February 26, 2025 • 39 mins
Unlock the secrets of effective city governance as we sit down with Commissioner Jason Smith, who offers a front-row seat to the dynamic world of Cooper City's local politics. Jason shares his journey from district-based representation to being elected citywide, revealing the collaborative process of setting policies and addressing residents' concerns. Tune in to discover what a typical day looks like for Jason, from preparing for commission meetings to engaging with the community, and how he works alongside the finance division to ensure the city's financial health.
Hear how Jason's entrepreneurial flair breathes new life into Cooper City's local businesses. As an ambassador for economic growth, Jason employs innovative marketing strategies that spotlight both renowned establishments and hidden gems, amplifying their stories through interviews and a dedicated website. Listen to our discussion about future collaborations with "Taste of Cooper City" and the lasting impact of consistent content creation on business visibility. This episode is a testament to Jason's long-term vision for fostering community engagement and supporting local enterprises.
From tackling infrastructure challenges to nurturing family life in Cooper City, this episode encompasses it all. Jason discusses proactive approaches to maintaining essential services, like the resleeving of outdated polybutylene pipes, ensuring community safety. Dive into the heartwarming experiences of raising a family in Cooper City, exploring its vibrant culinary scene, and the invaluable lessons learned from personal relationships. Jason's insights on communication and personal growth resonate deeply, offering listeners a chance to reflect on their life journeys and relationships. Connect with us as we invite you to participate in city commission meetings, share your experiences, and become part of our ongoing dialogue.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to
another episode of the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
We have a very special guesttoday.
He is a recently electedcommissioner for the city of
Cooper City and I'm interestedto get into this conversation
for a couple of reasons.
Number one because, if I'mbeing honest with myself, I
(00:32):
don't really know exactly what acity commissioner does.
So I'm interested to learnabout what he does and his role
here in the community.
Also, because what I've seenhim doing on social media he has
been out creating content,interviewing local business
owners and really trying to geta look under the hood and prop
up local businesses, which isvery much in line with what I do
here in the community throughthe podcast and my local
(00:54):
marketing services.
So when I saw what he was doing, I reached out and I knew I had
to get him on the show so thatI could introduce him to
everybody in the community andlearn more about what he's doing
.
So I'm here with CommissionerJason Smith.
Jason, welcome to the show,brother.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it, of course, ofcourse.
Okay.
So let's start this off frombasics here.
Tell me a little bit, or telleverybody a little bit, about
(01:16):
what a city commissioner does,and then I guess, more
specifically, your role here inCooper City.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Sure, sure, any municipality that we have in
Broward County, including ourcounty commissioners, set policy
.
So ultimately we createordinances.
I outline resolutions that willhave effect on the residents of
the cities that we live in orthat we're elected to.
(01:43):
So that could be from puttingforth direction, which has
budgetary responsibility,towards roads, all the way to
something like trees.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Okay, and there are how many city commissioners in
Cooper City, cooper?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
City has four commissioners and a mayor, so
there's five of us and we allsplit and share the
responsibility equally.
Our votes all are equaled, somy vote is no stronger than the
mayor's vote, and vice versa.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
OK, and each commissioner is assigned to a
different geographic section ofCooper City?
Is that how it works?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
So Cooper City 2020, we had a charter amendment that
at one time that's exactly howwe had it Each commissioner
would be only allowed torepresent or receive votes from
certain districts is what wecalled it inside of Cooper City.
But in 2020, that changed andnow we're what's called citywide
(02:41):
and now we're what's calledcitywide.
That used to only be themayor's role, where the mayor
would be the only electedthrough the whole city would be
able to vote for that individual.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But now, in 2020, that changed and now I don't
have to live in a particulardistrict.
Now, the four commissioners doyou all handle the same types of
issues, or do each of you havespecific areas that you focus on
?
How does that typically workfor you guys, and what is what
is?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
like a typical day, look like in the life of a city
commissioner, sure, okay.
So splitting responsibilitiesusually have been pretty easy
thus far.
In November, when I got swornin, pretty much the landscape
works like this Residentsalready will have some form of a
tempo of a particular maybeelected official that they go to
(03:33):
.
So let's just say in this case,since I'm new, they don't know
me, but what ends up happening?
All of this information getsfunneled into one location at
the city hall through ouradministrative assistant.
Her name is Sabrina, so Sabrinawill gather all of the content
of all the residents, anyconflict that's been going on,
(03:54):
whether it's a infrastructureissue, let's say, in a
particular neighborhood, or justin general, a generalized
question needing resolution.
So we get to see that.
And then we get to tap into itand say, hey, I'm handling Mrs
Smith's or Mrs Jones or MrRoberts' issue, and at that
point that communication loopgets closed.
(04:16):
So that's how sort of thattransfer of information and
delegation happens.
In addition to that, ultimatelyit goes to our city manager.
So no matter who gets the topic, we work directly with our city
manager to deploy out theresources to our residents.
So then he responds back to allof the elected officials
currently dealing with the waterissue off of 52nd Street or Mrs
(04:42):
Jones's electrical issue hasbeen handled or whatever the
case is.
So he does a closing of theloop once he's involved.
So then all electeds know incase, for instance, I'm out of
town or I don't get to talk toMrs Jones, then one of the other
commissioners can close thatloop.
In reference to a particular day, it really depends on within
(05:02):
that month what week it is.
So within the four weeks, twoout of those four weeks are
preparing and working directlywith city staff to prepare for
our commission meeting.
So, for instance, later ontoday I'll meet with the city
manager and any subject matterexpert in the city to go over
and prepare for next week'smeeting, which puts us into a
(05:24):
situation of doing business.
Our commission meeting is thebusiness meeting.
So basically we get one weekworth of time in preparing for
the next meeting.
So once again, it just sort ofdepends on what we've got going
on in the community Very soon.
We have schools that do readacross America, so we'll go in
and help with that.
Sometimes it's identifying thecoin phrase of like literacy
(05:47):
across America.
So we come in and read to theyouths.
It could be opening up a newbusiness and being there to
support.
In Cooper City we have 1,200businesses, so it could be a new
business or a redefined shopthat closed down, a new
organization to open up thereand we're there for their
opening.
It can be just a gamut from oneextreme to the next.
You just sort of never know,and it's week to week.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Interesting, and do the commissioners also handle
budgeting and budgetappropriation, or is that done
by other entities within thecity?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So ultimately we have a finance division.
They will go through and thenthey submit and then we have
what's called workshops.
Those workshops are going tostart around April, may, june
timeframe in preparing forimplementing, basically creating
a vote and establishing our25-26 budget.
(06:41):
So we start sometime in the May, april, june timeframes.
We'll start preparing, havingworkshops and ultimately the
commission does have a big stakein going through if they so
choose the line items and reallygetting down deep into, let's
say, five, six lines within aparticular division's budget.
And that has happened in thepast and you may have heard of
(07:03):
some of our commission meetingsgoing to one or two o'clock in
the morning.
Those are examples of when thathas happened.
But ultimately our city managerwill present a budget to us, at
which time we will have had anopportunity to go through that
budget and then we vote for ityes or no, or what we need to
amend.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
So what led you to this role in public service?
Talk a little bit about your.
I guess your personal andprofessional journey that got
you interested in serving forthe city.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Sure, absolutely so.
I've been a resident over21-ish years 22 years and in
that time frame I had a stronginterest to belong into city
leadership but just timing didnot work out appropriately.
I've had differentopportunities.
I was on the Education AdvisoryBoard so I was appointed into
(07:54):
that opportunity.
I eventually was a secretary,took minutes and all that type
of stuff and got to work in theacademia side of what the city
involves in with schools andeverything else.
Some of my background inpolitics really established from
being a part of a local union.
So my background for well over23 years now has been in public
(08:15):
safety.
So I was actually a unionpresident.
So in dealing with that role Iactually intimately was involved
with over 43 elected officialsand really got to deal with all
of them quite intimately,specifically with Cooper City.
(08:37):
So I had navigated and dealtwith different topics and items
because of service contractswithin side of Cooper City.
So I got to see the things thatI had to bring to them.
I saw the things that theyneeded from us.
So when the timing was rightand one of the commissioners
Commissioner Green turned out,it was a great opportunity to be
(08:59):
able to jump in the mix.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, sounds like a natural progression.
