BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS REGULAR - Oct 06, 2026

morning. So we are going to begin this morning with the Veloma Awards presentation. So for those of you who aren't aware, the Veloma Award recognizes parents and families who have experienced the unimaginable loss of a child and inspired by their child's memory have turned that loss into action that positively impacts our community. Today, we are honored to recognize Stephen and Sherry Silverman, who are here with us today following the heartbreaking loss of 19-year-old Eli. The Silverman family turned their grief into a mission to help save the lives of others. Through Eli's Lasting Impact Foundation, the Silverman family raises awareness about sudden cardiac death and helps provide life-saving heart screenings to identify undiagnosed heart conditions in young people. This mission became even more personal when cardiac testing identified arrhythmia in Eli's younger brother, Josh, allowing him to receive the medical care that he needed. Interestingly, there's another organization here today who we play for, which shares the mission by providing heart screenings for young people, expanding access to AEDs, and advocating for greater awareness and prevention of sudden cardiac arrest. Today's recognition is presented jointly to Eli's Lasting Impact Foundation, whose partnership is helping expand heart screenings, increase awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, and protect young people from preventable sudden cardiac death. Together, we are honoring Eli's memory in the most meaningful way. Alongside these amazing foundations, Eli's Lasting Impact Foundation and who we play for work together to ensure that other families do not have the experience and unfortunately the same unimaginable loss. Also recently, this amazing organization in this family also held a free screening for about 300 youth, and I'm confident that they saved even more lives that day. So would you please come up and accept this award and say a few words? And I know the mayor may want to say a few words as well. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. You guys can go ahead and take off your stickers. So I was here when this award was created, and I think we all at the time I was a commissioner, we're so grateful to our former commissioner Martinez who initiated this award because we know a loss of a child especially is unthinkable. And that you would have the courage and the determination to turn it into something that could be of lasting benefit, in which case you definitely have done because you've saved more lives. So we just owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude. And this is a small token because you are role models for us and for the community. And we're so grateful for the role that you're playing in educating and preventing future loss. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. Good morning. I'm going to be extremely brief. Our family is very grateful for who we play for, who has partnered with us in our mission. I wanted the community to know that our efforts are growing. We've just recently partnered with the Miller School of Medicine, the Department of Cardiology that's being led by Dr. Jeff Goldberger, who will help us in research and tabulating different preventative methods to have a reduction in tabulation of these untimely deaths. So please watch for us, follow us on social media, embrace us, and help us save lives together. There's nothing more important than the youth of our community. And it's part of our mission to help ensure that our son's light shines on. Thank you for allowing us to be here. I'll be very brief. What we've been doing lately, we can't do without the help of who we play for. This morning, we made our first small donation donation to who we play for. On behalf of our foundation, Sean and Hannah, we wanted to give you a first donation of $10,000 to help fund additional efforts in the community. Thank you. Yeah, I'd like to take this opportunity. I promise I'll be brief. But just to say thank you to the Silverman family. This is an honor. This is something that no family really wants to be a part of. Nobody ever wants to think of something happening to their children. And when it does, it's a fraternity like no other. And my daughter survives sudden cardiac arrest. My daughter is one of the lucky ones. Nine out of ten children don't survive what happens to our children 23,000 times a year in the United States. The current physical that we do is just not good enough to protect our children. And doing the EKG the right way significantly improves the odds of our children being found with these deadly conditions. So with this money, with this partnership, we are going to save children. One in 300 children have a deadly heart condition. The state of Florida is the first in the history of the United States to require an EKG for our kids to play sports. We've seen enough. It happens a lot. And just because it doesn't happen every week on the football field, our children are still lost, whether it be at home in bed, on our kitchen floors, or in the shower, or wherever else it happens. And partnering with groups like this is just really, really important. And I always say it, and I'm going to shut up. But if one of you, we're looking for one who wants to partner to help save children. We need you. We need you. Florida is on the docket right now. People are watching. And we are saving a lot of children. And with that, I just want to say thank you for having us. Thank you all so much. And thank you for giving us this opportunity. We are going to save lives. One in 300 children have a deadly heart condition that are missed on our current physical. This money is going to help us save children. Thank you very much. So we'll put that down, and we're going to take a picture. We're going to take a picture. And again, Eli's Lasting Impact, thank you so much. All right, guys. Good morning, good morning again. I know we've got a few more presentations this morning. So hey, good morning, Commissioner. I like that all my fellow colleagues are wearing pink in some capacity. Even Bermudez, even that your famous, what is it, like 70s suit or whatnot? I think it's fitting. I think it's fitting. As we discuss Grant Tafato and all that, I think that's a fitting suit today. So I'm looking forward to your motion later. I know it's not a discussion item, but I know we're going to be discussing it for sure. So with that, we do have another Veloma Award this morning, which, of course, is always very heartfelt to us and very special when someone, a family, parents, family members take a tragedy and turn it into something positive. So I won't steal our Vice Chair's thunder. This is something that he brought and is sponsoring. So Mr. Vice Chairman, if you want to go ahead and take the lead on this. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning to everyone. First of all, let me just say to the Lions family, our thoughts and prayers are with you, but that's not going to be enough to bring back Marlon. Secondly, let me just simply say this. I know Tracy's not here in the audience with us this morning. I do know she has a representative here to stand with us. But this is more about Marlon, a young man who was born in 1997 and a young man who was taken from us very, very soon thereafter. Marlon attended South Day Senior High School where he was a football player. He was not just a simple football player, but he was a standout player. Someone who led by example, someone who showed the world what it's like to be committed to something greater than yourself. Not only was Marlon a standout football player at South Day Senior High, but Marlon was someone that mentored so many kids in that community to teach each and every last one of them what it meant to be a servant of the people. Marlon's reputation and credibility was second to none. Marlon has shown us and he did show us and he continuously show us from the grave to this day that hard work and dedication are two of the major components in surviving this great life we lead. And lastly, let me just simply say this. What Tracy has been able to do since the homegoing of Marlon, i.e. create a foundation that addresses gun violence, i.e. create the foundation that actually addresses poverty, but one that actually gives hope to a community what sometimes feel left out. What Tracy has been able to do since then is revolutionize the way we see ourselves not by our zip codes, but by who we are internally. And so it is an honor and a privilege to stand this morning next to my colleagues and allow for this award to be given to someone that has shown that the fight may have been knocked out of her at the death of her son, but her commitment to ensuring that society would actually be a better place because of her son would never go unnoticed. So with that said, I'm going to ask the representative for Tracy Lions to come down and accept this award on her behalf, on behalf of Marlon. Thank you so much. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, mayor. And thank you for all the folks being here. I'm Marlon's father. Tracy and I have been going through this for quite a while. Our youngest baby don't sleep no more at night. He sleep during the daytime. I introduced my son to football. The very first day he runs back home and tells Tracy, I'm the quarterback. Haven't played a down, never did anything. But he turned that into a positive attitude. He was a great football player and he loved kids. And we miss him. And Tracy has it hard. Someone, she can't get up. She can't do anything. And she's on a trip right now. She can't make it. So I told her I would stand in and receive this for our son. And we have given back and we want to do more with the support of others and help us in this sponsorship. We give to some of the kids at high schools. We take our own money. We give out watches, headphones, and we have started a Marlon Goodlook 7-on-7 football game at Goose Park. But we want to expand more. But I'm happy not just to be here because no one wants to be standing here because you lost your son or your daughter or any of your kids. But I'm accepting this award on behalf of you all. And I'm grateful for it for Tracy. And I think she will be very glad to know that this is in her honor as well. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. All right. We have two other presentations this morning. One that we do every year, but I'll leave that one for last. Before that, I want to recognize someone that's very special to me, actually a constituent of mine. He deserves to be, of course, his full title as a very recognized lawyer, Jose Villalobos, if you want to stand up. He goes by Pepe to me. Come on over, Pepe. You know, Pepe has, I mean, I know most of you probably know him. He is a legend. I only got closer to him later in my life and in his life when his son is also a great lawyer and great friend of mine. I don't know, was Alex able to make it this morning or no? Is Alex here or no? Your son? That's where he usually is. His home away from home. But, Pepe, I think your lifelong District 10 residency speaks volumes. That when you made it, you stayed in Westchester. You didn't leave the neighborhood. And I love that. People usually, I don't know, they want to leave to, like, Vicky's neighborhood or Orbis's district or definitely, I mean, that's like a whole other level. Commissioner Steinberg, those are goals. But, no, I wanted to recognize Villalobos this morning for his lifetime achievements and contributions, not just to Miami-Dade County and all of us, but really to the entire state because that's where his work has come. You know, throughout his distinguished career, he has practiced civil and family litigation and complex criminal defense, served as president of the Cuban-American Bar Association and currently serves as general counsel for the inspector general of the city of Doral. It's a big deal. Still. Still kicking, Villalobos. I love it. There you go. There you go. So, I assume you're going to take the mic from me in a little bit here. During the Mariel crisis, Mr. Villalobos represented more than 1,500 unaccompanied Cuban children pro bono, demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to helping those in need. His public service extended beyond the courtroom, including diplomatic assignments in Latin America and appointments involving economic development and efforts to address community concerns throughout Florida. His decades of service has earned him numerous honors, including the 2025 Funding Florida Legal Aid Medal of Honor Award, which is what caught my attention and why we're here today, and the 2015 Legal Legends Award from the 11th Judicial Circuit Historical Society. That's very long and important to all the lawyers in the room and to us non-lawyers in the room. Mr. Villalobos, on behalf of the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. Thank you for your decades of leadership and for all the commitment to our community. Appreciate you, my friend. I'm proud to call you a friend and a constituent of mine. Congratulations. We have an award for you, right? Let me read the part that I love, which is the important part. Be it resolved, and I'll let the mayor and those that want to say something, but be it resolved that the mayor of the county, Danila Vincava, myself as chair, Anthony Rodriguez, and all the members of the Board of County Commissioners behind me, proclaim today, Tuesday, October 6th, as Jose A. Pepe Villalobos Day. Congratulations, sir. This is for you. Hold that for a second. Before I want to hear from you, I want to hear from the mayor and any of my colleagues that wish to speak. I want to start with my colleagues and then... Yeah, sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a great recognition. I've known Pepe for many, many years. Many of you know that my heart lives in the city of West Miami, where I am proud to call home. It is my favorite place. And I had the honor of representing my city as vice mayor. And I got to work for many years with Pepe Villalobos, who served as our city attorney as well for many decades in the city of West Miami. 30 years he served as the city attorney for the city of West Miami. And he did wonderful things. He saw our city through some bad times and some really good times. So we appreciate your service. You're a true public servant. And what I love about you the most is that you always serve with your heart. And you show your passion in every project that you do. So congratulations. This is so well-deserved. Your entire family is a family of public service. And we appreciate everything you've done for our community. And it was an honor to be able to serve alongside you in the time that I was in West Miami. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Well, I was so delighted to see that this was on our program today. Because I also have had the privilege to know you now for a few decades. I know you to be a gentleman and a scholar. So everything that you've done, you've done with heart, as was said, with distinction. Make us so proud. You are really the consummate public servant. Because you serve with open heart and open mind. And by the way, your son in your footsteps, who I had the pleasure to work with alongside when he was in the legislature. And I understand that you're celebrating 50 years of public service. How about that? So well-deserved honor to be recognized here at County Hall. Thank you and congratulations. Actually, would you say a few words? First of all, I want to thank my brothers and sisters of the Cuban American Barca Association that are present here. Will you get up so we can recognize? Whenever I get a mic, I have the opportunity of saying thank you, God, for allowing me to be an American. I graduated law school in 1959 in Havana, Cuba. I refused to swear allegiance to the Communist Constitution, and I became a guerrilla fighter. I came to the United States. I went out to C.S. Roebuck, and they gave me the highest position that they had in the whole company the first day. They gave me a hammer, and they told me that every leak in the roofs were mine. So I became a roofer for 14 years, which is not a very hard job for me. But anyway, when I first came to Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners, there were not a single Afro-American or women or Cubans serving as Miami-Dade County Commission. We had a wonderful governor who recently passed away, and he was my dear, dear friend, Bob Graham. Bob Graham appointed me to the Judicial Nominating Committee with a charge of, number one, appointing Afro-Americans, number two, appointing Cuban-Americans, and number three, appointing women, because we did not have in the judiciary either Cuban-Americans or women or Afro-Americans. He also appointed me to some sort of a task force to work for districting, because at the time, Afro-Americans could not vote for Afro-American commissioners or state legislators. We were able to succeed with the help of the Cuban-American Board Association that helped us. During the material crisis, Cuban-American Board Association worked very hard, and we're talking about 50 years ago. Miami-Dade County has been very, very good for me. America has been very good for me. I first came to America to a military school at Gainfield, Georgia, Riverside Military Academy, where they taught me duty, honor, country. I learned to love the United States of America. I came to America to belong to a melting society, not to change anything, but to try to better everything that I could. I have dedicated my life to many, many issues. Most of all, in fact, all of them was pro bono. And I was proud to be also, at one point, the hearing officer of a big protest for Miami-Dade County. I served for five years, and I have to very proudly say that I was never, ever overturned by the county commission. So, again, I accept this honor very humbly, and I wish, again, to thank my brothers and sisters of the Cuban-American Board Association. Thank you. Congratulations again. Very well deserved. Let's get you here in the middle for a photo with the colleagues, and then I'm going to call up Cava to come up as well in a minute. All right, we've got one more presentation left for this morning before we start our BCC meeting, and I'm going to have, just kind of like, oh, we're still doing photos with Mr. Villalobos. Good morning once again, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being here, Mr. Villalobos. Please take your seat and join us for this next presentation. Do not leave us. It is very important. Commissioners, we're going to get, thank you, Mr. Villalobos, for being with us this morning. You don't have to leave, though. You can join us for the next one if you like. All right, our last presentation for this morning, at least before we start the official BCC meeting, then there might be other presentations that involve fireworks or not. Hopefully not, right? It's not the 4th of July, so let's not do that. But we are proud this morning to recognize, yet again, the American Cancer Society and their continued work to raise awareness and support the fight against breast cancer. We do this every year, and it is, I know, all of our honor, together with my co-sponsor, Commissioner Steinberg, who actually, I'm her co-sponsor because she actually brings this to me every year to do this. And I know that she'll say, and as a chair, I get to go first, and I get to kind of steal what some others will say. But to me, I can't go without recognizing really two people that have been pioneers. One that always pulls my ear, and of course, that's La Rubia Mary from Commissioner Steinberg's office. Thank you for always pulling our ears and making sure that we stay ahead of this. And there's one other person that I've recognized in the past, and I want to recognize again because he goes all out. And that's Danny, my building manager here, our building manager here, right, Madam Mayor? Well, he was saluted. He was. Oh, Deputy Director now, promoted by the Mayor. So that's a good congratulations on your promotion, Deputy Director. And he always has the pink suit and the vest. I mean, it's just the whole thing. So thank you for that, Mary. Appreciate it. And we all know someone who has either battled breast cancer, whether it's a family member, a friend, a colleague, or someone close to someone we know. It's a disease that has affected countless families in our community. Just this morning, someone on my team I know has a dear friend that's dealing with that, and they will succeed as well. This year's walk will take place on Saturday, October 24th, as usual at the Lone Depot Park in Commissioner Lopez's district. So we look forward to having you, to joining you in your district for this walk, bringing our community together to support life-saving research and programs. We want to thank the entire American Cancer Society for their continued commitment to our community. Today we have with us Jessica Giaruso and Brittany Peretz-Lagayo, representing the association. We encourage everyone to support the cause, participate in the walk, and continue to spread, spreading awareness throughout our community. And now I want to hear a little bit from my co-sponsor, Commissioner Steinberg, and I imagine some of my colleagues in the mayor may want to speak before we call you all up as well. Commissioner Steinberg. Thank you, Chairman. And, yes, you did take a lot of what I was going to say. No. But in seriousness, first of all, I love seeing all the pink. Everybody wearing pink, the sea of pink. It's amazing. And I want to, you know, honor today, obviously, and kick off this month with supporting our American Cancer Society and the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program. And, yes, Jessica is here, and Brittany, thank you for being here, and Mary, my chief of staff, who brings this to us every year, who has a personal connection, who lost her mother at a young age. And so we're here always standing in support because we all know someone who's been affected by this horrible, horrible disease in some capacity. It affects all of us, and it's way too many people. And I do, I am hopeful that we find a cure at some point soon. But I will say that I'm proud of this, to support this amazing organization. I'm proud to also, I know every year we make our donations, and so we'll be doing that again this year. And I'm proud to stand with this amazing county team to show and support and to educate. And early detection is prevention. So I know you're going to come up and say a few words, but I will pass it along to everybody for a few words as well. Okay, sure. Good morning, everyone. I love to see everyone in pink. So, you know, breast cancer is obviously something that has affected us all in some way or another. I myself have had several family members that have gone through that battle and, thank God, have survived. And it's thanks to organizations like Making Strides that have done so much to research and promote prevention. And prevention and early detection is the most important thing that we can do to catch these things on set. So I'm so happy to support the Making Strides campaign. I urge you all to support in whichever way you can. Every little bit goes a long way. I am also very proud to, every year, partner with Jackson Hospital to provide mammogram vouchers to the women in our community. And I've launched that program. It's called Project Pink, Proyecto Rosa. And it is an awesome program that we run from now until December where we partner with Jackson Hospital to provide free mammogram vouchers to our community. And so women can have no excuse, just make an appointment, call our office, and can go out there and have your mammogram done. So I encourage all of you to tell someone about that and also get your mammograms done when you can. Okay. So, and, of course, don't put your health on the back burner. So it's very important. Congratulations, Mary. You have done this for many years. As long as I've known you, you have, I know that you personally, you do this for a reason, for your mom. And it's a great honor that you do for her every single year carrying her legacy through this program. So, Mickey, thank you for sponsoring. And, Chair, thank you for sponsoring. I will be at the walk this year, and I'm happy to support Making Strides Against Breast Cancer every single year. Thank you. And I think, I know I spoke already, right, but, like, a good politician, I have to keep stealing the microphone. I don't know if I was supposed to say this now or later or my team has the details, but I'm also going to, of course, be supportive with some contribution as well. And I encourage all my colleagues to, of course, do the same for this very important cause. I know you always usually do every year, but, of course, I encourage it this year as well. Commissioner? Honestly, I just want to say thank you to Mary. I've been on the board for a few years now, and I remember Commissioner Sosa and Commissioner Heyman. And Commissioner Heyman always would streak pink, and we'd have a good time. And Commissioner Steinberg is doing it this morning. But while we have fun wearing pink, it's all to signify support for such an important cause that is affecting, I think everybody has a personal story, whether it's with breast cancer or cancer. And we're all working together collectively as a community to fight this horrible disease that is affecting so many. And so I think every year do $10,000. I certainly will do it this year. And you can count on me participating and wearing tons of pink at the walk on October 24th. And as Commissioner Milian Orbis said, please get your mammograms, women. Don't wait. Don't put your health on the back burner. And especially if you can participate in her program, if financial issues are at the top of mind, participate in the opportunity to have access to health care at no cost. But thank you for your leadership. Thank you for being here. Thank you, American Cancer Society. And thank you to all of our colleagues that are supporting this incredible cause. Thank you. Good morning. Thank you so much, Mary. As long as I've known you, I know that this is kind of a very special day for you. We're very happy to join you in pink. Thank you to the American Cancer Society to making strides. Honestly, in my district, I have a lot of very poor women who don't have a lot of access. And so I am attempting to really educate them by actually bringing the service to them with the mobile mammogram units. It's critically important. I worked very closely with the Susan B. Komen Foundation when I was a state legislator to ensure that they got the funding they needed. And you can count on me to do the very same thing that my colleagues are doing to show my own support. But we've all been affected by this. It's a terrible disease that, you know, obviously impacts women. But it's access and it's education. I myself had an abnormal mammogram come back. I remember feeling the sort of crazy, you know, anxiety. Thank God it wasn't anything. But it's because of early detection. You can find things, even if it's not breast cancer. So it's access, access, access to it. And thank you for all that you're doing for our community. Thank you. I do want to just quickly, Chairman, just make sure we also don't forget to recognize Arlene Quaylar, our Miami-Dade County Teams coordinator and liaison, and all of our department coordinators. Good morning, everyone. I'm so happy to see everyone here in pink. I remember when I worked at Jackson, I partnered with the American Cancer Society and Jackson. And then as a CEO of Family Action Network Women for over 40 years, we really make it our business to bring awareness about the importance of breast health. But most importantly, to encourage women, including young women, especially young women, that it is okay to check your breasts. It is okay. And it's not only in October that you need to do it. Every day you go in the shower, check it. And I have to share a very short story. We also do radio to make sure that the information, you know, reaches, you know, thousands and thousands of people. And a few years ago, someone stopped me at Walmart. And she told me, Marlene, Marlene, Marlene, I was at the commission at then. You saved my life. And I said, how? I heard you on the radio asking me to check myself. And as a result, I saw I found a lump. I went to the doctor. And the doctor told me that I came just right on time. So early detection is key. It is extremely important. Early detection is key. And health is wealth. And Mary and the team here at MDC, thank you for all that you do. We put our money where our mouth is, too, here. And I'm very proud of that. So thank you. Let's spread the words. Not only in October. Remember, every day, your health is your wealth. That's very true. First of all, let me just say, Mary and the team, you guys did it once again and in a big way every year. And Mickey and the chair, thank you so much for putting this on and bringing us together around this issue. I want to look at it from a different perspective. I have the opportunity of sitting next to the bedside of a relative who actually made the transition due to breast cancer. But he was a male. And too often, too often, we bring awareness about breast cancer as it relates to females. But at some point, at some point, men, we have to understand that while we're still standing strong for our women, that we, too, must check ourselves to ensure that we have longevity so that we can be there for them and be there for our families also. So I would encourage each and every last male out there, when you get the opportunity, don't just send your wife or your significant other to have a screening. Make sure you yourself take part in that because this is not an individual task. This is not an individual screening. This is a screening that should be done in partnership with those who you love. So, Mary, again, to each and every last one of you, Praying Pink organization that's actually painting the cities pink in the recognition of this month, I say thank you, and my money will be where my mouth is also. Folks, thank you. All right. So here we are once again. And thanks to the leadership of our commission in recognizing. Huh? Okay. And me. And remembering Commissioner Sosa and Heyman, who will forever make their mark and marry your leadership, Arlene. Thank you. This is what we call a friendly competition here in Miami-Dade County government. This year, sadly, I will be out of town for the walk. So neither I nor my granddaughter, Layla, will be in attendance, sorry to say. But in spirit and in donation, we will be together. And I'm reflecting on the importance of early detection and prevention. As has been said, we have mobile vans. Through our departments, we provide access. I myself have utilized the services at the Department of Transportation and Public Works, which brings in mobile van, just saying, ladies and gentlemen. And so we're on it. We're very aware. My grandmother passed. She had radical double mastectomy. I think about what it would have been today. I'm sure she could have avoided that outcome had she had the benefit of the strides that we're making, thanks to the tremendous work of the American Cancer Society and our strides against breast cancer. Thank you so very much. Call them up. Come up. Once again. Okay. So who's going to speak from the group? You want to speak? Hi, everyone. I'm Brittany Peretz-Lakayo. I've been with American Cancer Society for 13 years. I used to lead both Men Were Pink of Miami. So Danny is one of our amazing former candidates, as well as a lot of the gentlemen here in this room and making strides against breast cancer of Miami. I've passed the torch on to Jessica, who is part of our team. But we love coming here just to obviously say thank you to Miami-Dade County as a whole. You are something that is quite the standard nationally. Finally, you are ranked usually top five within the entire country of fundraising companies, but also just because of how much the government really backs our organization here in Miami-Dade County. We have two great opportunities for you to come out this year. Our airport director, which I saw, he hosts an amazing runway 5K. It is one of the only in the nation at our busiest airport, and it all benefits making strides. So if you are a runner, you definitely are able to join our amazing airport director. And then obviously everything comes together the next weekend at Lone Depot Park, which has been our home for many, many years, where we invite everyone to come out and join us for our celebratory walk. So thank you again so, so much. We appreciate all the commissioners, the mayor, Miami-Dade government, and everyone here that supports us. We really appreciate it. Thank you. And I will, I know that we're doing the official presentation at the walk, but we do want to take a photo, and I am going to call out because we had a, we had someone just that's going to photobomb us, our tax collector, Daria Fernandez. So, but since he's photobombing, I am going to put him on the spot, and he is also going to be making a contribution personally to making strides. So I won't tell him how much he has to make. He can decide that all on his own, but he gave us back some money, but now he's going to give back to, to the community and to breast cancer. So, all right, please tell us where we need to stand. All right, any of those that wish to join us for a photo with making strides in the media room, we're going to be going over to the media room for a photo, and then I believe we're also set up downstairs, right? There's a table downstairs for more information and support. So first, right outside these doors on the right-hand side, the media room for photos with making strides. We're going to get this meeting started soon. How are you? Please quiet down. Take your seats. Clerk, call the roll. Good morning to all. Please stand this morning and join me for the invocation given by Father Jose Espino. of one of my favorite churches, La Mita de la Caridad, at the invitation of Commissioner Regalado, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Commissioner Regalado. Father. As we gather this month where we remember the encounter between cultures so much so long ago, and as we call upon God and as we call upon God to bless this meeting, I invite you to a moment of silence and join me in calling upon God's grace upon this assembly. Almighty and ever-almighty and ever-almighty and ever-almighty and ever-almighty and ever-living God, we come before you with grateful hearts, asking your blessing upon the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. Proud your wisdom upon them as they gather to serve the people of this community. Guide the deliberations with clarity, integrity, and compassion. That the shame decisions made in this chamber may reflect your will for the common good. Open our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters, inspiring us words and actions that comfort those with labor and unburden. We pray for the residents of Miami-Dade County. For the families seeking shelter, the workers seeking dignity, the elderly seeking care, and the young seeking opportunities. May those who govern never lose sight of the faces behind the policies. Make us stand as living witnesses to truth and freedom, to peace and justice, that all people may be raised up to new hope. Grant these commissioners the courage to lead with honesty, the humility to listen, and the vision to build a county where every person is treated with dignity and respect. May the work bring healing to divisions, prosperity to neighborhoods, and hope to those who have been overlooked. And we ask this through your boundless mercy and grace. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag, the United States, and to the Republic for one nation. Thank you, Father. You may be seated. And I encourage you all, if you have not been back to La Mida after its remodel and restoring that you do. All right. Where are we? Madam Attorney, good morning. In pink. I see a lot of pink in the room. Good morning. Very few colleagues not wearing pink. Maybe just, I don't know. All right. So, let's, is reasonable opportunity in order at this time? Yes. All right. Let's get right to it. I'm going to go ahead and open up reasonable opportunity for the public to be heard. When I call your name, please state the item you're speaking on, your name and address, and you will have one minute to speak. Please be respectful of others that came to speak as well. And by respectful, one of those things is stay within your time limit. Elizabeth Isong, Jose Alvarez, Veronica Vasilev, Valeria Donets, Sergi Kelly, Linda Blanco, Sebastian Caceres, Sebastian Gill, Hope Yusufo, and Conrad Gelber. Your name and address, the item you're speaking on, and a minute to speak. Thank you, sir. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Jose Alvarez. I'm a high school senior, and my address is 2701 Northwest 27th Avenue, which is in District 2. I'm here to speak in opposition to item 385, which approves $2,500 for Gwen Cherry Park Meet Me at the Park event, and rescinds $1,000 for the VIP Promo Group Incorporated. Though I agree with the commemoration of Gwen Cherry, don't you believe that the VIP group, which allocated money in batches of $1,000 to $5,000 to groups such as the Miami Children's Museum, the Friends of the Miami-Dade Library, and to the League of Women's Voters would do a better job of funding Cherry's beliefs than a park event? Considering the fact Cherry was also a long-time Miami teacher, the allocation of these three groups would not just continue the education of children that Cherry strived for, but the push for woman activism she represented. I'm asking the board to vote no on item 385. Thank you for your time. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Veronica Vasilev, and my address is protected from disclosure. I'm here to speak in support of item 3A9. 3A9 expands science education at the Frost Science Museum, strengthens sports programs and student safety at the Archbishop Coleman Carroll High School, and funds Accessible Community Arts Project through the Elevate Arts Foundation. Members of the board, if you have ever been to a museum with a childlike sense of curiosity at a young age, your soul has been crushed by the no touching or climbing sign. But the Frost gave me science in the form of magical hands-on experiences. And those memories are something that you can't buy with money. I'm asking the board to vote yes to support item 3A9, so these county funds can reach key local organizations. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Sebastian Casades, and my address is protected from disclosure. I'm here in support of item 802. This item rejects the bids for a roughly $46 million rehabilitation project at the Miami Springs Wellfield Center. I think one of the biggest issues we see in government is continuing to spend money on something just because it is in the process of already being started. If the county has located the project again and determined that there are more urgent issues and needs for our water system, then we shouldn't commit to these tens of millions of dollars just because that was the original plan. Priorities change, and so do circumstances and costs. I would rather see the county reconsider a major project before spending the money to approve something now and question it whether it was necessary in the future. For those reasons, I urge the commissioners to vote in support of item 802. Thank you for your time. Good morning. My name is Valeria Donets. My address is 4600 Southwest 67th Avenue, Miami 33155, and I'm speaking today on behalf of Friends of Biscayne Bay regarding items 8H1 and 4A. First, we want to recognize the positive intent behind the item 8H1, even though it's getting deferred, I'm aware, and the proposed coral production facility in Virginia Key. South Florida's coral reefs are facing extraordinary pressures and investments in coral science, propagation, restoration, and our local aquatic research institutions are important. At the same time, we hope this item reminds us of something much more fundamental. We already have an enormous natural coral production and nursery system surrounding us. It's called Biscayne Bay, and it's connected coastal waterways. Coral restoration cannot succeed in isolation and ultimately depends on clean water and functioning coastal ecosystems, including mangroves, wetlands, and seagrasses. Now on item 4A, reducing the minimum acreage for the red pad from 50 acres to 30 acres is not an insignificant technical adjustment. It is, in fact, representing a 40% reduction in the threshold and could substantially expand the number of properties eligible for the specialized zoning district. And the intensive retail, entertainment, recreational, and mixed-use development it governs. Before making that change, the public deserves to understand the plan and rationale. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Conrad Gelber. My address is protected from disclosure. I'm here to speak in support of item 11A15, which lets the county take over part of this day. Can we pause before a second? One second. Hold on. Commissioner. Yes. I've never heard so many people say their address is— I was about to ask this. So what I would like to ask, if the chair would allow, to tell us why their address is protected from the school. I would allow, yes. In the statute, there's multiple reasons. I just want to know why, because, you know, it can become a thing. I mean, they are minors, I think, but, sir, why is it? We're under 18. Oh, you're under 18? Okay. Is that— Okay. I mean, I'll take it and just— But, yes, I did—it did also stand out for me, but thank you. You can continue. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Conrad Gilbert. My address is protected from disclosure. I'm here to speak in support of item 11A15, which lets the county take over part of the state's septic tank permitting. When my family renovated our house, the workers found a septic tank buried in our backyard. We had no idea it was there. It was completely full, and nobody had ever told us about it, and we had no way to look it up. More than 100,000 homes and businesses in Miami-Dade County still use septic tanks, and when they fail, waste ends up in our canals and Biscayne Bay. If my family didn't know about the tank under our own backyard, a lot of families don't either. I'm asking the board to vote yes and to direct the mayor to put septic permit records on a public online map and to report back within six months on which neighborhoods have the most failing tanks and a plan to fix them first. Thank you for your time. Go ahead, ma'am. Good morning. My name is Linda Blanco. My address is 17905 Southwest 83rd Court, Palmetto Bay, Florida, 33157. I am the building director and building official for the city of Doral, and I am here today in support of item 4J. First and foremost, I want to thank Commissioner Regalado for being this sponsor on the item. We are in an industry today that is suffering significant challenges in recruiting staff for our building departments. We have a workforce that is aging out, and we do not have young people coming into this industry due to the length of time it takes for them to obtain Board of Rules and Appeals certification in Miami-Dade County. We have a lot of folks that go to Broward County. We have a lot of folks around the state that are able to work in this industry that cannot work in Miami-Dade County. We ask for your support. Is this going to solve our problem? No, but it's a step in the right direction. Thank you for your time. Sergey Kelly, Palm Beach. When we're looking at some of these development and code changes, I just want to remind you guys and bring to your attention the— Excuse me, sir. Excuse me. Your address? Palm Beach County. I need your address. I'll leave—I mean, that's protect on their First Amendment to that degree. No, it doesn't work that way. All right. I have it listed here. I can read it for you, but you listed it on the paper. True, true. 8026, IBIS, Palm Beach. Thank you. Sergey Kelly, going to restart, but, yeah, one concerning development threats, I want to bring to your attention the new city proposed over in Kendall of 1,000 acres. This is Kendall City Park. They're trying to build in Districts 8, 9, and 11. So those commissioners, McGee, McGee, I think Regalado, and also Higgins, those are in your areas. But this would be a huge sprawl, 8,000 units. I'm imagining that some of you have been probably approached by the developer. And seeing what happened with Kelly Tractor, this is a huge, huge concern. It was brought up in 2005, and it's been re-brought up in 2025 and just this year in July. So they want to do it. It's millions of dollars at hand. But this is the agricultural land. It's right next to the Everglades. Imagine a whole new city. This is a huge, huge, serious threat. And I would urge you guys to stand against that because it is outside the urban boundary. They'll be coming to you if they haven't already, requesting you to help remove it from the urban development boundary with the special district, just like you did with Kelly Tractor. So stand against Kendall City Park. Thank you, sir. Sir, go ahead. Hello. