Speaking at Jacksonville City Council

Anyone can address the Jacksonville City Council in two settings: the general 'comments from the public' portion of each full council meeting, and the public hearing held on a specific bill. The City of Jacksonville council FAQ says a person who wants to speak fills out a speaker's request card with a name, date, address and the bill number or subject. The cards are available before and during the meeting, and each speaker is limited to three minutes.

The full council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 5 p.m. in the Council Chamber of City Hall at St. James, 117 West Duval Street, on the Northbank. Committee weeks fall in the first and third weeks of the month, in the same chamber. A public meeting in Jacksonville is therefore a downtown evening, and the logistics of getting into City Hall shape who shows up as much as the rules do.

At Jacksonville City Hall the card is the whole sign-up. There is no advance online registration listed on the city's FAQ: the speaker fills out the card in the Council Chamber on Duval Street and waits to be called, which on a crowded night can mean sitting through hours of the agenda. Someone speaking on a bill that is up for public hearing also fills out a card and is called to the podium when the hearing on that bill opens, and those comments must stay on the subject of the bill. General comments come near the end. Under the Rules of Council, the FAQ lists the order of business: after the consent agenda comes public comment on economic development incentive resolutions, then scheduled public hearings, action on bills, introductions and new business, and finally comments from the public, a roll call and adjournment.

The three minutes are slightly more than three. At an October 15, 2018 meeting of the council Rules Subcommittee, members agreed that the extra 5 seconds added to each commenter's 3-minute limit, with the clock starting when the speaker's name is called, had worked well during a trial period and should go into the Council Rules. The same subcommittee, chaired by Council Member Greg Anderson, reported that Jacksonville was fairly generous with public comment compared with other cities, some of which cap comment at 20 or 30 minutes, demand sign-up well before the meeting or limit how often one person may speak.

Time is the main one. Robin Lumb, who served as an at-large council member from 2011 to 2015, wrote in a January 2024 Jacksonville Today opinion column that what had once been two public comment periods at council meetings had been cut to one, with no more than 90 minutes total, so that individual speaking time gets cut when dozens of people line up on a controversial bill. The 2018 Rules Subcommittee minutes show the two-period format was still in place then, with a first period early in the meeting and a second at the end. Lumb also wrote that council rules do not allow a speaker to name a council member from the podium, and that at committee meetings, where bills get their closest review, public comment happens only at the pleasure of the committee.

Behavior is the other limit. The rules have long barred demonstrations from the audience. In June 2010 the Jacksonville Daily Record quoted Rule 4.505, Disruption of a Meeting, which says that anyone who is not a council member making personal, impertinent or slanderous remarks, or becoming boisterous, may be barred from further audience by the presiding officer, and that demonstrations of approval or disapproval are not permitted. By January 2025, Jacksonville Today listed the existing restrictions as no shouting, yelling, whistling, chanting, singing, dancing, clapping, foot stomping, cheering, jeering, noise makers or instruments.

After an October 22, 2024 demonstration in the Council Chamber, Council President Randy White filed Ordinance 2024-0871 at the request of the Office of General Counsel. As reported by Jacksonville Today in January 2025, the bill would add finger snapping and sign waving to the prohibited behaviors, consider smaller limits on sign size based on input from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, and bar electioneering for candidates, parties or ballot initiatives in any election in which Duval County voters can vote. A city attorney told the Rules Committee the proposals were defensible time, place and manner restrictions. Rules Committee Chair Nick Howland deferred the bill, and At-Large Group 5 Council Member Chris Miller said any rule should be very narrow. Limited public reporting is available on the bill's final disposition.

Big hearings have their own rhythm. In January 2017, at the first public hearing on expanding the city's human rights ordinance, Council President Lori Boyer had staff sort speaker cards into those for, against and undecided and called names alternating viewpoints until about 8:30 p.m., according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. The council convened at 5 p.m. and adjourned about 8:45 p.m., after roughly an hour of public comment on the bill.

The floor is set in Tallahassee. Section 286.0114, Florida Statutes, adopted in 2013, says members of the public shall be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard on a proposition before a board or commission, which includes the Jacksonville City Council. The statute lets the council write rules that set time limits per speaker, let a representative speak for a large group, require a form to request to speak, and designate a period for public comment. It also says the law does not stop a board from maintaining orderly conduct or decorum. The requirement does not apply when a board acts in a quasi-judicial capacity, and the Jacksonville council agenda lists quasi-judicial actions as their own item, ahead of the consent agenda.

Jacksonville's speaker card is the kind of form the statute contemplates, and its three-minute limit is the kind of time guideline the statute allows. Because the opportunity to be heard need not come at the same meeting where the vote happens, comment during a public hearing on an earlier Tuesday can satisfy the law for a bill voted on later.

Agendas come out the Friday before a meeting from the Legislative Services Division in Suite 430 of City Hall, and committee agendas the Friday before committee week, according to the City of Jacksonville. Meetings air live on Comcast and U-verse Channel 99 and stream on the city's council meetings online page, which also lists the council president's memoranda on agenda and meeting dates; DVD or CD copies of a recording come from Legislative Services at (904) 255-5122. For in-person visitors, the FAQ says parking is in the garage at Duval and Main streets, one block east of City Hall, and that constituents can get a parking voucher at a table in the City Hall Atrium from 5 to 6 p.m. on council nights. Disability accommodations are available on request with one to two business days notice through the Disabled Services Division.

The council office itself, in Suite 425, is run by Council Secretary and Director Jason Teal, and Bernadette Smith is Chief of Legislative Services, according to the city's staff and contact page. Nick Howland of At-Large Group 3 presides as Council President. Last verified: October 9, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville website.