Okay.

I want to thank everybody for coming to our meeting today.

And I'd like to start out by letting us introduce one another, starting down on that end, and we'll come all the way around here.

Press the buttons.

Different over here.

Anthony Ricardo, School Board District One.

Melody Balduke School for District 7.

Hi, Cindy Pearson, School Board District 3.

And good afternoon, Matt Carlucci, City Council Member at Large, Group 4.

Good afternoon, Tyrone Clack Murray City Council, District 9.

Okay, thank you very much.

Today's meeting, I called in its last minute, but uh I would have tried to have called it a little earlier, but State Farm had me strangled yesterday.

I've got this pesky other job that I had to work on.

So but I felt this was important to call this meeting today, and I was glad that uh Councilmember Arias called the meeting because that means council members that may have questions still about the resolution that we're uh looking at this coming Tuesday, hopefully, we'll uh have two chances to have any questions that they have uh answered.

I also believe that it's a chance.

Is that councilman Jones down there?

Councilman school board member.

Warren, come on, come on up here, please, sir.

It would it would warm my heart.

It would warm my heart to have uh my good friend Warren Jones up here.

For those of you who don't know, Warren is the longest serving council member since consolidation, 29 years.

And Warren, come over uh here and sit next to Ty Rona.

That way you'll be close.

He got a hug everybody on the way over to a seat assignment.

So I've got time to break it right.

Um I don't think so.

Okay, and so we have uh former council member Warren Jones.

Why don't you introduce yourself, say hello, and then we'll get back to where we were.

Uh good afternoon.

It's a pleasure to be here, and uh when Councilman Matt Carlucci calls, I have to show up.

So uh thank you for the invite, and I'm not gonna thank you for being up here, but I thank you for the invite.

Thank you.

Um, I uh would be when you would you get a little older.

I gotta tell you it almost brings a tear to my eye to uh see my friend up here.

And uh, I get I'm I'm getting too much like that.

My voice starts cracking.

Everybody says, you know, he's getting old, he's getting old.

Anyway, um, but I love him.

Like I love all of y'all.

Okay, so we're called to order, and uh first uh we're gonna do is we're gonna clarify the city council's role on this.

So I asked Michael Fackler, our general counsel, um, the head lawyer of this city uh to come and explain that, and then we'll have um the uh Duval County Public School Superintendent uh speak to the importance of this issue, and I would like to hear from our school board uh members as well as to anything that they want to speak to and any questions that Tyrone or I may have or any other council member who might be wandering in this way uh for they to uh ask, and then we'll take public comment.

So I want to thank uh our general counsel, Michael Fackler for being here.

And um, so why don't you um just kind of lay it out for us and um for everybody, including the media that might be here and the gentleman over here, um the simple truth of what you know what our role is.

Happy to.

Um, I think importantly, this is not the SHAL versus May controversy that we had in 2019.

In this case, the shall has been interpreted conclusively by the Second District Court in 2024 in a case out of Hillsborough County.

Uh, there the court said that in this case, shall in the statute left the in that case the county commissioners no discretion to put the measure on the ballot.

It was a purely ministerial act, and therefore the county commissioners had to do it.

Uh the appellate court affirmed the trial court's issuance of a writ of mandamus, which was essentially the court ordering the county commissioners to put the referendum on the ballot.

This is a different statute than Shaw versus May in 2019, and it is our opinion as well as the binding law in the state of Florida, the act by the city council is purely discretionary.

And I'm happy to take any questions you may have.

Do you have any questions by any of anybody here?

I have a question I'd like to ask, but anybody have a question?

Okay.

Well, my my question would be this.

Um Mr.

Factor, what what would happen if um because we do have a red button and people I suppose could vote no if they wanted to?

I don't know if that's me echoing that I hear out of my left ear, but anyway, um what if people what if what if we had 10 no votes just hypothetically because we may get some no votes because some people just you know want to vote no, and that's their right.

I would not take anybody's right of vote away from them, but what would happen?

It that's a fascinating question uh that I don't know that we fully explored.

I mentioned the Hillsborough County case, and that appellate court affirmed a trial court's issuance of a writ of mandamus, essentially a court ordering that.

Um that is a possibility.

I I guess I would have to talk to my client in that case that would be the school board regarding what their options are and how best to get it on the ballot.

Um so to answer the question, there might be some options out there, but you are correct.

I in my role, I cannot force somebody to push a green button or a red button, uh, but there are options potentially available for the school board to get their referendum consistent with the statute on the ballot in November.

Okay, uh I would if you could to the best of your ability with the time frame that we have, uh hopefully we'll get a vote on it this Tuesday.

And I would like between you and Ms.

Stefopoulos to share with us what our time frame is in the event somehow we were not to vote on it this Tuesday.

But I would like to know what would happen if uh this council were to not meet the time frame or uh or to vote no uh on this and what those consequences would be.

Uh and and I understand it's a little strange to have to vote yes.

I I get that completely, but uh I also understand that you know there's a public body as a public body, we are just a channel here for the school board, which is an elected body, and they're working on behalf of their constituents and they need us to channel this through to the uh the ballot.

So uh if you if you could supply me and uh I suppose the rest of the council members, if if that's appropriate, uh the answer to that question, uh I would like that.

And then if we um if we don't wind up voting on it this Tuesday, what kind of time frame does that put us in in terms of uh getting it on the board or getting it on the ballot?

And and what kind of pinch does that put uh Dr.

Brunier and our esteemed school members, school board members in?

Thank you for the question.

Um and I know Miss Stefopoulos is in the back, and I've learned this from her and her excellent work and due diligence in compiling this information.

So if I get it incorrect, I know I'll be corrected shortly.

But the we've worked with the supervisor of election to know what the absolute drop dead date is to get it on the ballot, and that is August 18th.

So that is a date that I personally, on behalf of my client, the school board do not want to get anywhere near, but that is the absolute date.

If it is not brought up on the 9th, then it will go through the normal cycle again and go through finance again the following week, which would be the 16th, I believe, and then it potentially be on the ballot again the 23rd.

There is also something to keep in mind.

If that door opens to make sure that we have all our I's dotted and T's crossed to make sure we go through that here.

And again, going back to your question of what could happen, I would have to work with my client, the school board, to see what their next steps were and whether that is.

What is the last um council meeting though that we have to vote on this to make sure it gets on the ballot?

That's I guess what I'm trying to find out.

And then I'm gonna am going to turn to Miss Stepopoulos or maybe the council auditors in the back.

I don't know the last meeting before then.

I know we have the three-week council break coming up in July.

And I knew that Ms.

Stepopoulos would have to come in and correct me and keep me on track.

Uh to uh Councilmember Carlucci and to the remainder of the members on the dias.

So the um as as Mr.

Facler indicated, if the matter doesn't come up for a vote on the um on Tuesday the 9th, it'll be in finance for consideration the following week, and then has the opportunity to if voted out of finance that week to come back to city council for consideration on June 23rd.

If for whatever reason there's an additional deferral or delay, the council will have one cycle in July where the finance committee could take it up on July 21st, and then it would be voted on at council on July 28th, and that's the last opportunity for this matter to be reported out of committee and to come to council for action that would allow the school board and the school system to meet their deadline with the supervisor of elections.

No, um before I go any further, does anybody have any questions further before I go any further because I got one more extension on that question?

So what possibly could the council do to this legislation that might take us to July 18th?

I mean, is there any amendment that we could consider that might improve or uh molded in such a way that it might be um uh more collaborative between the two bodies, or is it is what it is, and we have to vote on it as it is one way or the other.

Through the chair to council member through to council member Carlocci, I apologize.

So the legislation is essentially as it it came to us via resolution from the Duval County School Board, and what's in the legislation is simply a directive to the supervisor of elections to place it on the ballot for November 3rd.

So what what the the way it's written now essentially tracks what the resolution stated from the school board as well as the statutory language with respect to how it gets placed on the ballot.

So there's really nothing to amend.

Um it outlines the dates for the election, it also uh establishes the ballot question, and the way the ballot question is written is provided by the school board through their resolution.

So that cannot be changed either, and otherwise, it just includes some whereas clauses that address the statute and the process by which it comes to the city council to have it then put put on the ballot by the supervisor of elections.

So to defer it.

We wouldn't be deferring the bill in order to make some kind of a change.

Unless there is a council member, one of the things that came up during the finance committee meeting was whether there could be any substantive changes, and my answer at that point was not that no, you can't change the date of the election.

The statute sets which type of election it has to go on.

You can't alter the ballot language, you can't alter the substantive information as it was provided by the school board.

So I there could be a minor modification that that a council member would want to discuss or could discuss, but I in this moment could not think of what would change in that legislation that would be such that you know it would have really affect the nature of the bill, which is simply asking the supervisor of elections to place it on the ballot.

Okay, thank you.

And if I could clarify apart from the scrivener's era, there are no changes.

Oh, just one last then observation I'm gonna make is the quicker this makes it through the council, uh, the quicker those who are volunteering to run the campaign, uh to to volunteer for the campaign because it's gonna be a campaign for those who want to pass this.

There might be a campaign for those who want to fight it.

I mean, it's a it's a free democracy, you can fight it or you can be for it, but there are people that want to campaign for it, and the sooner that they have got this piece behind them, the sooner that they have the certainty they need in order to um take this initiative and start talking about it with uh the voters of Jacksonville.

So that's kind of another piece of the puzzle that I think is important that we get it out this Tuesday.

So uh so I'm done with that, and again, I'll ask for anything else before we move to our school board friends.

Anything else?

Okay.

So Ms.

Fackler, thank you for coming.

I know you've got a meeting that you got to run to.

I appreciate you being here.

Mary, thank you for your contribution.

And um, so we're through on that one.

And um, Dr.

Banier, I'd like to turn this over to you, and you can um talk to us about why um this is so important, and explain maybe the history of where we've come from since we passed this some four years ago or so, and whatever else that you have in your presentation portfolio.

Thank you, councilman.

Um, I don't have a presentation portfolio.

I spoke this morning, I'll try to do the same thing that I've tried to do when I came here and stood where Mr.

Facler just was.

We have a lot to be proud of in the great city of Jacksonville.

Um we have an amazing city that's growing, developing.

You can see the beginning of breadth and more life coming into downtown and its surrounding amazing neighborhoods, right?

It's been two years.

I'm starting to actually kind of figure this place out a little bit, and I know I still have a lot to learn, and somebody will quiz me at the end, and you'll know that I still have still have a lot to learn.

But you can feel the energy in Jacksonville, and I believe that the school district last year contributed to that energy.

I believe that by coming in as an A-graded school system for the first time in history with the leadership of these amazing board members and the others that could not be here today.

Is a step in the right direction towards what our city is working towards through its civic council, which is that concept of world class.

If you're gonna be a world-class city, you need a world-class education system.

So let me talk about what our system's done.

We've historically received an A grade for the first time in its history.

The PM3 data is in, it's not final yet, but we have the possibility of being close enough to be A rated again.

We have earned a 97.6% graduation rate amongst our high school seniors who graduate both college and career ready under circumstances that when you and I went to high school, we didn't have those same standards, right?

They have to pass algebra one.

They have to have a passing rate on regarding their English language arts.

If they can't get it on the state test, they have to pass the ACT or ACT at a certain level.

They have to have 24 credits.

They must have a C average.

