Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the June meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee. Could you call the roll?

Yes, Chair. Chair McWright?

Here.

Vice Chair Sanchez?

Here.

And Committee Member Olchig?

Here.

Chair, you have a quorum.

Thank you. Give everybody a minute to review the minutes.

Chair, the agenda and order of business. You skipped an item.

All right. Thank you. Is there anyone who has anything to add to the agenda? Very good. Good evening. Very good.

9293.

Do you have anything you want to add to the agenda this evening? You're good? Yes. Okay.

They are on the iPad.

They're on the pad, right? Yes. I don't see them, but that's okay.

They're under item three. I see it. Motion to approve the minutes.

Motion to approve. Thank you Oliver.

Second? I second. Thank you.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries.

Adrian, you're up. I'm up. Summer camp update. So this year's summer camp is taking place at Adventist 6th Street Park. It's the first time being there since we obviously had the park renovated. We have weekly registration. The first week we have 24 campers. I believe we have about 25, 26 for the second week. Numbers are a little bit low for the following weeks, but we expect them to go up once, you know, when the month goes around and people hear about it. So far it's been great, very positive feedback. People love the playground, they love having the basketball court there, having the field to play soccer and play other sports. During camp they're doing one trip off-site a week and they're also going to try to do one on-site. So we do two trips per week, which is great. I mean, obviously love that. But yeah, that's it overall. It's been good feedback from the first week. And we look forward to getting the numbers up and going for the following weeks. Just noticed that it hasn't rained. We built this beautiful building so the kids could be safe. I know. It won't rain all summer. We've had a couple of lightning alerts here and there, but actually we've been lucky so far, thankfully. Great. Summer is after 12 p.m. It starts raining and lightning is the usual.

this year than the year before?

The cost is the same as the prior two years, yes. So once we got into an agreement with the YMCA, the cost did go up two years ago. But it hasn't changed for the past three years.

They have the same staff as they normally have?

Some same faces, some are different. Obviously, all of them are DCF level two background checks. At times, they rotate from site to site, but they do have an on-site supervisor that doesn't move at all. So we do know him very well. He's been there for the past couple of years, and he's great. Everybody likes the Y.

And they use the community center as well.

So one of the on-site trips is coming to the pool. We have a day scheduled on June 27, and we have another one on July, I believe it's July 3rd. The issue with the, no, that is the cost of buses. It's very expensive. The buses right now are astronomical as far as cost. So in the past, obviously, we did it here. We had to pull, you know, every day. So they used to go twice a week. Now that's more limited, you know, due to it being at the 1960 Park.

And they have to be, it has to be by bus?

That's what they're recommending, yes. That's what YMCA is recommending. the safety and liability of walking from 96 all the way over here we brought out to them about possibly having a walking all the way down with a pd escort all the way through but they were not too fond of that idea how about carpooling do we allow carpooling that somebody

I'm going to take so many kids.

You mean that from once the kids are in camp? No, we haven't allowed it. So all transition normally goes to the town or to the vendor during the program. And normally it's been through a bus, not through carpooling. And now that we have the summer camp at the park, obviously that frees up a community center to run other programs that we haven't had the chance to do in the past. So now we have adult programs to summer, youth programs, and senior program that we haven't had in a long, long time. Before we only had one site. Now we have multiple sites.

Yeah.

One of the concerns I had last summer was Shul using the pool, that's not a concern. Parking the bus, I observed it twice. Didn't use flashers, didn't use tags. children unloading and loading the buses. Have they been?

We've been in contact with the director for the show because we had that issue. We also had a couple other issues with campers not following the rules. So we've been in direct contact, sent over, obviously, a list of things that we want to see them improve on this year. They will be coming next week. That will be the first week on Monday and Wednesday. But, yes, we did address that. We'll keep addressing it, Frank, and make sure that doesn't happen again this year because I know last year was a big issue. It's just, you know, it's a highway.

The numbers there? For the shoe? Yeah, is it the same as their flat point? A little more.

They have a little more kids. I'll let you know the exact numbers at the end of the week. We normally get the high count the week before. There's a Friday we'll find out what we get for the following week. There's also change from week to week. And the two camps don't. They will not, no. So the shoe will be swimming Monday and Wednesdays, and then our camp will be either on Fridays or Tuesday and Thursday. It will never be the same because there will be too many kids running around. Yeah. That's a long thing.

Will there be a possibility of using the bulls?

that the town uses would that be a possibility cheaper for the summer camp yeah they they you even the buses uh-huh the little buses that the town uses i don't believe the agreement is active anymore i think once the town went into the freebie um agreement those shuttle buses got discontinued with the agreement so we don't have that vendor anymore so now now it's just free as far as the agreement of the town and uh yeah But I mean, we do use other buses, Miami-Dade County, other buses that we give those contacts to them to contact, but either way, they're still very pricey, very expensive. So that's pretty much my update for summer camp, guys. Kiosk?

Kayak?

