| | | | | | | | TO: | Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee Members |
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| FROM:
| Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
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| DATE: | March 19, 2019
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| SUBJECT: | DISCUSSION REGARDING SAND SIFTING AND BEACH CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE |
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KEY INTENDED OUTCOME: Improve Cleanliness, City Beaches
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| | | | | | | | HISTORY:
On June 6, 2018, a referral was made by the full Commission to the Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee to Discuss Sand Sifting, Beach Cleaning, and Maintenance.
On July 18, 2018, at the Neighborhood/Community Affairs Committee (NCAC) meeting, sand sifting and the frequency at which it is performed was discussed extensively. Alejandro Quintas, a representative of Neat Sand, advised the committee that in a meeting with city staff he proposed three recommendations regarding beach maintenance. The first is to stop offering government resources to do the sand sifting after special events. Neat Sand is listed as a vendor with the Special Event Department to handle sand sifting after each event which is required for beach event permits. Miami Beach and Miami Dade County offer the same services. Mr. Quintas represented that Neat Sand has proven that they can provide a very good service post event. The second recommendation was to have the city provide a location close to the beach for equipment storage to make the maintenance of the beach more effective. He informed the Committee that having the equipment far away makes it difficult to perform maintenance on the beach. The third recommendation was that the City request and enforce that every concession provide sand sifting on a regular basis by modifying/amending the rules and regulations on beachfront concessions to keep the area clean. He believed that by doing so, it would allow Miami Dade County to increase the sand sifting maintenance in other areas close to the shoreline.
At the end of this July 18, 2018, NCAC Meeting the following direction was given;
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Staff was directed to flesh out the rules and regulations regarding concessions on the beach as it pertains to sand sifting including what it entails, whether staff recommends it or not, and the cost to implement it.
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Staff was also directed to find out about the money that was allocated for the additional sand sifting that was not awarded and if it would be going back out or how that money could be used to improve the beaches.
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Send a resolution to Miami Dade County telling them about the seaweed problem on Miami Beach problem and request funding for seaweed clean up.
In September 2018, the item was deferred.
On October 31, 2018, this item was again discussed. The following information was provided in response to the direction given by the committee at the July 18, 2018 meeting;
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Staff had been directed to flesh out the rules and regulations regarding concessions on the beach as it pertains to sand sifting including what it entails, whether staff recommends it or not, and the cost to implement it.
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All concession operations regardless of their locations on the beach are required to pick up litter and trash within their workable areas at the beginning of their daily operations, throughout the day, and upon the conclusion of their operations. Only those concession operators in the public beachfront concession areas, those located where the upland property is city owned, are required to provide sifting within their operating areas. According to the Public Beachfront Concession Agreement, Section 10.1.1, this required sifting may be performed by either mechanical or manual means. All concessions located outside of the Public Beachfront are required to perform continuous litter collection but not sifting throughout their operating hours.
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It is suggested and would be beneficial for the entire beach if all beachfront concessions were required to sift their workable areas throughout the day using hand held tools such as rakes and nets. These have proven to be very effective in the collection of cigarette butts, bottle caps, eating utensils, and a variety of small bits of trash and litter.
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The cost for this to the concession operator would be negligible while the benefit would be noticeable.
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Staff was also directed to determine it money was allocated for additional sand sifting that was not awarded.
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Neither the City nor the County allocated funding for additional sand sifting.
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It was also suggested that the City send a resolution to Miami Dade County telling them about the seaweed problem on Miami Beach and request funding for seaweed clean up.
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Miami Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department, Beach Operations Division has submitted enhancements for additional beach sifting equipment and seaweed removal in its F/Y 2019-2020 budget.
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The City Manager and team members met with Miami Dade County Commissioners Eileen Higgins and Sally Heyman to request their support for the enhancements to the Miami Dade County Beach Maintenance budget for FY 2020 that would allow for additional sifting and seaweed removal.
