##VIDEO ID:BuddceWfPQc## [Music] e e e please stand for the pledge our pledge of to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you sir welcome everyone to the tourism Development Council workshop for the board of County Commissioners we have a heavy agenda today so that everyone knows who will be speaking uh it'll be 2 minutes today and that's what we need to do to get through um this today we're going to start today with a presentation from the TDC director Peter crannis and Sir you're recognized okay well thank you very much sir and thank you uh to the board to the county manager's office and the county attorney's office for attending today um we're going to Deep dive into the marketing Support Program and uh also take a look back at some of our other Grant programs from the prior year to kind of see where uh where we've been and and where we are today uh I wanted to start today however just kind of get a level set on how our budget is allocated and how tourist development tax which is the 5% tax on uh on short-term rentals um is uh is allocated uh based on our County ordinance um our budget our f for fiscal year 2425 our budget is um 27 million uh when you take out the statutory reduction that's required by the state 5% uh and then the other uh fees and um and uh allocations that we have prior to uh Distributing the funds uh comes out to a little over 23 million um if you see and by the way I did put a presentation in front of everyone here uh on the on the table today if uh you want to refer to that because I know these numbers get a little small um just looking at the top left uh in 1986 the first two uh cents or two pennies as they call it uh were uh approved by um by both the uh the citizens and the and the board and the way those are allocated um and the way that the ordinance reads at least 25% so it actually says at least 25% is allocated for promotions and advertising uh 30% so just a straight 30% is allocated for Beach Improvement and then up to 35% for the capital facilities uh area and then up to 10% for the cultural events so saying up to allows some flexibility there in in the allocations and uh in the past couple of years there's been some shifting of some of those funds uh into other buckets um then in uh 1989 the third Penny was allocated and 65% straight 65% was allocated for Beach Improvement 25% for Bard zoo and 10% for tourist information which allows us to run a turist information center as well as provide other um Information Services like our website and our uh app uh to visitors then in uh 94 the fourth Penny was instituted out of that um an allocation was set aside for the UA contract that we have $350,000 but then all remaining funds are rolled into uh promotions and advertising and then the fifth penny is 100% promotions and advertising that was in ' 05 so looking down at the bottom promotions advertising is just under 48.5% Beach Improvement 25% um Capital facilities 14 tourist information 2 two cultural events for Bard Zoo 5 and then the remaining uh 350,000 for the for the contract so that's kind of how things get allocated from a tdt perspective um and looking uh back at our Grant history the tourism grants have been part of the office since uh 86 they've been allocated a number of different ways over the years um Beach capital and cultural uh events were designated for funding with the first two cents Sports was added in 1994 with the additional marketing pennies um and then uh this this past year um the board merged the cultural and sports grants to establish the new marketing support program and we're going to we're going to uh talk in depth about that program in a minute but um I going take a a quick step back to last fiscal year so fiscal 2324 and just to talk about how we did cultural grants back then um the grants uh of course the grant program was established to provide support to cultural events uh that came from the cultural fund the 4% that I described earlier um and in 2324 the allocation was $600,000 that went to uh both small and large events uh the program guidelines and applications uh those those got reviewed by the county attorney's office but also by the cultural committee the TDC uh looked at that and then uh approved that and then sent it to the board and the board approved it in in that program last year the minimum eligibility was for 1,000 out of County attendees um the funds were designed uh or meant to go to out of County marketing 50% of that should should have had to go to out of County marketing and then the rest of the ex uh the grant would go to event expenses um Awards uh were basically uh provided as a reimb urement so most of our grant programs are reimbursements so that happened after the event was held so the applicant after they held the event they would send us their receipts and all of their uh package of of um backup and then they would get cut a check um as far as the cultural fund this year this so this is the 2425 this is this fiscal Year's fund um what's in the fund the the Border had approved Bard cultural Alliance contract of 202,000 the marketing Support Program allocation of 600,000 and none of that's been spent yet we were waiting for obviously board input on on the final designation on how to allocate that but there's a 600,000 being held um the the board uh approved 300,000 out of this fund to be used for lifeguard so that has been transferred to that program and then there is a little over 65 and a half thousand uh remaining in unallocated funds that either could get allocated uh this year or if not then that would roll over and become uh carry forward for the next year's budget then of course the tax collector uh does every every one of our funds the tax collector gets a percentage of of that to make up the total uh expenses of 1.2 million in that budget um now switching over to sports grants uh Sports grants last fiscal so this was 23 24 this was the last fiscal year the grant program um was established to generate room Nights from sports events uh that's the primary purpose uh there was 240,000 that was allocated out of the marketing fund so the advertising promotions fund that I mentioned um that came out last year and the events that received uh grants generated over 16,000 room Knights uh for the destination um again the program guidelines and applications they're always reviewed by the county attorney's office by the Sports Committee of the TDC then ultimately approved by the TDC and then approved by the board um the minimum eligibility uh for sports uh events was 200 room nights and this was uh the committee uh uh determined that the ward was based on $15 per room night up to a $25,000 maximum per event also we uh when we bring in events from outside the state were allowed to apply for Grants at the Florida Sports foundation and um we were able to get nearly $30,000 and grants from F FSF for uh the bringing in these these events from outside the area um the funds uh that were provided to event organizers were designated for out of County marketing and also for uh other event expenses and again this was uh just like most of our programs a reimbursement program so now um You just talking a little bit about where we are today so that was sort of the past and what we did last year um for this fiscal year um Upon A initial recommendation from a commissioner's office um we uh developed the marketing support program and it was ultimately approved by the TDC and the board of County Commissioners um and what it did was it combined the cultural and sports events together and then instead of awarding or instead of uh writing a check on a reimbursement basis uh we uh would be a areas and how many people are in a particular area where they're from areas and how many people are in a particular area where they're from are they from out of the county inside the county so that that helps us uh calculate this information um and they were able to get up to $50,000 in marketing support per event um again the marketing as I mentioned is done uh it's out of County it's done by our marketing team uh within our office um the event organizer doesn't receive reimbursement directly in the case of the sports events they have to have over 200 rooms to qualify um and if the event met the qualifications but they didn't require marketing support so some events are invitationals where they invite a number of players or a number of teams to the uh to the event and they have a built-in number of room nights they could uh according to the um criteria receive a paid sponsorship um both the criteria and the budget were approved Again by the TDC and the board and the amount that was approved was $840,000 um there were 44 events that were um recommended by the TDC and in this fiscal year and that uh came to a total of 85,000 and we'll get into the list in a minute but um just to show you how that budget looks um this is the budget um on the next slide cultural fund 600,000 came from that advertising and promotions 240,000 so that's what made up the 840 uh and then in the recommended list of events we uh TDC uh recommended 805 be awarded and so there is 35,000 in that in that bucket that um potentially could be utilized for uh for uh anything else uh that the board might think of or could then roll forward into a carry forward for next year this is uh the next slid is the list of all of the recommended awards from the TDC on the left side you see the list of the cultural events um they start uh with the highest um out of county attendance and then the actual marketing support amount um totals 485 there and then on the right side are the sports events which again are organized by the uh room nights so the top room kns going uh descending order and the marketing support there um and that was uh 320 so that's what makes up the 805 and then at the bottom uh we listed some events that we were aware of um that uh we did get um we were able to get cellular data for and able to calculate their out of County attendees but they did not meet the criteria of the 5,000 minimum so that's just there again for as a discussion Point as we go forward today on the next slide I just it's the same basically the same list of the cultural events by um date of when they occur and then we highlighted events that have already occurred uh so we can have that discussion on how we handle those um there are seven cultural events that have already occurred um and then on the sports uh there are five events that have already occurred so we'll we'll have a conversation about that in a in a little bit so that just brings us just to a couple of thoughts about options obviously there's you know a lot of discussion that can happen today but um some of the options could be to one approve the new uh fiscal year 2425 marketing support program as is and the recommended Awards as they were presented by the TDC there were 44 events for 85,000 and then allow for a reimbursement for events that have already occurred using last year's grant program as the criteria um that's one two could be revert back to the previous program from the previous year where cultural and sports events have separate Grant programs and um just the thought would be due to timing you know approve the recommended Awards above as reimbursable grants or obviously any other option you know the board would would like today and we'll get into that discussion shortly um that's really it for me in my presentation um I just would stay we have about 35 speakers uh here today representing about 50 different events so some speakers are going to speak on multiple events um in the two minutes um there was a small group of sports um particularly sports events that are out located outside the state uh that were unable to attend today um they were still uh those they were recommended by the TDC but unfortunately because they have other events going on outside of uh of our area they were unable to make it so I just wanted to make you aware of that uh but I'm happy to to take any questions at this point or we can get into the conversation and then uh go from there I think it'd be good if we did questions for you Peter um early and I have a technical question for Morris but uh are there questions for Peter commissioner commissioner Delaney I'm sorry I saw our hand first we don't have lights today so thank you so much for this presentation so that's something that I think is a benefit um so that's something that I think is a benefit um the previous programs uh you know the some of the benefits were there were subcommittees of the TDC that reviewed those so there was sort of a another layer uh if you will um you know with the new program we would we would not need necessarily those subcommittees so that could be looked at as a benefit too for depending on on your perspective on committees and and whether you like them or not but um but that's those are my main thoughts on that there's probably some other things but but those are the the high points thank you you're welcome commissioner Goodson light Yeah question if you're doing the count on cell phones do you compensate some number of people that live in the county that have an out-of-county sell number yeah so the way the way the tool works and it's not I will say you know just like any software it's not perfect uh it's a it's a very good tool we've um been working with it for a while now and um we did an analysis of a number of the different op software options that are out there and we think we have the best but the way it works is if a cell phone um lives sits in a area for a period of time that's the area that it gets tied to so if somebody were to have purchased a phone and has a service out of Washington DC but they've been in uh bevard County for three or four months that cell phone will read as a um as a Bard County phone basically so you know it's possible that somebody comes from New York and they're staying here for a month and uh and it will still read as a New York phone but but that's uh that's you know kind of how it works other questions for