Resort Tax Board - Regular Meeting

Hi.

Hi. Hello.

We are on time. We have quarter and we are going to begin, okay? Because here you are going to get freeze. It's ready? Yes. On air? Are we on air? Okay. Yeah, it's too much. I know. All right. Okay. Thank you, I want to thank you, everyone, to be here. I want to thank you, the Vice Mayor, Tina Paul, to be here, thank you. Thank you to our Acting Town Manager, Mario Diaz, thank you for staying with us in this meeting.

We miss the Town Manager, that visit is good.

And I want to thank you, Fran Trigueros, the Director of Tourism, and I want to thank you, my colleagues here in the Board, Clara, And Judy. Okay, I want to thank you also our Claire that is always here, Genesis, that is always really good keeping track of all our things, right? OK. Bien. Thank you for everyone, the public here. I want to thank you, all of you. We're going to start. Call to the order, please.

Yes, Chair. Chair Gonzalez? Present. Vice Chair Martinez? Present. Board Member Diaz-Leal?

Here.

Chair, you have a quorum.

OK. Thank you. Our agenda and order of business. Is there something that we're going to change, right? Frank, in that, are we changing, we're going to add something in this point?

Yes, Madam Chair, if we could please add the thank you recognition for the teen volunteers.

Okay, okay, yeah, they don't need to be the whole, I agree, will be 7A, correct? Okay.

And the Town Commission Liaison Report? My apologies, Madam Chair.

That item will be item 8A, as new business, unless you would like to have it as the first item, 7A.

I would like to suggest to put it before, because they don't need to be. It's going to be a loan agreement. have all the people here present, the kids and everyone, and the parents? Is it possible? What do you think? Is someone second?

I second. Somebody needs to make the motion besides the chair.

It's true, you have to do, some of you make the motion to move to the, instead to the eight, to move right now, seven, eight.

The recognition for the- I make a motion to move the item on NEW BUSINESS, WHICH IS THE RECOGNITION TO 7A.

I SECOND. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED? MOTION CARRIES.

I DON'T HAVE AN iPAD TO FOLLOW THE MEETING. THANK YOU.

DO WE HAVE PUBLIC COMMENTS? No?

Do we have public comments? I do not have any speaker cards, Madam Chair.

Okay, we don't have public comments. We can keep going to the approval of minutes. The September 18 meeting, someone want to approve the meeting?

I vote to approve the minutes.

I second.

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

Perfect. Okay. Now we're going to resort to collection and vacancies report. Please, Frank.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm going to pull it up here on the screen for everybody. I was waiting for finance to process a few batches of payments. Sorry. So I want to stay. So we're going to focus on the 4% accommodations tax. This time around, there were still a lot of outstanding payments as far as the restaurants were concerned. So many that I didn't really feel comfortable crunching the numbers because they wouldn't have been accurate. But I'm told they're processing a big new batch. So I'm hoping we'll have a more accurate picture the next time around. But we did have the numbers fully in for June and July for the hotels. In September, we looked at May. So if we look at those two months jointly, year over year, we still have a really strong growth at 11.6%. And then if we go back two years versus 2023, we are up 19.4% versus those numbers. Some of that, of course, is attributed to the higher room rates and just prices being up overall. But in terms of... that side of the collection, which is where most of the resort text comes in. I'm happy to report we are doing extremely well and continue to do so. In terms of the business district, we haven't had a lot of new openings since our last meeting. I know there is a new jewelry store that is going where another jewelry store just vacated at the northern end of 95th Street. Miami Jewelers, that's rebranding to a different jewelry. But I think that's probably the next to come online. And that's it for the report.

Okay.

Any questions?

Questions?

Okay. Okay.

And I don't think it will be the end of the year that we're going to have some requests, right? Because the end of the year will be actually just like that.

Yeah, I mean, our collection is always several months behind. Again, we're a little more behind on the restaurant side, but it takes several months until we get to the full fiscal year picture, but it'll come in a few months.

Okay. Thank you.

Sure.

If we don't have questions, we can keep working. OK, now. I do have a question.

OK. Yes. So we say that as if it's the status of what always has been. While it doesn't sound ideal that people are always in arrears, Is that customary, not to us, I'm talking about is that customary with other municipalities and is that what we consider appropriate or should we be escalating to some level so that we can collect appropriately?

That's a good question. We'll funnel that to finance because that is a finance department question. I know they do issue a penalty letter after, I don't know.

If it's not significant, then they obviously don't care.

Yeah, correct. So it's not being so effective. So I think that's a good question to ask. What are the other municipalities doing or how are they putting pressure to make sure that we're not going so many months at a time without the collection? So that's a great question. I'll share that with the board.

And also maybe we can ask our staff. acting town manager, he can try to find us a good way to solve that problem because if that letter is not strong enough and the people don't care, I mean, maybe you can try to find a way with a financial area to see if we can be stronger in the way that we request the money.

Absolutely.

It's very gentle.

It's very gentle. Absolutely, we'll work with staff. I know in Miami-Dade, for resort tax, we're only one of three, but we can look at what the normal practice is statewide. I am presuming because I have not sat down with Frank with regards to resort tax collection. We talked about this upcoming meeting, but with regards to the collection, is it our county tax collector who collects for us or do we do that individually?

We do that individually here. We collect that special tax from the restaurants. You know, there looks to be like certain properties, you know, are going many months without paying some, you know, we'll do that and then come in and pay a lot. But I've noticed that, you know, there's a bit of an issue.

We can definitely look at different ways to do the appropriate outreach as well as ensure that. if this is the best practice to move forward, or if there's maybe a recommendation to have some kind of special assessment for year-wide as opposed to just a month-to-month type aspect. So we'll definitely start taking a look at that and bring back to the board.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, because I think it's important. That money is important, and they are working anyway, and if they don't pay on time, I mean, what is the penalty or how we're going to be acting about that? I think it's important because we are authorizing many things and many projects without money because of the money, right? Okay, but thank you so much. Thank you, Frank.

Thank you.

Okay, now we're going to do the recognition, the thank you, not for the presence. You want to guide this too, please? Guide us? I want to say thank you, really thank you for all the kids. We began with this program with some of you intervening and helping because we saw the need to help and what else would be better than be helping with our young population that we have here. I want to thank you, the parents who are behind those kids because those kids are doing all of this. They like to do that and it's good, but the parents are very important. And the parents behind all of you, I think they need that recognition too. We cannot give them a thank you note right now, but at least I want to applaud the parents because you're being a very good, assembling these kind of values in your kids. And I think the kids are going to be in charge of the town sooner or later. You're going to be, this is your town and this is, and you are the future, and you have the parents, too, is really involved in all of this. I want to congratulate the parents, really.

Okay.

Anybody else want to say a few words? Well, I would just like to thank all the teen volunteers. They were really terrific at the welcome table, and I think it's been such an amazing addition to have our young community members greeting everybody and helping out at the events. I also want to give a quick shout-out to our board member, Eliana, who couldn't be here tonight, but she was a strong advocate of this idea. And, of course, her son Jonah has been a part of the volunteers as well, so thank you for that. And at this time, I'll just ask everybody to join us here in the back, and we'll get together for a photo, and we'll give out all the gift cards. I'm not sure that everybody's here.

Should we just call them? Okay, we'll call them up one at a time.

Sophia Chavez.

Come on, come on, get it.

Victoria Corden. Les Maria Garcia for Dana Arevalo.

Yeah, we can move it, right? Sorry.

Constanza Dominguez. Marianne Dominguez. John Epstein is not here. Kiara Miranda. Jack O'Malley. Let's just, yeah, we'll spread in the back. We've got, we'll get organized for the photo in a minute. Denise Demeltas. Naima Travani. Ricardo Travani. Andres Borges. This is not here. Victoria Lamprou. And then we have Sofia Lamprou. And lastly we have Olivia Sikowsky. Yes, thank you again. We look forward to another great season. Let's try to spread out a little bit.

Okay, thank you. No, thank you, congratulations to everyone. Thank you. And we will be ready for the Christmas celebration, remember.

That's right. We want everyone. It's the next. It's coming right up. It's coming right up. Be prepared. Right, Frank?

Yes, yes.

It's going to be awesome. Yeah. No, because it's good to see all the kids there, present. I think it's like 63. Really, because it's highly uncomfortable.

Okay, sorry.

Ready? Yes. Okay. So ready. But thank you, kids, for being here, and we are done with that. Okay, we are going to go to the 7-8 resort tax form meeting dates.

Yes, Madam Chair, this will be my item. Yes. As we do every year, we propose to the board all the meeting dates for the next year. If you see the attachment that I have provided on your agenda, it has all the dates for the year of 2026, including January 2027, and it does have one date that we have to reschedule due to the Labor Day holiday. If you guys are okay with the dates, I do ask for the board to make a motion to approve these meeting dates.

One second. We'll go there.

Could we review it? It looks to me like I need to study two calendars before I make a decision.

The dates are always going to be the first Monday of the month, as it is always stated. The only day that did change was the day for Labor Day, as I had mentioned, which will be September of 2026.

I think we had to approve it anyway. Sure, let's approve it. It's the way that it's official, the calendar anyway. Yep. Who want to make a motion?

I vote to approve agenda item with the timeline and calendars for 2026.

I second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.

Now take a picture of the dates, guys, ladies. We need to have it ready. We're guys here? No.

If anything, if there's any type of issue with the dates, you guys are more than welcome to change emitting date if needed.

Okay. Okay. Okay, now keep going. We are going to go to signature event proposals. We had... Three different people, right?

Yes, we have three. The first is going to be Charlotte. Madam Chair, perhaps you want to just set, you know, let them know how much time they have.

Yes, exactly.

And how it should work.

Yeah. I think it's going to be, we decide because it needs to be kind of really fluid. It's going to be 10 minutes for each presentation. And then questions, that we have some time to make questions before we take that decision, okay? That you know that, please try to keep your time, because we don't want to cut you. If you pass the time, we will have to tell you to stop.