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Sebastian Gill, and my address is exempt from disclosure. I'm here in support of item 10A1, which finances lower income, lower interest home loans for qualifying Miami-Dade families. As a young person growing up here, I want home ownership to remain within reach for when I grow up. And while a family may meet the program's income limit of 115% of the area's medium income, they may still struggle to qualify for a medium, for a mortgage because of limited savings, existing debt, or credit requirements. What assistance is available to help those families overcome these barriers, including down payment and closing cost assistance, is what we would like to know. I would also appreciate knowing where residents can find more information so they may apply for this program. So I ask that you may vote yes for item 10A1. Thank you. Thank you. Question for you guys. And I don't know if this is exempt as well, but is this like a school – what school are you guys from? We're from School for Advanced Studies Wolfson. Nice. So it's like a school project as well, like a twofer? We're all here on our own, but we're all a part of the same organization. I like it. All right. I like it. Go ahead. You got the floor. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Hope Yusifu. My address is exempt from disclosure. I'm here to support of item 10A1, which approves of $650 million in mortgage revenue bonds to help low, moderate, and middle-income families purchase or rehabilitate homes in Miami-Dade County. As a student growing up here, I want Miami-Dade to remain a place where my generation can actually afford to build a future. Homeownership shouldn't become something that young people growing up in this community have to leave the county to achieve. Supporting pathways to home ownership helps families put down roots and give the next generation a reason to stay and invest in Miami-Dade. I'm asking the board to vote yes on item 10A1 and continue expanding opportunities for affordable home ownership. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Julie. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Commissioners. My name is Truly Burton. I represent the Builders Association, and I'm proud to let you know that our address is 111 Northwest 183rd Street in Miami Gardens, Florida. 3-3-1-6-9. There you have it. I am in support of two items, first reading, 4K and 4J. 4K would, as the Doral City Manager or Building Manager indicated, would wildly update a very, very outdated series of employee and personnel requirements. It would open up the pool for many more qualified contractors and employees to work at the building department, improving the plan review process and taking another step toward fulfilling the promise of one-stop shopping, a one-stop permitting, and faster permitting. Second one, 4K relates to the Department of Health and transferring that power back over to Miami-Dade County. Finally, thank you, goodness. Thank you, God, actually. DOH is nice, folks, but you understand it, and we cannot wait for water to be taken over as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Working on that. Thank you, Trudy. All right. With that, that concludes our reasonable opportunity. So I'll find it now closed. Madam Attorney, is it in order to set our agenda at this time? Yes, Mr. Chair. I do have a number of changes. Sure. 2B5, Commissioner Gonzalez adds this item to the pull list. 2B7, Commissioner Cohen-Higgins adds this item to the pull list. 2B12, Commissioner Gonzalez adds this item to the pull list. 2B13, Commissioner Regalado is adding this item to the pull list. Mr. Chair, you've pulled items 2C1 and 2C2, so they've been added to the pull list. I have a request to bifurcate a 5K, that's one of your public hearing items. So at the appropriate time, Commissioner Gonzalez would like to bifurcate that item. And Commissioner Milian Orbis is seeking to bifurcate item 7C when we get to the second readings. 8A2, Commissioner Gonzalez is adding this item to the pull list. 8E3, Commissioner Gonzalez is pulling this item. 8N4, Chairman Rodriguez pulls this item. 8N13, Commissioner Milian Orbis is pulling this item. 8N14, Commissioner Gonzalez is pulling this item. 8P13, Commissioner Cohen-Higgins is adding this item to the pull list. 8P14, Senator Garcia is pulling this item. 11A3, Commissioner Milian Orbis adds this item to the pull list. 11A6, Commissioner Gonzalez adds this item to the pull list. 11A12, Commissioner Gonzalez is pulling the item. And on 15B1, Chairman Rodriguez and Commissioner Regalado are adding their names to the pull list. I also have additional requests for co-sponsorship. 3B2, Commissioner Regalado co-sponsor. 3B3, Commissioner Regalado is assuming sponsorship of this item. 4K, Commissioner Lopez and Commissioner Regalado co-sponsor. 7C7D81, Commissioner Regalado co-sponsor. 83, Commissioner Gonzalez. 8K2, Commissioner Steinberg co-sponsor. 8N7, Commissioner Regalado is assuming sponsorship of this item and Commissioner Steinberg wishes to co-sponsor. 8.03, 8.04, and 11A3, excuse me, 8.03 and 8.04, Commissioner Regalado is assuming sponsorship. 11A3, Commissioner Regalado is co-sponsoring. 11A6, Commissioner Gonzalez co-sponsor. 11A7, Commissioner Lopez and Commissioner Steinberg wish to co-sponsor. 11A8 and 11A9, Commissioner Steinberg co-sponsor. 11A11, Commissioner Lopez co-sponsor. 11A12, Commissioner Gonzalez co-sponsor. 11A14, Commissioner Lopez co-sponsor. And 11A15, Commissioner Lopez and Commissioner Steinberg co-sponsor. The items to be considered at today's meeting will be those listed in the printed final agenda, with the additions, deferrals, withdrawals, and scriveners errors noted in the chairman's memorandum and the items I just mentioned. The commission will approve all of these items by a single vote setting the agenda, except ordinances for first reading, public hearings, ordinances set for second reading, items 8A1 and 8P9, commercial service airport contracts, which must be voted on separately and are not on your pull list, and the following pull list items. One second, please. Mr. Chair, point of order? Commissioner Regalado. I'm pulling 5B1 to waive some of the requirements for notice since it is 15B1 because it is with the city, so I don't see why we need to go longer since the city has notice since they are a party. I don't know if you pulled it for the same reason. I'm happy to read the two motions and release it so that it could pass. That's fine with me. Okay. Yeah, while they're doing that. We have other pulling commissioners for 15B1 for different items on that one, but may I read the pull list? Mr. Chair. Yes, but I pulled it for the same reasons. I think it was only you and me, but. I thought it was us as well, but. Yeah. Commissioner Gilbert was on the printed pull list for pulling, but. But finish the list, and yes, we'll get to it before. Yes. And I know the Vice Chair has something as well, but Vice Chair, which is the one that you have that you want to co-sponsor? Oh, yeah, that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That would be 11A14. Madam Attorney, if you could just add 11A14, Vice Chair wishes to co-sponsor. And Commissioner Bastien? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also have a. 11A9, Commissioner Bastien, co-sponsorship, and then you can continue, Madam Attorney. Yes. Commissioner Regalado, we'll figure this out now. So the pull list is 2B5, 2B7, 2B12, 2B13, 2C1, 2C2, 8A2, 8E3, 8N4, 8N13, 8N14, 802, 8P13, 8P14, 11A3, 11A6, 11A12, 14A1, and 15B1. A motion to set the agendas in order. Commissioner Gilbert. Mr. Chairman, if you wanted to, I like Commissioner Regalado. I think I just have a motion to read for the procedural notices, yeah, that attaches 15B1 to 4A. So I could read a motion and it can be. Yeah. If it's the will of the chair, I don't. Which I want me to do. Do you want me to read yours as well, Commissioner? Yeah, yeah, I mean. Okay, so Commissioner Regalado's motions are. What are we on, 15B1? Yeah. Okay. This would be amendments to 15B1. And which is 15B1? Is that my procurement item? The pull. It was on the pull list to pull. Okay. I'm just, they're talking to me about seven different things. It's, I think Gilbert understands what it is to sit here. This is South Miami. So what item is this? Can you read the item? They're not items, Mr. Chair. Your 15B1, what I believe Commissioner Regalado and Commissioner Gilbert want to do is to amend 15B1 to change the second reading and public hearing for certain items. Second meeting. They're different items, right? So one of the items is the South Miami item. But there are a few. So we have one item is item 4C and the motion is to move to suspend the board's rules of procedure and waive committee review in the four-week, six-week municipal notice requirement as to item 4C and amend 15B1 to schedule the public hearing and second reading for item 4C at the October 2026 meeting of the Board of County Commissioners to direct the agenda coordinator to send the appropriate municipal notices and direct the clerk of the board to publish all necessary notices related to this item. The other item, the other item that relates to 15B1 would be Commissioner Regalado's motion that's related to item 4J on your agenda. And it would be to suspend the board's rules of procedure, waive the four-week, six-week municipal notice requirement as to item 4J, amend item 15B1 to schedule the public hearing on item 4J for the November meeting of the committee to which it has been assigned, direct the agenda coordinator to send the appropriate municipal notices, and direct the clerk of the board to publish all necessary notices. And I think, do you have Commissioner Gilbert? And then Commissioner Rodriguez, you have one for 4K. Commissioner Rodriguez? Chairman? That's only like 30 days later. And do you want me to read that now? Chairman Rodriguez. Yeah, this is dispensive. We're just changing notice. We're just changing the public hearing date to the next county commission meeting, right? For all of them. What's going on? Yes. Do you want me to read yours as well? Yes. Chairman Rodriguez moves to suspend the board's rules of procedure and waive committee review in the four-week, six-week municipal notice requirement as to item 4K, amend item 15B1 to schedule the public hearing and second reading on item 4K for the October 2026 board meeting, direct the agenda coordinator to send the appropriate municipal notices, and direct the clerk of the board to publish all necessary notices. Okay. Any others? We also have that same motion for item 14A1 on the agenda, so I won't read it again. It's the same thing on 14A1, and Commissioner Gilberts does the same thing for item 4A, which would be to have the second reading and public hearing on the October 20th meeting. I think that may be all the motions. So with the setting of the agenda, all that will move forward? It will be 15B1 as amended if you all approve this. Okay, so we have a motion. Move it. Thank you so much. The agenda has amended. We have a second by Commissioner Gilberts. Any additional changes to the agenda? Amendments? No? I have a question. Question by Commissioner Bermudez. You're recognized. The 14A1, Mr. Chair, that was moved to the next commission meeting? You waived it? Yes. It will be public hearing at the next commission meeting. Okay, good. But since it's 500 and some odd pages. 200 and something. Yeah, well, no, it's 500 and something. I had Regulato run it through AI and even said it's too much. It was that bad. Regulato says too much? Yeah, so. I read it. But let's make sure that we can actually, you know, have enough time to review it. That's the only thing I would say. I mean, is two weeks enough time? Yeah, it's going to be a lot of reading because obviously somebody doesn't work, but I have to. So, you know, if you read it, you really got to be bored. I guess the pun's at you because I work a lot, actually, more than I do. Haters are going to hate. I'm a fast reader. Then we just approved the agenda. All right, all in favor of setting the agenda with set amendments, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Show the agenda hereby set. Madam Mayor, I am going to start with you this morning and recognize you to speak on your two report items, 2C1 and 2C2. That is the National Association of Counties NACO Achievement Awards. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And to all the members of the commission, I am taking this opportunity, thanks to the chair's recognition, to put a couple of items on the agenda that I thought were important for you to take a moment and celebrate with us some great achievements of your county staff, our county staff. So you may be familiar with the NACO, National Association of Counties, awards process, and we have always been recognized with an extraordinary number and quality of those awards. So we provided you with a report so you could see some of the depth and breadth of what recognition we have received. I want to, I didn't know I was going to be called first, so give me one second. Here we go. So these awards have been around since 1970, and our staff are very diligent in submitting their best practices to receive. And 12 county departments received a total of 177 NACO recognitions this year. That was 26 more than last year, and in 16 of the 18 categories. So I'm just going to give a couple of the highlights, more than a couple. Our libraries have led the way, this year as well as in years past. That was 77 awards, more than any other department, for programs that serve our children, our teens, our older adults, our job seekers, and new Americans. Parks, right behind, special recognition and best in category, Commissioner Regalado for the Chapman Field Park Resilience and Restoration Project, which she was very active in. WISE 305, which is our government efficiency and accountability. That earned 28 awards through our Department of Communications and Information Technology. Everything from digital tools that speed up permitting, improve fleet, solid waste, and animal services. And strategic procurement also received awards for new AI tools that make our work faster and more consistent, and that is what WISE 305 is all about. Our Community Services Department earned 23 awards, most for recognition of our no-wrong-door approach. Everything from food security, financial stability, housing, recovery, and victim services, streamlining access to these programs. Responsible stewardship in our Office of Management and Budget earned 16 awards, and specifically for supporting the transition of our constitutional offices. I want to point out that was one of our awards. And I do want to recognize that the Clerk of Courts and Comptroller actually received four awards. Congratulations to you for information technology, civic education, and public information categories. So I think these honors belong to all of us, especially to our hardworking men and women who provide excellence each and every day. And so it's their talent and creativity and dedication to the residents that have made this recognition possible. And we should all take great pride and pleasure in the same. Thank you. That was the NACO Awards. And the other, thank you, 2C2. We wanted to make sure you knew that our procurement department, strategic procurement, received a national award from the National Procurement Institute for Achievement of Excellence in Procurement. We were selected to receive this award, and the first time I believe that we've received it, and it's due to continuous process improvement, operational excellence, and innovation in public procurement. And I'm sure that had they known about STRIP, they would have included that as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you imagine next year's award after STRIP is implemented? Next year. We'll try again. 500-page item gets approved in two weeks or so? Yes. I mean, it's a little presumptuous, but I think it's going to be double the award, triple the awards now. So if we can get the conflict of interest things back in there. Yeah, of course. I mean, yeah, of course you want. Everybody wants their own little thing. I get it. All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor, for those recognitions and that reporting. All right. With that, I am going to move in to dispose of two of the aviation items that need their own separate votes. If Commissioner Lopez would move 8-A-1 for us. Seconded by Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. Any discussion on 8-A-1? Seeing none. Is this a voice vote? Yes. All in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed, nay. Show the item passed. And 8-P-9. Moved by Commissioner Lopez. Seconded by Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. All in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed, nay. Show that item passed. All right. Madam Attorney, is it in order to move into first reading items? Yes. I will read them all. Go ahead. 4-A is in ordinance relating to zoning amending section 33-284-289 of the code, revising minimum size requirements for retail entertainment district, planned area development district, and providing for severability, inclusion in the code, and an effective date. Four season ordinance relating to redevelopment of the South Miami community redevelopment area, generally bounded on the north by Southwest 62nd Street, on the south by Southwest 76th Street, on the east by Southwest 57th Avenue, Red Road, and on the west by Southwest 62nd Avenue. Creating a redevelopment trust fund in accordance with section 163-387 Florida statutes, providing for appropriation of funds, and calculation of increment for deposit into such trust fund. Setting forth obligation to appropriate to trust fund and duration of such obligation, providing for limited county approval of debt, providing for review of financial records, and right of audit. Finding a public purpose and providing severability, inclusion in the code, and an effective date. Four D's in ordinance creating and establishing a special taxing district in the county, generally bounded on the north. On the north by Southwest 355 Street, on the east by Southwest 189 Avenue, on the south by Southwest 356 Street. And on the west by Southwest 192 Avenue, Tower Road, known and described as San Diego Villa's multi-purpose maintenance and street lighting special taxing district. Identifying services to be provided, authorizing and directing the mayor designate to cost to be maintained and operated. Various public improvements and to provide for the installation of street lights. Approving a street lighting agreement with Florida Power and Light and authorizing the mayor designate to execute the agreement. Waving provisions of resolution number R-1306 and providing for exclusion from the code and an effective date. For E's in ordinance creating and establishing a special taxing district in the county, generally bounded on the north by theoretical Southwest 276th Street. On the east by State Road number 5, US Highway number 1, Harriet Tubman Highway. On the south by Southwest 280 Street, Walden Drive, and on the west by Harriet Tubman Highway. Outday Transitway, known and described as Amber Station, multi-purpose maintenance and street lighting special taxing district. Identifying services to be provided, authorizing and directing the mayor designate to cost to be maintained and operated various public improvements. And to provide for the installation of street lights. Approving a street lighting agreement with Florida Power and Light and authorizing the mayor designate to execute the agreement. Waving provisions of resolution number R-1306 and providing for exclusion from the code and an effective date. For F is in ordinance creating and establishing a special taxing district in the county, generally bound down the north by Southwest 312th Street, Northwest 8th Street, Campbell Drive. On the east by Southwest 191 Avenue, on the south by Southwest 315th Street, and on the west by Southwest 192 Avenue, Tower Road. Known and described as Century Estates Royal, multi-purpose maintenance and street lighting special taxing district. Identifying services to be provided, authorizing and directing mayor designate to cost to be maintained and operated various public improvements. And to provide for the installation of street lights, approving a street lighting agreement with Homestead Energy Services, and authorizing the mayor designate to execute the agreement. Waiving provisions of resolution number R-1306 and providing for exclusion from the code and an effective date. Four G's in ordinance creating and establishing a special taxing district in the county. Generally bounded on the north by theoretical Southwest 182 Street, on the east by Southwest 110 Avenue. On the south by theoretical Southwest 182 Lane, and on the west by theoretical Southwest 111 Avenue, known and described as Mark Estates. A multi-purpose maintenance special taxing district. Identifying services to be provided, authorizing and directing the mayor designate to cost to be maintained and operated various public improvements. And providing for exclusion from the code and an effective date. Four H's in ordinance creating and establishing a special taxing district in the county, generally bounded on the north by theoretical Southwest 306th Street. On the east by Southwest 158 Avenue, on the south by theoretical Southwest 308th Street. And on the west by Southwest 158 Court, known and described as Hiram Landings North, multi-purpose maintenance and street lighting special taxing district. Identifying services to be provided, authorizing and directing mayor or designee to cost to be maintained and operated various public improvements and to provide for the installation of street lights. Approving a street lighting agreement with Homestead Energy Services and authorizing mayor or designee to execute the agreement. Waiving provisions of resolution number R13006 and providing for exclusion from the code and an effective date. Four Ayes in ordinance creating and establishing a special taxing district in the county, generally bound down the north by Southwest 291 Street. On the east by Southwest 179 Avenue, on the south by Southwest 292 Street. And on the west by Southwest 180 Avenue, known and described as Los Almeda Subdivision Street Lighting Special Taxing District. Identifying services to be provided, authorizing and directing the mayor or designee to provide for the installation of street lights. Approving a street lighting agreement with Homestead Energy Services and authorizing mayor or mayor's designee to execute the agreement. Providing provisions of resolution number R13006 and providing for exclusion from the code and an effective date. Four J's and ordinance relating to the Florida Building Code, amending section 8-21.1 and deleting in their entirety and replacing sections 8-21.2 through 8-21.4 of the code. Revising qualifications for building officials and for building electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and structural inspectors and plans examiners. Making technical and clarifying changes, providing severability and inclusion of the code and an effective date. And item 14A1, ordinance relating to environmental protection, amending article 1, division 2 of chapter 24 of the code. Adopting by reference certain state statutory provisions for the purpose of administering and implementing the delegation to the county by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Of certain authority related to its on-site sewage program, including certain state environmental permitting. Providing severability, inclusion of the code, and an effective date. And item 14A1, ordinance relating to county procurement, implementing in whole or in part. Recommendations from the final report of the special task force to reduce inefficiencies in procurement. Reorganizing and modifying the county's procurement regulations, creating chapter three of the code relating to county procurement. Amending the requirements relating to the acquisition of professional architectural engineering services in the code. To remove the requirement that a selection committee evaluate the response to solicitation if only one responsive bid is received. Amending the cone of silence to require the county mayor and county mayors designee to commence negotiations within a certain period of time. If only one responsive proposal is received, or to report to the board. Repealing sections 2-8.1, 8.3, 10.4, 8.1.6, 8.2.7, 8.2.7.01, 8.2.7.02, 8.2.5, 2-8.2.8, 285.2, 286.1, 8.2.11, 2-8.2.12, 2-8.2.14, 2-8.2.15, 2-8.2.10, 2-10.6, 2-8.26, 2-8.1.1.1.1, 2-8.6.5, 2-10.4.2, 2-8.4, 2-8.1.1, 2-8.1.1, 2-8.1.1, 2-8.6, 2-8.4.1, 1034, 1035, 1036, 1037, 1038, 2-8.5, 2-8.5.1, 2-8.1.1.1.1.1.1, 2-8.1.1.1.2, 2-10.401, 2-8.52, 2-8.8, 2-8.1.4, 2-8.10, 2-10.7. 2-8.2.6.1, 2-8.2.6.2, 2-11.1593, 2-9, 2-10, and 2-10.1 of the code in Chapters 2, Article 142 of the code relating to contracts and purchases generally. The mayor's recommendations, the acquisition of professional architectural engineering, landscape architectural services, the program for expedited purchasing, the economic stimulus ordinance, the miscellaneous construction contracts program, the janitorial and landscaping services purchasing program, aviation department procurement, and the county mayor's authority as to such contracts. The acceleration of aviation department capital improvement projects, the county mayor's authority as to retail activities at Miami International Airport. The water and sewer department's contracting authority and its consent decree and capital improvement programs acceleration ordinance. The Jackson Health System Capital Expedite Program. The Seaport Capital Improvement Program's Expedite and Acceleration Ordinance Procurement Policy for Contracts Funded by Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond Funds, Competitive Bidding Requirements for County Bond Transactions. Public, private partnerships and unsolicited proposals, the taping of selection and negotiation proceedings. The purchase sale, lease of real property, appraisal requirements for the purchase sale and lease of real property, bid protest procedures, bid collusion, county contracts. With those convicted of a felony, penalties for contractors attempting to meet contractual obligations with the county through fraud, misrepresentation or material misstatement, the requirement to list subcontractors and to obtain releases of claims by subcontractors. The prohibition of bidding, utility connections fees, the prohibition of membership and trade organizations as qualifications and procurement. The department of contractors, local preference, preference for local veteran businesses. Small business programs for goods, services, architecture, engineering, and the application of those preferences. Policy relating to fair subcontracting practices, the prompt payment ordinance, the user access program, the purchase of American iron and steel products procurement program. The cyber security and information technology procurement and protection program, art in public places, the first source hiring referral program, contract extensions. Intergovernmental agreements for services and joint purchases, moving the aforementioned code provisions to chapter three of the code, including technical updates and revisions. Amending section 2-11.1 to move the code of silence to chapter three of the code. Amending sections 2-384.3, 10-3302, 21-154, 22-5, 26-22, 29-120, and 11-838 of the code to update references to chapter three. Amending section 8AA54 of the code relating to reporting requirements for licensees for cable systems, installation, operation, and maintenance. To remove an outdated reporting requirement, repealing implementing orders 2-13, 3-21, 3-32, 3-34, 3-39, 3-41, 3-48, 353, 354, 357, 358, 368, 8-4, 10-13, and 10-16. Adopting master procurement implementing order 338, including revision to former IO 339, attachment 5 to master procurement IO 338. Authorizing and directing the mayor designate to update the code references in the master procurement IO in accordance with this ordinance. Revise the policy on selection committees to provide for administrative review in lieu of selection committee evaluation when only one responsive submission is received. Implement a performance review program for county vendors. Make recommendations on how to improve local preference and small business goods services. And architectural engineering programs based on meetings and feedback from the small business community. And prepare a written report. Directing the clerk of the board to create, maintain, and update. Centralized automated online portal for use in the protest process. In coordination with the mayor or mayors designee, and providing severability, inclusion, and an exclusion from the code, and an effective date. Those are your first reading items. Move it. All right, so now that we got all the first reading items read, a very long, long, long thing. We've got a motion. Second. We got a second by Commissioner Regalado. Any bifurcations? No? All right. Clerk, please call the roll. Commissioner Bastien? Yes. Commissioner Bermudez? Yes. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins? More. Senator Garcia? Commissioner Gilbert? Commissioner Gonzalez? Four. Commissioner Hardiman? Commissioner Lopez? Commissioner Emiliano Orbis? Commissioner Regalado? Yes. Commissioner Steinberg? Vice Chairman McGee? Yes. Chairman Rodriguez? I vote yes. Motion passes unanimously. All right, sounds good. Madam Attorney, can we read our public hearing items at this time? Yes, Mr. Chair, 5A is a resolution co-designating that portion of Southwest 124th Avenue from Southwest 152nd Street to Zoo Miami as tow company Marine Street and its supplement. 5B is an ordinance granting petition of Acacia Grove Community Development District generally bounded as amended on the north by Southwest 336th Street, on the east by Southwest 192 Avenue, on the south by Southwest 340th Street, and on the west by Southwest 197th Avenue, Richard Road. Amending the boundaries of the district to expand its total acreage by approximately 9.88 acres, providing severability, exclusion from the code, and an effective date. 5D is a resolution taking action after public hearings on proposal of AFR Estate LLC to designate real property located at 7248 Southwest 42 Terrace as a Brownfield area pursuant to Section 37680 Florida Statutes. Mr. Chair, this particular item is a Brownfield area designation item before the board, and it requires two public hearings. Today, for the first public hearing, the board can open and close the public hearing, and then forward the item for its second public hearing to the board's October 20th, 2026 meeting. And after the board's taken action on these public hearing items, Commissioner Millian Orbis has a motion regarding the time of the second public hearing for this item. 5E is a resolution approving the waiver of plat of 4Y LLC. 5F is a resolution approving the waiver of plat of ASU Holdings LLC. 5G is a resolution approving the plat of Artisan Point. 5I is a resolution approving the waiver of plat of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami Inc. 5J is a resolution approving the plat of Redland Gardens South. And 5K is a resolution amending implementing order number 4-33 relating to the schedule of transit, fares, rates, and charges. Increasing the fares for metro rail and metro bus service from 225 to 275. Those are your public hearing items. I don't know if you have any cards at this time. Thank you, Madam Attorney. At this time, I'm going to open up a public hearing on these items. Once you come to the podium, please state your name and your number. And Madam Clerk, I do believe there are a few items that individuals need to be sworn in. So if we can ask you to go ahead and swear those individuals in now. Please raise your right hand. You see there. Victoria McCaffrey. If we have any speakers for agenda item 5D, please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn. Okay. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Thank you, you may be seated. Thank you. Brenda Bincourt, please approach. Gabriel Reso, Theopolis Williams, Brianna Joseph, Israel Dabursiti, Danielle Sakzic, Roland Ordonez, Camilo Mehe, and Catherine Santos, Rochelle Vargas, Nick Garzili, Leonard Hoffman, Sarah Moreno, and James Torres. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Victoria McCaffrey. I am with the Goldstein Environmental Law Firm in Coral Gables. I am here to represent our client AFR estate for the designation of a brownfield area located at 7248 Southwest 42nd Terrace, zip code 33155. And I'm here to answer any questions if any commissioners would like to ask anything about the designation of the brownfield area. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, Brenda Bancourt, 1436 Southwest 6th Street. In reference of a support of a town company, Marine Street Resolution or co-designation, just in agreement, I just have a few actually, I want to thank the commissioners and the staff for the ITC, for the amazing event that happened last week. So Commissioner McGee, thank you so much for your support, and many of you who support us, and the mayor as well. So thank you. Thank you. The office is William, 1391 Northwest 95th Street. We have, I'm talking about bus hike. We have buses sitting down south, not in service. Nobody knows how to get them fixed. Go ask Tesla to help y'all. House Bill 657 talks about speed zoning. South Florida, they made $66 million, according to my research. How much money coming to this district and this commissioner? How much money? And according to my research, they're kind of getting $23 million. Something is wrong, and you want to raise bus height? You can go ask before you close schools and lay people off. Let's talk about Miami Garden 2008, red light cameras, 2.8 million. That need to be looked into. Thank you so much, sir. Good morning, Mr. Chair and commissioners. My name is Israel Dobris, and my address is exempt from disclosure. I am here to speak in opposition to item 5K, which would raise metro rail and metro bus fares from 225 to 275. As a full time student, I rely on my midday transit five days a week to go to campus and back home. I have been taking 95 Express since August, so I understand firsthand how important affordable public transportation is for students like me who depend on it to attend school. I recognize the benefits that public transit provides, and I understand the need to maintain and improve the system. However, for students and thousands of school workers and essential services, even 50 cents can increase on each trip and as we go in time. We should be careful about making the essential services less affordable for people who are allowing it the most. I am asking the board to vote no on item 5K and keep the base transit fare to 225. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Good morning, Mr. Chair and Commissioners. My name is Gabriela Camperin-Rosso. My address is exempt. I'm here to speak in opposition of item 5K on the increase of metro rail and metro bus fares. The plan is to change the fare from $2.25 to $2.75, increasing the fare by 50 cents. When taking the metro rail twice a day, it sums up to an additional $240 per year. Students and workers depend on public transportation to commute to school or work. And considering the constant delays and issues on the stations, the system is not reliable enough in order to implement a price increase. As someone who takes the metro rail daily to and from school, if there is a fare increase, I would like it to see the extra money to be used in maintenance and proper repair of the station and metros. I'm asking the board to vote no and look for all the alternatives that would avoid placing the additional costs on riders. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Good morning, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Geraldine Ordonez at 4298 Southwest 5 Terrace. I want to take my one minute, or perhaps two, for you to all think about the case of this one Miami-Dade Transit user. She's working hard to stay in Miami as housing and everyday cost increase. Someone with very few transportation options simply trying to get through the day to get to work and to get home. On one side of his life, we're telling him that late night bus, he depends on maybe reduce or disappear. And on the other side, on November 3rd, when it arrives, he's been asked to decide whether he trusts the local government that continues to administer his tax dollars that he contributes. That's a hard ask for him and from his perspective. He's already feeling underserved. He does not experience a bus cut as a budget decision. He experiences as how am I going to get home tonight? So I ask, so I want us to think through what we're asking of that resident. How can we ask him to trust us with his tax dollars when we're already feeling, he's already feeling underserved? Thank you so much. That's a very hard ask. Thank you. Thank you. Catillo Santos, 2150 Coral Way, Suite 7B, Miami, Florida 33145. Good morning, Madam Mayor, Chair, Commissioners. A few weeks ago, I stood here and many of us told you how losing their first bus would hurt riders. You saved that first bus, so thank you, and let's keep going. Today, I ask that you fund the service that moves to most people and that have no alternative. Find the funding, and if fares must go up, protect riders. You just heard from two students. Do they know that they can apply for reduced fares as students in Miami-Dade? That's a really important question that we need to ask ourselves. Find lasting funding because you cannot keep funding the system on the backs of our transit riders beyond today. We're looking at another probably about $100 million next year, and if Amendment 3 passes, that's another $53 million coming from transit and public works. You cannot and you will not be able to fund this off of transit riders. There's hard choices ahead, none harder than whether Miamians can stay in Miami. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good morning, Commissioners. Camilo Mejia, 8311 Southwest, 124th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33183. Thank you for restoring early morning transit service at the second budget hearing. However, as you've heard, we still face a $19.1 million deficit, leading to late-night transit cuts and 12 bus routes that are the only way that a lot of commuters and late-night workers have to get home to their families. For these workers, ride-share and taxi fares are simply unaffordable. Leaving this funding gap unaddressed could lead to widespread job losses, housing stability, homelessness, and other hardships affecting our entire community. If you choose to increase transit fares today, I respectfully ask that you also provide assistance programs and outreach to ensure effective riders know how to access these programs. This support could help ease the transition to higher transportation costs, which will be significant for many low-income earners, like the students that you just heard from. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Hello, I'm Daniela Sacek, 175 Northeast 55th Street, Miami, Florida 33137. I reside in District 3, and my commissioner is Keyon Hardiman, and I'm here as a member of Engage Miami. I'm here to speak about the late bus route. I'm concerned about the cuts. Currently, I'm without a car, so I know how hard it can be to get around. Access to more routes and buses makes all other aspects of life manageable. I'm here because, as working people, we depend on access to public transportation. So I respectfully urge you not to cut the late bus. Your decision will make a real difference for people like me and many others in the community. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Hi, my name is Sarah Moreno. My address is 1271 Northeast 159th Street, North Miami Beach, Florida 33162. I thank you for restoring early morning bus service. As a result, thousands of workers, families, and students will be able to access the routes they need to maintain a dignified quality of life. I'm here today to ask you to do the same for late night service. Residents have made themselves clear we do not need more lucrative contracts that fail to address the needs of riders in the county. Amidst an affordability crisis, we do not need austerity, we need more accessible public transit that addresses the fact that Miami is one of the most congested areas in the nation. An embarrassing fact that contributes to the increasing number of young Miamians that are being priced out of the county that they call home. Cutting the late night bus service would be a disgraceful step in the wrong direction. On fares, I urge you to look for the money elsewhere. But if you cannot find it, any fare increases should include effective outreach to riders with sufficient notice of the fare increases. A simpler application for the county's free and reduced fare programs. And outreach to make sure all eligible riders can benefit from these programs. Riders who least afford a fair increase should not be the ones to pay for it. I appreciate your time and the work that goes into finding effective long term solutions. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Brianna Joseph. My address is 1450 Northwest 73rd Street, Miami Florida 33147. I'm here to speak on item 5K. And no, unfortunately, I am not talking about a marathon. First, thank you. Our community fought hard to save early morning bus routes and we saw what's possible when residents speak up and you, as our elected leaders, listen. But the work isn't finished. More than 3,000 people rely on late night buses every night. And for many, when that service ends, there is no other affordable way home. Today, we're having this conversation to discuss new ways to fund transit and fare increases are part of that conversation. Today, we're asking you to find at least the 10.5 million that would be needed to protect late night service. And ask that you continue working to save every route, which costs around $19 million. And if fare increases, fares do increase to make this happen, please prioritize strong outreach, a simpler process for free and reduced fares, and real help enrolling everyone who qualifies. