Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

all righty good evening it's august 18th 2025 this is the august meeting for the parks and recreation committee i'd like to welcome everybody would you call the role please yes chair genesis chair mcbride here vice chair sanchez here committee member olchik here sure you have a quorum okay anybody have anything they'd like to add to this month's agenda

i do okay it's a walk-on okay oh this month or today today today um i'd like to discuss the uh the beach furniture storage shed that uh yeah there's a shed out by the beach path that uh the commission approved artwork for a mural some time ago, I think 24, and I want to see what's going on with that.

Okay. Can I take a motion to put this on the agenda?

I do.

Okay. Can I second? I can't do squat. You can.

You can second if you give the chair to him.

Okay. Second.

All those in favor say aye.

thank you so we will add that as four no that will be new business that will be item five eight okay and then did everyone have a chance to review the minutes you get a Motion to review the minutes and motion to approve them. If anybody has no problem with minutes.

I move to approve.

Second. Second. doesn't say aye aye any opposed no what's your care motion carries i'd like to propose to the group to move item six public comment to the top so our guests can thank you have a nice evening thank you thank you did you both fill out the papers for the paper

Mayor Torgerman? Who do I give it to? To me. Sorry about that.

You're okay.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for allowing me to have the floor. I am here just to kind of support an idea or basically a program to allow the Surfside senior citizens to attend the programs that are presented by the Parks and Recreation Department to be complementary to the senior citizens in Surfside. I was comfortable, I've been retired now for quite some time, decided to attend today to kind of just speak my five senses on this. The reason for that is two-fold. Number one, I want to, this small committee, I want to inform them that many years ago, and I speak of years ago, I brought a program to the town that was labeled Every Child a Swimmer. And I did that with cooperation with the Kiwanis of North Shore, of which at that time I was president. I did that with the support of the YMCA and the town. And we had a summer program and I was very concerned about children drowning, especially in South Florida where we are completely surrounded by water. The program was successful, and it was open not only to Surfside kids or children, but to everyone, because drowning and dying applies to everyone. Fast forward, I brought a program called Silver Sneakers to the town of Surfside. Silver Sneakers, sneakers, sneakers, kind of needed a support from the community of Surfside to see if there was a need to bring such program to the town. I led the battle on this, not battle, but the initiative on this with the then Park and Recreation's director, Tim, as well as the manager, and what we did was, I had a survey done because silver sneakers needed input from the community to see if there was a need for such program. And I followed up a lot with the town staff because as people came in to pay their bills or people came in to inquire in town hall, the staff was basically candid enough to inform the people that we were having this program, and in order to get it going, we needed their support, community support. And I kept tabs constantly as to how many signatures we were getting because we were told by Silver Sneakers, and I don't remember at this time how many signatures they needed in order to bring the program to Surfside Community Center. Fortunately enough, the program was approved. And I began to advertise it, not myself, but through the town of the program. It was a very successful program. I have not attended because I don't have time anymore now that I'm retired. But it's a great program, and it was free... So what happened was the instructor, which at that time her name was, or is,

Is it still Vivian or not? No.

Right now it's Vivian. Yeah, yeah, Vivian. Did you say Vivian? Sorry. Yeah, Vivian Rubin.

Oh, that's right, that's right. Vivian Rubin. She was his wife of the town, Dallas town clerk. That's right.

Yeah, I'm not over it.

Yeah, I was thinking, yeah.

So anyway, so William became the trainer, and he was offered through Silver Sneakers program free to those people that had insurance covered by Silver Sneakers. The non-members of insurance paid a $5 fee to attend. And the program was offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Tuesdays and Fridays. It was a one-hour program. And at times it was very successful, and at times it wasn't. But overall, it's a great program. And it's promoted everywhere. So now we have a chance to offer the same, basically, to the seniors in Surfside. The Parks and Recreation has an enormous, enormous amount of programs that they offer in town, but they're not open for free for the senior citizens in Surfside, or Surfside senior citizens and residents. So I'm here to ask you to see what you need to do in order to consider, and I'll forward it to the manager, from the director, or forward it to the commission, but to ask the commission to allow, these programs offered by the Parks and Recreation to be free to city citizens. I think we've paid our dues. Us city citizens, we've paid our dues. And I think that the town of Surfside, actually, it's a nice, cozy place for community. And one of the things that our community is basically that, offer services that are beneficial to the residents. And that's what I'm here for.

Thank you. Let me add something. After that program, we had yoga, also free for senior citizens. Do you remember that? No, no, but that's going here. I don't remember that.

Yeah, we had yoga. I mean, we said free for seniors, that's right. Yeah. So anyway, I think it's a great idea. I think that this member committee or whatever the committee represents, to bring this forward. And unless people like yourself don't do it, it won't happen. So you actually need to push it because sometimes people overlook senior citizens. And it's unfortunate because, as I said before, we pay our dues. And that's all I have to say. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you.

Marianne? Well, I also am retired, but now I have a lot of time. And I like to exercise. And so... The last time I was here, I asked to look into silver sneakers because it was raised to $10. And thank you, I believe that's been taken care of and looked into. And I really appreciate that. I would have to walk down to 71st Street, which offered my silver sneakers through my insurance. So in walking back, I saw everybody from my class walking into the Unidad Senior Community Center, which is on 73rd and Collins, and I was walking to 71st and Collins. So I walked in to see what it was all about, and this is, I have two extra copies. All their programming, they have a monthly programming, is totally free to seniors. So I'm here to ask if we can extend our programs. These are all our programs. So in looking into from the Gazette, The prices average $15 a class for senior citizens.

And we... Let me just go back to that, Marianne. So for seniors, the average cost is five for residents and seven for non-residents. When you pay for the whole entire program, we see there on the flyers as far as those. Once you reach $55 and over, it's five for residents, seven for non-residents. If you drop in, it'll be seven for residents. So yeah, there's definitely a cost.

