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Heat. Heat. [Music] Okay, it's 2 o'clock. we'll go ahead and
um get started. Let's do this. Let's do the pledge of allegiance first. Algiance 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. Julie joined us. Good deal. We'll have to have a vote to let her vote. Uh, welcome to the September 24th meeting for the Tourism Development Council. Let's do roll call and then
we'll uh vote to allow Julie to participate by phone. Julie Braa here. Mayor Connors, Vice Chair Hermanson
here. Larry JS, Alex Litros here, Mayor Medina, Wayne Sor here, Mr. John Moran here, Chair Felner here. We have a quorum,
right? Sure. Okay, we've got uh we need to vote Julie Braa on on the line. So, we need to we need a motion and a second to let her participate. Is there a motion for Julie? So, moved. Okay. Have a motion by Mr. Hermanson. Is there a second?
Second by Alex. We'll call the role on that. That'll be Mayor Connors. Vice Chair Hermanson. Yes. Larry John. Sorry. Alex Litress. Yes.
Wayne Sword. Yes. John Moran. Yes. Chair Phelps. Yes. Okay. Very good. Um before we get started, any conflicts? Anything anyone needs to disclose?
No. Okay, members, we have minutes to approve from the August 27th, 2025 meeting. Are there any edits? Any corrections we need to make? Is
there a motion to approve the minutes? So moved. I was going to say Ber, but thank you sir. We have a motion by Mr. Hermanson. Is there a second? Second. Have a second by Wayne Sword. We'll call the role.
Julie Braa. I. Vice Chair Hermanson. Yes. Alex Litress. Yes. Wayne Sor. Yes. John Moran. Yep.
Chair. Yes. And we'll show that approved. Thank you very much. Um, Peter. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just uh a few things. I have um nothing to vote on today, but uh just
I'll I'll talk a little bit about our reports and then a couple of items that I just for future consideration. um as we have uh basically two more meetings um in uh in this uh calendar year and uh
and then we'll have a little bit of a a break in December and we'll be back in January. So just some things I that were on my mind to think about for as we go into the next year. But just uh just a couple of things on uh tourist development tax. Um 19 page 19 in your
uh packet. Um July came in uh we were up uh just under 2% 1.9%. Uh which was good. Uh we were, you know, we've kind of been flattening out the last couple of months. Uh but that's okay. We're still higher than the prior
year. Um, looking ahead to August, we're we're tracking really close to last August based on STR reports. Um, what I usually do is I take the daily STR reports and I try to do a little bit of a projection. And it always depends on
really what percentage um of TDT is being paid for by hotels versus uh short-term rentals. Uh, and if usually that percentage is is accurate, then my projections are usually pretty close. So I I think August will be pretty close to
the 1.8. It was 8 1.84 last year. I think it'll be pretty close to that. So that's good. Um, and then if we land uh September within uh, you know, pretty close to to last September, uh, we should bump right up
against 26 million. And I'm hoping we'll break 26 million, but we'll just have to see how how that last month goes. That's the that'll be the big question. Um, as we go into next year, I've been having a lot of conversations with the clerk's office. They're taking over tax
collection from um the the tax collector and they've bought software now. Uh they have the software in place. I don't know if it's fully activated yet, but they've been getting training on it. Um, but they're going to begin collections. If
you hear if anybody asks any questions about, you know, who do I turn my TDT into, uh, let me know and I will, uh, put them in touch with the proper people at the clerk's office because I was at a, um, South Bard, uh, tourism, uh,
meeting and, uh, there were a number of hotel years that were not aware of the change and then a couple that were aware of the change but hadn't been given clear instructions yet on what to do do about it. So, um I just I have a little bit of nervousness that not everybody's
going to be on the same page for a month or two until they figure, you know, sort of sort through all of that. Um can I ask something here? Yes, sir. Is it um so going from the tax collector to the clerk? Does the tax collector have they
have they already turned over records and such? Here are the the accounts. My understanding was nothing was physically turned over. Um that but there were meetings that took place. Um but there was nothing specific that that
was shared that way. Um the tax collector did put out notifications that they were no longer going to be collecting, but um at that time when that happened, that happened about a month month and a half ago. Um the clerk's office had not yet purchased the
software. So they didn't have anything that they could tell uh tell uh you know the collectors of the tax what to do. So the hotels and uh short-term rentals um did not get notification until more
recently. And then we've assisted um we they sent out a letter um to all the accounts and we we also followed up with a uh email to all the hotels because we have all the hotel uh data, you know, and who who the GMs are, etc. Uh but we
don't have that for short-term rental. That's I mean that's a real mixed bag. Um the other thing they had not uh completed yet which I'm hoping that they will get done soon is they had not completed they have to contract separately with Airbnb and um Expedia
Group which is VBO. Those are the two big uh other big collectors in the short-term rental world. Um they had not completed those contracts yet. I'm hoping that that gets done uh pretty quickly. But but there's still, you know, still some things. I think it, like I said, I think the first few
