Library Board - Regular Meeting

Glenn Powers. Here.

Tiffany Sudeikis. Yes. Exactly. Here. Haley Vesa.

Carol Anne Geronimo. Laura Contours. Present.

First order sorry, So approval of minutes from last meeting.

I'll make a motion to approve.

I'll second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Perfect.

Okay. Old business?

I have one thing I want to question. Jason, do you have any idea on the time line on that between the St. John's Water Management and the railroad and everything and putting that crossover on the north side of the road at 30th Street going across the tracks, that we're

going to extend the sidewalk from our park to India. Yes, that's not my project. It was part of the I think it's the rails to trails type kind of conjunction is what they were talking about. I realized they talked about it at a council meeting or two, maybe even three, they're all kind of running together now, so many ago, and getting the final approval. I don't know the time line.

I can get it to you. I know it was it was Randy's project and then it's now it's since been to Sean. I can ask. I don't know what there was some I know that they projected it to go down Hibiscus or excuse me, it was Hibiscus and then kind of jump over to Juniper and then come down Juniper and then Mango towards our public works facility. And there was some there was quite a bit of pushback from we're it, then we're doing going the way way to we're

that's separate it wasn't attached to the sidewalk thing. It was a separate item. So they've been quote or put it all together?

I think they did. They were talking about having like a walkway that would actually cross the track areas as well as and would connect in a way instead of actually having to leave the sidewalk, go out on the street and then cross the tracks. That's what I remember.

Okay. There's a lot of there's still a lot of kids that are coming out of that park, 20 mile an hour on those little electric scooters and stuff and Peggy has to swerve quite a bit when she's coming out of the park because the kids and that's a safety issue.

I literally just had a conversation regarding electric bikes and electric skis. Park is bad too, yes. It was in the park actually.

Had a gentleman they got an attitude.

Exactly. I had spoken with the Chief and they're he had explained to me that they've gotten really, really, really in-depth at the state level of trying to get ordinances and laws passed regarding scooters. Because I mean if you go to even the beach side, they're littered everywhere. And they don't consider them a motor vehicle. Like a moped is a motor vehicle. You tag it, put it on the road, you have to travel with traffic.

Is that motor vehicle has to have 50 ccs? Correct.

So these electric scooters, I mean, some of them do 45 miles an hour. They're pretty fast. I see them going up in that Riverside Drive. But needless to say, even our maintenance guys, they don't hear them because they're electric, they're silent. So they're mowing and they go to turn around and there's one coming up on them. So it's a safety hazard as a pedestrian, it's a safety hazard as a city worker or maintenance worker. So what we've asked in the park is and it's kind of a we're getting with the city, with the chief about it, but the bike or the walking path is designed for walkers. Mean, are the occasional do

we're

it. It. Do And to And that are on these electric scooters, electric bikes and they're whizzing up and down. And when you put that level of speed with a child and then you've got somebody walking their dog that's on a leash, there's not a lot of room when you talk about that. So a lot of people have tried to just be courteous and say, hey, please don't ride the bike that fast and you're my and it's getting very, very, very confrontational and bad. So we're addressing that right now.

Now in the past week or two, have there been shortages on guys over there? No,

we're fully staffed. Because Peggy, a couple of times, has been over there and she can't find anybody. Recently? Yes.

Won't But they may be in the building or something

like that. So let me Monday and Tuesday, there's a single park worker. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, there are two. In Saturday and Sunday, and I'm talking evening, there's one. So the only days that would be double staffed in the evenings is Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Well, I'm just mentioning it, so you can check on it. No, absolutely. No. Like I said, I know your wife uses that part. The more eyes and ears, the better, to be honest.

I mean I will say, I just got the deployment information from Flock. We got 10 cameras approved there. So they're going in probably the next thirty days. And the paving, they're going start when? Just got awarded council meeting the thirteenth, Monday.

So I just sent the bid bond request to Massey or Massey, who is the contractor in Parktown. They won the award. So I just sent the information for the bid bond request, and we'll do the notice to proceed in a preconstruction meeting here soon. So I don't can't tell you their schedule. I will say this, they have said initially in the bid proposal and package and responding that they would like to close the park down for a day.