Launch kiosk. So this was an item in the commission meeting last week on Tuesday. The commission approved to use paddle. This vendor has sites in Key Biscayne. They have one in Miami Beach and Pine Tree. They have one in Doral that opened up recently, Doral Central Park. So pretty much the agreement is for a five-year agreement. They're going to install up to an eight-unit kiosk, a combination of kayak and paddle boards. He was aiming to do it before July 4th. I spoke to him today in the morning, and that's not looking as realistic anymore. So he's aiming more for like mid-July as a starting point. So it will still be in the summer, just not as early as we were hoping for. But obviously, with this agreement, the town will get a 20% revenue stream every single month. They have different options for it. They do hourly fees. They do monthly memberships. They do yearly memberships. Obviously, if you sign up for the whole year, you get a much better cost, a price, than if you do it hourly every time you go. So overall, I think it's gonna be a great program. I know we spoke a couple of minutes ago about the issue we have now, which is the parking. There's not enough parking out there to bring your own kayak. So having a kiosk there that people could come in, just either walk or bike and park and go and rent their own kayaks will be a huge benefit to the town. So we're looking forward to that getting started.

Amazing news. Wow. Beautiful. Remember we had that meeting, we had that conversation? Yeah. You know, that's what's happening. I think they'll get it done mid-July.

He's still hoping for it before July 4th, but he didn't seem as confident as he was before.

And he said they'll have eight... Units at any given time. They're hoping to update the defense in the space that we have some pricing Is there any discounts for? Residents like is there any subsidized membership or hourly rates or whatever they decide? No, it's their membership and

Now, the yearly fee is $200 for the whole year. And with that, you can book as many times as you want to in a day. Oh, wow. So it's a great program.

It's actually very good. And you can use that at any other location as well. Any of the other sites, yeah.

So you could be in Key Biscayne, you could be down south on the beach, and you could still use our membership to book wherever they are. That's not bad.

What's the plan now that we have FOBs for residents to get in and out with their kayaks? Somebody comes from the beach who... does it on pine tree. and they want to start here and paddle down there. What's the plan for getting them people, the non-residents in the gate?

So that was the next item, but I'll talk about it now too. So obviously we have the FOB system now in place already where the initial goal was to make sure it was only for residents. The system that's linked to our red track system that they have to come in. If you're a resident, you get a FOB. With that FOB, you go into the park and you scan it and you go in. Once you're in, to exit, there's a push button that you just exit and leave. You don't need to fall for that either. That's active until a certain time that the park is open. After that time, the button will be inactive and you cannot use it anymore. Part of the agreement for the kiosk vendor is that all paddle members are able to use it. So that obviously eliminates the resident-only use at the park. Now it will be open for residents and also any paddle members. That can include non-residents too. So that was part of that agreement, I guess, to get better revenue stream and everything from the vendor.

So going back to the question, how do they get access? So if you're a non-resident, you have to go to the office? Correct. And say, you know, they're going to walk you into... And we'll have to give them a file that gives them access as a non-resident. As a one-time use or ongoing use?

i'm still probably i'm still working that out because again this this is meant to just be for residents yeah and our system only allows members for residents so i have to find a way to create a membership that allows non-resident paddle members that i guess i have to see you know we have to see what memberships are active for as a year six months and make it active for that for that long because this is going to be this is going to be a very popular um vendor very popular service in the community so you probably have a lot of people from bell harbor bay harbor

I mean, the price of $200 a year seems very reasonable for someone who wants to have access to the water. So you will have people from all the communities here signing up. And you will have, there will be an increase. Going back to the amount, are they limited at eight or do they want to start off with eight, the amount of units they'll put out at eight? They'll want to start out at eight. But there's a capacity to do more? There could be, yes. There could be, okay. I think it would be.

And the vendor was concerned at first because we're going to make a resident only. That was our initial goal. So he was worried that we wouldn't have enough traffic to create enough revenue for them. So that's why I think when he met with the town manager, they agreed to that, having them open it to residents and paddle members.

Yeah.

You're into it, I've been fighting this for four years, so. Fighting in which direction?

I still think it's an accident waiting to happen. There's some real concerns. Is this a dumb deal, is the contract?

No, no, I'm not concerned about the rental. I think that's the best way for residents and non-residents to use it, but if you want to.

We touched on anyone that signs up to paddle. You're obviously signing waivers. They're identifying the city. The city's completely identified for it. You'll take it at your own risk.

Do members of the...

I work with 757 children. They wander. Mommy's looking at the phone. Nanny's looking at the phone. Daddy's looking at the phone. And Junior's wandering. That's just my opinion. I've had it, Mark, how many years? That's right.

I'm just not a kayaker. Which is okay. I mean, not everybody is.

Never say never.

Never go high. I think the next meeting may be on a kayak. How many people can a kayak hold? Or a Volkswagen.

They have the dual ones. And we're still at 18 to rent. Correct. And 18 to use. To use.

To go in there, you have to be 18. We're going to have a flop unless you're 18 years of age.

Chair? i might have missed something in the last meeting um and again the question is is this a done deal is the contract signed uh and all the terms are set um yeah the terms are set the agreement was signed by the town um we're waiting for them to execute on their end so it on our end it's pretty much a done deal already how do we know whether the people that are kayaking are not in uh

alcohol or these or that? Is there any way that we say that there's no alcohol?

