COUNCIL MEETING

>>Good morning. We are calling this meeting to order. It is 10am. Today is December 6 And this is our council meeting for December. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. >>[ ROLL CALL ] >>Thank you please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilman Porras. >>I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >>Okay, I'm going to do the invocation this morning since our last Council meeting of the year. If you would all just bow your heads please. Heavenly Father, we come before you today to give you honor and praise. You are the source of all that is good. You're the source of all our blessings. Thank you for every gift that we have been given. We thank you for the opportunity to come together in this day. We ask your hand of blessing on this meeting, we ask that you would guide and direct our meeting so that it is full of wisdom, productivity, respect for one another. We thank you for helping us to accomplish the work that we do for our city and our goals for this day this year and the year to come. We ask for a special prayer for our dear friend from the silver club Glau the Lafuente as well as his family, and we ask that he rest in peace. Amen. Okay, we'll move on to the agenda order of business. Thank you all for being here this morning. Madam manager? >>Nothing from the administration. Mayor. >>Thank you, Madam city attorney? >>Nothing Mayor. >>Councilmembers? >>Yes, yes. We'll start with Councilman Robinson. >>Thank you, Mayor. I would like to pull Item 6E. >>Thank you, Councilman. Cabral? >>Yes, 6B. >>I'm sorry, 6B as in boy? >>Yeah. >>Anyone else? Okay, b No more items. I need a well, we'll go into public comments. The floor is now open for public comments. I have one common card. When I call your name, please come up to the podium. You have three minutes to speak in a respectful manner. Anything that is on this agenda are germane to this council at this time. And we will start with Mr. Richar. >>Good morning Richard 4768 Northwest 114 Avenue.Want to let you know this message is a nonprofit non commercial message. It's been brought to you by Jesus Christ. My speech today concerns with the idea of how to show your gratitude by taking daily responsibility for your actions. Each council member and some of the others are getting copies of passages from the Bible and the New and Old Testament that show us how gratitude is mentioned there.Doral has made many improvements recently under its new administration. But there is more we can do. We can start by enforcing some of our own ordinances like the Doral 2018 Air odor ordinance. This fines polluters like Covanta and the money we'd collect can be given the victims of the disaster. Our new city attorney must become proactive, because as a charter official, she has the right to do so. Presently, she simply acts as a legal adviser to counsel with no initiative on her part, she needs to know she is free to act without interference from politics. We also need to hire an environmental engineer and place them in the Public Works Department tandem with the planning department. They can then monitor our environment study ways to protect it from damages caused by overdevelopment that can ruin our water, air and soil. Scientific studies can be accomplished first in order to verify if any new construction fits into our city's environmental strategy. Maybe it will or maybe it won't. But rubber stamping projects has to stop. Our city staff must be educated in these matters related to our environment. So we can all see the big picture for our city council and residents. We can then be assured that we are thinking as a 21st century citizen so we can leave the last centuries behind us with satisfaction knowing that We are now making educated decisions for the future of ourselves and our posterity. We need to remind ourselves of how blessed we actually are never said we take this for granted by allowing God's creation, to be plundered by waste and greed. For the Bible always reminds us how we are but stewards and shepherds of Earth. And we must express gratitude always. I close wishing everyone a Happy Holiday, and wonderful new year 2024 God bless, Doral, God bless the state of Florida. God bless the USA, and I hope and next year, we have peace in the world and all these armed conflicts that are based on greed and corruption and evil can finally come to a halt because too many wonderful people are dying. >>I have no other common cards at this time. Anyone who would like to speak during public comments, this would be your opportunity, please approach the podium you have three minutes to speak and address the council. Being none, the floor is now closed from public comments. Madam Clerk, can we recap the consent agenda >>Yes, the consent agenda will be all of the items on Section six with the exception of six B and six E. >>Okay. We will hear those after the discussion item correct. Thank you. I need a motion. >>motion to approve >>Motion approved byVice Mayor Puig-Corve. >>Second. >>Second by Councilwoman Digna Cabral. All in favor say Aye. >>Aye >>Okay, Madam Clerk Let the record reflect that is passed unanimously. And we will now move on to item seven a approval of minutes. >>Motion to approve. >> Motion by Vice Mayor Puig- Corve .Second by Councilman Pineyro.All in favor say Aye. >>Aye, >>Motion has passed nanimously unanimously. I'm sorry, Madam Clerk will now move into presentation >>Good morning, Mayor. Vice Mayor members of the city council. Madam manager, Deputy Manager madam city attorney Madam Clerk, members of the city of the audience, Edgard Estrada, co compliance director. This month we are pleased to recognize Jack Dec holding enterprises Inc. for their outstanding commitment to keeping the ROB beautiful. The property for which they're being recognized for is located at 8935 Northwest 35th Lane. Jack that holding enterprises Inc has been in the city of draw for 23 years and at this specific location since 2019. When the property was constructed. This is approximately 52,000 total square feet and his home to seven engineering and professional firms as well as their own building management company. Some of the ongoing improvements are bi weekly landscape maintenance and exterior building maintenance every six months to include pressure cleaning, touch up painting and parking lot restriping as needed. It is with great pleasure that we named Jack holding enterprises Inc for the keep their beautiful Business Award for their continued efforts to keep into Rob beautiful. And Madam Mayor and council here to accept the award is one of the property owners. Mr. Carlos Gill, and I'd like to invite him up. >>Good morning. Thank you for being here. >>Thank you very much for this invitation. First of all, I want to say to each and every one of you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, it's appropriate to say that our business started moved to the city of the Dow before this video that I'll become incorporated in 2003. We move in the city in 2000. Then we mark bought the piece of land where we are where the building is out today in 2009 2010. The crisis banking crisis and and the real estate crisis came along we all remember and we stopped the building. And then we started the construction of the building in 2017. And we move in in 2019. So we are extremely grateful and pleased and happy to accept this award on behalf of not only me but my business partner