Safety and Health Committee - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. The clerk's office received notification that Vice Chairman Garcia will be absent from today's meeting. Commissioner Bastien? Here. Commissioner Hardiman? Commissioner Lopez? Here. Chairman Gonzalez? Here. Three members present. We have a quorum.

Awesome. So let's go ahead and get started. If we can have a prayer led by the wonderful Commissioner Bastien. That was beautiful, thank you. If everybody could just face the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Okay.

So let's begin with a reasonable opportunity to be heard. We can go through the agenda, and then I do know that there's some presentations that we can leave for the end. So can we open a reasonable opportunity to be heard?

Yes, Mr. Chair.

I have one speaker card. Ms. McIntosh-Stephanie? Stephanie McIntosh? If you are present. No. No Stephanie McIntosh. If there's anybody that would like to be heard at this time, going once, going twice, can we have a reasonable opportunity to be heard closed please? And to my colleagues, can I get a motion to set the agenda? So moved. Moved by Commissioner Lopez, seconded by Commissioner Bastian. All in favor signify by saying aye. And at this time, colleagues, are there any items in today's agenda that you would like to pull? Thank you, Commissioner Bastien. And if the county attorney can note 2A, pulled for an amendment.

Mr. Chair, it's our understanding that there are potential amendments for 2A, 2B, and 2C.

Thank you so much. So noted. Okay.

So move the balance.

Yeah. Can we move the balance of the agenda first? It's been seconded all in favor signify by saying aye. And let's move forward with the pull list. So to the attorneys, can we start with two a please?

Absolutely, Mr. Chair. 2A is a resolution directing the county mayor or county mayor's designee to develop an illegal dumping and encampment plan for Miami-Dade County Commission District 2 and requiring a report. With the commissioner sponsor's permission, I believe we have a floor amendment. Commissioner Messon? Yeah. Would you like us to read it? Yes, please.

Commissioner Bastien moves to amend item 2A to provide that the plan for illegal dumping and encampments in District 2 shall also include recommendations identifying a mechanism for condominium residents and renters, both in single family and multifamily units, to dispose of bulk trash, and that proposed mechanism should, at a minimum, address the frequency, locations, costs, and funding sources related to implementation. The changes would be on pages MDC 004 and MDC 005, Section 2, would be amended as followed. It would add an additional subsection which would be H and that would read recommendations identifying a recommendation for condominium residents and renters both in single-family and multi-family units to dispose of bulk trash. The proposed mechanism should at a minimum address the frequency, location, cost, and funding sources related to implementation.

Thank you very much. And Commissioner Bastian, would you like to be recognized?

Yes. For that, Mr. Chair, I'd like to move the item.

It's been moved. It's been seconded. Now, before we move forward with voting, I do want to add something. First and foremost, I want to not only congratulate but commend Commissioner Bastian for bringing this forward. Illegal dumping is not only an issue in District 2, but it is countywide as well. So I want to commend her for putting this forward. I did have some comments. I had the opportunity to speak with Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, specifically with the illegal dumping unit. and the environment crimes unit which explain the legal dumping in our districts has increased dramatically on particularly around the railroad tracks. I'm supportive of the item 100% and I feel comfortable moving forward today, however, in section 2 part D, one of the elements of this plan that will be put together involves information on how the legal dumping trust fund can be used to fund uh implementation of the plan and any changes that may be necessary to the idtf so my only thing is i want to caution my colleagues and the administration as it pertains to changes to the illegal dumping trust fund specifically These funds were designated by the board in 2021 for exclusive use by the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. Then it was obviously the Miami-Dade Police Department. So the Environmental Crimes Unit relies heavily on these funds to carry out their work, often going above and beyond. It is something I've seen in my district. I know it's very, very, very necessary countywide. And these folks actually handle all of the illegal dumping crimes countywide. So I don't want to penalize them for the hard work and not only the response but for getting the job done. In fact, I believe there are representatives from MDSO who are with us today. Folks if you can raise your hands there we go and I think that you can speak about the important work that the unit is doing and the importance of the trust fund so if I can just get somebody from the illegal dumping unit to come up and just explain what it is that you guys do how you rely on these trust funds very briefly please.

