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Record of Proceedings

Jacksonville Finance Committee Special Meeting on JTA and Nat Ford Subpoena – October 23, 2026

City Council — Friday, October 23, 2026

BodyJacksonville, Florida

SessionCity Council

DateFriday, October 23, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 19:58

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:02

Good morning, everyone.

0:03

We'll go ahead and get started with this special meeting of the finance committee regarding JTA.

0:09

We'll go ahead and uh start with introductions on my left.

0:12

Uh let's start with Ms.

0:12

Hamsey.

Speaker 2

0:14

Colleen Hamsey, Council Research.

0:16

Harry Stepopolis, Office of General Counsel.

Speaker 3

0:18

Philip Peterson, Council Author.

Speaker 4

0:20

Brian Parks, Council Auditor's Office.

Unassigned speaker

0:22

Good

Speaker 3

0:22

morning, Rockman Johnson, District 14.

Speaker 5

0:24

Good morning, Rory Diamond, District 13, The Beaches.

Unassigned speaker

0:26

Good

Speaker 1

0:27

morning, Chris Miller, at large group five.

0:29

Will in District

Unassigned speaker

0:30

3.

Speaker 5

0:31

My

Speaker 6

0:31

gay district two.

Speaker 7

0:32

Randy White, District 12.

Speaker 1

0:34

Nick

Speaker 6

0:34

Howland at

Speaker 1

0:35

large, group three.

0:38

All right.

0:39

Good morning, everybody.

0:40

So item two on the agenda is testimony from former JTA CEO Nat Ford or discussion to otherwise address Mr.

0:47

Ford's testimony before the committee.

0:49

I'm going to recognize the JTA liaison council member Diamond.

Speaker 5

0:52

Uh thank you, Mr.

0:53

Chair.

0:54

So I don't think there's any actual motion or work to be done on item two, but just for the purposes of everyone here, I'll just sum up how we got here and what I where I think we're at.

1:03

So on Tuesday we had a finance committee meeting, we took up a subpoena of Nat Ford, and it passed the committee.

1:11

Later that day, I kind of back channeled with Mr.

1:14

Ford's team, found out that he was unavailable to respond to us directly that day when we had reached out.

1:19

And the message came back that it looked just work of Mr.

1:23

Ford.

1:23

He's never once uh not come before the committee.

1:26

He's always, and to his credit, he's always kept his word and come to the committee when we've asked him to do, and that that's what will be true going forward.

1:33

Then uh and so he wasn't served on Tuesday, then I was informed Thursday morning he was served at his home.

1:39

So in my opinion, this is Rory speaking.

1:42

Uh service was effective uh effectuated and Mr.

1:44

Ford's currently under subpoena, but was not expected to show up here today.

1:48

So in my opinion, he's not thumbing the nose of the committee not being here, did not expect him to be here.

1:53

And so since he's still under subpoena, my expectation is that uh we'll simply work out a date for him to come at some point down the road.

Unassigned speaker

2:02

And

Speaker 5

2:02

that's so that's kind of my view of it, and I don't think there's any work to be done

Unassigned speaker

2:05

here.

Speaker 1

2:06

And just to clarify, uh Councilmember Diamond, you will be the council member working with Mr.

2:10

Ford to find a date agreeable for all crypt.

Speaker 5

2:13

And and I'll do that one and two.

2:16

I think it makes more sense now because there's a lot of work to be done with the CFOs and looking at documents and some of these other things to kind of get ready for

Speaker 1

2:25

testimony like that.

2:26

So yeah.

Speaker 5

2:27

So I, you know, I take uh leadership from the committee chair and the council president, but uh happy to do

Unassigned speaker

2:32

it.

Unassigned speaker

2:33

Thank

Speaker 1

2:33

you, Council President.

Speaker 4

2:35

Thank you, Mr.

2:35

Chair.

2:35

The facts that Mr.

2:36

Diamond laid out are exactly as I understand them.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Pending Litigation█████████████████████████████████████████████74%

Procedural████████13%

Municipal Code Compliance████████13%

Summary of Proceedings

Jacksonville Finance Committee Special Meeting on JTA and Nat Ford Subpoena – October 23, 2026

The Jacksonville City Council Finance Committee convened a special meeting on October 23, 2026, to discuss testimony from former Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) CEO Nat Ford and the status of the subpoena issued to him. Chair Will Lahnen presided; Vice Chair Chris Miller and several councilmembers attended. The only substantive agenda item was testimony from Mr. Ford or discussion to otherwise address his testimony before the committee; no public testimony was heard.

