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Welcome everyone to the April 23rd edition of the Tourism Development Council Board. Uh if we could call the role to recording in progress. Okay. Julie Braa here.
Mayor Connor, Vice Chair Hermanson here. Larry John here. Alex Litros here. Mayor Medina present.
John Moran. He was gonna hear us. John is joining us um from Zoom and sometimes we do have trouble with the audio. So I told him there you go. And there's a delay. I think I got you. Perfect.
Wayne sword here and here. Okay, everyone. I think I forgot the pledge. Let's do that real quick. Okay. Pledge of allegiance. You join me. Aliance to the flag of the United States
of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Who? John. Oh, okay. Just as a procedural uh matter, if we
could uh approve um Mr. Moran being able to um participate and vote via Zoom. So move. We have a motion by uh Mayor Medina. Is there a second? Second. Okay, we have a second by Julie Braa. Um, can
we call the role on that real quick? I Vice Chairman He Yes. Larry John. Yes. Alex Wish, yes. Mayor Medina, I.
John Moran, you want to vote for yourself? Okay. Maybe not. He I don't think we're going to need it, but go ahead. Okay. Sword. Yes. And chairman. Yes. Okay. Thank you for that procedural
um uh situation there. Um we have minutes to approve from March 26 meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? We have a motion by uh Mr.
Hermanson. Is there a second? I'll second. We have a second by Mayor Medina. Will you call the role on the item on the minutes, please? Julie Braa, I. Vice Chair Hermanson, yes. Larry
John, yes. Alex Litros, yes. Mayor Medina, I. John Moran, he's waving. He's giving me Yeah. Okay. Wayne Sore. Yes. and chair. Yes, thank you for that. Um,
Peter, if you don't mind before we start with you, uh, we do have a couple of guests today and I had a request, uh, if we could let the port go first. Are there any any Okay, so um, Mr. German, sir, you're welcome.
You're recognized. Got it. Thank you. Good afternoon everyone. Um, as chairman uh Felner said, my name is David German. I'm vice president of cruise business development at Port Canaveral and appreciate the opportunity to speak here today. A little background, I've been at the port for 20
years. As of last month, I was in uh operations for beginning in 2005. Uh was in the harbormaster office, became senior harbor master um in 2013 and then in 2017, I don't know if any of you know my predecessor, Bobby Gian Graastomy,
better known as Bobby G. Um he was business development VP prior to me. So, I've been uh got promoted to his position in 2021 uh during the pandemic and uh sort of with Captain Mary's direction helped guide through guide us through
that uh that downturn. So, uh what I wanted to do was just sort of put some context to where we're at. We were at last year with cruise. So, I'll start with uh fiscal 2024. Um, many of you probably may know these numbers, but we had a
record-breaking year in terms of uh passenger movements. So, we hit 7.6 million uh fiscal 24. And again, that's movements, that's not actual passengers. So, for a homeported vessel, it would be uh an imbarking passenger would also count as a debarking passenger. So,
that's two movements, one person. So, um 7.6 million movements. We had a a a record of 13 homeported ships simultaneously, which was the winter season of uh 23 24 and we had a record 911 ship calls and parking. You can see
our numbers were incredibly high um as well. So budget for this year um 8.4 4 million uh 16 homeported ships simultaneous and over a thousand calls um all all records and uh as you'll see
in the next slide we're on a good path to meet all those numbers and potentially exceed them. So this slide um was actually pulled from our CFO's report uh this morning uh for our commission meeting
uh March 2025. It was an all-time record-breaking month for us in terms of passenger movements and calls. So, we hit 926,000 movements. Um, previous record was in December of 24 where we hit hit uh about I think it was around 837 which
we'll see in a in a subsequent slide. Um, so big month for us. And then you see uh the bottom section there with uh to date. So, six months into the fiscal year, where are we at? Um 544 cruise
ship calls, 4.4 movements. Um again, well on our way to hitting that 8.5. Any questions to this point? Any questions? No.
Uh and this sort of gives the breakdown uh year uh through March on our partners. So, our big customers have always been Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Disney, and uh NCL, and then MSSE was added on a few years back. And this gives the breakdown of call counts
halfway through the fiscal year. Um, so it gives you a little bit more context. We do expect some of the brands to uh increase. You'll see a little bit more next year from MSSE, a little more from NCL uh as well um because they do have
additional deployments next fiscal year in 26. So those will continue to increase. And this just gives you another uh another graph that sort of shows we had budgeted 538 calls and we're at 544 right
now. And to to put more context to it, fiscal 24, you see the 480. So we're uh 64 64 call increase is pretty substantial. And this gives a month-to-month breakdown. Um so you see we had if you look at the bottom of the
screen in the middle you see the 9 and almost 26,000 movements we had in March. Um again the previous record was in December uh 838 and prior to that it was the previous March. So you see our high
seasons um or obviously during spring break and during uh the holiday season. And this these are some of the updates that we have um as of recent and a lot of them are due to the uh seasonality of some of our vessels. Um we have more
vessels in the winter season than we do throughout the summer. So we had as I said earlier we had 16 simultaneous ships homeported ships in uh winter season which is around November through April. And these are just some of the changes that we we've had um in the past
month. Uh so we saw the epic NCL epic uh end its season last month and then the initial season for private for um Princess Cruise Lines and Celebrity Cruise Lines and end ended as well within the last week or so. So that was their first uh very successful um season
with us at Port Canaveral with new brands. Upcoming ship changes you can I can talk through all these but um the big the big bullet point on there is that the NCL Aqua will arrive this Saturday. So, that's a brand new ship that uh NCL is coming essentially straight from the yard to Port
Canaveral, which again shows their commitment to Port Canaveral and to the community in Central Florida. Um, and they'll be doing a 7-day rotation. What this doesn't show is that we also have the Star of the Seas from Royal Caribbean coming in mid August, uh,
which will then be the biggest, uh, newest ship in the world, um, from Royal Caribbean. So, and that is the uh the icon class, which if you're familiar with the ship classes, it's the icon class is in Miami right now. It's not anywhere else. We're
going to get the second icon class um vessel, which will again will be the star of the seas. So, that's big news. And um in next winter season, we expect an increase from the 16 simultaneous homeported vessels that we had this past
winter season. And that will be due to um we have another an additional NCL ship and an additional MSC vessel as well coming to us. So we don't have numbers finalized yet, but it will be an increase. And additionally, Celebrity
Princess, they're bringing larger ships to us this upcoming winter season than they had with us this previous winter season. So it's all a very positive trajectory um for next year as well. And uh just within the last few weeks there was an announcement regarding the
Carnival Festival which is uh will be the largest Carnival vessel that is uh dedicate that's going to come to Port Canaveral in mid 27. Uh LNG powered vessel that'll be Carnival's biggest and newest at that time. And then MSC later
that year in 27 is committing the MSSE worldclass uh which will be called the World Atlantic in late 27. So, uh, all the brands are committing newer and more innovative products to our area, which is exciting. So, that is essentially the
