Sustainability and Resiliency Committee - Regular Meeting

There's going to be a quiz at the end of this.

And the minutes or the meeting agenda that was sent to us,

Hello. Daniel Dodge. And... I've previously served on this committee and I'm very excited to continue some of the work that we've started. By way of background, I work as a solid waste planner. So I work for an environmental consulting firm and I work with municipalities and governments and the private sector of this country. I have a career all over the world. very much focused on the environment, involved with non-profit organizations, focused on the environment, the Cleveland Institute, the American Foot Coalition, the Coastal Corridor, that is a case district for energy records, and so it'

Okay, and then can I have someone second the nomination?

We're equals. Other than the administrative elements, all the chair does is orchestrate the meetings.

Makes sense. But the chair can pass the ballot. Right. Make a motion.

The issue they run into is the other committees will want to do it.

Yes. I'm just sharing my insight with politics that there may be some resistance to changing the status quo. But if you could try the soft channel. going directly to the clerk or the acting town manager. If that is unsuccessful, then we can bring a discussion item forward and make it a formal request. And then sometimes it's helpful if the representative or representatives show up at a commission meeting to make the case. This doesn't particularly occur at the end of the meeting or the beginning of the meeting, so it is a commitment to go with the representative. So let's try the soft channel

I'm going to take the gavel back if we have a few seconds.

No, no, just so we can have a general discussion.

to help bring everybody up to speed on where we left off with the last committee, I will bring a discussion item forward for next month that identifies the priorities of the last committee. One of the other things that we have influence over, or at least we have a voice, are the town's legislative priorities. So we'll also put an item on the agenda that deals with legislative priorities. Not that everything that we advocate for will become, because there's only so much that junior Tallahassee is seeking, But we certainly can offer our thoughts, and it's better to do it now before the legislati

So it may be coming your way. And that is the town received a grant from Beverage Association to have a sticker affixed to every recycling cart, which is nice. But if it is not balanced by a concerted education and outreach program, and again, we're a fund-sized community. So to my thinking, that's a knock on the door, introducing folks introducing themselves to our resident. We're going to put a sticker on your card. This is why we're putting the sticker on the card. And then an ongoing monitoring program to keep non-recycled materials out of the recycling cart. And so that work has begun, bu

It took us the better part of a year to get the grant accepted by the commission.

It's something I'm going to touch on in a moment, but any ideas that you have, bring them forward. One of the challenges that we run into is when there's a new commission, we have a new commission every two years, there's a lot of change. So we run into a capacity issue from the town manager's office. We're in that same transition period now. We have an acting town manager, and it's going to take some time before we have a permanent town manager. So I want to be sensitive, too. what we're asking of the administration, but we should keep the ideas flowing, and I'd rather have a backlog of ideas

coordinate with the clerk to get out the list of priorities, which doesn't mean that has to be the priorities for the committee. Just to share with you where we're at. Let's try to do that this week.

So here's my ask of all of you. That if, that I'm encouraging you, please bring discussion items forward. And generally the order is, of operation is bring a discussion item forward, and then we can figure out how it fits into our plan. There is a template for a discussion item that I found to be very helpful so that if you look at a commission agenda, sometimes in the discussion items, it's just a title. I mean, who knows what the intention is, let alone where the discussion may go. So it's very simple. The form has a title that goes in the agenda, the objective, what do you as the person bri

The discussion items, all the discussion items. And for all you Seinfeld fans, it's like the coffee table book about coffee tables. Yeah. there were the legislative priorities and then was it fiscal year priorities as well for the so I don't know if it was a one page or two page that had all of our initiatives and then prioritized by time frame? Yes.

So whatever the most recent one is, maybe the legislative priorities from last year?

So I'm not sure how much influence the town has. It may just be permitting that comes through. But If there's something that you want to discuss on it or you want the town to provide information, just put together the discussion item on it and then work.

As far as I know, I'm not sensitive to whatever electricity it's sending out.

But some people are sensitive. That's why I raised the issue.

through the chair so everybody in their thing you could also bring a discussion item on that for next month if you if you would like to discuss it further yeah so we don't necessarily need to do the research you can bring a discussion item that says we would like the administration to provide an update on who is responsible for the towers and what's the so we And then we can see if there's anything that we can do about it as a committee. One of the challenges is we do better on matters that are within the purview of the town. And even then, it's a process. Just for the benefit of this committe

Some things will just deal with a voice, and sometimes if it's more substantial, we'll ask each person.

And I feel like we've accomplished a whole lot.

So one thing that I thought was productive is we had a joint meeting with the Youth Council so that we could identify synergies. So there was legislation of working on the domain, but the town is now part of a consortium. We helped identify metrics to document our progress towards it. But that may be something. I'm not sure what their schedule is and whether it makes sense. Once we get organized a little bit better, then maybe we'll have a joint meeting with them and see where the work is going to begin.

Yep. Same thing with the improvement of the walking path. That did not come to us.

It's been happening for a long time. Because I just came back and it's been a while. Has the town ever submitted comments to the Corps of Engineers about additional requirements or additional terms that they would want to see?

Once it left this committee as a recommendation, it's really the commission's responsibility. But you're right, re-featuring it doesn't happen by itself.

