Council - Regular Meeting

call to order the workshop for this oh what is it October 22nd 2025 at the clerk call the role Mr. Mayor, since this is a workshop, we'll just note for the record that Vice Mayor Stevens is here, Councilwoman Wilson, Councilwoman Baskin is here, and Mayor Harris is here. Um, also note, Councilwoman Julian, Counciloman Le will not be here for this workshop. All right. What about Pal? Um, she should be here, but we can go without. Please stand for the invocation and pledge of allegiance.

Blessings. Pledge of Allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. All right. So, Mr. Stevens, you uh Vice Mayor, you were the one that called this workshop to order. So,

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I wanted uh we in in conversations um that we were having, my colleagues and I um we we had some concerns as it relates to the uh the power outages that happens throughout the city by way of our main corridors um and some of our neighborhoods that are uh that are experiencing uh the the the power outage. the lighting um and the neighborhood. So, we basically wanted an update on where we were with the lighting districts because a few years ago we took over the lighting districts, meaning the city and and had special lighting districts. Um, and what is ultimately the process for the uh lights when they're out uh and getting them back on uh along our main corridors and within our community. And that is just the beginning of my questions and concerns. I'm not sure what my other colleagues concerns are as well, but as it relates to me, my biggest concern is uh where we are with the improvement of our lighting districts. Is there something that we can do from the city standpoint to aid you all along the pro along the the the project? home and uh wanting to know what is the process as it relates to uh getting lights back on and the time frame and getting the right uh bulbs to make sure that our community is well lit um as it relates to the quality of life and enhancing the quality of life. So I guess that would be directed to FPL maybe.

I don't know Mr. manager who would from our perspective would that come from public works or Yeah, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilman, public works would be the point of contact for the city from the city's perspective in dealing with uh any of the any of these issues. Do we we have anybody here from public works today too? I think you probably want to hear from FPNL first and then we'll go from there.

Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor and Commission, Councilman, Councilwoman. My name is Chelsea Lion, external affairs manager for Florida Power and Light and your new area manager as of January of this year. So, I've had the pleasure of connecting with a few of you already this year and looking forward to continue building a strong partnership with you all between FPL and the city to support uh the residents of Miami Gardens. So, I'm here today to share some information with you all. The city manager let me know you all had some questions about how to report street light outages and potentially how to expand on the last project you all did uh with the F FPL street lights. So, I'm joined today here by my colleague Glattis Reyes, who you all might be familiar with. She led the last street light project, and she's our senior lighting specialist that can answer any technical questions you all may have. Today, I've left a packet for you all on your desk with three things. Uh, my information if you need to reach me about an FPL issue. Uh, a tutorial on how to report street lights that I'll walk you through now. and then a catalog of our LED lighting solutions should you decide to move forward with installing additional lighting. So to start, I'd like to walk you through the process on how to best report a street light issue. Uh you're more than welcome to reach out to me anytime, but the best way to report street light issues is through our online portal, uh which you'll see in that packet. Once you're in that portal, you can either report the street light by the poll number, the address, or you can set it to use your location to pinpoint the exact location of where you are, whether it's a constituent, commission staff, city staff, a commissioner. Uh once you fill out that street light reporting form, it'll ask you to put in some information about, you know, whether a truck can fit in the area, uh what kind of issue it is. Is the light on during the day, is it off at night, is it flick, is it blinking? And that'll allow our team to have some more information on the issue at hand. Once you submit that

street light portal ticket, you'll get a a ticket number. And with that ticket number, if you have an issue, typically it takes our team about 40 days to repair street lights. We have a number of requests all across the county about 40 40 days

up to 40 days. So now if there's an issue where you know there's a very high traffic area where you have a a serious safety concern if you all share that ticket number with me that's something I can help escalate that ticket. You know if if it's near a school, a hospital, an arena, things like that and you know either it's been over 40 days or it's an area where it's posing a significant safety threat, please let me know. You have my information. And if you can send me that ticket number, I'll make sure our team escalates that issue and we get it take care take taken care of quickly. But, you know, we get a number of requests. There's only so many we can do at one time and escalate and and we do our best to get to those quickly. But if there's an area of concern where you feel there's a significant safety risk in the city, let me know and and I can help address that for you. Uh, another thing I want to talk about for you all is the difference between FPL versus FDOT or county-owned lights. So, the easiest way to tell is if you look at those lights, if you see a silver metal pole, those are the county-owned or FDOT own lights, right? FPL poles are always going to be concrete wooden or that black fiberglass material. So, and if you're ever unsure, you can still report in our portal. our team will figure it out whose light it is or not and that'll be included in that update for that street light report. So the last thing I want to share with you all is in order to begin the process I know there was mention at one of the last meetings about the desire to install additional street lights. So to do that uh the city would need to conduct another phototric analysis showing where you want to install light poles and fixtures. I know uh the city manager's office is aware of that process from the last time and that and that's something we're here to support you on and walk you through. Um so those plans, it would specify the type of pole, the height, the type of fixture the city wants to put in and and the

location you're requesting. Um and yeah, so do any of you have any questions I can answer? Yes. Um, so, so I'm aware of, and thank you for the information, Chelsea, that you shared. I'm aware of the reporting and then our staff does, uh, what I believe a great job with getting the ticket requests in for outages throughout.

