Resort Tax Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody, and welcome to our monthly tourist board meeting. Today being August 3rd, can the clerk please call the roll?

Yes, Chair. Board Member Kinzer?

Here.

Board Member Lanzaman?

I'm here.

Board Member Martinez-Obson, Vice Chair Karp?

Here.

Chair Toriumen?

Here.

Chair Jehova-Corom?

Thank you very much. Before we continue, I'd like to note the presence of our liaison, Commissioner David Weingart is present. And also in the audience, we have the young lady named Barbara Cohen, who is decorating our presence today, aside from the town clerk and the town attorney. Welcome, all. All right, I've said enough. We're gonna go to the agenda. And we are going to go... The agenda and order of business. Any changes to it? Anybody? No? Good, all right. I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that Frank Tigres is here too.

Thank you, Mr chair, one thing for the agenda I'm not sure that the vendor for singer fest will be able to make it after all I did put it at the end of the agenda if they can't make it, we may have to defer it till next month perfect.

Okay, so that's one item that may be deferred. Anybody else. All right, so now we would move to the third item is the town commission liaison report. Mr. David Wangaduron.

Good evening, everyone. There are a number of items that at the last meeting was asked of me to bring back to the commission. As you all know, if you've been following, the commission has had a loaded agenda, but it's been submitted to the clerk to be added to our next scheduled meeting to address the three items that were channeled through me for that. So I look forward to bringing back responses for a number of items related to one of the items on the Agenda 7B regarding the 4th of July celebration. So that is not forgotten. It was requested and it will be on an upcoming next town commission meeting.

Good. Anything else?

I look forward to listening and partaking through the evening.

Okay, good. Thank you and welcome again. Next item is public comments. Barbara? Barbara? Get to the microphone, please.

Chair, I have one speaker card for Ms. Cohen for item 7D. 7D? I believe it would be appropriate if she speaks under item 7D, unless she would like to do it now.

She doesn't want to talk now. Well, this is public comment, so people have to speak first.

Barbara Cohn, 9341 Collins Avenue. I wanted to bring something up about sargassum. OK. In yesterday's New York Times, there was an article about Ms. Scheinbaum from Mexico. She has a $115 million plan to reduce sargassum. It's a big problem in Mexico. Tourism is a very big item for Mexico's economy. It would be nice if we could dovetail on it, or whatever the expression is, and follow through with this.

I'll give Frank the article.

Thank you. It's actually a very interesting point that you're bringing up. Thank God we're at the tail end of it, I believe, from the people that are much wiser than myself in marine biology. But I got a number of emails about it. And while everyone recognizes it's a natural phenomenon that's going to happen, it's happened every year, this year was probably the heaviest of recent history that... heaviest heaviest and this extends all the way down to Mexico I was in Mexico just two months ago and it was pretty bad there they had manual labor scooping it up constantly I inquired with with town manager and town staff what was being done so the beach right now is passed by by the county and five days a week, and we are supplementing it originally three days a week, and then as it got worse, up to five days a week now. So we're supplementing it. But I then questioned what was actually being done with this orgasm, because it wasn't being removed, it was being folded, as they called it. It's like mulched back into the sand. And it's a process they're doing along. There's a lot of environmental stuff, apparently.

Jerry, if I may, if I can ask Board Member Lanzmann to speak into a microphone.

We've experienced this for many years. It's a live, living organism. You can't just kill it, so to speak. So you have to fold it, incorporate it into the sand. Bell Harbor has a worse issue near the jetty. They are doing what they can. But yes, it's being in Florida.

It's been like that for years, except that this year has been the worst. Correct.

It started being bad last year.

Last year? Okay.

but perhaps it's something because you mentioned it impacting tourism and I saw on social media people saying it's not the time to go to Miami so that definitely is impacting tourism and I think perhaps it would be appropriate for it to fall somewhere under this board to explore perhaps some aggressive stuff we could do for next year. We're at the end of the season this year. Maybe too late to execute.

Be prepared.

Be prepared. And maybe add manual labor where we're actually scooping up as much of it as we're allowed to. Because I do know they haul off a good amount of it also.

This is the first year that I've driven through Bell Harbor and smelled it on Collins Avenue. It's horrendous.

Is there any system in place right now to address what we're doing?

Ms. Scheinbaum is investigating what to do about it, but if we could connect with her. That would be ideal, actually. Her party, whatever.

It does affect tourism, without a question. For sure. Thank you, Barbara, thank you very much. Okay, anybody else? No, okay. I will move to the next item, which is approval of the minutes. Do I hear a motion to approve, to leave?

I'll move to approve.

Do I need a second?

I second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Nay. Motion carries. I apologize.

Thank you. Thank you. All right, now the next one, which is very important, is the resort tax collection and vacancy report. Frank?

Thank you, Mr chair. I do have the report up on the screen. And, um, as, as I had indicated in my email to the board, um, again, I'm only showing you the accommodations, the hotel side, because we have too many restaurant payments currently missing, um, from. you know, the restaurant side. The good news is we did connect with a few of the partners that have outstanding balances, and we have worked out payment plans for a couple of them. We still have to do some more outreach with finance and code to get the other folks to do the same, but we're confident that they will. Unfortunately, I don't know what the reason is, but quite a few restaurants that haven't paid, but hopefully we're going to get those payments online pretty soon. Good news looking at the hotel site is that we are up a very healthy 7% over the previous year and almost 13% over 2024. So that is great news for our hotels. Then as far as the business district, I don't know that we've had any newer openings since July. I think Bebe's Burgers was just opening then, and I think they continue to be our most recent opening. And yeah, I think that's it as far as the report.

Frank, let me ask you a question. It kind of bothers me. On the tourist tax dollars, delinquent, These are amounts that are not paid by the operator itself, but it is brought to them by the tourist tax dollars that they collect. So I don't understand. They collect it and they keep the money. I mean, this is not legal to begin with.

Yep. As far as I understand, they should be, you know, coming every month to pay that portion of whatever their, you know, gross sales are. And a number of them have, you know, let it go for many months. There's some restaurants that will have a month here and there. But then there's some that are, you know, not paying for many months.

And do we have an approximation? I mean, I know it's hard to tell.

No, I can probably follow up with a rough estimate, you know, maybe tomorrow or the next day. I'll have to sit with finance to see if we can calculate what, you know, what that might, missing revenue might look like to give you a sense. I don't think it'll be astronomical, but I think it will, you know, make the difference between a positive and a negative differential when we look at the chart, so.

Okay, great, thanks. I have a question. Sure. Okay, one second. We all do.

David? Yeah, through the chair. Frank, is there like a fee if they don't pay on time like condos assess?

Yep, I believe there is a penalty if they don't pay. Again, I can't speak to how exactly this is being enforced, but from what I understand, there is a penalty if you don't pay. And obviously that makes sense. If you remember, I think I told this board that a few months ago I had a call with the city of Miami Beach saying, and their finance department to talk to them about their collection process and what their process looks like. Theirs is a lot more automated. They've got a software that notifies all the partners. They have an incentive if they pay early and then they have increasing penalties if they pay late and at a certain point, you'll get a warning that you'll be shut down, you can't continue your business. I think they have a mechanism in place to prevent this kind of situation from happening.

