Sustainability and Resiliency Committee - Regular Meeting

Welcome everybody. Call the meeting to order. It is Tuesday, January 20th, approximately 12 o'clock, and we're here for the Town Sustainability Resiliency Committee meeting. And Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Excellent. If we could have a motion to move the Town Commission Liaison Report after the approval of minutes, and if we need to, if she's still not here then, then move it to the last, or move it after the discussion of it.

Aye. Aye. Perfect. I do not see any members of the public, so we will move on to the approval of minutes. We have a motion to approve. Are there any edits that you would like to make?

Second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, let's move on to the discussion items. The first is the Recycling Services Assessment and Optimization Action Plan. I do not know if y'all have a chance to read the email that was sent out. There was an email sent by the clerk with some feedback from a member of the public and a volunteer on bringing up activities. Having read through it, I don't disagree with much of what he has to say. If you want, I can provide specific feedback to it. But I don't think that it changes the path that we're on, which dovetails into this discussion item, which is r

We've had, and this predates your tenure, but we've had this discussion item on at least three times with what I hope was clear direction or recommendation from this committee. But we'd like to see some action because it is what I would consider low-hanging fruit. It helps us engage with the community in the lane of sustainability and resiliency and compelling people, making the case for behavior change that will result in higher quality recyclables, reducing the reliance on landfilling, and really demonstrating environmental stewardship from the town.

I want it to have some heft, because clearly it has not risen, and granted, there's been turnover in the town manager's seat, but I want our time and service to this committee to be productive. At least in this realm, I don't think it's been productive.

We've tried over the years of hosting forums to engage the community. Poor attendance is being challenged. But we have the opportunity through our vendor contract. We've talked about that in many meetings, but suggestions were shared, and hopefully that will find its way. We host a lot of special events. That's another opportunity to meet people where they are.

Sorry. No. There's opportunity. I mean, you get the three long, long secret fix notifications about waste bins overflowing in the business district. There's obviously an opportunity to improve waste management on the oceanfront. To me, it falls squarely into its quality of life issue. To most people, garbage is in sight but out of mind. If there's garbage, they'll look at it, they'll note it, The likelihood of them bending over and picking up a piece of waste that they see on the street and putting it in the proper receptacle is low. But it's an opportunity to elevate the Surfside experience.

Some of it may be changing the standards. If you have a waste receptacle, it has to have a lid.

Well, that's a separate issue. That's a code issue. But reminding people, we have side yard service. You do not need to move the waste from the side yard. Because that's, again, quality of life. It conflicts with vehicular traffic. There's a great opportunity to get our arms around this. And I realize it's not the only matter that you're responsible for. But we are ready, willing, and able to support you. to support the town in whatever way is necessary because it ultimately positively affects our quality of life. Okay, so if we could have a motion to... Which part?

But by the same token, the vegetative waste is supposed to be, well, A, if it's a commercial service, they're supposed to take it away. So there's a compliance.

And it ends up in the curb and gutter and eventually in the bag.

I'm a little naive and a bit of an optimist. If you educate the customer, then it becomes a conscious decision whether they want to follow the guidance or not. But that's the role of, ultimately, code compliance, to make the case or tell the story, why is this important and what can you do? to do that.

Because it used to be Saturday. No, that sacred cow has been eliminated. It's been sacrificed.

Really? I mean, there were wholesale changes that were made. This is the walk down memory lane. Garbage collectors used to get the day off when they finished the run. And it was changed by an administration that didn't like that. So public work staff would then repurpose to other functions around town so that they worked a full day. One of the issues at the time was the garbage trucks would speed from stop to stop because they were incentivized to finish as early as possible. So that, and the process later.

I mean, we all need to have eyes on the town. So if the call comes in, waste has been placed out after the time. If you wait until the next day, even that's too late. I mean, the timeliness is critically important. And to have a record that you can leave with somebody. There used to be a garbage tag. I don't know if there's one for recycling as well.