So from what I understand We've done it before. Yes. They're looking to get it done very quickly because obviously, they wanted to kind of split it up into two parts. And I said that would probably not be a good idea simply because if somebody comes in from the rear of the park, they're going to have to come through that area. So it's just I think it was better to close it down one time, They're mill going to do it in the evening as well.

So I think they're looking to start from ten p. M. And then work through the evening. So I think it's going to be really, really, really tight time frame and not going to affect a lot, I would hope. And that's what their goal was.

Well, that's good. That's our premium part.

It is. It's well used for sure.

I did there was something on the minutes that I wanted to ask you about. So we did that motion to recommend City Council to approve the Burns Science and Tech volleyball teams. Was just wondering how that went.

Got heard Monday night. Mr. Powers was here. We not to get on a different subject, we'll go down that hole. But Mr. Powers was here. It got heard and it got approved unanimously. Everybody agreed. I think it's and I could speak for me and Andrea. Andrea does a lot of our day to day reservations, and she's involved in all that.

So what we've seen, speaking about that topic, is an influx S. The U. Smyrna Beach is getting into this tournament issue where they're using all their fields for tournaments. So they used to not have so many tournaments on the weekends, so they were doing practices on their fields. So since they've gone to this kind of tournament deal, they're not wanting practicing on their fields Monday through Friday because they want to keep the fields nice for the tournaments.

So all the people that were reserving practice time during Monday through Friday are all looking for places and they're bombarding us, which, I mean, it's a good and a bad problem I have, I guess. The problem is, is with this time frame being daylight savings time and schedules of parents and work and stuff, they're requesting time in the evening that requires lights. So when it requires lights, it goes into a different realm where we, the city, has a free schedule for lighting usage, and we go by that. And I believe if from credit $60 an hour $65 an hour, excuse me. And like this instance where the volleyball club and group had came forward, a lot of them come in front of counsel and they ask for reduced rates.

So I've yet to hear one not get it, but I mean they come and obviously, a lot of things playing a factor. How many kids are for Edgewater? Is it a nonprofit? What type of group it is? All those considerations with BurnsideTech, it was kind of a no brainer.

It's a great group. Obviously, we want to support schools. And the city wants to do and the council, obviously, decision, wants to do what's best interest for everybody involved, and they chose to just let them use the park. There's not really there's no we don't do reservations with the exception of the Doll Field at Whistle Stop. If you were to call and want to reserve hypothetically Menard or Rotary for a birthday party, you reserve and pay that fee for that pavilion.

We have never and to this date that I'm aware of, we haven't reserved any pavilions or anything down at Whistle Stop at first come, first serve other than the baseball fields. So without reinventing the wheel, there was really no fee involved. I think it was just more or less having a reservation in the aspect of knowing that those kids were going to go there, the courts were going to be available and parents could schedule it and everybody wasn't going to show up and somebody was going be there just using it.

So we were kind of playing it by ear after the construction and opening as to how things were going to work out?

It was we only have one pavilion down there. So I mean, honestly, and maybe A lot of

people bring their own pop up tents.

They do. And that's what we suggest. If there is we don't reserve that area. So I mean, like I said, it's first come, first serve. And I mean, I'd be honest with you, I don't know how I know let me rephrase that. I know what you use frequently, especially during the summer because it's shade. So if you're to have a birthday party, you're going to want to be in the shade. We don't have a whole lot of shade down there. And that goes to the fact that I believe with our stormwater and our concrete and kind of going to the bridge where they just did the moratorium thing, we're we can't pour much concrete down there, if any more. So we can't create any more pavilion space.

So pop ups, we say, yes, if you'd like to bring a pop up and use that green space down the lower end, by all means, that's fine. I mean, I think that's the best way to use it. There's a lot of open area. And if somebody is utilizing that pavilion, you have the ability to still have your function and just bring your own shade. BYOS, bring your own shade.

I think the only question they had is the city council meeting was somewhat proud of about the insurance reliability question.