In your opinion, what will be the process for us to put that in place?

When I spoke with our finance department, they told me they had it in their plans to move towards a new system that would be software-based, that would be automatic, so it wouldn't be a collection manual alerts. I don't know where they're at in the process now. I know, obviously, we still have a number of vacant positions in the department. I know they recently engaged the firm to complete the audit. That was most pressing, but hopefully that is still in the works. I haven't been told that anything has changed, but the timeline, I'm a little bit unsure. I could come back to the board next month and give you a timeline on what they estimate, you know, that'll look like.

They're good.

Thanks. Your chair. Yes. Frank. So you mentioned that there are numerous businesses that are behind. Are any of them ones that are no longer in existence?

Yes. So there is one that closed in April and then they owe us two months, you know, the two months before that. So I did ask finance that, Hey, you know, they closed, but they still owe us.

And, and forgive me in my ignorance too. Do they have to get a business license through the town?

Yes.

So if they're not paying, can we technically suspend their business license?

I'm speaking in ignorance, but it may be. It may be.

I'm being dead serious. You owe us that 2%. You have to pay the state to operate. If you have to pay us to operate and you owe us those resort taxes, there needs to be a, I'm sorry, but a three strikes and you're out. There's no reason you're getting your license if you owe us money. Just like if I owed parking tickets

You have to pay.

Right. You have to pay. So I think that if we can find out how to be a little less lenient, as horrible as that sounds, but it's the cost of doing business in this town.

Jocelyn, the problem has been not so much the basic problem is that we have not had full staff in the Treasury Department. No, I know. And unfortunately, it was left hanging and we had also extremely important to complete the audit. And that had priority over anything else that we had problems in the town. So therefore, yes, it's the ownership has to be on the business itself, and like I said before, these funds are not coming from them. These funds, they have collected from the patrons. So therefore, I don't see why they don't pay on time. But they can use these funds to operate further their business, which is not right. And you're right 100% as to there's gotta be a mechanism to make these people pay. And I think that once we have the Treasury Department, in place with the people, I think that we'll be able to then be on board and current. Go ahead.

I'm also concerned about the businesses that owe us and are no longer, they're defunct. Unfortunately, it's only one. But still, unfortunately, word travels. And so if that one gets away with the fact that they didn't pay, then this one tells his friends. So is there any way with the defunct business where we could do? I mean, yes, they should have the money. But if it becomes so much of a time crunch, if we can give them a lump sum and try and collect as much as possible before they potentially go into bankruptcy?

I wonder if we should involve the commission on this.

May I put in my two cents? Go ahead. Through the chair.

Go ahead, Fred.

And I've thought about this. Frank actually sent some information to me because I asked about it last meeting in terms of the businesses that are late and haven't paid and the two that have some negotiation going on. And it is somewhat distressing for a lot of the reasons the chair brought forward. This is a 2% tax that the patrons pay, that the business has nothing to do but pass it through to the town and... whether it's mechanics, whether it's oversight, whether it's code, there's obviously a lot of things broken here. If the manager was here, I would have asked him to step up and say, hey, but I guess the manager's out the door next week, so we have no manager, we'll have an interim. So I'll ask Frank, who's town, our commissioner here, how to approach this, And one of my questions for these businesses that are behind is why? Are they having problems maintaining a positive cash flow to stay in business and they're keeping this 2% for operational purposes? I want to know that because if that's the case, we have an issue that we should try to work to help them solve. If it's simply their interest in maintaining a higher profit, then it's a problem, but And Jocelyn, going after a dead horse is probably not gonna be, well, I think it's Josh's Deli that's gone, and they left, I think, with some distress, they left their equipment behind, it looks like they're being summoned, so I don't know that that's necessarily an effective use of time, but I would like the outgoing businesses to be polled to some, I'll do it, hey, I'll volunteer, commission, Mr. Manager, oh, no, Mr. Manager, Madam Attorney, I'll do it. Because I'd like to understand, is there a reason that's sensitive because they don't feel they can pay this because it's, again, simple pass-through. You collect it, you give it to us, like sales tax to the state. The state is not gonna say, hey, it's okay, keep that money. We want you to be in business. They're gonna say, pay us or we will shut you down. So, yeah, it's something that is, it's a fairness issue. It's equity between all the different restaurants. Obviously, the hotels, that's big revenue, big dollars. They're not gonna hold things back because that would be catastrophic if their business was affected. but let's understand the dynamics behind it. So yes, commission, town, whoever. And again, I'll volunteer to go do this canvassing if it's so deemed worthy of the town of Surfside.

Okay, very good.

Chair, I have one more question. Is it also, is it an issue of they have to come in and pay this tax where like they can pay quarterly to the state. I just want to make sure that it's not.

The state is separate. Right, but what I'm saying. They have to pay their tax to the state separately. This is tourist tax dollars. Has nothing to do with their sales.

No, no, no, no, but our system. Is it that they have to come in here? Is it that we don't offer an online? I'd like to know what the what the obstacles in front of us are. Because if it's that somebody can't give them the staff to come in and pay then maybe we set up an online option for them. I want to make it as easy as possible so that we don't have any roadblocks like that.

Right through the chair. I just want to make a parenthesis comment. This is not a new issue. This has been going on since way back I remember. There's always been people that have been delinquent and we've had to run after them to collect and so on and so forth. So this is not something new. What's new is the quantity of businesses that are delinquent. That's new. And that's what we need to...

And to the chair, I think it does come down to the enforcement. I think the reason you're seeing more is because, you know, if I'm one of these restaurants and I don't pay for one or two months and I'm not hearing from the town two or three months later, at a certain point, I might stop wondering, hey, maybe they'll never ask me for this money and I can just play dumb. I think it's coming down to enforcing enforcement and following up. Now we did identify all of the ones that are currently delinquent. So I think from this point on, you know, obviously finance and code will be tasked with reaching out to them and setting up payment plans. But, you know, right now in my head, I know who all of them are. So when I get this report on a monthly basis, if I see anything new, I mean, I'm going to be the one that's flagging it, you know, right off the bat so that we don't have this issue where it's, you know, Going unnoticed for multiple months. Yeah, not this many until you know, we have a more robust finance team But I'll keep an eye out to make sure that we don't have anybody falling behind for many months One more thought to the chair I'll volunteer Commissioner wine got myself to be the collection agency for the town of Surfside We'll start tomorrow

I want to do in-person visits. We'll go personally to visit, and we'll take care of this.

Through the chair, I think it's best just for Fred, I mean for Frank, just to come back next month and see what the finance department says. And then we can, because...

But I thank Fred for volunteering. We will take that into consideration next month. when we get a better updated report. Thanks a lot.

Okay, let's move on.

Anything else? All right. Frank, anything else? That's it? Thank you very much. Thanks for keeping an eye on this because it's important for us. Next item is discussion items, event recaps. Summer Sunday's final watch party, Frank.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just wanted to have a quick recap on the July 19th Summer Sundays event. I know some of you were there, and I thought it was a very successful event. First of all, everything was controlled. We didn't have any unruly soccer fans out there or any unnecessary ruckus. Everything was pretty well organized. The beaches were Pretty small and slanted, but that said, we were still able to set up the screen and set up the seating. It was a very hot day, but attendance was still pretty solid. Every available seat was pretty much taken, and then we set up some tents off to the side, and all of that was pretty much also taken up. Yeah. you know, very good in terms of attendance. It was easy to watch the game. The food was also quite good. We had both kosher food from Walk and Roll and on-site freshly made paella, which went nicely with the theme, Spain being in the game.

