Parks and Recreation Committee - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the December 15th meeting of the Parks and Recreation Committee. Would you please call the roll?

Yes, Chair. Chair McBride?

Here.

Vice Chair Sanchez?

Here.

Board Member Olchek? Here. Chair, you have a quorum.

Thank you. Let me give everybody a chance to review the minutes. Mm-hmm.

CHAIR, THE AGENDA ORDERED A BUSINESS.

WE SKIP AN ITEM. KEEP ME STRAIGHT, BUDDY. RUDY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD THE ITEM ON THE SCOOTER AND... YES, I WOULD.

OKAY.

WITH OUR PREVIOUS CONVERSATION ABOUT THE SCOOTERS AND THE BIKE SAFETIES, THE DIFFERENT TYPE OF PROTOCOLS AND STUFF THEY HAVE, THE WORKSHOPS, I WANT TO ADD IT TO THE...

OKAY. IS THAT ALL RIGHT? CAN WE... YES.

MAY I HAVE A MOTION, CHAIR?

Oh, yeah.

Yes.

Second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries. Anything else? And this is for scooters and bike safety, correct?

Scooter and bike safety. Perfect.

That will be added as item 5A under new business.

Can we discuss Surfside Santa briefly at some point? How's he doing? Yeah. Good. Real good. He's busy. He's, uh, yeah, we just want to talk about the Suicide Santa. Okay. Would that be 5B?

It'll be 5B. I will need a motion.

I will.

To discuss Santa. Yeah.

Second the motion?

Second. Second.

Okay.

Mr. Santa is second in motion, correct?

Yes.

Yes.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? That will be as item 5B, Discussion on Community Center Santa. Is that what it is?

Yes. Is that what he's called officially?

I'm not sure.

He was once called the homeless Santa. All right.

Who will respond to the motion?

Ms. Olsher. Hello.

Yes, Chair. I only have a motion. I don't have a second to approve the minutes.

We're still reading.

Hi.

Yeah, sorry. I wasn't here.

Okay.

If I read it, I won't sign it, so a second.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Motion carries.

All right. 4A, Carlos.

Yeah, so chart of head counts for November, our averages are at 40. I talked to them last week, and we're currently working with them so we can implement a GPS-based rider tracking system. Right now they have it previously in their old bus, but they're trying to get it to the current school bus they have now. So that's what they're working on now, so we can provide updates to the parents.

The school system also has that. It's a good system and the parents do use it. Yes, they do.

To see whether their bus is going to be late, early.

Did you discuss anything about them putting aid on the bus?

They actually had a conversation the last month I believe that we might move aside from the charter bus and pass it on to the school. And they might run the service for us.

Who brought that up? Mario. Mario is... Tell me the truth. I do. He gets that, the man needs to be hired for life. The school board doesn't do school buses unless you're two miles outside of your home to the school sites. But, hey, he might know.

It was something, it was a conversation with the mayor, too. He actually had it on the agenda at the last official meeting.

Actually getting school board to go to Bay Harbor. Okay.

So what was the headcount? It's averaging at 40.

Is that normal?

That's about right.

Yeah, it's usually around 40. I mean, at the beginning, we're capping at 35. But with the new larger bus, 40, 45-ish. And then it holds up to 55. Vending machine? Yeah. So for vending machine, ice cream, we sold a total of 535 ice creams. Wow. Beverages we sold 362, and snacks we sold 107, with a total revenue of 536. 576? 36. Is there any more motion toward other vendors trying to

Going to the kiosk and... Not that I haven't been... Yeah, no.

Is it still out for bid? The concession thing?

So many... I go to the beach chair concession and so many people don't want to have a concession here. They don't eat the type of food in the... So they would actually like to get real food back.

For years we've been dealing with in and out of people. It's just not enough to make a living off it. How many people are at the pool today? Some days it's packed. Some days there's nobody there. You have to be prepared.

I take that blow. Yeah.

There was also, for years, it was reliable and it was a reliable service. There were, I could think, 10, 20 years where it was always someone there. Correct. And you could get a hot dog and ice cream and say hello to the same people. You know, these are different times. Perhaps the facility is certainly, the facility is different. I haven't actually been inside. I remember the old, it's minimal.

Does it have a grill? Somebody, again, from this weekend, from the beach, asked if it had a grill. They were thinking, could it do quesos? interest in that. I'll tell them it does happen. Maybe Jigteeth said.

Right, because the call went out some time ago.

It's been off and on for a long time.

Can you put it in again? It's still out.

It's still out. The bid is still out. The advertisement to bid.

Where do people see the advertisement? In the Gazette? In the website. In the website. Can you put it in the Gazette?

I could ask them to do that. Yeah. There's something that could be done on social media with Cindy.

Cindy runs our communication department. Yeah. But it's, she's, I've seen it. I know it's been out. Yeah. It's displayed.

How many people go on the website?

No, but she's been on social media last year as well. And at first it was proposed that it was on the, but just a lot of bids, a lot of interest hasn't.

Can we do it again?

Thank you.

Senior trip. So we have an upcoming trip this Wednesday to the Bayside Marketplace. Seniors will be able to enjoy the marketplace from 12 to 2. And then at 2 p.m., they're going to do the Minute Road for the Iceland Queen to do the 90-minute boat tour. And after that, we'll be returning back home. And then we have the brunches. We have one scheduled for the 9th. Martha, George told me you had a guest speaker for us. If you could provide the contact information for us so we could reach out to him.

Who is it? I spoke to Tina Hall.

Yeah.