And I think that's That's part of the reservation package. And maybe Andre can speak more to this. I believe like with bounce houses, we require insurance. And most of the like fast pitch organizations and stuff, they all have their own insurance. ECI, some of the groups that use Hawks Park area, they have their own insurance.

Right now, the gentleman that has been using Whistle Stop, I don't even just recently, we're trying to renew his reservation. He actually submitted a fall reservation and a spring reservation and an alternate reservation where he wanted to reserve the fields for two years. So that's how busy we're getting.

So he's giving you a calendar or schedule?

Well, it's inundating Ms. Andrea because, I mean, she's trying to coordinate it, I'm trying to coordinate it, and it's there's a lot more involved I'm learning now. And it's time intensive, to be honest. And it's just like, these guys want to keep these people want Monday, they want Tuesday, they want Friday. So it's a lot for what we have going on.

Can we put a box down there with a little form that people can fill out, drop in the box and the person that's down there can check and see, oh, this person wants to reserve it for this? I don't think I'm a phone number, you can call them

and stuff? Well, I think everything the website works well. We get a lot of walk in traffic, and Ms. Andre gets a lot of phone calls in. So I don't think we were just thinking about this. I don't think we're having an issue. We could probably book those fields every night. It's we've got some issues we were just actually researching. We've retrofitted Whistle Stop Park baseball fields with new lighting. It's got LED lighting.

This is the newest lighting we have. So we've been exploring to kind of capture what the old lighting cost us because that fee schedule versus what the new lighting cost us. So I'm still kind of working on that because I believe the lights got installed '23, '23. '20 Yes, we got the bid package together 2022. I think everything went together 2023.

So we've got a good year now of capturing what that cost may be or is. And we're looking to and I just got the quotes, I believe, this morning for the soccer complex to be retrofitted to LED from the old lighting. The old lighting, it's very, very, very expensive to keep up. There's a lot moving components, ballasts, bulbs and a lot of stuff is becoming obsolete. And a lot of the stuff that's up there has gotten to the point where it's beyond its life expectancy.

We're running into corrosion issues where we can't fix it anymore. So we're looking to redo that lighting. We've on our SAM explored a program, FPL, like I said, they did it across Street at Kennedy Park. FPL offers a program where ir catalog and they would depreciate the initial install cost and everything involved in that lighting over a monthly bill instead of upfront, which is great. There was some confusion with maintenance, thinking that was involved in it.

And from what we're looking at now, maintenance is not. So we are using that program currently at our pickleball facility. I just spoke to Tony today, so we're going to put the ticket in. They're going do the infrastructure for lighting at the pickleball courts.

Oh, and by the way, the volleyball. Kids were hanging on it supposedly about a week ago when it's sagging. Again? Well, I don't know, did

you fix it this week? We just fixed it last week. Good. I was just there, I fixed it.

No, that's probably it was down like a week or so ago.

Yes, we fixed it last week.

That's great. I have no more old business, so sorry. Sorry. New business?

Do I do this

part? Okay.

Year since we've been to the board chair. Do you want to do it again?

I don't mind, but I don't mind not doing it either if we want to switch.

I would like to make a motion to keep you as our chair. Think you're doing a great job.

You've only been in a year or so. You've to have some time in there. Do you have a second? Excuse me, what? Oh, second, yes.

All in favor?

Aye. Of those. Somebody was appointing me. Oh my god. So

then we need Vice Chair.

She's got experience.

I know. Was like, I'm going to nominate Tiffany.

I agree. I second that.

All in favor? Aye. All opposed?

Also

on new business. We've already done Vice Chair and Chair, so we're good. On the new business, there was something that happened at the City Council meeting. Questioned when I came in at the City Council meeting, they were on the they started with the what was the meeting before? The council meeting they

had. Oh, Akron, I guess, here. And

I sat down and I'm hearing the mayor's voice. But he's not here. He's in Washington, D. C. And he basically led the meeting, chaired the meeting from Washington, D. C. Now he evidently could see us through the cameras, but we couldn't see him. Is that that going to be acceptable for boards too?