See, I would have thought thatmaybe you had some kind of
background in marketing, basedupon what I see you doing in the
community.
How did that spring intoexistence?
Is that something?
Going out and interviewinglocal businesses?
I know that's part of what youdo as a city commissioner.
You mentioned there's 1,200businesses or so in Cooper City
and obviously the better ourlocal businesses do, the better
(09:23):
it is for our economy and ourlocal community.
What sparked the interest indoing that?
Is that something that you hadintended upon doing prior to
entering office?
Is it something that that cameto you once you were elected?
How did that work for you?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So I do have entrepreneurial background.
I own, and I'm a part of, a fewdifferent businesses that I
didn't buy into, essentiallyestablished from the ground up,
and I recognized early onmarketing was everything.
It's very hard as a newbusiness to put forth a lot of
that dollars that you're earningto put directly back into
(09:58):
marketing because you don't getto initially see it.
You got to sort of plant, forlack of better terms, that
investment and wait for it togrow.
So knowing how that works, oneof the first things that I
recognized was my role as acommissioner is I get to be the
voice for the city, for theresidents, for the businesses
(10:21):
and with having the structure ofCooper City eight and a half
square miles depends on how youGoogle it.
We've got some waterways sosometimes you see like 8.3 miles
but ultimately at the end ofthe day, our square miles is not
as a large footprint as some ofour other municipalities in
Broward County and with onlyhaving 1200 businesses, they
(10:43):
need all the opportunity and,for lack of better terms,
ambassadors out there that canlet people know of the wonderful
things that we have in ourbackyard so you don't have to
travel to Pines, davie orHollywood to go find.
So when I got this opportunityand I started to go around with
our city staff and recognizesome of the businesses that
(11:03):
contribute back to the city Forinstance Taste of the City.
They come out and they show offwhat they're able to do
food-wise I said you know what?
This is a great opportunity tonot only just recognize our
brick and mortar foodrestaurants, but I'm going to
tap into every facet of it.
And so that's what sort ofestablished that insight.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So, for those that haven't seen any of the content
that you've been doing on socialmedia, any of the posts talk a
little bit about what it isspecifically that you're doing.
I mentioned you're going outinterviewing businesses.
What does that processtypically look like for you?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So I post on a website called someplace special
dot online and I took what ourcity sort of encompasses, that
we are someplace special, andwhat I've done is I'll reach out
to local businesses and I'llget with the owner or the
leadership team there, I set upa date and then I bring a team
(11:59):
with me and then we justhighlight what they do.
Recently we were able to doBogartarts.
We were able to get at a placecalled Main Spot and we've got
some others that are in thepipeline, getting ready to be
done, which, for instance, we'vegot a great plaza that used to
have Winn-Dixie and now has anorganization that's coming in
(12:20):
there called Flamingos.
So the community is veryexcited to finally see what
that's going to look like.
It's going to be a shoppingexperience like a grocery store,
but with a different littleflair to it.
So you know, presenting thosethings, getting the residents
aware of what to expect onsomething like that, or all the
(12:42):
way to, for instance, hot chicks, right there across from the
high school, a nice littlechicken restaurant that serves
quality those types of thingsare what I have the opportunity
to talk to.
The owners, hear them.
A lot of them are alsoresidents, jeremy, that's the
(13:03):
neat thing.
So it's a double bang for thebuck.
It's talking to the community,working with the community and
ultimately they're feeding backto the community.
I mean, it's a grand slam inthose cases, and even those that
don't necessarily reside inCooper City.
Sometimes they own two or threebusinesses and people would
have no clue.
So it's very neat to engagewith them in that type of format
(13:24):
.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, I saw a post.
I think you met with AlexDeGuida, if I'm pronouncing it
right, owner of Sushi Sogo, wholives here in Cooper City.
I think he lives in Hibbs Grove.
I did an article in mypublication.
I have a little column I do,called the Taste of Cooper City.
From time to time and I go tolocal restaurants and I sample
the food, take pictures and kindof report back to the readers,
do a little soft review.
(13:46):
So, like I said, a lot of thestuff that you're doing is very
much in line with what I do.
So I thought it would be greatfor us to kind of get together
and get to know a little bitmore about what we do and
potentially collaborate in thefuture.
Now, are you doing likeobviously there's a lot of
businesses to go see, um, andyou're going and you're meeting
these businesses?
Is this more of like a one-off?
(14:06):
You're doing this one time?
Are you planning on going backto check in from time to time,
periodically, to see howbusinesses are doing?
Because, as you know, in thecontent game, you know doing
something once is a drop in thebucket.
Right, you got to be consistent, you got to be frequent, you
got to keep people in thespotlight consistently to get
the exposure they're looking for.
And I know I realize you'reobviously not a marketing
company, uh, but what?
(14:26):
What is like the long-termvision for this project?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
so.
So you're exactly right.
One one time to recognizesomebody is nice, but is that
really going to be the impactthat's going to be needed to
sustain just the awareness insomeone's mind?
And the answer is no.
So so, yes, um, the goal is toum make it make a content, uh,
make the reach and thenabsolutely follow back up.
(14:52):
So an example is I think, um,we've hit main spot twice, um, I
not only go to a lot of theserestaurants, um locally, just to
support and give back andfeedback into them, uh, but what
the neat thing is is, umlocally just to support and give
back and feedback into them, uh, but what the neat thing is is,
um, after establishing that,then we have what's a newsletter
that we're creating.
So we're going to not only seethem face to face one time,
(15:16):
we're not only going to go aheadand involve and come to the
restaurants.
And here's the other thingSometimes it's not just
restaurants.
We have, um some martial artsorganizations that want to be
recognized and and it may notnecessarily hit my age grouping,
but ultimately, at the end ofthe day, I'm going to go
recognize them.
So in this circumstance, we'regoing to highlight them,
(15:39):
recognize and put them in thenewsletter.
I'm going to stop back by.
There's going to be times.
For instance I'll give you anexample for your specific
question is I'm going to look tosay, hey, I'm going to stop by
place X, y and Z and the first15, 20 people there like let's
just give you an example a sushiroll on me or something like
(16:03):
that.
I'm actually looking to utilizemy own funds to establish, to
assist our local businesses.
I really find that there'sgoing to be value in that.
I want to really tie thecommunity into what we're doing.
So I'm coming up with thesetype of ideas just to go ahead
and make certain that I don't dothat one-time hit or that
one-time response.
I want to go ahead and makecertain that we don't do that
(16:24):
one-time hit or that one-timeresponse.
I want to go ahead and makecertain that we're consistently
keeping them fresh in everyone'smind.
But with 1,200 companies,that's a lot to continue with.
But as this thing grows, we'llsee how it goes.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Lots and lots of work to be done, for sure, and yeah,
it's interesting.
When it comes to businesses andtrying to market themselves,
one of the things that I try todo is really empower them as
business owners to be moreproactive.
I mean, no businesses are doingenough marketing and a lot of
times they're uncomfortable withgoing out on social media and
(16:55):
putting themselves out there.
And I think what you do throughinterviewing people in person
at the restaurant, through whatI do with the podcast, again,
it's really helping businessesbecome more comfortable in that
setting so that hopefully, theycan continue doing that on their
own, because the more they putthemselves out there, the more
people are going to get to knowthem and people that live in the
community.
(17:16):
They want to do business withtheir community members.
So if they know that people areoperating in the community and
specifically if they live here,they're going to be way more apt
to come patronize that businessas opposed to going to the next
city over.
So really really good stuff,man.
Love it, love it, love it.
I wanted to ask about.
I wanted to go back to the, tothe city for a second.
(17:38):
I had a question here.
Give me a second.
Where are you Question?
I know you're relatively new tothis role.
This was November.
It's only been three months.
I wanted to ask what are someof the biggest challenges that
the city is facing as we movethrough 2025 and beyond.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Infrastructures are our biggest challenges that we
have.
Our wastewater is a big one,underground plumbing is another
one, our roads are another one,trees are another one, ones that
need to be oversaw andpotentially maybe even torn down
and rebuilt.
There's literally from A to Zwith infrastructure.
(18:32):
So with infrastructure is bigcost and big money now.
So it's ultimately navigatingwith my colleagues into
prioritizing the dollars so thatwe keep the resources 25 and
going forward for the next fouryears, because there's a lot of
(19:06):
significant infrastructure thatover 20 years has crept up on us
and now we have to get fixed.