But most of the time, we would just drop in. Correct. So seven and 10, yeah. But some of them, like Pilates, was 15 and 12. And dance tuition was 15 and 12. And senior sneakers was 10.

So we should correct it. It might only have the adult pricing in it, which is, yeah, you're right, it's 10 and 17.

So you do have some adults paying that, but... Can we be like the senior citizens in Miami Beach and get it for free? This is, as I passed it, this is their schedule, similar to ours. You could, and I pass this on to Adrian, and you could add, like they have other programs that you could look into, but similar programs, and some of the instructors do teach here, teach down there, and it's free. It's free for seniors. So I'm here asking that to stay healthy, that we can... So I'm just asking to consider our resident senior citizens, which they consider 55 and above. I don't care what you call it. I'm in, but... to please consider doing as Miami Beach does with their seniors. So, thank you.

Thank you. Sir? Well, same boat.

I apologize. Mr. Cousels, can you introduce yourself? Can you name an address for the record? Oh. That's okay. It's just...

George Kouselis, 1925 Collins Avenue. I'm not retired, though I look retired. But, you know, I've been here since, in one way or another, since the mid-70s when my parents were here. And one thing that has always distinguished this community has been its senior population. uh another thing that distinguishes it is kids i think this one of the things that makes surfside special and you see it whether you're talking about a planning board meeting or a commission meeting is that it is a community it's not a place of transience and the seniors are have always been a big part of this and i think that this initiative to you know make these programs available to them at no cost is a very important I urge you to push forward with it.

Adrian, do you have numbers in your head, an average of how many seniors visit these classes?

May I interject something before he answers? May I? I remember one thing, and in line with what Coach Cusler said and Marianne, you still needed an instructor here. whether you have one person or you have 20 persons. So therefore, what I forgot to mention as I was speaking, is that these instructors that come in, as paid instructors shown in your schedule, still has to perform for other people that are coming in. And therefore, it would be no skin of anybody's back because the teachers are still being paid for.

My point was going to be that do you have seniors that overpower this class where it would become where they have to add a class in order to have that class?

I don't believe so, Frank. So to answer your question, I mean, there are some classes that are attended more by seniors, like the Alka Zumba, the silver sneakers. More than others, for example, yoga, Pilates, you might get a senior here and there. Some of the friends, but the ones that are the most attended are the art class. And they're paying. Which the art class is through the county, so it's not the worst. That's a free class for the seniors. Aqua Zumba, Martha attends most of them. She'll tell you it's a great class. Oh, that's a no-brainer here.

As long as we keep that temperature at 90 degrees.

Inside the room, too. Does she like it 90 degrees in the Zumba room?

I haven't got that complaint about the inside yet, so I don't know about that one. We pick. And then the silver sneakers are the two more that's intended for senior classes. Mary has been great getting me information and talking to the person, the people at UNIDAD. I'm pending a meeting with them because I found out that their programming and their activities are all through grants. So that's why they're able to offer it for free. So I would love to find out what grants they apply for, how do they get it, and go through the same process here. Because, again, I think it's a good idea. I'm not opposed to the idea of offering for free to the seniors. Like Mr. Thurman was saying, it doesn't change what we pay an instructor. We pay a flat fee. It doesn't matter if we have one person or ten people in the class. That won't affect that. And at least our bottom goal is never to make money from programs. It's to provide a good quality program. To remind me again... remind me again what the manager solved after last month's meeting so i um he saw the contract that they had he had she had to come to us before making any changes to the class and there was a time that i think she made a change while getting approved by us so i asked for a meeting i sat down with her i went through the whole entire contract i went through the changes that happened over the past four or five years And I told her that, no, we need to come to a resolution. So that resolution was to make it free for all Surfside seniors that do not have the service maker program with their insurance. And she agreed.

I was wondering how it got from five to these astronomical prices.

And it went from five to ten.

That's something she dreamed up.

Yeah, that's taken care of already.

So starting now, September 2nd, for fall programming, if you're a senior in a distance learning program, you can enter for free. That particular class? That particular class.

Correct, yes.

I just wanted to say, since the seniors are retired, we are on a fixed income, and so it's not like we are adults still working in the workforce.

You need a job, buddy.

I got you covered.

I know. That's all I wanted to say.

I got a job. And any school in Dade County, they could use your help.

All right.

Thanks. Thank you all. Thanks for showing up for this. We did go to bat for you in the last meeting, and I'm glad that some things get done quickly, particularly for some of us that are running out of time. I'm a long-time resident also, and although I feel young, I know that time catches up with all of us. And so, you know, we were able to get the concession and the freebie from the for that particular class and program. We have quite a large program and now we're looking to have a blanket approval for all of it. I see that Miami Beach is able to do this for its senior residents. Through a grant. Through a grant. We want to accommodate those, our residents, that will make the most of this. And I think that the numbers might be, might change when there's free things, people tend to show up. So when it's not free, then it discourages some people from participating. You can't afford it if you don't do that activity. Exactly. And I'm all for free stuff that is essentially already covered and to have the kind of participation from whatever it is that communities, how it's defined, whether it's the very young or the very old. Nobody seems to care about the middle so much where the ones that are, you know, setting the tone for the future. But my thoughts are many, but one that sort of burns a little bit is, and it might be irrelevant, but the idea of branding. So silver sneakers is an established term that is a program under SSI, you know, Social Security Administration, and people use it loosely, but it, so it does mean different things to different people, and I just wonder if When we set out to create or make our program more robust and accommodating for seniors, maybe we should look at the brand because other people that receive, that benefit from silver sneakers, so this is not for everyone. So I just wonder if it's the right terminology because it really isn't for everyone. It's not something that people who make the most of silver sneakers from other towns can come here and say, well, you're doing silver sneakers, so I want to be a part of that. That's one thought that might cause some confusion with the public at large. excuse me i'm confused right now so so silver sneakers is a loose term it's used by you're looking for a self-branding for surfside correct because we're we're looking to do something for our residents not for the general public so when you take a term that's already being used by the general public, there might be some confusion there.