Okay. And just to sort of tie back to what was shared with us from the plastic fisherman, he's absolutely right, but the labeling is one component. What we're talking about is a comprehensive assessment and action plan that understands the role of the visual to help people, right, when you get to the recyclable container, If that's all we relied on, we'd be fooling ourselves that it's going to be as effective as we want it to be. That's why we're talking about a comprehensive assessment. If we have a motion that expresses our committee's sense of urgency to the town administration to perform a

And to develop an optimization action plan that hopefully can be implemented sooner but no later than next fiscal year.

If it is not handled administratively, then yes, we want it. Again, the goal is not to call anybody out. It's to call the issue out and direct the administration to take action. that it has greater it will achieve better outcome by directing the motion to the Commission then we will certainly amend it to do that well the motion is directed to the administration I can speak with administration to see if it's required to go before Commission I mean obviously the plan would probably go before Commission If there's any policy matters, then it should go to the commission, at least for situational a

I don't need to be a part of this. I will help and support and I will do whatever I need to do to help the situation. Awesome. Next item is the fiscal year of 2026, sustainability and resiliency initiatives. Similarly, we've talked about a lot of these over the past many months, and we're really just hoping, I was hoping that someone could provide us with an update. While you're scanning, I will tell you that I did review the solicitation for dune project, and the resiliency dunes, the devoted dunes, are part of the project. So if it is awarded, this item, the second item on the list will be a

Yeah, there's only two. One is at 96th Street. Surfside built half of a diverted dune. We could not get Bell Harbor to build the other half or allow us to build it on that portion of the land.

There's more than just a pile of sand. No, exactly. It needs to have CO2 planted or something planted that will hold the sand in place.

that do exist. The town partnered with the Youth Environmental Alliance. There's a gentleman named Lee Gottlieb who is the point of contact. But they are a tremendous resource. So if you have any questions about the river dunes. But again, the current project that's on the street, I haven't looked at the specifications, but hopefully they're not just mounds of sand. They are noted, I just didn't look at them. They are reflected on the plans. I did not look at the notes to see if it was a complete project for those portions, but I would encourage you to make sure that it includes planting stuff

Any movement on a Chief Resilience Officer?

I'm trying not to have a drip with snark.

Well, speaking of that... Vice Mayor, maybe it would be beneficial to just have a discussion item for the commission for their situational awareness of what this committee has identified as priorities for this fiscal year. I mean, I know we're in a weird political time. We have an election around the corner, but we give of ourselves to try to help the town move forward. It's a little frustrating that the initiatives that we identify and give recommendations for are languishing.

I just don't want to be distracted by other opinions. I think that having proper labeling is part of a solution. It's not the solution. And the guidance that we've been given over our tenure is if we can find somebody else's money to pay, that makes a project possible.

Well, but I think that's a stretch. I would love for the town, I mean, we've talked about it, the town eliminating single-use plastic bottles at town events and in town facilities.

I would say reusable is the best way to go. Oh yeah, of course. We can cure it, but we also have to be cognizant of people like easy. Yeah. And I was at a Chamber of Commerce event last week talking about solid waste management in Broward County. So there's Bean Fur who, the young commissioner, but is the champion for Broward County. Jack Seiler, former mayor of Fort Lauderdale and a lifetime in public service, was the moderator. Also on the panel was the League of Women Voters. Well, I get to the table and there's a single-use plastic bottle.

So I brought my own so quickly. I moved it away and I spoke to the event organizer and said, you know, it sends a long signal.

So I'm not certain that beach renourishment funding is part of our, I think it's part of our legislative priorities because it was just copied over from last year.

So, one is Tallahassee, the other is Miami-Dade County. And, so years ago, you may recall, there was a Mayor's Beach Alliance that was formed because the county was, Jimenez was the mayor at the time, and he was joking us around, oh there's no money, and blah, blah, blah. He found a way, because pressure was applied. And within a few years, So it does require a full court press, and I would suggest in at least two directions, county, state, but also partnering with other units of government.

