Parks & Recreation Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

Okay. Call this meeting to order. Roll call. Joan Morgan, Chair.

Paul Jackerman.

Gail Stephens.

Omid Patel.

Lori Feil. Trish.

Okay. All right. We are in room 244. Today is Thursday, July 16, 2026. We are in room 244, and it's 630. And can we stand for the pledge? Thank you all for being here. Do we have any public comments? There is none. Okay. Approval of the minutes from last month or two months ago. Anybody have any questions? Anybody want to make a motion to approve the minutes from May 21st, 2026?

I'll make a motion. All right.

Gail's making a motion. Who wants to second? I'll second. I'm going to second it. All right. Any, any comments? Anything? Okay, all in favor? Aye. All right. Presentations 26-0871 presentation regarding a rainbow bridge for placement at the canine club.

my findings today. First of all, for those who don't know, the Rainbow Bridge poem is known all over the world for people who lose pets and use it as a grieving area. Many people don't have a physical place. It's more of just the words, it's the poem, or it's a remembrance of some type. Many people put this in their homes where they keep their pets' ashes or bury them. So this is what it is worn on. And this is the one in North Carolina that was there. It had a place where hundreds of people put their collars and dog tags and put them in place for that concept of having the bridge as the memorial site for many animals. It was inspired by the poem, and it was brought in in a really great place that people really found a place for grieving was of this. This is what I found. After Hurricane Helene, this bridge was taken out and they found hurricane wiped away collars and some of them were found as far away as in we could very much see the same thing happen here, even with just a high water event. So one of the things that I looked at was that we already have the existing connection automatically to this. We took the regulation and we amended it a little bit for our circle of honor to allow the plaques and the pavers to be put in there in a different way. But we did remember that this is something that worked and the administrative regulation already exists. So I started to look a little bit deeper into this and we came up with a thought process that what if we made a dry bridge because it would make more sense for people where they frequent with their animals, and they could do that. The other piece of having the large amount of collars and things, should we still have a storm or event and they would be lost, we thought that maybe we could sell, just like we sell the tribute program, these little monuments that would be put onto the bridge, like in the top. So you would be able to purchase a little plaque that had, in memory of, you know, in my house it would be Cooper and his ears, and that would be attached onto the bridge. Yeah.

And then should we make the plaques different colors to represent the rainbow part, or should we paint the bridge?

So we have two thoughts. We could stain the bridge in a way. Or my second thought was actually just having the sign and have that sign erected right there with it. So it gave the sign, it gave the poem, and the rainbow image along with this. Keeps it a little classier, keeps it a little cleaner, but it still gives a way for the families to remember. And those plaques during a storm or an event would not be blowing away. They'd be fully affixed to that. So we wouldn't have people losing something that was valuable to them.

those rocks that are underneath it, how about making those where people can paint their rock with their pet's name? So that it does look like a rainbow underneath it.

Yeah, absolutely. We see that in parks now, but I know we have the same problem out here at City Center Green with the Gabby Petito bench. Many people will come and they will put items there, but they were forced to remove them because they're not, they can't leave personal items. And some of them sometimes are lost. So we'd have to see how that fell in it. But we do find them randomly all over the parks. So it might be something that we could, you know, have some gray area on the painted piece.

Well, we try to do that through Holly's Hope. to have a tree and decorate. And we ran up with the problem with the rocks and all because of what could be painted on there and what could be done on there and all this stuff. And finally, we gave up on it because, no, it wasn't going to be allowed.

The thing that's nice about this is because it's a public space, something there that's completely neutral it's safe for your child my child omi's child lori's child it doesn't matter anybody can read what's there because it's an approved contact that's why even on our pavers and our tribute program the bird bridge is very specific so it doesn't offend or make anybody else feel uncomfortable or not welcome to be in that place what or what size are approximately for the bridge so it's it's still this is the first concept we're just looking at it um the thought process was something that obviously those are four by four posts the size of these could be put on all four sides of them could be put on all the cross rails and there could be a significant amount on a bridge that size they would have to look at where they would fit it in the canine club and then kind of build according to the space that works best not to impede where the dogs run

What are you going to do if people start putting dog collars and that on there?

I would have to add to the rule site at the beginning, where you go in, that personal property can't be left. It will have to be removed. And we would probably add another sign with this area saying that these do not leave personal items in the park. They have to be removed. And then put the ordinance on it.

Can you make an amendment to the ordinance like the rocks? Or is that possible or no?