Okay, please?

And the questions after that, right, Frank? Is what we, okay? Yes. Okay, ready. I think we can start with... With whom, Frank? Sand sculptures. Sand sculptures, right?

Yes, so we'll welcome Charlotte to the podium.

Sand sculpture, art event, and music event, right? Are there three?

Sand sculpture concept, art event, and music event. And music event, yes.

I think...

Through the Chair, just very quickly before we begin, I would just like to tell the Board that perhaps you guys wanna see all three presentations and do the question and answers before you make a decision, just to be fair to everybody so you have a chance to see everything and then you decide what you're interested in.

Well, it depends how you want. Do you prefer to keep your questions at the end or after each presentation?

You can still do the questions after each person, but I'm saying maybe hold your decision on which one you want to move forward until you've seen all three. Okay, just double check.

I've been saying that since the beginning. Before we take the decision. They can't, yeah. We don't have the third person yet, right?

No, he'll be coming.

Okay. All right. No, yeah, we will take the decision after all. Perfect. Yeah. Ready? Yeah. Okay.

Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, my name is Charlotte Ruth El-Sethly, which Charlotte Ruth is, Cheru is my nickname, 320 88th Street, Surfside. I've been a resident since 2008 and I am creative director of Relief Designs and we did the 90th anniversary celebration event and I'm also doing the Singer Fest this coming Sunday. So this presentation is our vision for what a signature annual event might look like in Surfside and I just want to say that like all of the quotes and things that I have in here are They're current as of today. I got quotes from people, but it'll really depend on what the board wants to do and what you choose from this. So if you can sort of look at it as also sort of a menu of options of ideas. So the idea would be to celebrate in winter, in our favorite time to live here when we get all the tourists here, the sand and sea and what we love most about Surfside. The vision is to have a weekend event, so it's Saturday and Sunday. Saturday would begin with more family friendly types of activities and then it would culminate with a more elevated white party type experience on the beach, garden and pool. It would be elegant, Eco-conscious, of course, because that's what I'm doing. And it would hopefully be, you know, I think something very memorable for people. Let me see. Okay. So the main, and actually the bulk of the expense really would go towards, there's stand sculpting festivals all over the world. And these are not like, you know, a little sandcastle. These are like big, artistic you know, using our natural materials to create something really beautiful. So the vision would be for at least three large sand sculptures. But it really, you know, it depends on what the board wants to do. And then that way, you know, you could really have an annual event come out of this because you can attract sponsorships, you can attract like sand sculptor masters that come from out of town and have this like amazing thing on the beach where it's almost like a beach open air art exhibit that you're walking around and seeing like these amazing sculptures and you can actually see them work too. So on Saturday, we would be able to see the sand sculptors at work and then they also do sand sculpting classes. They can do a workshop for our community. You can make it into a competition with awards or whatever. But they actually do it as a team building type experience where they bring all the tools and they show you how to do it. So also on Saturday, one of the features of the workshop the event on Sunday night would have mermaids, like live mermaids, and they actually have mermaiding classes for like little girls and adults. So the idea would be to have sand sculpting in the morning and then mermaiding classes in the afternoon. It's more like a discovery type session because they bring like, I forget, like 10 or 15 tails and, And then you can do it in blocks of time. So it's really also more of a photo opportunity. And then a chance for people to see if they like swimming with a tail. It could be an ongoing class. It's actually a PADI certification that you can get in different levels of mermaiding, which I know about now from freediving. So also that day on Saturday, we could have all kinds of things. I looked into our surfing providers. We could have lessons on the beach. We could have, like I was thinking to have, and part of my quote is to have like a barbecue in the garden and also have little stations of like hair braiding, face painting, that kind of thing. And also as much as possible to use local businesses. So maybe Rita's to have like icy types of things during the day and things like that. Oops, how do I go back? How do I go back? There you are. Okay. So, okay. So, and then the... When I looked at doing these like stand sculpting festivals, they are often with like at sunset or like, you know, they're capitalizing on something in the community. And I thought something that we haven't really seen or I haven't seen in South Florida is like a more... like a more bespoke experience of the full moon. Like this is not a drum circle. Like this is like, um, supposed to be a more, um, elegant type of activity, but also really fun because we'll have mermaids and we'll like have the, um, the sand sculptures illuminated. We'll have, um, as you got a little sneak peek of like fire dancers, that sort of thing. And this is just the sort of the set, the tone of the, of the ideas I was thinking. Oh, and then on Saturday, I also got quotes for a yoga and sound bath on the beach Saturday evening. And one other idea for Saturday also was maybe to do something for people who don't often participate in these events. So maybe like a Zumba class in the water to bring in more of our older residents. Because I know there's amazing energy in that class. that maybe we could do something with that. So the Saturday, this is just a little more in-depth about Saturday. We can also, I mean, it's kind of like the sky's the limit as far as what you could do. Um, but this, this is the sculptor that I spoke with, um, about doing these at Surfside speech. And so this is an example of what, one that he's done and he's in Broward. Um, so then the idea would be that this would culminate in this like more elevated white party. And I looked at the dates and February 1st is a full moon. It's a snow moon. So this is sort of what I thought would be like Surfside's answer to winter festivals and other places. And I think you could do a lot with the branding about like the moon bringing out the mermaids and just make it sort of a really magical, fun type event. Um, the decor would be, you know, obviously inspired by the moon and the ocean. What was also special about this date? Um, you could do it annually, like around the moon. It doesn't have to be exactly on the full moon, but like whatever, but, um, But for this year, the sunset and the moonrise are three minutes apart on February 1. So hopefully, that's when our skies are generally clearer. You can have this beautiful sky with the moonrise. So we would have the sand sculptures illuminated, live mermaids as you're coming in, and then fire dancers on the beach. The music, we can talk about what you all think surfsiders respond to most. I looked into a glam-type photo booth that we can make sure that people can get pictures there and afterwards, like prints. And also, one of the things that I feel is really important is to have it a meaningful element, and I'll get to that. So the menu I thought about for this was like, sushi, but coastal inspired. And then also to have a fire and ice type concept, so a sushi bar. Hopefully, depending on how elevated of an experience you want to have, we could do a live sushi chef. There's also an Argentinian barbecue He's kosher. Actually, the one that did the 90th anniversary event, he does live events, too, with, like, fire and, like, how they make the meat and stuff. So I thought that would be a good opportunity. And then also I thought it would be really cool to have, like, a signature. Am I going over the time?

Yeah, it's 10 minutes. Okay.

All right. Well, signature cocktail. to have something named Surfside and it would be a way to bring in hotels and really engage them. We could do a little cocktail kit and try to advertise each hotel. This is a slide that I actually wanted to spend more time on, but I thought to make this more meaningful and really engage residents, and these could change however you want, whatever you want to name them or something, but it might be interesting to have a program around recognizing residents who you know, embody the sort of values that Surfside wants to see and sort of positively engage people. like a legacy keeper would be a tribute to a longtime resident. A rising tide would be recognizing some youth. An ocean guardian would be like an individual or a local business that's doing something with sustainability. And then Singer's Lighthouse, I was, you know, because I'm doing Singer Fest, I've been thinking a lot about him. But honoring like a creative person. So like a storyteller, an artist. Great. I think you guys know most of this. But this is like the economic impact and the potential for partnerships and future, like making it into an annual event. And also, of course, this would be a low waste event with composting, no single use plastics, and that sort of thing. This is, I mean, this is like an overview based on the quotes that I got. So it's pretty dense. So I guess, you know, I can answer individual questions, but I was trying to be as transparent as possible about what I was looking at with different pieces of it. Like the large sand sculptures start at $6,500 each. So, you know. I think I should have gone into sand sculpting. And that's it. That's basically the concept and the idea, and I'm happy to answer your questions.

Can you put the other slide back?

The budget one?

Yes. Sorry? I said that's where I spend most of the time. Yeah, exactly. Looking at the money.

Yeah, because we received those communication, but you have questions or something?

Yeah, so kind of like to clarify, like Saturday will be like more like family-oriented type of event. Yes. And like in the morning, afternoon? I think daylight hours.

Daylight hours. So morning, so with the stinking morning, the sand sculpting classes, a break midday for lunch in the garden, and then mermaiding classes in the afternoon from like 1 to 3 or something like that.

And then Sunday will be the sorry only, the white party.

Yes, in the evening. Although like an element of this, I would love to see us partner with like plastic fishermen and incorporate some sort of like beach cleanup or something.

Okay, and...

So that could be Sunday.

And the mermaids will be on Saturday or Sunday, both days?

Both days. The mermaids, they do lessons, so they do both. They can come and do mermaiding lessons where they teach you different tricks about swimming with a tail, and then on Sunday evening, they would be there for photo ops and sort of floating by the pool. We would have, like, bubbles and floating candles and all of that to sort of create this very magical atmosphere.

Yeah, I would like to see more of the times, like she was asking about the times, to see how you're going to spend activities on Saturday and Sunday. Yeah. Because Sunday, I love the idea to be the white thing for the adults and all of that, because I think with the last... dinner that we have in the park. Remember that people was really, the adults, they were really engaged and they were so happy. And we were looking for something that goes in that perspective because everyone was really enjoying that organization that we did in that And that's why the idea to be a white party or something more elegant.

More elegant so people can get dressed up and get their white outfits ready and have lots of, I mean, like, obviously the color palette would be mostly white with, like, pastel ocean types of things. And then... And the idea I think also is to creating like momentum and nostalgia. So like to create as many photo opportunities and engage maybe like local influencers, but to create as many like photo type opportunities as possible.

So the party itself will be in the garden area or in the beach?

The evening, so what I would love to see, because I think we would get a lot of people, and I don't think the garden is big enough to have it spread through all of the areas. So the pool, people can get their picture with the mermaid. The garden is more for eating. and the stage, and then on the beach, we could have the fire dancers and hopefully create flow during the evening so people are moving around and really mingling and talking and that sort of thing.

