everybody we're just checking the zoom recording in progress okay I know right like just don't hit me with it thank you for your service I crack the table no fun yeah it's nice to have you back thank you we're are we waiting here for the recording right so I just like to warn everybody yesterday I recording in progress oh never mind see but I sh my dishwasher packet I shut the thing and it shot directly in my eyeball oh in the C I mean it was crazy goodness so I get one of those things you can reach your eye out you're sing Oh my God yes my daughter's like sodium bicarbonate that's in her Powter no thank you all right looks like it's on usually there's like a side thing but sometimes it doesn't look like the normal Zoom it doesn't no sometimes you just have to set it up for the side view right all right well we will call the May meeting here to order um and do a r roll call uh chair namoth here Vice chair free here uh council member Redmond here council member Damon council member wenta here council member shuras here you left me out sorry Council Committee Member but I'm saying council member is committee committee member sorry Committee Member Bradford yes here who is joining us after serving um but have we have yet pardon no we still have the old members because we haven't put him on well his seat was left open right but we don't we have to formally put him on there back like part of the reorg I think that's part of the reorg anyway yeah well I think okay all right and we messed up the agenda okay we're good all right um um can we get an approval of the agenda so moved the second second all those in favor uh uh any against all right uh do we have any Communications from citizens no um all right well we have a presentation today a recycling presentation with Jeff svan of Waste Management so we are thrilled to have you thank you good afternoon uh thank you for this opportunity my name is Jeff Savin I'm government Affairs manager for WM formally Waste Management formally nickel sanitation right Tom yes uh for those of us that have long tenures um and I really appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today share some updates um and then I really want to talk a little bit about the future of recycling but I think the empath EMP behind the message is to kind of debunked a lot of what the scuttlebutt is out and that recycling isn't working and that the materials that you take your time and effort to set aside to have repurposed they're actually being repurposed and going back into the market and um as a as a company and a firm committed to the environment and sustainability uh WM is at the Forefront of this entire industry as the lead leader of the industry which we're proud to say um domestically we are the largest recycler um in North America and very proud of that fact so what I was going to do to start off is contextually a little history about where we where we were and how we got to kind of bridge the gap till today and then I'll lead into the presentation and then I'll end up talking about local um impacts um your local recycling program here in Palm Beach County kind of a little bit of since I'm being recorded I'm going to have to be somewhat uh I would say sensitive to some of the things and in my uh my my opinion and I I'll I'll Venture down that path later in the presentation so historically um and we'll talk about the State of Florida and even prior to that recycling was the right thing to do like oatmeal it was something started by our forefathers and mothers um and it was war related and was really um a means for us to recapture resources and um to to reuse for war purposes um and and and that whole uh initiative was really focused on capturing everything that is consumed to be reused uh for our survival and it it became a culture um but it didn't last long because the industrial re revolution in progress and now I have to be really careful but uh the uh so so it's changed and it's kind of cyclical the recycling um I would I would say behaviors have have been cyclical and then uh we've kind of evolved into the generation of consumer convenience um more or less single a lot of single use products things like that for um mostly Plastics that uh get thrown away and are are in some sense essential especially the packaging for the preservation of Sanitation um to keep things clean sterile a lot of uh items are are that way and to protect us as consumers as well if you notice a lot of the the Child Safety uh single use things as well came along because we had issues in the past with tampering of products so we have evolved and and demonstrated as a culture that that we have changed tremendously and that our habits have changed as well and and so it's really incumbent upon us to really realize and be sensitive to what we consume how we consume and why we consume so um as a company w m is focused on that and and I I we're not waste management anymore we're WM and that kind of fits into our whole theme and that's commitment to circularity and sustainability as a Solutions company not necessarily just a waste company people question me all the time they see when I say zero waste they go well it means you won't have a job yes we will yes we will especially if we're again at the Forefront in creating solutions for the management and ultimate disposition of all materials being generated so with that leading up today in the State of Florida back in 1988 the State of Florida passed What's called the solid waste management Act of 1988 um it was spearheaded by Senator George Kilpatrick at the time it was groundbreaking for the State of Florida we seem to be behind the eightball relative and in terms to other areas of the country we're not quite as Progressive in terms of the environment and our protection of it and so we as a as a state and some of our leaders said we're landfilling everything we have only so many dis disposal sites we see that our airspace is finite and that eventually we're going to run out of airspace and we need to stop landfilling we need to refocus on recycling that's when the solid waste management act almost 36 years ago was passed and it set certain goals for the State of Florida for diversion and and and uh recycling it set a 75% diversion and recycling goal and I believe we've already I think it was supposed to be in uh 2017 I believe don't hold me to that but um we we still aren't there as a state but uh de FD has placed some go some pretty significant goals and trying to capture and reuse and recycle everything that's possible to preserve airspace in our landfills and to divert the material away from all the disposal and processing facilities because it's a costs saver if we avoid the disposal cost of bringing those materials that's a win right there that makes that economic equation a positive just doing that let alone the value of the materials and how it's being processed so that's a little bit of background a little bit about the State of Florida and now I'm going to talk about WM and our program and I'll go through pretty quickly because then I'll get to the local where we are today in Palm Beach County and specifically in the village of Desta which I'm sure your concern and your focal point is um where the leader as I said we continue to develop new facilities across the United States we are citing these locations obviously in some high population areas Hub and spoke to to make it uh economically feasible to feed these large processing facilities from shorter distances to reducing our Trucking costs in some areas we're able to actually inter modal material in progress It's okay um actually rail uh we do a lot of that in in the Northwest up in the state of Washington and Oregon we have some disposal facilities and processing in those areas that are interm modally fed where working on and breaking through some potential conceptual Intermodal uh actually facilities here in the State of Florida very excited about that trying to reduce the amount of trucks on the road uh transfer trailers those are those 100 cubic yard large uh tractor trailers we're trying to reduce the number of those that are needed to transport these materials to our processing facilities 14.8 million tons um it's kind of mindboggling to put that into perspective on size and dimension um I forgot the number of stadiums that fills but it's significant and it it is um I think we're heading in heading in the right direction based on the trend lines uh there you can see the last three years the latest I think this captures is 20 we're a little behind 2022 some of this data is based back back to 2022 next please processing uh circular economy we continue to embrace what we call the circular economy which is basically and I I I simplify it I call it and I did this when we were presenting the uh recycling symbol it's the triangles that go around pretty much uh representing that where we are able to capture the materials process them and I've been kind of forewarned we aren't always the end user we're kind of the the capture and the process and then we prepare all items um and we'll talk about each item independently preparing them for market and the market shift and the demand shifts for different products especially Plastics which are uh more prevalent now of course they're the lightest weight they cost the most to handle because things are all measured by weight go figure but that's the way the system is today so this points to each uh product and how we capture in process go ahead thank you Maran um and shaping the markets again over and this is kind of an interesting uh sidebar is that um You probably recall back about four or five maybe even six years ago um much of what was generated in the United States in North America America recycling wise materials were being shipped to China um we um and we as a company WM we had some really great overseas markets that we were exporting uh quality materials too um but a lot of Bad actors got in the way they were shipping I think there was a 60 Minute segment on this where they were shipping what was supposed to be clean cardboard with hazardous waste and they were shipping it to China for disposal subjecting the Chinese and their uh their Crews and the people handling the materials to obviously uh environmentally unsound conditions and so the Chinese put up what they call the green fence that means we're good we're going to process our own we don't need yours um you've kind of crossed the line if you will with the quality especially on on the extreme end of it but that kind of forced a domestic internal look and relook at the availability of market and processing in the United States um we were on the Forefront because we were the largest we had to find local uh consumers in in every element in every material Plastics obviously aluminum's NE aluminum is never in really issue um they're Rec consumers and it's the most valuable metal that is produced and recycled but Plastics were a challenge definitely for us um but we continue to shape the market in creating materials that are marketable and have high value so that puts a great deal of pressure go ahead marann please on our processing um we are proud to announce we're building and we had the groundbreaking of a new facility next to the existing facility in P pond lines uh to the south of us I think it's on the northernmost portion of Broward in Broward County um where or southernmost it's near the DAT county line I believe Henri points so it's in the South it's a huge facility we're really excited about it and we're incorporating a great deal of uh high technology in the separation also to minimize the the necessary labor of crew people on the line picking in what what we call negative sorting of materials that they go down the line a lot of now the uh a lot of it it's automated robotic um we've got Optical sorting uh lenses that actually are able to identify materials on the on the processing line and it it uh recaptures redirects them to the correct veiler and and and end processing um activities which is really exciting for us so this we should be since we broke around I think 2020 let's see it says break yeah and we should I think at about 16 months have that particular facility online it is for single stream processing so that's where all the materials are co-mingled most of our processing facilities actually all are single stream and we'll talk a little bit about that um in the next few slides okay um all this kind of commercial always working for sustainable tomorrow up and through our entire organization U we we develop maintain retain and promote a culture of sustainability and high ethics and value for what we do from the driver that picks up in front of your home um to the CEO's office we all are all are reading off the same script and our commitment to sustainability and ethical operations of all of our facilities and we're very proud of that fact next recycle right we also partner with all of our uh Municipal customers