this nation. We ask you that you continuously give us strength and also bless the county family. We ask for all these in your son's name. Amen. Amen. The flag of the United States of America, the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, members. We can take our seats. Members, silence your phones. And, um, Madam Clerk, if we can please call the roll and announce the presence of a quorum. Commissioner Bastien? Here. Commissioner McGee? Here. Commissioner Regalado? Vice Chairwoman Steinberg? Chairman Garcia? Present. Four members present. We have a quorum. Thank you very much. With that, Madam Attorney, can you please take us through the agenda? Yes. Now would be the appropriate time for a reasonable opportunity to be heard. Okay. With that, um, members, we have two minutes, but it's okay to go a little bit over, but let's try to keep it concise. Um, we have Paul Camacho. Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the BCC. My name is Paul Camacho, and for the records, I am not here under my elected official position. I am here as the president of the Westchester Business Council, also known as the Chamber of Commerce. I am here in representations of my members in my community that have mom-and-pop businesses, and, um, the agenda A, uh, 2A, uh, is making hard things for them through Durham, and they've been asked to make expenses that reach almost at $500,000 per business. I have businesses that have been in our community for 71 years, such as Frankie's Pizza. I've had businesses since 67 years. Alberta's hot dogs. I have Sergio's restaurants for 50 years. They're all are suffering with the problems from Durham, and I think that you all represent the constituents of your community, and you should look in ways to find, to help them continue in the legacies of their businesses in my community. But also like to let you know that I have a building on Bird Road, and to rent a 500 and square feet office, you have to go to Durham, and sometimes takes up to three months to get a certificate of use for a new business in the community. Something needs to be done with Durham, and the FOG, and, um, all the other things that they are relating and putting pressure on the businesses and the small mom-and-pop businesses, and people that are trying to open businesses. Not only in my community of District 10, but in your districts as well. I thank you all for giving me the opportunity to speak here today. Some of my members are also here, uh, that will be talking to you all. I thank you for your time. And I appreciate it. And those that are coming behind, um, I appreciate supporting the item, but this is the opportunity to say the issues that you see. Yeah, I'm in support of the item. Yes. To add more issues to this item, if you, uh, Correct. Like to see something else done as part of the study. This is the time to speak up. So thank you so much. Carlos Casitua. Good morning. My name is, thank you for, for having me. My name is Carlos Casitua from Sergio's Family Restaurants. Um, restaurants understand the importance of FOG regulations, grease traps, and inspections. The issue we see today is, um, we're in support of opening up the dialogue to simplify the FOG process and, and the Durham process. It's not about compliance. It's more about how it's administered. Uh, Miami-Dade County is the only jurisdiction in the entire state of Florida requires an excessive county level FOG approval in addition to local municipality requirements. This duplication creates delays, confusion, significant financial burden, and especially for small businesses. For example, the certificate of use and the GDO permits are submitted at the same time, yet they're reviewed by different departments on different timelines, causing massive delays in the permitting process. The ideal solution should be one department, one reviewer with a clear authority for either the county or the municipality, but not both. A business, I'll give you a perfect example. A business operating over 40, 50 years in Bird Road was simply updating. They, they did a divorce. They changed the last name to the maiden name, and then they had to go through a GDO and a CUO new process, treating a long-term establishment as a new business, requiring fines and up to, potentially up to $500,000 to run a sewer line for an old existing business over 50 years in business. This is the problem that Dade County is facing all over. We're not asking to eliminate the FOG program, but what we're talking about today is to simplify it, centralize it, and make it fairer for restaurants. We need to protect the infrastructure, but we also have to figure out how to support small businesses that serve the community for decades. Let's figure out how to simplify the GDO process, allowing ministers updates without reopening full approvals, and provide clear guidelines. Many times, penalties, I was just fined this past week, for almost $10,000. For simply, a new process in 2018 is requiring, we were updating our, let me just finish one second, our, our grease trap companies update every time they clean the grease traps. Well now, because of duplicity, they're requiring the business owners to do it. We thought he was doing it for us, he didn't, and now it had nothing to do with cleaning the grease trap. That I had to do is just, we didn't upload the document, and so now we're fining $10,000, right? We mitigated it to show it was a mistake, $1,500, but that profit could be for a restaurant. $1,500 could be one month profit down the drain regarding duplicity, rather, on administration, rather than the full compliance of grease trap compliance is the, probably the most important. That's why we're here, for safety of the, of the waterways and the infrastructure. Thank you for the time. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. Nicholas Bofield, and please, as you do speak, make sure if you have some suggestions, this is the time to try to incorporate them. Good morning. My name is Nicholas Bofield. I am the native guy. Thank you for inviting me over today. I've come to talk about the issue that I am going through with grease traps. I'm a local beekeeper. Give me your address for the record. My office address is 4601 Southwest 74th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33155. I'm a local registered beekeeper. I save bees and I sell honey and pollen. As you know, honey is not a grease. It's got nothing with fog, which is fat, oil, or grease. But for me, in order to sell honey to local establishments or restaurants, I have to obtain a grease trap in order for me to be by the law to sell to establishments. I find it ridiculous because we don't deal with grease. Honey actually dissolves in water, and it's actually the best way to clean honey off of anything. It makes it really difficult for beekeepers to establish a business where we can't sell our honey correctly, because we have to obtain a grease trap. A lot of businesses, especially on Bird Road, it would be financial burden on us to facilitate a up to code grease trap when we don't use it. I tried this method once back in 2019 before COVID, and when I checked the grease trap after a month, I saw nothing in it. So on behalf of all the beekeepers down here in South Florida, especially in Miami, which is the only county that regulates this, I wanted to see how we could work together in finding a better alternative for us beekeepers in order to sell our local raw honey. Thank you. Quick question. What was the cost of this grease trap for you? I lost $40,000 in six weeks, the fastest $40,000 I've ever lost in my life. Because