SWABC Executive Committee & Governing Board Meetings 08.21.2026 (Teams) - Aug 25, 2026

Chair Ryan: present

Chair Ryan: present · Beam Furr: present

We're going to get started here. If I could just have everybody Sierra Club.

It's all the excitement. It's all the excitement.

All right. Let's just wait for vice chair. We're good, though. We're exactly good.

Yeah. All right. I'm going to call to order the executive committee meeting of August 21st, 2026. If you would, at least please call the roll.

Chair Ryan.

Present.

Vice chair for.

He's here.

Member Shuham. Member Horland.

Here.

Member Dunn.

Here.

Member Rydell.

Here.

Member Mead.

Here.

Member Caggiano. Member A.J. Ryan. Member Scott Newton.

Here.

Member Cindy Murphy-Solomone. Member Wright-Cruz. For the governing board. Yes. Thank you. Senator Geller.

Look at that.

Member Bowman. Okay. Lori, do we have a quorum for the purposes? All right. If you would, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

And Carol Shuham's here.

Oh, sure. Carol. Pledge of Allegiance. All right.

Make sure we acknowledge that Member Shuham is also online. All right. As we begin today, we come out of the shadow of a lot of work that was done to get us to the point that we continue to exist. This effort has been a team effort. And it has been the product of the work of so many in the community, as well as the members around this board. But the executive committee and the governing board have been called upon to put in a lot of work over the last few years. And I know this might be hard to acknowledge, but the work is really just beginning now. The hard work begins now as we build a system that we can be proud of, one that will list the paramount goals, both economic, social, environmental, and political. That will last for the next 50 years. I want to thank the members of both the executive committee and the governing board who are here and who have been participating so much. This executive committee was told at the outset that there would be not just a couple of meetings, but there would be monthly and biweekly meetings. And the executive committee rose to the occasion. The governing board also rose to the occasion as we continue to increase the number of governing board meetings to make sure that there was full participation. For those cities that have not fully participated yet, I'm proud to see that, for instance, Miramar is here and that we know the other cities are watching. Our philosophy from the outset has always been to build a system that everyone will want to join. So there is no us and them. We are now just focused on building a system that we can, throughout Broward County, be proud of and that we can pull together to achieve the goals, reduce, reuse, and recycle, if we are to control our own economic and environmental destiny. I'll turn it over to the vice chair.

Thank you. Well, I'm excited. This has been a long, long process. I actually looked over the archives in my email and looked at when we started doing, putting this together. It was almost exactly 10 years ago. And one of the emails was to you and to Greg Ross to pull together a meeting on this. And it's what a yeoman's effort. And for all those people that have been part of this, let me first acknowledge one of my colleagues, Senator Geller, who has been a good sounding board on a lot of things that kind of helped on this. Likewise, are the lawyers with the county that I think made sure that we kind of kept things going straight and did stuff. Matt Habers and Nat Nathaniel are just wonderful to work with and they know their stuff. Kevin, I think, has helped guide and Natasha have helped kind of pull a lot of things together. And I can't thank you guys enough. And to our consultants, thank you guys. Leah, you've been with us on this for a long time, from I think 2018 when we started doing the original, the working group, and the Broward League of Cities. Let's not forget them because, you know, I mean, they coordinated all those meetings in the very beginning and, you know, put together at the Hilton with donuts and, you know, pulling people together and not knowing where it was. And all that started with what to do with the Alpha 250 and then it kind of pulled together. This, to me, is transformational. This is a huge step. I know, and it has changed thanks to many of the environmentalists that are here. Many of the, you know, you've kind of pushed us in a direction that, you know, I don't think we started. And I know that I know for my own self, I think there's been an evolution of thought along the way. You know, given what's going on climate change wise and all kind of things, I think it made us kind of look at things a little differently. And I think we ended up in a very good place. You know, but to your point, and let me actually finally just say, Mike, you've done a fantastic job. Team effort. Team effort. Yeah. You and I have worked on what we worked on the safety task together. And so this is our second rodeo, I guess. And, you know, your ability to organize and kind of steamroll things through. You got some sharp elbows sometimes, but that's okay. That's okay. It was, you know, I know how sharp they are. You know, and that kind of real good discussion, I think, made for a much better polished diamond. And now the work begins. And it actually started yesterday at the county commission of having to kind of figure out, all right, where is all this stuff going to go? And how are we going to do it? And that's what we're that's where we're at today. But to everybody who's been a part of this, thank you. It's going to make Broward just such, you know, a beacon for counties throughout the country. I really feel like that because we're doing stuff in a way that counties aren't doing it. And it's I'm proud to be a part of it. Well done.

Let's give a round of applause for that.

One last thing, sorry. And I am thrilled that the person who's going to be taking my seat, Carol Shuham, I'm thrilled that she won, that she knows stuff, and she will bring that knowledge to the county commission as well.

Let me just really point out something that we as cities realize. And we're fortunate to have one of our former presidents here up front and in the back. But the reality is that when we work together as cities, there isn't anything that we can't accomplish. And historically, we've known that time and time again over the last decade. We've come together to solve problems. There was a lot of resentment in the relationship between the cities and the county. And I want to credit Commissioner Furr because if it wasn't for how he came to the table on this, how we started at the beginning, how we acknowledged that it was not a sustainable plan moving forward, that we could not economically continue in the course that we were going, and to separate whatever had happened in the past to try to build something new. And we've seen throughout this process, at moments, it's hard because there are folks who still have the memories of that. But we've been proving to industry, to the community, to the municipalities, to the leadership, to the residents, that we can transcend whatever's happened in the past when we know we have to accomplish something more important. And this has galvanized the community. And I don't think there's many things that have brought the community together from the environmental side to the business side, from industry to the policymakers, to actually believe that we can move forward. It doesn't mean it's going to be self-executing, as we'll talk about here today. But the work that has been done in galvanizing relationships and the paramount role that we have, which is to listen, to hear, to understand both industry and environmental, the business issues and the municipal issues, to make sure that we are paying attention to this. I echo Member Furr's point that I do think this is historic. It's transformational. And I doubt there are few models around the country that have had to rebuild in an urban environment like we've had to, with so many cities and so many issues. And again, to our school board representative, congratulations as well. Thank you. To see that not only Member Shuham, but Member Ryan, who also was running for county commission, both have been passionate about this. And our school board representative has been passionate about this. It goes to show that nothing that we are doing here is any longer considered fringe when we say reduce, reuse, and recycle. So a few more comments, and then we've got a lot of hard work here to do. Member Geller. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just wanted to congratulate both you and Commissioner Furr. I have expressed doubts frequently as to whether or not this was going to work. Of course, many of my cities had told me that they were not prepared to pay more for recycling. I do not think that this would have occurred without the two of you helming this. And I just wanted to extend my congratulations to both of you on a job well done.

Like anything that is accomplished, we know that there were so many that started Solid Waste Working Group. I know Greg Ross is here. Dan Strummer has been paying attention. There were folks who sat down a decade ago to say, this is not going to work. And along the way, there's been members of this body and the governing board who have gone on to great things. And we cannot, you know, for a moment lose sight that Nancy Mateer was such a powerful, powerful voice. To member Sarah, I congratulate you on stepping into her role. And I'm very grateful. It's a big role to step into. And you came right away to do it, even in the shadow of what was a terrible tragedy. And while still trying to process everything, we are very grateful for Coral Springs and for your, you know, your personal commitment to this as well. And so we have to recognize that what we've built here is not the product of two people or five people or ten people. It's hundreds of people that have worked hard to do this. We're going to need all of that effort as we go over the next 15 months to make sure. So without further ado, let's begin with public comment. John Casagrande.

Hey, John, how are you? You have to turn that on so the millions at home can hear you.

Okay. How was that better? Very good. Perfect. Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, members. John Casagrande, Coastal Waste and Recycling. Congratulations. It was a great effort, great lift. And now this is about the next steps. The next steps is about partnering and getting the industry involved. I ask to please include the industry in the workshops involving the RFPs that are going to be submitted. The success of this project will be, obviously, what comes out of that product. Okay. We want to be able to, we, and it's a partnership now, we want to be able to give everyone, all your members, all your member cities, something to seek their teeth into for 25 years. And that's going to be a huge, monumental lift. And you need us. We need you. So, please, when these RFPs are being drafted, being drawn, I ask that you consider having a workshop with the industry. Have everyone here, as many people as that, because it affects not just, obviously, the Solid Waste Authority, but the members directly to their cities. The logistics are going to be key for this project to be an absolute success. You know, let's make the Second Amendment non-existent. Let's give them something to go with right away. And the industry is going to be able to make that happen for everyone and continue the success that you've enjoyed so far. We need to continue that success. But, again, the industry is going to be monumental to be a part of this. Thank you.

John, before you leave, thank you very much for that. I think it's important that we continue to reiterate that message. We've learned in this process that when industry is at the table, whether it's on C&D or any of the other issues, composting, or what we're talking about moving forward, the product comes out better. That's number one. Number two, we know, we listened to industry early on when we stopped the RFP process because of the uncertainty. And it was critical that industry felt comfortable enough to tell us this is not yet ready. It's not baked. And that was a key moment for us. And moving forward, you'll hear it from the consultants, but we've already had that discussion. That as we move forward, there's got to be industry days. Not one, not a single workshop. This will be a very unusual RFP process where cities normally construct their RFPs, send it out, they have some meetings after it's already out to hear about it, and maybe they can adjust, maybe they can't. In building this RFP, as you point out, or these RFPs, we're going to need to hear industry and the logistics and hear the municipalities as well. So, thank you, and we appreciate your continued engagement.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it, too. Thank you. Thank you.