months are going to be a little shaky and uh we're we're going to try to help wherever we can, but uh it's just going to take them a little bit of time to to kind of gather all of that. So, I I guess I was wondering if this was just simply a mailmerge type of um
letter that goes out from from the clerk that says we Yeah, they did send the they did send a letter out um is my understanding, but again, I don't you know, I don't know without um having you know, we don't
have a list a database of short-term rentals. And that's, you know, that could be that's thousands of people. Uh so I don't know how comprehensive that that um letter was that went out and uh just a little concerned about, you know,
just making sure everybody's aware. So we'll we'll keep we'll keep on it and I'll keep you posted as we go into next month. Um obviously the first month of collection is October, so that's you know, they've got still got a little bit of time. Um, and then usually it's 30
days after uh 30 to 40 days after that they um do their reporting. So, uh I'll have a pretty good feel. If it's way lower than last October, then I'll I'll know that, you know, they they've been miss they're missing some some people. Is is your contact in the clerk's office
regarding the TDT collection? Is is that Marty? Marty. Okay. Uh maybe I I'll tell you what, I'll talk to Marty and and perhaps Marty could come here next meeting and just give us a quick Yeah. 15minute overview on the news
the new method of collection. Okay. And I'll make a note. Um how did the change come about? Um Peter, you want to speak to that? Yeah. Um um the county was notified by
the tax collector that they no longer wanted to collect that that particular tax and there's no specific ordinance that requires that the tax collector do it. So, um, that was about 3 or 4 months
ago. And, um, since that time, we've had conversations with Department of Revenue, which also does some collections for for certain counties. And, um, and then the clerk stepped forward and said they were they were willing to do it, and they were going to hire some additional people to do it as
well. Um, so we that was the the decision with the team was to to go with the clerk since it was more local, and we felt we would get better service reporting um better detail eventually. Um they also the in the new
software that they're they're purchasing, they believe they'll be able to do a little better targeting um of short-term rental and uh you know it's kind of actually it's sort of interesting and sort of disturbing at
the same time. I I always felt like, you know, we probably collected about 95% of TDT and then 5% was just uncollected. Uh we got a report recently from uh the Department of Revenue that showed um
all the basically the the eligible revenue from all short-term rentals, including hotels and vacation rentals and everything. And if we had collected all of it, it would have been 28 million over a 12-month period. And I looked at what we actually collected over that
12-month period and it was 26 million. It was like from July of uh 24 to June of 25. So there was from short-term rentals. No, it was it was all it was everything. So it was everything that gets collected under the under the uh state statute. So
hotel, motel, uh short-term rental, condos, vacation rental, all of that. Um it would have if we had collected 100% it would have been 28 million. So we collect actually collected 26 million. So we that's about 93%. So we're we're
still I think have some opportunity I think to go after some of these other you know vacation rentals. And I and that's something that this new software I think will supposedly help them do. I talked to the city staff at Cape Canaveral and Cocoa
Beach where over half of them are on the issue regularly and you can see you know I've shared with them your listing while duplicated you know numbers in the thousands up to 9,000 countywide right
in Cape Canaveral the individual property owners who registered with the city for a business tax receipt for short-term rentals is less than 10% of what's available online. Yeah. So, if they're not bothering to go in
and get a $20 business tax receipt and they're not being collected via Airbnb because people are renting them out on their own, right? I would say that the undercount on collections is probably way higher than 10%. I'm I'm curious uh to know if now
does do say that we're excuse me we're getting sales tax. Yes. And but we think you're not getting um they didn't say tourism tax. All they gave us was you know the based on the sales tax that they collected. So
they're pretty good at collecting sales tax. here was what the total eligible revenue would have been and it was like I want to say 565 million something like that and if I took 5% of that for TDT that comes out to be about 28 million
so versus the 26 that we actually collected so so they're giving us basically they're saying you know hey we collected sales tax on this number you should be getting PD basically now does the rise agreement I don't mean to get in the weeds here on something
because I mean we can ask Marty these questions, but is is that a a product of the rise agreement where they say that here's all the addresses that we think short-term rentals happening? Yes. And that's that's a that's a contract that's between the clerk and
the state. So, we're not involved in that. But what I find fascinating about that and and and clarify just so I understand. Um they're saying that these short-term rentals are remitting sales tax to the state but not tourism tax to the county.