We do open it to the public, though. So what we do right now, we open to non-residents as well. This will be free to residents.

Yes. And tourists, guests in hotels, correct. So maybe my concerns are unfounded. I just want to be clear that we're not taking a term that has other meanings to other groups. So if you're saying, and that would be the question, would our parks and rec program If we move this forward, that it would be free to all senior citizens, all senior citizens. We can make it more limited.

We can make it to search size senior citizens. This program, since it's linked to the state, it's linked to insurances. So I don't believe you're able to change the name of the program, but then it will affect the insurance requirements. So to keep it the way it is, there is a requirement of ages. I think it's 55 and over. You cannot go younger than that unless you're older. As far as us, we can limit what price we charge our residents, which, though, I hear everybody's recommending to go free. So that's approved by the manager. It will be free for senior Surfside residents.

So to be clear, and I have no reservations, if a resident of North Beach, the seniors that qualifies for Silver Sneakers, they can come here?

and participate in that program get all the benefits if we have space remember this is by obviously we prioritize residents so we first open up to residents if the 25 participants get filled by residents then we close it no more nobody else um if you're in the program and there is space and another resident and you fall within the requirements of your insurance then you're also able to join uh free of charge Al Harbor, Bay Harbor.

Anybody, yeah, anybody. You might consider the numbers of participants could grow.

We have to cap it, though. We're limited in the room space. They use a chair, so it kind of takes up some room, too, so we're limited, I think, at max 25.

Great. I want to be able to have that conversation. Now, when the... when the Zumba or Pilates room turns 90 degrees, is that, should I power those out? Which I heard happen again. Happened very clearly.

I have never been able to have it below 83. It's happened two more times.

I'm working on it. A little off topic, but I think that's something that we might want to revisit. Yeah?

But I'd like to, in our motion, to move this forward to the commission. I'd like to see someone from the town move this forward. Every insurance company should have this as part of their programming. What are they trying to do? Not keep senior citizens alive by allowing them to exercise? But I think at this point we've heard enough discussion. I'd like to have someone make a motion.

So it's a blanket approval of the entire program?

Take silver sneakers out of it. That's already done.

The idea is to make all senior programming free for search-size senior residents. that's 55 and over 55 and over which i i would be happy to bring it to the manager first because i might be something that he could approve himself or i want to commission because remember it's not it's we're not it's a bunch of money it's not a correct but we shouldn't pay this amount of money to the instructor it's not like that's going to increase so he can approve that if he wanted to if he doesn't he'll bring it to the commission for discussion are we in agreement 100 but we should move it forward to the manager and then if he has to take it further then he can run with the ball

We spend money on other programs in town. And it's not the tourism thing. I think the tourism thing is wonderful. We generate enough money from tourism to pay for those. I know there's some people in town that fight that. Oh, you spend so much money. You've brought, with your programming at the tourism board, has brought a lot of... Residents, non-residents, hotel residents back the server side because, oh, they have these things in the summer. They have these things in the winter. Let's go schedule a hotel visit there. I don't hear the hotels complaining. I don't see it cost out. No. No. Do we pay the lady to do that class for $40, you said?

Correct.

Do we pay somebody to do the other classes too? Yes. Okay, so let me say it won't change the cost.

It's really a no-brainer. Yeah. Right.

Where you came to the right place. Eli only shows up in the right places. You don't see Eli in a bad place.

Is there a need for the emotion?

I don't think there's a need. No. let's put it in the minutes that we're going to move this having all senior citizen programming free to residents so it's like it's 55 and over move to the manager for his consideration and movement forward in the budget but it's to all seniors services

So if you're from Ball Harbor, it won't be free. Unless for that specific program, if you're under insurance and your insurance covers it and there is space available, but this motion is to cover not just that program, it's to cover all senior programming.

I think I get it. Silver sneakers means different things to different people. If we need a qualifier, they have silver sneakers.

The way we call it, we call it cardio and strength class. That's like the way for us to identify for Surfside. It's called silver sneakers. That's the brand. And we call it cardio and strength class for Surfside.

I'm your fan of mine. So are you saying, like, for example, the programs that we go to the theater and all these things, Are you including these there?

That's not really a program. That's more of like a monthly trips, monthly activities. I don't think that should be part of this motion.

Okay, okay, great.

Classes that involve an instructor.

Correct.

And again, I'm going to look into the grants that they have over there, because if we can add those grants over here, we may be able to add those for free as well. But right now, I think the motion should be just programs.

Okay, good. Very good. And is this a motion or is this just a recommendation?

I recommend that it be a motion.

I recommend that it be a motion, that it just move forward to the manager.

Okay, so it moves so that we have the programs of the cardio strength open to all senior citizens that are residents of Sarasota.

Just to be clear, all senior programs?

Mr.

Manager.

Oh, no, no, Eli. You sat there first. Hey, you're it.

I second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other discussion? Thanks for coming. Never a problem.

History in the making. Thank you. And by the way, yesterday was my birthday. How old are you? 65? A long time ago. We'll be getting many, many more.

Thank you.

Valuation of the Higher Education Scholarship. Did you guys all get the scholarship application by email? I did. Were you able to review it? This is pretty much just to get your feedback. If you guys think that, which I reviewed it too. He met all the requirements that we require criteria-wise. We only got one applicant. So normally, in the past, we went into the committee. You guys obviously don't provide feedback. If you're all content moving forward, then the next step is to take it to the commission for approval.