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman Rodriguez and the Commissioners. My name is Nick Garzilli. My address, 224 23rd Street, Miami Beach, California, 33139. I am the founder and CEO of Chariot Living. I am a registered lobbyist for my company. Riders are being asked to pay for more and they get less. And who benefits from a better transit and how can they pay for it? Whoosh is a grade-separated, on-demand network of smart, autonomous vehicles like Uber in the sky. It was born out of Project Swift at Google and projects are now in development around the world. Our partner, Swift Cities, brings it to North America. It handles local trips and connects riders to Metro Rail to Metro Mover and buses for the longer distances, so it feeds the system we already have. It can be largely privately funded by the property owners and destinations that benefit, my ask. Direct staff and the TPO to evaluate a cost-shared feasibility study for a pilot district at little or no cost to the county. Thank you very much, and let's do it. Thank you. Good morning, Michelle Vargas, 2012 Southwest 24th Street, and I'm here to talk about item 5K. First, I want to thank you all for finding and allocating the funding needed to save early morning bus service. This will save riders so much stress, time, and money, so thank you for that. Now, late night riders need the same affordable service protected to get home. Without their late night bus, many riders have no alternative for getting home. We urge you to find the funding needed to meet the $10.5 million needed to continue late night service. However, if you must increase fares to meet this gap, you must also protect riders. This means robust outreach. You can't increase fares de la noche a la mañana without input, so from one day to the next. An easier application process for free and reduced fares and sustainable funding. By that, I mean you can't keep putting people's lifelines on the chopping block every year, and you can't increase fares while diminishing service. So I ask you to please fund late night service so that folks getting home late at night can have a reliable way. Thank you. Gary P, my address is 6748 Northwest 193 Lane, Hialeah, Florida 33015. I am speaking to all of you, including Mayor Carver and my Commissioner Gilbert. I don't have a personal vehicle, so I rely on transit every day for my necessities, including groceries, dental, medical appointments, and for pleasure. I respectfully ask you to please do not raise transit fares and do not eliminate the routes, including 288 Kendall Max and 338 Weekend Express. Thank you all. Thank you so much, sir. Good morning, commissioners. James Torres, president of Downtown Neighbors Alliance. I'm here to object on item 5K. Mr. Gilbert, you've heard a lot of people today kind of against that. So hopefully you'll reconsider that item, because I think it's important. You're saying no, but- Mr. Torres, Torres. Yes, sir. Got it. Redirecting. Thank you so much. Redirecting. Thank you so much. So the 50 cent increase should not happen, but we know where that's going to go. On a side note, if we can please move forward with parcel B, with the $2 million that GTA has promised to give the county. Parcel B is something that has been waiting for 32 years. Hopefully this commission will take that position and move forward on that. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, that's all the public speakers we have registered to speak under public hearing. All right, that said, come on up. How's your time before it gets away? I missed the table trying to run up here. Sorry, commissioner and the rest of the commissioners. All right, name and address. Joseph Delia, President, Transport Workers Union, Local 291, 6355 Northwest 36th Street, Virginia Gardens, Florida. Chairman, Vice Chairman, Commissioners, Madam Mayor. I respect everybody that's come to the podium already, but it's been 14 years since the last fare increase. If I was making money from 2012 and trying to live in 2026, I wouldn't survive. Fuel prices alone have increased exponentially. The positions that you all have as commissioners and I have as a union president come with hard choices to make, and sometimes the hard choice is not the popular choice. This union has historically and traditionally not taken a position on fare increases, but this department is in dire need. You need to look at new ways to fund transit going forward, possibly a dedicated millage, a gas tax increase, a structured fare increase schedule. Citizens and students depend on us, this is their lifeline, summits their only means of transportation, most important service to some of your citizens. Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right, so now public hearing is officially closed before, and I imagine it will be bifurcated if not already, but I'm going to lead with 5K since the majority have spoken on 5K. So, Commissioner Gilbert, but before I do that, any additional bifurcations for the public hearing items? Any other bifurcations? E and aye. What is it? E and aye. E and aye. So, E and aye. Okay. That's Renee. All right, Senator. All right. So, can I have, and then 5K, right? I imagine 5K is bifurcated? Yes, Mr. Chair. I had a request from Commissioner Gonzalez. Gonzalez, 5K, 5K, 5K. Okay. So, all right, can I have a motion? Gonzalez. Can I have a motion on the remainder of public hearing items? Move it. It's been moved by Commissioner Bastien, seconded by Gonzalez. Any, no? Clerk, call the roll. Commissioner Bermudez. Yes. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. More. Senator Garcia. Commissioner Gilbert. Yes. Commissioner Gonzalez. Commissioner Hardiman. Commissioner Lopez. Commissioner Milian Orbis. Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Steinberg. Commissioner Steinberg. Commissioner Bastien. Yes. Vice Chairman McGee. Yes. Chairman Rodriguez. Motion passes unanimously. All right, this is just for a vote. Commissioner Bastien, would you move item 5E and 5A? Second. Moved, seconded by Commissioner Gilbert. Clerk, call the roll. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. Four. Senator Garcia. Commissioner Gilbert. Yes. Commissioner Gonzalez. Four. Commissioner Hardiman. Commissioner Lopez. Commissioner Milian Orbis. Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Steinberg. Commissioner Bastien. Yes. Commissioner Bermudez. Vice Chairman McGee. Chairman Rodriguez. I vote yes. Motion passes 12 to 1. All right, and then as a pooling commissioner, or bifurcating commissioner, Commissioner Gonzales on 5K. I'm happy to recognize you first, or the sponsoring commissioner. Whichever one. All right, Commissioner Gilbert, you're recognized as sponsoring commissioner. Chairman, thank you. Thank you to my colleagues. Thank you for all the members of the public who came to speak out. I appreciate your opinions, and I appreciate your voice on this matter. To the students specifically, I was actually a young student also who took the Metro bus, an early route to the Metro Rail. And then the late right route, the Metro Rail back to the Metro bus. So when I say that I actually understand your perspective, I've lived your perspective. We have that common lived experience. The challenge that we have in public transit is the challenge that's clearly articulated when you weave all of your words and sentiments together. You want the late routes returned. You want more routes. You don't want to actually pay more. I'd be comfortable with that, except no one told gas prices to stop going up. No one told labor prices to stop going up. No one told bus prices to actually stop going up. I propose this increase, and it's not easy to do, but it's actually trying to save a system that needs money. When you say you're paying more but you're not getting more, that statement needs to be examined. Bus riders, Metro Rail riders in Dade County don't pay for the actual service. They pay for about 11% of the service. The other is subsidized by the general fund, which is lacking money right now. When we think about paying for things, there are two basic ways you can pay for things as government. Taxes, which means we all pay for it together. Or fees, which means the users pay for it. The taxes pay for 89% of every public transit ride. The fees right now pay for 11%. What we're saying is they need to pay a little bit more so that we can actually protect service. This system, when you talk about it being humane, we offer discounts for virtually everything. If you were designing this system for private business, you'd never do this. We understand that we're not a private business. We understand the importance of public transit. But if you're a senior citizen, you don't have to pay. If you're a student, you get massively reduced, beyond the 225, you get massively reduced rates. That's going to continue, we should definitely continue that outreach. But this idea that we can have something and not pay for it, it's going to be challenged by the economic physics of the situation. We cannot do that. If we don't incrementally increase these bus fares, next year, I won't be here, but they will recommend more cuts to routes. They will recommend more cuts to routes. They will have to, because the system is starved of money. And we've been subsidizing it with the general fund, and now the general fund is starved of money. I appreciate your concerns. And I note to my colleagues, there's a side of fiscal discipline that sometimes we ignore. We're officially voting to raise the bus fare 50 cents right now. But in fact, we've cast this vote before. Every time we ratified a union contract, we cast this vote. Every time we ratified a union contract, we cast the vote. Because we raised the price of the system. The contract to increase fares, they were warranted, because it cost more to live. That didn't change the fact that the fares stayed the same. This is the best I can come up with right now to try to help save this system that took me to law school and brought me back to Miami Gardens. So I know what you mean when you say you need transit. I needed it. I need it to work for all of us. That means I need for it to survive. Mr. Chair, I move my item. Commissioner, so there's a motion on 5K. There's a second by Commissioner Cohen-Higgins. Commissioner Gonzalez as a pooling commissioner, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And you know, first of all, I want to start by thanking Commissioner Gilbert on his leadership on this. Conceptually, I understand where you're coming from. I mean, I too took the bus, I used to take the bus at 5 AM to get to George T Baker. Because at that time, you had to take the bus to a different school. I had to take the bus to a different school, get bus there, and then take a two o'clock bus to go back to my primary school. If it weren't for the bus, I probably wouldn't have graduated high school. And so, I understand the frustrations, and I understand that although this was brought forward by Commissioner Gilbert, who's trying to find a solution, it comes to us as a recommendation from the administration. And right now, we're in a very difficult position. We have to make a very difficult decision. And conceptually, I'm not against the concept of somehow having to figure out how to solve this issue. What I am against, though, is how we're going to get there and whether we're actually going to solve the problem or not. The recommendation was one of several alternatives proposed as a solution to the bus route cuts at the budget hearing. Now, according to Director Miller's statements on the record at the second budget hearing, the outstanding proposed cuts total $19 million. The administration's second budget hearing memo stated that approximately $10 million in additional revenue would be generated from a 50 cent increase. Now, Director Miller at the second budget hearing stated that the increase would generate approximately $8.2 million to $10.4 million. The report issued by the mayor's office yesterday has the figure at $8.41 million. Assuming that the fare increase is adopted and the revenue generated is around the estimated $8 million, that would still leave approximately $11 million that would be needed to reinstate all the proposed bus route cuts. If the fare increase is approved, and this question is for Director Miller, I don't know if Director Miller's here. Director Miller, if this fare increase is in fact approved, will the administration commit and will the department commit on the record to no longer use TID funds to cover transit operation gaps in the future? No, we're not in position to make that promise. Colleagues, the reason I have this line of questioning is because it's unclear to me why 50 cents. And Commissioner Gilbert has said the same thing. He's trying to figure out how to get to a solution, but why 50 cents? Why not 75 cents? Why not 10 cents? Why not 25 cents? That's in fact the issue that we see here. In fact, as our friends from the Transit Alliance pointed out in fiscal year 2526, and I'm going to quote, best practices suggest that fare increases should be paired with service improvements rolled out gradually and be of a reasonable percentage to enable riders to adjust to the change and to avoid drops in ridership. A 22% increase in a single step, as this item proposes, does not meet this criteria and is out of sync with peers that have increased fares by 25 or 30 cents. Only after 6 to 12 month community engagement period. There has been no cost containment strategy presented. And by the way, I understand we're trying to solve an issue with our back behind the wall. But we can't just make a decision for the sense of making a decision. We need to make an educated decision that's actually going to solve the problem. There has been no community engagement on this. I heard a young lady speak about this earlier. We, as a board, have not been privy to data, if any exists, as to the ridership loss that many result from said increase. There's too many unknowns currently, at least for me, to make a decision. Now, I understand the argument. Okay? I understand the argument. It's been 13 years. We haven't increased fees. But at the second budget hearing, Commissioner Rigolato pointed out that a fair increase for Metro Rail and Metro Bus is not necessary. Other things could be done. We don't agree on everything, my friend. But we agree on that. For example, the department has rightfully proposed overtime reduction plan, which is set to begin October 1st of 2026. Now, I made a motion at the second budget hearing to have the department present the plan at the Intergovernmental and Economic Impact Committee next week without having seen the numbers. Yet, if we are reducing overtime, common sense tells you that there may be funds available there. We also don't know how Amendment 3 can affect whether there's an increase or there's not an increase. Is it 50 cents? Is it 25 cents? Is it 10 cents? What's going to happen if Amendment 3 passes? Have we even considered that? At the second budget hearing, Commissioner McGee asked if an analysis of imposing a fair on the Metro mover could be completed within two weeks. That's another revenue-generating mechanism. He was told that it could not by the director. More time would be needed, and I understand that. However, we were never told how much more time precisely would be needed. If we get a response on that, can we figure out if that revenue generation can help to minimize any increase if increase is needed at all? Also, we have not yet tackled fair evasion. That is what the transit fair collection software RFP is meant to address. But the administration has not yet brought back the item to us with a recommendation after withdrawing the item due to procurement issues. We've been waiting since June, y'all. We've been waiting since June, y'all. As I've said before, and as I've said time and time again, it's easy to ask rate payers and task payers to contribute more. But instead, what I'm proposing is we should try to figure out how to do more and deliver more with less. Is it possible before we ask for the rate increase? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner, can I respond to a couple of those things? You may. Do you want to respond to him and Regalado together? Because there's going to be- Regalado is not going to say much. All right. Yeah, Regalado is not going to say much. Let me get Regalado on, and then you can address them both. Thank you. Regalado. Thank you. And we're supposed to get the information on MetroMover in two and a half months because I brought the item. But I've been talking about charging for MetroMover for three years, so I'm glad that we're finally at least having the conversation. I've brought over the years several different things. You know, we approved MetroConnect. I still disagree with that. But I think that we also need to go back to BetterBus and have a conversation about whether BetterBus worked. We haven't had that conversation. But I will mention one more thing that I think we should also consider before taking this step, and that is some of the items were deferred today, but we continue to bring RTZ items. The RTZ items that I work on, I make sure that we're using some of that money to fix our stations. I fixed my MetroRail stations with RTZ money, not with transit funds. But the MetroMover ones are being brought without a commitment and a capital improvement to the MetroMover. The only one that had that that I recall, I think, was the Citadel item that had some money for the MetroMover station. And then I think that when the City of Miami did their large project with Swire, that also had an allocation. But we haven't, you know, there are still things that we can do within our existing transit funds to find more funds and actually fix this and not always go to the half penny and not always raise fees. It just takes a little bit of work. And my frustration is that while I understand the recommendation, I don't think that we're at a place where we've done all that work. So I'm a no until we can absolutely say to our rate payers that we have gone through everything and that we're doing everything in our power to use the half penny wisely before raising fees. All right. Commissioner Gilbert for a response to both. Yeah, thank you. I'm just, I'll take them in turn in reverse order there. First, I would address one thing, though, for if you want to address it and just kill it. And just kill it so I don't have to, because it's important what Commissioner Regalado just said is, who's responsible for putting in the work? Often we sometimes do it. Often the administration does it. Like when you say, you know, put in the work, is it an individual commissioner? Is it the administration? Because I think the administration has put in the work. And their response, Mayor, I'm going to get to you. Trust me. My staff already told me the mayor is wanting to speak. But I want Commissioner Gilbert to, as a sponsoring commissioner, to address both commissioners. But also, Commissioner Regalado has a point is, when you just say on the microphone, like putting in the work, is it us? Is it the administration? Is it a combination? I mean, I think we could amend the RTZ to require it. I've, you know, we've talked about it several times. I've done it in my district. I think when it comes to the mover, when Commissioner Higgins was here, there was this belief that, like, the mover was, like, off limits, right? And I faced that for several years. I don't know how Commissioner Lopez feels about it. But we've talked time and time again about our capital improvement to the mover. And I think as we approve these items, you know, we talk about community benefit. Part of that community benefit should be the capital investment in fixing those stations. They're getting the zoning bump because they're by the mover station. So why aren't they paying to fix the mover? We do it for Metro Rail, right? So those of us who have Metro Rail stations, we pass that on to the developer because they're going to be using that station. And it does adhere to their benefit for that station to be in the best condition. So whether it's a recommendation that comes from staff or it's the actual commissioner that's doing it, I think we need to start looking at our policies when we do these redevelopments. Specifically in the RTZ, that's the easiest one. But I also think, you know, we did better bus. We ended up doing other things because of better bus. It's costing us more money. I think we need to go back to better bus and look at it and see, is it really working? I think, and yes, you are going to have the floor now. Because I think to give some credit to the mayor and her team is, on other items, right, but it parlays into this comment, is in the past, especially as we discussed budget, you have come to us and said, hey, if we reduce this or if you want to keep these services, we've got to cut on these other things. And you have made those tough recommendations, right, because ultimately we're the lawmaker's body of the county. But and then we've either opted in or out of those recommendations. That's why I want to understand, because when we say, because I've said that to Commissioner Ricardo, I'm not picking on you as, you know, somebody's got to put in the work. But then we have to make the decision of what something's got to give. Right. So and again, with that, Commissioner Gilbert, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's been 13 years. It's just been 13 years. I would appreciate your arguments, except for it's been 13 years. You've been a commissioner six years, six of them. You've been a commissioner six of them. So I appreciate that, Commissioner. It's been 13 years, and you've been a commissioner for six, and you're telling us that we need to put in the work. Okay. You've done things. I appreciate the fact that you do require developments in your district to actually contribute back to actually defer some of the costs. That's happened. But it has not happened from a policy perspective for this entire board, and it's been 13 years. No one froze gas prices. It's been 13 years. Commissioner Gonzalez, it's been 13 years. And just to correct, our deficit is not $19 million in the transit system. It's so much more. We could do this, and it will not solve the problem. Why $0.50 and not $1 and $1.50? Because I wouldn't ask them, because when I was catching the bus at 5 o'clock in the morning, $0.50 would have been hard, but $1 would have been real hard. $2 would have been impossible. Why incrementally do it? Because it's been 13 years, and we did not do it responsibly in the preceding 13 years. It has been 13 years. I cannot stress enough that sometimes we live in this world of sound bites where everything, I'm going to see all these remarks back on social media, and it's going to look great. But it has been 13 years. So you want to advocate for people? That's fine. You don't want to raise it? That's fine. Remember this moment. To those students and the people who are advocating for those routes, remember this moment. They will have to cut those routes. The mayor is one of the nicest people probably in the county. She doesn't want to just say it like that. But it's coming. It has to come. We have to do something that brings cash into this system. It has been 13 years. If we don't start to write the system, we are neglecting our obligation to be a good steward of it. Because we approved the contracts that increased. We bought the new buses. We approved the labor contracts. We got the new insurance. We did all that. We did better bus. We did it. And some of us didn't think it was the best of ideas. But by our votes, it was passed. We did it. And it's been 13 years, Mr. Chairman. Like, I get that the Transit Alliance says you should get increased service when the fees increase. That assumption, the predicate assumption is that you're paying for what you're getting right now. You, in fact, are not. And what I'm saying is that the moment is coming when we really won't be able to afford it. Amendment 3 was brought up. I love that. We do know what will happen when Amendment 3 passes to the transit system. We know that we're going to have to ask riders to subsidize more. We're going to actually cut routes. We know exactly what's going to happen. I'm trying to get in front of that because we'd be taking money out of a system that is essentially bankrupt. The difference between transit and water and sewer and solid waste, they're all meant to be proprietary systems. But we pay 89% into a proprietary system. That's how much we subsidize it every year. That's the same money we pay police out of. It's the exact same money. That's the same money we pay parks out of, most of our human services out of. That's the same money that's restricted if Amendment 3 passes. I appreciate the concerns and I appreciate that some of these things sound good. Like we're standing up for you and we would never raise your fee. The truth is is that when you have a car, gas prices go up. You pay to increase gas price so you don't drive your car. The point will come when we will stop driving those buses because we won't be able to afford it to. And that moment is rapidly approaching, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I got Senator Garcia, Cohen Higgins, and if no one else on the board, then the mayor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, well, I guess I was going to have some questions for the mayor, but I guess when she speaks she can let us know because I wanted to find out about the elasticity report that was made and what that report revealed. But also could have some questions when she comes up, but Commissioner Gilbert, we go back and forth sometimes, but I agree with you. You know, the only part I don't agree with you is saying the general fund is starved. You know, if the general fund is starved, then it's up to us to figure out how not only by increasing fees, but I think we should go back into our budget since we are the legislative body and figure out where we can find some cuts and make more savings. You know, I appreciate the mayor in this last budget cycle when we talked about the 400 open positions that we've been championing as a commission to try to eliminate, to try to bring, to shrink the size of government. But I do think that our government is still a little inflated and we can do much better at bringing, raining in some of these costs associated with it. However, we have to keep in mind that the system is subsidized. Subsidized by whom? By the riders and by property owners. The taxpayers of this community have been subsidizing the system at large scales. I think I agree with the 13 year concept that it's been 13 years and I think it's time that we just increase the fare just enough to try to bring some stability into the system. And while we move forward, I think it's important that we continue to find efficiencies in the system. Where I agree with you, Commissioner Regalado, we can find some more efficiencies in a system. But no transportation system, folks, was ever to be self-sufficient. None. It's never going to happen. We have to put in some money and I think it's important that the riders, the user fees, are also part of the equation. We can't have a system that's completely free. We see what's happening now with MetroMover. Sorry, Vicky. Commissioner Regalado, I mean Commissioner Lopez. We, I think it's important that we, the users, also pay a portion of it to make sure that we balance out the system. Because it should not always fall on the property owners and the taxpayers of this community as it relates to the budget itself. When we look at, Commissioner Gonzalez, you made a comment about the TIT. The mayor doesn't have to make that commitment. We're the ones that do the budget. We're the ones that vote for the budget or vote against the budget. We're the ones that should not be going into that TIT again. I, for one, can tell you, I can make that commitment to you. If we have to go into the TIT next year, I don't think I can see myself voting for a budget that goes into the TIT again. Because transportation is one of the biggest problems that we have in this community. The one problem that we hear constantly in this community is traffic from our taxpayers. And now we hear about inflation and cost of living and so forth. But traffic is the biggest problem that we have. So for me, going back into the TIT, it might be a non-starter for next year. So I think this is important for all of us as county commissioners to understand that we're the ones that come up with this budget. So, Commissioner Gilbert, I mean, we're on the same side on this. So I think I want to hear the rest of the commissioners. But I think I can safely say that in order to preserve the system at this point, in order to make sure that we don't cut those routes, that a lot of our people in my district benefit from. I think I'm willing to entertain the idea of your motion. But before we get there, Mr. Chairman, I know you're going to bring up the mayor. And maybe we all have questions for her at that time. But if she can really address the study and the elasticity report, I would truly appreciate that. All right. So let's just do that. Madam Mayor, do you want to? And then I know I have another colleague of mine, but go ahead, Madam. Thank you so much through the chair. So the elasticity report that you previously received was initial, but it's been updated. And I will, of course, share it with you for the purposes of today's discussion. And essentially, yes, there's always an expectation when a fare goes up that there could be some drop off. But it is our expectation with and we've given updated projections that people depend upon the system and they will continue to use it. And you've certainly heard testimony to that effect. Look, this system needs a permanence funding solution. This is a temporary, but it is a sustainable one. A fare is actually user fee. So it is an essential component. The TID was framed as a loan. It is not a permanent solution. So this is a lifeline. We gave a lifeline. Thank you at the last budget hearing for the early morning, which was the biggest impact that could have been made. This is the second biggest impact. So with this, we're going to restore services to 4,000 riders immediately, and it will also avoid greater challenges in the coming years. We have to grapple with all these challenges. We certainly are going to continue to look at all the efficiencies, the use of the fares on the mover, the Connect, Metro Connect. All of these things are in program to come back to this board to see what longer term solutions we can find. But this today is an essential one to make sure that we can restore essential services to people who need it to get to their jobs, to get back from their jobs, to get to their school, et cetera. And I cannot urge you strongly enough to please, after 13 years, do the right thing. Commissioner Cohen-Higgins, you recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Commissioner Gilbert, for bringing this item. I do consider it a true moment of leadership on your part, and I'm listening to my colleagues, and I am typically the first to balk at any kind of proposed increase to our residents, and my record is very consistent on that over the last six years. This is a little different, however, especially going through the last budget cycle that we did and hearing from residents and, frankly, having just knocked on as many doors as I have. And I see this as an absolute necessity because the 4,000 residents who are facing no longer having access to transportation, healthcare, wherever it is that they need to go, what is it that they are going to do if we do not do this incremental bump? What are they going to do? Are they going to do Ubers? Are they going to go buy a car? What are their options? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? Are they going to go buy a car? but the overwhelming response that I received from residents was that we would far greater prefer an incremental increase in the fare we have not had one in 14 years rather than face the alternative which our residents that are taking our public transportation absolutely cannot afford so it's pick your poison and for me the incremental increase is the option that I'm going to support today and I hope my colleagues will do the same thank you mr. chair all right mr. vice chairman thank you mr. chairman and it's it's it's no secret how I feel about raising prices on individuals when other people get a free ride I think it sends their own message and I think for the past decades we've sent their own message I think to sit here today and ask residents of miami-dade county and individuals we represent collectively to increase their user fee while individuals who ride the metro mover ride it for free I think it sends I think it sends a message that we're creating classes within miami-dade county and that those who are in a different tax bracket and live in a geographical area that's conducive to their lifestyle and their tax bracket it says to them that they're untouchable let's be absolutely clear that's what it's saying that's exactly what it's saying so we're saying let's increase the price 50 cents for those who ride the bus while those who have a higher tax bracket or in a higher tax bracket with higher discretionary income get to ride the metro mover for free now just let that set in for a second I guarantee you if a five-year-old or six-year-old or seven-year-old were given those facts the question that five or six or seven-year-old person child would ask is mommy or daddy how is that fair so I guess my question becomes have we conducted a projection if we were to charge the metro mover two dollars and 75 cents similar to those are going to be paying on the on the metro bus I haven't seen that report I know there is an appetite to charge something to those who ride the metro mover but my question is is there a commitment to force them to pay the same amount of money that that mother who is on bus 35 who will have to take that bus to cutler bay get off in cutler bay to get on a 38 take 38 to get on another bus to the met to the metro rail leave the metro rail then to get on a metro mover then take the metro mover to the final destination the question is will she be equally situated like the ones who are not paying for the metro mover and if we're honest with ourselves we know the answer to that no and I do not have faith that we're going to come back and agree upon a price to charge folk who are riding the metro mover similar to what we're asking the hard-working folk from kindle hard-working folk from hell the entire county with the exception of those who get who are riding the metro mover for free to do the same I don't have faith I don't think it's going to happen I think there's going to be an increase they're going to the argument is going to be let's start out with 25 cents let's start with 50 cents let's start with 75 cents but by god we can't charge the people who ride the metro mover quote unquote all that money that's going to be the argument remember this day at 1125 I told you that that's going to be the argument because there's a there's a way in which we protect individuals because we are afraid that when those individuals with deeper pockets bigger bank accounts and more access to capital and more access to political leaders we are afraid to tackle them head-on because what that does is it says to people like them that hey you're off limits you're out of bounds we're not touching you we're going to put more pressure on the folk who are already carrying the system and lastly it's no secret that I've always been a huge proponent proponent of the metro rail and as history has shown promises made to the south promises were never kept to the south as relates to putting a metro rail down in florida city homestead noranger cutler bay leisure city richmond heights so I know I can't sit here and discuss metro rail stations with each and every last one of you because we don't have a rail station in the south florida city homestead noranger cutler bay richmond heights so I can't discuss those things to with you but what I can say today is I understand the dilemma that we're faced with right I know residents of the south and particularly in my district we rely heavily upon the bus that is our that is our bloodline to number one feeding the family number two sustaining our quality of life and number three having an opportunity to expose our kids to the beaches have an opportunity to expose our kids to the malls have an opportunity to expose our kids to the brickle area financial district and all those areas and without these buses I know for a fact chances that they're going to be able to expose their kids and their family members to those things are very limited right but I'm also a realist and understanding that times have changed whether it's the politics of DC whether it's the politics of Tallahassee or the politics of Miami-Dade County there has been a neglect in every circle and that neglect has brought us here and being here today at 1128 October 6th we know for a fact there's not enough resources in a pot now to assist with keeping these routes available for the community so I understand so what I would suggest is and I heard my colleague Gonzales said very clearly is that I will and I heard my colleague Gonzales said very clearly is that there are other avenues and other remedies that we can seek to just this downfall as it relates to revenue for the buses and for the routes but I'm wondering if there's a commitment that that can happen before this vote and if the answer is it can't happen before this vote then the next question is will there be a commitment to holding the price for metro mover to reflect the same price that the people of this great county outside of the metro mover zone are paying that's those are my positions for this record and and those are some answers I would like to know Mr. Chairman I know we we got to get this vote done but those are my positions on the record Thank you Mr. Vice Chair so Commissioner Gilbert I'm ready to call a vote but the Vice Chair has some questions I know I think this is important enough that all 13 in this body are sitting here right now should be a part of and I understand that there's at least one member that needs to step out so Commissioner Hardiman if we just we may lose somebody I want to make sure I don't know if we just postpone this item so later but Commissioner Hardiman you recognize so you know I've I've set in this position where it seems as if certain ones of us on this day is have had to bear the cost of being responsible for like the goodwill of the community meaning that many of us who and it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or Democrat but it's like say for instance if you are if you consider yourself to be fiscally responsible you look at certain expenses and you frown upon them and those expenses can be a number of things it can be economic development in areas where there is no desire for most businesses to enter so we try to create incentives for them you see that disdain a lot with CRAs there's always this idea that someone is taking from one person and giving to another you know the last time I checked about you know the way that we we do our fees and our taxes is that the the entirety of society is taxed and then we as a government decide what services those people are to receive and like you know some of my colleagues who've spoken already you know I was a frequent transit rider and you know it's interesting to me because from the public's perspective you know one of the one of the students got up here and they said that you heard our voices and you changed your vote to ensure that the routes weren't cut and it's just not true I think the vast majority of the people on this board when they heard the idea of cutting the routes immediately they felt that that should not be the person who proposed cut routes is the mayor and it created this sensationalism that we had to respond to and so once again right so who bears the pie in the face we do I don't get paid three hundred and something thousand dollars to do anything on this month for Miami-Dade County but there's a lot of people who do and most of them are tasked they should at least should be tasked with giving us true solutions to the issues that we face in Miami-Dade County and then we should be deciding from what's been given to us but it doesn't happen like that all the time I mean I it probably doesn't happen like that most of the time most of the time we take the talents of individuals who see on this day and who put the time to the task at the salary that they're paid to ensure a better solution for Miami-Dade County and so things continue to move forward if no one is courageous enough to propose changes that leave pie on our face because even when you look amongst the board on a dais it doesn't matter if it's this dais or another dais before or in the future there are those who want it to pass but won't vote for it and those who vote for it always suffer I don't want to suffer anymore if those who don't want to vote for certain things don't want it they let it fall apart sometimes when things fall apart it really puts into perspective what it is not to have it where the blame should be and it's just the truth of the matter when we say that even this mild increase is not enough to do what it's supposed to do now I agree with our senator renee garcia when he says that it's not meant to cover it the fees will never be enough to cover itself not with the type of assets and responsibilities that we have I get it so then what is our policy what are we saying how much should it be if it's less than 10 percent obviously that's not enough and that's why you see a request to increase it but when the vice chairman says why not propose it in a bunch of other with a bunch of other things that at least makes it look as if this administration is trying to get to the solution and what I see is not what's presented before us doesn't seem right for solutions we know that we're going to have a sheriff that's appealing to the state about the money that we gave or didn't give her that she requested rarely do I find in any budgetary process that someone gets exactly what they asked for but this newly elected mate this newly elected sheriff in her in her short time that she's here she believes that she in the budgeting cycle should get exactly what she asked for those of us who have done this for a long time know how naive that is but she's going to prove that naivety wins by going through a political process that is meant to ensure that this board's wishes are not realized and so we gave her an additional 10 11 million dollars I would have much preferred to give it to something like this I'm not sure what the numbers will be when we when we calculate what it's going to cost what our revenue will be but certainly we do give away a lot more rise so what does it look like it looks like discount rise to students we give that for free right we give golden passes that's also for free we give the the metro mover that's for free um and I'm sure there's a lot other other there are a lot other things that we do for free that I'm just not aware of we find different ways to create opportunities for people and we a lot of that stuff like we but but so we're doing all of this and yet and still we have no solution to the cost so we were looking at this holistically like some of the the um the we call it the four horsemen like to say I think you lost one of them today but the four horsemen like to speak about you know like taking a a a basically a holistic look at what it is that we're facing this this problem that we have this isn't about people who are on the bus versus people who don't use the bus this is about what it actually takes to fix the problem framing the problem that we have do we have a solution for it so what is what is the commissioner gilbert in all of his his um his efforts he's trying to get us closer to the goal but this board doesn't want to be closer to the goal this board hasn't even identified a goal that makes sense for it and to give you an example of that it looks just the same as trying to increase the cost of garbage pickup in our community you know they're going to fire people you don't care you don't want to vote to raise the fee you know this is going to cut routes you know this may lead to also firings the mayor hasn't said that but you don't care because you don't want to vote to increase the fee so the board doesn't want to vote to increase the fee then maybe we just should not be increasing the fees or maybe then for increases of fees we we raise the standard to a much higher standard so that it forces people to come at least to some agreement as to what we're going to do um it's hard to vote in favor of this without a real proposed solution to get us closer to the goal or at least framing of that goal and so like i just don't consider this item to be ripe today i think that the item can be decided on another day hopefully um before commissioner get released because i think that it's in his spirit as someone who wants to find a better transit system for miami-dade county he's always fought towards that that we do something like this but it's very difficult it's a very difficult thing when i'm looking around the day is and i look around the room to all these people who get paid to propose ways in order for us to meet our needs well we don't get that that all we get is i i have a i have all we get is raise the fee raise the fee and so you know um at the end of the day who does the fee affect just the poor souls that ride it and have to pay that fee not even all of the riders just the ones that must ride it and have to pay the fee so it's it's it's that one thing it's no see like i was i was born in public housing right when you were in public housing at that time we had my grandmother she had food stamps and food stamps they used to come in the book you could rip them out now it's a much more sophisticated system they don't they don't give food stamps the way that they used to but what i thought about when you think about the way our society is kind of set up today those who are on food