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Minutes 12-04-02MINUTES OF THE HeritageFest 2002 COMMITTEE MEETING EZELL HESTER CENTER, 1901 N. SEACREST BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, December 4, 2002 AT 7:00 P.M. Present Angela Girtman, Chairperson LaClaire Bowdry Chantelle Brown Cheri Girtman Lasendra Hoggins Stephanie Mingo-McKoy Eddie Mitchell Cynthia Diane Pereira Dennis Rumph Rita Simmons Mary Degraffenreidt, Recreation Manager Brenton Rolle, Recreation Supervisor 1. Call to Order Chairperson Girtman called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Attendance A sign-up sheet was circulated to record the attendance. Chair Girtman asked people to put their e-mail addresses down if available. 3. Approve Minutes of November 20, 2002 This item was tabled by the Committee pending approval at the next meeting. 4. Committee Reports Family Story Hour/Book Signing, February 1, 2003 Chair Girtman related that Ms. Walker had provided some information to Ms. Marva .1ones, with the African American Book Club, but that Ms..1ones had not read it yet. The date is reserved on the calendar and Chair Girtman is speaking to ,lames Watson Akbar about it. Mr. Akbar will call Chair Girtman back about the author and who is going to do the Family Story Hour. Last year, the Committee assisted by selling books as their contribution. Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 The free book giveaway date has been changed to February 15 at the Hester Center along with the Basketball Tournament and the education programs on that day. Coronation Ms. Simmons reported that the Coronation Committee met and discussed the Carolyn Sims Award to come up with criteria for it. They recommended tabling this activity until next year so more thought could go into it. Ms. Watson had already distributed the applications and this would have meant re-doing them. When this come to the Committee next year, they will have it finalized. The applications were coming in slowly. A lot of girls want to be in it but there is a date conflict with the Del Teens because there is a conference in Tallhassee on the same day as the Parade. She had not heard anything from the schools. She suggested going out to the schools to see the counselors or teachers to ask for nominations. Chair Girtman also suggested contacting some of the other organizations that work with young people and ask them to submit a name to represent their organization on the Court. Motion Mr. Mitchell moved to table the Carolyn Sims Award portion of the Coronation until next year. Ms. Bowdry seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Education 1) Spelling Bee This was presented at the last meeting. The applications for this need to be revised. 2) Oratorical Contest The person who was to present this was expected to appear later in the meeting but did not. 3) Mr. Mitchell distributed a packet including a contest entry form that he and Mr. Waldman would be taking to the schools on the day after the meeting. They will also leave some at the Hester and Wilson Centers and at the Art Center. They plan to speak with Ms. Decker at the School Board also. He verified with Chair Girtman that they would be able to use the same place in the Mall as last year. 2 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 4) Science Chair Girtman has completed a packet for the Science Fair and would provide copies to everyone. The criteria are the same as last year. She had already distributed packets to Poinciana, Rolling Green, Galaxy, and Boynton Beach Charter School. She will be distributing some additional packets and will leave some with Mary DeGraffenreidt for the Wilson and Hester Centers. The application deadline is .January 7 to return entry applications. They may turn them in at the Hester Center, City Hall in the Mall, or City Hall and this is indicated on the information. They have medallions and trophies and the awards are listed in the packet. She did not ask the Mall about when they could set up but last year the application asked that people set up on Friday night from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m.; however, no one complied and they were busy moving tables and trying to set up the morning of the event. Mr. Mitchell hoped that some of the things could be set up on Friday evening. Chair Girtman stated that the forms ask people to set up and dismantle their own displays. The application packet also asks people to be available to be interviewed by the judges about their display. This interview is part of the judging criteria. Hispanic scientists and inventors will be included this year as well African-American. Ms. Bowdry will help will the judging. Bowling Tournament The date has been set for February 9, 2003 at the AMF Lanes on Boynton Beach Boulevard. The entry fee for bowlers will be between $20 and $25. Mr. Waldman will handle the activity and has volunteers that will help him. The Committee was not clear if the $20 - $25 was per person