I would have to see, because again, when we took it to the police before about that ordinance, their concern was how do we manage the content that's on the rocks? If somebody puts, say, a racial slur on a rock, they paint a swastika on a rock and they put it there because that's what they believe. That offends me. That's not something I want to take my kids to the park and see in there. And I don't have that control. And that was their argument back then.

Yeah, it's a fair argument now.

We tried to do with Holly's Hope. We went through the whole thing. And we spent months on it.

Unfortunately, there is always a bad apple out there somewhere for everything.

And it's better to. I think part of the whole thing with the rainbow bridge and with the collars is everything is that the collars made it a color of rainbow. So my suggestion would be to make the bridge actually rainbow.

And we did talk about the actual painting of the bridge in stain that looks more like a rainbow. So it's just, this was, like I said, first concept and looking at it. But obviously we wanted to be representative of the Rainbow Bridge and still have the actual clone there for a place that is still valuable to people to come and have that. Especially the people who frequent the K-9 Club because their dogs spend a lot of time there with them. So that's kind of the concept. Do you guys have any more questions?

Where would it go from here? If we were to say good idea, go forth.

Suggested motions. Right there.

A move that the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board recommend to the City Commission that Parks and Recreation install a rainbow bridge at the K-9 Club located at 6700 Potomac Drive, North Port, Florida and that the City Commission amend the administrative regulation for the tribute program to include the purchase of plaques for pet owners to purchase in memories of their past pets.

I'll second that.

Do I have to read all of that? OK. The city's administrative regulation governing the tribute program can be amended to expressly include pet memorials and authorize the purchase and installation of plaques by Parks and Recreation for pet owners to purchase at their own expense in memory of their past pets with such plaques to be placed on the Rainbow Bridge at the Canine Club in accordance with Parks and Recreation design, material, and placement standards. Parks and Recreation staff develop and implement appropriate procedures for administration of the pet memorial plaque option within the tribute program, including but not limited to establishing standard plaque sizes, materials, and inscription limits consistent with existing tribute and memorial practices, creating a fee schedule to recover plaque fabrication, installation, and maintenance costs consistent with City policies and applicable Parks and Recreation regulations. preparing informational materials and application forms so that residents are aware of and can participate in the pet memorial plaque option under the tribute program.

All right. I second. All right.

All in favor.

All in favor. Any questions? No. Okay. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Okay. All right.

Sorry it was a lot. But I needed all of that in there.

Yeah, obviously. Yeah, yeah. All right.

I'm just going to need one more second before we move on to the next one. OK.

It was the guy with the service dog, right? The one that came in.

Yeah. OK. The next one is going to be 26-0872, presentation regarding rehabilitation of the wetlands surrounding the Circle of Honor.

I brought this before you a while back. Since then I've been doing a lot of putting the pieces in place, I guess is the best way to put it. I have discussed the issue with the EAB. I had a meeting with staff and I've gotten some of their critiques as to what they feel about the project, I've gotten very little negative response. One of the things that happened is that, since I had a discussion with staff, that the project is broken down into two pieces. The first part is the environmental aspect, and that's the simplest, is to have the property placed under conservation easement and connected to the circle of honor. which is working with Parks and Recreation to possibly have it designated as a mode for the park, which is the least impact that can be done. And that's where I'm at. I had coffee chats with a couple of the officials who are willing to put it on the agenda. What I'm seeking is a motion from Parks designated conservation. And I also worked with, discussed it with EAB at a meeting and am going to go back to them with the same type of presentation we're discussing now. And the environmental aspect is, it's the last vestiges of any natural habitat on this city campus. And you can see

to get your geographic bearings around it. The Circle of Honor is now here. Right in here. And the George Mullen Activity Center is here.

I'm sorry.

The Larry T Field is here.

I'm sorry. The Circle of Honor is right there.

Well, yeah. It comes in from here to there.

Yeah.

Yeah. Sorry. So we have the Circle of Honor in here. And this is the wetland that he's speaking of. So as he requests, the first step in this process is to look at having this designated as a conservation area to begin with. Right now it belongs to Romans. So number one. Then number two was looking at what parts were the most valuable, right, to the wetland preservation and what can and can't we do within there. So we kind of talked about a few ideas of trails and maybe a pass of connectivity from the existing trail out here to maybe a lookout vantage point where you could enjoy the scene of the actual um wetland and then being able to have that connect into the circle of honor to kind of create more of a park-like feel with it and that's how you know we would come into that second phase of it a little bit further but the first phase that mr english is speaking of is this that the park and rec advisory board recommend to commission that this

I'd also point out to the upper right-hand corner, right, that that's a transitional wetland zone that's the only vestiges of the natural wetland. And there's very few areas in parks where they have a wetland as part of the park. It's a learning experience for a lot of people. The other aspect of it is that the trail around it, there is a trail, but it's fragmented. So there's possible connectivity there. And the city owns all the land, so there's no land purchase needed, including where that tower is. That's city-owned also. And as I said, It's the last message, and it connects. And again, look at how much campus there is, and that's all the habitat that's been removed to build this campus. I think that wouldn't hurt a little bit to give back.