stamps you know we had the subsidized housing we had the food stamps you know um we we we had free and reduced lunch we had all these things to help us get from where we needed to be and i'm glad we did because without it no there's no telling where many of us would be in our lives um and then there's those who don't who don't need that right and they they send their kids to very nice schools you know these students attend shamana madonna and they attend ransom everglades and they attend all these fine institutions and probably will attend some of the best that's coming to miami but it's always those who choose to work hard and just don't make enough to make the ends meet they get taxed the worse and to me that's that's what we're doing here it's the person that works for the state attorney's office making 38 000 a year with two children living in housing and may not be able to afford a car that's the person that we're taxing and it's okay i think that sometimes when you must do it like we say 13 years 13 years um sometimes you you must you must raise a fee i get it you you have to raise a fee but if we're going to raise a fee then let's just do it in a way where it doesn't target just those people and so i think until then we need to take just a little bit of time to figure that out right who is it that we need to be raising fees on what other things can we do to reduce the cost are there any other things that we're doing that we're doing that could possibly save us money and by god at least shift the blame to those who deserve it because you're going to raise the fee today commission to give we take the blame and then the the sheriff's office is going to have their appeal and we're going to do more cuts i think we wait until it's necessary to put all of this all of our needs all of our our our things that we're anxious about on this one opportunity where we know we're going to have to give another entity the money that they requested even though we don't have it and so you know when when one of the students said you know you're you're taxing us you're paying you're texting us more you're choosing you're making us pay more but we're getting less um we've always given them more for less that's the way the system was created but now at this point you know it's it's it's it's just a very hard thing to do without other actual real proposals to make this a solution that makes sense because if people are if people are nervous about 50 cents and i say people i mean the people on this day is nervous about voting for an additional 50 cents you know how is it that we're ever going to get to a dollar so you know i'm one of those people so you know um and when it comes to like when it comes to like those of us you know it's like commissioner gilbert is to me he's he's making all the proper steps in order for us it's almost like a promise to the future that we'll do better but the promise to the future relies upon people that reminds me of a uh an esop for children it's called the farmer and the snake it says a farmer walked through this through his field one cold winter morning on the ground lay a snake stiff and frozen with the cold the farmer knew how deadly the snake could be and yet he picked it up and put it in his bosom to warm it back to life the snake soon revived and we had enough strength bit the farmer who had been so kind to it the bite was deadly and the farmer felt that he must die as he as he drew his last breath he said to those standing around learn from my fate not to take pity on the scoundrel and maya angelou i got solutions maya angelou had a statement that many of us remember and she said that when someone shows you who they are believe them the first time people know themselves much better than you do that's why it's important to stop expecting them to be something other than who they are everyone's we vote in favor of these things expecting other people to come along to show that they're going to try to meet the goal that we all have which is to ensure that miami dade county moves forward in a fiscally responsible in a way that we can deliver excellence to the people of miami but we know we can't deliver excellence with the way that the system is set today we know that even a 50 cent increase will not help deliver excellence we know that it takes a lot more to make it happen and every time we take a vote that's short of what it takes i feel as if we're relying on people who've already told us who they are what they want us or what what they want us to do and so you know i think that the best thing that we could do today is just is just table this for another meeting until we have a more robust way of looking at this and hopefully it comes sooner than later i'll motion to defer we have a motion oh hold your horses there hold your horses with the farm the snakes and all the hold the horses all right so we've got a motion on the floor in a second all right um i've got some to recognize over here and i don't know if there's a response over here all right so i'm going to recognize for a response because this is getting this is getting spicy rigatoni so we're gonna we're gonna spicy rigatoni it over here with the sponsor and then we're going to come back over here to you guys all right sponsor mr chairman thank you i'm commissioner harder and i appreciate your frustration i appreciate and understand the frustration of feeling like you have to carry the weight of making sober and adult decisions to keep a system flowing and so i appreciate that i i never determine what i'm going to do based on what you all are going to do i determine what's required for good governance and policy making and i set my feet and i do the right thing because that's required this solution doesn't make the system perfect it won't but but there is no one thing that does we incrementally improve until we get to a point you all want a final solution a final solution is figuring out how much the general fund is going to subsidize transit for out a year every year picking a number right now it's 89 percent maybe the number 75 percent maybe the number 60 percent and having everything adjust on that number automatically but wait we kind of did something like that in 2013 when they passed an ordinance for a fee increase and they built in a cpi so the fees are supposed to increase every year anyway we stopped them from increasing we waived the ordinance every year it's it's by our vote it's not like the old commissioners it's us too we waive it every year so what you need to bring the system into balance to stay at a certain percentage and to keep track with increased costs is built into the ordinance that they passed in 2013 but i think as a part of our budget ordinance we probably waive it every year so every year we actually affirmatively make a choice to throw the system farther and farther out of balance so if we're going to actually do something as a body we could stop doing that so as a commissioner i think i've done more to bring money into this system than anyone else i fought the entire county for the rtz and now you see these properties popping up and the tid has money in it and yes i don't want to raid the tid anymore that's why we converted it to a loan this year i don't think we should be raiding tid but but there is there's a point where we can continue to talk about well what if you did this and what do you i am completely in favor of charging metro mover folks that's always been my position i don't know why it's free but then they tell me they made it free for decongestion in downtown and that those people would just take their cars and it would cost well they could make that choice i'm okay with charging metro mover folks put the equipment in place and charge them i don't believe they should get a free ride we build discounts into this system almost religiously it seems like transportation disadvantage military senior citizens the golden passport there's a lot of ways to pay discounted fares into this system but but it still costs the same somebody else is paying for it so every time we do something like that we are charging the taxpayer we come to a point we can no longer afford to charge taxpayer i am generally not in favor of deferring this for a couple of reasons i don't know i know that my time on this board is short and this is going to be a very difficult thing for us to do i appreciate that this is something that has to get done i'm okay with policy fixes that stop us from being in this situation again if you remember i was the person who bought the solid waste adjustment so that it's supposed to increase every year with cpi but we have to have the courage not to waive it we have to have the courage to let it be a part of the system to tell people you know what last year when we passed the budget gas was 301 this morning it was 419 it's 419 we have to have the courage to say that we're waiving it right now commissioner i i don't know that there's a solution in waiting i don't know what will change in waiting i will say this i am very cognizant of the fact that there may be an appeal the appeal is going to be filed with the governor's office in the cabinet and they might actually adjust ask us to adjust our budget or command us to adjust our budget i don't know that exact process but if we do this this has to stay in the transit system that money can't i don't want i want to bring back those routes because the other part is this if we choose not to do this right now what we're saying is we're not going to restore those routes those nighttime routes i'm not prepared as someone who took the last bus i'm not prepared to say we can't do that so it is when we say delay the fiscal year is here we're either going to restore those routes or those people they got to find another way and so independent of when anyone else does i am prepared to vote yes on this and if you all aren't prepared to vote yes you provided vote it down vote it down but it won't be by me consenting to wait because i know wait waiting is cutting off their bus routes anyway thank you mr chairman thank you commissioner so we do have we do have a motion on the table so i'm going to recognize gonzalez and then regalado um but there's a motion before anybody other makes motions or amendments of course but um commissioner gonzalez and then regalado yeah so i was i was listening uh diligently to the comments that commissioner hartman made and i think that they were important comments i think we're saying the same thing um i just want to make it clear i i appreciate the hard work that commissioner gilbert is doing you know he's trying to he's trying to find the solution i don't think it's pertinent to kick the can down the road but i don't think it's fair to make a decision without having all the facts not only having all the facts but having all of the proper information as to what actually provide a real solution and so commissioner hartman you mentioned the comprehensive um transit study it's part of what i've mentioned and part of what commissioner mcgee has mentioned as well if we can't have the results of that study how can we make a decision today i'm not saying that i wouldn't vote for an increase if it's necessary but how are we voting for an increase without even contemplating what a real solution is going to eventually look like again i i commend commissioner gilbert for at least trying to move the needle but a simple deferral so that we can have the information necessary is not it's not only responsible but it's necessary to take on making a real solution that's why i i motion to defer and if i get a second that takes precedent if i don't then at least i tried thank you um and thank you commissioner gilbert i have a few ideas um you know every time that we've talked about the metro mover they brought up well we don't know how much the fair collection is in a cost which is why we can't tell you this has been the story for like three years since the first time i brought it up so finally at the budget i we passed an item and they're going to come back to us in two and a half months we don't need that because if we amend your item right now to say that we're going to charge for metro mover to cover the cost of the fair collection system and the back office plus a dollar a fee per user we're done we can now start charging for metro mover because really this whole they can spend another 10 years trying to figure out how much the fair system is going to cost when by the way as someone that's working on the fair system at tri-rail there's like a million ways to do it and we've talked to them about the million different ways to do it so i would feel comfortable you know supporting this today if you added that amendment and and a few more so one second so the other one is i think we need to audit the cost of eliminating the routes over the last five years we they keep eliminating routes and they keep bringing solutions that cost us more money and i just want the numbers you know we've asked for the numbers and i would like to have the numbers i mentioned the rtz this one we could do now or we could do later but i think we need to amend the rtz to require metro mover rtzs to contribute to the capital plan for the mover maintenance and construction that should be a requirement every time you go to bring an item into the metro mover subzone that developer should pay a piece of that community benefit to fix the metro mover station and the maintenance it shouldn't be up to the commissioner that's doing it it should just be our policy metro mover is costing us a small fortune we're overhauling the entire system and it should just be a requirement and i think that that would help us get to the other part of that and then there's three other things that i've talked about with staff that i think we should at least get some data for them on you know advertising and venue revenue opportunities at metro rail and metro mover stations even if it's not a lot of money let's look at it right let's look at it let's look at it we we talk about it but we don't look at it parking revenue is also one that we don't look at i know that once upon a time the city of miami gave them an offer but it was a disaster we should look at finding another vendor doing it ourselves figuring it out and finally we have all these parking rides half of them do not work there's a handful of parking rides at work and they're the majority of them are just a disaster so i think we need to deep dive into the parking rides and figure out how we can monetize those and you know what if people aren't using them do something else with them and put that money back into transit so those are my suggestions and i will support your item if we do those things mr chairman um i i i accept those as amendments the the last three were informational i i agree with the other ones philosophically you know i don't i do so i accept those as amendments on the uh i'll second i'll second your amendments five okay so all right so there's an amendment question jerry jerry mentioned yeah the bruce bruce has a because we talked about how it has to be an ordinance so we would be directing the administration to prepare the ordinance to do this correct that's fair all right so there's a motion and being amended so as amended seconded by my garcia okay he accepts the amendment um commissioner bastien but before we go any further and voting um i do um support the amendment by the way thank you uh commissioner regalado and i've been uh listening with a lot of attention but i also heard some of the speakers especially the young riders um uh who asked what about the night uh the nights uh those who write the metro buses at night what about them so i would support this if we also consider reinstated reinstating uh the night uh riders yeah that's that's what the money's for yes that's reinstating all the the the routes that were cut yeah understood it's not all of them but especially those who write at night yeah but even the night ones i don't believe it's all mr chair this is very important because we're we're talking about a group of people who uses the the the night buses to get home after work students who work late i remember when i was when i was going to fiu i used to stay very late at the library so a lot of the students rely on these night buses to get home commissioner i'm very concerned about that so commissioner and uh the director can can actually i'll let the director answer that to be honest but that's exactly what we're discussing it is for the night routes but to be clear and the director could could clarify i don't i don't think it's all of them i think it's maybe the more utilized ones but you want to clarify for it's important that the commissioner understands because she has a good point but it is for the night ones it is to restore the night ones but not a hundred percent of them well i'd like to hear from the administration uh clarify that and director if you may come back with a report on those that will be very helpful through the chair that i heard i heard the residents clearly about that director please through the chair the director will respond that's what just thank you stacy miller director and ceo department of transportation of public works included in the report that was sent to you indicates the 13 services that would be restored under this scenario they include several that are evening routes and several that are full route reinstatements if you recall correctly the original proposal cut morning service cut evening service and 12 routes this is a combination that supports reinstating either full route service or evening service on the highest use routes that were as part of the original proposal so i can list the routes if you would like me to but they are included so route 279 is a full route uh reinstatement director excuse me to clarify when it's full route that means early morning and late night the early morning has already been right and so stated this is a full day service we had originally eliminated the route in totality this reinstates that route can you director can you get with the commissioner of course she already has this list but i'm happy to give it to her um it lists the 13 improvements thank you director yes make sure that the commissioner receives it my pleasure was there a time as a 10 p.m the evening route that were originally intended to be eliminated were after 10 p.m this indicates the number of individuals that are served by the reinstatement of these 13 routes okay all right thank you director okay um all right so we have an amendment we have a motion we have a second clerk is this a broker clerk is the chairman i hate to do this to you but can we just be clear on what the amendments are because i think everyone here that that might get some folks to to to vote for the attorneys want to read the amendment or does the commissioner want to the amendment i have recorded here is to direct the administration to prepare the ordinance and the accompanying administrative order to establish a fair for metro mover that in that covers covers the cost of the fair collection system and an additional one dollar yes perfect okay all right and then but wait there's more there was the rtz so amend the rtz prepare the prepare the administration have the administration prepare an item to amend the rtz to require metro mover rtz's to contribute to the capital plan for mover maintenance and construction so everything that comes into the metro mover subzone um and then on the other ones were informational but important um provide information on advertising vending advertising and vending revenue opportunities at every metro mover and metro rail station provide information on parking revenue options at all transit stations review of park and ride viability and opportunities to generate revenue with other uses for low use park and rides and audit the cost of eliminated routes over the last five years all right so that said see no further discussion clerk please call the roll senator garcia aye commissioner gilbert commissioner gonzalez no commissioner hardiman commissioner lopez no commissioner milian orbis commissioner regalado yes commissioner steinberg commissioner bastien commissioner bermudez yes commissioner cohen higgins four vice chairman mcgee yes chairman rodriguez chairman rodriguez i vote no motion passes nine to four so i pass congratulations commissioner yes commissioner steinberg thank you um and i wish to direct make a motion to direct the um administration to please reevaluate the low ridership ones that are looking we have time between now and march to make sure that we find some ways to um help those routes thank you second all right there's a motion there's a second by commissioner lopez all in favor signify by saying aye aye all opposed nay so that motion passed commissioner cohen higgins for a motion thank you mr chair the attorneys have a quick motion related to the item 5k that just passed please read the item the motion commissioner cohen higgins moves to direct the county mayor or county mayor's designee to use up to 100 000 in district 8 discretionary funds to implement a one-year pilot program to allow for individuals of low income as established in florida statute section 420.0004 sub paragraph 11 residing within county commission district 8 to apply for and receive a reimbursement of the 50 cent fair increase for metro bus and metro rail service so the motion moved seconded by commissioner gonzalez commissioner harteman you recognize yeah i want to amend the motion to include district three commissioner commissioner commissioner commissioner yeah so i'm happy to amend the motion i didn't want to bring it because i i didn't know whether that item was going to pass or not the spirit behind this is very simple i'm putting district funds behind those who experience hardship as a result of that increase to be able to provide them with a subsidy coming from the district funds i don't have the wherewithal to administer that within my office and so i'm directing the administration to administer that but that's the spirit it's not coming out of general fund it's coming out of district 8 discretionary funds thank you mr chair so you're gonna and so i'm happy to amend it for district three thank you commissioner bermudis yeah i've got a question because i understand why commissioner cohen higgins is proposing this at this time but my only question and maybe it's not to commissioner cohen higgins it may it's maybe to the to the administration how do we determine uh or is there a criteria for determining who has the need because they'll do that much like kia and commissioner hardiman you know of course if we're going to do this then i think it's probably a wise thing for most of us to do it but i'm just curious what criteria we use or is that's for you to determine what the administration yeah yeah yeah that's what i'm but but this is just creating the program and then all the all the details to to it will come will follow i suppose but similar to like our small business grants right that we determine kind of what the parameters are okay so if that's the case then and i'm not against the pilot program because the pilot program okay then i would request that if we can uh when it comes back that the pilot program works it doesn't work to know what the criteria is that's being used because it's very difficult and look we all want to help everybody there is no free lunch okay there isn't there's no free rights commissioner gilbert's 100 000 correct the fact is everything costs money in the in government too by the way the only places where government does not have to pay when they do really is dictatorships and i don't want to live in a dictatorship i agree so so but i would like to if you can commissioner cohen higgins i'm going to support it if you can eventually when you do this pilot program you know i'd like to find the criteria i i i'd like to also if if the sponsoring commissioner of the motion is okay with it a friendly amendment and i don't know if this is right to do or not but if we can just amend it to that we don't have to make the decision like the decision that hardiman just made that we have to make it right in this moment but throughout the process of the pilot program any commissioner district that wants to opt in to the to the directive obviously it'll be from our district funds obviously but that we're able to opt into this pilot program for our districts if we choose to in a month in two months that we don't have to bring another motion or something like that i think that's a very vanilla is that okay uh through the chair yeah i absolutely accept that amendment and to commissioner bermudis's question um i agree regarding the criteria but florida statute that was mentioned in the motion 420 apparently outlines parameters for low income individuals that i believe is a safe metric to utilize again just covering those that will experience hardship by the 50 50 cents to be able to have some relief should they apply through our offices in order to do so thank you mr chair all right you're gonna so i okay uh vice chair wants to include also district nine i think my motion covers everybody every district really but um all right so we got a motion we have a second as amended as amended um all in favor signify by saying aye aye aye all opposed nay shall the motion uh passed all right um where am i i just finished public hearing mr chair um madam attorney yes it in reference to 5d yes i was gonna get there yes that's a brownsfield um we just did the first public hearing um that will will come back again for its second but i believe commissioner milian orbis has a motion regarding the time of the public hearing for the second commissioner would you like for us to read that for you yes jerry please go ahead if through the chair yeah section 376.80 of the florida statutes requires two public hearings on brownfield area designation resolutions the second public hearing must be held after five o'clock pm on a weekday unless the board by a majority vote plus one elects to conduct that hearing at another time of day commissioner million orbis moves that the second public hearing on the brownfield area designation resolution item 5d be held on october 20th 2026 during this board's regular meeting which is scheduled to begin at 9 30 a.m adoption of this motion will also serve as the announcement of the second public hearing as the statute requires it's been moved it's been seconded by commissioner bermudez all in favor signify by saying aye all opposed nay show the motion passed all right madam attorney let's read a second reading items at this time yes 7a is an ordinance relating to the rapid transit system development zone amending section 33c-2 of the code amending the metro mover sub zone of the rapid transit zone to add certain private property providing severability inclusion in the code and an effective date seven season ordinance creating the miami-dade county boater safety and bay education advisory board creating article 172 of chapter 2 of the code providing for the composition and duties of the board and other related matters providing severability inclusion in the code and an effective date seven days of ordinance relating to environmental protection amending sections 24-5 24-18 and 24-43 of the code revising a definition authorizing administrative approval of emergency generators for health care facilities and food stores within a well-fueled protection area subject to certain conditions providing severability inclusion in the code and an effective date those are your second reading items any bifurcations on second reading um commissioner million orbis on 7c 7c by orbis okay and any other bifurcations seeing none commissioner bastian commissioner hardiman are you looking to bifurcate on item 7a i just want to pass it so let's not address it until later until a little later i'll let you know got it so we'll bifurcate it for now okay all right commissioner bastian moves the remainder of the items which is two of them seconded by commissioner lopez clerk please call the roll on which is basically 7b and 7d mr chair 7b was deferred to no date certain okay so 7d essentially is the only one then commissioner gilbert commissioner gonzalez four commissioner hardiman commissioner lopez yes commissioner million orbis commissioner regalado commissioner steinberg commissioner bastian commissioner bermudez yes commissioner queen higgins senator garcia vice chairman mcgee chairman rodriguez i vote yes motion passes unanimously all right commissioner orbis on 7c thank you thank you mr chair 7c yes so i want to thank commissioner steinberg for sponsoring this item we both have the pleasure of serving on the biscayne bay watershed uh task advisory board and we understand the importance of voter safety it comes up all the time at these meetings i want to acknowledge that the parents of lucy fernandez are here i i know they're in support of the item uh and you know that their tragedy was really our tragedy in miami-dade county and it raised so much awareness as to the need for voter safety uh and if i can have them yeah stand and just be recognized i appreciate you can approach yes thank you thank you mr chair to have them approach as well so you can approach the wall by the way thank you commissioner for pulling the item and i was going to invite them as well yes we appreciate your presence and all the advocacy that you do for voter safety i'm 100 in agreement that we need to bring more awareness to the need for you know safe safety measures when you're conducting a boat and and there should be more requirements before someone can just take a boat out and we're so very sorry for the loss that your some your family has suffered and it's also been our community has suffered along with you i myself have a daughter and i cannot imagine so i'm very sorry i do have a friendly amendment commissioner steinberg i would offer a proposal to name the board the lucy fernandez boulder safety and bay education advisory board and i think that would really help to drive the mission of this board and bring another level of seriousness to what you want to accomplish through this board if you accept thank you thank you commissioner and uh for that as well commissioner steinberg accepting that i think that's a great initiative um commissioner lopez you're recognized as well thank you mr chairman i'm so grateful to see mel and andy here today i was the sponsor of lucy's law in the florida house and we spent an entire year um listening uh over and over and over to the stories of not only lucy but how this whole tragedy impacted so many people and you know not the least of which has been you know the fernandez family so um you made a real difference i'm not certain that the law would have been passed had it not been for your enduring uh resilience uh and i'm sorry that you had to tell your story you know in three committees in the house three committees in the senate but we got it passed and i'm grateful for this commission now doing uh this and thank you for that amendment lucy uh lives large in all of us who have worked on voter safety but i know how hard this has been on all of you and i'm just grateful to see you again you know how much i love you grateful for this commission's support of lucy and lucy's law thank you thank you and and thank you for being here if there's anything you would like to add or say i mean the pulpit is yours at this point uh i do appreciate you being here i think this is an issue that's close to all of us and and you said it best commissioner orbis uh it has obviously affected your family the most um as they say you know there's no word there's no word for losing a child you know you lose a spouse you know your widow widower no word for losing a child uh but but it went beyond your family for whatever reason for the right reasons and the reasons you all know this impacted our entire community and the entire state of florida and beyond so thank you for being here and and turning such a tragedy into into a positive trying to do the right thing um you know i never actually actually i've never talked about on the states but my my first cousin you know lost his life in a boating accident as well aussie's angels is is of money castellanos um so this is something that has affected my my family personally so i i i know it very well and and just it affects the entire community so thank you for being here and please you know feel free to add as you wish thank you thank you chairman rodriguez and and members of the the board of county commissioners uh my name as mentioned is andy fernandez i had the honor of serving as chairman of mayor daniela levine cavas boater safety and bay education task force uh more importantly my wife melissa and i are here today because as mentioned we lost our daughter lucy in a tragic senseless and preventable boating accident labor day weekend 2022 lucy was just 17 years old she had just begun her begun her senior year of high school after lucy's passing we formed the lucy fernandez foundation and have committed our lives to border safety education advocacy and enforcement in 2025 that work helped lead to enhancing border safety laws in florida including a law bearing lucy's name referenced as lucy's law which passed nearly unanimously and took effect on july 1st 2025. thank you commissioner lopez for your leadership and support in tallahassee we definitely couldn't have done it without you but we knew our work could not stop there we believe something good had to continue to come from our loss it's important to highlight that i come to this discussion wearing two distinct hats the first the grieving parent who lost his 17 year old daughter but also as an avid and lifelong boater who has been boating in our backyard for over 40 years i was operating a boat before i was driving a car that is why i want to thank madam mayor for her leadership and for trusting me to chair this task force i also want to thank the mayor's staff for the countless hours and hard work they put into it and i want to thank every member of the task force over seven meetings they gave their time their expertise and their hearts to this effort in may we delivered our final report to the mayor we also want to stand here today before you and thank the sponsors of the ordinance that is before you today commissioner steinberg the prime sponsor along with commissioner bastien senator garcia commissioner lopez commissioner miliano ortiz commissioner regalado and commissioner bermudez thank you for taking this work forward the most important recommendation in our task force report is the one before you today a permanent boater safety and bay education advisory board why does that matter because no group can identify and solve every boater safety issue in miami-dade county in just seven meetings a permanent advisory board makes sense makes this work ongoing it can track our recommendations help ensure they are followed through and give the county a platform to identify and address new issues as they arise at the end of the day we all share the same goal to save lives and make boating safer for every resident of miami-dade county our family's loss cannot be undone but with your support we can help make sure that another family does not have to stand where we are standing here today thank you for your support and thank you for your vote thank you very much and of course i i think you heard you said earlier you did create an official foundation right yes i'm gonna i'm gonna can i put 2500 into the foundation at this time just just make a motion we'll do the same all right so bermudez bastian orbis gonzalez regalado cohen higgins myself mcgee steinberg gilbert lopez and garcia all 2500 hours each uh to the lucy fernandez foundation yes all right thanks so uh i've been moved seconded by commissioner cohen higgins all in favor signify by saying aye aye all opposed nay uh a little something to continue spreading the message and thank you and the word in our community so thank you for all the work that you're doing and again turning this tragedy into a positive so thank you appreciate you guys and i'll co-prime or prime or co or support whatever i can do for the uh for the item itself so and did we vote on the item already i know mr chair we need a roll call all right so clerk please uh it's been moved by commissioner steinberg second seconded by commissioner orbis did you say everything you had to get on the record yes all right clerk please call the roll commissioner gonzalez four commissioner harteman commissioner lopez commissioner million orbis yes commissioner regalado commissioner steinberg commissioner bastian commissioner bermudez yes commissioner queen higgins or senator garcia commissioner gilbert vice chairman mcgee yes jerry make sure i'm a co-sponsor on this one thank you yes chairman rodriguez i vote yes motion passes unanimously congratulations on the double win thank you thank you for all you do appreciate it continue doing god's work all right um i think i have what i have left in second readings is 7a commissioner harteman are you prepared commissioner move to approve it and move to approve 7a second by commissioner cohen higgins clerk please call the roll commissioner harteman commissioner lopez commissioner million orbis commissioner regalado yes commissioner steinberg commissioner bastian commissioner bermudez commissioner cohen higgins senator garcia aye commissioner gilbert commissioner gonzalez four vice chairman mcgee yes chairman rogeruez i vote yes motion passes unanimously mr chairman can i release eight and one fourteen yeah eight and fourteen move it all right it's been moved uh well that was i had it pulled by d11 was that renee that pulled it was that on your list it might have been a mistake eight and fourteen oh i'm sorry ap fourteen eight p for it of course senator garcia confusing me here all right ap fourteen i didn't oh yeah here it is okay so it's released so you'll move it uh so it moves ap fourteen seconded by commissioner regalado all in favor signify by saying aye aye all opposed nay show it passed all right um i'm going to go ahead and call any other releases on the police any other releases seeing none i'm gonna get started with the police and d11 on uh 2b5 2b5 smart plan report thank you mr chair and you have 2b12 which is also a report i don't know if you want to tackle both at the same time or if they're different issues 2b5 thank you mr chair uh so yeah i just have a couple questions to the administration um how does the report how does the report comport with what was promised to voters when the surtax was implemented in the first place did the voters get what they were promised with your original surtax deputy mayor are you going to refer to the yeah um commissioner we've prepared a very short presentation that would lay all of that out and i think would answer the question if you would allow the staff five minutes i think it may answer a lot of questions or we can answer them individually however you want to do it mr chair can i just go through the questions it's just a few questions absolutely to the to the chair joseph diaz deputy director of the department of transportation and public works um some of what was voted on by the voters back in 2002 related to the people's transportation plan it's it's unrelated to the smart program and some of the quarters that are here some of them have some synergies but it's it's a it's a it was a different there were more um items in within the 2002 vote there were more items because i i have the ballot question the ballot question says uh shall the county implement the people's transportation plan plans to build rapid transit lines in west dade kendall florida city miami beach north dade expanding bus services adding 635 buses improving traffic signalization that one i think we've done or i think you're working on right now yes sir um to reduce traffic backups improving major and neighborhood roadways and highways including drainage and funding to municipal road and transportation projects that one i think you guys are doing as well um by living a half percent sales tax whose proceeds will be overseen by the citizens independent transportation trust that's what i have so as you correctly mentioned some of the corridors or generally some of the corridors or transit service rapid transit was identified in that ballot along with many other items including some public works and neighborhood improvement items that as a result of voting at the state level are no longer can no longer be funded through surtax so it's a little bit of a different menu i would say of items from what was voted in 2002 to the smart corridor itself because look my hesitancy here is so the question is did did we complete some of the did we come how many of these promises did we complete because my hesitancy here is you know we asked in the first place to implement this tax we made promises of those promises i see from the ballot two that are being delivered i don't see the other ones and so why should we go back to the taxpayers to ask them for more money when we promise certain things and they weren't delivered and now we're essentially saying hey taxpayers give us more money and the promises that we made in 2002 now we'll deliver them it just it doesn't make sense because you know the vehicles of recommendation are expanding surtax by 50 cents ballot question general obligations bond must be approved by referendum transit millage imposes um more uh property owners uh taxes so at the end of the day what's what's the logic here you know we we implemented the surtax in the first place we said we were going to deliver on all these projects i see two that we are delivering on why should we go back to taxpayers and say hey taxpayers remember those promises we made this time we're for sure going to do it so i want to establish a bit of clarification some of a lot of the actual items that were mentioned there have been delivered purchases of buses neighborhood improvements the actual transit the actual signal work that was performed hat was a first generation improvement and an update was completed and we're actually in the second generation now that is not funded through the people's transportation plan so many of those improvements have been realized along with that as part of the smart program which is in large part funded through people's transportation plan surtax dollars we have delivered the south corridor and are in the process of delivering or working through another project being the northeast corridor which is in the engineering phase of the capital investment grant program through the federal government so the 635 buses we added those yes we through the life of of um of um of since the implementation we have added and replaced many of the fleet with those dollars and so i i have that i have the improving traffic signalization we're continuing to deliver on that and funding to municipalities for road transportation projects which includes trolleys and stuff right yes sir what i don't have is the rapid transit lines to west dade kendall florida city miami beach north dade west dade those we have those we haven't delivered on those have through the life of the plan have been in different stages of development and for one reason or another they have not come to full realization i think we have to understand what we're trying to do with this report is show the current status show what the inflationary impacts along with other impacts of current funding are and present several scenarios to you as requested via the resolution that was passed by the resolution that was passed by the last in december of 2025 possible scenarios that could serve to fund the the implementation of the smart program over the coming years and i do appreciate that and i'm looking forward to the presentation but the answer is we didn't deliver on those promises not fully thank you no further questions um all right i have questions i have questions for him commissioner bermuda's you reckon yeah because i'm i share commissioner gonzalez's sentiment that we did not deliver on this and um i remember the history including the 20 for the municipality because miami gardens commissioner gilbert and i obviously and others and shirley gibson ended up shilling the county very proudly so back then uh and but here's here's my problem and it's to you guys in the administration not even so much to them the the the bottom line of transportation in miami-dade county and the first time it failed with the penny sales tax and now with this half penny sales tax and you can correct me if i'm wrong the county commission took some of those dollars that were dedicated