PR08-03-2021MinPARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD
LONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS
175 WEST WARREN AVENUE
LONGWOOD, FLORIDA
MINUTES
August 3, 2021
Present: David Putz, Chair
Amanda Sackett, Vice -Chair (Arrived at 6:34 p.m.)
Judi Coad, Member
Lori Rice, Member
Teresa Ray, Member
Larissa Morgan, Member
Chris Capizzi,'Leisure Services Director
Ryan Rinaldo; Recreation Coordinator
Donna L. Alt -Bowes, Recording Secretary
Absent: Rachael Carroll, Member
1. CALL TO ORDER. Chair Putz called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
2. PUBLIC INPUT.
None
3. ACTION ITEMS.
A. Approve Minutes from July 6, 2021
Member Coad moved to approve the minutes from July 6, 2021, as presented.
Seconded by Member Ray.
Member Rice asked for a correction to indicate that Vice -Chair Sackett was present
when nominated.
Minutes were approved with correction by a unanimous voice vote with
Member Carroll absent.
B. Banners
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Chair Putz brought to the attention of the Board Members the current Board Member
list provided by Liane Cartagena and reminded everyone to speak with their respective
Commissioner if they wished to be re -appointed to the Board.
Member Rice said that she was re -appointed last night at the Commission meeting.
Mr. Capizzi passed out the pictures submitted by Member Ray and Member Rice to the
board members for review and discussion.
Discussion ensued regarding the banners to purchase, cost of the banners, and cost of
equipment to install the banners.
Member Coad made a motion to approve the purple banner set which included
pictures of flowers, a kite, and butterflies for purchase. Seconded by Member
Ray and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Member Carroll absent.
Discussion continued with regard to how the banners would be paid for.
Member Rice made a motion to utilize $2,500.00 of the funds available in the
Chili Cook -Off line item in order to pay for the banners. Seconded by Member
Coad and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Member Carroll absent.
Discussion continued with regard to the banners that would be placed in the rest of the
park and the words that would be put on the banners. It was decided that the words on
the banners would be Smile in orange print on the butterfly banner, Enjoy in yellow
print on the kite banner and Relax in green print on the flowers banner.
It was decided that the Board will continue the discussion on the rest of the banners
that will be placed at the park at the September Board meeting.
4. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS
Member Rice said that National Night Out will be the first Tuesday in October which is
October 5th of this year. It will be held at Candyland Park. Something that the Board
should think about is whether or not they want to cancel or reschedule the October
meeting.
Discussion ensued with regard to the October board meeting and it was decided that the
October board meeting would be canceled.
Member Rice thanked Member Coad for being the only Board Member at the Commission
meeting to accept the Proclamation from the Commission. She said she went to the
concert and it was a great band. She said it was the largest crowd she has seen there. She
said she has not received the July 3rd event synopsis and asked if that was something in Mr.
Capizzi's report. If not, she reminded Mr. Capizzi to please mail it to the Board members.
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Chair Putz asked Member Morgan if she had a report.
Member Morgan said she did not but added she went with her family to the new Township
Plaza where there was a' Kaleidoscope Artisan Market and was able to meet the very nice
new owners. She said she also went to the concert and jammed out to the 1990s and had a
nice time. She then asked staff how to go about doing an event.
Mr. Capizzi said if we want to create an event as the Board, you can start a discussion under
your Board Member Report and get support from the Board. If anybody from the general
public wanted to do an event they would have to come and see Mr. Rinaldo. He would
figure out if it is something that the City would want to partner with, and if it is not then the
interested party could either rent space or apply for a special event permit.
Member Rice asked if Member Morgan had something in mind that she would like to
report.
Member Morgan suggested a Hawaiian-themed event because it is her culture and she is
involved with a lot of folks here in Florida from the islands. She said she started speaking
with an owner of a Poke shop here in Longwood about participating in an event. She said
her husband looped her in on this conversation and she thought it was a great idea because
she does chat with other fellow people from the islands. It would be kind of neat to create
a Hawaiian-themed event at Reiter Park.
Mr. Capizzi said he thought that would be a great summer event when the kids are out of
school and that it would !be cool.
Discussion ensued with ideas for a Hawaiian event at Reiter Park.
Mr. Capizzi told Member, Morgan that she could get together with himself and Mr. Rinaldo
and they could come up with an idea and then if she wants after they have some details put
together, she can present it to the Board. He said that is something he thought everyone
would get behind and make official. He said we have plenty of time to plan it.
