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PR04-05-2022Min PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD LONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION CHAMBERS 175 WEST WARREN AVENUE LONGWOOD, FLORIDA MINUTES April 5, 2022 Present: David Putz, Chair Amanda Sackett, Vice-Chair Judi Coad, Member(arrived at 7:02 p.m.) Lori Rice, Member Teresa Ray, Member Rachael Carroll, Member Chris Capizzi, Leisure Services Director Ryan Rinaldo, Recreation Coordinator Donna L.Alt-Bowes, Recording Secretary Absent: Larissa Morgan, Member 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 March 1, 2022 Vice Chair Sackett moved to approve the minutes from March 1, 2022, as presented. Seconded by Member Ray and motion carried by a unanimous voice vote with Member Coad and Member Morgan absent. 4. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS. Member Carroll reported and said at the Magic game the Longwood Elementary Music Makers had an opportunity to perform on the stage. She said they were the first act since COVID that was actually allowed to perform on the stage. Millennium Middle School also got to do a performance there for the same game as well. She said she attended the Food Truck event and enjoyed food from A No Root Kitchen and Donuts and Espresso and those were two (2) good ones. There were a couple of questions for staff. She asked about the lights that were taken down at Reiter Park because of the ducks pulling them down and if they are going to be put back up. Mr. Rinaldo said the pier at Reiter Park has been refurbished and we officially opened that today. The company that did the pier work are ordering these special types of brackets to P&R 04-05-2022/1 do it right this time so we are actually able to utilize the existing lights that are hanging down. The company told him if we use the same brackets to put them back up we are going to have the same issue. That should happen in hopefully the next week or so when they are planning on coming back. Member Carroll said that it was brought to her attention that in the bathrooms at Reiter Park when the girls flush the toilets there is water coming up out of the drain. She said the ventilation in the bathrooms is not working because the air ducts are dirty and asked staff to look in to that. The water fountain by the bathrooms is dirty because it is not being used or something. She said she has an idea to bring up to the board. Member Carroll brought up the idea of placing painted rocks in the parks that would provide a prize or some sort of free ticket to a future event for the person who finds the rock. Discussion ensued with regard to painting rocks and placing them in Longwood to include special rocks. Member Carroll asked if there was an update for Barkfest. Mr. Capizzi said the area near the park is going to be under heavy construction for the next few months because of work on the trail expansion. As it gets closer to September we can certainly start talking about it more and get Member Carroll better acquainted with the event. Member Rice asked what the anticipated month of the event is. Mr. Capizzi said it is going to be the last Friday in September. Member Ray said she did not have a report. Vice Chair Sackett reported and said that Member Carroll already mentioned what she was going to say about Reiter Park and that all of the other parks are looking great. She said she still understands that Smallworld Park is a dusk to dawn park but she does see kids out there playing basketball in the evening when it is getting darker out. Discussion ensued with regard to lighting for the basketball court at Smallworld Park. Vice Chair Sackett said it was a good turnout for the Pirate Seafood Festival. Vice Chair Sackett said that it is always sad when events have to be canceled, but she knows we can't control the weather. She said it would be nice if the Movie in the Park or the Concert in the Park could be bumped just to the next day instead of cancelling it all together. Discussion ensued with regard to the rescheduling of cancelled events at Reiter Park. P&R 04-05-2022/2 Vice Chair Sackett said it is nice seeing all of the sidewalks going in but she is personally sick and tired of the construction in the neighborhood around Candyland. She asked how long the construction equipment is going to be sitting there. When it comes to games on Saturday and things along those lines, there is a lot of overflow. She does not care for the way people park in that parking lot. You could have twenty (20) more cars if there were lines for parking spots. Seeing all of the construction equipment taking up half of the parking lot is frustrating. Mr Capizzi said a few Commissioners have actually called him about the equipment in the park and he has to point them in the direction of Shad Smith from Public Works since he oversees the septic abatement project. The park is the staging area for the equipment. He said they did build us a road through the park since there has been an