And I'll just pull up comments from Natural Resources.

There you go. As I said so far, I've gotten positive responses.

So parks and recreation does work very closely with natural resources, obviously on many different things. We have projects going on for tree replanting in parks. We have projects going on for invasive species removal in parks. We just obtained a $230,000 grant from SNEP in Charlotte County. we continue this relationship and make sure that they're involved with everything we do. From my side of it, this is the first time that we have ever not had the department that I work with have natural resources with parks. That's normally the course of action.

And another aspect of it is this is primarily an inter-departmental project. And the other aspect is that I have a friend of mine whose daughter writes grants for us. And she said that that has significant grant

I'll tell you what, I mean, this is going back decades, all right? But I never wanted to see any of this land here used for anything else except for city use. I didn't want to have a 7-Eleven and even the Florida Cancer Institute or the gallery. They're all nice and good and all this kind of stuff. But I wanted to see this where you had an art museum. a gazebo, trails, this whole thing. We have such little that city center property, and we screwed it up, and they wouldn't listen. Not the only thing they didn't listen to, but. That's the reason I want to save this. That's why I say we save it.

This week, we'll also see a proposal in front of commission on selling another parcel of it.

Good grief.

Where would that be? They're requesting a section in front of the Mullen Center for Mike Moran to build. oh my gosh on this trish so like what's the motion like i just wanted to review um so basically turn your mind um this is in response to our meeting he's put together we talked a little bit i just see generally would not be opposed. From his understanding, there's no intent to develop the parcel, and that the point that the conservation could provide an additional layer of long-term protection is valid. Placing land into conservation requires The trail along the lake, creating a recreation trail along the lake and possibly a small portion within the wetland parcel is feasible, but comes with funding considerations, especially you all know where Parks and Recreation is at this point in time. So based on the intent of the Environmental Protection Fund, construction of the trail itself could not be funded that way. Now, they could use some funds to help As it is a partial new amenity, I might be able to, with the assistance of some of the grants we're looking for, be able to have impact fees fund the grant matches. But we have options that we can look at for that. So that's the first piece. And so from an environmental standpoint, a well-designed trail can be constructed with minimal impacts and would encourage more nature-based recreation. The concept is viable. But overall, project costs may be significant depending on The overall size, I think it's about the size of one of the football fields. If you took the football field and you put it back there, it would be about the size of a football

And based on the area, it might have been there for the last 75 years. At least 1940 area.

Yeah. I think we need to save it while we can.

OK. So the suggested motion, I don't have one up there for you because this time I didn't. This one's a simple one that we would recommend in the Circle of Honor area, belonging to road and drainage, under a conservation zone, to begin a phased approach to having an additional recreational area. I think we want to make sure we put that in there.

Are you all? Okay. The other thing you guys came back was, you were talking about the ADA aspect of it. But again, the second phase, there's a lot of logistics that still have to be put in place.

The first phase is the important part, getting it protected.

Getting it protected. So just the first phase, the most important one, is to recommend to commission that the remaining area, and I can give you, you know what, Tiffany, I'll probably get you the actual parcel number.

It's on there. I was going to say, is it that 9-7-9?

I'd admit a motion if somebody else wants to do it.

You can make it. I'm not going to make a motion, so you can make it. Go for it.

So that we recommend a commission?

I make a motion to recommend a commission.

That the wetland portion?

That the wetland portion.

Of PID?

Of PID. 0-9?

0-9. 7-9? 7-9. 0-0?

0-0. 2,000?

2,000. Be placed under conservation.

Be placed under conservation.

With the circle of honor.

To include the circle of honor.

To include the circle of honor. I second it.

OK, second by Paul. Any discussion? Any other discussion on it?

Who seconded it? I did.

Paul. OK, all in favor? Aye. All opposed?

Okay, it passes.

Thank you very much, and I will be getting back with you with logistics as they come about. It really is a no-brainer. I appreciate it.

You're right.

I wish you took care of all of this land before they did all the stuff.

It's there. It's city-owned. Let's protect it.