You've got the one applicant. Just one applicant. Correct.

And this is the only applicant that's applied in the past three years. So the past three years, we've gotten no applicants whatsoever.

And I know it's advertised out there. Do we take it to the counselor at the school?

We email it to them. We haven't taken it to them, because most of them now are going to start by email.

No, but that's sufficient. It was $3,000.

It's $1,000. But we have two different ones.

So it's two different knowledge scholarships.

Are you sending it to how many?

All the nearby schools. I mean, we put it on the website. We send it out weekly in the Eveless, in the Gazette. Pretty much every channel that we can use, social media, we're using it. The Youth Council? The Youth Council is aware about it, too. So, I mean, everything that we can do, we're doing it. Wow. And some of them are seniors that have been in the block. Yeah. Wow. One of the criteria is they need to be financially needed. We need to remove that and maybe that will open up to more people because maybe not everybody is financially... What defines that?

There's no definition of it. It doesn't state that.

It doesn't define that in the application. But they outlined their costs. Yes, he was very efficient. He provided everything, the references, the personal essay, the SAT scores.

The only thing that I commented on was she had applied for other scholarships. Because there are... In every school, in high school, you have a CAP advisor. Oh, I'm stunned. Which are, they help you find. You're left-handed. My son got one because he's 6'6". He's a tall kid. He got his style checked. I mean, $100 pays for something?

Yeah, yeah. Now, everything's expensive. Everything's expensive.

There's one for lefties.

Left-handed? Yeah. See that? You didn't even know that. You can go back to school now. Yeah, but there are scholarships for everything. My other son and both of them got scholarships for being an Eagle Scout. But you got to fill out the one little page and apply and put it out there. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't.

I know that the son of our ex-mayor got a scholarship.

I believe it was this one, the same one. I think he's the last one. That one that's hushed, but I'm not mistaken. That was before my time here, but that's what I heard from the prior director.

Because I called him and I said, I cannot believe that. He said, well, you know, it's the only one we have.

Yeah, we only have one that you took.

Wow. So it's the kind of thing that you do have to ask, right? So nothing happens. Is there funds that are set aside every year? Yeah. This is budget four. Is that a full year after a year?

No, it's budget every year. If we don't use it, it goes back into the... What's the cap?

Ten awards?

No, it's one. So we have two different scholarships, and you get one winner for each. So if we had ten applicants, you only pay two.

So then he didn't use it last year.

No, nobody has applied in the past two years. This is the first, because you have to be a graduating senior. You have to be a senior going into college to apply for it and win it.

I get the spirit of competition. I get the merit base. I don't know what their criteria is, who evaluates. We evaluate.

There's been a use where we've gotten sure, and we sit around the table and review them.

Yeah, I don't like to turn people down. I mean, there's times when it is not, you know, it doesn't matter, but hypothetically, down the road, if you have... two applicants and they both meet their qualifications and they both apply in a professional way to the extent of their capability, I think that it wouldn't be very nice to give it to one and not the other.

But in a standard scholarship program, if there's $5,000 in the pot and there's 10 applicants and each application is $1,000, nobody's got it. We've got higher GPAs. We've never had the...

We've never had it come down to a criteria. And I want to take all altered mentality. That's understandable. It's useful in many other things, even when you go beyond. that age group into adulthood, yeah, I understand that. Every kid, every person can get into college or something, but I want to be able to at least plant the seed that if there's a limited pot and there's two applicants, maybe you can split it so everybody's happy and everyone has the encouragement So if they step up, it shouldn't be rejected. That's all my opinion.

That's not the issue right now, but I'll be happy to bring it back next month before we put it out again next year. We can discuss if we want to change the criteria, change the way we evaluate it, change how we give it out. The funds are budgeted. That will have to be for the budget year next year. So it won't be for next year, but the year after that. But we can definitely alter the criteria, how we evaluate, and how we move forward.

Some people are motivated by rejections, other people are not. So with the kids, I want to be able to give whoever steps up to play the best possible chance. And we're in a position to do that. So we shouldn't play around with winner take all. It's not a big deal for us to do that. Yeah.

Understood. I'll bring it back. I'll bring it back sometime in the next couple of months before we put it out again for next year. Review all that and discuss that.

I am concerned about the low rate of people that apply to that.

Yeah, we need to find a way to make it, I guess, I'm not sure, because it's already easy enough to apply for, but make it more open to more people, to more residents.

And the criteria, is it for low socioeconomic? Yeah, it depends on that.

You have to be financially needed. Maybe remove that criteria and make it open to anybody that's a resident, graduating senior, going to college, you have the grades. you meet all the other requirements. That would be my recommendation.

If you took out that low socioeconomic need, you may increase maybe a couple. Our community, we've had, a couple of years ago, we had someone that was actually a crook, I think, but they were low socioeconomic too. But if we took out that criteria, it would help.

It would definitely help. I think we'll see an increase in numbers, yes. So I just need from you guys a recommendation to move forward with this candidate. Hi. Good to go, okay.

I move. No, that's fine.

I mean, I didn't need a motion for that. I think you guys, it's all clear. You guys are on the same page. Absolutely. 4B. Okay, 4B, feedback on power station. So the power station was installed July 23rd. I got a report. Through July 31st, we had seven rentals. Six were rented by the hour. One was through a membership rental, which I'm not sure you guys remember, but the rent memberships is for the year. You could rent it to two hours per day. So up to that day, it was used seven times. Obviously, we're now already August 18th, so I'll have it more updated later. report by the end of the month and i'll get it to you guys once i get it it's being used it's been good positive feedback the only negative feedback that we receive is that it's not through that why are the residents paying for it that's the only down bad thing that we've heard about it everybody is very happy they like it they've enjoyed it on the weekends is where it's used the most weekdays is a little bit slow but weekends is definitely used a lot So that's my feedback back to you guys so far on that program. We should have the kayaks. So by next week.