That's just the way it is.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
You mentioned underground piping.
I know one of the issues, atleast in residences in Cooper
City.
There's a lot of homes thathave the old polybutylene piping
.
Is that a similar obstacle andchallenge for the underground
piping for the city?
Is that all or has that alreadybeen replaced?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
We're lucky and, very fortunate, our current city
manager that is just shy ofprobably nine to ten months now
has come in, has a significantbackground in city management
and recognized some of theseneeds immediately.
So now what we're doing isthere's, for instance, a process
(19:59):
that we just approved withinthe commission, process that we
just approved within thecommission, within the last two
commission meetings, ofresleeving our piping
infrastructure that'sunderground, so, ultimately, we
minimize pulling up road andcreating more traffic issues and
everything else that sort ofcomes with that, and we're able
to go ahead and we've allocatedfunding to go ahead and,
(20:22):
basically, they re-sleeve thepipe, so they go into the
current pipe, the technologyallows it to re-establish itself
or the cylindrical shape, andthen, basically, it takes the
old piping that may have leaksor may be causing underground
leaking that ultimately, willcause infrastructure like the
(20:44):
roads to fail or fall orsomething to that nature.
Cave in.
It fixes that.
So what happens, though, is thecity has these pipes all over
the place, so when you start aproject like this and you're
starting to go through, it takestime, and time sometimes is not
what residents or what anyonereally has, you know.
(21:05):
So I would say, man, we've gotto be patient, but that's easier
said than done.
But what I will tell you isinfrastructure to that example
and piping very similar to likewhat homes can go through, is
what we have throughout ourwhole city, and and so we're,
instead of once again you mayhave heard in in the circles
kicking the can down the road ornot taking the responsibility
(21:26):
at current, this commission hasdecided there is no wiggle room.
We're taking the responsibilityand maybe there's projects we
would like to see done.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
We're going to go ahead and put priority to
infrastructure that will allowour residents to maintain safety
and continuation of what theydo, and we'll get to all the
nice special projects as well,it's funny how quick people are
that aren't involved to kind ofpoint fingers and assess blame
and complain about all thesethings, when they're not doing
anything on their own to furtherthe cause, because you guys are
(21:57):
putting a lot of work in onyour end to make Cooper City
truly someplace special.
What can our residents do toget more involved?
Right, there's.
There's a lot that everybodycan do, everybody's in their own
worlds.
Obviously, we all have our ownresponsibilities, but there are
little things that people can doto raise awareness and to
further your cause.
What would you recommend tosomebody that's listening?
(22:18):
That that is not plugged inright, that's not involved with
anything that's going on?
That that they could just startslowly getting involved and
making a little bit of an impactand a difference for the
community?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Sure, absolutely.
So I would say there's threethings.
Immediately, if, in the event,because of life, you're unable
to attend commission meetings,which I completely understand,
then the one thing you need toknow, with not attending or
going online, is there's an openforum for the public to just
speak and when you speak, you'renot attending or going online.
Is there's an open forum forthe public to just speak, and
when you speak, you're not justspeaking to one commissioner,
(22:49):
you're speaking to all of themand you're telling them what
you're recognizing, what you'reseeing good and or bad.
So to plug in just it, forinstance, for up to three
minutes is the timeframe thatyou're allowed.
That is huge.
So, either coming in person ormaking that on the Zoom and
being recognized and speaking,that's huge.
(23:10):
That's number one.
Number two if, in the event,you're able to show up to any of
our advisory boards so we haveplenty of advisory boards in the
city and what happens in anytype of organizational chart?
You have a pyramid and thepyramids, the top and in this
case let's just say the top isthe residents.
(23:31):
So it's the residents, and thenthe residents are a part of
what's called advisory boardsand those advisory boards feed
into your commission and thecommissioners then tell the city
manager and then it dispersesout through the appropriate
divisions that are credentialedand licensed to get the job done
.
So, ultimately, if theresidents can show up to any of
(23:52):
the advisory boards, they don'thave to be assigned a task that
they can sit there.
They get to sign in as public,they can hear what's going on,
they can at times give publicfeedback into those smaller
groups outside of the largercommission meetings.
So that would be number two.
And then the third is if none ofthat works, just look at my
contact online.
Reach out to me and tell mewhat's going on.
(24:13):
Hey, I appreciate what you'redoing.
Thanks for being assertive inthis.
Hey, I don't know if you knowthis our playground has a slide
that is damaged.
Or are you aware of some of thecongregation of cars that come
in this particular area and itcreates traffic issues?
I mean, it could be from oneextreme to the next.
(24:34):
So reaching out to myself orany other of the elected
officials, that's what we'rethere for.
We're ultimately the voice ofthe community officials, that's
what we're there for.
We're ultimately the voice ofthe community, and I would say
those are three easy ways toplug in so that we can continue
to meet the objectives and theneeds of the residents.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Love it.
I'm plugged in right now.
I'm going to throw a little, avery minor issue at you.
That's related to theunderground piping that I wanted
to bring to that.
It came to me the other day.
I was at the new dog park rightacross.
You know where Park AvenueGymnastics is, yes, so the dog
park right across from there,yeah, off of Flamingo, back in
that area, right yeah?
yeah, that new dog park.
So wonderful, I'm so happy.
(25:12):
I live right down the road fromthere, go there all the time
with my two little furry friends.
But it seems to me that theremight be a leak in one of the
underground pipes, because rightwhere all the water is it's
always muddy and dirty, so itseems like something's leaking
under there.
How would we go about gettingthat checked out and trying to
get that shored up?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
All I need is the exact area.
I know you're giving me aroundabout, but I'll just have
to have an exact area.
I let the city manager knowHe'll bring out our public works
team.
They'll take a look and thenobviously from there, if there's
technology that they canobviously use, before digging up
and creating an issue, they cansee if there's any type of
underground piping there or whatis happening, and then they'll
(25:53):
just look to get a resolution toit.
Sometimes it could take acouple hours one day.
Maybe it takes a few weeks,depending on the severity that
is truly happening that we don'tsee with our eyes.
But yeah, we can make that look.
We can put an insert forresolution immediately.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Because you know, honestly, I was going to just
fix it myself because I'm sohandy, and my wife was like you
know, don't do that, You'regoing to flood the entirety of
Cooper City if you get in there.
So you know, I'll leave it tothe professionals.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, yeah, flood the entirety of Cooper City if you
get in there.
So I said you know what, I'llleave it to the professionals.
Yeah, yeah, we have a veryrobust about 140 employees in
different divisions throughoutthe city.
They're the heroes.
You don't see them.
They're working through earlymornings, late nights to make
everything in the city happen,and it's very funny.
And until you're ultimatelyintimately involved in a role
(26:44):
like this where you touchfinance, you touch public works,
you talk to the department andyou're getting to see sort of
this lateral grasp of what ittakes.
They're a really great group.
They work extremely hard and,yes, those professionals are the
ones that we want to deploy.
So if anything gets bigger,even though you may be handy,
let's give it to them.
They have all the resources.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah, people often take for granted all the
wonderful, amazing things wehave living in this great
country and within these greatcommunities.
There is so much work that goesinto making communities what
they are and we often forgetthat and it's high time to
remind everybody to be gratefuland thankful for what we have in
(27:27):
this great country and ourgreat community for sure.
So you mentioned 20, I thinkyou said 22 years, 21, 22 years,
cooper City resident.
Yes, so, as with most things inlife, with most people, family
is typically the driving forcebehind everything that we do.
Tell us a little bit about yourfamily.
(27:47):
You got kids, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So I've been married 16 yearsand and I've got a 15 year old
and a seven year old and we'vewent through the Griffin
Elementary.
We went through the schoolsystems.
That's obviously what droveonce I got married to bring my
wife back to Cooper City.
I used to live in SummertimeIsles and so as I lived there
(28:13):
and then got married said hey,we need to, we're going to
expand our family, so we'regoing to look for a little bit
larger of a home footprint.
So it brought us from the eastside of Cooper City and brought
us to the west side of CooperCity and so, like you just said,
family, schools, theinvolvement of the community,
sort of just that someplacespecial feel they had it, and so
(28:35):
that's what's brought me here.
So 15,.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Is that freshman or sophomore in high school?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
That puts her as a sophomore.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Sophomore.