Yeah. All right. Public comment? Thank you very much.

Okay.

Okay, 26-03-03. 08.03, review and discussion of recent and upcoming parks and recreation department events.

All right, well, if anybody was at the Freedom Festival, I know it's not on my list to talk about now, but I have to say, our first count, we did the same as we did last year, where we did the aerial photos of the cars, and we run it through AI. Last year, we were within 100 people for our total count. So this year's count came in at 12,500 people.

I don't think there was anyone who wasn't there. I don't. I mean, who wasn't there. Huge success. Huge success.

I had 4 AM mornings all weekend. And I was working. The entire 4th of July. I was at Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 4 AM. Wow.

Aquatics did have the outwater splash pad ultraviolet disinfection system replaced. just it was aged out and it's a requirement for the Department of Health that we had to have that upgraded. We completed two sessions of Junior Lifeguard Program with 19 participants in the Junior Lifeguard Club, which was really great numbers. That's usually something that's a harder program to fill. Staff participated in outreach at Glen Allen Elementary School, speaking about water safety and launched the Centennial Program. I think we talked about the Centennial Program a little bit before. That is the program through the Red Cross where Parents that qualify pay $5 and the Red Cross pays the remainder for the child's swim lessons.

I'm sorry, I had a question with the aquatic center. So basically I do like this fellowship program and yesterday they kind of asked us to research about our local community and like local discussion. So I kind of did like research on mineral springs and aquatic center. And then I went on Facebook and there's apparently a lot of people that want us to sell both of those. So from a very non-biased view, why do you think they want the city of Northport to sell the recreation that we've built?

Well, first of all, I can't give a non-biased view because I am the Assistant Parks and Recreation Director. Okay. So I will give you my thoughts. Yeah. My thoughts are they were big capital purchases.

Mm-hmm.

The Aquatic Center was a $12 million surtax.

Mm-hmm.

A lot of people don't understand that surtax is a penny tax that they didn't pay on their property, and that was an approved use for it. The purchase of Worminal Springs was a long time ago and feel that it didn't give them anything, especially if they don't have children or they don't use either one of those centers. They feel like that is a burden to them. I will tell you right now that the Worminal Springs cost recovers 138% of its revenue every year. That is why there's a fund balance of over a million dollars.

That's why we just approved an ordinance, right, to reinstall the building because it was in the budget, right?

So it was budgeted. There's surtax. That has been a long time coming. Renovation of those buildings, since we purchased them, they have not been ever maintained to standards. We had an operating company that used to run it. Before that, the county ran it. And They were just in disrepair. Ian took them a lot further down that road. We had 20 inches of water in those buildings post Ian.

Yeah. I saw the, when I was doing the research, I saw like the post damage on like Fox Tampa, like they covered it. Yeah.

So we either had to tear them down or do something because at this point they are, they're inhabitable. They can't be inhabited in any way, shape or form. And they're one of the few historic buildings that we have in our city. So there's very many people at Worminal Springs who are passionate about the site. Very passionate. Some of them are passionate. They could care less if those buildings are there or not, as long as they can get in that water. Some of them are passionate about the land and the conservation area and what that has and holds for us. Some are very passionate about the buildings and the historical value. It is the last cyclorama. There's one other cyclorama in the country, I believe. There's two that are still in existence. So it's... It's very torn. You have the people who are really passionate and the people who could care less. And if you don't visit it or care about what it is, why would we take a hit for a million dollar property and invest 10 more million into it?

But if we're making 138%, that doesn't affect the people that will- It doesn't, but they don't get that far into the money.

This goes what your report is, shows the ignorance of the people.

Yeah.

That includes some of the people that work here right in City Hall, because I've talked to some of them that are supposed to be the ones making the decisions in that, and they couldn't even give you those facts, okay, because they don't know. War Middle Springs is the only thing that's in National Geographic and is known throughout the world.

It's Florida's only naturally occurring hot spring.

It's making money. What is their problem?

Now the aquatic center, the aquatic center is a very, very unique. And yes, I hold it very dear because I came here to open it. I didn't come here to open it with the ability to set all of the things that were built there because they had already decided all that long before I was here. But there's a lot of very smart investment that went into that structure for $12 million. They built a building that All of the year, except for the winter months from November till it reopens again in March, is the only time that that facility costs us money. The rest of the year, it pays for itself. But that time that it doesn't, it replaces our YMCA pool that didn't make money. Because pools aren't built to make money. Pools cost money to run, especially effectively. Last year, we only cost... The Aquatic Center costs us as taxpayers $500,000 from the general fund. Charlotte County, just to our south, has three pools. Those three pools, can you guess how much money it cost them to run them last year?