Were you able to attend the South Florida Regional Climate Compact?

So again, that's in the category of increasing intra-governmental cooperation and engaging with our other units of government, so either we're identifying opportunities, learning the lessons from other implementation, and working together because we've shown the value of that type of approach to get to a better outcome.

They pulled sand from the other side of Haulover. They get what's known as bypass sand, and that's like an annuity. It will accumulate in however many years it takes to reach that critical mass. Because it's considered navigable, it has to be cleared out, so they simply pump it from The good news is we'll eventually get that sand, it's just not placed where we want it. But it will migrate. Reef protection, so this is on Mia. I'm going to reach out to Brandy and see if we can get her to present at the next meeting, which we'll talk about the scheduling of that meeting.

What kind of reef are they? I mean, are they talking about the reef line type installation or an artificial reef, either with construction demolition debris, concrete, or taking a decommissioned vessel and sinking it?

Any information you could share with this committee through the clerk, that would be fantastic.

Oh, that's for the line that will keep vessels.

But we had a presentation many, many months ago about designating the area. Oh, got it. And then what? The barrier. Got it.

So I'm just going to put it in the form of a motion because otherwise it sometimes disappears. But we have a motion to have the information from the tourist board meeting or meetings related to reef development shared with this committee. Oh, geez, that's a lot. I'd like to take a motion.

Okay. Bringing the town operations, that is what we talked about, but the Vice Mayor indicated that they're moving forward with special event contracts, which addresses this. I spoke with Francisco Torres yesterday, and I've committed to him that I would raise Our interest, as we've expressed in the past, to engaging with Compost for Life or a similar service provider to provide compost and services for waste that's generated at town facilities. Maybe it starts at the community center, maybe it starts at town hall, but it is something we can lead by example and let the town show the community

However the town manager wants to handle it, but I would certainly... advocate for having public works at the table.

It could be, or it could simply be bring your food waste there, and Compost for Life or a similar company would pick it up and take it to them. That would be wonderful. I know that most of the companies... Earlier this week, he was meeting at the surf club because they are looking to become a customer. Good for the surf club, but I believe the surf side should be winning.

That's the kind of town I want to live in.

week to get grant funds it's something that the town can do exactly and require our town vendors to do it yes we're hosting the market on the weekends rather than having that food waste go to landfill let's say we didn't get composted so you're saying starting with the surfside driven

I'm saying start with Surfside Facilities.

But let's start... Let's just advertise the service and let Francisco market it for residents. But I find it easier if the town leads by example. Right, we're doing this. We're presenting this as an opportunity. We're not telling you how to do it, but look how easy it is and look at the benefits. rain barrel workshop we talked about has there been any movement and reaching out to the county to schedule a rain barrel workshop in town In the last week we talked about increasing the rainwater pooling resiliency on the hardpack and walking path and what was shared is that the town has ordered the

Maybe poke them a little harder. Let them know that we'll be submitting claims for dirty dogs and dirty sneakers and they can contribute to a fund. It's dangerous.

Recognizing that sometimes there's a gap between having the available resources to do it. One thing that the former public works director would do is they would paint around the edge of where the puddle is. That way if it evaporates or... dries up quickly, you still have, and I wouldn't paint that as safe for the environment, but that way that you know a couple days later where you're going to practice.

an omission on my part. I thought it was clear in the agenda items, but sometimes what's clear in my head is not clear to others. So in the past, I've reached out to Clark to be very specific that we're looking for the town manager to address matters.

There's lots of reasons why, but sometimes if you think you're communicating, but it's not being received, then it's really on the, it's the responsibility of the communicator.

I think it's particular because session just began.

So I think in terms of direction, we could have a motion to direct our liaison to bring this information to the town commission so that they have insight into what we've been talking about and what this committee could prioritize. Do we have a motion to that effect? Motion. Second. Second.