Peter all right I have a question for Morris um he said what we might agree to today we can give direction to staff but I think anything we agree to we have to bring back to the board of County Commissioners correct yes okay thank you and and sir my thought was you know if we get some kind of consensus of input today and are able to craft it we'd like to bring it back on the 28th of January if possible per perfect that's what I'm thinking too so I think we can all agree to that okay very good I all right I think we can go ahead with the the applicants if you okay for for those of you in the audience that are here to speak and you were you had told us you were coming to speak on particular events I've got the list here so I'm going to call you up by name and the name of the event and then you'll have two minutes so first up Barry Shepard with the police Hall of Fame and then next will be Mitch Varn I appreciate that rousing round of applause there really no need but uh uh yeah I appreciate this uh opportunity to come up and toh present um our usage of the funds would be for our Museum and year round programming as well uh we have our annual upcoming event in May and it's this event where we reserve and utilize the accommodations of five local hotels and local I'm talking about Titusville mostly but that includes the courtyard the Hyatt Fairfield Hampton and then we usually utilize the uh uh Double Tree in uh in Coco Beach um we have a couple of other large events that we're actually working on right now at this time uh one of them is is a freedom fest concert we particip participated in a freedom fest concert last year in Ohio and it brought out thousands of attendees over the weekend um your ad dollars will actually allow us to tap into uh areas that we previously have not financially been able to tap into which would uh include billboard radio additional bulk mailings postcards and email to our target audience and our target audience is primarily will dominantly outside of Bard County and mostly outside of the State of Florida um well all righty then I'm sorry sir we have a lot of uh presenters today well I know that but I just had like half a page in I was yeah okay uh any questions no sir thank you all right appreciate it thank you actually I'm sorry if I could just say one thing if you um if you would like some more time feel free to contact my office I'd be happy to meet with you whenever thanks Katie thank you okay thank you uh next up is Mitch farns Beach and Boards Fest Coco Beach Half Marathon Florida Marathon Coco Beach Triathlon and the USA Beach running um and by the way there is an there is a timer on on the table there as you're speaking can I wait to start it good afternoon thanks everybody for having me uh my name is Mitch farns I'm a Satellite Beach resident I was born in Bard County and have my office in Melbourne so I kind of have the county covered as Peter said we put on numerous sporting events and I've been doing this for over 20 years in the county and these include the um third largest distance running race in Central Florida the biggest Sprint Triathlon in Florida the biggest Pro uh surfing contest in the whole state of Florida and the big biggest um active lifestyle sporting event for spring break in the United States that's Beach and Boards Fest um the tourist touris office has always been a critical and valued supporter of our events and we rely on them and and count on that support the previous Grant awarding system that was recently replaced worked out great for sporting events providing marketing is might be good for um oneoff events or something like um just for an example like surfing Santa or an air show but for sporting events we're trying to attract Niche participants blanket marketing radio and television just didn't work for us so for that purpose I'm recommended that we go back to the previous system which did work in my running events and races and tri loans we quantify where people come from but because we have that we put that in there when they register for the race and I go back at the tourism office and we can justify the room kns over the course of the 20 years I've been doing events here we've um actually brought in tens of thousands of room Knights and many millions of dollars in economic impact to the county so the hard CA of putting on events is something I'd like to have um reinstituted costs have gone up significantly for events whether it be police uh barricade and coning marketing even and uh permitting have gone up significantly so I'd like to go back where sporting events are reimbursed for a part of costs and finally I'm asking that I um that those of us who produced events in the fall that were allocated money and expected the money but didn't receive it that respectfully we'd be reimbursed for the cost retroactively of what we spent it's a big ask but I think it's fair so that said thank you for your time today questions thank you sir next up is Pete mulhausen with the Bard renfair and then following will be hadassa atin good afternoon my name is Peter mohen Bard Renaissance Fair uh we're celebrating our 10th anniversary this year and with a lot of help from the TDC over the years we've grown this little event to become probably the largest runfar in the State of Florida uh over the years I found that they've done it different ways and the way they're doing it now I like the best I'm not a marketing genius at all and at the old days or a long time ago it was hit and miss I think the way they do it now really helps out they've got expertise out there that we just don't have and we don't have the time to learn and I think that's a benefit to the uh to the TDC grants we fill a lot of rooms in this community a lot of hotels were sold out this week we heard from our customers as we open up this weekend so I know that the marketing's working we even designed some of our ticketing packages to uh Target for weekends forcing people to come in for the whole weekend it's giving them special pricing so they come in on Friday and leave on Monday uh we found that's really beneficial in the Renaissance industry and we change things up so there's concerts on Saturday things on Sunday so they come in for the whole entire weekend and spend four days here um but like I said I think it's the best way to go uh you've done it quite a few different ways they're all very interesting but having the TDC with the resources that they have and the knowledge that they have are able to target the people that we after and we target a lot of out of state people that's our big Focus 25 to 30% of the people that come to our Fair are from out of state or out of County actually and a lot of them from out of state so I think that's about all I have to say I hope you get a chance to visit us tell them where you're going to be this year Peter we're going to be in Melbourne 3190 New York Avenue so brand new site brand new buildings a lot of work we put into that so all right all right all right we wish you dry weather thank you yeah no mud although I think the Renaissance did have mud every meeting I've seen all right uh next up is hadasa Tien uh with Bard Symphony and then next will be Laura Lee wo hi good afternoon um we're so grateful for the opportunity to be able to speak with you today so thank you um my name my name is hadass I'm the executive director for The Bard Symphony Orchestra um the BSO is one of the oldest Arts organization in Bard County for the past 71 years we've brought live orchestral music to patrons of all ages this is through educational concerts five signature concerts each year and a new three concert pop series that targets a much younger generation from this County and other counties in the area while we pride ourselves on being the only fully professional Orchestra in bevard County we also aim to continue being a tourist destination for anybody traveling to the Space Coast one of our largest annual events is our fourth of July concert uh we do a fireworks show and a concert in Coco Riverfront Park and that event um we also host a fundraiser where we have a barbecue um of people who signed up for that fundraiser we've seen an 8% increase in attendees that come from out of County just in the past year and that's been increasing year to year so as one of our biggest events it's indicative of everything that we do and that's very exciting so over the course of our current 2425 season we've seen a increase in ticket sales using new digital marketing Endeavors through the King Center ticketing platform Pac yolan that is one of our biggest new things that we've been doing the marketing support program is gives us a huge opportunity to continue doing that in this County and out of County to keep drawing in new people to our shows and our new series uh we have a pre-existing reputation that we plan on harnessing for potential patrons outside of this County working with the Space Coast office of Tourism poses a very exciting opportunity for us um to unify our efforts and ensure cohesive branding and marketing um in messages that go to out of County Travelers thank you so much thank you uh Laur Lee wo with cap canaval Lighthouse and next up is Daniel weight good afternoon everyone uh again my name is Laur Lee wo and I am the marketing committee chair for the cape canaval Lighthouse Foundation uh for those of you that don't know the cape canaval Lighthouse has been in Bard County since 1868 its Beacon Illuminating the Florida coastline is both a navigational Aid and a symbol of the Region's pioneering Spirit it holds an esteemed place in the history of the Space Coast serving not only as a vital guide for maritime travel but also as a testament to the early settlement of Florida over the years the lighthouse has played a significant role in the development of the United States space program and is among the County's first tourist attractions in the past year we welcomed approximately 18,000 visitors to the lighthouse with nearly half of them count coming from outside Bard County two years ago we had 6,000 out of County visitors so shows you our growth our diverse visitors range from tourists to school groups with each group pres representing valuable opportunity to educate both locals and tourists about the rich history of Bard County and its promising future the positive feedback and reviews we consistently receive affirm that the lighthouse is not only a cherished local Landmark but also sought-after destination for travelers from Across the Nation we really appreciate the TDC grant that we've received in the past um it allowed us to conduct out of County marketing last year for the first time and it was a significant impact to our visibility it certainly enhanced everything we did but now we're looking forward to participate in the new TDC Grant marketing Grant uh us as all small uh nonprofits need that kind of support you know I can only do so much I'm a volunteer I have other life so we really appreciate that and um if you don't know we actually work with the TDC the US space force and the US Coast Guard uh to manage the lighthouse so we have we our committee actually works to maintain it and keep it functional and um for this we need to have more marketing funds in order to get it to be broadcast to a wider audience cut out a lot of that any questions my my colleague Becky gave you our newest uh Foundation brochure thank you very much thanks uh Daniel weit with the city of Palm Bay next up is Kyle Smith all right good afternoon Commissioners uh my name is Daniel way I'm the acting Recreation director for city of P PM Bay and was formerly a special events coordinator uh with this grant program uh organizations like the city of Palm Bay and those presenting to you today uh we've been able to highlight the Space Coast unique appeal and events to attract out of County residents um to the county which help promote you know local businesses hotels and restaurants um the city of Palm Bay has the three major city run events Multicultural Festival Independence Day celebration and our holiday light parade uh based on the software data from the space coast office of Tourism our fiscal year 2223 uh we were into 1, to 2500 at of County attendees the following fiscal year uh we increased to the next tier of the 2500 to 5,000 out a County residents and this fiscal year uh we did qualify for over the 5,000 out of County residents um these numbers clearly demonst rate that we are bringing in out of County uh attendees to these events um helping boost the local economy enhancing Bard County's reputation as a cultural destination um and based on what you guys are discussing today I do like the idea of um the Space Coast office the tourism or the Tec doing um the marketing part of it um especially with us with the city we're limited in our resources so this is an extra resource for us thank thank you thank you sir next up is Kyle Smith with the Coco Beach Air Show and then Ken Wells good afternoon folks as you already know my name is Kyle Smith uh with the air do show tour here to talk to about one of our eight stops on this year's 2025 air do show tour which is a Coco Beach Air Show it's going to be held July 12th and 13th it's going to feature the United States Air Force F-22 Raptor which if you haven't seen is arguably one of the most technologically advanced aircraft mankind has ever made uh it is actually going to be the Capstone event of the Coco Beach City Centennial in fact Wayne city manager is here to show his support for this event just tell you a little bit about the last Air Show held in Coco Beach it was the fifth largest beachfront air show in the country not the state the country larger than Miami Beach and Jones Beach which is in Long Island and this is a little trivia question for you folks we can have a little interactiveness here out of the lower 48 states only three St states did not have someone attend the air show in Coco Beach in 2023 any guesses that what three states may not have had anybody come alas no lower 48 yes no I heard of