Good morning. The clerk's office received notification that commissioners Cohen, Higgs, and Regalado will be absent from today's meeting. Commissioner Gilbert, Vice Chairwoman Mila Lourdes, Chairman Bermudez. Present. One member present. We don't have a quorum. Okay. We don't have a quorum, but that doesn't keep us from moving forward with presentations. So we're going to start with the invocation of the Pledge of Allegiance like we always do. So if you could all please. Be indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much, Roy. And by the way, that is the highest ranking invocation we've had here in a long time. So maybe it'll get me up there a little bit quicker. So thank you, Roy. Thank you very much. Because he's an important guy. All right. So I want to thank all of you that are here, including, you know, in the back, the director. I appreciate you being here and Manny also for being here. And we're going to have these young men and women. Oh, the county. Sorry, if I forget the attorneys, I don't want you guys. We're going to do the presentation, which is not going to technically have a meeting, but I appreciate you guys being here. Just found out one of you is responsible for the Great Flag Football League in Miami Lake. So we've got to give you credit, always give you a shout out. And but one of the things that's important is to hear from people that I've emphasized anyways. And I think also the mayor and the administration is to hear from as many people in Dade County as we should from the perspective of how to make our county government more effective. And these young men and women that you're going to hear from, which is why I asked them to be here to make their presentation, are focused. And I want them to talk a little bit about it and then do the presentation because they've got some they've done some fantastic things with thanks to the administration going and visiting some of our airport, port, etc. But the most important thing, I think, is they have actually they're an example of what America should be. Everybody talks about celebrating 250 years. We're not going to be around for another 250 unless civics and the understanding of how government works in a democracy continues to be focused on in this country and this county, which has many people, including myself, that come from places that lost the democracy. Everybody should know better than others that individuals like the young men and women you're going to hear from are the everybody says the future because you guys always hear that. Oh, you're the future. You're the future. That's what I tell my three kids, too. But the reality is you're the present, not just the future. OK, because good ideas come at any age. I don't care if you're 15 or 85. And the bottom line is there should be no reason why anyone discounts the ability of young men and women to be able to participate in the process. So I applaud not only the four of you, but your group for participating in this process. So we are going to see your presentation, but I'd like to start by you guys coming up, introducing yourselves and then telling us a little bit about your organization. And then we'll go to the presentation, if you don't mind. Come on up. I'm going to have to ask you all to give your name and address for the record because that's the way it works. So you introduce yourselves, even though I've met you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Clint John, and I reside at 19611 Northwest 12th Avenue, Miami Gardens, Florida. Good morning. My name is Robert Rojas, and I live in Miami Lakes. Good morning. My name is Sophia Bouguereen, and I reside in 210 Seaview Drive, Key Biscayne, Florida. I'm the president of Virtuta Impopulo Incorporated, and a proud freshman, as I said, at Miami New Orleans Senior High School. Virtuta Impopulo, our organization is Latin for Virtue to the People, and is a nonprofit founded in 2022 by a high school freshman at Hialeah Miami Lakes, Maritza Costa, who is now a freshman at Harvard, to empower Miami-Dade youth through civic engagement, leadership development, and economic literacy, having raised over $200,000 to date to fuel this mission. Through our Strive 305 Economic Fellowship, our students study the systems that shape our local economies. After months of field research and direct conversations with business owners, we are here today with one concern. Miami-Dade County is approaching a generational economic transition that we are probably not prepared for. Originally, our solution focused heavily on Certificate of Use Reform, but after conversation, we realized that the issue was bigger than one section. The real issue is preserving legacy businesses before they disappear. So we adapted, because we're teaching our fellows that policy is not a straight line. Before we dive into a brief overview, we want to thank the mayor's office and her team, specifically Lourdes Gomez, Edward Rojas, Christopher Walker, Tomas Alcala, and others who sat down with us and stress-tested these ideas. And, of course, to our mentor, Manny Sid, who has been in the trenches with us throughout this process. And, finally, this committee and Commissioner Bermudez for taking youth-led policy seriously. All right, let's dive in. They say Miami runs on caffeine as small businesses. I, myself, had cafecito on the way getting off the metro this morning. Just please don't tell my mother. Small businesses make up