or per team. Chair Girtman thought it was per team. Entertainment Ms. Chantelle Brown spoke of a contact with the person who does the entertainment for BET Comic View and he told her that she had to submit a letter to him with what they were looking for. He could bring them anybody for as little as $500 but they have to say whether they are going to pay a fiat rate, pay for accommodations, etc. Once he gets the Committee's proposal, he will be able to provide someone who has appeared on BET Comic View. When the Committee sends a proposal, the promoter will send back a list of potential performers that would fit the budget/needs of the Committee. For musical entertainment, Ms. Brown had been in contact with a lot of different promoters but they were very expensive. She contacted a club in West Palm 3 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 Beach called A Million Dollar Club and was waiting for a call back to see if they could bring someone to the club that weekend and maybe the Committee could just pay for his or her transportation to come perform at HeritageFest. This would be for a rap artist. There was another club in Ft. Lauderdale that would do the same thing for a jazz performer. Ruby Baker frequents the club in Ft. Lauderdale. They just had to find out who was going to be there on that particular weekend, contact them, and pay for their transportation to come and perform at HeritageFest. Ms. DeGraffenreidt stated that the jazz band that played for the Family Day Picnic had been good also and were very reasonable - especially for an older crowd. Ms. Brown had not sent a proposal yet because she wanted to get the approval of the Committee first. Chair Girtman spoke with someone about Friday night, the ]:sland Night, and she had a contract for a steel drum band. They will do a minimum of two hours for $175/hour and $75 for each additional hour. At this price, the band consists of two people. She asked about participating in the parade but they would need a fiat bed truck, a generator, and electricity. The contract is for appearing on Friday night and appearing in the parade and participating on stage after the parade. For that it would be $650 total - 2 hours on Friday, the parade, and 2 hours on stage after the parade. Parade- No update Youth Luncheon Chair Girtman advised that the Woman's Club Was available and that it would not cost anything, leaving more money to spend for the food. The date did not work out with the Holiday ]:nn. Sandra Watson offered to do the catering for the luncheon, including the dishes and utensils. She was expected to come to this meeting with a sample menu for the Committee to review. Chair Girtman asked Ms. Watson if she could do the lunch for the same amount that was spent the previous year and she said she could. Basketball Dennis Rumph recommended that the basketball entry fees be raised. Even though the fees were raised to $200 adult and $100 youth this year, he stated that for this type of quality tournament, the fee for the adults should not be less than $250 and that this was what they had done for Roots in Delray Beach and they had plenty of teams that signed up. The Committee felt that the applications had to get out as soon as possible. 4 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 Motion Ms. Bowdry moved to let the Basketball Tournament Committee decide what the entry fee should be. Ms. Brown seconded the motion that passed unanimously. 5. Old Business a) Vendors-Insurance Chair Girtman spoke of the concerns the Committee had expressed at its previous meeting about the requirement for liability insurance for the vendors, believing that this would be a real hardship for the mom and pop vendors who had never had to have this kind of insurance. They thought it would be a big hindrance to participation. She met with Wilfred Hawkins who recommended a meeting with the City's Risk Manager, Chuck Magazine. One of the Committee's concerns had been the fire extinguishers that are required for any vendor selling food and now the Fire Department will provide the fire extinguishers. ~[n Chair Girtman's meeting with Mr. Magazine, he was unwavering on the insurance issue. While they were in the meeting, Ms. DeGraffenreidt looked through the old applications to see how many vendors were tied to a church or business and how many were individual. At least nine of the vendors were mom and pop organizations who would not have this kind of insurance. Mr. Magazine's office is trying to find someone who still offers the special event kind of insurance where a person could buy it for one day. Mr. Magazine explained why most insurers had stopped offering this kind of insurance. Chair Girtman asked Mr. Magazine to let her know if his office found anyone at all. At this point, the vendors have to provide their own insurance. ]~t is possible that they might be able to get their church to sponsor them. ]:f the HeritageFest Committee decided to vend, they would not need the insurance since