Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay. Welcome to the January 21st meeting. Could you call the roll, please?

Is for the agenda, is there anything that anyone would like to add to the agenda at this time? The painting of the Santa.

I'll make that motion. Okay, Santa Junior.

5C, okay. All good? All right. Got to get a motion to approve the minutes of December 15th, 2025 meeting.

For a December charter school bus headcount.

You've got a 60-passenger bus. So we used to have 20-25s. We're up to 40. Oh, okay.

It's more consistent. I don't want to see it. So it's up. The numbers weren't up, yes.

Is the RFP going out for the snack bar? To have a vendor for the concession stand? This is three months we've been talking about this.

You do have a town manager full-time. He was voted in last week.

This is a governmental... Well, we have to have some... Yeah, this is a governmental... A range of menus, I agree, having kosher items. But it shouldn't impede someone for applying... It's a no-win situation. We all know it's not a moneymaker. But if you've got somebody interested, the people are still asking for it. Vending machines are okay.

Absolutely. Then you charge more. I mean, what do the restaurants in town, kosher restaurants, you can walk down, look at the menus on Harding, you can walk there, you know, it's a lot more than going to Flanagan's. Yep. But I'm glad to see we have a couple of people that are at least ready.

Right, but why can't I just... Why do I have to pay the tenant? Is what I'm getting at. Why can't... If we have... Carlos is interested in being the chef at the concession stand. Knows he's not going to make money. He's not going to get rich over this.

Why couldn't we look at not paying a fee to the town to have the buildings there, the machines are there, All we need is the person to cook. They supply the food. They sell it for what they want. I don't know.

But if we see something, could you look into your meeting tomorrow? I can check. To see what they charge.

Right. Well, maybe we could... Well, that's six years. Yeah. We could look at a reduced... Get them started. I don't know. We can always raise the rent.

Maybe it's the old timers that are asking for it.

This has been years we've been doing this.

I guess you look at our population... at the community center. If you want it utilized, you're going to have to have kosher items. Not 100%.

And then we old-timers want a hot dog, french fries, and a soda for a dollar. The way it used to be.

Right. Then other days it's packed. But you still have to be prepared. Do we need it to be open Monday through Friday? Can it be open Friday, Saturday, Sunday?

Cindy was the director at that time. Director of?

I'd like to, I just, let's table it. So let's table it till next month and see what information Rudy can get and then we'll put it on the agenda for next month. Okay. All right. Senior trip. How was the trip?

Got good prizes? Yes. I think that's why everybody likes it.

What did you mention for the events? Other than the jazz, the… Of jazz, the hip-hop and a… No, before that.

That was really nice. For the little kids, you had the small bounce house at the winter event. Yeah, we always try to mix it for each age group. Try to get a little bit for everybody. But those events, Halloween and Christmas, have been... Really well attended. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Did you ever get the video other than I sent? Did you get the resident's video?

What was done as a follow-up with the bus company?

The school bus broke down and we were back to the coach. the regular, like tour coach, like the big tour ones. Which has no school bus signaling, no stop signs, no guard in the front of the bus. And the children ran off the bus and ran all over the street and it was videoed and the resident was very upset. Why we're back to this bus and why we don't have the school bus.

So it was down for the two days, but the second day... But did the vendor notify you ahead of time that the bus would be replaced with a coach?

So after the fact, not before the fact? Correct. Wrong.

Right. So you could arrange to either, and I don't understand why a PSA, for those types of days. The days that the flashes are on, I don't care.

Because they see an adult standing there from the town with your uniform on, you know, they're going to be a little more respectful.

Again, I keep harping on $12,000 a month, but... How many stocks are there in the town? Two. Two. One by the north and south end.

Any other? Winter camp. It was brought to my attention.

I guess I'm just the chairperson. You don't get any notices from residents?

You're in a condo, right? We're in condos. I'm fine. I just bring it back to you guys. I don't hear anything in other words. At the winter camp, there was a problem with a child missing, distracted from the camp, and got in front of the community center

That's YMCA procedure in any place. They sign them in, sign them out.

Do you know if the counselor was reprimanded in any way? Excuse me? The counselor.

Yeah. Okay, I'm glad to hear it wasn't the Y. Bad enough it was, but I'm glad it wasn't the Y. I'm sorry you couldn't get my link this morning. Yeah. But I was reading the news this morning and There was, there's legislation right now.