balance of my presentation. If there's any questions, any questions? I have a request. No, just want to say thank you for the update. Appreciate it. Appreciate the opportunity and we can certainly do more of these in the future. I know we've
kind of uh took a pause since the uh the pandemic, but happy to come back and uh fill in the the council with updates from time to time. We do appreciate um now I have to admit something. I get seasick just looking at water, so I have never set foot on a cruise ship. The
cruise ships are so big that you're not even going to know you're on a ship. I I I will tell you, my in my inner ear is going to know that I'm I my feet are not on the ground. And uh so it it's um but I am curious enough that I would like a
a tour of um one of your new new ships when it comes. Uh is that is that is that possible? I bring my staff one day and maybe um Peter uh would join us. Um yeah, hap happy happy to uh coordinate that. I'll uh it's really hard for me to
talk about a cruise ship when I've never You got to you got to check out our terminals. You got to check out the new ships. I understand. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I mean obviously I've been out to the port many times for different events and and and such, but uh I have I've never actually put my foot on a on a cruise ship. So All right. Well, I appreciate
the opportunity again. Okay. All right, sir. Thank you very very much. That's great. Um Okay. Well, Peter, let's let's go to your report. Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um just a couple of things I I
wanted to uh point out. um TDT uh for um February was uh was off uh 7% that's on page 13. Um so we you know we were on a pretty good run there. We had about six
or seven months of increases and uh since the new fiscal year every every month had been an increase. Uh February was the first month that that kind of pulled back a little bit. We're uh in very interested to see what March does. Um I believe we'll be down slightly
because Easter fell uh in April. So I think that takes a little bit away from last March where where Easter was in March. Um but maybe the two months together would would combine to to come pretty close. Uh so we'll have to kind of see how that goes. But um you know,
obviously tracking very closely. Uh we heard the comments that were made here at the last meeting about some of the you know segments that may be pulling back such as business travel uh you know government travel particularly um Canadian travel. Uh so we're just you
know we're just cautiously watching what what these numbers do and if that's a trend or if that's just a a little bit of an anomaly in that one month. Uh so we'll see. Maybe it'll snow. That would be great. snow would be good. Um,
budgetarily we're we're we're good at page 14. We're we're in good shape. Um, our our budget's bang on. You know, most of the marketing expenses um are now hitting for spring uh you know, so we because we ran uh a lot of
marketing advertising uh and advertising for the spring season and now we're getting those bills in and and paying those. Um we will start our summer campaign in um May. Uh so we'll hit we'll start hitting the summer pretty
hard in in the May June time period and that'll run all the way through August. So that'll be our biggest uh b biggest expenditure for the year at least out of the marketing uh budget. Uh other than that other other budgets are doing fine.
We're we're in good shape uh budgetarily there. Uh not much to say on STR. uh obviously always open to ask, you know, any questions you might have, but um we've got our weekly and our monthly reports in there. And by the way, we post all of all of our STR and TDT
reports are all posted on our um uh public access dropbox. If you are not for some reason getting our bi-weekly newsletter there, the link to that is always in that. If you if you're not getting it, just give me your business card at the end and we'll we'll make
sure you get added to that newsletter so you can get access to all of those other reports. But other than that, Mr. Chair, that's that's all I had. Questions for Peter? No, no questions for Peter. All right, we will go on. So, uh sir, go
ahead. Moving into beach. So, the beach improvement committee met a couple weeks ago. Um there were two major topics of discussion. Um the first one is uh we had a 5-year contract with Hub SeaWorld
Research Institute and um that is that uh ends this September. Um and they'll talk a little bit they're here to talk about um what they do and what that contract entails. Uh and then their request for uh a new 5-year contract.
So, I'm going to turn it over to um Wendy and uh let her introduce herself and uh go through the presentation for the TDC. Thank you. Thank you guys for having me. Um and thank you for all of your support over the years. It's really made a huge difference for us. I appreciate it. Um I'm a research
scientist with Hubsy World Research Institute. Um for those of you who may not know, we're a nonprofit. We've been operating in Florida since 1997. And mostly our efforts go to understanding whale and dolphin population ecology and health in order to contribute to the conservation of these
animals. So we have a marine mammal training team that's on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide emergency response to whales and dolphins along 40% of Florida's east coast. So we do that with three full-time staff and we have over 80 trained volunteers. And then we're
really fortunate to respond to live animals in tandem with SeaWorld. So this graphic is really um historical whale and dolphin strandings um along the east coast of Florida. So those are counties from north to south. And as you can see, Bvard County has more
strandings than any other county on the east coast, but also any other county in the state of Florida in nearly any other county in the entire southeastern United States. So because of that, we stay pretty busy. We respond to about 70 whales and dolphins each year um in the
study area. And the reason that we respond to these animals in the first place is really to look at threats both to the whales but also to the humans residing in the area. So we're able to document new and emerging diseases. We can look at the impacts of biotoxins and heavy metals, marine debris and fishing
gear on these animals. And we can also learn a lot about their life history which is particularly important for unusual se species like pelagic species that are rarely seen at sea. And we can also document mortality trends. So, there's actually been three unusual
mortality events or largecale die-offs of dolphins in Bvard County in the last 15 years. Two of those have occurred within the Indian River Lagoon. And then the third one actually occurred along the Atlantic coast. Um, and this was a pretty big event. It spanned from New
York all the way down the Florida and involved over 1,600 animals dying because it was related to a very contagious virus that spread between the animals. So, just to give you a quick update of last year's activities in Bvard County,
we had 49 animals that stranded. 17 of these were alive. 47 were bottl-nose dolphins. And unfortunately, we had 16 entangled dolphins last year. That's really unprecedented. That's not something we see. We normally see two or three. Um, and these animals also had
really severe lacerations. Some of them had amputations. It was a pretty rough year, honestly. Um, we also had a Rizzo's dolphin strand and for the second time in Florida's history, we had a gray seal strand behind the astronaut house. So, an unusual year for sure. Um,
some of you may have heard, we actually detected aven influenza in dolphins last year. This was in the winter of 2023 and the winter of 2024. So, so far we've had eight animals test positive. Most of them were immature and then they were in
good pretty good nutritional condition. Um, but we are seeing inflammation of the brain. So, we suspect these animals would have neurological symptoms, have difficulty swimming. This is actually only the second time in US history that a dolphin has detected been detected with a influenza. Um, prior to this,