they would be covered under the City's insurance. Mr. Mitchell wanted to know what rates would be involved. Chair Girtman stated that Mr. Magazine believed that special event insurance was no longer offered by the insurance companies. Ms. McKoy mentioned that she had spoken to an agent in Ft. Lauderdale last year and for the one-day coverage, it was like $1800, but it included the liquor license. She suggested that Chair Girtman telephone Bateman, Gorton & Sands. Ms. McKoy said they do business with them through the .1.T.C. Chair Girtman said some insurance companies will do it if you already have $1M insurance like at a daycare. When they contract with the School Board, they 5 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 always have to put the School Board on as additional insured. Ms. McKoy said this was just the additional insured - nothing to do with a special event rider, which would be a different kind of policy. Chair Girtman understood that but stated that if you were a church group, for example, all you would have to do is call and say ! need the City of Boynton Beach to be put on as an additional insured. Another suggestion was to send vendor applications to other people like ethnic restaurants because they might be interested to come out and vend and they would still have a number of vendors - which is what they wanted to do and they were probably already insured. There is a telephone number on the applications and if they have any questions, they can call Chuck Magazine or Chair Girtman. They also discussed the advisability of having people list the items they will be selling. At one of the festivals, a vendor was selling cap guns and they did not know that they were going to sell them. Mr. Mitchell inquired whether they were going to have the beer garden this year. Chair Girtman said they would like to have it but wanted someone else to do it, such as the Chamber of Commerce. Ms. McKoy stated there was no money out of pocket for that. Ms. DeGraffenreidt asked if they would use the new vendor applications. Brent Rolle will be mailing it last year's vendors. Chair Girtman said mail it out but send to some new ones also. One of the new ones would be the Jamaican restaurant on Federal Highway and others between Boca, Delray, West Palm that might wish to vend also. !f there are concerns from the people about insurance, the Committee will try to handle it as they come in. The vendor applications need to go out right now. b) Promotional Package by the 102.3 Fl4 Decided to talk about budget first. 6. New Business a) Budget Chair Girtman explained that she had only received one budget so she distributed a proposed budget that she had prepared using last year's expenses and the money available so far this year as a guide. 6 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 Proposed Budqet BB Tournament $1,300 (changed to $0 after discussion) No financial commitment needed from Committee as it is covered through money raised through entry fees Bowling Tournament 300 There will be one prize of $300. Ms. DeGraffenreidt has some trophies that just need new plates. Coronation 400 This money comes from what the girls solicit for advertisements but $400 is allowed for decorations. Education Committee 250 The Committee requested $558 this year for books, banners, and posters. Chair Girtman recommended $250 instead. There are books left over from last year. She asked Steve Waldman to check his books. Additional medallions are needed. Entertainment 5,000 (changed to $6~300 after discussion) Chair Girtman proposed a total of $5000 for the two-day event. Family Story Hour/Book Signing No financial commitment required from Committee Parade g00 Chair Girtman explained that at the last meeting, Mr. Pereira said he wanted to increase what the bands were paid to $300 and he would like to have six bands. She proposed $900, or three bands. Ms. McKoy said that they paid the bands $300 last year. Chair Girtman thought it was $275. Vendo~ 0 Youth Luncheon 2400 No budget was submitted but $2,913 was spent the previous year. This year, there would be no rental fee since it was going to be at the Woman's Club. Chair Girtman referred to her comments earlier in the meeting where she said that Sandra Watson was going to cater it including the dishes, etc. and that as soon 7 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 as she submitted a sample menu, Chair Girtman would see that everyone got a copy of it. Ms. Pereira thought that it would be a lot more work to have it catered than when it was just a sit down/eat/leave kind of thing. Promotion 2000 Chair Girtman preferred the $4K package from 102.3 FM but in light of the bottom line, chose $2000. The $2,000 does not include fliers and banners. The $2000 package includes 50 announcements beginning two weeks before the event. Some things will have to be added to the budget such as Portalets and electrical drops. DTSCUSS:ZON AND FZNAL BUDGET FZGURE? Chair Girtman said that she thought it