Recreation, Tourism, and Resiliency Committee - Jul 14, 2026

All right, good morning, everybody. We are now at the Recreation, Tourism, and Resiliency Committee. And with that, we're going to start with a moment of silence, followed by the pledge led by, you know what? We're going to have our county attorney today lead us in the pledge. We're going to change it up. Thank you. All right. We are going to go right into the reasonable opportunity to be heard. This is an opportunity for anybody to speak on any item on the agenda that is not a public hearing item. I have cards, but I believe they are all for the ordinance. This is your opportunity now. If there are any other items that you wish to speak on, please come up. Okay. Yes. Please state your name and the item. And did you fill out a card to speak? Yes. Yes. My name is Danielle. Good morning, members of the committee. Danielle, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Are you speaking on item 1G1? I'm speaking on 261-878. There is no 261. Which item? I think you're speaking on the ordinance. That will have its own public hearing. This is for reasonable opportunity to be heard on all other matters. So we have to, we just. Yes, I'll call you up at that time. Thank you. Anybody else wish to speak on any item that is not 1G1, to be clear? All right. Reasonable opportunity is now closed. Any additions or changes before we set the agenda? The matters on today's agenda are those listed in the official agenda, along with those listed in the changes memo, which includes the addition of 1G1 substitute and its supplement. A motion to set the agenda is now in order. I have a motion. Moved by Bastien. Second. Seconded by Commissioner Regalado. All in favor? Aye. Show that passed. All right. I'm going to ask that we first take up the matters on the agenda. If anybody has any item or questions that they'd like to bifurcate 2A through 3C. No, through 3D. Yes. You can move the balance of the agenda. Madam Chair, if I could co-sponsor 2B. Of course. Thank you. I think it's a great idea. Thank you. All right. So seeing that, do I have a motion to take the other items that are not the public hearing items? Second. All right. All in favor? Aye. I'll show that passed by acclamation. And other than the discussion items that we will take at the end, I am going to take up 1G1 since we have Commissioner Lopez with us as a sponsor. And I will open up public hearing now for that item. And please come up as I call your name. Danielle Chandler. Bert Corpella. Get ready. You're next. Madam Chair, can I just read the title of the item? You know I think that would be helpful. Item 1G1 is an ordinance related to boats and waterways in the incorporated and unincorporated areas, creating Section 7-4.1 of the Code, adopting overnight anchoring regulations, providing exemptions, and providing for enforcement by civil penalty and other remedies, amending Section 8CC-10 of the Code, and updating the schedule of civil penalties to conform to amendments. Thank you. Now, please come up. Thank you. Good morning, members of the committee. I'm here to oppose file number 261-878 as written, and I'm asking you to reject it or send it back for revision. This isn't an abstract issue for me. I was born and raised right here in Miami-Dade. The boating community has been part of Cocoa Gross Roots for generations. I live aboard my 60-foot sailboat, lawfully anchored in Biscayne Bay off to Norquay, under a valid FWC long-term anchoring permit. My boat was previously docked for over 10 years, the property recently sold at the end of May, and the new owners didn't want to continue renting slips. Since then, I've been actively searching for a dock, and I'm at anchor while I do. My boat is too large for Miami's mooring field, and every marina I've contacted is either full or unavailable, unaffordable. If this rule passes, in a matter of weeks, I will have gone from a decade at a secure dock to having no lawful options to remain in this county at all. This situation could happen to any boater in Miami. If a boat owner loses their existing dock, they will have 30 days to find a slip or mooring or be forced to move to another county. This rule threatens every boat owner that doesn't own a private dock. True regulation of anchoring means permits, inspections, safety standards, and managed path to compliance. This ordinance offers none of that. It imposes a flat 30-day and 6-month cap on overnight anchoring with no mechanism to remain lawful at anchor. A rule with no path to compliance is not a management tool. It's a ban with an extra step. A far more reasonable rule would require relocating for a short period, say 24 hours every 45 days. Your time is up. Thank you. The next speaker is... We only have a couple. I have like one minute. I apologize. I have to keep it to two minutes for everybody. Can I submit this to you by email? Absolutely. Please do. I do recommend you do that. Thank you. Yeah, and submit it to the clerk as well for record. Um, next speaker is Bert Corpella. You have two minutes. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Captain Bert Corpella. I own Atlantis Marine Towing and Salvage. My father started our business in 1957 in Coconut Grove. I have been at anchor. I lived on a boat my entire life. I have saved several people's lives in boat accidents. I've dealt with derelict boats that have become a problem in Coconut Grove. Throwing out the boats that are liveaboard that people live on at anchor to take care of their boats is not really the issue. The issue at hand here is the derelict boats that the guy moves from one municipality to another to another municipality because he's unable to keep his boat. There's no facilities to be able to take boats anymore. There's no dock space. The mooring balls are not adequate of size for the city of Miami. They take certain size vessels, so we have continuous problems. The boats that are going to end up having an impact on that are those who live, work, and run businesses, such as myself for over 50 years in Miami. The difference here is, is yes, we talk about environmental cleansing, keeping contact, and keeping everything up. But the unfortunate side is, is even if we do leave, those boats are still going to be out there. They're still going to be unintended. They're still not going to be taken care of. The city pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to deal with these derelict boats that could be a salvage, that could be removed. Costs could be different. There are scraps and lead materials that could be taken care of that could split the cost of these removals instead of costing the city money to remove them. But a salvage company such as myself could remove these vessels and not have the same type of problem that continuously occurs. Right now, there's 57 new boats that have come to Coconut Grove that are anchored, that have been moved from different municipalities to different municipalities, and now showed up that are anchor, that have jeopardized all our businesses, where I've run a business in Miami for 50 years. I'm second generation. My dad started in 1957 as a young man, saving boats, towing boats, saving people such as I do to this day. You can Google search my name and read hundreds of cases that I've done in federal court, all the way to saving lives from the 4th of July boat accident where boats collided and I saved lives. I did it two weeks ago before 4th of July where a gentleman ran into a marker and was unconscious in the water. So what we're getting at there is the anchor program has to be revamped for those who live in the water that work it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next speaker is Zachary Ronca. And I apologize in advance if I mispronounce any names. Okay. My name is Zachary Ronca. I live over at Dinner Key Marina. I'm a live board of seven years over there. I've owned three boats in that marina over the years. And the issues that are currently facing this community are not just limited to the anchoring issue. It's across the entire state of Florida. You have issues with declining yacht prices right now, just as an example. Yacht prices have been declining 25% year over year since 2024. You've seen cooling demand in the yacht maintenance industry. And a lot of it is down to people not being able to use their boats. They can't afford to use their boats. They can't afford the maintenance. There's dramatic increases in prices of labor due to insurance rates as well as increasing labor costs elsewhere. And any sort of shock to this industry is going to cause even more decline to the point that it will become noncompetitive. You have a great waterway in Miami-Dade County. You have a great waterway in the state of Florida. But you have South America. Okay. You've got Mexico. You've got Buenos Aires. You've got Argentina. All these areas are a lot cheaper to do business in, a lot easier to do insurance, a lot easier to do cost of labor. And if I'm a multimillionaire with a 200-foot yacht, why would I bother bringing it to Miami or to Fort Lauderdale where it's expensive, where I can't safely anchor it, where I'm going to get harassed by FWC because of the way that the laws are set up, and I can't even find dockage. It's a 10-year waiting list. In order to find dockage, why would I ever bother coming here when I can go somewhere else? That's all I've got to say. Thank you. Next speaker is Michael Maynard. And then the next speaker will be David Furrer. She loves living on a sailboat. Hi. My name is Michael Maynard. Let me pull up my list real quick. Don't start the timer yet. Ready whenever you are? Okay. Let's start by actually, like my friend Captain Barrett said, taking care of the boats that are actually derelict. I have a recording on my phone the other day of them taking a boat off a dock that was abandoned, tying it to the mangroves, creating an ecological hazard. If I did that, I would find myself in jail so quickly. But if you work for big daddy government, it's okay, isn't it? We need to demonstrate why this law needs to exist in the first place. How did you come up with the arbitrary number of 30 days? Who is this serving? With all the inconvenience you're going to give regular citizens like myself, by the way, I'm living my best life. If I tried to live on land again two years ago, I'd hated it. Staring outside the window at a patch of grass and a fence bored the living shit out of me. Excuse my French. I immediately moved back onto a boat. Like, what am I doing with my life? I used to have dolphins and manatees and stuff outside my window. And, like, we have a good network of mutual aid out here. You know who my friend Dave called when the mask got ripped off his sailboat? He didn't call a company and book an appointment like two weeks out. He said, Mike, my mask broke down off my sailboat. I'm there. Get a six-pack. Let's go. Do you know who helped me out and arrived quicker than the big corporate towing companies when a squall ripped my boat off anchor? It was my friend Captain Bert over there. SeaTow didn't even want to come out. Towboat U.S. said, we'll take a couple hours. In a storm, you don't have that kind of time. Bert said, I'll be there in five minutes. We actually really do a lot of good by each other. I remember when I first started living on a boat, I thought I was hot shit riding around in a 20-horse. Okay, I'm sorry. Sorry. Please. I won't do it again. I broke down, and I was literally up creek without a paddle. And some guy, he stopped. I did not swear. He stopped, and he said, I got you, man. He went back, towed me back in, fixed my motor, threw me a paddle. And when I offered to pay him, he said, just do it for the next guy. That's what we do for each other. We've got a good ecosystem out here. Like, everybody helps each other. I am the only person L.A. Coast Guard has ever seen tow a motorboat in a sailboat with no motor. My boy in the Coast Guard caught me up, like, and my eyes deceiving me. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next speaker is David Fuhrer. Come on, Lucy. I'm never going to live on land again. Sure. Good morning, everyone. My name is David Fuhrer. I live in District 7. And I have a nonprofit dedicated to doing something very unique in the county. I do an engine-less tour of Biscayne Bay. We have countless, endless reviews from very, very happy clients. The boats that I have are 18 feet long. No matter where I search a place to put them, they tell me they're too small to be in a marina. Dinner Key Marina told me there's a 20-year waiting list. They consider what I do to be a commercial enterprise. They told me I would have to wait 20 years. The boats are anchored in the Coconut Grove area, and this law would negatively impact what I do. And, guys, I do believe I'm probably, you know, we talk a lot about green businesses. I think my business has a negative carbon footprint. We remove trash from the bay. Not only are we not using engines, but we're actually making the bay cleaner. And we highlight the wildlife that lives in the bay. We seek out manatees and dolphins, and we take people into the mangroves. We do something very unique. You guys should look into it. And I have received very little help from the city or the county for what I do. And now I wake up to this fact that you guys want to, with this law, drive me out of what I do and kill an important part of my livelihood and something very unique. Like I said, I think we're the only outfit in all of the county that does a tour of the bay without engines. No oil, no fuel, completely powered by the wind. It couldn't be more sustainable. It couldn't be more resilient. And, you know, we work with tourists, and it's part of a, you know, it's right up the committee's alley, right? Okay, thank you so much. Our next speaker is Colby Ura? Ura. Hi, my name is Colby Ura. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida. I think you'll start to notice that there's a lot of local people that are coming to this committee meeting to defend their right to live where they live and do what they've been doing for sometimes generations like Captain Burt. I attended the University of Miami. First, I went to Rasmus, and then I did a master's there as well. A few years ago, I bought a boat from one of my friends that had grew up here in Miami and also lived in the anchorage for over 10 years while working as a local charter captain. His name is Ryan Peters. So my boat that's there has been there for over five years. And something I will give credit to the community that lives in this anchorage is there is, like he said, and I had an issue with my boat, and within five minutes, Captain Burt was there. He helped to get the boat and help me learn about the area. So I would just like to say that I support removing derelict boats, right? But as we have so many people moving in from, like, places like Chicago, like New York, like California, to our city of Miami, we have to protect our locals. And I really asked this committee to consider something about grandfathering in local vessels and local businesses that have been operating in these areas for generations. And I just would respectfully ask for the county to consider that as an option for this program. And also, I'd like to make a note that I think you've heard it several times, there's not a lot of marina space. Even the mooring fields that are there are not so well maintained. So the people that are living in this anchorage here, they're often doing a better job at maintaining their boats and the local environment than that area. All right, and our next speaker is Rachel Streitfeld, Mayor Streitfeld. Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the commission. Thank you so much for taking up this item today. Rachel Streitfeld, I'm the mayor of North Bay Village, and I'm here representing the 8,500 residents who live on our three islands in the middle of the northern part of Biscayne Bay, which, as Commissioner Steinberg and you all know, is the most compromised portion of Biscayne Bay. Let's be clear that this ordinance that you're considering today is not about derelict vessels. It is not about the cruising industry, and certainly it is not about punishing taxpaying members of the Miami-Dade County boater community. This is about a very limited exception to a state preemption that we have been afforded the opportunity to enforce overnight anchoring for more than 30 days within a six-month period outside of a regulated mooring field. It is a very limited ordinance, and it gives us the power, taking the power back from the state, from the FWC, to regulate overnight anchoring in waters that are largely unregulated. North Bay Village's jurisdictional boundaries are only 250 feet from our bulkhead, and we have one marine patrol vessel. We've passed this ordinance. Miami Beach has passed this ordinance. The city of Miami has passed this ordinance. But without our partners at Miami-Dade County helping us enforce this ordinance, we really can't do much about the, what we're calling, squatter vessels who are not in a regulated mooring field, who are not paying taxes, and who are living off the waters of our bay, and in some cases, unfortunately, trespassing across private seawalls to get to grocery stores and the like. So we're trying to rein in just a little bit of lawlessness in the bay. Again, it's not about derelict vessels, we can talk about derelict vessels another time. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And our final speaker from the speaking card signed is Seth Salver, Mayor of Bell Harbor. Thank you, Commissioner Seth Salver. I'm here representing the village of Bell Harbor. I would like to say the importance about the county taking up this item. Because what we don't want is a hodgepodge of regulation and then our people get pushed to certain locations and will create issues. So it's important that the county take it up. I don't necessarily have an opinion on the exact regulations, but it is important that the county step in and make a county wide ordinance regarding these vessels. I do want to say, I apologize, I missed the sign up for the first item. But I want to thank you for supporting the hotspot sargassum ordinance. It's very important, Bell Harbor specifically, we're very impacted by it. Our whole beach is in fact a hotspot and it is affecting our tourism. My hotel GM's tell me that people are canceling every day. And this is an important part of our economy here in South Florida. So anything you can do to keep our beaches clean and safe, as you know, the sargassum does decompose and create this noxious odor that is now seeping into our communities, into our buildings and hotels. So anything the county can do to ensure beautiful, safe beaches here in South Florida will be good for everyone. Thank you. Thank you. We have no more speaker cards. This is the last opportunity to speak for if you have not spoken already on the item in front of us before I bring it up to the days. Have you spoken? Yes. State your name and address. My name is Justin. I live on a boat near Dinner Key Marina. I don't know why he's talking about sargassum. This has nothing to do with sargassum. This is strictly about boaters and being allowed to anchor. Okay, so currently there have been enforcements in the area and they have pushed everybody all the way into Coconut Grove. Coconut Grove is the last area where I'm able to legally get in and out of the water. I've actually even gotten an arrest for using a seawall that was ended at the end of the street. It had no trust. It didn't have any signs at all. And for many years, I have used a seawall and I get the discrepancy with it. But again, there's only one spot where we can get in and out of the water safely. I can't stand living on land. Just like Mr. Maynard, it's horrible. It's either I live in a disgusting neighborhood that's putrid where there's crime and everything. I feel safer out of my boat. The moment I leave the dock, I feel the most freedom and safe and that is my pursuit of happiness. And to allow this law to go through for them to be able to do that is going to effectively make it impossible for me to go to work, for me to live here, to be able to go to a grocery store. Because my dinghy, my way in and out of the water only goes a half a mile an hour. So this ordinance is effectively going to make it to where I can't park within a mile. Every 30 days, I have to move another mile away. Okay, so then in six months, I'm going to be six miles from the dock. My dinghy goes a half a mile an hour. You're talking about three hours for me to go in and out just to live a normal life. I don't want to live on land. I enjoy living on the water. It is my pursuit of happiness. It is my version of freedom. And I feel like it is the last thread of the American dream. And if you guys let this go through, you're going to be killing part of the American dream that we have left here. Because it is mostly Miami locals and Florida locals that only want to live on boats. These people that are flooding in, they don't care. They love their apartments. Please don't let the big interest win on this. Let the people have their voice. All right, now, no, we do this, we don't, yeah. Okay, so thank you so much for everybody who came out and spoke. With this, I will now be concluding and closing the public hearing portion of the item. And what I am going to do, because this is sponsored by Commissioner Lopez, who is joining us today as a guest to this committee, I will allow her to start the discussion up here. Thank you. And I know you have people that are going to be also, you're going to be calling up and engaging with. Yes, thank you so much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, excuse me. May I ask a question while before you answer? Maybe you will be considering what I'm asking? Okay. So I'd like to thank everyone who came and spoke. If you could clarify, because there seems to be misunderstanding. So we are being preempted, right? No, no, no, Commissioner Bastian. Let her make her presentation, and then I'll open it up to the floor. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Bastian, for that question. So if we go back, you'll know a little history. The state actually preempted local governments from regulating liveaboards, or what we call anyone who's anchoring on the water. When I was a member of the Florida House, Commissioner Suarez, who's here today, is going to make a presentation, so you can see exactly what caused the legislature to give you a small sliver of power to enforce these. So the state had preempted, and I then carried House Bill 481, which allowed for all local governments to pass an ordinance, if they wanted to, that would help alleviate and eliminate some of the issues that local governments were seeing on the water. And so basically, I don't know if the people who have spoken understand that both the city of Miami and the city of Miami Beach, which are the two municipalities in my district, have already passed an ordinance that aligns with the state statute. So those who are anchoring in the city of Miami are not permitted to anchor anywhere on the overnight limitation area for a period of one hour or more between one half hour after sunset and one half hour before sunrise for more than 30 days in any six-month period. So both of those municipalities, plus there are others in our county who have passed their own separate ordinance. So right now, anyone who's anchoring anywhere in the waters of the city of Miami are already precluded from overnight anchoring more than 30 days in a six-month period. So I don't know whether they knew that. The city of Miami Beach has done the same. All this ordinance does is exactly what the mayor of Bell Harbor said. It now covers the county so that there isn't a patchwork. Because when a boater is going through, traversing through our waters, it does not, he or she does not know that they've entered into the waters of the city of Miami Beach. And when they come out of the city of Miami Beach, they don't know they've entered into the waters of the city of Miami. And some municipalities haven't yet passed their ordinance. So this would cover then the entire county. All it does is align with state statute. That's the only thing it's done. And I didn't realize that so many voters don't know the city of Miami's already passed their ordinance. It does not allow for any overnight anchoring past 30 days in a six-month period. And the city of Miami Beach is done as well. And so I thought it would be helpful for the committee to see what the legislature saw in terms of evidence that created this small exception to the already preemption in state statute. So if you would, Madam Chair, I'd like Commissioner David Swartz from the city of Miami Beach to step up and talk about what happened and why all of this happened, that we were able to give local governments the ability to enforce it themselves should they choose to. So Commissioner Swartz. Yes, you are allowed. Madam Chair, members of the committee, thank you so much. Obviously the commission sponsor, thank you for allowing me to speak. I think it's important that we understand how we got here and why we got here. And I have a brief presentation that I'd like to show members of the committee on why this ordinance is necessary and ultimately why at the state level it passed, which was a very high threshold. So if we can put on the presentation. Okay. So we're talking about HB. Excuse me. I didn't interrupt you. So please don't. Guys, we don't. We don't engage back and forth. This is part of Commissioner Lopez's presentation. This is not part of the public hearing. Thank you. But try to keep it as succinct and as fast as you can. Sure. If we can go to the next slide. So some of the problems that we have is derelict boats overrunning our state waters. If you can go to the next slide please. Thank you. And the next slide you'll see that in 2023 we had over 160 derelict boats clogging up Miami Beach's waterways. Most were unseaworthy. They lacked any sort of waste systems. So toilets. They would frequently sink in storms. Not just hurricanes. But any sort of storm that would come in the summer. Spilling fuel and sewage into our bay. A lot of them were used for illegal short term rentals on the water. In fact they were making many businesses out on public waterways. Which I'll be more than happy to show you. Also and most importantly considering all the catastrophes in Biscayne Bay. They create a serious safety hazard for navigation and environmental concerns in our bay. Next slide please. Okay. So in 2007 you can see the Google Map rendering. There was I believe five boats at the time. And in 2023 when it really reached the pinnacle of issues. We had over 160 boats. And this became a navigational nightmare for real boaters that had Miami Beach. And not to mention the environmental concerns that happened. Which we'll get to in the next slide. So if you can go to the next slide please. Okay. So environmental damage. We've had. So there's no current system for keeping track of the sewage that is on these boats. So for example if a boat wanted to stay forever anchored. And most of them do. They can dump their sewage into the bay. And no one would know. Okay. Another issue is that whenever there is high winds or a storm. The anchors that they're actually anchored to gets dragged across the seafloor. And it scalps the seagrass off the seafloor and any sort of marine life. Not to mention that many sink and they leak oil and gas during storms. And also it undermines the millions in taxpayer funded seagrass restoration. Which the state of Florida spends millions of dollars each year to protect. Also threatens marine life, water quality and private property. Next slide please. Okay. So what do I mean by public safety and navigation risks? So hurricanes come and go. Big storms like I said. Many of them sink. And which I'll show you on the next few slides. And when they sink sometimes they're in the channel. And there's nothing stopping. Or nothing. There's no ability for boats that are moving to see these sunken vessels and hit them. And cause a serious accident. You can go to the next slide please. Next slide please. Thank you. So like I said before in the introduction. There, as you can see, there has been an increased number of profiteering on public waterways. For example, many of these, and I'll show you, many of these boaters, they'll buy five, six, seven boats. And then they'll rent them on a monthly and nightly basis. Profiting off of our public waterways. And in the next slide you'll see some of the conditions of the bay where many of these boats end up. So as I said, many of them are sinking. In fact, I would say most of them eventually sink because they cannot traverse. Next slide please. Many of them have gas leaks, unfortunately, and are not really equipped to handle any sort of emergencies on the water. I understand there's a big community out there, but once there's a gas leak, there's really nothing you can do short of hiring an expert to come out and fix a leak. Next slide please. And one thing that is abundantly clear is that when you have an unpermitted anchor, okay, in any sort of tide change, you're going to have seagrass destruction like this. Because the anchor chain isn't properly equipped, and when it turns on every tide, that anchor scrapes off as what you can see in the radius of that anchor. Next slide please. Okay, so some of the navigation risks. And the picture on the top left, I actually took that last night. That, as everyone knows, the pirate boat that is sort of a tour. And just to the left of that, you can see a sunken sailboat. You can't see that at night. And that is directly in the channel. And if you look further a little bit up the picture, all those are other boats that are forever anchored in our channel. Most of them do not have working lights, so you're not going to be able to see that, not alone the debris on the seafloor. On the top right, this happened in the city of Miami Beach. One of these boats broke loose during a storm. And you can see that the mast is hitting one of the waste lines in the city of Miami Beach. Commissioner Suarez, I'm just going to interrupt for a second, because I know that you've shown the pictures and they know the situation. I just, in the interest of time, Madam Chair, I don't know if there are questions, but this truly, this ordinance, all it does is align it with state law. And two of my municipalities have already passed their ordinances, which make their waterways and their enforcement within their own municipality. And this would just extend it to the county. So we'll hold off for a moment, Commissioner Suarez, because I think there might be questions. I just have a few more slides, if you're okay with that. Hold on, but let me let my, yeah, it feels, just let's pause here, if you would, please. Okay, thank you. Thank you. I also brought one of our Marine Patrol officers who can testify to any sort of questions. If we have questions, we will. Thank you so much. All right. So now I'm going to bring it up to the dais. You want to open it up to the commissioners to ask questions now? Of course. Okay. Of course. So I saw Commissioner Regalado eager to speak, but I know you had a question. Did it answer your question or you want to wait? Yes. Okay, great. So Commissioner Regalado, you were recognized. Thank you. So first and foremost, thank you to my Coconut Grove residents for coming out. I appreciate the sponsor, but I was a no on this on first reading and I'm still a no. And I respectfully disagree with a lot of the representations you've made. First of all, the way that state law and preemption works, you know, our municipalities are not enforcing this. The city of Miami is not enforcing this. As the representative for Coconut Grove, I would respectfully ask for my district to be carved out. My district doesn't want this. They don't agree with it. And Miami Dade County should not be bearing the enforcement costs for the all these