Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee - Regular Meeting

I'm here.

Oh, okay.

Oh. Oh, she is.

Member Myers?

Present.

Member Sullivan?

Here.

Cher Needles?

Here.

And, Rhonda, we didn't do roll call for her, but she's not.

Yeah. Yeah. So alright. So we have two missing. Oh oh, okay. No. Linda Linda I heard her someplace. Okay. Then let's have the pledge, please.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Can we have approval of the agenda?

I have a few corrections. Correction and yeah. Two. On 7 A, Leland Way, it ends with the policy that emphasizes visibility and walkable paths along cul de sacs. It is actually along through streets.

Along what? Through streets.

Bree Streets? Through.

Through streets. E H R

E. Okay.

Yeah. Not Cul De Saxe. And then 7 D As In Dog, Marco Nature Knight, it has it listed as V Myers. That is Marv Needles, our chair. That's who spoke on that at the last meeting. Those are my corrections.

Okay. You said seven

D as in dog. Item 70 in the minutes as in dog. Minutes.

I I think he said the agenda.

We're on the agenda.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, sorry. We did I'm sorry. We're on the agenda. I don't have anything extra on the agenda. I was Thought we were on minutes.

Any addition? Any additions? Okay. All those in favor of the changes? Aye. Oh. Please?

Are we voting on the agenda?

Yes. Yeah.

Okay. On the Amended agenda.

There is We're not amend that was, we were talking about the previous meeting minutes, just now. So the agenda would move forward unchanged. Right? Correct.

K. That was what the that's what I was calling for for the agenda. Yeah.

I I move to approve the agenda if we're having Thank you. Yeah. Make it perfectly clear exactly what we're doing.

May I have a second? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? None. Okay. Approval of the minutes.

That's where my corrections are. Sorry, Jose.

Now you can kick in. Alright.

Seven a as in apple. The last word, cul de sacs, is through streets.

Okay. Got it.

And seven d as in dog, was chaired by Marv, not me. Thank you.

Okay.

And I have one correction on 7 b as in boy.

Somehow we need to get that louder. Can't hear you, Linda.

7 b As In boy. Mhmm.

Hold on.

We're gonna

see if Martin can make it louder.

I can hear her.

I can see you, but I can't hear you. Her too well. And I don't read lips.

Do you want

me to try again? Can you hear me now? A little better.

It's a little bit better. Yes.

So 7BAsInBoy, in the towards the bottom, it says multiple bids and working with the Calusa Garden Club on delivery and final placement. That should be stricken because that had to do with the butterfly garden and not with the tree plan.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you. Any other items on the minutes? Modifications? Did you pick that up, Jose?

Yes.

Okay. Alright. Yes, Anne?

Nope. I'm good.

Oh, okay. Any others? Okay. Can we have a motion, please?

I motion that we approve as amended.

Okay. Have a second. We've got a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Carried. Okay. All business. Beach Access Beautification Project. I think we have some speakers here.

Yes.

And are you Chris? I am. Okay. Welcome, Chris, and the lady with you. Please identify yourself. We do.

Good afternoon, everyone. Patrick Tischner with Kimley Horn, and I have Laura Cornell as well. We're gonna be speaking about the Marco Island public beach access as well as the city South Beach access. So we presented in December the initial concept, which I'm sure a lot of you remember. So I want to just talk through kind of those action items that we received from that meeting, refresh on the existing conditions of each corridor, and then discuss the revisions to each of those corridors based on the feedback that we received, discuss next steps.

So as we look towards the action items that we received from our December meeting, I kind of distilled it down to a couple of bullet points. So looking at the first was emphasize on safety and maintenance, work to be included as the kind of the first priority, omit the shade structures at least in the first phase of the project, show painted murals with educational art themes for the walls, show decorative vinyl wraps for the utility boxes, revise the seating elements to discourage loitering. And then quickly just talking about next steps. So after this meeting pending hopeful approval, we'll begin CDs and that will take us from April to June and then permitting in early July, bidding in August and then construction anticipated to start in September 2026 and then completed before the season. So as we look at the Marco Island public beach access, I'll just quickly talk about some of the existing conditions.

Obviously, we've already presented on this, so I wanted just to highlight a few things that we're going to be incorporating. So there's some unsight lease fencing, as you can see on the top left, outdated and old benches and trash cans, so bringing those up to city standards and then some differential paving and settling that's occurring throughout the corridor. And then as we continue towards the beach, it's kind of the same rhythm and theme, differential settling, some landscape that needs some refresh has died out and then looking at some opportunities for some public art as well. So as we look towards the proposed conditions, we first wanted to highlight the existing benches that are going to be proposed to get re slided and refinished up to the city standard as well as the trash cans. We obviously incorporated the bike rack, the sculptural piece of the bike rack, which you can see in the middle top there.

And then looking at the utility boxes as an art feature, So using vinyl wraps or painting to kind of highlight those throughout the corridor. And then we have kind of this long segment on the bottom left where we were going to propose kind of these segments of benches just to help give a nice place to seat, put your shoes on as you kind of head back to from the beach corridor. And then looking at the existing fence, obviously, that's abutting the property to the south there, Little bit unsightly. So looking at providing some type of vinyl wrap that could be a decorative art feature just to help kind of screen that free users as they head towards the beach. And then third and final would be the lighting.

So as you can see on the plan here, we have proposed throughout the corridor just to help light the space and provide a sense of safety for users during dawn and dusk hours. And then as we continue towards the beach

Excuse me. Can pause just a second? Because there's I have a question as on some of these things as you back up, unless you wanna wait until you're done and then go through.

Yeah. Feel free to yeah.

Go for it.

And that the picture that you got up now at the very lower right hand corner, you've got the vinyl wrap on that on that fence on the chain link. Is that is why is that there as opposed to maybe something on the wall?

So the intent was just to hide that unsightly scene of

And is is the fence is the fence necessary?

The fence is existing. It's currently kinda decrepit. There's a lot of safety issues in terms of rust. We were just trying to refresh that. So it would be a replacement of that fence and then also adding that vinyl fence kind of screen wrap on it just to help

stop. That wall doesn't is doesn't run perpendicular to the walkway?

Correct. Yeah. You can see it kind of curves up there.

Okay. I'm sorry to

interrupt you.

No worries. Okay.

So then as we continue down the corridor towards the beach, this used to be the area where we had some type of shade structure. We obviously heard that that wasn't really necessary. And I think the best bang for the buck would be to propose some type of mural along that wall, obviously in coordination with the Madura Marco Island Condo Association since that is their property. But it's a nice open wall that could really elevate the space as you kind of lead out towards the beach. And then I'm looking at the proposed bollards in the bottom here, showing the proposed bollard, turtle friendly bollard, but just to help with the safety and like the corridor.