Those are not things in the past.

And that graduation rate not too long ago hovered at about 60%.

It's now at 97.6.

And the demographic breakdown breaks down between whites, blacks, Hispanics, free and reduced lunch, ESE students, most of those gaps are less than one percent.

So not only have we moved it overall for the overall rate, but we've moved every one of our other groups of young people in those as well.

And they're graduating both college and careerity, and that leads me to one of the great things a public school system can do for a community.

We produce excellent graduates.

They're ready to go to college, step into careers, do both at whatever time they choose.

And they come back and they enrich our community by making it a safer place, a better place, being gainfully employed, really driving the economic engine of this community, but also driving the social aspect of it is being better fathers, mothers, husbands, aunts and uncles.

It's just a really an amazing opportunity as an educator to have a legacy of knowing that we've helped improve the climate and culture of the city, Jacksonville under the leadership of the board, and that we're living in a better place.

Additionally, for this August body and for the rest of the city and our chambers of commerce, when you're out recruiting a business in Iowa in February, and it's minus four degrees as the wind blows across the plain.

The first thing that CEO is probably going to ask you about is what the beaches and the weather is like.

But right after that, the next question out of their mouth is what is the public school system look like?

And for the first time in our history, we've been able to take that message across the ocean into other places and say we have an A-rated school district.

We have a district that has risen in every single tested level.

We had 20 schools last year rise at least two grade levels.

We had another 10 that went up at least, I'm sorry, 35 that went up one grade level, and 10 that went up two.

We're we're on the precipice of getting to the point where we will continue to install confidence in the system.

But the bottom line to all of this is the most impactful person in all of those statistics that I just read is a classroom teacher.

And the other educators that support them, our paras, our school psychologists, our school counselors, our SLPs.

Pick anyone that interacts with a child along with the teacher, statistically, research proven they are the number one factor in increasing student achievement.

And this millage provides them evidence that their purpose and their impact and their value is recognized by this community.

What this body has to do on behalf of our school board who passed the resolution is they need to pass it through to the Office of Elections.

I stood at that podium and said, I'm not asking you to continue a tax.

This is not a new tax, it's a continuation of one that already exists.

What I'm asking you to do is do what is I think the best part of living in the state of Florida.

We would move this item on to the people to vote.

And somebody said it beautifully this morning.

That's the great part of living in a representative democracy.

As representatives, we we challenged and created a resolution that we brought to you.

Your step in this process is to pass it through to the supervisor of elections, and then in November, the people get to decide if they want to continue this sense of income to our teachers, supporting them and supporting our school resource officers and our safety officers to make sure that we not only continue to drive student achievement, but that we make our schools as safe as possible.

I think our voters want a great public school system, but it will be up to them to make the decision of whether this is something they're willing to pay for or not.

So let's let the voters decide what the future of DCPS and this funding is, and we will figure out no matter how that vote goes, we will figure out a way to move forward and to create a situation where our teachers are appreciated.

But right now we've got to get it to the ballot so that people can have that opportunity in this wonderful state where that's how our constitution is written to have their choice.

I'm open to any questions that may come from you or other members of the committee.

Anybody have any questions?

That could have been any better, any more well-stated Dr.

Benier, and I thank you for that very much.

Thank you for coming today, sir.

Appreciate it in the good work you do.

Um I uh would like to now ask, um, and I would like to include uh school board former school board member Warren Jones in this as well, but any of the school board members that would like to uh speak as to their views on this as well.

I think it's important.

So Ms.

Pearson, our school board representative.

You're school board representative, that's right, and you're my city council at large.

Thank you so much for calling this meeting and thank you for um being supportive of Duval County Public Schools as a city council member, but also as a parent going all the way back to starting Friends of Hendrix, which I had the privilege of being president of and running fundraisers at Hendricks as well.

As a school board member, as an elected person, I have two opportunities to interact with the one mill.

My first opportunity was to vote on whether to send the resolution to city council, and I took that vote and I voted in the affirmative to send the resolution to city council, and now city council has the opportunity to do their what we have heard is a ministerial duty to send the resolution on to the supervisor of elections to be placed on the ballot so that the people can vote.

I would make a plea that um while you could extend it all the way into August to please someone consider pulling this um on Tuesday if the city council president doesn't reverse to pull it and second it and vote on it, because the sooner this item is settled and it is moved on, it frees up the staff and school board members to do the important work that we do over the summer.

School is out for students, it is not out for administrators, it is not out for school board members.

We are still working, and and so the time that we spend continuing to try to convince people to do something that they should do anyway, is time that we're not spending doing other things.

The second chance I get to interact with this is as a private citizen, and I have said publicly that I am voting for um the voting for the renewal renewal of the one mil, and I'm bringing four other votes from my household with me.

So five votes from the Pearson household for this.

A few things to know about this and and that I find compelling.

First of all, by state statute, the um when the tax money comes into us, it is split.

80% goes to Duval County public schools, 20% by statute goes to charter schools for them to use in similar ways, and then as outlined, the money is spent in three different ways in uh salary stipends or enhancements for teachers, for paras, for security, for school resource officers, for maintenance, for the employees in Duval County public schools, and that is significant because we heard from dozens of teachers in the previous meeting, that this is a difference maker for them.

It is a difference maker for them, having the peace of mind to know that they can afford to save for a home, that they can pay medical bills, that they can pay for um prescription drugs, that they can be freed up to help elderly parents, that they can help their children achieve a college education.

These are these are not luxuries, these are real life issues that teachers are having to work second and third jobs to pay for.

That if you have a degree and you have been in a profession, you should not have to work a second or third job in order to afford basic life necessities.

And that is across the board for our employees.

The second part of the money goes into arts and athletics enhancements, and that's just 12.5% of the budget, but so so important.

Arts and athletics enhancements happen on the elementary level, on the middle school level, and on the high school level.

That could look like a refurbished playground, it could look like musical instruments for an elementary school, it's scoreboards, it's refurbished tracks on the middle school level, it is converting fields, playing fields that have too much pressure on them that actually are not safe to play on to turf fields.

It can look like new band uniforms, it can look like new audio and visual in an auditorium.

It can look like improved sound in a football stadium, which is actually a safety issue.

So those are the kinds of things that go into that.

And I just want to point out that within Duval County this year, in athletics, we have had three state champions.

Reigns holds two of those, state champion in football, state champion in track, and then Fletcher Girls Volleyball, state champion in volleyball, and also ranked number one in the nation in beach volleyball.

We have a lot to be proud of, and our student athletes deserve, they don't have to be private school level facilities, but they need good working facilities, and that is not something that's covered in the state budget.

Moving on to arts, we have numerous schools and and art young musicians and artists who have been recognized on the state and national level.

And just this past weekend, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts students participated in the applause awards, and if there were something that would be a state championship in musical theater, the applause awards would be the state championship for musical theater.

And DA took female lead, male lead, and female second or female runner-up.

Three out of the top four positions that could be won at that at that competition went to DA students.

They are doing amazing things.

And two of our local Jacksonville students will be traveling to New York to compete in the Jimmy Awards, which is the high school equivalent of the Tony's.

Our students and our and our teachers are doing amazing work, and they do deserve upgrade facilities to do that work in.

So those are some of the reasons that I'll be voting yes.

Um I would encourage the people who sit at these seats and you out there to consider voting yes as well.

But the first thing we need to do is put it, get that over to the supervisor of elections as soon as possible.

Super, thank you very much.

I'm so sorry.

Baldock, yes.

Bullduke, a bullduke, okay.

Thank you.

DCBS is an A-rated district right now because under our incredible leadership of Dr.

Berner and his staff.

And our board who have supported that leadership because of the excellent teachers, staff programs and resources that we're providing for education.

Excellent education and opportunities are foundational to a thriving and economically competitive city.

We want Jacksonville to be the greatest city in Florida, and even one of the best in the nation.

Property values go up.

I don't need to be redundant.

I think Dr.

Brunier did an excellent job pointing that out.

We serve over 98,000 students and employ over 11,000 teachers and staff members.

You don't do that and raise salaries like you should without increasing a budget.

We have made so many cuts, it hurts.

We have tightened the budget.

Dr.

Brunier has made staffing adjustments.

We have consolidated schools.

There have been countless changes in operational efficiencies.

And so when you pull those things, they add up, but they don't add up to the amount that we need to do the work that we want to do and also increase teacher salaries.

I want to point out that our teachers are below the survival salary.

So even our teachers who are veterans of 20 years are not making a salary that shows any kind of value for the kind of work they do for the amount of hours that they put in.

And I'm gonna say too, I really don't believe that anyone would argue that teachers need to be paid more.

I think that goes without saying, I'm saying it anyway.

But I think the real argument, and I'm gonna say this as a strong fiscal conservative, understanding that I was elected in order to create transparency, scrutinize our budget, and to find ways to save money, and we have done that.

We have actually brought our fund balance from 3% up to 5%.

I say we, Dr.

Brunier.

Okay, he has done an incredible amount of work to find that money and build up that fund balance so that we wouldn't be in danger of losing the ability to have local control over how we are operating.

And so we've already done an incredible amount of work, and I know that we're gonna continue down that path.

Some of you are asking, can you close more schools?

Yes, we can, we are.

Every year we close schools that are not adequately attracting students, okay, and and it hurts every time we do it.

We hear from our community, they talk about how important those schools are to their areas of town, and so we hear that too.

It's a hard decision, but we're making hard decisions.

Even if we close schools, we can't use that money to pay teacher salaries or staff salaries.

Can you cut more positions?

I would love if some of you would visit the district office and I'll walk you around the building and you can see how many empty stations there are.

We have staff members who are telling us I'm doing the work of this person who used to sit here and that one who used to sit there too.

Can you reduce contracts?

We're doing that too.

Um, what about third-party services?

And we're doing that, we're looking at that, we're doing the work, but again, you know, we looked just last month at a contract that it would cost millions of dollars more for us to take on that contract.

It would take a long time to save, I don't know, an average of about 5%, and so that doesn't add up to what this millage does.

So I'm telling you, and I'm speaking to my conservatives who are putting, you know, kind of a demand on, I don't like asking for more taxes, but I want you to understand that education is only funded through taxes.

We can't stand on our own feet because we don't, we're not entrepreneurial, we're not out there making money.

It is the job of our city, state, and local government to support education, and I'm kind of in a position where I feel like why do we have to beg for education to be supported in our city?

It's one of the few constitutionally required functions of government.

If we't even incre spending money anywhere, this is where it should be.

So we're operating on maybe more dollars, but fewers, fewer, less well say less spending power than we had before.

So we do make great use of donations and grants wherever we can.

We do have a lot of unfunded mandates from Dallahassee.

I mentioned the per pupil funding issue.

We will continue to speak with our legislators about it.

I think we can do better, but I think we do have to make a fair case to them.

But for this, this gives us local control over dollars.

You, the taxpayer, and our city councilman can give them that power.

The taxpayers get to make the decision as to how this money is spent.

And we are we are committing 87.5% of it to teacher and staff salaries.

The rest of it is going to arts and athletics.

Anyone who wants to come and tour my schools, I will sit down with a principal and I'll let you see what our cafeterias look like, what our kitchens look like.

There is update that's needed.

If you want excellence, it costs money.