Um, I guess my biggest concern is the time frame that it's taking to repair. Um, and then the refreshing, excuse me, the refreshing uh of the memory as it relates to the difference between county foles and FPL polls. So, what I what I what I'm understanding is if it's a county or F dot poll and the lighting is out, you all don't take care of that.

That would be FDA and the county's responsibility. Now if the issue is a power supply issue of course we'll come out and assist them with that depending on the location but you know metal steel poles those are typically county f poles those are their responsibility to maintain right and now if the issue turns out to be there's no power supply typically we would know that because there would be you know maybe 20 lights out all on one street that's more than likely going to be an FPL issue where we need to have a crew come out and investigate and that's something we work closely with FDOT and the county on when they reach out to us. So, and if for some reason you all aren't able to get a hold of them, you can reach out to FPL as well. We'll create a ticket, have someone investigate it and let you know if it's a power supply issue or something else.

Okay. So, so I'll tell you what we're what I'm witnessing and what I'm experiencing. For an example, I can give you and I've reported it plenty of times. I can give you uh for an example along the 27th corridor between 191st and 199th all of the lights are off. Okay?

None are on. Uh so it may be an F do or county responsibility as it relates to I mean ownership of the pose but based off the description you just gave all of the lights are off and they're not working. And this has been far greater than 40 days. Hence on why I thought it was necessary to have this conversation to see how we can get a regular uh maintenance and route of making sure that the street lights are operating and that they're properly on um or properly being tended to is my biggest my biggest concern. So, right,

if you're able to share that location with me, I I can take a look at it and see if those RF dart lights or not. And if there's, you know, you're saying the whole street is out, then I can definitely have our team go and investigate the area, make sure it's not a power supply issue. But, um, and you know, again, FDOT and the county, they'll reach out to us directly as well if you report it with them. But, if if you can share that information with me, I'll follow up on that for you. Okay. Um, I will. Uh, okay. 27. Are you familiar? 191st and 22nd. Yeah.

Well, going north on both sides. Uh, a couple of questions for me. Um, you know, the primary problem I'm having in my area is that most of the lights are covered by trees. Okay. So, whose responsibility is it to cut the trees back so that the light is not blocked?

That would be either the property owner or the city. So, if it's city right of way, the city, if it's a private homeowner's right of way, it would be that private homeowner or property owner. Now, as far as vegetation trimming, if there's vegetation that's affecting our power lines, we'll come and trim that. But, Right. So probably have to talk to public go. And I guess the reason why I look stunned is because the trees were not planted by the residents. Okay. The trees were planted by the county in the in the in the uh in the swell. That's what I'm talking.

It was either or but it wasn't the resident. And so the question that I'm saying is are we providing the residents with any type of information that tells them that this shrubbery is to be maintained and by whom? And how do you report that? And and and and the reason why I'm saying it is we have an active pedestrian community here which they're walking and exercising all of the time. And my my concern is that every year about this time

um our police are at our community meetings reminding residents that the time is changing. We're moving into the holiday season and it's getting darker and so we have to button down. But there are no real measures taken to ensure that the lighting is appropriate on the streets. Mhm. You follow what I'm saying? And if there is something that they can do to get some action about the shrubbery and who's, you know, and not who's on first, what's on second and and all of those on third base. It would be important for some type of literature to go out to them, right?

So, I think that might be a better question for public works. It really would depend on who owns the piece of land that the the tree is on. I know you inherited a lot from the county uh when the city incorporated as well. So maybe it previously was planted by the county and is owned by the city, but I think that that might be a public works question. But as far as vegetation goes in general with FPL, if if there's vegetation that is causing outages or flickering or or touching power lines anywhere in the city, that's something residents or you all can report on our website or or you all can reach out directly to me as well and we can get that taken care of.

But for street lights, it would be, you know, dependent on the location, right? So, and and and the reason why I'm asking, right, when you guys can conduct a study, uh and you determine what type of lights have to be placed in a certain area and you see that the lights that you are installing are blocked or not strong enough because of the shrubbery, what type of decision making process takes place to ensure that the type of lighting is able to shine route um or is appropriate for the area that that is in.

I'm I'm gonna let our lighting expert take this one if you don't mind. Yeah. Good afternoon. That's a great question. So, uh Glattus Reyes FPL, I'm your LED lighting solutions representative.