there was only one other case from the west coast of Florida. We do believe it's most likely being acquired because the animals are foraging in close proximity to infected birds that are shedding the virus through their mucus and saliva and feces. So, we're
continuing to monitor all of the animals in the area, but we do believe this is just going to be a seasonal threat to dolphins in Bvard County. As far as the entanglement issues, really the only way we're going to be able to can combat the increased entanglement is by increasing our
capacity for quick response and assessment. So, over the last few years, we've been really successful expediting response by using remote disentanglement tools. So, we have long poles with either concealed blades or grapples on them where we can get to the animals
more quickly. We're also using drones to look at these animals more thoroughly so we can definitely have a more complete assessment of the severity of the injury and the configuration of the entanglement. Ultimately, we're really
continuing our targeted outreach to improve community engagement and reporting. Um, we've developed dozens of different outreach items. We've done training videos and placed over 800 placards throughout the area. Really just hoping to improve reporting and decrease wildlife
entanglement. So, as I'm sure you know, um, ecoourism is pretty big in Florida. Excursions to see Florida's wildlife contribute 5.6 billion dollars annually and marine mammal conservation efforts are really needed to sustain ecoourism because many of these species are highly
vulnerable. and marine mammals and tourists actually go hand in hand. Many of our tourists come to the area hoping to see our local whales and dolphins. And so when we do have an animal that strands on the beach, it usually draws a large a large crowd of onlookers. Um, we
interact every year with thousands of tourists and residents alike who are very excited to get to see a whale or dolphin, but they're really help. They're really grateful that someone's there to care for the animal, to determine why the animal may have died, and of course to remove the carcass from the
beach. We also work really closely with Ecoour um vessels. They're really our best allies. They're on the water every day and their business truly depends on marine mammal health. And so last year we had 21 reports from ecoour boats. These are mostly coming from um Port
Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. And sometimes this can be a really engaging experience. So we had one captain who was able to disentangle a dolphin with his with a tourist on board which was really a memorable experience. But sometimes the captains are finding
really injured dolphins or deceased dolphins. And in those instances they really just want to know that someone cares and is going to respond. and that's where we will provide an immediate response. So, thanks to your partnership, since 2008, we have removed
801 whales and dolphins from Bvard beaches. 116 of these were live animals. And on average, we're getting about 47 each year in Bvard, although we have had up to 91 animals per year, depending on the year. So, on average, we're removing
about 18,000 pounds of biomass per year. So, we are currently here seeking a renewal of our contract. As Peter said, our current contract expires in September of 2025. So, we're hopeful to get a five-year contract if possible. Um, our
current contract is for $25,000 annually, and that contract has been in place since 2008. So, unfortunately, inflation has increased costs since that time by about 47.6% 6% or the equivalent of
$36,900. So, we are requesting an increase if possible to $35,000 um annually with a 3% cost of living incorporated in order to try and offset some of these costs. So, we do heavily rely on um a Noah
Fisheries marine mammal training grant that's competitive and currently that program is at risk. And so, your support is really critical to our program. Even having one person on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that salary when you include fringe and overhead quickly
becomes a $37,000 a year job that results in a $75,000 expense. So we did break down the costs per animal in case that's helpful. So these are just the costs salary infringed to respond to the animal to go to the site
to remove the animal from the site and then to dispose of the animal either at the landfill or to prepare it for incineration. So the costs associated with that are about $700. And then when we incorporate travel to the site and then to the landfill
um sometimes on a different day if the landfill is closed for a holiday or Sundays or after hours and then the disposal supplies that we need is about another $100. And then when we tack on indirect costs as about $400 for a total of about 1,200 per animal times 47
events is about $58,000 per year minimally. And these costs don't include um volunteer power. Um so we use volunteers regularly. They contribute about 1,200 hours per year and are really critical
in helping us to remove large animals from the beach. It also doesn't include the staff time needed to maintain this robust volunteer program. um freezer storage or incineration costs, the cost for live animals which includes more personnel, medications, um multiple
trips often for one animal or the maintenance of our trucks, vessels, lifts and vessel fuel. So when we look at annual programmatic costs to respond to stranding, including salary, fringe, overhead, travel, supplies, and equipment, our total costs are about
$380,000 a year. Our volunteers contribute about $38,000 a year in their time and we're asking if TDC might be able to continue and supporting us at $35,000 per year. So, your support really has
enabled our timely response to whales and dolphins in the area and data that are collected from these events are critical to managing marine mammal populations. And really we need continued efforts to ensure whale and dolphin conservation but also to ensure sustainable ecos
ecoourism. So I thank you guys very much for your consideration and I can try and take any questions you may have. Questions for Wendy. Mr. Chair, I'll just point out the um the committee voted unanimously to approve. So Julie was chairing that
committee. So there any questions? I'm just curious about the entanglements. The primary material is it nets or is it rope or So it's monofilament and multifilament line is what it's
contributes to 80% of the entanglements. So it's just gear that's getting in the water. I derick and probably by accident. Um we do have evidence where sometimes dolphins will forage communally with fishers or try and steal their fish. Um, young ones in
particularly get entangled. They're most common to be entangled. About 75% of the entanglements are calves. So, I think some of it is just the gear getting in the water. Some of it is just the animals are pretty naive and young that are getting entangled and some of it may
be prey driven. So, they've lost substantial prey over the last 10 years. They're getting creative. We have animals that are begging at boats where we didn't see that before. So, it's a mixed bag of all things.
Other questions for Wendy. Is there discussion on their item? Obviously, a very important program both for the animals and for uh tourism that it's worthy of funding at the requested level. Uh so, I'll second a motion out
of committee. That's a second. Yeah. Okay. So, we have a motion by Mr. Hermanson. Well, I I believe uh Mr. Chair, I believe the the motion comes out of the beach committee and so vice chair has seconded that motion. Okay. All right. So, we have a motion from the
beach committee. We have a second by Mr. Hermanson. Go ahead and call the role. Just a question. On my motion, is it funded out of which fund? It's funded out of the beach fund. Okay. Thank you. Okay. At the request, right at the
$35,000. Yeah. Okay. Plus the 3% annual increase over a 5-year term. Correct. Okay. Okay. We're all clear on the motion then. Okay. Call the RO. Julie Braa. I.