And I asked her whether she knows who will be moving. for the next election so that some of the people would come and find out, you know, most of the people don't even vote anymore. So she says the only one that she can reach out is Gustavo, who is planning to run also. I said, well, if we have two of these rooms, and you can find those two over for next month, at least we're going to gather more interest in the people that are here. So she said she would want to talk to Gustavo to see whether he will agree and that's why I haven't given the name.

Do we know from Sandra how many people have applied so we could approach them?

I asked her and she's, I mean I asked Tina and she says so far she does not only, she says she has heard that

When is the deadline for that?

Run for office? Yeah.

Qualifying starts the 13th of January. Qualifying? Yeah, qualifying. But so far we have not received anything.

So that's hard.

Oh, and she said that also Lanzmann has talked about it.

Yes, he has.

It's a captive audience.

He asked me to endorse him. I was not able to do that. Well, I just told him, we have two now, then we have to give her here for next month, another two, so that if people, I mean, most people are not even interested in voting anymore.

I think it would be fair, though, when you have all the candidates.

Yeah, but what are all the candidates that are already going? We don't know anybody else besides Tina and Gustavo. There's somebody in my building. Oh, you know that he or she's going? Who is that?

The guy with the white dog.

I'm sorry. If I may ask pretty fast, you're trying to have, can you say one more time what you're trying to do?

We're trying to have speakers in the brunch.

And speakers that will be running. Speakers that will be running in the election? And when will this brunch be?

It's January 9th.

Okay.

The Bayside trip?

If it's okay, I will have to check with Sandra because that's what I'm going to, I don't know if that's allowed unless they say that they're running and I think they have to give us the communication that they're running. So I'm going to mention this to Sandra and can we just put a pin on it regarding the speakers until I speak to her and then we can talk with Rudy?

Okay.

Yes, because there's certain documents they're not allowed to post any signage outside of their homes or they're running unless they are actually running and it's official. I think that's what it has to be done. So let me speak to Sandra and make sure that everything's in order in order to do that.

Okay, that sounds perfect.

Yeah, through the chair, just the clarification.

Is there a backup speaker or bingo?

I just... I talked to George and I said that Josephine was not, I mean, it's not anything that brings education. I mean, we are made scholars. We just need people that would tell people some of the new things that we have in town or to acquaint them to the benefits.

No, I think of health care. And there's a new health care clinic that just opened up. And I don't think they've got any press. I stopped by there. Maybe they can present their credentials and what they can offer. I have the contact name. Because they do a lot of things there. But they're the only ones in Florida that are accredited by the national something that slips my mind, but I recognized it. So I mean, those are important credentials to know. all the different things they could do, the health care, the... Exactly, yeah. Because that's educational. That's a very good idea. So that's a great idea. Yeah, absolutely. Would you guys be interested more in like an individual just helping

that's us parks and recreation would you would you guys be interested in more so like just someone sharing like promoting the

the town activities or events? Or would you like something more educational in the sense that you want a doctor maybe to come in and talk about healthy living or different medical fields?

I think that everything would be interesting.

Or fitness related, something of that nature. What do you think would be the interest?

I think that medical is a good idea. And I think that educating people to vote is a good idea.

Because educating somebody to vote, we could do that internally. I mean, we could speak to Cindy, we could speak to Sandra, they could share information on, like, what the voters need, or what entitled, or, like, if you're interested in running, like, what documentation you will need, and we could show you.

I saw that since... Now we can do internment, that's not... Yeah, well, I saw that since, for two sitting months, we have hired an educational in the luncheon. I spoke to George, and I said, I mean, I think that we need to bring someone. He says, I don't have anybody in mind. And I said, well, I don't know, but I think that it's interesting for the people to find out what Surfside offers. So the only one that I can think of that is coming every month is peanuts. So maybe if she gives a five-minute presentation, and then I don't know who else, she says, well, I can contact you. Anyone I can contact is Gustavo. I don't know about anybody else. I said, OK. So then we talk to the people, and then we can start the program of having speakers, not just bingo.

But I don't think they can promote themselves that way.

No. Through the chair, if I may. I think if you want to have a speaker that will talk regarding elections in general, I feel like the best outcome, just because you don't want to have any, you know, anything that might be a little too delicate of information or anything like that, I think it would be best to maybe contact the elections department if they have anyone available. We did have somebody come, I believe, two weeks ago that they gave kind of like a 12-hour class, yes, for people that are interested in running. And I did speak to him, and they don't come down here every time, so they just did that very recently. If you will have to have a speaker, it will be the best elections department, but elections departments are very busy. It's very hard to get a speaker. If you want to have somebody speak on elections, I don't know if the best way will be to have a candidate.

And then speak to the people from the health. I mean, I... Yeah, they just haven't done so, people.

I would be interested.

What about past elected officials?

I'm talking about the health care facility. But for elected officials, maybe closer to election time. Try to get somebody, the election people, not somebody that's running.

Yeah. Mayor Novak, that was in office for 14 years, could certainly talk about the process, and how important it is, and what kind of things does an elected official do in a town that's eight by eight.

But they may have some kind of partiality, one way or the other. Not that they're running, but... Anyway, that's my take on it.

I haven't been there also. Anyone that is actively campaigning and has qualified as a candidate, it's probably best for the seniors to meet with all of them at the same time.

Because I believe that if you had, Joe, put in paperwork, I'm going to run, And there was also two others that you would have to invite them all.

I agree, and I even asked her, do you know anybody else? She says, I have heard, she didn't know, about Lanzmann and about Blumfeld. About who? The one that used to be here, the manager.

Oh, oh, oh.

Mark Blumstein. His brother?

