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Jacksonville Zoo Grant Match Requirement

At a glance

  • What: Ordinance 2026-0749, an amendment to the city's multi-year grant agreement with the Jacksonville Zoo that lets the zoo draw its last 4 million dollar installment before it has documented the full 12 million dollar match.
  • Where it stands: the Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee passed it 7-0 on 2026-10-19 as amended by Clark-Murray so the 12 million dollar match can be met with spending on any phase of the project approved in amendment seven. The Finance Committee also passed it 7-0 as amended on 2026-10-20.
  • What's next: full council vote.
  • Official minutes (2026-10-20, Finance): amended and approved 7-0 (Lahnen, Miller, Diamond, Gay, White, Boylan and Howland). Introduced by Gay. The Neighborhoods amendment says the 12 million dollars of matching funds may be satisfied by any verified direct costs, not previously reported, that meet the scope of the amended agreement; the 4,000,000 dollar final amount can be requested without first showing the match against the 12,000,000 dollar advance.
  • Official minutes (2026-10-19, NCSPHS): amended and approved 7-0 (Miller, Clark-Murray, Carlucci, Carrico, Peluso, Salem, Holder). Clark-Murray moved the amendment so the 12 million dollar match can be met by any verified direct costs within the scope of the amended agreement (any phase approved in the Seventh Amendment). The auditor's concern: if the zoo fails to show adequate evidence of the match after the 4 million dollars is paid, the city's only recourse would be a suit for specific performance. Ettling, the zoo's president and CEO, said the front entry and manatee exhibit were finished in March 2026, the zoo is repaying a loan for the 4 million dollars budgeted this year, and it has raised 2.2 million dollars toward the match; Sickler said the zoo's documented match predates the scope expansion in the Seventh Amendment. The City's money comes from the capital improvement program.
  • Official minutes (2026-10-13, City Council): 2026-0749 had its public hearing and was read second time and re-referred.

Concerns

  • The council auditor (Reber) noted that once the 4 million dollars is paid the contract is complete, so the city's only recourse for missing match documentation would be a lawsuit for specific performance.
  • The zoo has already spent the 4 million dollars on the front entry and manatee project (finished in early March 2026) and is repaying a loan; its leaders said about 2.2 million dollars of restricted funds has been raised toward the match and the zoo remains on track to reach 12 million dollars within five years.
  • Sickler of Public Works said the zoo's documentation is good but covers work added after the original scope was written. Salem asked why the condition was being loosened; Ettling said no one caught the sequencing requirement.
  • Quarterly matching documentation is still required for both the 12 million and 4 million dollars. The money is in the capital improvement plan and funded through debt.

Sources

Discussion time

About 18 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-19 - NCSPHS 18

Log

2026-10-20 - Finance

Minutes: amended and approved 7-0.

2026-10-19 - NCSPHS

Auditor concern and Public Works scope issue explained; Clark-Murray's amendment applying the match to any phase passed by voice; bill passed 7-0 as amended.

Minutes: amended and approved 7-0; auditor's concern about recourse recorded.

2026-10-13 - City Council

Minutes: public hearing; read second time and re-referred.