Vice Chair Hermanson. Yes. Mayor John. Yes. Alice L. Yes. Mayor Medina. I. John Warren. Might have lost him. John, are you Oh, perfect. Thumbs up. I He said he would give me a thumbs up or thumbs
down. Uh Wayne Sword. Yes. And Sheriff, yes. Congratulations, Wendy. Thanks for the tour that you took my staff on when um we came down there. If you remember that, but it was enlightening and we appreciate it. Appreciate your hospitality. Um and I
appreciate all your support on the site. Thank you. All right. Very good. Thank you. Uh okay. Next item, Mr. chair. Also out of the beach committee was just a discussion about the tourism and lagoon grants. I don't know Julie if you wanted to maybe give your uh your take on the
the discussion and and what the committee was recommending this year. Yeah, I'd be happy to. Um we had a great discussion um regarding uh our current situation financially in the beach fund and impending storms and the increased cost of those reourishments projects um
over the year. that also has uh had an impact with inflation. And um Mike did a great job of presenting to us kind of where we are. And so out of the committee, our discussion was that we make the recommendation not to go
forward with the tourism lagoon grant program for another year so that we can continue to um build up the beach fund for the impact of potential storms moving forward. Okay. Any
questions for Julie on that? I don't think we needed a motion as long as everyone was fine with us, you know, just leaving it. Yeah, that's what the committee was. Okay. Does that sound right? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Any discussion on that? Okay. All right.
Everyone loves sand. Okay. [Applause] pass them all down. Actually, the next next item on the agenda, Mr. Chair, is a is a discussion about our capital facilities fund. I just wanted to give an update and I know you had some um
some thoughts as well. Uh so I'll I'll uh quickly cover this and then defer back to you. But um as you could see this is this is our 10-year projection. The first uh column is next fiscal. So
I'm right in the middle of budgeting. We we have not actually uh turned our budget into the county manager's office yet. So this is preliminary but our best um best estimations of all the different projects that are going on. Um at the
top is the revenue stream. So you see you know based on tax collection next year of 27 million potentially. Uh the revenue would be 3 point uh just under 3.8 million. But then you net debt down uh taking out any um uh fees, tax
collector fees, administrative fees that we have uh legislative holdback. Uh that gets you to just under 3.2 million. And then our our uh projected carry forward is uh is at 7.6 million right now. Uh and then below that is all the projects
that we are budgeting for. Um, and one of which, um, I'll let um, our chair discuss, but just starting at the top, we have continued debt service, uh, paying out, uh, 10 a 10-year debt service for, um, Vieira Park. Um, we've
got four more years on that. The aquarium, um, I did meet with Keith Winston, uh, last week and he told me they are planning on breaking ground uh, this summer. uh not exact date yet to that's still to be announced, but he
believes it'll happen before uh the September time period. Um and if that were to happen, he they could technically start collecting um their 1.5 million a year, which goes for 10 years. They could start this fiscal and
then it would go for nine more years. So that's in the budget. Um US Law Enforcement Foundation, that's the police hall of fame. Um they are in the the next year will be the third year of their five years of $1 million. So
that's in the in there. Um Bright Line uh obviously we have not heard yet where they are in terms of some of the grants that they're trying to get from the federal government but um but we have allocated 5 million. The board of county commissioners has uh so we are holding
that 5 million in the budget for next year. um Cape Canaveral Lighthouse um they will have most of their expenditures will start um next year. So most of that money is carry forward money that we were holding from that
contract. Uh Veterans Memorial Park has started. Um a lot of site work has begun. It's not gone vertical yet, but they are doing a lot of site work out there if you've gone by that park lately. And that's the the piece that they're um we're holding over for next
fiscal and they hope to finish that project at next fiscal. Um I'll skip over the next one and then lifeguards. Um we were asked to budget one point. So what I wanted to talk about today is a concept for a fairgrounds in this
county. What I would call the Melbourne fairgrounds. Uh we do not have a municipal fairgrounds anywhere in this county. And you remember some years ago the the sort of default fairgrounds was at what we called the Wickham Park
pavilion which um is where the BCC dorms are now. And so when the dorms were were built, uh that was the end of the pavilion out there where a lot of large events um were held. We over the last uh over this last
season in the spring, we rented a parcel that we have by the Sarno landfill. So off Sarno um that is wholly located in Melbourne um to the Renaissance Fair. Uh so we were trying to get an agreement with uh
Melbourne and city and the and the county didn't get it done in time and the Renaissance fair uh was going to start and so we uh the county agreed to rent directly to the Renaissance fair. They went out there this year and by all
accounts they had a successful um uh season out there and then they had a strawberry festival and so uh in my mind they've demonstrated the need for a large events venue um in Bvard County.
So we I think we need that. Uh my pitch is that I don't necessarily think uh Bvard County has to run it. So this parcel that we own that we could convey to uh Melbourne is wholly in Melbourne and uh it's I've I've worked in and
Mayor Alfrey uh is here and I'll recognize him in a second. He can speak to it. Uh by conveying a parcel to Melbourne that's more than 50 acres um they could run uh the Melbourne uh fairgrounds. This would be but this
would be a partnership. Now, here's here's where the financial part of this comes in. Uh, Solid Waste owns that. So, it's owned by a utility. And so, there does have to be consideration of about $5 million for um solid waste. And so,
what we're looking for is that the TDC support half of that. So, the county uh would would support $2.5 million towards that. We'd spread it over 10 years. And that the city of Melbourne would come up with another 2.5 million. And there's there's ways that they can do that by
taking over road maintenance, some some other things. Um, that is really the short of it. I can't dispute the fact that there's going to be a demand for large events in Bvard County. We have over 600,000 full-time residents of this
county. We have millions of people, as you just saw, uh, with the port here today. A lot of people coming to Bvard County, and there's certainly a tourism component to this. Absolutely. Um, my concept is very similar to what Indian
River County has in Wabaso. If any of you have been to the Indian River County Fairgrounds, um, I I think something very similar to that. Uh, which they also have soccer fields on. I mean, they they make good use of of that property. And,
um, that is really the the quick of it. Are there any easy questions I can answer for you before we recognize? Sir, you said about 50 acres. Yeah, I think it's 58 acres. Is it 58? Right. I think so.