municipalities. You know, the fact that the state created this, we should not have to make these changes. We're making these changes because the municipalities are unable to enforce without our assistance. And the reality is that in my district, people have nowhere to dock. You know, we can sit here and ask the administration about the three memos that have come out about our lack of marinas. People have nowhere to go. We are literally in my district waiting 20, 25 years to dock a boat. And this is a way of life in Coconut Grove. It really is. It's not we're not making it up. And there's a reason the city of Miami hasn't enforced it because they don't want to enforce it because they want the county to pass this so we can be the bad guys. And I'm not going to be the bad guy because if the city of Miami wants to do this, there are solutions. This is not about derelict vessels, you know, and respectfully to the mayor, you know, the squatter vessels. I get it. I understand. But this is not the solution. If we have a problem, let's tackle that problem. And let's tackle that problem with the stakeholders sitting at the table. This is a taking. These people live here. I didn't understand. Like, when I first saw this at the state level, if we have an issue with derelict vessels, if we have an issue with people, commercial, you know, to David Suarez's pictures, all of the things that you have shown us, that is all actionable by Durham. That is actionable. If someone is pumping sewage into the water, if someone is leaking oil, that is all actionable. This does not address that. This is a different thing. This is about excluding live aboards. Full stop. That's what we're doing here. And I don't agree with that. You know, and we talk so much about the housing crisis and how people deserve a place to live. But what about the people that I represent that live on boats? Are they less people because they live on a boat? They're not. They're not. So I don't want this in my district. I'm happy to sit down with the city of Miami. I'm happy to sit down with the rest of the municipalities and find a solution. If this is about people not paying, then charge them something. They'll pay something. Charge them something. If this is about the regulations, then let's talk about the regulations. This is not going to solve our problem with derelict vessels. We know what the problem with derelict vessels are. The problem with derelict vessels is that people abandon vessels. This is not going to stop them. Half the time when we pick up a derelict vessel, we can't figure out who it belongs to. That's our issue. Commissioner Steinberg, we've dealt with the derelict vessels issues a million times. We were dealing with it before you got here with Sally Heyman. This does not speak to the derelict vessel. The derelict vessel is about abandonment. People take the tags off and they use the sea like a trash can. And by the way, same thing happens on land. We call it illegal dumping. Okay? Same thing. Same thing. So let's not mix apples and oranges here because people live on these boats. And I believe that they have a right to live on these boats. And if we want to create more moorings, then let's have that conversation and create more moorings. But I don't think that we are the people who end the way of life because we decided that people shouldn't live on boats. That's not right. So I'm a no. I'll be a no at the BCC. I'm happy to find a path forward. I think that there are paths forward. But I don't think that the path forward is leaning into a preemption by the state, making us the bad guy so that we can go enforce for municipalities and we all can wear it while the municipalities walk away. If this is a Durham issue, we take it up with Durham. If it's a permitting issue, let's take it up with the permits. They have nowhere to go. So I'm a no. Thank you. Yes, Commissioner Bastian. Yeah. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. So this is not an issue that I'm an expert in. That's why when I heard about people actually living in the boats, so that really worries me. And in that sense, I share some of Regalado's concerns. So how many of these people, how many of these residents actually live in the boats? So if we pass this, what's going to happen to them? How many of them are there? Because it seems to me from what I heard, from the presentations that I heard, there are some people who have been living in their boats for years and years and years. So does this, the decision that we make on the day, will it have an impact on people actually losing the places where they live? And if they cannot live on their boats, then what? That's my concern. And how many of these residents do we have whose only place of living is their boats? So I don't know if you want to answer that or address that? I don't have the number of people that live on boats. But what happens to them? They would go to a mooring field or a marina. I called Watson Island yesterday. They have 50 open slots. So wait, before we get into the- But what I did want to say is that the city of Miami never reached out to me for help and enforcement. That is not a true statement. The city of Miami has never said, we want the county to pass this so you can enforce it. Actually, I spoke with a sheriff who has enforcement, not us, the county. The sheriff now has enforcement of anything on the water. And so she said, I have a state law I have to enforce. Regardless of what you do, we all have jurisdiction because there's a state law that already prohibits anchoring. This simply allowed local governments to do it. So I don't know where the confusion is, to be honest with you. Yeah. Actually, if I may, you made some questions about Durham. And I see John Rickesack is here. I don't know if you want to address some of the questions that Commissioner Regalado had and create some clarity. And Madam Chair, I'm happy to take it up with Durham. But also, you know, I said the city of Miami is not enforcing. The city of Miami is not enforcing. I'm not saying that they asked us to enforce. I'm saying that the city of Miami is not enforcing. And if it is a state law, why do we need to do this? So that's the issue. I think there's a clarity there. So the state, which we have the state sponsor right here, what they did was they allowed municipalities and counties within a certain size to be able to. I read the law. Right. Yeah. So you're aware. And actually, I don't know if it's even proper protocol if I can call John up or if I have to. I don't know if the Durham director is here or I want to make sure we're following protocol. But to your question, I know for like the cities I represent, I know that they are all in process of putting forward this type of legislation as well. And it's just to help complement what the county was looking to do so it's uniform. I'm not sure, you know, when you squeeze the balloon since Miami Beach has been very, I guess, they've been enforcing regularly. They've been very good on the enforcement mechanism side. It's been forcing the issue to other parts. And so we're getting complaints from other areas because you squeeze the balloon. And so I think this was a way to try to create a type of uniformity so that one area isn't hit harder than another area. But, yes, John. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. I know Commissioner Regalado brought up some concerns or issues. I know you're out there on the water. And thank you, Durham director, for also being here. I don't know if there's anything you want to add to this because we're just trying to get as much information so that we can bring it up for a vote. Sure. My name is John Rickasack. I work for Miami-Dade County's Department of Environmental Resources Management and have for the last over 35 years. And for over 20 years, I've actually managed the county's derelict vessel removal program. So I'm happy to answer any questions you might have or clarify some things. Thank you. My questions through the chair were, you know, for the pictures that were shown here of sewage spilling out, of oil spilling out, that is all currently illegal, correct? Correct. Okay. And that is enforceable, correct? It is provided that we are able to document the violation. Well, they got pictures. Yeah. Right. Well, there's also a lot of this stuff occurs in the dead of night, during which time we do not have people on the water and it's not observable. Um, so in terms of things like, uh, sewage disposal in particular, um, it's very, very easy to circumvent the regulations and all you have to do is, uh, dump your waste at night and no one's going to be there to document that. I know. And one of the things that we've talked about is requiring people to provide a service, documenting that service permits for that. You know, when commissioner Cabrera was here, we had a whole discussion about different ways that we could regulate that so that people would comply. So that's one of the things that I know we discussed with Durham, the same way that you have to empty out a septic tank, you would have to empty out your sewage and provide us proof of that. And then the lack of that would then show that you were dumping into the water. Well, um, not exactly because, uh, things like that can be either falsified or exaggerated. It costs money. Um, and, uh, there are already pump outs available, uh, publicly accessible pump outs through its pump outs at, at many marinas. Um, in fact, uh, for a lot of marinas, that's actually a dermal requirement to have those available. Um, but that does not mean that a vessel that never moves, uh, from its anchoring location, which a number of the vessels, um, in the dinner key anchorage, that's, that is in fact the case as well as elsewhere on the bay, um, they never move. So how are they disposing of their work? But, but we could require them to move without prohibiting them, right? Because this is a full on prohibition. We could, you know, again, we're, we have, we could, we could require them to come in, right? Through the Chair. The Durham Director, Lauren Pryor, just wanted to chime in for a second. Commissioner Regulato, I think we all hear your point. I just wanted to come up here and say what Commissioner Lopez said is also true. A lot of the environmental hazards that the city commissioner, uh, outlined, Durham does have jurisdiction over, but we do not have jurisdiction over every aspect of some of these derelict vessels. And so the legislation actually does help to, uh, enforce people like John and a team that we're hoping to create under him to actually enforce and, and better address some of the bad actors. Not necessarily some of the, you know, residents that we're hearing from today that wouldn't be the highest priority target. Frankly, we don't have enough enforcement capacity to, to, to blanket target all of these residents. And, and I don't have a problem with an item that deals with the derelict vessel. We've been working on the derelict vessels for a long time, but that's not what this does. This is a full on prohibition that also excludes residents. And I think that having that conversation without even knowing how many human beings we are displacing from their homes is irresponsible. I think that if we're going to do this, if we're going to have a full on prohibition and, and look, I support Durham a hundred percent. You guys know that I do, and I'm happy to find a solution. And I think that we can find a solution, but I don't think that we use Durham as the reason that we're evicting people from their homes, because there's a whole other group of people that are not bad actors. We're assuming that because they live on a boat, that they're bad actors. And I have yet to see that evidence. The fact that they live on a boat doesn't mean that they're bad actors. Now, are there bad actors? Could people that live on boats act better? A hundred percent. We can have those conversations, but I think we need to have those conversations. Before we completely displace them. Um, and, and that's my concern. And I'm always on board for anything and everything that helps us with derelict vessels. But I think confounding all those things on a blanket prohibition that covers the entire county is a lot. It's a lot, especially when we haven't done outreach and, and look, we've to the, to the maker of the item I've worked with, with some of the commissioners are here on fog and, and on a bunch of different things. And we had a workshop and we had people come out and we provided notice and we've worked on items and they had an opportunity to speak on it. But here I represent the people who are here. This is something that is unique to coconut grove. I can't speak to what's happening in commissioner, um, Steinberg's district, but if we're going to do something of this magnitude, we need to have the outreach and we need to have the numbers. And we need to answer commissioner Bastian's question. Where are these human beings going to go live? If they can't live on their boat, what happens to them? And, and 50 slots at Watson doesn't do it. I can tell you that at Crandon, you have to wait five to 15 years. I can tell you that at black point, there's a weight where we're looking at building something at this aquarium because of the tremendous need that there is for dockage. Because after 2020, everybody went out and bought a boat, but the reality is that the majority of the slips are for much larger vessels. That's the reality of it. And some of these vessels, because of how their size and what types of vessels they are, it just doesn't make financial sense for them to dock. And if we want to have a conversation about more moorings, we can have a conversation about more moorings. That's not here. We're not saying like, Hey, we're going to have more moorings. You know, we're going to meet with these people. We're going to figure out, you know, what their needs are. And we're going to establish more moorings because that's a solution. I don't want to live in a Miami-Dade County where people can't live on their boats. I disagree with that. I ideologically disagree with it. And I'm not saying that having people living on boats is problematic. Um, it's not problematic. I'm saying that we're intelligent people that can solve that problem. I don't think that a prohibition on live boards is the answer to the problem, regardless of what the state says. Thank you, commissioner. Um, I don't think this is a, I don't look at this as a prohibition. Um, but maybe we can have clarity on that. Um, commissioner, because I know that word's been being used, but from what I understood in my briefings anyway, and understanding what, um, the intent was, it wasn't a blanket prohibition. They can still live aboard. It's just that they can't just long-term dock anywhere. Is that, I mean, anchor anywhere, rather. Um, that's exactly correct. They have to move, which is to the point that, that was made by Durham. Um, some never move. And the whole point to all of this is that you have to move. Um, and so it's not a total prohibition. You can certainly live on the water. Okay. Um, I don't, I, Commissioner Bessian, I know you had a question. I'm going to thank you guys for being up there unless there's anything else you want to, um, bring to our attention, because I think we're going to bring it in for a vote. There's actually plenty, and I welcome you, Commissioner, to, if it's appropriate, um, to meet with me and others and discuss the issues from our perspective, because there's, there's a great deal of nuance to this issue. Um, the issue of not only derelict vessels, but at-risk vessels, and just vessels that are anchored long-term in terms of their impact to the environment and to public safety, to navigation, um, that remains to be said, and it hasn't been said here. So I think it's important that you have a complete picture of what the, uh, motivation is behind passing such an ordinance. Happy, happy to have that conversation with you. I'm, you know, but I also think we need to have a conversation about moorings and about marinas and about other options, because the issue here is we're not talking about how many humans are impacted by this, and we're also not giving them alternatives. We're happy to meet with you on that, Commissioner. I, if I may just add a couple other things to a couple points that you made, Commissioner, um, is that, number one, um, it's been illegal to be a liveaboard in the city of Miami, um, based on, I think it's Section 50, uh, 40 of the city of Miami ordinance for years. That's been the case. That's my point. They don't enforce it. Right. Well, actually, now, um, in terms of their anchoring ordinance, um, it is being enforced, and, and there's plenty. Disagree. If you look over at the. We could talk about it, but disagree. The city is not enforced. Yep. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, and so, yeah, I had a bit, I reached out and I had a great conversation with the Durham team and other teams, which is why I'm comfortable today. Um, yes, Commissioner McKee. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to the sponsor of the item. Um, my questions are to the county attorney's office. Um, help me understand this, um, because I do have some reservations about what I've heard, and I don't want to create, um, a burden on the folk who are Miami Dade County residents, but who chooses to live on, live on board. Right? So, help me understand, the state preempted the municipalities and local government from passing ordinances, laws that would impact those who made that choice. Right? But the state also did a carve out that would allow for an exception to the rule. Correct. Are we today discussing the exception to the rule? Not the rule, but we're talking about the exception to that rule. That's correct. So, if we are talking about the exception to that rule, then what is the negative impact of that exception to the rule as it relates to Miami Dade County residents who choose to live on board of their boats? Will it create, and this may be for the administration, not to the county attorney's office, but this may be an issue that sways me one way or the other. Will this particular language, or can this particular language, create an adverse effect that will create the opportunity where homelessness can increase in Miami Dade County due to forcing them, the great folk of Miami Dade County, the residents who choose to live aboard their boat. Would this create that opportunity where homelessness can be increased in Miami Dade County? Is that to the administration? Yes. Good morning, Commissioner. Good morning. Chris Hood-Walker, Chief Staff to the Mayor. Commissioner, we don't have enough information right now. I think it would be speculative right now to comment on that. Madam Chair, one more? Thank you. My next question is to the county attorney's office. We've heard that the municipalities, actually I'm looking at here, the municipalities actually have the authority to pass its own legislation to deal with it. How many municipalities have enforced that particular exception? That's a factual question I couldn't speak to. I know at least three have adopted such an ordinance, but as to on the ground what enforcement has been, I can't speak to that. Is it possible that the administration may have an answer? We can work on that, Commissioner. Okay. And I guess my final question is, and it's not so much a question, it's just so much a perception of what we're doing. I just philosophically disagree that we should turn our full force of the county's weight against individuals who are living on board of a boat because what? Like, I still haven't gotten to that. Why? Why are we doing this with the exception of a few photos been shown of other vessels? I'm pretty sure we've found those individuals and prosecuted them for leaking gas into our waterways. But I'm talking, I cannot wrap my hands and my head around the hundreds if not thousands of people who are going to be impacted. And I'm trying to get there, but I don't know if I have enough information to get there. Because if you're asking me to put the county seal, the county logo, the full weight of the county commission and the county government to possibly impact a group of people who are on board of a boat and choose to live there. It's almost as if we're attacking their choice, while at the same time telling us we're not attacking their choice. And it just doesn't feel right. And we know it's not right. But I'm trying to get there to make it right. So maybe what we're really asking is, why are we here again on this issue? Like, I don't get it. I don't get it. And to the maker, listen, I'm not here to kill your item. I'm not. That's just not where I am. I am just asking to help me become more comfortable based on some of the questions that were asked, particularly talking about homelessness and the fact that we're singling out these people. I just need more information. So the more information I have, the better. But right now, I can tell you right now, I just feel like I'm standing in a courtroom arguing a case without any evidence to support my case. That I'm just going to simply say, you know, this is the position with no evidence to support. That's just where I am right now. Yes. Commissioner Lopez. So I would just say I appreciate that that it probably is a new. Like Durham said, there are a lot of nuances to this. In my district, the City of Miami Beach and the City of Miami, who are my two municipalities, have already addressed this. I was attempting to align my state statute or my state bill with the county as other counties have done across the state since we permitted, we authorized municipalities and local governments to move forward. It will not impact, and I will work, thanks to Commissioner Regalado, allowing me to understand, because I've not spoken to the City of Miami about enforcement. But I intend to now, as a result of this conversation, because they need to enforce it. If you have a law on the books, there's no sense in having a law and not enforcing it. That's just my opinion. The City of Miami Beach enforces it every single day. Every single day, their Marine Patrol goes, and they have a spreadsheet of how long a boat has been on the water. And once they get to the 30 days, they issue a warning, and then if they don't move, they move them. Okay, so that's happening perfectly well in Miami Beach, and I will tell you this. The residents of what's called Sobey West, the west side of South Beach, are thrilled that this was allowable and that those boats had to move, because it had become a nuisance for those that wanted to recreationally boat in that area, right? There were just lots of people just anchoring post-pandemic. So, you know, I know that for Commissioner Steinberg, she's faced with the sort of balloon where they all moved now moving north to all of her 12 municipalities that are all on the coast. So, you know, I know that there will be others. I was trying to avoid a patchwork, because for a boater, you have no idea whose water you're in once you start to anchor. It made more sense to me to try to, you know, do a county-wide. That way, a boater wouldn't have to worry if they were going from Aventura all the way to the Keys. There would be one single way of enforcing it. And quite frankly, if you talk to the sheriff, she's going to enforce it anyway. She's got a state law that requires her. My bill only allowed local communities to be able to enforce them if they wanted to. It's the only thing that it did. Right. The actual bill gives the enforcement mechanism to the local municipalities and jurisdiction to alleviate the higher costs of enforcement from the higher agencies, as I saw it. And I know it's, listen, you know, it's a balancing act, but I think ultimately it's not even if every municipality passed this, right, in the community, in the county. We still have our unincorporated waters. And so all the problem is going to be pushed to your unincorporated areas that have water. And like I think John Rickesack said, it is very nuanced and it is very layered. And I hope you bring something forward secondarily so that we can address some of these other issues that you brought up. Because I know when you put your mind to something, you work on it and you do a lot of work and due diligence. And we appreciate the work and the time you put in. But in this situation, I do think it's a little bit different because I think we're conflating many different issues. And I think for purposes of today's committee, you know, while Commissioner Lopez doesn't get a vote, I think it should be brought to the main body for this discussion. And so, yes, Commissioner, either one. So, Commissioner Lopez, so I don't think anyone, well, let me speak for myself, I don't think I want to kill this item. I don't think so. But my concerns are about the residents, you know, the risk of this decision that I'm making today may render them homeless. That's my concern. So my question to you is that would you consider in light of the fact that we don't have enough information about how many of these residents, some of the people who came and spoke, how many of them actually live, you know, on their boats? And then would you consider working, if we move this forward, right, would you consider working with the administration to make sure that there is some kind of assistance to the residents? We find out how many of them there are, if they provide them the information that they need, and if they have to move where they would move to, what exactly do they need to do? Because I would be, I don't feel comfortable, like, moving forward without having a plan to support those residents. And then, you know, I've spent my life fighting against homelessness. Yes. So that's my concern. But I don't want to kill the item. Understood. And I'm happy to do that. I do not have the number of people who live on the water who never move. There are those that live on the water and are moving all the time. Yeah, we have, I guess we're not going to worry about those that are already in permanent places, like mooring fields and marinas. We're talking about the ones that are just in the middle of the bay or in dinner key. We will, I will work, you have my pledge to work with the administration and the city of Miami to find out exactly the number of people who are living on the water who never move their vessel. That is part of, and Durham, I'm sure can probably be very helpful on that. So we get an idea because it's, I don't know if it's 10 people or if it's thousands of people as, as, as the commissioner had said. Okay. The vice chair has some, had some pertinent questions. Yes. That need, you know. Yes, I think so. We need to get him the information as well. And I'll work with Durham to make sure that all your questions are answered because I, I agree with you. If you don't, if you haven't been living this situation, it's hard to understand exactly what's happening because there are, there are lots of different things being said today. And, and commissioner Regalato's right. This is not about derelict boats. We have, the state has a derelict statute and we have a derelict ordinance. This is about people that choose to live on the water and never move. And as Durham said, so where are they dumping everything? And, and the problem that we have at night is as well is I, I have personally viewed people that are living on the water and the suds from their, from their clothes, the wash that they're washing on the, it's all coming out of the water. And in some cases is rolling up into some people's homes that live on the water. So it's, it is complicated, but I, I appreciate the concern that both commissioner Bastian and you have in terms of the homelessness issue. Thank you, commissioner Regalato, and then we're going to bring it in. Thank you. Um, and, and look, I'm happy to meet with term and talk about alternatives. You know, if, if you want to charge people something, because at the end of the day, our biggest issue is that we don't have Marine patrol. We don't have enough funding to have a robust Marine patrol. And if that's the case, then why don't we talk about charging a fee so that you can fund that so that you can make sure that people are doing the right thing instead of just prohibiting all of it. You know, again, my issue is the extremes. My issue is the extremes. People have the right to live on a boat. Now, if we're having issues with people living on boats, instead of prohibiting that by geographically pushing them out to see so that they can't live here, you know, which is literally what you're doing. You're just pushing them out so far that they can't come in. Then let's look at finding a solution and let's create a revenue source where we can have more Marine patrol. I represent the Bay. I represent the Bay. I represent the Bay. I represent dinner key. I represent coconut growth. I want, you know, I I'm committed to Durham. I'm committed to our environment. So let's use this as an opportunity to collect revenue to beef up our Marine patrol so that we could do more of that. Why punish everyone as opposed to create a mechanism to punish the bad actors? Yes. Um, Chris from the administration with us. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Um, just to mention really quickly, we'd be more than happy to, to work with all the commissioners that have had questions through director Parra, uh, to address and bring as much information as, as required ahead of the full board. Can I say one thing? Thank you, Madam Chair. And let me just say this, like, look, I'm, I'm going to be in favor of, of pushing it out based on your representation and your. And I trust that you will deliver the information that we've requested. And I do, I trust you on that one, but I just want to let you know how this looks in our history. There has been movement. Like, let me, let me just repeat. Let me start all over on this one. I'm going to paint this picture. And I want you to look at this through these lenses, a group of people who are accused of committing crimes on the waterways. Then we pass legislation to push those people out, but we're not pushing them out on land. We're pushing them out further on water. It's almost as if we are segregating these people. And it is, it just sits in a way that paints a picture of what has happened in our past in this great nation. And I'm not comparing the two, but I'm just letting you know how it feels because any and every time there were issues with certain people in certain communities. There have always been a way where those who were against them would pass legislation to push them out. And it feels as if that's what we're dealing with today. But I'm not saying that's what we're dealing with today, but it, it feels like that's what we're dealing with today. But I am comfortable with what I've heard and saying that if Broward and Palm Beach and a few other counties and municipalities are saying that this is what their residents want, then you know what? You can have it. You can have it, but I'm just telling you what it looks like when the picture is painted and in history reviews this, that those people, our people, our residents who chose to live aboard a vessel were pushed out in different locations on the waterways because of what reason, a reason yet. I have yet to figure out why. So that's where I am, but I support, um, you know, you guys giving me that information and I'm there. Thank you. Madam Chair. Okay. So, um, quick question. Point of order. Just quick question. I'm just concerned about the timing because if, you know, we always say like, oh, you're going to give us information, you know, before we get to the BCC. The only problem is that we have the budget and the millage and, and a lot of things. So I don't know, I don't know if we're going to get the information in time. That's my only concern. I mean, I would feel more comfortable with a deferral. If you want to close the public hearing, you can. Um, and, and having you guys come back to us with the information and looking