Remarks by Jake Lamberth
95 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 4
- Play at 55:43
“Thank you. I request this again item because council approved the budget production of the understanding they were necessary to protect the city's financial position. But since then questions have arisen regarding new or vacant positions, interviews, hiring decisions, promotions, increases in salary, and other employment changes. Council and the public deserve a clear Telling you how these decisions affect the adopted budget and whether they were properly authorized. So my question. I guess to the, uh, to the city manager, you know. When we went through these budget cuts, what exactly was…”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 57:57
“Okay, gotcha. I mean, so from what I gathered, since the budget reductions, I know we got rid of two or three employees and then since then hired three or four more. I could be totally wrong on that number. That's just an example that I'm giving. Were we using, I guess, the salaries from those vacated positions to be able to account for the positions that we hired?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 59:09
“So I guess my question is pretty clear here. Are we going through budget cuts currently?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 59:44
“just give some clarification uh because there's a lot of constituents that are they're curious because they you know it's a small town and they hear that oh well this person got let go this person got let go we're in the middle of the budget cuts and then here we go the next week we're hiring four more people so just for clarification you know if there's any way i would like to know you know financially are we going through much are we Are we going to continue? Are we on track? Are we on track to hiring more people and succeeding in these positions? So if you could just keep up with me on…”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:03:23
“$1.3 million and then, you know, there's money that's heating up our general fund. How are we able to sustain, you know, adding on, you know, new positions and new health and, you know, new job openings?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:04:31
“gotcha sir um you know thank you for that again and so do we currently have human resources to be able to hire a human resources officer or do we already have that on staff”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:05:25
“Yes, sir. Before, I guess, is our current acting HR associate, is she certified to be an HR associate? She's currently working on that.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:05:39
“Okay, but she's not certified though, right?”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:05:46
“Gotcha. Gotcha. Does that put the city in any liability to be able to hire employees? I'm sorry.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 1:06:03
“Gotcha. This is the next meeting, thank you. We can move on, Mayor, thank you.”
City Council · Sep 9, 2026
- Play at 17:53
“Yes, this is directed towards our city manager.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 18:32
“Did you take into account you know population tax rate annually”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 20:09
“for essential liability about the freedom of speech and charging and all these different things. Thank you.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 34:08
“and then immediately got a notification from the city secretary, I think it was not an email, that you were out or something like that. But I cc'd you on the email as well. I don't know, did you receive that email? I did receive the email. Okay, so I wanted it to be an agenda item. What was wrong with it not being put on the agenda?”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 35:31
“Next time, do you mind just emailing me back just with what kind of said, hey, you know, hey, Jay or Councilman Lambert, you know, this is not going to meet the deadline for this week. Potentially next agenda. And then I'm super cool with that because obviously I kept looking at my emails like wondering, wondering, wondering, and saw the agenda posted and it wasn't there. So I was like, oh, he's annoying me again. But now thank you for your clarification.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 41:55
“Thank you. Is there counsel? Um, you know, it seems to me that, you know, every year we're going up on taxes and taxes and taxes, but, you know, with this economy, all of our citizens are feeling it. You know, they feel it at the grocery store, they feel it at the gas pump, they feel it on the water bill, they feel it on the sewer bill, they feel it on the electric bill, they feel it on the gas bill. And now we're once again going up on taxes. You know, my opinion, you know, our city's going through these so-called budget cuts, you know, and we're hiring people again and cutting people and…”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 54:24
“That was pretty rude. That comment you just made.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:07:30
“Sir, I've got a question. What's your firm's name? I'm sorry if I missed it. PWR Strategies. PWR Strategies. Okay, thank you.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:16:51
“and it starts with foundation. A couple of things that I wanted to ask you was, you know, I saw a lot of the graffiti, and I saw a lot of the damage to the restrooms, and it's sad, right? But what is going to be the biggest upkeep maintenance-wise? How are we going to be able to efficiently be able to make sure that this doesn't happen again?”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:18:32
“So we have two parts here in the city of Florida. What makes you choose Watts over Cobb Park?”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:19:36
“a lot of money, right? You know, what is y'all's plan? Y'all have a plan to ensure that a lot of the maintenance on the tennis, you know, on the tennis courts, the tennis nets, you know, I drive by the tennis nets, it's broken, right? That's something I noticed. That's something our citizens noticed. you know, the tennis courts are gonna be heavily used. You know, is there a way, you know, are y'all gonna limit the hours that they're being able to be used? You know, how is this, how are we gonna be able to take this investment and prolong it as long as possible?”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:37:16
“YES, MA'AM. OKAY. SO NEXT MEETING I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE IT TO WHERE THERE'S A RESOLUTION TO BE ABLE TO STREAM ON FACEBOOK. AS IT, YOU KNOW, MAYBE POTENTIALLY IN THE FUTURE WHERE A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE, YOU KNOW, MORE EDUCATED ON OUR CITY WEBSITE, BECAUSE I WENT ON PERSONALLY. I KNOW THERE'S SO MUCH WORK TO DO.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:45:58
“YES, MAYOR, I'LL MAKE THE MOTION TO ACCEPT AND FILE THE QUARTERLY INVESTIGATION.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:48:09
“Yes ma'am. Would that affect our election?”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026
- Play at 1:48:56
“YES, MA'AM. DISCUSSION OF POSSIBLE ACTION TO APPROVE TEMPORARY STREET CLOSURES AND THE USE OF CITY BARRICADES AND TRASH RECEPTICALS AS NEEDED FOR THE LIONS CLOTHING AND CAR SHOW.”
City Council · Aug 26, 2026