No, we have rules. Obviously, we don't allow any alcohol in the park or anything, but there's no way for us to... Obviously, if we see it, it's more of a judgment call. If we see someone that's drunk or semi-drunk, we'd call PD and have PD score them out, but there's no other way to verify that they're either on a drug or an alcohol or whatever it might be. They do, so to get the kayak, they have an app that you sign up, you obviously read the waiver, sign the waiver, watch a video on how to open it, get the kayak, unload it into the water, and everything else. They have a safety manual video on how to use it and everything else.

So here's a hypothetical scenario where Eight members of the paddle club, if you will, decide that they want to go out one day. They come and they take all the paddles out for the entire day. There's none for residents. One scenario. Fair enough. Here's another scenario. paddle club members show up from another site, say, where's the next nearest paddle facility? I don't know. You said, where is it?

There's one on 41st and Collins. I think it's called Big Pine Tree Park.

All right, so considerably one or more members could, you know. They could start there and end up here. And then we have too many boards here. They just disembark here and they can leave it here. I didn't think about that. Overage. I don't want to be the guy throwing wrenches because it's already, we're going to learn as this goes along.

So you're saying if we had eight units in our stand and here comes Jose from Mid Beach and he paddles up here and he gets off in Surfside because he wants to go have lunch. So now you have nine kayaks. Maybe they leave it there. It's up to the vendor.

I'll confirm that for sure. But I think the way they do it now is that if you book it from, say, from Surfside, you have to put it back in Surfside. You cannot return it back to a different location.

That's a question.

Yeah, okay. It's not like the city bike system where you could pick it up in Surfside and drop it off at Bay Harbor. I don't know. No, it doesn't seem like... I'm looking at their website. It doesn't seem like that. Okay, so in here...

Again, if it's Bob from Mid-Beach, it's his birthday on Saturday, and he wants eight of his friends, they're all going to come here. They're coming to Surfside in an Uber or whatever. They don't have to worry about parking. They know that they have the paddles here, and they take them, and they have to bring them back to here. Correct.

I have a question on what you just mentioned, because I'm thinking about it for a moment. If you're... I'm assuming, we'll look at the membership, that if I'm a member, I could only reserve one unit. So Bob can't just go and say I want to take any of my colleagues that are not members out for his birthday. I would be able to reserve just one If it happened to be coincidentally that eight of his buddies are also members and they all reserved to celebrate Bob's birthday, then that's a possibility.

Okay, so it's a little less likely that something like that would happen. It can happen. It can happen. For us here, the residents are a priority. For the vendor, they don't prioritize. They only... Money making. It's their members. We'll benefit from the...

They're saying that if they open it up, they'll give...

The park, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's open to the public, certainly, and not just residents. I think Dade County has something where if there is a top lot or little kids, you expect adults to be there with a child. Now we're going to have adults there without kids using this service that... is there have been instances in the past where individuals are at the park without a kid. That's not in itself a concern, but this is something that is very likely that we're going to have this scenario where you have the public coming and going for something that we're hosting, so to speak. It's incumbent on the town to be aware of those new dynamics.

In what way do you see there would be a difference?

Well the difference is there's nothing prior to this there's nothing luring or there's nothing drawing

individuals that don't without kids to to be at the park that's all it happens now for basketball basketball also we have the little fitness uh station that no we do get adults they need to go and work out in the morning afternoon it happens not as often as it might happen now with the kayak but we do get down every now and then right so they're able to if they rent it take the they join the membership two hundred dollars they can take one out all day I believe so.

Because I know there was, did we mention an hourly?

They have hourly fees, too. Okay.

But maybe, it sounds like, to your point, that there will be a limit on how much time that reservation can have. Would it make sense that you could reserve it at 9 o'clock and return it at 5? It's probably an hour per reservation. Maybe you're limited in one reservation per day.

If you're going to go kayak all day, you're going to be one healthy person.

Wouldn't it make sense that you'd be able to tie it up before a full day? It's probably an hourly limit.

So just to be clear, the kayaks that go out of the park come back to the park?

I want to say yes, but I want to confirm that before I give you a point. I think that's the way it is, yes.

And a vendor such as this, if they find themselves without any kayaks, will they, you know, bring kayaks from another site or another spot?

So they're in charge of all maintenance and issues that happen. Something goes down, something breaks, they have a local person that will come on site every other day or every day as needed to fix it, to replace, and do whatever is needed to make sure it's operating correctly.

And this is a vending machine style thing where there is really no one there? Correct. It's just you go and you put your token in there and you... It's all through an app.

So it's all through an app. They download and then obviously sign up. You know, read the waiver and stuff. And then once you sign up and pay for it, one will open up for you.

Is there an added...

duty to our attendant the town attendant the person that we have people there of course i mean based on everything that dave told us there shouldn't be i mean obviously there may be some issues that arise and we could obviously communicate with the vendor right away if you know if they don't find out earlier than us but aside from that with the fob and the kiosk there there should be very limited uh work for the for the attendant as far as that that part

And do we care if a member of that club shares their fob with other people that are, you know, their friends and this and that? Is there a way to clarify?

