Miami Beach may join cities suing over microplastics and cigarette waste

The Miami Beach City Commission will vote Nov. 18 on whether to let the city attorney pursue legal claims over contamination from microplastics, including cigarette butts and other tobacco product waste, according to a resolution on the consent agenda.

The resolution (item C7 AK), sponsored by Vice Mayor Alex Fernandez, says other cities have already sued the parties responsible and that Miami Beach spends money cleaning up the harm. The law firm Grossman & Kelly LLP and partner firms offered the city attorney to file the claims on a contingency basis, with no out-of-pocket cost to the city, it says. The resolution doesn’t name who would be sued or how much the city spends on cleanup.

Gas franchise. The same agenda carries a 10-year renewal of Peoples Gas System’s franchise to run natural gas lines under city streets (item R5 C). The last agreement, from 2016, expired March 28 and has continued month to month, according to City Manager Eric Carpenter’s memo. It paid the city a franchise fee of 6% of Peoples Gas’s gross revenue in Miami Beach, including gas it delivers for customers who buy from other suppliers, the memo says. The administration recommends opening the item Nov. 18 and moving the first reading to Dec. 9. It has been carried since September.

The commission meets at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 18 at City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive.