Well, good morning, everyone.

Welcome to our Monday, July 20th rules meeting.

Uh call the meeting to order.

We'll go ahead and start to my left with introductions of Mr.

Dennis.

Good morning, Garrett Dennis administration.

Colin Hamsey, Council Research.

Carla Shell, Office of General Counsel.

Tristake Carriher, Council Auditor's Office.

Jacobi Pittman, District 10.

Ron Salem, group two at large.

Kenamara, City Council District 1.

Mike Gay, District 2.

Will Lane and District 3.

Terrence Freeman at large group one.

Good morning, Michael Boylan, District 6.

Good morning, Nick Holland at large group three.

Just visiting.

Good morning, Commander James S.

Pelusa, United States Navy and District 7, Councilmember.

Just visiting.

Good morning, Matt Carluccia at large group four.

All right.

Welcome, visiting council members and Council President.

Glad to have you this morning.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I just want to recogni uh recognize uh that uh councilmember gay is the new chair of the rules committee.

Um wonderful.

And uh this is an August body.

I'm excited for uh rules and the work they will do this year.

And I hope everyone had a like I said prior to the mayor's proposed budget.

I hope everyone had an opportunity to rest, recharge and uh prepare for the council year ahead.

Um just wanted to address one quick thing, why rules is going first.

Uh there's myriad reasons for that, but the not least of which is when we see people who are volunteering in their time um to serve on a city border commission, uh, talking to many of them, they'd much prefer that we have a 9 a.m.

meeting and then get them approved and get them out of here uh rather than take them out of work in the middle of the day at 1 p.m.

Um so that's one of the main reasons for putting rules first.

Um but I look forward to a fantastic council year and uh thanks for taking the home, Mike.

Appreciate it.

All right, thank you, sir.

Uh also with a little bit more housekeeping.

Uh I'm gonna turn it over to Mr.

Councilmember Bolin.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

As you might recall, colleagues, past year, we uh modified council rules with with respect to attendance and the process for doing that.

And I want to make sure that we that everyone is aware of this process.

Traditionally in the past, we've uh if a council member was not going to be in attendance meeting, he would just put out a notice saying I have an excused absence.

Going forward, the that request for an excused absence must go through the committee chair or the council president, depending on uh the the meeting that's going to be held.

So in the future, if you anticipate you're not going to be able to attend a meeting, you will need to reach out to the council committee chair in this situation to let him know and get permission from him to be truly an excused absence from the meeting.

And no more than two members can be excused from meeting.

If a council member, and obviously there are some as you would go back and take a look at the the rules and Ms.

Carla can speak to this if she if she needs to.

There are circumcircumstances, military uh health issues, et cetera, that kind of thing that come up unexpectedly is very different.

We're just talking about the fact that we all know full well a year in advance when every committee meeting is, when every council meeting is, and all I'm looking to do is make sure that we do our responsibility in attending these meetings.

While not buried into in in into that, I'd love any questions.

I'd appreciate them.

Uh it's also a standing uh rule, a council rule that before leaving the DS, whether it be a full council meeting or a committee meeting, you must get the permission of the chair or their council president to walk away.

Uh that helps very much so in two two situations, obviously during public uh comment.

We regularly see, and we have to use our legislative uh council to assist us in making sure we maintain a quorum.

That really is the responsibility of the chair or the presiding member of the council.

So uh we want to make sure you're there.

And then secondly, people don't walk on votes.

Uh if you're in the room and you want to leave the room, uh again, you need to get the permission of the chair.

Otherwise, we'll find another way of addressing that if necessary.

I hope that's helpful.

Uh just trying to raise the professionalism of our responsibilities and the way we operate and understand that we know it's uh it's up to us to serve you know our our constituents properly.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

All right, thank you for that.

Uh Dr.

Salem, you're recognized.

Through the care chair to Councilmember Boylan.

How would that permission occur?

I don't think you want us getting on the uh doing what I'm doing right now.

Walk by and tap him on the shoulder and advise him you're stepping out for a few minutes.

I I just want to make sure we're all doing the same thing here.

Yeah, I'd appreciate that.

And it really, as far as the excused absence, that it's really the process is at the discretion of the chair as a highway to handle it.

I'm talking about just stepping out for a few minutes.

Stepping out for a few minutes.

Number number one, once we get down to no more than four, then we can't take any action.

That's pure and simple.

He we was trying to give some respect to the chair to say, hey, I'm gonna walk out of here, give me a nod of the head is sufficient in order to make that happen.

But or can you be back here by so-and-so we can take a vote on that matter?

Make sense.

Got it.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Thank you all for the information.

Um moving forward with the the committee.

You know, I feel like we've got an all-star lineup of committee members here.

Uh, so I feel like we'll be able to uh get the the work of the people done uh efficiently and effectively here.

Uh I will have public comment that will be uh for three minutes that I'll allow the public to speak.

And in our comments when we open up discussions, um I always want to make sure everybody's voice on the dias heard.

Um so I I'm not gonna put limits on how much time anybody can speak, but be on point, be uh respectful of our time, and and let's if it gets into uh repetitive and uh keep keep wanting to get on the queue and and it's repetitive.

I ask you to let's streamline it and get you know uh let's just move forward.

But uh anything, any questions.

Uh I'm open, uh ask and and I'll work with anybody anyway uh that that's needed on here on the dice, and just like I say, let's just be mindful and on point for all our discussions.

So with that, we'll go ahead and move forward to our agenda.

Uh we've uh handed out a uh an agenda that we'll go ahead and take some action items first.

Uh the first item that we'll be taking action on is page 13 item number 19 2026 0515.

Can you get a motion on the bill?

Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I've got a motion and a second on the bill.

Okay.

All right.

Is Michelle Begley here?

Good morning.

Go ahead and uh if you would give your name and address for the record and give us a little bit of information on uh why you're interested in this position and and uh the reasoning why you want to be in this position.

Thank you.

This is good morning.

Can you hear me?

No.

Louder.

Oh, there you go.

Good morning.

Um, I'm Michelle Bagley.

I live in Jacksonville on the in East Darlington.

I'm currently the acting city compontler, and and I appreciate the opportunity to apply for the job.

Um, I've been in city government accounting for and auditing for 36 years, and I have been doing this type of work for a long time.

And so I just uh I welcome the opportunity to serve the city in this capacity.

All right.

Um Mr.

Lannon, you're recognized.

Uh thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Chair Morning, Miss Begley.

Uh, me and Miss Begley have a meeting this afternoon, so I'm gonna be voting yes.

I can't imagine there's gonna be something that comes up in our one-on-one meeting this afternoon.

I won't uh vote yes for you at the full council meeting, uh, but just be uh between the recess schedule and not knowing I was rules, we're not able to connect prior to that going forward.

I'll intend to connect with all the appointees prior to the rules committee.

Thank you.

Let's go to councilmember bowling.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, I strongly encourage my colleagues, if you've not taken the time to look at Ms.

Begley's uh resume, it's very impressive as you heard a number of years working within the public sector.

We had an extended conversation on Saturday.

Appreciate you taking the time to do that.