Oh, Blumstein. Mark? Mark?

I don't know. Well, maybe it's, do you? These brunches are every month. Yes, sir. So maybe it's a little early for that. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. For the elect, you know, let people get their paperwork in and then probably on with it. More because I'm tired of seeing these elections that cost the town a lot of money and having a couple hundred people come out. Exactly. Right.

I can clarify. May I speak with the town clerk before we move forward with this idea just to see what's possible but might not be allowed? Yeah. Thank you.

Let's get back on agenda.

March meeting will be the day before the election. For us, yes.

So it would have to be February. First of all the senior trips The last senior trip was great. I went on it to the Cross Museum and it was fabulous. They had an exhibit with Rembrandt and it was really good. And I'm signed up for this Wednesday also, to Mesa. Yeah, I was going to hold it, but I'm leaving town.

I don't know if I'm going to want to work with George, because we will be seeing our next one around Seattle. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to be out of town.

There are some plays that we can enjoy. Julia? Julia? Anyway. And I just want to say, the last brunch I enjoyed. The food was great. Well, they always have very good entertainment and everything.

And the bingo was fun. Yeah, but the same thing every month. Okay. Bingo.

That would be really great. It's right here. We can walk there. So seniors can know.

We can alternate. One bingo, one guest speaker, bingo, guest speaker.

And they take everyone's insurance. And like I said, they're rated really well. People don't know about them. I was talking to the ones. Okay. I'm done. Thank you. I'll give you the info. And I'm going on Wednesday also to Bayside.

I'm just waiting.

Let's move the agenda on. Senior programming is not the only thing that we need to talk about at these meetings.

I'm going to say it and I'm going to bring it out. I hear you. I hear you.

How many people do you have signed up for the trip? We have 17.

But usually we have many more.

Yeah, when it gets closer to the day.

Yeah, we usually will have it in 25 and 30.

Yeah, some sign up the day of. Winter Wonderland. Yeah, we just had our winter wonderland yesterday. We had over 1,000 residents. Overall, it was a great success. We gave over 450 totals to the kids and received just great feedback along with the residents.

It was... No accident reports, no incident reports.

No, it was... You know, well-attended, and thank goodness, you know, I wrote to you today. When that man called for a 90% rain chance, I'm saying it can't. It can't rain. And nothing happened. Not a drop. It was sunny. Yeah. A little hot, but we'll take it over rain. Yeah, for sure. No, but it was nice. The activities were nice. You got feedback from the guests. Yeah.

Yeah, we had a lot of great feedback. They liked the snow, they liked the ice skating we did this year.

Yeah.

Yeah, we were very, you know, fun time.

Yeah, good to share.

I got there very early. a few minutes after it started, then I went to church and I came back again. And it was really great. However, when I came back the second time, Santa was really sweating and really hot.

It was hot out there.

And we ran out of water. So I don't know. How do you plan on how much water?

We put out 500 waters. I know. But those things are hard to predict because we don't know our attendance. That's why we don't have an RSVP prior to know exactly how much food or how much.

I think he ran out of toys too.

It's open to the public and we had over 500 toys as well.

Yeah, I know. But the water's important. The vendors get dinged on the tour sport events if there's not enough water. So I'm just saying. I know it's hard to predict, but you can always store the water if you have too much.

personally kind of bothered me a little bit when you see children getting out of very expensive cars and getting a toy. But it's what we do. Either that or they can, but it's, I think, do we also give, were there leftover toys at all? Food, giveaways. But it was a good event again. Correct. And I like the little bounce house and the little slide, so the little kids could really participate too.

Can I add that... Also, non-residents really enjoy the event at a time when there's a lot of visitors. We had people from up north with little kids that were really impressed. They thought it was fantastic. They made the most of it. And so it's a really good promotional event. We want people to come to Surfside, stay at the hotels, stay with the residents, and so it's for them also. Because it's open to the public, it's a good promotion for them.

You have no count to say how many people were residents and non-residents. That would be really difficult to do. I knew you were clicking, coming in the gate.

That's the total thing. The giveaways we have, Carlos and his team have specific guidelines. We have to check them in, and only Surfside Residents gets our toys and giveaways. But to the public, to go get a waffle in Brown's house, that's... Again, it was...

Kids are going to come from all over the town. I know they're great. You know, you had the activity. That was a short time ago you had the other activity. What was before that? Halloween?

Halloween.

Halloween.

So you've been activity since you got here. Since I got here. And the memorial service for the kids that were lost. Mm-hmm. Could you see the facility? Yep. You couldn't do that before there?

No. We got a lot of pushback building that building, but I think it was a great thing. Winter session programming.

What's new in it? Well, yeah, Wednesday, we're four in a February, where registration is opening. We have expanded our athletics to go year-round now, instead of just doing it by seasons. Before, it would be soccer in the December and January, and basketball now, it's year-round. And we're trying to act to explore more adult and senior programming. We are adding a new Thursday class for the January session with Yen. So she will be there. Oh, she is? You got her? Yes. Good. And we're actively looking to add more as well.

Great. I just got another contact for you today. Awesome.

All right. I did want to ask, what would you guys feel about registration costs if we were to, let's say, unite it? Right now we do eight weeks, but we're getting a lot of pushback that why don't we just continue the whole 60-week session? It's just the prices will go up, so I just want to see your feedback. Instead of someone paying $300, they'll be paying $700. It will be 16 weeks.

8 and 8? At the moment it's 8 and 8?

Right now it's 8 and 8 and they have to register for each. Now it will be a one-time payment for the whole session.

I like the idea. Have the parents been asking for that?