And then there's also a handful of existing fences that are kind of up here in this area on either side. So looking at that as another opportunity, you could do something that's a little bit more cost effective but kind of infills the fence so that it kind of makes it more of aesthetically pleasing. Any questions on the Marco Island Beach access corridor before we move on to the City South?

Yes. I have a of a comment and not to cause any whiplash. I know we paired it back last time because of budget. At a recent city council meeting, our city council chair, Darren Palumbo, asked members and the public, where can we be spending some TDC money, which we can get? And a lot of this goes towards tourism.

It helps our locals, but it's very tourism based, these these corridors to the beach. And I said, well, we pared back the shade. We took out the restrooms because there wasn't a budget. And so he seemed very interested in that, so I think we should keep this as an option potentially for another phase that we still could do that. And if we have to do restrooms before we repair the sidewalk, we would need to know that probably.

So

that's just more of a comment.

Heads That's good to know. Yeah. We will talk about cost too. So we broke it down kind of in terms of priorities, which are kind of towards the end of the slide. But we'll I'll have Laura walk through the CitySouth Beach access and then we can look at the OPC.

As tall as Pat. Yes. So this is the City South Beach access and you can hear me repeat a lot of the things Pat said, replacing the bench that was not up to city standard, finding some ways to upgrade the landscaping where it has died out, and replacing the bike rack as well as the bench. These are some more of the just a refresh to your memory of the existing conditions where we have the fence, like Pat was saying, behind separating the properties. And there's some planting in front of it, but perhaps we could do something to make that fence a little bit more opaque so that you're not looking at the back of house there and then but not abandoning the idea of still bringing in more planting in front of it, but just sort of two different layers of camouflage there.

And then on the right is a picture of the existing lighting which of course we are upgrading to bollards. So this is the ultimate condition that we are proposing. You can see that we are dressing up that blank wall with an educational mural, something thematic that would make sense for the beach. And another sculptural back rack there, a marine mammal, definitely not a shark. And in our proposed concept, because there was a little bit of back and forth about whether we needed shade or not and how much how much of the budget we thought was really ideal to allocate to that, we did show something that would be more off the shelf, something that is kind of inspired by a beach umbrella, something that has that kind of vacation feel to it.

But this would be something that would be in between the cost obviously of not providing shade, but not nearly as involved as building a custom shade structure. We would have to make sure that it was upgraded in the appropriate ways to withstand the coastal environment. But we'll talk about that when we get to the cost estimate. Color in our model, it's white. We could have some fun with the color though, certainly to tie in with the art. And then here is just the other half of this walkway. As you can see, those red lights show you where the bollards are and, again, replacing plant material that's worn out.

Can you back up one place? Two actually, You showed umbrella there? Mhmm. Oops. No. I think forward one. No. Well

Is this a touch screen?

I don't know whether it's Martin or Hughes. Okay. Oh, I think right there. K. See the umbrella there? Is that something that is goes up and down, or it says

No. It's static. It just looks like it does. It's kind of part of the aesthetic.

Okay. I didn't know whether there's going to be a maintenance person go out there every day and put it up and down.

No. No.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions?

Excuse me just a second. Mr. Ricci, being on the beach and coastal, do you want to have any input? Okay. Sorry for the interruption. So

as I look at cost, we'll start on the Marco Island Poly Beach access first. So like I said earlier, we've looked at kind of prioritizing this into three phases, looking at the lighting and demolition of pavers kind of as the step one, prioritizing the safety. Phase two would be improving functionality and aesthetics. And then phase three would be the landscape and irrigation and then the mulch touch up. And then obviously we have all the unit cost for all that material broken out. And total cost at this point, based on what we've put together on the concept plans, is $194,000 And that's including all three phases for the Marco Island.

Question on that segment. The most expensive thing is the art mural. Did we end up deciding how that was going to be? Is that tile mosaic or painted? Or

Yeah. The intent was it was going to be painted in that corridor.

And the wall already exists to be painted?

Correct. Yes.

What's the length of that about?

It's about a 115 feet, if I

could guess. That's the reason for the cost. Got it. Yep.

And then I'll have Laura speak about the City South 1.

So we broke it down exactly the same way. Phase one, prioritize safety. Phase two, to improve the functionality and aesthetics. And then phase three, landscape improvements. The difference here is that we've got an alternate of the shade structure. We thought one of those might not be enough to get the point across, but maybe three of them would get the idea that this is you're entering the beach allow us to have a little bit of fun with the color. So we put three in, but certainly that number could be adjusted as as the budget Mhmm. Possibly is flexible.

Question on those umbrellas. Are there going to be places to stop and sit under those umbrellas at the edge that it would also cover that area?

So some of them could be over benches that we are replacing, certainly. Thank you.

I guess if there's any additional questions, that's end of our presentation.

Okay. Well, thank you very much.

Thank you.

No more questions about it?

Okay. Thank you. Yes.

Please identify yourself and

Chris Ritchie, Chairman of the Beach and Coastal Committee. I was just watching this and seeing the great things you're doing up here so We we have a relatively small budget but believe it or not we are under. So I just checked With councilor Henry. And we may be able to make a donation to help your cause here. So, we can take that up afterwards to see about how much we could do. But if you're short, we may able to may be able to help out a little.

In reality, it isn't part of our budget because our budget has been limited based on what the city council gave us for just for trees. But I think these funds are coming from someplace else, aren't they? They're

cap sorry. They're capital funds that we already have in the parks. Right. And that's a match to the TDC funds.

Right. Okay. But you're welcome to donate to our cause.

Unfortunately, it can't be a donation. We would have to say, we'll do this part, of course. But just keep it in the back of your mind as

Okay. You need Yeah. Thank you very much for your input.

Joe, how much is set aside as far as what we can do currently?

So TDC gave us $283,005 The city has the rest. So we have a total of $4.00 5,000,000 total. That also pays for Kimley Horn for the design.

And what was the total on our overhead?

$2.55 plus $1.94. Who's got the math? 4 thank you.

$4.94. $4.49. And

then if we were to do the math without the shade structures, $1.80 plus $1.94, $3.74. Be wise to keep a contingency in there probably too, so that would get you to the 405.

You. Joe, question, where are we supposed to go with this thing that we like it and just pass it on to city council or how do we how do we address this?

So once you approve the design, I will start working on getting proposals and then I'll bring it to city council and then they'll give me the go ahead or or, you know, we'll make that decision from there.