Good afternoon, everyone. Sergeant Christopher Garcia from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office. I run one of the squads that's over there for the Environmental Crimes Unit. To go historically for the illegal dumping trust fund itself, back in 2017, roughly about then, the trust fund, probably even before that, it was created after a joint investigation was conducted by the EPA, federal government, with the police department, then police department. Monies that were gathered from that investigation were put into a trust fund that was for the exclusive use of the Miami-Dade Police Department to conduct further enforcement actions and conduct investigations such as what we do now. The fund was frozen for various years when the units were dismantled. And back in 2023, I believe it was, or 22, it was reconstituted and turned into the Illegal Dumping Trust Fund. Back then it was called the Environmental Crime Trust Task Force. Now it was put and written exclusively for the function of the Illegal Dumping Unit and the Environmental Crimes Unit. That money was funded. Moved in and then funded the unit has been for enforcement activities on investigations and everything that we do going forward from there. The board passed a resolution back then talking about putting civil citations and whatnot that were written to further fund it. The initial 1.3 mil that was in there has been spent. So it's been various years. Now the only money left in there is money that is used that is basically allocated back in to continue such investigations and such crimes and stuff like that. With that said, The work we have done throughout the years, okay, as far as various operations are as follows. Between 22 and 2024, the Environmental Crimes Union investigated 4,476 cases, affected 329 arrests for felonies, 581 for misdemeanors. That is not to include PTAs or promise to appears and whatnot. Now, in the north end of the county, the last six months, we have done alone in the north end 56 arrests, a lot of them with the encampments. We've gone out there to address them. We've gone out there to look at them. It's a multifaceted approach to try to deal with these things as far as when it comes to the encampments that are out there right now some of the folks obviously are homeless some of them need you know help whether it be homeless trust or wherever it is but then as far as when it comes to the cleaning up of the trash partners have to come in whether it be solid waste rer whoever it is that would be that will fall under their purview to clean those areas up this fund was not created to fund cleanups because it'll run out of money And all it's going to do is take away from the enforcement actions that we have done, and it would basically be gone in a couple months. On top of the fact that this fund was created because it is a Miami Dade Sheriff's Office fund. It is not a fund for anything else. It was strictly monies that was from back then MDPD. put in to that environmental crimes task force and it was sole purpose was to be used for criminal you know enforcement action and investigations and whatnot it cannot be used for that and it doesn't take money The way it's funded now, it doesn't take money from anyone else to do, for example, the cleanups or anything like that. It's not money that would be allocated anywhere else. It's monies that, if it wasn't allocated to the Environmental Crimes Unit, it would be allocated to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office regardless. So it's Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office money. But like I said, we have done various enforcement activities, conducted various investigations throughout Miami-Dade County. We're currently combating a huge problem with RV parks down south, out west in the Redlands, the 8.5 that are contaminating the groundwater. That has actually been shown by the state health department to be an emergency if it doesn't get addressed soon, because it's contaminating the groundwater so badly. And those are the types of investigations, the things that we have been doing. And like the commissioner said, this is something that is constant with us in our investigations. We have not stopped since this unit has begun.

Thank you so much, and I don't know if my colleagues have any, Commissioner Bastien, you are recognized.

Yes, thank you so much. So as I indicated in the item, illegal dumping is really a quality of life issue that demands a coordinated response. And I must say that I'm blessed because I've conducted civil cleaning campaigns in my district as a result of these illegal dumpings and had a negative impact, not only on the residents, but on the businesses in District 2. And I've been blessed to have the support of the Solid Waste Department, Dr. Daniels and her staff have been instrumental in participating and supporting these efforts, including the sheriff's office. so um the intent of this item is not to impact in any way um the the the department's operations it's actually uh aimed at uh enhancing it actually we we we hope that potentially we'll enhance we'll find ways to enhance these funds so that we can support more enforcements and more collaboration like like we've had like i've been blessed to have for the past few months that's how That's why I launched the I Clean Because I Care campaign, and I'd like to thank both departments and every other team in Miami-Dade County, including the mayor's office, for supporting these efforts.

Thank you so much commissioner bastion and um, I, I do want to commend commissioner bastion and I'd like to ask if you have me, I'd like to co sponsor the item with you. Uh, it's an incredible, incredible task that you've taken. Um, illegal dumping is a problem in all of Miami dade county. And I do want to recognize the great folks at the lingual dumping unit. Um, you guys are incredible. Um. i've seen what you've done not only in district 11 but district 12 district 10 district 9 you guys are amazing and i know that there was one particular um incident where it wasn't only dumping it was just a way to get in and figure out how to take care of some bad guys and then a whole human trafficking issue came up uh thank you for putting your lives on the line thank you for everything that you do um and with that i don't know if any of my colleagues yes commissioner lopez you are recognized

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So I just had a quick question. So this is being done through the sheriff's office, correct? So remember that we failed to increase the rates for solid waste, and we got a memo from the mayor saying that part of the reduction in services, because we did not increase rates, was a 50% decrease in illegal dumping. So how does that work? I'm trying to figure out Is that the same fund or these two different activities, one that the county does, one that the sheriff's does? I need a little bit of clarification, please.