They've been asking for the whole session, just we don't know the feedback on the fees. Because right now, they're paying $300 a kid. It'll be $600 to have two, three kids. It'll be like around $2,000 a day. Yeah.

But they do it anyway, half and half. So why not just do it? Yeah, sessions.

So why not just do it? Yeah. Exactly.

I think that's good. Could we have a choice? I think we could do it either this way or the other way.

We'll have to look, yeah. We'll have to look if that system allows us, yeah. Because right now it says pay and then you register. I don't think we have like a payment plan.

So it's not a money problem.

They're just asking to have it one shot rather than... Yeah, they don't like the fact that they have to register every eight weeks.

Yeah, but I think that this would eliminate some people that may not be able to afford it. I don't think that's fair.

But they're going to do it anyway. They do half and half.

Well, it is very different for you to spend half the tuition or half later and pay one time.

So it is, would it be a, you could, if you, could you register for the full session and then make payments or is it?

Right now our system doesn't allow payment plans. We might be able to look into that, but right now they'll have to pay everything up front with our current system.

Which, that's what I asked about money, you know, because I think.

Because that total amount, that's what makes parents hesitant.

Yeah. Let's see if the system will allow us to make any adjustments to paying 50% and 50%. I mean, you've got to pay the coaches, you've got to pay the safety, you've got to pay our people to be there. I mean, it's good to have a menu.

I think that we shouldn't lock anyone out, you know, discourage people. But we should also encourage people, so more options is good. Is there any thoughts on sponsoring kids that maybe can't afford, or a handful of kids that would otherwise not be part of the program, participate?

Is there any scholarships offered by the town if a kid says, I can't, I want to play basketball, but my mom can't do it? Nothing on the way out.

Good for you. And are they getting good grades? These I don't know. I just gave them all the awards.

Let's think about it.

But the people approaching you were the parents, right? Correct, yes.

I mean, I don't think they're seeing the payment. They just want the thing to continue.

Maybe you give the other side where, yeah, you'd have to come up with a total amount when you register rather than half and half.

I don't think that we should kick out people that cannot do it. I just don't know very much about it.

Me too. I think even if it's just a couple of kids that should be able to be a part of, if they want to be. Is the eight weeks, does it overlap the two years, like 25, 26?

So our decision right now ends this Sunday, and the new one doesn't start until January 6th.

Okay, so it's just like two weeks. So it's not a tax thing or anything like that where people want to...

Can it be an option and maybe a little bit less if you pay him one big payment?

But we never had an issue with a parent paying the price. Yeah, yeah. Like, we never had a parent ask, like, oh, do you guys have a payment plan or a scholarship or, you know.

And they're the ones approaching you to do it.

Are we comparable in our cost to residents to a Miami Beach park doing the same activity? Or cost? I don't know. For a long time, it's my kids playing baseball and t-ball.

The only... Miami Beach, the only thing they have offering that we don't is probably travel soccer or travel basketball. Those programs are more pricey, but we do recreation. We don't do competitive like that.

And you said our prices are higher on the other side? For recreation.

Our prices are higher.

Correct. Is there a reason for that? The population?

Not population, but I guess the funding is just different how we budget and they budget. We have with our contractors and they have with their contractors. A lot of their recreational programs are internal. They have their recreation staff doing the program. We have contractor vendors. I have the coaches that are certified doing the program. But then they have travel. Their athletes, they have travel team wheel.

And do we vote for that or what's the end of the year? I mean, I was just opening the discussion.

I mean, I can look in to see if there's a payment plan, payment options, and then we'll just go from there. Probably just explain some options.

Is it working now?

It's working now, yeah, it's working now. A lot of parents now are actually coming to us and they want longer seasons, longer sessions. So we did add more programming now for athletics, but just wanted to open it up.

Is there a cap? We're opening up for basketball in January.

Is there a cap?

So it's a first-come, first-served. So if parents had the extended session already signed up for, they would go on to the next one.

They don't want to miss out on getting their kid in too.

We're not getting in or not getting in to a particular sport.

I mean, we do take daily attendance for our program, so we'll notice if a kid's missing, and we'll contact the parent or the coach and see what's going on.

Well, I'm just saying, I'm saying if I signed up for soccer in the fall, and now it ends, and basketball's starting in January, they want to... You have to sign up for basketball, it's a totally different program. Okay. It just doesn't roll over. So what's... So it's... Ah, I got you. So that really wouldn't take any matter. Okay. Winter camp is...

I reached out to the Y, but they're on vacation so they didn't ask me today. They're on vacation? Yeah, the guy we deal with is on vacation so he'll be back tomorrow asking for an update. Two weeks ago they only had five kids. I was asking for an update today and hopefully tomorrow he should get back to me.

Has that been promoted?

Yeah, it's been promoted.

More carefully on the flyers. 5A, Surfside Safety. I asked Rudy to look into, we have a serious problem in the residential area with children riding the electric bikes, electric scooters. They're not stopping at all at stop signs. They are doing way more than 20 miles an hour in the residential area. They're doing tricks and they're not wearing the approved, under 16 by state law they're supposed to be wearing helmets. They're supposed to be single rider on a scooter. Sometimes it's two. Sometimes it's a parent and a kid with no helmets. So I ask, this is going back to Tim about working together. We used to have a bike rodeo here years ago, bicycle rodeo. where the kids got, you know, they might have gotten a helmet if they didn't have one and it was sponsored by the town and one of the bike shops where they did tricks on their bikes or just learned about care of their bikes, checking the brakes and talking about, you know, they are not a vehicle on the street. These kids on these electric bikes are speeding and it is, it's dangerous. I'm a motorcycle guy myself, but I stop at stop signs. These kids are zipping right through everything.