approximately 80% of businesses and employ more than half of the workforce. Roughly 40% of small businesses are owned by baby boomers. But, today, many of these businesses are owned by first-generation entrepreneurs nearing retirement. Without succession support and modernization pathways, we risk empty storefronts, declining corridor stability, increased commercial vacancies, loss of neighborhood identity, and replacement by homogenized corporate turnover. Other cities have recognized this already. San Francisco established a legacy business registry. Atlanta has invested heavily in corridor preservation and legacy stabilization strategies. Philadelphia and Boston have also implemented targeted business continuity initiatives tied to neighborhood preservation. Miami-Dade should not wait until these businesses disappear before we respond. Sophia? Hello. As I've stated, my name is Sophia Bouguering, and I'm a proud Strive 305 Economic Fellow. And, as fellows, we went directly into the corridors across Miami-Dade County and spoke to business owners. And what we found consistently was fragmentation. In one municipality, permitting was relatively streamlined. However, only three miles away, another business owner is printing paperwork, physically transporting documents, waiting weeks for routing, and trying to figure out what department has there file. That inconsistency creates unnecessary delays, costs, and frustration. Especially for small business owners who cannot afford to spend entire workdays sitting in waiting rooms. We are here with a concrete, three-fold strategy focused on modernization, efficiency, and business continuity. Because government should not feel like a maze. It should feel like a map. Thank you, Sophia. Good morning. My name is Robert Rojas, and I am the Director of People and Fellowship Coordinator for Virtudem Popular. Our first recommendation is a county-supported effort towards universal permit unification. Today, many municipalities still operate on fragmented systems that require businesses to repeatedly move between municipal offices and county departments. But several municipalities have already modernized this process. Currently, the City of Miami, Ball Harbor, Bay Harbor Islands, and Miami Lakes already utilize a digital workflow system. Under this model, a permit application is entered once at the municipal level. Then it's electronically routed to county agencies, such as FHIR, DERM, WASD, and Impact Fee Review. Instead of a business owner physically going from city to the county to the city to the county and back to the city again, this system routes it digitally. That means faster turnaround, better tracking, less confusion, and fewer business interruptions. We spent considerable time speaking with Lourdes Rodriguez, who sadly couldn't be here today, who helped build the workflow system currently utilized by these municipalities. And after seeing it operate, our question became, if the system already works, why are so many municipalities still relying on outdated, fragmented processes? We understand every municipality operates differently. This isn't about forcing cities. This is about encouraging modernization through partnership. Which is why we have already begun outreach and coordination with the Miami-Dade County League of Cities. Because collaboration scales faster than mandates do. Currently, 30 municipalities still do not have this type of unified digital connection with county systems. A permit takes an average 14 to 21 days longer because of physical document transportation and manual county routing. At the scale of 143,000 annual applications, that is over 2 million days of delays per year. And when small inefficiency happens thousands of times across thousands of applications, they become economic barriers. Our second recommendation is the creation of a formal legacy business program, modeled after successful initiatives in cities such as Atlanta and San Francisco. We are proposing that local economic development partners help coordinate this effort. Under this framework, businesses operating for 30 or more years could qualify as designated legacy businesses. This creates real operational support because preserving legacy businesses is economic development. And it is most definitely cultural preservation. The first component of our legacy business registry would be a publicly accessible one. Qualified businesses would receive digital visibility, tourism promotion, online business profiles, and integration into shop local initiatives. This gives residents and visitors an easier way to intentionally support the businesses that helped build our county of Miami-Dade. Because many of these businesses are not failing because they are bad businesses. They are failing because they were built for a different economy. And modernization costs money. That brings us to our second component, legacy empowerment grants. We envision working through private sector partnerships to help raise corporate and philanthropic support. These grants could support point-of-sale modernization, digital marketing, operational technology, physical improvements, or infrastructure upgrades. For example, a 40-year-old restaurant should not close simply because it cannot afford updated grease management systems or modernization upgrades. And that's a story we have heard way too many times. And speaking of that, we're excited to learn that staff is already