Public Works

FPL telephone number for residential inquiries 305-442-8770. To report power outage 1-800-468-8243.

The Public Works Department is responsible for solid waste collection and disposal. Under Florida Law, solid waste includes “garbage, refuse, yard trash, clean debris, white goods, special wastes, ashes, sludge, and other discarded material including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from domestic, industrial, commercial, mining, agricultural, or governmental operations.” Garbage is only part of the material we throw away. Federal and State Laws require that we separate solid waste from collection. A private contractor, Community Recycling Company, collects material for recycling.

Public Works Department employees maintain all trees and landscaping on Town property and public parks. They are also responsible for maintenance of streets, street and traffic signs, and care of Town vehicles and equipment.

The Town’s Public Works Department is also responsible for cleaning and maintaining all storm drains. Storm water flows into a network of catch basins and storm drain lines and is then discharged in to the canals, and not, as some people believe, into the sanitary sewer system. The discharge of sewage is through a completely separate system and is then pumped to large main sewer lines, owned and operated by Dade County Water and Sewer Authority (WASA). The sewage is sent to Virginia Key for Treatment.

On the average, Golden Beach receives 50 inches of rain each year, much of it due to torrential downpours that result in local flooding. Roofs, paved driveways, roads and other impervious surfaces now cover much of what was once vegetated, porous soil and thus limits how much rain water soaks into the ground. Federal and State law require that the Town manage and maintain a storm water system. The town has developed a master drainage plan and a program to upgrade the present system.