Richard Rampcharitar.

Good morning.

I'm here on behalf of both Broward Clean Air and Abbey & Associates Zero Waste Consulting Firm. Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, and members of the Broward Solid Waste Authority Executive and Governing Board. The future can be bright for South Florida if we work together wisely and in the collective best interests of our entire region. I am grateful to have worked alongside many of you in helping inform the development of the Solid Waste and Recyclable Materials Master Plan. I am also proud to have contributed as part of the Zero Waste Consulting Team with Abbey & Associates alongside Ruth Abbey, Amanda Waddell, WSPUSA Project Manager Randall Russell, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste Management Team to develop the Miami-Dade County Zero Waste Master Plan, which was unveiled on July 31st. I'll just take a minute to show you the 85-page document that was issued during the press conference. And if you're interested in reading about it, you can go on the Miami-Dade County Solid Waste Master Plan, I mean the Miami-Dade County Department of Solid Waste website. So, Abbey & Associates is now helping the town of Southwest Ranches develop a customized sustainable resource management and zero-waste plan designed to significantly increase diversion over the next four to five years. Florida has established an ambitious recycling and diversion goal of 75% by 2030. My hope is that we can continue moving beyond destructive disposal and toward a truly sustainable circular economy. That means rethinking and redesigning the system. We need an adequate ongoing investment in education and outreach to help our region reduce and refuse what we do not need, then reusing, repairing, repurposing, recycling, and composting materials for their highest and best use. Before burying or burning them, and congratulations, Dustin and Filthy Organics. This is all about us, our families, friends, and communities. I respectfully ask the Solid Waste Authority to consider creating a zero-waste circular economy subcommittee and adopting a sustainable resource management, zero-waste, and circular economy pledge that commits this organization to leading by example. We have the brainpower, dedication, and resources to make meaningful progress over the next four to five years. On behalf of Abbey & Associates, we are here to assist through education, workshops, collaboration, and practical zero-waste strategies. Let us rise to this challenge and build the system our generation and future generations deserve. Thank you.

Thank you, Richard. All right. Anyone else who has signed up for public comment? Anyone else who wishes to speak who didn't get a chance to sign up? Come on up if you want to.

Hi. I'm literally very excited to be standing here.

Go ahead and introduce yourself to the millions at home, please. Excuse me? Give us your name.

Oh, Stephanie.

Joe.

And I want to thank you all for the hard work and dedication that made this possible. I can't begin to repeat all your comments. They were wonderful and far better said than I could. And I also want to thank SCS because I think they've done an amazing job, and I hope they'll continue. Moving forward, I have two requests. Please keep us involved. We know that we have one year to show substantial progress. And those of us who have been involved until now are eager to help however we can with executing and promoting the master plan. I think we're not sure where to go from here, but we hope you'll guide us. And the other is expanding the food waste composting access as soon as possible. I understand that curbside food waste composting will need to be deferred for now, but I hope we can offer drop-off composting at the eight hazardous waste drop-off sites as soon as they're ready. I have full confidence that renewable and filthy organics can handle the volume of food waste that would come through. I'd also like to see the solid waste authority begin now to study the best methods for educating the public about composting, evaluate existing pilot programs, because we have a bunch going through the county, how they're performing in municipalities and in businesses that have already implemented them, and plan for curbside composting as soon as it's feasible. In addition, I hope the Education and Outreach Committee, who have done an amazing job, and I'm so impressed until now, can begin now educating the public on ways to reduce food waste, and that we may someday see community refrigerators at these sites or at some of our police and fire stations where people can drop off food for those in need. Thank you again for your hard work and passion, both in developing the master plan and getting to yes.

Thank you.

Let's give her a round of applause for her work. And thank you for being at almost every one of the city commission meetings.

Yeah.

You did a great job on them.

The only person who went to more of them was Mary Lou from the Broward League. And for those that don't know, she brought a lot of Altoids for dinner so that we would have something to eat in these long commission meetings. But, yes, thank you for the continued vigilance, and it will continue. And we'll still need your input, as you heard from Richard as well. So, okay, let's go ahead and move through the agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes for July 17, 2026? Motion by Member Horland, seconded by Member Meade. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, we're done there. Sam.

Yes.

Sam is appearing because in his professional pickleball career, he's had a minor setback that required surgery this week. So he is appearing remotely. Sam, executive director's report. How are you feeling, by the way?

I'm feeling much better today than I was yesterday. Thank you. Yesterday was the first day of nerve block war off the night before. And, oh, that was an experience. But I'm much better today. Thank you. I just want to say that, you know, we all worked together getting this thing done. And this team that was working together with the executive committee, the governing board, and everybody, the community, all of the organizations. I mean, there were so many people that were involved in this that everyone was key. There was not one person that was part of it that wasn't, you know, key to making this thing happen. One thing we did, though, every time we would have a victory, we would celebrate very quickly each victory. And that was it. We didn't rest on our laurels. We would celebrate. We'd, you know, give everybody high fives and stuff. We would focus on the next task. We'd put our heads down. We'd brainstorm, and we'd move forward. We did not stop. And that's basically what we've got to do right now. And what we have done, we've, you know, we celebrated the milestone we hit on August 14th. And we said, you know, we gave our high fives on that one again. But we're doing the same thing. We've put our heads down already. We're moving forward, developing the RFPs, securing the contracts while moving forward with the education efforts in the schools and the community, and completing our ordinances for the C&D and commercial recycling ordinances. And I look forward to helping out with this for the – at least until we get to the full yes, you know. So it's a great organization to be part of. And, as I said, it's something that we have to do. We have to do it here, and we can be the leaders. So thank you very much for the opportunity.

Let's give Sam a round of applause for his work. As part of that legacy, obviously, we were very fortunate to work with Todd Storty, who unfortunately could not continue in the role due to family commitments, family medical issues. And, Sam, we had not had the opportunity to work together. Most of us were not familiar with you. But you came with a level of excitement for this project. You were able to dovetail into the philosophical mission that we as an executive committee and a governing board had. And you were able to take advantage of the relationships you developed over many, many years around this county and get up to speed very quickly. It required you to drink from a fire hose sometimes, but it also required you to be open-minded to understand, you know, the difficult issues that are presented both politically and financially in this model. So we thank you for your commitment. I also thank you for wanting to continue in this role. We'll have a discussion in a moment here. But it's been crucial, and I just – I know many around this table know that already. But you and I have spent a lot of time together, and I am very grateful that you, one, are part of this mission, and, two, that you're standing side-by-side with us. So thank you again.

Thank you.

Anything further you want to talk about, an executive director update at this point?

That's all. Thank you very much. Everything just did everything you guys have said. Okay.

All right. First Amendment to the Employment Agreement with the Executive Director. I'll turn it over to our counsel, Lori.

Yes, we have a First Amendment to extend the agreement basically indefinitely. We are asked for an increase in his salary and an increase in the vacation.

All right. What's the amount of the increase in salary? Sorry.

I don't have that on.

Sam, you need to have that, Lori. Where's the – I'm here. Did you want to –

Yeah, what was the amount? Got it. Yep. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As the individual who was tasked in the beginning with negotiating Sam's contract, I did reach out to Lori, and I asked for a 3% CPI increase. And I just want to remind everyone that Mr. May did not come looking for us for a job. He had a job. He took this up when we, you know, extended the offer, and, as the chair said, jumped in, pivoted when we needed to pivot. So I think that the 3% was fair. I also requested a performance bonus, which was the $15,000, which will cover his insurance, which is ending with his current employment. So I thought that was fair. And he requested some vacation time because he has not had any vacation days. So I think that puts him at $309,000 for the salary. It was $300,000, and the $15,000 form is bonus, so he will not be taxed on that. That will cover his insurance. Correct.

And to make it clear, we don't have an HR department. We don't have employees. Everything in terms of benefits are subsumed in the salary. It's important to understand. We're not providing any benefits. So as the executive committee members, remember, and the governing board remembers, the idea was that every benefit would have to be borne by the applicant, which they all understood, and certainly Sam did, too. All right. Let me open up for discussion. Do you have your card? Okay. Any discussion from the executive committee members on that amendment? All right. Is there a motion to approve the First Amendment to the Employment Agreement? Motion by Member Dunn. I'm sorry. It's Carol. I just had a question. Hang on one second. We have a motion. I'll open it back up for discussion. It's a motion by Member Dunn, seconded by Member Newton. Member Shuham. Go ahead.

Sorry. My hand raising doesn't work here. So first, I want to thank Sam for his work and, you know, again, express my gratitude to the chair and vice chair and everybody that participated in this, getting us to this point. It's been an amazing organization to be a part of, and I just am thrilled at where we are right now. My question, and it may be for Member Horland, the original agreement, please remind me, is Sam an employee or a consultant?

He's an employee.

And under the original agreement, was it a fixed number of months or it ended on once we got to a milestone?

It ended on a specific date. Okay.

Is that upcoming? Yes, September 9th, I believe. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And when you say extended indefinitely, what does that mean?