And how you are thinking to control the people, because that part will be for residents, really. You do that between the beach and...

I mean, I think...

Sorry, go ahead. Yeah, sorry. Okay.

Well, through the chair, just keep in mind that everything for this event cannot be for residents. It has to be for the broader community or at least the hotel guests. But yeah, it has to be tourist focused.

Well, it's always tourist focused. I think that goes without saying. And of course, we would extend invitations and ensure that they had enough time to market any event that we do. But to the extent that it's for the tourist and the community, we could probably figure out a way to make it more private for us. That's what I mean. Right. That's okay. What about the music? What are you thinking?

Um, so I was thinking that's the number that I actually talked to Frank. That was like, I, I got other quotes that were much larger than what, um, I initially thought of, but initially I was thinking sort of low key to have like a, um, steel drum type band and then transition to a DJ, like a more like the white party DJ kind of atmosphere. Um, but we can also do, there are lots of different kinds. I'm open to your ideas and I'm open to also like collaborating and working with other, um, vendors, you know, that I've had a good experience working with.

So I think these four years you don't, you didn't take into account music. Yeah.

Um, it's just that it's just that it was based on the very low, um, budget that I first got, which was for the steel drum band and DJ.

Yeah.

So this would represent the low end. And then if you want something bigger, you know, it's going to be more.

Yeah, okay. Or another kind of groups, for example, like music, will be more increasing the price.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay. Holden, maybe I suggest that in case that at the end you have a question for Isha, also you can go back to. But for now, we're going to leave it. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Now we have the people from our event. Are you there? Okay.

Welcome, Antonia and the cloud creative team.

They can turn it off. At least to turn it off, at least. Hello.

This is Lucia Morales, address 1731 Northeast 138th Street. So, hi everyone, thank you so much for the opportunity to present. Today we're presenting Surfside's Arts and Culture Festival.

Could you speak louder, please? Louder?

Yes. Before designing this festival, we listened closely to Surfside, to your residents, your business community, your goals, and your concerns. We studied what this community is asking for, what it is ready for, and what we truly think that will add value and identity to Surfside in the years ahead. What we're bringing to you today is not just another art event. It is a cultural strategy that positions Surfside as a leader in the arts on the same level as Coconut Grove with the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, West Palm Beach with the Palm Beach Food and Wine Festival, and as well as Miami Beach with the Art Basel. Cities known for their strong cultural presence, creative programming, and community pride. We believe SurSight is ready to take this new next step. Our team has spent years working with municipalities and communities across Miami, building programs that use art to connect people, strengthening local identity, and elevate the city brand. And through all these experiences, one truth has remained constant. Arts and culture are always the answer. They bring people together, they create belonging, and they activate public spaces, and they generate real economic and social impact. The Surfside Arts and Culture Festival, which I really like that name, is designed with intention to nurture a cultural identity that feels authentic to Surfside, to involve residents in a meaningful way, and to make this a signature event that becomes part of the city's DNA. Tonight, I'll show you how this festival can position Surfside as a cultural destination, a place of art, community, creativity, and local pride coming together in a way that feels elevated, engaging, and uniquely Surfside. So the vision and purpose. How the festival will work. The Surfside Arts and Culture Festival will be a one day signature event that activates the town through a curated blended schedule of creativity, learning, and community engagement. The festival will come to life through a mix of elements, live performances, interactive workshops, community art, cultural panels and talks, public art installations, immersive experiences, and the participation of local and county businesses and institutions. So the idea is that we're going to activate different zones of the festivals. So there's gonna be a main stage, an art pavilion, a wellness pavilion, a family plaza, and a culture and ideas tent. So each zone is going to have a program all happening at the same time. So people that come, they can choose and pick what is their likings and what they are wanting to learn and really take in from this festival. So for example, let me see if I can. This is a, yeah. Oh, wait, I think you went too much. Too far. Okay, yeah. So this is a schedule we've been working in the past few weeks, thinking of different ways that we can activate each zone. So for example, the main stage, there's going to be an act of maybe like 45 minutes of opera. And then after that, there will be like a panel of the opera singers being able to talk about what it takes to be to do the creative process of music. And then an hour after, there's going to be another schedule, maybe like a illusion show. And then an hour after, there's going to be a ballet show. So the idea is that we're going to have partnerships with local institutions of Miami, for example, the Paris Art Museum or the Florida Grand Opera for this and Miami Cities Ballet, that they all can come together and it will be a collaboration with different institutions that are very prestigious and really know what they're talking about and be able to express that and show that to the community and them being able to learn, take it in and possibly be part of it in the future. So as everything that happens in the main stage, there's also things activated in the art pavilion. So for example, we can have an hour of exploring clay through plaster molds. And then after that, there is an eco printing and bundle dyeing, and then different activities happening in each zone and different schedules happening. So you can choose. hey, look, I really like what's happening in the main stage. This is going to be at this hour, but I'm also scheduled to, because I really want to learn how to do calligraphy, I want to go to the art pavilion. So then that way we can activate the whole area and people are moving from one place to another and then really taking in as much as they can from the event. At the same time, there's a wellness pavilion. So in the morning, once the event starts, which we're thinking of being one day from 10 to 6 p.m., and from in the beginning have like an hour guided yoga and meditation and then after that in that same tent there's another schedule happening such as breath work for creativity and then so on we can have a sound bath journey so Each zone is activated with activities and workshops related to that. We're also going to have a family plaza. For example, a one-hour puppet-making workshop, and then after a theatrical show. After that, we can have a youth and family dance workshop that is led by professional dancers from a specific team here in Miami. So we're trying to bring big people coming in and showing what really you can learn from this. At the same time, we would have the Culture Ideas Tent, where we have different panels. So for example, an author coming in and doing a story time, and such on. Oh, sorry. And then, yes, and then gastronomy, we would want to have different gastronomy spots around the whole city, I mean, the whole festival, so people can always grab a bite, grab something to drink, and then at the end we were thinking of having an event highlight, so the final show of, and then everybody comes into the main stage and is able to come together, and after a long day of different workshops and panels and learning, coming together and just having one final, like, hooray. So yeah, the festival experience, we will have art and creativity. So what we're talking about is around the festival, have a sculpture garden, like an open-air demonstration of artists coming in, workshops from artists from the Perez Art Museum, MOCA in North Miami, Miami Dade College, so have a lot of different partnerships. having ceramic sessions, and so on. Music and performance, we're thinking of, I don't know if you guys have been to the Miami's Jazz Bookings. It's a movement going on here in Miami, and I've been to some of the events, and it would be great to have them come in Then we're also thinking of, since we're celebrating the arts and not just jazz, we also have opera, we have ballet, we have also being able to ask live local bands if they would like to come and participate. So give people different aspects of music. Culture and learning, so what we really want to bring is panel discussions with Miami's leading cultural voices. So we can have lectures, for example, the Underwater Reef Project, being able to invite them, talk about it, and then the participants are able to be part of them. Storytelling, poetry readings, and also performances by students from the Young School of Arts and so on. Family and community. So what we were talking about having workshops for more for children in some areas so for example puppet making then we can also do make your own festival merge and different showcases for gastronomy and luxury lunches. We were thinking of curating dining experiences by Surfside's finest restaurants and chefs. We're inviting those known chefs from here and then being able to give them the space to talk about their business, how they collaborate, how they're able to make it work, and also giving up some tastings. So the design and atmosphere of the festival, this is what we were thinking. We were thinking of taking over the 93rd Street, the block next to it, the parking lot, and so was the community center over here. So we would be having different zones activated. So for example, the main stage right here, the family plaza in the back, have the art pavilion, obviously have gastronomy all around. So everything is activated and people can stop and grab a bite of, I don't know, maybe some sushi and then have a bite of, Pizza, yeah. Culture and ideas tent all the way in the back, and then also have everything activated and people walk around from one place to the other. We're thinking of not closing the main roads like Harding and Collins, but having a specific time and police being able to stop traffic, let people walk. continue with traffic and then so on. And then the community center, we would have the wellness pavilion on the outside area, some gastronomy, having a second stage. So all the areas will be activated and we're thinking of a lot of people coming into it. So being able to disperse all these people that are coming from all over Miami.

we're almost done.

So yeah, just people everywhere from not just Surfside, we're inviting people from Miami-Dade and from all Florida that will be interested in taking part of these panels of these big institutions that are very well known. So yeah, some potential collaborations. These are already in talks, but we would like to have a final confirmation so we can start understanding how these partnerships are gonna work. These are some of them. I'm not gonna read them for time. I suggest you to go to the budget because you are over the time.

Yes, yes, yes, we're finished.

And then, yeah, this is just the end. We were just putting in some research and precedents of things that have worked in the past. So Miami Beach with Art Basso, it brings so much money and so much culture and tourism. The Eastside Arts Festival in Vancouver also has a schedule packed, such as the one that we have with different programs, workshops, live events, performances, music. And the Palm Beach and Food Festival that also has a lot of food and different things. So getting the best out of these big events that are happening and bringing them together in service side and packing it all in the best way possible. Some research as well, like for example, Bay Harbor, they closed two of their blocks. And yeah, this is the budget and economic impact. We were thinking of a lot of visitors. And yeah. Thank you. That was a lot. Yeah, and then the next steps.

How many days do you have these in mind?

This would just be one day.

Oh. One packed day. So what we envision is to have it one day the next year, and then the followings we can see how many people are coming, how it can grow and make it perhaps a two-day event, and that it could become something that is annual and serves that is recognized as being an arts and cultural festival.

And the food you are thinking to do like a sample with the people who you are going to invite, right?

No, food, we were thinking about selling food, not giving free samples to everyone because it would be like open to the public. What we were thinking is maybe we can have a special tent for Surfside residents and people who are staying in the hotels where we can pass certain samples for residents and tourists that are staying within the town.