Uh, look forward to uh supporting her and looking forward to seeing her having a larger presence at committee meeting so she can speak to the challenges and opportunities that we as a council face.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to past president Freeman.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, and uh through the chair to Ms.

Bagley.

One, thank you so much for uh coming today and being before us.

I too want to commend you uh for one filling out the questionnaire.

Uh a lot of people forget to do that, and it kind of helps uh in the communication of things.

Uh but 36 years of experience, 10 years with Duval County School Board.

Uh it's really, really impressive.

Um, one of my favorite questions to always go look at is number four when it says, How do you plan to collaborate with other board and commission members and or community stakeholders to achieve desired outcomes?

I love to hear the thought process of someone of individuals coming in this space.

And you just wrote that city council approves ordinances of the legislation.

The department strives to ensure that objectives of such ordinances and other legislation are properly accounted for in the financial records.

Community stakeholders may occasionally provide feedback or input to be taken into consideration as other departments perform their studies.

I love hearing you say that.

And I really uh implore you to continue with that thought process as something that really gives me the confidence that as we pass legislation and the executive office uh executes it that uh the records will properly reflect that.

So thank you so much.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to council member Pivan.

Exactly.

First of all, I want to just thank you for your service.

That's a long time.

You must be started when you was 12, right.

Um I uh ask you, I know you've been with the city a long time.

If you had an opportunity to change anything in that department um for the better, what would that be?

Um through council member Pittman through the chair.

Um I've had the opportunity to be in the department now almost two years, and so I've gotten to observe a lot of gotten to learn staff and processes and that type of thing.

And where I've been in government a long time, I've picked up a lot of different techniques and procedures and that and policies.

And any place I've ever been, it doesn't matter how good they are.

There's always room for improvement.

And so I would hope that I know there's been challenges also with um our ERP system, and so I've been working with technology to uh make some improvements in that area, but I also hope to look at the full scope of the department and implement um process efficiencies where they can be.

Well, thank you so much.

I appreciate that.

And as you said, there's always room for improvement and cross-training um as well.

Thank you so much.

All right, thank you.

I have no other speakers on the in the queue.

Uh I've got a motion and a second on the bill.

Open a ballot and record your vote.

Seven Yay, zero and a's by your action you've approved 2026 0515.

Uh, you don't have to be here on uh Tuesday night, but if you want to, we'll be uh reading your name out and uh after the council votes on it.

Thank you for being here.

The next uh we'll go to uh on that agenda that I passed out, item number 14.

It it's going to be deferred, so we'll we'll go ahead back to our original uh agenda here.

We we don't have any public comment cards.

Uh I want to open up the the uh to the speaker uh to uh to Mr.

Paul Hardin.

He's gonna come in and give a three-minute discussion about the uh emergency bill that he'll be uh bringing to uh council Tuesday night, and he's going to all the committees, just kind of give them a uh preamble of what's going to take place.

Mr.

Hardin.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Paul Hardin, 1431 River Place.

As you know, as construction goes on down by the four seasons and the office building down on the north bank.

There's also a marina being built down there.

Uh below that marina, the land belongs to the state of Florida.

The city has an old submerged land lease, which is not complete on the site.

We're trying to bring uh on behalf of the football team who's building the the marina and the and the marina uh complex next to it.

Um we're trying to bring everything up to speed and get it current.

Um one of the things, well, actually, two of the things that aren't in that lease are uh an allowance that would allow us to charge for the boat slips, uh, which we would like to do, and uh the sale of gasoline, and there are a couple of other thoughts, small things.

The submerged land lease is being widened, if you will, very slightly.

The obligation of the city is not.

We'd like to have that in place by the time the first football game starts.

We can't get through the full council before the first football game without the emergency.

So we're asking um Councilman Allen uh if he would take it in and out next Tuesday night at the council meeting, and uh because it wasn't gonna be on your agenda.

We're I'm gonna go to all the committee meetings uh today and tomorrow and see if anybody has any questions.

And I'm available for questions in the interim.

Mr.

McKaylus is here who's the general counselor for the football team if anybody has questions of him as well.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to Dr.

Salem.

Thank you, Chair.

Through the chair to Mr.

Harding, are the auditors aware of this?

Do they have the language and are they supportive?

I I have not spoken with anyone in the auditor.

I wasn't working on doing the bill, but I'll I'll I'll reach out to them to I've reached I reached out to them, but we traded calls.

Okay.

Oh, that would be important for me to make sure the auditors were comfortable and reviewed it.

Yeah, it it's uh just through the chair.

It's it's an existing submerged land lease that's in place.

We're widening it, we're not paying any more money.

We're allowing additional activities on the site that we have now.

So it if anything, it nourishes the benefit of the city, not the state.

Uh, they've been very helpful in in moving forward with it though.

But I will I'll place that call again.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to council member bowling.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Through the chair, Mr.

Harden.

Yes, sir.

Uh, do we have it in writing yet?

Uh the particular doesn't sound like a big left, but the bill has actually been filed, Mr.

Boylan.

It it just didn't have a number, so it didn't show up on your agenda.

But yeah, we have the submerged land lease that the old one, and then the amendment is is attached to the legislation.

The legislation has been filed, it just wasn't filed early enough to get a a number.

Understood.

So it's so it didn't show up on your agenda, but it it's it's at the council's uh legislative office.

Through the chair to Miss Shell.

We'll be getting cut Miss Shell.

Will we be getting a copy of that today?

Both uh the bill, the original.

I sent them out front.

I sent one out Friday to everybody.

Okay.

I do have it that's it's long, it's it's 26 or 27.

The legispiece of legislation itself is only a couple of pages, but the lease itself, which is mainly uh the the old lease or rebarked.

And uh it's it's it's on file now.

I look forward to your reading it to me.

Uh that'd be uh that'd be fine.

Can we do it after Tuesday night?

All right.

No other speakers in the queue.

Thank you, sir, for being here.

Thank you.

And uh trying to head off some of the uh committee work done in council.

So that I appreciate it.

Thank you, Chairman.

All right, so that takes us back to our agenda.

Let's go to item number one, 2024 0627 is deferred at request to council member Diamond.

Item number two, 2024 0966 is deferred at the request of Councilmember Carico.

Item number three, 2025 0775 is deferred at the request of Councilmember Carlucci.

Item number four, 2026 0192 is deferred at the request of Council President Howland.

Item number five, 2026 0203 is deferred at the request of Council President Howland.

Item number six, 2026 0227 is deferred at the request of Councilmember Diamond.

Item number seven, 2026 0318 is deferred at the request of Council Member Johnson.

And item number eight, 2026, 0319.

Okay, can you motion on the amendment?

I've got a motion and a second on the amendment.

Ms.

Carreher.

Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will attach the planning and development department historic preservation section staff report as a new exhibit to the bill.

And we'll also include a waiver of code section 122-105 B and C regarding the timeline for the historic preservation section report and the historic preservation commission advisory recommendation.

Both of these items were completed, they just were not completed within the time frame that's required by the code.

All right.

No speakers in the queue.

All in favor of the amendment, say yay.

Yeah, yay.

Any opposed likewise, none.

The amendment carries.

Your motion of second on the bill is amended.

Move the bill.

I've got a motion and a second on the bill as amended.