That's a wonderful question. Thank you. I'm not a pro microphones. Um, each pole that is installed as well as street lights are usually or most of the poles and street lights that are installed in cities and municipalities are by the request of the city or the municipality. So in many instances um you know FPL does not require phototric analysis. It's something that is recommended if a city or a municipality is looking to install multiple lights to illuminate um you know se several streets. Um but in terms of where the poles are installed um it wouldn't be up to FPL to determine if the proper lumen output is is being blocked by the trees. Um so

so who is it up to? Up to the customer of record. So when Yeah. Go ahead. So we get to choose the light whether it works or not.

No, we we would install a pole and fixture. I believe depending on each city and municipality, there is clearance that is required from trees. I think it's about 5 to six feet. It just varies, right? So when we're going through the permitting process um that will be uh you know by the city that would be cleared right if the light is too close when we're doing the process with the design if it's too close to a tree we won't be able to install there. So what may be happening is that there were probably smaller trees planted at some point either before or after the pole um was installed and then you have the overgrowth that may be blocking the lights. But as far as installing a pole right next to a tree or right where the um the canopy is, we we need clearance from that tree.

So, how long ago was it that our lights were last installed? I'm sorry. Say it again. How how how far back was it the lights was it that the lights were installed? The LED lights. What was that? A year ago, three years ago, the new lights, the new poles and fixtures, the last project. Yes, ma'am. Um, I believe they were completed in 2023 and 24. So recent. So recent.

And one more thing I I'll add, and I believe that the city hired a contractor to conduct the study before we did the installation. I'm not sure the name of that contractor, but my understanding, and the city manager can confirm, was that an independent contractor was hired to do the lighting analysis, and that helped you all determine the location of the new lights. May I get an opportunity to review it, sir? The study? Sure. Okay. And and I'm sorry. And this study was to determine where we were putting lights and new poles and all that stuff, right? That's correct. And is that project complete? Has it been finished?

It is about 98% complete. There's one um section I'm sorry you didn't bring today.

Um that there's um our construction project lead is working with permitting right now, but just several a few lights that are left to be installed, but most of the project has been completed. Um the total number of lights and poles installed were 202 um and that ranged all across um the city of Miami Gardens. But I will get that information. I just told her I forgot to bring that little piece. There's just a little portion that uh is left for permitting. So, in terms of the LED, right, can those be changed out like a light bulb in a regular socket? They are not. They don't They don't have any bulbs. They are a full fixture.

Okay. And so, can the full fixture be changed out? Yes, it can. It can. And um is it cost prohibitive to do that? It can be. Okay. Um so what would happen is when these agreements were signed a couple of years ago um for each of those poles and fixtures there's a LT1 agreement that was signed that contract starts for the first 10 years and then it auto renews every five. So depending on how long the fixture was installed, if there are changes or if you'd like to change out that fixture, um the netbook value of that fixture remaining would have to be paid as construction costs for the new ones to be installed.

So that's that's that's that's five years minimum. You're saying five years minimum before it is eligible to be changed out. Um, no. 10 10 years. And so what was the five years? It it is not. It can be changed out. Um, but there will be netbook value at any point. I actually had a city call me on the way here um that they wanted brighter light. So that is exactly the process, right? We can always change it out. There's just going to be a calculation of what the remaining netbook value is on that fixture. Okay. We will let you know what that is. Okay.

Um so you can make a decision before you sign off on anything course. And are there say we don't want to do every single light but in certain areas where it's extremely dark and we wanted to increase the voltage on that. Are you able to do specified areas of of increasing lighting? Yes. I would just need to know which is the pole and the fixture. Okay. And what you'd like to change it out to. Okay. Absolutely. Mr. Mayor is a question. Have one more. Okay. Okay. Sorry. Go ahead.

Okay. All right. Actually, I'm not sorry. Okay. Um uh so when you install the lights initially, Mhm. who removes the trees? We don't we don't remove the trees.

So we would have to cut the trees back in order for the lights to be installed. So again, is there a clearance that the city has from where a pole could be installed to where the trunk of the pole is? It's usually five feet. So if the tree is overgrowing that, then it would probably be the responsibility of the city to trim that back. I guess the question I'm asking is why are there poles installed where trees are overgrowing them?

And you Yeah, go ahead. again. Um, as um Chelsea mentioned, we received a phototric analysis um from the city of Miami Gardens that a um consultant created. So, it would be important um maybe for the next goound that there if there are trees, I can't remember off the top of my head right now what that looked like, but it would be important to make perhaps add trees to that phototric analysis. That would be um a recommendation for the consultant that does it next go around

so that we can see where the trees are and you can see where the trees are to make sure that the poles are not close to it to create this problem. But basically whatever the city tells us to do in terms of the phototric analysis that's this the the research that has been done and provided for FPL we're going to do um what you're requiring us to do. So, we'll just install exactly where um the poles and fixtures are there.

Okay. And so, back to the 10-year thing because this the photometric recommendation that was made for where the lights go. You said it lasts up to 10 years. The contract or so the LT1 agreement, that's the agreement that was signed. That's what is um approved by the Florida Public Service Commission. That's an evergreen agreement. Um, so it initially starts for the the first 10 years and then it autorenews every five unless the customer decides they don't want to continue with the facilities any longer. Okay. And we are in what year of ours?