Stoney Acosta. Thank you very much. Thank you. >>Would you join us for a photo? >>All right, we'll move on now to our discussion items. Madam Clerk? >>Yes. discussion item nine, a scooter safety in Doral. >>Vice Mayor this is your item. >>Yes, thank you for allowing me to bring this up. I just wanted to this item up. Because as we can see, within the city, there's been an increase of use of the scooters, electric scooters, and it's been used by some professionals for job transportation, but as well for students to go to school or just enjoyment, but it also brings some some accidents that we seen as well, we talked about the agenda review with the chief and asked him to give us some, some feedback of how many accidents we have. So I just wanted to ask, if I get the support to create some educational awareness information to to send out to two residence schools. So that so that, you know, the use of the the scooters is correctly used. And if they follow the laws, they understand they have to follow the same laws as the bicycles, which is very similar to the cars in many instances. So but many young men and woman don't know. So I would like to create some awareness campaign. That's it. >>Thank you, Vice Mayor, I don't know if the administration would like to say something or have someone come up and speak on this. Or if we want to share our comments. >>It's up to you all I'm the chief is ready to give an update on incidents that have occurred from January. But we're ready. If you want to do an education awareness campaign, I think that's a really good idea to at least inform the community what the laws are, and then help the specially the students that are taking the scooters to go to school, as the vice mayor mentioned, educating them on, you know, the red lights and to be careful and how important their life is when they're on those scooters that are pretty dangerous. >>Would you like to hear from anybody in particular, vice versa? This is your item? >>No, not none. Now, just when we get the report, we'll look at it and discuss I guess, and we'll label will love to see the campaign started as soon as possible. I'm sure that during this Christmas, the increase of use is going to be seen a lot more young men and women are going to be receiving that as a gift. So just want to get prepared. >>Maybe a consensus we can definitely do an education campaign. Absolutely. >>If I may? >>Yes absolutely Councilwoman. >>Thank you.Vice Mayor for this issue. This is very important, because I've also been hearing about that, especially with the students. So I know that the law I think requires helmets right. Under Yeah. And the other thing that I had a question on whether it also requires like lights because some of them use them at night. And I and you know I actually saw a couple when I was driving and I could barely see them and smile. I don't know if that's part of the, >>It is so that is a state mandate that between some sunset and sunrise that the scooters be equipped with the same type of reflective lighting that bicycles are required to have. >>Okay. Yeah. And the education campaign is a great idea. Thank you for bringing this up vice mayor. I'm gonna, I'm supportive, of course. Anyone else? Councilman Pineyro? >>Thank you, Mayor. I also want to say thank you, Vice Mayor for for bringing these forward, East scooters are becoming more popular. That's a reality. And I think that as a city, you know, it's great that we, we can start an educational safety campaign, I don't think that they're gonna go anywhere. I mean, they I think the number of users are going to keep increasing, especially if we keep promoting the use of alternative transportation methods, let's, let's say, to get to work to get to school. So I'm glad that you're bringing these forward. And certainly, I'll be in support as well. >>Thank you so much. I mean, I know you're going to talk. >>No, I was just gonna say that, you remember a few years back that there was a company called us but then there was planning to bring into those type of scooters so it can be used in the city and all of that. And at that time, I also presented, the percentage of trauma and injuries that we see in the hospitals and how dangerous it is. And I know that also it's not Monday to us helmet, even not even when motorcycle on this date, something that hopefully there will be some changes on that. Because that will be something that will help but educating our kids is key. So this is great that you're bringing this up. >>Thank you, Councilman? >>Just wanted to add, remember that city of Miami recently stopped the rental of the scooters because of the incidents that we're going to have are happening. So you know, if we might get approach to have those rented here, so >>Well, that will be the second time then. >>eah. Because what could happen? And and just, you know, I just wanted to add that as for the record, because it is if it's not used correctly, it could be dangerous for everybody. >>Okay, thank you very much. I think there's consensus to start an educational campaign, maybe go into the schools and, and, and have some instructional material for them as well, and have some videos that will go out and teach people not just about, I think scooters, but also bike safety actually got a call this morning about some kids riding bikes to school, it's not the first time that are not, you know, they're not, I guess, being very respectful of certain signage and things. And so, you know, the cars have obviously taken, taken notice, and they're more cautious. But I got a call to see if we could like put more police officers to help because there's a lot of pedestrian activity by EBT. And actually, all of our schools have a lot of pedestrian activity. So I think it's great to have an educational campaign on bike to school walk to school, and scooters that are now becoming more prevalent, I think, they're, I think they're a great mode of transportation. Because for people that can't afford to get a car or have short trips, it's an effective way to get around, we just need to make sure that people are utilizing them very safely. And so I think that this is a good initiative to get a campaign going on how to properly address pedestrian safety and also even for our motorists to understand what laws exist. So I think we have consensus to move forward on that. Okay, we'll move forward now with Item . 