It's extended until either the authority terminates or Sam decides to terminate.

And does the authority, is the authority's ability to terminate restricted to cause or is it with or without?

No, it's not restricted to cause. Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any further questions or discussion? We have a motion and a second. Go ahead and call the question on that motion.

I have to go through the members. Yes. Sorry. It's okay. The executive committee.

Chair Ryan.

Yes.

Vice-chair for Member Shuham.

Yes.

Member Horland.

Yes.

Member Dunn.

Yes.

Member Rydell.

Yes.

Member Meade.

Yes.

Member Newton.

Yes.

Member Murphy-Solomone.

Okay.

The motion passes. Thank you, Sam. And don't rest on September 9th. Thank you. All right. Next item, extension of the SCS agreement. SCS is here. The extension is dealing with timeframes. And I guess it's technically called a change order. But go ahead and, if you would, Daniel, explain to us what the extension is about.

Sure. Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Council, members of the Executive Committee. Just, if I may, a point of privilege, I do want to express our appreciation from the consulting team for our Executive Director, both past and present, as well as general counsel, representatives from the industry, the community organizations. You know, big shout-out to the League of Cities, and also conceptual. That is not part of the SCS team, but we have worked very closely with, and we certainly appreciate their contribution to getting us to this point. The matter that is before you is really more of a housekeeping item. It moves the completion date for both two assignments. One relates to construction and demolition debris and commercial recycling. It moves that to the end of the fiscal year, so ending September 30th of this year. And the second relates to change order number one, related to the master plan itself. That had a completion date last Saturday, and we want to push that out so that we can line up fiscal year activities now as we move into implementation.

All right. Both of these change orders, if you will, are not financial and have no financial impact, correct? Correct. All right. Any discussion or questions from the members? All right. Can I have a motion on both extensions? Motion by Member Horland, seconded by Member Newton. Any further discussion on that? All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? Aye. All right. Thank you. Daniel, don't go anywhere. Why don't we go ahead and move up, and let's begin the discussion of what is really the hard work moving forward, the RFP process, if you can. And if you will, let's talk just a little bit. Historically, you were asked by the Executive Committee and the Governing Board to put pencils down. So there was a start in a general sense to the RFP process, and while there were some benefits from that, essentially you're starting from a new. Understand whatever you've developed, you can certainly utilize, but we've learned a lot of new information. There's more data. There's also more considerations, and it has been raised by industry. There's been more engagement. So help us to understand the RFP process, and I recognize today is not the day where you'll be providing us a specific timeline, but will you be prepared at the September meeting to provide us a lot of detail like you have in the past as to where the RFP process will go, the mechanisms and steps, and the timeline?

That's exactly right. We will be prepared with an implementation schedule or development schedule and the details for your consideration and for input. As was mentioned by an earlier speaker, engagement with the industry is critically important. We're at a very different point today than we were when we were actively working on the solicitations. It is our intention to partner not only with industry but also with all stakeholders that have a voice to say. So we'll also be recommending a structure for us to engage with the executive committee and the governing board and TAC so that there's clarity in terms of how information will be presented to you and how feedback will be solicited and then implemented. We're on a tight schedule, so we want to create alignment up front and so that there's clarity both for us and for the authority.

Can you just, as a general sense, give us an outline of what the RFP process looks like? It's not a singular RFP. Is that fair to say?

Correct. There's at least three RFPs for different waste stream components. But importantly, there are policy, this policy direction that we'll be seeking from you in terms of how to structure it. And there's a lot of variables, and I don't want to bore you with the details. Now we'll be prepared in September to go into that detail, and there'll likely be a presentation or a workshop with the executive committee that will be open to the public where we can have these discussions and get that clarity so that we can move forward expeditiously.

In terms of the timeline, we have spoken generally of wanting to see if we can have the RFPs out by the end of the year so that they're turned around and there's a full analysis, leaving us time to make adjustments if we learn new information or have to reconsider how we've done the RFP process. Is that something that you believe, as you stand here today, is achievable, and will you be able to give us more certainty in September?

Yes, we'll lay out what that process is, and we'll be seeking a commitment from the authority to help us get there. We can't do it alone. It really is a partnership, and it does tie into what many ILA members are currently a part of, which is the global agreement and decision needs to be made in the spring in terms of what happens next with that. So, again, there's a lot of moving parts, and we want to make sure that there is alignment and clarity in terms of the process, time frame, and the decisions.

We learned through the process of getting the yes that many of the members and even the non-member cities have a lot of questions about how any particular RFP or engagement would be implemented. That's going to be a critical component of this. As was mentioned by the prior speaker from industry, not only do they have mechanisms and concerns that could be triggered, each of the individual cities will as well. We're going to have to have a dedicated and intentional effort to make sure we're not only reaching out to the cities, but to the members. Their staff is going to have to be engaged in providing. We cannot get to the end of the RFP process if for the first time someone says, well, what about this issue? We have to try to work as many of the can. It's understanding we'll learn some new ones. Are you prepared to continue that engagement at the individual member level and be open to the non-members who are paying attention to what's happening here?

It's going to be a full court press on the consultant side, and we're asking to have that match or be matched by the authority. So, yes, just as we've committed to being inclusive and transparent at every step in the process, we have every intention of continuing in that mode.

In many respects, this next process is going to be more demanding on the executive committee and the governing board. We've had the benefit of a lot of materials that you provide. There are thousands of pages, and they've been summarized. But it's been about receiving information and providing policy input in a way that has not had direct implications. We certainly understand the policies that are being developed because of the master plan. But when it comes to the RFP process, individual members and us collectively need to really understand and be in the weeds on this. Is that a fair statement? It's a fair statement.

And achieve consensus. It doesn't have to be unanimity, but we need consensus to move forward. And that's what I mean by policy direction.

One of the principles that we've heard also from the non-members is that they are paying attention to this, want to be engaged. The RFP process is going to have to have some flexibility, not only in the sense that we know that we still have a December 2027 date that we, per the Second Amendment, as was said, we hope becomes moot and irrelevant, but also need to be able to adjust to take on potentially additional tonnage in those issues. Is that something that you are considering, at least in the RFP process?

Absolutely. And to be clear, we're considering it in both directions. We may be able to bring more participants to the table, but we also recognize that through the Second Amendment, any ILA member can choose to not continue in the future, and we need to accommodate that as well.

All right. I want to thank Jamie Cole and Lori and the firm that has really stood behind this. There's been so many moving parts along the way, particularly in understanding the master plan and the triggers and the ILA and how we've been able to get here. That effort is going to have to get stepped up, as it turns out, when we get into the RFP process. All right. With respect to what we can see in September from you, do you have an outline for us as what you'll be telling us about?

Well, not a formal outline, but if it's the will of the executive committee, we can prepare that and provide it to you. But essentially, it's identifying the specific solicitations and the key policy decisions that we will need from all of you and the schedule that goes along with that.

All right. What I would ask, as the chair, is for you to prepare that outline and circulate to the executive committee maybe 10 days before the meeting so that you can have some input from all the members, both the municipal and the county, and allow us to also perhaps engage somewhat with industry just in terms of the ideas and to make sure we're not missing something in the timeline. As you pointed out, and everybody who's been working on this understands, every timeline has been aggressive. You know, every meeting schedule has been aggressive. And so that's going to continue, but we want to make sure we're not missing anything. We've had a couple of times where we've had to let things push a little bit or slide. This is going to be a very, very tight timeframe. So the early engagement and the understanding of the members is critical. So what I'd like to avoid is the first time folks are getting a sense of what you're going to be discussing. I'm not suggesting your presentation should be done 10 days before, but at least an outline of what the issues are so that folks who come here as members, but also for the community, that they understand the factors that are going into this. Is that fair? Yes, it is. Okay.

Any questions for SES on the RFP process moving forward?

Yes, I do. Do you have a feeling of which ones we should be working on first?

It's a policy matter in terms of how we sequence it. We are operating in parallel. One is for ultimate disposal. That includes leveraging the existing capacity of the waste energy facility as it is currently contemplated through or implemented through the global agreement.

So I'm trying to figure out the global agreement and how that would.

Correct. And recyclable materials, the traditional curbside recyclable materials and yard trash processing. And yard trash processing.

Okay. All right. And I ask that because the county commission yesterday worked on a little bit of the yard waste and the C&D. And we're going to need to be working with you to kind of – we're going to need information on that to help on the evaluation of those.

Yeah, and just as we've worked closely with county staff at various points over the past several years, and I want to express my appreciation for the availability of staff and the input that they've provided, we have every intention of continuing to do that because they're a critical stakeholder in this.

And to that point, I think – and Commissioner Gallagher or Senator Gallagher reminding, did we decide yesterday that there has to be two public hearings on the unsolicited bid? Is that right? I don't – I don't – I don't – I don't recall how many.

I think –

Two – okay. So here's what's happening.

Commissioner Furrier, I was going to say you should probably tell them what we did yesterday.