And that's common in art festivals that you buy your own food.

Yes. And everything will be for the people that are the institutions and the restaurants will be there.

Questions?

Julie? So I love your ideas about the music and the stages and different things. It just seems like a whole lot for one day. I'm also a little bit concerned about the utilization of space with crossing the street. So God forbid something happens, we will have been poorly planning a strategy that has us crossing people across Harding. So just, that would be my concern. I'd rather do something on the beach and anywhere else, really.

Yeah, this is just like the first pass of maybe where we thought it could happen, but this could work at the beach. This could work at a park. We have different areas. We're open to talk and work through what is the best and the safest way.

What we've noticed here when we did the third Thursdays this year is that it calls a lot of attention because we are on the street. the music, the lights, so people will stop by and join the festival. What we could do is just maybe have it 93rd Street, the parking lot, and perhaps the next block without having crossing the Collins. maybe just the Harding, we can find a way of making it work. Or if maybe we can have access to the next parking lot, not only the small one, but the one that follows, that could be an idea as well. We're open to see where the location fits best.

We have a construction right now in . This is for next year.

But next year, more or less, what time of the year would you think?

So the art movement in Miami happens from, starts basically the end of November, starting December, and it goes all the way to February. So we were envisioning something towards the end of February, We also have amazing weather, and that's one of our options, yeah, by the end of February.

Okay, no questions? Okay. Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Next is Javier.

Yes.

The music event. Music event. What did they say about the music, the only group? What did they say? What kind of music did they say?

It didn't specifically say music.

Madame Chair, I would like to remind the board not to have any conversations.

Yeah.

Thank you.

We can ask them, because, yeah.

OK. Hello. Hello, everyone. Good evening.

Javier Valmana, 8851 Abbott Avenue, Surfside, Florida.

Javier, you weren't here, but we decided that every presenter is going to have 10 minutes to present a whole presentation, and then after that we'll have some questions, okay?

Sounds good, thank you. Thank you. So the event, oh, also just to be clear, we're not presenting today a music event. I think that was based on the last event that we presented. That was the jazz event. But since you already have that one, you know, in mind, I wanted to present something different and new so that you can also consider it as a signature event. Sanctita is in France, in Surfside. And it's kind of like a beach celebration of our town. And I'll just go a little forward so I can explain it. Our vision for the event, Waves in France, is a celebration of Surfside's vibrant soul, where ocean, breeze, and community connection meet art and culture in perfect harmony. We envision an annual gathering that bridges locals, visitors, family, and friends through Surfside traditions, attractions, and ideals, an event that highlights all our town has to offer. And then as far as objectives, we want the event to build community tradition, promote local culture and business, showcase Surfside's identity, and encourage sustainability and wellness. And I'll go into each one. So for building community tradition, the objective of the event is to bring the community together in a setting that reflects Surfside coastal charm and establishes waves and friends as an annual signature event that inspires pride among residents and captivates visitors year after year. In promoting local culture and business, we wanted to spotlight local restaurants and shopping destinations here in town through sponsorship partnerships, so getting some of these businesses to sponsor the event and have their names throughout. and also a culinary contest. We want to showcase Surfside's identity by blending coastal luxury with laid-back elegance through design, live acoustic music, global cuisine, and sustainability. And then lastly, encouraging sustainability and wellness by inspiring eco-friendly habits and healthy living through ocean conservation awareness talks, art exhibitions, wellness classes, and partnerships with local organizations. This is just a little mood board. So kind of what we want to do is, one, it's going to take place on the beach. And we want to blend together a lot of the different traditions and things that our town is already either known for or it already offers. And we want to do it with a luxury but laid back atmosphere, kind of if you No Tulum in Mexico. So kind of with that vibe and vision in mind. So something laid back, but also, you know, that provides elegance. So then as far as activities and attractions, we would have, in order to fit that vibe, we want to mainly provide acoustic left music, incorporate some of the things and traditions that we already have, like the history walking tour. We want to have a portion of the event, which I'll get into. called Surfside Bites and Beats, Keys Cove, after our turtle on 95th Street. And this will be a corner of the event that will be focused on ocean conservation and also the town's history and significance to the turtle. We'll have an ocean photography contest and exhibition. So in advance to the event, we'll organize an ocean photography contest where residents and anyone that really wants to participate can submit photographs that they've taken, ideally here in Surfside, but any ocean photograph would be fine, of animals, you know, something that incorporates in one way or another the ocean. And then during the main event, we would have these photographs on exhibition. We would incorporate both the beach and the community center. So in the rear garden of the community center, we would have this exhibition for people walking into the event to see. And then during the event, they could vote along with the panel of judges. And we would obviously have a winner for the contest. We would have a portion of the event called Turtle Walk, Turtle Talk, which will be a forum and exhibition, also highlighting our turtle walk here in town. And the idea with that part of the event would be to move our turtle sculpture to the event space, this part in the community center. and both, well, I'll actually explain that in another slide, so I'll get into that later. We'll have, as part of this event, the Turtle Walk, Turtle Talk, and the annual Turtle Sculpture Reveal. We'll also have a kids' fun zone with surf balancing boards, games, inflatables, and surf classes. We'll have a turtle sand sculpture. We'll have photo stations throughout, but we'll have surfing inspired photo stations. We'll have a beach lounge. We'll have morning wellness fair and classes, seashell bracelet making activity, and turtle crawl contest. So just some of the general event details, the location, part of the event, which I'll get into now, will be Bites and Beats, which will take place on 95th Street. And this will be on Saturday night. that part of the event, and then the main event, which will be on Sunday, would be on the beach behind the community center and the community center. The date is to be determined, but I would suggest something between March and June. March, if you wanted to focus more on our high season, however, June, even though it starts to get a little hotter, the second week of June coincides with World Ocean Day. And within one week, you have World Ocean Day, you have Sea Turtle Day, and you have Loggerhead Turtle Day, which is the turtle that we get here in town. So that all falls within the second week of June, so that would be a great day if you also want to do it towards the start of the slow season. And then days and times, we have a portion of the event on Saturday night between 8 and 10 p.m., and then the other portion of the event on Sunday throughout the entire day. Estimated attendance, I would put it between town residents and outside guests, between 500 and 1,000, ideally more, but I think that would be a fair number considering town events and any extra traffic that we might be able to bring. So Bites and Beats, this is the Saturday night portion of the event which would take place on 95th Street. I'm not sure if you all might remember when the Third Thursdays would take place on 95th Street. It was very popular just because it's in the middle of the downtown area. business district. For this event, I would keep it a small footprint, so I would actually probably keep it between the alley, so we don't have to close down the alley or that part of the street, and the entrance to 95th Street and Harding, and that's more than enough space to to have what i'm about to describe so as the night falls waves and friends transforms into bites and beats a satellite event that offers an elevated evening experience celebrating surfside's local flavor laid back elegant and laid back elegance guests can unwind with acoustic music signature cocktails and culinary tastings from the town stop restaurants in a relaxed coastal cheek setting featuring town businesses and a friendly chef's competition. Bites and Beats blends community spirit, great food, and a Surfside culture into one unforgettable night. So this is kind of like our version or a small version of the South Beach food and wine, but kind of keeping it here in town and exposing our own town businesses and restaurants. And this part of the event is mainly adult-oriented, so it would be mainly so our adult community can come out and experience a part of the event that is more directed towards them. And this would be Saturday, 8 to 10 p.m. And then another big part of the event would be the Turtle Walk Turtle Talk. This portion of the event will feature a guided tour of SurfSite's iconic turtle walk sculptures, highlighting the artists behind each piece and their respective meanings. In addition, it will Welcome organizations such as the Loggerhead Marine Life Center, the Surfside Foundation, the Surf Rider Foundation, and other environmental protection groups who participate in a forum-style gathering at the community center, sharing their insights and initiatives. The forum will conclude with the annual unveiling of a new turtle sculpture, which can either be installed within the town or donated as a lasting symbol of Surfside's identity and commitment to conservation and environmental protection. And this part of the event would be Sunday between 3 and 5 p.m. One of the main components of the event would be to obviously offer not only ocean conservation awareness, but education. But we didn't want to make the event just about that, to keep it kind of appealing to as many people as possible. and also fun and light. So this is just a portion of the event. And it draws inspiration from a turtle fest that takes place about two hours from here that the Loggerhead Marine Life Center actually hosts, which takes place every year. It's a huge event. This would be a small portion of that. And it's just something that we incorporate into the event. Then as far as the itinerary, we have on Saturday night, we have the Bites and Beats from 8 to 10 p.m. And then Sunday, the day would start with a wellness fair and classes from 9.30 to 11.30 a.m. And what I'm imagining here is just kind of something to get everyone in the spirit of the event. And I'm almost done just by the way. In the spirit of the event and setting themselves up for the night later on. And this would be something with morning yoga, Pilates, meditation, followed by a wellness fair in the community center with music, refreshments, and light bites. And we would invite skincare brands, sunblock brands, and things like that to create just an additional attraction to the event that is in the morning and light. And I would also, I didn't include it in here, but I did think of... having, which I think would go great with this event, and it's a big part of our town, the Plastic Fishing Festival, but that's something obviously that they would have to organize, but it would go great with the week that we'd be doing this event if we do it in June, and also with the whole theme of the event. And then, you know, followed by a history walking tour from 2 to 3 p.m. And then the main event would begin at 3 p.m. And it would go until 9 p.m. And there we'll have, throughout the event, we'll launch the event with an acoustic live performance shortly after the Turtle Walk, Turtle Talk forum and exhibition. And the annual Turtle Sculpture reveal. Throughout the event, we'll just have seating and, you know, like date back seating music and, you know, That sort of thing, we'll have activities for kids. And then towards the end of the event, after everyone has already voted, we'll also have for this event, and I also forgot to mention for the Bites and Beats, a panel that will choose of judges. So that way we encourage everyone to participate and we'll decide who the winner is and obviously offer a prize. I have two more slides and that's it. So event draw beyond Surfside, while most Miami events are high energy or nightlife focus, Waves and Friends will offer something distinct, a curated beachside cultural experience, blending art, food, and community with upscale coastal serenity, a true uptown beach town experience. Why Waves and Friends? Waves and Friends celebrates Surfside's bond as a community and also its connection to the ocean. Through music, art, and food and shared experiences, Waves and Friends brings residents and visitors together to honor the beauty of our beach, the creativity of our people, and the collective spirit that makes Surfside feel like home. So this is the budget I put up something kind of general because there's a lot of components to the event like for example for an event like this to close on the beach. We would need a permit with Miami-Dade, kind of like how it's done with some of the events in South Beach and things like that. We would also have to talk to these organizations to invite them to the festival and see how that works. But we're confident that we can do it with this budget. The other thing I'll mention is that for food and drinks, I would open it up to everyone to kind of have small bites and things like that. That way everyone gets the same experience and it's really an event and not just of Surfside residents and visitors, but just anyone that wants to join. And then just to go kind of through it really quickly, for the saturday night event that is bites and beats we'll have you know live music saint and sound the uh budget for that is about five thousand dollars for furniture and decor we also have five thousand dollars and the reason that's a little higher than some of my other events is because i really want it to be an elevated experience i want it to be comfortable and i want it to be you know, something that is attractive to adults and that feels welcoming and nice.