9B. >>Item 9B discussion silvercloud Ambassadors Program. Okay, >>Councilman Pineyro, This is your item. >>Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I just want to say thank you to the silver club members that we have this morning here. I believe that certainly the wisdom and experience of our senior citizens is one of our city's most burly valuable resources that we have. And as I have been saying before, that certainly the Sierra Club program keeps growing keeps getting better. Throughout the years has been a great program. I believe these year has been probably one of the most active years in the Sierra Club. And that's why I want to things administration as well. Our parks department Nydia, I think everybody loves Navia at the Sierra Club, so, again, I decided to bring the discussion forward because thinking about the idea of potentially actually having an advisory board, I thought that was probably more appropriate based on the, the how meaningful is for us, the Sierra Club, is that we create some type of ambassadors program where they can volunteer, give their time to At different activities that we actually host as a city throughout the year, not only limited to what they do at their programs, but also in all our activities throughout the years, similar to the volunteer program that we have. For for school for for students, it will be something similar to that what I envision, but I certainly would like to share, to hear from from my colleagues as well, because I know we all have a passion for the silver club. And I want to also thanks for everyone, here for everything that you guys do for the silver club. And again, these these will be I think, will be a great weight of, of seniors, because remember, when we when we talk about seniors or the silver club, we're talking about 55. Plus, I mean, and they're very active, I think, is one of the probably most active silver club in Miami Dade County. So I don't know who else is 55. And plus. So I just look at advice I just get. But they they provide a lot of I mean, they have experience, they they're very active, and motivated. So I think that certainly they can do more. And that's why I thought that moving forward with some type of ambassadors program that they can be identify as volunteers or ambassadors in our activities helping others. When we have, for example, on Saturday, we have the miso, you will be great, you know, hopefully next year, we have the ambassador program, they can actually tell VCOs, or people where to seed where to go, they can greet residents that are coming to the events. So that's kind of what I envision. And I would love to, you know, to hear from my colleagues as well. >>I'm 100% supportive of it. I I liked the idea, just I guess we got to create the program, how it works. And but I think it could help. It could help. Definitely. >>Councilwoman Porras? >>I'm also very supportive, great idea. And yeah, I mean, I think we can look at how it could work, you know, whether it'd be something that some of the seniors could apply for. And then we could, you know, take a vote to see who can be an ambassador or something. I just want to mention, too, that, you know, during my time working with the seniors as well, there are some that aren't part of the actual like silver Club program that are still very engaged. And so I think if the idea is to also bring in, you know, more people to more of our seniors to participate, it'd be good to open it up to people that are not part of the senior club or the silver club. Because I believe that's a registration. Right, you have to be registered. So something to think about, because there are seniors that participate, but may not necessarily be part of it. >>I think administration had some feedback. >>Yeah, well, we can do and we've spoken about this with Councilman Pineyro on it is the staff can create a program a volunteer program where they can apply for volunteers, we also have trips and tours that we take, they want to lead it, they can be the one that takes attendance, make sure that everybody gets back on the bus. Along with bingo nights, you can also volunteer there's a lot of programs they can volunteer for, we can create a list of that. But what we would do staff is create the actual ambassador program, and then we can send out information about that via email instead of having to bring that back and you have any information. I've gathered a lot of your advice and your recommendations in regards to it and making sure that's implemented in the program. So it can be an ongoing, an ongoing thing called Silver club ambassadors, right? To T shirts. >>Yes? >>Just one more comment. Certainly we have bilities. Ileana. Yeah, they're very active at the Sierra Club. And when actually I was thinking about these and I spoke to the manager about it certainly happened. That Mr. Calabria that appointed pass away. So that's when we speak about clowder team that is one of the best example that we can actually show us as a silver Club member, not only because he was part of it since the beginning, but he was very active as well as earmuff, his wife, so you know, it's, it goes along with what we're discussing. We're talking about, in my humble opinion, the most valuable people that we have in the city. So I'm very happy that we can actually do more, and for them to get involved in even more in our activities. >>Thank you, Councilman. I actually have a question for staff as well, which has kind of to do with what the councilman brought up. When I was a Councilwoman I brought a program I brought an AR He program where SRP paid for senior citizens who wanted to work a couple of hours. And we would put them at the front desk in the parks and things like that it was paid for by AARP, believe the program had stopped at one point. And I would like to know if we can bring that back. Because it's a way for it's not just for the silver club, it's for anyone within that age range in the city that's looking for a job that needs some supplemental income. And it's actually paid for by AARP. I did it when I was a council woman. >>Absolutely, we call it. I know, a frank, an HR HR director, and I think you work closely with the city manager at the time to do that. So he can give you a little brief. Yeah, >>I do recall the program. And I do recall having some success with the participants with that program and the value that they added to the city, what I'll do is work with our HR director to reestablish that connection, and we'll go from there. >>Yeah, cuz it's a way also to get them involved in some of the you know, even if it's like a receptionist setup park or in some programming that they they earn a little bit of income, which is some of them do need, and then get some involved still very active citizens. So I think we should look at making sure we re engage with AARP on that. Okay. All right. I think there's consensus then to develop an ambassador program and see them actively assisting in our community. Great. Okay, we move on to the next item. Item C, >>Item 9C discussion, senior citizen on demand transit pilot program requested by Marion Council initiated by Mayor Fraga. >>Madam city manager want to take your first? >>Yeah.I will. Excuse my just mentioned, Claudio. And he was one of the first silver club members, that is a great example, what a silver club Ambassador would be. And we I just remember back in Morton at Parc when we only had that part. And it was 2008 and it was cloudy or Itamar the payment is it was a few of them. So just brought back memories and in a day in a day, and I shared a few words about how important they are and how they become our own grandparents. And they're very involved. So it's so nice to have that type of community. So just excuse my trembling voice is very much missed. Okay, so, as I'm the clerk read already, this was brought by Mayor Fraga and then council had consensus to bring back information in regards to different different modes of transportation on demand for senior citizens. Staff, particularly the Public Works Department has done a lot of research in the last five months, which I would like to bring at no cost see the biller? Up, she's gonna give you a presentation on some of the information they've done. At a high level, I'm going to explain that they've looked at freebie Uber, Uber was initially requested, and we have information on Uber. And then circuit is the other company as well. At this time, we're gathering information, data from all the