City Council - Regular Meeting

[snorts and clears throat] All right, welcome everyone to the city council regular session uh meeting of December 15th, 2025, 6 p.m. If you'll please join me uh in standing for the pledge and our invitation by Vice Mayor Young of America to the republic for it stands nation indivisible and justice for all.

Most holy and everlasting God, we bow before you right now. Oh God, first to tell you thank you. We thank you, oh God, that you are God and you're God all along. And we do realize, oh [clears throat] God, that you have all power in your hand. We ask you, oh God, to just help us, oh God, that our thoughts are cleared. Help us out that our minds are clear. Help us, oh God, that our hearts are fixed. Oh God, that we will be in the space that we will make the best decision for Lake City. Help each council person, oh God, administration, help us, oh God, hold us in the palm of your hand, oh God, every person here tonight, oh God, every family represented. We ask for your protection and your guidance, keep us all the way only you can keep us, dear God. Help us, oh God, continue to bless our city. Keep us safe, oh God. We need you like never before. And we want to do everything we can do in this meeting, oh God, that we will take care of the city's business. Again, oh God, clear our thoughts, clear our minds, help us that we'll be in this space to make the very best decision. Oh God, help us, dear God, in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Vice Mayor Young. [clears throat and cough] Miss Sykes, will you please call the role? Council member Jernigan, present. Council member Harris, present. Council member Young, here. Council member Carter, present. Mayor Walker, present. City Manager Rosenthal, here. City Attorney Martin, here. Chief Butler, here.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, the Lake City Council has opened its public meeting. Since 1968, the city code has prohibited any person from making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks or becoming boisterous while addressing the council. Yelling or making audible comments from the audience constitutes boisterous conduct. Such conduct will not be tolerated. There is only one approved manner of addressing the city council and that is to be recognized and then to speak from the podium. Failure to abide by the rules of decorum will result in removal from the meeting. We will begin tonight's meeting with a proclamation. So you approve it? Yeah. Sorry about that. So we'll move on to approval of the agenda. So approve. Mayor second.

A motion and a second. Thank you both. Do we have any further comments, questions? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

Any opposed? Like sign. All right. Now we'll move into proclamations. We have a proclamation tonight in recognition of Mr. Terry Hancock. Uh Terry, for those of you guys that didn't know, uh stood uh on the corner of Bea and Maine for a long time in the mornings waving at all the passers by uh wishing them a uh a great day and waving the American flag. So this is in recognition of Mr. Hancock. Whereas Terry proudly served his country in the United States Army as a Vietnam era veteran from 1973 to 1976, exemplifying courage, dedication, and an unwavering commitment to the nation he loved. And whereas following the loss of his partner, Terry began standing with the sign as a way to honor her memory and raise funds for her funeral expenses. Through an anonymous donor, ultimately paid the funeral cost. That single act of kindness inspired Terry to continue standing in gratitude holding a thank you sign beginning in 2020. And whereas during the CO 19 pandemic, Terry shifted his message of appreciation to honor and uplift medical professionals and essential workers, becoming a symbol of hope, encouragement, and unity during an extraordinary time. And whereas Terry grew into a patriotic pillar of the Lake City community, faithfully waving to residents each day, spreading joy, positivity, and kindness to all who pass by. And whereas he especially loved greeting children and gifting them small American flags, creating moments of connection and joy that will be remembered by countless families. And whereas Terry was deeply charitable, often assisting veterans and individuals experiencing homelessness by offering rides, gift cards for meals, and heartfelt support, demonstrating compassion in both word and deed. And whereas he was a proud member of the

Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW, and the American Legion organizations in which he found camaraderie, purpose, and the opportunity to continue serving others. And whereas Terry Hancock's positive outlook, generosity, and unwavering spirit touched the lives of innumerable residents and made him a beloved figure whose daily presence uplifted the community. And whereas Terry Hancock passed away on October 27th, 2025, leaving a legacy of gratitude, patriotism, and kindness that will be deeply missed by all who knew him. Now therefore, I, Noah Walker, as mayor of the city of Lake City, do hereby recognize and honor Terry Hancock for his remarkable life, his service to our nation, and the lasting impact he made on the people of Lake City. His memory will continue to inspire acts of kindness, unity, and community spirit for generations to come. Thank you. And if I could have his uh sisters or any family that came come take a photo and accept this on his behalf.

[clears throat]

All right, that ends our our proclamations. So, we will move on to public participation. Uh, and we have uh first to kick us off, Miss Azy Handy. Good evening everyone.

Thank you for letting allowing us to speak. I actually was coming here to talk about the CRA, but I heard um I had been following those meetings and coming to them today. I wasn't able to come to the one, but I heard that it went good because I um had been following them and I saw how um much funding was coming in, you know, for the from the community. the taxes was like they said around two was it $200,000 that came in this last year and then we were paying them $13,000 for you know their job plus taxes and fees. I'm always concerned about um you know the funds in our community. Uh, you know, I work with women and children and um young children, single moms I should say, and we're always looking for ideas and things that the community can do to help um bringing things to our community. And um so like our downtown area, I know you guys hear about this area a lot, but um looking over um some of the cities around us um you know, we looking at our parks and our recreation and the things that we have for the youth and the kids to do. Um, I was wondering like looking over the city of Live Oak, they have um splash pads, they have bike trails, they have beautiful, really large parks. And I'm just wondering what the city can do to help bring stuff like that into our community because it is an issue with not having much for the um children to do. And so we're always concerned, you know, citizens and what the funding is going to in our community. I know um even talking about I know you guys don't want to hear about this but the hospital building you know giving it to we gave it to a organization that has the money to build one anywhere in the community when we could have re so I could give you five ideas right now of things that we could have done to help women and children or vets or so many other uses with it. You know, the community is really concerned about the transparency of where our funds are going and, you know, what we can do to partner with you guys even to come up with more ideas that we can better have better ways of

spending um the funding that's coming into this city because that, you know, the money for the CRA, I know it goes for recreation, housing, the sidewalks and all the things. Uh for housing, if you have $200,000 with the area amount of houses in that, you you can't even buy one window for each house in the area. So, you know, what are the ways that we can come up with to build things that more people in the community would be able to um help and have a part in um something that brings the community together and not divide us. And I thank you for allowing me to speak. But I just wanted to ask you guys to be more transparent even in the information that you put out, you know, about the city. I know I've been seeing Mayor Walker's post about bringing better things to the downtown area and bringing more businesses to our downtown area. And I definitely think that, you know, bringing Meridian to our downtown area is going to deter people from coming into the area more. So, just being more transparent and working with us. We want to work with you. We want to be a part of what the city is doing to make our city better. I I definitely kept thinking of Live Oak. It's a ve much smaller community than ours and they have many more things for recreational use.