And that's the one that you have planned for 95th Street?

For 95th Street, yeah.

And I can't envision where.

So it is, so... Where it used to be before.

On the street.

Yeah, on the street, just not the entire street.

Yeah, but you don't because you're out of time. We're out of time then. Because we're out of time. Yeah. Start with questions?

Yeah, you can start.

Look at that transition, though. Yeah. And then, yeah, the question, I have a question. We were planning to have this no longer than March because for political reasons, we don't know what is going to happen. And it's possible that you do this in would you do this in February? Because it's the time that we were thinking to have this.

Of this year?

No, February.

No, of 2026.

Yeah, but not May or June. Also, regarding the time. My question is.

Yeah, I could do it.

March 1st starts turtle nesting season, so we won't be allowed to do anything on the on the beach at night, like the lighting and everything. So it has to be.

So one thing I'll say about that is that we can, so I put the main event from 3 to 9 p.m. We can adjust that because it does get a night, like later in the summer. It's usually 8.30 p.m. So if we end the event maybe at 8, you know, just one hour less, we can kind of mitigate that. If we were to do it in June, I'm just saying.

In February, you mean?

Well, I'm saying as far as the turtle nesting season, which starts March 1st.

Yeah. But we could do it in February. We could do that in no more than February, right? In January, February will be the idea. January is too soon.

Yeah, January will be too soon.

I think February, pushing to March the most. In the first week of March, that would be. But then the other question, you said your budget is $75,000, right? And for the two days, and you are including everything.

Yes, so for the Saturday night event.

One day, one night. One day, one night.

One day, one night, yes. For the Saturday night event, what is included, so for example, one of the main things or the main thing of the event is having all the restaurants or a selection of restaurants from here in town. pretty much submit a proposed plate for the event. And then everyone that's there will be able to try a sample plate of that so that they can, towards the end of the event, judge that plate as well as the judges. And so we'll have, you know, acoustic music, drinks, and things like that throughout. But the main draw of the event will be the food aspect. So, but it's still, you know, a small event. It's not, you know, it's not gonna be that portion at least. And that's why that budget is 25,000. It's about, I would say it's similar to a third Thursday minus the kids entertainment and things like that, and more adult focused.

Yeah, one question. So the Bites and Beats will be on 95th, and then Sunday event will be on the community center and the beach.

And the beach, yes. Yes.

Yeah, because I remember the Italian festival that you did. It was everyone was amazed with that thing. With that celebration?

But that will be different.

No, I know, I know. I mean, just talking about how he organized for the Italian night, that everyone really loved.

Yeah, so we...

The music and everything was...

So I would want to create a similar experience since we had several food stations. Food-wise, I would want to create something similar just with town restaurants and businesses so that at the end of the day, the focus, the draw is towards our tourism, our businesses. And yeah, and I think it's an interactive experience. way to do it because we get people involved, you know, and we get restaurants. Oh, and one thing I didn't mention is that so, you know, whoever wins will get like a trophy or a plaque saying, you know, they're this year's Bites and Beats or Waves and Friends, you know, winner. And I think it'll also be a good thing for restaurants to have. Kind of similar, you know, the South Beach Food and Wine does that. And they have burger competitions. They have things like that. And then it's a thing of great pride for those places when they win it and when they can showcase it on their website or whatever. So I think that's why I included it.

I think it's important just to comment. So you said the same as South Beach Food and Wine. So things are known for one name. Coconut Grove Art Festival. So if we have two days and we have two names, that's probably going to be sort of a competing thing, right? I'd like to stick with one sort of banner name for the event.

OK, so the bytes, so OK, so how I have it, at least in my mind, Waves and Friends is like the general event. So for example, anyone visiting town or anyone talking about this event would refer to it as Surfside's annual Waves and Friends. But the bytes and beats, similar to the other, I guess, satellite attraction or event that I proposed, the Turtle Walk, Turtle Talk, it's just the name of that theme or within. So we wouldn't be promoting bytes and beats in Surfside. We'd be promoting Waves and Friends. And then it has a satellite event, which is this.

Questions? No more questions? Uh-uh. Okay, now in general, do you have, because we don't have to decide today, do we? Do we decide with these vendors or?

Correct, it's up to you. You can evaluate if you want to move forward with any of these today or if you want to ask them to come back and, you know, make some adjustments or.

So you also talked about the fact that you had talked about a jazz event. Right. So I think we've had a peppering of other things that we've all discussed. I think it's prudent to have all of it at once for us and have the documentation to really dive deep. Now that we have the explanations, at least that's how I think when I make a decision and then, um, have you back one next time.

I don't know if that, I will say only thing is that, so for, for example, for a February event, assuming that, you know, we have a, uh, a decision and the December meeting, I think for myself and for any of us, it would be a short time frame. That's my only thing.

Yeah, well, I don't know.

Well, can we vote online when we review and come back with a, we can.

Right? I think it will be better to vote other day also because it's just the three of us and I would like to have maybe two other members also to think about it and maybe give us one week and we can send what we want to Frank and then he'll make a decision or announce or whatever. Can we make something like that?

I think we have to decide and unfortunately when the people is absent, is absent, but we have to decide, because it's true, they are going to need that time, because most of them, they are for February.

I know, but I'm asking for one week. I'm not asking for next December. It's just for us, give us, I don't know, even two days to send an email. Sorry, to Frank.

You didn't have time to review what they sent us by email? No. Yeah, kind of, but not really. When did you send it?

It was sent Thursday.

No, I did not.

Okay. Well, I think for...

I was out of town for two days on business, got back Friday.

For the purposes of here, I don't know if we can... Madam Chair, this is something that it should be voted on during a public forum. I know. Oh, okay. I know. I know that. That is why I was trying to ask. Oh, you have questions? The question for all of you will be, if you feel... confident with all these three presentation, you want to see something else, or we can decide with these three?

No, I'm perfectly fine with these three.

Okay.

I would not need to see anything else.

And we had to vote and decide, we had to vote and decide in here.

So you would like to vote and decide on one of these for today?

Yeah, it's what they said, we have to do that here. We cannot do that in other, out of the meeting.

Board members, if you want to vote, it has to be in a public forum per Sunshine Laws. If you want to delay the vote, you can, but if you're going to vote on a proposal, it has to be in a public forum like you are right now. It can't be emailed or anything like that.

It's what Genesee just mentioned right now. That's why I was telling you we have to decide. If you are confident with these three, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

we can try to accommodate that way, but as long as it's in a public forum. So you can do it today, you can do it at the next meeting, or we can try to accommodate a quick meeting for an individual.

Yeah, thank you. But I think we were planning for this since last year, remember? That was my idea. Your idea. And that's why we cannot postpone. I don't want to postpone because it's unfair for them, whatever we're going to decide. because they need that time, and more because we are trying to see this before the new year, the new group or whatever. Okay, thank you. I appreciate it. My question for Rolo, you will be also, you have some questions extra for anyone?

No.

You already know who? Okay. I think we have to say, no, you have to say here publicly who do you want to, and then the who wants the majority will be the winner, that's it. Okay. Okay? Do you want to go ahead? Yes. Who do you want? Yeah, okay. Who do you want?

Give me one second.

I need a couple of minutes. There are three, sand sculptures, art event, or ways and friends.

Yeah, but the events are, the names, I think we should call them by the names of the events, right? No, the name of the event is...

Snow Moon Soiree.

Oh, yeah. What's the name?

The name is Snow Moon Soiree. Snow Moon Soiree. Soiree. Mm-hmm. And the other is... I don't have the paper.

The other is Art Event.

No, it had a different name. Art and Culture Event. Art and Culture Event. Festival. Festival. Festival, sorry. Festival.

Festival. And the last one.

Waves and Friends was the third.

Waves and Friends. OK. OK. OK, so I think I'll go for the Snow Moon Soiree. I think I like the, should I say white or?

No.

I actually second that. That's my decision as well.

Okay, I was thinking more in ways and friends. But you are majority.

That, ladies and gentlemen, makes us unable to vote.

No, no, no, it's good because you are majority anyway, you are two. All right. And I can go for, there's no more, sorry.

So if I could, it actually, It pulls at what we were trying to accomplish with a very elevated event that's specific. The fun stuff, yes. I actually have a bit of an angst about having the party on a Sunday versus having the party on a Saturday, which I prefer because that's usually... when people go out, when people have the night to have fun, and then the next day they don't have to go to work, and they do fun kid things during the day. So if we could flip that, that would be... To what?