seniors, particularly what we haven't reached out to and I think Councilman ball has just alluded to this, those seniors that aren't part of the silver club that are homebound, that those are the ones we actually want to get to and get more information of. So what we would like to do is we can create something now if you all have consensus, but we would like to create a city wide survey, and then identify GIS mapping with that as well to see where exactly in the city these seniors are living, and provide that information back to counsel that might be a little costly. Whatever research we do, I would bring it back, obviously, if it's over my threshold. But that's particularly one of the parts that are the pieces that are missing in this information are those seniors that actually are home and may not have, or do not have transportation to get to certain locations in the city. And by going out to and sending mailing surveys to their homes, we can get that information, we'll hopefully get that information back. It's one of the most difficult ways to do surveys is mailing because people have to mail back. But that's one way of making an effort to try to gather that information. It's a one that we do not have as part of this research because it's a little more lengthy. But what Edna is going to be able to provide you is what we've done to this point forward and provide some information on what we can do. And gather consensus and we'd like to hear from all of you when she's done with the presentation. So and thank you for your hard work and please proceed. Thank you. >>Good morning, Mayor council members city manager's office. >>And now put the microphone. Oh, there you go. Okay. >>Good morning everyone. My name is Edna Sivilla I am the transportation manager for public works. And we're going to be giving you a presentation on on the on the on demand transit for the senior citizen program. Thank you. Okay, just a little briefing. History On the August council meeting that we had. The mayor and the city council members expressed their interest creating a pilot program for the seniors for with the on demand transit. So these are some of the questions that were brought up during the council meeting can see at TCA TTS the citizens dependent transportation trust funds be allocated to cover the costs of the service? What other cities currently provide this service? How can the pilot program because surmise how much funding needs to be allocated within our budget? And how can the ondemand transit also serve as special events? Currently, the Public Works Department on procurement, we're working on the process for the upcoming on demand transit since our current contract with freebie, which is the company that offers or On Demand transit is set to expire on May 1. So we held on September, Industry Day where we invited companies that offer on demand transit to give us their input on what are the services that are out there for us to kind of analyze as well for our procurement purposes. So the public works department, we reached out to our CIT T representatives to discuss if we can use CIT T funds for this program. So they advised us that since we currently do provide on demand transit open to the public, then we can also find the senior demand program because we're not discriminating against everyone, we're offering it to everyone. They do have some requirements. When we do use the ITT funds, which I've highlighted here. For instance, the trips cannot exceed more than five miles. They would prefer if we keep the trips within our city limits. So we don't we don't cross other jurisdiction, which they might be also getting funds from CIT, and we don't want to overlap on those on that request. Also, they will we will need to draft a new Interlocal agreements since we're modifying the service with the county for the use of the funds. Also, during our research, we found out that the city has an interlocal agreement with the county for the use of surtax funds. And in disagreement, it does state that the city has to comply with all the requirements for the ADEA. So we have to comply with ADA accommodations within the vehicles if we use our tax funds. So I'm the city with procurement we met with three companies Ober circuit and freebie to discuss their current on demand transit services. And I'm going to be showing you some pros and cons that we found with each of these companies. So we're going to start with Uber with Uber. One of the pros that they have that there is flexibility in addressing multiple pickup requests and series allergic pool of vehicles over does provide rights in Florida through a one 800 Number, it does not have to be through the app only. And also the rights that we're paying is as they are consumed. Some of the cons that we found were the the Uber representatives are devices that they cannot guarantee ADA accessibility and they do not provide like formal training to the drivers for ADA accommodations. Also, if an right is requested, and Uber does not comply, then the ride does not we cannot request the ITT funds for those rights. Another thing that I I call the one 800 Number just to kind of like schedule an ADA. And I was advised that it can only be done through the app they have like a specific vehicle called Uber wave for the ATA if you want to request one. And while I was doing it in the process, I noticed it wasn't available in our area. And I asked the customer service and she says if it's not showing right now, it is because the vehicle is not available in your area. So it's not like it's always going to show in the application which will be hard if they're trying to request the right to get to an appointment. Another thing that we found as for Uber is it will be difficult for us to hold drivers accountable for customer service since it is a big pool of drivers. And you might not get the same driver every time like we have with our current service. It is about your system which eliminates then the amount of rights per person. The vehicles are not guaranteed to be low emission or electric which we currently have an all electric fleet with her on demand transit. And also they do not have a dashboard for us to monitor the service. So we cannot track you know how many rides they've completed. Did like we currently do have available circuit. We also met with circuit they are also an on demand transit company. Their vehicles are ADA compliant and their staff are trained. They do have a mix of electric vehicles, the Gen V, the gym cars, the Tesla models, electric vans, and you can actually have a mix of the vehicles to cater to the different services. They do provide a call center for requests to request rides, they have an application where you can create sub zones within the area of service. The REITs are not limited because they're it's not based on a voucher system. But they do in some municipalities that they've worked with, they do have a fare that they've started charging. And what they found to with the fair is that it actually decreases the wait times because now the people that are requesting rises are paying its rise that are needed by the public. They do have a dashboard to monitor the vehicles and generates reports which for CIT t, we have to provide reports on a quarterly period. And then the CD will receive advertising revenue shares through their program. Some of the issues that we found with circuit is, of course, with the limited number of vehicles, there