Congratulations to Spain, still excited.

It was a pretty exciting game. But all in all, a great success, I thought. And we do have, if we want to just quickly watch the second, it's a Surfside film that does have a bit of a recap on the event.

Summer Sundays look a little different around here. We lose track of time. We stay out a little longer. We meet people we didn't know yesterday. And laughter fills the spaces between us. The beach isn't just where we go. It's where life happens. It's our backyard, our town square, and sometimes our stadium too. From ocean dips and sunrise to final resource by sunset. This isn't just where we live. It's where our best memories are made. Summer Sundays. It's a Surfside thing. Come visit Surfside.

Okay. Good clip.

Go ahead.

I thought it was excellent. The setup, the screen, the people that came.

I'm sorry, that must be the next video.

And I especially like the food choices, but people were watching so much, so Sarah had the... The people that cook come and serve. You know, they brought out food so people didn't have to miss any part of that game. That's good. So they had nice kids activities. You know, the beans and rice they were sifting through. Good. It was very good. Well done. Well done.

Frank, 4th of July?

Through Chair, I do have one thing to say. And please, I don't mean any disrespect. I would be just upset if a... other religion was proselytizing, their town events, if people do not want a raptive fill-in, they should not be accosted. We would be really upset if it was Jews for Jesus, if it was something else. I do not like that they're asked to raptive fill-in. As a woman, it's discrimination to me. Okay, when people say no, it's also discriminating against those who are non-Jewish. And I'm sorry that I have to bring it up, but it is really uncomfortable. And once you tell that man no, he still comes back to the mail that he knows is Jewish and pushes it.

Did this happen, this event?

This was, yes. They were visibly rapping to fill in. I don't mind if you're there. If we say no, just move on. But they shouldn't be there anyway. This is a non-denominational...

Through the chair.

I don't know if we can police that ourselves in Surfside due to the fact that it is a public beach, but let me hear from Fred.

Yeah, just through the chair. I was there at the event, and I concur with David. Great event. It was windy, extraordinarily windy, but the teams accommodated. There was one big blow up tent that was not, Utilized because the wind was at risk. But otherwise, yeah, good food choices. The size of the crowd was appropriate. It didn't overwhelm. I assume we didn't run out of food because I think everyone was happy. Enjoyable experience. Yes, Mendy Katz, who is a local resident here in Surfside, has this divine interest to help Raptive Hill, and he was there. And and he was not invited of course he was not but he's a resident and and he was there I don't I agree with the chair. I don't think there's any way we can police that it's it's His option public beach. It's a public. It's a public beach.

Yeah, I don't I don't think It's not a surfside thing I understand your point of view But I don't think that there's a way that we can prevent it. I mean, it is a public beach. And, you know, unless they've been disturbed and unless they've been rowdy, then we can get the police involved. But if they're doing and they're asking, I mean, I've experienced that on Lincoln Road some time ago. And most of the time you say no and then.

Yeah, Menzi was a little aggressive. That's my only complaint.

I think the only thing we can do is have a talk with him or somebody from the town have a talk with him. But I don't think that there's anything we really and truly should look at. or do anything about it. Thanks, thanks for bringing it up. I'm gonna move on.

One more thing, and the police were very good. They stayed, I think they were worried at the last meeting that there could be a ruckus, and they stayed the whole time. They walked around in between, they ate, so a big thank you to them also.

Well, they do always a great job.

They also mingled, which I think was really nice.

All right, let's move on, guys, because I don't want to spend the whole night here. We like you. We like our babies. All right, so the next item is on you, Senor David Carb. Fourth of July celebration. Okay.

I just put this on. I think last time we wanted an accounting of the money because we had to give more for it. Right. I also wanted to get our feedback for Commissioner for next year, too. So I just wanted to say the first event at the community center was excellent, very well organized. The food choices were great, the pool, the extra lifeguards, the freebies, the inside activities, caricatures, and face painting, everything was excellent. As far as the one together, I liked that they had it, I understood the point. It was just so many people crammed together. I didn't get a chance to talk to one person because we were waiting for food. Even though we ate in the afternoon, we also wanted something there. They did run out of the kosher early, so there were many Orthodox families that couldn't eat.

That's all right. We can't afford to, you know.

But I think this was a joint, so that would be good to explain how it came about. As far as the fireworks, I'm hearing a lot of comments about the fireworks. I thought they were fine, and I just like being outside with everybody. But I think if this is a one-time 250th get-together, I thought it was a good start.

First of all, let me interrupt for a minute. I think that This commission did what's really expected for them to do, trying different things, trying new things, and see if it works. They tried it. It worked. It didn't work. Some people liked it. Some people didn't like it. We have comments from across the board. So I think that this year, because the efforts of the mayor in trying to make sure that we do things together, we're only less than a mile apart from each other. And trying new things I admire because it just shows you that they're progressive and if it doesn't work well then next year do something else so kudos to the Commission kudos to the mayor.

I agree, I just didn't know if there was any feedback from our committee because we needed to put in the extra money. And I do see the point of something new and the joint effort. And I know a lot of hard work. You were involved, Commissioner, with that. So it was appreciated.

I think it's great. I think it was great. It's just that I think it can be improved. The commissioners and the mayor and the vice mayor have noted. And I think next year will be a little bit different, a little bit better. And, you know, it's important for us in Surfside to... to get together with the other towns that are right next door to each other, you know, and I think it's important. And this commission is doing that. So I agree. I agree.

All right. All right. Next. Next. The only thing that I, um, I kind of object to is because it was so last minute, we did have to, I believe in, uh, in town manager Diaz's email to us explaining things, there were some moving fees and other things that were arranged. I think it's great that we're meeting together, but to do it last minute, there were some, they had to move the barge, they had to do some other things that kind of overinflated the cost a little bit. I also think that what I heard from some people who do have some disabilities was that it was very hard to get on 96th Street Beach because you're doing it once it's dark. And so it wasn't really ADA compliant. It was very, very dark for them to leave if they were older or couldn't see well or were having mobility issues. So I think we do need to consider that. We have all ages of populations. And even for children, I wouldn't want kids running up and down that pathway on 96th Street in the dark. But I would also be interested, and I don't know if it was covered and we had asked about it, if the other towns help pay for those change in fees. Also, if we do do it again, I think the biggest concern is that we do it off the four miles out if we can on a barge. I personally would rather see the money spent that way in moving than having it behind the jetty. A lot of people really thought it was sunny isles. And they were very confused as to why Surfside didn't have fireworks. So I think that needs to be considered if we do it again.

Very good, thanks. I think that a lot has been said, and I think that the commission is sensitive to the items. Some of it is being brought forward, but they're aware of it. And next year, you'll see different.