That's a nuance that we have to figure out. Again, we weren't ready for that part. This whole time we were just resident only. So this is something that was added recently to, I guess, from bringing up... I guess, no, make the vendor more interested in coming and working with the town. Because at first he was interested, but he wanted to charge the town a fee, a monthly fee, because he was afraid that there was not going to be enough traffic in there to create a revenue for them to stay in business.

Well, they have their concerns and we have ours. And there's a mutual benefit to all. My thing is Bob from Mid-Beach gives his card or whatever it is.

Still only getting in, whether you've got the thing or whether you go to the attendant, you're still going to get in. Fine. But this machine, your son says, Dad, I'm going to go kayaking today. And Dad says, okay, here's my phone, here it is. that machine won't know whether you're 12 or 40. It really doesn't.

Well, yeah, if they're using the DAS account, then obviously it won't know. Because you've got to have your own account under the DAS or, you know, every adult in the household. But yeah, if the DAS were to do that and be that responsible, then yes, it could happen.

So there's a lot of void that's put on the customer. So when a customer signs up to make a subscription, That's going to be a big scroll down. And most people go to the end. I agree. A lot of small words. And they don't make it easy for you to zoom in. And you spend a couple... Seconds doing this and then you hit it that will probably mention about you take responsibility If you don't return it or if you damage it or if it's not put back on properly every one of your little concerns these companies probably had a Team of people here said just throw me a few I'll throw all the things that can possibly go wrong in this service and how do we protect ourselves? So in theory could some kid take his father's phone at 16 Book a kayak. Or could a father just say, I'll book you a kayak. I've got a 16-year-old kid. He's driving me nuts. He's out of school. I'll book you a kayak. It's a good point. I think it's a fair thing. I think there are a lot of parents that may play that area a little bit. Dad's going to have the app. Dad has the membership. Little Johnny's 16, but he looks 18. He works out. you know, how do we verify that? It's a good point, it's a good point.

But the onus is on the?

Okay, so it won't end up, yeah, 100%. It could very well be that it's been liable, Dad's in trouble. Dad, you know, just jeopardize.

The other thing we could do also is for paddle members that are not residents, we don't give them a fault. We make them go to the attendant, and they will be opening the gate for them. That eliminates the possibility of having a 12-year-old going in there on behalf of the dad and opening it and going inside.

And it's an easy solution because it's not like you have hundreds of paddles there, which could be like, oh, I'm going to streamline it. You have eight paddles. At very most, probably two are a small number of non-residents, or even if it's a big number of non-residents. Even if it's six or seven people that have to wait two or three minutes, five minutes for someone to verify their stuff and walk them down. It's not the biggest deal.

It's just going to be a... It's like when you send your whole school to Disney World. You pray they all come back in one piece and that nobody has shoplifted anything. Because then the principal has to go to Disney World and get them out. So let's just hope for the best.

Chair, crossing your fingers certainly helps. Not reading the terms. If you read them, you won't sign them. I get that. But it's on the town to really safeguard first the residents and second the general public Question, is there cameras on the FOB gate? So if one person opens it for three other people, we're going to have that, right?

We have a camera that leads into the kayak ramp. I'm not sure if we have any that actually see the gate itself. I'll have to check that for you and get back to you. I know we have one that leads into the kayak ramp. We see the whole entire ramp into the water. So I know we have that.

I think another year is going to be a trial on theory. And then after that, we're going to learn for the next year, for the next summer, you know, why are these things... Because now, we cannot anticipate every single... that could happen without being able to see.

And this company is probably sat down like this with parents, non-residents, residents, and troubleshooted all the things that they could put in those terms to cover themselves because they don't want any trouble. You know, we haven't had any trouble with the kayak launch yet.

so as many users as much as we expected them and I believe that's an issue is also I know you made a good point the parking is an inconvenience so this is your night so hopefully so solve some of those residents and non-residents you have to go to your point about liability you have that with every single facility we have here they don't verify if kids could swim before you bring them into a pool

I mean, if you're looking at the parks from a liability standpoint, having a pool is one big liability. I mean, you have all these kids running around. So, at a certain point, you have to, you know, the town, I think the great thing that they did was they outsourced this to a third party, not doing the house. Definitely don't do the house. Don't hire your staff. Don't be responsible for it. Don't maintain it. It's, you know, you hire a third party. You're dealing with it. You're responsible. As a resident, you have to be 18. As a resident or non-resident, you have to be 18 or over to sign up. That process is not with us. It's with a third party. And that's it. Enjoy the waterways. Enjoy it. Enjoy the pool. Enjoy the pool. Enjoy the beach. enjoy the ocean enjoy our big slides that are climbing things for your little kids enjoy it but ultimately you have to respond you got to join responsibly okay well we're on a um wait and see

I get that sometimes you just need to jump you know be thrown in the pool you learn to swim and we've taken I believe we've taken adequate precautions I believe that Not just this committee, but the town. You guys have thought this through. Are there gremlins that will pop up? Yes. We're just in the middle. I don't want to put... added burden on the attendance of the part where they need to sort of fill in the gaps that this vendor may or may not have. And if so, we should know that. Hey, welcome.