The contract with Paddle is for a year? Don't quote me on that.

I believe it might be a year to a year. We knew it yearly, yeah.

You got any feedback from Paddle?

No, I mean, they sent me a report. They seem content with what's going on so far. Again, the report was very recent after we opened it up.

Seven is not.

It's not a lot, but I remember only 10 days.

It's little. It is. I mean, it's not little. It's more than I expected for a paddle. Kayak, I expect it to be a little bit more.

When there's a storm and you've got to clear up, does they just go into the building? They're responsible for all that equipment.

So if anything were to go happen, they'd be the ones having to come in, secure it, or take it away. So we wouldn't put them in our building or whatever? No. It's their equipment, so it's their liability. They have to secure it or lock it away or take it away. It's not in the town.

We were just saying, Mr. Manager, that It's second rental in the first couple of years.

I didn't think that was too bad. So your question is for the contract? It's five years. Five-year agreement. We can always get out.

I think Kayak is going to be here soon.

Yeah, next week. They're saying next week. I'll follow up again. I'll get back to you guys. Okay. Fall programming. And this was more of a follow-up to what the public had to say today. Obviously, we started fall programming now, September 2nd, after Labor Day. That includes our youth, adults, seniors. And I was going to talk more about what Marian brought up today, which is obviously how they're looking into free programs. I do want to meet with the UNIDAD director to see how they got the grants for the free programs. And then once I do that, I'll bring it to the manager to discuss how we can do the same thing if he's on board. That's all I got for the fall program, unless you have any questions about it. Same programs we're adding. Obviously, the programs for the youth is going to be done at the park now. We added a dance fusion program here for seniors, too. We still have the same mako zumba, the dry zumba, the yoga, pilates, self-defense. That's still the same. And I'm looking into an ESL.

Is YMCA going to cover again?

The aftercare?

No. When schools are closed. Yes, that's still going to the YMCA. Correct. No, it wouldn't be. Like Martin Luther King Day, for instance.

No, not holidays. Not holidays. So teacher planning days. Teacher planning days. Okay. Which is a good amount of those, too. True. I think it's like six or eight during the year. Absolutely. I am looking to meet with an ESL instructor to see how we get ESL classes and certs right. So I'm looking into that. I think I have a meeting this week coming up to see how we're going to start offering that to people that need it.

Well, that, you know, and again, if you... If we can get an instructor, I think that's something that also should be open to all ages.

I agree.

Not just seniors, but if you had it programmed after school, there are a lot of children that ESOL programs in school are not consistently run the way I would like to see them run. They are... nilly-willy in some schools. In my school, my ESOL children brought me a lot of good test scores because I had a great ESOL instructor. Spoke English herself, no other language. When they went into the room, there was a mandatory, you spoke English, and those children progressed. I've had children read over a million words. They came in August. By Thanksgiving, they read and past tested over a million works. So it's not just... Yeah, we will open it up to all.

It's probably separated. We'll make it one for the children and one for adults and up, so it's not all in the same room. Okay.

I would like to bring item 4D. I know that members of this committee in the past have been concerned, the police department has been concerned, and the commission's been concerned about the amount of e-bikes and scooters that our children and adults are driving in town and coming here. Byron Avenue, 93rd Street, East E-Bike, right through the stop sign. Didn't even think about stopping. I did a little bit of research. I'd like to see a program where our police department and those of you that are 100 years old like me, remember, Miami-Dade used to have a bicycle registration. You came here to the volunteer fire company in the garage here, they came and inspected your bike, they filled out this form, and you got a sticker on your bike. I guess at that time it was to prevent theft. But they also talked about riding your bike. We didn't have helmets in those days, but they talked about bicycle safety and how to be courteous and stuff like that. But now we are electrified. Some of those e-bikes are flying. More than the state cutoff is 28 miles an hour. There was a new regulation in 2025 of regulation of e-bikes. You have to have lights. You have to have a helmet under 16. For instance, in Sunny Isles Beach, they have a scooter registration. So you actually go, fill out a registration form that you have this vehicle in Sunny Isles Beach. You fill out this form and you get a sheet of rules. And maybe that just makes you feel a little more responsible that now that they know who I am and I know who they are, we have this agreement. In California, there was Harbor Beach, Harbor something in California that actually has, that's ours. We have something on the record now about e-bikes and scooters, but it's just following the state regulations. It's not following any.

It's over an ordinance, right?

But didn't we say something about an ordinance, a rule about riding on the...

So I was waiting for you to finish, but basically this item, this subject, is still with the commission, and they haven't acted on it yet. So I would just ask you to kind of see where that goes, because I don't know what their appetite is going to be in the end.

I just think that we need, in conjunction with the police department, that we need some kind of a, I've been asking for a bike, I call it a bike rodeo, where you have the parks and rec department, the police department, and a local bike shop sponsor, kids going through a maze, you know, something to promote bike safety. And I still think that we need something in town, so... The children, especially, you know, and I know the police can't, they're not out there to stop kids on an e-bike or on a scooter. And I have seen them at dismissal time, especially on a Wednesday where the kids get out at 150 and they come across the bridge and they're coming down Bay Drive. I've seen the police sitting at 95th Street, 93rd Street. and maybe that just makes the children think a little bit, but I'm concerned of the state regulations. You're supposed to have long pants. You're supposed to have covered toes. You're not supposed to be riding these things barefoot or flip-flopped with flip-flops. How many of us have seen an adult riding a scooter with a little kid in front of them, where the parent has got a helmet, but the kid's got nothing? I just would like to, let's see where the commission takes, is that just on the beach path they're talking about or it's all over?