Just in a few items. I believe close to $5,000 of that, what was labeled as overage was not actual overage. It was a way of recouping some other events throughout the year. And then I believe the $15,000, and this was just for my investigating, but I think we're waiting for a full response. The... $15,000 or so that was budgeted towards kosher that had been in a prior meeting that was voted on in support of so I Think there's some confusion as far as overage because that wasn't something that was not expected that had been discussed months prior so I think when the accounting comes back, it's gonna be Significantly less than what was originally presented, but when I asked about it, it wasn't total overage It was not twenty four thousand or even twenty thousand

Okay, very good.

But it is important that it be accounted for.

Very good.

Thanks. Thanks, Commissioner.

All right, next item is Midnight Madness, something that started, I think, three years ago, right?

So I put it on for Frank to talk about. Oh, I know I walked through it and the shops were open. The police were out, but not just for policing, but to meet. And I, you know, I think the fire department was there just to greet people too. I didn't go this year, I think I was there two years ago. Or maybe three years ago. So if Frank wants to make a recommendation that we do this again, so that's why I brought this up.

Thank you. Through the chair. Correct. This started three years ago, organized by the businesses themselves. And last year was the first year that we partnered with them officially to sponsor it so that they could get some more promotional items and try to attract more participants. I think it was around forty six hundred dollars what we provided. Yeah. So $4,600, and that went towards the promotional items. I believe they still want to do it this year, but I have to have a conversation with the businesses. Most likely the date, because they typically pick, I think, the first Saturday in December. So I think Saturday, December 5th would be the date potentially for this year. So I would recommend sponsoring that again. It's not a lot of money, and it's something that the businesses appreciate. I've also asked the businesses, I sent them an email to see what else would they like to see, what other activities or initiatives would they like to recommend. I haven't gotten too many responses yet, but maybe we can do more Midnight Madnesses or maybe a couple of them in the fall once season starts picking up a little bit to kind of try to encourage shopping. So I think potentially we could expand it to a few more dates, but we do need to talk to the businesses to see if that's something they're even interested in or if they have other ideas for something similar. Maybe that's different that they want to try.

If you recall, Frank, I've been asking you that there's a survey to the business district because I'd like to hear from them what type of activities they'd like to see us produce to help the business district. The whole idea is to bring tourism to the business district. And so if we know what they need, at least we can converse about it and then take action and do it. Midnight Madness was a result of a conversation that I personally had with a couple of the businesses. One was the wheat plagues that we had before and so on and so forth. And he says, you know what, let's do this. And it worked. It was very exciting. And like I said, it was three years ago. But I think that we need to do more of these because our aim should be to help the businesses so the tourists can come in and, you know, we talk about walkability. Perfect. You have these programs that we can advertise and then make it nice for everybody. So I think that if you bring us back the information as to what they said, I think we can probably act upon it.

Sure. I can read one response that I did get from the survey, which I think you would like, because they would like a classic car show, which I know you're a fan of. But I think that this person is thinking the way that Bay Harbor does theirs right on the main street, you know, ours, we've had to do it here at the town hall because it's not, we can't use Harding because it's A1A. So I think in this person's mind, they're thinking, you know, bring cars right to Harding Avenue.

Well, we used to many, many, many, many years ago had a car show and it was done on Harding. It's just that things have gotten different. Okay. For your knowledge. And for everybody here knowledge, they used to be, the automobiles were parked right on Hardin. But now with the traffic that.

Yeah, maybe 94th. You know, we've done it at 93rd.

You know, if you remember, we tried to revive that. you know, anti-cars.

It was not great. It would be nice if we could get it closer to the shops because then it would really pull people into.

The key is the producer, the guy that, the person that really and truly has the hands on this because there's one operator and they bring the cars. So I think the key to that is their support and their activities.

Yeah, I'll also check with PD just to see if, you know, again, permission-wise, is that something, because it's A1A, you know, that's what makes it tougher. But, you know, who could we ask just to explore it?

Through the chair, what about an art show, like on the sidewalks, like Bay Harbor does? Now, they blocked off one lane. We wouldn't be able to do that.

But we used to block the parking lot the complete parking lot in Surfside on 95th Street.

I was also thinking if the art was on the sidewalks, then the people could also see the shops. So you'd be doing...

I think that's a good idea.

Do we have space for art vendors and people and cafes? Yeah, on the side streets, possibly.

If we just close from Publix up to Collins, That's a pretty good chunk of street if you close.

Yeah, like 94th.

Yeah, but I would do it from like where Publix is, you know, where Publix begins where you go into the garage all the way up to over where the. The non-beach side of the Grand Beaches.

Okay. On 95th, they close off for the Hanukkah parties. Yeah. And that's right in the middle.

Where we used to do the old Third Thursdays.

Yeah, potentially. Or the small lot, yeah. Okay. We need to make a motion for this or just put it on for the agenda next month?

I don't think we need them.

We're not ready yet.

I'll look into the feasibility of hosting something at these locations and see what kind of permissions we need.

So we'll start with one, and then if it's successful, then we can do more of these, right?

Correct. The next item is walkability, which is Frank.

I had something. Frank, if we do do this on December, I was at the last one probably around 10, 10.30. People are out because it's after Shabbos, it's Havdalah, and they're eating in certain restaurants that they would go to anyway. My thought and feeling is, and I will be more than glad to give my time, if we give them maybe a scavenger hunt their kids can do and they have to count the ice creams, it's $16. candles, I think it is, or, like, tell us what the flavor of the day is, something for their kids to do while they eat, because we're going to have that area, like, it was pretty closed off, and we have police out, and something maybe to incentivize people coming out after Shabbos and doing that, like, after Havdalah meal at the different restaurants, encouraging more people, because we're open later, and seeing if we can get some more promotion for the restaurants and maybe like if walk and roll, we'll give them 10% off because they're here for whatever, whatever it might be. We need a couple more activities. It was kind of, flat last year yeah there was a guy playing music and i think that was it but i think that if we give families and kids something to do i mean even if i have to go and like create a scavenger hunt i have no problems doing that but something for them to do and like win a prize or you know something fun to make them come out and not that they're necessarily going to shop but you never know if those stores are open and they're running around and they see something cute mm-hmm

Okay, yeah, we could look into prices are looking to it yeah thanks all right now. Fred you're on.

Harding avenue walkability walkability so you heard me last month and I'm not going to stop because I do believe we have a higher level systemic issue with our downtown that. doesn't engage isn't attractive and we want to help these businesses absolutely i want to help them i want to help them help themselves and yes maybe we can't do a grant program where we match funds so they can improve their their facades their property their awnings i i get it but there has to be a higher level consideration and again it's probably at the commission level It should be at the manager level. It should be at the code enforcement level. David Harp does visit downtown often. He took a number of pictures. I didn't bring them today for this conversation, but there's a lot of areas within downtown that are just broken, unattractive, dirty, and it could it be the town's responsibility yes could it be the business's responsibility yes but it's it seems to be not a priority it seems to be not no one's interested um if again if we had a town manager i'd ask him to step up and and get code to step up to make these businesses clean and and fix and improve One idea, and I'll wait to, I know we don't have a BID, Business Improvement District here in Surfside. I think that would be a phenomenal way for. Tried. We tried and.

Didn't work.