and the counties we serve across the United States on what on on trying to maintain quality materials that are picked up collected processed and then marketed every day it's a challenge um and we get always get the questions about the the pizza boxes and we also get to do the peanut butter and the sour cream containers have to be cleaned and rinsed um those types of things so it's a continual process of educating um and we see the es and flows in kind of the same kind of cyclical responses to our education we full on and push and we send out reminders and we see the quality and the material the volume start to increase but then uh 6 months to 18 months later it falls off again so it really takes continual pressing and reinforcement on both education but communication as well we've learned a lot in in that area we have some and am I on a time as well because I want to be very respectful of your time I mean I'm interested in hearing this this is you're fine you you can gong me whenever I got it here I'm right you know I'll I'll see some BO when I see bobbing heads moving along Jeff moving along okay uh maryan next palmach County um I talked I talked about single stream because that's the process in which WM captures collects processes and markets in palmach County we're on the Dual sort as you know dual stream recycling where the materials are separated in both what we call fiber and co-mingled um they're collected in those 18 gallon bins and they The Authority now has those larger do you see that uh blue I think it's about a 35 gallon uh container that we also dump as well and they are available through request through the Solid Waste Authority if for some reason you generate more of that type of material which we found to be prevalent because it's the comingled bottles jars and a lot of plastics and those containers that we consume at the grocery most all of which which are recycled almost all of which can end up in the blue bin and then on the yellow side U pretty much all fiber uh ends up processed um and and reused and we have local Mills I call local Georgia North Florida a lot of Mills where we send a lot of that fiber most of which is cardboard and a lot of it's bailed that comes from the the commercial businesses uh and mostly from the big boxes they internalize all of their cardboard so we'll just use Publix CU we've got a couple um they have bailers in the back room where they take all the cardboard that they reuse and they receive all their groceries in and they put that in a Bailer bail it up and then they set the ba set the baales out sorry um and then the distribution trucks that come from wherever Deerfield or north or south wherever they reload those into the trucks to take back to the distribution centers where then they sent by large trucks to the Mills so there's a tremendous amount of capture in the large consumer larger Big Box commercial businesses they do a tremendous job and that because that's a lot of weight that represents significant weight and volume in in recovering for the state of Florida's goals um next oh I put this in um kind of information um and it ties to what is and isn't recyclable um those materials and we also do this uh selfishly for our collection Crews where a lot of materials that are Genera we call them household hazardous waste um and those are those basic chemicals and pesticides and uh liquids and things that are expired D and unusable but should but need to be diverted from the waist stream and the Solid Waste Authority palach county has that convenience center right there in military in Donald Ross where their transfer station is so they also take fluorescent bulbs that's the other thing uh the bulbs then the batteries the b&bs uh along with all those things you keep in your garage that expired that I've already talked about and other things that are you contain that you think are okay but it's better safe than sorry we'd appreciate it and the Solid Waste Authority would as well because what it does it keeps the cost down they used to have an Amnesty Day which would um open up the basic intake for all of those things on an annual or or or quarterly basis and this way they have these Convenience centers around the county to allow residents to bring those materials oils to I I don't know where the most of the cylinder the gas cylinders you take back and exchange them U but they do take those as well we hope those stay out and of course medical waste as well needs to follow the correct path and disposal is not one of them in your garbage so um information about that and they have a great website so SWA you're welcome for the commercial next please that's it wow is it 22 minutes okay um so I think as a as a wrap up to this and how it in in terms of The Villages recycling efforts I find that most residents I would are recycl a lot of recycling already um doesn't mean that are we at a point where we can do more divert more recycle more absolutely um it's it's always in our best interest to recycle the most we can to divert it where we differ a little bit here in Palm Beach County and and where other counties that have landfills and other means of disposal because palmach county has a waste of energy facility even those things that end up in the trash are are generate renewable energy so that's a real positive um it's a fairly expensive process um The Authority does a does a a great job in running and operating those waste energy facilities down on 45th Street if you ever want to take a tour there you can they've got they've got an education center down there that is remarkable um I've been in the business my entire career and I all I've learned a lot by taking the tour with the authority staff through their facilities um and then they also have uh tours of the material recycling facility what we call them Mur and they're all within that 45th Street their main complex there so I would I would recommend that if you'd like handson and learn more about how they actually handle all the materials the authority over the last few years have studied uh the economics of their of their program in Palm Beach County they had a workshop a couple years ago maybe not that long where they did a a financial deep dive of what they're doing and how they're doing it and at the time commodity prices were not very good and pretty much the program was showing a lot of red and not a lot of in this case green so they're looking at their program uh hence commodity markets have returned uh the valuations on the materials I mentioned are are much better now and we've got some domestic consumers that are actually looking for Quality uh products that the authority generates markets bails and provides to Market so it is it is very positive um and we continue as a company to single stream that pom County continues to dual stream and um there will be a time I I think we'll hit some where the cost of collection will kind of probably maybe potentially um outstrip the the modity value right now you're in an interlocal agreement with us with the authority U that interlocal Authority that interlocal agreement with the authority pretty much is what we call a flow control it it uh you have an agreement to deliver all your materials to the authority and um as a result of that there is a a revenue share where they share some of the revenue derived from the processing and marketing of of the materials so that is a positive um so with that I think currently the authority and the interlocal agreement is in place and that's the way things are going at least for now at least it's going to be dual stream and we continue to collect dual stream with with specialized trucks there if you notice they're split what we call split body rear loaders they actually have a body that's split right down the middle with two separate independently operating hydraulically operating compressors if you will on each side um obviously one's for the yellow and one's for the blue so one's for the C mingled and the other's for the fiber um and we collect from all the residences and and multif family dwelling units as well within the village so but the cost and we're talking about Automation and going to automation uh for garbage collection for solid waste collection going forward to make it more convenient and and actually the the impetus behind that is cost savings um going forward labor continues to be um an issue uh through Co and that even after we still are experiencing supply chain issues as well but um You' think we'd get over the hump by now but we haven't but we've increased our benefit packages to not only acquire but to retain people and uh you know that comes at a cost so we're we're hedging our bets and and working hard to keep our cost down so we don't have to pass them back through to the consumers and and the rate payers in this case these are Village residents we're proud to be the server and provider for the village for gosh almost 40 years and uh hope another 40s in our in our future with you all I'm more than happy to uh answer any questions or anything you may have I do have a question because we talked about recycling at our parks and did a little um work on that what what would be your two top suggestions best practices that we could do to help our residents you know recycle what are the best things that you've seen that have have I guess brought yes thank you participation that have helped that get people to recycle that you know something we could do to help our village great question I think just updating them on kind of the state of recycling will I think tweak some interest at least at a minimum um you know I just was was thinking through some other kind of Concepts and ideas people love to compete they love to compete um and how that would translate into you know feet on the ground where the rubber meets a road I you know it's worth further discussing but um yeah competent raising awareness raising awareness number one just getting people to that what they're doing is uh benefiting not only our environment but it's also offsetting cost so competition and the dollar signs seem to grab people's attention pretty quickly uh from our perspective but we really push the um education piece okay where we update people always like to get new information that they can use in in their discussions with their neighbors and and what have you socially whether it be on social media or whatever that's another great uh way to get people uh engaged um and then and then we can do surveys and things like that to kind of surveys are always kind of getting feedback um from residents we feel is is vitally important to take their temperature find out what they're really concerned with you know what's going to move the needle so to speak so awareness of really really I think is is number one with us thank you I know I have a lot I I questions you when I'm start I've got two for you um just to understand when you're were talking about air rights is that the uh landfill height and so how is that determined through a state that's an interesting question um in the disposal business especially uh landfilling uh space is a commodity so um the space allowed for and permitted above the surface of the ground is um measured and it's and and that's why landfill operators like to get the best compaction because they want to preserve the amount of airspace they have left to fill so if you kind of visualize a pyramid for instance I think pyramids probably um what we do we call those lifts each layer of garbage as we build a landfill is called a lift and the space above the last lift is the air space that still perbly allowable to be filled with solid waste so the airspace is really a commodity in an asset in the landfill business and there's a calculation that actually calculates the depletion rate of airspace left and we also have to file with FD annually what the calculation is and what our actual airspace uh estimate is for future dispos osal purposes and and for monitoring and all of the other regulatory requirements by FD and that permit that has to be applied and uh and abided by so airspace is a valuable measurement so is there a height limit there is um and the landfill has what we call a footprint and and that's the linear area that the actual footprint of the landfill takes up on that piece of property land and then it's built up from there and it has permitted um first of all it it has permitted volume inbound volume on a per day basis and and corly on on on a periodic basis and then there are all the other permits involved but yes there are height limitations do you know what it is for us yet it depends on the size of the footprint basically yeah it's like again back to pyramid concept the The Wider the footprint the taller the oh yeah I know how we know how this works this works I'm well aware with this concept there is a landfill in okovi that you can see from State row 70 now as you head West in Doo yeah that's second question was the process