Justice or Just the Beginning? Unpacking the JEA Trial's Shocking Outcomes with Mark Woods

[00:00:00] Mike on Mic, a conversation about politics, government and Jacksonville.

[00:00:09] With 50-year opinion leaders Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, an award-winning broadcaster

[00:00:15] and longtime political observer, Mike Miller.

[00:00:17] Hello everybody and welcome once again to another episode of Mike's on Mic.

[00:00:21] I'm Mike Miller here in studio both Mike Hightower and Mike Tolbert are both remote from

[00:00:25] our given locations and joining me here in studio once again is Mr. Mark Woods, delighted

[00:00:31] to have him with us who obviously very well known columnists in the Times Union and has

[00:00:36] been following the J.E.A. trial as well as everything else that's been going on for years.

[00:00:41] Mark so good to have you back with us again.

[00:00:42] Thank you very much for joining me.

[00:00:43] Thank you for having me.

[00:00:44] Good to have you here.

[00:00:45] We enjoy having Mark here because he's got a wealth of information and insight to share

[00:00:50] especially about today's topic which is of course the just completed J.E.A. trial.

[00:00:56] So Mr. Tolbert why don't you kick it off for us if you will?

[00:00:59] Mark thanks again for being here.

[00:01:01] Now that the trial is over I'd be interested to know what your thoughts are about the

[00:01:05] outcome of guilty for Aaron Zahn and not guilty for Ryan Wanamaker.

[00:01:12] What do you think about those two verdicts?

[00:01:16] It's interesting I guess it's start by saying that my colleagues Nate Monroe and David

[00:01:21] Bauer line were there most days.

[00:01:24] I popped in, I was there at the beginning in the end and what struck me was how, I mean

[00:01:29] these are two different cases obviously being made, two different jurors, juries but also

[00:01:35] the approach being taken.

[00:01:39] The Zahn defense was kind of a repeat of what we heard in 2019 when it was all playing

[00:01:47] out that there wasn't any wrongdoing basically, that there was I kind of tried to put together

[00:01:54] a list a week ago I said it was like we were turning the clocks I said turn back your

[00:01:59] clocks to 2019 for this trial when we were turning our clocks ahead because you know

[00:02:04] we were told there wasn't anything fishy about the sudden rise of a new board, the potential

[00:02:08] sale of J.A. was transparent that it wasn't being rushed at every step.

[00:02:15] Issues beyond, I mean options beyond private toization were being considered.

[00:02:19] There was nothing untoward about an unusual bosens plan.

[00:02:22] It was thoroughly vetted.

[00:02:24] That was what we heard back then and that was kind of what was repeated for the Zahn

[00:02:29] defense.

[00:02:30] We're in contrast the, you know it was also kind of portrayed as a visionary leader trying

[00:02:37] to change things.

[00:02:39] Wantamaker's defense had a lot more, I don't know, humility is the right word to it.

[00:02:44] I thought it was almost contrition.

[00:02:45] Yeah so it had that like you know he said you know he, in the closing arguments his defense

[00:02:54] attorney James Filman said not asking you to give him a good citizenship award I'm

[00:02:58] not asking you to give him a pat on the back but here's why I believe he's, you know

[00:03:04] you should find him not guilty which you know the, the, the Zahn defense basically was we

[00:03:11] are asking give him, he deserves a good citizenship award.

[00:03:15] He took this was courageous what he did and you know now he's paying for that courage.

[00:03:19] So it was a very stark contrast in the two approaches to that and before even hearing

[00:03:26] the verdicts I felt like it was the, the, the, the wantamaker one potentially was had

[00:03:32] a better shot it much better shot at reasonable doubt.

[00:03:35] Which kind of goes back to be careful or think about who you hire as an attorney when you're

[00:03:42] here on in your, in front of a jury.

[00:03:46] I think you sort of said why watermaker was not guilty.

[00:03:52] On on the Zahn situation, the Zahn was convicted on both counts which is up to 25 years having

[00:04:01] been there and listened and per your other two colleagues Nate and David you think I'm

[00:04:09] it.

[00:04:10] You think he's going to get 25 years?

[00:04:12] What's your guess?

[00:04:13] Yeah I have no idea.

[00:04:14] I was talking to Nate earlier about that I guess sentencing just guessing it'll be in June

[00:04:21] and we wonder whether that defense that you know kind of lack of contrition in defense

[00:04:29] whether that plays it all into.