Would you like to respond?

Yeah, somebody had asked me one time about a penny tax increase. They asked, did you guys get that to do more enforcement? That doesn't come to the sheriff's office. That went to solid waste. So any increases in those fines for illegal dumping have not been for the sheriff's office, they've been for the solid waste side. And I know they have groups that are doing their job as well, doing their investigations, but it did not come to the sheriff's office.

And to Commissioner Lopez's point, and I certainly don't want to speak for you Commissioner, but I totally understand, I think, where you're going. Yeah. And I would like to go there as well. We definitely don't want to see any overlap. Right. Especially if there is a law enforcement side that is going to deter heavily deter folks from illegal dumping we certainly want the deterrence not only to continue but to stop it and if we have a civil side that is being effective and is doing a good job but is overlapping then perhaps i don't know if this is where you were going commissioner i'll let you take over but we don't want to you know spend money both places

That in and of itself, but I was just trying to find out whose responsibility is what, right? Because it appears that now we have solid waste doing illegal dumping, but they've just informed us that they are reducing the illegal dumping services by 50%. And here, Commissioner Bastian is worried about figuring out what's going on in District 2. And so I'm somewhat confused because I hear what you're saying with regard to what your role is, but to know that we just have incurred a 50% decrease in illegal dumping services on solid waste part almost seems to be counterintuitive to what everyone is worried about. So maybe the Chief can bring some clarity.

Yes, ma'am, through the chair. The sergeant is identifying a trust fund specific to the sheriff's office. That's just for the investigation. However, when they do conduct an investigation, they need solid waste to respond to remove the debris, to remove the trash. And the mayor's memo about the restrictions on solid waste being able to remove illegal dumping is correct and is still active. So while we support Commissioner Bastien's item and we look forward to working with the sheriff's office. We still have are hampered by economic realities in solid waste.

So that that then leads me to here's the sheriff's office doing an investigation and yet we don't have the funds available to actually pick it up and clean it up, which is what I'm hearing the chief say is the solid waste role. So somewhere along the line there's a disconnect because there's no sense in you doing an investigation if we don't have the money to provide the services that you need to clean it up, which goes counter to what poor Commissioner Bastien is trying to accomplish in her district with this item. I'm fully supportive of what you want to do. I just wanted to point that out, that we seem to have a disconnect, and that might impact the services that, you know... in particular the hot spots, if you will, as you have described some of them. So I just wanted to put that on the record because it sounds like we are not, both sides have to be fully functional in order for us to ensure that we don't have any illegal dumping in the community.

Mr. Chair, I see Director Daniels here. I don't know if she'd like to add anything.

Dr. Daniels, if you'd like to add anything, you are recognized.

Hello, good afternoon to the chair. Thank you. So, yes, we do. Thank you for the question. We have eight illegal dumping crews and solid waste in our trash division. And so based on the memo, we would have to reduce half of those. So we would only have four illegal dumping crews for the entire county. And so the chief was actually correct. Basically, those investigations take place and then we go out and we have to pick it up. And then we also have in our enforcement division, which we also put in the memo that we would have some reduction because our enforcement is actually the division that actually does the coordination with RER. They work with the sheriff's office. They work with all of the different individuals that play a part in regards to the encampment to bring everyone together so that then we can go ahead and make sure that we can clean it up.

So director, on the enforcement side, because I'm curious, on the enforcement side, what's the difference between the enforcement that gets done by the solid waste department and the enforcement that is carried out by the sheriff's office?

It's pursuant to the code, so we only have certain jurisdictions per the code, and there are certain areas when it comes to the investigation that goes beyond what we can do.

So this is criminal versus civil, is that correct?

Absolutely, absolutely. And then within where it's located. If it's within the solid waste unincorporated area within our service area, then that's something we can do. If it's outside, then it would not happen.

Because I'm I'm just thinking out loud now and obviously we can tackle this. At a later date, but if the enforcement is already happening on the criminal side. To commissioner Lopez's point, what needs to happen now is these things need to be picked up and we need to clean it up. So perhaps, and this is just food for thought, perhaps the enforcement should continue on the criminal side. um and it should lower the burden of the enforcement on the civil side that's just food for thought for the future um that way we can adequately um use these funds to to commissioner lopez's point actually solving this issue right right but with that uh any other comments from my colleagues commissioner lopez commissioner bastian commissioner hardeman uh so with that we've it's been first it's been second all in favor signify by saying aye

Aye.