might be an increasing wait times during the high demands. And circuit the technology currently does not offer for us to say we only want the service at dislocations for 65 and over. So their technology cannot do that right now. So it will be open to everyone. And then the last company that we met with was freebie they currently provide us with our current on demand transit, as circuit freebie also, all their vehicles are ATA compliant, including their staff or train. They do we also have an electric fleet, the gym cars, Tesla, the electric vans, and we can use a mix of vehicles based on the service that we want to provide. They also provide a call center to request rides. Their technology offers the ability to create zones within our area of service and we can actually modify it through their app age restrictions. So we can actually say that on these areas, only the riders that are 65 enough can request the ride. They also have the ability to if we want to charge a fair their application allows for that as well. Writers are not limited with current service. This is not based also on a voucher system. And free we but I spoke with freebie and they can actually limit the number of writes per person. So if we want to say this person, we want to only give let's say one full right to two per person a day that can be accommodated to through their through their system. There is a dashboard to monitor the vehicles generate reports which we currently use, the city does receive advertising revenue shares and the freebie add does provide incentives to writers such as promo codes to our local restaurants in the area. And then fee freebie does promote hiring draw residents which usually they you know, they take pride in their customer service. Some of the issues that we found and we've experienced is that because there's a limited number of vehicles that there's an increase in wait time. So now we're going to talk about the special event how can we use on demand transit especially when so just to give you a little bit of background I'm currently the Public Works Department does work with our parks and recreations department to coordinate the use of the trolley for special events as needed. The way it works is we advise the residents to go to an overflow parking where the trolley would go pick them up and drop them off back from the events. And just to run some numbers on average we use two trolleys for a five hour period or hourly rate right now as you can see there $70.08 which will cost the city 787 per event. The trolley usually sits about 20 people but there's also space for people that are standing. Uber when we looked at the average rate of the cost per ride is $10 which around trip will cost about $20. So the cost of the service will be on how many rides the city wants to allocate for an event. As for freebie we pay we currently pay a monthly fee for the use of three vehicles for a 70 hour a week. These also if we can accommodated if we need any, we have any special events if we want to, you know relocate the vehicles for any special events. Just as a FYI, for any special events, the city may only use our transportation funds we cannot use cits funds for for the use of our public transportation for special events. We did some research and the city of Miami Beach and the Miami currently do provide an on demand transit for seniors for Miami Beach. It's for elderly residents 65 and older that are currently living in affordable housing facilities. And their current provider of the on demand is freebie. They approximately serve as 40 Elderly facilities. And their trips are to the closest supermarket pharmacy. And they also allow for elderly to participate in programs like when he that Jewish Community Services Little Havana nutrition centers, it's free of charge. And they have to register in advance with freebie. The CTO might maybe just not use CITC funds for this service. For sudo, Miami, they provide an on demand elderly for restaurants with special needs, as well. Sorry, and it prioritizes the service to seniors that provide like for areas that provide hot meals and places of food food for food, government and medical facilities, it's free of charge. Sorry, had a cold, the residents are required to register through the city website to determine if they're eligible. And they must go to schedule. So the public works department with the city manager's office we coordinated to create a survey to kind of to kind of see where are the needs for the seniors. We did attend the the listening session for the draw server club. And we did gather all 56 surveys. We're going to continue to conduct this auto asset to go to the events to get more information created GIS layers to see what are the locations that the seniors need to go within the city for us to see where we can better service. We are expected to conclude by January the surveys. And then we talk about budget for the 2324 cit budget we allocated $430,000 for the ondemand transit. We currently utilize 267,000 Which leaves us with approximately 63,000. For any on demand transit that we want to add. I just wanted to let you know that there's potential allocation of funds through people's transportation fund for the trolley, oh nm seems to trolleys that we're going to be ordering, they're not going to be coming until they're not going to start coming in until the summer of next year. So there is funds that we can allocate if we want to expand our on demand transit. And I just provided a sample of some of the data that Uber gave us. For 100 rides per day, it will cost the city in a year for a year 792 If the city pays for the entire service. If the city pays for half the service, it goes to 396. And I kind of just gave you what the average trips that are conducted through freebie. For weekday we do about 132 a week and 143 with only three vehicles that we have available. And then here's some scenarios from freebie and from Uber that we've provided for costs. With freebie if we were to to continue to provide our current service through free really through free with a senior on demand. I've given you like how many vehicles we would need the amount of hours I did one sample with for what 40 hours for the seniors and then the other one is with 70 hours how much we will cost. So if we have our current service with a mix of vehicles, the gym in the downtown area and then one Tesla for the areas that go over 30 miles per hour. Plus two vehicles for the seniors it will cost the city 533,000 Roughly. If we increase to 70 hours for the seniors, it will go up to 592,000. And then for Uber, this is just a scenario. If for a round trip we paid let's say $20 for a round trip. We have about 250 seniors that requests these rights. For one week it will cause $5,000 for Ebola co pilot program was six months it will cost the city around $130,000. And I also provided the currently out already rates that we have with freeway just say gives you an idea how much we're paying hourly per type of vehicle. And that's how if you have any questions >>Thank you and great job. The other thing I don't know if you noticed on the presentation is that we know our silver club is 55. And over which we believe should be moved up a little bit. That's a conversation for another day. But we would recommend 65. And over because we think that might be better than the 55 in order to make sure no one takes advantage of that. So that's the other thing that was