[00:04:31] You know I'm hard, I'm not a lawyer or not a legal expert but I don't know whether

[00:04:35] that factors in when there's sentencing if you know if Judge Davis you know you know

[00:04:43] wants to make a statement that this not only was found guilty but we want to make sure

[00:04:47] this doesn't happen again.

[00:04:49] Yeah I'm you know that's where many lawyers in town would probably have a better sense

[00:04:54] of what that might play out with the sentencing.

[00:04:58] You know I'm known Judge Davis a long long time and he has Jacksonville through and through.

[00:05:04] He's got a lot of relatives in Jacksonville.

[00:05:08] He's got a lot of friends in Jacksonville and I don't know that that will have anything

[00:05:13] to do with what kind of sentence he hands out but I'm sure that what design is going

[00:05:19] on dead he sends his impact at a lot of people he knows.

[00:05:24] So there's part of me that would not be surprised if he got a much greater sentence than

[00:05:30] he probably expects to get.

[00:05:33] And the point I was going to make was that I'm wondering that from a public point of

[00:05:38] view in their reaction to the outcome of this trial whether or not vast majority of

[00:05:44] people who followed this is closely as all of us did would be just satisfied with the

[00:05:50] knowledge that he was found guilty of a felony two felonies and the amount of time he ends

[00:05:56] up spending in jail is secondary to that.

[00:05:59] That we don't care that much.

[00:06:02] This is not somebody who did murder someone let's face it.

[00:06:05] It's not like we're yelling for the death penalty or firing squad.

[00:06:08] So I think that there may be more public satisfaction just that we got through with the

[00:06:14] trial in the first place and got it behind us but more so feeling vindicated that the guy

[00:06:19] was found guilty for what he was charged with and that whatever sentence he gets after

[00:06:25] that whether it's three years five years ten years or twenty five it doesn't matter

[00:06:29] nearly as much as what the finding of the jury was.

[00:06:33] Well a little bit of contrition might have gone a long way.

[00:06:36] Well, the word contrition never went with Aaron's son.

[00:06:40] You can't equate that with that at all.

[00:06:44] Now unfortunately I'm not probably as compassionate as you are Mike Bellock.

[00:06:50] Talk a little bit about the theme of outrage in your column.

[00:06:53] That was one thing that struck me about not just this trial but the the whole saga that

[00:06:59] I think those involved in it underestimated was just how passionate people got about

[00:07:06] their our utility, our J.A.

[00:07:08] And usually I think everyone that calm we know these days we save our passion for culture

[00:07:15] wars or whatever is happening with loyalty and England or whatever.

[00:07:21] White collar crime, we don't get worked up over that but people were fired up over this.

[00:07:29] They were angry they were showing up the employees were of course trouble but it wasn't just

[00:07:34] J.A. employees you could go out to, you know just be talking to people in general and

[00:07:40] they talk about a public utility which was interesting to me and I think that's one

[00:07:45] thing that people who tried to orchestrate sale tremendously underestimated.

[00:07:51] I thought your column mark was brilliant.

[00:07:54] I mean you struck a chord you hit it when you said outrage with my my cot tower and I

[00:08:00] played for a long time right in the middle of a lot of that outrage.

[00:08:06] I was at J.A.

[00:08:07] but when he first started talking about J.A.

[00:08:10] and against it and private mostly then it didn't because they didn't stay in private

[00:08:15] very long because he couldn't keep it private, he was going to make it public.

[00:08:20] So he went public with his outrage more than one time for sure.

[00:08:25] Mike and I were early members of our jacks which was formed specifically to stop try

[00:08:32] to stop the sale of J.A.

[00:08:35] Mike talked to us about that first meeting we had that day over in fidelity who was there

[00:08:41] and what happened, what was what was the plan?

[00:08:45] I remember correctly it was in the fall of 2019 and councilwoman Renny Orru was working

[00:08:54] in a valley that called a meeting and I remember correctly Mike.

[00:08:58] There was in the board room and I think there wasn't an empty seat, there were seats around

[00:09:02] and it was a cross section of our community union folks that was all I mean it was unbelievable

[00:09:09] the number of people that were there and it was if you all remember correctly the sale

[00:09:15] was on a fast track they had tried to stop it but there were people who just sort of understood

[00:09:23] that there was going to be the sale it was all done behind closed doors and to mark point

[00:09:28] and to re-emphasize what Mike Colbert just said there was a why not as that meeting was

[00:09:36] not quiet people were very respectful but the outrage was that this was happening in their

[00:09:42] community.