that used in Martin County with a single container for recycles is that single stream that you're talking about yes yes ma'am okay that's not something we're going to see in palage county for near future I know here we go this is the path yes um and Martin County felt that they they studied they they made a determination that they were only capturing X number of tons of recyclable material within their populace and they felt that the bins 18 gallon bins were not as convenient as a 64 gallon Mobile card on Wheels with lids they felt that and here's a there's a flip side to everything so um and and the argument for the Dual stream is is going to come to light so what we have uh experienced through our initiation and development of the single stream recycling program is that the capture rate is much higher we we capture more than 30% um by by weight and volume recycled materials because it's so it's much more convenient um and it's it's easy but what comes with that is the potential for additional contamination as well sometimes users use the recycling in this case Martin County's cart for overage garbage overage so contamination does come into play when you consider adopting a single string program um so you really have to have a processor that's built and and designed for that but we are I mean we build our facilities knowing what the residue counts going to be we we pretty much know what the outows are um we have so many tons coming through our facilities um our data is really spot on so but we found that our single stream programs capture a larger greater volume and weight of recycled materials and we're able to process and Market all those materials yes there's a higher higher there's a higher residue count which deducts because that material has to be captured and then disposed of properly so that's the on that negative line uh full disclosure so but it's still outpacing in the capture rate now the Dual stream program uh specific to pach County as well they keep looking at their numbers they keep looking at the tons and the volume and their contamination rate and they feel that because they've got a lower contamination rate although they have a lower capture rate um they're able to get a higher value return on the Commodities because it doesn't get mixed broken the glass breaks in the single stream it gets mixed up with the other materials they're able to keep a cleaner end product in Palm Beach County they Market it they get a higher commodity value again they may not be hitting the the number volume wise or weight on their capture rate but they're committed to staying the course with the Dual stream at least for now so we we're being asked throughout wherever I go about the single stream recycling program because people really like the convenient cart versus they like to replace those vins with a nice you know 64 gallon cart and that's understandable so but we're um we're in discussions um The Village manager and I have had numerous discussions about the potential um and what that would look like um we probably need a we probably need a bigger group let's say it may have to include other adjacent but then I you know I've got to be careful because I you know we are you have an interlocal agreement plus we have agreements with the authority as well so out of respect for the system they have in place uh we're going to go down the path but you you know we'll definitely look into the potential for it single streamer sidey just to piggyback off that are there other counties that are single strin yes okay so that data is is growing to analyze and absolutely the habits of the Dual stream though reflect the culture of what we're trying to achieve as a whole society though I mean they I feel like the Dual stream reflects a a higher diligence or or higher habit level I guess right I mean just just a separation right just the forced separation does that correct you have to think and it seems almost backwards move to you know these people that are so used to doing that for so long it almost seems you know like you'd be stepping backwards to be you know providing one bin to them because we've come so far in trying to get these habits formed to this you know extent the some of the drivers to single stream are and I said the convenience um of not having to separate where everything can go in the same bin the convenience of that um population age lugging those 18 gallon B some some a lot of people have those little totor cart things on Wheels whatever um and generally then the overages as well what do I do am I going to need three bins if I could I I generate a lot of whatever it is I consume a lot of it's not newspapers anymore I have two yellow bins and a big blue bin that they dropped off I mean I just went online and I filled the thing out and they dropped them right off on day it was great yeah right the other thing is um the restrictedness of the Dual stream when it comes to cardboard because right now we say 3 by 3 by3 so it'll fit in the 18 gon bin most people when they have a an Amazon delivery or they buy a large screen TV or Anon I mean dimensionally the cardboard doesn't fit in those program in the program today so that just want to you you tweaked my I was I was thinking through that both the impediments and the the positives as well kind of The Balancing Act that that this is we're definitely doing it we're doing a balancing act right now and trying to accomplish more and continue on a program as well and make it more convenient hopefully more participation do you and I apologize Russ for jumping it do you foresee any chance of increasing the cardboard size that would be acceptable has there been any uh talk of that you need a bigger bigger yeah the ISS issue we have is that the it's got to fit well we do it with the rear loader so mostly unless it's a really big piece of cardboard um the our crews can pick it up and put it in that but the you know the sometimes they take it and sometimes they don't right so I mean yeah which isn't good for either one of us well no we don't want to leave anything on the curve Yeah clean curve that's why we're talking about the carts for garbage too we don't want to curb appeal as well so that's that's the other thing isn't that also potentially a timing because if there was leftover cardboard you guys couldn't take then if the trash came through afterwards they've always picked it up I've never had things left just left you know I've noticed like oh recycling didn't take it I wonder if and then the garbage will take it you know yeah exactly so our crews kind of work to they work together right so and then the other um although we haven't had much of it lately uh rain soaks soaks the all the paper and uh that creates an issue definitely um here and we all already get dinged um by the pulp folks uh that process it because they actually probe the Bales for moisture content because and they deduct from it just makes you think about when humidity gets to a certain level the paper absorbs it it just adds weight so they're going wayy we're paying for water uh water weight so the yeah a lot of the uh Mills anything south of Mason Dixon they already deduct especially during the summer period is that wild I mean who would have thought they got it down to a science for sure so yeah dehumidifier what is the right air conditioned buildings right keep your recycling been in an air conditioned space you're right so okay thank was there rest you I'm good Tom yeah uh Jeff it seems to me in addition to uh boosting Communications through our newsletter telling everybody hey recycling is working the the revenues are up uh Etc the things you touched on it seems to me that our two big problems are one we have a lot of uh uh strip centers shopping centers that don't have a uh uh big box company and these little mom and pop shops don't have any play based upon the the way the current contract works the land owner uh for whatever reason will it's we've tried this in the past they're not interested in putting a say a small the smallest dumpster that you have because of the cost so that people that the businesses in the Strip Center can recycle and by placement in that smaller dumpster the other thing is we have a lot of older multifam type of places and in terms of like I learned this through my son who's lived all across the country uh the modern apartments have and multif they have like the shoots on the every floor where you can put the garbage shoot and now the newer places have the recycling shoot and sometimes maybe three shoes because the separation issue but um so we don't have that either so uh I think you know Americans being Americans they're just going to put everything in the garbage and I think that's some somehow we have to figure out a way to to improve our recycling in those two areas great Point Tom um I'll address the commercial um and and on a scale as well commercial generators are the primary I mean from a weight stand standpoint everything's measured by by tons uh the commercial sector generates a tremendous amount of recyclable materials the the issue it's not necessarily an issue but a delineation is with the commercial recy commercial recycling is not regulated its open market so it's not linked to the franchise agreement that means any any provider that and mostly is cardboard pretty much the cardboard uh contractors um that that put out bins and and for cardboard um any basically we make we have an offering to do that and it's at a cost so some of these retailers and strip owners look at that and they go it's it's not doesn't doesn't make good business for you know it's green and it's the right thing to do and they should provide an outlet for all clean recyclable materials generated on that property they should have an incentive to want to do that and they could use any of the recyclers including WM but there lots of other companies that commercially uh provide containers and do the pickup throughout Palm Beach County throughout the state so before you keep going further um you might not like this nor would a lot of other people but could we add that provision as a franchise item which is currently not a franchise item and mandate through a law an ordinance inqu that says commercial areas have to recycle they have to provide the facilities no can't we can't do that no because it's there a state statute that prohibits that I know yeah we've tried it yeah and failed miserably yeah um we tried to include it in a couple of the franchises and uh it got uh legally pounded so I didn't see the light of day so it might be that one way is for the commercial businesses in the Strip Center to to come together and impress upon the owner that they want that perhaps right correct and and um obviously work with the village on the sighting of a dumpster if it needs to be you know screened or whatever through the whatever ordinance you inhabit absolutely I that's that's great and we'd encourage that what about the multif family problem yeah the multif family um and let's for your um reference point to Quest of Garden Apartments yeah perfect underground cans um T Upstairs Downstairs um underground can next to the stairwells um very limited space but we do provide um a big rolloff container because they're 248 I think units in uh yeah I think that's close um we have a rolloff recycling container that they utilize so we do and have address with that that particular property so we'll kind of real quick look at the the condos the with that have garbage shoots a lot of them have the blue and yellow uh toor cards the 90 6 and the 64 gallon carts they have them in their trash rooms and the and the people religiously bring their stuff I wish they wouldn't put it in grocery bags but that's the big that's like I didn't spend a lot of time because it's kind of obvious but we spent millions and millions of dollars just cleaning and trying to keep our our processing and uh facilities clear of the the plastic grocery bags that get wrapped around all of our conveyor belts but back to the condos yeah a lot of them do but not all of them there I think there's an opport there is an opportunity there as well for the other for the condos that aren't we could work with them we'll go we we'll willing to audit and go out and do an audit go to their site visit with them look at their uh space that they have and see if they have enough they can allocate for recycling we willing to do that I believe that's the same at whiteall um right so my question is I guess for these 55 for the senior um for the con for the you know communities or the buildings that are seniors how are they expected to get the tra do they have to throw it up and into those bins or is there a door or how do they get the trash into the big extra you know how you said it's sitting on site uh yeah Testa Garden Apartment we have a special um rolloff container with little sliding doors on the side okay all right that's cool and it's divided they got the com on one side