when we did the grease trap after permits, after the whole issue between the landlord and my business partners at the time, COVID hit and we were out the door two weeks later. Timing was what it cost you, that's what the cost? The strain was the timing of getting the permits and then getting people to come out and do the inspections and then make sure everything was done. So yeah, it's a timely matter, especially for a $12 bottle of honey, you know? Thank you so much and I appreciate you. Thank you. Bees alive. I appreciate you. Yep. Save the bees. Um, Ben Barler. Can I get that right? Ben? The address is 7870 Northwest 62nd Street. A Ben? No Ben out here? All right. Charles? Sir, Charles? Charles? Fifi? Fief? No? All right. Mario Rubinez? Guys, I thought I had bad handwriting. Wow. My name is Mario Rubinez and I think I've been involved with a lot of what's been going on with the grease interceptors since 2015. And I think what is really needed is a lot of education to the owners of restaurants and people like the person before me with the, who's a beekeeper, he's right. Um, I believe that a, uh, a place that, uh, sells honey and there's other types of businesses that really don't need a grease interceptor. The thing is that the way that the ordinance was written, it kind of obligates and ties the hands of, um, um, you know, uh, Durham or the authority, uh, uh, in jurisdiction, uh, to make them do that. But yeah, uh, I think that, uh, there's room for improvement, um, on, uh, on how things are done and, and that everybody should be, uh, heard and, and try to figure things out. I appreciate it, but, but education, I think is, uh, you know, um, the best way to, for people to understand what's going on. And the reason why we're here, uh, because that, the reason this whole thing happened is because, um, there were, you know, um, a bunch of undersized, uh, grease interceptors, uh, people that didn't clean interceptors. Right. Um, I mean, it was a slew of things and, and the Durham ordinance took care of all of that. And I think a lot of people don't understand why, why we, uh, why the County got to where they are today. Um, and, and if, if they did, they would understand more, but then of course there's room for improvement, uh, which, which I believe, um, is something that will be good. Um, and, um, and that's it. Thank you for recognizing that. We'll talk about the lawsuit and kind of how we got here, but it's important that we also recognize that it was because people were not doing it properly and we have a consent decree. So I guess we'll talk about that, the consent decree and the lawsuit and the requirements of that when we get to the item. And I, and I, and I appreciate that though. Now, uh, Renee Pascuale, Pascuale. Hello. Thank you. I'm not really good at speaking, but if you're seeing me here, this means that it's important to me. Renee, can you give me your name and, uh, address for the record, please? Renee Pasquarela, 9120 Southwest 40th street, Miami, Florida. You'll be fine. Okay. I'm co-owner with my sister, Frankie's pizza. Last week, I went to an auction for a fellow pizza owner because he got cancer and he went to sell his business. And one of the reasons why he was having a hard time was the cost of this new mandate. Unfortunately, they auctioned all of his stuff, pennies on a dollar. And although I understand this is an important issue and we all want to comply, we want to be law abiding citizens and we want to keep our businesses. But I think it's important when you come to small owners, especially mom and pops that don't have a lot of money and are struggling with the dynamics of all the economics, everything that goes on, that there should be some sort of committee that you ask several businesses, owners to come in and communicate some of the difficulties that we might have. I don't know very much, but maybe small business loans with the SBA, something when anything is over $10,000, $20,000 that could cause this kind of hardship that maybe it could be considered. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for being here. You did a great job. Dylan Finner. What is it? Finner? Finner? Finner. Hi, my name is Dylan Finger. Do you want my address? 720 Northeast 62nd Street. Yeah, I came here today to, for a number of reasons, personal, obviously, but also, you know, for the greater Miami area. I'm currently chairman of the Flagler Business Improvement District. So I want to talk about that, but also talk about my own personal experience. In 2018, my wife and I started a plant-based ice cream business. And we moved into a newly leased facility in 2021. And to our surprise, that facility had a, we had taken it over from a prior plant-based business too, had just put in a new grease trap in 2016. And we came to find out that that that no longer met the 2019 code. And we were there, you know, forced to put in a new grease trap, rip out the one that was literally a few years old. And at a cost of $40,000, had to put in this new grease trap system, you know, and being plant-based, which we are not using heavy greases or fats, you know, animal fats. So that's just one example. But I think overall, you know, when we also talk about the downtown core that's been kind of, you know, dilapidated for decades now. And now we're in the point of revitalizing it. And traditionally, there's a lot of retail stores that are now going to have to, you know, we're trying to bring in a lot of food and beverage that are now going to have to be, you know, converted, you know, their use into food and beverage. And now these grease traps are coming in. And I've seen it happen in Wynwood, where I was on the board of directors there, too, where it actually stopped people from signing leases. So, you know, I urge, you know, some kind of change. I'm obviously for environmental protection, et cetera. But I do urge some kind of change that protects the smaller businesses and lets them thrive instead of prohibiting them from existing. Thank you. Do you have any recommendations? I don't know if I put you on the spot. Maybe you can come back to us while we're just going forward. Next, we have Andrew Platt. Good morning, Commission. Senator, thank you. My name is Andrew Platt. Address on record is 16030 Northwest 83rd Avenue in Miami Lakes, Florida, 33016. First of all, thank you for all coming to bringing this item to it, because it's very important. As you've heard from people previous to me, it's basically the same story over and over and over again. And senators ask for, how do we make this better, right? I personally own and operate six restaurants, four in Miami-Dade County. I see one, two, three of my representatives sitting in front of me. Ms. Steinberg in the beach, Senator Garcia in Miami Lakes, and Commissioner Regalato in our Pinecrest and Coral Gables locations. I, too, am a low-grease producer. I have almost $200,000 worth of plumbing in the ground, and I don't serve an ounce of fat. So what do we need to do? We need to come up sitting with the policymakers and the people who are affected, right? We have form and function. The function of these systems is to protect the Biscayne Aquifer, the consent decree, the lawsuit. However, there needs to be a tiered approach. A plant-based ice cream system or an acai bowl restaurant has to have the same grease system as a Hooters or a Burger King. So we need to find an approach that makes sense for all of us. There's talks of how many people go up into this process of filing for a municipal certificate of use or their GDO permit and never get across the finish