Yes, sir. Um, Mayor Alfrey, I I'll yield to him. And good afternoon, everyone. Uh, real quick, I want to I want to say thank you to each one of you for your service. Uh I will tell you since I got into local government and you learn how everything
works uh there are a lot of people like yourself that put in a time effort and energy and and uh it's been an eye open eye opener over uh quite a few years but I want to say thank you for what you do here. Um second I kind of want to go briefly and about the Melbourne uh
fairgrounds. Uh right now it's a partnership with Bvard County. you have two government entities working side by side if that you can say. Um but there I grew up here and I was uh been here all my life and one thing about in in
Melbourne in Bvard County uh we've seen events kind of grow up and then there was nowhere to go and they go away. I mean many years ago I can just start them for whatever reason they leave and there's really nowhere for them to go whether it's somewhere something like a runaway country or whatever. So, like uh the chairman said, there's there's
nothing in in Bvard County really for for this. And and so um we we kind of thought what can we do to keep these um uh this economic development here. And for example, and I'm just this is one of
many, for example, the Bvard Renaissance Fair. And they were kind of the um I guess you would say the guinea pig. and and uh they they celebrated their 10th year uh according to the records and about $30 million in economic
development uh or economic uh activity uh and and probably around I think this year maybe 80,000 people came uh it was packed uh uh it was a real eye opener when you went and realized u the people that come even from all over the world
it was all over the world they had they had people from Ireland they had people from other states. So, it really uh confirmed my belief that we need some kind of uh um fairgrounds and and if you were look at our neighbor city of Palm
Bay, their growth uh and city, you know, Melbourne uh West Melbourne, um it would definitely uh benefit us uh for have that kind of fairground. Now, uh let me be uh totally transparent and tell you what my thought is. Um, if you were to
look at that property right now, uh, uh, like the chairman said, he's right. It is, uh, it is Bvard County solid waste. So, the whole idea is we have to make Bard County solid waste whole. Uh, it's their property. So, any funding would go back to the county for that property. It
would go governmental entity to governmental entity to be used by the people. I mean, that's very important. So, when you think uh, that property will be used uh, by the people. Now, how do I plan on uh achieving this in the city of Melbourne? I I will go into one
of the things that very important to all of us is is is the fire uh fire service. Now, the city of Melbourne, we have a fire training facility that's been in Melbourne for many years on electronics that we really no longer can use according to the federal government because of
um if you were to go out there and see them trained, they can't even turn the water hose on. So, how do you have a fire training facility you can't even use water on? So, on this kind of property, uh, if I was to look at it and kind of map it out, you have, let's say, 58, I think it's 58 acres. A small
portion of that would be the new regional fire training facility that could be used by anybody, Palm Bay, Melbourne, whatever for for training area. Uh, it always also would serve as as kind of a response area as needed. uh that helps the city of Melbourne, again
being totally transparent, solve a issue that we have coming down the uh down the pike of of a fire training facility on a small section. So that will help pay for the fairgrounds and anytime you have a fairground in an area where you know you have medical that kind of you put those two together, they work. So that was
kind of our thought that uh with speaking to uh uh the chairman that that we hopefully make that happen. And again, we what this also does is you have areas like Wickham Park that keeps uh those parks for the people as well. I
mean, you don't have large events taking over the parks and you know, they come in and and the the events there's so more so many more people here. You see it growing up. You see them going in the parks and during Renaissance Fair, think about having 60 70 80,000 people in
Winter Park or Wickham Park. They got to build everything. They got to tear it down and and there's a lot of stress on our park. So, this is really a winwinwin alto together, not just for the city of Melbourne, but for all residents of Bvard County. So, you know, I I I appreciate uh this this board's uh
vision uh and what you've done, but that was uh I know it's it's kind of looking and it's kind of a big ask, but you know, we're focusing on where we where will we be in five years or 10 years. Look at the projection of of Port Canaveral. You never thought it'd be like that and it one of the best in the
world and and and everybody loves to come here and and we have to prepare for it. So, uh that is really uh I'm here for any questions. Again, um be glad to uh answer questions if you have them. Questions from the mayor. Sir, I'm surprised they're parting with
land. I I don't exactly know the history, but wasn't that landfill closed down for some time for lack of capacity, driving all the trash to the Well, I can answer that. Oh, I can answer that. And and I'm very familiar with that. One of the companies that started and owned and
sold was a a a rolloff dumpster trash. I'm very familiar. I have accounted that so I know that. So So basically that property, it was used several years ago uh for when they demuck the lagoon. Uh they were pumping all that there. Now,
our city manager is an engineer as well. Uh, we've been on through all the records. All that site was totally cleaned up and it and and the the downfall on that property, it it would be it would it's next to the Sarno landfill, which is closing, but it's
also if you go to the Sarno landfill, you know, you can only get rid of, you know, uh, basic debris. So, uh, it actually works out very well. Uh so uh again it's uh we've checked it, we've looked at it, and again the the uh
Renaissance Fair has used it this last event. No issues uh mode cleaned and and if you ever get a chance to go out there, highly recommend it. I I'll rephrase I don't think I phrased it correctly. If it's out of capacity at the landfill and there's 50 acres of
vacant land, why wouldn't they expand the landfill onto that? Well, let let me answer that. We're working on the new landfill or breaking ground on on that. And so uh part of the the parcel out by or the parcel out on 192. In fact, the reason
that this or how this discussion started was originally the Renaissance Fair owner Peter Mohousen says, "Well, let me just have a piece of that." And I said, "Well, I don't think we can let you just have a piece of that because that was the result of an order of taking 30 years ago or something like that long
before my time." And so I don't think that you could just say, "Well, we'll peel off a 100 acres that's going to be a fairgrounds." And and so um but what you're telling me is that you want just a vacant parcel. You'll you'll start with with nothing um there. And that's that's what got me thinking. Hey, we
have um this parcel. So Sarno is coming to an end. Um it will be a big green mountain. um the Renaissance Fair this year. They they sort of celebrated uh they had a whole story about that and um
so this this this parcel is there and so there's there's a question of you know what will we do with it? The the current plan is uh that we would temporarily temporarily store hurricane uh debris uh
as it's moved to the landfill. And so, um, as the new landfill comes online, we're just simply going to take the stuff, um, to the landfill. So, that's that's where we are today. And and if I could add also, it it's it's not really big enough for to extend the landfill.