I'd have to check. I I believe they were um signed off in between I think 2023. And so the the lights start being built once they're installed. So I'd have to do that research. Could you? I can try. Okay. Thank you. And then um my final questions I'm sorry I have one more. So if we had I just want to get this point for clarity.

If we wanted to change the LED lighting, it would in certain areas it would um cost us additional. You you would have to look up the rate and then we would be able to do so. Yes, that's not something we cannot do. That's something that we can do. Absolutely. Just you can make the request directly to myself and um you know if it if it's regarding the project that we did um there are preliminary designs with all of that all of those details. You can find the polls the locations if if if that would make it easier and say hey location 21 in Bunchie Park South

we want to you know change that out to this just make the request directly to myself. Um, and then I will be able to submit that request to our lighting engineer group and then they have to calculate that amount and then I'll let you know what that is. Okay, Roger. All right. Thank you. Yeah, my pleasure. Good answers. Thank you. Yeah. Well, until she come back out question. Go ahead. Um, I want to make sure I heard you correctly. Okay. Uh, you mentioned uh is it Glattus? Yes.

Glattis. um you had a city to contact you beforehand about the improvement of their lights. So that would be solely a decision on the city. So should we want to improve the lighting throughout Miami Gardens as it relates to post that FPL or let's say F DOT or the county owns that would be something that we would take on that fiscal responsibility. the fiscal respon the the cost we the city would have to take on that cost to fund those those new poles and fixtures that are added to the city. Yes. As far as right they will go on the city's bill account.

Gotcha. So let me let me let me ex I guess to the city manager the pose that FPL I mean F do DOT in the county owns we have no sole do we have any interlocal agreement in place that we maintain those poles or anything? Not to my knowledge I don't think so. Okay. Okay. Um, so I guess my concern is about the 98% of being completed with the improvement due to that study.

Um, I find that not to say that the work haven't been done. I just find it very hard to understand that we've gotten to 98% being that uh a large portion of the city is still, you know, not the lights is not as efficient as it should be in my opinion. Um, so I definitely would like to see the areas where the installments were made or the improvements was done. uh because I believe this may be a conversation that my colleagues and I need to have as it relates to the budget and getting uh taking a step to improve the lighting in the areas as it relates to replacing some of these light poles to get the efficient enough LED lighting in the community. And I had this conversation during budget time and I was told that it wasn't a budget question.

Well, if we have to if it's added to the account, then it is a bud if it is if it's going to be a cost to the city, then it is a budget question. Yeah. So, Vice Mayor, it would not be a cost to the city. it would be a cost to the residents in each of those street lighting districts. So, the way that those fixtures and the way that those lights are paid for uh is through uh charges on um tax bills for each of those street lighting districts. So, there are 27 different districts throughout the city.

Uh and each of those residents in those districts pay for the lights, the street lights that are in those districts. So, it wouldn't be a cost to the city. So, that's why we said it wasn't a budget issue for us. So it would be the individual customer uh account holders responsibility that's that falls within that writing district. The cost the cost will come down to the individual household.

It would be on their tax bill. So it's really it is really once you extrapolate it out through all the residents it is really sort of pennies on the dollar. So any district may pay um it may be $30 or $40 for the entire year for an individual uh in each of those districts uh depending on how large the district is and how many street lights are in the district of course. Are are there still some districts that I mean some areas that's not part of a lighting district? Um I all the ones that are city um as as Glattis mentioned they are done. The one that is remaining is Cresview. Uh that's the one that is outstanding because it has city and county in it

and that's what they're waiting on to be permitted through the county. Right. Do you have any specifics u Mr. Clay about um like the Bajogs area from maybe 211 to 215 off of 27th Avenue going over to 37th Avenue. That's cuz that is super duper black back there. And that's supposed to be complete. It's supposed to be complete.

I'd have to I'd have to look in at the actual study uh councilwoman to see exactly what we were going to do back there. I do remember that being one of the areas that scored very low uh when we did the study. Um, but I'd have to look and see exactly what we were supposed to do because in many of those districts, uh, it wasn't just replacing the fixture. In some of those districts, it was also adding poles. Uh, because when we did the study, the thing that we saw uh, that was the causing a lot of the darkness was the fact that our poles were somewhere around 220 to 250 ft apart. Mhm.

And best practice is 120 ft or something like that apart. So where we could in each of those districts in addition to changing the fixtures with fixtures that made them much brighter was also to add poles so that you would be able to expand uh the coverage of the lights that are there. Um some some in some areas we were not able to add poles because it would constrict a resident's ability to get in and out of their home. Uh it would be blocking a driveway or it would be blocking um a sidewalk entrance or exit or something like that.

And and there are a few of those in residential area one where their driveways are blocked.