That's what it looks like. Yeah. Okay. Yep. Yeah. How does that happen? Because you're dealing with I mean as I don't have enough time to explain the history, but you
I'm just I mean the mechanics of it. It's a combination of people that uh that because your sales tax you fill out on your sales tax form your bed tax you submit to bed tax and there's a there's a large percentage of the population
before we had Airbnb and VBO collect the tax because prior to 19 they didn't we didn't have an agreement with them then when they started collecting them you can see it on our collections they shot through the roof because it was being done automatically on behalf of the property owner that part I get However, there's a a lot
of people that will rent on VBO and rent on their own and they will selectively A they feel like they shouldn't pay it or collect it. B they don't know about it and C they'll reduce the cost of their rental by 5% and if they don't think they're going to c they don't collect it
and remit it. Sales tax is different than county tax I think in the mind of uh owners of short-term rentals. Now, this is all speculation, you know, and you can sort of speak in averages, but you can back into it. If the city says
you have to register or face fines escalating from $500 a day to 2,000 a day, and you still only have 10% of the known rentals via Airbnb registered with the city, it speaks to the compliance mentality of the people operating these
short-term rentals. Well, can I ask a final question on that then? Uh so the short-term rental folks um they are remitting the tax to the state because they're more worried about the state than they are
the the do guys have badges and guns. Okay. Okay. I know. All right. They do. And there's a and there's a enforcement uh office here in Bvard. Yeah. In Sentry.
Yeah. I've had restaurant tenants not remit sales tax and they show up in cars with lights and badges and guns and handcuff them and take them away. And the tax collector in the past, as is evident by this
change, has informed us in the community that were concerned about failure to collect that collection of bed tax was a voluntary function. And so it has not been enforced in any manner. And it's a pretty simple thing
to do. And there's agencies that you can pay for like a 10 to 15% commission that will give you the listing of all the short-term rentals. And as long as you know their DBPR, short-term rental license, because that has a higher propensity for people to get licensed,
uh, you just run that against the people that are remitting bed tax. And if they're not remitting bed tax in the last 12 months, they're probably consistently not remitting bed tax, right? And that's and that's supposedly what the software that they purchased has is that listing of every property
that potentially Yeah, I understand that that the program uh as it was explained to me just in a uh a quick meeting with the clerk that um it's kind of a it takes care of everything for them and as part of it
you know so the collection is going to happen with this with this offtheshelf program and as a component of it it's going to help them chase down um it's it's a tool. City of Cape Canaveral and the city of Cocoa Beach both
purchased Riseze and did not manage to move their compliance rate much over years because it takes enforcement. Yeah. You got to hire people to actually send the notice, find the individuals for failure to remit tax. Right.
So you can know it but unless you do something about it Yeah. Yeah. And that's I think that's mostly what the tax collector would do is send notification, but they would never really, you know, they would say, "Well, code enforcement is the county's job." Well, we'll see. We'll see if we can have Marty come from the clerk. And um
you can pay for staff easily through enforcement. Alex, sir, I'm just curious. Do we think this is not just non-compliance, but actually in some cases fraudulent where some of these entities are actually collecting and not remitting?
I can't speak to that. Uh that's that's an interesting question. Um I mean that's usually that's where audits come in. You you can do audits of properties and then you can see what they're charging, what their what their rate is and the public facing
tools that are out there and then what they're actually collecting. I think if you're doing that, you've got two problems, right? Uh versus just failure to to collect it. Um anyways, uh you know what? We'll see if we can get better questions from uh clerk staff and
see if they can come next month for us. Okay, that'd be great. Okay. Um and then uh just two other minor things. Uh you know, we had a pretty short uh agenda this time. As you can see, um the operating procedure
manual for the TDC stipulates that we have to have 10 meetings, no no less than 10 meetings. Um at some future point, what I may bring is um just some options for the TDC to consider. You know, maybe we lower that number. The
state the state statute requires quarterly meetings, so it's only four a year. Uh maybe we do something in between where we have a mandatory number of meetings but not 10 so that if we do have a a month where there's really not not a ton to discuss. It's you know we
don't have to waste everybody's time and gather everybody and we could do you know we could cancel that that month. we could still send out the report, send out all our, you know, information, but just, you know, cancel the meeting for the month. And then I I, you know, I think it only happens about once or twice a year, but I if we had some
flexibility there, we we could do that. Um, with the currently the way the OPM reads, it's it's mandatory 10. So, um, you know, we we're not able to do it right now. So, but we can that could be changed with the vote of the TDC. So, I just just an item to be thinking about.
It's something that I No, we don't meet Sorry. We don't meet in June as it is. Okay. Yeah. June or December. So, we meet every other month. I'm curious if he's going to bring something back uh for us discuss next meeting. Are are there thoughts on
months that are good or not good? Um I mean, I think we would still schedule 10. It would just be like if we got to, you know, a couple of weeks before and we're like, the agenda is super light. we, you know, we don't really need to meet, you know, then we could then we could review that with the chair and the
chair could make that call uh potentially. So, I I'd be in support of uh the chair making that call. If there's really not a reason to convene, then let let them make that decision. I I think that's a great idea.