I was going to wait for new business, but maybe it's a pretty good idea. Yeah. Let's talk about it. Okay. So yesterday – actually, over the summer – Kevin, you might need to help me on this a little bit because an unsolicited bid was given to the county on yard waste. And we've been talking the whole time about how to best use the Broward County landfill. I think that is very important of all of this working to be able to keep prices down, to have a place to do yard waste, glass recycling, various things. So Filthy Organics had put in an unsolicited bid to do yard waste. I looked at it for the first time this week, and I don't know when it came in, and maybe I should have looked at it earlier. And all of us have been glad that Dustin's been a part of this from the beginning, so let me just start there. But when I saw it, I was a little concerned on what I saw in capacity, and I've talked with Dustin since then. We're estimating – and this is where I need – we're going to need your help – that we're probably going to need a capacity of around $300,000. And you're looking at about – I think the average was $0.85 per household of a ton per year for yard waste. So to go from there, how do we get there? And part of this RFP is, and part of our discussion is, how much is going to be mandated or is it going to be mandated to have all the yard waste go there or where? Because we can't decide how much to send where. That was kind of the main part of it, of wanting to know if the capacity for that unsolicited bid could be met. The second part of that was this, was – and we've talked about this from the beginning – do we – you know, we – when the waste energy plant was built, we delegated that authority. My question is, do we delegate that authority again, or do we keep control of that by the county running this? I'm always open to the county paying for everything.

Well – I know that's how we do it. I know. This is a serious question, and I do think this is part of the policy discussion. That's going to have to happen. That's okay.

I don't know. That's all right. So the big discussion is, I want to make sure that that price and the end result is something that is, to Fort Lauderdale's concern, to Hollywood's concern, that that is lower than what they're paying now. And, you know, I also want to make sure that – the difference in unsolicited bids now is that at the end of an unsolicited bid – and this was an unsolicited bid for 20 years, if I'm not mistaken – is that at the end of that, the county does own the process. That is now state legislatively mandated. So there is a difference there. But the question is, do we as a county stand this up, or do we go with the unsolicited bid? And we're going to have to make that decision fairly quickly because we have two public hearings coming up, and we have to decide whether or not to accept that bid or not. So, you know, that's pushing this along where it – you know, and maybe it needs to go first and get it – you know, we can do all of them at the same time. Global agreement can be discussed. But this one's got kind of some urgency to it. Okay. Okay.

All right, so continued engagement with SES and county staff, and we can certainly have a discussion in September as well as to what that looks like. I don't think the SWA is going to be in a position to tell you one way or the other how we do that, right? That's a big, big issue.

Right.

But whether or not the county utilizes the unsolicited bid as a first step as opposed to saying, all right, this is what the end result looks like. I'll defer to the county on it, but it seems like the idea is to really start standing up some process. Correct, correct. And as was pointed out, right, put it in the same area of composting and home composting. These pilot programs that have been stood up are laying the groundwork for a much larger discussion, whether it's from North Browder Prep, Plantation, the other cities, Coral Springs, Sunrise, Hollywood, all the ones that are doing. Eventually, it is something that will have to be synchronized, but what we're really doing is trying to make sure that we're starting some process, both by terms of education, but also understanding what the sense from the community is in participation, which is a key component of this. And I think you're touching on that in terms of how we deal with that going forward.

Yeah, and a key part of that is for cities, you know, a lot of cities do yard waste, but how do we do that, and is it source-separated? That's a huge component because that is what Dustin needs if he's going to do filthy organics over there. He needs source-separated yard waste. It can't come in with all chronic, you know, can't come in boats and beds and everything else. It needs to be just yard waste, and so city after city is going to have to talk with their hauler, how can you do this, and that has to be decided fairly soon.

Well, it'll be part of the RFP process because naturally it's going to be the questions that we've already heard, right, from the members in discussing the Second Amendment and otherwise is we need to understand what impact this will have on each of the individual cities. So, Member Gallagher.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Furr and I were the two no-votes yesterday on the filthy organics proposal, and we think that Dustin and filthy organics are great people who have done a lot. My concern and Commissioner Furr's concern, and this is why in some respects, you know, I as a county commissioner need guidance here. Commissioner Furr, by the time we decide on this, you may not be on the commission anymore.

No, no, no.

You know, your expiration date is rather than what you throw.

What do you mean, I know?

We've got self-life here. Yeah, the sale by date. But the concern is I just don't know enough, and even Commissioner Furr, who knows everything about this, doesn't know enough as to what the impact of the unsolicited proposal would be because it is a 20-year proposal. And I don't want us to find out six months into the proposal that we've made a mistake by giving a 20-year contract on this, you know, to the extent that this can be expedited, to the extent that we can get guidance from the Solid Waste Authority as to if it's a good idea under what terms, things like that. But not as a member of this board, as a county commissioner, I really need that guidance from the Solid Waste Authority because this is something you've been working on for a long time. You have better understanding than any commissioner except for commissioner for any Broward County commissioner. So I'm asking, begging, pleading for guidance before we take action with Filthy Organics on the unsolicited proposal. We all like them. But is this the idea? Does the county need to control this? Is their proposal something that works for the Solid Waste Authority? We really need that information and we need a timeline.

Right. Well, you're certainly welcome to provide it to us. What I would say is it's already been too long, right? There's been an opportunity to do this for a generation. So what that looks like, I know the county attorney's office will redline and make suggestions on the contract, but something needs to move forward. Cities are doing it in their own individual ways on composting where we know this has to be done. It's a lot. We need to divert what that looks like from the county perspective. I'm happy to look at the proposal. We can certainly have a discussion. I don't know how much solid guidance we can give, particularly if you're asking questions about source separation and all the other things that we're not going to be in that position. It was certainly not in a month. But but in terms of the broad concepts, it's it's already too late. We already need to do it. How that looks, I will certainly engage also with with Dustin to try to understand what's going on with that. But if you'd like to have a discussion in September, I think we can certainly put that on the agenda and start talking about what it means, whether it's glass, hard waste, C&D. All of these things have been far too delayed. These have been another complicated, but it's been the low hanging fruit that we've stayed away from. And it's created a lot of the dilemma we have. I get it. A 20 year agreement with big investment and what that's a separate issue. So that's but as a general philosophical matter, I thank the county for moving forward. It's unfortunate it's unsolicited as opposed to a dedicated effort. But this should begin to unlock the discussions both from industry and from the municipal level as well.

Mr. Chair, I agree with everything you said. But as we were a nine member commission, seven of them, though, very little about what the workings of if they voted yes, they know a lot about it. No. And so the the question I am hoping that we can get a recommendation from the solid waste executive committee or something as to whether it's a good idea to enter into this 20 year agreement on those terms. If it is, I think it'll pass unanimously if there is something that is sounds good because it starts us on the proposal. It starts us on the solid waste composting, which we all agree should have been done and should be done. But what we would be voting for would be something that would damage our long term goals. We just need to know that. And I'm hoping that the solid waste authority give us a recommendation. Yay or nay. Maybe you can't.

We've not shied away from giving you recommendations, even when the county commission doesn't listen to it. So we're not afraid to do that.

I never said we'd listen to it.

I just want it.

No, they really don't.

All right. But I think this is I'm glad you've raised it, I share, because I think this is a discussion and it shows that we're starting this analysis today. We're really moving forward to start thinking about the mechanics of this. And so what I would suggest is you want to circulate the backup materials for that to all the governing board members. Yeah. That way we can at least begin to understand it. Is that fair?

Yeah. Let me ask, Kevin, do you have anything you want to add on this? The county will pay for it?

No. So, no, and we just want to make sure as partners, as you know, the county has been part of this process from the outset here. And we just realized that, you know, there's a county asset here that we're going to begin negotiations with Filthy Organics. There's a bigger question here. We just want to make sure that we get the input and desires from the Solid Waste Authority so we can maximize this asset.

And, Kevin, I want to thank you and your staff. When we talk about rough elbows, there's been a lot of those along the way, but you've stayed committed to this process. And particularly as we get to the last six months of really trying to figure out what are the issues that we have to address. I'm no shill for the county, but I have enjoyed our working relationship, and I want to thank Monica and the staff and the entire Board of County Commissioners because it required everyone to be on board. Natasha. And Natasha's here, right? Right? Natasha back there. It turns out it's, you know, being able to provide us data along the way and make sure that we were correcting issues that needed to be corrected.

As we all know, it's a group effort by everybody in this room, you know, at the table, everybody in the audience. It's our community. We have to care, and we have to be responsible for the future generations of this. So it's worthwhile. We just need to keep going, but it's been a pleasure.

Thank you, Kevin. All right. Any further discussions on the RFP process at this stage? All right. Thank you, Daniel. Look forward to seeing the outline and then the September meeting. The draft 26-27 budget. I know Alex is here. I don't know if Sam is going to try to present this material, but Alex, if you could come forward. The request of the executive committee and the governing board was to at least have a draft for August. We're not going to be voting on anything here today. We'll do that in September. But it was to begin acclimating everyone as to the issues and to begin that discussion process. Part of the, as you'll see in the pro forma for the coming budget year, is the recognition that two of the members that were participating and contributing are not. And so that has, there's a broad policy decision, right? Do you reassess the current members to reach the prior revenue stream? My personal position is no. So, and particularly because you'll see we have reserves, which are what they're there for, and all of the municipalities are already in their budget process. It would not make sense to realign that. And I'm certainly open to any alternatives, but I think that that would be the death knell of this process, particularly where we do have reserves.

