Colleagues, thank you. Let's start with an invocation. Folks, I think everybody is probably aware by now. We have two devastating fires that are occurring right now, one up north in the Broward area, one is down in the southern area. If we can just take a quick moment of silence and prayer for the brave men and women that are out there not only fighting this fire but making sure that we're all safe and for any individual that may be in harm's way to make sure that everybody is safe. Dear Lord, thank you for this wonderful day. Thank you for allowing us to be here. Thank you for our brave men and women who put their lives on the line to make sure that we are all safe. Please protect our county and our state in the Everglades as we are dealing with these devastating fires. Lord, please give our brave men and women in uniform the knowledge that they need, the bravery that they need, and the sanctification from you and your protection. In your holy name we pray. Amen. And if we can have Senator Garcia lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you, Senator. Folks, we do have a presentation today. But before we start, to the county attorney's office, I would like to get Chief Adala to come up and just give us an update as to what's going on with the current situation with MDFR, the fires that are happening up north. I know that they are in the Broward line, but I believe you folks have been helping for a while. And what's happening down south, if you could just give us a brief overview of where we're at, let us know what's going on and what folks at home can expect. Understood. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission. Ray Jadala, Fire Chief for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. So it's been a very busy weekend for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue this weekend, coupled with the boat explosion on Saturday with the mass casualty, the number of individuals that were injured. Coupled with the numerous structure fires that we also had to respond to that are typical 911 calls. On Sunday, we were met with two large grass fires. The first one I'm going to talk about is the one that was located, what is called the Max Road Fire, which is located off of Chrome in Okeechobee, a couple of miles west of Chrome. That one started burning, and it started threatening quite a few trailer parks. We dispatched our resources, along with Florida Forest Service, to render assistance. The Briar County Sheriff's Office Fire Rescue also responded. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, along with Briar Sheriff's Office, started doing airdrops to begin to protect the structures. All in all, we had close to 15 fire trucks on that fire, along with Florida Forest Service. Now, that fire, around 5 p.m., Miami-Dade Fire Rescue did clear once the fire passed the trailer parks. This morning, at approximately 10 a.m., we went out to Max Fish Camp Trailer Park. Just to ensure that there is nothing going on, we conducted a sweep. The fire is well past the Max Camp Trailer Park and leading into the Everglades and to Briar County. So, as of right now, that fire is being handled by Florida Forest, with no additional assistance that's required right now by Miami-Dade Fire. The one that's currently going on is a different circumstance. This one is called the 172nd Avenue Fire. This one's located down at Florida City. It also started at the same time as the Max Road Fire, located out west. Now, that fire, the one that's down south in Florida City, as of 8 a.m., it was 300 acres that were burning. However, knowing the circumstances with Florida City, with that area, the brush sits upwards of 30, 35 feet high. And, you know, using the history of last year, we requested additional resources early from the Florida Forest Service. This also included additional helicopters for airdrops, additional bombardiers to cut past bombardiers. What they do is they flatten down the sawgrass and, as such, to basically create the breaks for the fire from spreading. As of right now, I actually returned from Florida City to give the briefing, only to go back. The current fire right now is threatening quite a few structures as the fire continues to burn. Florida Forest did send additional resources. We have well over a dozen resources from Florida Forest. We have well over a dozen fire trucks on scene fighting this fire, protecting the structures. All in all, between the two fires, we have had no injuries, thank God. No one has been displaced from their home. We did have a partial evacuation for the one for Max Fish Camp. However, everyone has returned a few hours later. As of right now, we have no one that's currently displaced, and we continue to fight the fire, along with our partners, with also emergency management, Florida Department of Emergency Management. You know, we've also had phone calls from our local, state, and federal authorities offering assistance. But between all the agencies, we continue to work in a positive pathway. Thank you so much, Chief, and, you know, I want to personally thank you for not only for your swift response, but for your leadership on this. I know that you guys have been on this immediately, and I