Wondering. You can call in. For the advisory boards? Yeah, we've had somebody call in.

And that would make But I

thought we could during COVID, but then we

I I

in case we question. Have a couple that can't be here, we can see if somebody could get on the phone and do it. I have no problem with it. It worked well. The mayor handled it very well the other night. It just surprised me. I kept looking. Knew it was short. I had no idea. A little confusing. Public comments. Hello?

We have an audience member.

Yeah. Any comments? Oh, really loud. The rapper. No.

The rapper's

loud. I'm sorry.

He's testing the microphone. If you can hear the rapper, you you could hear Pete.

I'm just glad I didn't have any beans.

All right. So next is your report.

So we had the presentation for the light the Citizens Christmas lights. We had the presentation for the awards for the parade as well. It went very, very well. It was well received. I think there was two participants for the that did not show or weren't available. It was Coastline. Actually, in the audience received on their behalf, a church member. And then the Lineman College, which I physically went there yesterday and dropped it off to them, and they were very, very appreciative. Mr. Powers got an award for his service on, obviously, the board and being a grand marshal during the parade.

So we were happy to give him recognition on behalf of the city for all that he does and reach across America, not to mention that. As far as the parks and recreation aspect, I was speaking kind of a the we're next we're to talking company, the that's going to be doing the construction, they'll be there as well. So as a rec board, if you're available, I think that would be awesome if you guys could be there. There will be a photo op, obviously groundbreaking. And so that will be Phase one of the pickleball.

Did you say a time?

I want to say 10AM. I can find out in two seconds. Pretty sure it was 10:10, but I'll we'll send it out. That way, we're all on the same page. Recently, down the Riverside area corridor that we have, we replaced all the workout stations.

Chris Love, our Deputy Director and some of the employees that we have as well as the subcontractor we've worked with replaced all the exercise station borders that used to be a link, a landscape to movement the concrete stamped curbing around them. That way, they wouldn't broaden, they'd be permanent and they're a little bit more aesthetically and user friendly and maintenance friendly for sure. So we just recently did that. I'm trying to think what else we had. Obviously, the light up night event, which was huge and it was well, well, well, well, well received.

And we're looking to grow that. So Amy has got some more ideas for that. We were looking to this week coming up, we have the car show at Hawke Park that will be there. I believe that is the twenty fifth. So that will be at Hawks Park upfront there.

The YMCA, I had a meeting with them regarding well, it's a monthly meeting, and they have a gala or something coming up. So if you know of anybody I believe the information is on their website as well. Think that's I mean, Andre, do you have I'm trying to think. Yes. Like I said, the Classic Car Show, we have the twenty fifth, the Pedapalooza, that's coming up as well.

That's always a fun one. The list of events Andres put together, obviously, in the calendar as well as Amy's, so that's there, obviously. We have quite a few events this year. We've changed Amy has changed some of the I think they've moved around some of the sponsorship packages and kind of looking to develop that program so that way it benefits the scholarship program. So they've done a little bit of adjusting there.

We've had a really, really good strong year with vendors. It's kind of funny how it's evolved. We used to chase vendors and have the same core vendors at an event. It's gotten to the point where the vendors are chasing us in a way now and there's different there's a variety, which is great. I mean it's a good problem to have, and I think I said this at one meeting before, for instance, the fishing derby.

I think the woman had that does it, I can't remember her organization exactly, but she does these fishing derbies for all these cities. The year prior, I think she said she had like 100 kids or something that signed up here. We had 200 plus. So we literally had to go back to the parks office, print more registration forms. Again, a good problem to have, but we're running into the point where parking is becoming an issue because they're get the market.

Seeing

then we'll

in

couple a we of questions. Ideas where, for instance, and I meant this is just one out there. She had spoke about not having all the vendors here like we typically have at fourth of July, where they're all kind of in this corridor up this street here and then right here, where she would have them all staged in the far right lane going from here all the way towards Menard Park. So they'd be on Riverside Drive, where everybody, which is kind of cool because then everybody would be making passes by a mall. So you'd be able to kind of come down Park Ave, if you will, walk with your family and whatnot, park in this area and be able to walk to Menard and have all the vendors to the right of you.