in the presentation as well. I know there was also questions about Uber if it had been, oh, thank you. I was hoping somebody would give her water. There was a question and I don't know, if you had the opportunity, or Uber was able to respond to you if they can handle if we were to do a pilot program with them. If they could handle the scenario of tracking the request, >>They provided us an answer that the city will have to manage that part >>So, they would we would have to manage the fact that we would have to qualify the individual for 65 and over and then registered him. So they wouldn't be able to do that? >>When ICall Miami Beach because they do have it through freebie, freebie managers that list for them. And it's like recurring lists as seniors continue to just sign up for the program. >>Okay, thank you. That was good to know, I know that there was a question during one of our briefings and I want to make sure that that was clear to them. So at this time, we I mean, we can open it up for discussion, Mayor? >>Yeah. So thank you for doing all the research and getting information I actually met with freebie yesterday. Coincidentally, we had had a meeting we had moved several times, she didn't even know that this is on the agenda. And it gave me an opportunity to talk to them about the expansion of the program for for seniors. And there was actually she provided a presentation that was very, very helpful in understanding what freebie could offer for this sector and the fact that they have the users have profiles. So that's how they manage whether you qualify to utilize the program or not. And then geofencing, which basically would say would mean that if we wanted to provide the service for anyone in the city, and it wouldn't just be the silver club, anybody could sign up right for this program. Through registering for the app, they do all the verification of the age and everything, then we would just determine where we want to get them to. So then we could geofence for example, our parks, downtown Doral, which is we already have a circulator here. And then like Walmart, they are international law, which are kind of the ones like the places they want to go to now, the only thing with that is that it's not really a door to door on demand service, like if they want to go to the doctor. But it's more about getting them to some of our programming, and maybe like some, you know, like I said, like Walmart for shopping or like groceries and things like that. She actually shared with me that a lot of the seniors that use the program now from this area, asked to go to Walmart all the time. And they can't take them there, because it's not within the within the range. So, but they're asked a lot. So I really like the fact that freebie collects a lot of information for us that we can, you know, track and try. My concern with freebie was that it's an initial upfront investment, right, we have to like we have to add additional cars, because already people do complain about freebie and the wait times. That's like the biggest complaint we get. So she was explaining to me that if we add three more vehicles outside of the three vehicles that we have now in just the circulated area, that that should be able to serve as this population to get them to these actual locations. So I felt very comfortable with that. I wanted to see some numbers. So that was going to kind of be my conversation today was to see what what those numbers would look like for expansion to try a Tonight on the pilot program that would give us the data to know where these calls are coming from, where are they from? And what are they actually requesting, anything I told to her is that it's extremely important for me to manage the expectations. Or that shouldn't be for us to manage the expectations if we're going to expand the program. And so going out and doing some some meetings with the seniors like at some of the events that they're at, and explaining to them how to use the app how to call where we're gonna take them this is not necessarily a door to door like you we're not going to get to your friend's house. We can also she told me we can also work with them to do like point of have of you know, like, like a place where they can all meet like if we've got a big event going on. Then they can put they can advise all of them to meet at one location that's close to their house. The other thing with freebie is it also picks up multiples so the actual app will tell them if there's like three or four asking within an area. They will pick out All of them up together. So that that helps a lot too. I my concerns with freebie were that were the initial the initial cost that we have to invest upfront. Whereas, you know, something like Uber says Pay As You Go, if it's used with paper, if it's not used, we don't pay for it. And then also the the on demand, the real on demand that freebie, if one, if there's five of them calling at same time, they're going in different places, you're gonna have a long a longer wait time, you know, they're not gonna be able to pick them all up, or unless they're all going to one location. And so whereas Uber, it's really, it's out, everybody that's working for Uber can pick them up, of course, the concerns of EDA and customer service for me are big, you know, that's, that's a big issue that they can't, that they don't have those, you know, those abilities to really manage. And that's, that's important if it's a service that the city is going to pay for, for me. So I think it's a great program to try, I would love to get initial initially start a pilot program. And say for, you know, six months, we test it out and, and then see where those calls are coming from, get more feedback from the seniors. And as you can see that it functions the way we envision it to function. But I felt very comfortable with the freebie has a lot of technology that can manage all of the things that we want to do, including limited rights, which I didn't know that they could do. So that's also another because they can manage the profile, they can, they can actually limit the the amount of times people utilize the service, if we wanted to say we're only going to limit it to, you know, two times or three times a week for for seniors. So that's not abuse either. So I felt very comfortable with that. And I it's really something I would like to get going and try out. But again, I think numbers are important to see how much it would cost us to be able to expand that program. So I don't know if anybody else has any comments on . Councilwoman Porras? >>Thank you, Mayor, thank you for leading this, this is a really great initiative. It does sound like freebie may be the best option. I do agree that we should limit it to 65. And over which are the which is the population I think needs at the most. The other thing and I've mentioned this about freebie previously, during our last conversation about the way that they choose rides, right, I think that now they've eliminated the drivers ability to choose which rides they want to take from my understanding from the latest update. And now they have to choose the ride that's up next, which I think makes us very fair. But they still have the option to pick up flag downs, which to me is sort of like the same thing. And that's part of some of the complaints that I've heard about freebie that, you know, it's great that we have the same drivers because they know the community, we