Council pass Council President Freeman.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And through the chair to I guess the guests visiting day, Councilmember Carlucci.

Um I do underline two names.

I don't know how this one got by.

I would like to be added as a co-sponsor one.

But I I remember in the in the past when we tried to honor Councilmember Jones, there you there was a little bit of a dust up, and I just want to make sure that he's okay with us doing this this time, uh, as not to get it to the to the Tuesday night event, and then all of a sudden we have this somewhat in quasi-embarrassing moment for all parties involved.

Um he's never quite okay with being recognized.

But uh his wife and S myself and um and some others convinced him that this was a good thing.

I actually wanted to find a park, and there were two parks that I wanted to suggest and share with him about naming the entire park after him, and that kind of wore him down, and he's and he eventually told me on the phone, you know, Matt, look I just want if I had anything I wanted, just the baseball complex at Hammond Park.

And um I said if that's what you want, that's what we'll do.

Um and um I I think there's um a little more I uh uh think that uh I would like to do for him in um in honoring his legacy, and I'm kind of working on that, and that'll be coming before the council at some point.

But um, but yes, he is okay with that, and um and uh so thank you for asking.

That's a very good question.

Well, thank you, and I and the reason why I asked that one when I first came to Jacksonville in the early 2000s, uh there was a major baseball tournament, Triple Crown or held at Hammond Park, and cars would be parked all over the neighborhood.

Baseball people coming from all around the southeastern part of our country to play in this Easter tournament.

And that was how I first kind of got my I got baptized into the baseball world there.

Um and then if you know uh Mr.

Jones, you know his son Michael was uh a great little baseball player himself, drafted by the Braves and had a great uh professional career.

So not sure how I missed it.

Thank you so much for putting it forward.

And uh, as I asked earlier, please add me as a co-sponsor.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Councilmember Bowlin.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, through the chair to Michelle, do we uh I I don't see or have access right now to the historic preservation report.

Can you meet give us a quick synopsis?

I'll see I'm I'm fully supportive of this bill as a co-introducer, but I wanted to see what was in the report.

Through the chair to council member Boylan and the committee.

I I don't see it on legislative gateway right now, but I was present at the meeting, and um the planning department um had no objection of the naming of this baseball complex, and the commission also approved it.

Well, I'd still like to have a copy of the report if we can make it available.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

All right.

Uh over to visiting council, past council president Carlucci.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Chair.

I uh really want to thank uh from the Office of General Counsel, uh Carla Schill.

She did a wonderful job um uh shepherding this through all the different um hurdles that it has to go through.

And of course, Warren made it through everything with um with ease.

And uh and um and I and I thought I would mention this to this committee since I'll be visiting here on a number of times.

There's a number of folks that I will be uh naming things after uh this year since this is my last year.

Uh definitely won't be coming back for another term on this body.

This is it.

Y'all taught me a lesson, never come back, and I'm just kidding.

I I've enjoyed working with y'all.

Uh it's been a great experience.

But I say all that to say this.

Um just realized that I've been doing this a long time, and there's a lot of people that I've observed over decades that I feel um deserve recognition, and I want to make sure that I do my part and um not just choosing anybody, uh, but being choosy and picking those who I think uh deserve uh um some recognition.

Uh there'll be something else coming before uh your committee on Warren, and there'll be some other things coming.

Councilmember gay, you have been a tremendous help.

I thank you so much for your help with Mark Middlebrook, but that's another um that's another one that'll come up.

But uh just to give y'all a little heads up uh and uh I hope I get to do some other legislation besides that, but that'll be a part of my uh repertoire for this coming year.

And I thank you for your kindness today.

Appreciate it.

All right, thank you, sir.

And you know, I must uh uh give Warren credit for uh at this park.

Uh when it was just basically a barren field, and uh his vision and what he brought to the community, and not just this part, but several other parts that he was a it was a priority for him, and to do what he did at this Hammond Park and the lives that that's uh been the young people's lives has been transformed at this park is unmeasurable.

And so uh I will I'm glad I was a part of it in the early years when it originally first got built.

So with that, uh I've got a motion and a second on the bill as amended.

Let's open the ballot and record your vote.

Seven yes, zero and a's by your action you've approved 2026 zero three one nine.

Next item number nine, 2026 0320 is referred at the request of councilmember white.

Item number 10, 2026 0376 is deferred at the request of councilmember Peluso.

Item number 11, 2026 0445.

Can I get a motion on the amendment?

I've got a motion and second on the amendment.

Ms.

Carriher.

Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will correct the account information within the bill for the appropriation.

We'll attach a revised exhibit one, which is the BT to correct the account information, and attach a revised exhibit two, which is the term sheet and budget to correct the budget narrative.

All right, thank you.

Councilmember Bolan on amendment.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Yeah, I do want to speak to the amendment uh item uh last item barrel waiving the provision with to allow them to secure cultural council service grant.

Uh I've got a little heartburn with that.

I'd appreciate it through the chair to Mr.

Peluso.

Uh as you know that that pie is only so big in adding another player to that.

Uh and I'd love to have an understanding of what arts or uh cultural services event that they're gonna be looking to have supported by the the CSG.

Through the chair and Mr.

Pelusa.

Thank you, Chair, and through the chair to Councilmember Boylan.

So these dollars are from the community benefit agreement.

So this is my first of probably a few projects are gonna be put out this year.

I have Michael Haskins over from SPAR, he can kind of speak to it.

But I think the point is this is sort of a one-time inject via the CBA dollars and the cultural service grants are something at SPAR consistently goes after and has been awarded in the past.

And I think they want to make sure they're not going to be hurt by us making sure that we fund one program that they're doing and don't get the ability to fund the other things.

Okay, in that case, Mr.

Chair, my Mr.

Haskins, can you uh come up and speak briefly to what kind of programs uh you support you look for you seek support from the CSG?

Yes, sir.

Uh the Cultural Council supports our historic presentation.

Name and address, Michael Haskins, um 1321 North Main Street.

Um the Cultural Council supports our arts and pro uh arts and culture programming, including our historic preservation work and our events throughout the community that are focused on arts.

This set of funds is segregated from those, and it supports a separate program that does beautification work.

So you have some history in in terms of securing CSG grants?

Yes, we've been a CSG recipient for I think about 10 years.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

All right, thank you.

So that's on no other speakers on the amendment.

All in favor of the amendment, say aye.

Any opposed likewise, none.

Bill the amendment carries and get a motion second on the bill as amended.

Move the bill as amended.

I've got a motion and second on the bill as amended.

No speakers in the queue.

I I would just like to ask uh councilmember Peluso, is this funds going to be spent in your district?

Um through the chair, absolutely this is Springfield is is wholly within my district, and this is a program that was established under Councilmember Miller in the past, and we're just adding more dollars into that fund.

So he did a great job with with the project that he ran for a while.

We want to make sure that it continues.

Right.

I appreciate that.

I was just making sure would you get in this organization to help they understand that it's got to be spent in your district.

Through the chair, I will say I've been talking to the auditors about a number of different priorities that I have for my C BA dollars, and that's always been a consideration is you got to make sure these stay only within seven, which has made it a little bit tough, but luckily SPAR is wholly within seven.