Agreed. Okay. Well, we'll bring it back next month. I mean, I got to I'll just say something here. I don't have as much incentive to not come here because my office is just downstairs and I'm in this building uh you know
almost every workday. So, okay, it's different than the rest of you who are coming from different corners of the county. Um I do appreciate that. Um Okay. Well, we'll bring it back and let we can have some more discussion and then we can I'll I'll bring the actual
language so we can go over that as well. Um, and then, uh, Commissioner, if you don't mind, I'll cover the topic we discussed a little earlier just, okay, as a heads up. Um, unfortunately, the people that were going to come to speak to this issue went to our offices in
Cocoa Beach. Um, as opposed to coming here. So, uh, but, uh, we got, uh, we were, uh, wa there's an organization called Waterway Warriors, um, that do, uh, various cleanup
projects around the county, mostly on Pineita, and I think they do a little bit on Ogalli causeway as well, if I'm not mistaken. um we got notification from them that um and they'd like to come and and speak to the to the TDC and share the the concern
that they have. Um they have uh I guess lobbyed and and managed to get 35 barrel um sized uh trash recepticles on Pineita. and they were working with KBB,
who we obviously we have a contract with KBB to clean all the causeways, um, to actually empty those barrels. It's not part of their contract, but they were doing it. Well, I guess they've kind of come into, you know, some issues, some concerns that KBB has,
and they don't want to do it anymore. And so, uh, the waterway warriors want to, um, pay a third party to do it. Obviously, they are um maybe looking to us for some assistance. So, I'm just bringing that up. I don't think it's going to be a huge amount of money, but
um but I do but I do think it's uh it would be something that' be supplemental to what we're already doing with KBB. Um the other thing that I've asked my team to do is go go back and just make sure um that KBB is being compliant with all
our contracts with they're supposed to clean all the causeways. They clean Kilco Beach. Um, so we're going to go back through they they provide us monthly reports uh that provide hours and uh pounds of trash collected and all of that. So we're just going to audit that and make sure we go back and look
at that and make sure they're doing it what the contract stipulates they should be doing. Um and then further, you know, we can talk uh next month about what the waterway warriors are are trying to accomplish and what they they want and what they need in terms of the trash
recepticles that are particularly uh specifically on Pineita uh is the issue. So, uh just raising that as a awareness thing. I um we we'll have more detail next month, but just something to be thinking about. We got Can I say something on this? Uh
we're talking about a group of volunteers that do cleanup on Pineita and they are going to I think they're going to adopt 528. I've been out there with them on cleanups and uh so if you
ever seen the bags piled up by a sign um on Pineita, that's them. And so they they have an arrangement uh I think through FOT that then comes and picks up those trash bags. And really their their
sort of the causeway cleanup is more a beneficiary of their larger program which is they're trying to clean up the trash um to keep it from blowing into the river. That's that's really their their mission. And uh I I think a lot of this group and and you know as I say
there are a lot of people that complain about things. There's very few people just get out there and do it. So, I think they've they've done great things there on Pineita and they're also going to be doing uh something on the west
half of Ogawi and and part of 528. So, I think it makes a lot of sense to uh support them um in continuing to keep Pineita clean because that that's easier when they're already out there doing it. I'm I'm having a hard time understanding
why it's not being managed by KBB since they're under contract to do it and have the staff and the machinery and everything else to do. We're we're going to look to see what part of their contract, but uh yeah, the contract doesn't include trash recepticles and emptying of those. That
was something that was added by the the Waterway Warrior people. They wanted they thought that that was, you know, what they wanted to do on Pineita and they've managed to get them out there. But, you know, like I said, KBB was emptying them and and uh you know,
replacing the uh the liner and everything in there, but they I think that's gotten a little out of their scope and they're they're I haven't talked with John Niko yet. I I will have a conversation with him, but my guess is that they probably don't have the staff to do that on a regular basis. So, um
this is supplemental to that. Well, instead of contracting with yet another party, now you got two contractors out there doing the same thing. That doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm not sure that they're doing the same thing. Uh, but we'll we'll have more details uh probably next month. We just
wanted to give you a heads up that we're going to bring that back to you. Commissioner, sir, I I'd just like to reiterate um Commissioner Felner's point. I've worked extensively with both groups in Titusville and uh Waterway Warriors has definitely gone above and beyond to help
us out, keep our community clean when they didn't have to. They weren't paid to. They're just volunteering and and uh they're doing a lot of good work. So, I'm I'm excited to see what we can do together because unfortunately the lagoon is massive and keeping it clean
is a total team effort. So, I'm I'm excited about hearing what what they have to offer at our next meeting. I it it may just be the answer that they continue to do this on Pineita and KBB's maybe not that's not their area of responsibility maybe that's not their
area of specialty I you know we could be open to that so we're going to get the details and we'll we'll bring it back to you okay sir um and then final thing on on budget just uh a wrap up um last night the board um approved the the county's
budget which incorporated our budget so our budget is now approved for next fiscal year. Uh so as we you know kind of wind down now in the last uh the last few days of uh of September. Um we'll have uh you know some scram mad scramble
to get all the final invoices in and and all of that. There's uh still quite a bit of outstanding uh marketing invoices from uh from the summer campaign and those usually don't reconcile till almost November. Um but
they'll get they'll get reconciled and they'll get uh charged back to this current fiscal year. Not it won't get in it won't get charged to next fiscal year. So we always try to make sure that you know we get all the invoices and everything gets charged to the proper year. So that's uh that's the team's
working on that now. But other than that, all the other uh accounts other than you know marketing, I think we're in pretty good shape as far as uh what our carry forwards were and and all of that. So that is it, Mr. Chair. Unless there's
questions. Are there questions for Peter? No. Okay. Um we don't do we have anyone from the public? I don't think we do today. Uh we'll go into uh board reports.