I'm guessing more than a million?

$2.9 million is what that government gave to invest because they know pools are needed. We live in Florida. It's a cooling thing. It's a quality of life thing. The commissions that decided on this water park piece made it really smart. I need it better by bringing in a better concession and a concession that was initially slated to bring in $12,000 a year now makes $200,000 a year. We did that on purpose to subsidize those things to make sure it was still cost effective and we did it. But when the gates to the aquatic portion and the amenities close, there's no other way to charge people that amount of money or to have the attendance that you have all summer. It's just a municipal pool, and that's gonna cost any municipality money. So the balance between the two was really well struck, and to have the ability to have a municipal pool that only cost us $500,000 is very lucky in our community.

If you go over there any day of the week, any day of the week, any time of the day when it's open, and just look around there and look at all the activity that's going on and everything that's happening. And I will say that the people who think we should get rid of it and all this stuff, I will call them the most ignorant and pretty people in the world, okay? And I'll fight them to the death.

The other thing that I would challenge them to do is look at Cape Coral Sunslash. They tried to privatize it. it's still not working for them. Those people tend to think that these are businesses that the city shouldn't be in the business of running. But these are businesses that make it imperative because they bring us as a department, our cost recovery up to 51%. And that would be somewhere around 20% without money making ability. So it offsets the ability for our kids to play on fields that can't make the money. We can't charge what it would cost a kid to play soccer Right now, maybe 100 bucks a season. That would cost them $1,000 a season if they were paying for the time that was actually used on the field and what the field costs. So having those entities offset that.

And if you take a family of four, take a family of five, whatever, and see how much it costs them to go to our aquatic center, and ask them how much it costs to go to Sunsplash, and how much it costs for food there.

Trust me, I've been to both.

Because I paid $11, this was years ago, I remember paying $55 for five ice cream cones for my grandkids. Okay? Yeah. And when they're sitting there going, uh, you pay it, OK? It's unbelievable. So anyone.

Go to Disney and buy anything, right? Yeah.

I just did Universal. Oh, gosh.

So that's what it is. It's people who don't use it, they don't understand the value, they don't understand what. Those same people might be people who walk our trails every day because they like to walk and they like to get out in that environment, don't realize that that helps us to be able to do all of that.

OK. Go look at them lined up every day before it's opening up and see it. And it's so efficiently run, OK? Those lifeguards and everything else that they do, I will give them 150% all the time, every single day of the week, OK?

Yes.

Oh, Devon does phenomenal for. Yeah.

So with that, the Centennial program, I just have to say the other piece of our aquatics division is they have had over 700, 7,000 children through their learn to swim since we opened that in 2019. That was a huge need that this community was lacking.

And how do you know how many kids lives you saved? 7,000? Well, I mean, you know, not all of them were going to drown, but who knows how many of those 7,000 might have drowned. There might have been a few, even one. My gosh, I mean, come on.

And the state of Florida is at 65 drownings just this year already, so for children under the age of 12. So it's an important piece that's all around, and that brings a little bit more value in for me especially. that we have to have in the municipal.

And the number, there's a 5K run that's done because of drowning kids down in Ponta Gorda, down at Gilchrist Park. Just go down there when they have it and see the pictures of all these kids and all the stuff and the statistics.

The gentleman who runs it was here for us for the May. Yeah, yeah.

And he lost his twin sons. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. Worminal Springs leadership delivered an informational presentation at the gallery of Northport, providing residents with an overview of Worminal Springs. And the replanting at the entrance of the monument signs is happening now. Just to add to that, on the 27th of this month, we will have the hats on ceremony for the groundbreaking of the renovations out there. If anybody would like to join us. 8.30 in the morning. 8.30 in the morning, yes. Recreation.

What day did you say? I'm so sorry.