This is the design aside from, like, the specific art and murals that will be going in? Or

Absolutely. I mean, we you would you'd have a huge part in that.

Right.

And just to bring this up to the art and the murals are on buildings that we don't own. So Casey Lucious, who is the one who's going be working on reaching out to those facilities and seeing if we can use their building sites.

Got it. So basically, if we come to a motion to say, we like this, we want to go forward with it, it will go to city council. And then the next thing that we have to do with it is how we're picking the art, right?

That's correct.

That's cool. Okay. I'm pretty clear.

Victoria, you're up here. Did you already do Sorry.

I'm supposed to use the button. Sorry.

Okay. Any comments? Anybody want to suggest we move forward? Or what's anybody's thoughts? Linda, are you still there?

Yes. Can you hear me?

Yes. Sure can.

I make a motion that we approve this design with the shade structures, and then city council can decide what to do with that.

Yes. Put a asterisk on our approval of if city council wants to go forward the shade structures depending on budgetary constraints.

I can get the pricing when we do it as an alternate and then present it altogether and without the alternate as an option.

That'd great.

I would second that motion of Lindis.

Okay. We have motion second. Any further discussion on the matter? Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

On that or not?

Well, we're not spending money. So

It's just we're approving a concept at this point.

We're approving someone else to spend money.

Yeah. Enough.

Okay. Not opposed. It carries. Okay.

Thank you. I love the bike racks.

You folks are welcome to stick around if you I'm sure you had nothing better to do. You're free to go.

Yeah. Tell Chris Ricci I can spend his money somewhere on trees.

Yeah.

Okay. Mark, next item is Marco Nature Night, and we're all gonna talk about that. I had a thing I passed out. I had a question, and I got an email from one of the participants. I think it was the University of Florida extension. They wanted to know, for whatever purpose, I'm not sure, what the attendance was. Does anybody did we have a number or a count? I would have guessed about 75, 80, something like that.

Victoria, didn't you and I count tickets and it was, like, 55?

Yes.

Well, then it would have been more than that because I took tickets that you guys didn't count. So I I'm and I'm not recalling the number. We could always pull security footage from that night and just count the room, possibly. But

Do do we remember how many of the little brochures were printed, Mark?

Yeah. I printed 85 80 or 85, but we because we weren't sure how they would last, we were giving one to each couple. So we wouldn't really have a handle Okay. Based on that.

I do have some ideas when we get to it about ways we could better advertise.

Yeah. Yeah. Had

think you need a

pass out over there, which I I guess I Here.

You want, Linda's? I got it. Thank

you. Okay. On it, I brought I passed this out, Linda, so you'll have to bear with us a little bit. Following issues from 2026 event that committee should review and consider that may want to address for next year, One was the venue. One was the hours, food, tableclothes, programs, critique of presenters, and anything else anybody wants to talk about. And this may be something that we continue, but maybe we can at least get a start on it.

I see you have Venue dash Mackle Park. Was that a consideration about looking at doing it at Park as well?

Considering we had a pretty good turnout within any advertising to speak of because we didn't get much promotion, and that's another thing that I'd like to look at for next year is to actually, in order to get some do some pictures ahead of time or actually pay for well, maybe we'll have a budget to do that next year where we'll be able to pay for some advertising. But I I think that's a possibility we could get a 100 or more people Yeah. In attendance. And I'm not sure that I'm not sure what the count is here, but it's an awful lot to try and get people outside as well as inside.

Right. I do know Martin, you can correct me if I'm wrong. We're supposed to have the Marco Nature Night livestream because I don't know, is it technically a beautification committee meeting and that's why we have that two hour time constraint for the TV? Would we be able to still go live if we did another venue?

Well, that's a good question. Yeah. Do we really have to be live?

Do we have to be live for something like that? Martin probably knows.

Martin's coming out that

I think so. Could we get an answer on yes or no rather than I think so so we could have for sure? Because I think changing venues either to Mackle Park or Rose Hall Auditorium would be great if we are putting more effort and advertisement into this. What did Martin say? Are you good?

Does anybody have an extra pen by any chance?

I do not have one. Never.

I thought I had one that I brought, but I opened it up and I didn't have it. It's going to cost me a lot. Thank you.

It's going to cost us our entire

That's very good point.

Yes. So if we can figure out if we need to be live, because then, number one, if we don't need to be live, then that could nix the, two hour time constraint. Because I that was an incredible noise that came from that chair the moment you sat down.

There's a

dolphin. It's a dolphin.

But we would be able to nix the two hour time constraint, number one. And then number two, we could change venues if need be. Okay. Or we still do need to be live, I can work with Martin to figure out a way to be live at a different venue because that is what I

Well, let's just find out if we need to be. Yeah. It may not be a requirement. I'll follow-up on that.

Yeah. So the one thing I do know is we just talked about this. If you do wanna do it at, like, Mackle Park, you can do that. Just make sure that it's you get public notices given, but it will not be televised then.

Yeah. Okay. Well, for some reason, it seems to have been broadcast for for I'm not sure how long because I haven't been here, but about a year. But let's find out if there's anything official that we need to be to have this for a broadcast. And then if so if not, then I think Mackle Park would be ideal. It'd give us a lot room to expand and if we want to market. And I think the people who are part of these programs would like to see a better attendance as well.

Comment on that. Comment on that. This precedes many of us. I think we've had this for years and I think we have advertised. And I'm not sure we've ever exceeded capacity based on the notes we've had.

I don't remember it being advertised the previous year. So this is my second time. And Shelly did it all last year or she arranged for it even though she wasn't part of us. But I don't remember seeing an advertisement.

The first time I'd ever heard of it was when it was put on the agenda.

It used to be when you first drove into the island, there was an electronic sign that said Marco Nature Night, and it gave the time, but the city won't let us use that anymore.

Well, maybe we can make another request for it. Is Joe, is there some is that you that would be part of that with that sign, or is that something that's just for safety reasons? Or

The it sounds like that'd be public works or the police, and I can look and find out who.

Yeah. It would be nice if we could if we had something if you know, once or twice a year because I have seen them advertise other things on there, not recently, but other than a single lane ahead and wait for an hour. Your wait's gonna be enough. Anyway

Also in previous years, they did pay for advertising in the Eagle and the Coastal Breeze. And they would spend like several $100 on advertising. But the other thing I wanted to mention, I don't know if you saw recently, they look like yard signs. They look like for sale signs almost. And they advertised the cornhole event that was happening at Mackle Park a weekend or two ago. And I found out from Councillor Henry that those signs cost $8 So just doing $10 of those is super cheap and putting those in at key intersections.

Yeah. I think we just talk about in the future what kind of promotions can we do.

