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Minutes 01-10-07 MINUTES OF THE VETERANS ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2007, AT 10:00 A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present: Thomas Kaiser, Chairman Robert Zimmerman, Vice Chairman David Buckner Karl Washington Stanley Gavlick, Alternate Stuart Preston, Alternate Cramer Hegeman, Alternate Chuck Magazine, City Liaison Absent: Morris Boruck Lester McKinzie Harvey Oyer I. Call to Order Chair Kaiser called the meeting to order at 10:16 a.m. II. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag Chair Kaiser led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. III. Invocation Chair Kaiser offered the invocation. A moment of silent prayer was observed in remembrance of Vice Mayor Robert Ensler. Chair Kaiser stated Vice Mayor Ensler had been extremely important to the Veterans Commission and would be sorely missed. In 40 years of serving on veterans' organizations, Chair Kaiser had never met a man who had been more important to the veterans of the community than Mr. Ensler. All agreed. Chair Kaiser announced he and Vice Chair Zimmerman would be visiting the family in the afternoon. He thanked all the veterans who had gone to the funeral. IV. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. A. Introduction of new Staff Liaison Chair Kaiser introduced and welcomed the new City staff liaison, Chuck Magazine. Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, Florida January 10, 2007 V. Agenda Approval Vice Chair Zimmerman moved to approve the agenda as presented, seconded by Mr. Gavlick. The agenda was approved. VI. Approval of September 13, 2006 Minutes There were no corrections, additions, or deletions to the minutes. They were approved as submitted by consensus. VII. Comments by Chair Chair Kaiser commented the board had not seen Harvey Oyer for quite some time. Several members expressed a desire to see Mr. Oyer return to the board as his participation was missed. Chair Kaiser asked the Recording Secretary to speak with the Deputy City Clerk about sending Mr. Oyer a letter. Mr. Oyer was said to be a rich source of historical information and as such, was invaluable to the board. All hoped he would return. Since Mr. Kull had resigned and was a DAV member, Chair Kaiser expressed a desire to replace him with another DAV member. He thought this would maintain a balance on the board between the various veterans' organizations. Mr. Magazine declared if Chair Kaiser knew of someone who wanted to serve on the board and was a member of the DAV, he could encourage that individual to fill out an advisory board application and submit it to the City Clerk's office. He could then ask Deputy City Clerk, Judy Pyle, to determine which Commissioner had the next appointment to the Veterans Commission and telephone him to make that recommendation. Chair Kaiser stated he hoped to obtain consensus on the Veterans Advisory Commission for having a modest bronze plaque at the new Veterans Park named for Robert Ensler, a combat veteran and long-time friend and supporter of veterans' organizations. This would be a permanent "Thank You" to Mr. Ensler and his family. All were in agreement. Motion Mr. Buckner moved to ask the City Commission to approve the placement of a bronze plaque at the new Veterans Park in honor of Robert Ensler. Mr. Hegeman seconded the motion that passed unanimously. Mr. Buckner mentioned the American Legion memorial was in the finishing stages, and they were going to affix an inscription, "In Memory of Robert Ensler" on the base of the memorial. Chair Kaiser mentioned they were making an offer to pay for the monument at the new Veterans Park. Vice Mayor Ensler had encouraged them to pool their money to do this. They had come up with a proposal that would be at no cost to the City and he displayed a photograph of the proposed, 28 feet long, 12 feet tall monument. He suggested having three flagpoles, including one where veterans might wish to fly their donated interment flags, which were nine feet in width and very handsome. This was done at national cemeteries and everyone thought it was a good idea. 2 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, Florida January 10, 2007 Mr. Magazine stated he would take that recommendation to the Recreation & Parks Board, since they would be the ones working on the design with the landscape architect. VIII. Comments from Visitors Chair Kaiser asked to hear from Jim Stewart from the Boynton/Lantana VFW Post 5335 at 500 N.E. 21st Avenue in Boynton Beach. Jim Stewart, VFW Post 5335, Boynton Beach/Lantana, addressed the board about