The July 27th, 8.30 a.m. For Mineral Springs hats on for the renovations. Successfully hosted the fifth annual Northport's Got Talent, May 9th. Seems so weird going back that far. We had 26 diverse acts and 319 tickets were sold for that event. The Master Chef class, cooking class has been going on. That is full all the time. We have to figure out a way to get more of that in there. It seems to be a hit with everybody. We hosted the Southwest Florida Summer Games through FRPA. That is where we host all of the area to come in to train their summer seasonal staff for camps. And we host it and we put on sessions on how do we deal with behavior modification? How do we deal with training staff and CPR? We bring child protection services in and have them do a segment. So we hosted that again this year, which is really great. We welcomed 115 seasonal camp staff from our region into training with us here for that. Summer camp program kicked off. We have 180 campers every week going on right now. It's in full swing. My grandkids are there, one in teen camp, one over here at GMAC, loving it. Just can't say enough about the need for that in our community. It fills up so fast. I still have waiting lists where people are waiting to get in when somebody is out. And then a new program, we entered into intro into tennis, and that had 16 participants who learned this introductory techniques just to kind of rejuvenate some of the sports out there that haven't had a lot of interest as of late. So we've been trying to bring some of those back to utilize those courts. We did install the tribute bench at the Circle of Honor. Our parks maintenance team did that. Installed some new bike racks at Highland Ridge as there's a lot of pickleballers out there and we noticed that bikes were being left, you know, leaning against things. So we put some bike racks out. We renovated Field 3, Naramore Soccer Complex, completely redone. And the palm trees were trimmed out there throughout the entire area just to make it a little bit more aesthetically pleasing. And we're doing some work out at Worminal Springs in preparation for the work to begin. Administration, we had the Pine Park Playground ribbon cutting, the Dallas White multi-use field kickoff, and the Circle of Honor dedication. So that was happening for that. And then also I wanted to highlight to you guys that the Discover War Memorial Springs free day will be held on August 8th. So that's any resident can go for free on that day. If you haven't been there before, go check it out. Don't wear silver jewelry. It will tarnish it instantly. I learned that the hard way. And then the next item is commission agenda items. That's it for me. Does anybody else have questions on the events upcoming and past?

Okay, another one you got, and this is different, this is DeFi, Kevin Mace, who, what a great contribution he is making to all of Northport. On the 25th, we are going to have, for the first time, five counties, Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota, and Hendrick, yeah, are going to be here on the 25th, okay, and they're going to start their first time of getting together all the DeFi groups. And what the DeFi program has done under Kevin and because of the kids at Northport High School who have been so phenomenal. And guess what? They've got two people that are now going to be helping with DeFi at Northport High School. Okay?

Yes.

Well, if Sarasota County is going to be there, then should we go to, obviously, Sarasota? Because they don't have any chapters. It's only Northport and Sarasota County that has a chapter.

We are the ones.

We are the ones. Really?

Okay. And the school board is definitely recognizing us now, recognized us down here. Connor is actually saying it's because of the Northport kids. And Dawn Clayton, Dr. Dawn Clayton, yeah, she's doing a phenomenal job of talking with... the superintendent and really pushing for the DeFi. What DeFi wants is the vape detectors and things like that. And, you know, depending on who gets on the board, but the final vote on that is supposed to be almost like today for those vape detectors. It was like July 16th or 18th. It's close. And they think it's going to go through and Northport is going to be one of the schools involved with that. So A lot of wonderful things. Again, things that we need to continue with. So therefore, the idea of this stuff going through and destroying our tax base and all is just going to be very devastating to everything we're trying to do, because we're coming up with some very positive stuff. Five counties coming here to work on DeFi. Again, how many kids are we going to keep away from vaping that might have gone in that direction, thinking it was a cool thing to do? More or much worse. And we're doing it. We're doing it. So.

So, yes, that is the DeFi Summit. It's happening on the 25th, Saturday. It's an all day event. There's about 30 to 50 youth participants that will be here as well as the county representation. And they're going to have some time at the Aquatic Center and some informational sessions and activities and just get together and talk. you know, have a great day. City manager will be there to represent. I will be there, obviously.

And I'll be in Orlando.

And with that one, the other thing I want to say is we're currently working with the school board on another You Are Not Alone. So you'll see that coming soon. Looking at probably sometime in August where we're waiting on school board because they're out right now just on their dates of when they can participate on their side. So there'll be another one coming.

And another thing which is a positive for Northport, which has nothing to do with this, but Julie King is now back in town for good, and she is going to be taking on the oversight committee for the connection with the Northport, or the Sarasota County Schools, which is going to be a very big positive thing for Northport. Okay, 26-08-04, review and discussion of Parks and Recreation Department agenda items for recent and upcoming city commission meetings.