So we can't we need you to trust that if we are asking, and I'm again I'm speaking to my conservatives out there because I know so many of you are out here agreeing and nodding your heads.

But I need to win over my people.

I need them to understand why we're asking for this.

Trust us, you put us here to steward your resources wisely.

We are doing that.

We have auditors, we have we have volunteer committee members that we get to appoint to ask all these questions and to really scrutinize things.

This is among the most audited money, the most scrutinized money that we have in our budget.

So I would, I think I just want to close with just some thoughts about, you know, our teachers, they're here because they want to be.

I say it all the time.

When I started teaching 26 years ago, I didn't decide to teach because I knew I was going to bring home the big box.

I did it because I loved it.

And it was a privilege.

And I chose to be there.

But our teachers don't have to choose to be here anymore.

They have degrees and they have a skill set that's high in demand.

They could go to the corporate world and become trainers, not to give them any ideas.

I mean, they could become entrepreneurs and start their own schools.

Guys, we want Duvall County to be the top choice, and that's what we're here to do is to make our schools amazing, to make them the best place for our students to be.

They shouldn't, I support choice, but they shouldn't have to go somewhere else.

They should be able to come to their neighborhood school and get a fantastic quality education.

So I'm gonna ask you to help us make Duvall County the best choice.

And I'm gonna, I wrote something that I want to share.

I wasn't going to, but I'm gonna anyway.

I have a dream that one day we'll live in a community where teachers no longer have to choose between paying their own bills and serving the children of our great city.

I have a dream that one day our educators will not leave school at four o'clock only to begin a second job at five o'clock just to support their families.

I have a dream that teachers will no longer spend their own money on pencils, paper, books, snacks, deodorant, and basic classroom supplies because their community has already provided what students need to succeed.

I have a dream that principals will spend less time begging for funding and more time leading thriving skills filled with opportunity, creativity, music, art, science, and innovation.

I have a dream that we'll stop asking educators to perform miracles on a hot dog and soda budget while expecting champagne and caviar outcomes.

I have a dream that Jacksonville will fully recognize that strong schools are not an expense to endure, but investment in the future of our city.

And I have a dream that one day every one of our children will walk into a safe, beautiful, fully restored school, and know that their community believes they're worth investing in.

That's the dream.

It's worth fighting for.

That was uh that was uh wonderful, and I think you should frame that.

And I think um that's that's a that's a framer, and it was beautiful.

Thank you.

Now, fellas, I hate to tell you this, but um uh I've granted these ladies a lot of time because what they had to say was so good, and I wasn't about to stop them.

I think they've covered so much great territory, and um and the women usually do cover territory better than we guys do.

But I'm gonna have to ask you guys and uh possibly uh council member Jones to uh to do what the council members uh up here asked me to do, and that is uh shortened up a little bit, and uh believe me, I get asked to short it up all the time, but uh, but we uh want to give time to the public to speak, and there's a lot of folks here that we want to hear from the public because they don't they get that time often, but they've they've driven it's Friday.

A lot of them are probably missing some work, but uh I I would never silence you and take the time that you need, but uh if you'll just kind of keep that in mind, we need to um I I want to get to our um to our uh public, but I'm also want to give um any questions for uh Tyrona, uh council member Tyrone, Clark Murray and myself.

We have any questions to ask along with uh anybody else.

Okay, so go ahead, sir.

Introduce yourself and uh thank you for your service in district one.

I think okay.

Uh well thank you, sir.

Yes, sir.

And I don't know, uh I'll keep it very short, but I don't know if you remember four years ago back when I was uh just a citizen.

I was very finance uh financially physically uh very conservative, and I asked the question about this same issue, and I was uh I was of the mind that you know the school needs to operate inside the budget, and and again, as a normal citizen, you don't have the insight into what uh is involved in a budget, a school budget in particular.

And so now, again, just like my colleagues have just said, um, we're trying to explain to other fiscally uh conservative folks why we need to ask for this.

This is not a new tax, and um I'm just gonna put a little different spin on it.

You've already heard from my colleagues, they've done a great job.

Um, you talked about certainty just a little while ago.

Um deferring the issue, I think would cause a lot of uh distress on the teachers that are in on their break right now, they're worried about where their income's gonna uh be at least kept the same or improved and whether their financial situation is going to be at risk.

Um the Florida teachers are among the lowest paid in the United States among all the states, and that's a shame.

Uh as a former teacher myself, I remember all these same stories, and it's amazing that over 40 years the stories haven't changed.

We all worked second jobs, third jobs, had to worry about whether or not we were gonna be able to pay a uh uh health bill if it came up, whether we could fix the roof if it went bad or a tire blowout on your car.

Uh that was that's a real struggle, and so I have that in mind with this, and I'm gonna ask that uh the resolution be uh brought up for a vote as soon as possible to reduce that certainty for our teachers and reduce that stress.

We have a world-class uh bunch of teachers that have done a great job this past year as as we've already outlined, and uh we want them to come back.

We want to make sure we keep them, and so I think in going forward, I would like not to have to do this in four years again.

So the attack will be to go to Tallahassee and see if we can't get the funding approved there so that this doesn't have to keep coming up for a vote, and I appreciate it and I defer back.

Yes, sir.

That was uh a great observation, and uh I'm sure there's uh talk about certainty every four years.

That's that's pretty roughed up the campaign for that.

Uh uh school member blunt, nice to see you.

Thank you for coming.

And thank you for being here and having the opportunity to um advocate for this resolution, and I'll be really quick.

Um after spending a lot of time overseas, uh, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, and those places working in civil governance.

I saw us build schools for millions of dollars just to see them get blown up the next week by the Taliban.

It really was disheartening to see that.

And I always say when I come back, when I retire and get out of the army, I want to come back and serve my community, nowhere else back home to Jacksonville, but I never anticipated some of the issues and the problems that we actually have.

I'm seeing a city that's developing quickly, a lot of housing, a lot of boom everywhere, but I'm seeing the education system, our schools, some of them are crumbling apart and falling apart, and we're having to make tough decisions.

The one thing I want to do, I do want to thank Dr.

Brunier because the operations section.

When people ask, well, what are you guys doing?

They have done a tremendous job in cost savings.

One of the things that I advocated for is I want to see these contracts looked at very carefully.

I want them trimlined.

I want, I want when we build new schools, I want the best product for the school at a reasonable price and not just throw them up and take whatever the contractors say.

And they have done an excellent job in doing that.

We have asked the superintendent to do a certain job.

He we gave him a certain direction, and he has actually he's actually doing it along with his staff.

And I said, I really appreciate that.

Um I look at this resolution.

A lot of uh my constituents ask, why are you raising our taxes again, Blunt?

I said, Well, I'm not raising your taxes.

I said this resolution is just keeping in place what we actually have.

We just need a little after being on the board about a year and a half, we just have a had a little bit of time to work with to really work through some of the issues we are having in the system, and we just want to keep this going for a period of time so that we can balance some of the issues and problems that we are balancing them out.

And I don't want to see teachers in a bad situation just because we want to stop um this resolution.

I'm asking that we more than anything that we participate or allow our citizens to participate in the democratic process of being able to say, yes, board, we want this, or no board, we don't want this.

But they won't have that opportunity if we can't put this on the uh the ballot for November.

So I'm gonna support it.

I support it with the school board vote, and uh I continue to support this, and we will see in the future um what we need to do in order to get better funding for our police officers, our teachers, and our staff.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, and thank you for the wonderful job that you do as well.

And uh certainly a well-deserved courtesy, I'd like to ask uh former school board member and chair thank you, Warren Jones to say a few words, and then uh Tyrone, if you and I have any questions, we'll ask them and and um unless anybody else has anything to say, we're gonna go right to the public and give them a chance.

Um, and uh so go ahead.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I'll be brief, just three quick quick points.

Uh when we considered the half penny sales tax, uh, former board member Laurie Hershey was chairman of the board, and she thought the hardest part was getting it approved by the voters and realized the pushback we would get from the city council.

And I think that's when Cindy got involved and wondered why are they holding this up?

And it's very clear legally that the city council has a responsibility to put it on the ballot.

It that has already been litigated.

We had to go met you and I sit in this chambers in 2020 waiting for them to approve it.

We ended up having to go to court.

The judge ruled and did school board favor, and it was put on the ballot in November of 2020.

Uh so it's just frustrating, and I and I hate to see our board members having to spend time here advocating for something that we know is needed.

I think the city council realized it's needed, but to go through the gymnastics, political gymnastics of having to come here and speak to them about why it's needed.

That is unnecessary, and I apologize for that.

It's sad that an elected body would not want to give the voters the opportunity to decide whether I agree with the tax or not.

Let the voters decide.

And that's what the school board is asking.

They're simply asking the city citizen of Duval County if they want to continue a one-mill tax to pay teacher's salaries and improve our facilities.

So for that, I uh and then we gotta realize too that this is a competitive environment.

When I mean mean competitive, I'm talking about surrounding counties.

If I'm a teacher and I can make the same thing working in a surrounding county, why not when I have fewer issues?

I mean, we have schools in this county where I had one principal when I was on the board, was kept asking the superintendent for a wash and dry.

I said, why does she want to wash and dry it?

Because the students needed to have clean clothes, and she wanted to wash them so they wouldn't be uh harassed when they got to school.

And that's those are some of the challenges our teachers face here in Duval County.

They wouldn't face necessarily in a surrounding county.

And finally, a majority of the council, I think supports this.

The question is getting it out getting before the council to get it approved.

I think this Tuesday is an excellent opportunity to do that because as you well know, Matt, and others, that we need to raise funds to advocate for this one meal continuation.

And the more time we have to raise that with some assertion with some assurance that it's gonna be on the ballot in November, I think is very important.

Thank you for this meeting, and I look forward to hearing from uh many of the people who support, and some of those who don't support this.

Thank you.

Thank you, my good friend uh school board member, retired uh Warren Jones.

Uh Councilmember Clark Murray, do you have any comments you'd like to make?

I don't have any comments.

Okay, I I do too.

And um, and so um we have a lot of folks, I'm sure.

We don't have any green cards, so I'm gonna just ask you to come up and uh first come, first serve and uh now I I uh I guess they understood that.

Now, in line here because some of us are meters right now, yes, sir.

You you can, and if your meter's running out, uh did you get on up there as quick as you can.

Now, look, um, I was supposed to put a meter, I'm supposed to put the timer on, I guess, for three minutes.

Um, so we're gonna do the timer at three minutes.

Uh, if you run a little over, uh I'm I'm not gonna, you know, give you a royal rap with a knuckle um on the knuckles, but uh I will need you to kind of wrap it up for me.

If you could help me with that, I I appreciate it.

And I want to thank everybody for coming here uh uh for or against.

And so um just introduce yourself, give us your address, and um, and and uh and and we're happy to hear what you got to say.

Thank you, sir.

My name is John Lewis Meeks Jr.

My address is on record, um 350 North University Boulevard, Jacksonville, Florida, 3277.

I am the teacher first vice president of Duval Teachers United, AFT Local 3326.

But I'm also a history teacher, so let's do some some let's put class in session.

Would you believe that six decades ago, Duval County Public Schools was in the toilet?

We were disaccredited, colleges looked us, looked at us sideways.

We were segregated, we were full of strife and pain and sorrow in the 1960s.

We went through a crucible of nature of the hockey sticks to improve our schools over the years.