Call to Order and Introductions

Chair Will Lahnen called the meeting to order and introduced committee staff and members, including Vice Chair Chris Miller and Councilmembers Rockman Johnson, Rory Diamond, Randy White, Nick Howland, Gay, Salem, and others.
Councilmember Diamond, the JTA liaison, summarized how the committee reached this point: the Finance Committee voted to subpoena Mr. Ford at its Tuesday meeting; Mr. Ford was not served that day, but was served at his home on Thursday morning. Mr. Diamond said Mr. Ford was not expected to appear at this special meeting and described the subpoena as still active.

Discussion Items

Councilmember Diamond stated that Mr. Ford has historically cooperated with the committee and said his office would work with Mr. Ford's team to schedule a mutually agreeable date. General Counsel Fackler advised that no formal reissuance was needed because Mr. Ford remains under the validly served subpoena.
Councilmember Johnson questioned the necessity of the subpoena, calling the situation disingenuous and arguing for equal treatment of independent authority CEOs. He asked about enforcement if the subpoena were ignored. General Counsel Fackler and Ms. Stepopoulos outlined potential penalties, including a Class D code violation, contempt of council, and charter misdemeanor penalties of up to a $1,000 fine and/or 60 or 90 days' imprisonment under certain charter provisions.
Councilmember Johnson also referenced a Deloitte report requested from JTA. Council Auditor's Office staff member Mr. Peterson said the report had been requested but not yet received.
Councilmember Johnson moved to remove the subpoena and work voluntarily with Mr. Ford's team; the motion was seconded.
The Council President opposed removal, saying Mr. Ford served 14 years as JTA CEO and that Jacksonville citizens deserve his testimony after the near-complete financial collapse of JTA at the end of his tenure. The Council President referred to the subpoena as a "friendly subpoena" and preferred keeping it while arranging testimony collaboratively.
Councilmember White proposed a compromise to hold the subpoena for 14 days and rescind it if Mr. Ford voluntarily scheduled testimony. Councilmember Diamond said he would try to arrange a date with Mr. Ford, but keeping the subpoena in place could also protect the witness.
Councilmember Gay supported keeping the subpoena as an "insurance policy" to ensure the committee obtains information.
Councilmember Salem asked about the duration of the subpoena and whether testimony should come after hearing from JTA CFOs from the relevant period. General Counsel confirmed the subpoena has no automatic expiration, and testimony would occur before the Finance Committee, with FAO select committee members potentially invited.

Key Outcomes

The motion to remove or release the subpoena failed; one member voted in favor and all others opposed.
Mr. Ford remains under subpoena. Councilmember Diamond will coordinate with Mr. Ford's team to find a mutually convenient date for testimony before the Finance Committee.
No further action was taken, and the special meeting was adjourned.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning, everyone. We'll go ahead and get started with this special meeting of the finance committee regarding JTA. We'll go ahead and uh start with introductions on my left. Uh let's start with Ms. Hamsey. Colleen Hamsey, Council Research. Harry Stepopolis, Office of General Counsel. Philip Peterson, Council Author. Brian Parks, Council Auditor's Office. Good morning, Rockman Johnson, District 14. Good morning, Rory Diamond, District 13, The Beaches. Good morning, Chris Miller, at large group five. Will in District 3. My gay district two. Randy White, District 12. Nick Howland at large, group three. All right. Good morning, everybody. So item two on the agenda is testimony from former JTA CEO Nat Ford or discussion to otherwise address Mr. Ford's testimony before the committee. I'm going to recognize the JTA liaison council member Diamond. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. So I don't think there's any actual motion or work to be done on item two, but just for the purposes of everyone here, I'll just sum up how we got here and what I where I think we're at. So on Tuesday we had a finance committee meeting, we took up a subpoena of Nat Ford, and it passed the committee. Later that day, I kind of back channeled with Mr. Ford's team, found out that he was unavailable to respond to us directly that day when we had reached out. And the message came back that it looked just work of Mr. Ford. He's never once uh not come before the committee. He's always, and to his credit, he's always kept his word and come to the committee when we've asked him to do, and that that's what will be true going forward. Then uh and so he wasn't served on Tuesday, then I was informed Thursday morning he was served at his home. So in my opinion, this is Rory speaking. Uh service was effective uh effectuated and Mr. Ford's currently under subpoena, but was not expected to show up here today. So in my opinion, he's not thumbing the nose of the committee not being here, did not expect him to be here. And so since he's still under subpoena, my expectation is that uh we'll simply work out a date for him to come at some point down the road. And that's so that's kind of my view of it, and I don't think there's any work to be done here. And just to clarify, uh Councilmember Diamond, you will be the council member working with Mr. Ford to find a date agreeable for all crypt. And and I'll do that one and two. I think it makes more sense now because there's a lot of work to be done with the CFOs and looking at documents and some of these other things to kind of get ready for

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