working in Miami-Dade Innovation Authority on FOG technology challenges related to fats, oils, and grease compliance. Data shows that for every $1 investment in small businesses' digital modernization, such as point-of-sale systems and online presence, there is a $3.50 return on local economic activity within the first 18 months of investment. Finally, we want to modernize the customer experience itself. Through systems like the Meet Queue kiosk program, business owners can join virtual queues, receive text updates, monitor permit progress in real time, and avoid losing entire workdays just sitting in waiting rooms. For large corporations, delays are inconvenient. But for small businesses, delays determine whether or not payroll gets made. That distinction matters. In closing, this is phased implementation. Our recommendation is, in quarter three of 2026, a resolution encouraging municipal permit modernization and intergovernmental coordination is passed. Quarter four of 2026, framework development for the legacy program starts. And in quarter two of 2027, we have broader advocacy and implementation rollout. We've received encouraging feedback from stakeholders, including Carlos Gazetua of Sergio's, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, municipal staff, and community leaders. So today, we are respectfully asking for support for a resolution encouraging municipal permit modernization, feedback regarding the legacy business program framework, and continued collaboration with stakeholders, including the League of Cities. Efficiency is not a buzzword. For small businesses, efficiency determines survival. Thank you all again for your time and your willingness to hear directly from Miami-Dade youth. We are happy now to answer any of your questions. Okay, before Roy, because there might be some questions, I want to point out two things. You know, we've already requested legislation based on this report from our colleagues on the dais and the chair. And you've got my commitment that we are going to try to move forward. And obviously working with the administration on whatever else, the second and third part of this. But I want to point out one thing that, you know, the gentleman who started this is a Trojan. He graduated from Hialeah, Miami Lakes. There's also another graduate of Hialeah, Miami Lakes, on this dais. Because that's me. And I went to Pace and Hialeah, Miami Lakes. So I want to be clear that many great ideas come from that part of the county, right? So the, but Roy, any questions that you may have? Lourdes, any questions you may have for Manny? But we're already committed, I'm committed to trying to move this forward from the perspective. Because it kind of shocks me that the majority of the municipalities, it would be better for the municipalities too. Because their constant complaint is, pass the buck to us. If you could have any comments, if you do have any comments on this. Yeah, first of all, I would like to thank you for your presentation. I'm extremely impressed. I can't believe just how good it was. And I want to thank Manny Sid for his role in shepherding it this far. I thought your presentation was spot on. I would encourage you to consider one other thing. I know fat oils in Greece is a big deal across the county. It's the number one complaint you hear the most in the restaurant industry. And one of the things that governs that is that the county is under a federal consent decree with its water and sewer system that we're on the verge of completing. And one of the most important things we can do if we want to innovate in that space is to complete that consent order and close it out to where then it's this governing body's decision to set the policy. Because anything we want to do now that we might think is innovative, we've got to go through the federal bureaucracy of getting it approved. So I would just encourage you to think about how can we prioritize, keep in priority, that we get these consent decrees behind us to where this policy board makes the decisions for this county instead of anybody in a federal agency that doesn't even know where Miami is. So I just throw that out there for your consideration. Again, I thank you for being here. I'm extremely impressed. I had already seen your presentation. Manny had shared it with me, I think, yesterday or the day before, and I looked through it. So thanks again, and if there's anything we can do in the mayor's office to assist, just reach out. Thank you, sir. One of the things, Roy, that I'm glad you brought up the FOG ordinance, because we're already talking through our office with the federal administration and the state, which don't seem to have an objection to even if we cannot get out of that consent decree, because that requires some legal maneuvers. No legal document is impossible to amend. And what our office is working on is let's amend the ordinance with, obviously, the approval of these two other governments, which have no objection to it, so we can actually bring some relief to the small businesses without impacting what we have to complete, which you know very well since you were overseeing. You are overseeing, but we're overseeing it directly, that decree. The thing I'd like to add is, and I hope, and I'm telling the administration directly, this is a logical thing for the commission and the administration to work on together. As I told the mayor the other day, when I get a complaint