We're covering the kayak kiosk vendor right now at the moment.

We've had three drownings and a missing child.

Can't wait for the kayak launch to get the new equipment.

So Mark, one of the questions that the committee had was regarding paddle members. How would they get into the gate now? Obviously, we're able to give them a file. That's one option, or just have them go to the attendant and have the attendant open the gate for them. Right. Because obviously, the initial thought was to just make it resident only, but now we're opening up to paddle members too. So those are the two options that we have as far as that.

Okay. I don't know how many we're going to get. We'll see.

We're banking on big money. And I told the committee, too, that I spoke to Parker today in the morning. I know the initial thought was to open before July 4th. He doesn't seem as confident that that will happen anymore. Okay. But he said worst case, mid-July.

Okay. Okay. That's good. That's less than 30 days.

Yeah.

That's all good.

Should be soon. Kind of cover the launch fault system. Any other questions on the item 4C? No. Okay, 4D Parks and Recreation app. So we are in the process of implementing a new app that will be used by all residents. This app will give you guys availability to not carry an ID anymore. You guys can do it on the phone now. Sign up for programs, have your ID on the phone, just come in, scan, and go. No more ID, no more wristbands, nothing else. So whatever you do now in person, you can do it through the app. This is already ongoing. We're at the final stage now, which should be finalized either this week or next week. So we're hoping that very, very soon we'll have the app live and ready to go for you guys to enjoy and use and eliminate some of the old methods that we used to do with IDs and everything else. So that also will work for the FOB system too. So instead of a FOB, you have your ID, I mean your phone. You can sign in for the FOB, for the community center, anywhere else that we have a system in place that we can scan and check you in.

Would that system also include the reservations for the swimming and the tennis, or that's a separate activity?

The goal is to get to that point, too. To have everything all inclusive? Yeah, I believe that the feature is there for the program, but we may have to add it as an additional cost. But that's my next step to add it so we can eliminate SCADA and just go into all red track.

That's the goal. One-stop shop. One-stop shop. Yeah. And then to verify, just a similar, you'll have to go to the center to verify you're a resident to get the app? None of that. So you download the app, and how does it know if you're a resident or not?

You'll have to upload documents, right?

Yeah. At first, we're going to keep it where we have it now, but yeah, eventually it's do everything electronically. Download it.

No more in person. Upload it. And then someone on the other side will approve.

Receive a review and approve, correct.

Got it. Really, really nice. I want to get away from all the paper, if we can.

Any other questions on the app? What's the timeline? So we're already been ongoing for about four to six weeks. I believe in the next week or two weeks it should be final. Obviously we'll work with communications to get everything more advertised so you guys are aware of how to do it, how to sign up for it, how to get the app, how to download it and how to use it. What's our cost?

The app was expensive.

It was $3,000 and change, I think it was.

Yeah. And per user's additional charges, or it's a flat rate? Flat rate. And so they pay the app? And what is the cost for that?

We have a yearly fee that we already pay already. It will be included in that yearly fee.

You just download from, like, the app stores. Yeah. Download from the app stores.

What's the name of the app? The developer that made the app?

It's Vermont Systems. Vermont Systems? Yeah. That's what we currently have for our system. And we like to send it to do our registration. Oh, okay.

Cool.

And the app will be the workplace where? Will it be in a card or how will you run the app?

On your phone. It will be all on the phone.

Yeah.

You can still use the card too. It's not, no, not to get rid of the cards if you want to use the cards, but it's more of a feature that if you want to use the card, carry the card no more, you can have the phone and just scan, no, scan in, check in, pay for something online through your app, through your phone.

So it's not a precondition that you use the app for those who... prefer not to use the app and we have our card we have the fob we have other things that are standing now they're in place now those things will remain

I believe so.

The answer is yes, because we know not everybody is adept with these devices. I understand that. So we're going to have both, but the goal is most to use the app and not to have the necessity for the card. But don't worry. If you're not well-versed in using these things, we'll make accommodations. Okay.

Would the app allow you to hold multiple members in the same one app?

Now you're getting into technical things that I don't know the answer to.

So I can have my wife's card, my kid's card, and everything in one app.

Correct. Okay, there you go. Is this app developed exclusively for the town? Yes. Or is it a bigger umbrella? So it's not like... The gym apps where... No, no.

It'll be one that's being custom made for the town with what we're asking them to create and make for us here. And then last item is 4E, update on hot and tall our restroom. This item came up in a commission meeting last week as well. I believe, I'm wrong, but it was turned down by the commission. We now move forward about it. There was no support for it.

No support for it at the present commission.

Wasn't any support for the last commission.

Well, I can only speak for this one.

Well, I spoke to former vice mayor about the issue when it came up, and I got his opinion, and he was all for it. My second question was, Mr. Vice Mayor, why didn't you, when you redesigned the top lot, you had an open checkbook. Why didn't you do it? Didn't have an answer. All right.

Fell through the cracks again.

New business.