to transportation to fill holes in the budget did it not because i remember clearly when wasn't this mayor but the former mayor money's removed correct or does everybody have amnesia um because it'll it'll my follow-up question will be if we ever do this again is there a way that we can guarantee that the funds that are dedicated to transportation if the citizens vote for it are used for transportation and not to plug holes in other parts of the system because i agree with commissioner gonzalez that when you make a commitment to the residents and they vote upon that it should be i can refresh the history for you because i like to read a lot so i remember when um the gentleman that ran the entity i'm not going to say his name because he was in front of us a number of different times ended up buying all this furniture and then pinela's got all the bad press and it started it started off bad you know people voted for certain things that and i remember because we had just found the city of dorale we had meetings on this thing to go ahead and get these things good go out to west dade and kendall that's never happened and the crux of the problem has been and that's why you guys the illustrious law firm of miami-dade county llc i would like to know can we can we if we ever go to the voters again in any way shape or form guarantee that those dollars will be used for its purpose because they are running the department it's not their fault and by the other question i have they might be able to answer that the state has obviously preempted or changed the rules on us you know i'd like to know what it is they changed but i the the crux of this problem goes to to why people have no faith in government you tax them you say it's going to be for x and then you make it for y and i know the whole argument is going to be there was a budget crisis 2008 because there was no construction yada yada yada but the fact is the commitment was made to the residents of miami-dade county that they were voting to tax themselves including all of us to improve our transportation system and it wasn't done and today we have spent numerous hours it's past lunchtime now just that's why i call it numerous hours we're not even halfway through this thing talking about transportation so i you know i'm fine with some of your proposals but i will never vote again as long as i'm an elected official and or as a resident for a county that tells me we are going to dedicate these dollars to this and then somebody either in my position or one of the 12 others or even in the mayor's position can change it because that goes to the core of why people are losing faith in our system so i hope you don't have to give me the answer today because i see the befuddled look between both of you not you roy the the attorneys uh but i hope that you can give us if there has to be a solution legally that if the residents of miami-dade county vote to do water glasses we spend it on water glasses we don't spend it on other holes we may have in the system because that goes to the core of what commissioner gilbert talked about when he was talking about his item which is you make a promise keep the promise you make a commitment to use it for x use it for x you know and we it's i'm not blaming this commission and i'm not even blaming this mayor but the fact is commissioner gilbert's right if there was supposed to be a cost of living increase oh guess what you got rid of the cost of living increase so today 13 14 years later we have to sit here and as commissioner hardiman mentioned take the hit because those decisions were just and then as commissioner gonzalez mentioned is what the heck did we vote on he just read the ballot question if i was a resident of miami-dade county i am i shouldn't say that because i still am a resident miami-dade county i'm not i wouldn't be here i would never vote for this any of this because nobody's shown me that the dollars we commit to use for x are used for x so that's my two cents worth but i would like you don't have to give me the answer today just don't get mad because you're you're a good guy you know bruce you're a good guy too sorry jerry you too but i would like to get an answer if we do that um i'd like to get an answer if we put anything in front of the voters how can we make it stick so anybody who's in any of our seats can't change it because i got news for you there's a lot of people that want these positions as you can tell and it's not always for the right reason so i just want to make sure um you know uh we we get answers and and uh i i i i'm all fine with uh and then the other thing i would say is what has changed by the way from the department what has changed that the state changed that we can't do from that list that was read by commissioner gonzalez thank you commissioner yeah are you expecting an answer an hour madam mayor we can answer at least that component if you'd like the mayor wanted to say something yes thank you through the chair just want to add a history note none of us were here when this was put on the ballot and it's to my understanding that the original plan was a full penny and when it was determined to make it a half penny the language was not altered and therein lies the lie that has been perpetuated and has created so much distrust and confusion over the years you cannot do all those things with a half penny when it was programmed for a full penny i wasn't here at the time maybe there was a modification but whatever was on the ballot was not what the public understood the public understood they would get metro rail to the west they would get the north they would get the south all of those things were premised on a full penny which was not what was passed all right so commissioner gilbert you recognize and this is this item so yeah um mr chairman just the predicate assumption the predicate proposal was was for a penny it ended up getting cut back the promises didn't get reduced commensurately um additionally from and we've done some work on this from a tpo perspective we've looked at this a number of times um additionally a lot of the things and this is why i try to speak very precisely about transit so i like commissioner mcgee vice chairman mcgee excuse me um the north was promised metro rail also we don't have metro rail one of the things that was omitted when the promise was made was the things that i've been working on in the interim um they they neglected to tell the folks in the south or the north that you can't have rail along corridors without certain far and density because you can't have partnership with the federal government or state government they won't chip in they didn't say those things and that's why i i'm very precise when i have the conversation we we can't do one without the other we know we need it they didn't say it the lie was definitely told it was told to the north and the south that was in the west that was part of why i pushed so hard for the rtz i realized that along those corridors if ever we're going to make good on the promise we have to change the zoning in those corridors at some point after i'm gone this board will be confronted with the second part of the rtz which was we asked cities to comply there is a mechanism for when cities don't but there has to be adjustments along the rtz to allow for far so the federal government can actually be a partner in paying for rapid mass transit and we know we need it that's the first thing the second thing commission bermudez you're right i would have a problem and to the vice chair i would have a problem um asking for the second half penny and trusting us with it um if the second half penny is ever contemplated and voted on i don't think it should should be left in the hands of the county i think it should be um a joint board with not even the citt nothing that we can override because our ability to override it will always allow that to be the choice if it is easier than doing the hard thing and so i would suggest that if this and in full disclosure i was going to try i didn't anticipate running for congress i didn't i was going to try to bring back the half penny and it was going to be with the creation of a transit authority that they strictly governed it that we could be a part of it but we shouldn't be able to overrule what the people vote on directly and that's what happened those are the type of mechanisms that will have to be in place to even begin to convince voters that they need to invest in a rapid mass transit system having said that we know that our congestion costs in this county in this this this area we lose literally billions of dollars a year we're just used to it now it's not sustainable in the next 20 years we have to build out a rapid mass transit system or we will see a decrease in our economic development economic viability we will still people see people begin to lose and leave this county in numbers and businesses will leave this county in numbers that will make this urbanized area unsustainable so i know we know it's something that from an academic perspective that our directors and assistant director and mayor we know it's something that has to be done we just haven't quite figured out how to do it yet and so i look forward to actually working with you all um in different capacity on that move the item i move the item move it seconded by the vice chair all right so move second and a quick statement vice chair uh thank you mr chair and and commissioner gilbert i totally agree with both you and commissioner gonzalez and also the chair right because the west for some reason was left out of the equation but when we analyze everything the south actually owned its own railway railway and we we blew well not going to say we on this board but i'm going to say they blew an opportunity to utilize that in a way that would have been very beneficial for the great folk of miami-dade county overall because the great folk out of the south and in kindle west they're heading up to miami and miami beach to go to work and secondly when you look at this system the way it's set up now let's be absolutely clear if you strip away everything of why the north and the south were both simultaneously excluded from this rail mechanism you when you strip everything away you come away with the reality that the people who occupied those spaces when this particular item passed were individuals who those who were in power at the time thought were not politically astute or socially positioned well were economically strong that that's that's the truth because otherwise we wouldn't have pushed forth a metro mover we would have given those people in the north and the south something to push forward in good faith their position when they took a vote we would have but we didn't so but the action of those who did showed exactly what their intents were at the time and so listen to get to make the north and the south hold right even in the west i'm okay with a half cents increase but i don't think we should do a half cent i think we should just do the full penny and i think in the process of and like commissioner gilbert stated earlier i have legislation that actually hasn't been agenda yet but we do need a transportation authority i do not i do not trust the same mechanism that got us here to get us out of it has to be an independent body given full authority with the taxpayers dollars to get us out of this mess that's the only way it's going to happen and when they gave the south a rail that had wheels on it which was a real bus but dressed up as a metro rail you knew then the fix was in and as i quote the mayor's word it all of that was a lie so the question now becomes what do we do now now that we know better and we're prepared to do better is there a world where the taxpayers are inclined to tax themselves an extra penny or half a penny to deal with the reality of this right now the south and the north and the west are growing so rapidly that it now takes 45 minutes to get to to get from exit six to exit nine and rush hour traffic and on the way back home on the way back home to the south and to the north it's taken at least an hour to get from here across 836 just to get to bird road now that doesn't include the bird road to florida city portion and it doesn't include the 62nd all the way up to 183rd those things have been left out of the equation so the truth of the matter is yes we relied to now the question is what do we do again i would not push to the side a conversation that we look into creating a transit authority giving that transit authority the ability to raise the funds with private and public dollars to make sure that the people are whole that's those are my positions on the record and i just look forward to seeing that that come to fruition one day mr chairman so thank you mr from district seven you recognize thank you um a few things that i think are important and i appreciate the frustration but if i think if we're going to make these decisions we have to look at best practices throughout the state of florida there are several counties that have independent transit authorities and don't have mass transit jacksonville they have a lot of buses so i don't think we're gonna i don't think we should assume that a different mechanism will provide a different outcome broward county is it has a full full penny and they're sitting on billions of dollars which they have not spent because they're not sure how to move forward with transit so i think we should be careful to throw the baby out with the bath water on this one i think the people that sit here today have a different mindset than the folks that sat here before and i think also the law has changed a lot of the ideas that birthed the smart plan were based on the current law at the time that had eminent domain paying pennies on the dollar for land that has radically changed eminent domain pays market rate so that's why every time we sit at the tpo and we look at something as simple as the extension of a road the numbers blow your mind so that's why two years ago almost three now there were a series of items that um commissioner mcgee and i brought on reactivating rail lines because if you look throughout the state of florida why are people turning to rail because the rail is already there and all you have to do is pay a fee to use it you don't have to buy it you don't have to spend years in eminent domain you don't have to create an infrastructure you have a train and you put the train on the rail so but at the time we were not allowed to bring the items because there was a whole discussion about how you know the commissioner at the time was going to bring solutions for transit and we were gonna you know mucky up everything by bringing in trains um and time and time again what we're finding is that counties all over the state of florida are turning to their rail lines and turning to trains because it is the cheapest way to provide mass transit at present maybe it wasn't when the smart plan you know was first envisioned maybe it wasn't 10 years ago but in today it is so you know i remember that all those items were put in some perpetual black hole um i remember talking to csx talking to fec i know that the administration has been talking to fec you know even when we talked about the kendall parkway the kendall parkway was supposed to have a rail line and that was approved by fdot and that was supposed to create a connection there are rail lines in commissioner bermudas district there are rail lines in commissioner harteman's district there are rail lines in commissioner bastian's district there are there are rail lines in you know countywide if you look at the rail map yes some of them are ghost lines some of them are not being used some of them need to be refurbished but i will promise you that the refurbishing of those lines is much much cheaper than buying land and building some enormous structure that's going to cost us billions of dollars which is why i proposed using the existing line for the port connector which is why we're looking at extensions it's why um commissioner harteman um approved you know in in the in the swirl development doing a little river station i mean that that there's a there's going to be a tri-rail station in little river at zero cost to the county serving thousands and thousands of residents and that is transportation that may not be transportation as it was presented to the voters for the half penny but that doesn't make it less transportation so i think one of the things we have to do is kind of open our minds a little bit and start thinking about solutions in this current moment with these current market conditions with the current assets that we use and the current partners that we have to try to find solutions that move humans because at the end of the day the promise of the smart plan was that we were going to move humans in some sort of transit now yes back then in 1980 something you know it looked like metro rail but that doesn't mean that that's our only option and that it needs to be something that is so heavily dependent on federal and state funding to get off the ground so i i hope you know i love trains um and and they're making a comeback and i hope that at some point we start talking again about those rail lines reactivating those rail lines and as i've said a million times on this if you start with freight it is at no cost to the county and then you move from there to potentially double tracking and doing passenger but you need to reactivate those lines in order to have this conversation and you would be surprised how far you can get with your existing infrastructure instead of sitting here for another 10 years talking about building more infrastructure okay all right so we have we have a motion to this is just a report we have a motion on the report uh we had to accept the report or not but um it's been seconded uh all in favor of the report signify by saying aye all oppose nay show to be five uh adopted all right and while you're up there don't go too far director and and deputy so while you're up there i'm going to skip ahead to an item that i pulled eight and four the bear cup bridge study so i'm not and the mayor could respond or the director but if you want to approach the well director i'm not opposed to this item i just i kind of need an update and i know the historic the history behind it but like i'll cut to some of my questions is you know back in 22 there was funds identified to do this study and kind of move it forward what has been what has happened since whatever january february of 22 what's different now i think there was five million dollars allocated back in 22 was that used is that money still there this for the bear cut bridge this is through through the chair the director will answer yeah so like what's happened right what's different now than in 22 why has this not as a stalled what has happened so we are in an active project development and environmental study this memorandum that's before you is actually the agreement between the florida department of transportation and the county that establishes the rules by which we will perform the project development and environmental study ultimately fdot florida department of transportation will sign off on that study in 2016 the federal highway administration entered into a memorandum of understanding with the florida department of transportation that assigned the responsibility of approving project development and environmental studies to the state of florida that was updated in 2022 so that's that initial agreement all this agreement is is establishes the framework by which we conduct the pd and e study so that the florida department of transportation can ultimately approve the bear cut pd and e when it's completed so what why did that take so long what what is the what's the condition between the bridge today compared with like 2022 what's what's been updated like what's the what has been done in all these years so the the bridge continues to unfortunately deteriorate it was in the 60s it's now in the upper 30s low 40s we have done a repair project which was completed that we have another repair project programmed in a few years as well that is normal unfortunately that is a normal part of the process once a bridge essentially drops to a certain uh bridge rating number you start the project development and environmental study so that you are prepared to do a replacement in time the the bridge is is functionally obsolete and there are some structural deficiencies but it is not unsafe in any way shape or form so does this commit the county to a replacement hold on a second this commits to the process it includes the no build option the repair option and multiple replacement options that is a normal course of business for a project development and environmental study and that's what we're reviewing right now mr chair yeah commissioner yeah if you could if i could yeah if i could shed some light so um when we did when the county did the william powell bridge it was very very painful because they're the four um almost four years there was down to one lane in order to get in and out of that area so this has been we've tried to do this differently you know this comes out of the toll money but we've brought in key biscayne and the rest of the stakeholders and we've been working with the administration to do a better job with the bear cut and potentially fix the issues that we have in the rickenbacker key biscayne has contributed a million dollars to the design and the planning of the shoreline and we've been working with all the stakeholders as to their contribution so that we don't repeat the william powell so that when we do the bear cut we can actually fix the problems on the rickenbacker so that's why this took a little bit longer we've been doing the nepa but we wanted to not just patch it up and walk away but really fix the problems that we have in the rickenbacker and staff has been amazing and so has f thought honestly in looking kind of outside of what normally is a bridge project to do something that's thoughtful and that fixes the problems that we have in that entire corridor and not repeat the same mistakes of the william powell i mean and that's where i'm getting to like again i'm not opposed to this i think this needs to get done at some point my question is more why is it taking so long because it's a lot of stakeholders so we got we got it took a while to get to get everybody on board this is key biscayne the federal government the state government the city of miami the university of miami it's a lot of stakeholders and a lot of different ideas and we're all moving in the same direction but it's a lot of it's just a lot of people that needed to kind of sit at the table this pd and the pd and e study that allows us to then position ourselves to go get like federal funding and so the project development and environmental study a positions us to receive federal resources and it sets us up for the federal permits that will be required because this is a navigable waterway so it's twofold the project development and environmental study or the pd and e study associated with this memorandum is just the bear cut as commissioner regalato was mentioning there is a larger goal for the shoreline but that coordinates with this pd and e study it doesn't usurp the pd and e study a separate pd and e study may be needed in the future for the shoreline so we're coordinating those efforts and that's what's taking so long is the coordination but the good news is we're all on the same page so what's what and then you could you can move the item after this last question is like what what's the new timeline on this like when what's the because it's been a while already i'm only referencing 2022 but in reality this goes back to what 2013 or 12 like this is but i will i mean i i think we're moving really fast i mean the even the community meetings have gone very well i mean i don't i i understand your point in that it took us a while to get everybody on board but now that everyone's on board i think it's going to move even faster than before because everybody's on board so or is it like is there still money from that 22 5 million dollar allocation was that spent already or well remember part of this is paid from the tolls so as as the project right so the toll money continues to be collected perfect yeah but is this is there still money left from that allocation of the five million dollar allocation like was that used because nothing that that report wasn't completed right and i apologize i'll have to look into the five million dollars that there was a there was a capital budget i think that was for some of the the patches the patchwork that was done so but i don't think it's all spent but there was some patchwork that has been done over time i'll be more than happy to look into that right in a moment it's toll money so it's not taxpayer dollars but but still it's important that if there's money left over that we apply that as well but all the funds are acquired on the rickenbacker stay on the rickenbacker they are toll revenues any other grant opportunities that we receive are for specific projects that can only be used on the rickenbacker so there's no way that those funds would be used elsewhere but i will confirm i will i will add another benefit to the time is the administration has gotten a grant um where we're looking at different financing for bridges and this is kind of the test case so we're we're really digging deep to try to find different solutions other than kind of the toll and the weight you know for the state and federal stakeholders you want to move it move it thank you by commissioner regalado seconded by commissioner lopez all in favor signify by saying aye aye all opposed nay show the item passed um commissioner from district eight you're recognized on the second quarter uh tokyo sinapur airport report thank you mr chair i pulled the item for a simple amendment the administration asked that this report be generated less frequently to send me annually so i move resolution 1036 dash 25 to have the report come back before us instead of quarterly to semi-annually thank you moved by commissioner cohen higgins seconded by gonzalez um all in favor signify by saying aye all opposed nay show that to be seven passed uh commissioner from district 11 you're recognized on 2b12 the biscayne bay report card uh thank you mr chair and you know i want to start off by saying that i am one thousand percent in favor of maintaining the health of biscayne bay um i just have a couple of questions on the report um the county's dedicated at a minimum over 15 million dollars in its current capital program for biscayne bay restoration and that doesn't include numerous uh separate bay restoration water quality habitat debris removal and related expenditures so um my question is and i i know that there's a board that that we have online but given the substantial public investment in biscayne bay restoration um why has overall bay health shown only a minimal improvement and i'm sure i'm sure there's an answer for this yes uh through the chair uh if i may address this um commissioner thank you so much for calling this out this was actually my legislation when i was a commissioner i learned about a similar approach in chesapeake bay and we adopted it here and one of the things that we did was do an impact study to show that biscayne bay has a 64 billion dollar impact on our economy clearly we are dependent upon a clean bay you're what are some of the things we've done i know we have here our derm director can go through some of those investments with you and we have shown some improvements but it's a very comprehensive system for example restricting fertilizer use during the rainy season has been a contributor adding additional monitoring staff for example on construction sites construction sites put a lot of debris into the water which is injurious we also have some of the canals that are particularly toxic and some of those have been cleaned another is septic to sewer obviously we now with rising sea levels we have more compromised septic so we've had an aggressive program connect to protect to particularly focus on those that are compromised that are leaching leaking uh sewage into the waterways so there's any number of things that we have to do to address this concern uh and if you want to have some of the details on what uh durham has overseen uh lauren para is here and of course our deputy mayor was uh director of solid waste i mean sorry water and sewer and also jay think our director is here to tell you about connect to protect if you'd like to know more about that thank you madam mayor and again i just want to highlight that i think that i think this is a great initiative um and i think that it's necessary um my question is geared more towards like like for example what i'd like to know is like what specific measures and benchmarks does the county use to determine whether individual restoration projects are successful because because my my whole thing is i saw that i saw the chart that we have online and and i know that there's a differential between the yellows and the reds right um and there's there's more yellows than reds now but it seems like we're you know we're we're moving very slowly so i i i want to know why with the substantial investments that we've made and the great ideas that have been posed why are we moving so slowly and and just before our director answers i'll just mention this study that we do annually is an important benchmark and of course we're working with the state that is mandating that we make these improvements so uh lauren can describe further and lauren if you could so the question is what what um what benchmarks do we use in order to measure um how how we're improving you recognize through the vice chair thank you um so i would say there's two main things that we're looking at um one we're looking at the amount of nutrient pollution that's actually making it into the bay and so the plan that the mayor just mentioned our reasonable assurance plan is essentially our county-wide plan to work with all of the city's municipalities across miami-dade county to actually decrease the amount of pollution that's making it into the bay so that's our biggest milestone and that is the heart of the reasonable assurance plan yes but how do we measure that we're actually getting that done sure so it's the actual projects that we're working on with each each of the individual cities municipalities so we're giving them the creativity to actually work with the county in terms of what projects work for them and so they can have green infrastructure projects they can have gray infrastructure projects it's a wide variety of projects that they can make the investments in but i think some of the more visual indicators that we look at as a community is the benthic resources so the health of the seagrasses along the bay are we seeing a return of animal and plant life those are the visual visual indicators that we rely on to really know that we're making an impact but even even aside from the visuals and and i'm sorry i'm not trying to you know go go through a an hour line of questioning i i guess my whole thing is i think this is a good thing and i think that we're making progress progress but are we measuring the success accordingly because it is these are substantial investments here's another question how much has the county invested in bay restoration over the past five years i don't know the number off the top of my head but i can research and get back to you i actually have the answer miami-dade county has authorized roughly 5.5 million of its own biscayne bay environmental enhancement trust fund for bay restoration and related environmental projects over the past five years with approximately 5.1 million representing the net county funding after an expected 330 000 outside reimbursement this includes tens of millions of dollars in state and federal grants granted we should we should do this this is very important but when we do do this and we're pouring this amount of money into this um my my my concern is are we measuring the success effectively uh because i think everybody wants to know that things are getting better yes of course and so this annual report card is actually what we use to demonstrate all those indicators and everything that we're monitoring over the course of the year to actually measure the health of biscayne bay and i think to the mayor's point um we are required by the state at this moment in time to make these investments investments because the state did deem biscayne bay as imperiled waters and so either we pursue this reasonable assurance plan and work at our own pace with our own investments to improve the water body or alternatively the state could come in and give us a b map a basin management action plan which would objectively take much longer likely be more expensive and probably not have the delicacy to work with each of our cities municipalities to understand what sort of projects and investments make the most sense for them no and i don't think i don't think that's a viable option right i think i think the the best course of action is to continue to uh to to to try to bring health to biscayne bay uh but when you know my question remains i understand that the report lays out um some of those measures but what are the measuring mechanisms and perhaps you don't have the answer now perhaps we can meet um in private and i want to understand what studies what what's the measuring system for the success rate right it's not just yellow is better red is red is worse uh through through the chair i just want to add we have a a task force that's chaired by our commissioner steinberg and they also have citizens and and others elected officials to monitor but i think with all of the investments that are being made and the improvements i don't know to what extent we can isolate which things are making the difference and maybe to sit with you that would be something to explore if there's a way to be more granular but at the end of the day it is the health of the bay so we measure it through monitoring teams and we have increased monitoring so that we can measure whether it's succeeding it is succeeding more in the north end of the bay which was the more uh polluted part but unfortunately we're seeing now some reduction in health in the southern end of the bay so we have to understand better what's contributing to that so that we can address it proactive commissioner gonzalez let me ask you do you mind if commissioner steinberg would chime in she has some information that can help out also yes of course chair please thank you and and thank you madam i appreciate the answer no thank you um you know i'm glad you pulled it because i actually thought about pulling it as well because it is such an important investment um the bay the health of the bay is is important for so many reasons but you know unfortunately some of the work you know we this is not we didn't get here overnight right so there's a lot of work that needs to happen and um as the mayor alluded to there is a board that was created that predates me after the really big fish kill that occurred um for the biscayne bay watershed management advisory board and it's comprised of a lot of very very involved individuals who have science degree i mean some of them literally they're doctors right in their specialties whether it's coral health and restoration whether they're working with fiu whether they're working with um all of these great um people who are very involved and and it doesn't happen overnight so some of the ways to actually measure nutrient loads and everything else we have increased our monitoring but more importantly the seagrass for instance that's been dying off it's not going to happen over a course of a you know six months or a year there's so many different conditions that can occur and so that takes a longer cycle to actually see the benefits right so you have to put in all the pieces today to see that benefit that hopefully will be there past all of our time here um i also happen to sit on the biscayne bay commission which you know the governor had formed and it's with the fdep sits on it fwc sits on it and it's a very interesting board that works very much congenital you know very closely with what we're doing at the biscayne bay watershed management advisory board which by the way commissioner milianne orbis also sits on um so that we can try to get all of the information that you're requesting that they're doing so that more testing can happen so that more solutions so we can be solution oriented it's such an important piece of information this is just a small i think overview i think what would be very helpful is that the rap that you were referring to is so much more complicated and in depth and i think you would really um take the time commissioner if you would meet with them to discuss the rap a little bit more in depth so you can truly understand all the projects that are slated to happen which will also help us get funding now all of this is not done with funding for miami tax dollars right this is actually done through a lot of grants in the state who are working with us and they mandate these are the things we'd like you to see to see happen and these are the ways we can get there and so we're working actually very closely ironically with the state agencies to make these um to make these changes occur and unfortunately i would like to see things happen yesterday right um we have stormwater right stormwater runoff that goes into the bay we have so we need to work on that which will be coming up soon we have a lot of different pieces of legislation that each one of us have put forward we have the impervious um ordinance that commissioner danielle cohen higgins put forward that was supposed to also help all of this is interconnected all creates the ecosystem to help the bay the problem is we then get preempted by the state in certain aspects so we can't implement everything that we do here at the ground level and so it's trying to find a way within the confines of what we're allowed to do to make sure we find the solutions to create a better longer lasting health environment for the bay even the voting task force today that we all just passed will help so every one of these things that we do are for that end goal to keep our you know our bay healthy and well and so i i so thankful that you pulled it because i think you're right it is so important and we need to make sure that those benchmarks are properly marked second thank you senator report moved and second by commissioner gilbert and um moved by commissioner steinberg all in favor all again shows the item passes oh okay that's senator garcia with the pink tie on today okay got it uh looks like we're going to uh 2b12 look all right that was 2b12 2b13 district 7 thank you um colleagues i pulled i pulled this report this is a report on the resource recovery facility and um if you read it it's very interesting because it delineates um the administration's plan to close this facility and what the closure plan is but what it doesn't tell us is how much this is going to cost us and where we're getting that funding so if you'll remember during the budget um we decided that the administration should start negotiations with the city of dorale to see what they're finally going to pay in in order for us to continue not considering this as of as a site for the incinerator anything and everything that's done on this site adheres to the property values of the city of dorale so i think that we should put a pin in it until we have um some offer from them because time and time again you know no good deed goes unpunished we have done everything that we can um to do right by this site and and this is a very valuable site that's another thing you know the closure only speaks to the 40 acres where um the site was but it doesn't speak to the other more than 100 acres on the site and there's a lot of things that could be done with those 100 acres um it is a part of it is a closed landfill um but there's a lot of things that we could do with that we don't necessarily have to lose money on that property miami-dade county has a lot of closed landfills some of them have turned into development some of them have turned into commercial sites you know um one of the examples that i gave to staff was having the airport use some of this acreage to um lease parts of what they do for cargo and warehouses there why couldn't we do that and and take that money and put it into solid waste why do we have to decide that this entire area gets to sit and be nothing or that it gets to be developed at a certain uh a certain piece of it gets to be developed if we're going to develop it then we should consider developing all of it but this is a very important piece of parcel for solid waste and as we talk about what we're going to do with the garbage how we move garbage how much we charge people for garbage this is such a large piece of this so i think that we should put a pin on our plans for the closure and the remediation of this until you mean until we have a final negotiation from doral and we can decide at that point what we're going to do with the site because this report is premised on the decision that this board took to take doral off the table and doral has not met their requirement to participate in that endeavor thank you and i see you commissioner corn higgins um commissioner bermudis yeah i i first of all let me just say two things and i don't disagree with everything that was said by commissioner regalato but i will say we do have a amount in the budget for closing this facility and you can correct me if i'm wrong i believe it's about 18 million it is in our budget it was approved by us it's there number one number two um and what we do in the future i totally agree with commissioner regalato those all these things can be considered i would even venture to say that there are other things that we need to consider uh and every possibility should be on the table because remediation here if somebody else is willing to do it you know there's a lot of things you can consider i don't want to talk too much about it because this is just a report and as i understand from the administration correctly so and from the illustrious mr hope uh that you know we are in litigation with the entity that or with the company that was running this facility for us so i don't want to talk about it i'm going to follow your instructions as a good client in this case of uh what did i call you you guys miami-dade county uh else whatever i call you pa or whatever you are uh and and you know look as i voted no on the uh and the city of dorale makes up about 2.9 percent of the population of miami-dade that uses this facility so whenever anything is done and i'm not here to defend them that's something that has to be discussed with them and as we move forward but that doesn't preclude us from accepting the report because it is a report and we should not delay the steps that we need to take to move forward on whatever we decide to do with this side and other sites so i'm going to move to accept the report because it's just a report and these other things i think can still be discussed and considered moving forward thank you uh before we take a second on that commissioner cohen higgins thank you thank you mr vice chair and the question is to the administration um the commissioner from district 7 has brought this up a couple of times now at a number of different hearings and so i'm not surprised to see the comments that she's making on this item before us today and and i completely agree with her um but here's my question so the 18 million that was in our budget to close this facility do we know whether or not doral had a corresponding number in their budget to contribute to us as a result of the closure of this facility and the reason i ask is because i remember taking a vote on this and i remember the topic of discussion being very heavily heavily focused on the contribution being absolutely necessary from them in order for us to move in the direction that we were moving in it's now years later we are allocating funds to close the facility others are not the status quo remains heavily favorable on one side and we are left holding the back so the question to the administration is what if anything have we done to remedy the directive that was given from this board because it wasn't unclear like it wasn't it we didn't waiver i don't remember exactly what the vote count was but what steps have been taken other than hey are you going to contribute yeah we'll