Julie, um all I have is that our upcoming uh beach committee meeting will be October 21st, I believe, and I have no other report. Mayor Connors,
um thank you Peter and the team for all their work. I know it's always fun doing the budget and everything else, but uh really appreciate you guys and look forward to seeing the damage we do next year. Thank you. Great. Thanks. Uh Alex,
nothing new in reports. Okay. Not even on falls for foodies. It's a great program here. That's a that's Margo has a great prefix menu they're offering. So, just a actually a quick uh comment
question for uh uh Mr. Crannis. The new um Cocoa Village Main Street uh executive director seems chatting with him seems like he's definitely a little bit more proactive than what we've had down. Okay.
Yeah. In fact, um I went and spoke to they had a they had a business expo last month and I I was one of the keynote speakers for that and uh as part of that I looked at what their marketing was and they they actually are doing uh some marketing of themselves and they created
a TV commercial and uh I asked I said would you be against putting Florida's Space Coast on the TV commercial to give us kind of wrap you into our overall branding and they said oh yeah we'll be happy to do that. So, they did do that. Um, so yeah, it seems like seems like he
is more proactive and more interested in marketing and things like that. So, it's good. Great. Prefix menu. Yes, sir. At uh Cafe Margo. Yes, sir. Tell tell us tell us what we get. Uh four course dinner.
Yeah. And $48. And uh definitely a lot of the favorites on the menu that uh people have kind of come to love. the mlange of fish, uh the crab cakes, uh things like that, and and
also some things that are not on our regular menu. Just uh allows people to kind of come and get a taste. What's the highest calorie thing on on the menu? The highest calorie. Yeah. It's a French restaurant. I mean, it's right. I'd say the duck.
The duck. Okay. Yes. All right. Very very good. Duck. Comfy. Yes. Okay. All right. Wow. Okay. I have to go to Cafe Margo. Um, okay. John, sir.
Uh, no, I'm fine. But if you if you'd like to come to the classical school, we also have a cafeteria there also. We'll compete with you. Yes, Wayne. What's good up in Yuri? Nothing. Okay. You know, still getting through the
summer. We're down about 350 375,000 in uh government year-over-year. And last week we celebrated we had eight government rooms. You know, it's like and last week alone compared to same week last year we were down 10,000 uh dollars in lodging revenue just that
government. So DOA is real at least in this area. Just wait till we have a shutdown here next. It'll be the same. We're already there. Okay. Vice Chair Hermanson. Nothing. Thank you. Uh Peter, you have anything else?
No, just our next meeting is the 22nd and uh and then our final meeting of the year is November 12th. Um we we're going to have a marketing committee meeting, but we've we're working on a number of different pieces of new creative and we
wanted to wait till we had some of that to show to the committee. So, we've kind of just tentatively put a hold on those meetings until we we have a little bit more to share. Then of course once we get some of that new creative we'll bring it here as well to to show to the TDC.
Okay. Um now we talked about the waterway warriors. Uh so I won't bring that up a second time. Last night we had our final uh budget hearing for the board of county commissioners. And before we left um there was a short
discussion uh or point made about the larger rockets and FAA is going to have some opinion on that. Um I don't know and I'm and I was curious since gonna say the FAA
doge the FAA. Yeah, that's what the federal government's going to do. Not sure. Maybe. Okay. Uh what I was I was just curious um from tourism perspective
uh thoughts on the bigger better rockets. Sir, thank you. Uh from what I see in Titusville, the bigger the rocket, the bigger the crowd we draw. And I'm sure Wayne can attest to that. um whether
it's a a heavy or a man launch, you know, that that increases tourism. Uh I'm sure kind of like eventually it'll turn into like the Falcon 9 where even around here we don't even notice. Um but you know, we're not there yet. Uh I think there is some concern for some
tourism implications with closing down Play Linda uh for up to 44 days a year or up to 60 days a year. Uh but we were kind of reassured that it's 2 hours before launch, 2 hours after launch and it just adds up over time of it could be up to this point. Uh but mostly for
safety and I think a lot of people forget in the 80s Play Linda was shut down for a good amount of time when the shuttle program was going on. So uh I think it's just uncertainty right now that's causing a lot of anxiety, but uh over time I I think it'll it'll all even
itself out. Now, I've had a couple conversations with hotelers about that they're getting more business related to the payload. It depends on the payload. Yes. Yeah. And uh so I mean tourism certainly is one part of it, but um I'm talking
about the leisure traffic that wants to come and see a rocket and what have you. Certainly I remember the days of the shuttles and how that was almost guaranteed to sell out um hotels at that time. But with the related to the the payload um the corporate business uh
traveler I'm I'm just gives you some sense of optimism in that in that that market. Yep. When the shuttles went up uh it was the payload uh the people that had something to do with the payload that drove the business. The people that would come to see some might stay
overnight others would just come for the day. You'd get a shot in the arm especially with a last minute delay. But that uh team from JPL that had worked on that satellite for a decade of hundreds of people and all their family that would come out to watch it
and then come out 6 weeks in advance and take two floors of the hotel. That's where the real impact was for for hospitality. And so the more payload they can take up uh the more that business will come. We get a lot of international travel if
somebody's um well the Galileo that went off same time last year filled our hotel um because it was European satellites and they just wanted to be part of it. A lot of those people are part of that project. Were they a family that were involved with it? Um so but the other
stuff launches themselves if there's humans on it that draws more interest and or now when the boosters return that's also a big crowd-pleaser. especially night one. That's it's it's neat to see for sure.
