to uh Ms.

Mary, did we direct the JEA board to have that presentation?

I just have a concern that we can't direct the board to do something.

Are we making available that one presentation?

Can you just read the language that that's there so we make sure we're we're clear on that?

There's one presentation allotted to us by the firm, and uh the the amendment was for it to go to the JEA board to have that, which is fine with me, but I I just want to make sure we use the right language.

Thank you.

Let me um Mr.

Peterson's pulling up the notes from the rules committee, and I can't log in to get to the legislation itself for whatever reason the credentials aren't working.

Um so you can't require that they receive the report.

Um you can put in the in the language of this bill that that the entity will provide the report to the to the board, but they have to be willing to put it on their agenda to hear it.

And and make available the the presentation.

Correct.

Okay, they can make it available, and if the board wants to hear it or consider it in a meeting, that is at the discretion of the board.

That's the language I think we all would be more comfortable with.

If if that meets it sounds like it does.

Okay.

So what in the because the language of the rules amendment was relatively general with respect to what was on your agenda.

I I'm happy to add that level of detail based on this discussion and the initial proposer being in agreement with that.

That's perfectly fine.

Okay.

We have no other speakers in the queue.

All in favor of the amendment signified by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The amendment carries.

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

Councilmember Lenin, you recognize.

Uh thank you, Chair.

My question, uh, I know we have all three members of the JEA special special committee.

My understanding this is actually uh a lot's been talked about.

There's two separate surveys.

This is going to a different subset, though, if I understand it correctly, right?

A smaller subset.

Mr.

I guess the chair, yeah, Mr.

Salem, go ahead.

I was gonna try not to make the hour and a half presentation that we had in neighborhoods, but to answer your question, I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Um this is going to management people and above that work in the JEA building.

Um, and there will be a question whether they interact with Ms.

Cavey as a part of their responsibility.

The JEA survey that they're doing is going to all employees, and as it's been described to me, it's more of a temperature check uh on JEA and all the employees, 22, 2300.

This is a narrow scope of a hundred and roughly 45 employees.

So through the chair to the JEA special committee chair, this is more of a almost an upper management type, not a rank and file 2200 employees survey.

That is absolutely correct.

We're trying to identify those people that work direct, interact with the leadership.

Thank you.

Council Vice President Howland recognize.

Thank you.

I also have questions for Dr.

Salem.

Is selection link a company that the city's worked with before?

Do we know?

Selection link is one of uh I think three companies.

Mr.

Teal can jump up that HR within the city has used.

And uh that's why we selected them.

Perfect.

And then do we know how quickly they'll be able to get going and how long it will take?

We've had preliminary discussions with them, but we kind of got to a roadblock until we got this thing approved.

I can just assure you uh if this passes at the council level, Mr.

Teal and I will be back on the phone with them uh later next week to finalize the survey and try to get it out.

Uh Mr.

Teal by the end of May, would you think or roughly the chair?

Councilmember Salem.

Uh yeah, that what they said in their proposal was that uh that they would roll the survey out in June and hopefully have the full response done by the end of June.

They couldn't guarantee that they would be able to do the presentation by the end of June.

Uh but um they did indicate that it should be done by the end of June.

All right, thank you.

All right.

Councilmember Salem, you're in the queue.

Did you want to speak or anything?

Questions?

Okay.

No, we already passed the amendment.

Yeah.

Yeah, we already passed the amendment.

No, the amendment passes.

Um, yeah, I I was there's no one else in the queue, but I was able to attend, I don't remember which committee it was yesterday.

It was rules.

Um so I got a all my questions answered there pretty much.

Um, I I think this is going to be a a great resource for the board just for them to make a decision, because at the end of the day, it is going to be the board's decision.

Um I think this is just going to be a resource for them to use.

And you know, let's be honest, that the decision that they're making is is going to be we need to make changes or we don't need to make changes.

And I think either one of those decisions is going to be a very big one, and I would like for them to have as much clarity as possible.

Um so yeah, we will send uh with a boiling amendment, we'll send them the uh results of the survey, and they'll evaluate it and they'll make their determinations.

Um with that, I think we are all lined up and ready to take a vote.

So open the ballot, record your votes.

Seven yay, zero nays.

By direction you have approved 2026, 268 as amended.

Uh okay.

All right.

Number, did we do 11?

Are we on 11?

11.

All right.

Item number 11, 2026, 288.

Motion and second on the amendment.

All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye.

All right.

Any opposed?

The amendment carries.

Wait, we have another auditor recommended amendment.

I'm sorry.

All right, we have a motion and a second for the auditor recommended amendment.

Mr.

Peterson, can you explain?

Through the chair to uh the committee.

The two items for the auto-recommended amendment are uh in an attempt to avoid um kind of technical waivers that are included in the opioids bill each year.

Uh the first is that the annual appropriation can be included in a separate piece of legislation.

Uh it's required to be included in the mayor's proposed budget, but due to conflicts, we have a separate bill.

And the other item is related to the annual determination of funding that can is going into the grants each year.

The way the dollars roll in from the settlement funds uh varies each year.

The ordinance is very specific that has to be calculated on a calendar year basis.

Opioids uh the group, they calculate it based on the time from their last calculation.

So just updating that language to reflect the practice that they currently perform.

Thank you.

All right.

All in favor of the auditor.

Oh, wait, Ms.

Pittman, are you on the auditor amendment?

Yes, ma'am, you recognize.

The chair, and I need to make sure I check with Ms.

Mary out of um out of caution.

Um not you should be abstaining on these yes, I just want to make sure.

Thank you.

You need to put your abstention on the record, please.

Yes, ma'am.

Now you need to indicate the nature of yes, because for the amendment.

For all of the votes on this bill.

So you need to just like you do at council, go ahead and state the nature of your abstention.

I have caution.

I just wanted to make sure that I don't vote on this because Clara White mission, which is my employer, um, will probably quote uh put an application in for this.

Okay.

And this now we've already put the um paperwork, it's already on file.

It's already on file.

Okay.

Okay, got it.

So let the record reflect.

Any opposed.

Let's roll those up in the one finance amendment.

Motion and a second on the bill as amended.

Open the ballot recorder vote.

And while you're voting, I just want to clarify for the record that while you didn't call for abstentions on the first amendment that was moved, I did not see her.

I did not see Miss Pittman vote on that item.

So recognize her abstention throughout.

Let me just read the second reading bills here.

The following bills are on second reading.