I understand, but maybe we need to encourage again because if they, the businesses and the owners aren't active or active to try to help themselves, I wanna make them help themselves. So yes, for Commissioner Weingart, Walkability is a big item. Again, four years ago we tried to widen the sidewalks, take away a few parking spaces, add more seating to the sidewalks to truly make the two blocks of downtown truly more walkable, more safe, more people, more seating to be able to enjoy and have the ability to do an art show, have an ability to do something that can attract and while the tourists, and our residents, by the way, and it seems to be a never-ending, not important issue, and I know our town has some issues to deal with, so one thing, just one thing, Frank, and as you talk to the businesses, you have, I guess, a database, you have their connections, a business improvement district, a BID, would be a wonderful thing for them to step up and create, In Lincoln Road, my father-in-law has property on Lincoln Road. They have a bid which collects hundreds of thousands of dollars from the business owners to improve Lincoln Road. And they do a great job because those merchants care about attracting people to buy at those stores. Here, I don't feel there's a sense of interest. And they may just think, well, people come to us. But it's not happening. And that may be why we have turnover and churn in our businesses coming and going. So again, how do we get someone to care about this enough to move to make something happen Again, a grant program is actually dollars which incentivize people beyond just words. Having said that, Commissioner Wongot, could you bring up something to the commission to consider? Again, the issue, and Shlomo knows walkability as well as I do, because we lobbied for it, had plans. We had design, we had drawings of how to make those two blocks on Harding bigger, more attractive, more safe, more comfortable. So that's what I'd like to see.

Let me take a minute. Number one is... If you see something, say something. You heard that comment before on anything. If you see a business's awnings ripped, dirty, or whatever, you could always call a court enforcer. Call the supervisor there. They'll handle it. They'll take care of it. Believe you me, we have an incredible, good court enforcer department. And they'll handle that. So if you think that the businesses are dirty or whatever, just call Code Enforcer and they'll handle it. Yeah, I mean, if you have them. Look, there was a period of time in Surfside where the awnings were ripped everywhere. They were discolored and so on and so forth until COVID started getting into it. And then, of course, we started with outside dining and so on and so forth. I think that there are ways to improve if you feel like it, that it needs improvement. Utilize those departments that are able to help us in that sense. The other thing is if you want to make the business district more attractive, you all know that landscaping is the number one. If you think that the landscaping is not good, the landscaping has been turned over now for years. First we had the olive trees, then we had small palm trees, then we have the, I forgot what the name of the new palm trees that we have, they're very expensive. Sorry? I don't know, maybe. But regardless, I mean, the business district has been redone many times over. And it continues, and it continues to improve. we put on those benches that they didn't have before where people can sit. Maybe we need more benches for people to sit. That we can do, that the tourist board can do, provide benches for people to sit. But then also that also brings out the question of homeless, you know, and the saying there, so that's the thing that you guys don't know is that when we bought these benches, we made sure that the center was blocked so they can sleep on it. So I don't know if you know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go ahead and take a look at it. Right. It was done on purpose because otherwise, you know, homeless people would stay there and lay down and so on and so forth. So there are ways as far as improving walkability.

And that's my comment.

Go ahead, David.

Through the chair, can we ask the commissioner to have code inspection do a walkthrough? Like, I found tiles, that was the one picture, and they're, like, ready to fall off.

I don't think so. I think that if you see something like that, call an enforcer to take care of it.

And then just a few thoughts through the chair.

Mr. Lansman was mentioning, elevating the Harding Avenue downtown corridor. I think there are immediate steps and there's long-term stuff that's going to be a great part of a bigger plan. But on the immediate, and this has been brought up, you just mentioned the landscape, if the town... steps up what we do as far as the landscape and the overall cleanliness of Harding Avenue. I think that's going to elevate things as well and people are going to treat it with a greater level of respect. We got quotes for pressure washing the sidewalks a few times a month. When I walk, I see all kinds of stuff pressed into it. Sometimes there's sticky gum. Sometimes there's food remnants because there's outdoor seating. And that needs constant pressure washing. So not reactive, but proactive pressure washing routinely. I think that will do a lot just, again, on the immediate. This isn't part of a long-term plan, a mega makeover. But I do support additional outdoor seating. when we have an alternate parking solution to be able to move some parking spots off of Harding so that we have perhaps planters up against the road and more outdoor seating, make it more of an experience, I think that would be tremendous. But that's the longer term stuff. The immediate things that we could push for, and I'll continue pushing with Public Works, is the landscape, is the pressure washing and keeping it clean, is the trash bins being maintained, not overflowing. Just start as a basic point. continue elevating it from there, and there shouldn't be dirt and residue buildup where the sidewalk meets the store. I think if we step it up from that end, hopefully that could encourage others to care about their storefront as well.

Well, code plays a big part on that. And if we tell Carmen, which is the head of the Code Enforcement Department, she's extremely, extremely professional and quick to act. So I think that's where to start. Many times we had even code going to the business itself, especially with the outside dining, and make sure that they go in there and tell them, listen, you need to keep this area clean. So it's important. It's important to the cleanliness of the streets. And actually, sorry. Well, yeah, but we were talking about the front end of it, so. But anyways, I think code plays a big part about it. So if you see something, say something, call the code, and you'll see immediate reaction to it, okay? All right. So now we're going to move to the next item, which is a very important item. You do I I wasn't told okay, I don't have a speaker. I don't have a speaker.

Yes, I do have a speaker car for this item. I had stated earlier.

I'm glad that you have it. I should have it first. Yes, I Barbara sorry.

Barbara Cohn 93 41 Collins Avenue. I've been a permanent resident suicide since 1994. The downtown has not changed one bit since then, except for where HSBC was. That's the only thing that's changed. It needs to be freshened up. The buildings need to be painted. Cleanliness is you know what. And Barry Cohn, when he was commissioner, was always carrying on about the alleyways. I don't know if they've been cleaned up or anything. When I drive through, I'm worried about the potholes. if I go through an alley. But just bringing back a little bit of history, Eli and I worked on the tourist board for many years together. We had something called DVAC, Downtown Vision Advisory Committee. That's gone by the wayside. And we did try a business improvement district. It works in Carl Gables. It works in Naples. It works on Lincoln Road. Why can't it work here?

It doesn't.

The owners think they have a gold mine, and they do. And they have no conscience about what the place looks like. And I think they need a kick in the you know where.

Thanks, Barbara. Fred is volunteering tonight.

Well, actually, through chair. Frank, do we know how many of our actual tenants in those restaurants and businesses are tenants versus who owns the buildings?

Most of them are not owners.

Most of them are renters, correct?

Yes.

Right, so there's no incentive for those owners.

There's a couple of owners that owns a few.

stores, but it's all individual. There's no incentive.

If I may add, we did try that business improvement district. It failed by one vote. It could have been nicer. And it needs some push from the commission.