North Dakota no Montana New Mexico Oklahoma so we're going to have to pick up our marketing over Billings but uh what what the air show basically does is it provides Coco Beach and Bard County with another summertime holiday weekend with numbers on the beach comparable to 4th of July and Memorial Day and naturally that comes from marketing outside the county so the TDC has some of those numbers that I'm sure they provided you uh I just wanted to tell you a little bit about the show in July thank you guys for your time and consideration and your service to your county thank you folks thank you sir okay next up is Ken Wells with cooka Beach Main Street and then Christopher stagman hi it's actually Kenny Wells from Coco Beach Main Street that's okay it's different it's a different spelling Hi to everyone I am Kenny Wells executive director for Cocoa Beach Main Street um we work very hard as a Main Street what our organization does it's a 501c3 nonprofit our efforts are the revitalization of downtown area and that's through Community efforts as and bringing visitors down as well we have monthly events our Friday Fest we're having one this Friday if you have an attended one I invite you to come see us with the TDC Grant we were creating larger events we had a kite and Beach Festival in January trying to Target a month that that um is slower for us with the hotels just because of the weather not being as great it's not summertime we did that for two years and we had fantastic response to it unfortunately because of the grant situation through the TDC we weren't able to do that this year um it was very very sad for us and a lot of people that were booking hotels last year looking forward to coming down this year so so that hurt us it's a it's an expensive um event to put on so we did rely on the grants for that the hard costs and the marketing grants work back best for us um I love the idea of the TDC doing our marketing for us but we also need help with a hard cost just things are more expensive with a staging and everything that goes into putting on events so that helped us a lot um that's it for Coco Beach Main Street does anybody have any questions thank you thank you okay Christopher stagman with Coco Village Main Street and then Nathaniel good afternoon Chris dagman executive director of Coco Village Main Street um our primary mission is to promote and sustain a vibrant and beautiful downtown area with an abundance of thriving local business businesses fun and safe activities while nurturing our cultural diversity and our history in a nutshell Coco Village Main Street Works in partnership with the great city of Coco to ensure our downtown area is a place we are all proud to call home and a place that our outter area guests feel welcome almost every weekend there are events and activities in Koko Village to attract local and out of area guests from music concerts car shows food and beverage festivals bike parades 5K runs Book Fairs art and craft fairs just to name a few coko Village Main Street hosts four four art and craft fairs throughout the year which attracts over 100,000 visitors annually 30% of these visitors and over 70% of the vendors who participate are from outside our County and spend the weekend here in Bard enjoying our beaches hotels and other amenities about 7,000 per event we have requested funding from the marketing support program to help was promote and advertise Y and craft fairs with the goal to attract more out of area guests to visit cooko Village and our County we're growing and we're proud of that thank you for your time and all that you do for our community and our local economy your leadership is very appreciated any questions sir C how much money do they provide to put on these shows or a show a arts and Crow show for us um it's pretty much um uh free and we get a tax abatement from them for any kind of street closures and that just went in effect in 2024 Tom um we do have to pay for um emergency support like EMTs and police which we have because obviously we want to have safe events but we we get lots of help from the city of Coco and they work in conjunction with us thank you next up is Nathaniel neper kiano with coko Village Playhouse and then George tret is next good afternoon I am Nathaniel And I am the artistic director at the Coco Village Playhouse um and the historic Coco Village Playhouse provides affordable and accessible programming to visitors and residents of the Space Coast Community we are currently celebrating 100 Years of the Aladdin Theater which opened as the Premier Cinema in bevard county and the playhouse is currently Midway through its 35th season of Broadway on Bard our Patron base includes over 43,000 unique attendees with nearly 18% of attendees residing outside of Bard County although we're halfway through our season the playhouse has noticed an increase in outof count attendees by nearly 3.7% compared to the season in the prior year this is due in part to funding initiatives like the CMI program offered through the TDC which afforded us the opportunity to expand our Outreach in Central and West Orlando by purchasing digital Billboards throughout high traffic areas a core program of the theater is our stars of Tomorrow youth program which has grown from eight students in 1992 to over 223 students this year and the playhouse continues its Outreach through the county enriching the well-being of the Space Coast through Partnerships with Bard County Schools like Edgewood junior senior and Coco high as well as local elementary schools and we feature over 120 performances each year and the playoffs continues to attract visitors to the area and contribute to the viability of Bard County as a premier travel destination in addition to being an ideal place to live so thank you so much for your time I appreciate it any questions thank you thank you uh next up George tret with Florida surf Museum surfing Santa and next will be Bill Gary hi I'm George tret with Surf and Santa Y what does Surf and Santa do for Bard County tourism what started out as a fun family day in Coco Beach has turned into a global phenomenon people from all over congregate on Christmas Eve in Coco Beach to celebrate the holidays with Santa friends and family over the years with Space Coast office of tourism's help surfing Santa has become a vibral media event like no other by partnering with surfing Santos On promotional events the Space Ghost office of Tourism has has garnered more than 10 billion billion media Impressions over the years worth3 million or more in advertising value so to advertise surfing Santas through television and billboards or something it's not going to help our event we need help to pay for the event the event cost about $330,000 to put on and we're fortunate to be able to continue the grant that was approved for surfing Santas we hoped that that money could be retroactive and maybe come back towards paying for the event so we can continue our quest to conquer the world with great media coverage thank you commissioner go ahead I just a quick question uh George uh who um who has the rec for the most surfing Santas well there is no uh world record as far as Guinness is concerned although one of the things I'd like to do in the future is set a world record for the most people surfing on a giant surfboard the current record for that is 66 and we can we can handily beat That by building a giant surfboard maybe a 60ft surfboard and put maybe a 100 people on it but uh Guinness won't recognize the most surfing Santas they they'll recognize the most Santas or they recognize the most um people dressed as Santa or the most people on a on a surfboard or but they won't recognize surfing and sandas it's one or the other b b h buug yeah we've tried there's always a grinch do they do they not recognize the oldest surfing Santa they don't they don't have that as a category um I don't know John are you older than I we're close uh commissioner Goodson had a question you put 66 people on a surfboard in Coco Beach during the winter is that with Margaritas or without no um might be some gummies involved I don't know but it ain't easy sir thank you for coming today all right thank you thank you uh next up is Bill Gary with the more Center and next will be Doug Lio good afternoon Commissioners uh I'm William Gary Bill Gary uh and I serve as president of the har and Har B Mo culture complex board of directors uh thank you for this opportunity to address you to uh today uh I'm here to ask you uh for your support of the office of Tourism grant funding recommendations as you know we have done a tremendous job hosting events and programs to bring a awareness of the history of har and harro Moore that attract many many visitors to the Moore Cultural Center Museum this has established the more Culture Center Museum as the epicenter of civil rights in C in the central Florida region last year alone we had over 177,000 visitors attending various events as well as tours of the site about half of these visitors were from out of town including about 10% from foreign countries these visitors contributed to the economy of the area including visiting restaurants stores and hostel stays with a 2025 line up of five major events the marketing support Grant will help us to continue to market the more Culture Center and museum thank you very much thank you sir uh next is Doug Leo with the henar center and then Ashley Dow all right good afternoon uh my name is Doug Lebo I'm president of the hener center in downtown Melbourne uh we're a non perform uh nonprofit Performing Arts organization that that owns and operates the uh historic uh 1919 Melbourne School building uh we offer year round uh Cultural Arts live programs and uh attract about 40,000 patrons a year um almost 20% of them are from outside of the county um Peter gave a great history of um the tdt money that that supported these grants there was a time also that General funds from the county were used to support these grants I'll just throw that out there that kind of went away a few years ago and it was all kind of left to the the tdt uh Monies to uh carry the load um but there was a time when we could use all of those funds or some of those funds for production cost and event cost and I think some other speakers had brought that up that uh there's definitely a benefit in that so uh I guess my first recommendation to the commission is to reconsider that that that some of the money you know depending on the organization some people enjoy the the full uh marketing uh support coming from the TDC and I think other events though makes more sense for some of that money to go towards um funding the events um I will say last two years it's been a little frustrating doing the county grant program um it seems we go through the process through the course of months and writing the grants and and uh getting them the you know team processing them and going through getting awarded and graded and such and then we get to the ultimate end in the County Commission it's like a surprise um why are these organizations you know included in this or nonprofit or this event or that event and it just doesn't seem like there's a meeting of the minds going into these Grant programs that you know what should qualify and not qualify and we get to the end of the process and we kind of end up here so I guess my second recommendation would be for that kind of meeting other the minds as to the purpose and scope of these grants kind of get agreed to ahead of time thank you thank you sir Ashley Dow with the King Center then Kim AG good afternoon for 37 years the King Center has been a cultural and economic Cornerstone for Bard County we serve as the only live entertainment venue with the ability to bring in National touring Productions within over 50 miles I'm proud to share uh with everyone in the room that you're among the first to hear the King Center has once again been listed in the top 200 venues worldwide by postar in 2024 we welcome nearly 150,000 attendees to over 100 events of those attendees over 20% came from outside Bard County their impact extends Beyond ticket sales guests dine at local restaurants stay hotels and explore the Space Coast during their visit this economic ripple effect is even greater when you consider the touring artists and production Crews we host they stay in local hotels utilize catering and dining services shop at area businesses and utilize Health Care Facilities during their time here these direct contributions underscore the king Center's role as a driver of Local Economic growth and tourism last year we utilized $10,000 of the total 25,000 to launch targeted digital campaigns aimed at outof count audiences these campaigns directly netted over $200,000 in ticket sales generating not only significant Revenue but also increase awareness of bravard County as a destination our success in reaching new audiences helps us compete with larger markets like Orlando enabling us to continue to attract nationally recognized artists and Productions that enhance the area's cultural appeal in closing I urge you to consider the tangible benefits the King Center delivers to bravard County your support not only enhances our ability to attract visitors but also ensures that the Space Coast remains a premier destination for Arts culture and tourism thank you I have a quick question for you I think the the college if I remember um has sort of farmed out the King Center so uh they have so you're a promoter for the King Center and you run and maintain it is is that the way I remember great question so the King Center is actually a couple of different entities in one venue um Eastern Florida owns the facilities the King Center board of directors um is the listed operator um owner of the King Center and then all of the employees within the King Center are ASM employees so so we're contracted out um just as the employees yes okay I I took a tour and when I became a new commissioner and they explained that to me so yeah uh any anytime any one of you want