That's great.

She's looking to So do what I understand, she said that's what they used to do. And I've been here since 'fifteen, so I don't remember that. I was like, I'm like, I don't remember that. She's like, oh,

I've been here since 'ninety, in other words.

That's what I said. She said and I'm like, okay, I mean, I think it's I think you're right. I think it was Edgevest and like stuff like that. But I was like, okay, well, that's great. The only thing I see is, obviously, you've got a lot of residents between here and there that utilize their yards and whatnot for festivities. So I counted roughly about 10 homes. So we were going to go out and speak to them and obviously say, hey, listen, this is what we're projected to do. I know this woman here on the corner that she's got a big family and they usually kind of take over this whole quadrant. So I'm hoping that we can all come to a happy medium and be able to make everything work. So that's what she is looking to do.

She's promoting that, which I think it's great. It gives more exposure to the vendors because they're paying for these packages and exposure and trying to get their businesses going. So I think it's a great opportunity. And it allows them folks to it promotes them to walk to the other park and come Because in the past, it's always been kind of these two clicks, one that went to Menard and one that kind of came to City Hall. So we're hoping that it flows. That's what she's looking to do.

I love that. Thinking outside the box.

Yes. The Christmas parade, I mean, it was great. I think it went off really well. It was my first at the helm, if you will. And I mean, I'm open to constructive criticism by all means.

But I meant the biggest thing we had faced the year prior by switching it to thirtieth was the bottleneck at Silver Palm. And the only issue that I've seen this year was and I don't think the only thing I could think of is that we go to the school and maybe have a night with the parents and have everybody because we do the drivers meeting here and have all the drivers. But it's funny because you have one person that's that contact for that group, and I mean by the band because there's two kids or X amount of kids. So each one of those parents have to have that information, not just the quarter. Literally, the woman that was there kind of gave the information at the curb to some of the parents, and they were coming down thirtieth and that was the only hiccup.

So the only way I can combat that is to hopefully get the information out sooner, which we can do, and then go to the school and physically maybe have parent like meet up or something maybe virtual that we can send out more in advance. There's just got to be a better way. We did a better job at the bottlenecking because we offered three options to exit the parade depending on if you were walking, if you had a float or if you were going to Oak Hill. So there were three options versus everybody just go to Silver and turn left or right and sit there. So in horses, that's a big one as well.

So we had an option for them as well. So I think the exit is probably as good as it's going to get. The entrance, we can probably get better at. And it was just a matter of communication. So other than that, you know You had it pretty much for the most of the folks and stuff. I could even see from the street. Yes, yes. We staged Because you all had them. It was color coded. It's kind of a again, first year, a lot of the floats go into the school parking lot.

A lot of the walkers and pedestrians that enter the parade go into whistle Stop. So and then all the big trucks in our stage, our start of the parade, whether it's Color Guard, our council, our grand marshal, all that our start of the parade is staged there in the center lane. We fire that off and then we coordinate everything in and kind of plug holes. You've got animals that don't can't be around music. Your horses can't be around music. They spook. You've got Wilkie that lets off a lot of smoke. So there's a lot of moving parts. I've learned personally this year, it's like there's an art to this. So and I mean, again, I can't make everybody happy, but I think for the most of it, everybody seemed like it went off pretty well.

I would love to see a parade at night where we have lights. Would love to have

a parade at

night. But the only one we've had is like the boat parades

and stuff. But I would love like you've got New Smyrna. There's goes I would love to have a parade at night with lights. We're growing. Coming off of 442, where it was a state road where we had to have a permit to shut it down, and we're only shutting down one side, we've evolved from a parade that you only see one side of a float from to a hometown parade where you see both sides, and it feels more like a community parade versus going down a main drag and seeing one side of the parade and turn to right. So we're evolving. Hopefully, we'll get to the point where we could have a parade at night. That's the first goal of mine. I would love to see that. How that looks or when we get there,

I don't know. I just you've got a much wider thing at Park Avenue. She

was and she is. She was looking so she's Sandy, our grant writer has a quarterly, I think, or I want to say quarterly. She has a part in part of the grants aspect and us qualifying for grants has to do with the American Disability Act, has to do with Fair Housing Act. And she's got some literature and some information that she has to hand out in order to be compliant, I believe, from what I understand about some of these grants, fair housing stuff. So she was looking for somebody to possibly help pass out some literature at the car show.

