The Jacksonville City Council met on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, at 5:00 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting was called to order by Council President Nick Howland and adjourned at 9:00 PM. The council considered a wide range of items including quasi-judicial rezoning approvals, consent agenda items, public hearings on land use changes, third-reading ordinances, and the introduction of new legislation. A key highlight was the failure of a veto override attempt regarding board appointments to the Kids Hope Alliance (KHA) and Library Board. The meeting included an invocation by Pastor Spike Hogan, a presentation honoring his retirement, and approximately 90 minutes of public comment on topics such as the Free to Garden Act, overdevelopment, city budget priorities, and mental health response.
Good evening. I call to order the July 28th, 2026 meeting of the full city council. It is 5 p.m. And we do have a quorum. Um welcome to the first full council meeting of the new council year. I will turn it over to our new floor leader who's not new, he's very well experienced, and that's Councilmember Michael Boylan. Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you too for uh your expression of confidence in me to serve as the floor leader again. I look forward to doing my very best to move these meetings forward in a timely fashion. Our first order of business is the invocation and pledge. I would ask that you please recognize Councilman Lennon to introduce senior pastor of Chets Creek, Spike Hogan. You recognize her. Thank you, Mr. President, floor leader. It's my honor tonight to welcome back Pastor Spike Hogan, the senior pastor of Chet's Creek Church. Uh, Pastor Spike has been a familiar face, and he is retiring after nearly 30 years as being the uh founding and senior pastor of Chets Creek Church. I'll be brief on his biography here because in a few minutes we will be presenting with him with a resolution honoring his service to our city. So uh with that, Pastor Spike, please. Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for these men and women who represent our city so well. We pray your blessings on them. May they use your wisdom and guidance in all they do, and as they work things out, may you bless them and continue to bless us to live in this wonderful city, Jacksonville, Florida. God, thank you for this time together, and we thank you, Lord, for the opportunity we have to enjoy serving together. And most important of all, we thank you for the life that we have that you gave us. We ask all these things in the name of the one who saved me, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag to the night. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Floor Leader. I would just like to note for everyone in the audience that uh the addendum will come up at the end of the meeting, and on that addendum is the veto override that I think a lot of people are anticipating. So just note that comes at the end of the meeting. That's it, sir. Roll call. And roll call, please. 17 present. Ms. President, it's now time for the approval of the minutes from the regular council meeting of June 23rd, 2026. I move for approval. We have a motion and a second on the minutes. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor of the minutes indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. Minutes pass. Mr. President, we have quite a number of communications from the mayor's office and other entities. Would you like those read or filed with legislative services?