How's shoulder season? I asked that before we go. It's soft. It is. Forward bookings are down. I don't want to be quoted. Doom and gloom again. Dave's not here anymore. No, he's retired.
The forward bookings through the end of the year are off significantly for what they were last year. And what do you attribute that to? Not doing the gloom. It's hard to tell. And if there's a government shutdown, then all in last
twice last two times we we suffered that pretty much any bookings, you know, forward several months will just get cancelled. It'll evaporate immediately. the last government shutdown we had at the beginning of Trump's term. I mean, just in our little group, we wrote off
like almost $600,000 in forward bookings in a week. Okay. Um members, since we're all here, we just had the waterway representative walk in here and we said that we would take this up next month
because But are we are we good? Go ahead and um Okay, Cheryl, I hate to put you on the spot, but you did uh make the trip here from in in from Cocoa Beach. Yeah. So, um are you would you like to
come up and talk to us and explain what's going on in Okay. Uh we introduce yourself Yeah. real quick. Oh, Cheryl from Waterway Warriors. I'm one of the co-founders and uh we are looking for assistance with our 35 um
trash barrels that are on Pineita Causeway. Um we got a price uh quote from a vendor for $20,000 a year. We that was for his labor and um we will supply uh the bags um and the
maintenance equipment that take care of the barrels. Um, this also in in case of uh uh hurricane weather or anything uh that's difficult, uh he will remove the barrels and take them to our storage unit so they're safe and they won't um be harming the water, which is what
we're trying to prevent. And so we were requesting if we could have some assistance from the TDC uh for his contract of $20,000. But tell us tell us what's going on, what your current situation is and what's working, what's not working. Uh
just so we're we're clear. Okay. Uh for the first two years, this is our third year of having trash barrels. Um the four of us was was maintaining them and that's when we had 20 barrels. And it's very difficult uh for us because we all work full-time uh
to come out on the weekends and empty the 20 barrels. Uh recently we decided to expand because what had happened is that we're basically on the maintenance mode for Pineita. Uh because when we originally started three years ago, um all the trash from our visitors along
the river banks were being left on the river banks. And so we decided to just try out trash barrels. And so we did and they started using them. We're like, "Oh my gosh." Oh, what do you know? So we just expanded it to 15 and then to 20. And then now we're at 35. And they also
have the monofilament containers uh that we learned about from FWC. So they're on um 22 of our barrels. the Boy Scouts made those for us and uh so everything's working and it's on maintenance road maintenance mode and it looks really really good and we want to continue
that. We just can't do it ourselves. The current situation is KBB was changing these right when they got the contract for Pineita um they agreed to um um remove the trash from the trash barrels and
then take them and put them at our FDOT sign and then FDOT's contractor comes in and picks up the uh the trash barrel uh the trash bags and um after one year of doing it um they advised us that this was not part of their um vision and so
that they stopped doing it on September the 9th. So immediately we started looking for contractors and just so happens the one that we got um is doing an inkind donation and he's also helping us with um O'Galli. We're trying Ogali
with some trash barrel right now. Are there questions for Cheryl Mr. Hermanson? Sir, what So when you see KBB out there, what are they doing? They're driving around in their in their mules and picking up loose trash.