and the the paper fiber on the other and they just bring their stuff and they open I keep knocking this around they open the door okay and just yeah it's pretty very exessive I know that we've I've got family members that do blood thinners and thing and bumping and getting scratched you know is is definitely so I would be interested to know are those utilized those um as much the onsite or we do have those in those locations that can accommodate them yeah not you just I've got got an idea now there's a apartment complex here in the village as well I have to take a look at that okay yeah I think they have car I think they have the two carts but I'll look at it one right up the street here okay I was just K there's some there definitely some opportunities in the village and more than willing to work U with the village and staff and then actually go out on our own and do some Audits and because we have a seasonal our seasonal Community a lot is coming from up north where they're regularly used to doing these things and the habits are in place and I'm somebody that sets up out at the public you know events so I hear a lot about you know the bags and they're used to paying for them and that sort of thing so I think um as long as the convenience factor like you're saying is there they would certainly be more inclined to use them but if it's difficult or they're nervous about you know getting into the dumpster I think that would certainly be a deterrent you know and and then the other um outside at parks and special events those are really tough because again people they look for the closest cart or garbage can unfortunately a lot of the stuff gets contaminated at those special events we try like heck we we put cards with just little holes in that lock they figure out how to stuff their paper plates and stuff roll a burrito style and shove it through right it's like we do our best yeah yeah but the positive thing is again the the residue all goes to the waste energy facility which produces renewable energy at the worst I mean at a cost but at least here in palach County all materials either get recycled on the front end or get converted from waste to energy on the back end so it's not a bad story do you have any more Tom no I'm done um so you You' mentioned before the single stream uh option in Martin County and you said 30% more recyclable material is collected is that correct was that like per household or per how how does that calculate out it was based on the total tonnage so 30% more gen overall gross tons were generated by that product whether it's broken down into the individual resident but the end result was they their capture rate increased by 30% they were able to capture 30% more materials from the waist stream they divert 30% we know the weight measurements on garbage we know what that number is and in Palm Beach County oh gosh your calculation and it hasn't changed in a while I think if you break it down it's one I think it's one and a half tons and about a about a ton of gar of mssw household garbage and then uh you got 0. five for yard waste and then the rest is recycled but yeah they do a calculation as well in in Tom each County and they do it by unit and then they issue you they issue us disposal Credits based on the tonage based on weight and the reason Palm Beach county is not on the single stream versus Martin County is because it's just less financially feasible single stream no and I don't believe I I depends if you look at the program we call the front end or the back end or start or finish so from the colle ction point and then we'll we'll go real quickly through what where the costs are so obviously you have the cost of collection um single stream is is less expensive because it's We Do It Auto automated ASL automated side loader picks up that eliminates the two person separation pickup two bins so there's a cost saving that's on the front end of the single string um then on the on the processing this the single stream is also set up to process all materials comingled together whereas Authority has set up their murf to do the the big divide where they have they have a line for the co-mingle and they have a separate processing line for all the fiber so it would seem to me that that would be kind of a replication if you will of having to do plus we have a the again on and and we talked about single stream front they're the convenient and what have you and then the processings are not as much cost as well there may be more residue but on the Dual stream two bins a twers crew on a rear loader with a divided body that if one side fills up before the other one oh yeah I didn't mention that but I being reported but it happens where we'll fill the we'll fill the comingled up before the fiber especially in this day and age we get a lot more plastic you can yeah that so they've got a drive dump even though I only have half a compartment full of fiber they still have to go to and dump and come back to the routing again so that's another kind of collection cost and this I think a lot of the costs on the front end of the Dual stream are are going to continue to escalate that's my opinion and that even though their capture r rate is consistent in the Dual stream and the and the commodity value because of the Lesser contamination of the materials because they are separated um and the commodity values this may start to outstrip the revenue yeah the costs I think are going to continue to go up yeah if you did a a chart it's what I think I'm kind of predicting that based on what we've experienced over the last three years with labor and everything else so but I've had the same discussion with the authority and they realize it so they're going to be looking at it very closely probably maybe not that's not really my perview but yeah because I would have never guessed almost a third uh you know 30% more that's significant yeah and um you know I that lends itself to just convenience yeah I'm a little bit different than my colleague here um the convenience aspect it I mean Americans will pay for convenience yep so okay in Martin County they automated their single stream collection before their garbage wow we were pushing them let's do a twofer let's do both at the same time but they're a little real reluctant they are now going to consider it though because they see the cost they see what's happening in the industry so and so what do they make like because it's shared uh so what is their benefit over hours like in terms of the single stream you talk about dollar dollars pretty much and and Martin County um internalizes so what they do um we collect it we deliver it to them at their facility and they actually transported themselves to a processing facility in St Lucy County so their reeven and the revenue derived from their program pays for all the the transportation processing and then they then there's a res then they get a revenue share on the on every on every dollar that exceeds the cost of transportation and processing then they have a 50 I don't know what their percentage that was in their local agreement between the two counties but then they share in the revenue so it's a pretty creative approach and it kind of builds in those incentives as well so I'm done thank you my pleasure thank you yes um okay do you have any you want to no I'm all up okay um I had I was curious aside from the PM Pines expansion what other potential site locations they're looking at um for building in in the state that you kind of mentioned we are looking um we're in a kind of a building infrastructure as I indicated because we're trying to create a network uh for efficiencies and reduction of of costs especially Trucking so I I think conceptually we're looking at the larger markets around the state as well we're looking at or Orlando um over on the on the west coast Orlando Tampa Jacksonville those kind of hubs those larger centers um and we're also um in the CND or construction and demolition debris uh uh processing and recycling as well we're looking at a number of facilities to do that and expand our Network within the State of Florida with all the construction that's going on it's unbelievable the amount of construction waste that's going into landfills it just it's it's mind it's mind it's mind numbing it's maddening so does that Happ is there is our facility here do they take the CN or do they take construction waste they um actually the county doesn't but there are a number of uh independent operators and we're one of them that operate these CN d uh processing facilities and it's a huge net there are a lot of small small ones all over the place so they're highly accessible and okay any of those that they're looking at for this area yes yeah yeah that I anywhere anywhere you want to give me a hint um okay I I was curious what your top three like the Strategic relationships that you had talked about you know what those would be for example or what your top relation strategic relationships are with Partners In the state well we are um currently aligned with the uh recycling uh keep Florida beautiful and the recycling Alliance I forget the actual state name but we're very involved in that at the state level that be like the um keep Palm Beach County beautiful is that yes that's one of them and we're yeah keep Florida beautiful and all the Affiliates uh Palm Beach County Martin County they all have Affiliates city of Port St Lucy has a keepy Port St Lucy those are all Affiliates of keep Florida beautiful and yeah we're one of the first members of that um proud of that but we're also align with a number of other uh environmental organizations in the state um specifically the the recycling coition of course the industry has the solid waste industry has their own kind of group and lobbyists in Tallahassee of course so um because as you know the state within the oh not this past this last session which would be the prior year tried to float a bill making you all go into garbage business that I'm just generalizing but it was one in which was totally disruptive to the Partnerships that you just mentioned so we're keeping an eye on that every session on that but yeah we're align with most all the and of course we members and participate in the Florida League of cities and the Florida Association of counties helps us helps us keep our finger on the pulse of what's going on with our public sector partners and and what investments for example are top Investments that you guys are making sustainability sustain specific yeah that that's the broad umbrella but to drill down and what that really means um and if you you look at our sustainability report the uh the company is investing over a billion and maybe $ 3.8 billion in sustainable initiatives in particular is our RNG program and uh that's the reusable natural gas and this is gas derived from landfills our goal as a company is to capture all landfill gas and to convert it into reusable gas number one to fuel our Fleet our operating collection Vehicles if if feasible and secondly to provide that gas back into the network so those projects are and I'm I can't say anything right now but I'm only about a week or two away from making a fairly significant announcement of locally the impact we're going to have locally on one of those projects that we've broken ground on that's huge um I've been for years for probably over a decade 8 and a half yeah 15 20 been trying to on all our landfills in the State of Florida um get to these programs where we'd be capturing all the gas instead of flaring them um it's just contributing heat we can the reusable methane does take a lot of refining to get it to a point where it it's clean enough for U combustion especially um engine and what have you where would you you use where we use it so it does take it tremendous investment one of our obstacles has been trying to get um get on the grid and we couldn't get interconnects um especially near near our okobi landfill we've been trying for years to get fpnl to get an internet interconnect For Us close enough just the engineering wasn't right they didn't have the power lines close enough for us but everything seems to be falling into place and the company's Mak a huge investment so um and so aside from plastic and cardboard what are the top three most sought after resources or most I guess valuable to you guys say aluminum right aluminum aluminium we love it and it's like universally recyclable right almost yeah aluminum um there there are lots of plastics your basic plastic is pet polyethylene terap valate that's your number one clear and then your HD that's the other plastic those ones and twos um Plastics one's clear and the other one's F you know those types and then the ones detergent comes in and the the solid colored ones um those types of plastics are most readily reused and and do and they're finding new and better sources for that for those um the Lesser Plastics that we do consume and recycle that get mixed and don't