So would you believe that today we have the highest graduation rate that was never even envisioned two or three generations ago?

Would you believe that we have a school district that's diverse and full of children from all backgrounds and and in diverse areas that we serve today to the best of our abilities are educators and educate educated staff professionals?

So when we ask about can we afford to go forward, I'm gonna ask you all, can we afford to go back?

We cannot afford to go back.

We have made it to the mountaintop with a fantastic school board, a fantastic superintendent.

I remember growing up seeing the horrible days of Herb Sang.

And I know you haven't forgotten those days either.

I remember those days that Luann Bennett went to war with the superintendent.

But now we have cooperation and collaboration between President Tamberbrook Savins and Dr.

Brunier.

We should be proud of the fact that we're working together to move our kids forward.

I want us to keep on trucking, and this is not a tax increase.

This is an investment which maintains what we we decided to follow up on four years ago.

And in the election of 1864, Lincoln won reelection by Ask Americans.

Are you willing to trade horses midstream?

Let's not shoot the horse right now.

Let's keep on that horse, keep moving forward to invest in our kids for better schools of Duball County.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That was uh put you on the campaign trail.

All right, sir.

Uh your name and address.

Mickey Roman, my uh address is on file.

Um Miss Mulda Boldek, you made a very compelling argument, uh our position, and and it's uh um very well.

And we're we're at the point where we're almost willing to concede.

I um appreciate uh Tony, you're mentioning Tallahassee, but um, and I I concur that you shouldn't have to constantly be begging and asking, but you know, the end doesn't just justify the means.

I mean, we've got a we got a perpetual problem here of uh I represent business people and you know uh struggling, and the business pool is shrinking to the point where a lot of my friends are now wanting to move out of Duball County.

We can't make it.

You know, just last year.

I got one part of the city for three years I've been trying to get a permit.

I got another part of the city that took me from six thousand to sixty-six thousand dollars in personal property tax.

The property appraiser refuses to give me my bill this year unless I gave him my personal financial information.

I mean, I can go on and on right there.

Now we got the school board, you know, with this continual ask.

And uh now last night it was brought to my attention um the the vocational uh um programs for the Duball County School Board, and and I am just thrilled.

I it just boggles my mind, you know, because I came out of the trades, that's how I got my start was electrical trade school.

But now there's two pages of schooling for nurses and for this and for that.

So I mean, I am totally for that, but but the end doesn't justify the means.

You can't keep taking from the businessman because you know, one argument that you all have given us is that not today, but that it's only $27 per household.

But if that's that that's not the business side, the businessman is paying a hundred times that.

I mean, the amount that I'm having to pay for this half cent is completely different from the homeowners.

Okay, half center of the millage.

We're talking about the millage today.

Oh, okay, all right, but then I won't touch on the half center, right?

We're not even discussing the half cent.

What uh no, sir.

I didn't I probably should have made that clear, but we're talking about the the millage that was in so stop the uh the time for this gentleman, take it back a little bit, Steve, if you would.

So, what we're talking about today is the millage was increased by a mill uh about four years ago, which gave the teachers, I guess what they called a bonus, but actually was a salary increase, and it also increased the the cost the pay for school uh uh coaches, uh police officers, and other staff members.

Right, and that's what those dollars are donated or dedicated towards since then we've become a an A school district, uh, but the state law says you have to go uh you you have to uh after four years for them to keep those dollars in their salary.

Uh they have to go back and have that revoted on to retain that millage.

So this is not like a a new tax.

It's it's retaining or renewing the tax that was voted in uh the last time.

Uh it's easy to get them mixed up because the half cent or the half penny sales tax was voted in maybe a year prior to the millage.

So I understand how you could get that.

But this public comment, you can talk about whatever you want to, sir.

I just want to make sure that you knew about this particular meeting was on.

So I want to make sure you have uh I'm not sure where your time got cut off, but let's make sure he has at least two minutes left.

Okay to speak.

All right, well, thank you for that clarification.

Yes, sir.

And of course, I would like to suggest that maybe a business council be um advisory council to help the school board, um, because uh, you know, enough is enough.

Um the model is is wavering, and you know, the pool, the monies of us from us businessmen, you know, we're you know, we're you know, we're getting hit on every side, bureaucracy on every side, you know, to the point.

Well, why not move out to Baker County?

Why not move out to Nassau County?

Why not go somewhere else?

You know, where I mean I'm 60, I don't look it, but in two months I'll be 67.

So I'm on Social Security, you know, and I never thought I'd be in this position.

I've been before this council before saying, why should I on Social Security, you know, be be pulled on so heavily to fund so many different things.

Now, you say, Well, you know, uh, we want excellence.

Well, I want excellence too.

I want to be proud for Jacksonville, you know, but if you give me enough money with my RV parks, I'll have the finest RV park in Jacksonville.

So, I mean, that's not a valid point.

If you keep saying, give us more money and we're gonna have an excellent school board system.

Sure, you'll have an excellent school board system, you throw enough mud against the wall.

You know, so I'm saying, hey, we will help you, Tony, we will help you go to Tallahassee.

Um another thing that businessmen can do is uh I'm so excited about your vocational program, I'll be more than happy to underwrite some of these students.

If you give me if the student graduates and I get them for a year after they graduate, not for the rest of their life.

But you see what I'm saying?

There's things out of the box that we can do to help you guys, but this perpetual constantly coming back to us, you know, like Miss Boldeck said it's not fair to you all, and it's not fair to us.

And that's all I basically want to say for today.

Okay, thank you very much.

And we appreciate contrary and different points of view, and uh and the offer to underwrite students, that's something I would encourage you to get with your school board member on, and um, and I'm sure the school board takes everything you said into consideration.

Uh sir, you're up next.

Thank you.

Name and address.

My name is Mark Tu Manero, my address is 10547 Fair Lane Drive, Jacksonville, Florida, 32218.

Good afternoon, members of council, members of the school board, staff, and members of the general public for all being here.

Uh, me personally, I have a vested interest.

My son goes to school here in Jacksonville, his mother is a teacher.

I have a vested interest in the success of Duval County schools.

I would love to see more safety, higher teacher retention, better quality education in our county.

Me personally, I'm all for this retention because it continues the progress and compelling stories that uh evidence, everything that you all just sat here and told us about.

It rewards your hard work and it progresses the hard work that you're already putting in.

I yield the rest of my time.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate you coming down here for that.

Okay, who would like to go next?

Come on.

Good afternoon, city council members who are present as well as our school board members who are present.

My name is Jimmy Travis Leonard.

My address is on file.

I'm a familiar to face to most of you.

Uh, I do have two students currently in the Duval County Public School Systems.

They are both part of our magnet program, which is actually why I bought my house in Duval County.

So you get my tax dollars because of the school system.

You get to see my face, every city council because of this school system.

I actually graduate from Clay County, and we won't go into that, but I have strong feelings on their school system.

This renewal is about upholding a promise we made to our teachers and our students.

We promise them a quality education.

And if we don't have teachers who are being fairly compensated, if we don't have art programs that are being funded, if we don't have athletic programs that are being managed and upkept, we aren't giving them a quality education.

So I think everyone has belabored the point at this stage that really the city council's responsibility is to put this on the ballot for voters to then vote on.

So I appreciate the meetings that have happened because I think it has brought some clarity that maybe was missing from a few of our city council members.

I appreciate those that didn't have clarity that did come out.

So, Councilman Arias, I appreciate him having a meeting.

I am curious as to why Councilmember Salem and Diamond did not appear at either of the public hearings to have their uh confusion cleared up, but that's not the point.

My point is this is a renewal.

It's not a new tax, it's not something that's unheard of, and the voters overwhelmingly support it.

So if council continues to delay having this on the November ballot, what it says to me as a homeowner who pays taxes, as a parent with children in this public school system, as a concerned constituent that is active in public comment, is that you don't care about me as a voter.

You don't care about my rights as a voter, and you don't care about my kids' rights to quality education.

So please, let's put this to bed on Tuesday.

Let's get this council to pass what needs to be passed, which is simply to put this on the November ballot for voters to vote on, and then let the voters decide.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And uh by the way, anybody that wants to come to this Tuesday night at five o'clock for public comment are welcome to come, uh whether you're for or against, uh, but that'll be crucial because uh we're hoping that we'll get the uh item off the finance agenda so we can vote on it.

Okay, who's next?

Okay.

Hello, I am Latrice Carmichael.

My address is 1360 Malvarn 3211.

I am a parent of individual who had a young man who graduated in 2024, and I am an educational advocate for all students here in Duval County.

One day I picked up my son from school and he said, Mom, this was he was in kindergarten.

I'm not like the other kids, I'm not smart enough.

He started crying, and so did I.

We subsequently got him an IEP.

And it was at one of those IEP meetings that the ESC liaison over at Lovegrove said, Ms.

Carmichael, stop focuses on what he's not good at and focuses on what he's good, what he is good at.

And he developed a YouTube station talking about sports.

At that same school, he had so many teachers who showed up to his outside sports, football, basketball, Miss Schnar, um, and Mr.

Ronald showed up to all of his games.

And they also created learning um, I guess, activities about sports because he loved the Philadelphia Eagles, so he could figure out math talking about football better than he could about apples in a tree.

In middle school at the leadership academy, there was Miss Cook who showed up at all of his baseball games, who said him every single math assignment and helped him.

And he said to one teacher, I know she loves teaching.

It's just I can just tell the way she talks to us.

She loves what she does.

It was at high school at Andrew Jackson when he had a medical emergency where he fell down some stairs and knocked out three of his teeth a week before his senior pictures, where the coach wrote with him to the hospital and we did not think he was going to make it.

That same coach I had bumped heads with, but he wrote him on that ride and stayed with him and talked to him weeks and weeks after that to make sure he was okay.

He was also a baseball player, so that coach had an added um investment in him too.

My son now is a junior at Alabama State in Montgomery, Alabama.

He is school, he received all AIDS the last semester.

Never happened for a kid with an IEP.

He walked across the convocation stage and they celebrated him for the first time for academics.

But he was celebrated because he walked across the DCPS school at graduation on the shoulders of teachers.

Teachers who stepped outside of the classroom and gave him the education that he deserved.

He told me just the other day, Mom, that day I didn't think I was gonna make it.

I did not think I was going to be here.

We celebrate his success today.

I'm an advocate.

I'm gonna be there.

I'm gonna fight for him.

I did not do that alone.

I did that on hand in hand with teachers.

And so if I could show up every single time to vote for something like this, I would.

Because every single teacher in our district deserves that.

And when I heard teachers that say they have to do extra work just to take care of their families while they were stepping outside on weekends taking care of my son, that brought tears to my eyes.

I'm talking to the person who's looking online who's at work who couldn't show it today.

Come up today.

I talk to people about this, I'm sorry, all the time, but do what is right, celebrate our teachers so that all of our kids can walk across stage and be celebrated every single day.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Who's okay?

There we go.

I don't want to follow her.

Tammy Brooks Evans, I am the president of Duvall Teachers United, and my address is 4324.

Nice to see you.

Nice to see you too, sir.

Um, short and sweet.

Pull it on Tuesday, vote on it, move it, pass it on.

My teachers that were there this morning who are on summer vacation.

Can they just know that there's some certainty in what's gonna happen in their life come 2028?