What they are doing now is that um we're not allowed on the center medium. Um so they're uh picking up the trash on the center medium is what they're doing. And as part of this may be a question for Peter, as part of their contract is not to pick up trash
in other areas than the center median. That's not my understanding. you know, it it's the whole causeway doesn't make any sense. Yeah. It's just this this is there's a disconnect here. Yeah. Yeah. And I like I said, I I want to
talk to John about it, uh John Niko, because uh first I heard of it was, you know, a couple hours ago. So, I'd like to do some investigation. Um the other thing is, you know, the county can't just contract with anybody. So, you
know, if it if the TDC thought that this was a direction to go, um, and the and gave staff, you know, that input, um, we would have to sit down with the contractor and make sure that they would meet all the qualifications to be able to get a
contract with the county. Um, so, you know, there's certain insurance requirements, etc. So it's, you know, I I don't think we because waterway um warriors are are volunteer organization. I don't think the contract would be with them. It would be with
whoever the end company is that is doing the collection. And so we'd have to just vet them and make sure that they would meet the criteria that that the county would have, which is one of the reasons why we would um I'll just say real quick, one of the
reasons why we'd bring some more information to you probably next month to to vet that so we can we could sort of do the preliminary work to see if the contractor is going to meet all of those requirements before we have a formal ask
of the TDC. See? Um, but this this has come up um recently. Yeah, Julie, go ahead, Julie. Yeah, I don't know how to raise my hand on Zoom. That's okay. You're doing it. Raising my hand. Um, I just had a question. I fully support this and I've been a bit big advocate for getting help
for the waterway warriors um to clean up Pineita as that is my primary causeway. But I was just curious, what happened? How were the barrels emptied prior to the KBB contract? the four of us, the four co-founders, we did it. We we and
sometimes our husbands would come and help us. So, there's four weeks in a in a month. And so, each one of us would go and on Friday afternoon after we got off work, go and empty all the barrels. And we just can't do it anymore. We're getting old. Thank you.
Uh Cheryl, um and I'm sorry, Mr. Hermanson, I'll yield to you in a second. tell us um because I think KBB uh planned to do three cleanups a year if if that's my recollection of what John Nico told me. How many how many times are you out there on uh the
causeway with your volunteers on Saturday mornings uh cleaning up? Uh we have now four sites that we've adopted. So the second and fourth Friday, second and fourth Saturday of every month, we're at one of our sites. Sometimes we do uh simultaneous cleanups. Um like for example, we just
adopted 528. So um this Saturday we're going to do like a soft launch and figure out how everything's going to operate. Then our grand opening or ribbon cutting ceremony will be October the 11th where we'll invite all of you guys to come join us. But over over the last year or last two years, how many how many times do you
think you were on causeway on Pineita since we're talking about that? Um we usually do it initially when the year started we were doing once a month which we the fourth Saturday we would do someplace else like Corks Creek or Ogali. Um but now we're able to go and do it like every quarter
because the trash barrels are working so good. So So you were out there 12 times a year? Yes. Doing doing cleanups. Okay. Are there other questions for Cheryl since she rushed in here today? Sorry. Um I just had a comment if you don't
mind. So you it seems like preventative care is better than tertiary care, right? Providing the barrels, emptying them and and it's probably more cost effective unless manpower to then do a cleanup after the fact. So again, very supportive. Uh my only concern is, you know, if this is a countywide uh
initiative that it be countywide and include uh Max Brewer Bridge, Parish Park area as well. I think they've demonstrated something on Pineia because I mean I'm a child of the 70s. I've said this uh in the '8s and and and things were dirty when we
were kids. Okay. So, I think people are much more conscientious uh about litter and such um these days. And and I and I I believe that if you make it easy for people to do the right thing, the vast majority of
people will do the right thing. Not everyone, but the people who go out there and and enjoy the recreation along the river. I I I think those are largely people that live here and um they're out there a lot. Um and and by virtue of the barrels being
there, you pro you prove that. I mean they they put they put stuff in there and even the monofilament Yes. uh collection which absolutely necessary. People are putting uh the old fishing line in there, right? So it doesn't it doesn't end up in the
river and and those are filled up, right? That's been very positive. So, uh, I think the barrel program is a good thing. That's that's my my opinion. And one other thing just to tell you that it's working is that the community knows that we go on the second or fourth
Saturday of every month and clean up Paneita. So, when the barrels are full, they just put their trash all around the barrel. So, we, you know, it's not, we don't have to go search for, it's just right there next to the barrel, which is pretty impressive. And I think people do the same thing if you go to the beach on a busy weekend,
right? Yeah. uh and in which KBB said that sometimes uh they'll they'll go twice a day on some of the the busy beach locations, but you'll see that toward the end of the day that and and that's an indication that people are trying to do the right thing. The the the barrel is full and they're putting
their stuff um near it knowing that somebody's going to come and uh empty it. So that that's consistent with what people uh we see uh do on the beach. Other questions for uh I'm sorry, Alex.
Well, I'm not sure if it's a question for them, but just maybe an observation that it seems like these waterway people are making KBB's job a lot easier, right? I'm not sure if that can be kind of a negotiating thing that without
these people, their jobs would be more difficult in general. And as far as the barrel program that they're doing, uh, it's making that part of their cleanup a lot easier as well. It almost seems like it would be kind of a natural tradeoff
that if they could continue emptying the barrels, they're they're actually getting the net benefit out of this, right? And and and so that we know now you you're not permitted per FOT to go into the median, the center of the road.