May I? To which day? Okay, through the chair. I think Clara's ideas... I like that because also our main youth community, we have to think about that on Saturday they do Shabbat, so maybe for them it would be good for all the kids to enjoy the Sunday event during the day and the night event on Saturday. So if it's able to be switched in order, I think both will work, but it could be better.

But you mean Saturday and Sunday then? I didn't know.

Well, the event was two days. So we proposed to keep it two days, but to have the evening event where it's the white party on a Saturday, which allows right after Shabbos, then people can attend, and then of course the Sunday kid events, which would be friendly for everyone.

Is that possible? It's fine? Okay. And then now that we are going to decide in due, is it possible also we can review Yes, details to see what we like, what we don't like, and the budget. We can send you some things that we would like to adjust, or recommendation is fine, that we can work together with all of these. Throughout Frank, he will send it.

Through the chair, yes, you can maybe funnel your comments to me, and I can work with Sheru.

To make it work, because I remember what's happening that night, you were doing a great job doing all the preparation, and we want that kind of event that we were working for that. Okay? Okay, perfect. Thank you so much.

Madam Chair, was that a motion made by Vice Chair Martinez to approve the Snow Moon Soiree event?

Yes. I'll make the motion to approve as our annual festival the Snow Moon Soiree. I second that.

Board Member Díaz-Leal.

Yes.

Vice Chair Martinez.

Yes.

Chair González. Yes. Motion carries.

Okay, thank you for coming. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you for your presentations. We really like them. Love them. I wanted to say, like, I think, like, the beach-oriented thing for an annual festival is what we were kind of looking. Not that we don't like the arts. We love them.

I would love opera at the beach anytime.

Okay, we're going to continue with 7C. It's gonna be approval of Spectacular, right?

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. So this is an item that came up. I think there was just a little bit of an oversight, and there was some candy that was needed for the event that was not budgeted for, so I was asked to please bring this to you. The exact figure was 490-something, so it was just shy of $500, so we're just looking for a $500 approval for the candy that was distributed at the Spooktacular, and we'll make sure that next year the team factors that into the original budget.

Okay. I make the motion to approve the spectacular event candy additional funds of $500.

I second that.

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

7D, overtime lighting removal and installation. Frank?

Thank you, Madam Chair. So we are approaching the holiday season and we are looking to, as you know, change our vendor for the downtown permanent lighting to a new one. And we're also going to have our holiday decorations installed. So some of this, not all of it, but some of it may require overtime work. And, you know, we really try not to engage the overtime unless it's absolutely necessary. you know, I'll put in a request to the chief and I'll mention the dates and the availability and based on, you know, staff availability, we either have to do overtime or not. So I don't have an exact figure, but I know that we are going to need overtime. They already had to work through the night. Public Works did a couple of weeks ago to remove some of the lighting equipment that was left over from the old vendor. So that will be needed in addition to some overtime to install the new downtown lighting by the new vendor, which is going to happen next week. So I just need just an approval to authorize the overtime for the installation of the lights. And note that when these crews are installing and removing, they need that safety vehicle with the lights behind them. So it's not something that they can do without the police escort.

I know we don't, I'm sorry. I would like to suggest also that you don't have the overtime, how much will be? It's always good to have an idea.

Yeah, I don't exactly because it varies by hours, and so it depends on how long it's going to take. I can come back to you after, if you want, after all the work is completed.

Well, what did it cost you? You said you recently had an overnight. Was that?

Correct. It just happened, so they haven't calculated how much that was. I think that was like three nights of Public Works employees. I think it was two employees plus one safety officer. Then next week, I think we have, it's going to be a two-day install.

This is what it is. We're going to need it.

Yeah, we need it.

I would vote to approve it, given the fact that we have no other way of doing it.

Yeah.

Correct.

And when they're going to do that next week, you said, because Black Harbor is going to do that lighting now early in November 20. They are done.

Yeah. Ours is going to be a little bit after. But yeah, earlier than last year. Last year was, I think, pretty late because we had the problems with the vendor. Yes. Before Thanksgiving. Okay.

Okay, so I make a motion to approve the over time lighting removal and installation.

Madam Chair, my apologies. Board Member Diaz-Liaz already made the motion to approve.

Ah, sorry. I second. All in favor?

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

Okay.

7F, recommendation to the town commission. Placement.

7E, sorry, Madam Chair.

7E, yeah, holiday lights location. Adjustment. We had to adjust that. No power in 96th Street.

Yes, so unfortunately there is no power available at 96th Street. We did check with Ball Harbor to see if they have access to the power and if we could work together, but unfortunately I'm told that it's just not possible to have any power. So we had two elements that were meant to be on 96th Street, the monument sign and a featured palm tree, they were calling it, right next to the park. So my suggestion is to move the monument sign to the one that's over on Byron by the church. The entrance to town that's on, is it Abbott? No, it's Byron, by the church.

Which church?

Um, St. Joseph.

St. Joseph?

The small monument sign.

Oh, but is the monument in St. Joseph? No.

No, no, no. It's the monument sign where 87th Terrace begins, so it's that sort of the residential entrance to the town, if you will. You've never seen the monument sign?

Yeah, the one in the tennis court, right? The one before the tennis.

Yeah, but on the other block. So we're going... You know where St. Joseph's is, right?

I think it...

It's right before the traffic circle.

Oh, yeah, the traffic circle. On Byron.

As you're coming, there's...

So there used to be a very basic sign, which was like Surfside on a stick. But remember when we did the new monument sign that was installed about a year ago, we moved... the one that was on Collins over to Byron. So it's now there in front of the church. So it's a monument sign just like the others except the one on Collins. So my recommendation is to decorate that one. That way we still keep the same decor elements and that we illuminate the palm tree that's on this corner of Collins Avenue and 93rd. There's one big medjool that's right there on the corner right by the crosswalk. So I would recommend make that the featured medjool. instead of the one on 96. That way we keep the same elements, but we're just moving them.

I'm not sure we get a lot of visibility from the one on 88th Street. Yeah. Because, well, we didn't even know where it was, right? Yeah, we didn't. I mean, not that it's not there, and I know exactly where it is. I drive by there all the time. It's more low-key. But I just don't think we get a lot of visibility from that one. It would be Holiday Lights, too, there.

That's the big, remember the big turtle monument sign? I have it on the screen. I'll just put it.

No, we don't remember. Sorry. No problem. Is this one that is here?

Yeah, yeah, correct. So, yeah, that's the sign.

But that is by Collins, not by the church.

Well, that mock-up, but the plan is to decorate the mall.

I'm going to see if I can pull up the... Because this one in the entrance is good. Right, so you're saying we can't light on 96th Street.

Correct.

Not only the one by the park, but also the one that is in the corner of Collins and 96th.

No, so the two elements that we're going to be on 96 are the monument sign, which is as you're coming down from Bay Harbor, there's a monument sign right across from the Ball Harbor shops. So that is the one sign that we can't light. And then just down right next to the park, there's a big medjool that's on the corner. And that was meant to be a featured tree. So that's the one I'm recommending that we instead do the medjool that's here on 93rd and Collins because it's very visible.

That's fine. The one in 96 is good because after you pass by Harbor, we know that we have the lights in the trees, but no one knows that it's suicide when you're coming that way. See what I mean?

Yes, but we don't have any... Any powers are there. So this is the location of the sign. And again, that's the old sign that I mentioned. That is no longer there. What we have is one of the regular monument signs. And that's, you know, just leading up to the traffic circle.

Is that something? Do the chair, if I could?

Yes. I agree with you that it's not one of our prime entrances. No. But I think what's nice is that it's never been featured. And it is right by the church. So residents that go to the church for Christmas would see it. Residents that cut through Byron, sorry about that.

Oh, it's the whole world. You didn't know that was . Sorry.

And again, it doesn't look great because that's the old sign, which is very basic. That's why we changed it. But we do have a nice monument sign there now.

Yeah, I don't know. I can't identify still the place. Okay, that's the church. But it's in the church.

Yeah, but this is where Surfside starts, 87th Terrace.

And that is a sign, the little sign over there, right?

That's an old sign. So it looks like one of the regular signs that we have now.

No, I agree that we have to put something different. Well, we already did. We have something different.

So he's just talking about doing the lighting.

The thing already exists. Yes, so we are doing the lighting on top of this that is already there. We don't see in the picture, but this is already in there. So we're adding this.

Yeah, because this little thing is still this little thing there. It doesn't exist anymore. That's an old picture. Correct. This thing looks like that.

Yeah, it looks like that. So it would just be that in the other location. Yeah. And then the featured tree was this one, the 96th Street Park Medjool. So I'm recommending we move that to this corner here of 93rd and Collins, because it's very visible. And we are going to illuminate the palm trees across the street at the community center this year, which we've never done. So it'll be nice to have those lit up. And then across from it would be the featured tree. And then of course, we're also doing Veterans Park for the first time as well.

One more question. I'm sorry to be a little bit confused. So this means that we're not going to decorate anything in Collins in 96? In that corner?

Correct. We were never going to put anything on Collins in 96.

But the previous year, we didn't have a turtle there.

No, we've never had anything on Collins in 96. I can pull up the map to the monument.

I was saying that when you finish White Harbor, you never know that you are entrance in the source site.

Because there is no name of source site. So through the chair? Yeah, there's never been anything on Collins. But on Harding, there's two signs. Oh, yeah, sorry.

There's a sign on Harding. Yeah, Harding. I'm sorry. I'm talking about Harding.

Because there's always been the monument sign on 96th Street and it's been lit in the past.

Yes, that's what I'm wondering.

No, the one that when you, the one, it's past our park, but it's on 96th. 96th and Harding. No, I'm talking about the one, it's just past Bay. That's the one that you're saying we can't light?

Correct.

It used to be lit, so I don't know why. The one that is closed by Walgreens, right?