have a great market for we sell a lot of that to extruders those are the plastic companies that develop manufacture the plastic wood big companies tracks they build everything out of plastic and we you know from an outdoors person I I love the recycled plastic boardwalks docks things like that but the boardwalks especially through nature preserves you don't get the clunk clunk clunk that you do on U pressure treated um 2x sixes or whatever they use so they they absorb they last and just the quiet and and recycled plastic is you know and this we're trying to reduce the amount of plastic that's ending up in in our oceans and the microplastics as well that are ending up everywhere so it's just a huge huge uh project and I think we're all kind of together with that and trying to reduce the amount of plastics so well and I guess that um it this kind of ties into as I'd mentioned before I like to set up at our food trucks for example so I do a lot of community engagement and even at my daughter's school previously I had actually or you know organized an Earth Day event and I believe it was SWA came in they had somebody that had and I was curious if there was a program to educate on recycling or something that their you know resources um this had have been four or five years ago that I had done that so I wasn't sure if there were any programs or resources for the kids that I could or we could incorporate into the community um and that's I guess why I was asking what the most sought after or like let's shoot for these and not these you know to try to make it more um I think kids love a competition or setting goals you know and having uh being able to tell their parents we need this or we need that you know that I think incentivizes them so I have three so so is there anything that you guys do for geared towards children with public education yes we have our own but in Palm Beach County we partner with the Solid Waste Authority okay and theirs was great I mean it was great awesome Joanne I she retired but yeah they have a great group and whenever we have outdoor events um we usually partner with them we we bring well we when we have your shred event we bring recycling bins I'm going to knock this off we bring recycling bins and distribute them to Residents that come to shred their documents and we do that I think twice a year twice a year we just did it like tax and we do it again in octob October October but yeah so we we do that we try and raise awareness and make sure everybody has bins and new bins and to your point too you just call if you need a new bin or whatever yeah so and then this was and this was like games for kids they had like activities for the kids and they had things you know that is that something that's still active a program we could call to Anor in for something sure we uh yeah we've got little kiosks and things like that little uh um photo photo ops with little anyway it's we have fun fun things as well for the kids yeah um Touch of trucks we do that as well okay I know you had said did you I just have one more question um and this might be more appropriate for SWA but I'm going to ask it anyway with regard to battery recycling um um especially maybe five six seven years from now when there's going to be a number of car electric car batteries you know EV batteries that are going to be coming back have you guys discussed like what are we going to do you know like strategically how is this going to work out great question um and batteries right now are really on the front of Mind in the industry but generally speaking um it the lithium ion batteries have created somewhat of an issue um proper handling and Disposal and recycling of those batteries um a lot of them are ending up in the trash so and bad consequences I'm not supposed to go any further than that at this point so I W providing treading on ice but yeah batteries and the the uh Solid Waste Authority has their household has it as waste Convenience Center you bring all your batteries and they'll and they'll recycle them also we partnered with and continue to try and capture all of the electronics um which would be all flat screens computers all of that material they also collect those at the convenience center as well so there's a big push and we also have a fluorescent bulb recycling all of those things are I think critically important because we want to keep them out of the environment and selfishly I want to protect my crew members that that pick up those bulbs and all those things that can be hazardous to them so that's really a great question batteries and then longer term in a bigger picture is what's going to happen with those uh EV batteries um and they say that they have a 10year what life cycle yeah yeah who knows really who knows exactly who really knows so that is really putting a lot of pressure on on us and the entire industry to work with the re work with the manufacturers um because a lot of a lot of those batteries you well know you do that it's rare earth minerals um that are coming from halfway across the world and you know creating a situation where we need to use those we partner with a trademarks Metals in okobi they have a uh what we call fluff recycling facility that's autof fluff where they where they take the cars well they strip every usable piece of metal out of out of the car mostly hot most of the components um your computer chips and all those things but there's a lot of gold and silver uh that come out and they're able to to recycle all of that a lot of that comes from a big yard in Tampa so yeah bigger push I'm a big proponent of let's keep it domestic if we if we produce it we should recycle it and reuse it let's don't dump it or send it to somebody else um you know what about all that glass that turns into uh what we call uh call it when mixed glass gets broken together in the industry it's called mixed call it and it's ground up glass that has no real real use benefit or value you know I keep make a heck of a a countertop kitchen countertop so that's me and my soapbox we could if we could get um and we're so entrepreneural I mean come on a free market there's so much material out there for free you can get and make real valuable products out of it so people are getting more creative I just wish it was at a higher scale that that's really what we're dealing with there it's not scalable there is good news on this front that you're talking about in the last six months two United States firms have invented and patented the recycling of the batteries that are in cars is it lithium I don't remember yes they they've they've patented it and then uh on a bigger more dangerous front uh there's a a company in the United States that has found a way to uh safely recycle used uranium from the the uh nuclear power plants so there well you know the biggest problem with that is the storage of the they now know how to recycle we need to figure that out for price some thanks for sharing that that's positive and on a positive note yeah do we have any other questions anybody no thank you for a wonderful presentation and all of your time my my pleasure and uh on behalf of WM we really we appreciate your business thank you are we able to get those slides by any chance or a copy of the slid show the PowerPoint yeah the powerpint in the backup that will be online okay I emailed them so you're all thank you thank you J very welcome thank you very informative all right very interesting yes um all right so uh we have the consent agenda here um do we have we have to vote on the consent agenda do we have any changes we making no do we have a motion motion to approve yes consent agenda yeah second all right all those in favor any there's nothing all the consent well I'm just going down you're right sorry yes I see that here I was going back and forth all right um I saw the May oh that's this meeting all right uh regular agenda we have um old business first of all we have to approve the agenda did we do that sorry no we just did the consent so we need to approve the regular agenda I'll I make a motion that we approve the agenda as submitted and that was with the changes to the item order right yeah okay okay um what is that item just that I was hoping to change nine above the others in other words the south Florida ecosystem restoration task force item yeah okay I would prefer to start with yeah so I made a motion to approve the agenda as submitted is there a second I guess you is there a second second all those in favor hi hi okay um okay okay so now we have our old old business old business is show old business great email good um I just wanted to catch you up on the meeting that Jane and I had with Don Dan Dan comford from Jupiter in Lake Colony since they achieved that City so I'll just briefly go through this for anybody hasn't read it or for people that are listening uh Jupiter and Lake colony did receive their gold level for at the lead certified City program and that was just actually uh recently in 2023 and uh the main objective we wanted to find from him was what was the benefit for Jupiter in like colony and as we found out from that meeting their their interest in it was because they consider themselves the greenest municipality in Florida and they felt that the lead City certification was an additional opportunity to enhance that status so that was their driving um motive for it and it does involve a year of time and resources both in labor and funding so we want to see how that would be applicable to the village and uh basically there was a $2,000 application fee that did end up being uh virtually free to them of through a grant from lead and they also they are smaller than us obviously in their Town Hall they they did have to Outsource and Bill Whiteford came Jay had Bill Whiteford come and speak to us if you remember his fee was about 50 Grand and then the additional uh 50 grand for Tom Johnson their engineer and then they also have to use their Town Hall staff and um to research and develop all that data and so using looking at those resources and what it involved for for them made sense does it make sense for the village of taquesta and what did they also get through it so I've listed some of the items that they discovered we'll say through their process and these items pretty much are what we already are aware of in our own village because we have our committee EAC and we have our staff that are already geared towards this and um so the the bottom line was it seems that our municipality is kind of in between an affluent Town who had the financial resources to do this and a larger city which would have additional financial and human resources to attain that certification and so my opinion was that at this time that we continue in our manner looking for pro uh ways to enhance our community through all our missions through EAC in the village and um continue like we are and we can certainly utilize some of the suggestions or uh Criterion that lead has and process that way and I just gave you a couple little comparisons of uh junior junior Jupiter inl colony and Village of Testa in reference to homes populations and their values just to have that so you can see how different we were in income so that basically is where that led to J you have anything else to add to no I I I completely agree with you and and talking to Bill Whiteford too I think J Colony also got a little bit of special treatment from that program because they're small and the program wanted to use them as a pilot to show that small communties can do that so they' probably got additional handholding and grants that that maybe we wouldn't be because there's other commun of our size and then a previous City I worked in Atlantic Beach has also I think they were the first one to do this in the state and the people that my predecessors told me it's kind of the same thing it's it's kind of good for show but you don't really get a ton of value out the AG and he also had some it wasy of um resource information for other things that they have accomplished and that he's accomplished with some of the or other organizations that he is involved with for example the um I always want to call it J par Museum but not what's the name of it now what par mum what do you call it Dreer Park yeah that's Museum they've got a hold the name for all of the the zoo and everything but anyway talk about the Palm Beach Zoo are you talking about just is it Palm Beach that's the Science Center but that's the science center I think it's just the Palm Beach Zoo part of whatever we talking it used to be Dre Park yeah the entire thing is run on solar which was fascinating W so there and then some other things about how they attain their uh underground utilities for resiliency and so there he's good resource person for sure with contact well thank you that was that's you did an awesome job and I appreciate I know we all appreciate all of this and I certainly agree and think that it's a tough ask um at this