[00:09:43] I'm on this step aside real quick and I think one of the things when you go back and you

[00:09:49] think about Zon you think about his attorney you think about the smear you think about his

[00:09:55] political consultants who were involved one of the things that I think Mark you said they totally

[00:10:00] misunderstood this community.

[00:10:03] They were not from Jacksonville they didn't understand Jacksonville and I think when the

[00:10:07] people realized what was going on that's where the outrage was that they thought that these

[00:10:15] people could come in here a bunch of interlopers are carpet baggers and try to pull something

[00:10:20] over it.

[00:10:21] So anyway that was part of the thing of the deli.

[00:10:25] I was going to say in that meeting you know we came together because people at that

[00:10:31] point in time were talking amongst themselves about trying to get something done trying to

[00:10:37] stop this with there wasn't a plan of action and at that point this was in November at

[00:10:43] that point it looked as if in January the city council was going to vote to approve a

[00:10:48] referendum for the March ballot to sell the J.E.A.

[00:10:54] And so my recollection of that meeting is a lot of it was concerned about can we put together

[00:11:00] a campaign to stop it and can we raise enough money to stop it and also realize in parentheses

[00:11:09] realizing that the guys who wanted to sell it would probably be backrolled by Florida

[00:11:15] powering life their campaign would be.

[00:11:19] And I remember you was a great I don't know why I was there I was cited in the number

[00:11:25] of the bill area and that group but I Jake had already written a couple of guest columns

[00:11:30] in the time union about J.E.A.

[00:11:34] and the sale and we were getting ready to do another one and it was a real letter to

[00:11:39] the city council and I remember toward the end of that meeting I told these folks that

[00:11:45] this was coming up we were in the back of some yet another guest column and it would

[00:11:49] be a letter to the city council members and I said but it sure would be nice if that could

[00:11:54] be a full-play J.E.A. at the time she didn't and Mike Ward it was sitting across the table

[00:12:00] so that I'll pay for that and so that's how that terrific ad came about yeah and I think

[00:12:09] it had impact and I know when I split the ad together I called Mike and I said I've

[00:12:17] got the ad ready for your approval if you'd like to see it and he said I'm not going to

[00:12:22] ever approve a disapprove anything that Jay Godbel wants to do and so go with him.

[00:12:28] As it turned out Mike Ward David Miller Audrey Audger Moran and Judge Moran Dr.

[00:12:36] Sherry McGill Bobby Stein I can remember a group of people came together and we formed it

[00:12:44] and you know we were performed our jacks and Mike we hired Mike because you know everybody

[00:12:51] had an idea there were a lot of people who were I think we were really pretty smart Mike

[00:12:57] was the strategist and he also could look at us as he does in the show so can I change

[00:13:02] the subject and get back on point and we did it so many to do that but it was there was

[00:13:07] a small group and we got together all a weekly basis and then thanks to whatever Nate

[00:13:12] was writing or David Barrell fire line was right that then became if I remember correctly

[00:13:18] Mike we sort of said picking up on what David or Nate were saying that sort of helped

[00:13:22] just move on what we were going to do next what the message was going to be and as it

[00:13:26] turned out thanks to David Miller thanks to Mike Ward who were basically the major underwriters

[00:13:32] for that we put a website together we hired Dean Cannon who is that speaker but worked

[00:13:39] for a law firm who represented the menacealities in Tallahassee he sort of became our consultant

[00:13:46] over there Mike sort of was helping and we put together website and eventually came up

[00:13:51] with 10,000 people who joined you know when we say what was our purpose if I if y'all

[00:13:58] will permit me I'm just going to read David Miller became our second chair after Mike

[00:14:03] Ward by worded and then David Miller became the second chair and David Miller put together

[00:14:09] an incredible op that they talked about what we were doing I'm going to take a moment here

[00:14:15] I just want to read it and it sort of summarizes why we did this I said in the fall of fall

[00:14:23] and winter of 2019 a dark cloud moved over Jacksonville as our citizens were challenged by

[00:14:30] the inability to trust decisions being made by our public officials that became obvious

[00:14:37] when we learned about the scandalous attempt to sell J.E.A followed by a similar flawed

[00:14:43] block J both negotiating and secret I added by the same uh current administration and his political

[00:14:52] consultants I added that devoid of transparency and adequate public engagement and from that if

[00:14:59] you remember and one of the things that Mike helped us come up with was our four principles

