OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Jacksonville Finance Committee Meeting - September 1, 2026

City Council — Tuesday, September 1, 2026
BodyJacksonville, Florida
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, September 1, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 47:42

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this week's finance committee meeting.

0:06

We'll go ahead and start off with introductions to our left, starting with Mr.

0:09

Delaney.

0:10

Afternoon, y'all.

0:11

Bill Delaney with the administration.

0:13

Colleen Hamsey, Council Research.

0:15

Mary Stefopoulos, Office of General Counsel.

0:18

Heather Reber, Council Auditor's Office.

0:20

Bill Peterson, Council Auditor.

0:21

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

0:24

Good afternoon, Chris Miller at large group five.

0:26

Will Lane in District 3.

0:29

Mike Gay, District 2.

0:30

Randy White, District 12.

0:32

Good afternoon, Michael Boylan, District 6.

0:35

All right, good afternoon, everyone.

0:36

We want to wish a special welcome to Councilmember Boylan, who is now joining us on finance with uh council member or former council member Freeman off to uh bigger and better things.

0:46

Uh councilmember Boylan will be on finance.

0:48

I look forward to talking about J sub every meeting.

0:51

Yes, we uh the you are not allowed to utter the words 200,000 while you're on council with us.

0:58

Uh so the order we're gonna do today, uh we're gonna do public comment and then we're gonna skip ahead to a few items.

1:03

We're gonna go to item 43, which is on emergency.

1:05

I know they have a rep here for questions only.

1:08

Then we're gonna do items 27 and 33, which we have a visiting council member for.

1:12

Uh we're then going to go to the top of the agenda and go through everything with the exception of we're gonna skip over the millage rate and 504 to save that for the end.

1:22

Everything on the agenda today has been unanimously approved through other committees, so I'm not expecting a ton of discussion.

1:29

Certainly, committee members, if you have questions, ask, but I think it'll be a pretty light agenda.

1:34

Uh, we're then gonna have Daryl Joseph come up and give a brief presentation on JWJ Park.

1:39

You may recall that this was a topic of conversation uh when we uh talked about that on CIP day.

1:45

So he's here with a presentation to answer some of the questions we had.

1:50

And uh there were some separate meetings with uh uh myself, Mr.

1:53

Joseph, the auditors, and we will have a recommended amendment that Mr.

1:57

Peterson will walk us through, and that will be on item 504.

2:01

It'll be as part of the uh the overall bill.

2:04

Uh so with that, uh, and then we'll uh be done for the day.

2:07

I think it'll be a relatively quick meeting relative to the uh lengths that they have uh been through budget season.

2:13

Uh with that, we'll start off with public comment.

2:15

Do I have any public comment cards?

2:16

I have one, Carnell Oliver and my finance committee.

2:20

You get two minutes.

2:21

Please talk to an item on the agenda.

2:36

Uh yes, my name is uh Carnell Oliver.

2:38

Uh just today I filed a formal petition for uh your address uh uh please.

2:46

Carnegie addresses on file, dealing with 504.

2:50

I filed a formal petition, administrative policy amendment for risk uh and management.

2:57

Asking for a piece of legislation that creates individual bonds for elected officials that serve on the city council.

3:05

It has a 30-day time frame.

3:09

If she doesn't push it for, it's gonna make her look bad politically.

3:16

Point blank and simple.

3:19

If she says it to you, it throws y'all underneath the bus, you're both gonna tap dance together.

3:27

Then there's gonna be a big old crowd out here making a whole lot of noise.

3:33

Because there's no law in the book where we can hold y'all individually accountable for some of the bad actions that you've taken in the past.

3:43

I can name a quite few.

3:45

Jacoby Pittman, Raggie Gaffney Sr.

3:50

The issues that I am speaking of, there's a lack of accountability.

3:55

And the proper vehicle is the 504 bill.

3:59

Now I've done my part because I know ultimately what I want.

4:05

I just gotta back y'all against the wall and apply disciplinary practices because the simple fact you have done wrong.

4:16

All right, with that, we're gonna skip all the way ahead and take up item 43.

4:21

So we're on page 21, item 43, 2026, 0671.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Parks and Recreation████████████████████████████28%
Procedural████████████████████████24%
Budget████████████████████████24%
Public Works███████████████15%
Public Comment███3%
Affordable Housing███3%
Veterans Affairs██2%
Public Safety█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Jacksonville Finance Committee Meeting - September 1, 2026

The Finance Committee of the Jacksonville City Council met on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, at 1:00 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting was chaired by Will Lahnen. The committee considered a range of items including the tentative millage rates, the FY 26-27 consolidated government budget, and several ordinances and resolutions. A presentation was given on the James Weldon Johnson Park project. The meeting adjourned at 1:47 PM.

Consent Calendar

  • Item 3 (2025-0775): Ordinance to prohibit certain expenditures to the Mayor and Council Members was withdrawn unanimously (6-0).
  • Item 24 (2026-0625): Appropriation of $19,000 for JHFA support services was approved 6-0.
  • Item 25 (2026-0626): Appropriation of $25,000 grant for Duval County Teen Court was approved 6-0.
  • Item 26 (2026-0628): Appropriation of $500,000 grant for Dinsmore Area Sidewalks was amended and approved 6-0.
  • Item 27 (2026-0633): Appropriation of $100,000 for traffic calming in District 5 was approved 6-0.
  • Item 29 (2026-0636): CDBG appropriation amended and approved 6-0.
  • Item 30 (2026-0637): Settlement with Cedar Grove Corporation for $125,000 approved 6-0.
  • Item 31 (2026-0638): Opioid settlement funding of $499,576 to UF Health approved 6-0.
  • Item 33 (2026-0645): Contract with Downtown Vision, Inc. for James Weldon Johnson Park management was amended and approved 6-0.
  • Item 43 (2026-0671): Emergency extension of grant for Florida Black Excellence Festival approved 5-1 (Diamond opposed).