But I think it may have worked itself could be wrong. But if you know of anybody or if you're available or anybody is available that could help, that would great. Speaking of help, Andrea was mentioning the garden, I think I've just seen your e mail, you've reached out to the Garden Club and kind of gave them more or less a snapshot of what our condition, our garden is via the weather. We're I got your information regarding the mural artists. So I'm kind of stuck in a way because in order to do business with city, you've got to have a business license.

You've got to be there are certain criteria. So I'm going to reach out to What's that? Bonded install this. Well, not necessarily bonded, insured, have an active DTR, tax ID number, those aspects, yes. There are certain criteria.

But the hardest part is getting somebody paid in the aspect of having all those boxes checked to make sure that we can either give them a check or give them a credit card as payment. So that way we can obviously compensate them for the services. So the way I thought we would do this is obviously, I'm going to reach out to those mural artists and discuss and obviously bring it to you guys and for approval to see what would best fit. We've got the one conceptual we got from correct? We've got that one.

No, that was Whistle Stop. Correct. So we were going to we have an in house artist as well. We're going to give him the opportunity to kind of put a conceptual together as well. And then the you sent me three, I believe. I'm going to reach out to them as well and kind of see bring them back to you guys and see what direction we want to go in or what you guys foresee. And then go and obviously get a cost. And then what we would do is probably at the who we chose to use as the artist, buy the material for that artist. So that way, we're just paying them for their labor. So that way, they're not out any money.

And obviously, that would help with because typically, we can buy the material tax free and we get a we usually do have a relationship with a vendor. So if it's like Southern Paint or something, specifically what that artist would use, I'd get their list and still purchase the material, Kind of keep it That's what we're looking at. But other than that, I mean it's been a busy, busy, busy last couple of months. Between the car show, I mean, it seems like we just got out of fall festival, we went into light up the night, parade and then just we had a long break through the city, obviously, holiday, and then coming back, and it was just in reverse taking everything down, putting everything away, banners. I can honestly say we have a lot going on.

And with as small as those banners are in our realm of the world, you would think that somebody forgot Christmas, they put it on Facebook, they forgot the banners. And I'm like, we didn't purposely do that. It's a time thing. We got them up, but it was just it definitely goes to show you that people are watching and they're very, very adamant on something that's continuously happening being almost a ritual. They're used to seeing it every day.

It's not a bad thing. I mean, Andre spent a lot of times over the last couple of years putting together the banners and getting them updated because I mean, from where they were at before to what they are now, they're larger, they're more the graphics on them are more bold. I mean, even the banners in the medians when it comes to our events, we've got a banner for every event. So I mean, I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from those in itself. Wouldn't think that whizzing past an island at 45 miles an hour, whether it's coming from 442 or north or south side of town, you'd see a lot.

But a lot of people that are getting this information are seeing that we're giving bikes away or we're doing this or we're doing that. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. It's a draw. It is. It is. It is. But other than that, that's all I've got. Great

job own.

That

What's that? Event And coordinator. Yeah. Well, was in yesterday, but she's been sick up until then. Mentioned she is feeling better, but she's got a lot going on, I'm sure, as well. We're it was her first year, would say, complete being Christmas. So now that she's going to have more or less the training wheels off, these are her events. So we're looking forward to obviously having bigger events and more attended events. So and for instance, more events. I mean, I remember back in the early days of Parks and Rec with Jack DeRosier and stuff, we had minimal events.

So I don't know if it's just me getting older, but it seems like when we get an event put away, we've got another one in two weeks.

Mean it just Back then, there was nothing really interesting.