point in time uh without a doubt and I think that in the future it could be something that could potentially be Revisited just because I think when it is uh certain this could be a community that it would potentially um be of benefit to us but I would foresee that being further down the road I there's aspects from that that we've learned going through the process which are very beneficial for us so we'll continue to look at possible incentives or rewards that we can utilize uh for Green Building and and they may develop some grants between now and when we're ready you know to to incentivize for us as well and also to that point Village manager I know we've talked a little B about lead incentives on a project by project building by building basis and I think I told you when I first started here that you know it's tough because a lot of those are usually like Building height or building inity which not mention those Ina so we don't really have those in our toolkit but there are a few other things that maybe we can you know they're not going to be as as big and Grand as those but you know where we can offer like permit reduction right so we're we're going to bring back the next meting Mays Mich topic on kind of a list of ideas we could consider I I would yeah I would be I would be interested to hear from realit too because again it's kind of like any shiny sticker makes things look better and good even when people don't know what it is or what it's for incentive train of thought even if the village of Desta if we develop board system that recognizes them in the media and they get a certificate stamp stickers well I've seen like in Boston I mean they have like they can yeah so buildings you get built into the building when you're like such recognition so in terms of future for like foresight for the future of the village I would think that it would behoove us to have as many Redevelopment or projects that we willing to do so certainly to make that effort um even if we're not able to commit to you know going for the certification yet it would show that we're committed we're on track to it's it's you know in our sights in the future which is something I don't think we should lose sight of potential so I'll make a motion I make I move that we accept Michelle's uh recommendation for the village not to pursue uh lead certification for The Village at this time and that we will continue to look into the creation of incentives to allow developers and homeowners to seek lead certifications of their own all those in favor I I did you get is that we good I'll listen to the okay thank you that was great I thought it was great perfect um all right uh thank you Michelle we and I think that wraps that wraps that one up so now we're moving on to new business Jay is going to present the results of the citizen service unfortunately I don't have this in a PowerPoint for but I hopefully you all looked at it I just wanted to share this with you guys I think can help shape you know kind of your opinion of what are some priorities of the village has um question number 11 um specifically says the village has a EAC that looks into issues that have an effect on the village are there any that concern you the number one answer was Shoreline protection and water pollution plastic waste which we cover today and then number three is trash waste then climate change pollution none of the above and then other and that's where people kind of put in individual answers you see some good things in there good news bad news one person said um get rid of the EAC yeah slow unfortunately that was only one person right so there you go hilarious right so uh so and on Shoreline protection you know I think we talked about that when the J the colony had their big erosion issue the village manager and I have really tried educating ourselves about it it's a lot more complicated of a situation than we could have ever realized um so one of the people that's really educated us a lot is Joe Chason who's the executive director of The jerland Colony you know juper in the district um we're going to get him to come to the next meeting and then we're also going to try and get Andy St who manages all of page County's Beach nourishment programs um we'll try and have both of them come kind of like like we had here today not really a long discussion and dialogue about that um it's definitely a very complex situation you can't just solve it in a day but we'll we'll try and get that conversation started next me and then if there's any other things that you guys Noti in here um certainly we can look into evaluating does anybody have any comments or they question I hav just just as I saw quickly the feasibility of undergrounding overhead that's quite a big response yes we are we do have that in our what was the what item number was that for the council in their strategic agenda I'm not positive but I know it's a it's a priority there's some funding for it and it's I have notes from when we were at that workshop and I heard the um I could help shed light on that the U at the um session where the council uh had their iic plan items the uhu they sort of kashed the outcome was they kashed the concept of a master plan because for at least one reason there's there currently appears to be only two communities that would actually end up going undergrounding and that would be to Quest a country club and Beach roow everything else seems unlikely or is already underground um so uh I don't know where that leads us relative to how you get the ball rolling but I've written numerous emails telling them how they can do it and showing them how it's done um but uh that's that's the status as I I know it for underground okay okay um I I have I mean can I jump into for to mention yes so these questions obviously AR all encompassing of everything um prior we us doing this next year because it's an annual thing I will make a note to talk to this board well in advance of the survey going out so that you guys can actually tell us what questions you want to ask we could probably we could probably form formulate that one a little bit better like trash waste is a question question yeah and I mean again you know even uh yes we had a lot of um not just under the public comment too but just even under the uh questions about like parks and wreck there were a lot of answers that pertained to stop development and wanting more green space wanting you know to preserve you know uh try to reacquire Paradise Park no more development and um more activities more Park we have enough parks for the size of our village uh not all undeveloped Parcels should be developed you know a lot of um just showing that it is a very Green ecofriendly community and they value their outdoor space um that I think is important for us all to see and know that it's throughout if you didn't have a chance to read responses throughout I mean there were a lot um in here and I think that uh well I hope you know that the council focuses on um you know the things that they're being told they're concerned with so when did the seems like it's an annual event when do they actually release the survey for the public to respond is it like January February early January schedule I'm sorry just for the issuance of an annual citizen survey it's as as needed I thought I thought that Jeremy was using it for input to share with the council so that they have that when they go to their strategic planning process I know they did a one in 2023 as well the you guys should see the dates of the responses and the first one is 2124 all the way the end February so I think it's I think it goes out at the end of January Fe I'm gonna look it up you mean the results or the no the actual all right so let's just say it's January for talking purposes then I would think it would be wise to like November have it on our agenda maybe have it again on December and then we submit what we end up with something like that storm water is a big issue to people to Residents it seems to I mean that did you did we pick up was that something we're noting too or no what in the Strategic plan water yes oh I mean I'm okay I see storm water drainage flooding issues we've got the um storm surge evacuation plan needs to be revised evacuating areas west of Old Dixie for cat one and two hurricanes doesn't seem necessary they've got um there were that was I thought storm water um seemed to be uh there was a survey question too there's satisfaction of quality of storm water treatment what that one was I think there's I think there's a a a disconnect in the citizenry of the community relative to yeah they're all interested in keeping the streets clear and not flooding their home but they're not understanding that a lot of it may be due to climate change sea level rise and other factors uh that need to be taken into okay I don't think they get it and it's probably our job to make sure that we find a way to help them understand mhm um I just I know just even from from marketing and public relations people don't generally fill things out you know that's not unless there's enormous cause to do so um or it's a specific type of person that is responsive to these so um I do remember you know I've recently saw 2023 and I looked again to see um if things things seem to be escalating or if they seem to be um being addressed uh and I don't know do you know I I think I believe that this definitely had more 114 comments additional comments um was more than 2023 um and again A lot of it was with trash and outdoor space and not developing and you know uh keeping it green and I think um I seem to sense frustration in in the comments that I know um have been reflected in in my own sentiment sometimes you know with things we could be improving on just for the better of the village and everybody as a whole so um but thank you for that presentation I think you're also going to talk to us about Arbor Day unless anybody has any other questions about the Sur day so we had a a great Arbor Day event it was kind of a last minute thing um next year we will engage this board and well in advance of it um Mara actually was there and has some great suggestions um which I think would to kind of pull off what she wants to do and what to do um we could probably start planning for it and you know January of next year and as chair HTH has pointed out we didn't really have a a birthday event and Earth Day and Harbor day or kind of similar so what we could probably do next year is actually have a joint Earth Day Harbor Day events and I and yeah I mean this is certainly are you is this who is planning this or who is aror day what's how because I think we would love to be involved certainly is it was honestly it was kind of a last minute thing I did just because I know we needed the Tre City USA one of the last things that we need to do to do that is is to have an Arbor Day event and so we checked that off yes so we checked that off the list but it was one of those things where you don't plan a big event out you know four or five months in advance it's too tricky to to do it so I just kind of realize you know hey we've got Thea Drive planning project that's done um we have a per perfect opportunity to hold the last tree for that what we did invited some elementary kids having but so are we planning but for next year are we it sounds like are we are you planning are you oh volunteering oh oh okay she just gave me some suggestions for how to improve things for next year oh great okay and and there's some great suggestions in there um but that would lead to us like I said having to kind of plan it out a little bit further advance but the I think the elementary school kids loved it we had kids from um shepher in Pro School know where is Providence School by the way so it's a school um right here on Quest the drive it's it's really small I think they focus on dyslexia um local kids you're pointing that way it's near the oh okay okay that little behind yeah yeah the classroom area yeah for how threw together 30 kids the May read Proclamation got Proclamation calling it Arbor Day the kids came up and read the proclamation with her it was really cute and then you Jessica um gave a speech about the import trees and was great and then yeah and I'd like to update everybody that I mentioned shell Silverstein's The Giving Tree and all of the kids noted and remember they said oh we love that book and I was so happy to hear that they're still reading and loving The Giving Tree so I like a little QA the beginning and I was like you know asking questions like yeah we we did this we know this already teachers had actually done like an hour or two session about ARB they came oh wow wow and then we planted the tree and then the kids each to get a little shovel and put some tree it was there I said piure it was my son was there he had fun yes and we're going to put in for Tree City and that was like kind of the last box to check we're going to put in for for Tree City application