No, not that one. CBS, I'm sorry. No, those two, I believe those two are covered. The one on 96 past our park. It used to have a turtle on it, so I don't understand why it can't be lit.

I'm not sure what happened with the, but I know there's always been electrical challenges. I remember, you know, Randy telling me that they would go out and they would have challenges and that the Harbor used to have the connections, but I know we've, we've had a discussion with them this year, at least public works did. And what they told me is that it's not possible.

That's saying that they, we can not have electric.

I'm not exactly sure. I just know from our guys and from Baal Harbor that we don't have power. That power is not possible. I don't have the super technical answer. We can get one.

It just seems weird.

Yes, because it's our very entrance, you know, like, how can we? It's been lit in the past. But not controlled by us.

We've had it, but it would also go out a lot. It would be lit, then it would go out.

Because sometimes they do something with a building in that entrance is what they do, or they pull from the building from that entrance or something. Because how we can control is our entrance. And that entrance, I think, is important.

Mm hmm. Let's see the sign. Yeah, there's the sign.

Yeah, it's ours. That's just weird. That's our side.

Yes. Unless you want to just, you know, put the turtle on it, but have it not be lit.

I don't see that.

I don't understand.

Still getting used to these Mike's I'm sorry there's no up lighting for the sign.

No no that is a point that no one see it in a night they don't know.

Something we could look into maybe can you.

The button so that we can get closer to the to the tree for a second to the street.

They have lights for the tree.

Yeah, so you have, there's, right, that's what I wanted to check. There's an uplighting.

They can put it on there. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know anything about that.

What I'd like to do, board members, let me go out with our staff just to see exactly why they're saying that there can't be anything. But in the meantime, as a backup plan, that way we're not delayed or anything. That way we can at least have a backup plan with the other signage if this can't be accommodated.

Okay, I think so. Because the light is really 10 feet from there.

Yes. However, with those type of lights, I want to check. But usually with those type of lights, it's probably just a thin line, not something that you can plug into, right, to extend it. If there's a possibility that we can connect to something to extend it, I'll do everything we possibly can to do that. In the event that we cannot, then I just want to make sure we have a backup plan and we don't keep holding off.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, sure.

Okay, so do we have approval on the plan B if we're not able to proceed?

The only plan, right?

Yeah, I mean, unless you want to just try to remove them from the package and see if we can get a credit, but I don't know.

I think it's more important to have the signs where most of the people pass. Well, most people go through Byron, I'll tell you that.

Yes, yes, especially at 6 p.m. Okay, I'll make a motion to approve the suggested location as a plan B after the... We verify with the manager. We verify with, yes, with the manager. We cannot do it in the other location.

And I would second that motion.

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

Okay. 7F. Recommendation to the Town Commission, placement of two new turtles sculptures. Where do you want them? Let's see. I will put it in the entrance of Hardin and 96, so that people know that it's Surfside. We have turtles in all the places why we don't have in the beginning.

All right. So, you know, this item, you're no stranger to, these are the two new turtles that we've been working on forever. It feels, um, they are painted and ready to go. They're here at town hall. They've been ready, but we need to determine what the recommendation is to the town commission, as far as the location, um, given that it could be considered like semi-permanent sculptures. So we had talked about the 92nd beach entrance, which was redone a couple of years ago, and it's one of the nicer beach entrances. So, you know, Could we potentially get two in there? Possibly. Could also be a little bit tricky because of the exercise equipment and the mosaic markers. But you could put one in the back, one in the front. There's space to put two of them there. Or you could try to lay them out kind of side by side at the, not exactly side by side, but staggered at that location.

We have two.

We have two, yes.

Remember, we did a top three, and the top two are the ones that are going to be installed.

I like the slide that you have that has it on the southern town entrance near monument sign.

You like that one?

I do like having something at the entrance to the town.

Okay.

We have already done one, right?

Yeah, we have it ready.

I mean, I love how the colors actually work beautifully with the sign. They're almost the same colors.

Yeah.

Just something to think about the southern location. I mean, it has a lot going on. You've got the Veterans Park. You've got the sign. You could have the turtle. You're going to have the Surfside Memorial across the street. So just food for thought. There's a lot happening there, but it's not a bad suggestion. The other location we thought about is potentially the Residence Inn loves the turtles, and I know they wanted one close to them. So there is this space with pavers just across the street from the Marriott. That belongs to the Waverly and we have asked the Waverly and they would love to have the turtle if that is the recommendation But we are open to Your suggestions I think we can put one there and put it like four nights and the other one if tomorrow Mario has been a

they would be taking care of that, right?

No, so we would treat it as we do any other turtle. So we would have an agreement with them that basically says, hey, it's on your property. You allow it to be on your property, but we'll take care of the turtle. So these don't really require regular upkeep. It's just in the event that somebody knocks it or, you know, crashes into it. It's happened before, but it's not typical.

Yeah. I like it. Do you like it that those places are in the main entrance?

I think being a tourist board, it'll make sense to have one at the entrance and one close to the Marriott Hotel, which has been doing a lot of things with us. We've been collaborating together. So I'll make a motion to add one turtle on the southern town entrance. NEAR MONUMENT SIGN AND THE OTHER ONE, THE WAIVERLY. FAVORS OF THE WAIVERLY.

I'LL SECOND THE MOTION.

ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED? NO. MOTION CARRIES. OKAY.

THANK YOU. SO I'LL JUST WORK ON BETTER MOCK-UPS FOR THE COMMISSION MEETING TO GET THEM TO LOOK, YOU KNOW, I'LL WORK WITH OUR DESIGNER AND WE'LL BRING THIS TO THE COMMISSION MEETING AND THEY WILL HAVE THE FINAL SAY.

70 December six midnight madness on Hardin Avenue. Frank

Thank you, Madam Chair. So this Midnight Madness is something that the business district has organized independently the last two years, and it's really just a shopping incentive where some of the retailers get together and they encourage each other to stay open later. Some of our shops tend to close a little bit on the early side, so that's one day during winter peak season where the retailers will stay open later and they will do promotional giveaways, they'll do some branded items, they'll have some food, some drinks, some entertainment, some music, and it's really just an initiative to animate the business district and particularly the retailers. As you know, we don't collect resort tax from them specifically, but you know, they're a huge part of the business district, and I think we owe it to them to try and ensure, you know, and give them a little bit of love, knowing that retail is difficult in 2025. I know. It definitely is, and we have a lot of restaurants that are doing great, so there's two ladies at one of our local stores, the Shop Miami, and they're the ones that kind of spearhead this. So in the memo, I think I had $8,000 as a recommended budget, but In talking with them, I think 6,000 is a better number and that will allow for hundreds of Surfside branded tote bags that we're going to give out to the patrons. We'll have some entertainment, a little bit of light music. They wanted to bring out food trucks, which I discouraged because, of course, we don't want to compete with our restaurants and we don't want them to be upset. I said, hey, why don't you go to the restaurants and ask them for platters of food? We'll help you pay for that. That way we're showcasing the local restaurants as you're shopping, so you're getting a taste of, you know, what we have here in the district. So that's going to be the plan. And, you know, I'll be out there for some of the time, probably not until midnight. But, you know, I'm happy to be there at a surfside table and talk to people, have some of our visitor guides, our business district map, and just, you know, in general support the business district. It came up in the previous... you know, a couple of items ago, but we used to do the third Thursdays in the heart of the business district, which would funnel a lot of people into those shops. And we've since, you know, for safety and logistical reasons, relocated it to town hall. But I think, you know, this is the first time that we'd be really doing something back in the business district. So I think it'd be nice to support that.

And I have a question for that. We will be authorizing 6,000 for, will be for?

for the bags, for the music, for the drinks, and for the food that will be given out.

And where do you propose to have the music?

It's probably going to be in front of the organizing store, which is the Shop Miami. So I think they have a little bit of a bench in an area. So they'll probably be stationed there. I mean, I don't think we want it to be, like, overwhelming, you know, for the, you know.

Kind of like a trio or something, like, very small, right?

Yeah, something small, yeah, and not disruptive because we don't want to, you know, ruin people's experiences if you're dining outside and you want to be quiet.

I know. which retail will be participating or will be for all the retail stores there?

So I don't have a list yet because the ladies at the store are working on that outreach, but they've been talking to all of the retailers. Obviously, try to get as many of them as possible to participate, but I think at least a good 20 or so.

Okay. Okay.

Okay. So, but who, well, yeah, well, you also want to know who organized which ladies are?

The Shop Miami is the store.

The Shop Miami. It's in Cardi, right?

Yeah, it's spelled S-H-O-P-P-E Miami. So if you look them up on social, the Shop Miami.

Okay.

They're at the northern end of 94th Street. On the ragazzi side.

Ragazzi? Through the chair. I did pass through the Midnight Madness event last year. And I just wanted to recommend that all the businesses are aware of this because I think it was more the kosher businesses, which is great, but I think it... We should try to activate the entire district. You know, it would be up to the businesses to choose whether they want to stay open extra longer to participate, but I think it's important that they know that this is going on. Exactly.

So that would be like an almost like an understood, right? So I think if that's not the case, then I would vote no. Everyone should participate.

Yeah, this is for everybody. So, again, this is the first time that the town is going to organize it. So in the past, you know, we can't control how they spread the word. But now this being a town sponsor in the town will spread the word.

Yeah, absolutely. OK.

Right. I mean, I just think that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Just to spend money. It has to be.

And I can walk around the business district and, you know, talk to the businesses as well. Maybe some of the ones that haven't participated to let them know that, hey, this is the town, you know, supporting this this year. And, yeah, try to get the most participation. But definitely not just kosher businesses, everybody.

Yeah, to clarify. Go ahead. I mean, maybe the barbershops want to participate. Yes, of course. I think it would be more festive to have everybody involved if they choose to do that.