Thank you.

All right, very good.

I've got a motion second on the bills amended, open a ballot, record your vote.

Seven yes, zero and a's by your action you approve 2026 0445.

Next item number 12, 2026 0453.

More of the withdrawal.

I've got a motion and second on the withdrawal.

Councilmember Lannon, you're recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Through the chair to uh Mr.

Dennis, I'm just wondering why is this being withdrawed?

Because I thought this was just a bill by ordinance to use uh some of the recapture dollars to cure the current year negative balances.

Uh through the chair to uh councilman Lane.

Um, you know, as always, the administration is uh constantly assessing uh the various dollars and um and you know and and and what what we fund uh but what I will do uh after this meeting, I will get you in more detail um to tell you you know what our new alignment was uh and withdraw on this bill.

Through chair, Mr.

Dose, that's great.

If you just want to email me just some more information on that, uh, and I'll vote to support the withdrawal.

Thank you.

Through through the chair to Mr.

Dennis, could you send those details to the entire committee, please?

Through the chair to Councilman Lane and Councilman Salem uh will email it to the entire uh body all right, thank you.

No other speakers in the queue.

I've got a motion and a second on the withdrawal.

Let's open a ballot, record your vote.

Seven yes, zero and nays.

By your action, you've approved 2026 0453 withdrawal.

Next item number 13, 2026 0489.

Can I get a motion on the amendment?

Move the amendment.

I've got a motion of second on the amendment.

Ms.

Carrer.

Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will revise the bill title and section one title to reference the sections of chapter 86 that are being amended and the addition of the mayor's liaison.

Will correct language in section 86103 B to reflect that the liaisons are designated and not appointed.

All right, no speakers on the amendment.

All in favor of the amendment say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed likewise?

None.

Amendment carries.

Can a motion and second on the bill is amended?

The bill is second.

I've got a motion and second on the bill as amended.

And council member Lannon, you're recognized.

I thank you, Chair.

Through the chair to Councilmember Pelusa, can you just explain what this does?

I looked at the bill summary and didn't really get a good grasp to exactly what we are changing here.

Through the chair to Councilmember Lennon, I try really hard not to talk in these committees.

If the bills just move and I don't have to say anything, I try I tend not to.

Uh so this bill is a cleanup bill.

So basically the HIC, we have stepped, we created it about two years ago, and obviously now, as time has gone on, we've seen some of the the faults and some of the initi initial legislation.

And so right now, one of the things that's needed to help secure um a proper like lane to make sure things are getting funded.

We have a council liaison, we need to make sure that we have a mayoral liaison.

The mayoral liaison is going to better work with the the finance department to make sure the dollars that should be coming out of the HIC that eventually come to us are moving in the right direction.

And so right now we we have seen that there has been a lot of stalling how dollars get out of the HIC because of a lack of process, and this is gonna help solve that.

Through the chair to council member Peluso, so the HIC, those volunteer board members themselves, this was their idea and they're in support of this legislation, correct?

This was a HIC have been asking how do we make sure we have a faster process to ensure that dollars are are getting out.

We've sat down with the administration and I'm sure uh Ms.

McGillis, who sits in those meetings with me, uh, will attest.

They've they've been trying to figure out why why are things as slow as they are.

And one of the things that we figured out was without a mayoral liaison and the mayor's the mayor's office being more engaged on a formal process, it slowed things down.

Through the chair, uh through the chair, councilmember Palooza, I think that that's what I was looking for.

This is an effort to speed up getting the money to the organizations on money we've already approved.

Sounds very much like some of the C BA issues we've had in the past as well.

Uh so uh given that the HIC it's their recommendation and they think it'll move faster.

Uh I'll support it then.

Thank you for saying that.

And and you're right about CBA will probably come back to for us to have a faster process as well.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to past president Freeman.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, and and thank you, uh, Councilman Laney.

You kind of went uh where I was gonna go with this.

Uh Councilmember Peluso, thank you so much for the timing of this bill.

Um I want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly.

A volunteer board knows that they have dollars that they would like to appropriate, and those dollars are being encumbered because bureaucracy is slow.

Um, and if that's the case, how is this different than in the last session the 200,000 dollars that we sent to JSAB, and they sent a letter to the mayor's office asking for those dollars to be released?

That board did, that body did, and we were told there still wasn't.

So is this something that maybe I can offer an amendment to maybe have a mayor's liaison added to JSEB as well?

If this is one way of ensuring that dollars move through the process, or are we picking favorites here and we're gonna do for one and not the other?

Ms.

You're the chair to council member Freeman.

I think that would be best handled in a separate piece of legislation.

Is this only addressed the homelessness initiatives commission?

Okay.

Well, I'm not gonna be comfortable moving one forward.

Uh this kind of reminds me just with you all when we did the trust fund dollars, and it was one percent for kids and then it moved up to three percent for homelessness, and then there was a bill file right afterwards that nobody else could use those those dollars.

I fear that something like this might happen here.

If this is a true fix, if this is a true fix to a problem, then we should be consistent across the board and maybe defer this and go do a do a search as a rules committee of how many other volunteer boards are experiencing this.

I personally just went through it a whole year.

And many of you heard them say it doesn't align with the mayor's initiatives.

They heard you say that you heard them say they didn't have the capacity.

So we have the documentation, maybe we defer this and and read and make sure that there are not other ones that are in the same position because I know JCEB is for sure.

And that would be my I can't defer a bill, but I I agree with this.

I want to do this, but I also want those members of JCB, many of them are JSUB owners, that I spoke to a couple of them, they still are waiting for those dollars.

All right, let me go to Councilman Omaro first.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I I'm I'm gonna support the bill, but I just wanted a little bit more explanation as to how having a uh liaison expedite things, uh, being that the composition of the board is all uh volunteers who have a direct line of communication with the administration.

So I'm I I'm just curious how that speeds up the process.

Do the chair to Councilman Marrow.

I think the best answer to that is pretty much you know, given that they're the executive branch, all the departments end up operating under the executive branch.

And so when you have the housing folks that are in there that are basically staffing the board, that they're going to you know run up their their department heads and then eventually go into the finance department to help make sure dollars get out.

So it was just really a matter of process.

I mean, city council at the end of the day, we're here to help pass legislation, but we're not members of the executive branch, and so it was just a way to fast track.

It's just one of the things that we realized after the fact.

This is probably one of the first new boards that we created in a while.

And so, you know, I think again to the point of CBA, we'll probably have to come back and figure out new solutions for how to make the east side CBA run a little bit faster, too.

It's just a matter of, I think we we had an over oversight at the at the first uh iteration of this.

I'm good.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to councilmember Lannon.

Uh through the chair, and I really more so for the committee, I think we're hitting on a common theme here that we keep on hearing.

Uh, I will support yours today only because I feel like by deferring that we're potentially slowing down the dollars just because we know there's other areas we need to focus on.

And like even if you look at our council liaison assignment list that uh the council president sent out, there's some boards and commissions that only have a council liaison.

There's others that only have a mayor liaison.

So I think it's almost a broader project here.

Uh and something councilmember Freeman said at the end of the day, I really don't think it should matter.

