PR12-07-2021Min PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD
LONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS
175 WEST WARREN AVENUE
LONGWOOD, FLORIDA
MINUTES
December 7, 2021
Present: David Putz, Chair
Amanda Sackett, Vice-Chair(arrived 6:31 p.m.)
Judi Coad, Member
Lori Rice, Member
Larissa Morgan, Member
Teresa Ray, Member
Rachael Carroll, Member
Chris Capizzi, Leisure Services Director
Ryan Rinaldo, Recreation Coordinator
Donna L. Alt-Bowes, Recording Secretary
1. CALL TO ORDER. Chair Putz called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
2. PUBLIC INPUT. None.
3. ACTION ITEMS.
A. Approve Minutes from November 2, 2021
Member Rice moved to approve the minutes from November 2, 2021, as
presented. Seconded by Member Coad and carried by a unanimous voice vote
with Member Sackett absent.
4. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS.
Vice-Chair Sackett said she had no report.
Member Coad asked Member Sackett if she had been going to all of the pocket parks.
Vice-Chair Sackett said she had been to a couple of them but not all of them and did not
have a report on them at this time.
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Member Morgan said she had no report but that the Chili Cook-Off and the Arts and Crafts
Festival were great events and she had a really good time at the Chili Cook-Off.
Member Carroll said she had no report and although she was not in attendance, her family
did attend National Night Out and said it was a great event.
Member Ray said she had no report but that the Chili Cook-Off was a great event and she
enjoyed being a part of it.
Discussion ensued with regard to the Chili Cook-Off,judges,judging, and the restroom
situation in the Commission Chambers.
Member Rice reported and said the retention pond at Oleander and Church has a
beautifully lit fountain that looks nice and she can see something like it in the pond at Reiter
Park.
Discussion ensued with regard to the fountain at Reiter Park.
Member Rice asked about the Skate Park and said there was a presentation at the
Commission meeting last night by Chad DeGroot, Tito Parada, and a third gentlemen from
Tampa about an all-concrete Skate Park at Candyland Park.
Mr. Capizzi said it was in the conceptual phase at this time.
Member Rice asked staff to advise the Board of the changes concerning Longwood Babe
Ruth during the Staff Report.
Discussion ensued with regard to the Fall Festival, Christmas Parade, Celebrate the Season,
and the upcoming Movie in the Park.
Member Rice said she was happy to see all of our events listed in the Sunday Sentinel and
thanked Ms. Cartagena for that. She thanked the staff for an amazing year and asked
everyone to take the time to remember family, friends, etc. that may be having a tough
time this holiday season. She wished everyone a Merry Christmas and reminded the Board
Members to bring the goals for the new year to the January meeting. She advised the new
Board Members that is when we elect the new Chair and Vice-Chair for the new year.
Chair Putz reported and requested the duck poop be cleaned up on the bridge and the pier
at Reiter Park.
Mr. Rinaldo said the situation is being addressed. He said they have a new deck brush and
are considering putting up a sign to encourage people to feed the wildlife from the shore
verses from the deck and pier.
Chair Putz talked about the ducks and the turtles at Reiter Park.
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Discussion ensued about the wildlife at Reiter Park.
Chair Putz asked about the Park getting cleaned up after events. He said it was a mess
Monday morning after the Hanukkah event on Sunday.
Discussion ensued concerning the park getting cleaned after events.
Member Coad reported and went over the logistics for Santa's Breakfast.
Discussion ensued regarding Santa's Breakfast and making it a Board fundraising event
going forward.
Member Coad made a motion that the Board takes on Santa's Breakfast as a fundraiser.
Seconded by Member Rice and carried by a unanimous voice vote.
Discussion ensued about Celebrate the Season.
Member Coad advised the Board that Santa's Workshop will be back but it will be a
fundraiser for Longwood Elementary School. She asked staff about the church trailer.
Staff advised that the trailer is no longer available for this event.
Member Coad advised the Board that free girl and boy ornaments will be given out to the
children after the visit with Santa and asked staff to make sure there was a cooler of water
for anyone that needed it. She asked if Gus, the camel, would be in attendance.
Mr. Capizzi said they were still waiting to hear but that he was not confident Gus would be
in attendance.
Member Coad asked about the sponsorship for the event.