the deplorable conditions on the street where the Post was placed. He spoke of continuing piles of garbage, trash, tires and other debris that continued to accumulate after the City had recently come out and cleaned it up. It was not a matter of a one-time cleanup. He did not understand why the City could not make this cleanup an ongoing event. Mr. Stewart had been sending emails to the City for years, yet the problem continued and conditions there were very offensive. The stores had small dumpsters that were often overflowing. The "Do Not Dump" signs seemed to attract even more dumping. He enlisted the board's assistance in the matter. Chair Kaiser asked if the City could send a letter to each of the businesses fronting on Gateway Boulevard running parallel to the VFW street, asking them to be responsible for conditions to the rear of their stores. If they had deliveries in the rear, the area had to be policed. Having larger dumpsters might help also. In addition, Mr. Stewart believed it was probably illegal to have a City street that was only partially paved. There were many areas on the roadway where drivers had to drive over sand. He had been advised this would be a capital improvement project and as such, could take some time to be resolved, but wanted to bring it up as it continued to be a problem. Commander Theodore from the VFW Post asked if the businesses could be fined for dumping or having messy exteriors. Mr. Magazine stated in the case of dumping, they could be if the City could catch someone doing the dumping. The City would have to prove the owner or someone else was dumping trash in the rear of the stores. Mr. Magazine offered to work with the Police Chief and the Public Works Director to try to find a solution for this ongoing problem. IX. Old Business A. Veterans Eternal Flame Memorial at Bicentennial Park (Debby Coles-Do bay) Debby Coles-Dobay, Public Art Administrator for the City of Boynton Beach, gave the members an update on this project. She explained it was proposed to be a visual memorial to the veterans created by a publiC artist. In February of 2006 a Call to Artists was sent to national and international artists known to do work of this type in and seven artists responded. A letter was sent requesting the three finalists to come to the City on February 15, 2007 with a complete proposal including costs and a mockup version of their proposal. Part of the delay in getting this out was the changes in venue from the American Legion circle, the Veterans Park on Ocean Avenue, and now Bicentennial Park. 3 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, Florida January 10, 2007 Chair Kaiser asked if the board could see what the three proposals had been. Ms. Coles-Dobay responded they did not have the proposals yet. The decision to obtain proposals from the three artists selected by the committee was based on viewing examples of their work. Ms. Coles-Dobay declared the three artists would come to the February 15 meeting prepared with complete proposals and a mock-up of their proposed memorials. Chair Kaiser stated they were ready to pay for the memorial they had in mind already. Ms. Coles-Dobay responded the City's process was a little different. She continued, saying at the committee meeting on February 15, the artist's submissions would be rated and a finalist selected. They discussed the composition of the committee and who would replace Mr. Ensler. One suggestion was Rick Beau Lieu, who was a veteran and Chair of the City's Arts Commission. Mr. Magazine offered to discuss this with Mayor Taylor, who was a veteran from the City and might wish to serve in this capacity. This met with approval from the board. Ms. Coles-Dobay suggested that this issue also be cleared with the Arts Commission. Chair Kaiser asked if the memorial would be complete by Memorial Day this year, and Ms. Coles-Dobay stated that would probably not be possible. She stated the veterans would be kept advised through the City Commission minutes and it was requested that Mr. Magazine let the veterans know if items pertaining to the veterans were coming up on the City Commission agenda. Chair Kaiser asked if the City could provide some secretarial assistance to the veterans. They had lost their secretary and three or four times a year had to call up guests, type up programs and take them to the printer. Mr. Magazine declared his office would assist Chair Kaiser. Chair Kaiser asked the representatives of the various veterans' organizations to bring clean samples of their emblems to Mr. Magazine so the program for Four Chaplains Sunday could be prepared. Mr. Magazine asked that the