was important to concentrate the available money on the things that bring in revenue. The Committee decided to take $1300 from the basketball tournaments since it was a self-sustaining event. Mr. Mitchell of the Education Committee said they would do the best they could with the $250 but that it would only cover the medallions and ribbons for both the essay and art contests. It would not cover the books, the banners, or posters. Chair Girtman said they could spend it on what they needed to - she had told Steve Waldman she had some additional ribbons. Ms. Pereira asked if any donations had come in from any of their letters. Chair Girtman replied that they had not. They had gotten a note from SAMS saying they would be giving something and she will pick it up the day after the meeting. There was nothing from Office Depot, for example. People said it was a tough year financially. Ms. McKoy suggested that she also contact AKA because they had a donation for HeritageFest. Lasendra Hoggins suggested having a fund- raiser for Step groups - they were paying $150 to get in and people were paying $10-15 to see them. Ms. Pereira asked that the luncheon budget be tabled since she did not have any information from Ms. Watson. Chair Girtman thought this could be tabled but that everything else had to be decided. 8 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 For the Coronation, the girls are asked for $150 for an entry fee. $400 will be more than enough for decorations. Chair Girtman wanted to put the $1300 with the promotion money to increase that. Others felt that the bulk of the money should go towards entertainment. Ms. McKoy said that there had to be some kind of attraction to draw people out and to allow the vendors to make money. Motion Ms. McKoy moved to move $1300 from the Basketball Tournament to Entertainment. Diane Pereira seconded the motion that carried unanimously. A question came up about the City's sound system and Ms. DeGraffenreidt will check into this. :If they could use it, it would cut down on their costs. Chair Girtman mentioned that she had called .]unkanoo Sensation and this year they wanted $750. Basically, the entertainment will be from 1:00 p.m. to 7 or 8 p.m. on Saturday. Ms. McKoy stated that the Woods Brothers had been phenomenal last year. Chair Girtman mentioned that she had spoken to the Director of the Community Redevelopment Agency, Doug Hutchinson, about the Heritagefest festival and he requested a budget to present to his Board. He was not sure how much he could help this year but wanted to make a recommendation. Next year, he wants to be more involved. He is able to tap into nationwide corporate money and he was talking about something like $30K. He envisions doing some of the same things that were said in the five-year plan such as admission at the gate, being self- sustaining, looking for nationwide corporate dollars, bringing in name entertainment, and so forth. The only thing is, he is working with the improvement of the Martin Luther King Corridor so he wants to bring attention to that area and having the festival on that Boulevard. She thought that having a collaboration with another organization that can bring in big dollars would be a good thing. She will meet with him again. He asked to identify something that they would like him to spend the money on and it sounds like we want him to spend the money on entertainment. Motion Ms. McKoy moved to take $1400 from the Youth Luncheon Budget and put it into the Entertainment budget. Ms. Bowdry seconded it and it passed with Ms. Pereira dissenting. Ms. McKoy rescinded her motion with the approval of the Chair and the Committee. 9 Meeting Minutes HeritageFest Committee Boynton Beach, Florida December 4, 2002 Motion Ms. McKoy moved to adopt the proposed budget with the stipulation that if extra money comes in, it goes towards entertainment. Mr. Rumph seconded the motion that carried unanimously. Carnival Pre-Sale Tickets The carnival pre-sale tickets have arrived and they are available for $10.00 a sheet. After considerable discussion, it was decided to keep them. At first it was not apparent that there was any savings over the wristbands ($15) but the wristbands have a short period of applicability (Sunday 12-5 p.m. and 4-9 p.m. No wristbands on Saturday!) versus the pre-sale tickets that can be used at any time on both days. It was noted again that anyone taking tickets must provide either the tickets or the money to the carnival on the day it opens. Ms. McKoy mentioned that last year there were people who took tickets but did not return either the tickets or the money so they had to take a loss. Ms. Girtman suggested checking this out with the City Attorney. Ms. Pereira took a bundle of 17 sheets at $10.00 a sheet or $170.00 starting with #0615655 and ending with #061581. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the Committee, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins, Recording Secretary (one tape) 120602 cc: D. DeCarlo 10