Because we're gonna vote and we're gonna pass that thing.

We just need you to get it on the ballot.

We need you guys to honor the time that teachers have so that I'm not having to call them and have them keep showing up to your meetings because that's what we're gonna do.

We're gonna keep bugging them and they're gonna be like, oh my god, this summer is the longest summer ever, because it's mid-June before I can actually go on break and take a breath.

Because I know that the thing that has helped me and my family to survive will continue to be there for an additional four years after next year.

So I need the city council to do what you're supposed to do, pass it on to the elections so that they can now get ready to just take a breath, just take a breath because you don't realize the anxiety and stress that you're causing to teachers by having this happen.

We have a group about 35 in our office taking a class that they need to take this summer so they can renew their teaching certificate, and they are all watching this live streaming.

Hello, everyone, because they're in class, supposed to be learning about teaching, beginning reading, but they're worried about this.

I need you to allow them to stop worrying about this and just do the job that you're supposed to do, which is just pass it on to elections so that we can all move forward and so that these lovely people we don't have to keep seeing each other every other day.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

And uh, if there was any good reason to pass it besides all of that, is so they don't have to keep coming up here to public comment every every other Tuesday night.

Okay, who would like to go next?

Yes, me and I, you haven't been up here yet.

I'm I'm waiting on you.

Come on, there's here's here's my friend.

Come on up.

Oh, it's nice to be known as a friend.

Good afternoon.

My name is Tiffany Clark, and my address is on file.

Um, I think my shirt says it all.

If you haven't read it, this is the same shirt that uh we had designed, and you probably remember this.

Board member Jones for the half-penny sales tax.

We then brought them out again in 2022, yep, 2022.

And so here we are, 2026.

We get to sport the shirts once again.

And um, I think board member Cindy said it best.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

I counsel just because you can hold this up does not mean you should hold it up.

What we should do is stop, and I know you said you were gonna say it a lot nicer, so I won't.

This foolishness, because this is foolishness.

These teachers, these single parents, they depend on these funds.

Gas, groceries, tampons, tide, you name it.

That's what that money goes to.

And no teacher should have to take away from their own children simply because we are going back and forth on an item that you really don't have the right to take away from them.

And so I say to every council member, please stop this, please.

If these were your children, if that teacher was your daughter or your son, would you want to do that?

Would you do something that you knew wasn't right?

And just because you could.

And that they let the voters decide.

It is their decision.

So thank you guys.

I thank you for your hard work.

I thank you for your servanthood, but I also thank you for thinking.

Think about it.

If these teachers were your sons and daughters that you brought up in this city, would you want them to have to go through this?

Would you want them on a Friday afternoon when they're supposed to be in a training on pins and needles, worrying about if our council is going to say yes?

I said it earlier.

It's a pole frog who won't celebrate in his own pond.

These teachers are something to celebrate.

Please do the right thing.

Thank you so much.

And uh I want to recognize Councilmember Ron Salem.

Ron, why don't you come up here and join us?

Okay, well, you're so welcome to come up and make any comments, even though uh you weren't able to get here earlier.

I thank you for coming very much.

I'm sure everybody else appreciates it as well.

Okay.

Yasmina.

I I've been summoned, so wanted to come and speak for you, Mr.

Carlucci.

I don't have any remarks prepared, but I'm just gonna go off the cuff.

And I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm happy to see uh council member Salem here.

For starters, our our teachers shouldn't have had to come and be vulnerable the way they were this morning.

It was a pretty emotional meeting.

It was uh demeaning, it was a little bit taking away their dignity of how they had to put themselves out there in terms of begging for a stipend or a line item in their check to keep ends being met.

And I have to echo the sentiments of board member Bull Duke.

I have a dream where we have a legislator who wants to invest in the true education of public schools in the state of Florida, and not in the investment of vouchers and allowing wealthy people to have the voucher system and access to everything unchecked.

And and the list goes on.

We have a public school system that is supposed to be designed to serve all children, not just pick and choose who they want to serve, and we need to have the resources to support that.

And this millage is essentially becoming a resource for our teachers to make ends meet, but two children in the system, the school system, they are supported by the teachers that are here today, and that were here earlier, and the board members that make decisions on policy that impact my kids at the school level.

So, all that to say, I know I'm preaching to the choir.

I know Matt, I know you, councilman Carlucci will do the right thing.

I know you, councilwoman, uh Tyrona Clerk Murray will do the right thing.

I hope that we can get the rest of them to unanimously do the right thing as well.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, and thank you for coming, and uh for everything you do for our community and in the circles that you're in are considerable.

Okay, any other uh members of the public that would like to speak.

Okay, is there anybody um on the panel here that would like to say any last words?

I'll reemphasize what you said earlier is that the community has another opportunity to speak about this matter on Tuesday.

Should be the June the 9th at 5 p.m.

Come down to the council chamber, you'll have an opportunity to fill out the blue cards so that you can speak publicly about this issue and emphasize to the full council or the council members that are there how important this issue is.

And we emphasize our role.

Our role is not to determine whether or not the resolution should pass.

We're just a pass-through.

It's going through our hands and on to the supervisor of elections.

And it's just our job to be just that, the pass-through, not the one who decides.

So once again, just to emphasize Tuesday, five o'clock, be here, fill out the card so that you can speak, and so you can speak your mind in regards to this issue.

It is so very important.

I look at my own paycheck and I compared it to when we didn't have the mill and when we do have the mill, and it makes a huge difference.

And you're right, it is it is much easier to teach when you know you can pay your bills.

Thank you, Matt.

You're so welcome.

And thank you, Councilmember Clark Murray, for what you do in your real life as a teacher.

Do you all mind if I share a story with you real quick on how our family wound up in the public school system?

If you don't want me to, I won't.

But if I like telling grandpa, but if you don't mind, I I'd like I'd like to share with you a story that is kind of relevant.

If I can get through it, I told you I think Ron's a little bit like this too, but maybe not.

But the older we get, the more sentimental we become, and then those sentiments turn into uh eyes that tear up.

So my wife and I started our children in a private school uh in elementary, kindergarten in elementary, and I wasn't really for that, but but my wife really wanted our children to go and to this one particular private school and it was a very good private school and and uh it cost a lot of money, so I said, okay, well, we'll do that.

Felt like sending me because I went to Hendrix Avenue Elementary School, and um, and I loved Hendrix Avenue Elementary School, and uh I do to this day.

Uh you could sprinkle my ashes if I were to go that way over there on Hendrix Avenue Elementary School, but um, yeah, really.

Uh maybe H A B too, but but anyway, at the end of the day, our kids weren't quite um getting the reading skills that they needed at this private school.

They they taught reading in a different sort of way.

I'm not criticizing them, but it wasn't working for the Carlucci boys.

I have two boys.

I have a Matthew Junior, who's like 41, I can't believe it, and I got Joseph, otherwise known as Joe, and he's uh 37, I think, and um so my youngest son Joe was struggling.

He was four years behind Matthew, and um so we we uh in first grade, he got through first grade of course, he went in second grade, and and his second grade teacher said he's struggling with his reading, and we said, well, that's why we we brought our kids to Hendrix Avenue Elementary, and that's why we left the private school because we just didn't think they were getting what they needed, especially for the price that we were paying.

Um, and so uh we talked and had a conference with Miss Pilz, Susan Pilz, um, and uh and we said, look, we'll we'll read with him every night.

Uh we'll read with him on the weekends.

Uh, what else do we need to do?

Uh, do we need to get him like a tutor uh to help him uh get his reading up, and so on and so forth.

And this is what Susan Pilz said.

I mean, we couldn't believe it.

She says, No, you don't have to do all that.

She says, That's my job.

That's my job.

So let me tell you how we're gonna do this.

She says, You get him here a little bit early, and I'll read with him a little before class.

I'll read with him a little bit during lunch or lunch together.

And then after school, I'll read with him a little bit.

You let me take care of his reading.

I'm gonna tell you, in six months, that boy was reading, and he would even find books at the house to read.

I mean, I was like, wow, this lady is unbelievable in our family.

I mean, she's a gold letter lady uh in our family, and now that that youngster is vice president of this city council, Joe Carlucci, and uh, and that's just one testament as to why um I love public schools.

I could give you some other testaments.

I'm gonna give you one other testament.

I'm gonna give you one other story if I can.

So I bought a flag, I got a flag from Congresswoman Fowler.

Uh I've lost my my buddy Salem, but anyway.

Uh sorry, you you should you really should stick around with this story, Ron.

Um, come on, yeah, there you go.

That that that boy.

I I listened, I I listen to your stories, and uh I don't get a chance to tell my stories because see I'm kind of in the doghouse, y'all.

You just need to understand that, but um, so I bought this flag that that uh and I got or I bought I got it from Tilly Fowler, who's our Congressperson, flew over the Capitol, and um, so I took it to our private private school we were in for a couple years, and I said, Hey, look, I got this flag is flown over the Capitol, and we can make a big deal out of this if you want.

Would you like the flag?

And then maybe you could use it as a learning tool for the kids, and they kind of yawned.

Oh, yeah, thank you very much, and they put it on the shelf, and that was it.

And I said, I said will somebody call me when y'all will use it for whatever.

Um, sure.

Never heard a thing, not one thing.

So I just kind of forgot about it.

Then by the time we took our kids and put them over at Hendrix Avenue Elementary School, I decided to do the same thing.

So I got them a flag, and I took it to them.

Oh man, they were like, wow, this is so great.

We love it.

Thank you, thank you so much.

Now, Hendrix Avenue Elementary School, that's the home of the Eagles.

They are a national model school, and they're very patriotic at that school, and so I said, Well, if there's anything you can do to use it, I would love to see that.

And uh, so I get a call about uh six weeks later, Mr.

Carlucci, we want you to come.

We have got an event planned at our school to raise that flag, and we're gonna celebrate every flag for the beginning of our country's time until now, and then we're gonna take the old flag down, and we've got the uh the military is gonna be their retired military, they're gonna burn the old flag the right way and show the kids, and they're gonna raise the new flag that you gave us that flew over the Capitol, and so I went there, and they had all the kids out the courtyard.

Now they got the tallest flagpole you have ever seen in your life.

So they they uh went through, so all of a sudden, a parade of kids comes out with every flag for the beginning of our countries, or that's been associated with our country as in a revolution, uh, and they sang, and then we sang uh, it's a grand old flag, and then we sang.

Um the stars begged banner, and then we did the pledge of Allegiance.

Then we raised the flag, and then I don't know how it concluded.

Oh, it concluded with the song of Henry's Abner Elementary School, which I can only get about a sentence or two through.

And I can't even talk, much less single.

That I got them.

And they made it a complete learning experience about the history of this country.

That's why I love public schools.

Meeting adjourned.

We can just walt from our house and come here.

Coming to greet us and meet us and find out the things that we need in the community instead of going to City Hall and can't get to you, you know, whatever.

But I think it's a great idea, and I think it would motivate the community as well, knowing that you are doing the work for us.

So I hope that this is not one thing, not just for our community, but maybe you're spreading throughout the city of Jacksonville.

All the other districts and areas are do the same thing.

Since we've been having these events, we've been averaging anywhere, you know, um, from twenty to twenty-five people coming on the office on the block.

So, you know, and some people just want to discuss what's going on in that neighborhood.

Some people just want to meet me.