[00:15:03] and that was one of the thing that David Audrey Mike Ward in the group and we had four

[00:15:09] principles of what our jack was all about given what was going on it was transparency integrity

[00:15:16] accountability and local control all four of those things which were devoid of this entire

[00:15:23] tobacco and that's really where we went and as it turned out I think thanks to the civic council

[00:15:33] a lot of the other folks couple couple courageous members if my my callbook will probably react to this

[00:15:40] you said there were only a very few courageous members of the city council who stood with us and

[00:15:46] they were in the minority probably because the majority of those city council had had uh

[00:15:55] had Tim Baker is their consultant you know market in that great column you wrote

[00:16:01] you mentioned our friend Jake Godbull and his last public

[00:16:07] appearance of outrage at the city council workshop uh and it was his last public stand I think

[00:16:15] he took a hell of a stand in which he always did he never kind of tipped over around the edges

[00:16:21] and uh let's let's play that clip and let remind people of what Jake said and did

[00:16:27] Mr. Mayor now I'll miss a chairman I said here will my ass a long time to say it is and I'm not

[00:16:34] coming back again all right but I was in your district with a new group of people and I've never seen

[00:16:43] a more upset people in any meeting I went to I was out there at 9 30 at night I got 87 years old

[00:16:51] all night I have to be out there at night I don't like being so frank I don't like being against

[00:16:56] the mayor I was with the lady I was with those or I was repaid I enjoyed being with you and I want

[00:17:05] to be with you and I want to make this team in this city the greatest city there is but this is

[00:17:12] this has come before us the one good thing and I'll end with this was a chairman

[00:17:18] this one good thing that's happened to us is united in this community like nothing else is united as

[00:17:26] except one of the time behind the football team and if you thought that was a big crowd you

[00:17:38] wait to the next crowd we get out against this thing and you going to have a right on your hands

[00:17:49] because this would be the biggest crowd the gator bowl will not hold these people that we

[00:17:55] going to invite to tell you for the one last time let's call this thing to an end

[00:18:04] mark you wrote that mayor courage face was tense his voice was rising and as he said I will

[00:18:09] oppose any effort to stop this planning process because of baseless conspiracy theories an

[00:18:15] unprecedented negative onslaught from a small segment of the media or because the conversation

[00:18:20] is simply difficult to have given what we know now and the and the outcome of the zon trial

[00:18:28] you think her would like to take all that back

[00:18:35] I don't know about that yeah i'm that would be called contrition correct is a determined to use

[00:18:43] that quote at the end of this yet to kind of remind people that i mean we you know a lot of those

[00:18:48] who stuck their next out it wasn't just us but you guys others took a lot of blowback for that

[00:18:55] you know and a lot of they kept and i don't you know it's not necessarily my reporting because I was

[00:19:02] I was just jumping in here in there Nate and Chris Hong and David were doing the book of the

[00:19:07] reporting but it was it was solid i mean it was they were nailing and and it was constantly being

[00:19:13] questioned not just it was by the mayor's office but by j a j p r department and j a executive

[00:19:24] so we were getting a lot of pushback they so yeah i think in the in the end

[00:19:31] you know people asked if you feel vindicated by the verdict i don't know if i

[00:19:34] and Nate has said this too and not so much whether the verdict matter to us or not but it kind

[00:19:39] of validates the reporting we did because a lot of the things that were came out

[00:19:46] in you know federal courtroom were things that we reported on and yeah

[00:19:51] you know but again reading that quote which which just a great quote to read it really summed up so

[00:19:58] much how does that reflect Curry's position which he really didn't have anything to do with this

[00:20:05] whole thing i mean he's saying that he didn't have anything to do with it and then he comes out

[00:20:10] and says i will oppose any effort to stop the planning process of this yeah isn't that an

[00:20:15] admission that he was deeply involved in this thing at that point yeah i mean they would always

[00:20:20] try at the time the kind of legal parsing you know so they would say planning process that they

[00:20:26] would try and say we don't you know we don't have we're not picking aside in this we you know

[00:20:30] we're not saying it needs to be public or private and then you know that was one of the other

[00:20:35] falsehoods that it was it was clearly pointed toward you know privatization and i'd often said

[00:20:41] during the process it's not that i'm steadfastly against privateization if you could show me that

[00:20:49] this is what's right for jacksville i think a lot of the city would be okay with that but it was

[00:20:54] it was not a the process was not done in good faith um it never really was being considered