at some alternatives that could provide a revenue source that can actually solve the problem as opposed to just exclude people. And again, have us come out of the general fund for the enforcement of this. I would feel more comfortable with that just because of the timing of this, because now we're going our next meeting. We go into the millage. It's a full agenda. Then we're straight into the budget. And I don't think that this is something that should get swept under that. I mean, it gets harder and harder for us to deal with complex things. And, and the purpose of committee is to solve these problems. So I don't think pushing it out to the BCC to then provide that information, um, is a good idea. So, I mean, I would, I would move for, for a deferral. Okay, so, um, I did want to just clarify, I know Monroe County and I believe Broward have already passed similar ordinances. So I think we're seeing like an uptick of issues in Miami-Dade County waters due to those other jurisdictions passing this. Um, and this wouldn't be even, when would this be heard at full BCC, not till September? Would, do you say you wanted to move it to October? I mean, I, I, I agree with Commissioner Regalado that, you know, to try to do it in the middle of budget hearings would be fatal, uh, and not appropriate. I, I'm, I'm happy if it doesn't get heard till October. It gives us plenty of time. We can also take a look at what the impacts have been from Broward and Monroe squeezing us because they are enforcing it. And what's ended, what's ended up happening is those people that were living aboard that, that chose not to move. Remember, this is about those that choose never to move. Those that are moving every 30 day, you know, consecutively 30 days in a six month period have now squeezed into our waters. That's exactly what happened. They moved them all into our waters. Um, so I think we should look at the impact of what's, what those two ordinances are having on our waterway as well. Okay. So, um, Commissioner McGee, um, are you okay with that? If it doesn't come back till BCC until October, that way you have enough time to get. Listen, I thank you, Madam Chair. And, um, I trust my colleagues. So if that's what they're representing, then I got it. Just procedurally, how does that work? Because if it passes out of committee today, it would go to the next BCC. So, so it would be September, but then she would have to request a deferral to October, I believe, procedurally to ensure that in fact it is heard at the October meeting and not September. Is that correct? I think that's one option. Another option is similar to how when committees often request that the chairman put an item on the very next available agenda, there could be a request to the chairman to, to play this on, you know, such and such meeting in October rather than. Okay. That's probably better. Okay. I, is that what, is that what you want? Okay. So, Commissioner Bastien, are you okay with that? I just wanted to ask the maker of the item. Um, so how would the deferral, you don't want to defer, right? Okay. Okay. So we have a motion by Commissioner McGee, seconded by Commissioner Bastien. Show that, pass by acclamation, showing regulado as you know. I think it should stay here. Oh, I have to, it's a roll call. Yeah, roll call. I think it should stay here until we fix it. I don't, I don't think we push it off. Okay. I just don't know how, with the information that we need to get, October seems, I mean, it's not September. It's not. We have a committee in September. I mean, I don't understand. Yeah. Okay. So, Commissioner Lopez, I know you have to get going and I know you came in for this item because it's your item. I'm going to call, we're going to, we're going to call the roll because I think Commissioner McGee, did you make a motion to move it to the October? I want to make sure we're all on the same, be clear. Madam Attorney, can you clear it up for me, please? Is it a deferral? I moved for deferral, but I don't have a second. So that's where we're at. There was a motion on the floor without a second for deferral of the item completely. The motion I believe that was on the floor was whether to approve this item with a request that it then be brought before the October BCC. If this committee wishes to do something else, there would need to be a different motion. Okay. That's the motion. But there isn't a second on that one either. Okay. I'll, did you second that motion for Commissioner McGee? We need a second. Then I'll, that's why. Okay. So, Commissioner Marlene Bastien. Okay. Now, will you call the roll, please? Madam Chair, we need to clarify if it's the October 6 meeting or the October 20th meeting. Given the commission's, the commission sponsor is requesting the second meeting in October. Yes. Which should give, hopefully, enough time to get all the information and all, and I know Commissioner Regalado's already working on something separately that's going to be coming probably parallel in tandem. Yes. Call the roll, please. Commissioner Bastien. Commissioner McGee. Yes. Commissioner Regalado. No. Vice Chairwoman Steinberg. Motion passes three to one. Thank you. So that will be heard October 26th. Okay. That will be the request that's forwarded on. Okay. And now, I want to make clear that item 6A was also part of our original item passing of when we set the agenda. And final item is the presentations by the committees. By the way, I want to thank everybody for coming out today and speaking. We appreciate it. Chris, we'll start with you if you want to tee us up for the presentations, please. Yes, ma'am. Madam Chairwoman, thank you. Good morning again. Before the first budget presentation, which is the Cultural Affairs Department, I would like to introduce you to your new permanent director of the Cultural Affairs Department, Ashley Thomas. You should have a memo in your inbox now. Formerly the mayor appointing Ashley as the director. That will be on the July 21st agenda. Just really quickly, we did a national search with an executive recruitment firm. We had over 200 applicants apply. I took over the search. When I took over the portfolio, we moved quickly. Out of the top three finalists, Ashley really made it easy. It wasn't even close. Ashley's our local homegrown star, so we're very proud. The mayor's very proud to announce Ashley as the director. And in addition, just a quick mention, we've got Commissioner Regalado here as well. Congratulations, director, on getting the playhouse over the line with the commissioner's support this week. Decades in the making. Unanimous. Unanimous support from the city of Miami. Unanimous support. Good team effort, Commissioner. Thank you. And lastly, just want to thank the Miami Foundation for their support as well in the efforts on the director's search. So thank you, Ashley. All yours. Thank you so much, Chief Hudwalker. I very much appreciate it to the Mayor and to the Board of County Commissioners for having us today. I am going to go ahead and start the presentation for cultural affairs. So just to remind everyone, we are the smallest unit of local government. Thank you so much for this. Smallest unit of local government, but one of the largest departments of cultural affairs across the nation. So it really speaks to the Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners' support for arts and culture across the county. Just a very quick department overview, and you all have this presentation. Our department's made up of 122 employees. We have 72 million in our budget. We're made up of mostly CDT and TDT funding with less than 22% of general fund, which is usually in our grants. We work in four areas of work, which is grants and technical assistance. We invest about 23 million in nonprofits. Over 700 grants made are art in public places. We also design with a number of departments from Seaport Airport. Oh, it's very poppy. Sorry. Seaport Airport housing over 1,000 works in the collection. We also build and manage facilities, and we do arts education engagement serving over 300,000 youth. Who we serve, major cultural institutions, mid-sized organizations, community-based organizations, and individual artists. Just a few accomplishments from your Department of Cultural Affairs. We were able to raise over 1.3 million in grants to support our revenues. We won seven NACO awards this year. Our arts and education turned 20 years or all kids included program, which focuses on children with and without disabilities. And our art in public places team, we had a number of commissions in our civil probate courthouse, and one of the largest installations at MSC cruise terminals this year. We have 100 active works happening at this time. Some of our fiscal accomplishments, because I know this is a budget presentation. We worked collaboratively to find savings over a million dollars in our department. Again, one of the smallest units, but we're on for the ride. Through those efficiencies and savings, we were actually able to restore six of our essential positions. Last year, we lost 14 positions during the budget season. We were able to restore six with those savings to keep our department functioning. We also collaborated very closely with OMB to work on a 3% attrition rate for savings. So we froze nine vacant positions to help with those savings and spread some of that work across the department. And then we've gotten very creative as a creative department, looking at our proprietary funds, which is our art in public places for staff members who are touching that area. We were able to use that to offset some of the administrative costs. And we're also doing some shared services across our departments. So instead of having four building managers across our facilities, we have two to work through all four. Some of our key issues in our department is grant funding. So I think at a few new budget hearings that the mayor has done, she has alluded to keeping the budget status quo for our grants area, which is great to hear for the cultural community. But I also want to put out that SB 1134, the DEI law, is something that is impacting our grants and possibly our department, as well as property tax, rising costs and infrastructure, as it's happening for many people. My last slide, just our priority initiatives and our future outlook. We've heard what we need to do. We know that property tax reform is some of those things. So we're looking at our grantee reliance on general fund and public fund. We're going to be doing some capacity building with our nonprofits to diversify their funding portfolio. We want to make sure our mid-size and our small organizations continue to be self-sustainable, even if public funding contracts. We're also looking at more proprietary and self-sustaining models, like the Coconut Grove Playhouse model that has a revenue generation asset attached to it for our facilities. As I mentioned, a shared service approach, and then this year we'll be doing some strategic planning to look at the next five to ten years of what arts and culture will look like in the county. And with that, I say thank you to the board chair, administration, and the commission. Please let me know if you have any questions. Nope. Okay. Thank you so much, Chief. Durham. Good morning, everyone. Just waiting to see our presentation before I get started. Thank you so much. Thank you to the chair and all the committee members for the opportunity to present on the newly independent Department of Environmental Resources Management. I'm going to try and move quickly, but we'll go a little bit over who we are now as a new independent department, the customers that we serve, some of our key challenges, our big accomplishments, and really what to look forward in the future. So here, clearly laid out, you see our vision. Really, we are working to protect both the public health and the natural environment. We do that through three main pillars, science-based policy, through strong compliance and enforcement, and thoughtful education and outreach strategies. At our core, we're really looking to protect, again, the public health environment. But also, we have a strong regulation arm. We work to engage our residents, our industry, our city's municipalities, and, of course, strengthen a lot of the resilience strategies across Miami-Dade County. One of our main functions here at Durham, which I did want to spend a little bit of time on, is some of our state and federal delegations. Through these delegations, essentially, we are entrusted by the state and federal government to implement and enforce the authoring government's laws. And so, some of those delegations are listed here. I did want to highlight one specifically, our petroleum cleanup delegation. The BCC recently passed an item which allowed us to renegotiate our new five-year contract with the state DEP. And that amounted to over $13 million over five years coming to Miami-Dade County through that single delegation. Our customers range from community, residents, again, industry, additional local municipalities, government agencies, and even our own internal county departments. It is, again, why we have really doubled down over the last six months on more thoughtful outreach strategies. Again, compliance, not fees, is the goal for us here at Durham. And so, making sure that we are centering resident experiences and we think about doing outreach and education to our community is incredibly important. Just quickly, a few accomplishments. Thanks to both the leadership of our mayor and the approval of the BCC, we did successfully stand up this independent department. With that new independence, we have managed to really strengthen a lot of our enforcement capacity, which again, does lead to additional compliance, which is ultimately what we want to see. And because Biscayne Bay is at the heart of Miami-Dade County's identity and our economy, I'm proud to say we continue to provide and do, we have over 140 monitoring stations where we can sample regularly and we continue to invest in the health of Biscayne Bay. With that growth, of course, it's not without its challenges. Our bay continues to experience pressures from all sides, whether it's increased voter traffic, pollution, development density. The bay is stressed and so are we. But additionally, we have some pretty deep workforce and capacity challenges. Durham is incredibly blessed to have PhDs, engineers, biologists, scientists that choose to work at Durham because they love it. They could easily be making twice or three times what they do working in the private sector. And that is a challenge that is really only surrounded by the fact that they love their work. So additionally, we have some infrastructure challenges like other departments, other municipalities. We have a proprietary lab where we're able to turn around a lot of analyses, a lot of the monitoring, a lot of the data sampling. And due to both logistics and funding challenges, we haven't been able to identify a location to rebuild our new lab. Our current lab is in rough condition and so we're trying to work through that as a department. Priority initiatives, many of you are familiar with the reasonable assurance plan. It's essentially our plan that we will produce to the state of Florida before the end of the year. That includes county wide decreases in nutrient loading into the bay. That plan will essentially give the state of Florida reasonable assurance that we will improve the water quality along this game bay. We're also working to implement some of the key aspects of our urban forestry plan, which includes plantings across Miami Dade County. We work with a lot of the commission to try and do plantings in your neighborhoods, but also we're looking to roll out a stronger GIS tracking system so that we can not only do the plantings, but also track the trees that we're planting and maintain them because we know that that's a huge part of the work as well. And thanks to just really strong support from DEP, we're also expanding our smart cover program, which essentially helps us to predict and prevent sanitary sewer overflows, which again keeps really dirty water both out of the bay and out of the streets. We don't want residents to be playing in dirty water either. So future outlook, we're really committed to our core mission, which is again committed to protecting the public health and the environment. But we certainly need to figure out how we do that in the face of lots of changing and dynamic community needs, certainly ongoing growth, those workforce and talent challenges that we have as a department, continued compound flooding, which we're seeing all across Miami Dade County, and of course, changing digital landscape. But with that, I just wanted to say thank you to the Chair, to all the committee members, and certainly to our Chief of Staff for the opportunity to present this morning. Thank you so much. And we have a question. We have two questions. All right, we'll start here on my left. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for that presentation. It was great. Really quickly, are there any fee increases on the horizon? I had to phone a friend. We don't have anything planned in the immediate. No, sir. Commissioner McGee, remember when we increased RER's fees last year, that included some of the Durham fees, if I'm correct, right? I think that was part of it. I'm going to call up our Deputy Director who was there. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's how we did it. Because the ones that are under RER did increase as part of that like omnibus. Correct. Rashida Stambouli, Deputy Director, Durham. Correct. There were some fees in the last budget. And correct. Right now, there is nothing proposed with respect to, there was a CPI component included last year, but nothing has been put forward yet with respect to that as is for the budget. Right. So I'll clarify that point. So remember the item that I brought last year, we hadn't increased for like 10 years. So we brought it up to date with the municipalities and then we added CPI so we wouldn't have to constantly be going back. So Durham was included as part of that omnibus. Thank you, Director Parr. And thank you so much, sir. Thank you for all the work you do. Thank you. Thank you. So one of the things we talked about last year was and one of the reasons we increased those fees were ensuring that there were departments that were not touching the general fund. Durham is one of those departments. So RER is not touching general fund. Durham is not touching the general fund. You're enterprise departments. In the last item, we were talking about the marine surveillance. So I know that the increase of that is not part of this budget. However, I think that rather than Commissioner Lopez's item, there might be an alternative path that would provide us with a permit slash fee structure that would allow us to do that. I would feel more comfortable with increasing our marine surveillance than prohibiting things on the water, because I think that what is a problem we do, we would do better to have better marine patrol by Durham. So is there a way that you can get that information so that we can have that conversation and try to figure something out before that item comes back? Because I think at the root of our problem is the lack of resources for a comprehensive marine patrol and regulations that allow us to get to that end. And I would rather do that than have a prohibition. And then we keep coming back to we still have the derelict. We still have the issues because the item that we were discussing only talk only speaks to the boats that how long they stay in the same place. We still have boats that are that are doing it for less time. So I would rather a comprehensive long term solution that has revenue. So I would love for you guys to bring that back. I also know that we've been working with water and sewer on the septic tanks. And I've been working on a project and I know that Commissioner Bastien is working on one. And I know that Commissioner Steinberg is working on one. Now that there is now that the state has eliminated the surtax, I think there is going to be a different conversation on this when we all come to 2027. So for my colleagues, you know, because all of us up here have septic tank issues, I think that we need to be a little proactive. Right now we have the budget, but I would ask you all to consider having a workshop with me once we're through the budget to talk about septic tanks, because there's been a series of changes that we've made. We've been making changes for a long time and we're going to come upon an opportunity. And that opportunity requires us to consider the language of the bond, but also look at existing water systems and how they are going to move forward. So it doesn't affect everyone on the BCC, but for those of us that it impacts, I think it might be a good idea to have like a virtual workshop or something with specifically DERM and water and sewer to kind of chart the path forward. Because there's going to be a series of opportunities there and I want us all to be on the same page. And now we're seeing the positive results of a lot of the comp plan changes that we've made in terms of locations for pump stations and different things. And it's just a matter of taking all of these tools and having a broader conversation about it. And I would love to have DERM participate in that so we can find a path forward. Thank you. And always, I love me the DERMites, so it's always good to see you here. Through the chair, if I might respond to the commissioner. Thank you, Commissioner Regalato. To your first point, yes, we will definitely work to get you all the information on the previous item. Certainly, we'll make ourselves available to meet with you and your team to talk through some of those alternative options for the people living on board, absolutely. And to the septic tank question, yes, of course, we would love to be a part of any workshop. I say it all the time. I myself am on a septic tank, and so the issues are very real for a lot of people in Miami-Dade County. Thank you. Madam Chair. Anything else? Yes, of course. Yes, so thank you so much. Great presentation. Thank you. Quick question. So there was an increase. There was a fee increase. How much was it? And then until, what does it cover? What period of time does it cover? Commissioner, to clarify, we don't have a fee increase proposal for now. I know. But last year we passed. How much was it last year? It wasn't all the fees, and I'm now playing by memory. It was roughly about somewhere between 7% and 10% of certain fees, but not all. And then included CPI. I remember. How much? How much? How much? How much? How much? So in the past budget we brought an item that actually eliminated fees for residents and increased developer fees. So that's how we did it. We actually increased the fees to match up with what the municipalities were charging because we hadn't done our fees in a very long time. And then we added CPI, but they were for the developers, and then we created a whole, like, portfolio of items that our residents are not paying. And then there was also a state law that passed that also impacts that. So we were getting ahead of that state law. So for those of you who didn't follow it, if it's under 7,500, you don't have to get a permit, you know, all that kind of stuff. So we got ahead of that a little bit because we knew that was coming in the horizon. Okay, so there wasn't any direct fees to the residents. Thank you so much, Commissioner Regalado. And moving forward, I really would like, we haven't met, you know, like to invite you to my office and then to also work on outreach programs. Durham has a big impact on residents' quality of life, but I feel that there is a need for more interaction for residents to understand clearer what your role is. And moving forward, I'd like to work with you on that. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Do you have anything else? Just to thank you all once more. Okay. All right. Calling the Animal Services Department, please. Oh, you okay? Good afternoon. Thank you for your patience. Annette Jose, Director of Animal Services. Good afternoon, Commissioners. Through the Chair, I would like to present the budget for Animal Services. So the mission of the Animal Services Department is to save the lives of abandoned animals, protect animals from cruelty, reunite lost pets with their owners, and protect people in our community from health-related issues. Our major functions are obviously providing shelter to the 534 dogs we have in our care today and over 100 cats. We also prepare them for adoption. We are in the community helping residents when there are strays that look injured or are acting aggressive. We will react to those calls quickly. And we also manage large volunteer programs. We've won awards for our outreach with volunteer programs and foster programs. The Animal Services Department consists of 304 staff. With those staff, we provide care to all animals. We have a veterinary team that does everything they can to save the lives of animals. Our save rate for the 11th year in a row is over 90%. Currently, 95% of the dogs that come into our care are being saved. Our accomplishments, thank you. Our accomplishments are very impressive. 29,000 spain neuter surgeries have been performed through our medical team and our partners. We've successfully placed over 7,000 animals into adopted homes. And we have increased our volunteer programs. You know that we cannot do this work of finding homes for all the dogs and cats that enter our care without the help of the community and our rescue organizations. So we want to do more outreach and also show our gratitude towards them. Our key issues continue to be the overpopulation crisis. Even with the 534 dogs that we currently house today, there are many more dogs that are in need of homes and of shelter. So it's about educating the community. We also have this rising stray. And it's not just here in Miami-Dade County. It's all across the nation. There's an overpopulation crisis. And probably attributed to the fact that during 2020, there were no spay and neuter surgeries happen, which is why we are focusing our efforts in providing spay and neuter as much as possible. Our priority also is pet retention. That's going to help animals from entering our shelters. We provide, you know, pet food, medical help if needed so that owners and their pets can stay together. We also are helping our rescue organizations. We know that they want to help, but they also struggle. So we have some incentives to help them if they pull a dog, for example, that needs medical care. We try to help them with that medical care. And we're out in the community. We go to each of your districts to provide vaccine and wellness. We also are providing microchips. We know those are things that we can provide to the community so that if a dog or a cat gets lost, we can quickly reunite them with their pet owners. Our future outlook, we want to continue to expand our services. We know that keeping pets out of the shelter, the daily cost for a dog in our shelter is about $55 a day. So spending a little bit to help pets and their owners stay together is actually a cost benefit to us. We want to increase our fostering efforts. Again, keeping the dogs out of the shelter, the cats out of the shelter makes them more successful adoptees when families open their homes. And of course, providing veterinary care. Veterinary care is very expensive. The costs have gone up for private veterinary care. So we're trying to expand access to veterinary care, not just at the Doral facility, but throughout the community. And we will continue to be very financially responsible as this overpopulation crisis is managed with your support. If you have any questions. Thank you, Madam Director. Are there any questions from the members? Commissioner Regalato, you have the floor. You have the floor. Thank you. Thank you. Director. I know that the chair has worked on some items and so have I. And I know, um, um, Commissioner Garcia also Senator Garcia on digitizing this and making it easier, you know, for, for people to, um, to get the tags to register their pets online. And we, we've been trying to, you know, change the system. Um, and as you mentioned, um, the need keeps growing exponentially, um, the new center. And I know we approved that. Um, but every year, obviously it gets more expensive and we have to draw more from general fund to provide this service. This was one of the departments that we mentioned to our Tallahassee partners when they were talking about property taxes, you know. Uh, and it's one of the departments that we're worried about, um, in terms of what you've been able to do from last year. Can you give us some information and then how, you know, be allowing people to register online? I know it's a game changer, but how is that going to help us also with the budget and the everyday of this? Sure, thank you for the question, Commissioner. Um, so year after year, we pride ourselves in being very fiscally responsible. The operational budget has remained almost flat for the past three to five years. Our growth comes from salaries, um, but we need the employees to take care of the pets in our care. Um, as far as the online payment system, that not only is going to improve customer service, but indeed it will help with the amount of customers that we have to see in person at the shelter. So that is where part of the cost benefit does come. And we are also looking for ways to have a lifetime tag as opposed to having to get a tag every year. So that might also be a cost benefit for pet owners. Again, anything that we could do to lower the cost of being a responsible pet owner is, um, we're happy to explore. Um, if I could follow up, Mr. Chair, I like the lifetime tag idea. I guess you would just have to submit on the, on the vaccinations. Correct. Just like your auto tag that you don't have to go get a plate every year. This would be very much the same. So that would be an additional cost benefit. Okay. Um, do you need, um, the BCC to approve that or can you do that on your own? I don't believe that would require BCC approval. I think that that's just a, a change in the amount of time that we have to order tags, but the process is still registering your pet and registering the vaccine, which would remain the same. Right. Right. But then you're not mailing anything. You're not making anything. Right. So we're, we're saving on all the, the back and forth of that. Correct. Um, is, is, well, I guess we'll see if that saving is in this budget, but I think, I think that's a good idea. And I think we need to, um, get, you know, as proactive as, as possible on this. Um, I know that whenever we see any changes in the economy, we have a lot of folks turning in their pets. We have a lot of folks making requests, um, for assistance with their pets. Um, what are you seeing currently? Cause I know we follow for the, we follow the posting as we get the information, but just so that the general public knows what the current situation is with animal services. So that's why we're increasing our efforts on pet retention, anything we can do to keep pets at home. We know housing is difficult. And in particular for dogs that are over 25 pounds, which is actually small, but we're calling them large dogs. So we were trying to work with, um, going into housing, into, um, leasing office and showing how having dogs is not necessarily going to be a burden for that community. And it could be a benefit. And, um, tomorrow we'll be in midtown. For example, there's a lot of rental communities. There will be in midtown showing how we can all live together as one with our big dogs. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner Regalado. Commissioner Bastien, please. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, thank you for your presentation. Thank you, commissioner. Yeah. So, um, as you know, um, the advocates, animal advocates are the most active, I think in the county. So, um, I've received a lot of letters about the conditions of the shelters. Yes. Um, I can see, I can say, uh, truthfully that I've, I've, they're coming less and less. So can you please give us a status of, of those, of these conditions? Um, that's number one. Number two, um, we know that residents are going to tough times economically, right? Um, and then, uh, residents have called about a steep increase in the number of pets roaming the streets without, you know, uh, uh, any, without anyone looking after them. Basically, they come to people's yards and then, of course, residents complain to their commissioners. Uh, I, I must say that I see an increase in my street, um, the cats and dogs alike. So I foresee that we're gonna be seeing more because people are going to a tough time. I mean, they, they, they have to put food on their table. They have to make sacrifices. So they are, we are, they are living in challenging times. So what plans do you have, uh, in terms of all these pets, uh, on the streets, roaming the streets? Um, what plans do you have? What plans do you have? Because I, I can see that there will be an increase because like I said, in my street, I already see an increase. So our increase, our focus remains on spay and neuter programs. And we here in Miami-Dade County are proud to have one of the most robust TNVR programs. That's the trap, neuter, vaccinate, and return where we take community cats, sterilize them, vaccinate them. And yes, they go back into the community, but they will stop reproducing. Um, we're the largest provider of that in the country if, um, with over 20,000 surgeries being done just for the cats every year. So that's something we're very proud of and we're going to continue to grow. We're going to focus on dogs as well. And when you see stray dogs in the community, please reach out to us because if it's an injured dog, it is a dog that is causing harm, attacking other animals, or even chasing people, we will respond immediately to those calls. What you do want to remind the community and educate the community on microchipping, because a lot of times it is a dog that you see outside, but it's, it belongs to someone. It got loose or people don't realize that it's illegal to have them off leash and they just let them go out for a little while. So we just want to educate the community, let them know there are leash logs, laws in Miami-Dade County, and that being a responsible pet owner is part of the responsibility of owning a dog or a cat. And as far as the shelter, yes, we get a lot of mail, but we're proud to say that every time we have someone reach out, we invite them to come and tour the facility because we're very proud of our facility. We have, like I said, we're housing over 500 dogs, over 100 cats, and every day the kennels are clean top to bottom. The dogs and cats are fed twice a day. And we are now in preparation to start construction for the new facility in South Dade, which will provide another housing place for the dogs that now are living in Medley. Now they'll be able to move to this new facility. Do you have any other questions or comments? No, we're good. Do you have any that you would like to add? No, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Before we go on to the next presentation, just a little housekeeping. The next committee, which is the housing committee chaired by Commissioner Bastien, since we have two more presentations and we're going to be running a little bit over, I guess we need to, do we need to make a formal motion or just make the announcement that the next committee will immediately follow the end of this committee? A motion will be appropriate to extend this meeting if you would like to do so. How much time would you like, Madam Chair? Well, we have two more presentations. Is it half an hour? Yes. Okay. I move to extend this committee meeting for half an hour. Second. All right. So show that done by acclamation. And now thank you so much for being up there and ready. This is our library system. Good afternoon. Madam Chairwoman and committee members, Lydia Lopez, Director of Libraries. Let's wait for the presentation. There we go. So we'll just start with our mission. The library's mission is to provide extraordinary services, spaces, and experiences that promote literacy and learning, personal growth, and limitless opportunities. And to meet this vision, the library serves county residents of all ages through 50, soon to be 51, library locations, two book mobiles, one technomobile, vast digital platforms, and home delivery. We provide access to print and digital collections through books, newspapers, magazines, music databases, and online learning platforms. And those include LinkedIn Learning and Mango Languages as examples. We offer a wide variety of in-person and virtual classes to support literacy, education, business, technology, recreation, and lifelong learning. And we expand access to information, learning, and community resources through services such as our mobile device lending program, social worker program, passport acceptance facilities. As well as we preserve and provide access to Miami-Dade's rich history and culture through our special collections, digital collections, and permanent art collections. Our department is organized into six major functions. The one that's most prominent is our library and public technology services. This directly supports our residents by operating our physical library locations, delivering public services and programs, managing collections, and providing access to technology and digital resources. Our Capital Development Facilities Management and Transportation Division, pretty much with 50 to soon to be 51 library locations, they are responsible for managing our capital projects, our facilities, our fleet, logistics, which includes getting all our items to all our locations, maintenance, and infrastructure planning. Communications Public Affairs and Special Collections Division leads marketing, public affairs, community partnerships, special events, and public records. And Fiscal Operations and Business Operations oversees our financial and business operations, manages education and literacy initiatives, including tutoring and adult learning programs. Our director's office provides strategic leadership, and our human resources support recruitment, employment development, payroll, volunteer services, and workforce training. Who we serve? The library serves approximately 2.5 million Miami-Dade County residents of all ages and backgrounds. We also serve our reciprocal borrowers that include North Miami, North Miami Beach, Hialeah, and Homestead, our community organizations, government partners, and our county departments. In 2024-25, we serve more than 4.3 million in-person visits and 1.5 million registered cardholders, and that includes 70,000 new card registrations. The library meets the vast community needs through access to materials, technology, lifelong learning, and programs that address culture, recreation, and more. And we also provide welcoming spaces for study, work, and community engagement. And we are proud to deliver these services through a no-wrong-door approach, connecting residents with information, education, technology, and community resources, regardless of how they access the library in the first place. And our accomplishments. Top three accomplishments, we are a nationally recognized library. This year, we received 77 NACO awards, as well as we also earned multiple Florida Library Association Awards for Librarian of the Year, Outstanding Paraprofessional, and our library's Mean Business Award. Our library has also expanded digital access through our mobile device lending program, and that program makes available more than 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and 2,000 Chromebooks with internet service for residents. We also have drive-up Wi-Fi services. This program provided an estimated 775,000 indoor and outdoor connections at 36 locations that provided 1,700 drive-up Wi-Fi parking spaces. And our libraries also enhance accessibility for residents with print disabilities through its Talking Books Program. So working in conjunction with the National Library Service to the Blind and Print Disabled Program, and the Florida Bureau of Braille and Talking Books Library, the program is expected to provide over 100,000 audio books to residents with visual limitations and provide service to 40 institutions and 1,300 individuals who have difficulty reading or using physical print materials. And our key issues. The first key issue is meeting growing demand for library content. Meeting residents' expectations for immediate access requires ongoing investment in library collections, especially digital materials, which are increasingly in demand and cost more to acquire and license than print materials. Second is keeping pace with evolving technology. As the library adopts new technologies, we must continue investing in our technology infrastructure to support increasing bandwidth demands, modern computing, VOIP communications, and network security systems. And third is modernizing our library facilities. We need to continue to invest in our library facilities, and that is a priority. Additional funding is needed to replace aging buildings, harden facilities against future hazards, improve infrastructure, and renovate spaces to provide residents with modern, welcoming, and state-of-the-art libraries. And our priority initiatives align with those. It's to improve our facilities by maintaining and creating sustainable, inviting, and accessible venues to provide world-class enrichment opportunities. It's also to improve the library collection, to procure library content, and improve the collection of physical and digital materials, such as e-books, e-audiobooks, and videos, and to implement new, updated technology. Provide residents with updated technology, including high-speed internet and Wi-Fi access, public computers, Chromebooks, and Wi-Fi hotspots for public use. And our future outlook. The library is well-positioned to sustain current services. Our forecast includes ongoing staffing and operating costs for 50 existing library locations, and anticipated costs associated with new and renovated facilities, including the Chuck Pezzle Community Center and Library, and the Doral Branch Library, both opening in late 2026. And future service expansion needs are not included in this forecast or in this proposal. Including potential new libraries, locations need to be addressed as population continues to grow, especially down south and out west. So that is the conclusion of my presentation. Thank you so much for your time and your support. And I'm not sure if you have any questions. Try to keep it brief. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Great job. And it's library month, so make sure people are out there reading. Thank you. I have a good question. Yes. Thank you. Great presentation, by the way. How do you compete? I mean, reading plays such an important role, you know, in our children's developments, and then there are a lot of competitions out there with social media and all. What is your strategic plan for the future to keep the children interested in reading? We're actually working with the Friends of the Library, working with a partner to actually start them super young. We're hoping to get library cards to newborns. So we're going to have like a baby library card. And we think that's a great way to get families used to reading to their children. And it's not just for the children, it's also for the adults. I think reading is so important. But that's one strategy. And also to create welcoming environments in our libraries, continuing to engage and try to foster a community of enrichment and opportunity. In your plan to reorganize, I see that when you were presenting, do you consider like some modern things like family days, like library cafes where the families can come and then be there and then have access to the books? And it seems to me that you have to think outside of the box to keep the children love for books, because this is so important moving forward. Certainly. It's not just the books. It's actually bringing them into the libraries. We have like Lego play days. So it's not just solely about the books. We have animal shows, magicians. It's sort of to invite the family. It's always free. That's our purpose, right? To bring everybody in. There's no cost for as long as you want to stay at the libraries. So we do. We could always continue to have more ideas on cafes and other maybe a picnic, an indoor picnic. It is really hot outside. But welcome opportunities to come up with some ideas. Yeah, I'd love to sit down on that. Thank you. No, no. Thank you. Thank you. And finally, our Parks and Rec Open Spaces. Come on up. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, Commissioners. Christina White. I am the director of the Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces Department. It's my pleasure to be here with you today. As you all know, PROSE is one of the largest and most diverse park system in the U.S. We manage over 300 parks, 309 to be specific, and over 40,000 acres of parkland and natural habitat throughout Miami-Dade. But of course, I think as you also know, our work extends far beyond just managing parkland. Every day our team delivers a broad range of services that really is in support of healthy communities and environmental stewardship. Everything that we do in this department begins with a clear vision, and that is to connect people and parks for life. That vision reflects a belief that parks are much, much more than recreational services. At the heart of our work is a very powerful purpose, and that is to promote health, happiness, and prosperity for all of our residents and visitors. We are responsible for serving millions of residents and visitors that visit us each year. And the major functions, as I said, are to manage our 309 parks, increasing access to green spaces throughout the county through implementation of the Parks and Open Space Master Plan, protecting and preserving the county's natural habitats, managing 17 miles of beaches, six marinas, five golf courses, Zoo Miami, two causeways, and the county rights of way. And, of course, all of our diverse programming that is year-round for our youth, for our seniors, people with disabilities, and of course our environmental education, which often goes under the radar. Together, these functions reflect the department's commitment to connecting people and parks for life. At the heart of everything we do are the people that we serve, and listening to those customers is essential to continuously improving our services. We gather feedback from all of these various customer groups through multiple channels, which includes post-transaction surveys on our website, where people will book our services, QR code surveys that we have located throughout our parks, 311 service requests, secret shopper evaluations, and customer focus groups. We use this data to support our decision-making, and we take that very seriously. I'm very proud to say that our customer satisfaction score is at an 89% rating, which exceeds the national benchmark of 77%. And our net promoter score achieved is 65%, which is also surpassing the national benchmark of 50%, which indicates overwhelmingly that people who visit our parks are our biggest promoters and are willing to promote our services. So these metrics are tracked monthly through our departmental scorecard. We have very many things to be proud of at the parks department. We've accomplished a great deal. I'm going to highlight a few. We just received 10 NACO awards. We also were just recently re-accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies. We were chosen as one of 10 agencies to participate in the latest set of standards. And what that does is it shows that we're able to contribute to the advancement in our profession. We're very proud we were