think because of you and because of all the brave men and women in our fire department, this is being contained. Is there anything that you would be able to say to the folks that are watching this at home? I know that in the morning, this morning, there was a lot of folks that were stopping on the road and causing some traffic. Is there any advice that you can give anybody on their way home if they do see the fire, or any advice that we can give folks at home as far as fire safety is concerned? Yes. So the two safety factors I'd like to give is, one, for the drivers. I know that everyone wants to get footage and put it on their social media feed to get the likes. However, I need to emphasize safety. When you're driving, I need you to keep your eyes on the road. Last year, we did sustain a serious, serious injury that altered a couple of people's lives as a result of what we call rubbernecking. Continue to keep your head forward, look at the roadways, and obviously continue in the pathway away from the fire. In regards to our residents, our business owners that may have the smoke in their pathway, if possible, maintain your air condition on a recirculation so the smoke doesn't get into your building or into your house. Those who have pets, those who have allergies or asthma, stay away from the smoke, stay inside. If necessary, if you need to exit, do so rapidly and get to an area where you're not into the smoke. Those are typically what we provide in regards to all of our occupants, residents, and our visitors for Miami-Dade County. And if they continue to follow those directions, everyone will maintain a safe and healthy moving forward. Thank you, Chief. And once again, I want to thank you for your leadership. And God bless you. God bless all our firefighters and our first responders. Colleagues, I'll open it up if anybody wants to make any comment. If not, absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was unaware that the fires were actually taking place now. And I want to thank, obviously, our firefighters for their good work. I just would ask that we be kept abreast. I mean, I know it isn't impacting my particular district, but it's impacting many of our residents in Miami-Dade County who could be on the line of being unsafe. And so, again, thank you for your hard work. And my thoughts and prayers are with not only those that might be impacted, but with our firefighters and first responders. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Senator? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do want to echo your comments very adequately stated. We do have the finest fire department in the nation. I do believe that. And I want to thank you for the work that you're doing and all your men and women. I appreciate that. I think we all owe you a debt of gratitude. As it relates to the fires out west, I think, what started them? Is it the dryness of it? Is it the drought that we're in? What is the cause? Do we know the cause of it? So the grass fires are very difficult to really pinpoint as to what causes it. So coupled with the fact that we are right now in the drought season, typically at this period of time, we begin to receive some type of rain. We have not seen that. And it's not just a drizzle or just a rainstorm that comes through. It has to be continuous before we start seeing a shift in the way that the grass fires burn or actually start. Typically, it's for various reasons. Discarded cigarettes, the four-wheelers driving on the dried grass in the Everglades area, those ATVs and four-wheelers. And sometimes cars that are parked on the side of the road near the sawgrass that's dry, the hot engine will begin causing the sawgrass to catch fire and eventually it starts to spread. Now, the one with Max Fishkamp and the one that's in Florida City, we did have our investigators come out. It is extremely, extremely difficult unless there's video camera or someone that points to a specific individual. It's very difficult to really pinpoint the cause and origin of grass fires. Mr. Chairman, I think it's safe to say it's very dry. It definitely is. And as you can see, even though with the overcast, it has not helped us. Is there any protocols, Mr. Chairman, that we are implementing in place for this dryness, for this, are we educating? The reason I'm asking you through the committee and through you, Mr. Fire Chief, is there anything that we can be doing as a commission to help ease the issue that we have with the consumption of water and so forth and try to educate the public about what we should be doing in reference to this drought that we're in? So, especially with the areas out west. Chief, if I may, and Senator, yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, last year, the chief was kind enough to send over a lieutenant to my office and we did a brief video talking about just this, talking about not only the cigarette buds, but a lot of folks are traveling down the road. They throw their cigarette buds out and something like that can cause it. Also, folks that park on the side of the road, we did an entire video on it, but I think the senator's onto something. I think these are things that we should probably be proactive