Like, I don't see why you need to have a liaison necessarily to make things go faster.

Uh, but again, just because I I think deferring would just further potentially slow things down.

I look forward to working with you.

J Sub should have uh liaison just so all sides are talking at the same time at the first time, so it can get uh because again it's no secret, it's hard to get money out of me more so than others.

But once we approve it, I want to see it out there as fast as possible so it can make that impact sooner rather than later.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to past president Freeman.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'm not going to support it.

Uh I'm just gonna stay principled here uh because I don't think we need it.

And if I look back at public service grants, and I'm sorry to just beat this, just keep beating this, but you don't understand last year was a great learning process for me.

I had to go to public service grants, and I had to watch, and I learned that they had Dr.

Parvez sitting on that board just showing up in meetings, and I learned that he was giving data that was supposed to help these board this group of volunteers make better decisions.

Well, I've served on those boards back in 2008.

I didn't know government then, so if there was a cabinet member sitting next to me, I relied heavily on what they said, sometimes refusing to add my own expertise to the conversation as not to get sideways with a current mayor.

So I have a little bit of uneasiness of putting such a high profile person who is going to be controlling dollars, because now I understand it might be like a Mr.

Hicks or someone that's involved with housing.

How can someone speak out against it as a volunteer if they have an expert and a chief or whoever, whatever the title is sitting next to them?

And so I spoke out against it in public service grants, and I think he ended up no longer attending those meetings.

And if that is what this is going to do here, putting someone in such a very influential and powerful position close to volunteers, then it turns those volunteers basically into rubber stamps and yes, folks.

And so I'm not going to support it for that case.

I don't think we need it to get things done.

Um, but I was just a little bit poking the bear on my issue.

I'm not going to bring that forward, but get ready to hear that play repeatedly over and over throughout this finance committee uh this season.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Let me go to uh councilmember Peluso.

Thank you, Chair.

And I just as a as a thought process here, it's my understanding.

So Jay said who who staffs those meetings.

Is that is that grants?

Um I know PSG grants staffs it, you know.

Jay said grants staffs it.

When it comes to HIC, it's housing.

So it's a very different, you know, they are not in the grant business.

So it's just it's a very different world who kind of runs that organiz that runs that board.

On top of that, almost all the board members are heavily involved in homelessness housing, and many of them have worked for the Jesse or United Way or whatever else.

It's like they're they're in their experts in their trade as well.

So, like to the point of, you know, you don't want somebody kind of like over being overbearing, which I think maybe you could see in the PSG grant process because those are folks who maybe don't have expertise in the kind of the nonprofit world, and perhaps staff can kind of over overpower, maybe, but but I you are not seeing that in the HIC.

And this really is just to kind of make sure that there's someone there who could better talk with the groups that housing has no real interaction with until we created this new body.

All right.

So okay.

Uh let me go to uh Ms.

Pittman for the first time.

The chair, I would would be abstaining um from this particular legislation because I work with the Clara White Mission and staff do apply for housing.

So I just wanted to let you know that.

All right, thank you.

All right, and no no other speakers in in the queue.

And um uh Dr.

Salem.

I'm sorry, go ahead, sir.

Yes, sir.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair.

I thought I hit the button and I apologize if it didn't come through.

We're having a philosophical dis discussion about the role of the liaison.

And I've um I've been a liaison for seven years to various organizations, and I try not to push my agenda.

You know, you're really there to help listen, um, offer advice, and I don't think we should be um pushing a particular project or anything else as a liaison, whether it's from the mayor's office or from the council for that matter, either.

And uh I I would agree with Councilmember Peluso.

This group has had uh issues in getting things moving.

Um having uh written with Chief Powers the original path legislation and wanting to try to get uh uh a some type of facility on the the uh west side of downtown, which I thought they were working on two or three years ago, and it there's nothing that's occurred, and I frankly worry about this property tax issue uh with the homeless spending that that and we have put millions and millions into homelessness over the last few years, substantially more that's ever been done by any city government to my knowledge, at least Jacksonville city government.

So I I I hear councilmember member Freeman's concerns.

Um we just gotta make sure that they're not driving the bus, whether it's the council member or the or the mayor's liaison.

Thank you.

For what it's worth.

All right, thank you.

I have no other speakers in the queue.

Just my little take on this.

It's uh councilman Freeman uh brought up some valid points.

And uh it seems like there needs to be a bigger there's a bigger picture here that we we got to get a better hold of that we're we're approving money, but it's fallen short of actually going through the procedure to get it out to these organizations that that's that needs it, and uh that's quite quite concerning.

And I'll go ahead and stop there and go to Mr.

Dennis.

Um through the chair to to the committee.

Um the administration we support uh this liaison, but I do want to uh point out the difference between the J SEB and which uh understand Councilman Freeman's uh concerns about the J SEB with the 200,000 dollars, but uh the HIC was formed by this body uh to appropriate dollars for the homelessness, like uh Councilman Sin Lim said that you know he was at the forefront of that.

JSAB was never set up uh to appropriate dollars, so the missions are totally different.

That's the reason why it's very, very important uh to have a liaison to make sure um you know the will of this body gets pushed forward as it relates and standing up and and fighting homelessness.

Uh again, JSAB was just set up to uh uh to be an auditing body for the JCP office, not really to dispense funds.

So uh that's why it's so important to have that liaison there to make sure the will of this body uh gets pushed forward because again, when you stood this committee up, you stood the HIC up with dollars um and not the JCEP.

So I just wanted to make those um uh you know make that difference.

Uh again, uh if this body uh tends to uh want to put together a committee, someone from the administration would definitely sit and work with you all, you know, uh to to have any changes, but just wanted to again just point out the differences between the HIC and the JSAB and and these dollars.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

So but in regards to JSEP, they they that organization is created to support small businesses, and with supporting small businesses, it encompasses the funding to small business in any way that the city uh can do that.

So I I do see a a connection with that they are the same in concept.

Uh they may not have been created as just a funding mechanism, but it it is to support uh small businesses.

I'll I'll go ahead to council president past president freeman.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, through the chair to uh our staff that that staff's J SEB Special Advisory Commission.

Can you tell us exactly the charge of that of that body or respond to kind of what was just put out verify for us?

Thank you.

Um through the president to the committee as a whole.

Um I think we're kind of conflating some uh concepts.

There is JCEB, there's JSEB monitoring monitoring committee, and then this bill is about the homelessness initiatives commission.

One of the biggest differences between the homelessness commission and almost any other body, particularly the JCEB monitoring committee, the homelessness commission has neither appropriation nor allocation authority.

Zero.

They are purely a recommendation recommending body.

And what is happening, particularly in light of the um homelessness initiatives special revenue fund, chapter uh sorry, section 11960, I believe, is once dollars are appropriated by this by the city council, if it's above the line, it is subject to department memo.

That's the administration side.

So what's happened is in the homelessness initiatives commission, dollars were recommended, and then there was no one to that is sitting at that table staff, particularly that could answer has any department of this administration put in a memo to use these dollars as HIC has recommended.

And so what this bill does exclusively is have a person at the table who is responsible to answer the question of that committee to say this is what is happening with your dollars, because there is somebody from the council to say this is legislation that's going through.