asked to do that. Zoo Miami was also successfully re-accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. And that shows that we are, once again, the gold standard for animal welfare, safety, and veterinary care. We also recently achieved an autism certification through the Certified Autism Center. And this credential ensures that our staff is properly trained to provide neurodivergent residents full accessibility to our programs and services. And from the efficiency perspective, again, just to name one, we have many. We recently implemented an AI-powered drowning prevention digital assistant. This connects people to the water safety resources that we have online. And by automating it, we've been able to save about $180,000 annually in staff time. So these accomplishments illustrate pro's continued commitment to lead in our field and also a commitment to serving our residents. Several of our challenges remain that require continued investment. Many of these we've talked about right here and also with each one of you. One of them is our aging infrastructure and, you know, continuing to invest in that as best as possible. Also, like many other departments that you've heard from, we continue to experience vacancies, retirements, and employees, lots of turnover. So us being able to fill those positions quickly is important so that we can continue providing excellent services to our residents. Extreme heat is a factor for us. We have our workforce working outdoors most all day, really. And so increasing the risk of occupational heat stress and it also, there's a lot of wear and tear on our equipment that's outside. So, and then also we are focusing on modernizing our public facing technology, which is the site where people go on to make the reservations. And also internally, we would really like to see an asset tracking system come to life for this department. One of the largest park systems in the United States, we don't have an asset tracking system. So that is something that I'm very much dedicated to. We need to see that happen. So addressing these key issues is essential to preserving our parks, supporting our employees, and ensuring that we can continue to deliver high quality services. In response to these key issues, we are addressing several initiatives that strengthen our operation and will position the department for success. So in addition to standardizing our stay and exit interviews, adding cooling stations and modernizing technology, as I just mentioned a moment ago, one of our big focuses is going to be on that asset tracking system. So rather than relying on reactive and emergency repairs, we want to be able to track it and stay on top of those things in advance in a preventative maintenance way. So as far as our future outlook, parks are, as we all know, essential to thriving communities. Over these next three to five years, we will be preparing for today's needs and anticipate future needs. So what our priority is, our priorities directly relate to the key issues that I just mentioned. Just a few other things. We're monitoring the property tax reform, like everyone is, because this could have a big impact on our funding. We are focusing on growing revenue through facility rentals, expanded partnerships and sponsorships, promoting revenue-generating amenities, and also working more closely with the Parks Foundation. So with these priorities in mind, this will help keep PROS sustainable and ready to meet our community's growing needs. With that, happy to take any questions. Is there anybody? Yep. Commissioner? Marlene? Thank you for the presentation. So during last year's budget, there were cuts, right, to the park systems. And then we've had conversations with you about District 2. My question pertains to security. What efforts are being made so that security will not be impacted by the budget cuts this year? We have no additional reductions in any of our security services, our park ranger services. So you will not see any difference from what you are seeing today. And I am happy to say that our parks are very safe and secure. And we have not had any issues since we made the adjustments last fiscal year. Okay. Any more questions? Yes, Commissioner. Thank you. So I have Article 7 questions. I know that one of the things that's going to come before us is potentially putting a question on the ballot for Article 7. I just feel like we need some clarity on it because, you know, every time we talk about something, it's like, yes, you can, no, you can't, yes, you can, no, you can't. So it gets very confusing. So, for example, the advertising issue that was discussed yesterday, I think, at Policy Council, I'm not necessarily against advertising in parks. But as a former school board member, I will tell you that we get a lot of complaints about the ads that the school district puts all around the parameter of their schools. Like, if I had a nickel for every time somebody in my area complained about that. But at the same time, in the underline, we approved Ike signs. And those Ike signs have wayfinding and they have digital ads and they're inside the premise. So I think that when we talk about these things, there's some better modalities than others because there's some advertising that can provide wayfinding and information about what's happening at the park. And it's not just like a billboard or a banner or something. But obviously, that also takes connectivity, you know, and a series of other things. And the same with sponsorships. A few meetings ago, we were talking about Wi-Fi at parks. And I said, well, could we do sponsorship? And there was some back and forth. I know that you and I talked afterwards and the attorney said that, yes, we could do it, I think was the final thing, right? So somebody could, like, sponsor the Wi-Fi at that park is what I think we landed on. So is there some way, you know, to Commissioner Bastien's point, as we navigate forward and try to find revenue for parks, having some examples of we could do this, you know, but we can't do that. So that, as a board, instead of doing this, like, park by park, we can come up with some, you know, overarching things where we ask the administration, go figure out if you can do this in these locations and come back to us, right? Because, as we've discussed with parking, there are some of us that carry a bigger burden because we have bigger, you know, county assets. And I don't have a problem, you know, doing some of this in those bigger parks. And then maybe we can curate, you know, this is what we're doing for parks of this size and this is what we're doing for parks of that size. Maybe that's a way to figure it out. I just feel like we're not giving you enough tools to solve these problems. And we really haven't this, you know, we haven't had conversations about the budget in any real sense up to this point, which is why I always think that these conversations should happen two or three months before so we can start kind of figuring out what are the tools that you need in order to get it done. But are there any tools that you need from us or that we can port from other things that would be helpful to you? Well, I would agree with you. I would very much welcome a guideline, right, at this point, because what I've learned with Article 7 and most things parks is the answer is it depends, right? It's all in the details. And so I think now that we've gotten the interpretation from the attorney's office that we are able to do the naming rights, the sponsorships, the donation type of promotional things in the parks. That's new. That's a new interpretation for us, right? And we really haven't even gotten that off the ground yet. We've started working with OMB to try to figure out, and I think we've talked about this, right, what are the value of these things and should we put them out in an RFP to get those conversations started? The advertising piece of it now is another, you know, it opens it up even more. So I have also said that myself, that now that we know that advertising, if it does get on the ballot and if it does pass, then we're going to need to have some guidelines associated with that. I mean, I will work with the attorney's office to do that, to work on something. But just to give you an idea, we had libraries on here a few minutes ago, and one of the things that we do through the Friends of the Libraries, because I'm doing a new library in Key Biscayne, is we're selling bricks. So we're selling bricks, right? You know, we're doing that in Key Biscayne. We're selling bricks. So can we sell bricks at a park, you know? And can that go to either the Parks Foundation to do some of this programming, or can that go to the department? You know, is that something that we can do? Like, I don't know the answer to that. I watch other departments do these things, and I'm like, well, if we have a walkway, can I put people's names on those bricks, right? And could they pay to be part of this park, right? We did it for the Arts Center, right? The Arts Center has, like, an entire wall with people that donated. I know that at libraries, it took a little bit of time, but we figured out that we could do, like, a sponsorship, right, for libraries. So is there a way for us to land on something as we go into this budget so that we can start filling some of these holes and give you some ramp-up time? I guess that's to the attorneys. I guess that's to the attorneys. And I just want to say, there is a program, a bench program, I believe, that you can buy benches in the parks, and it has the plaque of the person. And they have some other programs, but it would be great to see what that looks like. Yes, to the attorneys. If the specific question is, would that be allowable currently, yes, that would be allowable currently, generally. There have been sponsorships of facilities at parks already and have been for years. There have been also at the zoo, for instance, sponsorship of different exhibits at the zoo. So those providing sort of sponsorship opportunities are available. Right. So could we come up with some, like, list? Can we come up with a list of saying, like, hey, like, for example, now we know we can do bricks. So we know we can do Wi-Fi. We know we can do bricks. We know we have benches. Benches. I mean, we don't want to brick over grassy areas. No, no, but I'm saying you're already. But I know what you mean. I know what you mean. Right. If we're already doing, like, a paved area, right? Like, could we do this? And could the department do it, or do they have to do it through the Parks Foundation, like the libraries? Those are kind of the questions, right? Where would that go? Because I can tell you, in my district, there are people who would invest in their neighborhood park. They may not want necessarily to invest in Miami-Dade County, but they would want to invest in their neighborhood park. So I think that there's an opportunity there. And we should just, you know, could we come up with, like, a comprehensive list of this is what we could do. And then maybe, as commissioners, we could help you, you know, because we know our constituents. You know, maybe we can help and say, okay, look, you know, we want to do such and such thing. There's this maintenance that needs to be done in this park. Here's an option. We can work on that. Mm-hmm. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. Any other questions before we conclude? Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Really quickly, are there going to be any common recreational and or facility cost increases? The only proposed increase is to the Zoo Miami ticket price of $2. To put a caveat on that, last year we did raise the fees for shelters, athletic fields, our marina fees. The Zoo did not receive an increase, actually, in several years. And it still keeps it very competitive, even below the nationwide averages for entry tickets. But remember, this is just proposed right now. And do you, just to that, do you always have a resident rate, Miami-Dade County resident rate and a visitor rate? Sometimes when we travel, we see some of these institutions have a resident rate of that particular community. And then visitors pay a secondary, a different rate. Something to explore. No, but that is something we can explore. You know, that way, if you have to do an increase, and it is a modest increase, and we understand, you could also make, you know, some sort of arrangement for, you know, visitors and have a price. Just something to explore. All right. So, with that, I didn't want to go down the revenue-making rabbit hole. I'll save that for another meeting. Commissioner Bastien? Yeah, so you just brought something that I was going to ask. Since I was going to leave it for an individual meeting with you, but since you raised it. In terms of the residence rates, how is it determined? Because there have been a lot of complaints in my district that, you know, elderlies are being overcharged for using their facilities. We don't have different rates, right? No. Yeah, we don't have different rates. If you want to rent a shelter in a community park, that's less than renting one in a regional park, right? It's because we are, you know, it's for the community that typically is going to be taking advantage of that for a birthday party or celebration. But there's standard across the county based upon the type of park or what amenity it is that we are offering, and there's not resident versus visitor rates. So I hope that you'll be, we can sit down. But we're not changing those. We did that last year, so we're not proposing any sort of increase to that at all this year. I've called that out because Zoo Miami hasn't had an increase in several years. And when the zoo did the analysis of what were, what our ticket prices are versus other large zoos in the country, we were low. And so that was one of our recommendations. And I also want, Commissioner McGee, I want to point out that it's within our current fee structure right now. There's a range in our structure. And so this proposed increase is within that range. Just wanted to point that out. You will be looking at that moving forward. Yes. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. Just really quick on that. How would we know, like, that they're a visitor? They show ID? Yeah, we don't have, it's, we don't have the resident versus visitor. No, no. But if we were, like, let's say we were to do that. I guess your ID? Yeah, just their ID. That's what happens. When you go, when you travel and you go to a museum or to the zoo or to an aquarium or whatever you're going to, sometimes some of these cities or states will have, if you have your ID, you get the resident rate discount. And if you are a visitor? The city of Miami does that at the Children's Museum. My only concern is, like, when you rent a shelter, like, you could just rent it in the name of your, like, Miami-Dade friend. Like, how would we police that? Like, do we know, like, do we know how many visitors? Like, do, like, right now, if we were saying, okay, you know, moving forward, we think that there's an opportunity here. Do we have data on visitors? Like, I guess we take their information. I don't know how many people are coming out of town to, like, rent a shelter. I don't think it's, we don't have that data. My guess is primarily residents. Yeah. I think the zoo's different. Exactly. The zoo's different. I think the zoo's different. Yeah. But I think the general parks. I was talking about the zoo, about our regional institutions. Right. About things of that nature. Right. Agree. Agree. All right. Thank you. So, with that, I want to remind everybody also that they can adopt a tree coming up, right, at two locations, at South Dade and in Northeast Dade. Is it this weekend? That's a dorm event. Okay. All right. It's at our parks, Adopt a Tree. It's a wonderful event. It helps. Okay. And so, with that, I appreciate everybody. Hopefully, we'll get some actual numbers to the budget line items soon. And with that, motion to adjourn. Thank you. Thank you.