inconvenience. He said that he could not say for sure when the project will officially be completed, but that it is definitely in the final stages. Vice Chair Sackett said she is assuming construction delay shortages but she is just seeing about pickleball updates and the courts on that. Mr. Capizzi said even though we were approved for the grant and the PO was cut, it was going to be a nine (9) to twelve (12) week wait period for the construction due to how busy the company is as well as the rain delays. When he receives a specific date for groundbreaking, he will let everyone know. Member Rice reported and asked whether we have rebooked either of the three (3) events, including the Camp Out that were canceled by weather. Mr. Rinaldo said the movie is kind of tough because it is getting dark out so later so that is why we have been kind of hesitant rebooking that event but we have been in contact for available dates in April and May. For the concert, we hadn't re-booked the band. He said our booking agent was in the process of booking a band for May and he mentioned using the April band for May. We have partnered with Ladies 327 to provide the kid zone and the vendors so the dates have been scheduled months in advance. It is kind of tough for us to reschedule the entire event immediately. Mr. Capizzi said certain events cannot be rescheduled right away because we are dependent on the availability of bands, movie projection companies, and the schedule of anyone else who we work with to make the event happen. He said we will not be canceling a concert and not re-booking it. We'll still have the planned amount of concerts. Member Rice asked what that number is. Mr. Capizzi said it is six (6). Member Rice asked what staff thoughts were on the Camp Out. P&R 04-05-2022/3 Mr. Rinaldo said right now Mr. Capizzi and I are talking about the summer time but he knows June and July and August can be pretty humid. Discussion ensued with regard to when to reschedule the Camp Out and the registration for the event. It was decided to hold the Camp Out in January or February. Member Rice said the Pirate's Festival was a great setup and had great vendor offerings. The family traveling circus was an awesome addition and that was also commented on at the Commission meeting last night as well. More than one (1) Commissioner agreed that it would be nice if we could not book a very large event like the Pirate Festival at the same time neighboring municipalities are having their large events. She said they mentioned the Oviedo Taste-Off and Pints and Paws in Sanford and she was also aware of the Sidewalk Chalk Festival at Cranes Roost. They thought the attendance was about 5,000—7,000 in total. Discussion ensued with regard to the scheduling of the Pirate Seafood Festival. Member Rice said she went to the flag drop box reveal at Candyland and Mr. Capizzi and Mr. Rinaldo were both there. She said it was a nice event. Commissioner Boni and his wife Amy brainstormed and brought this idea forward. It was decided at the meeting last night that the Reiter Park flag drop box had to be cancelled on Saturday and rather than having an in-person reveal doing a virtual reveal. This is what the Commissioners would like to do so they can post it on social media. While she was at Candyland Sports Complex, she was delighted to see that the sidewalks have been ground in many places to mitigate the tripping hazard which was her original concern about getting the sidewalks replaced. She talked about Strongwood Coffee and how a percentage of the profits would go towards parks and recreation. She asked if there were any coffee drinkers in the house and said that Commissioner Morgan is spearheading this opportunity with the Blessed Bean Coffee Company. Discussion ensued with regard to the Strongwood Coffee and how the program will work and how the funds will remain in the Parks and Recreation Department. Member Rice said that she heard at the Commission meeting last night that Arbor Dog Park used to be a junk yard and that is why these glass shards work their way up and that Leisure Services is going to mulch that park. She is just putting that out there since this was said on the dais last night and everyone watching Facebook listened to this. Member Coad said with special mulch. Member Rice said she believes they were referring to engineered mulch. Mr. Capizzi said we are not mulching the entire park. He said it is just the area where you enter the park in close proximity to where the dog washing station is located. In this area, P&R 04-05-2022/4 people often forget to turn the spigots off and the water makes the sand and dirt very messy. He said we are going to be putting the EWF engineered wood fiber mulch which is fine for dogs. A few parks do that. He went over to Casselberry and they have mulch. Sanford also has mulch at their parks. The area where the mulch will be installed at Arbor park is where many of the complaints come from about the dogs getting dirty. Member Rice