Okay, Because I have a daughterwho is in eighth grade at I
don't know seventh grade atPioneer, going into eighth grade
next year, and I have a sonwho's finishing at Griffin.
He's in fifth grade, going tobe joining my daughter at
Pioneer.
What do I have in store for meas we transition from middle
school to high school?
I always like to ask folks thathave older kids what I'm
(29:06):
looking to go through.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
So my daughter, they went to Griffin, went to Pioneer
and here's what I will tell youyour transition from each
grouping.
The Cooper City school systemdoes a very good job in
preparing them.
But ultimately what I recognizeis just the situation of
(29:28):
growing up, maturing.
They change at a timeframe asthey're entering a brand new
season of schooling for theirlife, so they sort of get their
flow down.
They've got their what we wouldcall sea legs on the boat, so
they're not rocking anymore.
They finish up elementary, theygo into middle school and
middle school creates a wholenew vibe and arena for them.
(29:50):
So they're maturing, they'regrowing up, their body's going
through changes and then they'rein a very um, uh, aggressive
request for their education nowto meet a new requirement.
So as they try to now absorbwhat's happening for them and
there's a lot of autonomy givento them and they have to rotate
through classes they get theresponses I got.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I got, I got Howl at the moon baby.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
I got furry friends too.
I love it.
Two Belgian Malinois.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
So they keep an eye out for me.
My last name is Wolf.
He's doing the Wolf now.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
They keep an eye on the house.
For me, so saying that highschool is just a following, I
see that elementary to middlebecomes that difficulty.
But from middle to high they'vegot it understood.
They understand what therequirement is.
They have that autonomy sort offigured out, the rotating
through classes.
But your middle school year,that middle piece, as you
(30:48):
probably already recognize, thattends to be a little bit the
adjustment window.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yeah indeed.
So what is a family fun daylook like for the Smith family,
Assuming you can get yourteenager into the fold?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yes, what do you guys like to do?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
for fun.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Um, you know what my family really enjoys the
cultures of food.
So lately we've been able to goto different restaurants with
inside of Cooper City over and Iwill say lately, it's been over
the last few years.
So what will happen is we'llget to go ahead and we'll go
through, let's say, off ofFlamingo, and we'll go into our
(31:26):
Publix Plaza and say, okay,we're going to try something new
here, so Vienna Cafe, or we'llhit what's another great spot
over there.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Have you met Mark, the owner of Vienna?
I actually have.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I have.
He's a great guy and we'regoing to end up doing something
over there as well andrecognizing them.
But another example is the newpizza spot that opened up on the
the North side of that andthey've just been knocking it
out of the park.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Sicilian oven.
Sicilian oven.
Yeah, so when they jam it,those guys are killing it.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Amazing, Amazing.
So that's just simple examples.
Or we'll go over to the, to theplaza that's right off a hiatus
, and we'll do broccolini.
We, uh, we will, will attemptto try different restaurants
throughout.
There's a nice French, fresh uh, French restaurant in that
plaza as well.
Um, I mean, you could just keepon going on and on.
So what we'll try to do is graba lunch or dinner, a breakfast
(32:23):
spot, and just really get anopportunity to enjoy.
So that's what I recognize myfamily does for fun.
We'll get to try something new.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Very cool.
So, looking back through yourlife journey, I'd love to ask
this question, because the olderI get, the more it resonates
with me.
What is something that comes tomind?
A life hardship, a challenge,something you struggled with
along the way, where, at thetime going through it, you asked
(32:55):
yourself why is this happeningto me Feels like the end of the
world.
But fast forward to today.
You look back at thatexperience and say, man, am I
glad that happened to me.
It really kind of shaped who Iam today.
Is there something that comesto mind like a defining moment
or some challenge or hardshipthat you had that speaks to that
?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Well, I'm going to tell you, yeah, you know, when I
got married, I lived on my own,my wife lived on her own, and
then you come together as onecouple and then you start
talking about bringing a familyinto the mix.
So one of the things that Irecognized is I had my opinion
(33:38):
on how I thought communicationworked.
At that point I thought I wasthe best communicator that there
was and during my early yearsof marriage, instead of really
enjoying the relationship, Idefinitely had a hurdle because
(34:00):
I didn't know how to communicateappropriately to my wife and I
really missed the opportunityandues to be successful and to
be a great husband as well as agood friend during those periods
of time.
So you know, many times youstart looking and asking you
know what is what is going on?
Like what's happening?
(34:20):
Like I'm so successful in myopinion at work and everything
else I do, but at home I'm justcompletely a zero.
I'm not.
Why does the person I love themost dislike me the most?
Like what's happening here?
So luckily you know, plugging in, really paying attention, a lot
of prayers I was able to getnot only myself plugged in
(34:44):
appropriately, but I was able toreally be in a situation that I
would tell you you know a lotof people say it and it takes a
lot of work to get there butdefinitely, um, uh, my wife is,
is my, is my best friend, butthere was a period of time that
my best friend I felt was myenemy and, uh, I was willing to,
you know, draw the lines and goto war.
(35:04):
So it it's taken time.
I definitely asked myself whatis happening here.
Did I make a mistake?
Was this the person I'msupposed to spend the rest of my
life with?
But through sort of persevering, drawing the line, saying I'm
not going to give up, I'm goingto figure this out, and being
willing to look at myselfinstead of cause blame and say
it's her or she doesn't get me,and I would say that that would
(35:27):
be it for me.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
A hundred percent and that resonates, get me and I
would say that that would be itfor me A hundred percent and
that resonates with me.
I've been talking about this alot lately.
I just turned 45 and with agecomes wisdom.
Communication is everything andwhat I find is that, especially
when I'm talking to my wife andmy kids, when they criticize me
or bring up concerns orcomplaints or things like that,
(35:49):
when they criticize me or bringup concerns or complaints or
things like that that trigger me, I find that if I just sit with
it and I don't react to it andI just reflect upon what they're
saying, more often than not thereason why I was triggered is
because it's something withinmyself that I don't like about
myself, that I don't want thatI'm resisting doing the work to
fix, and often I gain some of mybest insights on the things
that normally in the past wouldmake me erupt and get into a big
(36:13):
argument, and it's amazing howthat works and I've been very
cognizant of that and it stillhappens more often than I'd like
, but I'm so aware of it now andI've done so much work in that
regard and it's's really so whatyou said really really does
resonate with me on a, on areally fundamental level.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Yeah, no great.
That was a real good questionand I couldn't have been more
honest to that.
A lot of people probably wouldhave liked to show something
else, but less than I want the,I want everyone to.
I'm very transparent.
I'm always going to bestraightforward.
So now your listenersdefinitely get to see a
vulnerable moment going to bestraightforward.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
So now your listeners definitely get to see a
vulnerable moment.
People want authenticity, right?
We want to be the mostauthentic versions of ourselves
and unfortunately, so many of usgo through life wearing a mask
right In different interactionswe feel like we have to be a
certain way, act a certain way.
If you could just be true toyourself, good things start to
happen all around you.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Okay, before we wrap this up, why don't you let our
listeners know how they couldlearn more?
You mentioned that you have thewebsite where you're putting
all the content.
How can people find you onsocial media?
How could they follow you?
How could they get involvedwith the project that you're
doing?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
On Facebook and Instagram it'sthe same, commissioner.
Jason Smith is how you wouldfind me.
You can like and startfollowing me immediately on
those platforms.
You can go tosomeplacespecialonline
altogether sowwwsomeplacespecialonline and
(37:46):
you can sign up for thenewsletter and you can see any
recent postings we do.
And then, ultimately, you canalways email me directly on my
city email, jay Smith, theletter J followed by my last
name, smith, at Cooper City dotgov, and then on the Cooper City
website, if you go and lookunder elected officials, you can
(38:07):
scroll down and not only am Ithere, but all of the elected
officials.
You can see a little bio ofmyself as well as my other
colleagues, and you can email usfrom there or call us from our
phone number.
That is there as well.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
All right, and we're going to, of course, link in the
description to all of yourcontact information.
We are going to share this onall of our social media
platforms.
We're going to get you copiesof everything so you could share
it on your end.
And I want to talk to anyoneout there listening.
If you're a resident of CooperCity, I want to try something
new.
If you, jason, you mentionedhow people can get involved with
(38:44):
the city.