Uh, I sit on the Melbourne uh, International uh, Airport Authority Board. Uh, I can tell you, uh, the county came to us and we went up a couple, we allowed them to come up a couple feet, uh, uh, to continue dumping debris and because until they get ready
to 192, but that's really not that big when it comes to landfill operation. There are different types of landfills. If you look at Coco, they utilize a liner. Uh, Sarno is not that way. It's just basic construction debris. You cannot you can't take pressuret treated lumber. You can't take food garbage,
nothing. Uh so in order to do something like that again you also uh it's just not it wouldn't work that it's not big enough and and uh the county again they're they're building the new one on 192 and and uh they should have that done in a couple years. My my understanding just to tag team here a
little bit uh of environmental permitting and Mike's back there maybe has some some idea of this. I mean it it takes years and years to get the kind of permitting out of D. Even if we wanted to start that process, there would there
wouldn't be anything uh you know in terms of quote a landfill on on that parcel um for I think a long time. So I I I I think it's time and and if it's and if it wasn't here, I'd be open to somewhere else. It's I think it's hard
to find 50 acres that's in the in the in the middle of a jurisdiction um where city of Melbourne um uh can can make this happen and u so that's where we are. Second question is
the for a fairground I don't know the condition of this. It's just mowed grass now. So if the purchase price is 5 million are there is there an improvement budget and who's going to fund that improvement budget to make it into a fair ground? I don't know what the end goal is. That is actually a
great question that I I when I spoke to my city manager member um we're going to have to end up uh you know we actually have some funding we put together but we're going to have to have a a uh uh a fire training facility. So if you were
to look at that any part of that fire training facility we're going to have to f first of we have to find a place big enough. I don't know where you're going to do that. Uh and and that would again serve to me at the very end probably about maybe three or four acres of the corner would be the new fire training
facility. And again and when that's not used it could be used for training for you know Bard County, Melbourne, Palm Bay, West Mel, any any of the fire services could use it police anything. So it it would we could we could utilize some of the the budgetary uh uh funding
from the fire our fire service and uh capital. So, I'll rephrase this one as well. In order for it to become a fairground since we're not seeing any plans, are there additional anticipated capital expenditures beyond the purchase
price and the fire facility that would be required? Are we talking road infrastructure, parking areas, gazeos, all that stuff? I'd be glad to answer that one as well. So, uh, one one thing that's unique about this parcel is it's
very close to I95. Um, it also serves, uh, Ellis Road, uh, one way and off GI the other. And as you know, Ellis is being re is being, uh, fourlaned. Uh, so you have you have
great access. When you talk about a fairground, uh, what I would recommend and it was city, what ended up doing is just cut an entrance there in front of uh, Sarno. Uh you have access right there in front of Sarno. You already have a road there called Purcella next to the battery uh location. Uh that
utilized right now for um as needed and off New York. So yes, there would be some kind of infrastructure needed. Uh we already have a a large water line to the south. Uh power is already there. So most of that stuff's already there. Uh again when you talk about a fairgrounds
most of it's uh again it's it's a you know it will take kind of quite a few years to build that up but I don't think you need a lot for a fairground. If you look at other places it's it starts out as a big grass field and and slowly we'll we'll add amenities but again a lot of amenities in my in my idea would
be you know the fire a fire facility or something there for for medical as well. So um I I don't know if you need much there to begin with. Can can I say something? I think the and with the fire training facility, right, that's the that's the reason to bring the electric
and the water and the and the and the sewer. So once once you're you you've got that on on the parcel, uh I think it starts to get a lot easier. So they they probably, you know, their biggest challenge is going to be an intersection on um Sarno probably best. That's going
to be your your biggest challenge. But, um, I'm with you in that some of the fairgrounds that I've been to in this state, it's it's a large pavilion. Um, you know, uh, and then, um, you know, at some point you get permanent bathrooms.
That's nice. Uh, and and and so I I don't think we have an idea that between the two of us that it's going to be a lot more than that um, uh, conceptually. So, what comes in the years after that then? So, I'll be I'll put a point on my
point. Okay. Having done this for as many years as I have, uh, ideas come in, we fund them 12 to 36 months. Those same representatives come back and ask for more money. And in certain groups here,
uh, we have one on the list, which is the, uh, the, uh, Veterans Memorial Amphitheater. It might have been back for like four bites of the apple. may have started the second apple. And so if you're asking for approval or a
vote on this or if this is just for discussion, I don't know. Uh you'll let us know. Uh I'm trying to understand the scale of it so that you know our charge here from a tourist development standpoint is to look at these capital facilities project and weigh them
against the benefit of tourism. And if it's two and a half million from the TDT for the purchase of the land and that's it, then that's one calculation. If it's two and a half million for the purchase of the land and another 2 million next year for, you know, this band shell in
Merit Island shot up to $4.3 million for That's not what I'm that's not what I'm asking for. Uh it's it's it's to convey the parcel to Melbourne. And once it's their parcel and in in all cander, it is up to the Melbourne City Council um how
how they they move forward. Now, can I add on can I add something? Um I've never come up here and asked for money. Never done that. And and uh I would be very concerned as well being we all have a fiduciary responsibility that you come back and ask for like you would say a band shell. We're not looking to build a
band shell. I can tell you this year uh you know you had 80,000 people coming to an event over several weeks and what did that do for heads and beds? Think about that. Most people that came here had to get hotel rooms. uh we're talking about
this, you are getting pennies on a dollar because again we're what we're doing. Uh and and we're looking at 5 10 years down the road of having you know our only and or first um uh big an area where we can we can have
events. We don't have that now. We we don't. So I I I understand what you're saying about coming back ask for money. Um, we have, for example, on Sarno, right right near there, we have a parcel that, uh, probably worth 500 or 600,000.