Even along Collins and Harding. Right.

And I still don't understand why Publix allows them to come into the store Adults and children. Why CVS allows them, even though they have signage that says no scooters in here, they're bringing the electric scooters right into CVS. Like dogs. What did you come up with?

So, we found three different options that we could probably present to the community. One would be, obviously, an educational workshop. With Chief Press, we spoke about it. Probably doing outreach altogether with local PD. Another option is School Sync. It's a registered program. That would take more of the promoting base. We would have to get our kids involved, parents involved, try to make them all sign up and register. Youth Council. Youth Council, we can reach out to them, make sure they're contacting their friends, their families. This is all e-scooters and e-bikes. Pretty much if you have... Any of those vehicles, we will teach you how to register them to the town. We are aware of them. And then our last option would be a community write-up. Try to host an event that, you know, nothing big to that sense. Maybe we could make it just grow it from just town of Surfside residents and then see where it goes from there. We would just have it Surfside residents. We wouldn't try to... involve Miami Beach, or Bay Harbor, Bell Harbor, try the Mall Company, we'll just try to involve Hartford. So those are three options that we could probably look into. I wrote in full detail, one of my staff, Alex, You got the full details, the breakdown, the pros and cons of each option. And then whatever we could decide on, we could take and try to bring forward to, well, now the holidays, probably January, February.

Is the registration... process the same as sunny isles uses sunny isles beach because every scooter every e-bike everybody has to be registered they have to go over a safety protocol with that frank i think we would be best or i think it's ideal just to focus on our residents That's what I'm saying. But I want to mirror the system that they have in Sunny Isles Beach.

Yeah, we can copycat that. That's not a problem. But how they have it synced just for them, I think we should target the same way.

Oh, absolutely. I still think our police department should be involved. And I hate to say it, but some teachers make an example of a child in the classroom that's doing wrong, and they make an example out of that child. We need a couple of these children to be tagged. for their speeding.

So does Sunny Isles, do they get a sticker that says register then?

From what I understand, they have a registration process where the parents have to sign off on it. There's a safety, almost kind of a quiz, like a driver's test they have to somewhat pass. You know, I will wear a helmet. I will ride one person on an e-bike or a scooter. And then it's registered in the city. And they must have some kind of a decal or something.

Yeah.

You remember when you were young, you used to have registered your bike in day categories. I do, too.

That's what I was thinking of. Right? Yeah, I remember that.

You used to come to the volunteer fire company right here. And the volunteer fire company used to be right here where the gym is. And they would register your bike.

Don't we have to... Chief Press is on board.

He was on board with Tim.

I think, just a quick question. Do we have any actual data on incidents that have occurred within the town?

I have to check with PD about any reports that they have. Okay. Parks and Recreation, we haven't had any incidents.

That would be more of a PD report.

But I know it's taking effect because Vice Mayor, the last commission, she brought it up as well that it's becoming an issue.

And what are the policies or what does the county say about it? Because it's beyond our borders.

Well, we can't restrict anybody from having them.

No, no, I'm saying what is the county, what's in place now regarding...

If your town or city does have bicycle lanes, residents should... any bike should be on those lanes.

They shouldn't be... From what I read, with the state scooter and e-bikes, they're supposed to wear a helmet if they're under 16. They're supposed to follow the street signs, signage, stop signs, speed limits. Those e-bikes have speedometers on them. I guarantee you they're going faster than 20.

So when I was just, oh, I'm sorry. When I was just walking over to the art class today from the Four Winds to the center, some kid was coming down the opposite way on Collins on the sidewalk. And, I mean, that's not the bike lane, and it's not, and almost ran into me. On the sidewalk. I mean, I don't think they're supposed to be on the sidewalk.

It should be some kind of reflector. But can I ask you, while we're talking about kids... Can you close your name? Your name and address. Sorry, I've never been... That's okay. So while we're talking about only kids and only roads, that's what's happening for the bike paths and adults. And we drank electric bikes and scooters and it was very dangerous. Then it became much better in the last year or so. And I asked actually the police, why is it better? And they said, well, because we caged them. And now it's coming up again. And now there are not only, at that time there were only electric bikes. And now there are... Do you know what the commission did a couple of months ago on e-bikes on the path?

Well, they're on the hard pack. There's nothing on the walking path. If they're on the walking path, then they're outside of the thing.

But then how do you enforce it?

That's the point.

One police patrol on the beach, but it's...

Because our department can't give a violation or a citation, right? We don't have to.

No, no, no. That's a police issue.

That's why they need to be involved with the program. As an old-timer, one thing I've noticed, and I'm not sure how to address, is that most of these electric vehicles, including cars, are very quiet. You simply don't hear them. You know, a person on a bicycle 20 years ago was also very quiet. But they're going fast and you don't hear them. And they don't use their horn or anything. So this is, it's like an accident waiting to happen. So I don't have an answer, but I'm going to guess that there might be more incidents that are reported. Yeah, there's no easy answer to this one because it's part of modernity. They're out there. They're not going away. And at the very minimum, I think that people within the town should abide by whatever the state and county schools are. And if it means putting up some signage, I'm not big on too many signs, but that might be helpful. some signage that can alert the individuals, the people using these devices to be aware.

The signage would include saying that the consequences, because you're saying don't do this without saying otherwise you're going to be fined or whatever, you decide to say If you don't do that, nobody's going to pay attention. I mean, right now, if you walk in the hard part, you see that people don't pay attention.