I like that idea though too.

Could we not, if we know in advance, set it up in advance, do some of the banners. Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Our very own banners.

Yep. Okay. Critique of the presentation. Anybody would comment on the presentation?

I think the presenters were great. It was a real faux pas with photos not coming up, but now we're aware, and they can be prescreened. I have already prescreened Marco and Bloom because of that.

Mhmm. I I can tell you what happened there, just FYI. We were I was given a

Thumb drive.

Thumb drive, and everything was on it fine, except we can't accept Martin can't accept the thumb drive. So I gave it to one of my assistants, and, she made a PDF of it. And the transfer of the electronics, which we didn't know I didn't even look at it ahead of time, it ended up being some pictures were gone. So next time we'll have a better handle on because we've experienced the problem, so we'll have a better handle on it. But but, yeah, I I thought that the presenters were very good.

I was thinking about, you know, some different topics for next year or something that maybe get the python lady here or something like that. But, you know, something that's a little bit different than what we've been having too. So anyway

One thing I wanted to mention was everybody stayed. Very few people left early. And I think people really liked that prize thing at the end.

Yep. Yep. Well, and

I think also shortening the time period where For outside. For outside. Yeah. Yeah. Helped in keeping people engaged and Right. Willing to stay.

And if we were at Mackle Park, that stays open later in and of itself. So there wouldn't be having to close down at 07:00

or so. Yeah. That's not the issue here. We just have a two hour window. We we're allowed for that meeting, and I'm not sure why, but we're gonna look into that also. Yeah.

So We did use our exterior time less out there, but I think it could have been even less than we did. There was it kinda was winding down before we came in.

Yeah. I I see thirty thirty minutes

out there easily and give them

Also, was interesting was like 90% of the people got there before 05:30, before the They start were expecting like it starts at 05:30, therefore I have to get there in advance of 05:30. Yep. So, like, by 05:45, they were done looking around out front.

Mhmm. I do also have a, a comment. Now I wasn't able to, stay for the full presentations. I had to leave, pretty early that day. But I'd be willing next year to sort of, like, emcee the event, if if you didn't want to, to be able to, like, present the speakers. And because, I mean, this is part of what I do, just public speaking and crowds and stuff like that. So, to, like, announce, like, hey. We're coming in here. It's like, we're setting up for the event now and, introducing each speaker and stuff like that.

Ryan, I I I purposely didn't do that this time, and I put their bio on the the pass out because I wanted to see how the time frame went. Mhmm. I think in in the in the previous year, I did announce and introduced people that it was a time constraint thing. Right. So for next year, that would make a lot of sense to even go maybe still have it in the pass out, but also maybe personal introduction as well. A combination. I also think

that oh, the food was great. I know that that's one of the things that we have mentioned on here. And I see tablecloths is something that was mentioned.

Everybody brought their own. Oh, okay. The only that we didn't we used it was for the Marriott. That's the only ones we used. The rest of them, everybody brought their own.

One thing is we should see about this year finalizing everything for Marco Nature Night earlier, because we've got it it really seems like that one this March is such a huge month for us because we've got both Marco and Bloom and Marco Nature Night, and that's our two biggest things that we seem to do. So if we are able to finalize that earlier, like maybe even by the December meeting come in and say this is what we've got going on, and then we can have revisions come in January and then come the February meeting, there's no contest about what's going on.

I'd like to suggest by November. Yeah. By November is great.

Perhaps we move nature night to February. One in February, one in March.

That could could work too. Was was I know that we had a reason as to why we did, March, but I'm entirely certain what that was.

Well, originally, we were talking February and it was difficult to organize because we kind of got we started too late. Right. So that's why it had to be pushed in because some of the speakers a couple of the speakers that I was at or exhibitors said that they needed more advanced notice. So I think if we can identify in November a date, then we can reach out to these people a lot sooner.

I think moving forward, we need to know well in advance who's gonna chair these items. And unless you really wanna do it, it sounds like we have a voluntold person.

Yeah. I I didn't mind doing it. I've got matter of fact, I've got a handle on some things. You know, we could coach we could coach here for that matter. Or I don't I don't need I might not even be here because my term expires unless somebody wants to up me again. I'm gonna ask for double pay this time. Okay. You know, I think we've pretty much touched on a lot of these things. So just wanted to give some ideas, some things for us to consider as we move down the road. And once we get we probably ought to start talking about this in September so we can kind of finalize some things by November.

We propose that as an agenda item to already be placed on September so that we know like September if someone forgets about it that it's already on the agenda? Or is it way too early to make that ask?

I can keep it.

Cool. All right. Thank you, Jose.

Okay. I think that's enough for anybody have any other comments on Nature Night? Marco and Bloom, we can all talk about that. I

would love to start. Linda, is it all right if I announce the share of the winners with our committee here?

Absolutely. Okay.

I'll start with that part. So this is the Marco and Bloom twenty twenty six wrap up. This year, we the competition was really strong, especially in almost all categories except really for one, and that was due to our official nominating committee. That worked very well. Total nominations I received were 87. 74 of them were from the nominating committee. 13 were from the public, so 85% came from the committee. However, that being said, one winner and three runner ups came from the public, so they still remain very important. And the nominating committee, we judged 36. So 51, we did not judge, And some of that was for various reasons.

They did not materialize as finalized nominations. All the nominations I received, I did track down with multiple attempts at places, except for one. I never could. So that one did not come forward. Some were not eligible. Some people nominated portions of parks, and the city cannot award itself. And then some of my nominating committee were especially productive and gave me too many nominations, and I asked them to edit. They and I edited for the top ones. So in the end, we did see 36 in all. The day of judging, we didn't see that as many.

We just saw residential. And so here we go for our winners. The best residential professionally designed was 205 South Beach Drive, which was the property in Hideaway Beach. And let me tell you, these were very, very close. And I'll just mention even though we're not awarding, Bimini was runner-up, and that's the one that had a lot of the bromeliads. The best personally designed goes to Orange Court, and that was the one that had the driveway with the grass circle design. The runner-up was Polynesia, the large hedge with all the special plants behind. Mhmm. The large hedge. Okay?

And best Florida friendly went to two hundred angler. That was the hidden garden, the very lush and the big what kind of tree was that on the corner? It was decided it was a Terabuya? No. It's a wood. It's not oak. It's not what are some of the hardboats? Search with an m. I'm trying to think of the name of it. I

remember there was contention at that

Mahogany tree. Thank you. Mahogany. Came to my mind. Alright. That was large mahogany tree. And the runner-up on that was Mulberry Court, the one where we saw all the butterflies and pollinators that wrapped around the entire yard. That was very close also. Most of these were very close. The best cul de sac was Embassy Court. That was the one with the peach colored flamingo and all the lush behind the mangrove that was also coordinated with it. The runner-up was Hall Court. The best commercial property public building, we had a tie. Out of 700 points, two entries scored six ten points. And they're very different entries.