You can go to city commissionmeetings.
You can reach out to you If youwant to voice any concerns, if
you want to share anyexperiences, if you have
something to say, reach out,leave a comment in this video
below.
We're going to go through allthe comments and when we find
the most interesting things thatpeople say, we're going to pick
somebody to come on the podcastand talk a little bit about and
(39:04):
continue the conversation andraise awareness around this.
Let's keep this conversationgoing and let's keep Cooper city
someplace special.
Leave it at that.
Thanks everyone for tuning inand we will catch you all next
time on the next episode of thegood neighbor podcast.
Everyone, take care and have awonderful day.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Thanks for listening to the good neighbor podcast,
cooper city.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to
another episode of the GoodNeighbor Podcast.
We have a very special guesttoday.
He is a recently electedcommissioner for the city of
Cooper City and I'm interestedto get into this conversation
for a couple of reasons.
Number one because, if I'mbeing honest with myself, I
(00:32):
don't really know exactly what acity commissioner does.
So I'm interested to learnabout what he does and his role
here in the community.
Also, because what I've seenhim doing on social media he has
been out creating content,interviewing local business
owners and really trying to geta look under the hood and prop
up local businesses, which isvery much in line with what I do
here in the community throughthe podcast and my local
(00:54):
marketing services.
So when I saw what he was doing, I reached out and I knew I had
to get him on the show so thatI could introduce him to
everybody in the community andlearn more about what he's doing
.
So I'm here with CommissionerJason Smith.
Jason, welcome to the show,brother.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it, of course, ofcourse.
Okay.
So let's start this off frombasics here.
Tell me a little bit, or telleverybody a little bit, about
(01:16):
what a city commissioner does,and then I guess, more
specifically, your role here inCooper City.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Sure, sure, any municipality that we have in
Broward County, including ourcounty commissioners, set policy
.
So ultimately we createordinances.
I outline resolutions that willhave effect on the residents of
the cities that we live in orthat we're elected to.
(01:43):
So that could be from puttingforth direction, which has
budgetary responsibility,towards roads, all the way to
something like trees.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Okay, and there are how many city commissioners in
Cooper City, cooper?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
City has four commissioners and a mayor, so
there's five of us and we allsplit and share the
responsibility equally.
Our votes all are equaled, somy vote is no stronger than the
mayor's vote, and vice versa.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
OK, and each commissioner is assigned to a
different geographic section ofCooper City?
Is that how it works?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
So Cooper City 2020, we had a charter amendment that
at one time that's exactly howwe had it Each commissioner
would be only allowed torepresent or receive votes from
certain districts is what wecalled it inside of Cooper City.
But in 2020, that changed andnow we're what's called citywide
(02:41):
and now we're what's calledcitywide.
That used to only be themayor's role, where the mayor
would be the only electedthrough the whole city would be
able to vote for that individual.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But now, in 2020, that changed and now I don't
have to live in a particulardistrict.
Now, the four commissioners doyou all handle the same types of
issues, or do each of you havespecific areas that you focus on
?
How does that typically workfor you guys, and what is what
is?
Speaker 3 (03:13):
like a typical day, look like in the life of a city
commissioner, sure, okay.
So splitting responsibilitiesusually have been pretty easy
thus far.
In November, when I got swornin, pretty much the landscape
works like this Residentsalready will have some form of a
tempo of a particular maybeelected official that they go to
(03:33):
.
So let's just say in this case,since I'm new, they don't know
me, but what ends up happening?
All of this information getsfunneled into one location at
the city hall through ouradministrative assistant.
Her name is Sabrina, so Sabrinawill gather all of the content
of all the residents, anyconflict that's been going on,
(03:54):
whether it's a infrastructureissue, let's say, in a
particular neighborhood, or justin general, a generalized
question needing resolution.
So we get to see that.
And then we get to tap into itand say, hey, I'm handling Mrs
Smith's or Mrs Jones or MrRoberts' issue, and at that
point that communication loopgets closed.
(04:16):
So that's how sort of thattransfer of information and
delegation happens.
In addition to that, ultimatelyit goes to our city manager.
So no matter who gets the topic, we work directly with our city
manager to deploy out theresources to our residents.
So then he responds back to allof the elected officials
currently dealing with the waterissue off of 52nd Street or Mrs
(04:42):
Jones's electrical issue hasbeen handled or whatever the
case is.
So he does a closing of theloop once he's involved.
So then all electeds know incase, for instance, I'm out of
town or I don't get to talk toMrs Jones, then one of the other
commissioners can close thatloop.
In reference to a particular day, it really depends on within
(05:02):
that month what week it is.
So within the four weeks, twoout of those four weeks are
preparing and working directlywith city staff to prepare for
our commission meeting.
So, for instance, later ontoday I'll meet with the city
manager and any subject matterexpert in the city to go over
and prepare for next week'smeeting, which puts us into a
(05:24):
situation of doing business.
Our commission meeting is thebusiness meeting.
So basically we get one weekworth of time in preparing for
the next meeting.
So once again, it just sort ofdepends on what we've got going
on in the community Very soon.
We have schools that do readacross America, so we'll go in
and help with that.
Sometimes it's identifying thecoin phrase of like literacy
(05:47):
across America.
So we come in and read to theyouths.
It could be opening up a newbusiness and being there to
support.
In Cooper City we have 1,200businesses, so it could be a new
business or a redefined shopthat closed down, a new
organization to open up thereand we're there for their
opening.
It can be just a gamut from oneextreme to the next.
You just sort of never know,and it's week to week.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Interesting, and do the commissioners also handle
budgeting and budgetappropriation, or is that done
by other entities within thecity?
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So ultimately we have a finance division.
They will go through and thenthey submit and then we have
what's called workshops.
Those workshops are going tostart around April, may, june
timeframe in preparing forimplementing, basically creating
a vote and establishing our25-26 budget.
(06:41):
So we start sometime in the May, april, june timeframes.
We'll start preparing, havingworkshops and ultimately the
commission does have a big stakein going through if they so
choose the line items and reallygetting down deep into, let's
say, five, six lines within aparticular division's budget.
And that has happened in thepast and you may have heard of
(07:03):
some of our commission meetingsgoing to one or two o'clock in
the morning.
Those are examples of when thathas happened.
But ultimately our city managerwill present a budget to us, at
which time we will have had anopportunity to go through that
budget and then we vote for ityes or no, or what we need to
amend.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
So what led you to this role in public service?
Talk a little bit about your.
I guess your personal andprofessional journey that got
you interested in serving forthe city.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Sure, absolutely so.
I've been a resident over21-ish years 22 years and in
that time frame I had a stronginterest to belong into city
leadership but just timing didnot work out appropriately.
I've had differentopportunities.
I was on the Education AdvisoryBoard so I was appointed into
(07:54):
that opportunity.
I eventually was a secretary,took minutes and all that type
of stuff and got to work in theacademia side of what the city
involves in with schools andeverything else.
Some of my background inpolitics really established from
being a part of a local union.
So my background for well over23 years now has been in public
(08:15):
safety.
So I was actually a unionpresident.
So in dealing with that role Iactually intimately was involved
with over 43 elected officialsand really got to deal with all
of them quite intimately,specifically with Cooper City.
(08:37):
So I had navigated and dealtwith different topics and items
because of service contractswithin side of Cooper City.
So I got to see the things thatI had to bring to them.
I saw the things that theyneeded from us.
So when the timing was rightand one of the commissioners
Commissioner Green turned out,it was a great opportunity to be
(08:59):
able to jump in the mix.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah, sounds like a natural progression.
See, I would have thought thatmaybe you had some kind of
background in marketing, basedupon what I see you doing in the
community.
How did that spring intoexistence?
Is that something?
Going out and interviewinglocal businesses?
I know that's part of what youdo as a city commissioner.
You mentioned there's 1,200businesses or so in Cooper City
and obviously the better ourlocal businesses do, the better
(09:23):
it is for our economy and ourlocal community.
What sparked the interest indoing that?
Is that something that you hadintended upon doing prior to
entering office?
Is it something that that cameto you once you were elected?
How did that work for you?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
So I do have entrepreneurial background.
I own, and I'm a part of, a fewdifferent businesses that I
didn't buy into, essentiallyestablished from the ground up,
and I recognized early onmarketing was everything.