said the Commission also talked about tussock moth caterpillars.They call them fuzzy white caterpillars and the oak trees are their host, so they are going to be there about this time every year. She has been parked under an oak and they have dropped onto her car. Luckily, they are short lived but can be a great irritant, especially if an animal eats one and becomes very sick. Mr. Capizzi said that is why we put the notification on our page just to make sure people are aware. He said we were not going to close the park but we did let people know. Member Coad said maybe we can post a sign to beware and check the dogs. Mr. Capizzi said we could put it on the bulletin board. Member Coad said we heard that dogs were stepping on the caterpillars and getting them caught in their pads. She said that if you have a dog with a good coat they could fall into the coat and work their way down where they will adhere to their skin. They are very poisonous and can make a dog very sick. Supposedly there are three (3) dogs we heard about. She said she knows if you pick them up yourself they will sting you so as people we don't want to be handling them. Member Rice said any time there is a caterpillar with spines or hairs you don't want to touch them. She said she received an ad in the mail advertising Good Friday at Reiter Park at 4:30 p.m., The Waterstone Church is putting it on. Member Coad asked if the church on North Street was putting it on. Member Rice confirmed yes that they are on North Street and that it is a rental and that is good to see. She asked if Easter Sunday service is a rental this year and was advised it is not rented on Easter Sunday this year. She asked about the budget planning and asked staff to share some of what they are planning at the May meeting. She suggested to the Board Members that if you have suggestions, ideas, a dream list at any time you can speak with staff about that. She said it can be difficult if we get too far into the budget process to make any suggestions and have any hope that they become a reality. Mr. Capizzi said the preliminary budgets were due this past Friday to the Finance Director but if we need to add something we can certainly do so. Member Coad asked Mr. Capizzi to expand on that. P&R 04-05-2022/5 Mr. Capizzi said that there was only one change from last year's budget. Celebrate the season was really the only event that needed an increase as we stayed within our budget parameters for the other events (even saving some money). He explained what he did to increase the budget, what was taken into consideration for the budget for the events and what was asked of the Finance Director for him to prepare. Discussion ensued with regard to the budget for FY2022—2023. Member Coad reported and said she went to the Pirate's Festival on Saturday around 3:00 p.m. and asked about the large pirate ship. Mr. Rinaldo said the big one is no longer available. Member Coad said that when she came, and she understands it was later, but the bounce houses were deflated and weren't up for the kids. As she and her husband walked that way around they saw the circus act family that had their bus there and suggested we have a schedule of activities next year. She thinks if somehow even when we put the note out on Next Door that says 3:00 p.m. is this performance or that performance it might help people. There were not many people there when she was there. She said she did get an opportunity to talk to the vendors. She asked if the lady who got hurt was ok? Mr. Rinaldo said he did not have any update on that. He said we usually leave that to the fire department. Discussion ensued with regard to the incident that occurred during the event and the emergency action plan for this event. Member Coad said she hopes more people came out and discussed hosting the event when other cities are hosting events as well. Member Coad said she had a couple of people tell her(one was a family member, her son and his wife) and a couple of other people commented that the prices have gone up and they were really overwhelmed at the prices of the food trucks. She said she does not eat seafood so she can't tell us first hand, but that she is just sharing what was said. She loved having the Farmer's Market there and saw people with lots of packages leaving and she knew it was from the Farmer's Market. She thinks that worked out really well in melding those two things together. Having moved the Farmer's Market out on to the street was great. Member Coad asked if we have a contract for the fireworks on the 4th of July yet. Mr. Rinaldo said they are working on that. Member Coad said it was also brought up at the Commission Meeting and she was just curious where we are if she gets asked. She asked about the Hawaiian Festival and said she knows that sort of got dropped back to Mr. Capizzi and Mr. Rinaldo, really to Mr. Capizzi to P&R 04-05-2022/6 try and contact Hawaiian Airlines. She asked if we have had any luck with moving this forward. Mr. Capizzi said yes that they did get the application he sent them and we are currently waiting now. Hopefully we will hear within the month if they are going to be a sponsor. They have spoken with Member Morgan and she does have some connections in Jacksonville. She has pointed a vendor in our direction who is going to be contacting them and they are supposed to be meeting with her at some point over at Reiter Park. Member Coad said she is aware there is a brand-new maintenance company coming on board for the city. They wi►l be taking care of the parks as well as the subdivisions and asked about the extension of the contract with Helping Hands so we weren't without maintenance. She asked if Mr. Capizzi has been able to meet with this new company yet to tell them what we need done at the parks. Mr. Capizzi said he has not met with them and that Aerotek (the new mowing company) just signed the contract with the city today. Discussion ensued with regard to the new mowing contract for the city. Member Coad asked what was being budgeted for any maintenance or reserves for the Community Building because that has been an issue in the past. Mr. Capizzi said we do have quite a but of money in capital improvement project five (5) year plan. Such fixes include a kitchen renovation, AC and flooring. Discussion ensued with regard to the capital improvements for the Community Building. Member Coad asked what was going on with the 427 banners. Mr Capizzi said that those are within a two (2) week time period those are going to be up. Discussion ensued with regard to the banners on 427 and the banners Discussion ensued about the contract for banner on 427 and Member Coad wanting to start talking about the CGI contract in the fall for the 2024 year. Member Carroll asked about the pond at Reiter Park and if there is a sign that prohibits diving or swimming. Mr. Capizzi said we do not have a sign with that verbiage. He said there is a rule sign very close to where the dock is located, but he does not know off-hand if it says no diving or anything like. He asked if she had seen anybody doing swan dives in there. Member Carroll said no about seeing someone diving into the pond at Reiter, but said that it was brought to her attention since there is a viral video going around on Tik Tok. It is a P&R 04-05-2022/7 challenge or something going around about diving off docks in public places and she feels we should have signage prohibiting this. Discussion ensued with regard to a sign at Reiter Park regarding diving off the dock. Member Coad asked about the fountain being put in the pond. Mr. Capizzi said he is putting a fountain or 2 under recreation impact fees so we can possibly have them covered through the impact fees. Discussion ensued with the fountains at Reiter. Member Coad said she had someone ask her about the memorial benches we put in the park. She said they just get to put their name on an old memorial bench and they give the money back to the general fund. It was brought to me asking if we are able to do something different because they specified to me that they thought it is$2,500 for a bench. Mr. Capizzi said it is $1,700.00. Discussion ensued with regard to the memorial benches in the park. Chair Putz reported and asked if the grants he presented to staff last month were useful. He said he knows they were not too happy about the tree grant but the skate park perked staff up. He wondered if staff looked into that as well as the baseball grant. Mr. Capizzi said yes and that he has already sent a letter of intent to the skate park grant company and filled out the online questions, which was a pretty intricate process. He received an email back from the skate park project company confirming receipt of the city's letter of intent to apply. They will contact the city should they deem us eligible for funding. Mr. Rinaldo is working on the baseball grant. Chair Putz said not the trees. Mr. Capizzi said no, we just don't have an area where we can plant an orchard. Fruit trees can get pretty big and can get messy. They need a ton of irrigation and treatment. He said he appreciates Chair Putz bringing that to our attention but it just unfortunately is not going to be feasible. Chair Putz said last year he mentioned about the apartments being built and if there were any plans to expand for those needs. He said he believes he was told that the apartments have their own leisure activities. He has noticed a lot of traffic between the new apartments down there by the Winn-Dixie and our Reiter Park. If you go down Dog Track Road are there any plans for that massive apartment complex. He asked if there were any plans for a park to be built near that and if there were any impact fees associated with that to increase the needs of our leisure services. He said is there anything planned for any of that. P&R 04-05-2022/8 Mr. Capizzi said he does not believe there is land for a park over there but that there are recreation impact fees gathered from new construction. Discussion ensued with