The one was the Mark Wyland Historical Museum. And the second was Braun Builders, which is truly commercial. And the best condominium was Pier eighty one condos. And I really wanna give a shout out and thank you to the nominating committee members by name. That was Debbie Coleman of the Garden Club, Marissa Awicki, Garden Club, Donna Patterson, who won personally designed last year, Valerie Agus from the Garden Club, Jennifer Ferrer from the Garden Club, and then the two master gardeners from the garden club who advised us the day of judging, which were Donna Kay and Sue Oldenshall.

And the other shout outs I wanna give to are Coastal Breeze for giving us a very generous half page

They did.

Yeah. Promotion about it, which really, really helped. And secondly, to Art Seller Signs who held our price because of our budget constraints again this year, which was wonderful. And speaking of that, I gave the wrong amount when we approved last time. We approved 350. They were actually $80 apiece, so that's $4.80, and that is holding at the price. So I'd like it if we could make a motion to amend that or to just redo it however it officially should be done to $4.80 instead of $3.50.

You you can make that motion.

I'll make that motion that we amend it to 480.

I'll second.

K. Any comments? All those in favor? Aye. I'm sorry, Wade. It's financials, so we gotta have a call.

Member Sippy?

Yes.

Member Cory?

Yes.

Vice chair Scherzinger?

Yes.

Member Myers?

Yes. Member Sullivan? Yes. Chair of Needles?

Yes.

Motion passes. As a follow-up to that, we did have an extra sign we needed to order. We have Sunshine Laws. I couldn't call you all. What do you do? So I decided, and I bought a sign. So that's all done. So we have that one covered. And then now I'd like your feedback on improvements for next year or comments on this last year.

I I submitted something there just for discussion item. But first of all, I wanna thank you for you did a marvelous job on that, Victoria, but appreciate so much. I mean, to the point that somebody was knocking on my door to talk to my wife, and she came out, and it was for my cul de sac or the cul de sac there. Said, well, what are you doing here? So but she worked very hard on it. So thank you.

You're welcome. I agree. Thank you, Victoria. You're welcome. I enjoyed it.

Just a bunch of comments more than anything just for consideration. I thought that one of the things that I don't know whether it's how it would be done, but, to try and reduce the number of, homes that we visit early on before if that can be done somehow. So when we are all going out there, we are not spending I think we spent, what, close to five hours out there or something like that. Gets kind of confusing. I think it would be a lot easier if we had maybe limited to so maybe five or whatever per per

I hear that. I already drastically funneled it and reduced it for hours. And I think that's pretty similar to what we did the year before. And I think if so 13 came in from the public. You can't reject a public nomination. No.

Absolutely.

And then yeah. I think it was very similar to the year before. I would like to see us continue that. I was fairly organized, but we did have a few faux pas and getting around from one to another just to start with. And I did really like that we carpooled. It made it much more fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I didn't understand on the form results.

Well, so I gave you, as a scoring sheet, a copy of what I was entering. And I did not explain to you. You didn't need to add them up yourself, and you didn't need to write results. Those were my columns.

Oh, Okay. Yeah.

That's just part of my Excel file. Anyway. Well, actually, that helps. So it helps confirm that I'm not entering an inaccurate number, and I'm hitting the same numbers. But you don't need to add them up yourselves. I do see delete Florida Friendly. I would strongly advise against that simply because there's a big push on the island to fertilize less and use less water and to protect our canals. And I think a lot of people were really excited about that category this year. Okay. And when we talk about it at the city council meeting, I'm really gonna promote that same theory again moving forward. Backyards. Good question. Do we need to do backyards? I think I could eliminate that question except for on Florida friendly because it really matters if the backyard is Florida Friendly.

Mhmm. Well, from the

standpoint the front.

From the standpoint of usually, whatever you see in the front is gonna be indicative of what's in the back. And that when we did go into backyards, that pretty much flowed. I'm just thinking the backyard adds that much more time because people get back there and they're talking, especially our guides or our experts that were giving us input. Many times we're in the backyard going on and on and on and it just slowed things up. And I just thought that the backyards, again, my opinion was that whatever you see in the front is pretty much pretty indicative of what's gonna be in the back.

That was the case in Florida Friendly except for one, which was the front was Florida Friendly and the back was not, which is important. But I will say, having two guides that those who kind of love to work together, that slowed our flow down more than anything, just the guides. But we did need them, but less so later on.

Yeah. Okay. It's something to just know? Right. And I just threw some things out there.

I would rein them in just a little tighter. Condos delete. Great question. So Linda did an excellent thing. She went around to what she thought were her 10 favorite and gave them forms. And only one condo did. And another one was nominated by one of my committee members. And I had decided to delete condos. Why spend it on the sign? And as soon as I did, you know, another one came in. So

My my thought on the condos is every condo, depending on their price range, their value, and their because and the number of units they have, they're gonna have different budget constraints than those or their budget constraints are gonna be much less than somebody that like the South Seabridge units or something like that. So I think that it's kind of unfair because some of the associations like on West Elcam, Those are not high end properties, but yet they do the best they can. So I'm not sure that it's a fair assessment. Like the Pier 81, they're high value properties and they can afford to do quite a bit. And nothing against them, but it's not fair for them to be and again, it's a juggling act.

Something to consider for next year.

Agreed. And we had a low turnout last year. And I think that if we're gonna strike anything, that would be the thing to strike. And I don't Could we

combine it with could we combine condos and commercial buildings? Like, just combine that category since there are so few?

Yes. But apples oranges. Give that Yeah. Some

Because we could say this year only one condo applied by themselves. Yes. And then last year, we had a bag, bag, and bag. And one of them was nominated by our Master Gardener guy, the guy that went around with us. So they just don't seem interested. Even when they're being handheld the form with a note that says, beautification would like you to apply. Here's the form. Fill it out. Just don't seem interested.

Yeah. I I would be happy make it make it and that.

Something that's

We'll look

at it.

Bad for

I think combining is a great idea. Because, I mean, it's you say apples to oranges, but a condo is, in essence, a commercial building that people just happen to live in. It is owned by a company or association. But anyway, I think that combining it's a great idea. Shortens our

Thanks for the input.

Anybody else have anything on that?