Yes. No, 4E, the e-bikes. Oh, the bikes, 4H. I came, I sent, look, there's legislation now, they were talking about it on a news radio station this morning, that these bikes, if they go over... certain speed, like over 30 miles an hour, they're going to have to be registered as an electric motorcycle. They're going to have to take, it's going to have to be on a driver's license, these e-bikes.

Yes. And that's one point, but I've been bringing up a registration process like Key Biscayne has, Sunny Isles Beach has, where parent comes in, registers their child's vehicle, virtually. I was coming home from school today, right after dismissal, 2-10. It was not good. To what? They were, my video and driving does not last. Three of them were ahead of me. One e-bike, two scooters, two kids on the scooter. Right through the stop sign. They were doing way more than 20 miles an hour.

One going sitting on the right-hand side by Indian Creek Bridge. And one on the other side of 91st Street going north.

We both agreed that something's going to happen. And we don't want it to, but...

I've talked to the chief. I've talked to the old chief. I talked to Cindy. I talked to Tim. Tim had it worked out and then the chief got fired. And then Tim retired. Then Adrian retired. Now we've got Rudy. Cindy was only here for a half a second. We can't go into the dark.

Paul Beshkehazi, a neighbor just, I was coming up here, he stopped me at the stop sign. They're not allowed on the walking path, are they? They're allowed on the hard path?

No electric at all? I know they just passed something a couple months ago. Only walking on the... That was my... Paul says they're on there, and they're young people. Oh, they sneak in. Yeah. They sneak in.

Oh, yeah. So what you're getting at, Rudy, is that I should just go to the commission and bring it up there. Because we're not doing anything here.

That's what we used to have years ago with bicycles. We had a bicycle rodeo, and we had a vendor to give away helmets if the kid didn't have a helmet or reflectors and stuff like that.

No, he knows that I've spoken about it. But I'd be glad.

April's our target date. And my whole life. Still have a motorcycle. It's just a dangerous thing in South Florida. And these kids, they're flying. Everybody sees them. You go down South Beach, it's in and out of traffic. Going across the Broad Causeway Bridge.

And I leave in the dark. They got no light on, no headlight, black hoodie, no helmet. When you see your son at rider trauma, when he went into the side of the car because the valet driver pulled in front of him, It's not a free site.

other social media can read my next door press my comment from today okay it's never been so hot you know let's I just think if it's possible to because it's the people that don't go to the rodeo that you know you're not going to get this is why I want a registration process yes like sunny Isles and keep us game hat yeah where the parents have to come in and register make somebody accountable and that's what I talked to

I will look up Sunny Isles and Key Biscayne's process again and I'll forward it to Chief. Who else would you recommend? I mean Chief's not going to handle it. Major Jay. Okay.

But these kids all had Ruth K. Barth shirts on today.

then there's... And I guess I need to do more homework, because what I read in Sunny Isles, if you're a resident and live in town, then you have to register your e-vehicle. Whether they follow the law, that's a different subject.

The e-bikes are also... There's a lot of YouTube videos on how you're taking a normal e-bike that would do 15 to 17 miles an hour and they're double in the batteries, they're changing the gear ratios, where these things are.

I still do two wheels. I've seen it, though. I've seen that. When I get that bad, I just don't. Thank you for listening to my concern, but I will follow up with Chief and Major. Thank you. New Business 5A. Painting of Santa.

Or somebody that has like a vision for what you're having right now?

He can paint a wall. So we need a, we need a supervisor.

So you'll send an email to start, I don't know what you're going to say, looking for a reliable, friendly artist that would help us. Yeah, some rosy cheeks, you know, like some eyes.

Panty Santas. How many Santas have you painted?

Hey, I can... I can color the lines. 5B, extra classes?

But give me, on the 19th, give me an example. Is that, that teacher teaches all that?

So the person, do they necessarily do dance fusion and then they would hang out for a little while and then do calisthenics?

How many people attend, like, Dance Fusion? Do you go to that? What do you go to?

When you go from Surfside, are there other Surfside people that go down to that senior center for that class?

That's a good suggestion that you found the same instructor that does another activity. Exactly. And they're already at the center. But I was teaching two classes instead of one.