On 721 discussion action, about $1,000 of contingency for community assistance for special events program. One thing I want to say about those is yes, those are my agenda items. They're not really my items. We have to do them because we run the special event coordination, but it's actually the commission who it's their budget and they award the money for this. We just have to present them. There's another one on 9-8, which is another special event assistance for the Chamber of Commerce. That one will go up. It's for $500. And basically what they do is they award the money to cover the fees that they pay the city to host the events. On the 8th, again, the same day, we have a donation coming in from Kiwanis Club for $8,534 to purchase and install we have at Bohechika, and we have one at Balanus at Five Senses. They're going to donate the money to install a third one at Pine Park. On 9-14, probably the most important meeting that I have coming up, we are going to be doing a presentation to Commission on Sustainability Strategies for Parks and Recreation, Operational Efficiencies and Cost Recovery Initiatives. So this is where you're going to see us put forward some hard things that we want them in our court knowing that we are looking at what does it look like next year if the property tax reform goes through let us drive the bus let us make the decisions on how to be efficient and sustainable without them saying we're just going to sell the aquatic center we're just going to do this we're going to do that we're going to come forward with some really hard conversations that have, you know, staged things that if we lose the first part, these are things we can do. We lose the second part, these are things we can do. But we really want the commission to see that we can do that and let us, let the experts who know how to do it, do it so that we lessen the effect on the people who need us the most. I believe the 14th is, is that a PM meeting? September 14th? No, it's a workshop, isn't it? Oh, yeah, it's around 10 a.m. 10 a.m., it's a workshop.

10 a.m., okay.

All right, so that's going to be one that's really important for us to be aware of because, you know, there's things in there. They're not all things that I want to do, believe me, but they're things that we're going to have to do, and we're going to have to show how we can do it responsibly and responsibly. you know, adjusting of hours, adjusting of staffing, adjusting of programs, adjusting of everything we have to do because as we face this tax reform, the worst thing for us to be in is having people who don't understand the operations or the effects of the community making those decisions. So we're trying to get out ahead of that and make sure that they know that we're looking at it this way.

How do we really get the people to pay attention? Because what he's saying, what people are saying, I mean, there's total ignorance going on. The police department and that building and the negative vote on it, I mean, we have total ignorance about need and where we're at. And we have total ignorance about the Recreation Department and the Aquatic Center and War Memorial Springs. Most people, if you ask them, are we losing money on War Memorial Springs, they'd vote, yeah, we are. Okay? So how do we actually get it through their thick skulls?

We can't, unfortunately.

No, we can just educate whoever's open to be educated.

What is one of the biggest hashtags out there? And we have a...

leader of uh the eab is part of it it's fire fletcher so one of the things spread the positive i shared on on my facebook this week my personal one i shared a a new research that was just done that just came back in and it was um it was about parks and it talked about impact of parks. And there's a lot of good data out there, but people don't want to hear it. You know, it's great to say, but people don't want to hear this one actually quantified it by saying for every dollar a city invests in parks, they see $3 come back. Yeah, they see $3 come back and it goes into explain it. So I've shared that. Anybody who wants to share it from me, share it, take it, take it from me, put it out there. If you see the positive things like that, share them, educate people. As much as you were doing the research and you heard the negative, somebody who's doing the research and sees the positive is gonna pick up the positive. That's really all we can do. And then hold our heads high like I do every day and know that I do what I do for the betterment of this community. And if you took my wages, five years ago and today and said, you're gonna roll back to it, would I still do what I do? Yes, I would still do what I do. Would my family suffer because of it? Yes. But it's not, people think that unfortunately there's a whole lack of trust for government in the country. And that goes right down to my person who works at the front desk is not trusted because she's a government employee. She might have never owned a house yet, had a property tax, paid a tax, you know, She doesn't understand that that conception for that person is there. So we just have to share not everything in government is bad. And there's things that we do need. And I would rather pay my taxes that come out escrow and I don't even see. I pay it with my mortgage. It's done. Instead of paying more for every service that I have to have.

Most people that are complaining, you know, you can see easily that they're not educating themselves. They're not. I saw the inside of the fire station. I saw how disgusting it was and why it needed to be done. I've seen the inside of the PD and how cramped it is in there. I've been inside that building. Unfortunately, the biggest problem the city did last November was put five things on the ballot And that was the biggest, biggest thing. And the biggest thing. And it was just, what was the thing? Vote no on five.

Yeah.

Yeah. And that was a big.

And the thing is, to get that back is going to be hard because we, that.

And people are already complaining the fact that they're circumventing the law by going after, trying to get the partial for the evidence building built. And because they're going to try and circumvent and be something else.

Can I circle back to this? So you said there's the sustainability workshop on the 14th. So that comes after the election. It's 9-14, September.

The election for that is going to be in November. There's very little on the primary.

I'm thinking of the August one has very little on it. So that is before. So then with that information, how do we get that information out that this is what's going to be happening? Because nobody's going to those workshops.