Yes, but they also I'm going defend them for a second. They also were in charge of all the sports at that time too. Agreed. Agreed.

I mean they had a lot of pots.

The haunted house was huge and took like a very long time to put together and they used to do the eat Santa thing where like it was here and they bring a little trolley through and

Well, that's well, see, that's the thing. The Meet Santa thing, remember that kind of in a way was the Light Up City Hall. So did you or did you see the Light Up the Night event? Yeah. Oh, you were there? I wasn't there, but I It was awesome because I mean, I'm glad you brought that up because it kind of integrated all those. Meet Santa. Santa was a hit Awesome. Up We had an awesome trolley that rode around the entire park. I mean, that trolley line stayed busy all night long.

And Adria decorated herself the entire office. So she does it every year. And I think it's an exposure thing. People don't even know the office is there, the museum So is to have that open, and Adria manned that, and I didn't even ask her if she did it, which I thank her for. Glenn was in there actually with her for a good part of the evening kind of and the amount of people that came through that office and now know that that's kind of a museum slash parks and rec and even obviously during the holidays, a place to showcase what Ms.

Bennington gave us and not even all of it. I mean, she did a lot of it, but I mean, there's still a lot more there too as well. I think we're almost running out of space. But it's awesome because it gave everybody the opportunity to do a little bit of everything. And the bonus about that, it didn't cost $1 to a resident. That's what we want. We had a great bounce house. And again, first year, we're learning. There was a snow globe kind of feature that we probably won't have again. Probably going to do a ton yes, it was weird.

It was a photo op, but it was dark and it just had a lot going on. But the big snow slide was a hit. The kids loved it. Santa was a hit. He came in on a fire truck. It was awesome. The light tunnel was a hit. A lot of people took pictures. I mean, I've seen pictures for weeks on Facebook, which is awesome because as a parent, all of us, it's expensive. And leading up, you've already spending money and spending money, spending money to have something to take your kids to that doesn't cost anything.

It's few and far between now, I mean, especially local. I mean, as a kid or even taking my kids to go see Santa at Bass Pro, it's free. It's something to do. But you're in a store and they're expecting you to buy something and you got kids. Well, that

line getting the cocoa and stuff It never went

was awesome. They gave free cocoa and free cookies out all night. I think they I can't remember the exact amount of cookies, but it was just collectively not having vendors there and being pressured to buy something. It was more family friendly than it was about, hey, come buy my $12

hot I talked to a lot of people and they were all and of course, I walked Debbie Phillips around

for a while to She hear the was excited. For a first time event, I think our attendance was awesome. Honestly, I didn't expect that much. So I mean, if that shows the first year, I can imagine what we're going to do going forward. And again, we're new at this. And I got to give a shout out to the gentleman. We had Joel Gunther retire this year, which I mean, he's my right hand. He did an amazing job as well as the other guys that helped him. But collectively, we had public works help us. It was kind of a but Joel, he's a beast, man.

He's a great guy, and I'm going to miss him. I almost cried. But he's just he's a guy that you could just send to the trenches and he'll dig till you tell him to stop. And with the lights, he took it upon himself and he did a great job. So this year, we've got a lot to prove to catch up to what he just did. Yes,

the lighting was high in

the trees and everything. Took very much the lead role in that aspect. I mean they were pulling down lights for two consecutive weeks and put them up for two consecutive weeks plus. So we've got more ideas for next year. So I'm hoping to start it earlier next year and get more done. I mean that was probably a third of what we had for Lights. Oh, wow. Yes. We I never knew this, and I'm just saying this openly, I never knew how much money and time was involved in Christmas lights. Actually kind of feeling the pressure of Christmas lights.

I reached out to a couple of companies that specialize in Christmas lights and they booked. To put up our lights that we bought and to take them down was $30,000 That's what they want. And I just couldn't justifiably I mean, we just didn't budget it. That's a lot of money. We did this in house, obviously, at no fee. So we're to do this probably a little bit more organized. So next year should be awesome.

Maybe some little structures and differences like maybe what about Santa House?