Mr. Rinaldo gave the Board a breakdown of the sponsorship funds that have been received
to date.
Member Rice told staff that was well done.
Member Coad asked if the Certificates could be ready to be handed out at the Commission
meeting in January.
Staff said they would present them to the sponsors at the Commission meeting in January.
Member Coad said she had checked out prices for the skating rink and train ride at other
area events and suggested looking into raising our prices next year. She asked if the
banners were up at the park and staff said they were.
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Staff advised the Board Members there will be seven (7) food vendors including CERT, a 6-
piece band and DJ Dennis, and a stilt walker.
Member Coad wished Member Rice a Happy Birthday.
Member Sackett asked about reaching out to Winter Springs High School for volunteers.
Discussion ensued with regard to getting volunteers from Winter Springs High School.
5. STAFF REPORT.
Mr. Capizzi said the Food Trucks are December 9, 2021, from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at
Reiter Park, the Downtown Longwood Cruise-In Car Show is December 11, 2021, 5:00 p.m.
until 8:00 p.m., the Senior Matinee is on December 14, 2021, from 1:30 p.m. until 4:00 p.m.
at the Community Building and the movie is Cinderella, and the Movie in the Park is on
December 18, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. and the movie is Elf. Mr. Capizzi discussed the conceptual
idea for the Skate Park and advised the Board that this project is a couple of years down the
road due to funding. He said there are many ways to get funding and they will be looking
into them all.
Mr. Capizzi advised the Board of the changes within Longwood Babe Ruth. He said Bill
Bowes has stepped down as President and the new President is David Rubin. He thanked
Mr. Bowes for stepping in when Longwood Babe Ruth needed someone to take over and
spoke about Warren Brown and Timothy McMullan, both past presidents of Longwood
Babe Ruth, and said that Mr. Rubin wants to get registrations back up and to have
Longwood Babe Ruth be a competitive league once again. He said it is a volunteer league
and all of these individuals worked hard to get it where it was before the gentlemen that
took over from Mr. McMullan and that Mr. Bowes has worked hard to get it back to where
it is today. He said he has confidence that Mr. Rubin will work hard to get Longwood Babe
Ruth back to where it used to be.
Mr. Rinaldo went over the Chili Cook-Off synopsis and advised the Board there were twelve
(12) teams, and 365 tickets were sold for a net profit of$2,600.00.
Member Rice asked if CERT had paid their entry fee yet.
Mr. Rinaldo said they had not and that the Fire Department was aware of that and is
working on it.
It was noted by several of the Board Members that the event calendar was not in the utility
bill this month and wanted to make sure the 131 Fund was not charged for that.
Discussion ensued about using PayPal or Venmo for ticket sales in the future.
Mr. Rinaldo went over the synopsis for National Night Out and asked if there were any
questions.
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Member Rice said she liked the new layout and said we were a little bit over budget when
the employee time wa's added'to.the'synopsis.
Discussion ensued about the synopsis for National Night Out.
Member Coad asked about Barkfest and said we need a Board Member to take on this
project.
Member Carroll said she would take on this project.
Discussion ensued regarding Barkfest, the greyhound statues that were removed from the
Dog Track, and getting the culverts painted.
Mr. Capizzi advised the Board that the parking lot at Candyland Park would be getting paved
soon.
Member Rice asked when the Seafood Festival was scheduled.
Mr. Capizzi said it is scheduled for March 26 and 27, 2022.
Member Rice asked if there was going to be a Health Fair in February.
Mr. Capizzi said they were waiting to hear from the individual they work with for that
project.
Member Rice asked if there were any events scheduled for January.
Mr. Rinaldo said the Food Truck Battle is scheduled for January 22, 2022, at Reiter Park.
Member Rice asked about the Great American Campout and when that would be
scheduled.
Mr. Capizzi said they were going to try to schedule that for September.
Member Rice thinks February is probably a better month for that event.
Discussion ensued about the scheduling of the Great American Campout.,
6. ADJOURNMENT.
Chair Putz moved to adjourn. Seconded by Member Rice and carried by a
unanimous voice vote.
Meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
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Minutes approved by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: 1-4-2022
49t144eiertoi_,2d.,,
David Putz, Chair
ATTEST:
- jib cu-e.n
Donna Alt-Bowes, Recording Secretary
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