get back to you we're working on it i mean i'd like to know actual steps that have been taken towards actually potentially acquiring a contribution from that municipality rick and us commissioner we do not have a commitment from the city of dorale for any specific number we've had discussions and and that is all we have no commitments whatsoever did we not pass and and i authentically don't know the answer to this did we pass that directive absent any kind of time frame whatsoever did we not indicate so i do remember your budget it changed i do remember the commissioner's amendment in the budget but as we sit here today what timelines or guidelines are we operating under for that answer to come to a close we've had discussions but that could stay in perpetuity absent us giving i'm sorry we gave them three months from from the day that we passed it in the budget but they didn't put anything in their budget but we gave them three months okay so to the administration and thank you for providing that reminder to me i do remember we did prescribe time frames timelines since that budget and that amendment passed have we heard anything from the municipality in response to the timeline that was given that hey you have three months to to provide something has there been any a new conversations uh through through the chair recognize so when this board took dorale off the table for a waste to energy facility it certainly made negotiation more difficult that to be said that's not a reason not to continue negotiation but i do want to underscore that that created a problem the other thing is this amount is for the demolition not for the remediation and when we talked about the utility services fee we did indicate that we don't know what the remediation cost will be so that is also to be determined uh we also recently um just an update because there's a lot of other things happening here we submitted to the insurance company uh our claims and we also filed a lawsuit against covanta so all of those things are happening at the same time and certainly we we need to go back to the table with dorale uh to inform them of all of that and and activate on their commitment and thank you madam mayor for for for that um update as well um i appreciate it but but have we spoken to the municipality since the director from not since the budget we have not spoken to them okay so the talk the clock continues to tick it's been i don't know however many weeks i think as a board we need to have this conversation and i i i'm here for it i really take issue with um us constantly being left holding the bag whether it's different municipalities whether it's a water entity whether it's this but i see this is a critical issue that we absolutely need to address so i'm not sure what the will of this body is um but i am not forgetful of the vote that i took it was absolutely condition conditioned upon contribution and if no contribution has been made to date i think it's right for us to revisit the entirety of the issue thank you mr chair thank you um can let me just say this we have about about third about ten more items it's 126 this is a report um and just just really quickly i know that it's a report and i'm happy to pass a report i just want to verbally bring an item that um prevents the administration from spending one more dime on this site until this matter is resolved with durrell because i don't the fact that it's a line item on the budget doesn't make it okay i mean we've talked about this a million times a letter should have gone out to the city of durrell the day after the budget so not one penny not one penny okay so and and look i i'm in agreement with you so commissioner bermudis you made the motion to move this item do we have a second we have a second by commissioner bastian all in favor all against shows the item passes um we're heading over to eight no but no no no i have i i made a motion my my motion is to direct the administration to stop all spending on the resource recovery facility until the issue is resolved with the city of durrell full stop all right okay so this is a separate motion from his from the report yes okay so the report passes but you just made a motion do we have a second we have a second by commissioner lopez now discussion commissioner gilbert yeah thank you mr vice chairman i appreciate your frustration commissioner regalato i think that motion might be a little broad because we don't we spend money a lot of different ways we spend money we use personnel i think so maybe we ought to just slow down and maybe we just direct them to come back in the next meeting and tell us like do something just do what we told you to do just do what we told you to do like that would probably be better i think they can hear us like they're sitting right there um just do what we told you to do the last time please before we have to make draconian type like let's not do that all right i'm happy to amend the motion to say money spent on the closure of the site because that's what this is about the 18 million is about the closure of this site in its current capacity i'm not saying that is something you know if you got to fix something there that has to do with public safety by all means but in terms of the report and the closure of this site we should not move forward spending any of the money that's in the budget for the closure of this site until we have a final determination from the city of durrell because our item said that if in the three month period they don't come up with something this goes back on the table so why are we even spending money on the closure i don't so so commissioner regalato that is your new motion yes is it still second by commissioner lopez okay all in favor aye the vote is go ahead mr vice chairman we currently are spending money at this site every day we have staff there we have maintenance there we have fire watch security there the faster we close this site the faster we stop spending money on nothing right now we're just paying to keep the site alive we have a regulatory guidelines as to get the site closed closing the site doesn't necessarily mean taking it off the table from reactivating it today we have no permits there for waste energy if you want new permits they have to do them what we need to do today is tear down a burned down facility clean it up remove all hazards and then whatever you decide to do with the property going forward you can but if we don't tear it down clean it up we're just going to keep spending money for nothing thank you and we're on a timeline mr vice chairman we're on a timeline from durham as to the closure so we certainly can come back in a next meeting and give an update we can certainly communicate with the durrell about the urgency um so so so we got we're going to move this long because there is a pending lawsuit correct to the administration out there there's a pending lawsuit right and we don't want to get into that water where we start to implement things and say things but there's a there's a there's a motion and we were voting no no no i know i'm getting back to that that's what i'm coming to so all in favor of the motion put on the floor of our commissioner reglato and seconded by who seconded that motion commissioner vicky lopez all in favor aye all against now you can negotiate now show the item passes are we going to 8a2 district 11 you pulled it yes sir thank you mr chair 882 yes this is the mi north terminal back screening um if i can get the airport director so director i remember this item from the september 8th aviation committee meeting and as i understand it we're upgrading the infrastructure to support new check back safety scanners and mi's north terminal um i just have three quick questions the memo says the existing machines have reached the end of their operational life and lost manufacturer support um are they still functioning reliably today and what is the operational risk of the delay okay so yes to answer your question commissioner they are functioning reliably today the the primary risk we have is that they no longer manufacture these machines so what we've done is working proactively with tsa is we've the tsa is acquiring older machines from other airports and and cannibalizing them for spare parts so we can go ahead and continue to keep our machines operational while we implement this project uh thank you director and when do you expect the first upgraded screening area um for the full project to be operational um does the the october 2030 planning date uh still remain the october 2030 planning date is is still in place for the first two or three phases the final phase will be done in early 2031 about april 2031 okay and director you mentioned tsa uh how will m that and tsa maintain screening and limit baggage service distributions during the construction of this well the project scope includes some enabling configurations of the current system so that we can divert bags and continue to keep the system operational while we build out this new system and we're also going to use portering we'll use human human resources to move bags along in other areas director i want to thank you and your team um for the hard work you're doing to improve the airport um airport safety is definitely um not only airport safety but the modernization of utilizing this airport safety is something that we need to invest in thank you so much thank you thank you i'll move it thank you uh before before we get to that point uh commissioner gilbert you have a question yes thank you for this um and i think this this this is long overdue i remember maybe several meetings ago commissioner bermunez and i um we just talked about the we got into a back and forth and we were talking to you all about on the status of the airport hotel and you're going to get back to me or get back to us i'm not sure i got back to update i'm happy to give you a brief update now commissioner if you'd like okay so we are currently working with our assistant county attorneys on the termination of the selected proposer the number one ranked proposer as of yesterday they submitted the um an itemization of their incurred cost because as part of the redesign that was required that they pursued as a result of the faa radar blind spot issue which i mentioned two meetings ago or several meetings ago um there may be some incurred costs that we're on the hook for so we are we have our cost estimating consultant reviewing those itemized costs a thousand page document that we received yesterday so we anticipate being able to move forward with the termination in the next month or so uh proactively our team is already engaged with namada and the strategic procurement staff on a new expedited rfp which will incorporate some of the lessons learned from the faa radar blind spot issues into that rfp does that answer your question commission yeah just um just a couple things i don't know i'm not against doing incurred costs paying for their incurred costs but i think it's odd that we'd be in the business paying for incurred costs because somebody else submitted a proposal that they can't bill but if that's the standard that we we operate under that's what we're just reviewing we're not committing to anything that's what we're doing um i think that we you know we need to be moving this it is moving forward and like i said we are proactively working with the spd on a new expedited rfp thank you are there any other questions any other concerns yeah mr chair i have a question on that commission orvis um you know i i didn't know we were going to discuss this today but yes we are uh you know i we had a we had a committee about a year ago um the government efficiencies committee with jc is uh commissioner bermudis is the chair and we requested an update about the airport hotel and uh we haven't received one to my knowledge i haven't received one right so it's been a couple of years now that nothing has been done and i i don't know why we haven't had the courtesy of receiving that update we're happy to draft an update commissioner to provide you with all the details of how we got to this point now and i did mention some of it uh back several months ago when it was brought up as far as what you know what created this the faa radar blind spot the configuration and height of the hotel as proposed etc but you know again we've identified that we've been working with the faa with our attorneys with the selected developer to try to come up with solutions that's why he's taking this long recently the developer came back and said that they could not make the uh the development work or economically economically viable for them at the current site which is why we're moving forward now with determination yeah we so we don't have any of that information we we didn't receive that update you know i heard about that in the press which is unfortunate um you know so i do want to make a motion to direct the administration to provide us with an update at the next commission meeting about the airport hotel and i did receive a submittal in my office from an entity who says they can do it so i will be submitting that to the administration and i as part of my motion i would like an update for a plan to move forward with second happy to do that i'll second it but could i do a friendly amendment mr chair if i made commissioner orbis because i feel the same way she does we did bring this up and you know i like you you're my second favorite columbus offensive lineman after mario cristobal but on this one you guys dropped the ball because commissioner orbis is right on it's right on point we were told that you were going to come back and tell us what was happening i'm still waiting the only request i would also have and i don't mind coming back at the next commission meeting but a we will hopefully have one last get committee meeting i hope you have some answers by that time if you know them because some of the things that you're saying today mr director and this is a big decision the discussion on the airport hotel was a very difficult discussion for this commission probably one of the most difficult that i remember since i've been here so and whether no matter how it ends the most important thing goes back to what i think that this commission continues to ask keep us updated on what's going on so we can make the decision at the proper time and and i remember that in the get committee you weren't there because you were smart you sent a representative which is very good but the commitment was made on that day that we were going to have reports updating us and that was over a year ago i would say so i just i just want to i'm gonna i'm gonna second it because um again so we need to be updated so i know there's a motion on the floor and i stepped in halfway i know there's a motion on the floor already moved by commissioner gonzalez on this baggage on 882 which is the baggage inspection system what do you what do you amend are you amending his motion commissioner orbis it was a separate okay but we need to take a vote on the 882 and through the chair i would like to are to be heard on the motion the new motion yeah i i because i have questions too like why if this was requested over a year ago i want to know why there's been no report through the chair we couldn't we'll take a vote on bermudez because he's sitting far from his microphone so we were trying to figure out what he said we can't hear you sorry i will repeat so we'll hold on so let's take a vote on 82 so all in favor of 82 signify by saying aye aye all opposed nay all right and then your motion commissioner orbis is a report from the administration it was a directive uh commissioner gilbert brought up that we haven't heard back and at the committee a year ago we asked for an update and we haven't received one and now it's been a a number of years that we haven't gotten an update and we have no no construction nothing is is going on on that front so it was a directive for the for the mayor and the administration to provide this board with an update at the next commission meeting about the airport hotel and also further i i stated that i received a submittal which i will be sending to your office for consideration and with a request for a plan on how to move forward and and and i agree with that director because yeah to bermudez's point this was this was a very very contentious item almost four years ago now it was three three three three years you know almost four years because it was i was newly elected to the board um and i remember because it was very very contentious if they're not doing their job then we need to know why so that we can move forward for the right thing for the county and make sure that we provide a reasonable and and a reputable airport hotel for this community so that's everybody's goal mr chair so if i could if i can just respond to commissioner bermudez's uh question so our team has been working very diligently on trying to identify solutions to make this project work on the current site that was issued with the rfp and there's all kinds of things that variables that have gone into this faa height restrictions configuration of the hotel etc which are well documented you know we've talked about it before so our team for the last year in chains has been working extremely diligently with a selective proposer with the faa trying to figure out a solution and i will say i apologize for not having a report ready but the reason is that we didn't really have a lot to report we've been trying to identify those solutions which is where we're at right now so basically about a month and a half ago the developer said the the project does not work on the site on the current site based on the faa restrictions and based on the economic expectations that they have for the project so we're now moving forward with termination and we have to work through that with our attorneys because you know there there may be some incurred costs that we have because the redesign that was required was based on these faa high restrictions and radar blind spot restrictions that we that we incurred that we identified so then but i just wanted to be clear our there's another nobody in our team has been sitting on our hands we've been working very very hard to figure out a solution to make the project work on that site the the proposer says he can't make it work there so now we're moving on and that's what we're doing here why does it take three years to determine like this whole height situation well if i could just add this was a total surprise i've asked that same question how could it be that we wouldn't anticipate this faa restriction yeah and it has been explained to me multiple times that there was no way to know until the faa weighed in after viewing the place i just want if i may mr chair i'll walk you through 30 seconds we we always design you know we've had buildings designed at 150 feet at the airport in different locations for years but all of our all of our projects are subject to faa approval this particular case in august of august of 2024 we were based on the design that was submitted by the proposer our team submitted that design to the faa which involved the review of more than 20 departments including their technical operations division they came back and said the 150 foot height of the current hotel as proposed created a radar blind spot a three degree radar blind spot which is a safety issue and they cannot approve it so we proposed a solution back in i think it was january of 2025 we proposed a solution to the faa that would require us picking up radar signal from fort rardale and homestead airport that was not accepted by the faa so then that led us to then go back to the developer and ask them to figure out a way that they could maybe redesign the hotel to a lower height concurrently with that and try to be proactive we submitted on our own to the faa a request for what would be a correct acceptable height requirement and we got approval of that in january of 26 not too long ago 421 feet that new height will be incorporated now into the new rfp but my point is that we have been going back and forth trying to work this out both with the faa and the developer for the last you know year and a half plus or minus maybe a little more and that's where we're at i mean uh i support but i'm we're happy commissioner orbis we're happy to provide a detailed report of everything i've just said and more in addition to that i mean we're glad to do that and next steps sure next steps of course sounds good commissioner gilbert i'm not going to just go back but just in the future i prefer you establish things that can be established before you do a solicitation for you entertain solicitations like the height because that's something that could have been established like we could have like you you just did it this time so you just did it you preemptively without you said hey what height is good so maybe before we say we want to put something in an airport where things fly i think what happened we asked that 150 foot height yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna love for you not to interrupt me i'm sorry i apologize i just think that maybe that's something that we should ask the question at least and not assume so we assume because we built at 150 feet we can that's a reasonable assumption i don't take issue with that now we know that 150 feet everywhere might not be something acceptable the height's going to be different everywhere so now we know to ask beforehand each time because time money thank you yeah i agree mr chairman i just want to piggyback on on his question on the 150 feet is that what it is correct 150 feet that was part of the rfp and part of that rfp that 150 feet was a standard height that was previously accepted by the faa that we have previously previously used on other projects now the rfp also does say clearly that any design submitted by a proposer is subject to fa approval which is what happened in this case the entire project was submitted and it was reviewed by multiple divisions and they came back with that radar blind spot constraint which we couldn't get worked through and the other submissions were all at the same 150 feet the actual there was only two proposals submitted the second proposal would have the same problem because they were also at a higher height so the second proposer i don't recall the name they would have the same issue and we've confirmed that with our engineering team thank you mr chairman all right so let's just get a report back in the next meeting absolutely and and probably before the next meeting if you can meet with each one of us or those that have interest in meeting at least glad to do it i think at the end of the you know to commissioner orbis's point we need a solution that's what we've been working on i know you guys we'll provide you the report happy to do it but we we do because again i remember how contentious this was for myself included um and i want to make sure that this this comes to fruition an airport hotel comes to fruition whether it's this one another one rfp and unsolicited like whatever it is but we need we need something to move forward commissioner coen-higgins thank you mr chair i appreciate the report um and obviously everybody is interested in receiving that and clearly they should have received it because they asked for it previously i am interested in timelines and time frames so we're going to get a report i guess at the next bcc hearing but that still doesn't bind you to do anything other than provide a report and everybody is saying we want an airport hotel at miami international airport so my question to you is how long are you planning to take to put this back out to rfp what is the timeline that you anticipate for that process to come to fruition it's already been out right i mean clearly you need to modify it because the entire structure needs to be completely redesigned what is the timeline that you anticipate reasonably for this ball to get rolling again so like i said commissioner probably within the next month or so we'll be terminating the uh the current uh developer uh we're already working with nomadus team at spd on on the the new expedited procurement that will incorporate all this faa information into it um i can't speak to how long the procurement process will take we anticipate it will be quicker because we're not creating a brand new rfp what we're taking is we're taking the old the previous rfp and just dusting it off and incorporating all this new information into it so it should be a much quicker process i can get back to you in the report that we submit with those a projected timeline not only for the procurement but for the actual implementation of the project and why will it take a month and a half to terminate we well it's a what they submitted yesterday was a thousand page document with a bunch of itemized costs which our cost consultant has to review to see what we're on the hook for what we're not if anything so we need to have do that review prior to moving forward with determination and we're working with our with our attorneys on that thank you mr chair um is is namada here yes namada will approach madam director to the commissioner coining is you know because she's right right like a report is just just a report i mean we could obviously make a motion or whatnot but it's just reporting how long for you to put out a new rfp to get this procured and completed um through the chair namada upal um we could as soon as we get the revised design requirements my team is already working with with ralph's team we can put it out within um within the next two months maybe less maximum that's a lot month and a half yeah you already have it so we might here's what i think we may have to do next meeting is we may have to or now we may have to put timeline on the administration as to putting out this this rfp and getting them back it needs to be a truly expert i mean we just passed strip which is obviously helpful um two months to just put it out and then what and then well actually so chairman i'm taking into account whatever revisions they have to do to the design and any other changes that we have to i'm i'm sure i know we could do it do sooner and we'll work with the attorneys to make sure we don't have to do the two-step process usually um there are certain state requirements so maybe we could condense the entire timeline in a very short time frame well we'll present it to you let's get the full report and then we'll we'll make decisions mr chair what we'll do in the full report we will also include projected uh implementation timelines as far as the construction etc so those will be projections based on you know what we're doing with the current hotel and through the chair uh it seems that some commissioners would like to have input on the rfp so that also adds time so we will certainly uh get input from those who are interested right i mean they're specific we have to have new specifications because the old specifications did not meet the faa what commissioners have requested to have input is that commissioner gilbert you want input on i mean i don't know do we normally and and if i to clarify when we put out an rfp there's always a time response and commissioners can respond as well with any concerns at that point so we typically leave a couple of weeks and i'm listening i'm listening to my right side here and it's to me it's it's as simple as what someone said here is yeah it's literally the same rfp minus the height change yeah through the chair i don't i don't think we were asking for input incorporating not just the height change but some of these other faa regs so sure but it's like little things the main thing is the height thing i'm so sorry through the chair we are also looking at other ways to accommodate the need of a developer so if it can't be height then to make it cost effective for them there may be other properties that could be included so these are some of the considerations but we need to do that within the next 30 days like we need to already yes it's been reviewed and and certainly she's saying she can put it out quickly but it is not the same rfp just to be very clear let me go to bermudas and then we'll come back brendan bastian and then oliver i i just want to be i don't think any of us are saying anything we're all saying the same thing at least so far i think i think i don't want you to come back and there was a site chosen originally which you said was the best site for it or you guys concluded that i don't want when you come back to satisfy the quote-unquote developer i want to satisfy what's good for this body so i don't want to say we well there could be additional sites well that may not be the right thing because that's what you didn't say before you said this was the right site so if they can't do it they can't do it and then we deal with that and then we move forward and to me if and i don't i'm not going to speak for uh commissioner gilbert but i don't think any of us necessarily want to be doing rfps for the county i think we just want to oversee make sure that it goes out the right way we already have an rfp you're saying the site the the size has created a problem for this developer they don't want to do it okay fine then just let's take the next step you you've already chosen the site i'm you know even way back then my concern was which i was astonished that we didn't know it was under our airport which i hope you're you i hope you hopefully you fix that but put in the report don't tell me today because i don't want to deal with that you know it's uh but but the the the thing for me is it it it it timely and and you know commissioner cohen higgins correctly says that timeliness is important i just don't want to have a report that comes back that then complicates us making a decision another three or four months and if and and uh and you know if you come back and say well you know this started the new rfp has 20 sites well and why did we have the one site that we had all the dispute over last time which we all agreed was the right site it was just a question who was going to develop it so that's the only thing that i want to make sure that when you get a report ralph just make it as extensive as possible and i agree with the timelines of how if when can a decision be made when can things be because if i remember correctly and and commissioner orbus can correct me if i'm wrong the thing i was really astounded about a year ago was i didn't even know we hadn't even started and by the way we were supposed to have started i know what you're going to say the faa all that but commissioner gilbert said it correctly one supposes that whoever bids on something understands there's certain requirements but either way just make it as extensive as possible in the sense to answer most of our queries because i don't think and i'm not going to speak with my colleagues i don't think we want to be in the business of us saying what exactly goes in every rfp but we do want to know are things being done timely are they being done correctly are they being done on time on budget and that's the one thing that stands out to me commissioner bastian yes i uh well i concur with um most of my colleagues um statements uh this morning i too remember how contentious the discussions were i had just gotten elected at the time it was like uh you know my baptism in fire uh so i remember so i'm i'm a little bit disappointed too about the fact that uh you know there hasn't been a report on on uh the status of this of this uh development so what i would advise you to do is to um heed the calls of uh of my uh colleagues to to promptly uh work on a report and don't take don't take another three years i mean we know uh that there is a lack of option affordable options for people uh traveling to miami the capital of the americas we know that how many people from from three years ago and now how many people you know uh come through this airport uh which is considered the capital of the america so we know that there is a need so that's why it baffles me about uh the this uh the lack of the report and then like i said i think you should do due diligence to provide this report as soon as possible because we know without the shadow of a doubt that there is a lack of affordable uh access for people visiting um miami mi and then that do you know the numbers will continue to increase based on your projection your reports to us in the past and your projection so let's get to it thank you we'll do uh commissioner uh gilbert and then cohen higgins or vice president hey mr chairman just and i'll make this as brief as possible i think at some point this board should make have a conversation about the model we want to have as as an airport and lodging at the airport so i know there there are very nice hotels and other airports around the world and other hotels and other airports have like these full-scale malls and it's an experience so the thing is this though we i've never been of the opinion that i actually wanted a conference room a conference type hotel at the airport because we make our money when people leave the airport as a community we're a tourism based economy we want people in our airport and out of our airport through our airport as quickly as possible we want a hotel there for people who are just hanging out just for the day or they have a layover but this isn't supposed to be the fountain blue it shouldn't be not for our business model as a county for tourism so i i just i think we we run the risk of if we build if we build an airport a hotel at the airport that is full scale you can host conferences what you're saying is the thousand people who come in for that conference they stay at the airport so if they stay at the airport where don't they go they don't go to the beach as much they don't go to brickle as much they don't shop in the stores as much they don't eat in the restaurants as much it won't be a noticeable thing at first but the aggregated impact might be something we want to consider as a community that's the first thing the second to the director or the mayor whoever knows the answer we did give the folks who won the bid the opportunity to see if they can build at that level right all right did we ask the people who were number two could they build at that level we did we did not we have not reached out to the second proposal because they have the same issue as far as the height so no but to answer your question commissioner no we have not reached out to this i just want no thank you commissioner coin against thank you mr chair and thank you to my colleagues for for the conversation if you put this back out to bid and you have been negotiating for two years with arguably two of the most successful developers in south florida if not in the entire state of florida and they can't make the numbers work what exactly are you putting back out to rfp are you going to utilize the same right because right now you've been negotiating for years same location lowered height faa requirements we had no idea we get that are you considering putting out an rfp at different locations or are you just going to recycle the same rfp and put it back out with the lowered height restrictions well go ahead what we're looking at is is basically we're considering both options number one the current site at a lower level which obviously will be a lesser hotel it'll be less rooms less conference areas etc because you can't build at a certain height on that in on that particular 1.8 acre semi-triangular site across from our garage we're also considering potentially another couple of alternate sites which we're still kind of vetting to see if those work they're a little bit bigger which would be able to support a hotel like the one originally planned at the current site which is bigger you know taller or maybe not as maybe not height wise will be the same but it could be wider and accommodate that that same number of rooms so we're still exploring that so and i guess that's my question how are we still exploring that years later and isn't that exactly what the current contract holder has been exploring and has arguably spent x amount of dollars exploring and can't arrive at a conclusion that we can make this work so why are we still entertaining that site that location well the the current developer was was working on a redesign for that particular site so there are some other alternate sites one of which they propose which doesn't work for us which is right where the current hotel is and the reason for that is we have all kinds of congestion we have a brand new roof replacement project which we just issued notice to proceed on will be fully engaged in central terminal construction starting in mid-2028 through 2031 so that would create a tremendous bottleneck both in our upper and lower drive between cranes that are staged construction laid on area material storage and that's why the the current developer proposed building a very grandiose hotel right where the current hotel is but we rejected that because it does not work for us considering the our current state of the capital plan it may work in the future when we're done with central terminal and our roof replacement job but there is no way that we can have an operation and have cars and vehicles dropping off passengers and employees moving through the upper and lower drive when you have a roofing job which is about 100 million dollars which which is going to include multiple cranes deployed in the same areas where the hotel will be deploying their cranes material storage areas we're constrained and limited on space of where we can do things so then you factor that into starting central terminal construction in mid-2028 which is another very very large project almost 900 million dollars that's the concern with having that site which the current developer proposed which is why we rejected it well i hear that and if i'm being honest it gives me greater concern about the ability to in an expeditious manner put out an rfp because what i'm hearing is we don't even have a location to put out to bid because we haven't decided yet we have a lot of concerns but we don't have any conclusions and i think that this is what the board is saying can't continue we can't just continue in a state of uncertainty and limbo in perpetuity at some point we need to make a decision cut and run i don't understand how the site that has been negotiated for the last four years can go out to bid again to have other proposers come in and give us options when arguably the current contract holder would have done everything they possibly can to make the numbers work it's not working at that site so if you're going to put it out for rfp at another location presumably that's going to take you quite a bit longer than the expedited time frame that we've just been discussing a few minutes ago so i'm trying to understand which is it are we able to put out an rfp for the same site with just a lower height requirement i don't have a ton of confidence in that option or if we choose another site are we still able to put out an expedited rfp under that scenario commissioner i think we could put out an rfp that would include multiple sites okay one that we have right now and another potential site that we're looking at that could maybe work so to answer your question i don't think we're limited to just the current site i think we can in the same rfp put another an rfp with multiple sites and try to get the best offer or the best hotel that we can get depending on the site where they can do it at obviously we know what the restrictions are in the current site and we know what the high restrictions are etc but there may be another site that we're looking at we have to vet through that still which is bigger still provides connectivity to the terminal uh and the height requirement is the same but you there may be space that the the hotel will be wider etc the configuration would accommodate the same number of rooms so nothing precludes us from being able to put out an rfp that has multiple sites and then try to get the best you know the best site possible to commissioner hart to make sure i'm going to recognize hardiman in a second but to commissioner coheniggins's point director and i don't know if there's something better suited to get into when the report comes back but as you bring up a good point is presumably the the contract awardee is a conglomerate of some of the most reputable developers in town in the country have they come back to and by us clearly not to us but have they come back to you all and said hey this is how we can make it work and you all have decided it doesn't work for you guys or but hasn't been presented to us right like what where are we there because did they just say it doesn't work because of the faa's restriction or that doesn't work but this is how we can make it work this is our new proposal what do we need to do to get there is that happened yes i can answer your question when they could not make it work on that site they came back they came back with an alternate site which is the one i mentioned before pretty much in front of where their current hotel is which you know leads to some of those congestion issues i already mentioned so yes they did come back to us and say it can't work there but how about we try it there now obviously all the congestion issues i mentioned remain but besides that it's also a material change to the rfp so we would still have to go back to the board with that change so we would never agree to an alternate site without presenting it to the board as well because it's a material change toward the rfp to what the site that was advertised in the rfp but yes they did come back to us with that alternate site and that doesn't work for us raises a ton of other questions but i've got hardiman and then orbis uh hardiman so if i remember correctly they proposed a luxury hotel at that site correct weston so let's start there a luxury hotel means that the cost per square foot is much more expensive than a bargain hotel let's start there it can be the same square footage and it can be uber more expensive because every single piece of drywall has some material on it that is something that enhances the experience with the with the with the room so it's just before you even get to the cost of anything else just just the sheer cost of producing something that feels or looks luxurious is a big expense we can have a phone that works but we choose to have iphones right so we'll start there this iphone cost more most iphones cost more than people's laptops but in terms of the hotel they promised us a luxurious hotel which in even a luxurious hotel that means that you have to have certain experiences right maybe i don't have the proposal in front of me but maybe massage rooms maybe banquet spaces maybe this maybe that and we had another hotel hotelier saying look we just want to provide people with space to rest we will allow these people to to clearly we'll allow these people to build their luxurious hotel and we'll build a a bargain hotel so that people have an opportunity to stay without leaving the airport facility this board denied that so it's it's it's it's interesting because when we start talking about oh if we issue another rfp we could do different sites can we still do a hotel we could have done a hotel we could have had a hotel right now we said then if we allow both hotels to move forward we will have another hotel right now but we don't because we got sold a bag of goods from luxury developers at miami international airport so now we can't sit here and try to say oh well what happens when we have if i guarantee you that someone could probably build on that look it's just one of those things where it's just incredibly frustrating because we're back at square zero not square one because square one would have been just dealing with what we had what was before us which was um an opportunity to develop two hotels we lost that we lost three years and we're going to lose more time we want to have an expedited procurement process to do what to build another luxurious hotel to request another bargain hotel to do all the things that we've been saying that we need to do then if you have like one of the things i always say in government is is that if you're trying to develop a space an area of what you're going to have a lot of stakes in the fire because inevitably some of some part of that fire is going to go out so the more stakes that you have the better you have an opportunity to keep that fire going we bet our butts on a luxury developer who then turned around and lobbied against a bargain developer that's the type