To the county attorneys, which one do we have next? 2B?

Yes, Mr. Chair. That was 2A as amended that just passed. We can move to item 2B now.

Awesome. So for item 2B, I actually have a minor amendment on this item that will hopefully make the conversation between the administration and the sheriff's office more fruitful. So originally, the item asked both parties to identify vacant parcels owned by the county, which the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office could benefit from. If there are existing facilities that are not utilized or underutilized by the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, they could avail themselves to meet the rising demand. It would be more time and cost efficient for both parties to pursue those opportunities. So I just want to make clear in the item that all opportunities should be explored, whether that be just on the land or facilities that are already available. Specifically, I had a conversation with the PBA and the sheriff and in addition to the land, they brought up and related to this item that I know that there has long been an understanding between the administration and the sheriff's office that there would be a station in Eureka which would be shared by the sheriff's office and by and the far now as I understand and the far has already moved in and is using the space for its operations so just the chief Palmer could you could you update us on the status of the sheriff's office portion to that property, the Rico property specifically and why they haven't been given access.

I can tell you the property is there. It's available. They have access to it. I'm not sure why they haven't commenced. It might be a capital funding issue, but I can look into it for you. But fire department did complete a build there and it's operational. As far as the sheriff's office build and operation of the sheriff wants to speak to it, they can. I'm not exactly sure, but it's probably a capital issue at this point.

Okay, so if you can work with the sheriff's office just to be sure we can get them in there as soon as possible. And if I can have the amendment read on the record by the county attorneys, please.

Commissioner Gonzales moves to amend item 2B, legislature number 261162, to require the county mayor or county mayor's designee to work with the Miami Dade Sheriff's Office, MDSO, to additionally identify underutilized county buildings and facilities that may be suitable for MDSO purposes, and to include any such buildings or facilities in the required report. As part of this amendment, conforming changes will be made to the title.

And so to my colleagues, Commissioner Lopez, you're recognized?

No, I was moving the item for you.

Thank you, it's been moved, it's been seconded. To my colleagues, any uneasiness or any comments before we move forward? Awesome, and so with that, with a first and a second, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. So passed to the county attorneys, do we have anything else?

Yes, Mr. Chair, that was to be as amended, and now we are moving on to item 2C, which I believe also may have a floor amendment from the sponsor.

Item 2C, Commissioner Hardeman.

Yes, I think there's a scrivener's error in the item, and I think that's what the county attorney's office wants to put on the record. And so my motion will be to approve the item inclusive of the scrivener's errors that are entered on the record.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Hardeman moves to amend item 2C and correct the scrivener's error by striking the specific street address referenced for the college parcel wherever it appears. And replacing same with the street address currently listed on the property appraiser's website for the folio, which is 1000 Northwest 20th Street, Miami. And to make any conforming non-substantive changes necessary to effectuate this amendment.

Thank you. And so as amended, it's been moved by Commissioner Hardman, second by Commissioner Lopez. All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. And with that, do we have anything further?

Mr. Chair, that concludes the action items on your agenda. The only remaining item is the discussion item.

Thank you so much. And, um, one last thing before we go into the presentation, um, to chief Palmer Palmer at the, um, at the last meeting, we had a discussion about, uh, five acres at the homestead air force base. Um, are you familiar where we're at with that, sir?

There was no update. We still have the property. We're trying to develop it. We're looking for funds to develop the fire side. And we are aware that the sheriff wants about five acres for a canine training center. There's been no change in that decision. We're moving forward.

Can we schedule a meeting with your office just so we can figure out what's necessary in order to move it forward?

Absolutely.

Thank you so much, Chief. And with that, we don't have any further items. We can start with the presentations. Is that correct, County Attorney's Office?

Yes, Mr. Chair.