know who they are. But you know, sometimes they've been used as personal drivers by people calling them and so for me to to support this, I think I would I would have freebie consider eliminating the flag downs and just make it fair and just through request and then you know pick up people that's, that's my two cents. And again, I brought this up last time we we talked about extending the freebie contract. And that's really the the fair way that I see it. >>If I may, I actually, like I said, I met with freebie yesterday, and God is here. Actually, she found out that this was coming up through my meeting. And I mentioned the same thing. The black Downs was an issue. And she explained to me how it works and that now their new technology is is all I don't know what you call it gi auto pair so it actually generates the rides for them, or the drivers and they can't move on until they've completed those rides that have come in in an order. So it'll let them know they do still have flag downs. But apparently they're not supposed to get pick up a fact down unless they if they don't have another ride. If they have another ride, they have to continue. But if they don't have a ride scheduled, then they're not allowed to, to pick up a flag down. >>How do you monitor that? >>We actually have a meeting with freebie tomorrow to discuss some of these issues that have come up with the new system and how it's operating. So we actually have a meeting with them tomorrow to try to. >>we can eliminate the flag I want. That's what I would request that's supported. Yes, absolutely. >>The The only thing that I didn't see in this evaluation is leasing a van as a city, having a driver or two bands, whatever it takes to do The servers are sells directly to the seniors. So I would like to see a comparison and see how much that will cost. I don't see it in the comparison, unless you did one and you didn't put it on. But I like to see that they will look into >>I'm sorry, you want to make it clear, you want to see? >>Dedicated van ADA compliance leased, which I think will be the best way. And having a, a driver dedicated that certain hours that you have and look at the cost. >>And I think that from the Parks Department standpoint, they did look at that. And when we did the research, they found it with Miami springs. And I think another city, the biggest part of that is a location. So having so bringing the seniors either picking them up, and bringing taking them up at their homes or bringing them to community center, if we had to pick up from what I understood this was request is more about having the seniors be able to get to a pharmacy or Walmart or things like that. So that's where it becomes very difficult with the with buses, you wouldn't you would need more than two buses to be able to do that and how often we did it. So just okay, well, we can I know that Councilman borders had mentioned something like that, too, prior to, I don't know, if Aaron, if you've got a cost, what that would be not necessarily a cost for more of it was actually doable >>To my understanding the way from some cities that may have a similar service do it also is they do it with building that host like it's center, we don't have that. So like senior housing, so pick up a senior housing, they'll take them to like a place that they do things. And then it's they pick up at nine and they drop off at five, it's one service, but more of the door to door that we're trying to do, or like any city provides that on their own with their own transportation. That's what I understood from the research that was done is that there is services that are provided by cities to pick up at like buildings and take them to come with orders and things like that. But it's it's two trips, it's in the in the morning, and then you don't go back home till five o'clock in the afternoon. But to do more of that on demands, which is what we're trying to do, no city does that independently themselves. They have other services that do it, whether it's a private services, or it's like this, like transit services. That's the way it's done. And otherwise, I think it gets to. >>Just to clarify the vice mayor's request, it's to pick up it's for the on demand service. Same service. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's not gonna be tough to figure out that cost. I just don't want to set up a wrong expectation, because we would first have to find out how many seniors need and that's part of the survey question when we do it city wide. And then from there, figure out if it's 100 Seniors I needed or 500 seniors that need it, that's where it becomes different. So we can do scenarios and provide on scenario cost daily, weekly, things like that. Give you some rough estimates. All right, we'll do it. >>Thank you, Mayor. Speaking about silver club members being active. I mean, this is another example. I mean, they they're very involved. And I think during the listening session that we that the city hosted that we were present last week, already. Yes, last week. You know, one of the comments was that I mean, we have members that, for example, when I go to attend church, and they can't, and a lot of the seniors that I know, they either leave by the drought Park area or the north of the city. So understand the limitations, but at the same time, we have to consider that the base on Ah, sometimes they're not very technological. So the use of an app some things, it tends to be difficult for a lot of things, so or the language. So that's why I think it's the city of Miami, you mentioned as well, they used to call to schedule. Miami PD, Miami Beach. Yeah. Right. So, again, we have to consider that because a lot of them that I know, they don't use, they don't even you know, they don't they don't have the app or because they don't know how to use it. So we have to be mindful of that as well. Especially, I know, we're talking about 65 and older, but what have always a person who's 80. You know, a lot of them didn't, a lot of thing, they don't drive at this point. So again, I'm glad that we're having this conversation is great that we can either expand the program or look for other options, but I think there is a need out there. And again, I'll be supportive, you know, whatever the rest of my colleagues when I move forward, because I think that is is needed, especially on the central North part of the city. that I believe is where we have most of our our seniors residing. >>So that actually when I spoke with freebee in regards to their service in Miami Beach, they offer both options application and a phone and the Phone. And they actually they freebie advice I like about 90% of the seniors actually call and schedule their rights. Yeah. >>Make sense. Thank you. >>Thank you so muchFor the detailed information with all the different services so we can choose what will be better and best for our residents. I, I really think and I also will be supportive on the, the freebie one because they already have given the service to the community we have seen, how is it that they develop, but I also agree on having the restrictions, because then he will come you know, one on one and using the service for every little thing. And that will be very costly for our city. So I will be supportive of it when it comes to making those restrictions as well. >>Okay, I think we have consensus to move forward on a pilot program. And see, maybe or maybe come back with the cost of