Now, what is it specifically? Is it is it an insurance thing? You're not a government employee. What What is FOT? What's their rule that says that you can't go into the Not that I'm encouraging. I'm just just curious. Um I don't know the exact verbiage, but it's in our agreement with them. It's the uh adopt a highway agreement that
comes out of Tallahassee, and it's about uh we can't go in the medium, and I I believe it's mostly liability, and that we're not employees. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I think um based on Alex's comments and what I've heard today, I mean it's definitely uh we need to sit
down with John and and understand the KBB the concerns, the issues, um look at the contract as far as what it exactly covers, look at their reports and what they've been doing uh and bring all that back and have a have a bigger
discussion. But we pay KBB1 157,000 a year to to clean four causeways. Angela, is that right? Or or is it five now with the Pineita? Um, six with Max Brew. Six with Mac. Okay. So, we do Max Brew
as well. So, six and that's that's 157,000. That's 157,000 annually. It's a three-year con three-year contract with a two-year renewal, I believe, is what it was that when it went to the board, that was what was approved. So, we just want to make sure, you know, they're
doing what they're supposed to be doing and we're getting our money's worth, uh, which, you know, we we will confirm that. And then what is, you know, the issue of adding barrels and all of that, what has that done to them and their manpower? and um you know what are their
objections potentially uh to to cleaning the barrels or emptying the barrels and all of that and and and again just from my knowledge on 528 I think there's a dumpster or two right there that F dot has yes
I mean I'm seeing people nod their heads I mean but do is there a lot of trash in them I people use them do they or is that couch amnesty they throw a couch in there in the middle of the night as the dumpster. You see the random mattress? Yeah.
So, I I know I I mean I joke that we ought to have couch amnesty in the in the county so that you know they don't end up on a on a causeway in the middle of the night, but uh I I mean I assume the dumpsters are out there because people use them, right? I see the dumpsters all the time. I
don't know how full they are. I'll just make one point. It seems just the simplest path is to work with uh KBB to add this obviously beneficial service u and applaud you for your volunteer efforts. I think it's great.
Uh but instead of trying to rope in a second contractor or just expand the scope of KBB's contract to empty the barrels if they're willing, you know, if they're not willing, then we'll have another conversation. But we'll bring we'll bring those options back. I think Alex made a great point. Instead
of them running around with their staff trying to pick up bits and pieces here, it's being collected at pickup points with the barrels. Makes logical sense to me, right? Logic doesn't always prevail, but that seems like right.
And by the way, we do um we're very detailed and organized. That's me. And so we have data for the last three years of how much the barrels have made a difference and how much we're having to go from picking up, you know, every
Saturday and uh the second and fourth Saturday of every month we only could do Paneita because it was so bad. And that was for the first two years. Finally with the trash barrels, everything's like containing itself. So we can go ahead and adopt more places. And so we do know the trash barrels work because
of our organized data check off and tracking it to see what's happening. And Cheryl, we we've talked about this um probably in the last couple of months and um somebody shares some statistics. So when you were doing the the barrels, right, and you had those out there and
it so all of that was working. share with this group how much tons of trash that your group is responsible for removing from Paneita Causeway because you you are good at tracking the data. Yeah. Yeah, we are. Um the end of last month we had removed 103 tons of trash
for the last three years and that was I haven't added this month yet. 206,000 pounds. Well 103 tons. So yeah, that would be ton 2,000 lbs a ton, right? Yeah. Yeah, it is. So over 200,000 pounds
trick or imperial in. Okay. And we just had a couch dump and so FDOT their guy came and got it for us. So yeah, we had a couch dump and and that's what's really good when you're working with someone like FDOT and the county when we call them they know that we need
help because we don't bother you. We just do it ourselves. So when we told about the couch dump, you know, they were there within two days and removed the couch right from the shoreline of the Pineita. So, it's good working with you guys. You may want to start KBC, keep keepard
clean and bid for the contract. Yeah. For all the causeways and thank you. Okay. Competition. Thank you very much for rushing over here today. Sorry for um you heading to
Cocoa Beach. Yeah. Um but thank you. There any other questions for Cheryl while she's here today? Well, so we'll we'll bring something back to you uh next month. Okay. Okay. Okay. Very good. Anything else uh before we go? So, Mayor Connors.
Yeah. My my thing is if we're going to look at funding this for particular causeways, again, I would like to see all six causeways if we're going to look at um them putting out trash barrels and hiring a contractor to to keep it clean. So, that was just my only We'll try to bring you as much information as possible to our next
meeting. Okay. Thank you. If that's it everyone, thank you very much. We'll we'll see you next month. Thank you. 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 Bvard County, Florida, Space Coast Government Television, or the program sponsor and are solely those of the presenter. The board of county commissioners of Bvard County, Florida, Space Coast Government Television, and the program sponsor hereby expressly disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for any defamatory or
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