So, Alex, if you can give us just a brief outline, that will open up for questions. Sure. So, at a high level, the total revenues for the fiscal year budget upcoming will be $1,969,000. There's three major expense categories. $1,335,000 would relate to SES's work. That represents 40% of the overall expense budget. Compensation for Sam and team would be $483,000. And that represents 15% of the overall budget. And then, finally, education and outreach is $1 million even. That would represent 30% of the overall budget. So, those three expense categories combined would represent 85% of the expected $3,284,000 of expenses that are planned to be spent this year. That would create a deficit. There's not enough revenue to cover that amount of expenses this year. There would be a deficit of $1,314,000. However, there is over $2,149,000 of funds available at the beginning of this fiscal year. That would be utilized against it, leaving about $834,000 at the end of the fiscal year in 27.

All right. And I'll open up for questions. First, obviously, there's some categories here. Our chief sustainability officer, we're budgeting, but we don't.

Yeah, so there will not be a chief sustainability officer. It's not budgeted. They also historically had asked for some rental space. They thought they were going to get some rental space. So, it's not going to be any rental space. Okay. So, that was backed out in recognition of where we are.

Yeah. With respect to, and this is important, you know, we, as an executive committee and governing board, historically have put a lot of resources into education from the outset. That was a commitment early on before even the master plan. The proposal, Pro's budget, continues a significant amount of education and outreach, correct? Yeah, that's right. All right. We'll need information in September in more detail, not from you, Alex. Obviously, you were pulling these together, but from Sam and those that have put this budget together to understand that number so that we're clear on how that's being aligned. It's a big number. But I want to put it in some context, at least as has been reported, Palm Beach County spends $4 million a year on education for a mature system that's hitting its goals. We know and we've recognized from the outset that if you take your foot off the gas on education, you lose not only the power and sustainability of that message, you end up having to spend more money to make up ground later. So we'll have to have a robust discussion on that number in September. Let me open up to the members if I need specific questions. Member Horland and Member Dunn.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Alex, one thing I'm going to ask you to move closer to the mic because it's a little hard to hear you. Thank you. On the executive director's salary, that should be $309, which is a 3% CPI. It looks like the $309 and the $15 were combined at the $324, so I just want to make sure that that is corrected before we get the final budget.

Member Dunn.

Yes, and to put to your point, remember, Mr. Chair, we will indeed for September have a detailed analysis of the outreach and education budget. Thank you.

Perfect. Any other questions or direction from the executive committee for our budget hearing in September? All right. Alex, Sam, thank you to the education committee. Thank you. Look forward to that material. We need to have a discussion about the vacancy. We currently have a vacancy on the executive committee right now, and the alternate is also vacant. So we need to move forward in September to fill that, both just to make sure everybody's there on the table, but also because of certain quorum issues. There was a discussion over the summer as to whether or not Fort Lauderdale would be available for the vote in September. We need to just confirm that and to be clear, the vacancy is in a large city category, which means the governing board would have to break out by the large cities that currently exist in the ILA and then vote amongst themselves for the member city that will be on the executive committee. As a reminder to the members, the executive committee member who is voted as a municipal, as we've learned with Coral Springs, with Nancy's passing, it doesn't get assigned in the executive committee to the alternate at Coral Springs. It goes to the alternate city. And so it's really important that we recognize that while the executive committee work is very individual, it's a point for the appointment of a member to the executive committee is based on the municipality and a commitment of that. So generally speaking, I remember Sarah. No, go ahead.

Well, first, Chair Ryan, I want to thank you for the time words that you said regarding my following colleague. Um, she was very instrumental and a leader since day one and has represented our city. Well, I want the entire executive committee to know that every time she came to a meeting here, she did her due diligence with our commission to bring the information back so that we can have a fluid conversation and all be in the know. Uh, respectfully, a couple of meetings ago, um, Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen made the request to push it to September because he had a conflict and we appreciate his service to the U.S. Navy as a reserve. I find myself in a unique situation because my oldest son just got engaged and we're very much involved in wedding planning.

Um, and the September 17th vote is now a conflict for me and for our city, the third way is a conflict that we're not all invited or that.

Yeah. Well, depending on the outcome of the vote, we might. But, uh, this seat in this role is very important to Coral Springs. We've considered ourselves a leader in the recycling world, the composting world, the waste station world. Um, we are heavily invested. We've never wavered. Um, we've been committed since day one through Nancy's leadership with her passing. Unfortunately, my first meeting on the governing board was the day of her service. So my priority was to her family and to my personal beliefs. But, um, ever since I've been at every meeting, either in person or on phone. Um, so I just wanted to make sure that our city is not at a disadvantage. If, you know, one of the other cities is present and we're not, I'll send an alternate one and I'll participate by phone. But I just want to be clear to this entire executive committee and of those of you that are in the governing board. This position of continuing the work, um, is very important to us. And Nancy was a rock star. I am not Nancy Matera, but I am committed to doing everything I can, um, to not only continue her vision, but make sure that our city is 100% locked in, ready every day until we get where we need to go. So, thank you. Thank you.

Um, and for the members clarification, what the vote would be, would be for an executive committee member and an alternate because we have neither right now. Uh, it's important to note, uh, the energy that we've seen through the process of the approval of the facilities amendment and the second amendment has been, uh, true engagement. Uh, when we first began the executive committee process, there was a pretty heavy finger wag at everyone, which was, if you get on, you better be ready to work. And there's a lot of work. And there were some cities that said, we're okay. You can go to that and report back to us. What we see now though, is everybody wants to be engaged and the commitment of the executive committee, uh, to, uh, make sure that governing board members, uh, who appear are equal in their voice. Uh, and we've seen at the executive committee routinely, uh, members who are alternates, who you wouldn't know are an alternate that may, uh, appear to be actual members through their voice and their input. And it's only when it comes time for the vote that someone from legal or at least has to figure out who's the alternate and who's not. So it's important that we continue this process. And I, I think from, from my perspective and your, your request to push from September to October is, is a completely fair request. And I want us as a governing board and that recommendation I'll have to carry forward. Ultimately it'd be for the governing board to decide that, but I think that's entirely fair. And we can also have some other discussions about, uh, governance and some of the issues that have been raised in that process and give us a little bit more time.

Uh, member right now and then member for, I guess I'm going to turn to legal for the Roberts rules type question in this, in this matter. So an executive committee member can't make a motion to swap the election from September 18th to October 16th and move the governing board meeting from the 16th from September to October. Cause that would be prospectively a motion that I would entertain cause we're still impaneled as the, as the executive board to do that. So I turned to legal to tell me, can I do that? Or I have to wait until we impanel the governing board to make the said motion.

So just to clarify, you want to make a motion to move the executive committee meeting.

Well, I think we're only impaneling also the governing board as a whole on that September meeting for the purposes of the election.

So I say it for the purpose of the budget because the governing board has to approve the budget. So, okay, so we're moving forward in September on a governing board meeting, no matter what. The question is an agenda item on, and so the first level of analysis would be, is there a, a requirement first? That's the first of all, a requirement that a vote happened in a certain period of time. Many of our commissions have that when there's a vacancy by rec, my recollection is, is there's not second. Second, then, uh, in terms of alignment of meetings, uh, it's where the governing board to do the election, but we certainly should never have a split. Meeting date of the executive and governing board, which we don't. And then third, uh, there would be no need for the executive committee to, to do anything other than maybe a soft recommendation. It's really for the governing board.

So I, I, I, I, I, I hear what, uh, member Sarah has said. I think it's appropriate that we have as many people as that can be here to discuss the item. I think you're, I think Fort Lauderdale and the meetings I've had with Sam in Fort Lauderdale prior to their vote, they've made some positions very clear to where they're going to fall, uh, at the, at the end of the RFP period as well, in terms of their position. But I'm not, I don't want to speak for them. They're not here. Uh, Ben's not here. He's, you know, otherwise conflicted. I think the vote should happen in October. I'm supportive of that. Obviously I'll wait till we change hats to make that, uh, uh, uh, uh, we'll call it a motion. It has to be a motion or recommendation. We don't have to do the white cigar.

It's the white cigar. All right.

Um, so yes, I, I, I agree with you. I think, uh, we'll move this to the governing board discussion. Um, I think either way there should be on the September meeting, a discussion amongst the executive committee about some government proposals that we've been hearing, uh, which will help to energize that discussion. And ultimately in October, if that's, if that's fair. Okay. All right.

Did you want to just add another part of that is going to be in November? The Hollywood seat is going to be available. So there's going to be two, there's going to be two seats available.

What a new Hollywood commissioner.

Well, Carol, Carol becomes the, you, you swearing on the county commission.

What the second, two weeks after. Okay.

Just, just to throw that in.

All right. So, uh, I'll, I'll leave it to the members that, uh, get with legal on that as to whether there's any issues as well. All right. Any further discussion on that? I thank you for, for raising that, uh, C and D commercial recycling subcommittee update, uh, just to bring the members up to speed. Um, the work in C and D and commercial recycling ordinance has continued to be discussed and in, in the context of the new house bill. Um, and I know that we were awaiting, um, insight from both, uh, Jamie Cole and our council and the county council on what we can do. I'll turn it over to a member, uh, me.

Thank you, chair. Uh, yeah.

Uh, yeah.

There are a couple of legislative hurdles that we were working on to get accomplished on this and, uh, not least was the, uh, August 15th deadline that we've surpassed. Um, just a couple of, uh, of items. Uh, I wanted to, uh, back up what Mr. Casagrande and what the chair had talked about. There does need to be industry involvement, uh, without doubt. And that includes the construction industry as well. Uh, I think we all have to work together on that aspect of it to make the impact that we can make.