Thank you, Miss Andy. Yes. [clears throat]

All right. Up next, uh we have Mr. Warren. Man, I'm going get straight to the point. I want to know from you and from the attorney, does the corn go both ways? Does it go for you boys and girls on that side of the dasis or does it go for me on this side of the podium? Because council woman uh Harris call my mama mammy and then her cousin sits there. She's worked with my mama. She know that my mama had mental health issues. She's worked with her at Meridian. and to sit there and to call my mama out of her name. I've never disrespected her and called any of her family member out of her name. And so for no one, not even you, unless you like the fact that she said my mammy. Unless you, Mr. Jernin, like the fact that she said Miami.

No, no. I'm I'm I am not doing anything out of order. I'm not making any personal attacks unless Mr. Carter like that Miss Harris said something about my mammy. Unless Miss Young like the fact that she said my mammy. Unless any of y'all in here like the fact that she said my mammy. Why was nothing said to her? There's a double standard is what I'm pointing out. When Mr. Warren say something that you don't like or he don't like or she don't like, you want to point me and have me removed from the meetings. Why is not that same effort and that same amount of energy put on the folks that sit on the dasis? That is the most disrespectful thing that you can say as a elected leader is to call somebody uh out and say they mammy. Especially knowing that my mom and she knows for a fact and she's worked with my mom at Meridian has mental health issues and it runs deeply in our family. Am I right or wrong, Mr. Councilman Jernigan? It runs deep in our family and that is disrespectful and I'm asking that she be admonished for doing so. Mayor, I'm asking you to get a grip on your side of the [ __ ] dices. M

Mr. War, please. No, ma'am. She said she said my mammy. Mr. Warren, she said my m. You didn't say nothing. I did say something. I did. I said, "That's enough."

That's and I won't take any more yelling from the audience. I won't take any more I won't take any more cuss words in this man. Do you understand? Thank you. That's it. One more time. [snorts] Miss Coker, you're next. Good evening, B. Coker. So, my children are here um for the CRA meeting hoping that we were going to address um some activities that they've been working on and their requests for possibly the identification of a um public wall, something that they could utilize similar to the manner in which we are working with Wayside. side boat ramp art wall to help create a community art project. So, I'm going to spend 20 seconds to ask you all to consider. We must create safe spaces for young people, not just outside of here. That's what our project is about. Creating safe spaces for young people. Safe spaces inside and outside. My kids had to leave the meeting tonight and it's not fair to them because they've gone [snorts] through this before. That's why they stopped attending for about four years. This has to be a place that respects the quorum. We have rules in place and I'm sorry, but adults have to communicate in a way that is mindful that young people are watching us. It's

not acceptable to tolerate it. It doesn't matter whether or not we have thick skin. What matters is that they shouldn't be exposed to it. So, I'm asking you to prioritize making this a zero tolerance place that it is absolutely unacceptable to violate the rules of decorum for their safety because once they hear some of those things, I can't go back and take it out. and they know some of you. They've worked with some of you. You are upstanding citizens to them and you will continue to be. That's the respect that they have about this office and I'm asking you to protect their ability to keep it that way. It is absolutely unacceptable for this office to ever be desecrated. For you adults sitting in those positions to ever be talked down to in front of our children. It's not acceptable. So, I'm asking you, I'm begging you, please prioritize that. It is the most important thing you can give them. We must have structure and order. Now, back to the project. If you would just be thinking before the next meeting because they'll come back and they'll share with you what they wanted to. They want art projects, community projects that bring young people together to help create safe space for them. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Cooker. Mr. Bo, you're up next.

Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and members of the council. Uh, Miss Coker pretty much said said it all. Um, I want to reiterate what you have here on your on your agenda that you read earlier. It says that since 1968, the city code has prohibited any person from making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks or becoming boisterous while addressing the city council. Yelling or making audible comments from the audience constitutes boisterous conduct. Such conduct will not be tolerated. There's only one approved manner of addressing the city council and of course that is from this podium. So I was shocked and I had my children here that we bring to observe how government actually happens when not only in this meeting but in other meetings and I just can't fathom that such an outburst that occurred during the CRA meeting would happen in any other government session that I have been uh attending. The remarks made were horrible. The impression that was made on these children and one, by the way, is only 12 years old. It's an indelible impression that they'll never forget. And every time we think about bringing them to a meeting, that's going to be in their mind. So I'm asking you to not [snorts] tolerate such behavior by anyone. I want you to enforce what you have here in your agenda that when you have these outbursts and people that don't know how to address you properly and commit personal attacks that they are taken care of and removed promptly. I asked the police tonight why that young man that was here earlier was not

removed and he said that it has to you have to tell him you have to tell him to do so is that's if that's the case that's what you need to do I'm really terribly disappointed thank you

thank you Mr. I'll speak to that real fast. Uh those comments and remarks happened after the meeting. We had gave out. Once we're gled out, I cannot throw somebody out of a meeting. If those comments have been made during the meeting, certainly would have been tossed out. Uh Mr. [clears throat] Sherry and Victor, you're up next. Sorry. We just want to let you guys know that Denny's has um remodeled. We're doing much better out there. And we want to let you know we're going to have a dinner with Santa on the 19th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. We have kids eats free from 4 to 10:00 p.m. every night. And um it's two children to every one adult under and the children have to be under 10. But we're gonna have a um dinner with Santa on Friday night and then we're gonna have breakfast with Santa on Monday morning from 8 to 10. So, we just want y'all to come out and join us and let you know that we're there. Um we've come a long way. So, we're just inviting all y'all to come see us.

Perfect. Just west of just west of the interstate on Highway 90. Is that correct? And then I have these Perfect. If you'll bring those up, we'll make sure that those get into the meeting records. And you said the 19th, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. there will be a breakfast a dinner with s Santa. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. All right. All right. That ends public participation. I'll pass this. There's two different ones. Oh, it's two different ones. Okay. Just making sure they come back to to Miss Sykes. All right. Uh we're done with uh public participation. So, we'll move on to the approval of the consent agenda. Mr. Mayor, move to approve the consent agenda. Second. Have a motion. A second. Do we have any discussion [clears throat] hearing? None. Miss S, would you please call the RO? Mr. Carter?

Yay. Miss Young, yes. Mr. Garnigan, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Mayor Walker, yes. After the consent agenda, we'll move uh straight on to open quasi judicial hearing. Uh, item number 8, city council ordinance number 2025-2315. Mr. Martin, I'll turn it over to you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As you said, tonight we have before the council one matter that must be considered and voted on in a quasi judicial manner. That item is on first reading ordinance 20252315, an ordinance amending the official zoning atlas pursuant to application Z2503 submitted by Carol Chadwick as agent for First Coast Investment Corp, Inc. the property owner. Uh tonight we will proceed uh in the following order. First, we'll her presentation from the city, the applicant, any party interveners, followed by public comment, then cross-examination uh by and among the parties and uh then we can have additional response by the participants if the mayor allows. Uh that would be followed by questions from the city council to uh any of the participants in the hearing. We would then move to any final comments and arguments from the parties if they so desired. Uh I would then advise the council as to all necessary findings and the council can deliberate and vote. While the council welcomes comments from all persons with an interest in the proceeding, Florida law requires the council's decision in quasi judicial actions be supported by competent substantial evidence presented to the council during the hearing. Competent and substantial evidence is evidence a reasonable mind would accept as adequate to support a conclusion. There must be a factual basis in the record to support opinion testimony from both expert and non-expert witnesses. People presenting testimony may support their testimony by relying on factual information provided by city staff, the applicant, or other factual information included in the city staff report and other documents. At this time, I need to inquire of each council member individually if they've received any exparte communications uh involving this matter, and if so, to please disclose them. Uh, Councilwoman Young, have you received any exparte communications?

Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Councilman Carter, I have not. by Councilman Jernigan. Uh, Councilwoman Harris, no. And Mayor Walker, no.

Thank you. Let the record reflect that no one received any expire communications. At this time, uh, for those that are going to offer testimony or speak to this ordinance, if you could stand and raise your right hand to take an oath. Mr. Angelo, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, hold truth, nothing but the truth? All right. Thank you. Uh, council members, you know, how before you proposed ordinance 2025 2315, which states an ordinance of the city of Lake City, Florida, amending the official zoning atlas of the city of Lake City land development regulations as amended relating to the reszoning of less than 10 contiguous acres of land pursuant to an application Z2503 by Carol Chadwick is agent for the for Florida First Coast Investment Corp, Inc., the property owner of set acreage, providing for reszoning from residential single family 3 to commercial neighborhood of certain lands within the corporate limits of the city of Lake City, Florida, providing severability, repealing all ordinances in conflict, and providing an effective date. Mr. Angela, could you please introduce, summarize, and present the proposed ordinance?

Yes, sir.

All right. So, this is Z25-03. Ordinance number is 2025 2315. and is for parcels numbers 12516-0000 and 12514-0000 which are currently zone residential single family 3. Um the petitioner is requesting to or the applicant is requesting to change the zoning to commercial neighborhood and Lexity comprehensive plan um does have a provision there that these have to be adjacent to a collector arterial road and that is going to be done by accomplishing by combining these parcels all into one then be contiguous to Baya which is a collector road. These are the parcels here. You got this one here and this one here that's being reszone. As you see, there is a [snorts] commercial neighborhood here that is already here, but all five of these parcels will be combined and then they'll be continuous to Baya and that way they'll be consistent with the comp plan. And that is a picture of the street right there. And staff recommended action at this time is for the city council to approve um ordinance number 2025 2315. At this time, I'd like to move my application and all staff reports into the record.

Thank you, Mr. Angelo. Uh, just to confirm, is there anyone here on behalf of the applicant tonight? Seeing no one, is there anyone uh here as a party intervener? Seeing no one, uh, there would be no cross-examination. Now, it would be appropriate for the city council to ask any questions of Mr. Angelo. Mr. Mayor, is there any questions? I have a question. Uh business frontage is proposed to be on nine or on baya. Correct.

The ingress egress. Yeah, the ingress egress is proposed to be off of baya and they're going to have a unified parking um for all five parcels and that way they can utilize the whole thing. So there after this is reszone there will be a site plan that will come um as a later action. Thank you Mr. Jernigan. Do you have a question? I have a question as well. Uh, can you put that picture back up there if you if you Yes, sir.

Yeah. Uh, would would the because there's residents that's live that live in those areas as well. Am I correct? Yes, sir. That's why that we had the provision of the having the ingress eress off of um Maya versus this is a was originally came to us back in May and we tabled it to try to come up with a way to make this work but at the same time hold consistent with what the LDR has and um which is that the business be contiguous to a collector. So we want to protect the businesses that are down through there.

Yes sir. So uh thank you for that information. Uh did you talk to any of the residents or did the committee talk to any other residents and did they have a problem with any of this uh u painted from uh to commercial? We have not went to individually and spoke to any of the residents but we did advertise it and we also notified them with a certified letter for all the homeowners within 300 ft of the residents. Did anybody respond back to you? No sir. Okay. That that concludes M. This is a dead end street, right? Yes, ma'am. Okay. I'm making sure. Okay.

That's that's a city street. Yes, ma'am. It is. It's right behind the Circle K. Yeah, it's Laurel Lane. It's right behind Circle K. [clears throat] Thank you, Mr. Angelo.

All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, are there any comments from the public on this particular application? Seeing no comments from the public. Uh, Mr. Angelo, I assume you're waving closing comments. All right. Thank you. Uh, the decision of the council should be based only on the evidence provided by sworn witnesses. In addition, the council shall take into consideration the recommendation of the planning and zoning board and those matters listed in section 15.2.2 of the city's land development regulations. At this time, the council may discuss the application and testimony and any findings of fact upon which it wishes to base a decision and adopt proposed ordinance 2025 uh 2315 following an appropriate motion and second.

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Uh council comments, questions. Would anybody like to uh make a motion to adopt city council ordinance number 2025-2315 on first reading? Mr. Mayor move to adopt council ordinance 2025-2315. Second it. We have a mot or we have a motion and a second. Do we have any further comments, questions? Hearing none. Miss, will you please call the role? Mr. Carter? Yes. Miss Harris? Yes. Miss Young? Yes. Mr. Jernigan? Yes. Mayor Walker?

Yes. Right now, we're moving on to uh old business and we will begin with our ordinances. Number nine, city council ordinance number 2025-2345 on its final reading. Mr. Martin, will you please take this away? Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, council members, you have before you ordinance 2025 2345, an ordinance to the city of Lake City, Florida, approving, adopting, and authorizing the execution of an interlocal service boundary agreement between the city of Lake City, Florida, and the Columbia County, Florida Board of County Commissioners regarding a joint planning area and municipal service area to be commonly identified as the cornerstone planning area, providing for uh recordation, providing for severability, providing for conflicts, and providing an effective date.

Thank you, Miss Martin. Uh, we do have public comment on this one, Mr. Warren. Noah. Um, first I want to say that uh you skipped me on the consent agenda. I don't know whether that was delivery or not because I put all M. Mr. Warren, we're now on city council ordinance number 2025-2345. Could you please speak to the ISBA? Yes, I can speak to that. But I want to say that I don't I want to speak to item number 11. And then I want if you would a clarification as to why I was skipped on the consent agenda.

Mr. Warren, we're now on item number nine. Thank you. Uh that closes public comment. So we are now moving to council comment questions. Mr. Mayor, I move to approve city council ordinance 25-2345. Second. We have a motion and a second. Thank you both. Do we have any final comments, questions? Hearing none, Miss S, will you please call the role? Mr. Carter? Yay. Mr. Dernigan, yes. Miss Young, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Mayor Walker, yes. All right. Now, we are moving on to new business. We are in our resolution. City Council resolution number 2025-108 is our first one. This is the public records request policy. Mr. Warren, you've signed up for this one as well.