You know, some people, you know, just want to give us ideas.

All right, just find out what's going on.

At the end of the day, it's about bridging the gap, meeting the community halfway.

And that's what we, that's why we hit it today.

I just want to take the load off they plate.

You know, if I can make their life a lot easier by coming to their homes or coming to their backyard, I I made a big difference right there.

So for me, it's how can I make the constituents and the community lives a lot easier?

That's what we're here for to make a difference.

What makes our cookies unique to other shops is that they are a taller cookie due to baking directly from frozen and our recipe.

So our cookies are gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside.

It makes for the best of both worlds.

Truly, and honestly, our most popular cookie is chocolate chip.

And truly, once you've had a bite, it's probably gonna become your favorite too.

But another extremely popular one that we have for Jacksonville, is called the Duvolved delight or the DeVolve Double Chip.

And so it's semi-sweet, chocolate chips, walnuts and heath bits.

The heat bits kind of caramelize, and that one is unique to our city and our store.

Something that's also unique to us is our frozen dough to go.

So we are able to package all of our frozen dough, and you are able to bake it in the comfort of your own home.

We're also looking to get more involved in different community events.

It's something also that makes cookie fix unique.

So you will see us out at the J Fund, um, which will be coming up here in early twenty twenty-six.

And we look forward to getting more involved with some of the school fundraisers and PTAs.

So we're very grateful to be here, and thank you, Jacksonville, for all of your support.

Jacksonville, you do not sleep.

You surge.

From downtown to Durkeyville, La Villa to Riverside, Springfield of San Marco.

From the north side to Arlington.

From the west side to the beaches where the tide keeps time.

This city hums in voltage.

Through the St.

John's River, like a current that refuses stillness.

It is beautiful.

Neon light powered by an unseen force that binds us all.

Noir.

Shadow and brilliance in constant negotiation and somehow we make contrast look like culture because here we do not wait on light.

Doris McNeil stood in classrooms and opened worlds, not teaching lessons, unlocking lenses, turning curiosity into passport stamps, students into seekers, time into legacy, 40 years of saying see deeper.

Derek Trux and Susan Tadeshi turned sound into sanctuary, blues blending into soul, soul rising into something sacred, and then they gave it back.

Instruments in young hands, stages built for voices not yet heard.

Proof that when greatness circles home, it does not echo, it expands.

Willie Evans Jr.

saw no lines.

Oh, yeah, he saw the lines were not there and erased them.

Music became motion.

Film became fleeting, frame broke open.

You don't watch his work, you enter it, and that is art refusing limits.

Katie Yellow looked at space and saw possibility.

Streets turned to stages and walls to witness, communities turned to collaborators.

You see, she did not bring art to people.

She revealed the art that was already living inside of them.

Inside of you.

Darren Daly lifted voices until they sounded like tomorrow.

Hundreds, then thousands.

Harmony is discipline.

Excellence is inheritance.

Every note rising like a promise kept.

You could hear the song.

The LOL Jax Film Festival build a movement out of joy where Jacksonville finds way to carry its weight, where local stories take center stage, where creators find each other and say, let's build something that lasts.

Life and art.

The GFWC Jacksonville Beaches Women's Club made service a signature, hands extended, lives lifted, a culture of care stitched into the fabric of this city of Jacksonville.

Not for recognition, but because of responsibility.

Candice Clark created rooms where artists stands tall, where mirrors of belonging were there with access.

You see, she didn't just design it, she created a rival.

This is Neon War, Durkeyville doing, Brooklyn building, Ortiga observing, Moncrief moving, Southside stretching, beaches breathing, a city alive in every direction at once, not light despite darkness.

Light, because we understand the light.

So tonight we honor more than names.

We honor ignition and intention.

We honor those who leave brilliance lingering long after they've left the room.

Jacksonville.

Look at what you've done.

A city that learned how to glow on command early on.

A city that decided that darkness would never have a foothold here.

That darkness would never have the final word.

And that glow you see, it's not temporary or borrowed.

It's built.

It's Neon.

And it is ours.

And their families, it means a lot to us to bring their families here and support them and show them the love that the city has for their family members and the JFRD and employees.

Today is a time for us to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, those who were selflessly serving our city and died in line of duty.

And so once a year, we come together and not only remember and honor and reflect on what they did for us, but we also make sure the families that they really know that we're all here for them, and that we will never forget their loved ones who have given their all for us.

And so that's that's what it means for us.

But also it's a time for us to say it shouldn't just be one day a year.

So let's make sure every day we remember and respect and honor those who serve us, not only those who have gone before us, but also those who are still serving.

We need to make sure they understand we have their back, and we're gonna be there for them no matter what.

So this is a tough job.

This is a dangerous job, and if we've got to remember them because they'll be unfortunately more names in the future added to this wall.

We do all we can to make it as safe as we can, but there's things that like they have dangerous.

But we've got to always remember them, and we will day spa is a place for women who are dealing with uh any of the challenges of life.

When you come here, this is a luxury spa that donates a percentage to our private foundation.

So this is not a nonprofit spa, this is a for-profit spa that gives back.

The stories that I've heard are miraculous, and just getting to give back and love on them has it's been amazing, and so if you come, you're a part of that.

So just coming and getting a massage here, you're not only taking care of yourself, but you're giving back.

Welcome to Jax Plus, Jacksonville's public information television channel, your go-to source for the stories, services, and updates that shape our city.

From public safety messages and the central news to in-depth profiles, community features, and citywide developments.

Plus keeps you connected and informed.

Whether you're a resident, business owner, community leader, or stakeholder, this is your channel for all things Jacksonville.

Updated regularly and available anytime.

Before I move on, I'd like to recognize, although he is not here, it is in the program our president of the Jacksonville City Council, Kevin Carrico, Vice President Nick Howland, and members of the City Council who are there.

Could you salute my colleagues, please from the City Council who work so diligently to ensure thank you council members to make sure these things like this breakfast continues moving.

Now, today we're standing in a space where history breathes and responsibility listens.

There are people who understand Dr.

King's legacy was so much more than just speech speeches.

It required structure and discipline, but most importantly, love that was strong enough to endure.

And Mrs.

Linny Hilliard Finley is one of those people who understand.

Now, at the beginning of this breakfast, uh, there were visionaries like someone seated here with us, Ronnie Ferguson, who at the time was president of the Urban League, State Representative Willie Dennis, Bail and Sandy Bond, and later Wally Lee, who helped to create what this gathering is and has become.

But it was one small and I won't say quiet, but certainly dedicated individual, and that was Lenny Finley, who took the idea from that table of brotherhood and made it a reality.

As vice president of community development for the Jacksonville Urban League, she built the operational soul of what we know as this breakfast.

Mrs.

Finley booked speakers, cultivated tomorrow's leaders, and did the work to align partners that solved problems before they even arrived.

She did this year after year and made sure the trains ran on time.

And when challenges appeared, Mrs.

Finley pledged forward.

When obstacles arose, Lenny Finley could find a way.

Now, this moment is deeply personal for me because I was there at the beginning at the table, watching her work.

I was the first youth speaker for this Martin Luther King breakfast.

I'm not gonna tell you how many years ago that was.

Uh, but Mrs.

Finley believed in me before I knew what belief was.

You see, the breakfast committee had asked me to say the I have a dream speech.

And as you can imagine, I was a kind of different child, and I told them that I would rather not say the I Have a Dream speech, Dr.

Danford.

I would rather write my own speech.

And instead of pushing me back, pushing me back, Mrs.

Finley said that she believed in me.

I said I'd rather speak to a moment that was here instead of repeating familiar words, and she protected my voice and ensured the truth remained intact.

And that's who she's always been, a builder of people and institutions.

So that is why today it's my honor to present the first ever Martin Luther King Jr.

Lifetime Achievement Award to Mrs.

Linny Hilliard Finley.

Now, I will say this.

I do have the award here.

Mrs.

Finley is not here with us today.

Uh, she's not here in person because she has some health challenges, but I want you all to know this.

She is watching.

She knows we are here, and her legacy lives in this room.

Please recognize in table DH to my right, your left, her family, the Hilliard and Finley family.

Would you please stand for Mrs.

Finley?

I see her niece, her brothers and sisters, best friend, the family of Mrs.

Finley will make sure she gets this award and as well as the Urban League family because of her leadership.

We are better because of her sacrifice.

We are stronger because of her vision.

I'm looking at my colleague Jacoby Pittman, who also Jacoby was the president of the Urban League Auxiliary.

And Mrs.

Finley was right there ensuring that this community did the right thing.

So today, even though she is not here, let's honor her with our prayers, our positive thoughts, but most of all, in the spirit of brotherhood, let's give Mrs.

Finley our love.

Thank you, Miss Finley, for being the best of us and making us better.

You are how we move Duval forward.

Congratulations.

God bless you all, and God bless the great city of Jacksonville.

Thank you.

Hello, and welcome to City Hall.

We invite you to learn a little bit about how Jacksonville City Council works and how young people can have a front row seat for city government.

Every law we have in place starts with an idea.

Those ideas come from a council member, the mayor, or even a citizen.

It is then drafted into a bill, assigned a number, and introduced at a council meeting.

From there, it's sent to one or more committees, where council members study it, ask questions, and get input from the public.

After committee review, the city council debates the bill and takes a final vote.

If it passes, it's sent to the mayor for signature or veto.

This process ensures transparency and gives our community a voice in shaping policy.

One of the best ways for students to see the process in action is by serving as a council page.

Page is helped during council meetings by assisting legislative services division and experiencing local government up close.

It is a unique opportunity to learn about civic engagement, leadership, and how decisions are made that impact our community every day.

If you or someone you know would like to be a page, we encourage you to contact the Jacksonville City Council Office.

And we look forward to welcoming you to City Hall.

Hey guys, today we're here at River City Science Academy at the Elementary students here for fourth graders, 10-year-olds.

And every time I do the reading, I always get extremely nervous here.

They are walking in.

20 students that I'm gonna read to today.

So let's see how this goes.

Wish me luck.

Hi!

I would not be the same person seeing Philadelphia as when I left home.

The horses are eating all that straw.

That's what they put over the belt to cover it, hide it.

That was one of the best things I think we've done because it has to do with safety to make sure that nobody gets into car accidents.

So today we visited River City Science Academy.

As you saw, the kids were extremely engaged in the book, but also just asking questions just like any kid will ask.

One of the biggest questions was what do city council members do for a living?

Well, I told them we repair a lot of potholes, we'll have customer service hotline essentially for Autumn Jacksonville.

We asked about laws and legislation, so they were definitely engaged and eager to learn more about what the city council does.

That's one of the most important things about what we do is that fact that we actually get to give back to our community.

It's not just about being at City Hall in our office, going back into the community, talking to students, talking to the community in general, educating them as to what we do.

Definitely inspires kids to actually want to do this as a profession, or even inspire others and mentor them.

So we had a great day today at River City Science Academy with the fourth graders, 10-year-olds.

Uh, like you said, reading the books and just being being with them together.

This today was a very impactful day, and I love doing what we do.

This right here is the reason why I ran for City Council, and I encourage any of my council members to do the same.

Alright guys, so today we are here at River City Science Academy.

This is our third reading in one week for Read Across America.

The goal is very simple to motivate children's and teen to read, to promote literacy across America.