Member for just to let everybody know. Yeah. Yesterday, the, uh, county commission did pass a motion to direct, um, for a C and D ordinance. Okay.

So the important thing is that we're, we're moving forward and have been moving forward parallel with the master plan, uh, in the event that we, uh, weren't successful come August 14th. The idea was still to be tackling the issues that we know we have to. So at the next meeting, hopefully we'll be able to get an update from legal, uh, both from county and our council, as well as the C and D subcommittees to next steps, um, so that we can begin getting that. Um, and, and, and as was pointed out by, uh, member, uh, me, uh, uh, in industry has to be including the construction industry has to be at the table on this. So, all right, uh, education outreach subcommittee member done.

Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I want to say, um, I want to thank my colleagues that's been serving on this education outreach committee. Um, member Bowman, thank you for your leadership, particularly with, um, Broward County public schools. It's been a very intricate part of our strategy and congratulations on your reelection. And I want to thank also remember bright crews, whom, as we noted is an alternate, but he really isn't in, in the sense that he's fully engaged and, uh, serves very faithfully on the education outreach committee. And then of course, I want to thank our consultant conceptual PR for working so, um, diligently. So if you guys wouldn't mind joining me in a round of applause for their work and getting us to a yes. So, Mr. Chair, right now, we are in the process of distributing the, um, the yes message to our media partners, community partners, and of course, through our trusted messengers. Uh, we are going to be presenting a very robust strategy and budget in our September meeting for this body's consideration. Uh, additionally, we're inviting members of Broward County public school to come and speak about the curriculum so that you'll not only understand what's going to happen in our schools, but also how the cities may take that message from the school into the community. And, um, thank you, Mr. Chair. That concludes our presentation.

Thank you for your, uh, rock solid commitment to this from the beginning. You deserve a round of applause for everything you've had to do. Um, not, not only in the general concept of education and what the principles are that we're trying to push forward, but making sure it reaches the entire community. One of the things that, um, I think we all acknowledge is that government tends to tell people how they should learn. We don't always listen to how they do learn. And the work of the education subcommittee has been focused on trying to make sure that we get to where people are, uh, whether that's in the faith-based community or other non-traditional ways that we look, not focused solely on a number of clicks or likes or whatever, but making sure the message is getting out. And it's a, uh, it's a lot of hard work to do that. And so we, we truly appreciate that commitment and particularly from conceptual to continue. And to the credit of the governing board and the exec committee, this has been a sustained effort, a commitment right up front financially to make sure this was going on. And so look forward to seeing that in September. I think the members should be prepared for, you know, a pretty lengthy meeting in September, uh, notwithstanding your conflict member, Sarah, uh, assuming we don't get all invited, um, that, that we need to really have this discussion so everybody knows. So, uh, we'll make sure that, that he's updated as well. Thank you. Anything further on education or any questions for education outreach, right? Any new or old business? Can you wait to the governing board or you want to do it now?

I can wait.

Okay. Any new and old business? No. All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn the executive committee? Motion by member Newton, seconded by member, member Mead. All in favor, say aye. All right. We're adjourned to the executive committee. Uh, Lori, do we have a quorum for the purposes of the governing board? All right. So, uh, again, this was a meeting that was set pretty aggressively, right? Uh, in August. So it's okay because really there's nothing much for the governing board to, uh, vote on. We will address the vacancy separately, but for, for today, um, uh, you, and you put member Caggiano's on there, right? You have that. I'm here.

I'm here.

Okay. All right. But let's go ahead and call to order the, uh, Soloway's authorities governing board meeting of August 21st, 2026. At least if you would, please call the roll.

Chair Ryan.

Present.

Vice Chair Furr.

Here.

Member Sorensen. Member Shuham.

Here.

Member Sarah.

Present.

Member Lewis.

Member Horland. Member Dunn.

Here.

Member Patterson. Member Mead.

Here.

Member Caggiano.

Present.

Member Rydell.

Here.

Member Ernst.

Here.

Member Borgelan. Member Murphy Salamone. Member Thomas. Member Curran. Here. Here. Member. Thank you. Member AJ Ryan. Member Everyard. Member Newton.

Here.

Member Stafford.

Here. Here.

Member Bright Cruz. We have, uh, alternate Hartman.

Cuttlefish.

Member Strauss. Member Morissette. Here. Member Ravenese. Member Tomlinson. And I know we have alternate Welch online. Are there any other alternates that are present that I have missed?

Yes, me.

Oh, gotcha. Senator Geller. Thank you.

Background music for the entire governing board meeting. All right. Uh, public comment. Richard Ramchartar.

Testing. Yep. Uh, Richard Ramchartar Browartinia. Um, I'll keep this very short. Um, you know, the, uh, system that we have inherited is failing, uh, but we have the ability and responsibility to redesign it. Let us look beyond the next destructive disposal facility and begin building a resilient, reduced consumption, circular, and regenerative system for Broward County. The time to start is right now. We will take, take up this worthwhile challenge. Will we take up this worthwhile challenge of a lifetime? Um, I'm confident that we can all do it together. Thank you.

Thank you, Richard. Anybody else wish to speak before the governing board? If so, there you are, Debbie.

Uh, Debbie Green. Um, I just wanted to echo both, both Chair Ryan and Vice Chair Furr's comments and most everyone else's comments, and just to thank everybody for your patience and listening to all of our comments every other week or however long through, you know, through this whole process, keeping an open mind, everybody open to continue learning to see what is the best direction for our county. And as you said, letting some of the, the old stuff go and just move forward towards in the right direction. Um, and, you know, I'm putting behind those preconceived laws. Um, and also, like, to Daniel's team, huge shout-outs to the executive committees of the subcommittee of the education, um, committee. It was just incredible what, what was done. Um, and just for any, as the votes are coming for the new positions on the executive committee or the other, I just want everybody not to be discouraged whether you're appointed as the representative or the alternate. You have the, you have that same voice in every conversation. And for all of you, whether you haven't been involved in this group over the couple of years, Mayor Steve Bright-Cruz has been an alternate from day one. He has had a tremendous effect in the direction that this master plan went. So just don't be discouraged. You have the same voice. You just may not be able to have the vote if the other big cities are in attendance. Sometimes they're not. There's times where motions were, they were his motions, even though he couldn't vote on it. Um, and I was just going to say, our, the town of Southwest Ranches, our zero waste advisory board, we're looking to start a student ambassadors group to help in bringing education, whether, you know, door to door, carrying our, um, you know, filthy organic buckets just to kind of let people know that this program is out there because it's still kind of incredible that people don't know when the town is offering it at no cost. Um, I'll just share. It's a alternate Hartman's daughter who's kind of leading us on, in that charge. She's our youngest member of the zero waste advisory board. So, um, and I just wanted to thank you all and that we've gotten to this place and yes, whatever we can do to help, we're looking for your direction, whether from the different, our student groups or in any regard that we can. Thanks.

Thank you, Debbie. Appreciate it. And, uh, we could always measure whether or not we were on the right track with whether Debbie was going to speak or not. Um, so, uh, thank you again for always being part of this. It's a thankless job for all of you that there's, there's no big contract that you have here. There's nothing at stake other than the future. And we appreciate you. All right. Uh, executive committee. We, we still do not have form. Correct. Okay. All right. We're going to move past the meeting minutes. We'll move that to the agenda in September executive director update. I think most everybody's here. I know, uh, member Patterson, you may have missed the update.

So we'll just, uh, Sam, uh, same update as before. I think, I think everyone's the same people that were here before. I just want to thank everybody for everything we did getting to that, um, August 14th, but we, um, as they will celebrate very quickly and, uh, put our heads down because we've got a lot of work to do over the next year. So thank you all.

Okay. Uh, Cohen Resnick financial statements, July, 2020.

Alex, if you will.

Hi, um, Alex Patron with the accounting firm of Cohen Resnick. I'm here today to go over the financial position of Broward, uh, SWA at the end of, uh, July of 2026. Uh, the authority had cash and cash equivalents of $2,732,000. Uh, it's accounts receivable balance, uh, stood at $140,000. Uh, we subsequently have received, um, uh, nearly a hundred thousand dollars against that balance. Uh, when subtracting the entity's liabilities from their total assets, the authority's net equity position stood at $2,719,000. And based on his current, uh, financial position, the Broward SWA does have sufficient liquidity to meet his budgetary spending needs, obviously through September of 2026. And as we mentioned earlier, there should be a significant, uh, cash balance at the beginning of, uh, next budget year of, um, approximately $2,150,000.

Okay. And in, uh, September, you'll be prepared, uh, working with Sam and his team, uh, to present the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, correct? Correct. Okay. Any questions on the financials for Cullen Resnick? Thank you, Alex. Appreciate it. Uh, discussion of C&D and commercial recycling update. Were all the members of the governing board present when we had that? I think so. So we, we can skip by that. And the education and outreach, uh, same thing. I think everybody was here for that. Um, like again, the, I don't know, member Patterson, if you heard from SCS, um, what they said about their plan for the RFP process and what's going to come forward. Okay, so let, let's make sure we cover that because I, I, I want you to be, if you would, Daniel, uh, go ahead and come forward. Just as a general concept, the RFP process is, as we understand it is, uh, at least three RFPs that will have to be generated. Your plan is to do these parallel, not, uh, in a, uh, sequential fashion. Correct. Uh, there were certainly some benefits of the RFP process that you began before you put pencils down, uh, but it's fair to say that you have new information, new data and new analysis. Is that, is that right?