line because a reviewer says, no, that doesn't work. Me, personally, I took a restaurant that had a same use, and I had to spend $7,000 on a system that was installed, approved by DERM six months before because the DERM's reviewer said, we need a new grease flow calculation. That's $7,000 to come up with the same answer. So I think the approach that we need to do is find a system that works for us, a work-through system. If a system is already existing and you bought a new location or you took over a space, we need to be a little bit more lenient to somebody who may have put up $100,000 worth of key money to assume the space instead of saying, hey, you're going to wait 12 to 24 months for DERM to review your file. The landlord's only going to give you six months free rent. So what about those other 18 months at $10,000 a month in rent? The next thing you know, it's a quarter million dollars gone to a small business, to someone who wants to feed families. In restaurants, the average restaurant employs 60 people. That's 60 families we're feeding. Every month that goes by, that's 60 people not receiving a paycheck. So I implore you as the commission for the RTRC to do the right thing. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. I appreciate your conversation and what you do. With that, we have Colin Clark. Hello. Thanks so much. My name is Colin Clark. Address 1504 Bay Road, Miami Beach, 33139. I just wanted to take a few seconds. I moved here from New York City about four months ago. I own one of the top 20 cocktail bars in New York City. I moved here specifically to open a new business and raise investment. And I just wanted to take five seconds just to say that in the conversations that I've had with local investors, all of whom are interested in supporting more hospitality and food and beverage ventures, one thing that constantly comes up is a concern over grease traps, the amount of time that it takes if it's a first or second generation restaurant to permit, the amount of money you have to put on this, especially for a concept like mine, which is a low grease concept. So recognize the importance of this. I'm still kind of cutting my teeth down here in Miami and learning some of these situations. But I just want to say thank you for addressing this situation. And for somebody who's raising money and investment, it's definitely top of mind for potential investors. I appreciate that. Felix Bendersky. Good morning, everybody. First of all, I'd like to thank everyone here for even getting us to this point, as this has been a big trouble for the restaurant community the last couple of years. My name is Felix Bendersky. I am the owner of F&B Hospitality Brokerage, and I have the social media page, F&B Miami. I have done several hundred restaurant deals since 2019. The number one deal breaker has always been the grease trap. Currently, there are about 30% of all city of Miami restaurants that don't even open when they're supposed to. Out of 100%, we have 9,000 restaurants in Miami-Dade County. 30% of city of Miami restaurants don't even open because of the grease trap. We are currently experiencing a really tough year. Actually, the last couple years have been tough. And whether it is the thin margins that we're going into, the profits, the rents, the slow seasons, for any restaurant to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. And losing time of upgrading the grease trap up to three months is a problem, and it is going to take them out of business. We, as a community, are super strong, and we always communicate that this is the number one issue with the scene right now. A lot of mom and pop restaurants, many foreign, many immigrants who open in Miami-Dade County, are here for the American dream. Many of those people do not know how to navigate the system. There is no written handbook. When people sign leases, there is no timeline of how long it will take you to get through the system. Most of the times, the only people benefiting are landlords who are giving, even if they're giving, let's say, six months free of rent, everybody in this room knows if it's a first time. You're looking at a year to 18 months of just installing. There is no way that people can survive those months of paying rent without being open. The bigger restaurants, they're well-funded, maybe they can. But restaurants who, whether it's sushi or coffee or a sandwich shop who don't use grease, shouldn't be abided by the same laws as everyone else in terms of the legalities, the costs. Right now, everybody in the country that calls me for restaurant space, everyone asks, how is that grease trap thing going? Everybody knows that that is right now, Miami-Dade County's Achilles heel. And I'm just very glad that all of you have taken notice and just wanted to thank everyone for considering making it more cost effective and more feasible. Thank you. Thanks, Felix, and as this legislation moves forward, make sure that you get your recommendations to the sponsor so we can try it on. Well, and now in the debate, we'll have some conversation about it, but we'll continue to move forward. Dave Arbetter? Hey, Dave. Lefty for laughs on purpose. Best corn dog in Miami. Yes. Anyway, all right, so reasonable opportunity. Anyone else from the public wants to speak on this item? On any other item? Yes, ma'am? Come up. No, please, just, if you're going to speak, just come up to the microphone, please. We have a mic back there. All right, go ahead. What's your name? Okay. To the environment, our environment, why is it just being placed on the restaurants and not all of collectively, you know, around South Florida? Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate that, and just make sure we fill out a parent's card before us, and I apologize that we didn't have a mic for her, but she's in a cane, she has a cane, and didn't want to have her to walk up, I'm making it more burdensome for her, so thank you so much. With that, reasonable opportunity to speak is now closed. Madam Attorney, can we walk through the agenda? Yes. The items to be considered today are those on the printed final agenda. A motion to set the agenda is in order. Moved. Moved. There's a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye. Opposed? Like sign. See the agenda set. Members, we are now on the agenda. Is there any items to be pulled? I'm going to go ahead and pull 2A. Anything else, members? Seeing none. I'll move the rest of the agenda. I wasn't... Moving the rest of the agenda. All in favor, moving the rest of the agenda. All opposed? Like sign. All right, see the agenda move forward to the next meeting. We are now... Oh, I forgot. I apologize for that. I forgot about the citizen's presentation. We do have a citizen's presentation by Tomas Lamarca. We do 2A first. I think the presentation... Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You're welcome to come up. Good morning, Senator. Good morning, Commissioners. My name is Tom Lamarca, 1-9-7-3-5 Eastlake Drive. Back in December, I had an issue with our association looking to plant trees on the common area of the association and to plant five trees on the county swale as replacements for the trees. I contacted along with my board member first, attempted to do it. She spent almost four days trying to accomplish it, was unable. I then took the lead and I also contacted 3-1-1 straight out of the box. 3-1-1 was not able to help to find out what permits were required for planting on common area of the association land. Second was, as I said, for the county right-of-way. I then, at that point, was told to look on the county website. Nothing was there. There was no lead information on how to obtain the permits, what permits were required. We were initially also told to speak to Durham. We contacted Durham. Durham said that the only permits that they issue are to remove trees. So I said, okay, if you need a permit to remove a tree, you have to have a permit to plant trees. By far, more trees are planted than the amount of trees that are removed, that do require the permit. That was the hurdle that we had to go through. My next question is, does Miami-Dade County and namely Parks Department, are they required to pull a permit to plant trees on private HOA land? Is it required that they pull a permit? We had experienced this with the Parks Department where they planted 31 trees on county, I'm sorry, on HOA land. And I asked them to please stop planting the trees. I called Miami-Dade Police, asked them to please leave. The issue still continued to plant the trees. It fell on deaf ears when we had contacted Miami-Dade Police Department. At one point, we had the chief of golf course operations tell us that they apologized and that they would maintain the trees on the HOA land and they would also replace any trees that would be impacted that may fall due to inclement weather, hurricanes, whatever. To this day, Parks has not lived up to the promise that was made by the chief of golf course operations. I have addressed this with Park staff at the Country Club of Miami. Obviously, it has gone nowhere. So I'm asking that we could please get some help on the issue, which is the Country Club of Miami. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. And did speak to Lourdes, and she did recognize that there was some errors that were committed on the county's part, and that they were owning that and were trying to fix those to make sure that doesn't happen again. Correct. In all fairness, yes, she did approach me and tell me that, that there was no information at 311 and nothing on the website. And apparently that, hopefully it's been corrected, that issue. Yes, sir. Mr. Lamarck, on the public, I want you all to understand that this is where you have the voice and you have the power. Where are your representatives? And if there's an issue before you that government is not being efficient, this is how you voice and this is how we make change. So I appreciate you taking the time of your schedule to come before us and identify a problem that we can now correct. And Lourdes, thank you for being up front with the issues that were on our side and trying to put a process in place to try to correct them. So I appreciate your honesty and coming forward. So thank you, sir. We'll work on that. Thank you. And I, once again, want to appreciate the, um, being able to speak for the commission, also the mayor's office, the county attorney's office, and also with, uh, parks. Thank you. Yeah. I hope, um, Christina, why is she there? Is she back there? Christina, why is she there? You can just try to reach out and talk to her now and see, um, and I'll follow up. I'll have a meeting with them afterwards. So I'll make sure I bring up this issue. Appreciate you. Thank you very much. Uh, yes, ma'am. Just, just on this one, um, really quick and thank the speaker for, for coming down. Um, um, I've said this before, so I'll say it again. Um, I really believe that we should allow Lourdes' department and Water and Sewer to have their own IT. The lack of information on these websites is not the fault of the directors. It is the system that pushes them into this broader IT universe where resources get pulled from one end to the other. I understand that there is a desire to centralize IT, but in the same, for water and sewer and for Lourdes' department and building, their direct contact with our constituents needs to be up to date. So they can't be waiting in a queue. They need to have their own IT people. They need to be independent so that then they could be responsible for these problems. Because what happens is Lourdes will say, oh, I put in a change for the website and it got stuck somewhere in IT and they never did it, right? And we go around and around. Last year, when we were working on the budget, I gave examples of the issues that we had with, uh, Connect to Protect and Water and Sewer and questions that we asked that the correct information was just not up on the website. Yeah, Commissioner, and I'll tell you, I think it's important. And I think this is a conversation that needs to be had. And maybe there's an item that could come before us. I think the lack of dashboards and accessibility of information to commissioners, um, is indicative of what's happening. Uh, it's not, so... But these two departments, I just, once upon a time, they were independent. I get that, but let's bring an item, let's bring an item because I'd be more than happy to work with you on it. I don't know if there's a hold on that, so, yeah. Yeah, um, I just wanted to say that I actually, literally, as I was listening to the gentleman, put in a request to, you know, I've been complaining that, not necessarily even for us, for the public to have our website just be more user-friendly and have more updated information in a timely manner. So we've literally just, um, asked to start working on that. Yeah, Commissioner, you're on the right track. I did bring an item, though, so that you know, I did, I have tried. I did bring an item. I mean, and the problem is that IT at the moment was, oh, everything needs to be centralized, everything needs to be centralized. So my question to this committee and to the board is, how many mistakes need to happen in terms of access to information on water and sewer and spend? I'm not saying decouple everyone, because I know the people in IT will lose their minds. I'm not saying decouple everything, but in the case of building and water and sewer, we've had so many instances where people cannot get information. Let me ask you this. I get it. What is your recommendation? My recommendation is that we free them from their contract with the IT department, and we allow them to bring their people in-house. Why can't we not, what is the problem with you bringing legislation forward on this item? Because every time I mention it, they tell me that the decentralization is anti-our policy and that the departments want to continue. We're the ones that dictate that. A hundred percent. Can we add the direction of this committee? Can we start, look at the county attorney's office and ask to put something in motion as what would look like, you know, to try to decouple some of these departments from IT and have their own department? I even said it as a pilot, by the way. Give me a minute. Give me a minute. And if we're going to do that, I do think we need the directors of those departments, part of that conversation, so that they can actually give the input necessary because they're the ones dealing with this information that needs to be made public, and we need to make sure that they're working, you know, in harmony with each other. Of course. And you said you had something in the pipeline or you put something in? Yes. I am, separate and aside, just in general, to just make our website more user-friendly and to make sure that it is updated timely with any current and relevant information. Okay. So being the vice chairman, would you be willing to take on this mission? And you're on the right path. And one of the things, one of the issues that I've had with this administration is the lack of dashboards and real-time data for us. So I think all of