The motion is to request that the liaison or vice mayor bring the Attachment A, and if you want to bring, it's not the longest item, but... if you want if you're going to include a cover letter and you need any assistance i'd be glad to help craft the cover letter but at a minimum to ask our liaison vice mayor to move forward by placing a discussion item on the next commission meeting that identifies the our recommended fiscal year 2026 sustainability and resiliency initiatives okay is that acceptable yes And we move your item, which is the liaison report, to after the discussion item. So let'

Yeah, that is, I mean, just speaking for myself, it's been one of the frustrations of this committee. We think about it and we have conversations. Every month. And a lot of what we've been talking about, we're still talking about. So it's not a criticism, it's an observation. And maybe we're not approaching it the right way. So if you ever have feedback of how we can be more effective... We're not going to offend us. We would rather know that there's a better way to move items forward.

a request for it for the clerk if there are any action items that any of us around the table today and in the future have make commitments if you could just capture that as an action item and if you could get that to us before we get the agenda package because that often drives putting other items on on the agenda so let's say within a week of of any given meeting if you're going to send us a bullet list of action items that way we can keep track of it a little easier like as in if a committee member said they would do something then i added to this i'll give you an example i'm committing to r

If the action items can be shared with this committee within a week, a week following each meeting. Because that gives us two weeks to actually deal with it because the agenda needs to be submitted.

I thought you committed to writing the next sustainability... No, I definitely did not.

It's the county that's responsible, but the town can advocate.

It's an aspiration. We're not there yet. But wouldn't it be nice if we also had a recycling receptacle? Oh. But the confidence is low that people would use it for its intended use. But again, let's set these audacious goals because one of our opportunities and challenge is we're not just the residents of Surfside. We're a tourist-based community. So there are lots of people who are cycling through. And we want to be clear visually and in words what we're committed to and what we're expecting of folks.

I should say yeah and I think the clerk forwarded an article about the Sargasso management yes where other coastal communities are working with the county I just want to make sure the intention is to make sure that we are part of the conversation so I'm not left behind because if there are opportunities to beneficially use that awful and I'm trying to find out where we are because we're

Sounds like Angie just earned an action item. If you could circulate those applications to the entire commission, then maybe it's going to be Sandra's responsibility.

I wouldn't... I wouldn't want the excuse to be made, oh, you know, the election is in two months or less. Let's push it forward. So an action item for Sandra is to distribute those to the commission and add, unless it would have to be through the manager, to add the appointments to the agenda. It's on there.

So if all the applicants could be forwarded to the entire commission so that somebody can troop the power and say, well, you've had X number of candidates.

But if everybody has them, you could say, you know, what a privilege. I've reviewed the applicants, and I just want to... recommend this person, make it easy for them.

Any other new business items? And my apologies, I have a conflict next meeting, February 19th. And I know for certain my schedule generally, and I would like for me if she heard me saying this, I have a number of projects that are all hands on deck and I'm getting called into meetings. So I'm going to ask if we can change the meeting because at the current rate we won't have a quorum anyway. So I'd rather aim for a date that is good for everybody. And I'll offer my apologies in advance if I'm scheduled for a meeting beyond my control. Understood.

And I can be flexible on time depending on what the day is.

If you could share that. Or if we have a motion. Yes, there's been a motion.

Aye. Any opposed? If you could send out a notification. Yes.

Did you get the items forwarded this morning? I'm getting the emails. Just not the calendar.

Sounds like you need a millennial to help you out. And when you're done, send them on a ride.

I'll figure it out. So as I'm winding up to ask for a motion to adjourn, I just hope that the... Can I ask another question after we adjourn, just on the process of the election and stuff? If it's outside the purview of this. I think so. I hope that our discussions are not seen as an attack. We're ready to roll up our sleeves and help in whatever way. And just see it as an opportunity to engage with the community in a more meaningful way in terms of resource stewardship and align that with the practices we have.