That's correct. We're going to pick up where we left off. Uh, so we're not starting at, at zero, uh, but there is information that we'll need to incorporate and that'll be part of the presentation in September that lays out, um, some of the key policy matters that, that we will be seeking direction on, uh, and how we're going to move forward through really for the life, uh, of, of developing the solicitations in terms of engagement with, uh, both the public and the various, um, portions of, of the authority from the executive committee governing board and TAC.

With respect to the public, what you're talking about is not, obviously not just the public and those that are interested, but particularly industry in advance, as we heard at the start of the executive committee from one of the, uh, members of industry is that they're prepared, uh, to be part of this process. They're excited that we galvanize ourselves to bring the tonnage together, but they want to be there to make sure that we're at least considering the issues for the, that the industry would have, which are, are important for the cities to understand as well. So is it part of your plan to, uh, as we discussed earlier, it's part of your plan to have industry days and workshops and, and even outside of that direct engagement, even if not in a public meeting.

That that's correct. And it's in alignment with the prior, um, policy direction to utilize existing emphasis. So these are service providers, but we really view them as partners. Their success is our success and vice versa. So they will, they're integrally important to, to this process. Uh, and we need to understand where, how they view, uh, various aspects of, of risk, because that is going to translate into cost. So we want to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what their needs are, and they have a clear understanding of what the authority's needs are so that we can sort of thread that needle and make sure that we're, we're getting a best value outcome for the authority. Right.

Uh, and then in terms of the presentation in September, you're going to be able to provide us a more detailed timeline, uh, for when we can expect, uh, both the drafts and the completion of, or issuance of the RFPs. Uh, we had aggressively set in, in our public discussions that we would have those done and out by the end of the year, uh, in order to provide enough time for a response from industry and to allow time, should we need to make adjustments, uh, either by reissuance of RFPs or splitting of RFPs to make sure that, that when we come to the end of the, uh, fourth quarter of 27, when members need to make the next big decision, that we will have had this fully baked. Is that fair to say?

That's fair.

Okay.

Any questions for SES member Patterson?

I'm sorry, team.

I, um, just two quick questions for you. Can you just quickly clarify what specifically is going to be outlined in the RFP? And then the second question is probably for you, Mr. Chair, what, um, I guess, what impacts does this have on the existing agreements that the cities have with their current owners?

Yeah, great. Well, great question. So, um, I'll let you answer the first part.

Yeah. So we're looking at three solicitations, one for yard trash management, one for recyclable materials, the traditional cans, bottles, paper, uh, and the third for ultimate disposal.

And I don't know that your mic's on member Patterson, but yes. And member Patterson, I don't know that your mic's on.

So just make three solicitations. The first is for yard trash, vegetative debris. The second is for traditional recyclable materials, cans, bottles, fiber. Uh, and the third is for ultimate disposal, disposal of solid waste. So again, just sort of taking a step back, sort of the, the through line of the master plan is, is looking at our waste stream, uh, to extract the maximum value from the resources. So part of that is starting to peel away, which deals with one of the issues that we're going to be transitioning through, which is many of your communities currently co-mingle yard trash and bulk waste. So we've got to navigate through that because as was shared during the executive committee meeting, in order to extract the maximum value from the, the, um, the yard trash stream, it cannot be co-mingled with, with, uh, with bulk waste. It simply is, it's expensive to try to decouple it, uh, and you, you get a lower quality material because inevitably you're not going to be able to extract all of it. So there are some communities that currently have requirements that you set out yard trash separately from bulk waste. And we eventually want all ILA members to get to that point, but we recognize that we've got to align it with the current collection agreements, uh, so that we're not disrupting operations today, but we're contemplating changes that will be necessary in the future.

Which dovetails into your second question, which is spot on, which is going to be part of the analysis. Uh, each city is going to have to look at this as to what impact, if any, for some cities that won't have much of an impact across various waste streams. If, if someone's not doing any recycling, obviously there's a collection issue, right? So, uh, the, the effort is going to be to make sure we have all the contracts, which I know you've asked for, and we'll talk about whether or not those are all in, that's going to be part of the September discussion. Uh, second is going to require the cities and staff to say, these are some of the considerations, uh, uh, as was raised by, uh, vice chair on the issue. And it was raised by Daniel, the issue of yard trash being separated. I mean, we could just collect it all and bring it to a site, but the processors can't, aren't going to separate out beds and boats from yard, uh, trash, right? So we have to talk about what that means in terms of separation and cost. And then each of the cities are going to have to engage to talk about how that works for them, uh, with the idea that we know that, uh, from the contracts, there's going to be a certain timeframe for alignment before we can all do that.

And I guess a subsequent question would be with that said, for those who are potentially nearing a contract's term end in the, in the interim, what are we, what position are we taking with that? I mean, specifically for cities that are in support of what we're doing here.

But it's a great question. I mean, in, in the existing contracts that were coming due during this process, um, through the assistance of legal counsel, cities were encouraged to include a provision that the haulers would adapt their, uh, their collection and hauling to the requirements of the SWA. Um, that being said, that's a simple phrase to say, it may be more complicated from a cost perspective. Then again, I'll, I'll use an example to say it just isn't doing recycling at all. It's, it's okay to have in your contract that you'll align, but there's a truck issue. There's a, uh, a bin issue. There's, it's more complicated than just a contractual issue. So you raise a terrifically interesting point for those that are coming up now that I would strongly encourage, uh, staff engaging directly with SCS to say, Hey, here's what's coming up. Um, what are the concerns that we need to have as an individual municipality for our collection contract and where are you headed? Right? So if, if the city's already doing source separation of yard, it's probably not a big deal. Right. But if you're not, and this looks like it's going to be on the horizon, it's something the city has to begin considering over what period of time will that happen? So the collection, if you're going out on a new RFP, as opposed to an extension for collection, we'll have to be mindful of, of these future, particularly if you're, like you said, a city that's in support of this. It's complicated.

And if I may, uh, this is an ask of, of all of you and even those that are not here, if there are issues that, that you're anticipating, please share those with the executive director sooner than later so that we can start to, um, make sure that we're understanding your concerns and that we can start to develop a strategy to address it. The sooner that we get that information from you, uh, it just makes it easier for us to manage.

And if I understand correctly, the RFP will not go out prior to the board, the governing board. Right. Have had an opportunity. Absolutely. Okay. Because there's so many particulars, um, that have to be considered and I just think that, you know, okay.

So that's why engagement up front is so important because if we get to the point that we're asking for, uh, you know, approval, uh, to, to go out on the street and there are major issues that's going to affect the timeline and it's really going to upset, um, you know, the strategy.

All right.

Thank you. Yeah. And to your point, member Patterson, this is a really good time to talk about the, every member that's here now, every city's had pretty significant discussions about the SWA. Um, it's, some cities have multiple discussions that have been with the entire, their entire respective boards. Um, one of the challenges we've had at the outset of this process and getting data to SCS, some cities just weren't providing it and weren't providing it timely. And I, and I understand it was hard to acknowledge why that data was so important for the master plan. Master plan went forward. That this is not really voluntary at this point for the members who voted to be part of this process, that the staff's going to have to, and they'll want to, and I know they want to, because you've discussed this, get engaged now on those type of issues that you're raising about what impact will this have in collection? Because what we can't do is get to an approval process for the RFP by the governing board in November or December and somebody for the first time to raise a legitimate, uh, issue that needs to be addressed for them that may impair the ability or delay the RFP process. So I think if the next governing board member, when we have, uh, again, we're just at the end of the summer here, but when we have everyone really going to need that solid commitment, uh, uh, that has already been evidenced by the vote to participate, to approve the facilities amendment and the second amendment to be part of this is to get all the staff involved, um, that are relevant to these particular issues. And again, this will not, we can't treat this like the data collection we gave Daniel at the outset, which was pretty passive, even as we finger wagged and we kind of tried to embarrass some, this is the time now. So I'm really glad you raised these points.

And I think that there are, I mean, you know, when you look at this holistically, there are various, um, angles. Obviously we're in an, in the implementation phase of this, but then, you know, once implemented, once you've been there selected, what have you, there's a whole other part to this, um, you know, contract compliance, many cities, there's so many issues just from a municipal level with each individual vendor. I mean, I'm on my city all the time about contract compliance as it relates to just, you know, uh, ensuring that our haulers are doing what they're supposed to do, um, just period. And so, you know, from, from that standpoint, I just want to ensure that we're kind of like projecting and anticipating beyond the implementation phase of this thing, but like the practicalities of what this looks like once on the ground. And we're, you know, we're kind of past all of this. So I just want to ensure that the RFP and all of that is kind of comprehensive, if you will.