All right. Thanks a lot again. All right. Now we can move to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Frank?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the Christmas tree lighting ceremony is a relatively new event. It was first done two years ago, so we've done it twice. You know, it was a pretty small event, if you will, but there is still a lot to be done. I mean, you know, the idea was to basically have a tree lighting with Santa Claus that the kids could, you know, line up and talk to Santa, maybe have a little bit of a musical performance and have some Christmas treats, hot chocolate, eggnog, that type of thing. So I wanted to know if the board obviously wants to proceed with ceremony for this year. And to pick a date, I would recommend Sunday, December 6, the first Sunday in December. And that would probably be the day after the Midnight Madness, because they typically do it on a Saturday. And then I also wanted to know, I mean, the event has gotten bigger and bigger every year. It is really well attended. Is it something that we still want to do in-house with a lot of volunteers? I would probably need to hire a good amount of public works and parks and rec staff because there is a lot of moving stuff up and down and setting up trays and the food and picking up and, You know, that was something that last year, you know, once the party's over, everybody kind of leaves. And then some of us were here, you know, washing trays for a while after. So do you want to keep the same type of event or are you looking for something more organized? You know, do you want to get a producer to elevate this and do a bigger event through chair?

It's also the second. Day of Hanukkah or second night i'm sorry i'm looking on a non Jewish calendar so maybe it's it's a good idea to actually do it on the sixth and incorporate both Hanukkah and Christmas. Also, I don't know if you guys it's been a really long time since i've met Santa at the old Community Center. Um, but Santa used to give out toys to all the neighborhood kids that came. I don't know if we still do that. If that's something maybe we want to look into, like, I remember the chair.

I think that is separate through PD. I think they do that through PD.

Cause at one time it was done. Also, I know there was talk of, um, scare. I call him scary Santa Claus of getting him kind of updated.

What do you mean?

There was talk of painting him and maybe redoing his face, but I don't know if that was here or...

I can give an update. So there was talk that the vintage Santa Claus that is displayed, that his face might be a little bit scary because the eye, I don't know, he was a little bit scary. So we went back and forth with the former board to maybe look at buying a new one, an inflatable one. They couldn't decide, but we then had an artist, Oliver Sanchez, did the sunglasses that have palm trees. These cool-looking sunglasses, we've been able to put him on, and I think it looks really cool now and original. I think it solved the problem.

He hasn't changed since my dad was born. Yes.

So now he's been slightly refreshed, but we still can say that it's the original Santa through the years, which I think is cool.

The question is, do we want to expand on what we

The Christmas tree lighting, yes. Do we want to do it the way we've been doing it, or do we want to find a producer and bring a proposal for it?

And remember that- All right, let me ask the board here. We'll start with Fred. Quick comment on that, Fred?

Quick?

I got my hands.

I would support absolutely having this as a more professional production for the town. And I agree, incorporating Hanukkah, Christmas, Harry, whatever, all of the above, absolutely. I think that would be a wonderful thing for the town to do, yes.

Thanks.

David? I did go to it last year. It was very nice. It was just Christmas, and I thought it was perfect. I did walk up to the one at Bow Harbor, and they incorporated both. And that was very nice, too. So it can be done. I think our space is smaller. in front of the town hall here. I don't know how much more room.

But through the chair, we can close the street. We can. We can. I said we could close the street and just also utilize the street and the parking lot as well if we need to.

So maybe a professional person brought in with bids.

And we would want to combine it with Hanukkah?

And Kwanzaa, sorry. First one, Hanukkah.

Let David finish.

Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I recommend somebody professional for both. Jocelyn?

Yeah, I think it can't hurt to get a, not a giant menorah, but a decent menorah and incorporate that as well as... maybe having a Kwanzaa menorah, and I might be able to get us one we can borrow. It's not a menorah. It's a candelabra. Sorry.

That would be up to the party person.

Well, through the chair, I do know that the Shoal does bring a menorah. They're the ones that bring the menorah that is displayed outside Town Hall. I mean, I'm sure they still want to do that, but we could have the producer activate Hanukkah and do additional things.

Is that Hanukkah big enough?

That's pretty big. Yeah, it's quite big. It's pretty big.

All right, so you got your direction?

Yes, I will bring back a proposal for a bigger party.

Very good, thanks.

Perhaps for the chair, if that could go to the gentleman that presented not long ago. I've heard a lot of really good things about his events.

Could we incorporate more than one potential proposal?

Yes. Well, I agree, but... One second, what is it that you were asking?

The gentleman that presented last time, that... perhaps worth getting a quote from him as well.

Yes, I think it's good.

Frank, do you have to get three bids for?

It's really up to you all. Do you want me to bring just Alan? Do you want me to bring multiple? It really depends on you. And would you want to, sorry, just to continue, to set an amount now? I mean, that's something I would probably bring to the next meeting, but maybe something like 10,000 might be what I would recommend.

What did we spend last year?

Well, last year it was about three or four, but we did it all in-house.

In-house, yeah, yeah. I think that if the board wants to put a price on it, any takers on that?

I would say $10,000. Yeah, I'd say $20,000. A holiday one is a bigger event.

Just to give you a reference, Thursday is around $30,000 for one of those parties, so. Yeah, obviously it has a lot more components and it's for a bigger target audience.

Bigger audience.

15, maybe.

I say 10. Okay. What do you say?

We have funds available. Let's utilize the funds to do more things. How much? 15, 20. I think we should be... How much? 20.

20, okay. Jocelyn?

20.

20. 20. And Frank, could you ask?

I say 10, so 20 wins.

Okay. And Frank, could you ask the Bell Harbor found out who did that one, you know, maybe as a start?

I know they have multiple vendors. I know one of their vendors, because we recruited them through that event, was Cloud Creative Experiences. They did the Third Thursday two years ago, but they're very art-oriented, so I know they did, like, their Snow Globe step-in. Yeah. So we could reach out to them, but just to be clear, do we want multiple or just Allen? Okay, we'll bring at least two, at least two proposals.

Okay, sure. Very good. Moving right along is holiday lighting proposals. Miami Christmas lights, holiday outdoor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Chair, if I may, I believe you skipped item 7F.

Did I skip something?

Yes, item 7F, Ibero-American Film Festival.

Yeah, sorry. So we'll go back to 7.5, Frank.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. So I have for you a proposal from the Ibero-American Film Festival in Miami, and they are somewhat of a newer film festival, but they were talking to the Miami Film Festival, and they were looking for partners for this year's event. And so this is held in November. I believe it's the first week of November. So they're proposing to do a screening on the beach here in Surfside on Sunday, November 8th, which would be a part of their official festival lineup. They're looking for a $5,000 sponsorship. And, uh, in exchange for that, they would of course use the town's logo and all of their promotional items. Um, I'll have some film titles for you in a second. Here's some information about the festival. It has about 7,000 attendees and 14 countries represented. But in addition to the logo usage, they would also screen a Surfside video before all of their film screenings. So I do think that's pretty good promotional exposure. It's a Surfside thing. We have a wonderful video we can showcase. And they did provide three films for us. So again, the partnership fee would be 5,000. Then we would have to source, of course, a screen provider and the snacks. I have reached out to the mobile billboard, the gentleman that did one of our soccer parties with the truck. So I'm hoping to get an estimate from him. And then there's three films to choose from. One of them is the film that we already showed last year for the Miami Jewish Film Festival, so of course we're not gonna consider that one. But I will show you the other two. And the first trailer is gonna be a film called Delegation.

So, where are you guys from?

We are from Israel.

