The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners convened on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 9:30 AM in Commission Chambers. The meeting opened with special presentations recognizing the 2025 Solid Waste Management Art Poster Contest winners, Haitian entrepreneur Robinson Lovens (proclaimed Robinson Lovens Day), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. for its community service, and Jewish American Heritage Month. Following public comment, the commission set the agenda, adopted ordinances on first reading, conducted public hearings on eight plats, and debated several policy items, including a major airport contract amendment and budget oversight. Key votes included approval of a $600.6 million design-build agreement for a new Concourse K at Miami International Airport and a contentious amendment to issue an additional airport ground handling permit.
Homeowner Zoning Assistance Program (Item 2B2) – Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins requested the creation of a formal assistance program within the Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER) department to help homesteaded homeowners navigate zoning applications, similar to the existing small business permitting assistance program. She noted the report showed many homeowners struggle with complex zoning laws and cannot afford attorneys. RER Director Lourdes Gomez confirmed the intent was to create such a program, clarifying that it would provide information on options, not legal or tax advice. Commissioner Raquel Regalado stressed the need to distinguish between administrative permitting advice and zoning guidance to avoid legal liability. The item was adopted.
Property Conveyances Report Expansion (Item 2B5) – Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez moved to expand the quarterly report on property conveyances to also include leased county properties that are in non-compliance, to avoid surprise defaults. The motion passed.
Contract Execution Report (Item 2B6) – Commissioner Cohen Higgins questioned why the $602 million Schindler elevator/escalator contract at Miami International Airport (MIA) showed "services not needed" in the first 60 days. Chief Procurement Officer Namida Uppal and Aviation Director Ralph Cutié explained the delay was due to employee badging and ramp-up time. They noted that since the contract, elevator operational performance rose from 85% to 95%, with 30 modernizations completed. The report was accepted.
Airport Ground Handling Permits (Item 8P3) – The board considered awarding a seventh non-exclusive permit to AGI (Aviation Groundhandling, Inc.) after two existing permittees (Menzies and G2) announced a merger that would free up a slot. Commissioner Eileen Higgins raised concerns about worker treatment standards, noting that the top six bidders had voluntarily agreed to living wage, paid time off, and parking subsidies. AGI Vice President Sarah Andrews publicly committed to those same conditions. After extensive debate, Commissioner Oliver Gilbert proposed an amendment to award the permit to AGI contingent on the merger and to include a binding commitment to living wage, 40 hours of PTO, and parking assistance. The amendment and the item as amended passed with a majority vote (11–0 on voice vote).
Budget Information Request – Commissioner Regalado moved to direct the administration to provide the Commission Auditor with detailed subline-item budget files and explanations for projected year-over-year revenue and expenditure changes, within seven days. She argued that with only two Appropriations Committee meetings before the July 16 millage setting, she needed granular data to analyze the projected deficit. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava countered that the budget is a work in progress and that providing detailed line items at this stage would be burdensome, but affirmed a commitment to share available information. Commissioner Cohen Higgins noted she had deferred a similar ordinance at the administration’s request and objected to the motion circumventing that process. The motion was four-day ruled (deferred to the next meeting) per the board's rules.
The presentation program, part of our our agenda to start. We're gonna it's gonna be led by Commissioner Raquel Regalado. So if you're standing up and talking, be sitting down and quiet. Yeah, just be sitting down and quiet. Commissioner Regalado. It's wonderful to see you. I'm turning this over to you. Wonderful. Good morning, everyone. It's always a pleasure to have you with us. Uh last meeting, we were celebrating our water and sewer art project. And uh we had the opportunity uh to tell you about our students that worked on that. Uh and you can actually go see their artwork, I think down to downstairs, right? You can see it. Uh today we're celebrating our students that work on our waste project. So uh we have waste management, they also have an art program, and we ask our students in every single district to submit artwork uh to educate people about in this particular case recycling, which as you know is near and dear uh to our hearts. And I want to thank the administration for working on a wonderful recycling project, uh best of class for the next five years. Uh, we couldn't be happier while other municipalities and counties are limiting their recycling. And this is an opportunity not only to highlight that, but to have our students highlight that. So with that, we would like to call up the winners and have them show their art projects. Um where's the list? The list? You have the list, Madam Mayor? Do you have the list? Oh. These are the posters. Okay, wonderful. Awesome. Wonderful. All right. Well, we're gonna ask them uh to come down. So the first one is Katherine Paris. There's a man of you in the meeting. Yeah. So this is our 2025 Department of Solid Waste Management Art Poster. Awesome. There you go. Here we go. Do it like that. All right. So here we go. Our director will jumped right into the pictures because they want us to keep going. Here we go. Our models here. You did a wonderful job. So the next one, we'll do that one come up and then everyone else. Absolutely. Okay. Um Yileen Harris. Hold this for a second.