I actually have a new planner to introduce your Meg hi Meg how are you she started weeks go um she's going to be able to help out a lot with stuff she actually isn't a graduate of the Jupiter High environmental Academy Wonder excellent welcome the board she and I are G we put together that c well again I've put for our schools locally St Marks was the last that I did um in Earth Day but I mean they're phenomenal resources loggerhead has a phenomenal education program that they have that they give out kits to do things and set up fun booths and River Center will come out with there's a lot of contacts and resources that I have if we wanted to do a full-blown Earth Day event which I think we certainly have the space for and I know we've reached out for Halloween events we've had you know River Center of bush wildlife there also so IDE yes it's well it's not mine it was the kids's idea the kids of the village but um I definitely think that there is opportunity for that and I would be happy to help with any resources that I have also so there is one aspect of Arbor Day that uh be can become problematic and that is that many cities use the event to place trees in their parks for example which is you know on the surface seems okay but over time the open space in the park becomes less and less and less and the kids can't throw a frisbee or they can't whatever they want to do so I would think what I would love to do is is that the The Village their Arbor Day planting would for the foreseeable future would always be a streetcape tree to improve the canopy along the street somehow some way in conjunction or start the process on a street that has nothing something like that was yeah because I I mean and that's true I mean told those kids I was like you guys planed this you're going to watch this tree grow and you'll be able to see it you know so to have a tag and a date would be really cool to have or like a plaque or something [Music] um um all right well thank you and I guess this now is um leading to my presentations here and I was just going to try to start with um number nine here the south Florida ecosystem restoration task force so um this this was a meeting uh that took place down at the uh mikasuki Indian casino and it is a group of individuals um I'm trying to find my agenda item here that are from every organization of government um there was uh the Department of Environmental Protections in Noah and the Army Corps of Engineers and every local South Florida Water Management um District was there and you know all of these different agencies talking about the restoration of the South Florida ecosystem and um it was very informative uh I was looking for somebody I'm curious you know who from I'm I'm am still hoping to find the answers so I can hook up to meet with somebody else that was there from our region because um they were covering a lot of very important information so surp um which is where I was jumping down to is kind of starting this is their uh you can see programmatic and systemwide perspective with all of those different organizations around that Circle um I think there's two four 6 8 10 12 it looks like to me if I can count all of those little logos I think it's slide uh page 99 is where I am right now who is recover I'm trying to find it I'm having trouble sorry guys well anyway so there are three major components where they assess they measure the systemwide performance of projects uh through research and monitoring um there's evaluation where they forecast project performance through predictive modeling and performance measures and then there's planning so they integrate recover with planning and operation of the system on the next slide you'll see the monitoring for Ser is systemwide and you'll see that there are a few things drawn to our area very near our region right so um I of course was interested we've got our oyster beds and there's monitoring of the water quality and that sort of thing and so um this trying to understand um the monitoring supports these different levels we fall under the south Florida Water Management District so the third um kind of tier there um and I wanted to talk about that before going into South Florida Water Management District's presentation um which if you just kind of go back up it's I guess we'll say 90 Slide the pro program and project update from Mindy parrot where she talks about restoring the Indian River Lagoon in the St Lucy River and then talking about moving clean water South was interesting um however then we got to the slide restoring a lockah hatchee river and there are three components um that are in design but you will see 10 listed here that are all in consideration and I mean moving forward imminently um so I my my only concern my my biggest concern I guess listening to this and I was so grateful to know that there are resources being allocated to the lahache and that they're aware that there's an ecosystem issue um obviously the what where this water that is coming from and the quality of it is of enormous concern to me and then also um you know the rest of the meeting basically is centered around um restoring the natural flow and undoing these sort of implementations on the Tammy Ami and in South Florida so it's hard for me to understand why we would be implementing them in today's day and age if the goal tends to be to restore so I but I'm not you know a a an army Corp of engineer I don't know the math of these things but I do you know get concerned because there has been a lot of um uh public pressure on them to uh not flood the southern Everglades and to clean up water in certain places and I just want to make sure that we are in Partnership or we know who's taking care of making you know being responsible for the river and following along with this um on hour and two so we can help uh educate our residents that these things are all going on also um so I personally would love to see if um Mindy would uh be able to maybe come and speak with us I don't know if that's something you guys would be interested in hearing what them explain I think that they breezed over this in the task force meeting because it's just our little lockah hatchee they kind of touched on it and then moved on I actually have the 35 seconds I think recorded um that I'm happy to email but if they could do a deeper dive for us or kind of explain um what was happening and you know what we could expect MH I think that would specifically to our the lahache river very interesting right I would think so so if there's um I don't know do I need a motion for that or no I don't ultimately the um previously when I looked this up before the meeting the uh you can tell well first of all does everybody understand the reason they want to have increased freshwater flow to the Loach River so we have a salinity issue when we permanently opened up our Inlet and we get our six foot tidle change that comes through multiple times we have killed our cypress trees and our that that habitat up River because there's way too much salt water coming in so the idea is that if we can just flood fresh water in or if we can kind of flush it with fresh water we might balance it out correct so part so the the game plan for South flid Water Management District is to to use the locki slooh they call it as the the route for getting uh the one of the main routes for getting fresh water to the loat river the others are coming from the North or the Northeast um but it was very clear in the stuff you provided that the U uh some of this water is coming directly via Canal from the OK Lake okobi right which can be a very nasty and I did I I on my public comment I did say I beg that I mean I said I said thank you you know but please no we do not have the issues that they have in the Indian River Lagoon and up north thank goodness because we don't have that water coming in don't bring it right so this is my concern because there was crickets I mean I was the only person speaking for for our for the lockah Hat here there so again I just am very concerned about knowing that 10 projects yeah let's bring them in yeah exactly I hear you but it is because you know they're not always happy with them either I found and they're having to present on things that you know they might have been told to do by a board or commission so finding out as much as we can and then figuring out what we need to do as a community to protect our resources I think is important because again this task force went out on an airboat tour for the first time the day before this meeting and they've been working with the Everglades National Park with you know all of those Partners in the with the Everglades decisions for years and years and years but they' never even seen the Everglades so we have to remember too that that this is our river that we're oh and that was they also have Incorporated a component of indigenous knowledge which I thought was great so I also asked when it was my turn or our turn for public comment I said much like you're incorporating indigenous knowledge if there are any problems that arise we would love to be able to contribute local knowledge and be partners in understanding and in coming up with Solutions so staying on top of that though I think and making sure that um you know that's um respected I think is another ball game so I make a motion to authorize Jessica name at this chair and or staff to make contact with the appropriate official from the appropriate agency to come and speak to us on this subject with a focus on freshwat flow to the lock sa your River I second yes all those in favor thank you um I think that'll be very interesting for us the other thing that was very interesting if we go to the Florida's coral reef issue here um what number this we'll go back it's number five uh six okay um so you know this is a very big issue well to me when you hear hear about the people in Washington um this is this is referred to as the only coral reef system in North America so I really just want to stress that let that just sink in you know the only coral reef system in all of North America is off our coast and down stretches down to the KE unfortunately last year there was what they're calling a catastrophic heat um occurrence where um the national Coral re monitoring program was able to establish that you can see on slide these are all out of order I apologize um oh it's not I don't think that's in there but there's basically slide uh is it 56 maybe well no this one that shows the bottom half of the keys here essentially the bottom portion of this Reef system uh is essentially all died off um and it's only yeah the northern portion uh that's up here this portion of it uh that is that didn't suffer um isn't bleached and so they're hopeful that they are going to be able to potentially have restoration but for me when I'm sitting here listening I just feel such an enormous responsibility that we're doing everything in our power to protect this Reef system that is when you look at the map I mean the large it's a huge bulky portion off of you know this is Northern Palm Beach County that's ours guys you know this reef is a huge chunk of it and even down at the science center the Science Center you know they have a huge sign talking about the reef system I included a link for those of you um that might want to take a peek it's called the Christen Jacobs coral reef ecosystem Conservation Area or portion of it I you know that name you know you would think would be almost like a household name or something we would know the name of the reef system I don't I I'm embarrassed to say that it didn't jump I wasn't like oh yes that's what it's called and I think that's negligence um on our part as a community or lack of Education not negligence I won't say but um this is a big issue and um our Coastline you know we know that our we have a huge amount of tourism and economics and a lot invested in our beaches and our reefs and so I think that this is something that again I felt like I was not as aware of this bleaching event from last year and you know this is another potential presentation if we wanted to reach out and have somebody come explain from our portion of this Upper Keys what resources there may be I think you know not in the same month obviously but if we wanted to have this for another meeting I also think that this is very important and something that I know I could be learning more about and what we could be doing um and would like to hear from some sort of an authority you know more than me by long shot on the subject of the reef but but in do you know about how far off our shore The Reef system is approximately approximately approximately I don't know how far offshore but I know that there is a reef system at about 80 foot depth of depth okay yeah I mean I I would be somebody that would probably not I would consider the little fragmented P I would consider every bit a part of yeah because you know you can snorkel not far offshore even