I just want to say, and so we can leave it there, but it was a good idea. It remains a good idea on paper. And I thought about it, and I talked to others about it after you brought it up. And even though I was all for it, there are quite a few reservations about it that will impede this from happening in a quick way. So it may happen down the road, but it's a bunch of hurdles.

What was the number one reservation that you heard they use, if you don't mind?

Well, I think we talked about some of them at the meeting, at the last meeting, you know, added burden on maintenance, abuse of the facility, to what extent the design of the facility and, you know, the fact that the town has done well enough without it for quite a while. I know times change, but you know, it is a thought block and little kids have other ways of relieving themselves. The more I thought about it and talked about it, it became problematic.

Which is not to say that it... Did we have any of the commissioners? We don't have to mention any names at the meeting. Did any support from any of the commissioners?

No one voiced support. I heard several say they weren't interested. So I really think it's not going to move anywhere, at least now. And if there's different people that have different opinions, then... you might get a different result. But I think I'm speaking from what I remember. I did illustrate an example of what it could look like to the commission, just to show them a simple thing, but there wasn't even an appetite for that.

Was there, last time, last meeting we had Gerardo mention about the idea that the Parks and Rec Committee should start thinking about vision for visionary projects. Right. Was there a conversation, so in the line with that, this is one of the items that I just put out there, was there a conversation about visionary projects at this commission, or were there talks about anything that like big capital projects is that what you're yeah future you know so we talked about the second floor at the uh you know looking into an engineer the second floor of the community center or what other things that we could think about that we could start vision yeah nothing more has come of that uh the second floor of the community center um

They passed the expenditure of monies for the beach path to add more trees and shade along the beach path. That was a significant capital project, but it's not building a building. It's roughly around $300,000 worth of trees up and down the dune. that was addressed and capital projects involving the streets and traffic calming and speed humps they've given me money to initiate that as well and circles so that's in process but beyond that nothing regarding new buildings or anything of the sort, if that's what you're thinking about. As it pertains specifically to the Parks and Recreation. Right, right, exactly. We talked about street ends a little bit, trying to enhance the look of the street ends. Which are parks. Which essentially are like pocket, we call them pocket parks, right?

Alright, well, we'll hit with Gerardo and tackle it. Four, five, new business.

Chair, there's no new business for this item, for this agenda. Just old business.

covered last meeting. I read the minutes that I was still on. Everything's good to go? Yep.

Your fireworks are all ready? Yes, sir. The drone's in the house.

We don't want to disappoint anyone.

It's on Friday.

Friday night, probably.

Well, we started around 1pm with the music. We obviously had food, but the show itself, we do first the

we do the fireworks right into it so from 9 to like 9 25 we do both shows is mayor briquette doing all of the children's races this year or just part of them i'm not sure no well you need to check on that for me make sure mayor briquette is there you know we have one resident that continuously asked for that okay

You should go check it out.

I'll send you guys photos, too, today after the meeting, so you guys can see them.

Looking good? The old community center had something similar way back. The old community center? The old one had something over by the shuffleboard.

That's the one in the north side. You probably saw it, right? Yeah. I'll be sorry.

You saw it, right?

You saw it?

Yeah, of course.

Hands-on. After the opening of the park, I would say, as far as recreational, that was single-handedly one of the greatest additions ever.

Yeah, people will really enjoy it.

It's one of those things that when you have it, you're like, wow, I cannot believe we have this all this time. Yeah, people really enjoy it. Yeah, it has.

It definitely has.

And by the way, I wanted to add to the attendance on a Sunday. I don't know if you noticed, it's been definitely has increased since those things are there. A lot more people.

Some of those are already pretty, pretty crowded. Now there's even more, yes.

There's people coming. There are people, wow. I met a couple that have been living in Surfside for many years with their kids that just got a freebie and leave.

It's crazy.

Makes me get the new chairs.

Most of them are new, but we've got to replace another 20 or 30 more chairs.

Once you start that bottle service, I think things are just going to go wrong. The bottle service. Okay, okay.

What else can I do?

Soda pop, juice, you know. Circle back to the top lot for me. Who monitors the cameras?

So the police have eyes on that? Do they monitor it all the time? I can't say. But they have visibility on all the cameras.

And I know in talking to PD, they have a vision of putting new cameras that will notify them right away of any movement after hours. So they'll get notified. Let's say the park is closed at 8 p.m. If someone is there after 8 p.m., they'll get notified right away. So that's the vision they have to replace most of their cameras in town and install new ones that will give them that option. Right. Okay, just...

The manager and I have spoken about our new added feature to Surfside is our motorized bicycle scooter children's group, 9-15 on Saturday night in the park.

Big problem.

Big? Big problem. But like Mark said, he doesn't know where their clubhouse is. We haven't identified the clubhouse yet. Not yet.

No. I saw a raccoon on a scooter the other day.

But these kids are really got some nice bikes.

I think it's going to be an item on the agenda at some point to maybe outlaw some of these electric bikes.

They haven't gone so far as to outlaw them, but they did pass an ordinance on first reading, mostly dealing with the helmets and the safety. These things go fast. They go very fast.

And they're silent, which is also part of the problem. I've seen kids, I've been talking to these kids, they're moving fast. They've got to be able to hit someone.