Yeah. So I before anyone I have a question and this necessarily doesn't pertain so much to the street lights as it is the um I've been getting a complaint from residents of repeated outage on 196 and 22nd. Um they report that every four to six weeks there's outage and it's lasting four to six hours um on that area and uh is do you have any data on that why that specific area tends to black out on a regular

you can share that address

and they're complaining they've experienced an extended outage, definitely let me know so I can have our service center team look into it and and figure out what's going on. If that's been a repeat issue for them, that's certainly not normal. Over a year. Yeah. And so if you can have your your commission a send me that address, I'll take a look into that one and see what we can do to resolve it. The other um issue and this is um the manager to the city manager

um how are we informing residents now that we have the information or have had the information that the responsibility of foliage lays from what I'm understanding on the resident um when it how are they being informed because many of the residents believe that FPNL is responsible but it's not the residents they said it's public works right so it whoever or is it the the piece of land where the where the vegetation is and maybe the residents or how are we communicating this information because I've had many residents who's like FPL won't come out and take these trees down so that I can see and it's dark. I've heard it.

I I've heard so how are we communicating with Well, I think that what we have to do is is who who owns it? Who who owns the tree and who's initially responsible? No. And when I say that, I say that seriously. Yeah. Because the county planted trees for the beautifification of our city. And there are also people who put them in the swell of the property believing that it was their property. Correct. And so we have to be able to be clear about those areas in terms of notifying the residents, but we also have to be clear about what's our responsibility to remove

because to a large degree we have people that are walking at night walking their dogs and it's dangerous. You could answer. Yeah, she going to talk about Well, I'm I'll tell you about who owns what and responsibility for maintaining it. We own the swells. It's the resident's responsibility to maintain them. So if the there is overgrowth tree, anything blocked, the residents have that responsibility by law, by code. So when the when the county planted the palm trees on the resident's property without their permission, the resident is responsible for cutting the tree. Whatever is in that, that's a dispute, a private dispute between them and the county. So I can't No, I'm just asking. Whatever is in the swell is the resident's responsibility.

Okay? Because the reason why I'm saying that is because that's the question that the residents are talking about. They're saying you planted it without my permission. The county, the county did. And now this is blocking the the lights and it's impeding my safety and you're now telling me as a senior citizen that I've got to cut it down.

And they they they didn't plan it. And so what I'm saying is whatever what and this is what Katrina would say. I would say, okay, they did. Then in that particular area that that tree is blocking the light, we put a higher voltage there because the and the taxpayer eventually pays it because they have to pay it through the taxes. But to leave them out there with absolutely nothing on a tree they didn't plant on land that they say you can't even park a car in the swell, now that's our public code. It's also confusing if I might add that sometimes um the trees are cut randomly, right, by the city or by Miami Gardens,

whoever. That's right. And then other time it's thrown back to the residents that they have to cut it and it's inconsistent. Yes. And so I just think that we need to um have public information given that is consistent and a place where they can get that information because I do understand what the law says, but then the execution of the law seems to be variable. Sometimes we're cutting it, sometimes the city's cutting it, sometimes the um the owner is cutting. And if you can't afford to hire the thousand person to come and cut down a tree and you feel unsafe,

that then becomes a problem. Um, I have a very specific situation. There's a resident who has trees overgrowing the lines in the backyard and when the wind is blowing, it's sparking. So, this has been going on for at least maybe three, two, three months. And he reported it. He said someone came out and looked at it and said they had to come back because they needed to cut the power off. No one ever came back. So, we're in the middle of hurricane season and him along with his neighbors are very afraid that something could possibly happen. So, I have a specific address for you. I could give it to you later.

And also, I wanted to know if you'll be um open to attending. I have a monthly uh community collaboration meeting and a lot of the what I say the super duper dark area one of the darker areas in Miami Gardens happens to be in residential area one. So a lot of those residents are seniors and they have a lot of questions as were mentioned here. What are they responsible for? if FPNL can do certain things. And as I mentioned earlier, some of the new light poles that were put in are now blocking their driveway where they have to they have no choice but to park on the swell because they can't get into their driveway. So, I have a lot of specific um questions and I wanted to know if you all be open to coming to my next collaboration meeting.

If you could let me know when it is, we'll we'll do my do my best to make it. And if there's specific questions about uh lighting, if you don't mind sharing those in advance so I can get get that from our lighting team. And the rest of those questions, I'm happy to talk to your residents about. Yeah. Thank you.