I know we have at the bottom of the sheet here explain safety. I was only a little confused on safety because I felt like it was just if there were rocks in the street. Is that effectively what that

Did they have a way to manage the rocks from going into the street?

Okay.

Did they look like they were settled in?

Did they did it look like there wasn't going to be a problem if? Correct. Okay. Got it. Cool. That's that's kinda how I gauged it. So I was

just making sure. Mhmm. Okay. Alright. Moving on. Leland Wei, Swales. Joe? We're we're having arguments on this. This is a hot topic.

So yeah. Go ahead. So Casey asked the water department Casey Lucius had asked the water and sewer and public works to look deeper into Leland Way just to see if there's any locations at all that you guys could plant in. So Martha right now is handing out locations that they marked out with a brief description on where and it does appear that there are some locations, but you have to be very careful with the plumbing that's in the area. So if you look at the pages, looks like if you stay away from the the pump out and all that, the pump station, there's a small state or section over there, 25 feet east and west of that.

And then it looks like you can go all the way on the south side down as long as you're within eight feet from the sidewalk towards the street and then back 20 to 29 feet from the sidewalk back out towards the street. But you have to stay away from that main line there. And then also there's a, if you read further down, there's sewer laterals, which are not marked on here, But they would be able to go out and hand locate those if we wanted to install trees there. We just have to stay six feet away from them.

Excellent.

So you're saying the north side, which is which is the standard squail anyway. Right?

No. That says no plants.

No. No. No plants. Right.

But They do not want anything on the north side.

Right. Because this is a standard that's a standard, I think, 15 foot swale. And but the other ones, we that's where we can plant.

As long as you stay within those restrictions, those areas that they

I think that's what we were looking to Thank

you for following up on that. I know Steven Gray, who appointed me, spoke to Casey about this very subject and about what our priority is. And I think she watched our meeting to say that we do want to do well traveled streets and very pedestrian heavy, but we're going to do fried in shape. So all right. So moving forward, Joe, do I show exactly where I want them on here and they can show me where those different laterals are and things?

Yes.

So

Give me your locations that you'd like us to get pricing on and how many trees. And, you know, if you can mark out the map and then send it to me. And then if we decide to move forward with it, then we'd have them locate the the laterals just to make sure we could fit them in there.

Okay. And I know you mentioned that you can't put them where the stone is, but consider putting them there with the bags? Yes. Yes.

Thank you. Excellent update.

Thank you, Joe. Appreciate your follow-up on that. Calusa Park. Joe and Linden?

So I've got pricing back for Calusa Park for the trees. It is more expensive than I thought it was going to be because the standard tree that, the part of the city would like installed is a 65 gallon tree, which matches what we put around the Mackle Pond. So that tree is about 12 to 14 feet tall and a little more established. So they are much more expensive. So to do Calusa Park without any irrigation or water bags, it was $17,386.12.

So when you say this is it the city's preference to do the 65 gallons? Or is that, like, a hard stop rule? Because I know we didn't go with 65 gallons for the Heathwood trees. Right?

That's correct. And also not for the Swallow trees. So why is that a rule for Calusa?

So I was told that those are mature trees that we or more, you know, more established trees that we'll take. Within the history of of us taking these donated trees, the smaller ones tend to not last or not be as strong. So we wanted something that's a little bit more established, but I don't believe it's set in stone. I know that around the pond and in the park, they're gonna want the more established trees.

Yeah.

Occlusive part

But of my these are but these are on the street. Right? These are along the street?

For occlusive part. Correct.

And you said without irrigation so the city doesn't have a water truck that or the or the landscaper that can come water them to make sure that they're watered

So

when it's not raining?

So we do have a water truck, but the public works department has stated that they don't have the ability and the time to water every single tree. I did reach out to the, to the company and ask them about the water bags. And, apparently, the water bags are very labor, involved, and they have to water refill the bags three times a week. So he was saying that if you did these trees, like, for, Metcaloosa Park and Mackle Park, he said it'd be, like, 70,000 for the year for them to do it in labor. Wow.

So I don't think the water bags are the right way to do it. I do have them looking into tying in bubblers, and I do not have that price yet, but I will have it on the next one. I'm I'm trying to get all these prices in, and they're still trickling in. So as we've been doing this and realizing what the costs are, I've been asking them to come back with hooking up irrigation in these areas.

So we budgeted not budgeted, but we've talked about $5,000 So how many trees can we have for $5,000 if we can not have a 65 gallon tree, but say, what's the next lowest size down below that, 45 or whatever?

So I can look into 45. We've only priced out 25 gallon and 45 gallon. And like I said, the 25 gallon are about six to seven foot trees.

Yes. So that would be my next question is how much can we get for a 45 gallon for $5,000 And does the landscaper have a water truck? Because one of the two of them do. I just can't remember if it

was the park one or the non park one.

They did say

that was the park one.

Yeah. Superior said they had a water truck, but their it sounds like that their pricing for that is not going to be within any range of what we could do. I I think that our best bet is to try to hook up bubblers to irrigation to these trees.

Any further discussion on this?

I have a question. So the 25 gallon are acceptable?

So I was told no. Okay. But not

That's what I

thought. Not I don't know if it's a dead fast rule. It depends on the area. We might be able to allow it in certain areas, but I know that in the park, they want them to be the 65 gallon to match the trees that are there. And when I say park, I mean Mackle Park.

We're talking specifically about Calusa, though. And has anybody been on Elcom across from the post office or to or, like, from 711 towards Veterans Park. Those were 25 gallon trees, and they are flowering right now, and they are gorgeous.

Stunning. David was Yes. There and did

you know, do we need to go back to Casey and say, come on, Casey. We need to get to 25 gallon just like we've planned it in other places. We can't we can't keep your the goalposts change every single time we ask for trees, and it is unbelievably frustrating.

Yeah. Understood. But the the 65 gallon is what was used for the last donation of trees at Mackle Park.

But we're not talking about Mackle Park.

I know. I'm just stating that Mackle Park is going to require 65 gallon. Colusa Park, we can get the 25 gallon. And like I said, those are a different price. The 25 gallon are about $540 a tree with labor and everything installed.

That'd be great because we want to be able to spend our tree money on something. And right now, the only plan we have is the Leland Way, and that's with Stephen Gray's donation.

Quick question. Michael, how big was the tree that we planted for Arbor Day last year? Because that was inclusive park, right?

That was. And that was it was a 25 gallon. Okay.

While I'm not a landscaping company, I do a lot of my own planting. And if you plant them smaller, it's easier for them to adjust and acclimate. A big one goes into shock and needs a lot more attention and water than a little one.