It's very hard as a newbusiness to put forth a lot of
that dollars that you're earningto put directly back into
(09:58):
marketing because you don't getto initially see it.
You got to sort of plant, forlack of better terms, that
investment and wait for it togrow.
So knowing how that works, oneof the first things that I
recognized was my role as acommissioner is I get to be the
voice for the city, for theresidents, for the businesses
(10:21):
and with having the structure ofCooper City eight and a half
square miles depends on how youGoogle it.
We've got some waterways sosometimes you see like 8.3 miles
but ultimately at the end ofthe day, our square miles is not
as a large footprint as some ofour other municipalities in
Broward County and with onlyhaving 1200 businesses, they
(10:43):
need all the opportunity and,for lack of better terms,
ambassadors out there that canlet people know of the wonderful
things that we have in ourbackyard so you don't have to
travel to Pines, davie orHollywood to go find.
So when I got this opportunityand I started to go around with
our city staff and recognizesome of the businesses that
(11:03):
contribute back to the city Forinstance Taste of the City.
They come out and they show offwhat they're able to do
food-wise I said you know what?
This is a great opportunity tonot only just recognize our
brick and mortar foodrestaurants, but I'm going to
tap into every facet of it.
And so that's what sort ofestablished that insight.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So, for those that haven't seen any of the content
that you've been doing on socialmedia, any of the posts talk a
little bit about what it isspecifically that you're doing.
I mentioned you're going outinterviewing businesses.
What does that processtypically look like for you?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So I post on a website called someplace special
dot online and I took what ourcity sort of encompasses, that
we are someplace special, andwhat I've done is I'll reach out
to local businesses and I'llget with the owner or the
leadership team there, I set upa date and then I bring a team
(11:59):
with me and then we justhighlight what they do.
Recently we were able to doBogartarts.
We were able to get at a placecalled Main Spot and we've got
some others that are in thepipeline, getting ready to be
done, which, for instance, we'vegot a great plaza that used to
have Winn-Dixie and now has anorganization that's coming in
(12:20):
there called Flamingos.
So the community is veryexcited to finally see what
that's going to look like.
It's going to be a shoppingexperience like a grocery store,
but with a different littleflair to it.
So you know, presenting thosethings, getting the residents
aware of what to expect onsomething like that, or all the
(12:42):
way to, for instance, hot chicks, right there across from the
high school, a nice littlechicken restaurant that serves
quality those types of thingsare what I have the opportunity
to talk to.
The owners, hear them.
A lot of them are alsoresidents, jeremy, that's the
(13:03):
neat thing.
So it's a double bang for thebuck.
It's talking to the community,working with the community and
ultimately they're feeding backto the community.
I mean, it's a grand slam inthose cases, and even those that
don't necessarily reside inCooper City.
Sometimes they own two or threebusinesses and people would
have no clue.
So it's very neat to engagewith them in that type of format
(13:24):
.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, I saw a post.
I think you met with AlexDeGuida, if I'm pronouncing it
right, owner of Sushi Sogo, wholives here in Cooper City.
I think he lives in Hibbs Grove.
I did an article in mypublication.
I have a little column I do,called the Taste of Cooper City.
From time to time and I go tolocal restaurants and I sample
the food, take pictures and kindof report back to the readers,
do a little soft review.
(13:46):
So, like I said, a lot of thestuff that you're doing is very
much in line with what I do.
So I thought it would be greatfor us to kind of get together
and get to know a little bitmore about what we do and
potentially collaborate in thefuture.
Now, are you doing likeobviously there's a lot of
businesses to go see, um, andyou're going and you're meeting
these businesses?
Is this more of like a one-off?
(14:06):
You're doing this one time?
Are you planning on going backto check in from time to time,
periodically, to see howbusinesses are doing?
Because, as you know, in thecontent game, you know doing
something once is a drop in thebucket.
Right, you got to be consistent, you got to be frequent, you
got to keep people in thespotlight consistently to get
the exposure they're looking for.
And I know I realize you'reobviously not a marketing
company, uh, but what?
(14:26):
What is like the long-termvision for this project?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
so.
So you're exactly right.
One one time to recognizesomebody is nice, but is that
really going to be the impactthat's going to be needed to
sustain just the awareness insomeone's mind?
And the answer is no.
So so, yes, um, the goal is toum make it make a content, uh,
make the reach and thenabsolutely follow back up.
(14:52):
So an example is I think, um,we've hit main spot twice, um, I
not only go to a lot of theserestaurants, um locally, just to
support and give back andfeedback into them, uh, but what
the neat thing is is, umlocally just to support and give
back and feedback into them, uh, but what the neat thing is is,
um, after establishing that,then we have what's a newsletter
that we're creating.
So we're going to not only seethem face to face one time,
(15:16):
we're not only going to go aheadand involve and come to the
restaurants.
And here's the other thingSometimes it's not just
restaurants.
We have, um some martial artsorganizations that want to be
recognized and and it may notnecessarily hit my age grouping,
but ultimately, at the end ofthe day, I'm going to go
recognize them.
So in this circumstance, we'regoing to highlight them,
(15:39):
recognize and put them in thenewsletter.
I'm going to stop back by.
There's going to be times.
For instance I'll give you anexample for your specific
question is I'm going to look tosay, hey, I'm going to stop by
place X, y and Z and the first15, 20 people there like let's
just give you an example a sushiroll on me or something like
(16:03):
that.
I'm actually looking to utilizemy own funds to establish, to
assist our local businesses.
I really find that there'sgoing to be value in that.
I want to really tie thecommunity into what we're doing.
So I'm coming up with thesetype of ideas just to go ahead
and make certain that I don't dothat one-time hit or that
one-time response.
I want to go ahead and makecertain that we don't do that
(16:24):
one-time hit or that one-timeresponse.
I want to go ahead and makecertain that we're consistently
keeping them fresh in everyone'smind.
But with 1,200 companies,that's a lot to continue with.
But as this thing grows, we'llsee how it goes.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Lots and lots of work to be done, for sure, and yeah,
it's interesting.
When it comes to businesses andtrying to market themselves,
one of the things that I try todo is really empower them as
business owners to be moreproactive.
I mean, no businesses are doingenough marketing and a lot of
times they're uncomfortable withgoing out on social media and
(16:55):
putting themselves out there.
And I think what you do throughinterviewing people in person
at the restaurant, through whatI do with the podcast, again,
it's really helping businessesbecome more comfortable in that
setting so that hopefully, theycan continue doing that on their
own, because the more they putthemselves out there, the more
people are going to get to knowthem and people that live in the
community.
(17:16):
They want to do business withtheir community members.
So if they know that people areoperating in the community and
specifically if they live here,they're going to be way more apt
to come patronize that businessas opposed to going to the next
city over.
So really really good stuff,man.
Love it, love it, love it.
I wanted to ask about.
I wanted to go back to the, tothe city for a second.
(17:38):
I had a question here.
Give me a second.
Where are you Question?
I know you're relatively new tothis role.
This was November.
It's only been three months.
I wanted to ask what are someof the biggest challenges that
the city is facing as we movethrough 2025 and beyond.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Infrastructures are our biggest challenges that we
have.
Our wastewater is a big one,underground plumbing is another
one, our roads are another one,trees are another one, ones that
need to be oversaw andpotentially maybe even torn down
and rebuilt.
There's literally from A to Zwith infrastructure.
(18:32):
So with infrastructure is bigcost and big money now.
So it's ultimately navigatingwith my colleagues into
prioritizing the dollars so thatwe keep the resources 25 and
going forward for the next fouryears, because there's a lot of
(19:06):
significant infrastructure thatover 20 years has crept up on us
and now we have to get fixed.
That's just the way it is.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
You mentioned underground piping.
I know one of the issues, atleast in residences in Cooper
City.
There's a lot of homes thathave the old polybutylene piping
.
Is that a similar obstacle andchallenge for the underground
piping for the city?
Is that all or has that alreadybeen replaced?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
We're lucky and, very fortunate, our current city
manager that is just shy ofprobably nine to ten months now
has come in, has a significantbackground in city management
and recognized some of theseneeds immediately.