to take that to where I think good commissioner Alman I know y'all do some impressive marketing yourselves do you have an in-house marketing staff or do you use a marketing firm a little bit of both actually so I'm the director of marketing I have a marketing coordinator and another Market marketing manager we're the three that do the majority of that um our shows also do some of their own marketing and then we utilize a digital team through our ticketing system that places our meta and Google search ads for us so you have a lot of marketing we do do you think the marketing Grant helps you or would it be better to be able to spend that money on other needs I think the marketing Grant helps us in promoting the King Center as a whole we don't have budget for General King Center support our individual show budget goes towards promoting Jerry Seinfeld not King Center or the Space Coast um I also think that whether the D Department of Tourism did the advertising or the King Center um it's a help just for the general area okay good thank you yes that's a good question uh commissioner I appreciate that thank you very much uh next up is Kim AG with Melbourne Main Street and then relle Hood hi good afternoon everybody thank you for allowing us to be here today I am Kim AG I'm the executive director of Melbourne Main Street we're a um over 20 year-old nonprofit organization that's dedicated to the revitalization of downtown Melbourne and um events are a big part of what we do to attract people into the area to patronize the businesses and really create that economic impact and the lasting impact of of their experience that they're having in downtown Melbourne um I will tell you that we did submit for the grant uh this past time we focused on three major events which was our Food and Wine Festival that happened in November and then we do four nights of Candlelight shopping each night had a different activation event a different theme um our Food and Wine Festival had Live artist painting live music three different bands and our candle light shopping one of the four nights we actually focused and had an art walk because we have over 27 different art installations and activations um within downtown Melbourne which is pretty significant from the cultural side so we're pushing the cultural quite a bit and it's been a big big boost to us and it's been a big attraction and so um that's really important to us we've really enjoyed working with the with the TDC staff and the space office of Tourism um I had the um pleasure of serving on the marketing committee last year learned a lot about the job that they have to do the numbers and the reach that they're that they're um doing for all of us in the County and I commend them for that work um we um we have Hotel Melby now which actually adds a whole different flavor to our community which makes it more of a destination so we're attracting more people from out of County we're picking up some of those business really heavily business um Travelers that are staying the weekends for some of the things that are happening in downtown and I think it's it's really critical to continue the marketing I will tell you that um two of our events that we did the third one will be Botanical Fest in March but the two that we did the food and wine and the four nights of candl light shopping happened um when the grant got resented back after we were you know kind of said that this is moving forward so I I hope that you will consider um reimbursing us for those um some of the hard costs and also the marketing cost thank you thank you any questions commissioner hi good hi you moved your wine festival down to the river right yes sir out of the Main Street yes sir how did that go how was that received it was good um we got reports that um it was the best one we had ever done we're really trying to connect to the Waterfront we're one one block off and so one of our strategic initiatives is to actually connect with the Waterfront and help people experience that that entire um area and so they were they were loving it did you move um TQ bars down to the river because I know I heard that uh the people couldn't walk in the bars and get a drink and walk back on the street we did not shut off any businesses whatsoever and the footprint that we had you had to walk uphill you had to walk uphill yeah it's good for you that's that is a problem now going down they got they could get to iads they could get to kads and then they could also get to alamia I'm GNA get me a pedal shuttle next time I'll take you I'll put you in the golf cart I don't trust you thank you you trust me any other questions thank you very much uh Peter we're going to take one more and then we're going to take a uh a quick break okay what we taking a break we're we're going to take a quick break after uh all right let's do mayor okay so relle Hood with meridon Wildlife refere think about a time when the sun was rising and you heard birds singing consider a moment when you walked outside the sun was setting and you here in Florida in the Space Coast saw Sand Hill cranes flying I am Michelle Hood I'm the executive director for the merid Island Wildlife association we are the nonprofit friends group for the merid island National Wildlife Refuge we enable the mission of protecting wildlife and conserving habitat last year we had over 2 million people come to the Refuge we support the 144,000 Acres around the Kennedy Space Center people come for archery they come for kayak tours they come for the place in the world where the second most D dominant bioluminescence occurs here in Bard County they look for dolphins they wonder about the Marvel of humanity a young boy a young girl for the first time in her life catches a fish this is the stage that we provide and we provide that every day 365 days a year we are public lands as the nonprofit supporting The Refuge we don't give there's no marketing dollars whatsoever our marketing is a rare bird the snow bunting that landed here the flamingos that flew off of course from the hurricane and have stayed here for a year what we would like to do with marketing support program is that make sure that the public lands are available to everyone not just people who regularly fish not just those people who have taken up archery or bird watching but every single person we have hundreds of Acres of hiking trails biking trails and what we're most known for is our Wildlife Drive we removed the barriers for people with limited Mobility to be able to enjoy those experiences every day and the marketing Grant will allow us to get out of County and bring more of those people here not just the people in the local area thank you for your time uh question by Miss commissioner Goodson sorry ma'am is duck hunting still allowed on the ref Refuge it is um duck hunting is that's great that's great okay thank you yes it's a very important part of the I didn't hear you mention it are you clear on the difference between rabbit season and duck season I have a I have a rough time with my eyesight but I think one flies and one runs Hunters are actually our second largest category you think of you bird watchers yeah our number one category is Anglers then du then hunters in general we have hog hunting as well so thank you very much thank you for your time okay Commissioners do we need five minutes or 10 minutes what do you want to do 10 10 okay I think somebody wants to go outside all right let's let's be right back at 210 sharp and it'll be Space Coast State Fair right Peter thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] he [Music] hey yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello Commissioners um thanks for having me I am Rusty buan and I'm speaking today on behalf of Giles Malone and Bard Productions um they have been working hand inand with all of us in the Sports World to try to make this a sports destination Sports Mecca and I got to start by saying thank you to this body because many years ago 1994 some Commissioners had a vision that Bard County could be a sports destination uh and lo and behold it has become that without a doubt first year 19 94 we hosted the largest single sporting event in America the AA Junior Olympic Games right here first event ever in the Space Coast Stadium the next year Giles and Mard Productions said well we've got this great facility out of Coco Expo let's bring some baseball in that year we hosted the largest single age Division Baseball Tournament in the history of the United States from that point forward every single year Giles and the spring training folks have brought hundreds of teams to the area creating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact since 1994 I served in the role of spearheading this Sports effort from 94 for 26 years I led the efforts of the tourism office and our Sports commission until I left to become a board member and believe it or not the United States bob sled and skeleton Federation I live in Florida go figure that one out representing our Olympic athletes and their endeavors and following that I became the president and the CEO of the largest amateur sports organization in the world the aaou known for the Junior Olympic Games president's Council on sport physical fitness but I keep my hand in the Sports World I keep my hand here in the county because this is where it started for me this spring training program no doubt is one of the best spring training baseball programs in the history of any of the 20 that Now operate in the south and I've also got to say thank you to Mitch for helping me with the governor's request to do the Junior Olympic Games here in 2020 during covid we did it we pulled it off and one more thing that state fair out there it's going to have Carnival eats come in and film only one of six places that are going to do that in the entire country so I wholeheartedly support this I'm available for any questions and anytime anybody like to talk to me about the history of how we got here happy to do it thank thank you sir thank you folks okay Aaron Collins with Space Coast Symphony and then Carrie Barlett good afternoon I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and holiday my name is Aaron Collins I am the conductor and artistic director of the Space Coast Symphony uh we are in our 16th season and have performed over 1,00 Productions from both big and small uh since our Inception throughout the space coast and uh we graciously received support from the county from all of the different iterations of this grant program for 13 of our 16 Seasons it has helped us tremendously to Market to new concert goers and bring thousands of visitors here to the Space Coast our current season consists of a large variety of programming in fact 37 performances on The Space Coast in uh 2025 ranging from patriotic pops film music contemporary Works Masterworks Opera ballet Broadway Jazz Rock children's concerts and more as a member of the TDC cultural committee for 3 years I've had the great pleasure to learn about all of these amazing organizations behind me and I hope you'll find the heart and the money to support all of them I yield my back uh time back to others thank you so much and appreciate you well before you go Aaron tell us where at least give you a plug for your uh for your where where best for us to go see one of uh your many shows so we perform in a variety of venues our main venues are mostly the Scott center right on pinita Causeway at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy Satellite High School is another one we're also partnering with AMC Theaters we provide concerts inside the movie theater while performing uh with the films um and a variety of other venues churches it's a it's a challenge to find venues here in Bard County but we fit in all nooks and crannies of uh many different spaces here in Bard so we have a lot of great Partners thank you sir thank you great to see you all thank you okay uh Carrie Bartlett Thunder on Coco Beach and then Mara geki yeah first of all my name is Carrie Barlett I'm the founder and executive director of thunder on coka Beach uh first of all thank you very much to the County Commissioners and especially Peter and his staff at the TDC for the many years of support and guidance and marketing support uh we're celebrating our 16th year of offshore Power booat Racing in the Space Coast we are uh again this year the first race of a six race series uh national series uh with the apba the uim International race board and with the organization P1 offshore racing uh the series starts here in coko beach in May 15th through the 18th it goes to New Orleans uh Shaban uh Wisconsin Michigan City St Petersburg and then Key West for the national and World Championship we have currently 10 classes of uh racing uh teams RAC racing over 60 race teams have signed up so far for the 2025 race uh each team could consist of anywhere from four to 15 members uh staying in hotels eating in our restaurants and and getting gas so we have 15 years of solid economic impact in Bard County uh we're a unique event in which we in where we move uh you know we go to the port then we go to coko beach then we move to the the beaches in cab Beach Lori Wilson for two days of racing and we have expanded it to two days of racing Saturday and Sunday which I think aided in us being you know having 75,000 visitors last year and overnight stays uh the hotel association definitely supports us um we've also given over $50,000 in 15 years to local charities including our current charity which is Freedom Fighters and and uh the last not least is our TV show which is airing on CBS Sports and MAV TV over a million views when's the uh race this year uh May 15th to the 18th racing is on 17 and 18 all right very good sir thank you very much all right uh Marsha geki with the Titusville Playhouse and then Gabriel Roth blap good afternoon Commissioners and thank you for the opportunity to be here wh I'm already beeping um that was quick quick two minutes uh thank you for the opportunity to be here