And so let's invite the respective departments, if we can please start with emergency management.

good afternoon mr chair thank you director you are free to move forward with the presentation as you see fit good afternoon mr chair commissioners thank you for the opportunity p gomez director of the department of emergency management we will speak to our core mission and vision for the department our vision is to be the number one the premier eminent emergency management department in the country our mission is to protect Prevent, respond, recover, and mitigate through engagement and coordination of stakeholders for all natural, human generated, and technological disasters for the community. What are some of the major functions? We play a critical role in keeping Miami-Dade County safe and prepared for disasters. By preventing or protecting against potential threats, responding to emergencies, or helping the community recover and rebuild, the Department of Emergency Management coordinates vital information and resources to ensure the county remains resilient. DEM manages the county's Emergency Operations Center, which oversees planning for disaster response and recovery while making sure resources are efficiently distributed during major events. Following a whole community approach, DEM works closely with federal and state agencies, local municipalities, businesses, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and other organizations to fulfill our mission. The department serves approximately 2.8 million residents, inclusive of unincorporated and incorporated areas. DEM is responsible for domestic preparedness, life safety, emergency evacuation assistance, and coordination of health and medical needs arising from natural, technological, and human-generated disasters. We embrace and engage the whole community as our customer base, which includes the residents, visitors, and commuters that live, work, and play in our county. to provide equitable services that meet the needs of the whole community, especially vulnerable populations which may require additional assistance. Particularly during a disaster, businesses which are the economic engine of the county, governmental organizations, that's local, state, and federal organizations, and faith-based and community-based organizations that aid, assist, and support during emergencies and disasters. DEM engages our community through public education campaigns, community outreach, community organized to respond to emergencies, that's CORE. Community emergency response teams, that's CERT. Community emergency response teams is an organization that we train out there. trainings, customer surveys, social media engagement, municipal and whole community meetings. Additionally, DEM continuously receives feedback from outreach events and meetings with partners and solicit feedback and customers throughout the year. Some of our accomplishments. Our accomplishments. The department earned its third accreditation from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program, reaffirming its status as a nationally recognized leader and best practices. In preparation for 2026 FIFA World Cup, we hosted over 100 trainings and conducted 20 exercise to validate our community's all hazard readiness and strengthen our partnership and relationships. successfully strengthen our community resilience and preparedness by hosting whole community meetings and expand the core organization to over 85 organizations that participate now. Some of the key issues, recent and anticipated changes to state and federal emergency management programs, such as funding levels, grant requirements, regulatory guidance, which may impact Miami-Dade County priorities, resources timelines, and compliance requirements, requiring ongoing monitoring to reduce impacts on emergency management capabilities. The department lacks a dedicated 24-7 operational monitoring capability, limiting our continuous situational awareness and early hazard detection. As incidents increase in frequency and complexity, the absence of round-the-clock coverage creates challenges for timely coordination and response readiness. Recently acquired Homestead Air Force Base Reserve will serve as the Miami-Dade County Public Safety Campus as critical logistics staging area as well as primary training grounds for public safety operations. This facility supports coordinated readiness efforts and ensure public safety agencies are fully prepared for potential operational demands. Some of our priority initiatives. Implement a recovery assistance program that supports affected individuals and businesses in coordination with local organizations and community leaders, accelerating recovery and strengthening community resilience. The initiative has no budgetary impact and is funded through recovery and mitigation grants. Migrate to the integrated command and communication center and establish a 24 office watch within Miami-Dade Emergency Operations Center to enhance situational awareness, continuous monitor, and incident response. and enhance collaboration with municipalities to expand our CERT program and our core programs participation and strengthening community preparedness and boosting volunteer response capabilities. Again, this initiative has no budgetary impact. What is the future outlook? Over the next three to five years, the department will focus on adapting to evolving emergency management needs, including the transition to the new integrated command and communication center. This move will enhance operational efficiency, improve coordination with critical services, and require training, integration, integration planning, and alignment between primary and backup facilities. DEM will continue strengthening its strategic planning efforts through employee development, community outreach, public education and resilience initiatives. Investments in the disaster assistance employees, evacuation center readiness and warehouse logistics will support sustained operational capabilities. The department will further deepen partnerships across government and non-governmental organizations, advancing a whole community approach to preparedness, response, and recovery. DEM also plans to enhance coordination with newly established constitutional offices to ensure comprehensive emergency management before, during, and after disasters. Overall, DEM remains committed to innovation, readiness, and strengthening community resilience for the benefit of residents, businesses, and the county's tourism industry. And with that, I'll open it up to any questions you might have, sir.

So my colleagues, does anybody have any questions or comments? Seeing none, thank you so much, Director, for your time.

Thank you.

And so now, if we can get the medical examiner's department

Mr. Chair?

Yes, ma'am.

So I'd like to thank the department for the presentation, but instead of reading the whole presentation- Absolutely, I was about to say that. We have access to, can you focus on what's important?

Absolutely, so to the medical examiner department, so here's what FIRE did. FIRE has given everybody a copy of their presentation. You could email or get the presentations to all of the committee members, that would be great. And then for your presentation, if we can please not just read verbatim what the PowerPoint is. And instead, let's just get a macro synopsis of the key points. Thank you. And you are recognized to use the presentation, but give a macro synopsis of what the presentation is. And I assure you, we will all read the PowerPoint presentation on our own time.