Member Coad said she thought it would be a great way to kick off summer.
Discussion ensued concerning a Hawaiian-themed event.
Member Ray reported and said the Chili Cook -Off is upcoming and asked if everyone was
ready.
Chair Putz said he had his necklace.
Member Ray passed out flyers for everyone to distribute and start recruiting cookers. She
said she is going to do most of the work. There are two (2) different flyers.
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Mr. Capizzi said one flyer advertises the need for additional cookers. The second flyer was
revamped by Member Ray and is the new event flyer. He said that staff has been reaching
out to people who have participated in the past to see who might be interested. He knows
that the registration form has been updated. Mr. Rinaldo had been starting all of the
preparation but he is out currently. All of the forms have been updated and he is going to
send Member Ray the generic email. It can be sent to the cookers and it has the rules and
the registration form. He stressed the importance of the Board helping with finding
cookers. That is what we need help with right now.
Member Rice said she had a generic email and asked if she could give it to staff.
Mr. Capizzi said please do. He asked Member Rice to please email him everything she had
and they would put it down and let Member Ray know who they have, updating her on
everything that staff is doing.
Member Coad said that she has a donation that will be coming in too.
Discussion ensued regarding what is still needed for the Chili Cook -Off, and how certain
positions work, and the event in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Longwood
Downtown Cruise -In Car Show.
Vice -Chair Sackett said she had no report.
Member Coad reported and confirmed that staff would be providing them with a synopsis
on the July 3rd event. She asked if the staff was still going to try and do a Health Fair, and if
so are we going to select a date.
Mr. Capizzi replied yes, it will be held in February. He said he spoke with Mrs. Brockman
today, who does our Health Fair. She is anxious to do it and February would be when we do
that.
Member Coad asked if the Fall Festival contract was signed.
Mr. Capizzi said no we have not signed that yet.
Member Coad asked about the status of Arbor Park Dog Park. She said she does not know if
a member of the public who attended a commission meeting has contacted Mr. Capizzi, but
she thinks he is aware that she was complaining about glass in the park. She was also
talking about wanting it upgraded and mentioned the culvert that we painted a few years
back. She asked if it was a possibility that we can look at doing something with the culvert.
Mr. Capizzi said we can repaint the culverts. He said we have addressed the glass and he
knows that the City Manager did visit the citizen who brought the issue up.
Member Coad was at the Commission meeting and said the Commission praised the concert
this weekend and one of their big excitements was how interactive the band was with the
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audience. She wanted to certainly pass that on and congratulate Mr. Capizzi on another
successful concert event: She inquired on the status of the 131 Fund of the memorials. She
said she had asked if it was possible to have that income stay in the Fund and not disappear
into the general fund. She asked Mr. Capizzi if he would once again follow up and let the
Board know about that. She said the Board does have to decide if they are going to try and
run another Santa's Breakfast or not. If we do, we need to book some kind of food vendor.
She said she is not so worried about the Community Building but she is more concerned
about whether we should move forward with Santa's Breakfast. In regards to Celebrate the
Season, she asked Mr. Capizzi if we can follow up on booking a train and/or a skating rink.
She said we all know what is out there but it's a matter of booking it and making sure we
have it for the event.
Mr. Capizzi said unfortunately Mr. Rinaldo was working on it and he has that stored on his
computer. He knows he has been in touch with the company we have used in the past but
we will still have to obtain quotes again because it is over $2,000.00.
Member Coad asked if Mr. Capizzi was able to get in contact with the lady that did the
Santa's Workshop to see' if she is interested in participating since it was so successful. She
said we need to try and get these things locked down. She asked Vice -Chair Sackett about
her board project and if she would bring something back to the Board.
Vice -Chair Sackett said she does not have a cost on that yet. She said that she does know
we are doing "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" as the first book but she does not have a cost or
the type of signs to use to keep them safe in the park.
Mr. Capizzi said we can certainly contact a sign company if it is okay with Vice -Chair Sackett,
and we could give them the idea, what we want to do, and tell them about the story
"Brown Bear, Brown Bear".
Discussion ensued concerning the storybook in the Zen Garden at Reiter Park.
Member Coad said Mr. Capizzi mentioned the money that we have in the 131 Fund and she
had asked a few meetings back about lights on the amphitheater. She said, in speaking with
Mr. Capizzi, we would only have a fee of $685.00 to leave them up year-round because we
are going to pay for them with the Christmas contract. She said then the lights will become
the City's responsibility, but if they need to come down for major repairs or replacement
when the Christmas contract rolls around we can take a look at how we manage it that way.