Uh, we spoke about selling that just to help pay for some of the infrastructure because we're not going to use it. We don't need it. And, uh, uh, and it's right across from the, um, American Muscle Car Museum. We don't need that. We'll sell it. Um, I will tell you one thing about the city of Melbourne. Um,
uh, we we are we lowered our tax millage for to a 10-year low. Uh we run very we we have a tight budget. We don't give away money. If you come and do an event to city Melbourne, you're paying for it. And again, we don't pick winners and losers. But I will tell you this, this
is a win-win for everybody in in Bvard, Melbourne, everywhere. So, may I sir, Alex? Uh we'll go to Alex and then Julie. You had mentioned the $5 million uh because we had to give some consideration to solid waste, but is
that actually the market rate about $100,000 an acre for is this that's approximately what appraisals have have been is in the 5 million range. Okay. Now, we did do appraisals. We did do appraisals. We
were hoping it was a lot less, but we did appraisals and that's about uh ballpark where they come back at. Yes, sir. M so out of curiosity then did did solid waste maybe have developers knocking on their door to do some subdivision here or is it not really
that interesting for development? I I you know that's it's an interesting question because uh so that's hard for me to answer. However uh it's located in Melbourne so they would do the zoning on
it. So, I'd ask you, sir, uh you know, has has there been zoning requests for, you know, even the parcel that you have um up front? Not at all. Not at all. And and and you would you would think also uh to give it to developers to develop something. I mean, again, we're talking
about a fairground that it's going back to the the people. It's like a park. I mean, uh again, I'm I'm from here and I I I'd hate to develop every green space that we have. We need to have parks. We need to have event spaces. Uh you know,
we the city of Melbourne, we had just just invested about $4 to5 million in our golf courses. Totally redone all our parks, all our pools. That is important to our residents that they have that that uh uh that for them and their families. So, um again, I I think again,
what are you what are you getting out of this? I I wouldn't want to develop it. I I think it's interesting, too, that it is next to a landfill. It's going to be a former landfill and it's going to be like I said a big green mountain there. Um, but it's in also a very industrial area on the back side of it. Sarno on
the front, very commercial area and then it's got kind of a strip of condo/ apartments along Wickham Road. So, it's a it's a it's a unique parcel and um I I'd have a hard time imagining that being developed for residential um use.
No. And that's not our preference to have it developed. I wasn't suggesting that. I was just seeing if this was a kind of discount price, which would be great if it was. Well, you know, I I to
my understanding that we have to make solid waste whole. So, whatever really it is, that's what it will be. Again, the money is going back to the government to the Bvard County uh for their operations. Uh so, and it's going from governmental entity to governmental entity to be used by the people. So, I
think that's key here to understand that, you know, we're not, you know, we're not, you know, selling it to a developer. Uh, you know, there's there's no profit to be made here. Again, we're just trying to make one entity whole and again, put a fairground out. Julie, uh,
that was a great transition, Mayor. Thank you. Um, my question was to people that want to use the fairgrounds, they would be paying a rental fee. So, like not just the Renaissance, but other organizations. Oh, abs. Absolutely. Because that's going to help pay for it. Uh we thought about even on kind of
parking uh and we can map that out. would take suggestions, but maybe, you know, $2 a ticket on the parking. You know, when you had in this last event, Renaissance Fair, it would have I think it have been probably figure 80,000 people. I think 70 80,000 people and all the cars that were there
if you add $2 and that kind of goes to pay, you know, to to help pay for that. Like right now, that property wasn't even being used. It was uh you went out there and I got pictures be glad to share it was waist high. It's been mowed. been used and and Boulevard
County is making $10,000 a month in rent. So, this is something that the county wasn't getting a penny and now they're at least getting something out of it and to help, you know, to help fund the county. So, just so that I'm clear, you you opened up a a can of worms there, Mr. Mayor. That's what I
like to do, sir. You know that. You know, so my my question is more about uh the rental fee, right? You're saying that you will the city of Melbourne will obtain a rental fee and at the same time you'll charge parking. Will the We're
not We're not charging parking. I said an idea to help pay for this again. Is this something that needs So that that's part of my question was the city of Melbourne will staff to collect those funds for parking or will they uh allow the the folks that rent the space? No,
we're not staff. We'd have the whoever's going to rent it, that's something they can put on their tickets because normally like on the Renaissance fair, they they they charge $5 for parking and it's something that uh when I speaking to Peter about that, he's like, "Well, you know, we could, you know, if you if we we gave the government a dollar, you
know, we could charge five and keep board and help pay for." Yeah, that answers come back. That that answers my question. So, I don't know. Uh I think the vice chair mentioned uh something along the lines what actions we would need to take. First of all, I just wanted to highlight a few things and I
have a few comments regarding this. The very first thing that I'd like to share is runaway country. It was mentioned whatever happened such a successful event all these people and yet we were less in population in this county. There
isn't currently a venue. I commend you uh Mr. Chair for for taking this on. Uh I don't know the actions of this uh advisory council because we are merely an advisory council. The the board of county commissioners are the ultimately the ones that are going to decide. But
if you had to take it from a point of a tourist standpoint and when Runaway Country was here, I know they were filling heads and beds for the weekend. There was no doubt in my mind. Uh and it was a worthwhile event and it
was a sad day in our entire county. uh to see uh an event like that go away in particular to the hotel years within the south end of our county. So I I would be supportive of this. Uh but again this is something that the I believe the board of county
commissioners will ultimately have to decide. Yeah. The the board will have to take it up. Um you you you are uh you know your advisory um to them. Uh we we will ask for an action here in a in a moment, but uh let me say something
about Runaway Country because uh I I remember that very very well. And they were also in Wickham Park. So that so that ended up sort of becoming the default um fairgrounds and uh the the quick version is uh they outgrew the
park. Um the the the the longer extended version is there were problems because of that uh from everything from nearby neighbors um traffic um you know noise what what have you. Um one of the appealing things out here is it is an an
industrial area and at least on three sides of it you know you're not you're not going to have um uh any kind of res resident u uh problems but uh so they went to Oyola County. Correct. what happened. They they left here. They left
this county. They they they went to a bigger bigger venue. And uh it it's interesting you mentioned that cuz that's one of the ones I go to also that uh that I could go out there. You have a three-day music festival out there and Amen. I love the rodeos out there as
well. Uh have a have a good time. So, um sir, I just have a couple quick comments. Um, you know, it was it was great to see uh the Renaissance Fair move there this year and it was really a fabulous success. It was it was great. It was super well attended and I think
needing a fairgrounds a proper fairgrounds in Bvard County in the in the center of it in the hub of Melbourne would be just absolutely spectacular. Did Did you, Mr. Chair, make a motion for this? I haven't made any motion yet. Not yet. Not yet. Gotcha. That's Can I ask one
question? Yes, sir. The um one. too. Um, what is the property across from the car wash down the street on stadium? When is that considered where they have the state fair? So, so let me let me answer that. So, that's Vieira company owns that parcel. Okay. So, the Space Coast
Daily Fair is is what you're talking about. And, uh, so uh, Space Coast Daily Fair is a tenant on that on that parcel. They they don't own it. That parcel is for sale. I confirmed that with the Vieira company. So, uh,
eventually what will be on there, uh, according to Vieira company, whatever highest and best use is, um, but it will it will not be a fair grounds. So, not wishing that on anybody, but that that is not a that's not a permanent um
solution. So, and and I would say uh, Mr. Chair, that's a good point. And then what happens when when that's gone, it's going to go away. It will if you look again when when I uh seeing seeing what Vieiraa has grown to when I worked for Bvard County Road and Bridge back in ' 89 90 and I come out here to process for
the first time. I I was young was young 19. I said why in the heck would they put the Bard County out in the middle nowhere and you've seen the vision? They had the vision and if you look at Vieier it's beautiful now. This is a beautiful place. So what happens when we lose that
then where I mean it's what do we do? my, you know, my vision here, um, if that's what you call it, uh, or concept is that every promoter in this county, whoever they are, whatever event they have, um, could could go out there.