Good afternoon, Chairman Gonzalez, commissioners, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to present the overview of the Medical Examiner Department's operations. Before I begin, I would like to remind you that the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Department is the largest medical examiner in the southeastern region of the United States. We serve a community of 2.8 million residents plus visitors. Every day, our team provides critical forensic death investigation services that support public safety, the criminal justice system, public health, and families during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Our work is guided by three priorities, accreditation, education, and cooperation. Accreditation ensures that our systems, processes, and forensic services meet or exceed nationally recognized quality standards. Education allows us to train the next generation of forensic professionals and strengthen partnerships with medical professionals, academic institutions, legal, and public safety agencies. Cooperation is essential because every case impacts the family. We work closely with law enforcement, hospitals, funeral homes, and community partners to ensure that families receive compassionate, timely, and professional services. Today's presentation will highlight who we are, what our accomplishments are, key operational issues, and our future outlook. I went to medical school, but I haven't figured out how to use the, okay. So our vision and mission. The medical examiner serves an essential public safety health role within Miami-Dade County. Our mission is to provide accurate, timely, compassionate, and professional forensic death investigations. Every investigation we conduct serves a family seeking answers, supports the criminal justice and civil proceedings, and contributes to protecting the health and safety of our community. Everything we do is centered around professionalism, scientific integrity, and treating every decedent and family with dignity and respect. Major functions. The department has several statutory responsibilities under Florida law. Our primary responsibility is conducting death investigations and certifying the cause and manner of death pursuant to Florida Statutes Chapter 406. We also provide forensic pathology services, toxicology testing, forensic evidence recovery, and administer the county's indigent cremation program. Beyond our core responsibilities, we support education, training, and research for physicians, law enforcement agencies, attorneys, hospitals, universities, and other forensic professionals. We work very closely with numerous local, state, and federal partners because every case requires collaboration across multiple agencies. Now, our most important customers, of course, are the families we serve during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Imagine that mother who receives that proverbial 3 a.m. phone call telling her that her 17-year-old son was killed in a hit and run. We support law enforcement agencies by providing timely forensic information needed during criminal investigations. Every day we coordinate with hospitals, funeral homes, prosecutors, public defenders, federal agencies, and numerous other county departments. Because of the nature of our work, timely communication and coordination are critical components of our service. During the current fiscal year, our department has made significant progress in three key areas that support the mission of providing high quality forensic services to the residents and visitors of Miami-Dade County. The first is digital transformation. We continue modernizing how we manage our records through a digital transformation initiative. As of July 1st, we have successfully digitized 2,891 case files, which represents more than 131,000 pages of historical records dating back to the 1950s. This effort is important. It improves efficiencies, strengthens records management, enhances public records request responsiveness, and supports the commitment to maintaining the highest quality of standards through accreditation. Workforce development and accreditation. Education is and remains one of our highest priorities. We successfully graduated four forensic pathology fellows from our nationally accredited Forensic Fellowship Program, that's four new forensic pathologists who will be working in various areas of the country as doctors in their own respective medical examiner districts. And this year, we welcomed three new fellows. By investing in education and workforce development, we are helping to address the nationwide shortfall of forensic pathologists while ensuring the future strength of our profession and ensuring we meet accreditation standards. Regarding our staffing capacities, we've made significant progress in our workforce. During the year, we completed a department-wide salary analysis. We filled most of our vacancies. We secured contracted personnel where appropriate. and we retain per diem forensic pathologists to help us meet the daily workload and the accreditation requirements. These efforts improve operational capacity, support timely death investigation and case processing, and reinforce our ongoing commitment to accreditation and quality service. While we are proud of these accomplishments, we also recognize that there's still important work ahead. The next slide highlights the key operational issues we continue to focus as we move forward. So, like many forensic agencies across the country, we continue addressing several strategic priorities. The first is technology. One of our highest priorities is modernizing critical technology systems. We are replacing our aging laboratory information system and laboratory equipment, which will improve operational efficiency, strengthen data integrity, and support accreditation standards. Modern technology directly supports quality, consistency, and accreditation by ensuring reliable laboratory processes and accurate forensic reporting. The second is accreditation. Accreditation is much more than a certification. It represents our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and exceeding nationally recognized quality standards. every case we process we evaluate and we every process we evaluate every case that we complete and every improvement we make is focused on producing an accurate reliable and timely forensic services for our community the last is staffing we continue to work to address the staffing needs across several operational areas Maintaining appropriate staffing levels supports timely case completion, operational efficiency, quality service delivery, and keeps us in line with the requirements of our accrediting bodies. Our priority initiatives. These initiatives represent our long-term operational priorities. They all support our three guiding principles. One, maintaining accreditation, two, expanding education, and three, strengthening cooperation with our community partners. They focus on strengthening technology, infrastructure, improving laboratory capabilities, and supporting accreditation efforts. These initiatives are intended to ensure the department remains prepared to meet future service demands while continuing to contribute to high quality forensic sciences. And lastly, our future outlook. Looking ahead, we remain committed to maintaining nationally recognized accreditation standards, expanding educational opportunities, strengthening partnerships with hospitals, funeral homes, and our public safety partners, and continuing to provide the highest quality forensic services to the residents of Miami-Dade County. We will continue investing in our people, modernizing our technology, and strengthening our operational capabilities to meet the growing needs of the community. Maintaining accreditation will remain one of our highest priorities because it is external validation that ensures that our systems, processes, and forensic services continue to meet national standards. It gives the public assurance that what we're doing, we're following nationally recognized standards and processes, so that they can have confidence in the work we do. We will continue expanding educational opportunities by developing the next generation of forensic professionals and strengthening partnerships with doctors, universities, healthcare workers, community partners, and public safety law enforcement agencies. Finally, we will continue fostering cooperation with our many partners because behind every single death investigation, is a family seeking answers, compassion, and closure. Ultimately, our work is about people. Behind every case is a family seeking answers, and behind every investigation is a commitment to scientific excellence, compassion, and public service. Thank you for your continued support of our medical examiner department.