I would like not like to speak on this one, but I want to go on the record that I was skipped on public uh consent agenda which Mr. Clay Martin made a ruling when Mr. Bowen was here at the time that that is not supposed to happen. Thank you, [clears throat] Mr. Mr. Warren. Uh that closes public comment. So, we are on council comments, questions. Mr. Mayor move to approve city council resolution 2025-108. Second. Thank you both. Do we have any final comments, questions? Yes, I I I do. I my notes [clears throat] on my last one

and uh for this I think it says something about 40. Let me let me look at it again here. I was just wondering uh about the uh the monies. and how the constituent is charged. Um, what was it before uh the 50% and uh less or equal to 1,000? Can somebody answer that for me? What page are you on, Mr. Jarvin?

I'm on 163. And uh to the same note, you can you can also um advance deposit of 75% of the estimated labor or cost of $4,000. So you can answer both of those at the same time. Okay. If you could say 163, Mr. Jigan. 163. That is correct. special service fee or something to that effect. [clears throat]

Okay. The special service fees always been we've always required a 50% deposit before we begin the work. Um so if that's that was your question on that one. Where's he at?

We did increase the I'm so sorry. We did increase the amount to a 75% deposit and that came as a result of um myself and attorney Martin and Chief Butler having a discussion on if we have a really really large public records request. We would like to get 75% upfront before we complete that. So that was really the only change uh as far as as far as the fees. We went from um just 50% across the board to if it's over $1,000, we're going to require a 75%.

Yes. Uh thank you for for explaining that. Al uh so therefore is just say for example um a constituent uh comes up and he or she uh does not have uh uh the funds. Is there any funds for indigent um public requests? No sir. But we do provide the first 30 minutes or 30 pages of documents for free. Um, you can get actually quite a bit done as far as a public records request for 30 minutes. It used to be 15 minutes for free, but it is 30.

Thank you, Miss uh Miss Sykes for answering that. Uh, and and and that's something that the uh the public uh needs to know about and that's why you know I put these notes and uh and looked over this agenda um for you to explain that. That way the public can hear this. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Yes, you're welcome. I I do have one. Yes, ma'am. Mayor, thank you. How often when it was the 50%, how often did you get a public record request for a large amount and they do not um complete? I'm not certain that they do not get it at at completion. Well, we paid the 50% rarely. Okay. Rarely.

So, why would it go to 75%. Um we had a large request that um we did receive a deposit on and so we completed all the work on that spent countless countless countless hours on that one and then the balance was not paid. Of course we didn't release all the rest of the records so they never received everything that they wanted but um that that is a reason. Okay. So that was probably one in how many? And I'm saying that because um times are not times are pretty tough now and um public request is very important to some people for um very important reasons, right? So I don't know that it's

wise to increase the amount if we haven't had an issue so to speak of of people not um getting the public record request. I don't think one should cause um a increase in the amount for the deposit. The the $1,000 uh limit, those are rare that we have many over the $1,000, but this particular one was a couple thousand dollar, several thousand. We did receive a substantial deposit

and all the work was completed because we didn't even start the work until the the deposit was received. So staff completed all of the work, whether it be 40 hours on one, 50 hours on one piece. We completed all the work, then we asked for the remaining fees to be paid. Staff's already completed all the work. Okay. The the remaining deposit wasn't paid. Okay. So, and I remember us meeting on this and I thought we came to um um that they would it would be in phases.

You do part of it, you get part of the fee, you do the next part, you get part of the the other part of the fee. What what happened to that? I thought that's similar to what we do. We do a we have a 50% right now our policy is you you receive a 50% deposit. That's our policy right now. So, that's what we're doing. But if we have um small amounts that we can go ahead and release to someone um then we go ahead and release those records immediately.

They get 30 minutes for free. Everyone gets 30 minutes for free. So, we go ahead and release what we can upfront and then if it's substantial, you know, we're having to give them an estimate. They're having to pay 50%. Once they pay the 50% then we begin the rest of that work. Sometimes we um have to wait on videos per videos are the things that take the longest. I understand that 30 minutes for free is good for the um small public record requests, but when you get to the larger ones that take up the mo a lot of time um and it's a lot more money then um that 30 minutes doesn't really phase them. Right.

Well, 30 minutes is 30. Yes. So I thought when you had it on the um the phases of the public record request going through the process and getting so much you know that just helps it I mean people are it's not easy coming up with a lot of money you know what I'm saying at one time. So I just don't want to make it harder on people than than it already is. I well I I I still the question still remains what happened to the idea you all had and I thought it was I actually thought it was solid. What happened? Did you get to a point where you thought that wasn't going to work? Well,

y'all know what I'm talking about. No, ma'am. I apologize. I must not. We We do the 50%. That's what our policy is now. Mr. Clay, do you remember me having the meeting concerning the public record request? I I'm I'm aware of what you're speaking of. Mr. Johnson, do you remember? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Do you remember, Mr. Clay or Mr. Johnson, that and I believe it was your idea, Mr. Martin, correct me if I'm wrong, that the process from the beginning to the end that it would be in phases and they did a percentage at each phase when it's a large request like that. I didn't make it up.

No, you're not making it up. You're you're absolutely correct. I'm just saying what happened. Is that not a good idea anymore? I I believe uh it's being implemented at the police department. We are doing that, but that's that's still we if it's going to be more than 30 minutes of time, they're still going to have to pay that deposit. They may get the report, go ahead and get the report out, you know, immediately. I think we're talking about police department records is what we're talking about. That was the main public records is public records. So, um, so do they get, so do you notify when if I come with public record requests, do you notify me at each stage? That's what you all said. Yes, ma'am. You notify? Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

But they don't pay until you get to the very end after the deposit. Yes, ma'am. Some Some people go ahead and pay the full amount at the deposit phase. So, and then what we're left with there is it is if they have overpaid because maybe we've overestimated and sometimes they may owe a little bit more or we may owe them a refund, if that makes sense. Say we estimated it at $60 and it only ended up being 40, then we're having to

Okay. I I I just want to say that I I just think you all had come up with a a very good plan um with the public record request and I thought it helped you the public record request staff as well as the um the public record request the person requesting the request door. So I'm just lost as to why it changed. No ma'am it didn't change. I didn't understand exactly what you were asking. We are doing that. We are touching those public records requests very very often like we had talked about through all the different phases. Uh Nikki does reach out to them to let them know I've asked for a status update on your request. As soon as I hear something, I will let you know. So she is definitely reaching out to them to keep them informed on the PRs. Yes, ma'am. That is happening.

Okay. Yes, ma'am. Was that what you were meaning? Well, I I just It's the money part for me. Okay. You know, I don't have an issue if you if the council would like to make it 50%. Um I'm okay with that. I I'll it's fine with me. Yeah. I I don't see where um the 25 cents deposit is going to make much of a difference because you're still the process is the same and they're still paying the [clears throat] full amount. So, mayor, may we um ask attorney Martin u why that was if there was anything else you want to add to that?