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Carnell Oliver addressed the committee, filing a formal petition related to item 504 (budget) and requesting individual bonds for elected officials. He expressed concerns about accountability and past actions of council members.

Discussion Items

  • James Weldon Johnson Park Presentation: Parks Director Daryl Joseph presented updated plans for the park, reducing the project cost from an initial $12-13 million to $5 million in FY 26-27 and $750,000 in FY 27-28. The design includes nine flexible rooms, a food truck court, gaming area, shade trees, and historical markers. The park will be ADA compliant. Construction is expected to begin summer 2027 and take about one year. Council members asked about entry points, chess/checker tables, flags, and signage honoring James Weldon Johnson.
  • Tentative Millage Rates (Items 7-9): The committee considered millage levy ordinances for the General Services District and Urban Services Districts. Council Auditor Phillip Peterson explained a new state law requiring a two-thirds vote for any millage rate above the rolled-back rate. The committee tentatively approved all three millage ordinances by votes of 5-1, with Councilmember Diamond voting no.
  • FY 26-27 Consolidated Government Budget (Item 10): The committee moved a substitute budget, then approved an amendment to adjust the James Weldon Johnson Park funding (reducing current year debt from $6.75 million to $5 million and adding $750,000 to next year). The budget as substituted was tentatively approved 6-1 (Diamond opposed). Chair Lahnen highlighted that the proposed budget is lower than the prior year for the first time since FY 12-13, with a $24 million reduction, no reliance on reserves, and a net reduction in non-public safety headcount.

Key Outcomes

  • Approvals: Numerous consent items approved as listed above.
  • Tentative Approvals: Millage rates for GSD (11.1919 mills), USDs 2-4 (7.9012 mills), and USD 5 (9.4208 mills) were tentatively approved 5-1.
  • Budget Tentative Approval: The FY 26-27 consolidated budget was tentatively approved 6-1 as substituted, with an amendment for JWJ Park.
  • Emergency Approval: Item 43 (Florida Black Excellence Festival extension) passed 5-1 on emergency basis.
  • Deferrals: Many budget-related items (Items 11-22, 28, 32) were deferred, as well as items 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 21, 22, 23.
  • Next Steps: The budget and millage rates will go to full council for tentative approval on September 8 and September 22, 2026. The next regular finance committee meeting is scheduled for September 15, 2026.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this week's finance committee meeting. We'll go ahead and start off with introductions to our left, starting with Mr. Delaney. Afternoon, y'all. Bill Delaney with the administration. Colleen Hamsey, Council Research. Mary Stefopoulos, Office of General Counsel. Heather Reber, Council Auditor's Office. Bill Peterson, Council Auditor. Good afternoon, Rory Diamond, District 13, the beaches. Good afternoon, Chris Miller at large group five. Will Lane in District 3. Mike Gay, District 2. Randy White, District 12. Good afternoon, Michael Boylan, District 6. All right, good afternoon, everyone. We want to wish a special welcome to Councilmember Boylan, who is now joining us on finance with uh council member or former council member Freeman off to uh bigger and better things. Uh councilmember Boylan will be on finance. I look forward to talking about J sub every meeting. Yes, we uh the you are not allowed to utter the words 200,000 while you're on council with us. Uh so the order we're gonna do today, uh we're gonna do public comment and then we're gonna skip ahead to a few items. We're gonna go to item 43, which is on emergency. I know they have a rep here for questions only. Then we're gonna do items 27 and 33, which we have a visiting council member for. Uh we're then going to go to the top of the agenda and go through everything with the exception of we're gonna skip over the millage rate and 504 to save that for the end. Everything on the agenda today has been unanimously approved through other committees, so I'm not expecting a ton of discussion. Certainly, committee members, if you have questions, ask, but I think it'll be a pretty light agenda. Uh, we're then gonna have Daryl Joseph come up and give a brief presentation on JWJ Park. You may recall that this was a topic of conversation uh when we uh talked about that on CIP day. So he's here with a presentation to answer some of the questions we had. And uh there were some separate meetings with uh uh myself, Mr. Joseph, the auditors, and we will have a recommended amendment that Mr. Peterson will walk us through, and that will be on item 504. It'll be as part of the uh the overall bill. Uh so with that, uh, and then we'll uh be done for the day. I think it'll be a relatively quick meeting relative to the uh lengths that they have uh been through budget season. Uh with that, we'll start off with public comment. Do I have any public comment cards? I have one, Carnell Oliver and my finance committee. You get two minutes. Please talk to an item on the agenda. Uh yes, my name is uh Carnell Oliver. Uh just today I filed a formal petition for uh your address uh uh please. Carnegie addresses on file, dealing with 504. I filed a formal petition, administrative policy amendment for risk uh and management. Asking for a piece of legislation that creates individual bonds for elected officials that serve on the city council. It has a 30-day time frame. If she doesn't push it for, it's gonna make her look bad politically. Point blank and simple. If she says it to you, it throws y'all underneath the bus, you're both gonna tap dance together.

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