about and we should probably have some sort of marketing material and informative material to folks leading to the drought. But I'll let you take over, Chief. Is there any initiatives that we're pushing forward? So, yes, Mr. Chairman, and through the chair, Mr. Senator, because we're well aware of when the drought season begins for us, we start pushing out the messaging and what we've been asking is if possible that the various commissioners, elected leaders can maybe use some of that messaging that we've been pushing out only to push it out themselves. Especially out in the west end areas of Miami-Dade County where we continue to see the large grass fires that we've been experiencing. So this is, I want to say, the 12th grass fire. And when I say 12th, we do get the occasional grass fire that only one fire truck is required to go out there to help out Florida forestry, or it's just something that needs to be put out. But for us, any time three suppressions or more go out to a grass fire, we clock that as a mechanism for a large scale event. And from this current calendar year, we're up to 12 grass fires. And take a look, some of these will go on for multiple days, so it's still chalked up as one grass fire. So, for instance, Max Fish Camp and the 172nd Avenue fire, it's chalked up as two grass fires, even though there are multiple days that they continue to burn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Colleagues, anybody else? Commissioner Bastian. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for bringing forth this issue. I wasn't aware of the fire, so I'd like to thank you for bringing up this issue. We live so many busy lives, and we don't take time sometimes to reflect on the work that you do and the danger that is involved. And when you met with me in my office a couple of years ago, I expressed the fact that I think it's important from time to time, just like the Senator indicated, for the public to be aware of what's going on and how they can partake in keeping our community safe, because they also have a part to play. So I wish to echo my colleagues' thoughts about this work that you do and to keep us safe and to thank you for all your hard work. Thank you, Commissioner. And through the Chair, I know that I've had numerous conversations with various commissioners, and Miami-Dade County is a very big county. And believe it or not, even though something may not necessarily make it on news, there is a lot of things that do tend to happen. And we try our best to actually make notifications to the impacting commissioner if it's something significant, coupled with the Chairman for Miami-Dade BCC and, of course, the Mayor's Office. If there's something that we need to, you know, definitely look into come tomorrow morning and making sure that anything that may necessarily be newsworthy for all commissioners, we'll try to figure out a mechanism. Either we go through your Chief of Staffs or, you know, through you specifically. The last thing I want to do is bombard you with a bunch of stuff that tends to happen in Miami-Dade. And trust me, a lot does happen in Miami-Dade. I just, you know, everyone has busy lives. And the last thing I want to do is start bombarding you with things that are, you know, not necessarily in the district. But I do agree that if it is something that's newsworthy that may impact long-term, we'll do a better job in regards to communicating with either the Chief of Staffs or with the commissioners themselves. Thank you. And thank you, Chief. I want to thank you for, again, for your leadership, for your swift response. I want to thank you for calling me yesterday. I want to thank you for calling me this morning. I want to thank you for keeping us up to date with what's going on. And as Senator Garcia pointed out earlier, we have the greatest fire team in the entire country. And we have an amazing director, an amazing chief at the helm of it. Thank you so much. And God bless you guys. Thank you, sir. And thank you for the support. And to the county attorney's office at this time, I'd like to move forward with our presentation from our amazing, from our amazing women's, is it women's and family now? Or is it women's commission for women's commission for women and families? Is that like against the law now? Can we do that? I think by adding the families, now it's commission for women and families. What if you don't have a family? Everybody has a family, sir. No, not everybody has a family. Even, I mean, everybody has a family. You haven't seen enough Disney movies. Everybody doesn't have a family. Well, not everybody has the privilege of having their parents live for the entirety of their lives. But everybody has a family. And everybody has a heritage. Everybody doesn't have a parent. Not everybody has a parent. But even those, like for example, we had an event in my district for Mother's Day. And I was able to speak to this young great-grandmother, almost getting to 100. And, you know, she was never able to, well, she was not able to see her daughter continue to live after her granddaughter was born. And so she took on that role. And, you know, she got a little, she got a little bit emotional because she took the