to speak to you today my name is Marsha gki and I am the development director for the Titusville Playhouse and I also want to recognize our artistic and executive director stepen Heron is also in the audience with us today um the American for the Arts organization conducts an arts and economic Prosperity uh survey on a regular basis and they focused specifically on counties uh at the county level and the the most recent survey shows that non-resident attendees cultural events spend an average of 372 per more um per person than local attendees as a result of their attendance at cultural events and primarily that's because of room nights um 100% of those non-residents say that they came specifically for a cultural event and over 72% of those folks say that if the event was not being held they would go elsewhere um so a little bit about the Titusville Playhouse we're currently in our 60th season we have 13 shows on our main stage and our stage two venue and seven youth shows our economic impact over the 23 24 season was 5.6 million this season I'm proud to announce that we entered an agreement with MTI Music Theater International um and we are now Co collaborating on shows that have never been seen before um that will then become part of their inventory for uh licensing across the world in the future and it will always stay Titusville Playhouse collaboration on it so far we've had 4,513 patrons through the door from 47 States we're hoping that Jersey Boys will take us over to that 50 and we'll have somebody from Arkansas Montana and Nevada before the season ends and onethird of our patrons are from outside of Bard County we also welcome groups we've brought in 19 groups so far this season to the theater the cultural grant funding allows us to extend our marketing beyond what we could do on our own reaching new neighborhoods and communities and encouraging them to travel to the Space Coast we primarily do a direct mail program with our dollars we also do billboards so I hope that you'll continue the program thank you for any anyone who doesn't know the tville playhouse is very close to the Titusville six-story building um where commissioner delany's office will be right all right very good I walked by it every day for six and a half years so okay uh Gabriel rothblat with SP The Space Walk of Fame foundation and then Ron Davis excellent uh honorable Bard County Commissioners everyone celebrates our nation's Independence on 4th of July uh but have you ever wondered when is Bard's birthday founded by law in 1855 Bard County uh truly came to life when the space program was was settled here yet unlike the uh other locations Palm Del uh California evidence by this morning successful uh blue and New Glen launch No One mission defines our relation to the space industry this is why the patron saint of the Space Coast Robert osband a citizen Advocate uh who became an international icon fought for the creation of the 321 area code as our unique identifier and established bavard County as the Space Coast as executive director of the US Space Walk of Fame Foundation Incorporated I not only oversee the American Space Museum in Titusville uh and its year- round programming such as our bilingual stem classes and the shuttle Fest on April 12th uh but we also work with partnership in city of Titusville Bard County Parks and Rex to develop and maintain CH uh monuments to the chapters American space history uh last year as a memorial to that founder of the Space Coast we inaugurated 321 day to be held annually on March 21st as a celebration of space and our relation to it with Proclamation for the mayor of Titusville this year we returning to the birthplace of Bard County to celebrate our unique place in space and are inviting the board of County Commissioners to adopt and support March 21st as Bard's birthday henceforth in perpetuity thank you for the opportunity to present our case for the 2025 marketing support program with your ongoing support the US Space Walk of Fame foundation will inspire the future through the preservation of achievements of the past as we continue to share with with the world how Bard County came to be and Will Remain the place where we make the history of tomorrow thank you thank you sir okay uh Ron Davis Valiant Air Command then Fred trust good afternoon I'm Ron Davis I am the grants manager for the Valiant Air Command warbird Museum and I've been a volunteer there for about 17 years and I'm an aviation guy we've been part of the community since 1977 nonprofit 501c3 certified we're supported by about 800 permanent members and 38,000 volunteer hours a year and that's that's the Rock Solid heart of our organization are our volunteers and why we're so proud of it we had about 30,000 people at the Museum last year paid and another five at special events and that's one of the things we are really excited about we are becoming a venue for special events particularly industrial and uh Aerospace in the northern part of the county and most of you are aware we will soon commission our new event center 15,000 s ft uh climate control uh Event Center our marketing is heavily influenced uh or dependent on uh social media we look forward to your expertise Peter and uh you're sharing more with the idea how to make it effective how to get feedback how to point our marketing at a likely demographic people who love airplanes people who love into Florida people who don't like Orlando very much but want to see something else uh those are all part of our our groups and we get marvelous uh writeups from them and finally the uh Event Center itself uh the county and a lot of other agencies have been very generous we are proud of how it's going to look and give us a couple of months it'll knock your eyes out thank you thank you sir okay Fred truss with the Wizard of Oz museum and then Jenna good afternoon everybody my name is Fred trust I'm the founder of the wizard ofas Museum in Florida in the museum we probably heard about the news that we eventually be moving to Orlando area it's going to take us around two years to get there but since this was 2025 budget I figured we're going to apply and try to figure out maybe we get some funds what's happening is Museum have around 8 18,000 visitors annually at this point and be growing approximately 10% every year the visitors 5% of visitors come from briard County approximately the same amount of 5% come from internationally number one country visiting us from England number two is Canada followed by Brazil and followed by Australia okay now 30% of visitors is from Florida other outside of Bard County and another 60% is everywhere else in the United States why are they visiting the museum museum is unique experience that you could not see anywhere else including the immersive experience what is happening museum is not only covering the wizard ofas the trade name is known by everybody but we also incorporate the art of the Bango and we also in Incorporated the images of the James web telescope as a results Museum rank on trip advisor was is the platform that recognize that measure actual museums against each other and there's 35,000 museums in United States Florida is the third largest state that covers the museum around 2,000 museums in Florida in the United States on trip advisor we rank as number one children museum in the USA number five as art museum in the USA and number 12 as the specialty Museum we already outrank all the museums in Orlando area oh sorry any questions thank you sir okay uh jennice gagon with Winter Classic and hurricane classic and then Scott Armstrong hi everyone I am Jenna gagon president of central Bard soccer and Britney Lee treasurer of central Bard soccer uh our soccer program has been around since 1982 in Meritt Island we are a nonprofit organization serving approximately 1400 bevard County Children we as a club host two tournaments a year soccer tournaments one the Winter Classic which is in January for this month it'll be next weekend and then our hurricane classic is in August these tournaments are hosted at Mitchell Ellington across all of the fields that we have there so soccer football fields baseball fields and then also Kelly Park West over a two to three day uh weekend we have more than a 100 teams that come out to these events with approximately 1,500 attendees 60% of those are out of County teams so they're traveling there we look to put approximately 700 attendees in in hotels around um our area so a minimum of two Hotel nights typically in the they typically go to the the port so Rison uh the country in and Suites and just other Port canaval hotels also the cape Coast Crossing which is a merid island now I'm going to pass it to Britney just to quickly run through that how we use some of these funds from the TDC uh our organization is volunteer run we are small But Mighty um so we use a lot of to do like different marketing online um also for PR people for an artist to create the ads things like that which we do in-house as much as we can but in order to grow the event we will need to be able to do more and the event has grown a little bit every single time we've had it so that's where a lot of our funds are from any questions thank you very much thank you okay uh Scott Armstrong with the Florida cup Juniors Space Coast clash soccer Florida cup and space Space Coast cup hi guys I appreciate the opportunity to come up and uh explain uh our need uh I'm Scott Armstrong I'm executive director at space coost United we're a nonprofit um Sports largest Sports organization in bravad County we currently have about 3,750 kids our program runs from 2y olds up to 50 year olds we also have an adult league um we currently run four uh tournaments our first tournament is in November um there we had 1,400 5 sorry 1,543 uh participants uh sorry hotel rooms uh Junior Cup we had 1,9 um hotel rooms and the Junior Cup was a a cup that we we put together uh that was located on the west coast of Florida we actually relocated it to here um we also have the Space Ghost Clash which is 1,200 hotel rooms and uh we have the Florida cup which is over 1,000 hotel rooms we don't do a state toplay event which means we will facilitate over a 100 different hotels in the county our tournaments of uh outgrown our facilities so we're looking to expand into the Titusville market for two of our tournaments um 75% of our attendees for our events are out of town we we have uh different relationships with different clubs around the count around Florida and we reciprocate so we have a good event a good number of our events are are based on over 75% we provide from the uh from these events uh we give out about $60,000 in scholarships a year to underprivileged kids or kids who require uh L free lunches from pad County we have uh an need at this point of 65,000 to 70,000 so we really appreciate the funds that you actually provide us for that um and that's where the majority of our events um event funds come from we do have a marketing company that we work with and some of our um we currently pay that out of our registration fees um we are going to be hosting two new events over the next year and that's with the adult league events we appreciate everything you do for us and um hopefully we can continue with you it's okay Scott we were going to give you more time uh CU you have multiple events um I have a question for you when when you talk about the number of hotel rooms that that you have um with these different events now I worked for a hotel a long time ago and aaou is mentioned earlier and uh they definitely uh filled our hotel and uh so how do how do you know how many room nights are generated from event is it a commissionable rate do you do a room list is they call you and say uh good question so in the past we we were never big enough for Anthony travel so we never use Anthony travel what we did was we went uh we asked all of our teams that uh that come to the event to give us information on where they're staying from that we have an understanding of how many how many participants or so let's say you're a u a U13 team we and you're coming from Jacksonville we know that on your team you got 18 players we basic out on four people to a room so we know exactly how many kids are coming in or how where they're staying so we we're about 75% clear of that um and of where we know most of these families are staying whether it's Airbnb or whether it's hotels all you you got to the to my other question there about uh you know other short-term rentals versus uh hotels I certainly understand that um most of your events that would take let's say it's taking place at Via Regional Park okay um it's not just there we utilize Rotary Park and we use wian Park problem we got with wian Park is it's never accessible which means the fields aren't playable they're too dangerous for the kids this year we also use dick Blake Park but we can only use one of those fields because one of those fields is too dangerous for the families I I know the demand is very strong uh for soccer and and and more fields and such uh so when when they're sort of these events that are on the mainland that's just the way it is that's the way real estate is you you find most of uh these families traveling I mean if I'm coming from Ohio I probably want to take the kids and stay on the beach is that do do they do they do that or they they stay around do they stay around the venue I'm just curious well because we're not a state of play we used over a 100 hotels around the county so I could I don't have the list available we could give you a list of the hotels that we use we used we used hotels in coka Beach we used hotels wherever the families want to go to I can tell you the families uh from Jacksonville primarily use the beach hotels CU I like the beach right well we're you know hotels are being built in in Vieira so you know they there'll be a lot of room nights added to that area I'm not necessarily making pitch for VR I'm just saying that uh for your tournaments that will be um they they'll there's