The e-bikes. You can inform people, you can educate them, you get information out, but the worst offenders simply don't abide by any of those things.

People with SUVs aren't going to abide by them. But we have enough police on our streets that can handle that, but...

I think part of the education effort is to make people aware of the hazards that exist so that they have, what is it called, situational awareness, right? So just as you teach a kid to look both ways before you cross the street, I think everyone needs to be reminded of some basic things to prevent something happening.

Exactly. I think start by getting them registered is a great idea.

But I'd like to see a combination of the three. A combination of having parks do an educational workshop, offer a workshop for parents to come, saying that this is coming up, I'd like you to work with the police department to get this registration process started. I don't really know what it involves and I hope it's not in depth, but I think before we have a problem.

I think that if we would tie to the idea of getting registered to the program saying that that would be a part of the requirements, I think that would help.

Right, tied to the requirement that there will be a registration process in the near future that you need to come to this workshop to learn what it's about.

Exactly. And it's not for the, it's for the kids, but it's the parents that are... Yeah, but there's a proliferation of these devices and mobility.

And now with the construction going on, it's horrible. I mean, I have to walk... It's horrible to walk on cobbles, right. I have to walk on the half of the street just to go here, and I just came across the street. So, you know, how could you have the buses, the... The people that are walking, the people that are in the bikes, everybody, you know, it's very dangerous.

It's not just the kids that are riding these things. It's a lot of people that are working, you know, I see them parked outside of the audience. It's obviously a lot of the hostesses and waiters that are, it's an easy way to get to work. You only live down the street. It's an easy way to get to work. But they're zipping through.

So, what body would like the police require registration I mean we have to go there to in Sunday hours it's the police department yeah and and then to be to have a fine associated with it if you're not registered so there's actually an ordinance that already passed first reading you might be heard in January for second reading regarding

Let me read it. The title that we have so far, it might change. It might not be heard in January. It's been already advertised, but if it's not ready by then, then it might not be heard. But it's an ordinance of the Town Hall Commission of the Town Hall of Surfside, Florida, amending the Town Hall of Surfside Code of Ordinances related to regulation of traffic and vehicles, amending Charter 74, traffic and vehicles, Article 1 in general. regulations on American mobility devices, electric bicycles, and motorized scooters. So this is a commission already discussed in the past. It already passed first reading. It's up for a second reading hopefully January, but we don't know if it will be heard or not. But it's in schedule, but hopefully it will.

I appreciate you guys looking into it and keeping the ball moving. Set by the wayside for a little while, but I'm glad to see it's moving.

Did a particular commissioner, like, vice mayor sponsor that?

It was Vice Mayor Paul, I believe. Let me check the item.

Maybe you can...

But did she mention... No, this... I'm not sure if it was Vice Mayor Paul. I will have to double check. But I know that this is something that all the commissioners were in agreement.

And was part of the discussion in this the last meeting, did it involve getting registered?

This was not discussed last meeting. This was discussed, I want to say like three months ago. It was discussed a while ago and it was pushed back. Yeah, so I don't remember off the top of my head. I will have to check the minutes and see when we discussed it. The minutes are also available online if anybody wants to check them themselves.

Anything else? 5B Surfside Santa. What's up with Santa?

Santa is getting attention. Last year when it was put out, people noticed that it had been repainted. And they commented that it was repainted badly. Meaning the colors were off. Vitality was gone. It was a little dark? It was, it lost some of its, what's it called, you know, Pizazz? Some people said it was creepy.

No, I heard that also.

Yeah, I heard it from a bunch of people. And the quick fix last year was to kind of, you know, just dress them up a little bit, make it fun. But it's been a year now, maybe close to two years. And so I think because it has quite a legacy, and it's a holiday, we're going to keep using it. It's got durability. It's permanent. prop that is good every year.

It was a couple of years we lost it.

It was a major disaster in town where Santa was missing. Yeah, I mean, the skin color and the lips, the red lips, all that kind of stuff. I mean, obviously, we're not going to put a blue suit on him, but it's really the face. Yeah. And as much as people enjoy the sunglasses, I think we should, you know, he's deserving of a proper paint job with a good palette of colors, bring some life back to the eyes. It's not a big deal if the right person can handle that.

Is this something that would be out for bid?

You know, it wasn't out for bid the last time, I mean, that I'm aware of. I think it was just done in-house without any... We need a person like you. Perhaps. You know, there's an artist's broad entry, so it takes a little care in, you know, bringing him back with dignity. Some more traditional colors and...

So is he standing right now? He's out there.

He's out there.

So the creepy Santa's out there.

No, it's the Santa with the creepy paint job.

Okay. So when he comes down, before next year, we need a makeover.

I think it would be, it's the right thing to do. Go to the the Santa spot.

Where is he stored these days? He used to be stored by the trash trucks. Where's he stored? He's stored at the community center.

So you get together with your art friends and

It's up to the director. If you need my help with that, let me know. Oh, that's great. Thank you.

That's your department.

Chair, if I may. I did a very quick research on the minutes regarding the scooters. It was last run on September 9th. It was very briefly discussed because it was deferred. But they just discussed very briefly on the fees. And then I guess we'll hear more next time we discuss. But you're more than free to check the minutes online as well. You can let me know and I can let you know which dates they spoke on this specific item.

Okay. So we're going to recruit Oliver to need me to get paints or whatever we need. Clean them up a little bit? Zap them up?

It needs a little makeover.

It needs a little makeover. Because it happened again this year. So last year, it really didn't fly. This year, we have the same situation. It's an easy fix.

Chair, regarding the next item, I do have one public comment.