Thank you so much for that presentation. And if I don't have any comments from my colleagues, if we can have the corrections department recognized to give us a macro synopsis as well. Good morning, director. Our amazing corrections department.

Good morning. Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Thank you for this opportunity. This presentation reflects our commitment to serving our community with integrity, accountability and responsible stewardship.

Thank you director. I will say we, we do have some commissioners that, um, are, are running short on time. Okay. I'm going to, um, but you are recognized if you can, um, give again, a macro synopsis of the presentation, I assure you, everybody's going to read the presentation.

Yes, sir. And so our vision and our mission, they both align, so I'll just read our mission, which is MDCR is committed to serving our community by providing safe, secure, and humane detention of individuals in our custody while preparing them for a successful return back to our community. Our departmental overview. I'll just hit the key points is to maintain public safety. We want to make sure that we have a secure and humane environment for the approximately 4,700 inmates that we have under our care. We provide transportation as well as we maintain court security. We want to make sure that we're supporting a successful community reintegration. We have alternatives to incarceration. One is our pretrial services. Currently, we have 894 offenders on that program and 874 offenders on monitor release. Our head count today is 5,906 inmates. We have a very robust reentry program, so we want to continue to provide Customer priority needs, which includes our medical and mental health services, educational and vocational programs. Our customers are our employees, our CHS partners, and those entrusted under our care. We also have our external customers, which are our criminal justice partners, law enforcement agencies, county departments, community partners, and our general public. We currently, MBCR currently has 2,718 employees and CHS currently has 475 full-time employees. Our two major accomplishments is we achieved complete compliance with the settlement agreement in November of 2024 and our consent decree in July of 2025. And our second major accomplishment is we issue tablets to our inmate population in December of last year. And from January to June, we have seen a 48% decrease in inmate violence. And we thank you for that support. The next slide just details our number of batteries from 2022 to 2021. present, so we are projected, as long as we stay on the same trajectory, to complete the year at 1,000, I'm sorry, 176 incidents. Another accomplishment is we had a brown breaking for our replacement facilities, Site 1, last month. That particular facility is going to include our Century Intake and Release Center, four core rooms, MBCR headquarters, central support services building, and a video visitation center. And that plan is projected to conclude by December of 2030. Our key issues is replacing, which is a part of Site 2 of the replacement plan, our PTDC, which is 70 years old, successfully implementing a jail management system, and continuously monitoring and reducing our in-custody violence. Our priority initiatives is our radio replacement, which we're gonna purchase 2,600 radios for our sworn staff. IT infrastructure, and that's enhancing and upgrading our fiber optic cabling, which will improve communications with TGK and Metro West, and our ERT status, which we just had 50 graduates, and now we're in the process of formulating that team. Our future outlook is to monitor Site 1 and Site 2 of the replacement, jail replacement project, implementation of the IT projects, and maintain the highest standards and make sure that we are maintaining our accreditation standards with Florida Model Jail Standards and PREA. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Director. That was a great job. Great, great job.