And and anytime again, if you all have an issue like that where a constituent is saying it's been an extended issue, please reach out to me, let me know so I I can help get it taken care of for you. So that's that's my role as your area manager for the city. You know, typically if there's an outage, we know pretty quickly and we have someone on the way by the time someone calls me. But on occasion, if if there's an ongoing issue and for some reason the repair didn't do what it needed to do, let me know and and we'll make sure we get that taken care of for you. And you know, to your point, we have a similar issue at FPL. Even though regardless of what the state law says, we have a responsibility to provide power to our customers, right? So, while it might be the resident's responsibility to trim that tree hitting our power lines, you know, if that's causing multiple outages in the area to customers, we're going to go and take care of it when we can. So, um, but definitely we definitely want to make sure that tree gets trimmed and and I can have our team get out there this week. So,

thank you. I I think

I I I do think that our residents when they know better, they do better. It would be a great thing for us to kind of develop a plan a a a pamphlet that says who's responsible for what. So if they are responsible for the trees that are overgrown in the swell of their property, you know, here you go and this is where you need to this is what you're responsible for doing and the time of year that you're responsible for doing it. And it's the same thing if you have a power outage. who do you call when it comes to that? And if there are certain areas where we find that it's so dark, then maybe we need to say we're going to change it out. And for those particular areas, it's going to be about putting a different a different wattage of LED inside of those lights because the problem, I think, is different in different areas for different reasons. And it would it's not the same solution I think all the way across because some of the lights same LED wattage in some areas is fine. There's nothing to change. But I can tell you going down 37th Avenue between 183rd and 207 is Georgia black and there are no lights there. And so we've got to look at why those lights are not working because now that it's getting dark and kids are walking home at 6:00, we got a problem, Houston, because the streets are dark. And so it it some like I said, when when folks know better, they do better. And if we can just let them know if they're going to pay for the taxes and it's automatically a part of their bill, they need to have lights with the appropriate wattage. How one question for me.

How long or how soon will it be before Crest View is online? I have to get back to you. I'll reach out to my um my construction PL. But again, it's a permitting issue. Okay. So, until that permit is approved, we can't move forward to finish it. You said it was a county permit. I don't know. I can't remember if it's county or or probably both. Okay. reach out to us and let us know. I will. Thank you. I apologize for not having that. No problem. Go ahead.

Yeah. I just want to get back to the question and and this is not more so for FBL. It's more on our side. U because I agree wholeheartedly with Councilwoman Wilson that if the taxpayers are paying for the lighting, then we have a moral obl to make sure that they're getting the proper lighting that they need because you're talking about quality of life holistically. So, I guess my concern is when was this lighting this this light lighting district study conducted? And if we're at 58 or 98% completion, have we gone back to see if This time we need to improve because we may need to make a decision as it relates to adding more lights, fixing the light of uh we that may need to be a decision that we have to do.

I mean that we have to take in. So that's what I would like to hear. Okay. Uh so vice mayor what we when we conducted the first phototric analysis um and we'll we'll share that too. um with with everybody. I know Councilwoman, you asked for it, but we'll put it out there. It's a pretty large study, so we'll put it out on the X drive. I'll get with Mr. Clerk and everything so we can do that. I won't print it for you, Vice Mayor.

Um but the first phototric analysis, what it did was we went into each of those 27 districts and we assigned each of them a letter grade, A, B, C, D, or F. those districts that scored D's and Fs were the ones that we addressed first. So, as Glattus mentioned, what we did is we went out uh with Calran. Calran is the consultant that we used and Calran went out and said, "Okay, here based on what what is in here, what what Chelsea and Glattus gave you the LED lighting solutions document, based on what was in there and what was available to us, this is what we recommend we do in these districts. Again, focusing first on the the D's and F districts. Once we got to the D's and Fs, then we went to the C's, the B's, the A districts, which are most of the commercial districts. Didn't need us to do anything. Our plan then was to come back once we're 100% complete to come back and do phase two, which is basically a restudy of those districts to see what the install did. Do we need even more fixtures? Do we need even more polls? Etc., etc. So, that is our plan, but we want to make sure that they get everything done first before we go back and do that. Um, so that probably will show that there are even more polls that need to be put in place. But again, I think we have to be very mindful of that because we don't want to run into a situation that Councilwoman Baskin mentioned where we have concrete poles because FPL's poles are generally

concrete poles that you're putting in sitting right in front of people's driveways or in their their sidewalk areas because we have received some complaints about that as well because we did install some um to try to to correct the lighting issue, but then potentially we might have created another issue for those residents.

Yep. So, I like the plan. I think the plan is a good one. Um, I think my uh not I think my concern would just be the time frame. Um, and how we can actually execute. Um, if it's anything on our end, you know, you all know what I'm about to say. Let's express it. Let's expedite it if it's something that we can do. Um, and if we need to reach out to to our regional government, our county to expedite it on their end as well. Our our county commissioner, I'm sure, would be more than happy to assist us in getting things expedited. Um because it's necessary when you talk about the safety and the quality of life, which I'm sure all of us would agree. Um, but then I also want to see that project come to completion so that we can now do a survey again to see where we are because I agree with you. I don't think it's necessary or the smartest thing to do with going and making decisions when the project itself is not complete. So, I think that's why that time frame for me uh makes sense to the mayor's uh question, excuse me, to the mayor's point of view of when Cresview is coming back will be fixed and completed and all of those things, I think it's necessary that we see it through, but um whether it's through our public works department or however we do it, private contractors or whomever to uh survey the land and see where the necess improvements or the latest uh lights opportunities that you all have that you can uh pour into the community that we can make decisions about moving forward. So, um my my my that's where I stand with that. I I just would like to see um I know 40 days is your company