We've had several smaller incidents already.

All right.

Public comment. That's me. Thank you. All right. So thanks for letting me attend your meeting.

Excuse me, sir. I'm sorry. Name and address for the record, please.

Oh, I put it all in the card.

Yes, but for the record, you have to say it all.

Oh, okay. Sure. C. Wallace, Hume, 9195 Collins Avenue. Thank you. Surfside. Okay, so I came for one reason, but then I ran into Marianne Michaud on the way here, and she asked me to bring up something else. So her issue is very simple, so I'll bring hers up first. She was telling me that the Silver Sneakers program at the Rec Center, and a lot of people enjoy it and everything, And she said, for some reason, it's not taking the Medicare people, which are all these people that are socially pretty much on the Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan. It's not accepting those, so they'll have to pay even though they're residents of Surfside. So she said she was working, I think with you, I think she said your name. Yeah, actually I spoke to her about it. And she said it's like not coded right with Medicare, so...

I'll look into that issue. I know she did point out to me that it wasn't coming out as a site on their website. But I did, you know, I went through it with her, showed her how to look for it, and it did come up. As far as the other question I have, I don't know about that one. Let me look into that one, okay?

Okay, yeah.

So I think it's like maybe the coding thing.

Because it used to be free for residents, and it should be. Like, it's part... Our Advantage plan is part of the Advantage.

It should still be free. The thing is that we don't deal with the insurance, so we don't know how that works, but I'll be happy to call and find out what we can find out. But it is still a site on the website. It comes out. Search the community center. I'll show them how to look for it and how to find it. That was the thing last week on Thursday or Friday. I'm not sure if she still has an issue with it or not, but I'll be happy to call her and follow up on it.

She said you were working on it, so she said bring it up at the meeting, so I said okay. so what i really came here to talk about was um kind of like the uh athletic equipment that's been put up here in search life so like that equipment at the end of all the beach streets and the thing just call it a thing at the park um for adults so um i um i And very athletic for my age. And there's I'm sure other people the same. And I do a lot of calisthenics. So that's basically like pull-ups and push-ups and very simple basic stuff. So I don't even know what this equipment is at the end of the streets. I wouldn't even use it. I wouldn't touch it. And I've never heard any, like I've talked to people, I live right on the beach, and everyone doesn't like it. No one likes it. It's a complete waste of money. There's something, it's like a circular thing. I don't even know what you do with it. So as an athlete, I don't like it. I would never use it. So I went to use the new piece of adult equipment at the park. So instead of what Miami Beach has, which is the same equipment like all of weird contraption that I can barely do a pull-up on because I can barely fit my hands around it. It's about as wide as the top of a swing set. And when I have gone to use it, it's been full of kids. and so i have asked them to leave like it's not safe for them this is for the adults they don't want to leave their parents come over then and start harassing me for talking to the kids and then i spoken the person i had the most was this girl samantha who's like a monitor at this park She works... We don't have any staff named Samantha. She was there. This was on New Year's Day, actually, I read. Maybe she's not there anymore.

We haven't had any staff member named Samantha since that. That's what I recall her name.

Anyway, she was like kind of saying, oh, like let these kids crawl over all this apparatus that's for adults. And not sort of saying, no, it's not safe for them because if someone is doing a pull-up, like, they could kick these kids and hurt them. This equipment is not for them. They have their own equipment. So I kind of wanted to get involved with what's going on with Pam's house so that it's not another catastrophe like this other equipment we have here and it's actually usable by athletes. So I came to see how I could get involved in Pam's house that we're going to make into a gym.

So it's not likely going to be made a gym.

Oh, I thought that's what the vote was for.

Okay. The commission is still awaiting to give direction on that, what to do with that property. And so it sits with them at the moment.

Okay. I'm sorry. Go ahead. So what was the outcome? I said the outcome was the majority wanted to have it as a gym. Correct. So what happened?

Nothing.

I would approve the majority of the boulders.

There's a lot to that answer, but basically, I don't want to speak for them, but all I can tell you is they didn't direct me to turn into a gym. And as to why, I invite you to ask any one of them, but I can only do as they direct, and I haven't been directed to turn into a gym. even though I know the vote was what it was. Clearly, there's an interest in a gym in the town of Searcy. Yeah, it was overwhelming. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm surprised.

Yeah. I want to say that we do have a gym. I haven't seen it, but I believe that there is a physical culture facility that is tied to the precinct, if I'm not mistaken.

You're talking about the police gym?

Right.

Yes. But that's not for the public. It's not for the public. Yeah, it's not.

It's not for the public. And the employees, town employees, they get to use it. Nice. the O'Hagan, what do we call it, the O'Hagan property? Town property. The house? 9333. 9333. What happened after our last conversation with regard to, you know, just having a basic minimum maintaining that property? We've done that. If you haven't looked, it's cleaned up. It's cleaned up and it's got AC. It does. Some basic stuff. Okay. It's got electricity and this and that. Yes. Okay. Martha, there was a casual, there was a survey of residents. I don't know the numbers, exactly how many people responded. Yeah, they were much more in favor. Right.