And quick.

And I don't know if- That's our model, Mr. Chair. Amen. I don't know if any of my colleagues have any comments, but if they don't, if we can have Miami-Dade Fire please come up.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, commissioners, county attorneys, chief, and members of the staff. My name is Deputy Fire Chief Danny Cardesso, and I'm here on behalf of our fire chief, Ray Jadalla, who regrettably could not attend as he is away on county business. At your request and in the interest of everyone's time, I'll be brief. Our mission and overview is quite simply to be the best. To be the best and to continue to serve our community in a full range of emergency response capabilities, excluding law enforcement, of course. I think there's plenty of evidence and proof that we are well on our way to achieve our vision. Miami Dade Fire Rescue is already a full service fire rescue agency. Not only fire suppression, EMS, which are the most common, but everything from technical rescue to hazardous materials, there's a long list there. It's hard to find a service that's provided by the American Fire Service that's not being provided here locally by Miami Dade Fire Rescue. We are the largest fire department in the southeastern United States. In fact, we're among the tenth largest, currently sitting at number six and growing. What makes us even more special among those top six is that we are both ISO class one and internationally accredited. Those are both difficult to achieve for any fire department, especially for a large one. We're currently providing that full suite of response and services through 177 frontline units housed out of 73 fire rescue stations and currently responding to approximately 300,000 incidents per year. Who's our customer? Well, our customer specifically is about 1.9 million members of the fire district as well as millions more visitors that visit our county annually. We have a service area of 1,907 square miles and we serve all incorporated areas of Miami-Dade County plus 29 municipalities. Within that are both ports, airport and seaport. We have mutual aid agreements with all county departments as well as some outside the county. And we survey about 20% of all people that call for medical reasons. And we continue to enjoy a very high rating, currently 4.92 out of 5 in terms of satisfaction. Moving on to some recent accomplishment over the current and last couple of fiscal years, we've placed 18 new units in the service, ladies and gentlemen. That is unprecedented for our department. To put it in perspective, that is more units than a lot of the fire departments in our own backyard even have. And we've done all of that in the matter of the last two or three years. We've opened two new facilities, East Medley Fire Rescue Station 83 in September of last year. And most recently, the Eureka Fire Station, Mr. Chair, to which you were inquiring earlier, station 71. As mentioned, we are accredited and this was the fourth time that we achieved accreditation, so we are at 15 plus years of being an accredited agency. Some key issues. We've experienced a 13% increase in call volume over the last five years, and those calls are forecasted to continue to increase as our population continues to grow. In order to meet our current response time standards and currently reduce those, we will need to continue to grow with those population increases to keep response times at bay and improve upon them. In order to house those additional units, we're going to have to continue to build new fire stations. The search for new land as well as building of stations on existing land spans the county, but is definitely concentrated more heavily in the southern and western portions. Another key issue which is related to number two with regarding trying to acquire land is property scarcity. As we know, property is at a premium in our county and it makes it more difficult for us to find locations. In fact, of our current 11 land search locations, only two of them are currently moving forward to close a deal. Some priority initiatives for the rest of this fiscal year and next fiscal year. We're anticipating next fiscal year an additional two units. We have been implementing a new computer aided dispatch system. We hope to complete that implementation next fiscal year. That will help with unit dispatches and response times. And then also for response times, a priority initiative is to pilot test an emergency vehicle preemption system that's going to be tested at the East Kendall Fire Rescue Station 13. In short, that's a system that helps us change red lights to green lights as units are responding. And we hope that has the effect of reducing response times and reducing apparatus accidents. Future outlook. Our future outlook is bright, but of course with some challenges. We touched on already, securing land becomes still a significant challenge, and we currently have 11 sites that we're looking to acquire additional land. We're adapting our station design because gone are the days that we can enjoy a full two acres to build a fire station. So our station design has to be flexible and adaptable to the footprint of whatever property is available. We plan to hire a minimum of three recruit firefighter classes in the coming fiscal year. We continue to implement radio infrastructure improvements, prioritizing continuity of service through the additional service and replacement of aging stations and apparatus. And of course, exploring alternative funding sources for any impacts to our revenue that the property tax amendment may have with the vote in November. And with that, I'll take any questions, sir.

Thank you so much. That was a fantastic job. Thank you so much. And without a doubt, you prove again and again, we have the best fire rescue in the world. Thank you so much. If my colleagues have any questions or concerns, and with that, thank you. Thank you, sir. I think we are adjourned.

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