us, and I think Commissioner Bermudez, there's music to his ears as well. So I think it's important that we work on this. So let's try to get Commissioner Steinberg as the lead. We can do a co-sponsor or whatever. I'm happy to do it, Sunshine. I explain what I've been through. I would just say I was even offering, because obviously it comes back as a budgetary issue, and they say, well, if everybody decouples, then there's going to be a problem with the budget because they want to keep IT, and the way that IT survives is by charging the different departments. Let's be honest. So what I was proposing was a two-year pilot. Let these two departments go for two years, just decouple them from IT, let them hire their own people, let the directors deal directly with those humans, and let's see if there's a change in the work product because then we have accountability. Those two departments are the two departments that interact with our residents the most. And then after two years, we can go back and see if other departments need it. I mean, I'm not here to break the wheel, but I think, you know, Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, and currently our IT situation is not helping these two departments because time and time again, to your point, we can't even get the information. Forget the public, you know? So it's very challenging. Well, look, this is part of the committee process, and this is where we come up with different ideas and suggestions, and we move forward. And by the way, the airport is independent, so it's not like there isn't an independent. And these are enterprise departments, so similar to the airport, these two enterprise departments could be independent. I agree. Thank you. Thank you for speaking up on this issue. We will look to Commissioner Steinberg, co-sponsor that when it comes back. But I appreciate you. Thank you for taking on this mission. With that, Madam Attorney, we are now on 2A? Yes, item 2A. Commissioner Bermudez, you want to present your item. I know we've heard from the public. I pulled it because I have a couple of questions, but I appreciate you bringing this before us. Thank you. Thank you, Senator, and thank you for the opportunity to be here, Mr. Chair, with you and the committee on this item. That's very important, and you heard a lot of the business owners and residents speak, but let me just, this comes about, and let me start by saying that I recognize that the FOG legislation is designed to protect our environment and to comply with the consent decree the county has with the federal government and the state, and Abby can enlighten us later, if needed, on that. And second of all, I'd like to recognize and thank that for many months I've worked with the administration and the small businesses. Some who are here, some who are not here, that certainly have given their input. And, Mr. Chair, you're totally right. It's great to have them give us input because they're the ones that have boots on the ground and have to deal with this issue. And, by the way, chili dogs are really good at our betters, but the, and I am really happy to hear from the administration and from the small businesses that there's a willingness to move on this because in my district, which is District 12, and you heard from the city of Miami, downtown, brick all over your district, I think it's happening everywhere. And I've seen a number of business owners in District 12 that have also approached me that the cost is just becoming almost impossible to deal with. And, by the way, even the owners of some of these developments where these restaurants are in are having problems. And the gentleman that mentioned the six months is totally right. That could make or break. And the $1,500, the beekeeper, totally right. But during the last budget process, we approved splitting the Durham Department into two different sectors, permitting a regulatory part of it. So I think this legislation is timely as now we can do something on the regulatory side, and I believe more efficiently. So I think it's time to take another look at these requirements that were looked at in 2017. It's almost 10 years ago. And these things are really impractical, and you've heard it there, and I can give you many more examples, but we'd be here the whole day, at how financially impractical this is for local small businesses, which are the heart of not only this community but our nation. I'm going to give you just a couple of examples that I've run into by some of the businesses that the legislation does not allow repair of the fog device that has suffered a minor breach, okay, even if it's the first such breach and could be repaired and certified as being breach-free by a professional in the field. So that's, in my mind, a little bit inane. It can be super costly. You heard the gentleman, I think, that talked about a six-month difference. What was going to change in six months? Nothing. Truthfully, nothing was going to change. But it was $7,000 to give the same darn report. That's not good government. Smoothie shops, ice cream shops, we heard other examples today that do not do any cooking. You know, they're forced to comply with this, which is, in my mind, again, not what this was intended to do. And I don't think that the regulations were intended for that. Now, I understand that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA, okay, we need their input. That's why I'm asking the administration through this legislation to look at the fog regulations. Quickly, quickly, boy, sorry, quickly, and see where we can be less financially burdensome on local businesses while still protecting the environment. I heard no one that spoke said they don't care about the environment. Everybody said they care about the environment. But the fact is, the small businesses, the economic engines of this county, or this economic engine of this county is being impacted. You know, just as a suggestion, I would say if we can establish a process where we can look where there's no cooking being done on site and maybe inspect those entities yearly, and as long as they haven't changed it or they haven't breached it, then maybe expedite the process. That's just a suggestion. I am – there are the ones on the – the businesses that are here today and some that aren't, and the department are critical to this process because you're the ones with boots on the ground. And I know that we as public policymakers, but our role – and I applaud you because I do agree with what you just spoke about right before. You've heard me say it many times, communication. And I agree with you, Senator, and the rest of my colleagues. But our role as public policymakers is to set the rules to let them function in the best way possible. It's not for us to set the rules that we want just because we want to set rules. And there is a number of the requirements in the existing legislation that do place a financial hardship on businesses, in particular the small ones, that to me don't make any sense. You heard some of them today. There's a lot more that I've heard from other entities. And like I said, nobody – the FOG regulations, we're always going to have them. It's fine. It's expected. It's part of what we're required to do. It does serve a significant and legitimate interest in protecting our environment, human health, and the public wastewater and drinking waters. But they can't be unreasonably burdensome to the growth of this economy, especially the small business sector. It's been a long time. It's been almost a decade. And things have occurred since that time. The county