role of mom for her granddaughter. And now, although her granddaughter is alive and well, she's also taking the role of grandmother and second mother. So I understand where you're coming from. But, man, even folks that have difficult lives, this is why mentorship is so, so important. And this is why trying to be there for as many, as many young people as possible is important. You know, family's not defined by blood. Family's defined by love, you know? Please. Good afternoon, Chairman Gonzalez, Vice Chair Garcia, and Commissioners. My name is Josephine Novo, and I am proud to serve as the Legislative Chair and District 13 appointee to the Commission for Women. The CEDAW report stands for the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. In September of 2015, the board enacted an ordinance adopting the convention and its principles, first adopted by the United Nations in 1979, and now by 189 of the 194 member nations. The passage of this ordinance signified Miami-Dade County's strong commitment to women and girls in our communities. Part of this commitment is our ongoing partnership with the commission auditors office and FIU in the creation of the annual status of women report, which collects data in four areas. Safety, health, education, and economics. Based on this data, as well as input from key community stakeholders, we developed the CEDAW report, which highlights three key policy areas with recommendations for all of you. Which brings us to our first area this year, maternal mortality and chronic illness. In 2023, there were 765 severe maternal morbidity cases per 1,000 hospitalizations. This is a 7.7% increase from 2022. Additionally, the United States continues to have some of the highest maternal mortality rates of any developed nation, with Miami-Dade County not being an exception as maternal mortality rates stayed the same from one year to the next. Additionally, women and men suffer from categorically different illnesses. Women suffer, for instance, from higher rates of Alzheimer's with 717 women as opposed to 286 men dying from the disease. Women are also more likely to suffer from osteoporosis, depression, and have even different leading causes of death. And so, following this, our recommendation is that the BCC work with a consortium for a healthier Miami date in the creation of a women's health subcommittee. Focused on maternal mortality, chronic illness, and strategic outreach. We also continue to push for the Public Health Trust to develop a five-year action plan, looking at the underlying causes of these maternal mortality rates and providing actionable next steps. Moving into our second area, violence against women, another area where Miami-Dade County continues to need improvement. Miami-Dade County has the second highest rate of human trafficking cases in the entire state of Florida. We have 2,137 reported instances of human trafficking, with many more going under-reported. Additionally, of sexual violence victims, women represent 89.6% of all of these victims. And so, for these reasons, we recommend three essential ideas. The first being that we follow up on legislation that the BCC passed to identify human trafficking hotspots in our county and allocate funds accordingly. At this point in time, the report is currently in draft form as MDPD has transitioned into the sheriff's office and they are awaiting direction to submit it through the legislative process. However, till the report is submitted, the resources cannot be allocated and the legislation was passed two years ago. We then recommend that there be a forum or a special meeting hosted to discuss the results of the report and join with other community groups like the SAO, MDSO, HSI, and any other groups that the commission might deem necessary to attend in order to develop communal action plans across departments and safety nets. And identify potential law enforcement initiatives such as greater enforcement of stay away orders for domestic violence victims, human trafficking victims, and rape victims. Lastly, we recommend that the BCC allocate funds to implement signage in women's restrooms with updated numbers and contact info for hotlines for domestic violence, human trafficking, and rape. Women's restrooms are where victims are separated from their aggressors and might be able to seek help. They see the number on the board and are able to maybe remember it or borrow somebody's phone in that moment and ask for assistance. And so funding for the updated signage with the new information is absolutely crucial. And so following this, our final area, economic opportunity, takes a look at the fact that women's labor force participation lags behind that of men. Additionally, 44% of women make up full-time workers. They have a 12% pay disparity with an average earnings difference of $6,580 less per year. For these reasons, we recommend that the board explore legally permissible strategies within the county's procurement framework to incentivize vendors to support maternal health, community well-being, and economic participation through the use of, for example, things like RFP points for those who incorporate support services for maternal health, safety, and other practices. So