Okay. I'm here actually for one reason. because you're Park and Recreation Committee, I understand, and I read about it on the booklet.

Can you speak a little bit louder?

I'll try my best. My voice is low. So I said that I'm here basically for one reason, because it's Park and Recreation Committee. And I'm here because of your walking pass and what happened to it. So my question is, does any of you walk the walking pass? You do.

Did you notice what happened to it? the sand and the unevenness and actually some dog poop.

It became deeply discriminatory, deeply discriminatory. So what's going to be done about it?

So is the sand uneven? Is it not packed anymore?

It's like a beach. People, most people... What street is this on? It's between... The walking path. So the walking path, if you remember, will be between 88 and 96. Exactly half of it, so it's seven blocks. Exactly half of it, three and a half blocks between 89 and 90 and then to 93, I think. Maybe 93. But I think 93 became... was redone for unknown reasons.

Oh, that was a restoration for the dunes.

But it didn't restore the past. It just basically destroyed people, most people's ability to use it. Because now it's like a beach. You can't push a cart on the beach. I have very slight death problem, very slight. I'm very active, totally young, but I can walk. I walk half a block on that, and I get a back pain. People come to it. I see very young runners. They come to the beginning of the sand, go to the bike path, and then come back three blocks later. And non-disabled, I see a lot of disabled, because I've been walking to that path in the morning, in the evening, one hour in the morning, one hour in the evening. And I see a lot of disabled people that use it, that try to, after surgeries, try to move their legs, and that's it, because there are no bikes there, there are no scooters there, there are not a lot. The people for the most part don't do it, unless they really don't understand. But now...

So it needs to be leveled and compacted.

It has to be compacted, but it's exactly like the sand on the beach.

Beach, which is difficult to walk on.

Exactly.

And the last time I walked on it, there were a lot of people that liked to walk.

They liked to get their heart rate up. I mean, I say it's discriminatory about any people with having any slight physical problem, but I see many young runners get to that point and get the way, get around it.

So what... Do you think it was ruined because of the re-nourishment project? The dune re-nourishment?

No, it's two different things. And I know what you're talking about, but I usually start up from there and go up to the jetty and back. So I don't really go south, but I will tomorrow. There... The town had, with one of the new developers, it was in their development order to help raise the dunes. So that's part of what she's talking about. And it ended at 93rd Street. So it's higher. It's raised along with the dunes. They had to raise the dunes. And I don't know. I haven't been on that section. I haven't gone south yet.

It's exactly like walking on the beach.

Everybody's going for a walk in the morning. But whose responsibility is the walking path?

That's not Parks and Recreation's department. That doesn't belong to our department, Parks and Recreation. So I don't know exactly who, but if you share your contact information with me, I could follow up with you this week, and I could direct you to who it is.

I would be very grateful. Because I'll tell you, that walking path is the main, maybe not the main, but for many people, the main treasure of Surfside. And when you talk to people and you say, where do you live? Surfside. Oh, that's where that wonderful walking path is. And it's not unusable.

I noticed that even earlier, months and months ago. And I spoke to the one that was in public works around me. and that what he did is that uh he told me that he was going to request more sand so that they can put it and throw it down but they didn't come back but in the meantime he left or he was made to go wherever it is and nothing has happened but i did talk to him about this about 3, 4, 5, 1, 2, 3.

So if you, I'll leave my contact. Yeah, if you share your contact, I could follow up with you. Would you like me, I can give you my phone number right now?

So, I just, I want to... I used to beach all the time also. This is a case of unintended consequences, or no good deed goes unpunished. Because in the attempt to cooperate with the developers, the previous manager, I believe, made arrangements for the dune restoration. And the walking path happens to be adjacent to the dunes. It's part of the dunes. And they added sand, and they replaced all the posts. But you have to maintain a lower level on the lateral access to the beach. So what ended up happening is up and down, up and down. So if you're walking, whether you're young or old or whatever it may be, you now have to navigate. uneven path which is quite bad. So I think it's, I'm glad you're here and you're calling this out because not only is the path now a safety concern, and it wasn't, it didn't used to be, but in addition to that there's a mound East and West? No, there's a pile of sand that is intended to, you know, in the event of a storm surge, to... the water to go somewhere else, this pile of sand is now, interferes with disability, it interferes with emergency access, if someone, you know... Where is the pile of sand located? The pile of sand is, when you're approaching the beach, say from the hard pack, I think you know what I'm talking about. There's a pile of sand and they put some grass there and the kids play on it. I believe that this is the time now that the beach replenishing is taking place and there's quite a bit of disruption that we address this and fix it. And we fix the walking path, whether it's working with public works or working with with Durham or Army Corps, whatever is going on there right now, it's a mess. This is the time to fix this. And I think there's an urgency because it's not only, you know, I think that if you just go and you start packing it down, that's not the answer. The answer is to restore it back to the way it was. And if you need to raise the actual, you know,

Yeah. Okay.

Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Even on the commission, there's a directive to raise all of this. So first it started at the surf club. If you remember, there was that when you're going north and south on the walking path. It kind of elevates and then it went down. So the new developer where the collapse happened, the DMOC, they are being instructed to raise the dunes also. And it's moving north so that the whole walking path should be the same level. And as these dumpers come on, they are, it's in the plan, this zoning plan, To elevate, we have to elevate.

Elevate the dune. Yeah. But if they're going to have a walking path on the dune, it needs to be.

But you have to make sure it's safe.

Can we get some clarity? Is that actually in the plan? Because I'm not aware that there's a plan. It's just piecemeal.