That's absolutely true. And that's exactly what David Leeser found out, which is why they started planning he started what he was the chair requesting the 25 gallon. And if they're properly watered, they do survive.

Maybe going forward, we can just any time that we're told, hey, no, 65 gallons, we can just retort, well, in the past, that doesn't seem to be the case because we got Swallow was planted with 25 gallons. Heathwood was planted with 25 gallons. All the ones around the Mackle Park Lake were 25 gallons. And the

You said they

were 65. Well, the ones that we did around the

Lake were 65.

Okay. Got it. 65.

And then the, Arbor Day one was, was 25. So, I don't know who said no, but, maybe come back and say no again because it seems like in the past, '25 has worked fine.

So like I said, I'll look back into that and see what's allowed. I know that Calusa, we have more flexibility there, and we can definitely do the 25 gallon trees.

Joe, who is saying no?

So it's just it's straight from the city. When I talk to growth management, that that's the standard size of the tree that they would require.

Growth management. Yes. Who who makes that decision?

The parks team, but parks team, the parks and rec team.

Oh, parks and rec, okay.

Under Dan, yeah.

Yes. Okay. Any any further comments on the Mackle tree, Mackle Park trees?

No. That was Calusa Park.

That was

Calusa Park. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Alright. So we have no more than that. Mackle Park trees. Linda or Joe?

I'm Go ahead, Joe.

Like I said, I'm still getting the Mackell Park tree prices. And right now, they're they're very high.

So I think what I would like to do with

the Mackle Park is have myself and Darren Spindler and you and Dan Smith and somebody from city council and Casey all meet because of this new rule, as always, another new rule of 65 gallons because it's it's just it's just unacceptable to that this keeps happening. So let's just table that for now, and I'll work on having a meeting.

Okay. Everybody Okay just to move that to the next meeting?

Yep. Maybe we'll you

coming, but we'll get there. Thank you, Linda.

Okay. Thanks, Linda.

And of course, it's extremely more expensive. Try planting a 65 gallon tree. That is a job versus a 45 or a 25.

Try and lift one.

Exactly. I mean, the manpower it takes

is Yeah. Sure.

Astronomical.

Linda, political science.

This is something that I'm still working on with counsel Schwann. She's helping me with the language, and we don't have anything ready today. So May.

Okay. Got it. Thank you. Arbor Day event. Michael?

So we'll it's the twenty fourth of the month. So we're going to plant the tree eleven a. M. It's a Friday. We're going to plant it at the same location that we planted last year. There were it looked like there were two dead trees in this section. We planted the bridal veil in the middle. One of them has come back and is blooming. The other one is completely dead. And there is some irrigation there, so we're gonna plant the tree this year where the dead one is, have that one removed. What

does the event entail?

It just entails me giving a short

speech

about the importance of Arbor Day Arbor Day and importance of trees. So it's a pretty short

Do you

need anything for that?

Or No. In past years, they had the middle school band come and Mhmm. But it's more of

a short key thing. Okay.

Michael, I didn't get the date.

Friday, the April twenty fourth.

Thank you.

It's right on your sheet there

Okay.

On the agenda. Okay. Thank you, Michael. Christmas lighting, I'll give a Michael was able to find I think we reported this last last month, but has some place for storage. I'm working on trying to get some the purchase of 40 more units, which will take us to 80 that would take us all the way doing every other pole going down the road from the Jolly Bridge to the Savage Bridge.

The

other, excuse me, the other part of that is I've talked to there's a group, if you will, for lack of a better term, representing the chamber, the Board of Realtors who was interested in being part of it as well as the Christmas Island style to get input from them and to see how we can move forward and even get these funded, the additional items. So, there's more to be reported. It's an ongoing issue and still working on it. I'm not sure we'll have anything before maybe even next week next month, I'll report if there's something. Otherwise, I won't even have it on the agenda until we have something more to report.

So if anybody has anything they want to add or question. If not, we'll move on to the beautification committee's dedicated webpage. I met with, Jose. He is very creative and he's putting something together. And he is we're looking to have something more detailed.

Do you I don't know whether you wanna share anything. Yeah. There's a picture, and this will be just the beginning of it, of a webpage that will be we're looking at some different ways, whether it be QR codes or I also did talk get the approval to have an email and I have requested and I think Martin handles that, I'm not positive, the baccthecityofmarcoisland.com. And so that would be part of this website. And any future marketing we did, if anybody has any questions, it would be an email that they could contact.

And then it would be forwarded, at least initially, to me as the chair. So if there's anybody that has any questions, I could at least start to dig up answers to those folks in my absence in the future, probably the chair or someone else because that would be forwarded to whoever is willing to take on that task. So we will have some be able to have communications. And this was basically presented as this will take anything off of city staff to have a follow-up. So one of the volunteers who are willing to take on the job will get that job done.

Okay. Anybody have any what I really hope. And also, if I can, your what you've done, Ryan, for your banner or whatever on the

Marco's most unwanted. The unwanted, yes, that's going be part of it. Cool. One comment. I know I don't see anything here, but We

can't speak until you touch your button.

You mentioned QR codes. You mentioned QR codes. Were there something about QR codes on the website?

It would the idea of to have a QR code so it would direct somebody directly to

Oh, okay. So in print stuff. I was gonna say, there isn't really much of a purpose to have a QR code on

a website.

No. No. No. Cool. I was just getting clarity on that.

Yeah. To give a direct access. Okay. Okay. Anything else? Staff communications?

We have no staff communications at this time.

Okay. Have a

few things for staff. I'd like to thank Joe and Martha for their help at the butterfly garden. Martha brought a crew of guys to help the ladies. We all planted the plants that came in, and they were big and beautiful. And we thank you.

I had one item too, Joe, on the Collier Boulevard banners. Is there a way that you could get one of them, especially one that's in pretty terrible condition Deb, don't listen to this part So that I can carry it into the city council budget meeting and hold it up and say, look how terrible this is. We need $2,250.

I actually have one in our office at the City Hall. So if you come there, we can give it to you.

Fantastic.

Okay. I

think that's perfect, in two city.

Perfect segue. Okay. Do we have we this is the time for public comment?

City number nine, city council communication.

I'm sorry. And this public comment.

Well Then we'll get to it.

City council first. Anita, you're gonna be quiet?

I I'll be quiet.

You for all your We're gonna put that on the calendar? Yeah.

Thank you. We're gonna make not mention of that, judge, that city council had nothing to say in this meeting. I'm sorry. Come on up, please, and identify yourself. Yes.

Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Fran Ackley. I'm an Amarco Island resident. I live near the historical museum. First of all, I wanna thank you all for the hard work that you're doing. It's a lot of time and effort and I do appreciate that.

