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Minutes 05-11-11 MINUTES OF THE VETERANS ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2011, 10 A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM “B”, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT Tom Kaiser, Chair Chuck Magazine, Board Liaison James Bowman John Farrington Lester McKinzie Bridget Roberts Stanley Gavlick, Alternate Karl Washington, Alternate ABSENT William Mitchell, Alternate Stuart Preston Rev. Richard Smith I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 10:03 a.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – All Hands The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. III. INVOCATION – Designated Chair Kaiser offered the invocation. IV. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS The Recording Secretary called the roll. The attendance is noted above. V. AGENDA APPROVAL Motion A motion was made by Mr. Farrington to approve the agenda. Mr. McKinzie seconded the motion and unanimously passed. VI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – MARCH 9, 2011 Mr. Magazine noted some items but indicated there were no changes. On page 2 under Comments, second paragraph, on the last line regarding the chairs; he stated this item was discussed. There was no place to store additional chairs and his understanding was that one of the chairs broke so the City would not want to accept a donation of older chairs. There is no location for storage of any additional chairs. On Page 3, item ii, he advised there would need to be a special event permit and Chair Kaiser indicated it was in process. In addition, Item iv, the French will be at that event in December. On page 4, item c, it was noted by Chair Kaiser that nothing had been done on this item to date. Item e, Mr. Magazine advised the appointments for the Board are made by the City Commission. What would be needed was a list of names and addresses for people this Board wanted to recommend for Honorary Member appointments. That would then be submitted to the City Commission. Chair Kaiser advised at the last meeting one appointment was eliminated and another one added. On page 5, IX, item a, Mr. Magazine advised there was a committee established by the City Commission to review a number of requests to change the names of some parks. One of the recommendations, initially, was to change the name of the Little Veterans Park to Harvey Oyer Park and to change Veterans Bicentennial Park to Veteran’s Park. That was currently on the shelf because another proposal had been made to name the Boat Club Park after Harvey Oyer. If that is approved, the other two park names would stay the same. Motion Mr. Farrington moved to approve the minutes. Ms. Roberts seconded the motion that carried unanimously. VII. COMMENTS: a. Chair Chair Kaiser commented that people are being driven away from events. He advised he understood the City was in a financial bind, but a lot of money had been spent to make the City and the Veterans look good. There was now a charge for the porta-potties. A small amount of money could be saved if there were two instead of three. The expenses are high and the monuments are expensive. Chair Kaiser commented that it would be unreasonable to expect people to come out to these events and stand in hot weather. He felt the veterans were being penalized because bigger crowds were attending the events and there was a great need for chairs. He advised it personally costs him approximately $50 to bring chairs back and forth to events as the City indicated there was no available place for storage. 2 Meeting Minutes Veterans’ Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, FL May 11, 2011 Chair Kaiser advised he had an official list from the French Government and advised he had been asked to set up and call all the people and invite them. He advised he called one person on the list and he had recently died. He felt it was unfair that people had to wait so long for a medal and there was now a commitment to bring in all the WWII veterans and present them with their medals. He advised he wrote a letter to the City to ask them to donate two hours of the Community Center for the medal presentation which he will ask for a motion to approve later in the meeting. Chair Kaiser commented that there use to be a table in the City lobby that had forms asking visitors to buy a brick to help their cause. Mr. Magazine advised he would look into bringing it back. Chair Kaiser advised tours of the park would be ceased until the fall due to the risk of someone passing out from the heat. b. Visitors None. VIII. OLD BUSINESS: Veterans’ Bicentennial Park Events: a. i. BlackVeterans’, Female Veterans’. 442nd Regimental Group Veterans’ Monuments, Friday, September 2, 2011 This event was still on schedule and felt there would be many in attendance. ii. National POW/MIA Remembrance Vigil, Boy Scouts, Friday, September 16, 2011 (tentative) Chair Kaiser advised the forms are still needed so that a proposition could be made to the City to allow this. It would be a first for the City of Boynton Beach. iii. Veteran’s Day, Friday, November 11, 2011 The Veterans Day Ceremony will be held on November 11, 2011 at the Park. The Ceremony would commence at 11:00 a.m. iv. Afghanistan War Monument & Pearl Harbor 70th Anniversary Commemoration, Wednesday, December 7, 2011 This will be another event that would bring people to Boynton Beach. The Afghanistan Monument will be done that day and Chair Kaiser advised he is trying to get the female veterans to contribute. Donations continue to come in and the veterans are continuing to subsidize the monuments. 3 Meeting Minutes Veterans’ Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, FL May 11, 2011 v. Iraqi War Monument, tbd b. Memorial Day Commemoration, Sunday, May 29, 2011, Boynton Memorial Park People are needed to distribute flags. Chair Kaiser advised he would contact the school to ask for volunteer youth. Set up is scheduled for May 27, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. Mr. Bowman advised he would investigate if the Boy Scouts would be willing to help for service hours. c. Donated flags and poles along center walkway (tentative) d. Honorary Member Appointments Chair Kaiser inquired whether everyone on the list could stay on and Mr. Magazine indicated they could not. The ordinance states there could be up to ten people. Three people on the list would need to be reappointed and would need to be contacted to inquire whether they wanted to remain. e. Proposal for Park Name Changes Mr. Magazine advised the Committee would be meeting to discuss the proposal to rename the Boat Club Park and would be discussed at the next meeting. Chair Kaiser advised that the marquee in front of the building never mentioned an event the veterans hold. He felt that was a City function and something should be put on the board a few days prior to the event. Motion Chair Kaiser asked for a motion to approve the letter previously discussed regarding donating the hall for presentation of the medals to veterans. Mr. Farrington made a motion to ask the City to allow the use of the Civic Center at no cost. Mr. McKinzie seconded it and it was passed unanimously. IX. NEW BUSINESS: a. Other th Mr. McKinzie advised there would be a ceremony on Monday, May 30 at the American Legion at 5:00 pm where they would unveil three plaques on the Eternal Flame Monument. The plaques would be for Harvey Oyer Jr. and Sr., David Buckner a past commander who recently passed away, and Fred Weiss another past commander. 4 Meeting Minutes Veterans' Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, FL May 11, 2011 X. BENEDICTION, MOMENT OF SILENT PRAYER Chair Kaiser gave the benediction. XI. NEXT BOARD MEETING - Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. XII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting properly adjourned at 10:43 a.m. i \.. (,{' / I ~ ( {CL[~J ,---- 'I..,~., \- Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 5