But there has nobody been formally sitting at the table at HIC to say this is what's happening with your recommendation.

All right.

No other speakers in the queue, and I think we've heard some legitimate concerns here that need to be addressed.

Uh I you know, I'm fully supportive of getting the dollars out to the homeless initiatives.

Uh but I'm also supportive of let's following through on the not just JSAP, but all the grants.

So I'd like to see this move forward to uh let's let's getting a collaborative uh discussions about this and uh and the momentum going to make that happen.

So with that, uh I've got a motion and a second on the bill as amended.

Let's open a ballot and record your vote.

Five yes, one nay, one abstention.

By your action you approve 2026, 0489.

Next item is 14 2026 0492.

Can I get a motion on the amendment?

Second.

I've got a motion second on the amendment.

Ms.

Carrier through the chair to the committee.

The amendment will just reorder the definition section within the bill so it's an alphabetical order, and it'll correct a scribbiner's error within the bill.

All right, Councilman Amor on the amendment.

Um the bill.

All right, no other speakers on the amendment.

All in favor say yay.

Any opposed?

Likewise, none.

The amendment carries a motion second on the bill as amended.

Move the bill as amended.

I've got a motion and a second on the bill as amended.

Councilman Amor, you recognized.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

To the uh sponsor, I just wanted him to explain uh the legislation.

Councilmember Bowlin.

Thank you.

Through the chair to Councilmember Romero.

I didn't want to get in the weeds on this one, but no kidding.

Thank you for the setup.

Uh some time ago, a constituent reached out to me, and now I'm an expert on this topic, um, letting me know about issues with a neighbor who's got some uh ironically uh some uh issues uh with respect to some noxious weeds in his neighbor's property, which is impacting his property.

So in doing some homework on it, I found out that the Florida Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services has a noxious weeds list.

Uh the only enforcement really applies now to new development, so it precludes new development from planting noxious you know, plants, etc.

Uh it doesn't address the um existing properties, and what this bill does, it just reaffirms the state legislation with respect to uh invasive plants and and development on new properties, but it also now extends that to say on existing properties.

The irony in this process is again getting too far into the weeds, is that the plant that this or plants that this uh constituent is concerned about is not on the noxious weeds list that the state put out.

So his next charge is going to be to getting that addressed.

But frankly, it's just a response to a constituent who has a very serious concern.

And Mr.

Axel, I believe, sent all of us an email, yes, and I encourage you to take the time to read it that speaks to the importance of this bill.

He has and I can't explain all of it, but I would encourage you to read it.

Uh in some respects, uh it's in direct response.

And it seemed to make sense to me that if you know we preclude planting of these uh kind of uh invasive plants and new developments, we should be able to be able to uh also uh make sure they're addressed in existing properties and parcels.

I acknowledging that there is a challenge, code enforcement's gonna have uh some ramp up in terms of how to work this and understand what those are and how to address it.

Uh but I think it's a reasonable request to move this forward.

Thank you for the question.

Thank you.

Let me go back to Councilman Mahr.

You're good?

Okay.

All right, Councilmember Lannon.

Uh thank you, Chair.

I threw Chair Councilmember Boylan.

Uh I just want to make sure uh this doesn't impact anything public works is already doing, like our landscaping policies, anything like that.

I see Ms.

Sickler out there.

Is there anything that has any sort of unintended consequences on by uh adding this to our ordinance?

Uh certainly not in in the context of this process.

This is really addressing private property situations and uh and that.

And Mr.

Claire, I don't know if you spend any time on this or not, but I don't think it's an issue for public works.

Thank you.

I threw the chair theme, Mr.

Boylan.

Doesn't look like Miss Sickler has any concerns, so I'll support this.

All right.

Pass President Freeman.

I'm sorry, Mr.

Chair, I forgot to ask for permission to go outside.

Um asking for forgiveness instead of permission.

My apologies.

You get it, you get a demerit now.

Jesus.

All right.

Let's see.

Back back to the business here.

Uh move the bill as amended.

Uh well, we got a motion and second on the bill as amended.

Let's open the ballot and record your vote.

Seven yes, zero and nays.

By your action, you approve 2026, 0492 on the obnoxious weeds.

Let's go.

Item number 15, 2026, 0494 can a motion on amendment.

I've got a motion and second on the amendment, Ms.

Carriher.

Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will correct the appropriation amount to 1,338, 737.21 cents, which includes 504,441 dollars in revenue collected from the foreclosure registry and 834,296 and 21 cents in reallocated funding.

And we'll attach a revised exhibit one, which is the BT to correct the appropriation.

All right.

No speakers on the queue about the amendment.

All in favor of the amendment say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed likewise?

Dr.

Salem, are you on the amendment?

Okay.

Any opposed likewise, none?

The amendment carries.

Can you get a motion second?

On the bill is amended.

I've got a motion and a second.

Dr.

Salem, you recognize.

Thank you, Chair.

Through the chair.

Mr.

Jeffrey, can you come up please for a minute?

I'm just trying to understand.

Are these dollars the same as they were last year?

Is this a repetitive situation?

If you could answer that.

Yeah, good morning, Travis Jeffrey, Housing Community Development Division.

Through the chair to Councilman Salem, yes, sir, same dollars.

Uh these are foreclosure uh property registry funds that the lenders have to, when they register their less pendants every year.

Uh they registered in a database.

We we capture about half of those funds or a little less than half of those funds for the fees that they pay.

But are you your your division department makes the decision on how these dollars are expended through legislation?

Yes, well, through the ordinance, yes, sir.

There's a certain um certain activities that they're allowed to spend the dollars on, and within those activities are or how we spend the funds.

Okay.

So the council could not, for example, say I want to move the three eight the 38,000 from batch foreclosure into foreclosure intervention.

Is is what I'm trying to get to.

Do we do we have the ability to alter these dollars?

Through the chair, yes, sir.

We do.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

So I guess my comment would be are are we comfortable with this?

What the with the way these and I guess the other question is why is there so much in administrative and operational expenses?

Uh through the chair.

Those that that fund is four positions for foreclosure registry.

That are not funded by the core government.

Uh no, sir, just through the registry itself.

And we're putting through the chair, we're putting money in from here into the matching grants program.

Does the does the administration also put dollars into the matching grants program?

Uh, through the chair to councilman, no, sir, just these funds here.

So the only dollars in the matching grants program are the 286 that are listed here.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Let me go to council member Lennon.

Uh thank you, Chair.

I threw the chair to the committee first, and uh uh son uh councilmember Salem said also uh yes, these are the it's the annual Travis Jeffery show.

So this will be our fourth time having there's either five or six total bills.

I think for some reason only three of them come through rules, five of them total come through finance.

Uh I remember the first year I sat down with Mr.

Jeffrey and he walked me through in detail and in the years since, including last Friday, I talked to Mr.

Jeffrey and also talked to Mr.

Peterson, our auditor.

I said, Hey, I'm this is a lot of information.

I know it's not our general fund dollars, but do you see anything that is uh different or inconsistent with prior year?

Mr.

Peterson's answer to me was no, he did not catch anything that was inconsistent.