has, in fact, spent a significant amount of funding and projects under the consent decree, the obligations that we have. And I'll leave that again to you, Abby, if you want to make any comments on it. On the broader goal of protecting the environment, our public wastewater and drinking water. So I don't think this is unreasonable. I think it's urgent, to be honest with you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, because there really is – I'm going to tell you something. The gentleman that has the three restaurants, including, I believe, one in Commissioner Steinberg's district, Senator Garcia's district, and Commissioner Regalado's district, he said 30% don't open, I wouldn't be surprised that it's a higher number, because I'm getting complaints even from the people that own some of these facilities that are trying to rent them out to owners. So this is, in my opinion – and I know because I know there's people going to say, oh, the environment – I support protecting the environment. But we have to be logical, and this is an opportunity for government to be logical. And there is nothing wrong with looking at regulations that, yes, we had to deal with 10 years ago, but things have changed. And let's make sure we protect all the interests. I thank you all for being here today. I thank you, first, Mr. Chair, for letting me speak today. And second of all, I want to thank all of you for taking your time to be out here today, because time is money. That's what this is all about. Time is money. They're not at their businesses, because they've got to be here. And unfortunately, you know, time is money for everybody in this process when things are burdensome and they could be streamlined. I hope that we listen to them. I hope – and I thank the administration again for having an open ear to this issue. I hope that we can work with the department, with the administration, with the businesses, and even us with our districts so we can get something from this report that we can collectively agree on streamlining this process and making it better for all of us. And I appreciate you bring – I'll get to Bastian and Commissioner Rigololo right now. Abby, can you, for the benefit of the public, give us a quick history why we're here, what happened, you know, why – just two minutes if you can. Of course, Senator. Just to give some context to this legislation, as Commissioner Bermudez explained, the county was sued by the EPA related in part to the county's sewer system and sewer regulations. These enforcement actions by EPA and FDEP spanned many, many years. The most recent one culminated with a federal court consent decree. The county was the defendant that was entered in – that order was entered in federal court, I believe, in 2013. And part of that required the county to adopt a – updates to its FOG ordinance. And the consent decree actually detailed certain substantive requirements, and we were required to consult with and seek approval from EPA and DEP as to that future ordinance, which the county did. That's the 2017 ordinance that Commissioner Bermudez referred to. The consent order does require the county to go back to EPA and DEP related to changes to our FOG program, and that's contemplated and referenced in Commissioner Bermudez's item. So I just wanted to mention that it's – you know, this does involve other layers of government, and that the county was actually enforced against by the federal government and FDEP related to these issues. All right. Thank you very much. And it makes a lot of sense, but just because we have these other layers doesn't mean that we cannot move forward and try to get something done to make sure that we may bring some ease to some of our small businesses. Let me get Bastien, and then I'll go to you, Commissioner Bastien. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I'd like to thank you, Commissioner Bermudez, for bringing out this item. I think hearing some of the business owners here this morning really shows how important it is for us as policymakers to take a look at this and for the administration to really engage the business sector as to how this process can be streamlined and how we can facilitate them so that they can conduct their businesses in a timely manner. I'd like to really thank the business owners for braving this cold. I'm very impressed by seeing so many of you this morning. But when I heard you, when I heard some of your concerns, I understand. I understand. I don't understand why, for example, for a system that was established six months before, you rent the space and then you have, you're obligated to start a new process. That doesn't make any sense to me, and I hope that this is something that the report will, you know, bring light to. I didn't understand. And I've heard from some of my business owners from my district about the length of time, but the breadth of some of your concerns are really new to me. You really brought a lot of light to what's going on, and I do hope that the administration will take, will heed your concerns, and we'll work with you, you know, to engage you to make sure that we come out with a report that will streamline this process. We want businesses to come to our district. I want more businesses to come to my district, so I'm looking forward to read this report and make sure that we find a way to facilitate business owners that they can come. We don't want them to leave. We don't want them to go to other places. We want them to come here and then start their businesses. So I'm looking forward to working with you guys to make sure that we have a better process, more timely, and a process that makes sense to facilitate business owners. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Steinberg, and then Commissioner Galau. Thank you. First of all, Commissioner Bermudez, thank you for bringing this forward, and I would love to be a co-sponsor to this item, if that would be okay. So in this item, I think it's a good first step. Obviously, we want to make sure that we are complying with any regulatory agency that we need to comply with. It's very important. But we also need to understand that a lot of these small businesses are the backbone of our communities, and so we need to try to find a way to ease that burden but yet still follow, you know, the regulatory guidelines that need to be set. So I see in this item you're asking for them to come back in 90 days, and I didn't know if that was by design or if there was a way that we could maybe have it sooner, or did they need that time? Like, I'm trying to just understand where that 90 days came from. If I may, Mr. Chair? Yes, please. I was going to ask the same question on that. I have no problem with it being quicker. In fact, I'm going to ask if this August body would, the committee would forward this to the February 18th BCC, whatever date we decide, and it shouldn't be less than 90 days. The only reason why I put 90 days in there is because I wanted the business community to be able to certainly have the input that's necessary. But if we could do it quicker, 60 days, I'm super happy. I think, look, I think for them to gather, I don't know, I would have to hear from the administration. I mean, if you need the 90 days, but I was just trying to see if there was a way that, I mean, maybe you want to have a roundtable before you also bring this report forward and get some ideas. I'm sorry? Actually, I was thinking of doing that. We can do it through the committee itself and have a conversation, but we can facilitate that. Commissioner Vermeer, if you're fine with that, we