[00:21:02] to keep it public so therefore yeah i want i want to slam on the brakes on that if i'm a citizen

[00:21:08] mark you know speaking of uh maricorey there were some people who were not on trial but

[00:21:13] your fingerprints were all over this scandal and we talked about curry and as Mike read that

[00:21:19] insurgent statement that he made when Jake was there but there were also his political handers

[00:21:25] Tim Baker, Ryan Hughes, uh, Herschel Vineyard uh remind us how all these people were involved in

[00:21:34] this scandal sure yeah they're i mean it had kind of every turn you see you see Tim Baker's name

[00:21:41] or something or even on a fan cam at uh Atlantic Braves for me that's one of the great

[00:21:47] great great images of this whole thing is that you you have that you know and i take a

[00:21:53] private jet up to Atlanta and go to a brave baseball game and it was uh you know it was

[00:21:59] it was zon and it was uh korean it was tim Baker and uh and um but we're supposed to believe

[00:22:05] that had nothing to do with uh with any of this this was just a little guy's trip to

[00:22:11] sam mosa was also in that picture if i don't remember correct like who was one of the consultants

[00:22:17] yeah so yeah you had this uh this mix that was and uh you know timbakers there at every

[00:22:26] every turn almost and you know former had worked in the past as consultant for four to pour

[00:22:31] power in light and yet and yet the you know coming back to Lenny's quote about you know baseless

[00:22:38] conspiracy theories it was interesting that was part of the defense too to spin that um

[00:22:45] that zon wasn't part of a conspiracy that there was a conspiracy out to get him and he was the victim

[00:22:52] so they completely tried to spin that um flip that on its head and um yeah but there were

[00:23:00] there was uh it was kind of almost at times it was laughable how much was done behind closed doors

[00:23:05] when we you know we learned some of the the code names they were using like project scampy and

[00:23:09] project free bird i was like well those those those those those days i was like okay here's an easy

[00:23:15] column for one of us to take because um but yes so much of it was it was a the lack of

[00:23:22] transparency that you you touched on the four principles that was a a huge piece of the problem

[00:23:29] with this i wonder how can b- i wonder how ken babby felt about them using their code name to

[00:23:34] to fry up his baseball team with shrimp scampy yeah you mentioned that Atlanta trip and course

[00:23:42] uh they took advantage of my opinion of scott will send and i'm going to talk about scott

[00:23:48] or put him hit for a minute his place and all of this in my mind scott is one of the heroes of

[00:23:54] this whole thing he uh and we all know scott scott is a very non-confrontational kind of guy

[00:24:02] and when he became council president and this was going on there were some of us i know who were

[00:24:08] concerned that scott would stand up and and do what was needed to do but by damn he stood up

[00:24:17] tremendously uh he appointed they drew a line in the sand and appointed that council investigative

[00:24:24] committee that hired steve buc uh and he kicked this thing off with a news conference on the city

[00:24:31] hall steps four years ago to be in that long four stinking years ago and i worked with scott on

[00:24:39] that don't that speech and it was so interesting because i knew it was going to be strong if he did it

[00:24:45] and he he was he was hesitant i think and finally he called me up and he said i'm i'm gonna

[00:24:51] i'm gonna do it as a way to make sure we call you to make that decision

[00:24:56] and he said well i read it to my parents and they said you should do this scott so that's what he did

[00:25:02] miss it but this front rolls some clips of that day because i think that day was an absolute turning point

[00:25:08] in this whole thing the public has a right to know exactly what happened why it happened

[00:25:15] how it happened and who was involved that is why i am forming a special council committee

[00:25:24] to investigate every aspect turn over every rock look behind every curtain and bring all that we

[00:25:32] do not know and what we deserve to know in today light for everyone to see let me make something

[00:25:41] else very clear we will uncover and hold accountable anybody who at anything to do with trying to

[00:25:49] take advantage of our city and the j a ratepayers whether it's lobbyists investment bankers lawyers

[00:25:57] bidders or employees we will fight to recover the loss of wasted money and prepare the damage

[00:26:05] this has done to our reputation and the community's trust for anyone who asked why i am doing this

[00:26:15] in the light of an ongoing federal investigation there are five important reasons

[00:26:21] number one we have no idea what the feds are investigating it may only be a tiny piece of the j a

[00:26:28] mess for its for instance will they only investigate the pup

[00:26:34] number two we have no idea how long the federal investigation will last