certainly more opportunity around the places that you're that you're playing um thank is anyone else with a question I just want to say you know we also in a national league we're the only non-metropolitan soccer club in a national league which means that every weekend we host about 56 games and they're from all over Florida so so just our main events of tournaments we get hotel rooms but every weekend we've got teams from Miami Palm Beach they come up and stay two nights or one night depending on when the game's up you know the joke over the years is that every little leager travels with an Entourage and that's Mom Mom Dad and and siblings so I appreciate it all right thanks Scott so that sir was the conclusion of speakers uh that were from uh events that were eligible for the MSP and now we get into events that were not eligible originally or did not apply uh Dave Hudson with Melbourne Municipal Band and next Martha pasaro I'm Dave Hudson from the president of the Melbourne Municipal Band we're celebrating our 60th year providing free concerts to the community Melbourne Municipal Band is an invaluable cultural asset that brings together individuals of all ages fostering a spirit of unity and artistic enrichment through our free concerts our mission is simple and yet profoundly impactful to make high quality musical performances accessible to everyone in our County regardless of their financial situation nobody is ever turned away from our concerts ensuring that the the joy and inspiration of live music is shared Experience open to all despite our commitment to free access our organization faces legitimate expenses most of our funding comes from generous donations collected at our concerts from charitable Foundation grants and from the city of Melbourne with the abrupt loss of state and County funding our income has dropped dramatically whereas our expenses of have only increased because of inflation even though our musicians freely give their time to perform we have expenses to maintain our rehearsal facilities pay for utilities pay for music just to name a few when the threshold for the TDC funding was set at a thousand out of County attendees we EAS easily surpass this requirement the Criterion was raised to 5,000 a number we find somewhat arbitrary and challenging to meet despite our proven track record of attracting significant numbers of visitors from outside the county in conclusion I invite you to attend our concerts and see what we offer our to consider the broader impact to support funding MMB means investing in a richer more Vibrant Community where the transformative power of music is accessible to all are there any questions is Tom staaker still playing tuba oh absolutely okay Tom starf fighter you tell him I said hi I will do that thank you sir okay okay Martha pasaro with Native Heritage Festival and then Anita f good afternoon I'm Martha pisaro with the native Heritage Gathering Incorporated we produce the native rhythms Festival annually this past November was our 16th year for over 14,000 years Native American people have called This Land Florida home our mission is to bring cultural awareness and education and entertainment to all of the citizenry in the southeastern region and Beyond we have visitors that come from Europe as well as both Canada and Mexico we are following the edict because each November the White House issues a proclamation to celebrate an honor Native American Heritage Month here in Bard County we get a similar Proclamation from not only our County Commission but many of the municipalities to reach out to all of our citizen rate to get everyone involved to our familyfriendly three-day free of admission event accessible to all and provided by a total nonprofit all volunteer staff annually and we hope that you all can take a peek at these beautiful programs from this past Year's Event I'll pass them around and answer any questions and I see my 27 minutes to the next person or where it's needed any questions okay uh Anita Martha Anita full with Green Gables and then Karen Braden good afternoon County Commissioners my name is Anita full and I'm the treasurer for the non profit Green Gables at historic Riverview Village Green Gables is an historic home built in 1896 our home is celebrating 129 years as part of this community it's located in Melbourne on almost an acre and a half of green space on the banks of the Indian River our nonprofit purchased the home in June of 23 with the help of the community and a matching Grant from the state of Florida our mission is to preserve and restore this historical land Mark as a living history museum and a center for Community engagement we truly strive to be Melbourne's bridge to the past we received a cultural support grant for the physical year 2021 These funds helped us to create an online presence and allowed us to reach much further into the community and surrounding areas in 2122 we did not apply for the grant because we could not meet the visitor requirement in 22 23 we were approved for the grant but it was denied as we did not have enough out of County visitors we received the 23 24 Grant and used the 15,000 for out ofc count advertising and other marketing and material Supplies Green Gables did not apply for the 2425 Grant because we could not meet the out of County visitor requirement and just because our visitor demographics are not large enough to qualif excuse me to qualify for the current Grant it does not mean we're not an important part of Bard County's tourism industry Green Gables has recently joined with 20 other nonprofit museums in rard County to form mob or museums of rard did you know that we have 20 or more nonprofit museums in bravard County we're all assets to the tourism industry in Bard County and all we're asking is to let us share in promoting Bard County do you have a you have a Gayla event there each year I've been a couple of times we have a Gaya event coming up the end of February February 28th February 28th uh it was and you're all invited we'd love to have you join us it was uh the food was good who did who did the food for you last time last time it's done by Grand Manor okay actually okay and you also have I've been there before you wouldn't you wouldn't guess this there but for you have a real nice motorcycle show so for folks who like vintage when we have a car show coming up in March and we have a motorcycle show Antique Motorcycle Show in April all right I'll look for it that's a that's been a really good one we have multiple events like that so en jooin US check our website okay we'll do thank you okay Karen Braden with field Manor then Steve ISO hi good afternoon my name is Karen Braden and I am the site director for field Manor and historic 19th century Homestead Museum and venue uh here in Bard County located on Meritt Island I am also uh honored to be the current president of the museums of Bard as Anita was saying we are 20 nonprofit museums located here in Bard County and actually many of our members are here today field Manor's mission is to preserve The Field's uh 45 acre Homestead for the purpose of educating visitors and state we were awarded the cultural support grant for 22 23 and also um 22 and or 23 and 24 were not eligible for the new marketing support Grant uh due to the change in the grant uh criteria with a minimum of 5,1 attendees past uh County grant money award allowed us to increase our audience through out of County advertising for both the museum and events without County County Grant support our Outreach uh for Central Florida and the southeast will be diminished we appreciate your time and would appreciate future funding for field Manor and other uh Worthy historical activities reinstating the previous Grant criteria will continue the Partnerships with Bard County and help field manner um locals and visitors thank you any questions commissioner Delaney yes I was just wondering because this has been brought up a couple times now um if you could tell me H how many out of town uh participants did you have uh or visitors did you have I think our probably maximum would be about 1,600 okay okay yeah awesome thank you you're welcome and I think we'll all be coming out at the end of the month for an event yes you see any of you there it's on the calendar okay uh Steve ISO at the Space Coast Art Festival then Steve Mogul how you doing uh my name is Steve ISO I'm the current president of the Space Coast Art Festival and 2025 will be our 60th edition of the Fine Arts Festival in this area and when I say that people always ask how do you get to 60 for those of us who are older than 60 but uh the key is volunteers a long history of volunteers I've only been doing this for two years and the audience the tens of thousands of people who show up every year to attend a festival such as this uh the festival is very simple in terms of it Con construction uh we have a fine erance Festival that draws artists from around Florida across the country and obviously a component is from the local area we have a an area that we're trying to develop more which we call Community Partners which is to bring the other nonprofits like The Bard Bard Zoo M museums of Bard and others uh to that audience so they can get a chance to expose themselves to the audience it comes to the uh to the festival um and then the third component is we run the largest physical student art show in rard County open through K to2 we deliver $3,500 in Awards to those individual students and to support u hardart in schools to the schools themselves all of this is funded with a very simple business model about 60% of the funds come from the artists themselves in terms of the booth fees and the remaining 40% is split between sponsors and grants that we get the largest single expense is marketing it really does cost to get that word out there and that's where we've benefited in the past we were hoping to benefit in the future is to be able to expand that marketing and then expand the reach uh above the threshold that you guys have set so uh we would definitely support the professionalization of that marketing being an all volunteer organization we don't have the skills that would be required so I really support uh moving in the direction of professional support So Okay quick question for you sir uh when and where this year is the uh Space Coast Art Festival 2025 Edition will be uh November 8 and 9th and we use seventh for a setup day it'll be at this uh Avenue Vieira okay very good thank you any other questions okay thank you Steve Mogul Surfside Playhouse and then uh Doug Taylor well Steve had an emergency so he sent me I'm Sony Jackson I am the director marketing for Surfside Playhouse now you may I hope know about Surfside we have been around for 65 years in Coco Beach we are the only Community Theater Beachside from Cape canaval down to Melbourne Beach so I don't know about you but I actually live beachid and I hate to go over the bridge and there are a lot of residents who feel the same and yet we all pretty much act at the other theaters because we have so much talent and opportunity in Bard County in the past we have been eligible for the grant and in fact fact this we are still spending money from the previous round where we got a matching Grant from Spectrum to advertis in the Orlando market and so they gave us an in kind matching so we really leveraged our money and that's what we like to do we would love to be eligible but we have not met that threshold of the 5,000 and I understand big bang for your buck and we are getting there we are getting there little by little we're like the theater that could and so we um do have over 250 volunteers we have children four Children's shows which is actually through the summer it's really kind of fun so when the uh Sports Marketing does really well in getting people in for surfing and the surf camps we have theater camps because you know quite often there's a jock with a artistic sibling um so those kinds of things it it just adds to the depth the culture that we have here is amazing and it really adds to the depth of the experience of Bard County in general and so I encourage you to consider expanding that bang for your book Thank you thank you very much uh Doug Taylor with the Melbourne Art Festival and then Kathy Elias good afternoon my name is Doug Taylor I'm with the Melbourne Art Festival on the board of directors there unfortunately we don't have a whole lot of time so I don't have a lot of time to go into depth on the award-winning 40th Melbourne Art Festival uh including the artists uh voted just last year uh voted us as the 38th best fine art show in America uh I don't have time to discuss that uh three years ago we got $66,667 two years ago we got $10,000 grant funding uh which we found out we had between 1 and 2,000 out of County visitors and then last year we rewarded $155,000 but we do not know how many out of County visitors we got from that seems to be a little bit of a an issue there because we don't know how your investment worked we also don't have time to discuss uh how we operate on a razor thin budget and how cuts to uh these grants not only will force us to reduce our promotion of the Space Coast but also probably result in cuts to many of our non-revenue producing familyfriendly activities I don't have time to mention that we ourselves give $8,000 back to the county in terms of rental of the Wickham Park and I don't have time to discuss how voters repeatedly as we discussed earlier uh through the bed tax voted for that bed tax to support organizations local Arts and Cultural organizations just like us that have been now excluded I also don't have time to discuss that these events not only draw tourists and future employees and residents who hopefully see the Space Coast as a worthy and moving to worthy to move to and invest in because of our cultural diversity uh in conclusion the Melbourne Art Festival will continue to draw out a County visitors continue to be proud to promote the Space Coast we just hope that you are proud of us