a pilot program strictly when maybe there's no mid January with identified points of GIS map. >>So the that won't I don't know if we can do that for January to figure out where all the seniors are in the city. >>No, no, you don't need to figure out what to do you know, we choose the locations we want them to go to. So it would be for example, supermarkets, church, the earlier bar Lupe, a Walmart, and then downtown Toronto. I identified them with Claudia yesterday, like what are the areas? So if you guys come back with that map, if we can, can I show something real quick? Can I show a map? Sure. Of course. Okay, it has a has a map that I take, can you put up the presentation real quick. Just so you guys get an idea, because it made a lot more sense to me once I saw it. Go to the final slide. They have a band by the way. Okay, so now go to the next one. Keep going, keep going. Keep going. Keep going. So I think it's the last last slide. That one, okay. So see the area that's yellow. That's that they would pick up anybody in the city and take them to so we decide, we would decide what areas we want yellow, that they could call for a ride and go to. So for example, only the area so for example, we could add Our Lady of Guadalupe, we could add Walmart, we can add international mall, we can add all of our parks, city hall. So we decide the the yellow marks. And then those are the points that the freebie will take them to. They pick them up anywhere, and they take them to those locations in yellow. So you can create I'm sorry. So you can create a an area, just a Walmart, correct, just that size, correct just CVS and Walgreens. So we could say pharmacies, supermarkets from anywhere in the city or in the city for this age group. Okay, and so then the recommendation from me was add three vehicles, three more vehicles outside of the current circulator, we have and that that should give us an idea of how much demand there'll be, we do it as a pilot program. Now there is an initial cost, there is a cost up front, that's the problem, the problem I had with freebie was that it's not as a pay as you go and see, I have expectations is going to be utilized. So we just have willing to make that investment and try it out and see how it is. So and we can also decide how much that is by limiting hours. Right? So it's all based on hours. So we can say from 10 to four. Or if we're gonna, you gotta be mindful of our programming to write with him as Bingle. So we got to think about the timing that the days then Sunday's church time, right. So we got to have you guys, my recommendation is that if you can come back, and I think you could do it in January, because Ruby has all the data already. And everything, they can actually put it together, come back in January with a pilot program of locations, and cost and then time frames, right? What are the timeframes that we would recommend and how much that would cost us? And then that way we could get going as of the new year with and then they'll go out to like our bingos, they'll go out to all the events and they'll go out and do some efforts to reach out to seniors that are not part of the silver club as well, to make sure that they know about the program and we try it out. That would be my recommendation. You guys really think you need more time? But I mean, it's really just it's really plug and play because we already have freebie. >>Yes. They have their meeting with freebie tomorrow. You just got ahead of them that's all so we'll definitely we'll definitely can bring back that information in January once they meet with freebie as well because they they met with freebie but nowhere near the extent that obviously you met with them. >>Yeah, it was actually coincidence totally coincidental that we talked about this but it Was it me it felt appropriate. So chinos, all the points that that I said that would be important for our seniors. >>Could we also add the hospitals and the clinics. That's key, because that's one of the places that they after that age, well before the age, they started going. So these include also the hospitals and the clinics like Jackson West, we have also the layout, and others that people's services. And if there's a cost upfront, even though this is eco friendly, let's see, maybe this will be a grant because these are eco friendly initiative on transportation. So if you could please also look to see maybe there will be a grant that we will be able to apply, even though we might not have the money right away, but we will be able to allocate it later on. >>So don't actually I looked into this. There's an FTO T grant through the TPO. That it comes out every May may write Claudio is what we looked at May it comes out every May. I don't know if we've ever applied for it. But they will call they will cover 50% of our program. They cannot make it open. They may close the May and it's awarded in October. And I think every city has gotten it. Do have we applied for that grant. I was I was gonna be one of my questions, actually, today. Do we actually got >>it for the FIU route for for three years? >>right, social, but this one will cover the micro transit programs. So we need to apply in May, I'm going to look into it. I got all the information already. And I was going to present it to staff so they will pay 50% of our of our costs. So we can we should absolutely apply for it because it gets funded through the TPO. Most cities have gotten it. So yeah. All right. And then they give it to you for three years. And then we can modify and apply again. So I'll stay on top of that, too, to make sure we get the funding for >>People to help us even too late on loci if we have to increase any other route and everything because we will we supply why that grant? Wonderful. >>Thank you very much >>So, we have the action of bringing it back to January, right? Yes, that was the action is I would just want a clarification. So the actions bringing it back, they're gonna meet with freebie and provide cost, actual cost associated costs, some of these locations. >>Costs the locations and timeframes. Correct. The restriction of that's what I wanted to clarify the second part of it. Well, they're gonna reassess the restriction on the flag down. Yeah, I think she got that. Okay. And that's possible if we're gonna make sure that we clarify that. I had heard she did. The other the last part is what the vice mayor had recommended was she was looking into our own system. Do you still want is that is there consensus for that as well. I just want to make sure I don't. We don't spend wheels. >>I don't mind. don't mind seeing the pricing, but I know that it's >>Okay,So there's three actions here. Okay. Perfect. Okay, thank you. Pretty >>good. Yeah. All right. Perfect. Thank you. >>All right, Mayor councilmembers. We're not going back to the consent items that were pulled. Item six be a resolution amending the City Council city Doral for authorizing the expenditure of funds with a law firm Louis La Mina walk MPA for the provision of special pension and public benefits Council services specialized legal advisory services for the City of Doral in an amount not to exceed $50,000, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. This was pulled by Councilwoman Cabral. >>Councilwoman Cabral? >>I understand that we am pending litigation and there are certain information that we cannot disclose that, okay. I know that we're in the pending impending litiga