as I conclude this report, I'd like to thank briefly our legislative committee, who was wonderful this year in the formation of these results. And as our entire board, our director, Rose Martin, who has always been wonderful in facilitating our goals. And of course, all of you members of the Safety and Health Committee for your time and consideration. Thank you. Thank you so much for that presentation. I'll open up to my colleagues, Commissioner Lopez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much for the presentation. I had a couple questions. First, on the women's health, maternal mortality, and chronic illnesses. Do we have data by race and ethnicity? So last year's report was disaggregated by race, Commissioner. This year's report that we were provided, unfortunately, did not have that data. And so we had to work with the numbers that we were provided with, which were general. My understanding is that the following report, which has come out recently and will base our next recommendations on, is disaggregated by data as well. May I, Mr. Chairman? Thank you. So I saw that because I recognized you had a baseline. And in order for me to know whether these mortality incidences were increasing or decreasing by race or ethnicity, it's always important because that's where you know where you might need to provide more services. So I'm grateful that you're going to try to disaggregate the data because I think it's important that we do so. And my other question, if I may, Mr. Chairman. So I have been working with human trafficking for the last 15 years. And as a state legislator, I passed actual human trafficking legislation. It was, my bill was sort of focused on the massage parlor or massage industry, right, where we were seeing an uptick on human trafficking cases. Do we have the data in Miami-Dade County by industry, where we're seeing human trafficking either increase dramatically, or do we have any information? Because that has also been helpful in terms of couching legislation that the state can pass that helps to also curb the incidences of human trafficking. So it makes sense to me that we would know so we could inform the legislature on continuing to pass legislation that regulates and really punishes human traffickers in certain industries. So that's my question, if we have it by industry. Yeah, Commissioner, first of all, I completely agree with you. Unfortunately, we do not have it by industry in the report. The creation of the report that the Commission Auditor's Office put together in regards to the actual data collection, I believe is funded through the BCC, and they collect data according to what's within their funding parameters. And so at this moment, I don't have the data within this report. We operate within the four corners of the data we're provided, correct? However, I do know that other organizations that we speak to have mentioned things like this to us in regards to human trafficking. However, as it stands, when I come up here and I present this, as I mentioned, I'm within the four corners of the report. So I only bring in the data that were provided through the auditor's office. And maybe what we can do is try to coordinate our efforts with law enforcement who do know where they're making arrests and what industries they are. Because funny that we didn't realize there was a loophole in the state statutes related to the operation and regulation of massage parlors and massage centers. So I think it's important because, you know, we were able to make such a dent in human trafficking in that particular industry. But my other colleagues in the house said, well, there's nail salons. There's a lot of places where we're seeing them. And I think it might be important for us in our next in the next, you know, effort to work with law enforcement to find out where those industries are and then see who's helping, you know, to. There's also human trafficking community based organizations that obviously take in human trafficking victims. And I think it's important that we we also work with them because they obviously know where some of these men, women and children are coming from that are being trafficked. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much, Commissioner Lopez. And Senator Garcia, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Josie, congratulations. Great report and great presentation. I just hope you stay in law school a little longer so you don't run against me. So but a great job there. Thank you. What district? What commission district? I think the fabulous senator from District 13. I just want to make sure. Okay. I just want to make sure. Josie, quick question on the communicable diseases. Miami-Dade County still continues to lead the nation in new HIV cases. Yes. And unfortunately, Hispanic and African-American women lead the new HIV cases in Miami-Dade County. Has the commission, I think I know the answer, but can you please have the commission start looking at these numbers, see what plans, what they have. And then come up with a plan to present to us to make sure that we start having these conversations with women where we can have them so they can make sure they can get tested. Unfortunately, these