Hold on before before Mr. [clears throat and cough] Add some add finish up that point and then Mr. credit card will come to you. Okay. So the question is uh why was the 75% threshold added? I I think it was just purely on the anecdotal uh information concerning the the single time uh at the end of the day there was the expectation that no matter how much is owed the person requesting the information in good faith would pay the full amount.

So it was just a matter of whether they paid it upfront or after the fact. that the whole amount would be paid. So, the city was not left holding the bag for a lot of work that got done, but uh not getting paid for it and and having spent a lot of staff time generating documents that then ultimately the city just held on to and were not produced for the uh requester. Uh that being said, I mean that's a line. If the council doesn't want that in the policy, it's easy to strike through without changing anything else. uh as to uh Councilwoman's Young about uh how the the system is working and and getting things out intermittently. Uh there were systematic changes made uh at the police department and I believe also in the city clerk's office. the the police department was the place where it was most pronounced where rather than uh taking everything on a first in first out kind of basis, they're triaging uh requests so that if it's something that can be immediately responded to because it's just a couple of pages, they're pulling that, they're responding to it and they're getting it out of the way. And that's a s systemic change within their process in the police department that they've implemented since this uh conversation and meeting back in August I believe it was. Uh and then uh with what is left which are usually uh audiovisisual redactions that have to be made uh they are then prioritizing those based on whether uh they are in furtherance of a criminal investigation and they have to get it over to another agency like the state attorney's office and they're doing those responding to a subpoena [snorts] and then uh after that they are doing the remaining uh audiovisisual redactions on a first in first out basis. So rather than having a big pile sitting there uh waiting to be worked on, the pile now is is like this because they're getting the small ones out

almost immediately. And I appreciate that. Um but it just seems that by us increasing the deposit is that we've had an issue with the people who are requesting and it's not it wasn't them, it was us with the delay. So maybe they wasn't paying it because or getting them because they've waited so long for it. That is a possibility. Yes. Okay. So, let's please keep it at at the 50%. So, this would be Hold on. Because we we have a motion and a second on the floor and we're in further discussion right now. Okay. So, be we have to vote on that first. Is that Were you We have a motion and a second on the floor. This is final discussion,

right? I I think the mayor uh you could uh accept an amendment to the motion uh to amend the resolution and its uh exhibit to remove that particular line item if you wish to. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Mr. Carter. Okay. Um it feels like that was like a like a like a lot of beat around the bush. Um, if someone places public record request and they pay the deposit, whether it's 5% or 95%. They don't get all the stuff until they pay the total amount. Correct. Okay, that is correct.

Is it correct to assume that the desire to increase the uh deposit to 75% is to dissuade people from wasting our time, right? Because you know if a thing takes a long time, it takes a long time. Obviously, the reason we want to increase it is to make sure that people go, "Well, if I've paid 75% of 2,000, odds are good, I'll go ahead and pay the rest, which means we won't have wasted all our time for nothing." So, I do not wish to amend the motion that I originally made. 75% is perfectly reasonable because the expectation is that the entire total will be paid anyway. So, I I'm not amending my motion. I'd like to see that go to a vote before we move on. Thank you, Mr. We're not wasting

that. We wasted [clears throat] our own time. Those public record requests was backlogged. [snorts] We were so far behind. It was ridiculous. So, we can't punish the people by increasing the fee because we went up on our game. To be clear, the fee is not being let finish. Deposit. That's still fee. The deposit. We're increasing the deposit as though we had a problem with the people getting the public record request, paying for it. We didn't have that problem. She said one.

So why are we changing as though it's it was their problem. It wasn't their pro. It was ours. We wasn't we was we didn't have things in order. The public record request was totally out of hand and we had a meeting to bring it to order. [snorts] And now that we have a plan to bring it to order, we're going to punish them by increasing the deposit. What if they don't have it at that time?

Thank you, Miss Young. Um, we do. All right. So, we have a motion and a second on the floor. We've had discussion. Do we have any final discussion? I'll have Miss Sykes clarify this motion. It's a motion to adopt city council resolution 2025108 as it's presented. Okay. So that's with the 75%. Um any final comments, questions? Well, let's vote on this. If it fails, then we can work on another motion. All right, Miss Sly, please call the role. Mr. Carter, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Miss Young, no. Mr. Jernigan, yes. Mayor Walker,

yes. All right. [snorts] So, we're moving on now to item number 11, city council resolution number 2025-161. Uh, this is uh the resolution on trespass warnings uh and allowing Mr. Rosenthal to to administer those. Mr. Martin, I'm going to have you read this one by title since it deals with legal policy. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council members, you have before you resolution number 2025-161, a resolution of the city of Lake City, Florida, authorizing the city manager after consultation with the city attorney to issue trespass warnings and orders related to real property owner leased by the city. Requiring the city manager to notify the city council of any such warnings or orders issued by the city manager, authorizing the city council to rescend any such warnings or orders issued by the city manager. Making findings of fact and support thereof. Directing the city clerk to reflect such authorization in such records of the city as are necessary and prudent, making certain findings a fact in support of the city clerk reflecting such authorization in the records of the city. Repealing all prior resolutions in conflicting an effective date. Thank you, Mr. Martin. I'll open up public comment on this now. Mr. Warren, you signed up.

Sure. Positive.

Good thing you can skip me this time. Appreciate it. Um, again, for the record, I I don't like being skipped over and don't like the fact that uh Mr. Martin don't like to speak up when he should and he's a mand mandatory uh uh uh reporter uh by the Florida Bar. that aside, um I believe that what is taking place with this piece of agenda item is giving way too much authority to the city manager. But if that's something that y'all want to do and you think it's going to work and [snorts] you think it's going to achieve the goal that y'all think it's going to achieve toward particularly maybe one person also then feel free to go ahead. But I can promise you that Sylvester Won't be the person to regret it. I promise you that y'all will regret it more so than I will. And I will go on to say, Mr. mail that if I was you, I'll get with your finance director and I would find out what's the maximum amount of money that you can put into legal services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Warren. U now we'll close public comment and move into council comments um or questions. I'll clarify this item came up u because of a homeless situation where we had some folks camping out uh in the lobby of one of the public buildings and to an extent where it was becoming a problem um and had nothing to do with any one individual. Any other comments, questions? No, Mr. Mayor. With that being said, uh like to approve resolution number 20 25-161. Second. Have a motion and a second. Thank you both. Do we have any final comments, questions? Hearing none, Miss Sykes, will you please call the role? Mr. Jernigan, yes. Mr. Carter, yay. Miss Young,

yes. Miss Harris, yes. Mayor Walker, yes. Moving on to item number 12, City Council resolution number 2025-171 uh having to deal with the holiday schedule uh coming up holidays and bringing them in sync with both the county and the state. Mr. Resinthal. Yes. I'd like to get our HR director to come up and explain what what we're proposing. Great. Thank you, Miss Bible. Hello. So, we're just proposing a changing the Christmas holidays off from December 24th and December 25th, which is Wednesday and Thursday, to December 25th and December 26th, which is Thursday and Friday. Um, which would match what the state and the county have chosen to do with their days off as well.