and will support us and the other nonprofits that are in this organiz in this Das thank you you run a real nice event um out there in in Wickham Park it's it's it's it's one of the the nicest events I think in that Park and I appreciate that it also doesn't charge any admission anybody walk there yeah um but and free family activities free admission free parking free kids activities free live entertainment I recognize it's a nice event we appreciate it thank you okay thank you okay uh Kathy Elias with oal Arts District and then Susan lza okay I guess Kathy could make it we'll go to Susanna Lanza with nkf surf hi everyone it's actually Savannah lonza um I'm the CEO for the National Kidney Foundation of Florida um that's a benefiting Organization for the nkf rich salic surf Festival um if you uh are from here or grew up here you've either been to our event or possibly even surfed in our event um I started surfing in the event when I was 10 years old and um this is actually our 40th year coming up um to honor the surf festival and give back to kidney patients in uh the State of Florida um so this past year um we were advised to move forward with some uh marketing contracts which we always do to bring in out of County participants we typically have uh 5 to 10,000 participants our beachgoers Spectators Surfers that come out to the event um so we've worked with you all for probably almost the entire time we've been doing the event um almost 40 years that the uh tourist Council has given us funds to promote and um this past year was the first year we actually moved forward with forward with contracts and we're not um funded for any of the out of County marketing we still went forward and did the the marketing and brought in a ton of surfers and participant and had a really wonderful event um we'd love to continue to work with you all it was definitely um just a huge bummer to spend that money that could have been put towards our patient programs um so uh I would definitely ask that whatever marketing dollars they allocated could go retroactively like some of the other events that happened at that cut off um back in November um so that we can continue to work with our hotels and bring in Surfers and participants and beachgoers for the full 3-day weekend um not only do we do the surfing we do a big uh Taste of Bard silent auction with bans and all of these auction items patient testimonials and about 25 to 30 restaurants come in and Sample their Foods so it's a great night and um bring in lots of people for it it's it's a great cause I knew Rich uh salic and it's wonderful human being um and a passionate advocate for um your cause so before you go do you have a date for this year yes so we actually moved our event um from Labor Day weekend to the October uh Columbus Day weekend it's actually a slower weekend normally so we're really pushing to get more people to the Space Coast which is why those uh marketing dollars and uh support is crucial for that and I'm sure the hoteliers don't mind you helping to fill their rooms in October uh is an Outback of Ron John's um yes well it's technically the pier so we work with Westgate and I mean it's an ideal location for everyone to come out okay anyone else have a comment okay thank you very much for than guys can I ask you a question um I'm not sure why we were listed under the not eligible category because we're always eligible we'll probably get to that in a minute if if you wait okay Peter will clarify that for us okay yes yep thank you okay uh Wayne Carino with Cocoa Beach City of Coco Beach Centennial okay I guess we didn't make it so that actually concludes the events that under that category and uh there are no other speakers that we have uh booked here or scheduled here do you want to clarify her Point her question so nkf though they had fallen in the previous fiscal year and then they moved their event October um and uh I guess what happened was they ended up not actually applying uh under the new program so we never received an application for them so that's why they are just put under the category of either not eligible or did not apply I was advised not to apply because our event was happening like right at the cusp of the fiscal year okay sorry for for any uh misunderstanding on on dates and such we'll we'll make sure for the future that that you have you have that information early um Peter on this next section how how are we going to uh how do you want to handle that are you going to speak on on these quickly I was not planning to sir I mean I certainly could could speak to them in terms of the numbers that we have for them if if the board would like that I can call that up what's the pleasure of the board any anybody you want him to run through it real quick room nightwise all right Peter if you could do that in a few minutes all right let me call that up real quick quick I think after you do that um should we take another quick five minute break and then maybe we can because I'm not sure on public comment cards Melissa how no okay all right okay so the um Museum of dinosaurs was not able to attend they generated 21450 outof count attendees uh to their venue last year um the Columbia CL Classic golf um they generated 453 room nights uh Moon golf Jr the allstar event uh 434 sorry 285 um Thea surfing generated 453 R Knights uh space g spring game softball um that was 578 uh Moon Golf Invitational was 285 um and then bless the babies bowl that was just happened that happened in December they were estimating two 2023 room uh 2,000 room nights we did not uh We've not gone back and and checked that but we will you know we will ensure that um the way the sports events work is if they don't hit the room night number that they um predict then we reduce the uh the um award amount by the percentage that they're under and then the c1n they were projecting 1,000 room nights for that so any any questions for Peter on on those okay Commissioners uh since we don't have public comments outside of the speakers that we already heard we can move into board discussion and board report so we can sort of power through it if you want or we can take a quick five minute break and then come back and and do those too what's what's what's everybody want to do okay all right let's do it so uh we're in discussion then uh commissioner Atkinson so Commissioners if you could bear with me I have quite a few things to say um thank you Peter for sitting down with me yesterday and going through all this I wanted to make sure that I had being a new commissioner I had some understanding um about what we were doing today I know that Peter your thoughts here are give me direction right so my thoughts are if the event has already happened and they applied in good faith how can we not give them the money that they thought they were going to get that's my first thought my second thought is I'm not super excited about the criteria that we currently have because I think that it it leaves out a lot of the little guys hopefully that doesn't offend anyone but there's a lot of programs out there that I just really like so if if Peter if your group's looking for some direction my thought might be perhaps we can look at how we can redistribute for next year some of the money different criteria perhaps so we can include some of the the smaller numbers of you know groups that we have the other thing that I would say is um how much money do we have left this year Peter so there was 35,000 that was not allocated out out of the original $840,000 pot so that that's there and then in the cultural fund there's about $65,000 remaining uh that was unallocated so approximately $100,000 right now can we use that to distribute to some of the people who didn't get it this year I think the board can certainly choose to allocate that however they would like yes so those are my thoughts for now now I have a couple thoughts on that too but uh commissioner uh Delaney I think you were next um commissioner ainson I was thinking the same thing um I I really like that idea I think that we need to um make sure that all of these groups are being supportive and or supported and um you know culture is so important to all communities but especially the Space Coast when people come here they one of the first things there that is asked is what kind of stuff do you have to do here so I'm totally in favor of that thank you commissioner Goodson sir what would you do then would you take $100,000 ways and then come back at the next meeting and inform Peter this is my choice is that what your no just noosing to rape all the $100,000 no what I'm what I'm suggesting is that's not my bag I would ask Peter and his group to kind of decide what is the best way to distribute maybe not all of that money but some of it to the people who or to the groups who didn't get it so no I'm I'm definitely not an authority and and would defer to him is my thought in my district I guess I would say you know just so give it all to you guys Santa suring Santa man would be I'm sure your distri there some in there but you could only You' only be somewhere around two choices because at $155,000 a piece 30 * 550 we'll take 10 if we look at it's okay commission can okay commissioner ainson for follow if you look at and I think these numbers I have are from your president where it talks about the ones who didn't get um approved if you add all up what they asked for doesn't even come close to right so we can at least give them what they ask for but you also heard the people say some of the smaller ones said that they might not Peter this is a question some of them didn't they say they might not want your advertising they might want to do their own yeah I heard I heard a couple of groups saying that they would prefer to receive funding directly uh so obviously we would need some direction from the board on how to do that um wasn't that the way it was originally last year yes sir so does that bother your office if the smaller ones that said we'll do our own advertising does that bother you no sir whatever the whatever the board's pleasure we're we're fine with yeah I heard some of the small say they can do their own didn't you Peter yes some of them did yes yes sir a good example Sur but I'm just making that comment I think that some commissioner e or I'm sorry Delan sorry I think that some of them were asking for um to use it not just for marketing but for I heard that too yes yeah and um the other thing that I was going to say was just um since there is a limited amount of money I'm sure that the groups would be happy with something rather than nothing so you know that's something that we can talk through together as a board with um our staff to figure out the best way forward well I had a few thoughts on this uh too I heard uh today that some people would just rather the money um the prior board had a different view on that and one that I share quite candidly so um there should be economies of scale and marketing and so when you're then and that also provides for specialty right so you you're booking a lot with with radio I you know I listen to the radio in the car and I know the ads that I'm hearing I hear I hear it a lot and and it's and it I think it's working I'm certainly getting the message um so I think there's a lot of benefit in in that where we have marketing professionals and they're doing it now Peter and I have talked many times before about how we're as a TDC certainly open to the kind of specialty like for example there may be uh marketing that needs to be done for uh say you know a 5k that's different than just being on the radio and certainly would take advice from those groups hey what's worked for you in the past but but we'll do it and we'll place place Those ads um I I tell you there's always going to be some groups that are just going to going to fall through it's just not it's just not possible um you know to and and to for for money to go uh for every everyone that that applies um I think I agree with uh commissioner Goodson's um idea let's just say there's $100,000 that's left now I I don't see what would be uh you know wrong with um each commissioner identifying up to $20,000 and make it even easier doesn't have to be in your District okay so you could we could come back to the board and say here are the things that we have identified um to fund with that $100,000 and if you're not comfortable with that um you know somebody else uh you know maybe appropriate those dollars for you and then we could decide as a board at the potentially at the next meeting that that's that's how that $100 um would be spent uh commissioner Goodson mentioned a couple of groups I I happen to very much like uh the m and um Art Festival and I'm no artist but it's a nice Community event and it may be hard for them to justify um room nights that that might just be a really hard test but that's but that is a definitely a nice event uh commissioner Goodson of course I you need to use your mic sir I think because we're recording this I think the board should should consider also uh that these all of these groups in the future might wish to start raising money because if you know anything about your County right now unless you want to do you unless you want to fund everything I'm all for it but we're going to have to do two things you're going to have to raise the MST funding you're going to have to bust the cap and you got to pay the firefighters okay so all that being said somewhere along the line you're not going to be able to come down here every year and ask for money because you're going to have to help raise money so maybe the Board needs to look at that in this whole discussion is you know if you're going to qualify all these that Peter is maybe something should be tied to fundraising from their you know I I've heard multiple cities in here today wanting us to fund an activity I didn't hear any of say the city was helping pay for it but that's just my thoughts and I think one of the things to keep in mind here too tourism has been good but on