Jacksonville Drowning Prevention Committee Meeting - September 9, 2026
Special Committee on Drowning Prevention
The City of Jacksonville's Special Committee on Drowning Prevention held its first meeting on September 9, 2026, from 3:30 PM to approximately 5:00 PM in the Council Chamber. Chaired by Council Member Reggie Gaffney, Jr., the committee was formed in response to recent child drownings in his district, with a total of over 10 drowning deaths in the last three to four years. Council President Howland charged the committee with six areas: emergency response, prevention/public education, youth elopement/special needs water safety, public retention pond safety, community partnerships, and best practices/legislative authority.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Sonya Leggett (6320 Frey Lake Avenue, Jacksonville): Grandparent of an autistic child, expressed frustration that meetings lack action. Suggested placing cameras and sensors on retention ponds and holding apartment owners liable.
- Darcia Bennett (3946 St. John's Avenue, representing Julius Guineard Foundation): Asked the committee to prioritize free or low-cost swimming lessons in high-needs neighborhoods, water safety education, and a youth lifeguard pathway. Offered to collaborate with city departments.
- Addison Patrick (address on file): Supported free swimming lessons and CPR classes. Proposed adding whistles, perimeter alarms, and environmentally friendly dye to reduce pond attractiveness. Recommended incentives for HOAs and private property owners to install barriers, and a reporting system for water bodies on private property.
- Adrian Menzies (29 Arbor Club Drive, Ponte Vedra Beach, representing Forterra Fencing): Raised technical concerns about fence codes for retention ponds, such as maintenance access requiring large gates not compatible with self-closing latches, and erosion issues. Asked whether policies would apply to existing ponds or only new developments.
Discussion Items
- Chair Gaffney opened by acknowledging two recent drownings in his district: 7-year-old Chance Brown on August 5, and a 3-year-old on August 24. He noted that a previous notice meeting on August 25 drew 100–150 people but was insufficient time. The six charges from Council President Howland were read aloud.
- Council Member Mike Gay expressed hope for preventive measures and community awareness.
- Council Vice Chair Tyrona Clark-Murray expected legislation to ensure safer pond construction, better education for parents and apartment managers, and minimal pushback, stating “there’s no price on a life.”
- Office of General Counsel (Shannon) explained that the city’s ability to impose restrictions depends on pond ownership and location, and that Senate Bill 180 will be relevant when facts are gathered.
- Public Works Director Steve Long noted that the city has hundreds of publicly owned ponds, but private ponds number in the thousands. He said an exact inventory is not available but can be compiled.
- Council Research (Stephen Libby) reported finding 11 drowning deaths of children on the autism spectrum since 2021, correcting an earlier statement of six.
- JFRD Chief Andrew Aguila distributed an executive brief with 86 water-related incidents over the past two years, the majority in residential and private pools, not just ponds. He offered to present findings at the next meeting.
- St. Johns River Water Management (Doug Honkey) agreed to provide a ballpark figure of private ponds and inspection frequency at a future meeting. He also noted that the agency’s codes only address slope safety, not broader drowning prevention.
- Council Member Clark-Murray compared St. Johns codes to South Florida water management codes, which include safety language, and urged consideration of adding safety requirements. She referenced “Chloe’s Law” requiring fencing near state roads.
- Chair Gaffney emphasized the need to identify high-risk ponds (within 300 feet of schools, sidewalks, playgrounds) and to address both public and private properties.
- Assistant Chief of Planning (Perola) stated that only planned unit developments (PUDs) allow conditions on proposals, and conditions require applicant agreement. Code changes would be needed for broader planning recommendations.
- Council Member Gay requested a full legal analysis of the city’s allowable parameters for new developments versus existing ponds.
- Council Member Hendries (if present) suggested organizing the work into four buckets: public/private and existing/future, and building on existing education programs.
Key Outcomes
- Next meeting scheduled for September 23, 2026, 3:30–5:00 PM. The committee will meet every other Wednesday until the end of the year.