And chair, if I may, I think these type of events are organically growing, which then allow for better sustainability, which, if you remember by one of your presentations earlier tonight, kind of sounds very similar. Right. So this can definitely morph into sustainability. something that was mentioned, the waves in France. So we could see in future years where all of a sudden we start incorporating a little bit more of the restaurants in and it becomes a bigger staple of a tapen event. But the fact that it grows organically from the retail and from the district itself people tend to really support themselves as opposed to, well, the city's doing everything, we'll just show up or maybe we don't. So this is a good way for something to naturally come out.

And more because that area, most of the neighbors, if they are not going to the kosher thing, they don't go really, or they prefer to go to Flanagan's, because she's always full. I mean, and that way will be a different way or different perspective for the neighbors in general, because most of the neighbors, they never go to that area because of the kosher thing. And then instead, Ragazzi and Flanagan's. That way will be a way, another approach for the neighbors to see and to have another perspective about that restaurant. And to support. And to support.

And to support them, yeah.

And through the Chair, this is something that the more that everybody participates, the better it's gonna be for everybody. So everyone will benefit, the more participants that we have.

So I'll make a motion. I have another question, sorry. And how it's gonna be, how we're going to work the door prices and the free gifts or that kind of thing.

That will be up to the stores to determine. So we're not going to dictate how they do the prices. We're going to kind of let them do their thing, and we'll evaluate. We'll see how this works next year. Is it worth investing in? Were people walking away with the right feeling, the right experience?

Do you think it would make sense, since the reason people start shopping at this time is because of the holidays, right? Mm-hmm. So I think to somewhere, right? The holiday shopping, getting ready for the holidays, like something to talk, not just about being midnight madness, but for a reason.

Yeah, that's a great point. Weaving the holidays in there too.

That's a good idea. That's what everybody's doing. shopping the day after Thanksgiving, they're buying stuff for Christmas or for Hanukkah or whatever, and so getting ready by coming shopping with us. It's more like, let's come shopping. I love that angle, yes. So midnight, so you can come shopping for the holidays.

Yeah, great suggestion. We'll incorporate that into the messaging, the holidays, and join us and let's do this together. Great.

Okay, okay. So I'll make the motion to approve the sponsorship for Midnight Madness. I second the motion.

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

Okay, now we can go to 7-H, holiday banners. Sevens. Yeah, a lot of sevens. A lot of approvals tonight. A lot of sevens. Discussion items, yeah. Okay. Okay.

Thank you. And this item is for the holiday banners that go up seasonally. So we've used the current design. I think we've used it three years. It might have been three years. I'll put it up on the screen. It's very cute. I mean, we do still have a number of these in-house if you want to just keep going with it. You know, whichever ones are too destroyed, we can just get additional. But this is the existing design. But we do have a whole host of designs that were worked on a couple of years ago by our former in-house designer. I think some of them are really nice. So I wanted to bring them to you to see if you're interested in some of those to change it up.

Oh, my goodness. I like the one that says happy holidays. And he's got all the gifts on his back. I love that one, too. This one is so cute. Yeah.

Is it that one, the one on screen? No, no.

No, but it's a turtle.

Okay.

It's the red and blue with the turtle that has the turtles on his back. And it says happy holidays.

You have to keep going more and more. It's one of the back ones. More. Oh, that one, okay. Yeah. It's more colorful.

Yeah, pretty different to the one we've had.

It's happy. I like a lot of them. Right. It's very holiday friendly.

But they're very original, too. I mean, I don't know. When you go to other cities, you see really plain, just happy holidays, like template.

Yeah.

Very basic, a lot of municipalities. So I think ours have a lot of personality.

Option two is nice, too.

I like the gift. That is green, green.

I like the gift. I like the whole concept of that. Of the giving. Yeah, of giving. Okay, let's vote. And it'll make all the people driving by go, oh my gosh, I need to show up. Exactly. In Surfside. Yep.

And the turtle. And the turtle. The turtle is like the Santa. Can you get those for Midnight Madness?

I know, right?

So I vote for that one. Option one? I vote for option one as well.

With the gifts on the back, just to be clear.

It's the blue with the red, the green turtle with gifts on the back that says Happy Holidays.

Option one.

Option one.

We have to do a motion. Yes, someone will have to make a motion to approve option one. I'll make a motion.

I make a motion to approve option one.

I second that.

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

Okay. Seven aye. Singer first reception. Okay. Can hardly know here, but you can present it, right? Yeah, because it's something that we already authorized. We already did this. We already did. Yeah, this isn't a long item.

It's just to mention, obviously, we've got the Singer Fest event coming up on Sunday. We're all really excited for it. I think it's going to be really great. We've got the book club portion first. We had, through the Community Relations Board, some books that we gave away with the collected stories. Everybody came and picked those up, so they ran out quickly. I think people are excited to discuss with our invited professor, who, of course, is also going to be a part of our reception event that's sponsored by this board. I do also want to let you know that the Miami Book Fair, we have been able to partner with them. They're going to be running some social media content stories for us this week and adding us to their website. So hopefully, for the next meeting, I can bring some screenshots of that and kind of recap that partnership. But yeah, I think it's something we're all excited for. Working out a few of the logistics for the reception, but Sheru has been great to work with. We've got Polish. delicacies, you know, some pierogies and stuff like that. And then, of course, we have some drinks available as well. So we are going to be circulating a program for that in the next couple of days. We'll share it with the board and with the manager. And, yeah, we'll recap everything the next month, but I think we're all looking forward to this.

Hopefully our talent, our main speaker doesn't have trouble at the airport.

Yeah. Okay. Hopefully not.

There is nothing we have to authorize, right? No, nothing to authorize. Okay. No more questions? It's fine?

No, I hope to see you all there.

I'm going to be late, but I will be there.

Yeah, because it's going to be our first event on that area, on the green area, that I've always envisioned to have something there, because it's always black and... I'll be there. Yes.

Thank you. In the green area, you mean in the back of the community center? Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, okay. 7J, December 7, Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Temple. Yay! Yay!

Okay, my mic stopped working back there, so I'm up here, but this is the tree lighting, correct?

Yes. Yes.

Yeah, so we have that scheduled for the next day after the Midnight Madness, so that'll be Sunday the 7th. We had also talked about the previous Sunday, but it was, you know, like Art Basel, and, you know, you could still do it, but I'll be traveling, so we landed on this date. And, yeah, we are excited. Music-wise, I did find out that Ruth K does not have a choir, so they don't have any... Any singers? And I've been trying to get in touch with the New World School of the Arts since a long time ago to see if the kids can come out and sing for us. I haven't gotten a response yet. But I wanted to ask the board if we could perhaps engage A band to do a little bit of holiday music. I believe there is a vendor that was engaged to do an event with Parks and Recreation that they had to cancel like a few months ago. And I think we have a credit with this vendor, the town does. I have to double check, but I believe that we do. And I think that they could probably do holiday songs because they're pretty versatile. I think, you know, we have a nice band and some nice music. Of course, we're going to have, you know, the big tree that we'll light together.

And the Santa tree.

The Santa, of course, the live Santa, the unveiling of the nativity scene, which we're all excited for, our very big nativity scene that took us like a year to order.

Christmas tree.

Yeah, I think it's going to look really nice.

And we're going to have now enough money for the food that we don't have to go running in Costco.

Correct, yeah.

So I think we need to plan for more people because we had a lot show up last time, but I think we're going to get more this year. And, you know, Chair, it was great, you know, running around Costco getting those items, but maybe, you know, we can...

I can do that again, but I wonder why we don't have that car for... What is the name of this? Jethro or Yeso? Jethro. That is cheaper and is huge and a variety.

I'm not familiar with Jethro, I'm sorry.

Anybody can go. No, the Jethro you need to be.

Where is it located?

An office or a commercial office. and you have your car, I cannot go for example.

It's a warehouse.

But it's really amazing, but you need to have a business, and I think that town should be trying to have that one. It's cheaper than Costco. It's Jethro. No one knows? Yeah, I do. I've been there. Right? All the business, they buy in Jethro. They don't buy in Costco.

No, nobody does. I mean, it's not wholesale.

It's Jethro. But Jethro says, yeah. Jethro is a big, and it's something that is nationally, and even in Europe, they have Jethro.

Oh, really?

Yeah, even in Spain they can't get through. Not just at all, but... Yeah, but, yeah.

That's a good suggestion. We can look into it. I do know that we have a Costco account with the town. So I know obviously last year it was kind of last minute and we went together. But, you know, we can also do an order ahead of time. And I think we should plan for more attendees.

It's called Jatro. Jatro Depot. And they have for Christmas time, they have a big variety of things prepared already for these kind of parties. And that way we don't have to be cutting and doing everything. Right if we have a game that keeps kept you. That would be great yeah yeah to really they have you have to be worried and the prices are cheaper cheaper than costco so do you would you like to said you know like a budget for.

For the food and just overall.

What did we spend last year?

Last year we spent around two, two and a half, three. I mean, I think this year has to be.

400, 300 you spent last time at the end, right?

Yeah. Maybe.

At least.

I think it was around 1,000 when you put it all together.

I think I would say at least 1,000. 1,000 or 2? Well, I. 2,000 for this time. At least that's a maximum.

Yeah. Okay, we can do up to 2,000. If we need to adjust along the way, I mean, I'll consult with you, Chair, and we can always bring something back next month if we need to, but I think we had a great, really successful one last year, first time ever, but I think this year is gonna be better and we're gonna have more attendees.

Maybe we can find someone who said that chocolate the hot chocolate yes i was just thinking about that but you know the beautiful giant urns which are beautiful and by the harbor they brought it that was beautiful the jar even the whole jar was very elegant and beautiful and everyone was in line doing that for that hot chocolate i don't know if we can maybe i need the whipped cream on the top As someone, yeah, they had that thing also, that topping.

We can try and find out who the vendor was for that.

Yeah. Or you find out about Jethro really would be very helpful for the whole town, better than Costco. Because I can ask one of my friends for the car to go for this event, but it's something that is better that you have one for that time, really.