Well, it's potentially all over. I don't know how they're going to come down ultimately. They haven't regulated anything yet. But obviously the state statute remains, the state statute will control unless we do something else different here.

But there was a report from St. Johns County up in Jacksonville and the reason they brought it up was the amount of children that have been permanently disabled or killed on e-bikes. Something I learned today, there's different styles of e-bikes and they have a different level of registration because they have different powers. The young people that are riding through town on a lot of them look like dirt bikes. They don't have pedals. That's like a category three where it has the potential to go over 28 miles an hour where it might have to be registered with the state and you might have to have a license.

Thank you for sounding the alarm. That's a valid concern for the proliferation of these vehicles. I think at the moment that there is restrictions on motorized vehicles, scooters and other things. They can't be on the sidewalk, right? there's restrictions I believe county it can't be on the beach path where people walk I'm not sure about that nothing I know in Broward, they got rid of the rental scooters. And you see them sort of pop back up. There's the delivery row box, the food, the little boxes that are going around. They're not in Surfshark yet, but they are on North Beach. On Miami Beach. On Miami Beach and other places.

Kind of a 70%... And there's fire in there, I guess.

The thing is like... And they have, by the way, they have all the same rights as a pedestrian. How that came to be beyond me, but they do. And so, you know, we're... It's called lobby. Thank you. So there's a little cat and mouse game going on there. We should just be concerned with our town. Some of it is cut through traffic on the e-bikes and scooters. So it's the kind of thing, there you see it, then it's gone. And I don't know how much resources we have to be lurking in the bushes trying to catch kids. There are packs of kids as kids who have it. They converge and they run around. There's some theft. Some of these seem to be like community property where if you go where people congregate, there's just a big pile of scooters. But it's a complex thing. They're not going away. No. And it's just a matter of time. I don't know what the statistics are on incidents in town, business district, residential streets. It's an ongoing conversation, and it's not... The commission is still discussing it. What are they discussing, manager, the overarching concerns of these things, or just the beach path? The whole topic. All the micro-mobility. Micro-mobility. Some of them are more powerful than others, obviously. And, you know, it's just with a conventional bicycle, some people, they go through a stop sign. Normal, I do it. Cars stop, they see a person. So, you know, there's going to be more and more of them.

I think it's just something that needs to be brought in the forefront again. And you see more and more kids on... e-bikes and scooters than we do on bicycle now, which is not a healthy thing.

I even saw someone where the battery had run out so they were using it. So they had to go old school. You forgot to charge the battery. So that wasn't going too fast.

In the meantime, we'll go with the commission to decide what they want to do with that. I'll be happy to look into the Sunny Isles program they offer and see something similar to that here with the PD or just parks and rec and see if he's employed too and go from there.

I would be proactive and have a... no commercialization of these vehicles in town. Like we have city bikes, you know, you could see where rental scooters, they're problematic. Okay, and delivery, micro, those things, I don't want to see them here.

I was just up in Melbourne Beach over the weekend and they now have on their beach, not only beach chairs and umbrellas like we have, but they have electric jet skis. that the hotels are supplying. Are there people on them, or just robots?

I've never seen that before.

Like I said, these things are going to be more and more. I bring this up a long time ago. 22, 23 years ago. My son wanted a go-ped for Christmas. I come from a motorcycle world and a mini-bike world, and I grew up in a moment. I wanted a go-ped. I got a go-ped. It was a gas-powered scooter. I still have it in my garage. And Every time he put his foot on this thing, a cock was up his tail. So it's like, what's the difference between whether it's electric or gas? So that was just the day work. He couldn't go down. He never got a chance to really enjoy it because, you know, what's...

Those were the days. Those were the days.

When I was in high school, I couldn't hit 88th Street and Byron Avenue without some cop standing there saying, here it comes, Frank.

God, every day. When you see a police, you say, sir, no. Oh, yeah.

That shit was shaking every time you got stopped.

Yeah. That one was three wheels now, Frank.

I'd never go down that road. I can still handle it. 4E, school bus minors. I understand that the school bus was passed at the last commission. Any discussion? Because my emails went nowhere.

The discussion was had 100 days and they wanted to proceed. It was unanimous. It was unanimous.

Phone calls and emails got me nowhere. I got no discussion back from the commission. Can you provide us with me, with this group, the cost now? Because I heard from a lot of residents on next door that it's so much cheaper now. $81,000 for the year. $81,000 rather than... $136,000. So it is a lot cheaper.

Same level of service? Same level of service, just different bus.

Here's my concern, and Adrian and I spoke briefly about it last week. I'm concerned of when the bus picks up in the morning, children get on the bus, go to school, come back. When the bus comes back, kids unload. Is there any monitoring of who gets off the bus? And is there mommy, daddy, aunt, au pair, maid, nanny there to pick them up? Do we ever have any children that are standing there when the bus pulls off? Does anybody from town monitor that?

So the answer is no. And it's not unlike Miami-Dade County public school buses. No one monitors those kids getting on or off either.

True. True. But that's not hired by the municipality. We're providing this service.

We are. But you see, I think that we can also be hoping that we're going to be the ones that transport the kids, the ones that look after them when they get off the boat. I mean, there is a limit of how much the town or the city or something can do because if the parents don't care of having somebody there, how can we monitor that and tell the parents, you have to do this because this is what you have to do? I mean, it's very nice to think that the parents would carry on to do that.

I totally agree with this. This is why I was against the campaign. Any funding, I think a parent should be responsible for taking their child to school, picking them up, or providing a private bus service. Exactly. My point, and I guess, like I said, nobody monitors a Dade County high school kid getting off a bus. We also don't have, years ago, we had a public service aide We had the bus routes of the kids, especially when it gets dark in the morning, where the kids are waiting at the bus stops. We had a public service aide there at the bus stop as the children loaded the bus. Because, you know, children that have been taken after getting off of the school bus. Years ago.