numbers have not been able to go down. We've been doing a lot of work with the Department of Health, but I think this is an all hands on deck situation. And maybe this is a charge of the commission. I absolutely agree, Senator. In fact, we actually do have rates on communicable diseases within the report. I believe our director has distributed the booklets to all of you, but actually right here you'll see the numbers. And I think that it's actually a wonderful initiative and something that we can look into further and develop work on. So absolutely. And I appreciate that, Mr. Chairman, because we cannot continue to ignore the fact that women in our community are still having these, they're the highest proponent of new HIV cases. They're really an outlier and we can do a much better job. So maybe the commission, because I see we have overall STDs and we have different communicable diseases, but maybe we can start having this conversation at the commission and come up with a game plan. Absolutely. Thank you, colleagues. Anybody else want to be recognized? If not, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. And that was a brilliant, brilliant presentation. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. And to the county attorney's office, I think now would be a good time to open a reasonable opportunity to be heard. Yes, sir. I do not have any cards. If there's anybody that wants to be heard, this is your moment. Going once, going twice. Seeing none, a reasonable opportunity to be heard is now closed. And with that, can I get a motion to set the agenda? Mr. Chair? Moved. I'm so sorry to interrupt. There is a scrivener's error. Would it be okay if I read that for the record? Go ahead. So on item 3B, there's a scrivener's error on page MDC001. It should read pre-qualification pool number RTQ01468 instead of pre-qualification pool number EVN0043091. On page MDC005, it should read pre-qualification pool number RTQ01468 instead of pre-qualification pool number EVN0043091 in the title and section 1 of the resolution. Thank you, sir. And with that clarification of the scrivener's error, I have a motion to set the agenda by Commissioner Lopez. I have a second by Commissioner Bastian. All in favor, signify by saying aye. And colleagues, are there any items anybody wishes to pull or any sponsorship requests? I would like to request sponsorship for item 3D. Commissioner Bastian? Commissioner Bastian? Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to bifurcate 3D for a motion. So if you can show 3D bifurcated? Yes, sir. Any other items? Colleagues? Mr. Chairman, just co-sponsor, if I may. Yes. Co-sponsor item 2A and also ask if when these get coordinated, if they can give us the information as to when the actual equipment's going to be out there. We did something for Panama as well. Yes. We're doing something here as well. It would be great for us to be kept in the loop. Thank you, Senator. So if we can show the Senator's co-sponsorship of 2A and if the Administration can note the Senator's request to please keep us informed. And by us, I mean the entire Commission body as to when these equipment is delivered. Would you like to be recognized? Okay. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to bifurcate 3A, please. Please show 3A bifurcated. Anybody else? So to the County Attorney's Office, I believe we have 2A, 3A, and 3D. I only have 3A and 3D, Mr. Chair. Do you have, or yeah, 2A we have as a co-sponsorship. Yes, sir. For the bifurcation, I have 3A and 3D. Awesome. Okay. So can I get a motion to move the rest of the agenda? Moved, seconded by Commissioner Bastian. All in favor signify by saying aye. Show that passed. And let's take up 3A, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I pulled the item just so that I could get some clarification. So I noted that there were 5 vendors that will be providing elderly meal services. District 5 has one of the densest concentrations of low-income Spanish-speaking seniors in the county. And I was just curious if I could get a list of those that will be, the vendors, who they are serving, which seniors they're serving in District 5. If we can get somebody from the administration to come up. And Chief Burgos, you are recognized for an ongoing conversation with Commissioner Lopez. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Through the Chair. Commissioner, absolutely, we can provide the list of all nine vendors. I didn't want the vendors as much as I wanted to know where are the meals going. So like, for instance, I have senior buildings. And in some cases, they have had their senior meals cut. So I'm actually taking meals as often as I can to them because there's real food insecurity in our elderly population. And so I'm trying to figure out where these vendors will be serving my seniors in District 5. Understood. And thank you for that, Commissioner. And to clarify it, these meals are being delivered to our congregate meal sites as well as our adult care centers. And we also have meals on wheels for the homebound population. But we can definitely provide that information. We keep it. And with that, I would move the item, Mr. Chairman. It's been moved by Commissioner Lopez. Second. Can I get a second? Second by Commissioner Bastian. And just quick uneasiness, do you folks happen to have that list now? Yes, Commissioner. We do have that list now and we can provide it. Okay. So Commissioner Lopez, it's up to you as to whether you want to do this after or you want them to explain the list now? Is the list lengthy? It's a bit lengthy. Okay. Then we can wait till afterwards. If they can just provide me a list, that will be helpful because then I can go into the community and let them know that meals are being provided by this particular item. So thank you so much. That's good, Director. Absolutely. So with that, it's been first. It's been seconded. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Awesome. And so now if we can go to 3D. Commissioner Bastian, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like Mr. Attorney to please read the amendment. Mr. Bastian moves to amend section 3 of item number 3D on page MDC 145 and 146 to authorize the county mayor or mayor's designate to negotiate a lease agreement for certain modular units purchased with federal funds with the school board of Miami-Dade County for the provision of Head Start services and to include the negotiated lease agreement as Appendix C to attachment 4 of the county mayor's memo in the item, the interlocal agreement. The proposed amendment to section 3 adds the following language to subsection 2 to read as follows. Execute contract number D10669Q with the school board of Miami-Dade County in substantially similar form as attachment 4 of the accompanying county mayor's memo and to negotiate and include as Appendix C to the interlocal grant agreement attachment 4. A lease agreement for certain modular units purchased with federal funds with the school board of Miami-Dade County for nominal amount for the provision of Head Start services, the term of which will run concurrent with the term of the interlocal grant agreement. Okay, so we'll go ahead and we'll accept that amendment. Does anybody else want to be recognized on this? Would you like to be recognized again, Commissioner? No, sir. I'd like to move the item. Commissioner Hardiman, you're recognized. Can you make that point for me? This is for portables, like trailers. It's not for county real property. The Head Start purchased these portable trailers and they lease it to the school board at the school board's real property sites for the provision of Head Start services. And it wasn't included in the interlocal grant agreement attachment 4, so it needs to be added as an attachment. So how long ago were they previously purchased? As part of the prior grant cycle, I'd have to rely on the administration. Do we know that? Do we know when these portables? Because most of these schools are under enrolled, so I'm just trying to understand why they even have these. Well, you have Head Start programs at school board sites, not necessarily schools. Is that what you're saying to me? Like, help me understand what this is. Good afternoon, commissioners, through the chair. You are recognized? These portables were purchased around 2013 for the provision of Head Start services at certain locations in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. So some of the provision of Head Start services are done inside classrooms, inside their buildings, and some in the portables. So these were previously purchased portables that we're asking for the federal government to reimburse costs for their purchase? They were already purchased with federal funds. Okay. So we're just ratifying the prior purchase? Yes. Who owns them? No. What we're doing is really doing a lease agreement for the portables with the school system. So they're going to lease it to us? No. We lease them to them. So we own them? We own them. On their sites? Yes. And we lease it to them? So the lease agreement, so they're giving us a lease? Who's the leaseor? They're giving us a lease. They're the leaseor. We are leasing the portable units to the school district for use on their real property. Got it. Okay. So we're the leaseor, giving them a lease to these units, and they've already been placed at their site. Is that correct? That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Senator Hardiman. So we have a, it's been moved as amended. It's been seconded. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. And with that, Senator Garcia, you are recognized. I'm going to vote for this, but let's say something that may not be too popular. Why are we in the business of the Head Start program, and why are we not, why isn't this at the school system? I mean, and I think I know the question is either the county or the school system can run these Head Start programs. I think that's what the state or the federal law requires. But again, I just don't understand why we don't pass this on to the school district and get out of the business of doing these Head Start programs. But that's just, I'm just throwing that out there. It's not really popular, I guess, but something that we should consider moving forward. That's a good point, Senator, especially after Commissioner Hardiman just pointed out that, you know, we're going to be leasing these portables. Can