They were much more in favor than against.

It appears that people like the idea of something to support physical culture. I'm all for that. There is, again, as with all sort of good ideas, they look good on paper. When we start looking at all the little details about it, it gets complicated. It's not as simple as some would like.

Are you talking about having it like a gym? Is that what you're talking about?

Having a gym there, it appeared, if I'm not mistaken, that that was the, you know... It's not a simple conversion to it.

Not a compliance issue with ADA. Costs.

There's a bunch of stuff there. And I'm not going to just throw away the idea. It's still a good idea. You know, when you... when the speaker mentioned these exercise equipment throughout the town, that was something that I believe, and you can, it was done in haste by the previous. Right, I know this commission did that.

I know that. They are. It's obviously someone did this that has no idea about exercise.

It's locally, it's just there. I mean, there's not one pull-up bar.

There's not one dip bar. Like, that's all that's needed. Or maybe like a couple layers of bars.

You've seen all the ones on the beach, right? Because we have a push-up bar on 94th Street and we do have an ab that you could do as also as a dip machine too on 92nd Street.

Yeah, that's where I live. Right, right. So the thing is that the ab machine, right? So it's got like a padded back and whatever. But anyway, the bars are so wide that... It's kind of dangerous for a lot of people. Like for me, like it's way too wide and I would injure my shoulders on it.

Have you seen the one that we have on the Hatton Tala on 9th and Hatton? We have another one there that it does have a pull-up bar. I believe it's a lot smaller and easy to grab and to use. We have one that you can do dips into. At the park? It's a 90-event hotel.

Can I go there without a child?

It's outside of the fence, and it was built, and the signage.

Is it like the same as in Miami Beach?

No, sorry. You know, there is some equipment there. It is probably misplaced, in my opinion, because I don't think people use it. It really is a tot lot for little kids. I see. People use it all the time.

I would go to this other equipment if I, because right now I go to Miami Beach. So I, there was one at the North Shore Park, but of course they took it out. Like, there were so many people using those pull-up bars they were great they had like two heights you know what that was yeah so many people use that and they took them out so now i go to like right by the library 75th yeah but then i just have to go a little further like right where the community center is there's another one there's like four or five at brittany park um so they're they're kind of i go to krespi to one so There's a plethora. Actually, when I run my bike to South Beach, I just stop at the different ones and work out. And it's just sad that I live in this nice town on the search side and there's not one that is suitable. A pull-up bar is not that complex. I could build you one in the weekend.

I think one of the concerns, and I feel that because all this equipment is spread out, and it's well intended because you jog from one station to another, so that has its benefits, but because it's all spread out, this is part of our visionary and big dream conversation that we want to have, I believe we want to have, at the end of the meetings, you know, and I feel that if, as with Loomis Park and other places where it's really concentrated in a particular area, people that enjoy that culture converge there and so if There are benefits to putting it all in one place.

But it just needs to be one piece of equipment. Like this one, he knows what I'm talking about. It's just one piece of equipment that's needed, you know, that's it and stuff. So like this weekend I was down at that Mill Kings rally and it's the first time I'd ever been to Pride Park. And they had a beautiful one in Pride Park.

Do you have examples of it?

Of the sandwich one? Yeah. Why don't you remind yourself?

Yeah, you can forward some ideas. You might want to go out to the meeting so you can send me that information and I'll look into it.

Send over some ideas that you think are beneficial.

But also, go to the top left. I very rarely see a child on that. The signage is really clear. It's for adults. It's for adults. It's outside the park. It's on the northern end. Of the triangle.

Ninetieth and all four. Okay, now I'll go check it out tomorrow.

I leave for work usually about quarter to six. And there's always somebody out there at quarter to six.

Quarter to six? In the morning, quarter to six. Oh, okay. Because if I could meet some other people interested in it, that would be great.

I've seen people all day long.

In the summer months, it probably makes sense. People want to get a good workout before it gets too hot.

Yeah, or later. And when does the top lot close? It's outside. It's outside.

It's open 24 hours.

Oh, okay.

Well, thank you. That's good to know. You can rent a city bike and drop it off. It's a little bad idea.

Do you live on 92nd? 92nd. Because it's a city bike station.

I have my own bike so I can ride there or take my skateboard there or something like that.

You can take us kayaking.

You go up, you call over, down the intercoast.

You get off at 90th and Bay. There's a ladder right there.

But if you think about it, the city bikes that are all over, too, are more dangerous than the kayaks that you all were talking about. They're much more dangerous if you think about it. Because a kid can use it without their parents knowing.

No, it would be better to be 18 to use a city bike. 18.

Yeah, I know, but I think you can unlock them if you... You can, really? You have to be a number of feet. Can we go over? July 21st is our next meeting. Okay, thanks for answering the questions.

You're always welcome.

Anything else for the good and welfare of the P&R committee?

When we have a public speaker, maybe sometimes bring them to the front or something. That's a good idea.

This is the most proud we've ever had.

It's a thought.

All right. Motion to adjourn.

I second.

Who's making the motion to adjourn? Motion. Second. And who's seconding the motion? Me and my turn?

So,