She thinks that it would be a nice enhancement to our park.
Member Coad made a motion to take the $685.00 to purchase the lights allowing them
to stay up at the Amphitheater on a year-round basis. Seconded by Member Rice.
Member Rice asked if that was an annual cost.
Mr. Capizzi said no. He said the only caveat is that once we buy them, after the holiday
season, any issues with the lights will be our responsibility.
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Member Rice asked if that is a one-time fee.
Mr. Capizzi said it is a one-time fee of $685.00 and we own the lights.
Member Coad said if they are in total and full working order next year, we can subtract this
from the Christmas contract and possibly put lights somewhere else.
Mr. Capizzi said that is a possibility, correct.
Member Coad asked if that was how it worked at the Community Building too, that is not in
the Christmas contract anymore unless they need replacing.
Mr. Capizzi said the Community Building is a little different because they have to get a large
lift. He said there are always bulbs that are out at the top but it is not like we have to get a
whole new price for putting the lights up at the Community Building.
Member Coad asked if they were LED lights they put at the Amphitheater so they are long-
lasting.
Mr. Capizzi replied yes.
Member Rice said it would look awesome with lights year-round if there is available staff to
turn the lights off and on or the lights can be placed on a timer.
Mr. Capizzi said they would be put on a timer.
Member Rice said that would look nice.
Chair Putz asked if they are LED.
Mr. Capizzi said they would be LED's. He said they are just like the ones that were installed
this past Christmas and they looked terrific.
Chair Putz asked who picks up the electricity bill.
Mr. Capizzi said the City pays for the electricity. He said they are LED light bulbs so it is not
expensive.
Chair Putz asked if there was any more discussion hearing none he asked for a vote on the
motion.
Motion carried by a six -to -one (6-1) voice vote with Vice -Chair Sackett voting nay and
Member Carroll absent.
Member Coad said she had one more motion.
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Member Coad made a motion for the first choice to pay the $685.00 out of the chili
community budget and if not, then it does have to come out of the Board's budget.
Seconded by Member Rice.
Discussion ensued concerning confirmation of exactly where this money was going to come
from.
Chair Putz asked Member Coad to explain the motion again.
Member Coad said she is asking Mr. Capizzi to first request that the money come out of our
Chili Cook -Off money which is $2,500.00 and if it is not allowed, then it comes out of our
Board money. She is trying to save our Board money for another project because all this
money ($10,810.00) that Mr. Capizzi and I had talked about goes back to the General Fund.
She said to use it or lose it.
Member Rice asked Mr. Capizzi if he would be able to pay that in advance this year.
Mr. Capizzi said yes. He said Clark Sales sent him the contract and made that as an
addendum to the contract. He said if he paid them now, they would accept that.
Motion carried by a six -to -one (6-1) voice vote with Vice -Chair Sackett voting nay and
Member Carroll absent.
Member Coad stated she had one more item this evening. She read the Proclamation
presented to her by the Commission and gave it to Mr. Capizzi to have framed and hung on
his wall.
Chair Putz gave his report and passed out pictures of Reiter Park during the summertime for
the Board members to look at.
Member Coad said the pond is covered in gunk and asked if it was being cleaned up.
Mr. Capizzi said he has not seen it today but usually if we get heavy rain it helps out. Public
Works does treat the city ponds.
Discussion ensued about'the pictures Chair Putz took at the Reiter Park.
S. STAFF REPORT
Mr. Capizzi said he did update the Special Events list and it is a free-standing page as
opposed to the one that is attached to your packet. He gave it to Mrs. Alt -Bowes after it
was already printed out. He said we solidified the Movie in the Park dates just today. There
is one other event (the VW event) that he is trying to get a confirmation for. He said you
can see all of the different things that we have going on and as I had mentioned to you all in
an email, we are looking to move the Farmer's Market to Saturdays. They are hoping that
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the grand opening for moving the market to Saturdays will be in conjunction with the grand
opening of the shade structure. The shade structure is in the permitting process right now
so they are going to get started in August. It is just a matter of how fast it goes through
permitting. As soon as he knows or has an idea of when it is going to be done, he will get
with the Board because he would love for them all to be there for the ribbon cutting of the
pavilion.