We came on a school trip to visit some places like Majdanek and Auschwitz.

If you don't get used to it, you won't know how it is. It was the most exciting day of my life. What's going on, Nitz? Why didn't you talk to me?

You should have been quiet.

Tell me, Idzo, you and Nitzan, do you have a boyfriend? I don't know how to answer that question.

I don't remember you. We're going to end Yosef's story now, and we're going to watch the Schindler's List.

Ten minutes to go.

Everybody out of their rooms. What's going on, Idzo? What do you remember? Everything's fine. I'm fine, really.

Didn't it start in English?

Is this Ibero?

Yeah, sometimes YouTube will change the language. I'm just making sure that it's not just... Okay, so I guess it's in multiple languages. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't...

I need to go to Auschwitz.

I think it's actually Treblinka.

So I'm sure we could do the English subtitles. It's just this is auto-generating them in Hebrew, sorry, but obviously we would have English subtitles for this film.

I don't think so. Let's see.

No, I don't. I have a question.

Well, those are the films they

recommended um yeah yeah okay next so frank well i need a decision on on this frank if it's ibero i need isn't there something more spanish or latino this one is is produced in spain this particular film um the other one i don't know what the connection is to is there any area

I just want to mention there are other costs associated other than the $5,000. So that's a consideration. We need the whole.

Yeah, the screen.

So what are we talking about? First of all, let's see if there's an interest. Jocelyn, yes or no?

Based on those two films, no. No. Okay, Frank, yes or no?

No. It's okay.

It's okay. David. Fred? No. Kill it.

Okay. No problem. All right.

Next item is the holiday lighting proposal. Okay Frank.

Okay holiday lights. Yes sir. All right so we've got two different companies and they have submitted different packages so the first company and I tried to consolidate everything as best I could so

The first company will be Miami Christmas Lights.

They have two different proposals, two different pricing structures. The first one, which is the more basic design, is called Surfside Shimmer. So take a look and see if you like the design concept. We have some kind of snowflake and traditional white ornaments. The town hall yep so in previous years we've just done, you know the outline more or less, so this would introduce obviously some more. More decoration also definitely more decoration for the Community Center we've done the front palm trees in previous years, but we had not done, you know the top of the building and the snowflakes and the bottom.

Is this an addition to having its normal decoration.

Yeah, harding will come up. But the palm trees are not related to holiday lighting. Those are just annual. So then you would also get a little bit of extra lighting here by the sign and this star feature element. The monument signs. So this is what the monument signs would look like. There they are with, you know, just Harding Avenue. But again, the palm trees are always wrapped year round. That's not part of the package. Then we've got Veterans Park. So there's three big medjool trees at Veterans Park, which I should note are outside of the debris that is currently being held. So something to think about is, you know, whether you... want to do lighting there. I mean, you know, again, those three big palm trees are outside. There's also three shorter modules right at the beginning of the block that I figured we might wrap because they're kind of nice. They're the very so 87 terrorists, I think is the block. So when you're on Collins before you see the sign, you get these three little palm trees. And then you get the monument. Yeah, they're they're actually before Yeah, too far.

Yeah, too far.

And then there's this big tree that is on the side. We could light that up.

It's right in front of the debris.

It is outside of the debris fence, but it is...

Nothing in Veterans Park. Nothing there. Crazy. We don't want any illumination.

What about the front palm trees?

No.

Okay, so you don't want anything for Veterans Park this year? No.

Okay.

All right. So that could obviously just be removed from the package, whatever the cost of Veterans Park is. So yeah, that would get removed. So that's that package. And then the tree. And how much does it look like? It's going to come up in a second. So this is the one year.

I think it is the, yeah.

the one year which is 52,000, just so you know, we budgeted 52,000 for the lights, so that is on budget. If you were to do a three year, but that 52, we have to remove the Veterans Park, so it's gonna be less than 52. And then if you were to do it as a three year, yeah, this one doesn't get, it's pretty much the same price as a three year. They don't really give you much of a break. You will see it on the next design.

And the three-year would be the same design?

Same design. For the three years. Yeah, for the three years, which, again, you don't get much of a break there, but you do on this package. This one is more elaborate. This one's called Surfside Sea Glow. So if you look at the town hall building, instead of the wreath, you have this, you know.

What is that on the left side? Oh, my God, Frank, that's awful.

A ball.

That is bad. What is that?

It's a Christmas tree. Ornament.

Ornament, an ornament, yeah. It doesn't look like an ornament. What? It took us that long to figure it out. Yeah.

Again, the front of the community center, this adds these kind of powerful things.

This is similar to the other one, correct?

Similar, yeah. But again, this one has turtles on the bottom.

Turtles on the bottom.

Turtles on the bottom. It has a more elaborate monument sign with turtles.

The last year's company, was it the first one that you showed?

No, that one will be next. Just once we finish this one, I'll switch to the other company.

This is the second one, correct?

This is the second one from Miami Christmas.

With the turtle. Okay, next.

Yeah, so again, you've got the community center, turtles, more turtles here, more turtles here. Same thing for Veterans Park. And then the tree, this one's going to be a lot more expensive. The bottom of the tree here, town of Surfside, this thing alone is $9,000, just so you know. So obviously, if you don't love it, then you can get rid of it.

So how much is this packet?

So this one is $79,000 as a one year. And I did tell them to go over budget. I'm like, you know, just show us something over budget if you wanted to impress the board. So that would be $79,000 if you did it as a three year. It's $73,000 minus, obviously, the elements from Veterans Park and whatever you didn't like.

So that's one company.

Next is fine, yes. So these two are from the same company. I like the first one better than the second one. So far. So far. That's correct.

Next.

Okay. And then here we have the company we have used currently, Holiday Outdoor Decor. So this one is going to look a lot like what we did last year pretty much. It's going to be.

And how much is this one?

Three palm trees. It's towards the bottom. It's 30-something. Give me a second.

This one also has a three-year contract.

No so they they have also given one year and 3 year options so for their discount on the 3 years very little yeah, it's a it's very small but it's there's a little discount and I just want to say. Scroll down.

Because I remember there you go the monument on 96 street was very nicely done last year.

Well, we didn't have a monument in 96th Street last year, which I've asked for this year. So maybe two years ago. Yeah, last year we missed one, which is I had to add an extra one to all these quotes.

I didn't realize it was two years ago.

Ball Harbor put something in the middle. They kind of took over the middle, to be honest. I don't know. That's really kind of shared space. But they put a BH thing with a ribbon.

The monument that we have, we didn't have it last year, you said?

On 96th Street, no. No, that one was... We had a palm tree. We had one of the... Harding Avenue? Yeah, we did have them on Harding. We have them on Harding and on Collins and on Byron, but we didn't have the one that is in front of the shops. We were missing a monument sign there, or an enhancer for the sign. But I did request it for this.

I remember that one of the monuments, and I thought it was Harding Avenue and 96th, It was very, very nicely done.

Maybe it was the one coming in on Byron by the church because we had never put the holiday lighting on that sign before. No, no, no.

It had nothing to do with that 90.

The present would be Ball Harbor because we just had turtles last year. Maybe it was Ball Harbor. Maybe it was Ball Harbor.