regard to additional parks for the new apartment areas and any impact fees we might have received. Chair Putz said he has another grant. He said it is called the Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant. He showed a priority list for the grant. He said you probably know this one to Mr. Capizzi. Mr. Capizzi said yes, he is very familiar with it and we have actually been awarded two (2) of them before. Discussion ensued with regard to the Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant. 5. STAFF REPORT. Mr. Capizzi said Concert in the Park was April 2, 2022 and the band will be bumped to the May show since the event was cancelled due to rain. The Scottish Highland Event (Tartan Day) will be on April 9, 2022 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Reiter Park. There are a lot of cool things happening there. There will be axe throwing and Scottish music and some really good bands that are well known in the Scottish/Celtic circle. We'll have some good food, fish and chips and stuff like that and there will be beer, wine, alcohol sales as well. The Farmer's Market will also be operating at the same time. There will be some clans out there as well and lots of kilts/tartans. The Downtown Cruise-In Car Show will be on April 9, 2022 from 5:00 p.m.—8:00 p.m. and the Senior Matinee is on April 13, 2022 from 1:30 p.m. from 4:00 p.m.A Day to Die is going to be the movie. The Easter Egg Hunt is going to be the following weekend in the Historic District. It is not going to have specific times for different age groups. It is going to be a scavenger hunt and kids can get a list and find the eggs. There are going to be vendor opportunities, pictures with the Easter Bunny, the Bunny Breakfast is going to be occurring too on Saturday morning inside the Community Building. Patrons buying a ticket can enjoy two (2) sausage patties, all you can eat pancakes, coffee and juice and visit with the Easter Bunny. The seating will take place every thirty (30) minutes starting at 9:00 a.m. and run until 10:30 a.m. Adults are $9.00, kids 3— 10 are $7 and kids 2 and under are free. You can find ways to purchase the tickets on the SeminoleEggHunt.com website and that will direct you to where you can purchase tickets for the Bunny Breakfast. Member Coad asked who was doing the cooking. Mr. Capizzi said it is the Church on 434. The Community Health Fair is on April 23, 2022 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Longwood Community Building. The Longwood Jazz Festival is the same day from 11:00 a.m. —2:00 p.m. He said that is where we are collaborating with some of the local schools P&R 04-05-2022/9 which was a longtime goal of some of the Commissioners, in particular, Mr. Sackett. The Heroes Ceremony will be on April 24, 2022 from 3:00 p.m.—6:00 p.m. Member Rice said she believes that is being cancelled or postponed because Mr. Rubin was involved in an accident. She said Mr. Rubin indicated that he would do it in June on Flag Day. Mr. Capizzi said that was the first he had heard about that. Mr. Capizzi said the Food Trucks are on April 29, 2022 at Reiter Park from 4:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. Bach to Rock is April 30, 2022 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Reiter Park Member Rice asked if that was with the Farmer's Market. Mr. Capizzi said yes, we have not cancelled the Farmer's Market for any of the Saturday events. Member Coad said Mr. Capizzi needs to make sure that is included in the advertising of those events. Member Rice asked at the Pirate Seafood Festival if it was Leisure Services that put up the shade tent with the tables and if so, what did that cost. Mr. Rinaldo said that tent was $2,700.00 for everything including the weights, tables and chairs. Member Rice said it was a good cost. Member Coad said it was a good call because we have no shade. Mr. Rinaldo said there were a lot of compliments on that. Member Coad asked if we make any money, do we get any money back from the Seafood Festival to wash that out. Mr. Rinaldo said yes, we get revenue back from the event promoters and we are meeting with them probably in the next week or so. He said they are still tabulating the cancellations and the people who did show up. Mr. Capizzi said they had an event after ours to so they have been pretty slammed but yes, we do receive revenue from the event. He said next year we are going move that tent further down closer to the stage so people can see the acts on stage better. Discussion ensued with regard to the cost of the tent for the Pirate Seafood Festival. 6. ADJOURNMENT. P&R 04-05-2022/10 Chair Putz moved to adjourn. Seconded by Member Coad and carried by a unanimous voice vote with Member Morgan absent. Meeting adjourned at 8:04 p.m. Minutes approved by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board: 05-03-2022 David Putz, Ch ATTEST: Donna Alt-Bowes, Recording Secretary P&R 04-05-2022/11 THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY P&R 04-05-2022/12