We've read to third graders and fourth graders, and today, like I said, we're here at River City Science Academy, just reading to all these kids and enjoying some time with them.

This is what it's all about being a city council member, connecting not only with the adults but also the children to motivate them and inspire them to do good for our city.

Bye.

It's a riverfront, family-friendly park that connects the rest of the South Bank.

What I love about this playground is it was designed to obviously get kids out of the house and play outside, but the way it was designed is to challenge them and for them to take risks on the playground.

That's something that we need more of, in my opinion, just for our young generation.

We're gonna continue to push that forward.

So this is just the start, and this is just the taste of what we're gonna see more of.

My name is uh Scott Alters, and this is my wife Gabrielle.

We are the owners along with our business partners David and Matthew Maduro of Salea Riviera Cafe here in San Marco.

So the original idea for this restaurant uh started while uh Gabrielle and I were on vacation in the French Riviera in the city of Nice, uh sitting in a restaurant, an oyster bar on the Place Massena, enjoying the town square there in Nice, drinking champagne, and we thought, man, San Marco could really use something like this.

Big favorite is gonna be our Porchetta sandwich, roasted pork coin.

It's served with fresh baked faccia that's made every day with um grammarized onions.

Cocktail program is focusing on the aperitif itself.

I've got a list of five different Negronies on the menu and a whole spritz menu.

Uh Happy Hour features uh $10 spritzes and negronis, and we're open late night.

Well, we're so happy to be here for the full city council for our annual serve day with the Salzbacher Center.

Uh it's an annual tradition that we've been doing for years, and I'm happy as the council president to keep the tradition going.

We've got a great turnout.

It's something that really builds camaraderie for uh for the members.

Sometimes we have our little issues from time to time with our meetings, but a day like this is not just good for the community, but it's good for the body for the council to get together uh with a common purpose and help out the community, and it means a lot to the folks we've been serving today.

They've been so appreciative.

They've all said thank you.

We appreciate you, you know, taking the time to come out and it's good.

It gives them uh hope that uh their city and their leaders care about them because we do, and uh it's just my pleasure to be here as the council president to lead this group today.

It's tough to see a lot of solutions for, but there are solutions.

We are working to make sure the lives of everyone who live in Duval County is getting better, it's getting more prosperous.

And for folks that are here today, we expect to see them being productive members of society in the next several weeks, months, and years.

Everyone's gonna get a piece of the pie.

That's what we should be pushing for.

But to go out into the community so that the community sees us basically emulating what we want communities to do.

We don't want it just to be city council, and we don't want it to be just the community, but it needs to be a partnership, and I think it shows that we're putting forth the effort.

They see the Jacksville City Council out here.

We care about them.

We we've put a lot of resources over the last year or two into the homeless population, and hopefully they see that.

Well, I think it's really important for us to be out in the front lines and where the services are.

Work in the nonprofit sector is so vital to our community.

We as a as a council need to appreciate that and be able to see it firsthand really was helpful.

Well, during the holidays, people are suffering a lot.

Um they're missing their loved ones, or they're together with their loved ones, or they might be missing the essential needs.

In the city of Jacksonville.

The least we can do is help serve them and bring them a little Christmas cheer.

I wish them the very best through the holidays, be safe, be happy, connect with family, and just um take care of themselves and enjoy themselves.

Soul Sparker does a wonderful job of feeding and there are other homeless entities here in town, and we want to try to help them get back on their feet and be uh productive citizen.

I'd love for them all to know that we care, you know, that their situation, their life situation, their journey matters to us.

And I hope that we uh share that in our comments.

Just want to wish them a happy holidays and let them know that if they're going through something, there's always uh a resolution on the other side.

Stay in prayer.

Uh stay positive, and uh no matter what your situation is, it can always improve, and there's always hope and opportunity, and this city loves them.

Jacksonville has no shortage of wing spots, but not all wings are created the same.

At bold city wings, everything starts from scratch.

Fresh chicken, clean, prepped, and seasoned the right way.

Here it's not about covering the flavor with sauce, it's about building it from the ground up.

Every sauce is made in-house, crafted to complement the seasoning.

And yeah, it might cost a little more, but that's because you're paying for quality, for the care, for the time that goes into every single order.

This isn't fast food, this is an experience built on Jacksonville roots, family tradition, and a passion for doing things the right way.

If you're looking for cheap wings, this might not be your spot.

But if you're looking for real flavor, you just found it.

A lot of seniors, a lot of individuals who are out cars, call my office and let me know they can make it to City Hall.

It's in the area where I live at, you know, we can just walk from our house and come here.

Coming to greet us and meet us and find out the things that we need in the community instead of going to City Hall and can't get to you, you know, whatever.

But I think it's a great idea.

And I think it would motivate the community as well, knowing that you out there doing the work for us.

So I hope that this just not one thing, and not just for our community, but maybe you're spreading throughout the city of Jacksonville.

All the other districts and areas are do the same thing.

Since we've been having these events, we've been averaging anywhere.

You know, um, from 20 to 25 people coming on our office on the block.

So, you know, and some people just want to discuss what's going on in their neighborhood.

Some people just want to meet me.

You know, some people, you know, just want to give us ideas, or just find out what's going on.

At the end of the day, it's about bridging the gap, meeting the community halfway.

And that's what we that's why we hit it today.

I just want to take the load off they plate.

You know, if I can make their life a lot easier by coming to their homes, uh coming to their backyard.

I I made a big difference right there.

So for me, it's how can I make the constituents and the community lives a lot easier.

That's what we're here for to make a difference.

What makes our cookies unique to other shops is that they are a taller cookie due to baking directly from frozen and our recipe.

So our cookies are gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside.

It makes for the best of both worlds.

Truly, and honestly, our most popular cookie is chocolate chip.

And truly, once you had a bite, it's probably gonna become your favorite too.

But another extremely popular one that we have for Jacksonville is called the Duval Delight or the Deval Double Chip.

And so it's semi-sweet, chocolate chips, walnuts, and heath bits.

The heath bits kind of caramelized.

Um, and that one is unique to our city and our store.

Something that's also unique to us is our frozen dough to go.

So we are able to package all of our frozen dough, and you are able to bake it in the comfort of your own home.

We're also looking to get more involved in different community events.

It's something also that makes cookie fix unique.

So you will see us out at the J Fund, um, which will be coming up here in early 2026.

And we look forward to getting more involved with some of the school fundraisers and PTAs.

So we're very grateful to be here, and thank you, Jacksonville for all of your support.

Jacksonville, you do not sleep.

You surge from downtown to Durkeyville, La Villa to Riverside, Springfield of San Marco, from the north side to Arlington, from the west side to the beaches where the tide keeps time.

This city hums in voltage.

Through the St.

John's River, like a current that refuses stillness, it is beautiful.

Neon like powered by an unseen force that binds us all.

Noir.

Shadow and brilliance in constant negotiation, and somehow we make contrast look like culture because here we do not wait on light.

We become it.

Doris McNeil stood in classrooms and opened worlds, not teaching lessons, unlocking lenses, turning curiosity into passport stamps, students into seekers, time into legacy, 40 years of saying, see, deeper.

Derek Trucks and Susan Tadeshi turned sound into sanctuary, blues blending into soul, soul rising into something sacred, and then they gave it back.

Instruments and young hands.

Stages built for voices not yet heard.

Proof that when greatness circles home, it does not echo.

It expands.

Willie Evans Jr.

saw no lines.

Oh, yeah.

He saw the lines were not there and erased them.

Music became motion, film became fleeting, frame broke open.

You don't watch his work, you enter it.

And that is art refusing limits.

Katie Yellow looked at space and saw possibility.

Streets turned to stages and walls to witness.

Communities turn to collaborators.

You see, she did not bring art to people.

She revealed the art that was already living inside of them.

Inside of you.

Darren Daly lifted voices until they sounded like tomorrow.

Hundreds in thousands.

Harmony is discipline.

Excellence is inheritance.

Every note rising like a promise kept.

You could hear the song.

The LOL Jax Film Festival, build a movement out of joy, where Jacksonville finds way to carry its weight, where local stories take center stage, where creators find each other and say, let's build something that lasts.

Because sometimes that's where growth becomes life and art.

The GFWC Jacksonville Beaches Women's Club made service a signature, hands extended, lives lifted, a culture of care stitched into the fabric of this city of Jacksonville.

Not for recognition, but because of responsibility.

Candace Clark created rooms where artists stands tall, where mirrors of belonging were there with access.

You see, she didn't just design it, she created a rival.

This is Neon War, Durkeville doing, Brooklyn building, Ortiga observing, Moncrief moving, Southside stretching, beaches breathing, a city alive in every direction at once.

Not light despite darkness.

Light, because we understand the light.

So tonight we honor more than names.

We honor ignition and intention.

We honor those who leave brilliance lingering long after they've left the room.

Jacksonville, look at what you've done.

A city that learned how to glow on command early on.

A city that decided that darkness would never have a foothold here.

That darkness would never have the final word.

And that glow you see, it's not temporary or borrowed.

It's built.

It's neon.

And it is ours.

With the sacrifices, all these men on the wall, twenty-eight men on the wall, the sacrifice that made and their families.

It means a lot to us to bring their families here.

Support them and show them the love that the city has for their family members and the JFRD and boys.

Today is a time for us to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, those who were selflessly serving our city and died in line of duty.

And so once a year, we come together and not only remember and honor and reflect on what they did for us, but we also make sure the families that they really know that we're all here for them and that we will never forget their loved ones who have given their all for us.

And so that's that's what it means for us, but also it's a time for us to say it shouldn't just be one day a year, so let's make sure every day we remember and respect and honor those who serve us, not only those who have gone before us, but also those who are still serving.

We need to make sure they understand we have their back, and we're gonna be there for them no matter what.

So this is a tough job.

This is a dangerous job, and if we've got to remember them because they will be unfortunately more names in the future added to this wall.

We did all we can to make it as safe as we can, but they're saying it's like they have dangerous, but we gotta always remember them.

And we will day spa is a place for women who are dealing with uh any of the challenges of life.

When you come here, this is a luxury spa that donates a percentage to our private foundation.

So this is not a nonprofit spa, this is a for-profit spa that gives back.

The stories that I've heard are miraculous, and just getting to give back and love on them has it's been amazing.

And so if you come, you're a part of that.

So just coming and getting a massage here, you're not only taking care of yourself, but you're getting back.

Welcome to Jax Plus, Jacksonville's public information television channel, your go-to source for the stories, services, and updates that shape our city.

From public safety messages and the central news to in-depth profiles, community features, and citywide developments.

Jax Plus keeps you connected and informed, whether you're a resident, business owner, community leader, or stakeholder, this is your channel for all things Jacksonville.

Updated regularly and available anytime, Jax Plus airs on Roku, YouTube, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and streams live on the City of Jacksonville website.

This is your city.

This is Jax Plus.

Maya Angelou once said, on the pulse of morning, and this morning our city gathers again to remember and to recommit to progress.

Before I move on, I'd like to recognize, although he is not here, it is in the program.

Our president of the Jacksonville City Council, Kevin Carico, Vice President Nick Howland, and members of the city council who are there.

Uh, could you salute my colleagues, please from the city council who work so diligently to ensure thank you, Council members, to make sure these things like this breakfast continues moving.

Now, today we're standing in a space where history breathes and responsibility listens.