So now what we're doing isthere's, for instance, a process
(19:59):
that we just approved withinthe commission, process that we
just approved within thecommission, within the last two
commission meetings, ofresleeving our piping
infrastructure that'sunderground, so, ultimately, we
minimize pulling up road andcreating more traffic issues and
everything else that sort ofcomes with that, and we're able
to go ahead and we've allocatedfunding to go ahead and,
(20:22):
basically, they re-sleeve thepipe, so they go into the
current pipe, the technologyallows it to re-establish itself
or the cylindrical shape, andthen, basically, it takes the
old piping that may have leaksor may be causing underground
leaking that ultimately, willcause infrastructure like the
(20:44):
roads to fail or fall orsomething to that nature.
Cave in.
It fixes that.
So what happens, though, is thecity has these pipes all over
the place, so when you start aproject like this and you're
starting to go through, it takestime, and time sometimes is not
what residents or what anyonereally has, you know.
(21:05):
So I would say, man, we've gotto be patient, but that's easier
said than done.
But what I will tell you isinfrastructure to that example
and piping very similar to likewhat homes can go through, is
what we have throughout ourwhole city, and and so we're,
instead of once again you mayhave heard in in the circles
kicking the can down the road ornot taking the responsibility
(21:26):
at current, this commission hasdecided there is no wiggle room.
We're taking the responsibilityand maybe there's projects we
would like to see done.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
We're going to go ahead and put priority to
infrastructure that will allowour residents to maintain safety
and continuation of what theydo, and we'll get to all the
nice special projects as well,it's funny how quick people are
that aren't involved to kind ofpoint fingers and assess blame
and complain about all thesethings, when they're not doing
anything on their own to furtherthe cause, because you guys are
(21:57):
putting a lot of work in onyour end to make Cooper City
truly someplace special.
What can our residents do toget more involved?
Right, there's.
There's a lot that everybodycan do, everybody's in their own
worlds.
Obviously, we all have our ownresponsibilities, but there are
little things that people can doto raise awareness and to
further your cause.
What would you recommend tosomebody that's listening?
(22:18):
That that is not plugged inright, that's not involved with
anything that's going on?
That that they could just startslowly getting involved and
making a little bit of an impactand a difference for the
community?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Sure, absolutely.
So I would say there's threethings.
Immediately, if, in the event,because of life, you're unable
to attend commission meetings,which I completely understand,
then the one thing you need toknow, with not attending or
going online, is there's an openforum for the public to just
speak and when you speak, you'renot attending or going online.
Is there's an open forum forthe public to just speak, and
when you speak, you're not justspeaking to one commissioner,
(22:49):
you're speaking to all of themand you're telling them what
you're recognizing, what you'reseeing good and or bad.
So to plug in just it, forinstance, for up to three
minutes is the timeframe thatyou're allowed.
That is huge.
So, either coming in person ormaking that on the Zoom and
being recognized and speaking,that's huge.
(23:10):
That's number one.
Number two if, in the event,you're able to show up to any of
our advisory boards so we haveplenty of advisory boards in the
city and what happens in anytype of organizational chart?
You have a pyramid and thepyramids, the top and in this
case let's just say the top isthe residents.
(23:31):
So it's the residents, and thenthe residents are a part of
what's called advisory boardsand those advisory boards feed
into your commission and thecommissioners then tell the city
manager and then it dispersesout through the appropriate
divisions that are credentialedand licensed to get the job done
.
So, ultimately, if theresidents can show up to any of
(23:52):
the advisory boards, they don'thave to be assigned a task that
they can sit there.
They get to sign in as public,they can hear what's going on,
they can at times give publicfeedback into those smaller
groups outside of the largercommission meetings.
So that would be number two.
And then the third is if none ofthat works, just look at my
contact online.
Reach out to me and tell mewhat's going on.
(24:13):
Hey, I appreciate what you'redoing.
Thanks for being assertive inthis.
Hey, I don't know if you knowthis our playground has a slide
that is damaged.
Or are you aware of some of thecongregation of cars that come
in this particular area and itcreates traffic issues?
I mean, it could be from oneextreme to the next.
(24:34):
So reaching out to myself orany other of the elected
officials, that's what we'rethere for.
We're ultimately the voice ofthe community officials, that's
what we're there for.
We're ultimately the voice ofthe community, and I would say
those are three easy ways toplug in so that we can continue
to meet the objectives and theneeds of the residents.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Love it.
I'm plugged in right now.
I'm going to throw a little, avery minor issue at you.
That's related to theunderground piping that I wanted
to bring to that.
It came to me the other day.
I was at the new dog park rightacross.
You know where Park AvenueGymnastics is, yes, so the dog
park right across from there,yeah, off of Flamingo, back in
that area, right yeah?
yeah, that new dog park.
So wonderful, I'm so happy.
(25:12):
I live right down the road fromthere, go there all the time
with my two little furry friends.
But it seems to me that theremight be a leak in one of the
underground pipes, because rightwhere all the water is it's
always muddy and dirty, so itseems like something's leaking
under there.
How would we go about gettingthat checked out and trying to
get that shored up?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
All I need is the exact area.
I know you're giving me aroundabout, but I'll just have
to have an exact area.
I let the city manager knowHe'll bring out our public works
team.
They'll take a look and thenobviously from there, if there's
technology that they canobviously use, before digging up
and creating an issue, they cansee if there's any type of
underground piping there or whatis happening, and then they'll
(25:53):
just look to get a resolution toit.
Sometimes it could take acouple hours one day.
Maybe it takes a few weeks,depending on the severity that
is truly happening that we don'tsee with our eyes.
But yeah, we can make that look.
We can put an insert forresolution immediately.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Because you know, honestly, I was going to just
fix it myself because I'm sohandy, and my wife was like you
know, don't do that, You'regoing to flood the entirety of
Cooper City if you get in there.
So you know, I'll leave it tothe professionals.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yeah, yeah, flood the entirety of Cooper City if you
get in there.
So I said you know what, I'llleave it to the professionals.
Yeah, yeah, we have a veryrobust about 140 employees in
different divisions throughoutthe city.
They're the heroes.
You don't see them.
They're working through earlymornings, late nights to make
everything in the city happen,and it's very funny.
And until you're ultimatelyintimately involved in a role
(26:44):
like this where you touchfinance, you touch public works,
you talk to the department andyou're getting to see sort of
this lateral grasp of what ittakes.
They're a really great group.
They work extremely hard and,yes, those professionals are the
ones that we want to deploy.
So if anything gets bigger,even though you may be handy,
let's give it to them.
They have all the resources.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah, people often take for granted all the
wonderful, amazing things wehave living in this great
country and within these greatcommunities.
There is so much work that goesinto making communities what
they are and we often forgetthat and it's high time to
remind everybody to be gratefuland thankful for what we have in
(27:27):
this great country and ourgreat community for sure.
So you mentioned 20, I thinkyou said 22 years, 21, 22 years,
cooper City resident.
Yes, so, as with most things inlife, with most people, family
is typically the driving forcebehind everything that we do.
Tell us a little bit about yourfamily.
(27:47):
You got kids, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So I've been married 16 yearsand and I've got a 15 year old
and a seven year old and we'vewent through the Griffin
Elementary.
We went through the schoolsystems.
That's obviously what droveonce I got married to bring my
wife back to Cooper City.
I used to live in SummertimeIsles and so as I lived there
(28:13):
and then got married said hey,we need to, we're going to
expand our family, so we'regoing to look for a little bit
larger of a home footprint.
So it brought us from the eastside of Cooper City and brought
us to the west side of CooperCity and so, like you just said,
family, schools, theinvolvement of the community,
sort of just that someplacespecial feel they had it, and so
(28:35):
that's what's brought me here.
So 15,.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Is that freshman or sophomore in high school?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
That puts her as a sophomore.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Sophomore.
Okay, Because I have a daughterwho is in eighth grade at I
don't know seventh grade atPioneer, going into eighth grade
next year, and I have a sonwho's finishing at Griffin.
He's in fifth grade, going tobe joining my daughter at
Pioneer.
What do I have in store for meas we transition from middle
school to high school?
I always like to ask folks thathave older kids what I'm
(29:06):
looking to go through.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
So my daughter, they went to Griffin, went to Pioneer
and here's what I will tell youyour transition from each
grouping.
The Cooper City school systemdoes a very good job in
preparing them.
But ultimately what I recognizeis just the situation of
(29:28):
growing up, maturing.
They change at a timeframe asthey're entering a brand new
season of schooling for theirlife, so they sort of get their
flow down.