standards. Um that's a long time. That's a long time for an outage to be uh for an outage in a community. Um, that's a long time for an outage to be along the corridors. Sounds like a mother. I know. Yeah, I know it's not much that can be done around that, but if you all can take that feedback to your higherups and see how we can

work to improve that. Um, Chelsea, I appreciate you being a, you know, saying we can reach out to you directly and you can kind of push some things through. Um but holistically that that time frame in which it takes to fix not saying that it takes 40 days but it can take up to 40 days that's a long period of time to go for a community to go without lights. Um so that's all I have for that but I and I appreciate you all for being here this afternoon. Can I Yeah, go ahead.

The the question um that I have about being able to address the issues. Is there any way that you do like a SWAT? Let let's say that Miami Gardens month is April and and then it's it's like every quarter we have a SWAT where a team of people come in and they just replace the lights or they address the issues instead of it being 40 day 40 day 40 days. It's it's it's it's it's kind of like an attack mode where you just take care of the most simple things and no one with this is without a light for 40 days. You you you you follow follow what I'm saying? And so that way eventually we will have maintained the area for a certain amount of time and all of the light bulbs will light not light bulbs but the lighting will be addressed maybe four times a year or three times a year, you know. And because it's that way, for the most part, every 90 to 120 days, we're looking at the lighting in Miami Gardens. Is that a possibility, a strategy?

You'll check into it. Can you talk about the the maintenance that comes with their lights? Um, I think what she's referring to is the maintenance, right? Oh, and like proactive maintenance, like planned maintenance. We'd have to find out. Can you right about that? I appreciate and you know we do plan maintenance on all of our equipment. We don't we can't necessarily predict when a light is going to go out. It might be going out due to a power supply issue or maybe a a car run into the light and something like that. But definitely

again I'll take that message back to our team about the time frame. Typically it's usually a little bit less than that. But if there's an area that you've had residents reach out to you, uh, please do let me know and I'll let the team know. I'll share that feedback that you all shared today with them as well about the time frame. Okay? Because see the reason why I say every 40 days, that's every nine weeks, four times a year, just like report cards, right? And if people are are um, you know, are in fact comped out, at least you know that the area is going to be served at a certain time,

right? it it some will get it in 40 days and some shorter, but nonetheless, somebody's going to be there in 45 days or less in the area to deal with all of our issues as it relates to lighting. And then then my last question is this. When we take a look at the trees, we are saying that these trees are the responsibility of the homeowners.

Okay. in the swell. The the trees in the swell and their backyard and so in the in the in the in the in in the alley where we have lights there in the alleys behind our houses we have now I don't know about the alleys. I'm talking about choosing the swale. Okay. But I'm asking about the alley. I don't know. It depends on who owns the alley. Whoever owns it. Well, who who owns the alley? That's what I'm asking. Each alley may be owned differently. So they're not all the same. It's not a model.

Well, here's the deal, right? At the end of the at the end of the day, I don't know who owns the alley, but I know that all of them are not thoroughares, which means that you have trees, wires, poles, and the whole nine yards, which are hazardous. And so part of what I'm I'm saying is I don't know what is public works responsibility. I don't know how the homeowners are going to deal with it. I don't know if those same polls are Florida Power and Light or AT&T or Xfinity or the cable people. I what I'm saying is that the trees are a problem in the front of the swell and in the back and on right all around.

Well, I can tell you generally if it's not a thoroughare, that's privately owned property. That's the prop that's the property on this property. You say what now? If it's not a thoroughare like a street and some streets we don't even own. Okay. uh those streets we own, we're responsible for maintaining those alleyways that are not necessarily a public thorough affair. They're just a private way to get to somebody's home. Generally, the property owners owns up to the middle line of that alley and the other property own up. So, they own it. It's definitely not us that owns those. So, the thoroughare you in the alley, you don't know who owns it. If it's a gate fair, if it's not like a a street, a public street, I'm saying those are privately owned. Oh, I I Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is who who who responsible for cleaning it up if you don't know who own it.

Well, you could tell who owns it by survey. So, there isn't we could we could tell who owns it. So, whoever owns it is responsible for maintaining it is what I'm saying. Whichever property owner owns it. There's gates everywhere.