At the end of the October 31, 2018, NCAC Meeting, staff was directed to;
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Return with a report on a specific direction with recommendations and options on how the City can improve beach cleanliness, specifically as it relates to sand sifting behind the hotels.
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Staff was directed to meet with Mr. Quintas prior to the NCAC meeting to consider his concerns about being a City vendor.
In attempting to develop a plan for additional sifting on our beaches, including behind hotels we requested proposals from Beach Raker and Neet Sand. Neet Sand did not respond.
To date we have evaluated current beach cleaning efforts along our beach and looked for potential opportunities for enhanced services, including identifying opportunities and costs for retaining a private firm to assist with beach cleaning efforts and the strong possibility of enhanced services coming from Miami Dade County with the support of their County Commission.
NEW INFORMATION
Boucher Brothers Management LLC. also submitted an unsolicited proposal for providing beach sifting services that would cost nothing for public beach front properties and provide a percentage of revenues generated for services provided to hotels.
All equipment inventories, responses and informal non-binding proposals which were submitted are attached.
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| | | | | | | | ANALYSIS:
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PERFORMANCE HISTORY AND PROPOSALS
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Qualification |
Miami Dade County |
Beach Raker |
Neat Sand |
Prior work experience in beach sifting, and other beach related maintenance services. |
Miami Dade County Beach Operations grooms, maintains, and cleans the 14.5 miles of beach, dune, and shoreline from Government Cut to Golden Beach. The municipalities included in the operation are: City of Miami Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbour, Miami-Dade County-Haulover, Sunny Isles Beach, and Golden Beach. This unit operates bulldozers, tractors, Load-n-Pack trash collectors, beach sifters, small and large trucks, scooters and a variety of grounds maintenance tools to perform their duties. This operation has existed for over 40 years. |
Beach Raker was founded in 1979 and has grown to be the largest provider of environmental beach cleaning services in Florida. Our services include, but are not limited to, seaweed management, beach grooming, sand sifting, sand excavation, sand dune management, turtle nest monitoring and garbage removal. Beach Raker currently services 8 municipal contracts daily and 4 additional municipal contracts on an emergency basis. Our longest contract is nearly 40 years old. All 12 municipal clients have utilized Beach Raker extensively to combat the evasive Sargassum seaweed South Florida experienced in 2018. Beach Raker has never been replaced/terminated by any of their municipal clients. Beach Raker has over 250 additional commercial and residential accounts to include 100% of Sunny Isles, Golden Beach, Hillsboro Mile and the Galt Ocean Mile. |
Three Requests with no response. Two via e-mail one verbal in person. |
Current work under contract or agreement; name of City, Municipality, or entity and for how long has it existed. |
Manual trash collection takes place daily on Miami Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbour, Haulover Beach, Sunny Isles and Golden Beach. Mechanical trash collection takes place daily on Miami Beach, Surfside, Haulover Beach, Haulover Park and Sunny Isles.
Beach sifting is performed on all of the above mentioned sections of beach to remove stones, broken glass, bottle caps, cigarette butts, plastic eating utensils, straws, plastic cups and bottles. Beach Sifting is typically performed 5 days per week. Miami Beach and Surfside are scheduled to be sifted 8 to 12 times annually, while Bal Harbour, Haulover, and Sunny Isles are scheduled to be sifted 4 times annually. Sifting is performed on the more heavily populated and more frequently used sections of Miami Beach during holidays and special events totaling to over 40 services annually in a given section of beach.
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1. Client: City of Dania Beach
Project/Duration: 2012 to Present
2. Client: Town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Project/Duration: 1986 to Present
3. Client: Village of Key Biscayne
Project/Duration: 2014 to Present
4. Client: City of Pompano Beach
Project/Duration: 1979 to Present
5. Client: City of Marathon
Project/Duration: 2013 to Present
6. Client: Bal Harbour Village
Project/Duration: 2014 to Present
7. Client: Jacksonville Beach
Project/Duration: Contract awarded 2018 for minimum 3-year term.