- Action items assigned:
- Public Works and St. Johns River Water Management to provide a pond inventory (public and private) and identify high-risk ponds.
- JFRD to present detailed data on drowning incidents.
- Council Research to investigate best practices from five comparable cities (Tampa, Hillsborough, Orange, Broward, plus one more, and possibly Nassau County).
- Chair Gaffney to reach out to the Agency for Persons with Disabilities and the autism community for a database of children with disabilities.
- OGC to provide a definitive analysis of the city’s legislative authority regarding new and existing ponds.
- No immediate moratorium or permit changes were enacted. The committee will continue gathering information before drafting legislation.
Meeting Transcript
All right, it's 3 30. We'll go ahead and get started. Let's start with introductions to our left to our right. Join Rahie Administration. Stephen Libby, Council Research. Shannon Matt Gellis, Office of General Counsel. Heather Reber, Council Auditor's Office. Good afternoon to everyone. Tyrona Clark Murray District 9. Good afternoon, everyone, Councilman Reginald Gaffney Jr. District 8. Mike Gay, District 2. Steve Long Public Works. Awesome, awesome. I want to thank everyone for coming out to this special committee on drama prevention. The last month or two is it's been a critical time in Jacksonville. As you guys know, it's been two deaths in one month, but going over the last three or four years, it's is the deaths it dates back to over 10. Um, so I think now's a critical critical time to address this issue. So I kind of first I want to acknowledge and thank President Howland for allowing us to do this special committee. You know, um he understands the importance of this committee to understand the needs and what need to be done. I kind of want to bring us up to speed how we got here. So as everyone knows, um August the 5th, Chance, um, Chance Brown, seven year old, he drowned in my district off Broward Road. Um, at that time, my office, we reached out to public works, we reached out to the mayor's administration, we reached out to um development of services. We we we huddled, we discussed everything we needed to discuss, and we ultimately decided on having a notice meeting for August the 25th. At the time we were scheduling our notice meeting, um August the 24th, a three-year-old pass the day before. Um I have yet to verify the name for the three-year-old. The three old was also in my district. The three-year was also all tested. At that time, we had a notice meeting August the 25th, where we had anywhere from a hundred to a hundred individuals to show up. Um we had um everyone to come out from the health department, different hospitals, pretty much everyone, subject matter experts to come out and speak about this. What we concluded was that an hour and 30 minutes wasn't enough time um August the 25th, which kind of brings us to the point why we're here today on this special committee on the um drawing prevention. So, you know, we we reached out to President, well, I reached out to President Howland. He did charge us with six um charges, and I want to I want to read off the charges that he he tasked us with. Number one, he would like us to review emergency response and data. Number two, he would like us to review prevention, public education and awareness. Number three, youth elopement, special needs, water safety. Number four, public residential retention, stormwater facility safety. Number five, community partnerships, interagencies, number six, best practices, legislative authority, and recommendations. So over the course over the next six weeks or so, we'll be discussing all these topics. But today, what I would like to do, I think um, we need to identify the facts. You know, and what I mean by the facts, um, I think we need to identify how many how many deaths we have had over the last three or four years. I think we need to identify the ponds. But before I even go any further, I want to I'm very thankful for Councilman Gay, Councilman, um, Vice President, Councilwoman Clock Merritt for sitting on this special committee, and I would love to hear from you guys in terms of your expectations and desired outcome. So let me you're gonna go, Councilman Gay first. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I guess it's uh uh I wouldn't say excited, but I'm hopeful and optimistic that we can find solutions and preventative measures that we can uh help our community uh for awareness and protection of their of the children and the loved ones. So there's there's uh there's that hope that I have in this, and I feel like uh as we go through the charges that the council president has put before us, uh we'll be able to achieve that to where you know our our community will embrace it as well. So I appreciate uh being on the committee with you and uh look forward to supporting you on it. Thank you, sir.
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