and see portions of the reef system so so your request on uh this agenda item is to authorize you to bring in speaker well I guess what it is is I wanted to gauge and see how informed we all feel about our coral reef that is the only coral reef system in North America and um I just was not I I think that as somebody that's the one with the public a lot of the times I don't feel like I have done enough on my part to educate about this and you know inform kids of what they could be doing or what we all could be doing like I know the sunscreen in the you know making sure that we're using re friendly sunscreens especially as we're approaching summertime is something in our Community um that is little things that we can do to just to know that we're doing that at least I think well can't shouldn't we start with the speaker that's what I was saying yeah so for me that's what I would like to have and if if so you want me to make a motion toow if you are all interested and feel like we need it like ition yeah I I thanks Tom I'll make a motion to authorize Jessica namoth and our staff to reach out to an appropriate official at the appropriate agency or agencies to come and speak to the EAC about the health of the reef system Etc off our Shoreline second all those in favor I you know what I do find interesting about this look at the uh red and white the counterparts that one yeah M so all this red is all alert highest alert look at that little patch of yellow Miami is a watch Miami off know it's good question um yeah I let's end this on a good note I don't know if you all saw this but about two or three weeks ago in the Palm Beach Post there was an article that said 300 miles off of our Shoreline to directly east of us they found a a thriving living coral reef system the size of Vermont I'm just saying I just thought you might want to hear that I would love to definitely yeah Fant I would assume that the water is not as hot that deep but I don't know what I'm talking about but that no that's that's fantastic news they didn't mention that pardon you know you're 100% true I mean I do a lot of diving um down in the keys um 10 to 15 foot of water all Coral heads are gr and this picture does no justice it it looks way worse well unfortun however if you go further out to the reefs that are in the 30 to 60t range um very little of it maybe some but nothing like closer in so yeah the more shallow you are the hotter the temperature is going to get in the water the more damage the to The Reef system the unfortunate thing about this too is that they were behind the ball well there's a silver lining is that they they have started learning and looking at ways to mitigate and help um and developing the programs for that because I know that um it was there weren't quarrels being grown there wasn't like a supply ready to go out in other words to cover or to try to rehabilitate currently it's more of trying to figure out whoa how did that just happen so quickly and you know what can we do so anyway I think that learning more about it would fit into our community and culture and I think we should know about it and residents would care so thank you um all right the last I have another presentation guys so um item seven light pollution this is just wild and I'm happy to email whoever's interested the presentation but the Sierra Club lock aache chapter had Dr Mari Moda um who was talking about the effects on our health from light pollution um not just on the environment um and he was following the studies of this Dr Stevens who had realized that light pollution map world maps basically overlaid where the spike and breast cancers were and that when they were able to look into that basically they found that um artificial light suppresses melatonin which inhibits our immune system and our body naturally creates about 5 to 10 cancerous cells a day just based on you know the statistics of what goes on in there but they can take care of those are manageable the problem is when our immune system is suppressed and they're able to multiply then we have problems so I was very interested in that and um they had he had I mean statistics that related to crime and to Community Development and just fascinating points so just looking at the time here I think um i' I'd be happy to email I know it's on like the YouTube page for the Sierra Club lock aah hates if anybody is interested in taking a peek at the light pollution and then we could discuss it maybe at our next meeting and see what we feel like we should do but this is something again we know and I was happy that I you know this is one of those where you take care of the Earth and the Earth takes care of you fortunately we're a sea turtle community and we do respect light during certain months and try to be aware of it uh correct me if I'm wrong didn't you send us an email through the taquesta email system like yesterday or the day before on this light pollution no that was the oton society had another speaker on light pollution but that was affecting the environment and so the the Nobel the Nobel Prize in 2018 for science I believe was to disruptions in circadium Rhythm on a molecular level it was molecular disruptions and circadium Rhythm something like that so this is not just you know Hocus Pocus or it's not Fringe Theory anymore this is something there's really actual scientific data and so I think that again um so as chair are you more interested in the impact of human health or the environment since well this is an environmental commit of course the environment I I'm certainly I just thought that this presentation was different than the others that I'd seen because it addressed the environmental concerns and also the health effects on the community and I mean our environment our outdoor environment is affected by our light pollution which affects our health so it's all intertwined you have a link to that that you can share through and my my ask Jessica is what do you want us I would like to send this out and then see what you guys would like to do based on having watched it next month just to see if there is anything we think we should do because yeah as long as you put the provisor at the bottom that says do not respond to this to avoid violation Florida Sunshine okay yeah it's fine with me I mean just because okay I I think it's just something we all and I you know would be happy to send it to Jay you know I don't know who all for me when I left I'm like Planning and Zoning the council the EAC we should all watch this it's so informative and again affects every aspect of Our Lives well you definitely should copy Jay and or Megan okay um all right so I will send that out and we can discuss at the next meeting and I know you had said um but it's not comments from Chariot are we item 10 Jay or are we round eight we kind of jumped around I covered all of these different items it's just I went out of order because I didn't notice on the agenda when I saw it but I wanted to make that change beforeand sorry Maran that was my fault I reist to um so are we on the re I don't know is it comments from chair or re that was what we I started with just because I wanted to introduce the program ser and and that yes we're on 10 10 and you have some other stuff you want well it was just did it we can include it next month you know we didn't have all of my items that were for last month um weren't included so I was going to talk about the Beach Road association's annual meeting well I think I think that Maryanne and Jay want us out of here by 4:30 yes so do we have enough time to do reorg plus whatever is on your minds why don't we do the reor first because that's important and then and then that's fine and we can save we can talk yeah we can push something yeah that's fine okay go ahead J so um you guys did a reor last year uh in may as well um so it's time to to do a rework again which is just denominated chair and a vice chair um motion I'm like didn't we just do this but it was because Tom had just yeah I left that's right all right so where did we leave it that are you still interested because we left it open for your return I'm not I'm not interested I'm very busy with three other organizations and um uh uh you know I can be helpful just sitting here I guess but the um uh I had the belief that it all of you are above above average intelligence and you're all successful in your own way and your own right so one of the things I like about the fact that that uh others are doing or are willing to do being the chair is that you are likely to eventually be on and and or are on boards today and it would help you to to be a good board member and or a chair of a board if you get your practice here with the EAC it's almost inevitable if you're successful or highly intelligent or whatever you're going to be on a board and the more practice you get the better you will run a meeting um so I don't I don't really have an interest in doing it at all I think I can be helpful here just as a regular member and let the others be chair and or vice chairs I think that that's important I do think that uh whoever is chair needs to understand the nature of agenda management time management and uh writing of of memorandums and and or copy uh printing Gmail emails similar to what Michelle did today with a statement of of a a problem or facts and making a recommendation that's all very important because it you know it tells you a board member before the meeting the issue as well as a recommendation and so you know where this thing is going to go when that person in this case Michelle made her presentation you already knew and that's helps you to prepare for the meeting those kind of things are very important it it's also important for the chair and anybody for that matter to stay a breast of environmental issues you if you if you you got to have a newspaper uh a magazines you got what everything you see it send it to the board to help educate them you know we all don't like I don't know I know virtually nothing about the coral reefs okay I know they're important I know they're in trouble I know they're dying but I don't know how to fix it and and so forth so uh we all have pros and cons about our knowledge that we have about environmental issues but whoever is the chair needs to to make sure they address those things I just rattled on well I mean I'll just clear the deck uh um I I would love to take on a larger position here but I I simply can't I'm spread too thin so I would not be in a position to take a uh chair or or vice chair role so I like the way you presented that I'll clear the deck out one more card at this year coming year we just retired and I am planed to enjoy that good for you that's great cheers give me a year so that leaves Brad and uh Jill yeah and you clear the deck you said n in the past I remember that because of work and family and so forth still there he's still there so we're down to Jill and Brad and Jessica of course I'm clearing the deck look at the cat dragon it's the kindest way of saying I would do a disservice I mean I'm literally on two other boards like I just can't I'll do a better job of writing the memo you know if you would like to nominate to keep me as the chair I'll nominate Jessica's chair thanks Brad I'll second night thanks guys I appreciate it so we have a we have a motion from Brad and a second from clay to uh to have Jessica continue as the chair I would make a motion for brown to be the vice chair well let's do one at a time okay so is there so we have a we have a first and a second for Jessica's chair all in favor of the the motion signify by saying I I I all those against any Nays no Nays I'll make a motion to have Brad as as Vice chair am I able to do that yes okay does anybody make a second any all those in favor do you yeah it I wasn't clearing the deck over here he just committed like a month two months ago yes I mean okay so all those in favor all those against no no okay I'm certainly in favor um all right and I think that we can carry my comments on to the next month I will send you Jessica an email like with an attachment of the standard EAC email document template template that' be great thank you yeah and thank you both for taking the positions yeah you're both very good that's right again I I will do a better job with m just like Tom said it's a learning process I know I know I mean I've been on it five years you think I would have learned this but I hear you all right so okay so we did that so don't we have something that other matters we're talking about we're gonna delay until the next meeting I think we're good all those is that okay the comments likes that yeah I mean I I'll make can I make make a motion to Second agreed all right thank you for everybody's time yeah it is an hour and a half long um YouTube presentation but the guy is fascinating he bu no the Mario mode of the light he builds his own know uh telescopes and he's I mean just a very interesting guy just to listen to to