Yeah. In the back of the house is it's a gate and it's an alley and it used to be where the garbage was picked up. And so now it's not where the garbage is picked up, it's where other things live, including homeless people. And what is what is happening is if it I don't know if I own it because the gate that I have been there. So I can't you you follow what I'm saying? It's people walking through the alleys, folks. And I'm only saying that because you have people that are saying it's not my responsibility and it has become a hazard. We have city animals there and we also have people who come from the various entities whether it's cable lighting and um you know all of the other industries that use the poles for a purpose. And so there were people now that are tearing down the fence as they are moving in and creating an additional 3 to four feet connecting to the person's fence behind it. And those people get ready to come through and they're unable to come through. And and the reason why I'm bringing it up because you're here is because there's FPNL lighting back there. You follow me? And so with that lighting, sometimes the lighting is not you can't see what you know is back there. So there's no one taking responsibility for being able to keep it up. So what Trina is saying, what Councilwoman Wilson is saying is we need to have some type of information or pamphlet or something that can be clear with the residents about what is expected for them and what is expected for us and what is expected for them or Xfinity or

whoever is using the polls because it's helpful for us to know who to contact if we have a problem for as residents. That's that's what I'm I'm just saying. Let's let's try to get clear with them so that they can take the appropriate action because lots of people don't like it. They just don't know what to do. Mr. Mayor. Yes. So, Councilwoman, we have two pieces of documentation where we cover that. We have a door hanger that is fairly comprehensive that lets residents know where their property begins and where their property ends and it is as attorney Dickens said based on their survey.

Okay. Within that document, we also cover what they are responsible for based on that. Okay. We also have a a hard copy and it is available on our website of another document that is a pamphlet that we created that talks about code enforcement items but it also generally covers what you're talking about because that is a question that is commonly asked to us what the property owner is responsible for what we would be looking for uh from a code enforcement standpoint and all the things that they're responsible for on and around their property. Okay.

And we again we make it available. It's on our website. We do have a few hard copies. We tried not to print very many of them because it is a fairly large document and comprehensive document. Uh but it is available and we made it available u at some of the the various town halls. We generally ask code enforcement to talk about it when they're at the various town halls. So that is available.

Okay. And and the only reason why I asked that question is because it's available but nobody knows. So when nobody knows, it's not available. and and and I and I and and and there it it concerns me a lot because there's a lot of misinformation or lack of information that people are spreading word of mouth more so than what the city is actually saying that they can take as a point of reference and do the appropriate thing that they know they can do. And and and I I I I know that people say used to be a saying that if you don't want people to to know something, take it and put it in a book. So, you know, oftentimes people don't read those things. So, what we probably should do, I'm I'm suggesting, and you guys figure out what works best, is maybe there are certain times of the year where this information needs to be resent. An example of that during hurricane season, like what do we need to tell our residents to get ready, you know, and I know that there are times during the spring when public works is going up and down the streets pulling up picking up leaves and and the the things that fall from the palm trees and placing them up so that those thorough affairs are kept clear of debris. I'm saying that we could get a lot of help from our residents if they were notified of these kinds of things that could preempt what we are what we're believing to be crime related behavior when really it is just lawn and garden things that we could actually do to not give a safe haven for people to sit and be like, you know, just like the one problem that we had where we had people sli sleeping on the bus benches. A lot of that has been addressed.

It's been addressed and and and and I'm not saying that it's completely gone, but I'm saying that it's almost non-existent. So for me and to me, I I think it's highly important that people are able to see at night and and very early in the mornings because as the time changes, our children will be on the corners waiting on buses at night in the morning, full day. And if we can give some tips or get this information out, I would greatly appreciate that. And so will they. and I will do whatever I can during my meet me Monday also to sure that that information gets out. That's a deal.

Deal. Okay. So now what y'all gonna do now? No. Um is this some is that some information that we can include in our upcoming newsletter? Yes, we can. We we would probably reference it councilwoman because it is again it's pretty pretty thick document. Um but we'll we'll we'll figure out the best way to get it out. We do e blast it out, but we know everybody's not on email. We have some available for your various um town halls and certainly make sure that um it continues to be available on our website.

Awesome. Also, I had one last um question, I guess. About three months ago, um I don't remember the name of the company, but a company came out and they were cutting trees in the front yards and well mostly in the backyards where there the trees were caught in the mines. Was that arranged by you all? Was that arranged by FPL? I wouldn't know off the top of my head. I can find out, but it depends if you can I can ask our vegetation team if you share the address with me. But uh you know we we either have FPL crew or we have contractors go out to something that you all do like periodically.

Yeah, we do preventative maintenance on vegetation issues and then as needed if you know someone from a city calls and says there's an area that's you know sparking or is having an issue, the homeowner hasn't cut it, it's causing outages, we'll come out and trim that, too. Okay. Thank you. Can you guys make sure we find out about Cresfield? Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Any other questions? I did want to add something. Yeah, go ahead. As your lighting representative, I know this probably

um we discussed uh this afternoon a lot about safety and darkness in areas. Um and I know that we're working the city's working on um this initiative uh for the next phases. I just wanted to let you know um if that is a a big concern there is you know you guys can call in um directly to our team play if if we need a light sooner um we can always arrange that as well. Okay, we'll wait for the study, but if it's an emergency or you know very difficult situations and we can assess there.

No other questions guys? Well, thank you guys so much for coming in and sharing this information with us. We appreciate you all. Thank you for having us. We will be in contact again. Okay. No problem. Thank you. All right. Bye. Thank you. That's it. It's a journal.