we get somebody from the administration to comment? We don't have anybody from the school board here, correct? Correct. Our apologies. Senator Garcia, can you repeat the question? Well, let me ask you this. The question will be, what benefit is there for Miami-Dade County to be running a Head Start program as opposed to Miami-Dade County Public School? Through the Chair, I can speak on- You recognize? Thank you. I can speak on the expertise that currently exists within the Community Services Department. And I think that a program that has been running, and not only running in a way that's serving the population, but doing it effectively for the last 60 years, I think that it gives children and families the consistency of services being provided to them. In addition to that, it also allows you, within the social services department, it allows you to have wraparound services for families. What I mean by that is this. Senator, you can have a family that's currently in Head Start, and then that same family has a child over at our juvenile assessment center. And you can jointly serve that family in a comprehensive way. So I see a lot of benefits when you have all county-ran social services under one roof. You have less duplication of services. I'll take that as an answer, but just because something has been working for 60 years, and we've been doing it a certain way for 60 years, doesn't imply that the school system might be able to do a better job at providing these Head Start services, especially when we talk about the educational service. And I compliment you, and I admire you for talking about the wraparound services that the department provides, but there's wraparound services that the school system also provides, and I'm sure you guys work well together. What I'm just trying to put out here is that I just find it odd that we are in the business of a Head Start program, and how much is that costing the county itself with employees and so forth when maybe it could be run out of the school system itself. Through the Chair, and again, I am going to completely rely on an expert, which is Dr. Riestra, in this space. But I can tell you this, Senator Garcia, the funding, they're coming from the feds. So the services are provided by federal funding. So when you think about county? Yeah, but regardless, I'll stop you there. Regardless, it's taxpayer money, however we look at it. Because I love every time we talk about grants, oh, it's just a grant. No, it's not a grant. It's still money. It's someone's money. It's not free money. It's never free money. So I could respect you defending the county's position, and it's okay. I am taking your position as valid, and I just wonder if maybe at the school system it'll be better service, but I'm okay with that, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator. Commissioner Hardiman, you're recognized? Just one last question, because you stated on the record that we've been doing this for 60 years. Are we currently, Miami D County, providing Head Start services, or is it privatized in some way? Because I feel like there was an issue back in 2011, 2012, where there was a privatization. A lot of people in Miami D County lost jobs, and services were sent to the private industry. Can you agree with that? Correct. You're recognized? Thank you, through the chair. So in 2012, the Head Start program was delegated, and so we have 17 different delegates that provide services. This grant is from the Office of Head Start, which is the Department of Health and Human Services. It does not come from the Department of Education, because the Head Start program looks at not only that educational piece, right? So there's several components that are wrapped around, as the director said, that have to do with mental health, health nutrition, social services to the parents, workforce development, parenting, and all of that is really under social services. And so that is why the county is best suited to provide and to oversee, and we also regain, so we oversee and regain the fiscal responsibility for this grant. We also, through this grant, we also provide a lot of choice. So we have the school system, we have other delegates that provide us, such as the United Way, the YWCA, Easter Seals. So parents can have choice within the Head Start program, and that is very important in this community. So yes, it is fully delegated, this particular grant. Anything further, Commissioner Hardiman? Commissioner Hardiman. And so with that, I would suggest that prior to this coming back to the BCC, I would suggest, he hasn't requested, and Commissioner Hardiman hasn't requested, but I would suggest that it might be a good idea to reach out to all of the commissioners and just give an overview of why the county should continue to administer this as opposed to the school board. I think it would be a good idea prior to it returning. Absolutely. And through you, through the Chair. You're recognized. Commissioner Gonzalez, I have a very active legislative team. And yes, as part of our briefings, we will include that question and the answer to that question. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Have a great day. And I think we're adjourned.