Vice -Chair Sackett asked if the Scottish event came in later. She said she did not realize that
is the same day as the Chili Cook -Off.
Mr. Capizzi said the Scottish event is going to be on the 13th, it is earlier in the day from
12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. so it will overlap a little. He said that is the only day that they
could do the event because we are so booked up and they could not get the talent they
wanted for the Scottish event are any other available dates.
He said everything with Candyland is moving along nicely. The State of Florida did send an
email out three (3) weeks ago that we were awarded the grant. He did have to amend a
couple of elements. There will now be six (6) pickleball courts in addition to renovating the
one (1) remaining tennis court we have. The only thing we are waiting for is for the State of
Florida to send back the customized contract. This is the contract they provide each city
which is about a month and a half process. Once the City receives the contract, we are
good to go to and begin work on all of the projects. We are looking to start construction
work for the courts in the fall. He is working with Swish Dreams for painting the basketball
court. They are a non-profit organization and they come and repaint cool designs on the
court. We can use a lot of the funding from the FRDAP grant to pay for them to come out
and do the artwork. He said he will be able to send out the approved graphics for the
courts. The skate park is going through a bit of a face-lift as well. We have thousands of
pounds of steel obstacles and ramps being created in one of our sheds right now. There is a
master welder that comes up from Palm Beach almost every weekend to donate his time to
help create these obstacles for the skate park. We were able to get the Public Works forklift
recently to move things around. Chad DeGroot, the owner of Mr. Bikes'n Boards has
helped to raise money through a GoFundMe account that raised $12,000.00 to put towards
getting new equipment over there. The City has done many updates to Candyland lately as
it has older infrastructure and is in need of some new features. We have recently put new
sod on the fields and the new bathrooms are complete. The new dugout roofs have been
completed as well.
Mr. Capizzi said we are planning the September 11 ceremony which will be held on
Saturday, September 11, 2021. He said obviously everyone is invited and we will be giving
an invitation for the event but we are planning this out with the Fire Department and the
Police Department because they are heavily involved. He said Mrs. Alt -Bowes wanted to
take part in the planning of this and she has helped coordinate with Derek Chenoweth at
the Police Department. He said we are going to have the dignitaries there, we are going to
have a twenty-one (21) gun salute from the Police Department, the ringing of the bell from
the Fire Departments, the Seminole County Sheriff's office is going to do a flyover with the
helicopter.
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Minutes approved by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: 09-07-2021
ATTEST:
Donna Alt -Bowes, Recording Secretary
���6s -
David Putz, Chair
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Member Coad said the Commission put a plea out last night for female singers.
Mr. Capizzi said they found one. Officer Kim Feld is going to be our female singer.
Discussion ensued about the 9-11 ceremony.
Member Rice asked about the $500.00 expense that was taken from the Chili Cook Off line
item. She said it was budgeted at $5,000.00 and it shows that we spent $500.00 arriving at
$4,500.00 for the line item.
Mr. Capizzi said he thinks he explained that in a Board meeting at one point earlier but he
could not recall 100% why it was. From what he can recall, it was taken for a rental for one
of our events.
Member Rice said otherwise we could add $500.00 to spend and she has an idea for it.
Member Coad said you are right Member Rice. She said she is looking at what Mr. Capizzi
emailed her which she printed out for everyone and we have some bigger balances sitting
over here.
Mr. Capizzi said that is because we have things we still need to pay for out of some of the
other line items.
Member Rice asked if this year of the excess monies had to be spent.
Mr. Capizzi said there is more funding available based on the $10,810.00 figure that was
provided.
Member Rice said she wanted to throw this out there as something for members to think
about as an addition to Reiter Park. If you have ever been up around Lake Monroe and they
have these bench swings, she is thinking along the back part of the walkway, here or there,
it would be nice to have two (2) or three (3) bench swings within the park. She said
especially if someone is walking around to be able to sit and relax and enjoy and smile. She
said she has looked around online and the only ones she has seen are metal with plastic
coating and she does not like those. She said they just don't look comfortable at all but
Sanford does have some nice ones all along with Lake Monroe. She does not know where
they get them from but they also have some sort of a canopy shade over them. She said if
anyone can find those, she thinks it would be lovely in the park.
6. ADJOURNMENT.
Chair Putz moved to adjourn. Seconded by Member Coad and carried by a
unanimous voice vote with Member Carroll absent.
Meeting adjourned at 8:08 p.m.
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