Thank you, Miss Bible. Does anybody have any questions for Miss Bible before we open public comments? Okay. Will you repeat repeat those days, please? Sure. We're changing we were proposing changing the day before Christmas and the day of Christmas, which is the um 24th and 25th to the 25th and 26th, which would be Thursday and Friday. May Mayor I think that um Christmas Eve if they a half a day on the 24th the 24th and be off the 25th and 26th.

So the current proposal in our agenda is to have off the 25th and 26th instead of the 24th. Correct. Or is it to have the 24th off as well? It's to have it's currently the um 24th and 25th and then people would return to work on Friday. But this amendment would be for the 25th 26th instead of having the 24th off. Correct. And then if people wanted to take off, they could use their leave time. Sure.

I'm I'm thinking, you know, around the holidays um especially Christmas, a lot of people will be probably going out to um other family members houses or traveling or what have you. And I just think it would almost you'll have a skeletal crew here if you tell the people they have to come to work on the 24th. So my suggestion is if we don't give them that full day off on the 24th and let at least let them do half a day, I would prefer they be off the 24th, 25th, and the 26th. And generally speaking, um the city manager has that authority and he has let um just like we do before Thanksgiving, he's let us leave early.

That would be my suggestion. Um the rest of the council can vote on. So prior to us going any further, I'll open up for public comment. Mr. Warren, you're the only one signed up for this. Man, I hate to disappoint you, but I got a nice Facebook post that I got to go make um and share to about 99 people and probably get about four or 5,000 views. But I appreciate your time. Appreciate you recognizing. You have a blessed day. Thank you, Mr. Warren. All right. Now, we'll move into council comments, questions. Anything further? Yes, sir. Mr. Martin.

Mr. Mayor, if the council is going to accept the recommendation uh that we uh make the 24th, at least officially on the calendar, a a work day and the 26th a holiday. Since that is amending the actual city personnel policy, which was ad adopted by resolution, my recommendation is that the council accomplish that by adopting the resolution 2025 171 just to document everything. That would not do anything to take away the city manager's uh administrative discretion to give a half day off on the 24th if he wanted to. Thank you, Mr. Martin, for that clarification. Anybody have anything else?

Mr. Mayor, move to approve resolution 2025-171. A motion on the floor. Now, further discussion, Miss Harris. So, we're just going to act like I didn't say anything about the 24. We we weren't going to discuss that or Well, now we're now we're in final comments and and Mr. Martin just clarified that if [clears throat] we passed this, the manager would still have the discretionary authority to do that. I stand in correct for half a day. For half a day. Anything further? Any other questions, comments? All right. Miss, will you please call the role? Mr. Carter? Yes. Mr. Dernigan? Yes. Miss Young, yes. Miss Harris, yes. Mayor Walker,

yes. Right. That concludes our resolutions. Uh so we'll move on to other items. Uh here we have Mr. Mayor. Yes, if I may. Um as to Mr. Warren's point, it's unfortunate that he left, but the way the council would remedy uh any failure to ask for public comment on an item would be to do a doover. Sure. And so if we if the council did not ask for public comment then and I really to be honest I can't recollect that. Yeah, I didn't.

And let me explain why is is historically we don't ask for public comment on consent items unless somebody specifically lists that item. Uh now Mr. Warren has a has a um and we have several people who have a habit of listing vague terms on their public comment sheets and I've asked for that to be tightened up a couple times. So maybe that's something we can work on before our next meeting. Certainly. Okay. So that everybody who wants to speak on items can list out specifically the items that they want to speak on and that would help me out tremendously. If he didn't cl clearly ask to speak on that particular item then we're in the clear. But he did. Okay. All right. Thank you. It was vague. It said all. All of what?

So, um, now we're moving on to item number 13. Unless you unless your recommendation, Mr. Martin, is that we should open it up now for public comment on consent agenda. You You can always cure the error. About doing a duo. Sure. Okay. Let's cure the error. Do I need to resend my original motion? You would not. It would be void, actually. So, yeah. Sorry. Um, so we'll cure that item and I will now open up for public comment on our consent agenda items. If anybody would like to speak to our consent agenda, please step up to the podium. Now, why would we do that, Wendy? Seeing none, I'll go ahead and close public comment. And now we'll move into council comments, questions on our consent agenda. Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the consent agenda. Second.

Have a motion, a second. Thank you both. Do we have any further comments, questions? Miss Sykes, will you please call the role? Mr. Carter? Yes. Mr. Jernigan. Yes. Miss Young. Miss Young. Okay. Miss Harris. Yes. Mayor Walker. Yes.

All right. On to item number 13. Uh which are other items. Appoint council member to serve on the Columbia County Tourist Development Council. This comes from um Mr. Jernigan's been serving on this this board. Uh the TDC sent a um an email to all of us, I believe, uh to [clears throat] um to re-up our appointments for their board. So that's why it's here before us today. And I'll open it up for public comment or there is no public comment signed up for this. So I'll now open it up for council comment. Sorry, Mr. Mayor. I was just going to express interest in serving on the board. If the board would be interested in having me do it, I'd like to.

Okay. Miss Harris. Well, I was going to say if he was comfortable with [clears throat] staying the um Yes, ma'am. in that position. I think that I was going to vote that he just stay in that position if he's comfortable with continuing in his work in there.

Okay. Mr. Mr. Jernigan, do you want to serve on the board? Yes. Okay. I guess we kind of have to Yeah. Um, since you both have expressed interest, does anybody else do you have any interest in serving on it? I have no interest. M. Harris. All right. Nominations are closed for that. We have two nominations for the TDC board. Um, Miss Sykes, how shall we vote on this? Mr. Martin,

you could just ask for a show of hands on each nominee and and that may solve it. If it does not, then uh you could either table it till a future meeting or as we did with vice mayor, you could continue asking for revotes until there's a change in the dynamic. Let's do a show of hands for this appointment um to make it simple and very public. Um and we'll begin with uh Mr. Jernigan if that's okay. All in favor of Mr. Jernigan going on the TDC re being reappointed to the TDC board. All right, we have two uh for Mr. Carter. Two and two.

Um there is a plan the planning council is Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. No, I was going to just say um and I'm probably so out of order, but um Mr. J, since you've been doing it for a long time, would you give him a chance? Would you mind giving it a chance? I rather stay there because I got some missions that we're trying to accomplish over there. And this this will be my last year on it. So don't worry. What that mean? Uh oh, never mind. Okay, we had a we had a two and two. So we're going to redo the vote. All in favor for Mr. Jernigan again. All right.