can do that. Yeah, I'm fine with it. If we could do 60 days and if the administration feels that 60 days is doable, what I would like is that we can move this to the February 18th meeting so it gets through quicker. Yes, that I don't think we have to. Can I hear that amendment coming from you? Yes, I'll move that amendment. But I'd like to hear from the administration really quickly on the time frame on that. Commissioner, I'd like to respond to a couple of things said that are important nuances here. Obviously, everyone understands that this is being governed by the consent order that we're under. And it's important to note that we have a lot of very difficult requirements in the consent order because we've gone through so many different versions of the consent order. The consent order started back in the 90s here, and quite frankly, the county didn't do a good job. And what I can tell you is we're in a much better place with EPA today than we have been in the past because in the last five years, we have accelerated these projects that we committed to do back in the 90s. We recommitted it. Every few years, the environmental regulators would come in and say, you're not doing your job, and we'd go into different orders, and they just got more and more difficult. Well, what we've done in the last few years is we've accelerated the projects, and you've seen those in your budgets every year where the water and sewer department has to ask for rate increases to go to the bond market to get the money. Incredible work has been done in the department, and EPA appreciates that, and they've noticed that, and they've spoke to us about that. So that puts us in a better place than in the past. Now, as Commissioner Bermuda has mentioned, during the budget process, the mayor identified this as a problem some time ago and decided to separate the permitting group from the regulatory group, and that's what we did in the budget process. So the RER team issues the permits based on the rules as they're written, and the DERM team is assigned to review these rules and to find out what we can do to be better. Now, quite frankly, it is going to be a heavy lift because the consent order required us to submit a plan to the EPA and to the DEP on how we were going to comply with their order, and we did that. They approved it. So for us to make any real changes, they have to approve those changes before we can implement them. I believe we're in a great place to talk to the regulators about it because of the things I've said, but it's not something that I want to set the expectation in 30 days the rules change. Maybe in 60 days, 90 days, we can identify all the things we want to do, and then we've got to work with the feds and the state to see if they'll approve it. Yeah, Mr. Director, and I think it's very clear that the public needs to understand, and I think we all understand that these rules will not change from one day to the next. We understand that these rules are layered, but just, again, because they are layered doesn't mean that we can't try to bring some flexibility to the small business owners of this community that by really no fault of their own now because of past actions are being stifled with a lot of these regulatory schemes that exist right now. So I think it's incumbent upon us as a board to try to help the small business owners in our community to try to bring some relief where it can. And with the relationships, I'm going to you right now, Commissioner Regalala, with the relationships that we have not only on this committee, but through the relationships that we have on the board itself, we're the number one lobbyist. We should be going to the EPA. We should be going up to Washington, D.C. We should be advocating for the small businesses of our community. So I think we can do that collectively as soon as we get this report done. And maybe the report itself within the confines, we should be more specific. I think one of the things that's very broad, and I would like to see especially the small businesses that are already in existence, you know, or when they buy a new business, why do we have to change, invest $60,000 when you have a system that's actually working, you know, things like that are the things that I want to look at. I think it's important to ensure that we help these businesses. If there's a grease trap there and it's been working and it's been grandfathered in, why when a new business comes in, why do we have to now invest $60,000, $40,000, $50,000 on these? I'm not an expert in this, but I think if the grease trap is working, maybe, I don't know if it's within the consent decree or not, but maybe those are things that we can actually look into, into the specifics of your legislation. And we agree with you, Senator. That is what we want to partner in that effort. That's awesome. I think, Mr. Chair, on the date issue, if I may, Roy, does 60 days sound reasonable to you? How did you say, 60 to 90 or 90? We could certainly try to hit 60. It's very possible. Well, we could always shoot for 60 if we don't make it. The urgency is what I care about. We'll move it to the next meeting, to the next PCC meeting. And, Commissioner Regalado? Thank you. And you've been waiting patiently, and I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you, too. I just wanted to clarify some things. And I want to thank you all for a nod to, like, how historically we got to this place. First and foremost, a few of the speakers mentioned the educational piece. And I think that that's something that we can do right now. You know, analyzing the consent decree, getting input, and making changes to the consent decree is separate and apart from what I'm about to discuss, right? So I think we're all on the same page in terms of let's look at the consent decree, let's take input, and let's see what can be modified within that. So the suggestions that I'm going to make, Commissioner Bermudez, are separate and apart from that. The first piece is, to Carlos's point, about the triggers. There's a series of triggers. And the reason that they exist is because when we entered into this consent decree, no one was in compliance. So we couldn't go zero to 60 on compliance. And there were a series of triggers that were established that would bring in the inspector and make the compliance. No grease trap is grandfathered in. Everything must be at the current level of service, which is what people don't understand. And I think that as, you know, we could do a better job of explaining those triggers to people, right? Because that's one of the things where I think when we first started this process, that wasn't an issue because we had to bring so many people into compliance that what was a trigger was the least of our worries. I think 10 years in, now you have a different situation, but we're still mandated a certain level of service. And I think everyone needs to understand that. Also, if you haven't tried, and I know it's lunchtime, so I'm going to mention it, Carlos. I'm going to plug. If you haven't tried the Picadillo and Platanito Empanada at Sergio's, like go. It's usually gone by 9 a.m. That being said. Now to Felix. So there's two buckets here. There are restaurants that have septic tanks and there are restaurants that have access to water and sewer. Very, very different. Very, very different. And Commissioner Bastien, you and I talked about this five years ago, right? Businesses that are on septic tanks are held to 200 and something things that they can't do, right? And I have, for example, the Big Cheese in my district. I know that