Remarks by Janice Lucas
71 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 7:01
“Thank you. Good afternoon. Welcome. Mayor, fellow commissioners, city staff, community partners, and residents, thank you for being here today as we discuss the future of one of the city's most important investments, our children. Today's conversation is about a building, it's about a place, it's about a program, but it's really about the children. I want to revisit the need that caused the police department in 1993 to say we need a program like ASAP. So the question I think we need to answer today is has that need been met? Is the reasons that we started the program, are they still valid?…”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 15:18
“Thank you. Are there others who are presenting, speaking?”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 28:37
“I would like to speak to something I've heard the mayor say today and often about helping the helpers. As an executive director of a nonprofit, yes, we help people, but we don't stay in business because of the charity. The nonprofit is a business. And so in the role of community service, the municipality city, Panama City, is not a helper providing charity to individuals in need. We've got a broader responsibility. You've heard it said in various ways today. But this isn't about charity. This is about meeting a need. And I think Scott, you said it very well in the pockets of poverty. No, we…”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 31:53
“So we have a partner who covers those costs.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 34:27
“I'm sorry. What shortfalls are in housing?”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 34:32
“One salary because the department director, which makes sense to me that it would not be there because the director works for the city of Panama, which is where we've shifted.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 37:46
“And I can appreciate the thoughts, and I can also agree with you that this is an opportunity time. I disagree on what the three years could do or what even another year could do if we work earnestly together, because what you've just described really just sets up the same scenario to happen under somebody else's watch in a few years. By that, what I mean is... You take the million and the building created and you give it to another nonprofit. They too face the same challenges that we are here.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 38:31
“Well, I don't have a nonprofit in mind, so maybe that's why I have a different perspective.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 39:22
“But what you're describing is just one possible scenario.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 39:42
“And to have conversations with people who actually can measure those goals.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 40:41
“But, Commissioner, if we do not stop to give direction to make a plan, then no, it doesn't happen. This body can direct collaborative planning to get to the point that you're talking about.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 43:32
“But I think your argument would have water if we had not done it successfully prior to, for decades prior to.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 44:40
“can can run and they've got plenty of run they have the same runway what we just described it's the there's the same runway with a private organization as there is with a public organization it's the birthing process and gentlemen i think the way to get there isn't by having individual conversations but by pulling together experts as as we know the people in the field and say let's have a plan And let's move forward with that. And I don't think that the way we've gone about it to get us to this point is the way to accomplish that.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 45:56
“But Mayor, it's not an either or because they've come to help us. That was the initial impetus for building the building. Yeah. And so they're here to help kids, not us.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 46:08
“Well, the ASAP program is housed in the city. So in that regard.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 49:42
“And I thank you for bringing that up because what we've overlooked here is a responsibility that government has to fill a gap where the private market does not correct on its own. And that's what we're talking about here. In neighborhoods where private child care and enrichment programs can be afforded by the people who live there, That model leaves lower income neighborhoods with fewer services, fewer facilities, fewer opportunities. And so that's where we, the city, can act where the market fails. And that's what's been happening with ASAP over this time. Do we look at what's current today…”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 57:51
“I know Scott's got to leave. I just want to ask you a question because I've heard it restated here on the dais differently than I heard it from you. The three-year stabilization program, were you proposing that we do nothing and just keep operating the way we've been operating?”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:02:04
“So what I hear is the solution coming from the two of you. Did you even ask them if that's what they wanted to do as an organization? It's my understanding that the organization was created with a specific mission and purpose. So if you would, tell us and address that.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:07:11
“do they you know some sort of endowment would you be willing to explore with non-profit professionals the different possibilities that are out there other than what you have in your mind commissioner street i have nothing yeah i mean i was listening but again this whole job is throwing ideas yeah yeah okay so one idea is let's ask for the um community to to weigh in on this so i would say They want direction. Do we want to support building the building? I would say yes. Let's move forward and parallel these other discussions. Because I don't see that at this juncture we can say, oh, we're…”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:13:06
“So I think before we just say, if somebody comes to us with a plan that we craft the framework and make it available.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:13:57
“That's a change of employment status, and it does affect the employee. Maybe. I think what I'm hearing.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:14:15
“Sounds like a legal question. I think we take time to research all of this and not decide tonight exactly the direction we want to go and put it on a city commission agenda in the next two weeks or three weeks or a month. But there are some questions that have to be answered that we cannot answer tonight.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:16:06
“And I would not propose that we make philosophical fundamental changes to the government without taking it to community as well.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:21:48
“Which speaks to your question about how ASAP operated without going in the red prior to five years ago.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:22:07
“No, stealing? Actually, in the nonprofit world, many grants are cost reimbursement. You expend your funds first, and then you get reimbursed, especially federal grants.”
Public · Jul 20, 2026