So the RFP itself, um, as a document won't be comprehensive in the terms of what the municipal concerns are, but I'll use recycling again. It doesn't help for us to award as an SWA, a disposal and processing for recycling. If none of the cities are recycling, right? If you can issue it, but if the city say, no, we don't want to do that, right? Then we've done, we've wasted time. Second, if for the first time when the RFP is done, the city says, well, wait a second, how am I going to collect that? That's a little late, right? Because we want to make sure both in terms of tonnage and compliance, as you're pointing out, but also that we are addressing over a time period that may require cities to, uh, before they can align to be able to fully participate, because we all have contracts that were staggered at different times. So you're spot on in raising this and it really needs to be part of the discussion in September as well, that, that, that each of the member cities are thinking about it like, like you are. Okay. Uh, member Forland and Vice.

Very quickly. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was going to wait to the end, but, um, you're speaking about getting information back from staff. And I just want to ask SCS and the executive director, once again, when you're sending out the outline for the RFPs, um, and also with the budget to make sure that we're sending that to TAC, because I know our staff received the draft budget at nine o'clock this morning when the meeting was starting. So I just want to make sure that we are covering all our bases and making sure that we get that information out to everybody, um, on a timely basis. Thank you.

Raises a good point. Um, sometimes the members of the TAC are particular subject matter experts, but they only are looking at an issue, I won't say through a straw, but through their, the lens of what their expertise is. Uh, this really has to go to the city managers, uh, and the managers, uh, to make sure, because they're ultimately the ones responsible for getting this information. We can't rely exclusively on TAC, which may have a very, uh, focused, uh, uh, effort. So, uh, to the point raised, I'll just expand it as a friendly amendment to that. It's got, it's got to go to the city manager and we, and we need to probably, um, consider an outreach to the city manager's association to have a meeting with them to make this clear. I mean, and, and soon, you know, like in September, maybe get with Adam from Hollywood or whoever, uh, to say, we, we want to present for 10 minutes just to tell you what's coming and why we need you to be looking at this. And you city manager, it's not going to be helpful that someone downstream on staff didn't. Is that fair? Okay. Daniel, is that fair?

It's a great suggestion. I'm going to go one step further and just point out what may be obvious. The more engaged you are as members of the governing board with your own commissions, it makes it a lot easier for all of these other activities to occur.

So whether it's briefing, let me just adjust that though, because not so much these commissions are dealing with, and yes, we can provide an outline, but the real hard work of getting these contracts aligned is going to be from city management staff, right? It's not the, the, the boards and the daises that are already dealing with a lot of other issues, just being respectful to the, the time. What we really need is again, direct contact beyond tack with the city managers association to make it clear to those members and the managers that this is what we need from them. Not waiting for tack, who by the way, have had 10 other things that they're doing as well. This is one thing they're having to do. This is a, this is a municipal responsibility and yes, it begins with the members, but I don't think it then starts to the daises. I think the next step is to the managers.

Okay. Mike, can I add something? Yes, sir. Yes. I just want to let everyone know that we will be reaching out to all cities individually. If we don't have, if we have not received the information that we need to receive from them, we will reach out to them individually. And if we have received it, we'll, we'll still reach out to them to make sure that it's correct. That it's not something that they're just sending out as kind of a form document that, so we'll touch base with every single one to make sure that what we're getting is the correct information. As you said, chair, that we don't get to the end and all of a sudden find out that we're, that something's legit, that we don't have the information that we need. So we're, we will be touching base with them and I'll do it through the city managers association to make sure that they're, the city managers are all on board with us, touching base with all of their staff.

Thank you.

Vice chair.

Yeah, to that, to that same point, I do think it's incumbent that we start on a lot of this stuff now and, and those questions that are being raised should be asking, are we ready? What's happening with haulers right now? What, what, what would you think about source separation? How would you do it? When we were at Oakland park, I saw that they were getting ready to buy new trucks. I'm going, well, I hope one of those trucks might be one that could do compost or that could be a rendering truck. It's a different kind of truck, but those, those are bought years, you know, those are budgeted a year or two in advance and all those kinds of things have to be thought now because in three months, no organic waste can go into the landfill. So those kind of, those kind of putting in your budget for those kinds of trucks is important. The other thing that just occurred to me was, and, and I'm glad Matt's here for a minute. One of the things that all, all, all the city, man, all the cities are going to have to decide what their appetite is for mandate, for mandated requirements. If we want to do that, if you want to mandate that there's source separation for the most of this has to be done voluntarily, but if it is a, I mean, voluntarily by the cities and not camp, it can't be mandated by the county unless the county owns the facility and the, and we do own the landfill. And if we stand up a facility there, Matt, help me on this. I think it's the one time where you can actually mandate requirements.

Well, let's just, I mean, I think that's the thing to do.

But it's, I say that, but we're about to do all our budgets.

Yeah, we're not going to budget trucks.

No, no, but it's the time to mention it.

Wait a second. Time out on that. I don't know. I think we need a more intentional discussion. I agree for us to go say to cities, you better start talking about budgeting trucks. You're a terror in the context of property tax and everything else that we're not there yet. So I appreciate your vision.

And why the cities to do it, but for their haulers to do it.

Well, it's the same thing. The haulers are going to say, yeah, it's getting passed on to you. Unless the county's paying for it, of course. So I think that the point you're raising is yes, but the haulers aren't going to do this without passing on the cost. So this is a discussion to have, but we need to have an intentional and deliberate discussion from SCS as to what we're talking about in terms of volume, what exists already, and what are, like Member Patterson said, what are the individual consequences and decisions that individual cities will have to make, leaving aside mandates and everything else. There's a big discussion to have here. But if you're saying we should be in this budget cycle, thinking about this, I mean.

And I'm not saying for cities to be thinking about it. Haulers need to be thinking about it.

But the haulers are paid for by the city.

I know, but most of them are on a regular fleet buying thing. They're paying attention to this. And I know that. And come December, they can't take these organics where they've been taking it. They're going to have to take it somewhere else. And they're going to need a certain kind of truck to do that.

Agreed. Which is why, you know, we're living with a generational problem that this wasn't addressed earlier, right? So it's true. So these are all important considerations. But I want to make clear what we're not saying is that the haulers are going to start hiking up costs on cities.

No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying it needs to be in the thoughts right now.

It needs to be part of this discussion. There's no question as to what certain cities can do. Okay. Thank you, Daniel. Any further questions for SES? All right. So, sure.

Vice Chair Furr, as usual, has raised a very important issue, which I don't know the answer to. I mean, do all of the cities, I know they all know, but do they all understand? And that as of the end of the year, life, as they know it's going to change in terms of their solid waste disposal, that's tangential to what we're doing now. But it's kind of critically related. I'm concerned that some of the cities may not have made alternate plans yet. Do we know this? Are we monitoring this at all? Does anybody know that the cities really understand this? Do you have any answers?

Okay. Good questions for September, as usual. Good question.

All right. Anything further from – yes. Oh, sorry.

To address the point you two were debating, you're absolutely right. It's a pass-through cost. We just renewed a hauling contract with, you know, yay, electric trucks. You came and saw them. But that pass-through cost was an additional $13 on our residence trim notice that gave us the trucks. You do bring a valid point, though, that we all need to assess in our own cities. And this is – it is that we need to address with kind of our public work staff. Will our hauler agreements mechanically line up with what we are going to ultimately be RFPing? So that's something, Daniel. And listen, I believe in my city. I'm not concerned, right? I'm not concerned with what we're talking about here. But maybe there's people around this table that may have a concern, may have a hauler contract. So I think, Sam, to Sam's credit or your credit, those cities probably should at least be identified. If you're sitting here, you don't know that answer. That's all I'm saying. It's a good point by beam, but 1,000% could create a fear effect as well. So it's a needle to thread, but it's a discussion point to understand. That's all I have to say.

And to be clear, SES gathered all the contracts that would be produced, and it's a matter of backup material to the master plan in one of the task papers that outlined specifically what each contract was. That's how we knew which cities weren't, for instance, doing recycling at all, right? That's a whole other hauling issue. And yet they're still here at the table. They're going to have to consider that when it comes to December. But, yes, that process had begun. And so the issue is to fill the gaps on those contracts that have not been produced or provided enough detail, update it to see whether there's been new for December. No question. No question.

And this does kind of make us think even more the importance of having a couple of industry meetings, of asking them where they're at on all of this, because the school board is now trying to figure out the logistics of doing all their food waste this year. But, you know, they know all that organic can't be going here. It's got to be going somewhere. So they've got to figure that out, and they have to talk with all their haulers on that.

Agreed. All right. Got a lot of work to do. Yeah. Sorry. Member Dunn. Thank you.

Yes. So, Member Geller, that's your question, I think, is really an important one. And I think that's something that we need to anticipate from a communication perspective so that we can, as an education outreach committee, have language and talking points ready to share with the city's PIOs on how they can kind of navigate some of those challenging conversations. So, thank you for bringing that up, and we'll certainly make a note of that as we develop messaging that will help the cities. Thank you.

And the why. Yes. Why it's being done.

Thank you.

That's important.

Okay. Any further questions for SES? All right. Thank you, Daniel. I think everyone was here for the discussion of C&D and the education outreach. Any further questions on C&D or education? We had the discussion on the EC vacancy vote. Anyone who was not here for that discussion? All right. All right. So, we'll have that on, again, for a discussion point in September, but no vote until October. Any new or old business for the governing board? All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Motion by a member Newton, second by a member Rydell. All in favor say aye. We're adjourned. I want to give you a major credit for that.

Just real money. You know what? I know they have a ton of work.