There was a feature in 1999, 2000, somewhere in that timeframe. It's challenging to find a funding source. It was Mayor Levine at the time, we convened a mayor's alliance, had a press conference in Miami Beach. All of a sudden, Mayor Jimenez, out of time, said, oh, I think I found someone. Because Surfside doesn't pay for it, it's a state, it's federal, state, and county. But yeah, so to the point of, we should be looking for opportunities to coordinate with our neighbors. Yeah. But our voice only has so much impact, whereas speaking with multiple voices. That's true. Okay, good to know.

Another example of intergovernmental coordination, Miami Beach wanted to move the buoy line to create a larger swim zone. keep motorized vessels away from the near shore reefs and but we have not carried that forward they were going to go through the permitting process governmental process but that's something that we should pick up again as I mentioned reef line is eager to extend world class installation consciousness raising installation

So if you haven't spoken to the folks at Prefine, I encourage you to, because they have gone through all the requisite, not just permitting, but investigation of the impact of the material substrate. But by all accounts, it has been just a wild success in terms of attracting the foreign law that was intended to raise income.

We will send out the list, and it really has a point of reference, but please don't be Please talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends. You are the conduit for the community source.

So that's... Because I don't think they do. This is the world that I live in every day. And that's why I say the town is fun-sized and we're fortunate. So years ago, the town, we used to outsource the collection of recyclables where we all... I'm going to say always, but in the 20-something years that I've been here, we have collected our own waste in packer trucks.

They converted one for the recycling range. So it's dedicated for recycling. But what that means is that our staff are walking to the sides of homes, physically bringing the cart. even though a lot of people leave it at the curb themselves, they don't need to. It's disgusting the way they do it. This is an opportunity to educate.

We'll deal with solid waste later. But when the cart is brought, they have to flip the lid before it goes into the vehicle. It gives them an opportunity to see what's inside the container. And that's where we have the opportunity So we have the sticker, so we're engaging people with the information, but then in real time, we have the opportunity to engage, whether it's taking a photograph and leaving a note or knocking on the door, saying, hey, we found this non-recyclable material in your cart. Do you know what that means for the town's recycling program? Because we're backcharged for contami

And neighbors don't want to report their neighbors, and I get that, but that's why the town has the function of a code compliance group to be aware of that.

You're right. If it is placed on the road... And there's a rain event.

Don't forget, politics is a popularity contest. Sure, sure. Nobody wants... I've witnessed it. Electeds don't want to be seen as being punitive. So the goal should always be compliance. But there shouldn't be a law that's not going to be enforced. That can be a voice. If you're not going to enforce this, then get rid of them all.

Perfect segue to at least, I think, the last point that I read today. We have been granted space in the Gazette. to write a thought piece. So you've probably seen the sustainability forum. We have a volunteer, but she's not at this meeting. And she's still going to do it. I can check with her. But she's not a resident. She may not be a citizen, which affects her ability to serve on this committee. She has been great at putting items together. But I want to challenge all of you and encourage you. this privilege um it's an opportunity to share your thoughts much like the commission corner you ar

So that, that is another opportunity, right? Again, we're a fun sized community. We could have a, you know, a neighborhood cleanup that is championed by this, by this committee. We don't have to do all the work. We find block captains. And then we just make it. Adopt a street.

So again, bring it forward as a discussion item.

Thank you for picking them up. So, for example, the sustainability corner. Did you know the town still provides street sweeping? Did you know that it's less effective when you don't move your car on the day that it's...

That's a separate issue. But these are all components.

It's a sacred cow. Like when I was six days a week, I went to five days. No, just these five. There was outreach.

What we can do, or I'm going to challenge you, put a discussion item together. I'm going to. And then we can discuss it.

that describes what goes where on the form. So it's a template. Think of it as a template.

It's going to be a bit more structured in our next meeting. Anything else that anybody would like to raise?

So, this is what I would suggest. A discussion item that says we should be revisiting our solid waste collection program and see if there's appetite from the commission to empower us to... provide our insights and recommendations to them. All of this sort of hinges on policy direction. The manager, and we're in an inward manager status, only has so much capacity. So the commission sets policy. There's the town manager and then all of the administrative staff. So the town manager takes direction from the commission, not from this committee. So that's why when I talk about policy direction, that

And then what we're going to do is just close it or something? No, it's a subscription service. You can all do it.

Contact Francisco at Compost for Life. What we were talking about was something that I believe the town should lead by example. So one of the items was put, I don't think we're ever going to go to the second floor in the community center, put solar panels on that building. Put solar panels on the facility at the new park. Put solar panels on the tennis center. The town has the opportunity to lead by example, show people how easy it is for them to take action. For example, when the town fixed the seawalls. We created an opportunity for residents to piggyback on the town's contract so they would

Okay. Everybody understands that we have an opportunity in the Gazette. You can bring discussion items forward. So any ideas that you have, just follow the memo that Tom Clark will share with you.

Much like we referenced, Townhouse has a court compliance department. I'm the code compliance for this meeting. I'm the presiding officer with backup from the clerk. So I won't be rude, but there are times that I may have to constrain the conversation.

So I don't approve what goes on or not on the agenda. Anybody can put it on. But I just ask, don't ask to have something added without a discussion item.