Give him a for Mr. Carter one. Okay. Four to one vote for Mr. Jernigan being reappointed to the TDC board. All right. And now we're moving on to uh forformational purposes only. I'll turn this over to you, Mr. D for Gwen Lake. Yes, sir. Um, [snorts] I provided the information in the packet for you. Um, we took a little longer on the H&H modeling for y'all who don't know what that is. That's basically checking how much water's coming in and where and how fast of it. So, it did take a little bit longer on that one. Um, we hope to continue permitting in the 1 of January and we'll come back with some options and new news for you at the end of January.

Thank you, Mr. uh D. I have Johnson. Any questions for Mr. Johnson? That's on the Gwen Lake project, right? That is correct. All right. So, the end of January, you're going to be coming back with something with some updates. Yes, we'll have the engineer here for you. All right. Will we have hard dates? My question is, will we have hard dates for dirt moving on that? Not at the moment. Okay. Do we do we think that we'll have those by the end of January? Yes.

Okay. Very good. All right. Well, great. Uh that ends our our list of items on the agenda. So now we'll go into Do we have any other comments for or questions for Mr. Johnson before we move on? Sorry. All right. Uh we'll go into comments by charter officers beginning with you, Mr. Rosenthal. Yes, Mayor. Thank you. Um this board needs to meet with the county board someplace sometime after the first meeting in January to talk about the city and county fire service consolidation. Study. study study.

Um yeah, they wanted to do that on the 18th, but we have uh just a reminder for everybody here on the DIA, we have a a uh a Northeast League of Cities um uh dinner at the the hotel um by Texas Roadhouse that night. So that Town Place Town Place Suites. Thank you. Um All right. Does that conclude your comments, Mr. Mayor? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rosenthal. Mr. Martin, no comment, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Miss Sykes. No comment, Mayor. Thank you, Miss Sykes. Uh, Vice Mayor Young.

Yes. I just like to take this opportunity to um to say that this atmosphere for these meetings um I do take them very serious and I I I believe everyone at this DAS does and when it come to really everybody but especially young people I just think we have to step up our respect a notch and mind what we say. And notice I say everybody because all of us are included whether we're behind the DAS or whether we're on the other other side of the DAS. Now it's said that we're and which is true behind this DAS. We're held at a higher accountability, but we're all accountable when it come to our young people. I have a special place in my heart for old people and children. And I just think that um what happened here today is totally unacceptable and the policy that we have in place as far as I'm concerned is no policy because um when the mayor is not in the seat then it could be a disaster. I love my life and I love your life. I love everybody in here life. And when we're hurt with words, it's just like you being pew pewed, as they say on Tik Tok. So, um, I apologize. I apologize for what happened here today. Did we have children in here? And, um, I'm sorry. I apologize. And I I will make sure that we work on something that is a safe space

for you children because we we can take care of ourselves. But what you hear and what you see, it could damage you for the rest of your life. But if there's any way you can forgive what what happened today, I ask that you do that. Um, you're welcome to talk to me. You may have ideas. Share them with us. But it's going to be worked on if I have to crawl to Tallahass. And I'm not kidding. Something has to happen that we protect you because we're not going to ban you from this place, this space. You're just as important as any other person in here. And I mean what I'm saying. Before I take any of it back, I'll add something to it. You all are important. We were even discussing a a youth council, but how can we how can we we can't get it together? We have got to get it together. And every person in here is responsible. Every adult in here is responsible. And if it's anything you see that you can do, we got to do it. It's not a choice. I'm embarrassed. I'm hurt. I'm crushed for these children. And I want something done that it doesn't happen again. And that's for anybody in here. We are responsible for our own actions. There's no excuse, no excuse for it. Again, I apologize and I thank you all for even coming back. I think you're courageous. You're awesome. Mean it. Love y'all.

I'm done.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Young. Council member Jernigan. Um um I I tell you uh I just want to thank uh thank God for our police department, fire department, uh special uh people uh especially we had this uh this massive parade this uh um this last week. Um they are they are on their agame when it comes to uh uh policing and and firefighting uh in in this area. Um, I want to wish everybody a merry Christmas, happy new year. Hopefully, when we come back this next year, we won't go to some of the things we went through uh uh this year. We'll go into the new year with a with a with a new cause. And um I can also concur with uh Vice Mayor uh Young. I apologize for uh for for our action when I did it too. uh the way I look at it, I'm involved as well. So, I just want to apologize to the uh to the youth and and and I know you guys watch me. Everything I do, I I see you guys around town. Um so I just want to apologize for uh for our actions and um uh but by the same token uh I I don't uh I I don't think that anybody needs to accept anything from the audience and we shouldn't give uh anything um uh to them as well. So again, um we we have to work on, you know, behind this dice getting better and better every day and and most of us we're we're we're new to this. It's not like we've been here a hundred years or 10 years. All of us are new. So uh we're learning as we go

and uh I'm willing to uh to step up my aame as well when it comes to this kind of stuff. So, uh, again, we we apologize and, uh, let's move forward. Uh, we'll we'll make it a better place. Thank you, Council Member. Uh, I'm next, Councilman Carter.

Yes. Thank you. Um, well, I'll [snorts] try to be brief. I don't want to be a dead horse. Obviously, I agree with everything that, uh, M. Jig and Miss Young said. Um, I feel incredibly blessed, uh, to be able to serve in this position. I think we all are. Um I think um I remember when I was younger there was a lot more it felt like there was a lot more people kind of engaged and people talk about Live Oak live oak's got a lot of good community spirit and I feel like there was a little more of that when I was a kid. Um I think for a long time not talking about anybody in particular there's been a bit of disappointment uh in this day 20 years probably. Um, and I think that, uh, the fact that most of the time when we're here, the room is basically empty. Uh, breaks my heart. Uh, it's one of my goals in this opportunity I have to serve here to get this room full of people again. I want it this way. I want to see a CRA board reformed. Uh, we used to have a downtown action corporation committee and they used to just plan different events and things like that. Um, I think that, uh, it seems to me that Lake City is kind of tired of some of the BS that they see here. Um, and it starts with us at some point, the people sitting up here have to be leaders and and and [clears throat] mean it. And to be clear, there are people that sit out in that audience, so whether you like them or not, are also leaders, and they should also hold themselves to a higher standard. I think that inappropriate things were said from here and from there tonight. I think that um as a leader, you can't you can't let people get under your skin. You ha you have to you can't take the bait. And in all fairness, as a leader, you shouldn't be trying to bait people either. But at some point, if we ever want to see this community give a damn about what we're trying to do, we have to not look like that. Um, so I ask that uh everyone

just lean on the better better angels of your nature and uh and and and not let that kind of thing happen again. Thank Thank you, Mr. Carter. Miss Harris,