The Santa House was constructed by the high school children and Santa probably needs back surgery for putting that thing up because it was over engineered. That thing weighed a ton. And if Santa's House ever came down, That be on the Santa's House would kill everybody in front of it. It was Santa's House was very, very heavy. So we do have another Santa's House.

We will look probably to integrate that into the coming years. We're going to add features into things I would like to get. Looking at some of the other cities, I'd like to have a big traditional Christmas tree. That's something really nice. Kind of were going to pull the trigger on something like that, but it was a logistics thing.

We were getting close and it was expensive. It's really expensive. So Andrea brought up a great idea. She's like, how about we kind of wait off season, try to so we're not stressed for time and they're not maybe gouging us because it's Christmas. We can and we have a little bit make more of a better decision and not have time be in essence of what we choose.

So that's what we're looking at. Amy is looking at that as well. The vendor we've used for the slide and stuff, great people, so we've got more contacts. And my daughters and I, we went on vacation and went to a night up the lights in Charleston, West Virginia. And I've got some ideas from that. So I'm looking to make it bigger and better.

Great. Love that.

That'll work.

So next is just scheduling the next meeting. Okay. What month are we looking at?

Pass this down to her.

There you go. Here, you want the pen?

Didn't mean to jump. Don't we have another beautification thing? May? Okay. I I knew it was like.

Dominate like award. Oh, okay. Yeah, I think the last one that we did was Terrascape.

Oh, businesses? For

Commercial, yeah.

I think we talked about nominating the ice cream place because weren't they in the middle of doing their

Oh, production, yeah. Frosty King.

Frosty King, yeah.

That's a new one. I'm trying to think of something. You know what, I don't know what they're doing for landscaping, but it's that new place next to Mike's Tires that looks really nice.

So good.

Mean, we've the shell, what was there, it's just it's it's weird. We used those bones and kind of just remodeled it. Looks awesome.

It's a big enhancement.

Absolutely. It definitely sets the tone.

There anybody in there yet?

I've seen a sign going up on the end unit, the Far South unit. I don't know, I can't remember what it was. It was something I can't remember. That and I'll tell you another one that looks good. It's kind of a little pocket one. It's that new ice the little new ice machine next to the old gas station that's up there on the north side of town. It kind of cut in and they just had an award. I think they got, is it CDBGA money or CRA money? It's that little ice, the old gas station that's almost, well, it's the last gas station on the right side of the exit city. Right next to it, that road, there used to be like bathroom there. It's an ice one of the self serve ice things. They made a huge driveway, landscaped it all. It looks really good. Wow. I haven't even seen that.

Yeah, looks good. It looks really good. It's next to that blue the old I think it was digital, like casino thing, the old blue building, two story blue building. Yes. Yes.

I noticed, are we talking about the one that has the pumps enclosed in wood right now, plywood?

I don't think so.

I just see a different one because that one that's down there at Shell just before you go into

New Smyrna. Yes, Magnolia, think it is or somewhere where it flies off. Yes, maybe they got I didn't see any plywood, but they just got their grant approval. So it looks really good. Well, the

one I'm talking about is they closed in. You can't see the pumps. It's like they closed it in with this maybe, which tells me that they still have gas in the ground.

Right. So we're looking at March.

They opened back up not to get any gas here. April.

April.

I don't have to worry about kids being out

of school or anything. Right? I'm pretty open in April. Do you guys want to keep a Wednesday? There's the ninth and the sixteenth. Sixteenth.

When's the

Sixteenth? Sixteenth or so.

Okay. Sixteenth. Day after tax day?

Yeah, day after tax day.

Either be happy or not. I don't know.

I'm good with that. Does everyone else? Yeah. 05:15, 05:30 would be great. I'm fine with either.

What about you? 05:30.

05:30?

Yes. Fine. But Laura is the one we need to make sure. No, that's perfect.

Okay. We can even do a little bit I could even do like 05:15. 05:30

is fine. I mean, fine with me, I don't know, it tends

to work 06:25.

What was that?

Exactly. Exactly. Whack.

What in the heck?

Like judge Wabner that

day.