on the space coast and and I worked in the tourism industry for a long time there's been abrupt changes in the amount of Tourism tax collected as as travel changes so you know last year was good for tdt that doesn't necessarily mean that next year will be so I I I think I I like that there's some Flex flexibility in here um so what I would propose if you'd be amendable to this is the 100,000 that's left uh we could each commissioner could decide up to 20,000 again doesn't have to be in your district and we could bring that to the board on uh January 28th and um we could vote on that as a board one package and um to support these different events now I'll split it with you I'll say one more thing as the chair of the TDC we have time as as a TDC to address this issue of how some of these smaller events can be helped in a different criteria uh to to try to address that sort of hole if you will okay because something the prior board didn't do and that's quite frankly why they scheduled um this workshop for the the the new commission so I'll make that commitment to you that the TDC will will take that issue up but I think the Right Way Forward is um what I suggested with 100,000 okay commit I think uh commissioner Delany was first just to be clear this is for all all of the events from B2 to b45 that we're bringing forward or is it just the um ones that not currently eligible what I was considering or or what I would put forward are the ones that um didn't qualify okay thank you okay commissioner Goodson sorry Peter tell me the funding right now are I know your budget number was 27 or something million right is that is that pretty much online and is that through what month uh so that's the October to September fiscal year is what what that number is so from September to now how does it look for the coming year uh we're we're doing well we're we've been up uh SE uh October and November we both up almost 10% uh so we started the Year good but of course our bigger months are ahead of us spring and summer are really the big season so Still Remains to be seen whether we'll hit the 27 or not but uh but we're starting off the year so so far so good so if you're up 10% at 27 last year that would be 20 that'd be $30 million we were at 25 and a quarter last year so 10% would get us get us to the 27 pretty close to it anyway right yeah or if you work harder maybe 30 right I'm I'll put in some extra sir yeah remember that b in Franklin yes sir Comm commissioner Alman sir I have a question maybe somewhat of a comment I was I remember I was here when we passed the tourist development tax and I think we had tried once or twice to pass it through referendum and failed so the third time we brought the community together and we brought all these interest groups the hotel industry the environmental Community the Cultural Arts community and we worked really hard and de developing a consensus and all these groups campaign for this and passed it so they they were part of making this happen the question I have so when we passed it we committed to spend 25% of the revenue to promote tourism amongst other things and then what we're talking about here to use 10% to um promote tourist oriented culture on special events this money that we're spending to Market these cultural events is that coming out of the 10% for supporting tourist the tourist C or is it coming out of the 25% to promote tourism so that's a that's a great question last year um the funds for the cultural grants came out of the cultural fund so that 10% this year was sort of a mix of uh 600,000 from cultural and two 240 from marketing so they kind of combined it I I I almost feel like if we're using cultural money to promote these events these tourism events that's diminishing the money that should be going to just pure cultural events programs um and I use it a a good example and a victim of that great presentation on surfing Santas surfing s has become a a legacy event for Bard it means a lot we get an unbelievable amount of of uh publicity they such a popular program it's so well known promotion doesn't help them what they need is money to to provide put on the event put on the event and so a program like this can punish a lot of the events that are doing a lot of good things and so I I have many more question but my thought is if we're promot if we're only spending that money to provide advertising or promotion that should come out of the uh promotional budget not the tourist the uh Cultural Arts budget the cultureal art money is money that should go to the cultural groups directly so they can provide a very high quality cultural and arts experience here Bard thereby making us more desirable to visit can I say something on that sir um I I see your point and I don't I don't disagree with you um how about um what I suggested each commissioner identify 20 20,000 for the next Board of Commissioners meeting and that we agree that that will just go to the groups they take care of their own marketing so and if it's security they need to pay for whatever the case may be would you be amendable to that I I certainly would would entertain it's very creative idea I M over and think about it okay I I my point was I just want to follow the intent of the referendum in the orance but no I think there a a very interesting have to give it some thought yeah okay yeah the if I could ask a question about that um the thing I'm wondering about with that is what about the people who are eligible for the grants because a lot of them were saying that they would rather use that money in that way so are not eligible or are are eligible uh well I think that's something that the TDC ought to take up that's that's what I was talking about before that um the T the TDC um Council uh could could address that work on that issue um to see if we're doing it the right way or if necessary changes but for this 100,000 and for the next meeting we have and for some of these groups that are coming up um you know we could identify 20,000 and uh to I think commissioner alman's point that those groups just receive the money because maybe it's not marketing that they need maybe it's um you know to to pay rental or whatever the case may be uh commissioner Goodson question Peter if we if we went back to the way it was would that solve these problems that we're talking about on the little guys yeah because the last year's program was a reimbursement and they could use it well they were they were mandated under the last year's uh program to use half of it for marketing and then the other could go for these other expenses that they're wanting to cover so I mean it would it would cover both basically I mean I'm just I don't know again sir I think the TDC could take that up here in the coming months um I make that commitment to you that that we'll do that as as a board um just but in the interim of some of these things that are coming up and the 100,000 that's still sitting there the board could appropriate it um for some of the commissioner ainson um one of the things that one of the first things that I said was people who applied in good faith we should give them what they thought they were going to get but we haven't really talked about that I just kind of threw it out there and we haven't really said much about it just wondering how everybody feels about that I guess I would um I would want to know more specifics in that before we make a decision I'm not against it by any means I just I would like to have more information about that I I think sometimes you just have to own things and the prior board didn't didn't award that money um for whatever host of reasons I don't remember all of it now um and so you know that that may be well that may be behind us so I'm I'm looking at at what's what's ahead of us and in the in the coming year so um I again I think that's something that the TDC could work on and and discuss this spring I'm not sure how what are we talking about in to her Point amount of money so that was the 85,000 that the TDC approved you know but never got formally um approved by the board so that's I'm sorry Mr chair yeah and if I can jump in as part of that the if I recall correctly the previous board say if you award the 800,000 that you hold the people in the yellow the previous ones is harmless that they would received their award um so how how much uh do we have available to to do that yeah I think he's right I think the board said that we were holding that money so it's part of the pot that's already there so I I think we're hearing very clearly everything the board is saying and you can't vote on it today anyway and so we will bring back the agenda that addresses it from those different perspectives with options that at that time the board can give us now you can you know if you want uh commissioner for us to add on part of that agenda the information that we receive from the uh board members in terms of an allocation of 20,000 and you can we will'll provide you an option that you either do it under the way it is today or that it's bifurcated that they could use it for either marketing or you know any other purpose like they did previously we will'll include all of that so maybe the best way might be is give us a chance to prepare that agenda give you the specific numbers you need and if you want to give uh the 20 up to 20,000 like you're saying each commissioner we will include that information in the agenda item so will have it as a package okay so when when would we need to give that to Peter to make it on the agenda those items from we could get it by the normal Tuesday that we put out the agenda um that would work well and we will be able to include it and it goes out of course uh on that Thursday before the board Mee okay so we so a week before so 21st right okay does that work we understand on the 21st we're going to send to Peter uh here up to 20,000 care of the the other groups that we want to include okay I think that sounds good do you do we need a motion to give a direction to staff to do that or we have a cons Workshop we don't need it I think if if we have a consensus among the board it'll be up to step to try to bring back something that meets what you were looking for and then you get to discuss it and vote on it and hopefully we'll get it right okay is that satisfactory okay question all right sir question are we I guess when you prepare we're going to then decide to we want to go back to the old way or next year have the same discussion again like we're having today I I think we should let the TDC take that issue up I think the uh making the reimbursement is is what we talking about that I'm talking about are we going to you know separate the sports from the culture like we used to and because if not you're going to have the same discussion next year I I don't disagree with you and that's why that's why I'm thinking that in an early TDC meeting we haven't we haven't had a meeting yet okay the TDC um so but that's going to be that's going to be an option or a discussion correct sir if I'm getting it wrong we are going to uh do that for for what we're talking about now I think you're talking about for the future your guidelines and you and I think the chair is saying let the TDC bring something back to the board yes before you distribute for next year but we're going to include that now for this year yeah I just want I just want the TDC the opportunity to take that up okay all right we're all clear on that all right very good we're going to move into board reports and so commissioner Delaney in board report did I miss anything okay um I I was hoping that I could get board support on um a executive session in regards to our firefighters um because they just had mediation uh yesterday and so I would love to talk with you all about that I I feel like we're all thinking that so uh Frank you want to speak on that and I and we obviously we're going to wait for the board to tell me what what you wanted and if I didn't hear that I was going to bring it up myself and so you know all I need to know is the first available date the board would like it you know you've got uh can we do it on the 28th after the commission meeting that is that would be we will be ready to do that right after the regular board meeting if the board gives us that direction I've already spoken to Morris and he said uh you can give us that direction now we will uh you know we will advertise it that it's happening and and uh of course it'll be the same way we did the last one it'll be an executive session under 447 which uh we'll have right after the regular agenda on the board meeting do we need to vote on that Morris or no just give us Direction okay I I I think you hear from commissioner Delaney I know I want to do that commissioner Alman sir you're fine with executive session everybody over here okay we're in agreement we're going to do that on the 28th after the Comm just for clarification no uh for collective bargaining Clos sessions no advertisements necessary okay thank you all commissioner Alman on board report sir uh commissioner Atkinson commissioner Goodson Morris no report Mr chair Frank uh no report thank you okay I'm glad we got to the executive session I think we were thinking that thank you everybody today for your participation everybody was uh lady and and gentlemen we appreciate that very very much and uh we'll see again soon thank you everybody the opinions expressed by any member of the public during any period of public comment do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the board of County commissioners of Bard County Florida Space Coast government television or the program sponsor and are solely those of the presenter the board of County commissioners of bravard County Florida Space Coast government television and the program sponsor hereby expressly disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for any defamatory or slanderous statements expressed by any member of the public during any such period [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]