So you could have the Renaissance fair that's out there three weekends or or five weekends or whatever it is in the spring and that's followed by uh the next festival that's followed by some music festival that's followed by, you know, a boat show out there or RV, you
know, sale show, what have you. Um you could have all that stuff out there. I I tell you what I what I don't like. So let me give you the flip side of this. this weekend, by the way, and I'll give a pitch uh to the Melbourne uh art show. That's this weekend. Hope everybody goes. It's a very nice show that is in
Wickham Park. It's free to the public. It's very nice. Um the Vietnam veterans and veteran all veterans of Bvard will be out there in May. Um we have we have a lot of nice um events that are free and open to the public and everyone can
attend. I think what we're talking about here is would would be the uh a lot of those festivals that want to charge admission and you could do that right at the door right at the entrance and then you don't have to section off large portions of
our parks um in order to do that. So I'm not against having events in in our parks. I don't want to be misunderstood there. I like the free events in our parks that uh is open to the public and everyone can attend. But I I recognize a
need for for a large events venue um where they could where they could have these uh admission charging uh events if that's if that's what it is. So to that end, Mr. Chair, I think we've discussed this. So what what is the
action item we're looking to do here? We we'd uh asked that the TDC uh would make a recommendation uh for so the the two and a half million dollars uh that that we'd be looking for from TDC would be spread over 10 years
um from the um uh capital fund. And so that would be $250,000 uh per year. And then Melbourne's going is that your motion? Ma math isn't working out here at the bottom line. Is that uh are we are we hoping to
exceed budgets over the next three years? So how this uh how this chart works is if you look at the projected balance line this next fiscal year we would basically not have any extra any incremental funds but the 250 is part of
of the 10.8 8 million in expenses. I'm losing my eyesight. I didn't see you had it pencled in there. Yeah. Yes, sir. Apologies. So, do I Was that a motion? Mr. Chair, sir, was that a motion? I'll I'll make
the motion for I'll second it. Okay, can I ask just one question before we go? Yes. I just want to clarify this 2.5 million is the portion of the TDTS for contributing. And where was the other 2.5 million coming from? again it would it would come uh through
uh for a small section for fire fire training facility plus there plus also uh user fees uh again if it's something that it's going to be used you know it's going to pay for itself right so are their terms the same over 10 years well
uh I mean it's not not my business let me let me let me say that there there's this is the first step in uh entering into agreement with Melbourne so that's that's at the commission level. We'll we'll hammer out the the details with with Melbourne, but they understand that
we're um we're coming with half um and that they're coming coming with half. That's where we are. Okay. Uh I made the motion. Mayor Medina second. Uh let's call the role.
I mayor Connor, guess you sorry. Vice Chair Hermanson present. Uh, Larry John. Yes. Alex Litra. Yes. Mayor Medina. Sorry. I
John Moran. Thumbs up. Hi. Thank you, sir. Wayne Sword. Yes. And Cher. Yes. Members, I appreciate your support. uh this isn't the last stop. So, it's got a board of county commissioners and
also the city of Melbourne. So, and again, I want to thank each and every one of you uh for the vision. And again, like the chairman said, this is just the beginning and and you know, we're going to definitely take everybody's input and you know, bring these events as they grow, keep them here. So, thank you
everyone. Okay, Peter, back to you. Uh sir, I believe we're up to public comment. I believe we went through the public comment cards unless there was another one that came up. Okay. And then uh back
to you for board reports. All right. On board reports, um Julie, I don't have anything to report. I just think that we all at least in the tourism industry are very closely watching what's happening in the legislature currently and directly
related to the TDT collection and the existence of the TDC. So I think there's going to be a lot coming out. I did not hear what happened at the 9:00 a.m. committee meeting this morning, but I'm trying to stay up to date with it and um it's very interesting time. That's just all I'll say. Just to tag on to that, I
I have copies of um the legislative language if anybody's interested. Also, um I believe the House floor vote will be this Friday. So, uh Mayor Connor's not here. Vice Chair Hermanson, nothing.
Uh Larry Jones, no report. Okay. Uh Alex Litres, no report. Thank you. Mayor Medina. Well, thank you all for yielding your time to me. Uh f first first and foremost, on March 28th, we had an outstanding ribbon cutting of what is now called the new and improved
sacrifice park. I want to thank each and every one of you. It was a wonderful event. And yet this morning, 38 years ago, in the city of Palm Bay, we had one of the very first mass shootings in the city's history. Not the only one, but in
the state in the state's history. And moreover, we lost uh two brave souls, officers Grogan and officers Johnson. Today, we honored their memory at a new sacrifice park. Thanks to each and every one of you that provided uh your portion
of the funding and that is not only for the city of Palm Bay for but for all first responders that are fallen here locally. Uh I suggest you visit even in the evening time. It's it's well lit. uh
and it does honor the sacrifice, the blood that was laid in the history of Pal's uh foundation. So, thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh John Moran, I think we'll just get a thumbs up from you
again. Yeah, he's listening. Okay. Uh Wayne Sword, nothing to report, sir. Okay, Peter. Uh just a reminder, next meeting is May 28th. right here in this room. Okay. I will
ditto what Julie said. I think we're all watching what the legislature uh is is doing and we'll we'll see how that develops. Uh I'll just say to you the two chambers have to agree. So we'll
usually what they are calling this the tax tax package and usually in the tax package there there is um some back and forth between the chambers. I I will say having worked for the legislature also
it is a 7,000 level bill which means that um that's a that's a committee bill and uh a committee will not move a bill forward that that the speaker is against. Okay. So you you you should consider that um it has has a support of
the speaker as as it moves forward. So we'll we'll all collectively watch as as it develops. If there's nothing else, I think we're turned Mr. Mayor. Thanks for coming today, sir. Thank you. The opinions expressed by any member of
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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. Hey, hey, hey. [Music] [Music]
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