Frankie's has, you know. And one of the things that I've been talking about to our business community as we move forward and try to eliminate septic tanks is that in the case of commercial properties, the elimination of septic tanks with a special benefit district, which is carving out the basin and figuring out how we're going to do it. It's like a special taxing district and it pushes it out to 40 years. This will make your life so much easier. It increases your property values and it allows you a certain amount of uses that you wouldn't have in your current situation with the septic tank. So that's something that I think, Roy, we should add to this, if you're okay with that, because I think we need to explain to people the issue with the septic tank and what the options are to eliminate the septic tanks. Now, whenever we talk about commercial conversion to septic to sewer, we get into the issue of the renters versus the owners, and that is what it is. But I think that it should be included in the report because a little can go a long way if you convert. You can eliminate a lot of your problems if you convert. So if you want to amend it and include that, I would say to separate those two universes because it's very important. Now, I'm working on an item that I did for septic tanks at the residential level. To the lady from Frankie's Pizza that was talking about, like, what about the residential? And I offer this. I would like their input since they're here. When I started working on septic to sewer conversions, one of the main issues that I had with residents is what Felix brought up with owners. People didn't even know they were buying a house with a septic tank, let alone the limitations that came with it, right? So he brought up a very good point. You're leasing a property, and you have no idea what's going to happen now and that this may take you a certain amount of time. I was working on this item just for commercial properties that had septic tanks, but I'm happy to include all commercial properties. And that would be similar to what we do on the residential side, that you would have a rider, that this board would impose a rider. The realtors don't like it, but it is what it is, that when you're proffering this lease, you have a separate exhibit that says you have a septic tank. And this is the information that we know about a septic tank. Now, we could do that for fog. We could say, look, the use that you've given us, the use that this has, you're going to be using at a restaurant. This is the current state of this fog system, right? So now you know, right? You can't say that you negotiated at arm's length and no one told you. They should disclose it, but unfortunately, as you pointed out, they usually don't disclose it because they just want to close the deal, right? They want to give you your six months and it's not their problem when you get your CO. So I think in terms of immediate solutions, our immediate solutions should be education and disclosure. And then we could work with our staff about information so that people know what that disclosure means, right? But, you know, if you have a system that hasn't been updated in 10 years and you're leasing, you should know that because there's no amount of work that we could all do to expedite that process. You know, now. Commissioner Bermudez, how do you feel about that? I would not like to mix apples and oranges. No, I'm just saying, I'm working on that. I do agree with Commissioner Regalado that a process for the septic process, even in the commercial side, should be considered. But I don't want to delay this report. I just don't want to mix apples and oranges. No, no, no. What I'm saying, my only amendment, Mr. Chair, to the item. Let's do this. Just let's stay to the item so we can move this item out and then we can have a conversation. Okay, sure. He's not on the committee, so go ahead. What do you? Yeah, so I'm just saying, I was already working on a rider to deal with this for folks that have septic tanks. Because I feel like that's the most egregious situation, that they're leased a commercial property that they can almost do nothing on. So I'm happy to expand that legislation and look at a rider for all commercial because I don't think we lose anything with providing notice, right? And then obviously we need to work on our end with the administration on an educational piece so that, to Carl's point, people know what those triggers are, people understand what the history is, you know, and they get what they're getting themselves into. But as we work on solving the long-term problem, I think that we should also work on the education and the notice to really prevent. So people are mortgaging their homes to enter into businesses that go under because they had no idea. Is there an amendment? So the amendment is for the septic, and he said he was okay with it. So I think that the report should just separate. I'm fine with it as long as it doesn't delay the report. Perfect. For me, this is the urgency of the issue, and I don't disagree with Commissioner Rigolato. I actually agree with her. I'm fine with it. We all do, but you're the member. Yeah, I'm fine with it. I'm fine with it. But it's not going to delay the report, right, Roy? Okay. I will not. That's what I want to say. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. I apologize. So just to – because you're not a voting member of this committee. We will move – so I will move 2A as amended with the hopefully quicker timeline of the 60 days to get back the report, the aspirational 60 days to get back the report, and the septic to sewer – can you – So it would just be a separate explanation of the limitations of commercial properties that have a septic tank and what their uses and options are. And one of those options is, you know, potentially they could convert, right? Right. And those options. Right. So that is my motion. So we're – it's moved – yes, ma'am. Commission. I think we're all going to co-sponsor your legislation. Okay. Thank you. All right. With that, it's been moved and second – it's been moved, amended, and seconded – or moved, seconded, and amended. With that, I'll in favor of the – item 2A to move to the February 8th meeting. 18th meeting. 18th. 18th. Meeting say aye. I'll oppose like side. All right. Perfect. Sure, the legislation moved to February 18th. And to the members of the public, we are – I'm going to work with Bermudez. If it's okay with you, maybe we should – we will have a roundtable conversation, bring people in to make sure that we get all of your input. And remember, also understand the limitations that we have with the federal government. But if we can work with the federal government to try to change some of those guidelines, I think we can do it. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. And to the folks that are here, since I'm working on the writer, if you're interested in that, just email me. It's District 7. Most of you already know who I am. But if you want to email me, we're working on it. So happy to take, you know, your ideas on that because I think that that will move us towards better education so that we can effectuate the other piece of it, which is going to take a little bit longer. So thank you for coming out. Before we rise, Director Coley, any update on the CIPPP funding memo? Yeah, I think I've got a meeting with you at 1230 to review that. Okay. Perfect. And we'll look at it. So with that, Commissioner Regalado, move we rise. I move to adjourn. Amen. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn. I move to adjourn.