of karma that we should that we deserve we deserve this we deserve to be sitting here these years later talking about issuing an rp for a hotel when we had one that had passed the muster right here before us we would at least say oh the luxurious one didn't pan out but we can't even say that because we have nothing we have nothing but we're spending more money on the hotel that we already have which is a motel i'm not gonna use a brand name but i'm gonna say a motel at its best if you've ever stayed in a hotel room with with iron on the window then you know what an experience looks like when you're standing in public housing developments in miami-dade county that's that's that's that's what it is you know i'm i'm just i'm extremely disappointed i'm even more disappointed because no one provided the updates moving forward why not why not you know it's this is it's it's i will i will hope you know i'll put it like this like because i know we haven't been getting updates i know that the updates exist the updates in the department exists no one even dare to have a conversation about it and so if those details come out i just hope i hope it's not embarrassing i hope it doesn't reveal that you know that the department literally tried to hide what was happening you know it's just one of those things where we spend a lot of time trying to provide a resource to miami-dade county well to the airport in miami-dade county for the benefit of the riders and the people who travel and come to this area and you know a whole a whole term of ours is gone and we don't have it and odds are another term will be done you would have never had a chance to see it i have no confidence that that will happen over our next two years for those of us who have a we have two years because we would you know but if you have a little bit more time good for you but but other than that i just don't i don't see it happening you know and so now i guess we just issue as many rfps as we can for however many sites that we have at the airport that could fit a hotel and i guess that's the solution to the problem because now we're moving fastly we're moving with purpose you're really going to stick it to them this time commissioner thank you mr chair i just want to clarify that as part of my motion i said that my office being in district six where the airport is received a submittal from an entity who says that they can build on the current site that was approved and so as part of the motion i'm asking the administration to consider that to vet out that proposal and as part of the report that we hope to receive that i'm asking to receive at the next commission meeting that we will have an update considering that submittal and letting us know what is the plan to move forward okay so that's a whole different motion understood that's a very different motion i think that the reports don't need to come back regardless i think we need to have all the details as to what the reality of what's been going on for the last two three years of negotiations um and then yes of course whatever the process is for this unsolicited should take place and i know that we have a process right like legal process that has to happen um i don't know this is part of that legal process that has to be uh so make sure we follow that legal process if that triggers an rfp or not like whatever that does but i think we need to know a lot more i don't know that i agree with everything that's been said today um you know i can agree with some of half of what people have said you know again i don't know that we need a convention space right like to commissioner gilbert's point like i don't know that we need all that i don't know that we you know i agree with that portion of it but i don't know that i agree with not having a luxury product we are miami-dade county we are the largest county in the state of florida uh we are a international hub we want a very nice product i don't know if that means you want a five-star fort like i don't know what those written what those ranges are i'm not a hotelier or have that that type of expertise but i want a nice product we are miami international airport um so you know and i think orbis just clarified that her her unsolicited says that they could do it within the same footprint that's music to my ears um you know i agree with you mr chair we do need at the very least an update an update yeah we need an update and we need to know what's going on so again i think i don't know what the changes are from her new motion to the old one obviously i'm supportive of the original motion i want to maybe understand more like what this what this changes but certainly i want to make sure that in the next bcc we have a full report preferably that you meet with each and every one of us we can do that walk us through that as well those that have interest anyhow um so what is the difference between i guess to the attorneys or to the administration like what's the material difference between like her amended motion or change or clarification per se or original i think the original motion mr chair actually encompassed that okay the original motion did did speak to consideration of proposals that had been submitted as well as a broader plan we did bring it up she did she had brought it up so okay all right so i'm comfortable with that it's been moved it's been seconded by commissioner gonzalez all in favor signify by saying aye all opposed nay show the motion passed thank you director all right next on the pool list i have is 88 e3 that one been heard yet 83 commissioner from district 11 you recognize the retroactive grant fund for mdfr 8 a3 no i don't think i pulled that 8 e3 that's the mdfr grant 8 e3 oh e3 yes e is an elephant i have an elephant three as an thank you chairman i pulled this item 8 e3 because i want to say something about it um uh first i appreciate commissioner mcgee i don't know if commissioner mcgee's here i appreciate him bringing it forward um and i'd like to i'd like to be added as a co-sponsor if he'll have me um what caught my attention in this potential um site specifically for this station is that it's going to serve the growth that uh commissioner mcgee has helped uh to bring to the community and i know that there's other commissioners on this board um that also see it uh supporting uh the aerospace ecosystem as at least at least i do i see this supporting the aerospace ecosystem that i believe can grow um across our across my district your district and and others districts so i commend you for it and i'd like to be added as a co-sponsor thank you no problem accepted it it's been accepted co-sponsor as well co-sponsored by senator garcia as well it's been moved by the vice chair seconded by commissioner gonzalez right um all in favor signify by saying aye aye all opposed no show the item passed 8 m3 commissioner from district six you're recognized 8 m3 right is that mary 8 8 8 and 13 maybe 8 and 13 all right this is a handwriting from my fabulous team back here 8 and 13 apparently i released that mr chair okay so would you move it at this time i will move it and move seconded by commissioner lopez all in favor signify by saying aye all opposed nay show the item passed 8 and 14 commissioner from d11 thank you mr chair and if i could just get somebody from the department um or the director to come up for a second i'm i'm actually supportive of this i just have a few questions uh director i understand that this item establishes a bench of engineering consulting firms that dtbw can call upon to move projects forward right so i have two questions because i'm i'm looking at uh the item what categories or projects um or specific uh expertise are are required by these firms and do we have anybody at dtpw that can do this right now it just uh through the chair the director will answer the question well thank you madam mayor thank you for those questions uh the expertise is based on general engineering knowledge and qualifications in planning design etc so there what we do is we establish criteria for engineering firms and and what sort of services they can provide so these this group of engineering firms are all more than qualified they meet fdot's qualifications and our qualifications to do these types of services we do have in-house staff however our work program is larger than the capability of our in-house staff this is pretty normal throughout local governments state government etc etc that you augment your own internal staff with consultant support so that you can prepare a larger portfolio of projects to move forward to construction in this case um so that you're augmenting your staff got it so we do have people in-house that can do this but they're working on other things correct the five agreements um have a combined ceiling of 27.5 million over five years um and general fund operations are listed as a potential funding source what is the maximum general fund exposure under these agreements so unfortunately i can't tell you what each funding type the maximum amount of each funding type we list a variety of funding sources given how they are programmed in our five-year work program so any number of these sources could be used we could use exclusively ptp depending on the project we could use general fund we could use grant funds it's a variety of sources this just gives us all of the options available to us depending on what source of fund is available and eligible for that particular project within the five-year work program so right now we don't know how much general fund money will be used for these not specifically in that these are all budgetary ceilings of five million dollars per contract and we assign work orders depending on the individual project that's assigned to that consultant that work order is associated with a fund type so could it be exclusively general fund it could but it's unlikely it would be a variety of fund sources how can we figure that out because you know general funding is is is lacking right now understood so i just want to make sure that we use other funding sources before we ever tap into general fund and i would just like for general fund to be excluded if possible i'm not saying it's possible but if possible let's exclude it again we're just outlining all of the sources of funds that can be used but the goal obviously is to use a variety of sources including mobility impact fee grant funds ptp depending on the project i i think it would be short-sighted for us to say we wouldn't use as a specific fund source if it's eligible to us and it is programmed against a project but i defer and i understand that i just don't want i don't want a blank check from the general fund right so i don't want because the probably the easiest allocation would be from the general fund and so rather than do the work to get it from somewhere else some like i'm not saying that your department would do this but i don't want to see a situation where hey you know let's just get it from the general fund i will say this these projects uh and these contracts are for the public works side of our house not the transit side of the house public works is predominantly funded through mobility impact fee and some general fund but it's i don't have a variety of sources because this is the public works side of the house so in some instances i'm limited in my availability okay can i get can i get updates as to where the funding sources come as these contracts come up as we issue work orders we can provide information okay thank you are there any other questions no further questions thank you i see an eight and fourteen commissioner are you moving this item you're going to move it or you need someone else to move it move by commissioner cohen higgins do i have a second second all in favor all against item passes all right i see the next item is we're almost there ladies and gentlemen we're almost there uh eight always there almost there 8p13 uh commissioner from district 8 i see you pull this this item thank you mr vice chair when this item came before us at committee review on september 10th i asked our procurement department and our firefighters whether or not the 18 million dollar allocation to striker for defibrillators was an absolute necessity i think it was almost 20 million dollars they said yes it's an absolute necessity and i asked them between uh our committee hearing and final hearing to try and negotiate better rates uh for our consideration and so i just wanted to receive an update from our procurement director and our fire chief on whether or not any negotiations took place and and whether or not any savings were realized thank you uh namada is that you who's going to answer that question thank you yes thank you commissioner um commissioner thank you for for asking those questions um in the committee meeting and um after that meeting we definitely went back to the company we wanted to negotiate the the price of pricing of the the life packs which we compared pricing with other contracts so we are getting a good deal however through these stronger negotiations they were able to give us a better discount on our consumable items like batteries pads and things like that the original discount that they offered was around 17 percent to 30 percent but they have increased that discount to 50 percent on all items that we purchased under the consumable category so did you say 50 percent yes commissioner 50 percent and and uh because of that we're able to to reduce the allocation in the contract um because of those savings plus uh fire also looked at the uses usage of consumables i think we're going to be able to save money after you uh we're going to be able to save money now chief yes ma'am uh rajadala fire chief um through the chair the the it's about 1.6 million in savings additional and after the you know discussions with the the company i believe it was right after the uh the committee hearing from last month uh so those consumables is the savings of again 1.6 million dollars i appreciate you going back to the vendor and pushing on them harder to garner savings for the county and for your department and so i need to then amend 8p 13 to the attorneys can you give us some instruction because i do want the allocation to be reduced to reflect the savings that have been realizing really kudos to you namada and to you chief jadala for making the effort and to the vendor i believe i don't know who it is in this instance but thank you for working with us to yield those savings 50 percent really is significant so honestly thank you thank you for doing that and to the attorneys can you read the appropriate motion please commissioner cohen higgins moves to amend item 8p 13 to reduce the miami-dade fire rescue department's allocation request from 18 million seven hundred thousand to 15 million 496 478 dollars and 25 cents this reduced allocation reflects the 1 million 654 000 in contract savings the administration has negotiated with the vendor striker sales llc and a 1 million 549 521 dollars and 75 cents reduction of mdfr's contingency allowance the title and body of the resolution will be amended to reflect mdfr's amended and reduced allocation thank you any anything else commissioner no that's the motion thank you um do we have a second on this motion i'll second it but i'd like to make a comment okay okay um first of all thank you for finding those savings um and for everybody who did but i do want to stress that these aeds are so important they are life-saving we even had a presentation this morning that a proper you know ekg or proper you know sort of cardiac um i don't even know the word or the term to use indicator could save lives and so i think this is so important so i'm really happy to see that we are moving forward with making sure that these aeds and whatever else we need for life safety are at all of these proper locations and that we were able to find the cost savings is just incredible thank you thank you all in favor of this mo all in favor of this item as amended all against shows the item passes we're going to go we're going to go to 802 i'm hearing that a commissioner from district one released this item do i have a motion uh to move the item move moved by district one second by commissioner lopez all in favor all against shows the item passes all right we're almost there 1183 commissioner from district six you pulled this item did i pull it i don't think i pulled it i'm happy to move it okay we have a move by commissioner orbit second by commissioner lopez all in favor all against shows item passes almost there um 1186 commissioner from district 11 you pulled this one this is the itc yes thank you mr chair uh i want to commend commissioner million orbis for bringing forward the proposed sister city relationship with brazilia um and i'd like to ask if i could be added as a co-sponsor absolutely thank you so much for your support no thank you and i appreciate your leadership the american community survey estimates that more than 20 000 miami-dade county residents were born in brazil that is one measure of the ties our communities already have uh with the country brazilia gives us a valuable point of contact with brazil's capital i hope we use this agreement to pursue specific opportunities for local businesses trade education and cultural exchange i know this is an economic and cultural agreement in practice um but i also know many of us have high hopes for political change in brazil and for a stronger partnership across the western hemisphere um so i want to thank you for bringing it forward thank you commissioner thank you and through the chair i'll just briefly say that this is a particularly meaningful time to to strengthen our relationship with brazil and of course one of our own our former florida house speaker daniel perez is now serving as u.s state ambassador um united states ambassador to brazil and it's giving miami-dade another important connection to that country and its capital so i'm happy to sponsor this and i appreciate all my colleagues who have co-sponsored this item with me and i with that mr chair i'm happy to move it it's been moved second by commissioner steinberg all in favor signify by saying aye all opposed nay should pass are we on 11 812 at this time yes mr chair go ahead commissioner thank you mr chair and i pulled 11 812 also to commend commissioner orbis and asked to be a co-sponsor as well this is a sensible request of the legislator autonomous vehicles can operate on florida roads but the item identifies a gap they do not need to be registered here or they don't need to display any florida plates we have already seen how a stopped waymo vehicle can disrupt traffic in the venetian causeway registration and plates would give florida authorities a clear way to identify the vehicles operating on our roads we also have a reminder from california's commercial driver's license program that licensing practices in one state can have deadly consequences in other states at the same time our great attorney general james oethmeyer is pursuing concerns about a consumer facing ai product here in florida these are different issues but they point to the same responsibility so i want to commend you again commissioner milian orbis the technology and national markets always are going to change and florida should retain practical tools to protect its residents and consumers thank you commissioner uh and through the the chair again uh i just want you know through this item i hope this urging is taken up by the state you know when families move into florida they have 10 days to register their vehicles uh through the state of florida and uh these autonomous vehicles they don't have the same requirements so i think we should hold them to the same uh requirement uh this also will facilitate our sheriffs and and our police officers in in case of the need to to uh chase down one of these vehicles so i believe they should have to pay the registration and register just like any other vehicle operating in our county so that's why i am bringing this forward all right thank you so we got a motion we got a second um but i just had a question i didn't i didn't understand go ahead um i'll support the item but i was just curious about how commercial vehicles do it because i see like the the trucks and stuff driving a lot of them aren't registered here in florida and so i had a question because on those autonomous vehicles that are owned by companies they're essentially commercial vehicles also and so i didn't understand what that consequence looked like so this is all a brand new kind of area for us and so i don't know how it fits together and so when i was reading the item i think it's a good item it made sense to me i'm going to vote for the item but and then there was always that little wrinkle like you know when the supreme court came up that little case that said corporations are people and and if corporations are people then yeah it's it's trickier mr chairman yes please call the vote yeah um yes i support it commissioner i just had a question because i know um under chapter 316 we are preempted so this is an urging to at least require that would you be amenable and i'd support it either way but you know it got me thinking about the fact that with this particular issue that is growing and is causing certain um things that are out of our control would you be amenable to adding like a whereas that you know we also urge or request that we have removal of some of those preemptions to be able to put forward meaningful regulation yes okay thank you as amended i support amended favorably all in favor signify by saying aye i oppose nay mr attorney do i have any other items on the pool list itself no all right so uh motions i have one on something that i but i'll let jc bermudis do you have anything yeah a motion on that too all right so i just passed one out as well um and you want to lead it i mean i'm i'm at some point when we start the motions i'd like you to read my motion first uh but but i want to hear from bermudas as well yeah and look if my motion is going to be i'm a obviously i've stated my uh piece so to speak i am not a supporter of vice city uh i think it's not the proper culture for us to uh really marker ourselves that i made that point clear last meeting i'll reiterate it again but my motion in essence and they can read it um if in fact which it appears there are negotiations occurring then besides the fact that you shouldn't sell yourself too cheap not to have a you get closer to the microphone uh i would like any revenue that are restricted can you oh all right can you hear me now all right i feel like a commercial the anyways the my motion would say that any revenues that are restricted and required to be used for specific departmental uses shall be used for public safety related purposes by such departments example airport we just had an incident there and the police had to come in and all other revenues not otherwise restricted shall be appropriated to the miami-dade county sheriff's office for general law enforcement operating purposes to the extent necessary the county mayor or county mayor's designee is further directed to include these additional revenues in an appropriate mid-year or end of year budget amendment for fiscal year 2026-27 and my reasoning is again if we are going to well i'm not going to say we're going to we already did this but apparently we're going to continue doing this then certainly um i'm hoping that uh you know we can use this for the right purpose and avoid the placement of some of these promotional items the motion also includes this language in close proximity of schools or places of worship i mean the the last thing i would want to see is you know drive around miami-dade county and see you know vice city everywhere uh i think it's uh bad enough that it's already on the uh is it i guess it's still called the kasaya center or whatever um but the reality is um i'm against it but if we're if we're going to do it then let's put it to good use uh at the airport we just had an incident where a shooter uh became in and the sheriff's office had to come in and i think the airport we talk so much about how much we care about the airport well guess what traffic and the sheriff's office and making things work at the airport are critical for us too so if we're going to go ahead and use our airport as advertising for this game you know i think that let's put it to the the right use let's let's use it for a additional use to this you know the sheriff's office for in the in the right place whether it's the port or the airport because i know what the argument's going to be a you know this is going to be it has to be used for that specific area and then the other thing obviously i i would hate to see this be by every you know we we have a fund to try to take away to eliminate some of the violence that occurs in the in sections of our county where children are being shot and so we shouldn't be putting these ads around churches and certainly certainly not around schools what type of message are you sending to uh our kids so again i was against it but if but if we are going to do it then let's use the money for the right reason that's my motion they can read the exact technical uh technical motion if they want to um and i think all of you should have a copy if you don't then obviously uh come back and tell me you're not walking you're not walking the walk because i told you we should give you the motion before so um agreed that's it that's the long and short of it from my emotions part that's uh okay all right so uh commissioner hardiman you know generally i don't have an i don't have an issue with the the motion because it's a budgetary thing right we're trying to decide where we want to put the money um but i do have an issue with put it giving it to the sheriff's office for all the reasons that we've stated in in the past um if if you were giving it to the peace and prosperity plan i mean i think that would be good because that eventually ends up it benefits law enforcement because law enforcement has has programs within it it obviously benefits because we're also targeting children who are susceptible to these gun violence incidents not that one has to do with the other necessarily but and it ensures that kids have an opportunity for good internships and things of that nature so i think that that will be something for me a bit more amenable if we were talking about the proceeds from future revenue from it besides you know what is um parcel b so if like if you were willing to make that sort of amendment i'm fine with that if if if i can get the vote passed and if nobody seconds this certainly i'll support that i'll second the peace and prosperity plan is is uh let's do this one currently a good plan i'm not by the way it's a great program so but i just the only reason why i didn't think that is because i i don't agree with the concept of vice city anyways as you've heard me say before and we've discussed uh simply because i think it goes against the messaging we want to send not only to our children but to our community as a whole and and that part i just i just don't agree with so um that's that's my my point uh i i i think the peace and prosperity program is a great program so i don't want to you know in any way have you interpret that i don't think that's a great program so uh let's commissioner hardiman if i can to somewhere in your in the line because i wanted to have a motion as well that i want to take up i think mine is a little bit more palatable or or higher level per se if you can read my motion have that discussed and vote it up or down and then and then have and then re officially read bermudis's motion and then have that discussed or or vote it up or down and then if there's a third or something we'll we'll take it from there and then i'll we'll go around chairman rodriguez moves to direct and authorize the county mayor county mayor's designated to negotiate finalize and execute a revenue generating marketing partnership agreement with rockstar games inc and to exercise all provisions in such agreement including termination provisions the county mayor county mayor's designee is authorized to negotiate an agreement whose value exceeds the mayor's delegated authority for marketing partnership agreements under section 2-2201 of the code of miami-dade county florida and implementing order 8-9 the compensation of the county under such agreement shall consist of fees paid to the county and may also include in-kind services of the county and or community benefits this motion does not encompass the marketing partnership agreement relating to the exterior exterior roof sign on the casella center yeah and and look to commissioner bermudis's point right i i don't necessarily agree with you know what the what the video game represents or not that's not what this is about but i do recognize that these marketing partnerships you know represent an opportunity for the county and its residents and you know to the extent that we can do them i want to make sure it received you know the county receives the most value as a community benefit as possible so second so it's seconded by commissioner regalado and then on this motion itself discussion on the motion itself okay go ahead commissioner regalado i have discussion as well mr chairman so i've got regalado no no i seconded it oh you said orbis is seconded it okay orbis then regalado go ahead regalado oliver and then thank you listen um i i appreciate the the item i mean obviously we learned about this and that there were negotiations and we don't want the revenue generated from this to be limited by the mayor's threshold so the motion makes sense right we don't want the mayor to negotiate less because of the threshold and obviously there's a time issue so i think i think it's a it's a good motion my my only concern is it's a it's a lot narrower than bermuda's motion i think bermuda's motion just encompasses so many things that i don't even think that we could figure out like how to actually do it i think this is a lot narrower i mean could we just say what she is currently negotiating because what my understanding is that they're currently in negotiation for a b and c we don't know what those a b and c is but it would help us to narrow this to whatever she is currently negotiating that way we don't later on try to figure out like other things so that's be my only i don't mind that i just don't want to limit it i want to limit it to this marketing agreements but not to limit it too much where you know what if tomorrow they think of something else that we haven't thought about today but still within the same realm of vice city or whatever this is called the rockstar thing like how do we we put a timeline on it like anything related to vice city rockstar games for the next three months or six i don't know like i'm okay with what what you're saying but i also don't want to tie their hands too much i agree agree but but this this is this has like a launch date and i know that they're negotiating something what's the launch date some sort of scope the game releases in mid-november well everything presumably has to be done by that by that deadline by that timeline yes yes mr chairman so right um again i mean i'll hear what everyone else says but i just think i'm okay with it it's if we narrow it to whatever they're negotiating i mean i would assume i mean because you mentioned different things i mean how do you feel chris about narrowing it narrowing and um sorry commissioner we don't know what you're negotiating yeah and the item is very broad yeah yeah yeah so i'm happy to share in broad terms we have briefed almost every office on on the discussions um it's limited to three departments that we've been discussing up to this point it's airport seaport and department of trans uh transportation and public works it's a collection a variety of some very limited signage um lighting up lighting on facilities uh window tints vinyl wrapping um everything you know we retain creative approval over nothing would be graphic or sensationalized um yeah so really because i agree with the commissioner my thing is not to expand i'm not trying to expand it i'm trying to make sure we capitalize as much revenue as possible from the existing right what you're saying so what i guess to her point is if you're comfortable like what's the language that we could use to kind of can narrow it down a little bit more but also give you the the we don't want to limit your hand to go and negotiate more revenue for the county i think if we just include what he just mentioned like you said signage wrapping what else huh up lighting of up lighting that those are things those are things that we can enumerate i'm okay with it right i would just feel more comfortable if there were things i'm okay with it does that limit us i don't know are we leaving something out i think it does i mean i mean it's a list i guess commissioner what what's the concern with leaving it more broad on as the assets so i so i can just understand i just think we need to give it some sort of scope that's all what if you timeline it from now through the november 30 you know because we have a time a release date so if you put a timeline that covers it right like november whatever the release date is i mean i don't that i don't think that really responds to people's concerns they're not i don't think people are generally concerned about the date i think they're concerned about what exactly are we doing so if what we're saying is we're talking about lights and wrapping and signage that at least gives it some shape as opposed to some amorphous like agreement yeah i mean commissioner um i think that about covers it i mean we've we've got a couple signs lighting of facilities window tents a vinyl wrap at the airport um i i think that about covers i'm fine with that signing wrapping and lighting all right gilbert i'm okay with that gilbert yeah um mr chairman i i don't take issue with your motion as written i think that it would so when we sit here and we say how would we limit it we're trying to conceive we're how we would conceive so we're trying to think of things so this is what we're doing i would hate to put a limitation on there and then something else was provided that was outside of that i i don't i don't know that it makes sense to have a limitation like that yeah i don't i don't know that so because we're going by him off the top of his head saying wrapping up lighting uh some signage what what if there's you know something else so i i don't i don't know if that makes sense to limit in that way i think it make more makes sense to you know time wise or something something like that if we're going to be in the business of doing this and we're already in the business of doing it so that's the first that's the first thing um but i could go for it either way but i don't think those limitations something that's that that is more than that yeah right like what if they're willing to plant trees yeah i mean it's i don't know what because we're not marketing people so like we don't know what what your negotiations are willing to come in and plant trees and now we've limited to not being able to negotiate that yeah um mr chairman i mean what i would say is we're we're pretty close to a final asset list okay in the negotiations um but i agree i mean there may be something that that comes up last minute you know that that would be interesting and creative and and um yeah i hear you so i don't know but whatever you all want to do on that that's fine uh the other things i know we're discussing both both emotions here um i can support this one the other one i'm not going to support um i will not placate the argument that the largest budget allocation in the history of miami-dade county to the sheriff's department it's not enough i will not placate that for one more second no the budget is enough we budgeted hundreds of positions that she didn't have last year and hundreds more that she can't fill next year no if you want to put it in a peace and prosperity plan cool that helps that helps with public safety or if it wants to come back to this body and we want to allocate it to the sheriff that can be fine also but but let's not be in the business of placating the argument that we know to be untrue so we know that's not untrue let's not do that and and then also maybe commissioner harmer i don't see him over there right now but maybe his point is better taken now uh two weeks later because he said he would hate for us to allocate an additional what was it 11 million dollars and the sheriff still appeal she's doing it so we could have because without the 11 million dollars i think it was still the largest budget she'd ever received yeah so no i i'm not i'm not doing that not that game that that that's going to be too much for me so i'm gonna i'm gonna recognize senator garcia but while i do that if the attorneys can draft what a friendly amendment that regalado proposed but add some language at the end of and or you know give some additional discretion to the mayor so long as she could justify it back to us to ratify afterwards like on this it's still it's it's i'm still limiting my own motion so don't say no no no no no because i mean you're all saying you're about to vote for my motion the way it is i'm limiting the motion so it makes no sense for you to say no if you're willing to vote for the motion as is but i'm limiting it um so it's it's a middle ground between what regalado saying and what oliver saying or what my original motion is saying is limited but for if something comes up tomorrow or at 5 p.m today after we've taken this vote there is no other bcc meeting you know right like for the mayor to make that decision has to justify it back to us at the next bcc meeting and we would have to ratify it you know still it still limits it more than my original motion but it doesn't handcuffs it allows for flexibility yeah all right senator garcia thank you mr chairman and um commissioner gilbert i think what commissioner bermudis is trying to accomplish is that since this video game depicts violence against police officers that we um use the monies generated whatever monies go back to to the police department i think that's and i could see that train of thought now please humor me for a minute here um i don't want to take the most righteous path uh because it's not about being more righteous than anyone else i never try to pretend that okay so we all have our good we have our bad but i feel really uncomfortable with this whole thing we're having a conversation here about how we're going to distribute funds from an organization a game that's depicting miami like a crime haven we're depicting miami like murder capital we're talking about prostitution and grenades and stuff like that and the everglades and they're using our own city where we all live and where you all have children because i don't have children depicting our city like something that it's not and yet we have something that came before us at an 11th hour granted the mayor has the authority to negotiate everything up to a million dollars maybe that is something we should reconsider and lower that down to five hundred thousand dollars maybe we because it doesn't make sense to me that we're using the casaic center this the roof of the casaic center where all the planes fly through and say vice city and promoting we just sold our city out the same way that miami beach did in the same way that miami did and we should not be okay with that we should not be here debating about the monies where they go we should be debating how do we stop this from happening next what what company is going to come here next and try to buy us out you see this is the problem that we have it's not republican or democrat it's hyper capitalism it's it's this issue with corporatism that they think they could come in and buy us out it's not right and then mind you this think about this for a minute mr hudwalker you were asked to negotiate this by whom i have a question who asked you to negotiate this contract and who came to you uh rockstar uh senator rockstar games um and their representatives locally okay and then why did you negotiate something first of all what experience do you have to negotiate a contract of this magnitude so okay so you're right mr chairman no i'm not cutting you off okay i'm recognizing him to respond to you i'm i'm i'm listen i'm you got the floor no no you have the floor i apologize it's just just go ahead go i was just going to say you have the floor to respond to the senator i would i would just say senators i agree with you right and i think bermudis has actually led this argument with you um i i think we're two things i just want to say and and and i and i i i actually respect you because i i had the same concerns in the last meeting i shared them with you guys publicly on the microphone i i think at the end of the day we're we're they didn't negotiate this already right or or most of this um and there's one thing that i'm trying to stay pragmatic about on this which is this is a fictional game so i'm trying to stay above board and i get it it still paints our city a certain way i get it but i'm trying to to keep an open mind that it is a fictional game and for the most part we're all adults in this community not i'm not referring to us here in this chamber because i don't think we're all adults in this chamber but in in this in this county uh well you know we're all we're all adults and we recognize that it's just a game that it's not real life and we hope that those people see it as such and it doesn't paint hopefully our city in a bad light i i hope not i don't think so uh but i'll enlighten mr hudwalker to continue your answer answering your questions thank you mr chairman um senator thank you for the question um you know the game draws on miami it's inspired by miami inspired by the things that make this a special place the waterfront the bay the the diversity the energy the dynamism of this community um that's a fact it's a love letter to miami actually so and you said in your own remarks senator the good and the bad human nature so um um it's a fictional game that's true it is a faithful recreation of the city inspired by this city um and so it was coming the other municipalities have partnered the miami heat have partnered they have a special game november 18th um so it is something that we thought we should participate in for those reasons um and if you you know i can answer your question about my experience as well if if you'd like i can go into my uh previous professional experience mr chairman yes please because i think it's important to recognize what is your experience in negotiating a contract of this caliber sure um so senator um i went to florida state law school uh i was on law review at law school um after that i worked in the legislature as a legislative aide including with yourself uh after that i worked um for commissioner eileen higgins as director of legislation and policy all right mr chairman i don't think no and actually hold on there's there's one important point if i may uh when i worked at the seaport in the strategy team i led negotiations with two cargo yards for the renewals of their leases mr chairman thank you and the reason i ask this question commissioner gilbert the reason i'm asking those questions is there is such great experience in negotiating this why are we only getting nine hundred thousand dollars i have done some research nine hundred and something thousand dollars i understand the one million threshold but then this should have come back to the county commission for more money because i think we all recognize how much money is this going to generate how much money this corporation is going to be making on the backs of showcasing this love letter of miami-dade county first of all i've seen some estimates that they're spending about 150 to 300 the baseline is 150 million dollars i don't know if it's true or not but i've been i've done some research and at least a minimum of 150 million dollars are spending on marketing could be numbers all the way up to 300 million dollars and miami-dade county negotiated a contract for 957 000 for it it does not make sense and then now we're going to come back and we're going to try to sell out our airport and sell out our seaport for a video game that's going to make all this money is going to make miami-dade county look like what we have sergeants up there that are standing up there who protect us who put their lives in the line to protect us and this video game depicts shooting of police officers and we're okay with it the conversation that we're having here is