I have a couple

of questions. First was to see the entries or the winners for Marco and Bloom, will that be posted anywhere that I can see the addresses drive by to get inspiration for some landscaping that we'll be doing at our home?

They'll be presented at the city council meeting on the sixth so you can come see it in person or watch it on TV or watch it replay afterwards. And we try to get coastal breeze to list the winners and so we'll see if they will.

So there's no place online that'll be posted?

Good point.

Could it be on the new your new website?

That's not gonna I'm sorry to say that that's probably sixty days out.

Okay. Okay. The other thing is, as I mentioned, I live near the historical museum. Bald Eagle and San Marco Road are two major thoroughfares that I travel frequently. And I cringe every time I go up Bald Eagle from Yellowbird up to about El Cam, especially near Marco Lake.

And I understand and I apologize, I know I'm late to the party for an I know there's a lot of things that go on, and I know there's underground utilities and things like that. But I'm wondering, has there been any discussion about doing anything on Bald Eagle, especially around Marco Lake and also, San Marco Road near the the y. Because to me, are two areas that are very barren.

We spoke about the, that little strip of road on San Marco between the YMCA and that through street to get to TBE. Mhmm. We spoke about that, last month and the month before, actually. And we are that is our next step after the the, ones that we have here. Because, I mean, that the kids are walking there every single day, and it needs shade. And, also, putting a tree there is gonna be a great barrier in case someone were to peel out and

So would it be many trees or or one tree? Or just

That plan hasn't been put into place yet, but that all I know is that it if if you have a suggestion, I'd love to hear it. Okay. But that is our next priority.

Any thoughts about bald eagle from Yellowbird up to Marco Lake or El Cam. Has that ever been looked at?

So correct me if I'm wrong.

That's where the trees were taken out by Yeah.

14 trees got taken out by LCEC. Were they supposed to replace those?

No. We were told they're not going back in.

Okay. That area is No. No. No. Wait a minute. Casey and Mike and we are we and Justin committed that those trees would be replaced.

I asked that, Linda, and I was told that they are not going back in where the LCEC removed them.

Okay. I think we might need to look back at that previous meeting and hold

Yeah. If Linda sets up a meeting where we walk, I can definitely we can bring that up and have that conversation as well.

And my question is if trees were not able to be planted, could other vegetation be planted, say beds of seagrasses, bromeliads, agave whatever just to.

Live

green up that area it's it just feels like a dead zone and it's really embarrassing when we bring people when we bring guests down Bald Eagle to our home. That's really one of the first things they see once they get off of Collier. And it's pretty it's actually embarrassing, to be quite honest.

I'd like to jump in here on that, Fran, if you don't mind. Mhmm. We're very informal here.

So Okay.

But, you know, I went down there the other day, and all these trees were trimmed. They looked like terrible because they're lopsided on the trimming. And, you know, we'd like to we'd like to have put trees there and and replace those that were gone. And we have this 14 foot limit that LCEC has put on the height. Right.

So it doesn't affect it. However, that doesn't preclude us from trying to do in the future where we plant some trees even though they'll grow higher to having a budget to trim the trees. Yeah. So they would look good. And to be able to have shaded trees that that would be enhanced that that area on Bald Eagle all the way down to Collier for

And that

then I have one more thought. Might be a little crazy. But if you go down Collier, obviously there's a median and some areas the medians are very long with trees and plantings and other areas are just little islands of median. If you drive up Bald Eagle, there's several little islands of yellow crisscross lines where you where the center turn lane is blocked. So a vehicle technically can't go in the part of the center turn lane.

I'm just wondering if there could be a median strip of trees right in the middle of Bald Eagle. It would would it would kind of be like a canopy over both sides of the road with slow traffic down. It would feel cozy, let's for lack of a better word. So if you drive up Bald Eagle, you'll see there's some areas where there's a no turn, you can't go into the central lane. Could that not be dug up and plantings put there? Just a thought. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. A time.

Thank you. Interesting. And, Fran, I have your number. I can send you a list of the addresses after April 6. I

we might might need to do, like, a, safety, survey or something like that, just to check and see if that is something that's possible. And it is so funny. I was thinking about that on here. So great minds think alike. I do love that idea.

It's also that one area right there, like right in front of Krutches and Sushi by KJ or whatever it's called now, people tend to turn in that area anyway. And they're not supposed to. And it makes that area just a tad more dangerous. So I do imagine that that could be nice. So I don't know if there's something that maybe next meeting we can

follow-up with his name.

I have one follow-up comment on the recommendation if we had a budget to trim. It's just not LCEC. It's an ordinance in Florida if there is an electrical right away that we can't plant above 14 feet. And rather than depending on always having the budget, because budgets change every year to trim these trees, we do have some trees, and they'd be beautiful. They'd be smaller patio blooming trees. We should be focusing on planting those that do not hit 14 feet.

Well, those trees too. Like the trees that are there, the trimming would probably be once every five years. It's not like it's gonna be an annual event. Right. And so I'd like to see us look into that because even to get out and trim the ones that are there, they look

I agree. The ones that are already there.

And half of them Right.

Instead of losing the ones already there. Agree with that. But focus on future plantings in those sensitive locations to within the limit. Okay.

Let's see. Where are we? Next meeting. Eleven. Yep. Next meeting. Anybody planning to be gone? Linda, are you still with us?

I am. Next meeting

is May 6. Yes. There is a possibility I won't be here. I will confirm with send an email to Jose. There is a possibility I will be out of town, not gonna

be Okay. If you have any any things that pops up that you'd like to see on the agenda, just let Jose know. In the meantime, some of these will carry over from now. I was looking at one that we had for some possible future discussions that came out of November meeting, I believe. So I'm gonna be topping some of that and plugging it in. And I have nothing further unless somebody else has.

Arm, do you wanna do you wanna talk about the Christmas proclamation that's gonna happen on Monday night?

I can talk about that. Yeah. But I I I just heard that there's going to be, and that's Monday. And I think are you you gonna be back, Linda?

Yep. I'll be there.

Okay. Victoria, you're gonna be there?

I will be there. I'll be presenting Marco and Bloom. And, Linda, you're my assistant that evening for that also. Right? Yep. Thank you, dear.

And I will be representing the beautification committee. And anybody else that wants to come, they're welcome too. It's going to be appreciation. Actually, it was kind of strange because I thought that was not gonna happen for some reason that I heard some people objected to it, and now it's back on the the agenda for this coming month. So would you like to add to that, Linda?

I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed, and now it's on.

K. Good pushing. Okay. Let's see. Nothing more? Then we're adjourned.