Yes, we did. I remember that. I remember that.

Is there anybody from PD or parks that monitors the inspection of the bus? Buses, school buses, that company has to be inspected every single month. And they hate it, because they have to go down, sit in a line, get the bus inspected, and they get a new sticker. They get it stamped every month. When I had a school bus pull up to my school, and I rented them, and I checked tires, lights, driver's license for a driver, and the inspections there. Many, on many a bus, we held up the trip to get another bus there because that bus didn't pass inspection. Do we have the same driver every day? Yes. But that's not guaranteed.

There's this company right now that goes to have the same driver every day unless she couldn't make it, she was sick or vacation or something. I know it's only the second day, third day of school, but how many kids have been? Actually, the past couple of days have been, today we had 36 in the morning and 44 in the afternoon. The first week we had about 20- And they are registered kids.

Yes, they're in the list of signed up, because they're registered for- Food monitors at the school, that 36 came in the morning, 44 getting on in the afternoon. How does this, who does the school personnel know that those 44 kids are-

surfside kids that they're getting on the right bus i mean i i contacted the school resource officer and he will don't give me a poster okay maybe you know it was was left behind which has never happened on today no or the bus running late but as far as that what you're asking for it kids it's up to them to call on the bus or not so we assume some kind of a id Yeah, we asked for IDs this year, but in the morning they might get picked up, but then the parents might pick them up in the afternoon, or vice versa. They might get picked up by the bus in the morning and then... Right, right.

That's the same as a public school bus. The bus may pick up Johnny in the morning, but then, you know, mom picked him up to go to the dentist, so we don't have the same amount of kids leaving.

This year the driver has to list the full list, she's checking for ID, and she's taking a head count every single day. In and out? In and out.

Headcount, but a log of the... She's got the full list.

She's got the full list of all the kids that are signed up.

That are registered with Parks to ride the bus. Correct, yes, correct.

Is there a camera on the bus?

That I'm not sure. This second corn I brought up, and Adrian said, well, the driver has a cell phone. Fight on the bus.

And if you don't think it can happen, it will happen.

It's coming. what's I think the driver should have radio contact either with parks or police a radio whether it's supplied in the morning picked up in the afternoon because radios get lost and radios are expensive but I driver is not going to have time to without any aid on the bus they can public schools There's a large, I wouldn't say 100%, large percentage that have a driver and an aide. So they can better monitor. The driver's responsible for driving the bus, not trying to keep order on a bus.

The driver has to keep order on the bus, and this company has rules for riding his bus, and if someone violates the rules, they'll be off the bus.

Okay. Kid has a seizure on the bus. The driver's going to have to stop, use a cell phone to call 911. Okay. I'm just throwing these things out there because I don't want us to get in the bed. I want it to be a program that other districts pick up. Anything back from the school board member? Negative. Negative.

A number of times.

Could have bet your lunch at Flanagan's on that one.

Yeah.

Yeah. Still owes me another response. Can they chew gum on the bus?

No, not on the public school bus.

There are rules.

I don't remember that. Top of the school bus. They can't use the school bus. It has a poster.

Frank, if it makes you feel any better, this school bus service does school bus service for districts as well, including Palm Beach County. So they know what they're doing. They know what they're doing. But the children don't. It's up to them.

Yeah. But I did, to piggyback on that, I had sent our new chief and our vice chief a list of questions about our school resource officer and I really liked his response. I got every response because Schools have school resource officers now. Police officers. Miami-Dade County public school officers. Years ago, Surfside, Bay Harbor, and Bell Harbor funded it. We supply another officer. So on Monday, Surfside goes. Tuesday, Bay Harbor goes. So we supply. Bay Harbor has two officers now on campus. We had a mock... active shooter drill at Bay Harbor last summer. It's a very exciting thing to see. I participated in two of them. You're talking about gunfire, fires, smoke, explosions, blood everywhere, where it's an active shooter drill. We have, at Bay Harbor, we had For every kid.

Did you wear a ski mask?

Oh, no, no, I was. I was an observer. I don't want to ever participate in one of those as an active participant. But we had Surfside, Bay Harbor, Bell Harbor, Metro Day, Miami Beach respond to the active shooter drill. Everybody said, I'm in charge. It was chaos. Miami-Dade Public Schools is in charge, and that's the answer that I got from our vice chief and chief, which was the correct answer. They didn't have keys in Texas. Why doesn't the SRO have keys? So our SROs have keys. They didn't have maps of the schools. Our SROs and our Surfside police officers have on their laptop, and I would suppose on their phones, maps of Bay Harbor. So I was very pleased to hear the answers.

You know, it's comforting that there's a dress rehearsal. Are the kids informed that it's not the real thing before it happens?

Or are they just... Oh, there's only actors in the school.

This happens during the summer. I'm saying that the teachers and the kids, they don't know the difference between...

He's saying there's no kids.

During the drills... There's no kids. There's no kids. There's children...

There's children brought into the school. Oh yeah, they're all actors. They know what's going on.

But they don't know… Our kids went there and there were things that affected them. They didn't know… They don't know the extent of how severe

Whether it's an active shooter in one classroom, whether it's an active shooter in a large group sitting in a cafeteria, they don't know all that. They don't know about smoke, blood, smoke bombs, stuff like that. But yeah, it's all pre-staged. It's a drill. It's a drill. Because, unfortunately, one of the reasons I retired is I was tired of monthly severe code red lockdown for us. It scares children to death when I, as the principal, have to stand on the speaker and say, we are under code red lockdown, go to your safe corner, your hard corner. Hard corners, like in this room, would be there. It's really not a good space for a hard gun with glass block. But it's scary. It scares children, especially when you have children that come from other countries where gunfire is a daily occurrence.