completely wrong i understand this was in negotiated i don't want to i would like to see how we can claw this back because this should not be the conversation the conversation needs to be something more it needs to be how we do not sell this community out again that's what the conversation should be here nothing about money we should not be selling this this community out and i'm not being better than anyone else because i know a lot of us believe that's the same thing mr chairman you were here community as we were talking about this i think we should have a conversation of clawing this back because there is no way that i can support anything moving forward when you depict this community as something that is not something that every single one of us has worked very hard for and yet we're going to get pennies on the dime when these people are slated to make billions of dollars come on guys i'm sorry commissioners and again commissioner before i mean commissioner kilper before you go on i understand i don't not trying to be better anyone else here i promise you that i'm not all right so i just this is the this is this is something that we should not be selling out a community like this anymore and and senator look i i'm i'm i'm i'm done mr chairman i appreciate your passion senator and listen i understand we all this we all kind of alluded to that in the last meeting my motion is a little bit different and i understand what you're saying and you're right the motion could be and someone else could bring a motion to claw it all back i suppose my motion is like here we are today and in the world where this is already where the where the administration has the authority to negotiate this under you know a certain threshold but so to your point half your point only half your point but to half your point is you know i don't want to cap it at nine hundred and something thousand dollars when there might be spending 150 million dollars in reinvesting into marketing i don't think that's what they're going to reinvest into the county but i'm sure like overall marketing that's probably sounds right as far as budgeting goes um so that's what that's what my motion kind of merits around is giving the autonomy the authority to bring the most amount of dollars back uh to miami-dade county conversation about clawing back the whole thing that's all the conversation which we can have as well but my my motion is just in the world where this exists let's not handcuff the county and in limiting the the revenue okay commissioner gilbert chairman i'm gonna just go ahead and second your moment and i'm gonna call the question unless there's something significant to be said but let me just say that you know that this game in this conversation has drawn a lot of attention and i see doug it was little twitter fingers are going out there um yeah he's riding out on this one but but let's let's just take a step back and think about it you know the number one song like in the country was spin that i mean that's from miami and on this board we we review applications for people who want to do things like movies and tv shows um all the time and we actually give them money to help them bring business here and we don't actually look at the content of those tv shows and i mean i think there was a proposal before us to give dare i say miami vice yeah but i got an answer for that yeah so i mean i'm just well you can talk after yeah i mean i don't give you the oh yeah oh bermudis bermudis oh no no no hold on hold on it's because he's gonna call the question you're not gonna let me answer who is he the good guys winning miami vice have i ever not allowed you in this game have i ever not allowed you to talk commissioner bermudis but you just made a statement like he said you pointed at me he said he's not gonna allow me to talk that when he called the question i know that's the rocket i mean it's like can i just point a boy you act like i'm what is going on i gotcha i gotcha i think people are you're right i think it's heat mr chairman he'd get him a snickers i just give me another one i like to point out mr chairman i like to point out that i be raising my hand and i wait until i'm recognized yeah but you also keep saying i always get like interrupted by people it's like you know you do it and you you all interrupt me but it's fine all i'm saying is if you all don't want to do this i don't really care i don't we don't have to do it but if we're going to do it i don't want to give money to the sheriffs i want to dedicate it there and i think that it's smart to actually empower the mayor to ask for more than a million dollars like if we're going to do it i and so and and i think your point is taken it's a video game and i understand it might depict bad things but but a lot of the songs and a lot of the music and a lot of other things that are coming out of miami that we don't get paid for that we actually put money into they depict bad things also so let's let's just take a step back on and what what it does and how it does it because and i've never played you know g i didn't i've never played this game and i suspect i will never play this game so you know let's do what we're going to do and let's hurry up and get out of this meeting yeah mr chairman can i have i may really quickly mr mr if i may really briefly wait hold on what did i miss yes i have you to respond and then i have commissioner steinberg thank you and yes you have always let me speak i agree with you thank you and look i under you know i and i applaud you for trying to make uh something out of you know something not good and i agree with senator garcia i don't want it in any and by the way it's such a the preview is so bad we can't even play it here okay and uh i asked my female hispanic colleagues on this commission to please see how hispanic women are depicted in this depicted in this game because it not only deals with police officers you could run over people that are walking and crossing streets there's i'm not even getting into the meth usage but whatever we'll leave it at that the point here besides the fact that it's not the culture we wanted to pick for our county is as i said before yes there's going to be and you know i know commissioner gilbert's always one step ahead he knows miami vice is going to come and ask for some money like we did before but the good guys win in miami vice in this game they don't win so you know what i know which way this is going i totally disagree with it you know period so now i'm going to plant my flag in the ground and say uh let it be where it's at but just remember that uh you are we are actually and i include myself as a part of that fortunately or unfortunately depicting our community in a way that we claim we don't want it to be constantly and as chris with all due respect i would call it a lust letter more than a love letter because truthfully watching that game uh there isn't a there isn't if it's a love letter to miami then man we're in a lot of trouble all right commissioner steinberg and then gonzalez and then lopez lopez and then gonzalez women the ladies first ladies first ladies first steinberg you got the floor all right um i guess the first thing i want to say is if the majority of us don't like this and the majority of us have expressed concerns why are we even placating this at all like at the end of the day this in my opinion should have been a policy call that's that's our role right we're the board of county commissioners we set the policy the administration implements the day-to-day and they work closely with us and there's some great people in that administration that work very hard but at the end of the day we set the policy so if this is not a policy we want to get behind i don't know why we can't pass something to prevent such a policy from happening so that you know i think we really need to consider that as a as a conversation to be having before we consider any motions like do we want to see this happen yes or no and if the majority of us don't then everything else in my mind is moved and if we do want to if the majority of the commission actually says you know what we it might be a good generator then that's a different conversation but obviously i have concerns about this i also don't know why you know we were first taught about this um at 2 a.m now it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon thankfully not a.m um at our budget hearing and i couldn't for the life of me understand why the administration would enter into any negotiation from their ceiling right who enters a negotiation from your ceiling so i understand where um commissioner where the chairman is coming from in terms of his motion i just can't support any motion today because i don't philosophically think we should be moving forward in this direction um the ability for us i guess i have also some questions so we can just put this into context the agreements which we by the way for the record i have not seen any agreement i don't know the workings or what's being negotiated but um how long would this marketing campaign run for commissioner uh the discussions center around three months or so and how long would the miami-dade county brand materials and so forth be part of this game about three months is the term of the display of the display here in miami-dade county but then the miami-dade county portion in the game itself in the virtual world is that in perpetuity well yeah it's a fictional representation it's not actually called miami but yes it would it would persist right so we're talking about something that would forever be associated with us and they were going to be negotiating deals that were even under a million dollars each so i get where you're coming from but i think the first question we should really ask ourselves from a policy standpoint is this the policy we want to move forward with and that's a good point commissioner look i and i'll recognize uh commissioner lopez now i think this is a good start given where we are today right now absent my motion passing or bermuda's motion passing or both passing then i think we can't leave here today without a motion of clawing it back or something because we can't because they do have the authority to do it right and they will do it and now and we would be limiting ourselves if we don't pass this motion we this makes no sense not to pass this motion right unless you're like nixing the whole thing next you're going to nix the whole thing you something needs to pass or you nix the whole thing to steinberg's point and and garcia's point but absent nixing the whole thing and that motion passing that i don't know that that has the votes but then you've got to pass some motion so i'll recognize you lopez but just keep in mind that we're we're maybe we're not there maybe i'm just saying that because i have a motion in front of you all but i think we're again the motion is not whether i think this is the right thing or the wrong thing is we're here today let's capitalize on the funding to actually to senator garcia's point let's capitalize on the funding so with that commissioner lopez thank you mr chairman so i understand what your motion is trying to do and yes to uh senator garcia's point um allowing the administration to bargain higher uh is part of what you're you're trying to contemplate but let me just tell you where i stand so my son uh has played grand theft auto since he was little right he knows the game well i've never played it so i thought what's my best source to figure out what we should be doing here and if you know donnie you know that he's a pretty cool guy uh and he recalls um having played it and that it was this isn't new this isn't a new concept about miami-dade unfortunately the game that has always existed was about miami um and you know had i known that maybe as a parent and uh you know i might have called him back but the fact is that he's played it and actually um i asked him i said what do you think we should do here you knowing the game well he said to me mom they will probably sell two billion of these games this will be he went so far as to say i'll guarantee you productivity and business will be down when everyone's playing this game he believes that this is going to be the biggest thing that ever happens right in the world of video games okay now he did say to me i can't wait to play the game but mama this is not something that government officials should ever promote let the private sector do that that is their job not yours now that puts the onus back on me unfortunately because i trust my son i respect him i know that he's he's a reasonable person um but i feel like senator garcia and and obviously commissioner steinberg and commissioner bermuda's um this there's a big difference between my era of miami vice um where we were putting away all the drug dealers and criminals and all the things that sort of um unfortunately made miami in the 80s not a great place uh but miami vice came and it made us feel like you know what the police have the upper hand that this this is so uh um incredibly different um in fact he sent me one of the advertisements and it says players can carry cocaine and snort it directly from their hand in gta6 now look i'm not about this i'm not about the prostitution i'm not about the way i'm not about any of it to be very honest with you i'm not about any of it um and i and i and i really want to put my my my comments on the record because i really now feel so strongly after speaking to my son about it um so that and that's just a part and parcel of what you will see in this game i will never play it but i'm assuming that he thinks two billion people will start playing it and you know it'll it'll be it'll be unbelievable but unbelievable is that i would have anything to do with advancing that image for miami especially since i grew up here in the 80s and it already had a bad image we've spent a lot of time and effort trying to correct that image um uh and honestly i i agree with commissioner steinberg that these should have been policy discussions we should have had um but i believe listen with or without us uh the game's going to be hugely successful and that's what the private sector is all about is marketing their own uh products and so i just wanted to put that on the record um because i trust donnie wolf i trust him too but here so here's here's what i'd say before i trust before i trust my other colleagues here on to my right so here's what i say i want to take one thing back that i said earlier is i don't i said you know if we don't we can nix the whole thing or pass one of these motions because it's where we're at but actually i don't know we can nix the whole thing there's a sign already installed on top of the casella sign we'll take it off they're not going to take it off city of miami and miami beach already cut deals and they already cut deals so like i don't know that we can actually claw it back so are we going so again that brings us to where we are today right like in a world where this already took place whether we liked it or not do we okay but do we what's what's the saying that we cut our nose to spider is that right so are we going to actually say no you know what you're all going to do the you continue the marketing because we can't claw that back but you know what don't even give us a dollar do the marketing for free because we're not going to give you the the authority like my motion is just saying let's get the most revenue in a world where this deal has already been almost finalized or signs are installed um look i'm ready to call a question on this but i know that there's still some comments to my right am i are you guys okay if i just call a question or yes do you all want to gonzalez it's my original motion yes with with an amendment actually yeah with the amendment and mr chair look i want to thank you for putting forward the motion because i know i know what you're trying to do you're trying to make good out of something that's uncomfortable right and you're trying to do something good with with something that i think the majority or or maybe a lot of the folks up here have already expressed that they're not in favor of my issue and the reason that i can't support even though i understand exactly where you're going my issue is with how this came about in the first place and i do want to recognize uh chief of staff hood walker we've had private conversations on this i know why you did it the way that you did it right i understand the time crunch i understand the negotiation crunch and i understand why it had to be done the way that it was done and those are conversations that your team has had with my team um i get it my uneasiness though and i think that you can acknowledge the frustration is that given how most of the folks up here feel it just it doesn't feel right that we didn't have a say because we didn't have a say at this point in time now to the chairman's point we're on the what's the what's the yeah i mean you're you're the country guy what's the what's the saying we're on the horse we're on the right now we're on the horse and i it has to do with the donkey dolly you're in the wrong space so the reason the reason i can't support it is because i can't get behind just being a rubber stamp again i understand why it was done the way it was done and i'm not going to criticize you man i'm not but i would have appreciated and i think most of the folks up here including the chair because he said it publicly would have appreciated us making that decision and and for that reason i i can't just get i i can't get behind it i understand why commissioner garcia is so passionate about it and after hearing commissioner lopez talk about her son who actually played the game it gives me more hesitancy um and by the way the person who sounded the alarm is commissioner bermudez without him sounding the alarm i mean i found out about this on twitter because of doug thank you doug so for that reason i'm not i'm i'm not going to entertain it thank you mr chair thank you commissioner so okay so i'll call a vote i don't know that it'll pass but here's the only thing i'm going to to say again to you guys is if this motion fails and then we'll take up bermudez's motion and his fails because it's it's the same argument right for both of our motions then one of you that have voted against this i i encourage you or ask you to bring forth a motion to kill it because we can't have like all i'm saying is in a world where this exists why are we handcuffing ourselves yeah mr chair you're you're right so shall this motion fail right now and then we take up bermudez's and his fails because it's predicated on the same concept it's just the source of revenue where it goes it's only difference um then one of you need to bring a motion to to do something some other action item because then it makes no sense i'm just trying to help already a deal that's existing or whatnot and then i'm going to bring up another item that i know you brought up either last meeting or or the meeting before and it's not the same thing it's actually i think it's way better but which is miami vice and and uh commissioner lopez just brought it up but you had you were trying to allocate some funding to to the miami vice film and i i think we need to re-discuss that because i know that that's coming up now like this month or next month so and it keeps getting pushed back i know so but i'll call a question on the motion mr jim point of order yeah point of order point of order just before we go into the vote an important caveat the mayor's delegated authority by which she is acting under right now is given to her via an ordinance right so we can't undo it we we can't undo it undo it with the motion that you're proposing so so that that's that's why i said the point of order before we vote because the effect of the effect of voting no on both of them is that the item what she's negotiated with administration negotiated still gets done and you just make less money and we have like so this is this is also point of order on something else it's important that so then that's but that's important though it's important that that everyone understands what you just explained because like the commissioners are saying we can't support it i understand a morale behind it i get senator garcia and gonzalez have expressed more like morale sentiments and and vicky as well so i understand the morale behind it but we're we're almost we're lawmakers we're past the the the i don't want to say that because it's not right but we're past at this point to gilbert's point is they have the authority to do that we cannot do that today so then what we so then we're cutting our our nose to spider also another thing that i think is is important as a point of order um the city of miami and the city of miami beach have already entered into agreements so there's no clawing anything back right this this is this has already happened the game has already been made the the question is is miami-dade county going to have an agreement and do some part of this i don't think that wrapping something is an endorsement of a game i don't think that lighting is necessarily an endorsement of the game i mean the the game to commissioner lope to this point you know and my son plays it too um you know has has has been doing this for a very very long time so what exactly are we doing the the game the game is already set here it's not the first time that it's set here i i appreciate the righteous indignation but it's kind of like five or six years too late i mean that it is what it is this ship has sailed the question is are we going to facilitate that the mayor get funding that we can use to something else or are we just going to leave it under her authority i mean that's kind of where we're at commissioner bermudis for a question then yeah my question is of the of the attorneys maybe uh going to commissioner gilbert and first first of all no i'm not trying to be sanctimonious i just philosophically disagree with the culture uh the i i i would be very excited when they have a game that they kill commissioners i don't think we'd vote for that one but that's a different story note that uh anyways the uh my question would be this to a commissioner gilbert's the mayor has a delegated authority of a million dollars is that correct that's a marketing partner yes yeah now does that delegated authority extend to uh other county in other words what happened at the casella center does that extend to other accounting facilities such as the airport the port etc can you clarify what you mean by yeah where i'm going is this was done already with where the miami heat plays basketball okay and we all know they're going to have obviously a you know vice city night apparently but the question now becomes what uh and by the way i was and and commissioner hardiman is is a good friend and and i applaud him because it's you know parcel b etc but to find out that all this was going on without us knowing was pretty bad to begin with beyond the game and the game as commissioner lopez says this is the private sector you know that the private sector is what the private sector wants the question is how do you market yourself so my question would be the casella center has always had a different relationship than the airport and the port unless you know so my question really is does her authority extend to the airport and the port because if we're talking about re saying no to things in the future and we have the right to do it on the airport the port and somewhere else then maybe that's the vote that's merited even though the casella center has already happened so i don't know if that authority extends to the uh airport the port and i guess the other facilities i don't know if it's a dtvw or whatever so that's that's really the that's the question yes the mayor's delegated authority would extend to marketing partnerships at any county facilities or county properties okay so that means that the airport and the port are included up to the 1 million dollars okay that's correct i have a question can we waived and there's an ordinance that exists we waive ordinances all the time just out of curiosity that's to you guys you guys are the lawyers the board so the mayor's delegated authority under the marketing partnership agreement or and procurement is up to a certain dollar threshold amount so that's already up to a million dollars we have advised and and but the board still retains the policy prerogative to instruct the mayor that as to a specific contract or purchase to not enter into that purchase by way of example if a administration decided they want to buy spend 999 000 to buy comic book and baseball cards even though it's within the mayor's authority the board still has the prerogative and the policy imperative to say that is not a good purchase and they can bring a motion to prevent that commissioner steinberg so so i guess um just to run with what you just said then we could today direct the mayor not theoretically not to enter into a um any sort of you know not to permit the delegated authority as it pertains specifically to contracts with this entity as it pertains to our seaport and our airport or what have you is that correct correct okay so commissioner yeah prospectively not necessarily the casella is gone right you can can establish a policy as to new agreements going forward for this particular new agreements okay that's fine they have but they have existing agreements ready you're running out of time commissioner gonzalez so two things so the the casella ship has sailed is that correct because the county attorney's office has told my team that there's something that needs to be researched is it something that needs to be researched or there's no way of clawing that back that's a question that i think we need answered today clawing what the casella center or the the casella center the agreement that will incur liability to the county because it involves four parties it will involve removing the signage so that will instead of having a revenue generating contract that may incur that may incur liability to the county because if you exercise a termination of some sorts of convenience then you you're liable for the cost all right well that's exactly what oliver you see you're giving them ammunition to say i told you so understood so that ship has sailed there's nothing we can do about that this is my issue with the entire process right my issue with the entire process is that the way that i feel i know this is not what happened i know this is not what happened but the way that i feel is almost like the casella center was negotiated at 900 000 because it wasn't going to come back to us and so we wouldn't make the vote that's the way it feels i'm not saying that you did that but that's the way it feels and so to expand that reach further and to not agree with commissioner steinberg's motion to limit the seaport etc then it's almost like rewarding and giving more authority where i feel and i think other commissioners also feel like we should have had a say in the entire process and perhaps we would have been able to get more but it just feels like we stopped that 900 so that we didn't have a say that's the way it feels thank you mr chair senator garcia and i'm going to call a question thank you mr chairman look and i i understand this i guess the ship has sailed i wish the ship would not have sailed i think we need to come up with a policy this is a great lesson for all of us so we should institute a policy here in miami dade county as when it comes to advertising on our assets the way that they've been out you know especially seaport airport and the casaic center so i think this is something like this uh could never happen again and when we look at this video game you know we use the word righteous indignation this has been happening for this game has been out there for a long time but we've never uh sponsored or you know sponsored this the the bill or uh sponsored the bill we have never um been in favor of it we've never the county has not put their name behind it by us selling our assets that means that we're endorsing that's the word i was looking for we're endorsing this game that's the biggest difference here that that that is the biggest difference that we're calling so i think mr chairman what i would like to do are you going to call your question but if not i want to make sure i have one question chris have we negotiated any contracts with the for the seaport already we're in active discussions that means the ship has not sailed the ship has not sailed thank you so maybe after your after your motion mr chairman after your motion um i would like to present the motion to stop halt any more negotiations of our assets uh moving forward uh with this game second all right so we have a motion on my my motion and there's a second on that um i'll call a question yes just really quickly i mean i just want to respond to one thing so we do film incentives miami date has been involved in films incentives with bad boys with um miami vice potentially with dexter potentially which is about a serial killer where we give money to these entities to film movies about miami in this case it was happening anyway and so we negotiated to get money that's the only point look i think yeah it's it's not entirely different but yeah i i get what you're saying my commissioner coinhiggins you had i'll call a question but did you you had you're on the queue yeah really quickly thank you um to the county attorneys um can't this be resolved by us you know this brings me back a couple of years when we were looking to rename the caseya center and there was a company that twice submitted a very large bid to rename the caseya center i think it was the bang bros center and we completely rejected that without consideration but there was simultaneously a policy that said you know we're not as a county going to engage in advertising you know porn and prostitution on our county assets is there an actual policy that says an existing policy which is what we utilize to reject those bids just a few years ago that said we will not utilize this sort of material on advertising on our assets is there an existing county policy that speaks to porn and prostitution bang bros i believe that we utilize that policy to reject the bids from that company then there there are limitations within the delegated authority that's been provided by to the mayor for instance commissioner all naming rights agreements regardless of value so if you were actually naming a facility or building after a particular advertiser or proposer those have to be brought to the board there is no delegated authority regardless of dollar figures um in addition there are certain limitations political advertising um there i'd have to go back and i don't have the io in front of me but i can read to you some of the delegated authority that there are limits to what is delegated doesn't implementing order 8-9 specifically speak to quote unquote family friendly like we have a policy of only promoting quote unquote family friendly content in miami-dade county implementing order 8-9 i'm trying to pull it up as we speak okay if you don't mind doing so please while we okay as a can i call a question though i know i know that's not fair but yeah just just as a as a follow-up to that because i think it's interesting but what you're talking about lighting and wraps i mean not not a naming so they're not going to be the the imagery that you're talking about that's in the game is not what's going to be on the asset so i think it's different it's different i mean it's my motion i agree it's it's i mean it's it's different mr chairman i like the four-day rule this item motion yep my my motion well hi so you understand but then but then we have the four-day rule the rest of them i know but here here's the thing four-day ruling it just handcuffs the county so like you guys just congratulations you just screwed ourselves what you're screwing taxpayer dollars like so all of you that created oliver gilbert to do this no they didn't create this well no because now you know now we're losing revenue right like now you guys are saying you know we want to be like to senator garcia's work you know words like we want to be godlier what's the word that you use like we want to be earthier than earth like now we're saying you know what vice city or uh rockstar games come here do your thing and guess what we're not even going to charge you they wouldn't do it for free point of order mr chair that's that's actually not what it does what it does but i'm trying to prove a point i'm on your side like i'm going to prove a point like but you 40 ruling it it lets them continue their minimum one million dollar threshold they win well what would i suggest they would probably do is just negotiate something above the threshold if they could and bring it back for ratification because they've heard the will of the board they do it all the time they do it all the time i mean i'm done if you guys are gonna know the answer to the question can we still have the answer to yeah do we have the answer to the question the commissioner's question do we have the answer commissioner cohen i'll just read what we wrote in 2021 on the ftx naming rights deal and in that agreement it said that we as a county would not approve any arena logo that relates or refers to any subject matter business or enterprise that might reasonably be deemed to be immoral including any sexually oriented tobacco or narcotics related subject matter business or enterprise that could embarrass the arena etc i think and this is our language that we drafted in our 2021 ftx arena i am not familiar with this game because i haven't played it but the content that i understand to be included in this game certainly runs afoul of that language so i'm not sure how we i'm not sure how we got here under our own provisions and our own existing policy in miami-dade county but i think that that's something for us to explore further thank you mr chair well that would mean that it was wrongfully entered into and it should be known then mr chairman i have a question for the attorneys based on that it's our own policy all right so yeah you're in line i mean look we're 40 ruled it's it's fine and instead we we did what what i was telling raquel we were going to do right which is we cut our nose to spider face or we did it and i understand that but this is this is a little deeper it goes deeper than the four-day ruling and i understand all this and you can call me out for being more righteous than anyone else that's fine i don't care the reality is it goes deeper goes back to a policy there was a policy that we implemented this is why i was so confused early on with this because i thought that was the case but based how do our attorneys how do we get through negotiating a policy negotiating this this um this legislation or this contract knowing very well that we have this in our books what is what is the legality behind it because i'm not an attorney but i just need to figure out how this how this happens and commissioner we're trying to figure out exactly where commissioner cohen higgins was citing from because it seems like you're reading from the ftx deal so we're trying to i'm trying to get a copy of that and we can probably touch base afterwards to see exactly what you're referencing but we're happy to look into these issues and brief you on on this okay yeah but mr chair but but but to to commissioner garcia's point this goes deeper because as the attorneys to the county how would you allow the mayor to enter into an agreement that is against the policy of this board how how how wouldn't you already know that how don't you flag that we're trying to flag down exactly where it is that she was reading it from because if that's from the ftx agreement that would not necessarily be county policy that would have been an agreement that was part of that contract that we signed with ftx as part of their naming rights oftentimes when we do naming rights agreements there's provisions about the logos or the what they're allowed to put as the naming rights partner we have standard language like that in the agreement that doesn't necessarily relate to a policy policy so that's why we just want to get more specifics in terms of what exactly she was deciding to to better inform this board as to what applies and what doesn't apply here do you have a site does 8-9 specifically speak to quote unquote family friendly content for advertising being permissible are implementing order 8-9 it does not speak to the words family friendly commissioner um what i'm looking at is there are restrictions that are listed in 8-9 on types of um advertising or content on the advertising that's prohibited um this is on page four of section 8-9 in a section referred to as restrictions that one says political or political campaign advertising or marketing advertising or marketing for promoting the sale of alcohol or tobacco advertising or marketing that is clearly defamatory or likely to hold up to scorn or ridicule any persons or groups of persons in advertising or marketing that is obscene or pornographic or an advocacy of imminent lawlessness or unlawful violent action all right correct that's the marketing materials themselves not not necessarily the products products and so and so okay so it's like potatoes potatoes all right so or ridicule any persons or groups of persons in advertising or marketing that is obscene or pornographic or an advocacy of imminent lawlessness or unlawful violent action. All right. Correct. That's the marketing materials themselves, not necessarily the products. And so, okay. So it's like potatoes, potatoes? All right. So where are we? Like, are we, should I make a motion to direct the administration to bring back anything over the delegated authority to this board as an after the fact? Or any negotiations? All right. So I make a motion to have them bring it back to the board so that we don't cut our nose to spider face or whatnot. How about Garcia's motion? And who's motion? Garcia had a motion. You had a motion? Yeah. After your motion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to do make a motion just to ensure that we just don't enter into any more contracts with Vice City selling any of our assets for marketing of this game. After these that are already? Okay. After this one that's already done. So just include it in mine. Perspective. Just include it in mine. That's fair. It's after. It's not the current ones. It's like future stuff he's saying. No. Yeah. All right. We'll do separate. Okay. I guess people want to vote separately. So my motion. We have a second. No, this is another motion. I seconded it. Yeah. All right. Seconded by Commissioner Orbis. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Nay. It brings it back to the board, guys. My motion just brings everything back to the board. And then, so you'll get to vote no round two. I have a motion. I'm going to recognize Senator Garcia for a motion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members, just based on the conversation that we've had, I would like to make a motion that we prevent any future negotiations of the selling of our assets for the Vice City or the Grand Theft Auto Series. Name, if you can help me. Four-day rule. We're not selling anything. Four-day rule. Four-day rule. Okay. But we're not selling anything. I remember a former chairman that waived all the four-day rules. I think he's sitting right to your left. But that's okay. You know, hypocrisy runs amok in Miami-Dade County. Mr. Chairman, if I may make a different motion. How about it? You may get a four-day rule. Four-day rule. No, I asked the county attorney's office to bring back a piece of legislation preventing the Grand Theft Auto from leasing out any of our assets moving forward. So we can have that debate. We can have that debate. Look, he's seconding the motion. Leasing. Okay. Chairman, point of order. Anything that, any motion that we make that's going to restrict the mayor's delegated authority that we gave to her via ordinance, I'm going to four-day rule and ask us to actually game it all out. So you all just, that's what's going to happen. So there is, yeah, we don't have anything before us. I appreciate the chair's initial motion because it was broad. It didn't take away her authority. But if you're going to take away her delegated authority that we established in an ordinance, I don't think you should be doing it with a motion. I just want to say, I just want to say also, I want to piggyback on Commissioner Gilbert. And I want to say, because Commissioner Gilbert and Regalado have had this recent thing. And I know that as chair, in Spanish, a lo que me queda a mi son dos afectadas. A lo que te queda en el convento. A lo que te queda en el convento. That means, I got, my time is limited here as chair. But this whole thing where Commissioner Gilbert and Raquel Regalado say, like, point of order, and then they just talk, and they don't wait to be recognized. Like, this is going to have to stop at some point, right? Like, you got in this little, you guys got in this little groove where, like, point of order, chair. No, no, no, no. You're still going to wait to get recognized by the chair and the future chair, whoever that may be, because there's an order in this chamber. But, you know, I mean, lo que me queda en el convento es afectada. So that's the next chair's problem. That said, I know I said it earlier in the presentation, but I think I need to make an official motion if my team doesn't have it for me. But I want to allocate $10,000 to Making Strides, American Cancer Society. I said it in the presentation earlier today. If someone can second that motion. Second. Commissioner Steinberg seconds. And then I know that down there some of you wanted to do the same thing. I'll start at the end now, but Commissioner Bermudez, do you have anything to add? Besides that, I want to have the trademark on the game on killing all county commissioners and mayors in Miami-Dade County. Well, we're on allocation. You know, because that'll be, no, listen, I commend your $10,000. If I can do it, I'll match it. Okay. But I don't think, I think the allocations, they're going to read it, so I don't think we had. How do we do this? Do I go down and everybody does it, Madam Attorney? How do we best do this? Because I know that many people said they wanted to. Do we do it as one motion? We can do it as one motion. You mean for allocations from everybody? If everybody can just state on the record how much money and if they're in, then it can be done as one motion. Okay. So Bermudez, $10,000. I'm not putting you on the spot. It's whatever you say. Orvis? I've already instructed my staff to do the allocation. Okay. Gonzalez? Okay. Same. Lopez and Gilbert, allocations to Making Strides? I'm doing $10,000. We can do it separately, guys. I don't care. I'm just trying to get the show moving here. All right. There's a motion. There's a second. All in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed, nay. Wait, we called? Wait, Renee's what? Jesus. All right. Madam Attorney, do you have any other allocations or motions for commissioners? Mr. Attorney? Do you have any motions for any other commissioners? Commissioner Hardiman moves pursuant to Rule 5.0624. Commissioner Hardiman's not here. You've got to be here to make a motion. I don't have any other motions. Does somebody want to make a motion on Commissioner Hardiman's behalf? Okay. Somebody's willing to make a motion on Commissioner Hardiman's behalf? Okay. Commissioner Hardiman moves pursuant to Rule 5.0624. A4 of this board's Rules of Procedure to extend 100 days the approval period for all legislative requests eligible for an extension made by the commissioner. All right. It's been moved. It's been seconded by Commissioner Regalado. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All right. Go ahead, ma'am. Commissioner Bastien also has an appointment if there's anyone that would like to. I make it. Commissioner Bastien moves to appoint Edwin Shepard to the Miami-Dade County Historic Preservation Board. Second. I have a motion, one motion, not a motion, I want to ask Commissioner Steinberg if she would be a co-prime with me on the item for the Northeast Corridor, because it will not be finished, looks like, before I leave, and it's her corridor. Can I afford it? Yeah. Apparently the rules are different for everybody here. I need to appoint Lanair Robbins to the Military Affairs Board. Second. Unbelievable. Say aye. Aye. You got something? Show us adjourned. I see Rick and Tony. I see Rick and Tony.