They've got their what we wouldcall sea legs on the boat, so
they're not rocking anymore.
They finish up elementary, theygo into middle school and
middle school creates a wholenew vibe and arena for them.
(29:50):
So they're maturing, they'regrowing up, their body's going
through changes and then they'rein a very um, uh, aggressive
request for their education nowto meet a new requirement.
So as they try to now absorbwhat's happening for them and
there's a lot of autonomy givento them and they have to rotate
through classes they get theresponses I got.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
I got, I got Howl at the moon baby.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
I got furry friends too.
I love it.
Two Belgian Malinois.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
So they keep an eye out for me.
My last name is Wolf.
He's doing the Wolf now.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
They keep an eye on the house.
For me, so saying that highschool is just a following, I
see that elementary to middlebecomes that difficulty.
But from middle to high they'vegot it understood.
They understand what therequirement is.
They have that autonomy sort offigured out, the rotating
through classes.
But your middle school year,that middle piece, as you
(30:48):
probably already recognize, thattends to be a little bit the
adjustment window.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Yeah indeed.
So what is a family fun daylook like for the Smith family,
Assuming you can get yourteenager into the fold?
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yes, what do you guys like to do?
Speaker 2 (31:04):
for fun.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Um, you know what my family really enjoys the
cultures of food.
So lately we've been able to goto different restaurants with
inside of Cooper City over and Iwill say lately, it's been over
the last few years.
So what will happen is we'llget to go ahead and we'll go
through, let's say, off ofFlamingo, and we'll go into our
(31:26):
Publix Plaza and say, okay,we're going to try something new
here, so Vienna Cafe, or we'llhit what's another great spot
over there.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
Have you met Mark, the owner of Vienna?
I actually have.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I have.
He's a great guy and we'regoing to end up doing something
over there as well andrecognizing them.
But another example is the newpizza spot that opened up on the
the North side of that andthey've just been knocking it
out of the park.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Sicilian oven.
Sicilian oven.
Yeah, so when they jam it,those guys are killing it.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Amazing, Amazing.
So that's just simple examples.
Or we'll go over to the, to theplaza that's right off a hiatus
, and we'll do broccolini.
We, uh, we will, will attemptto try different restaurants
throughout.
There's a nice French, fresh uh, French restaurant in that
plaza as well.
Um, I mean, you could just keepon going on and on.
So what we'll try to do is graba lunch or dinner, a breakfast
(32:23):
spot, and just really get anopportunity to enjoy.
So that's what I recognize myfamily does for fun.
We'll get to try something new.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Very cool.
So, looking back through yourlife journey, I'd love to ask
this question, because the olderI get, the more it resonates
with me.
What is something that comes tomind?
A life hardship, a challenge,something you struggled with
along the way, where, at thetime going through it, you asked
(32:55):
yourself why is this happeningto me Feels like the end of the
world.
But fast forward to today.
You look back at thatexperience and say, man, am I
glad that happened to me.
It really kind of shaped who Iam today.
Is there something that comesto mind like a defining moment
or some challenge or hardshipthat you had that speaks to that
?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Well, I'm going to tell you, yeah, you know, when I
got married, I lived on my own,my wife lived on her own, and
then you come together as onecouple and then you start
talking about bringing a familyinto the mix.
So one of the things that Irecognized is I had my opinion
(33:38):
on how I thought communicationworked.
At that point I thought I wasthe best communicator that there
was and during my early yearsof marriage, instead of really
enjoying the relationship, Idefinitely had a hurdle because
(34:00):
I didn't know how to communicateappropriately to my wife and I
really missed the opportunityandues to be successful and to
be a great husband as well as agood friend during those periods
of time.
So you know, many times youstart looking and asking you
know what is what is going on?
Like what's happening?
(34:20):
Like I'm so successful in myopinion at work and everything
else I do, but at home I'm justcompletely a zero.
I'm not.
Why does the person I love themost dislike me the most?
Like what's happening here?
So luckily you know, plugging in, really paying attention, a lot
of prayers I was able to getnot only myself plugged in
(34:44):
appropriately, but I was able toreally be in a situation that I
would tell you you know a lotof people say it and it takes a
lot of work to get there butdefinitely, um, uh, my wife is,
is my, is my best friend, butthere was a period of time that
my best friend I felt was myenemy and, uh, I was willing to,
you know, draw the lines and goto war.
(35:04):
So it it's taken time.
I definitely asked myself whatis happening here.
Did I make a mistake?
Was this the person I'msupposed to spend the rest of my
life with?
But through sort of persevering, drawing the line, saying I'm
not going to give up, I'm goingto figure this out, and being
willing to look at myselfinstead of cause blame and say
it's her or she doesn't get me,and I would say that that would
(35:27):
be it for me.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
A hundred percent and that resonates, get me and I
would say that that would be itfor me A hundred percent and
that resonates with me.
I've been talking about this alot lately.
I just turned 45 and with agecomes wisdom.
Communication is everything andwhat I find is that, especially
when I'm talking to my wife andmy kids, when they criticize me
or bring up concerns orcomplaints or things like that,
(35:49):
when they criticize me or bringup concerns or complaints or
things like that that trigger me, I find that if I just sit with
it and I don't react to it andI just reflect upon what they're
saying, more often than not thereason why I was triggered is
because it's something withinmyself that I don't like about
myself, that I don't want thatI'm resisting doing the work to
fix, and often I gain some of mybest insights on the things
that normally in the past wouldmake me erupt and get into a big
(36:13):
argument, and it's amazing howthat works and I've been very
cognizant of that and it stillhappens more often than I'd like
, but I'm so aware of it now andI've done so much work in that
regard and it's's really so whatyou said really really does
resonate with me on a, on areally fundamental level.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:32):
Yeah, no great.
That was a real good questionand I couldn't have been more
honest to that.
A lot of people probably wouldhave liked to show something
else, but less than I want the,I want everyone to.
I'm very transparent.
I'm always going to bestraightforward.
So now your listenersdefinitely get to see a
vulnerable moment going to bestraightforward.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
So now your listeners definitely get to see a
vulnerable moment.
People want authenticity, right?
We want to be the mostauthentic versions of ourselves
and unfortunately, so many of usgo through life wearing a mask
right In different interactionswe feel like we have to be a
certain way, act a certain way.
If you could just be true toyourself, good things start to
happen all around you.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Okay, before we wrap this up, why don't you let our
listeners know how they couldlearn more?
You mentioned that you have thewebsite where you're putting
all the content.
How can people find you onsocial media?
How could they follow you?
How could they get involvedwith the project that you're
doing?
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
On Facebook and Instagram it'sthe same, commissioner.
Jason Smith is how you wouldfind me.
You can like and startfollowing me immediately on
those platforms.
You can go tosomeplacespecialonline
altogether sowwwsomeplacespecialonline and
(37:46):
you can sign up for thenewsletter and you can see any
recent postings we do.
And then, ultimately, you canalways email me directly on my
city email, jay Smith, theletter J followed by my last
name, smith, at Cooper City dotgov, and then on the Cooper City
website, if you go and lookunder elected officials, you can
(38:07):
scroll down and not only am Ithere, but all of the elected
officials.
You can see a little bio ofmyself as well as my other
colleagues, and you can email usfrom there or call us from our
phone number.
That is there as well.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
All right, and we're going to, of course, link in the
description to all of yourcontact information.
We are going to share this onall of our social media
platforms.
We're going to get you copiesof everything so you could share
it on your end.
And I want to talk to anyoneout there listening.
If you're a resident of CooperCity, I want to try something
new.
If you, jason, you mentionedhow people can get involved with
(38:44):
the city.
You can go to city commissionmeetings.
You can reach out to you If youwant to voice any concerns, if
you want to share anyexperiences, if you have
something to say, reach out,leave a comment in this video
below.
We're going to go through allthe comments and when we find
the most interesting things thatpeople say, we're going to pick
somebody to come on the podcastand talk a little bit about and
(39:04):
continue the conversation andraise awareness around this.
Let's keep this conversationgoing and let's keep Cooper city
someplace special.
Leave it at that.
Thanks everyone for tuning inand we will catch you all next
time on the next episode of thegood neighbor podcast.
Everyone, take care and have awonderful day.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Thanks for listening to the good neighbor podcast,
cooper city.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperCitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
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