I don't want to belabor the point because I have to leave in a few minutes. But let me tell you, the experience I've had with the most companies that we hire, have not been very good, because we had one company going to one of our events, and there was a couple, a senior couple, of course, sitting in the back, in the very back, doing the last one. Okay, the part that goes in the back of the boat fell over. While they were sitting there, they were hurt. And I immediately asked George, I said, you know, we have to make sure that we don't get involved. So he says, I'm going to take their names and this and that. So we did take their names. The company never did anything about it. We were the ones that were calling, and we were very lucky that the couple was very nice. Because they said, we're not physically hurt. I mean, they had some scratches.

I remember, I remember, yeah. You remember that? Yeah, we reached out to both the couple and we showed they were okay. And we showed that bus was not used ever again.

So that's what I'm saying. We have had bad experiences. We really have to be careful with the bus companies because I got scared today. I said, these people may just go to the hospital and make a big deal out of it, but they were very nice. Yeah, very nice.

Very nice couple, yes.

So I think that we should look into the bus companies thoroughly before we make a decision of what bus company.

I know that all bus companies with the school system have to go through major trainings and things like that before they get an approved bus certification. New business.

Your item on the roof, the shed. Small item. We walked this on. It's the beach furniture storage shed. I just wondered if we could get it out. It's been a year, over a year, and it seemed like it was moving forward, and then it just stalled.

And I haven't heard anything. No, because there's really no update. I haven't moved forward on that project because I don't have a real consensus from the dais other than the mayor suggesting that he wants it to blend in more.

Turtles don't blend in?

They don't blend into that scape. You know, it's basically a white box in the corner that's got shrubbery all around it. So it's not really visible to anyone, except if you're on the surface and you looked at it. And who's on... So I guess if the commission directs me to do X, then I'm going to do X. But until then, I'm not taking any action.

What moved this? I mean, because I believe that this item was 2014. 2014? 2024. I'm sorry, 2024? Yeah, it was approved through a budget cycle. But I was made aware of it over a year ago, and... You know, visibility, I have to disagree. I think that the visibility is tremendous. There's not only, everyone that walks by there. On the service. Yeah, yes, on the service. That's what I said, on the service. Right. But otherwise it's shielded all the way around. It is now, right? And so if you say that it's DOA, that's absolutely fine. You might have to go back to square one when there's something, you know, when it gets reactivated. And it's not, I know that it's a minor thing, but as a committee member, I've made, you know, a certain amount of money. You can see it all, it's there. So, you know, I don't know if those vendors are going to be there when you guys revisit it. So, yeah. Yeah, that's all I got for that. Thank you.

I failed to congratulate our new Partner of Creation Director, Mr. Hernandez. I think you're doing a great job. I saw you on the meeting last week. You stepped right up there. You knew the answers. Thank you, thank you. They're not going to get by you. Have you heard from him?

No. Me neither. I don't want to. I want to enjoy retirement. Exactly. I hope he's having a good time enjoying with his kids and his family.

Exactly. So I think it's always wonderful when you can retire. I think it was his birthday recently. I think this past couple of days was his birthday. Oh, really? Yeah. We allowed him to have another one. He was capped. Once you leave, you don't get catered to.

I don't have any more for him.

Yeah, but I thought that. I know he did tell me he was having a couple of trips planned out. Key West, New York, to see his daughter. So I'm sure he's enjoying it right now. So I haven't bothered him at all. He hasn't bothered me.

I'm very proud of our commission and manager for doing the right thing and you promote from within.

I agree. I totally agree.

think that, you know, we should always promote from within.

You have this one fight.

Oh, right. Right. Well, Adrian, in this building,

Adrian would have been gone a long time ago if he didn't be qualified. Thank you for that. I have nothing bad to say about Adrian. With that said, I hope that your assistant is also from our department.

Is that an open position now? There won't be an assistant director, that's what you mean.

Well, that position's been eliminated. It will be deleted, yes. Okay. And does that... Are you there as a... Is that position created to...

I can't tell you how it was created or why it was created, but we're all aligned on this.

Adrian's not going anywhere for a long time, so we don't need to promote from within.

No, I'm saying that there's a void when he moves.

There's no void, there's a succession plan, though. That's what the key is, to have a succession plan.

That's a session. So is your old office empty is what I'm saying. You want to move in?

No, not anymore. So we moved Frank from tourism back into the office.

Ah, that's where the tourism used to be at parks. It was a separate entrance. Right, right. And that's designed so visitors can get to the tourism office. Without going outside of the museum.

Yes. Thank you. I appreciate your support. When it's time to reach out, I always go through the channels, you know, to reach out.

You know that I'm not a person that I give compliments and you don't deserve it. I know. Thank you.

I appreciate it. And thank you. On the record, I want to thank Joshua Epstein, board member. He stepped down. And I want to thank him for his service in the time that he was here. He's off to college. Law school. He's off to law school. Yes, law school. So, you know. Be careful. Be careful. Take care of yourself. He did serve well. He stepped up as a member of the community and I want to thank him for that. We do have an opening. Who appointed? Commissioner Velazquez. Velazquez. Yeah. She's aware. She's aware.

Remind me next month to bring up the generator again. I'll call you before and then we'll add it if we have to. Okay.

we had two more outages in the past it was initially the main line from the theater theater issue that the both construction related just so you know each one construction related so it's not like it went out just because it went back due to construction adjacent construction or one two different construction areas that both affected the community center so one was in the town of service the other was in the town of bay harbor islands believe it or not oh really it wasn't only us it was a whole entire college block wasn't just again we're up for september the 15th yes okay

Motion to adjourn?

Yeah. I move so. Eagerly. Have a good