8. Client: City of Venice Beach
Project/Duration: Contract awarded in 2018.
9. Client: City of Ft. Lauderdale
Project/Duration: Support Services.
10. Client: City of Hollywood
Project/Duration: Support Services.
11. Client: City of Deerfield Beach
Project/Duration: Support Services.
12. Client: City of Miami Beach
Project/Duration: Support Services
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In order to provide the City's ask of sifting all of Miami Beach weekly, What are your needs? |
Three sifters with tractors and operators. Estimated cost of $750,000 + fuel, lubricants, and maintenance. |
One sifter with tractor and operator plus one Cherrington self-propelled sifter 5 days/week, 52 weeks/year to provide for the once weekly sifting of all Miami Beach. Plus a third sifter with tractor and operator to provide twelve days of service upon request based on needs. Annual estimate $250,000 |
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EQUIPMENT INVENTORY SPECIFIC TO BEACH MAINTENANCE
EQUIPMENT
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QUANTITY AND AGE
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MIAMI DADE
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BEACH RAKER
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TRACTORS
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TOTAL
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8
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19
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2 YRS. OR LESS
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2
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6
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3 TO 4 YRS.
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1
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7
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5 TO 6 YRS.
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0
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3
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7 TO 8 YRS.
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0
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3
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9 + YRS.
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5
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0
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SIFTERS
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TOTAL
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3
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16
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3 YRS. OR LESS
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0
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1
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4 TO 6 YRS.
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0
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0
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7 TO 9 YRS.
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2
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5
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10 TO 12 YRS.
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0
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6
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13 TO 15 YRS.
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1
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4
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LOAD N PACK
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TOTAL
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8
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0
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2 YRS. OR LESS
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0
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3 TO 4 YRS.
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3
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5 TO 6 YRS.
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2
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7 TO 8 YRS.
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2
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9 + YRS.
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1
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Boucher Brothers Management
Beach Sifting Proposal
A beach sifting proposal has also been received from Boucher Brothers Management. In addition to their hourly raking, pick sticking, and sifting with nets at each of their contracted concession locations they have offered to add mechanical beach sifting on a weekly to a maximum of bi-weekly basis for a fee. A percentage of this fee would be passed on to the City as are revenues currently produced by active concession operations.
Each of their contracted concession properties would receive this service. In addition, these same sifting services would be offered to beachfront properties who are contracted with other concession managers. A percentage of all revenues received as a result of these services would also be shared with the city under similar terms.
In addition, all City beaches which are located adjacent to city property such as South Point Beach, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, Lummus Park, Collins Park and all beaches lying eastward of City property through North Beach Oceanside Park will be sifted on the same schedule at no cost to the city.
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| | | | | | | | CONCLUSION:
It is in the opinion of the Administration that Section 10.1.1 of the Boucher Brothers Miami Beach LLC, Public Beachfront Concession Agreement, which requires routine and periodic sifting adjacent to the concessions, be incorporated into all beachfront concession agreements. This requirement would include scheduled, hourly beach surface cleaning of all trash, litter, and debris using sifting nets, pickers, and rakes as appropriate for the trash, litter, and debris being collected for disposal.
Consistent with the Public Beachfront Concession Agreement, Section 10.1.1, the areas subject to this requirement shall be those within fifty feet of the concession operating area, the concession storage shed area, all concession buffer zones, under and around any adjacent Life Guard Tower, and any food and/or beverage dispensing facility operating under an agreement with the same upland property as the concessionaire. The cost for this practice to the upland property and the concession operator would be negligible while the benefit would be immense.
In the event mechanical sifting of any section of Miami Beach is recommended, required, or undertaken by either the City or any individual or group of upland properties that the selection of the provider of that service be made at the discretion of the City administration and in accordance with established procurement rules.
It would be in the best interest of the City to consider a provider of beach sifting and maintenance services to supplement the work of the county in the high use areas and behind hotels.
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