in District 12, it doesn't just impact the commissioner of District 12. It impacts the mayor and all of us that are part of Miami-Dade County government. Second of all, as I've told my colleagues, nobody really knows what's the difference between District 1 and 13. You've got to be really inside baseball to understand it. So when one of us does something right or wrong, it impacts everybody. And these young people going through this process understand. They said something that's very important, which I really like on your presentation, but also what you said. Again, President Reagan reminded us that this country was built on small businesses, and it still is. The majority of businesses in America are small businesses, so that's the bottom line, especially in this county more than many other places. Second of all, which, by the way, this county is one of the top counties for entrepreneurs in this country also. But if we don't create the types of businesses that we can convince these young men and women when they go away to college to come back, we're going to lose them. We're going to lose them to San Francisco, to Boston, to even cities like Cincinnati. Why? Because this county cannot continue to rely only on governmental jobs being the large employers. Truthfully, it's been one of my main beefs all along with the way we've been dealing with things. I love Miami-Dade County government, certainly the school board, certainly FIU. You know, very wonderful. But there's a problem also if we put it on the backs of small and medium, hopefully small businesses that grow or medium-sized businesses that grow, and then we make it difficult for them to get to the next level and stay in South Florida. So there was a time in South Florida where National Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Burger King, Royal Castle, all these places, all these entities were founded here. That time has passed. And I think we need to, when we look at economic legislation, as these young men and women have pointed out, look at the generational transition. We can't just turn around and ignore. I mean, we talk about competing with others. Now we have the finance field. We've got great leaders like Ken Griffin have come down in South Florida. So now there's no excuse for us to not try to help these small and medium-sized businesses go to the next level. And there's no excuse for us to not remove the impediments. And I'm not talking about the FOG ordinance only, the impediments. I was telling these young men and women about the first meeting of this committee, we had procurement. You know, we had 172 ordinances on procurement. I'm not even talking about what the state law may be, which impacts us, obviously, because in a federal republic, you've got the federal and state and local level. So I just hope, Roy, that you've got my commitment to continue to work with the administration to make you a part of some of these reforms. I just need your help with some of my colleagues. But other than that, I think that we can get it done. And what I would like to certainly, and a little bit somewhat with the FOG ordinance, but what I would like to do with the permitting is, and we already have certainly chosen to get the hold on some of these issues that we think are very important so we can try to shepherd it through this body. I would just like to make sure we get cooperation, because I think it would be wonderful to see an institution such as this, because I'm going to call you guys an institution. You're too young to be called an institution. That's an old man's word. I'm going to call you a group such as this that started from the ground up, caring about government, about civics, see legislation go from A to Z and be effective because they were part of the process. That would be a shining example of what Miami-Dade County government can be. So with that, anything else you guys want to add? No, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much. Thank you. And I met them at the Miami-Dade County League of Cities meeting, and it really caught my eye because you don't get to see that very often in today's world, not only in your generation. Trust me, you know, that they're caring people, young people and caring people, period, that care about our government and how it works and how to make things better for our community. And that is what a democracy is all about as we celebrate these 250 years of the greatest democracy in the history of mankind. So thank you very much for being here. And you've got my commitment that I will take a couple of your suggestions and try to move it through the system. So thank you very much. Thank you so much. And with that, I guess we have nothing else. We'll adjourn. But thank you for being here. And I wanted, Roy, the reason why we wanted to have this presentation is because I don't want it to keep on getting delayed. Yes, they could send it, and Manny's done a fantastic job, a fantastic job. And I don't say that because I beat him in basketball, went around, played Miami Leagues twice, but that's okay. I just wanted to remember that. But Manny's done a fantastic job, but we need to turn some of these ideas, as we were talking about yesterday, some of these things have to happen. We need to put aside politics and really, as Commissioner Hardiman mentioned the other day, focus on purpose. And this is purpose. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.