So given it looks consistent year over year on how we're allocating that.

And I I believe the technical phrase is uh through the chair Mr.

Jeffrey, these are annual housing empowerment grants.

Is that the correct nomenclature?

Through the chair councilman uh Lennon so these these funds are not we call them entitlement dollars so all of our other five funding sources that you'll see today and tomorrow uh all of those are entitlement funds through chairman thank you Mr.

Jeffrey all right thank you let me go to council member bowling thank you Mr.

Chair uh through the chair Ms.

Jeffrey I I kind of follow the same line that councilman Salem was headed I was a little concerned about the heavy uh number with respect to administrative and operating expenses uh are those four positions can you speak briefly as to what role they play are they contract positions first of all uh through the chair to council no there we are sitting at city employing employees and can you briefly uh what role do they play in in this process yeah if I could if I could bring Robert Owen be up he's um the actual program manager for this for these funds and maybe you can speak to that for us.

Sure.

Again uh I love the the fact that we are you know intervention services matching grants blank removal uh for give or the the the foreclosure forgiveness program those are all critical those are direct support uh to seeing a half a million dollars or more going uh to administrative and operating I'm a little uncomfortable with but help me understand and feel good sir uh Robert Ownby property administrator with the housing department through the chair um these positions that we do the we not only uh administer all these programs that means the foreclosure intervention program uh that is we also use in concert with ship funds so that supports um over probably 145 residents within the city of Jacksonville we administer our neighborhood matching grants program which uh has been an uh this is gonna be our 11th year running that can uh program consist consist consecutively um we also do the administration of the uh of the foreclosure registry as well so that involves um working with code enforcement activities tracking foreclosures and things of that nature so my staff me and my staff we operate all of these programs uh through these year in year out that mr through the chair that helps tremendously understanding that the role of these people far exceeds just those these particular programs that are that you itemized here in terms of how these funds are used so their services go beyond that exactly yes thank you thank you mr.

All right thank you let me go next to uh councilmember pitman through the chair to mr jeffries just wanted to um get an explanation on um the expenses for the blight removal um does that that 179 is that staff only is that staff and um activities within the community and if this is flat has it increased um in the last two or three years tell me a little bit about that sure uh through the through the chair to miss uh council member pitman uh that money goes directly to our municipal code and compliance uh so they use those funds to operate what they call the JAR program which is Jacksonville assistance uh recovery so that program uh prevents and helps uh very low income and disabled families from receiving uh liens against their property whenever uh someone's disabled or um very low income some of them can't you know maybe mow the yard or or do certain things that would prevent would would put uh code liens on their properties so uh municipal code has created this jar program for this intended purpose and they utilize the foreclosure registry funds uh to help those families so they're not burdened with liens against their property and and how how many years have we done that that this is the first time I'm ever hearing this regard in so any resident can apply and what's the qualifications sure code enforcement uh officers can uh assist the uh residents they have and I can't speak on behalf of code enforcement because I know there's uh been some turnover there but there had been one point where there's actual flyers given out to any homeowners that would be uh interested they do have to meet income qualifications or uh have certain uh dis disability um within that they can document to qualify so is oh and sorry to answer answer question too it's been about um I would say four to five years we've been funding uh through for the JAR program for this this these funds so is it a cap for that and does the city go out and mow the yards or take paint off their homes or what I mean is it's a certain amount or I should say a certain category the dollars can be spent in through the chair uh that is a very good question there is a there is a limit to what uh who can qualify and how many times um I believe it's only one time per year that you know uh

So is it a cap for that?

And does the city go out and mow the yards or take paint off their homes or what I mean?

Is it a certain amount or I should say a certain category the dollars can be spent in?

Through the chair, uh that is a very good question.

There is a there is a limit to what uh who can qualify and how many times um I believe it's only one time per year that you know a household can benefit.

Uh the cap um is relative to I believe the lien that would be possibly placed on the home.

So um if a contractor has to go out and mow the yard, it you know there's different costs involved, but I can get you that exact information if you'd like, please.

Okay, one other question.

You you said um I guess promotion for this particular um line item.

So the only person that gives out the information is code enforcement, or is it promoted through other programming?

Like senior services, um elder service.

Um that would through the chair, I believe uh Mike's from my recollection code was uh is the um the main source of that information, but um again, I I don't want to speak on their behalf, but I believe that they they do have information handouts and things of that nature that they can provide any division or department that would like to provide that information.

So any of the I don't know about other council members as well.

I know that I have a lot of um seniors that can't afford that I hear from, but I I had no idea we had this particular program.

I thought when you said blight removal that it was you know, like feedy or some major cleanup.

Did anybody else know about this line item?

Did y'all okay?

Well, any information you have, I like to promote it um in my district, um, because I think it's important.

And you know, I I wish we can promote this more than just through um code enforcement.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Let's go to Dr.

Salem.

Thank you, Chair.

I had a similar discussion with with uh Ms.

Reber that uh councilman Lannon had with uh with Mr.

Peterson, and it was pretty consistent.

These dollars are very similar to past years.

Does anything stand out at all to you?

No, it doesn't.

So that was where I stopped as well.

So um, and that's pretty much true of all the Jeffrey bills that we're gonna see today.

So if it makes people feel more comfortable, there's a consistent message coming out of the auditor's office.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

We go to pass the president for even.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And I think they they and Councilman Salem coming behind and following up that kind of helped me out a little bit because I did have questions.

I know we got finance later, but uh with those positions, if this funding and and I'll get smarter on this, but if the funding wasn't there, did those positions go away through the chair to Mr.

Jeffries or whoever, or do they still are we growing government to the fact that we would have to figure out how we're gonna pay for them once we started?

Uh through the chair, yeah, those are solely funded through the foreclosure proper registry, so we would have to find funds if if these funds went away, the ordinance was changed and you know lenders weren't having to register their their foreclosures, then yes, we would have to find funds for those positions.

All right, thank you.

I guess one question I have on the uh blight.

We we've funded uh another portion of Blight as well.

Does this money go into that whole pot for Blight, or is it totally separate?

To the chair.

Uh no, this money stays within the foreclosure registry.

It it is not associated with the other blight funds in what what whatsoever.

Right.

Right.

Um through the chair, sorry for the uh side comment, but I think our question, our understanding is to use that blight money, it essentially has to be on a foreclosed house that's within the registry.

In other words, we cannot divert that money, give it to Mr.

Ferrari to go out and clean just blight on an open media and it has to be restricted to the use on a home associated with the foreclosure registry in order to get the money.

Through the chair, that's correct.

Yeah, this is we collect fees, so there's a fee versus tax uh situation here, and in 2015, strategies and uses for the use of those fees was developed and approved through council, and that's the strategies and uses we you see that we've been utilizing since then.

Through the chair, thank you.

All right, thank you for that clarity.

So okay, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair, and through the chair.

Thank you for that response.

And foreclosed properties do become blight in the community through the chair is that is that an accurate statement?

That's correct, yes sir.

And then question through the chair does that who's responsible for cleaning up those foreclosed properties.

Is that fall into our the neighborhoods department with blight or does that fall into the responsibilities that you all are talking about in this bill in this legislation.