There are people who understand Dr.

King's legacy was so much more than just speech speeches.

It required structure and discipline, but most importantly, love that was strong enough to endure.

And Mrs.

Linny Hilliard Finley is one of those people who understand.

Now, at the beginning of this breakfast, uh, there were visionaries like someone seated here with us, Ronnie Ferguson, who at the time was president of the urban league, state representative Willie Dennis, Bail and Sandy Bond, and later Wally Lee, who helped to create what this gathering is and has become.

But it was one small and I won't say quiet, but certainly dedicated individual, and that was Lenny Finley, who took the idea from that table of brotherhood and made it a reality.

As Vice President of Community Development for the Jacksonville Urban League, she built the operational soul of what we know as this breakfast.

Mrs.

Finley booked speakers, cultivated tomorrow's leaders, and did the work to align partners that solved problems before they even arrived.

She did this year after year and made sure the trains ran on time.

And when challenges appeared, Mrs.

Friendly pressed forward.

When obstacles arose, Lenny Finley could find a way.

Now, this moment is deeply personal for me because I was there at the beginning at the table watching her work.

I was the first youth speaker for this Martin Luther King breakfast.

I'm not gonna tell you how many years ago that was.

But Mrs.

Finley believed in me before I knew what belief was.

You see, the breakfast committee had asked me to say the I have a dream speech.

And as you can imagine, I was a kind of different child, and I told them that I would rather not say the I have a dream speech, Dr.

Danford.

I would rather write my own speech.

And instead of pushing me back, pushing me back, Mrs.

Finley said that she believed in me.

I said I'd rather speak to a moment that was here instead of repeating familiar words.

And she protected my voice and ensured the truth remained intact.

And that's who she's always been, a builder of people and institutions.

So that is why today it's my honor to present the first ever Martin Luther King Jr.

Lifetime Achievement Award to Mrs.

Linny, Hilliard Finley.

Now, I will say this.

I do have the award here.

Mrs.

Finley is not here with us today.

She's not here in person because she has some health challenges, but I want you all to know this.

She is watching.

She knows we are here, and her legacy lives in this room.

Please recognize in table DH to my right, your left, her family, the Hilliard and Finley family.

Would you please stand for Mrs.

Finley?

I see her niece, her brothers and sisters, best friend, the family of Mrs.

Finley.

We'll make sure she gets this award, and as well as the Urban League family, because of her leadership.

We are better because of her sacrifice.

We are stronger because of her vision.

I'm looking at my colleague Jacoby Pittman, who also Jacoby was the president of the Urban League Auxiliary.

And Mrs.

Finley was right there, ensuring that this community did the right thing.

So today, even though she is not here, let's honor her with our prayers, our positive thoughts, but most of all, in the spirit of brotherhood, let's give Mrs.

Finley our love.

Thank you, Miss Finley, for being the best of us and making us better.

You are how we move Duval forward.

Congratulations.

God bless you all and God bless the great city of Jacksonville.

Thank you.

Hello, and welcome to City Hall.

We invite you to learn a little bit about how Jacksonville City Council works and how young people can have a front row seat for city government.

Every law we have in place starts with an idea.

Those ideas come from a council member, the mayor, or even a citizen.

It is then drafted into a bill, assigned a number, and introduced at a council meeting.

From there, it's sent to one or more committees where council members study it, ask questions, and get input from the public.

After committee review, the city council debates the bill and takes a final vote.

If it passes, it's sent to the mayor for signature or veto.

This process ensures transparency and gives our community a voice in shaping policy.

One of the best ways for students to see the process in action is by serving as a council page.

Page is helped during council meetings by assisting legislative services division and experiencing local government up close.

It is a unique opportunity to learn about civic engagement, leadership, and how decisions are made that impact our community every day.

If you or someone you know would like to be a page, we encourage you to contact the Jacksonville City Council office.

And we look forward to welcoming you to City Hall.

Hey guys, today we're here at River City Science Academy at the elementary students here for fourth graders, 10 year olds.

And every time I do the reading, I always get extremely nervous.

Here they are walking in.

20 students that I'm gonna read to today, so let's see how this goes.

Wish me luck.

I would not be the same person seeing Philadelphia as when I left home.

The horses are eating all that straw.

That's what they put over the belt, cover to hide it.

That was one of the best things I think we've done because it has to be a safe to make sure that nobody gets into car accidents.

So today we visited River City Science Academy as we saw the kids were extremely engaged in the book, but also just asking questions, just like any kid will ask.

One of the biggest questions was what do city council members do for a living?

Well, I told them we repair a lot of potholes and we're a customer service hotline essentially for Autumn Jacksonville.

They asked about laws and legislation, so they were definitely engaged and eager to learn more about what the city council does.

That's one of the most important things about what we do is that the fact that we actually get to give back to our community.

It's not just about being at City Hall in our office.

Going back into the community, talking to students, talking to the community in general, educating them as to what we do.

Definitely inspires kids to actually want to do this as a profession or even inspire others and mentor them.

So we had a great day today at River City Science Academy with the fourth graders, 10-year-olds, like you said, reading the books and just being being with them together.

This today was a very impactful day, and I love doing what we do.

This right here is the reason why I ran for City Council, and I encourage any of my council members to do the same.

Alright guys, so today we are here at River City Science Academy.

This is our third reading in one week for Read Across America.

The goal is very simple to motivate children's and team to read, to promote literacy across America.

We've read to third graders and fourth graders.

And today, like I said, we're here at River City Science Academy, just reading to all these kids and enjoying some time with them.

This is what it's all about being a city council member, connecting not only with the adults, but also the children to motivate them and inspire them to do good for our city.

Bye.

It's a riverfront, family-friendly park that connects the rest of the South Bank.

What I love about this playground is it was designed to obviously get kids out of the house and play outside, but the way it was designed is to challenge them and for them to take risks on the playground.

That's something that we need more of, in my opinion, just for our young generation.

We're gonna have a dog park, we're gonna have more tennis courts.

We're gonna continue to push that forward.

So this is just the start, and this is just the taste of what we're gonna see more of.

We are the owners along with our business partners, David and Matthew Maduro of Salea Riviera Cafe here in San Marco.

So the original idea for this restaurant uh started while uh Gabrielle and I were on vacation in the French Riviera in the city of Nice, uh sitting in a restaurant, an oyster bar on the Place Massena, enjoying the town square there in Nice, drinking champagne, and we thought, man, San Marco could really use something like this.

Big favorite is gonna be our Porchetta sandwich.

Roasted pork coin.

It's served with fresh baked facasha that's made every day with um Grammar Light's onions.

Cocktail program is focusing on the aperitif itself.

I've got a list of five different Negronis on the menu and a whole spritz menu.

Uh happy hour features uh $10 spritzes and negronis, and we're open late night.

Well, we're so happy to be here for the full city council for our annual serve day with the Salesbacher Center, and it's an annual tradition that we've been doing for years, and I'm happy as the council president to keep the tradition going.

We've got a great turnout.

It's something that really builds camaraderie for uh for the members.

Sometimes we have our little issues from time to time with our meetings, but a day like this is not just good for the community, but it's good for the body for the council to get together uh with a common purpose and help out the community, and it means a lot to the folks we've been serving today.

They've been so appreciative.

They've all said thank you.

We appreciate you, you know, taking the time to come out, and it's good.

It gives them uh hope that uh their city and their leaders care about them because we do, and uh it's just my pleasure to be here as the council president to to lead this group today.

Know that the political process is is sometimes tough to see a lot of solutions for, but there are solutions.

We are working to make sure the lives of everyone who live in Duval County is getting better is getting more prosperous and for folks that are here today we expect to to see them being productive members of society in the next several weeks months and years everyone's gonna get a piece of the pie that's what we should be pushing for to go out into the community so that the community sees us basically emulating what we want communities to do.

We don't want it just to be city council and we don't want it to be just the community but it needs to be a partnership and I think it shows that we're putting forth the effort they see the Jacksville City Council out here we care about them.

We we put a lot of resources over the last year or two into the homeless population and hopefully they see that well I think it's really important for us to be out in the front lines and where the services are working the nonprofit sector is so vital to our community and we as a as a council need to appreciate that and be able to see it firsthand really is helpful.

Well during the holidays people are suffering a lot um they're missing their loved ones or they're together with their loved ones or they might be missing the essential needs and Solzparker helps fill that void for those who have the least in the city of Jacksonville the least we can do is help serve them and bring them a little Christmas cheer.

I wish them the very best through the holidays be safe be happy connect with family and just um take care of themselves and enjoy themselves.

I'd love for them all to know that we care you know that their situation their life situation their journey matters to us and I hope that we uh share that in our comments.

Just want to wish them a happy holidays and let them know that if they're going through something there's always a resolution on the other side stay in prayer uh stay positive and uh no matter what your situation is it can always improve and there's always hope and opportunity and this city loves them.

Jacksonville has no shortage of wing spots but not all wings are created the same at bold city wings everything starts from scratch fresh chicken clean prepped and seasoned the right way here is not about covering the flavor with sauce it's about building it from the ground up every sauce is made in-house crafted to complement the seasoning and yeah it might cost a little more but that's because you're paying for quality for the care and for the time that goes into every single order.

This isn't fast food this is an experience built on Jacksonville roots family tradition and a passion for doing things the right way.

If you're looking for cheap wings this might not be your spot but if you're looking for real flavor you just found it to be a lot of seniors a lot of individuals who are out cars call my office and let me know they can make it to City Hall.

It's in the area where I live at you know we can just walk from our house and come here and come and to greet us and meet us and find out the things that we need in the community instead of going to city hall and can't get to you know whatever but I think it's a great idea and I think it would motivate the community as well knowing that you out there doing the work for us.

So I hope that this is not one thing and not just for our community but maybe it's been throughout the city of Jacksonville.

All the other districts and areas are do the same thing.

Since we've been having these events we've been averaging anywhere you know from 20 to 25 people coming on the office on the block.

So you know and some people just want to discuss what's going on in their neighborhood some people just want to meet me.

You know, some people, you know, just want to give us ideas.

All right, just find out what's going on.

At the end of the day, it's about bridging the gap, meeting the community halfway.

And that's what we, that's why we're here today.

I just want to take the load off they plate.

You know, if I can make their life a lot easier by coming to their homes, uh coming to their backyard, I made a big difference right there.

So for me, it's how can I make the constituents and the community lives a lot easier.

That's what we're here for to make a difference.

What makes our cookies unique to other shops is that they are a taller cookie due to baking directly from frozen and our recipe.

So our cookies are gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside.

It makes for the best of both worlds.

Truly, and honestly, our most popular cookie is chocolate chip.

And truly, once you've had a bite, it's probably gonna become your favorite too.

But another extremely popular one that we have for Jackson Mill is called the Duval Delight or the Devolved Double Chip.

And so it's semi-sweet, chocolate chips, walnuts, and heath bits.

The Heath Bits kind of caramelized.

Um, and that one is unique to our city and our store.

Something that's also unique to us is our frozen dough to go.

So we are able to package all of our frozen dough, and you are able to bake it in the comfort of your own home.

We're also looking to get more involved in different community events.

It's something also that makes cookie fix unique.

So you will see us out at the J Fund, which will be coming up here in early 2026, and we look forward to getting more involved with some of the school fundraisers and PTAs