um I'm going to talk to the youth directly. Thank you. Be faithful for calling them back when I asked you to call him back because I do I want to apologize. Um, I am only human and this is my first year being here and to be attacked as much as we have been on this dasis does not make me feel good and not making an excuse for my behavior tonight because I was just wrong. I let it take me to a place that I shouldn't have and I do apologize for that and I pray you all forgive me and thank you for calling them back. But with that being said, I believe there's a time and a place for all things. Um, like I said, this is my first year behind this dasis. I have never in my life seen blatant disrespect for the people that sit in office for the Lake City community as I have been from specific people. I say if you play with a puppy long enough, that puppy's going to lick you in your face. Then you're not going to want to play no more. And that's what I feel like this das has been doing. Things have gotten so bad because certain people have gotten so used to getting their way, saying what they want to say, doing what they want to do with no accountability. I feel like that there is something that has to be done. I'm not crawling to Tallahassee, but what I will do is we're going to talk about this thing and we need to get something done. because it does not and you we talk about how the room used to be full and people wanted to be um a part of what was going on in the city. You have to ask yourself why have [clears throat] the people stopped coming because it has not been a safe place not only for the children but for adults everybody. It has not been a safe

place and to um sit behind this dasis and act as if we all don't know what [snorts] is going on. That should be the crushing part. Some things need to be addressed directly. We don't need to keep kicking this can down the road as if we don't know who the nemesis are. We don't need to keep playing playing these games like we don't understand what they're trying to do, the narrative they're trying to spin. And we need to fix this. We need to fix it so our community can come back and want to be a part of our meeting. So our community can come back and tell us what they think will work in our um city. We need to fix that. And to say that we do not have power to do this, that, and the other, I feel like it's a copout. I come to this meeting, there's three, four polices on the inside, two on the outside. And you mean to tell me somebody can come and disrupt a meeting with no accountability and nobody quickly stops it? Something is is is wrong. Something is wrong. This disruption just did not start this year. This disruption has been going on from the last 15 years. people coming up here, calling people names, talking about and you got we even have in our thing that is read before every meeting, but we sit back here and we allow things to continue to go on and it needs to stop. We're going to stay stagnated and not doing anything because we're so used to trying to calm the crying babies. We we we we got to get better. We got to get better. I want Lake City to grow. I want Lake City to look good. I I Everybody in my community could tell you I'm out riding the street. I'm finding

stuff that needs to be done in district 12. That is why I'm up here. I ran for four years. I did not run for eight. And in these four years that I am in here, I am going to work dutifully. And that's what I've been doing. And it's unfair to me and my constituents that put me into office to be up here and we're taking 20 and 30 minutes playing with some babies because they don't get their way. It is our fault and it is embarrassing. We're we're on YouTube and this foolishness continuously go on meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting. Something needs to be done. And with that, I still say I am so sorry. I am so sorry. Believe me when I say that. I hate I acted like that, but it bothers me when a narrative is trying to be spent on each one of us that's sitting up here and we're trying to do our best to bring the city to from point A to point B. I don't believe there is a council person or the mayor that's sitting up here that does not want this city to be beautified. We want recreation. We want infrastructure. We want affordable housing. We want better jobs. I don't believe there's nobody that ran for office that is sitting up here don't want these things. But in order for us to get these things done, we're going to have to start cutting some of this this this foolishness out that hinders us from continuing our work. We need we need to do something. We need to to do something. And with that, I'm I'm Oh, I do want to say this, too. Be faithful. I did write down what you said about the safe place. I love that idea. I love the art project. You want to talk to me? Let's

get together and let's talk about and see what we can get done.

M. I'm so sorry. Absolutely. I just want to take time out to uh to uh say to my everything back here and and the audience here that uh that's one reason why uh she um and several others has stopped coming to the meetings and I explained to her today that uh Mayor Walker's got everything under control. Uh say come here about six o'clock and you'll you'll see that the mayor's got everything under control. He's not going to tolerate any foolishnesses anymore. And um that's the reason why uh she came and and usually when when she don't feel safe, she sits back there by the chief uh the chief of police that is. So uh she's in that audience and I just want to give her all the thanks and and the glory for uh being a part of me. Um and and you know she's she's here to help us. She she'll help you. If you go to her and talk to her about anything, I'm pretty sure that she'll be able to help you. uh because you know she's got degrees, she's got masters, she's speak different language, everything. You name it, she's got it. Uh she's a doctor, she's a lawyer, she's a nurse. Uh

and yes, and and uh so uh again uh for her to come back to the meetings and me telling her that uh this council uh will not tolerate uh any uh uh negativity, uh uh then that's the reason why she's back. So, I just want to let her know how much I appreciate that. So, I I noticed nobody else says anything about their their their second half, best half or everything or whatever. You know, they don't come, but she she wants to definitely be here. Okay. So, I just want to and and uh Miss Harris uh reminded me of that.

Thank you, Mr. Jernigan. Um thank you, Councilwoman Harris. Over the past couple years, uh, and since everybody's commented on it, uh, these meetings have turned into an absolute circus. Um, tonight was unacceptable. Correct. It was also between a meeting, which I addressed, and if that had happened during a meeting, they would have been tossed out. There's also a very fine line that we have to observe, especially with all the lawsuits that have happened over the Mothers of Liberty and what they've been saying at public meetings here over the last year. So, I would encourage I've been studying those as diligently as I can because you better believe that I promised dignity in these meetings and dignity is what I'm going to present. So CL and I will have some more discussions on how much control and clampdown I can uh extend. I think that going um into very specifics on our public comment cards would be a huge help to me. Um and we will execute that as quickly as possible. That being said, uh [clears throat] I am pleased with some of the things that we got done tonight that should help decorum. Um, other than that, Northeast League of Cities meeting for uh those of us on on this dis will be Thursday. Just a reminder at Town Place Suites. Uh, we'll also have Shop of the Cop and Chief and his crew are going to be um taking some children to Walmart this week um to spread good cheer. That's a great thing that they do every year. I love to see it. Um, children are our future and we should make them feel as loved as we possibly can here in our community. Uh, I think Miss Handy uh mentioned a lot of parks and and bike trails and and whatnot. Would love to see uh some of

our public spaces be turned into passive recreation, further passive recreation. Um, we have some incredible uh water uh water projects going on that could uh incorporate some uh really nice trails and um up uh up show Gainesville and some of the things that they do. Um we had a wonderful parade downtown, wonderful and safe parade downtown this weekend. Um, [laughter] it was what I know that there are some worn out cabs from running down the street the whole the whole time. A lot of sweat was had. Um, but it was really nice to see the community. It was nice to be together. Uh, and and doing that, bringing good cheer and making sure that Santa was delivered. So, I appreciate all the city staff that put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears on that. Um, and the market downtown was incredible. I had a lot of uh local businesses tell me that they were extremely happy to see the crowds that they did downtown. Uh and I'd like to see those multiply and and those crowds down here on a regular basis. So with that, that's all I have tonight. Uh merry Christmas everybody. See you next year.