It's on my commission. I'm just saying.

Yeah. I was here when the surf club raised it. It was continuous. It was uninterrupted. It was done right. This is not being done right.

So who's doing it?

Public works? When I don't do what's wrong, it's going to work. And he told me he was going to order whatever sand or whatever needed to be ordered so that he would take care of it. Now he left. I know that for months and months it has not happened. I am also one of those that I walk and then I go around and it's very uncomfortable. I never, never can walk in that park because To begin with, it's not easy for me to work.

This sounds like a manager issue. Yeah, now we're talking about how manager it can be.

To the chair, if I may, there was an ITV open for a dune restoration project, so we are, the plan is to do our tours for a company to come and do a dune restoration.

I couldn't hear your last comment.

There was an ITV open for restoration, so I believe that the town's plan is to outsource for somebody to come and do a restoration. There was a discussion last meeting with the town commission. We had a company, but The resolution was not approved by the commission, so I believe that I have to check what specifically they said, but I think it's going to be reopened.

Thank you. Also, in coordination with that, I was at the beach chairs Saturday and Sunday with the sand restoration, and I didn't know... whose responsibility, or if you can mention it, because where our community center concession is, nothing about them, but with the restoration just passed by, we have less space to put chairs, because now there's a cliff. And there's less space. So I feel like that restoration is going really, south also they they're not doing a good job so i don't i was hoping the town manager would be present but no i'd like it's a combination of i guess the beach path and and the beach where especially where the concession is it's really hard it's really hard when you debrief with the manager because i know they're using the sand like the beach chairs are using from like 90 through 17.

where the construction's happening. I know they're using that point right now, but obviously it's... No, it's where they always are that I'm talking about.

We can still use the space we were, but they needed... Well, the launch and restoration of the whole beach.

Wait, you're talking about the launch right behind the community center? The beach chairs?

The restoration just passed so that they're, like, finished. And it's a really bad job. Just like, I think it's similar to what you're saying. Yeah, it's already gone south. And you can't, there's no fences there, but you can't put the chairs there because now there's a cliff. They didn't smooth it out. They didn't do something right.

Who is from town supervising?

But that was my next statement, like who is supervising? It's not Parks and Rec.

It's not Parks and Rec. I know.

I just thought you would say. I'll find out.

But it's not our department. That's why. Back to the meeting. I'm going to direct you to please speak to the manager and get back with us and the resident, of course.

Sorry. It's a good melody. We can bear it. Where we are

aware of, I thought that you would be not in charge of the beach and the nourishment and stuff like that, but you would help to be aware of the maintenance of the walking path and the hard pack. You're not. So we don't know whether it's Public Works, whether it's Durham, whether it's

When the project started, we had our beach chair service out there, so we had to redirect them. Thank you, she helped us. We had a few spaces added because we had that project, our construction next, so we were able to put some beach chairs on that side. But obviously, the footing and the mileage, it's inconvenient for everybody. But it's not, that project's not directly under us. It was something...

Let me share with you something, what I did about the months ago. I saw the email addresses on the town website and I sent to every email address which was mentioned a question. Who is in charge? Who is supervising? What's going to happen? Got an answer from one of the email, unfortunately, I don't remember the name, didn't take it with me. Said, are you asking about who did it? And whoever wrote back to me, gave me the name of the private company who did the restoration. And I wrote back, I'm not asking about who did it, I'm asking who's in charge. And I never got any response.

We need to know who's going to make it right.

Right, exactly.

We paid for this, or the state paid for it. It needs to be done right.

They said it was done by private funds.

Well, the developer, Ocean House, is sponsoring it. They're sponsoring it. Yes. The beach renourishment. Yes. They're paying for it like in their development. But my additional question is like who is doing it? Because when I was on the sand committee, when the surf club had issues with the sand that they put on the beach, I went to Tallahassee and Surfside and working with Dr. Beach, we now have a guaranteed size and color and consistency of any kind of sand that should be put on their beach. And I'm not sure that that's the right sand. So I'm really concerned. We have a resolution that states we need a certain color, size, green, and who's doing this?

Are you talking about the walking path or the beach itself? The beach. Okay, just on the walking path, what I've seen of the town, their presence is the code people from the building department. They're there every day. So if the work was done and paid for by private, by the developers, the raising of the path, There's a bunch of stuff going on here. You're concerned about the walking path. I am also. because it's something that happened, and it seems like it's just now settled and people are accepting it the way it is, but it really is unacceptable. People complain, but nobody wants to spend time to come here to discuss it.

You guys have to direct these questions to Public Works. We don't have answers for you guys because it's not our department.

But I'm asking you to go through the manager because he would direct.

Well, it's going to be Public Works.

Because... The beach chairs are on a... So that's a concern.

I could follow up with the Director for Public Works and I could get some type of answers. And then we could, because we're just sharing ideas and thoughts, but it's not really important.

What's your name? My name is Rudy. Okay, thank you. So I'll be waiting for your... Yes, ma'am.

Sir, did you have something you wanted to speak on? No.

You brought the armed guard with you to the parks meeting? No, it's too shaky to walk on. Next meeting date?

Next meeting date will be on the 21st, January 21st.

And that's the change? That was the change. We did one change because of the holiday, then we did another change because the Parks and Recreation Director couldn't make it on the 20th, and he requested to change it on the 21st, and you guys told me that it was okay, so that's why we made it to the 21st.

January. January, so not Wednesday. January 21.

Tuesday.

Where are you going? Wednesday.

Yes.

It was changed to Wednesday.

Any other comments? 2026.

I put 2025 back.

Motion to adjourn. Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?