[00:26:40] it could be over a year number three what if the feds investigating only a small piece

[00:26:48] find there is no criminal wrongdoing there would be no report and we are no further

[00:26:55] in knowing the entire truth than right now number four the city council needs to investigate

[00:27:03] to transparently document the history of this mess from the day someone said hey maybe we could

[00:27:10] sell the j a until the day the it was pulled there needs to be a chronological and thorough investigation

[00:27:19] naming names for accountability number five the mission of the city council investigation

[00:27:27] should be a public report that restores the citizens believe in the integrity of their government

[00:27:35] this is not something the feds will do in a criminal investigation

[00:27:40] i i think one of the things though when we talk about uh at when we talk about what Scott did

[00:27:46] and he started that committee if you remember correctly roory donnan was made the chair

[00:27:51] i think sailor was on there and then if you remember correctly as the sink he did off

[00:27:57] but no it was rendered priestly jackson roory diamond and uh um read it before yeah

[00:28:05] well and then of course they did that and then after the report came in and they hired bucy

[00:28:12] the council of never again with the report came back and they just they just move that it be made

[00:28:18] are the record it never came out the courageous stand that that rendered priestly jackson

[00:28:26] randy our luchy particularly uh uh scott wilson the council never talked about it there's going to be a

[00:28:35] long list of people who either were had fingerprints on it ladies and gentlemen or were complicit

[00:28:42] and that list is as long as on his long as you're armed and that's what somebody's going to write up

[00:28:48] will and uh that's going to be part of the footnote no no question about it what do you think the

[00:28:53] community has learned from all of this mark what have you learned about all this and then i'll ask

[00:28:58] about the community and don't underestimate what people think about their public utility i guess but

[00:29:03] that but also yeah and this kind of spins off i agree scott wilson i remember how you could tell

[00:29:10] just sense he he felt horrible coming back from the baseball game and you he felt like he'd been

[00:29:15] duped and you know he was being used and that this was a good person trying to navigate

[00:29:25] politics and he kind of got sucked into that but yeah then he stood up and you know i'm going to

[00:29:30] do the right thing and there that was one point that at night i liked a part he made in his

[00:29:36] verdict a column that you know this was about people doing things wrong and as my kai tower said

[00:29:42] that that list is long but there's also a pretty long list of people who did things right and yeah

[00:29:49] Nate we were talking about the cow billy kim taylor jeff roda the council auditors and then you

[00:29:56] had jason gaybrill who um you know he was a real hero in this general council um he had employees

[00:30:03] named mentioned like j a like tim hunt analytics expert who kind of had the courage to stand up

[00:30:09] you had the the j a employees lots of them you know we're willing to speak out publicly

[00:30:16] went to the city council and they felt out those comment cards or so carried their signs so the

[00:30:21] um you know again white collar crime usually isn't sexy but this was uh there was a lot of emotion

[00:30:28] and a lot of um drama and twists and turns and um so yeah i think in the end it is uh kind of

[00:30:36] the you know the the power of the people and the the citizens it's uh um there's a lot of

[00:30:43] positive lessons that can come out of it i think but i've also said you know um you know

[00:30:51] next year an fpl i i think they'll they'll be back for a bite of this apple again so uh it may

[00:30:56] not be in the same fashion that may not we may not but i think there'll be um ways to come at uh

[00:31:06] you know j a in the future too i don't disagree don't disagree mark thank you again so very much

[00:31:12] for being with us thank you it's a better terrific and uh we enjoyed guys thank you very much

[00:31:18] as always for joining us from your region of location thank you mark you coming up in a couple of

[00:31:23] weeks and i'm really excited about this too because my old boss is going to be on the show and that

[00:31:27] Ford is going to be joining us uh i don't know how many of you watched last sundays this week in

[00:31:32] Jacksonville with Kent justice but netford was on that program to talk about the emerald trail

[00:31:37] as well as talk about the u2c project which is the electronic vehicle projects that jta has been

[00:31:43] very much involved in and we've asked him to come on the program to talk more about that fan

[00:31:47] test at 147 million dollar federal grant we got and what's going to be done with that and what will

[00:31:53] jta's involvement be and all that so that's coming up in a couple of weeks and uh we we appreciate

[00:31:58] you joining us every week here on mike's on mike you can find us well you can find us just about

[00:32:02] everywhere including your front door if you're not in the middle of night and a reminder of course

[00:32:08] mike's on mike is brought to you from the fine folks at the jacksonville historical society which

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