emblems be in digital format if at all possible. Chair Kaiser was to supply Mr. Magazine with information pertaining to Four Chaplains Sunday. B. Boynton/Lantana VFW Post 5335, 500 N.E. 21st Avenue (Jim Stewart) Addressed out of order earlier. C. Memorial Day, Flag Placement at Municipal Cemetery Chair Kaiser mentioned that he had asked the City last year to provide small "pipes or sleeves" made of metal that would be driven into the ground flush with the gravestones. The sleeve would be filled with the flags on Memorial Day. The City had not offered to do so. When Mr. Magazine stated he had spoken to Jody Rivers of Recreation and Parks about having their staff place the flags for the veterans, Chair Kaiser demurred. He made it known the veterans appreciated the offer but had done the flag placement for years and very much wanted to continue. They were simply asking for the pipes/sleeves to make it a little easier for elderly people to place flags during gO-degree heat. Mr. Magazine offered to work with Ms. Rivers in Recreation & Parks about this. 4 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, Florida January 10, 2007 Chair Kaiser explained the hollow sleeve or pipe would not interfere with the lawnmower, as it would be placed below the lip of the stone and flush with it. A visitor exclaimed the hollow sleeves/pipes should be placed to the left of and facing the stones. D. Past Events 1. POW/MIA Highway Sign Unveiling, Friday, September 15, 2006 Chair Kaiser explained this had taken place. He was disturbed the agency making the signs had not consulted the veterans about the design of the signs, in spite of their request for them to do so. 2. Veterans Day, Sunday, November 5, 2006 This was not discussed in terms of a past event. E. Future Events 1. Four Chaplains Sunday, February 4, 2007 Chair Kaiser stated this would take place at the Jewish temple on N.E. 26 Street east of Seacrest Boulevard off of Gateway Boulevard. The chaplains were lined up and outstanding refreshments were going to be served. He requested that the City place a balloon or flag on Seacrest giving directions to the event, although he had already mailed directions to expected participants along with a map. The color guard would be there at 1:30 p.m., and the event would begin at 2:00 p.m. 2. Memorial Day Event, Sunday, May 27 2007 Discussed earlier out of order. 2. Veterans Day, November 4, 2007 To be held at Intracoastal Park. X. New Business A. Veterans/Bicentennial Park Mr. Magazine and Ms. Coles-Dobay brought the veterans up to date about the various possibilities at the Bicentennial Park location. They were assured the site would not be made smaller by any plans of the developers. One of the reasons they liked that location was that it was larger than the one on Ocean Avenue. A discussion transpired about the date of the next meeting, and the date was chosen as the second Wednesday of March, March 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m., place to be decided. Mr. Magazine would inform the members when the place was determined. 5 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, Florida January 10, 2007 B. Wilson Project Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, U.S. Special Operations Command Parachute Team Sponsorship Mr. Magazine distributed an email about this project. He explained the Wilson Center was being entirely rebuilt and there would be a ribbon-cutting ceremony in November or December of 2007. Recreation & Parks thought it would be a good idea to have a U.S. Special Operations Command Parachute Team parachute in to the location during the ceremony. This was expected to cost approximately $3K and Mr. Magazine stated they were hoping some of the veterans' organizations might be willing to help sponsor the event. If the veterans knew of business owners who might be interested, they should direct them to Mr. Magazine. A discussion about this ensued and the veterans offered to make a donation of approximately $300. Mr. Buckner mentioned Mr. Ensler had purchased granite for the base of the monument at the American Legion, but it had disappeared. Chair Kaiser thought Mayor Taylor might be able to come up with an answer on that. XI. Benediction, and Moment of Silent Prayer Chair Kaiser offered the benediction and called for a moment of silent prayer for the nation's soldiers serving in the Middle East to try to keep terrorism away from U.S. shores. XII. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the board, the meeting was properly adjourned at 11:37 a.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~~ Susan Collins Recording Secretary (011207) 6