I don't think the town's ever... Well, we got a grant for the dog park.

I think that's a good idea. Now, would you, we have time to get that in the February newsletter so that people would know that it was upcoming? Or would you do a separate?

Do you know why, I always meant to ask Tim, and I never asked him, do you know why the bulletin board went down at Publix? We used to have a glass encased.

Because there was more things in the showcase other than Surfside. There was Cub Scout events, there was cookie sales.

That's why I've always asked, I mean, since I was on the commission, since we built this building and renovated this building, that we have an electronic sign on the side of this building that we can constantly change activity. You know, upcoming, just like we have down at, the only thing you see down there is Charlie's face popping up.

Is there a bulletin board at the community center?

But they want to publicize. I mean, I came down the escalator and I used to read it all the time.

We've discussed this for years. I've been against it for years. We don't have the staff. We're not in the rental business. I mean, Rudy, you're the new guy. You can chime in. But it's more of a liability on the town when you're not bringing your own equipment and just using the ramp or If we rent the equipment, it's more of a liability. We don't have a storage facility to have more than they have. The paddle boards was not part of their initial deal, but that's what the manager worked out at that time. If they had the paddle boards, then they would include the kayaks. Could we ask them if they

I mean, have we declined? Are they upset with us? Yeah, but you didn't have that, you usually have it on the agenda. Do you know if the usage went down? Is the company still okay with having us there?

No. When Mark got the company, they didn't seem to have any, they were just glad to be involved. Because the other companies that the managers looked into were charging us like $14,000 just to put something there.

They don't charge us anything. They supplied the kiosk. and they- Yeah, it's pretty operational itself. Self-operate, yeah.

But then that's how they get you to try to buy the membership. Isn't it a lot cheaper to buy the membership where you can go to hopeful sites? $200 for a whole year. How much? $200 for a whole year. $200 for a whole year. They're unlimited. Right. You can go to many, they have those kiosks at many sites on the beach. Is that one of them?

25 residents in town. How do you, this is our discussion for years, who gets the six racks? First come, first serve. I didn't get the email, you didn't include me. It's tough. Do you know that at each street end, Vice Mayor Rose had to town to install ladders?

The ladders are rocky or the surface? There's locks all below. Right.

But if you could look into, if they have two-seater. We could ask.

Or two and two. Yeah. There's a Surfside resident because we have such a nice ramp. Do we get a discount?

Didn't we upgrade our... to the tennis center and... Which one? How to get in and out?

Bring that up tomorrow, say the committee recommends it. They got money, don't let them fool you. But I, that's been, it's just, the way we came to this kiosk thing, because it was the easiest way for residents to have a kayak or paddleboard there.

Thank you, Mr. Football. All right. Is that it? Did Mike Green email you today? No. This is the gentleman that was supposed to come tonight, that texted me and called me numerous times over the last two days that he had a conflict, that he forgot he was teaching a class on South Beach. And I said, you're welcome to come here, but the director is the one that's going to make the ultimate decision whether you have to go to the commission or not to have these extra tai chi, swimming, steel drum... sensational classes at the pool deck.

A resident, friend of... No, he does live in Surfside now. He's a new resident that teaches Tai Chi... Stop. It's... of water swimming, learning how to do this in the water, with steel drums, and I don't know. It's a lot. It's a lot to add to programming during the day.

In the water, yeah, this is in the water. You lost me in the water. The gentleman, he called me and I said, well, you're welcome to come to the committee. This was a month and a half ago. Now we have the committee and he had a conflict of interest, conflict of appointment, so I kind of threw Rudy under the bus today and said, you really just need to contact the director. You're welcome to present to us, but... We're technically nobody. Good job. Good job. Rudy says, why just throw them on me? All right. No public comments. Next meeting date?

He's an open book. How long do you want to talk, Oliver? No, no. His name is Oliver, and he paints Santa's. Yes, yes. He's got a business. Have you ever had a Santa painted? He's your man. Great. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Can I see if you have anything else? Uh-huh. We want to, again, congratulate Genesis on her fabulous wedding.

I didn't want to sing like that a little longer. I'm thinking, how did that get so long? We're going to get Carlos.

All right. All right. You got a big agenda for the Chief to go on to adjourn.