I don't remember, but I remember that it was very, very, very nicely done on 96th Street and Harding Avenue.

So this one doesn't show the actual visual effect. These little triangles, that's to signify they'll wrap that in light?

Yeah, so this tree, we did a light up last year. And yeah, they would do fronds lighting and then light up the tree as well. It's kind of

A signature tree, if you will.

yeah but we if you again also don't want to do any of the palm trees at veterans park we would remove that from the estimate there's a turtles again yeah there's a photo of the actual science from last year, so this would be minus the veterans park and then for option to. No, for this company really didn't have much of a break on the multi-year. And then for this one, option two, they add the top of the community center. They, you know, adding some lighting on the top there, which, which is new. I think that's pretty much the only change for option two and then option three. has also the community center lighting, and then it has more elaborate, you know, it has this present feature for town hall. And also Santa's sled. That would be kind of near this corner.

Is Santa's sleigh a photo op thing?

Mm-hmm.

Okay, do I hear from the board? What's the price on this one? 30 something?

And the price on this full package was 48. 48? 48 with the three multi-year and 49, 523 as a one-year.

There's not much of a difference and you're stuck with the multi, the same decoration each year. Personally, I like the first one.

First one, okay. Frank, I mean, David. I don't know why.

Surfside Shimmer, I think, was.

First one.

Which is, let me pull it.

I'll concur. The first one seemed the most attractive and engaging.

This one?

I like the third one, but.

I think this one's elegant. I mean, it's.

That first one?

Yeah. It's white.

And how much is this one again?

52. This is 52.

Before we remove Veterans Park.

Less Veterans Park. Yes before let's go with elegance the consensus is Steve choice number one so let's explore that without Veterans Park right Frank could we do something if we wanted to do Veterans Park but not do Veterans Park where the debris is could we do with the other side and maybe put like a present or something. Near, you know, on the other side, like when you're driving Harding going out of Surfside?

There's not much of space there.

There's not enough space? No. Or put something on the building, maybe?

Actually, we really don't want to eliminate that area. Okay. It's a very sensitive area and it's a lot of contentions. I agree. Let's leave that out. I agree. We already have a consensus here, option number one. Perfect. And let's go with it.

Should we? Okay, the fund's already budgeted, you said, right? Yes, this is budgeted.

Do I need a vote? No. No.

Yeah. We need a motion.

I motion to vote on the holiday lighting package.

Just if you want to call it Surfside Shimmer for Miami Christmas lights.

Okay. I motion to vote for. Sounds like a drink. Surfside Shimmer for holiday.

Miami Christmas lights.

Miami Christmas lights.

Without Veterans Park.

Without Veterans Park.

I'll second that, yes.

I have two seconds.

Who's gonna make the second?

Fred. Fred. I'll second, yes.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries.

Thank you.

And we're only doing the one year option, correct? Correct. Yes.

What's next?

Singer Fest is not here, you said?

Singer Fest is not here, so we're gonna postpone that one. New business.

Chair if I may there is no new business for today's agenda.

We will go to board member comments. Number nine.

Frank just out of curiosity. Singer Fest by Relief Design. Who is the head of relief design. Just out of curiosity.

That was Charlotte.

That's Charlotte.

Yeah, Charlotte Alsagli.

Thank you.

I have a question on this new business, board member comments. I want to have a comment from the board. If the board was aware that this What is it? It's a Surfside thing. It was going to cost the board approximately $89,000, the promotions.

No, through the chair. So at our first meeting, I presented the first video that the previous board approved a test video for the campaign. And I presented the test video and I said, hey, here's the proposal for the full campaign. And that's what I presented to you, including all of the numbers that you have in front of you. And that was approved four to one.

So I just want to make sure that the board is aware that we're spending money $90,000, almost $90,000 on a promotion that it wasn't bidded out. Sorry?

It doesn't necessarily have to be bidded out.

But it could. I mean, my point is we're spending $90,000 and There was no other company to present. What I did hear was that Surfside didn't have a professional film or clipping, and this was an opportunity. I don't know if this was your funds. Would you be spending $90,000 on somebody to come in and take pictures of what we have to offer? I don't know. It's just a question that I have, and I'm posting it to the board because I'm baffled when I saw these numbers, even though I voted against it, the board voted for it. And I just want to make sure that the board was aware that this was a cause on something that came in dragged from the prior board.

Through the chair, is it 90,000 each film or 90,000 for everything? Wait, I didn't hear what it was.

It's the whole thing.

Okay.

Now, what was proposed was half of that charge would be on this budget and the other half would be in the next budget. So we are committed for the next budget on $45,000. I just, I wasn't aware of it. And because I wasn't aware of it, I want to make sure that the board is in agreement because in case you guys, I brought it up to light, if you're comfortable with it, I'm comfortable. You're the board. You're the majority. But I just want to make sure that you guys know this.

Sorry. Yeah, Frank, through the chair. I haven't received them. Through the chair.

I presented this fully. So the numbers were in front of you. All the numbers were there. I explained everything, how we had a lot of money left over this fiscal year that was just going to expire. So why not take the opportunity? to fund some content creation because we were at a severe deficit. So again, I explained all of this. We had all of the numbers up on the screen. We talked about doing the half-year option that would have cost 50% less, and you decided to go for the full option. So it was all presented in front of you. We are currently under contract, and we are underway with the series. It's been tremendously successful, but I just want to be very clear that I did present to you all of the numbers, and I did give you all of the history on how we arrived at this location.

Through the chair, I remember all of that, and I liked everything. Where is it? I don't know. How do you get it? I haven't been received it.

So it's on social media. It's mostly a social media campaign. So that's another thing I don't want to confuse it. And it's not like a town-wide slogan, like the new slogan for everything, but it's really a video content series. So we just posted the second video on Instagram, but I also posted on Nextdoor. I put it on the town website. This is a video.

Is there an alert when each new one comes out? Is there an alert?

It goes out on alert in the newsletter. So for example, I just sent the August newsletter. So that's in there.

Frank, actually, I was going to ask you, is it possible to contact you and get information maybe the video sent to me. What I found was, I don't know if it's you posting or Cindy, wherever I tried to piece it from, it was like two videos at the same time. And so if I try to copy it through the Instagram link in the program I use,

Oh, no, no. I'll send it to you. No problem. Sure.

People were like, that video is amazing. Yeah. My father doesn't have social media and I wanted him to like jump on the bandwagon. It's a Surfside thing and be able like, like I have kids across the street who would love to do a little, it's a Surfside thing. Yeah.

Like engage with it, which is what we're looking for.

I think it was, it was really, it was actually one of the highest metrics on mine when I reposted it. So if you can send me the videos, I kind of want to play if that's cool.

Yes, for sure. Will do.

Okay. So everybody was aware of it. I'm happy with that. I wasn't. Maybe I just didn't pay attention. I just didn't think that we would use one firm at that cost for taking a movie or taking a little clipping of what we really and truly have to offer.

Is this a one-year thing? Yes. All right.

Okie dokie. Next item is set the next meeting.

Next meeting will be on September 14th at 6 p.m. OK. Any problems with that.

So.

Okay, seems like it's okay for that date.

I'll move to adjourn.

Do I hear a second?

I second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Done.

Aye.