So the workshop is really for commission to see that we can make a plan and a road path forward that shows sustainability, and how we can reduce, and where we should were forward thinking in it. That way, if the election comes through and it passes and they're facing this $8 million cut, they'll take, we're hoping they will take our recommendations as opposed to coming up with other ones. That's really what that's about. But those are things that we need to all be aware of that they're being put up there because we're going to have to look at them. And anybody can go back and see that presentation because it'll be attached to the meeting So if anybody wants to see, hey, this is really what you're going to see cut, and that's just the first stages. Because we'll only be looking at the 2028 budget cycle at that time with the first cuts.

Well, and it's easier for people to believe the bad things than it is to believe the good. So I do like the fact about sharing your post, and I will look for that. It's like that with anything, though. You can be on Amazon looking to buy something, and you read positive, positive, positive.

people are thinking about plain and simple dollar signs and they like we were discussing earlier the difference that it's actually going to make in our things and then I had a reference told to me once and as we wrap it up I'll leave you with this thought and I've always thought about it the positive is the pebble right you throw the pebble in the water and it creates a ripple effect The negative is the ripple effect because your positive drops the people who take a hold of it and bring it to the bottom with them. But the negative ones are the ones that keep flowing and they go out. And where does that ripple stop? It doesn't stop until it hits a shore and each hits an equal and opposing force that stops it. So that's what we have to do is when we bring that positive, instead of just letting it drop with us, we have to keep that momentum of the positive rolling like the negative does.

All right. Okay, future agenda items.

Anybody have anything for right now?

Well, maybe, okay, our next meeting is not until September.

Until after the September 14th. Right after the workshop.

Yeah, right after the workshop. Mm-hmm. So what would be the summary of the workshop and where we are from there?

Would you like me to bring you guys that presentation?

Yeah. And we should be there. Anyone who can be there. And get other people there too. We need people there because, and you know, on some of these, when there's a big meeting and you see no one in the audience and you just say, they're going to think no one cares. And they do, unfortunately. But when they see the audience fill, then they know, wait a minute, we better listen.

We better listen to this experience. 10 o'clock in the morning.

But remember, you can always do e-comment. You can always do phone-in comments. And those are just as important.

And you can always watch the meeting.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. We can put on there for upcoming agenda items a follow-up. I don't know whether we'll have it in time because of the recess for commission in August, but we'll put it on there and then we can just give an update as to where we are with the conservation.

And hopefully we'll have the EAP's response to the project also.

And we can put an update on if we've got anything back from commission on the Rainbow Bridge as well. So just updates on the items and then the presentation.

And Worminal Springs too. Will we have anything on Worminal Springs that needs to be reported then too?

We could, yeah, we could start a regular update of Worm Middle Springs progress. Yeah.

Yeah.

Sure. I'm going to beat a dead horse again because we were, I would like to have this brought on future agenda item about that parcel on 41 and whether we can appeal that or not.

So I have taken that through the clerk's office and once the commission has voted it down, there is no means for us to appeal it.

But that's the way it goes.

That's sad. So just hypothetically speaking, so the owner of that property, being that they wanted it to be for conservation, if they don't sell, it's always conservation because they control what happens.

And they could even, I think, they could have it put into trust.

Could they develop it? I mean, I know it's zoned commercial, but could they develop it in such a way that it is like a park? Would that be considered commercial?

They can do it. They're the owners. They can do whatever they want on that property.

Something like the Johnson Park in River Road, 41.

It's kind of theirs, too. And like I said, putting it into a trust that it would stay in perpetuity. reaching out to, my suggestion to them would be to reach out to the Gulf Coast Foundation. They have some money that helps support those things, and they could even maybe potentially work on a conservation easement onto that land.

Okay. It's not over.

Yeah, there's other ways.

It's just not, we've not. Right, right.

I know I had spoken to, actually a really great program that's up in, shoot, where do we go? It's somewhere on the Legacy Trail, and they have the volunteers that do the Surrey rides. It was really fun. But they said they had somebody on conservation, and they're constantly working. Said she's always out at the Legacy Trail head here in Northport, and she's big on conservation.

The friends of the Legacy Trail are big. They have a lot of conservation. And I know they have a specific donor who left a lot of money to the Northcourt area specific. So he's always looking for ways to get that into us.

That's nice. We need more of those.

Yeah. We need one of them for the cyclorama restoration. That'd be cool.

OK. Anything else for the good of the cause? No other public comment? Then I declare this meeting adjourned.