Through the chair in terms of the the I mean the owner of the property if it's the bank whomever those are the ultimate responsible responsible parties you know if it's a code enforcement issue it does go through code enforcement that's where the data that we uh collect through the foreclosure property registry comes into play.

Our foreclosure property registry mandates that if it's an abandoned house and it's own say owned by the bank there must be a property manager that's on record that can be contacted to address the blight issue on that property.

So it ultimately comes into code code code enforcement and the use of those that data correct and I and that's what I thought and so essentially and maybe I'm just swinging and missing here but I I think where we were going if these dollars are restricted solely for um foreclosure registration issues or whatever that's one thing but if these dollars can be used potentially to offset code enforcement issues through neighborhoods through i.e blight then shouldn't those reserve dollars be accessible to that department I think that's where the chair was going with it and I think that's what I've heard but um I'll just I'll just pause there and then if anybody else want to pick up with it if not I'm good.

All right council member Lannon through the chair and sorry chair we're all talking about today I think that's what happens when we get almost a month without being up here and talking um but just real quick through the chair uh to Mr.

Jeffrey uh I guess my question is so we approved incremental funding for Mr.

Ferraro last year.

You have your own blight funding source for foreclosed homes do you do you guys communicate with uh Mr.

Farr because I want to make sure that we're using that funding we gave on places that there isn't a foreclosure home funding source.

In other words that we're not sending Al out on the call we got for a foreclosed home he's spending general fund dollars on something that otherwise could have been used by this bucket of money that we're about to approve today if that question makes sense.

And through the chair uh at this point in time we don't communicate with councilman Ferraro we'll put that on our list to bring up to the forefront through the chair mr jeffery I can send a group text later today to make sure you guys are talking because I think there is a good opportunity to match empowerment dollars with foreclosure issues and then match our general fund dollars with other parts of Jacksonville.

All right um you don't you good all right let me go back to Ms.

Pittman that was where I was going because I thought this money was in the department and you know a lot of times we have funding and we don't coordinate how the funding should be used and I I'm sure do y'all did you all use all of the funding you use all of the funding every year.

Through the chair are you specifically what uh to all program related activities or um or just the specific property um to the grant what you just told me earlier was basically for foreclosures.

No a lot of um a lot of this is carryover funding so this is an all years fund so any any funds that don't wouldn't get used or reappropriated uh annually through this process okay so I'd like and I I don't know if this is the best place to do it um is to be able to add and and talk to um Mr.

Ferrero um about these dollars because I I think they could be used um you know I know and in pass um when things have been going on and I'll say my district he's been handcuffed because he didn't have the funding to do it.

So you know we're looking at apples and oranges and bananas you know I I think we should look at what would be appropriate to make the most impact um in the community so um I don't know if we could do anything is is now is a good time to do you know an amendment but I think we we should just wait button and let them talk and and see what these dollars go.

I just kind of need some help right thank you I think the um I guess between now and and council when we vote on this it seems to me that the the logical way to handle this that we've got a blight department y'all have blight funds it should be coordinated to be like out the liaison over the blight to where it's funding that he's not having to take out of the 4000 that we we approved and using it on uh foreclosures and to where I I don't know if he even knows that there is this additional funding.

It should be coordinated to be like out of the liaison over the blight to where it's funding that he's not having to take out of the 400,000 that we we approved and using it on uh foreclosures and to where I don't know if he even knows that there is this additional funding.

So I think the on that side the administration really y'all need to get that dialed in so we're not having uh uh having to come back to us for more funding because they're they're not able to to meet the needs, and and then y'all got money set in here and that he's actually uh getting calls.

A lot of people in communities don't know if it's being foreclosed on that the that's a separate pot.

They're calling putting in a myjacks and then blights coming out and cleaning it up.

So I think there's a uh a gap that we need to uh fill there uh to get the communication flow and then make sure the the right dollars are being uh spent appropriately.

Uh councilman.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Quick question since I don't know the answer.

Um if these dollars are not spent, what happen to them from calendar year to calendar year?

To the chair, uh to council member morrow, these are all years funds and they carry over uh on an annual basis.

Okay, no other speakers in the queue.

Um we'll go ahead and open the ballot and record your vote.

Seven yes, zero nays.

By your action, you approve 2026 0494.

Next item number 16, 2026, 0495.

Can I get a motion on amendment?

The amendment second.

I've got a motion and second on the amendment, Miss Carriher.

Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will just correct that the project is located in council district two.

All right.

No speakers on the amendment.

All in favor of the amendment say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed likewise, none.

The amendment carries, can you get a motion second on the bill is amended?

The bills amended.

I've got a motion and a second on the bills amended.

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

Seven yes, zero nays.

By your action, you approved 2026 0495.

Item number 17, 2026, 0497.

Motion on the amendment.

I've got a motion and second on the amendment, Miss Carriher.

Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will attach the HUD award schedule as a new exhibit to the bill and correct some scribbers errors within the bill.

All right.

I've got Ms.

Pittman on the amendment.

Okay.

No speakers on the amendment.

Bill is amended.

I get a motion and second on the I've got a I'm sorry, I already got a motion second.

All in favor of the amendment, say aye.

Any opposed likewise, none.

The motion carries.

Can I get a motion second on the bill as amended?

Move the bill as a second.

I've got a motion and a second on the bills amended.

Ms.

Pittman, you're recognized.

So the chair just also wanted to let you know that I will um abstain from this this one in the next one because of the um funding.

The Clara White mission may be applying for it as uh as out of caution just to make sure.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

No other speakers on the queue.

I've got a motion second on the bill.

Open the ballot and record your vote.

Six yes, zero nays, one upstain.

By your action you approve 2026 0497.

Next item 18, 2026 0499.

Can I get a motion on the amendment?

Move the amendment.

Second.

I've got a motion and second on the amendment, Ms.

Carrier.

Through the chair to the committee, the amendment will attach the HUD award schedule as a new exhibit and correct the appropriation year to fiscal year 2627.

All right, thank you.

No speakers on the queue.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed likewise, none.

The amendment carries.

Can a motion second on the bills amended?

Bill is amended.

I've got a motion and a second on the bills amended.

No speakers in the queue.

Open the ballot and record your vote.

Six yes, zero nays, one abstention.

By your action you've approved 2026, 0499.

Item 19, we've already taken action.

Takes us to item number 20, 2026, 0516, and get a motion on the withdrawal.

I've got a motion second on the withdrawal.

No speakers in the queue, open the ballot and record your vote.

Seven Ya's, zero knees.

All right.

By your action you approved twenty twenty-five.

Item number twenty-one twenty twenty-six zero five one seven.

I am deferring that one at the request of the administration.

And that takes us to our next item.

These items are on second reading.

And that takes us to item number thirty-one, twenty twenty-six zero five five one.

I've got a motion second on the bill.

No speakers in the queue.

Open the ballot and record your vote.

Seven Ya's, zero nays.

By your action you're approved, twenty twenty-six zero five five one.

So that takes us to the end of our agenda.

And our first meeting is concluded.

And one little note that I'll uh end the meeting with.

If uh anybody on the committee has to go to the restroom, they don't have to ask permission.

And we are adjourned.