City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the regular city council meeting for Monday, September 21st. We will begin with our invocation, followed by a salute to the flag delivered by Mr. Horn. Please rise.

Item A. I move we approve the minutes from the regular city council meeting held on August 17, 2026.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Approval of the agenda? Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Announcements? Ms. Golding?

She waited. I'm waiting. I'm trying to be patient. Thank you, Mayor. I have a few announcements. First of all, I want to let everybody know about an event that's going to be tomorrow, September 22nd. It's Coffee with a Cop. And our police department is doing that in conjunction with Starbucks. So it's going to be at the Starbucks at 975 3rd Street South from 10 a.m. to 1130 a.m. So I think that'd be a great opportunity to go out and have some coffee with some of our amazing police officers. Also want to let everybody know that Beaches Watch is having a community meeting on Wednesday, October 7

Thank you, Ms. Golding. Anyone else? Council announcements? I just want to... thank the city of Jacksonville Beach for partnering with our two daughters of the American Revolution chapters, the Jean Rubeau and the Ponte Vedra Beach chapter to celebrate Constitution Day on September 17th and appreciation to Councilman Jansen and Sutton for coming out for that event. It was a very nicely presented event right on the stage of the Seawalk Pavilion, which was nice because it was in the shade and in mid-September and involved one minute of everyone ringing a cowbell to signify the church bells ringi

Thank you, Mr. Jones. Ms. D'Souza? This speaker card is related to an item on our consent agenda, so we want to go ahead and allow you to speak prior to us taking up that item.

Thank you so much for your comments. Moving on, that was the last speaker card. Moving on to consent agenda.

Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. We're already on page two of the agenda. City Manager New Business. Mr. Barron. Is this Dennis? Yeah, Mr. Barron.

Thank you, Mr. Varian. Can I have a motion?

I move we approve an additional construction contingency of $300,000 for bid number 2526-01, 10th Street South Infrastructure Improvements Phase 2.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Mr. Watters.

I move we approve renewals for various property, casualty, and workers' compensation insurance coverages.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Mr. Horne. Microphone.

Golding I'm going to skip you real quick just because my comments are along the lines of Mr. Horns and I've already talked to you about this that's the disappointing part is that there was too tight of a timeline for us once we got the quote from our current provider for us to do anything about it and we're in a I think probably a favorable environment because we haven't had any named storms or adventures in weather as we like to call them here in Jacksonville Beach so I This is a rhetorical question. I don't know if there's a mechanism where we can do something else that isn't a 120-day RFP p

I'm not disputing the amount of time that it takes, but I am disputing the fact that it takes too long for us to turn around an August quote and, you know, We don't know right now that we're going to want to go for an RFP next year. And if that's the case, then we need to at 120 days out or whatever, back it up prior to that, then we need to have that conversation as an organization. I understand why it takes 120 days. I'm just saying in this case, I think we missed an opportunity to save even more money. Thankfully, we did see a little bit of a savings, but I think we could have had additiona

To follow up, that was a concern that I had as well. And so my question would be, If we know we're going to get a quote from the current provider in August, as well as any of the others, right, is what you're saying, right? None of them will be able to do quotes until August. Is there a reason why we couldn't do next year, could do an RFP? Go ahead and do an RFP 120 days out or whatever, right? And then our current provider just responds with a quote, like, like any of the other providers would, so that we'd be in a position to consider multiple quotes instead of just one. Is that possible?

So I think what we're hearing is a general disappointment in the process if it stays this way going forward. And there are a lot of different options. So I appreciate your answers. And I'm not picking at anything you're doing or saying, I promise. But there are all types of strategies. We can initiate a trunk period that changes the start dates, that has offsetting start dates with the start of our budget cycles. There are a ton of different tactics, strategies, and approaches that different companies use. And we can use those as well. So I think what you're hearing from the council is we woul

Thank you, Mr. Wagner. And I would encourage us to look at other cities and their processes because every single city goes through this process. And I think that if there's opportunities to streamline it, that it isn't completely burdensome, but that we are able to take advantage of this market fluctuates. And so I want to make sure that we're able to take advantage of that in a reasonable way. And I wonder if even if we got the proposal in August, if we did an RFP process, but we had to wait till August, would we even still have time? I mean, it's September 21st right now. Would we even, woul

Thank you, Mr. Barron. Can I have a motion?

I move we approve the emergency sanitary sewer repair at list station number 18 to Callaway Contracting Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $263,372.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Mr. Horne.

Any other questions or comments from council? Madam Clerk, roll call.

Yes. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Barron. Ms. Nelson.

Thank you. Ms. Nelson, can I have a motion?

I move we adopt resolution number 2218-2026, amending the position classification and pay plan for non-union positions.

Second. We have a motion and a second. We did have, I think, two briefings, individual briefings on this pay plan. So just know that we've already gone through this a couple of times and I appreciate the work that was done by city staff and I hope it goes well for Mr. Barron because he's looking really excited slash anxious back there about his assistant director. Comments from council and Mr. Wagner.

I'm going to just do that every time, just so we're all at the same expectations. And if I actually hit it, I'll delight you. So for the, so we had a lot of great, tons of great work, really appreciate it. I know there was a lot of back and forth and not all of it probably felt great. So I appreciate you hanging in there with me and going through it. As it relates specifically to kind of the long-term strategy around the apprentice position, can you kind of just give us a summary of where we kind of ended up? Because it's such a, you know, it's such an important, you know, everybody's importan

I really do appreciate that, and I really do appreciate you guys. kind of sharpening pencils and pens on this area. I know it's really important. It means a lot to a lot of folks, so thank you.

Yes, my question is for Ms. Gossett. If you could just pull out your crystal ball for me. With Amendment 3 looming on us and knowing that the financial impact kind of lives on in perpetuity, how confident do you feel that we can support this increase year after year moving forward?

Okay, thank you. Can we put out an RFP for a city crystal ball? That would be well worth it. I'll wait 120 days for that. Mr. Wouders.

Thank you, Mr. Sutton. Any other questions or comments from council? Madam Clerk, roll call.

Seeing no other business, can I have a motion to adjourn? Second. All in favor signify by saying aye.