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Minutes 09-09-15 MINUTES OF THE VETERANS ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING HELD IN THE WEST WING CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BOULEVARD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2015, AT 10:00 A.M. PRESENT: Thomas Kaiser, Chair Jeff Livergood, Board Liaison Frank Bregoli Kenneth Nichols Bridget Roberts Stanley Gavlick, Alternate Robert Manson, Alternate ABSENT: James Bowman Jeffrey Korentur Karl Washington Stuart Preston Stephen Anton I. CALL TO ORDER — Tom Kaiser, Chairman Chair Kaiser called the meeting to order at 10:06 a.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE — All Hands The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. III. INVOCATION — Designated Chair Kaiser gave the invocation IV. ROLL CALL OF MEMBERS Roll call revealed a quorum was present. V. AGENDA APPROVAL, September 9 2015 There were no changes to the agenda. VI. APPROVAL OF MINUTES, May 13, 2015 Motion Mr. Nichols moved to approve the minutes. Mr. Manson seconded the motion that unanimously passed. Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, Florida September 9, 2015 VII. COMMENTS a. Chair Chair Kaiser thought Stanley Gavlick should be the Vice Chair on the Veterans Advisory Commission (VAC) because he knew his qualifications; however, Mr. Gavlick declined due to scheduling. Jeff Livergood, Board Liaison, explained normally the person serving as Chair or Vice Chair would be a regular member and not an alternate. Mr. Gavlick was an alternate. Chair Kaiser tabled the item to the next meeting. He requested the members attend all meetings and search their conscience to serve. Mr. Nichols asked for a job description and Mr. Livergood agreed to add appointment of a Vice Chair to the next meeting. Chair Kaiser noted Stuart Preston was very sick. b. Members or Visitors Eric Hansen, Home Depot representative, advised they plan to hold an Adopt -a -Park Clean -Up on October 23 for Veterans Day. He inquired if there were any ceremonies planned for October and learned the VAC would only hold an event if the French dignitaries came to award medals. He did not anticipate the clean -up would be an obstacle. Mr. Livergood explained they will coordinate with the staff handling the Adopt -a- Park program. Arnold May, Valencia Pointe Men's Club, advised their food drive in June yielded over 1,000 pounds of food for the veteran pantry. Mr. Bregoli requested an updated roster and noted there were applicants for the vacant regular and alternate member positions. Chair Kaiser commented some veterans did not attend the last Veterans' event and he was informed some veterans were unaware of the events. He explained he develops a list of events months in advance. As to meetings, if the members could not attend, they should inform the City, not the Chair. Mr. Nichols announced on Saturday, September 12th, at 9 a.m. a Remembrance program would be held at the National Cemetery on Route 441 by Joshua Katz, an Eagle Scout who spent a year putting a program together honoring POW /MIAs. Many scouts will be in attendance and they are asking for veteran groups to attend. Mr. Nichols had already contacted Post 164, and he and the honor guard planned to attend. They will be putting challenge coins on the monuments /graves in addition to the normal POW /MIA ceremony. This was the second year the event was being held. Mr. Nichols provided the details. Mr. Nichols also commented the City and Home Depot have completed a beautiful park at Legions Circle. It was a dramatic improvement and it has been used by the veterans. He requested the Post write a letter to Home Depot thanking them for their contributions. Mr. Nichols announced the 5th Annual American Legion Department of Florida Cracker Trail event would be held February 26th to the 28 in Tequesta. There was information 2 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boyn Beach, Florida September 9, 2015 available online at FloridaLegions.org. They were requesting as many veterans attend as possible. They need judges for 15 events and they were looking at 30 patrols. Last year they had 250 kids, and this year they were anticipating having 400. The packet had adult registration forms that could be sent to the Legion Office in Orlando. Anyone with any questions could call Mr. Nichols. Chair Kaiser announced the Boy Scouts were holding their MIA training exercise this weekend. This was the 5th Annual MIA event and last year two TV stations and two newspapers provided great press coverage. He explained there would be free pizza at 8 p.m. and they will provide breakfast at 7 a.m. He invited all to attend and noted September 18th and 19th was National Day of Recognition for MIAs all over the world. VIII. OLD BUSINESS: None.. IX. NEW BUSINESS: A. Discussion about changing meeting date in November 2015 Chair Kaiser discussed changing the meeting date in November because the next meeting would be November 12 the day after Veterans Day. He advised next year will be the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor and a big event would be held. This year, they planned to honor Pearl Harbor and the Battle of the Bulge. He noted all veteran events start at 10 a.m. If the French dignitaries would be present, they will start at 11 a.m. The ceremony on November 11th will be the usual Veterans Day ceremony including color guards. He pointed out they need color guards. Chair Kaiser agreed to speak with the Veterans of Foreign Wars about it and Mr. Gavlick explained the Disabled American Veterans do not have much of a color guard. Chair Kaiser announced they had previously held the Four Chaplains event at a church or temple and advised they must use the Park. This year, the Four Chaplains event will be held on February 7, 2016, at 2 p.m. They will have a tent and one for VIPs. They do not like to hold events on Sundays generally, and he requested the City's indulgence. Chair Kaiser requested a list of events the City will provide the port -o -lets for, and advised he was handling the port -o -lets for the scouts' training event. Chair Kaiser advised at the last ceremony, a Marine complained the entire time. The Marine asked where the Flag was and Chair Kaiser pointed it out. The Marine contacted Mr. Livergood to complain nothing occurs at the Park and Mr. Livergood listed eight events. Chair Kaiser advised a monument dedicated to the Marines at Guadalcanal had already been planned and commented the Marines have not contributed any funds to the Park. 3 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Florida Boynton Beach, a to r 9, 2 Mr. Nichols asked about the status of the benches at Legions Circle Monument. Mr. Livergood explained the benches are $1,000 each. They have to determine where to purchase them and put them. Mr. Hansen has grants for veteran causes that are available to cities and non- profits and he agreed to forward the information. Chair Kaiser explained they were trying to obtain two 10' by 10' tents as some fell apart. They also need to store them somewhere when the City does not use them and remove them when the VAC needs them. He commented they cannot have people or color guards standing in the sun. The tents could accommodate 10 to 15 chairs each. B. Preliminary discussion about City Code of Ordinances establishing the Veterans Advisory Commission. Discuss possible changes to reflect current conditions. Mr. Livergood commented the Ordinance establishing the VAC was adopted September 6, 2005, and the Board was now 10 years old. He wanted the members to read the Ordinance as it addressed all aspects of the VAC and its role with the City as it pertained to events and funding. The VAC was created to create a vision and build a park in fulfillment of the Ordinance. The Board was now transitioning to a maintenance mode and would continue the events. Most of the purpose of the Board was already fulfilled. Sec 2 -186, Sec B, pertained to City sponsored events. The City sponsored events listed in the Code were: Veterans Day, Fourth of July, Memorial Day, and Four Chaplains Day. All other events such as D -Day and the Battle of the Bulge are not City sponsored. Mr. Livergood budgets for VAC events through the Public Works budget. He commented parks are meant to be used by the public. There was nothing stopping anyone from setting up a tent at the Park as it is public land and veterans can use it without City authorization. Mr. Livergood explained the City is prepared to pay to clean up public land, but assembling large groups would require a special event permit. There was no prohibition for small groups to take advantage of public spaces. Chair Kaiser explained this was a memorial park, not a park for picnics. It has no restrooms or playground. Chair Kaiser pointed out they never held an event on the 4th of July. He thought there would be no more than six events at the Park. Mr. Livergood explained there were only four City- sponsored events, but the Veterans could do more on their own. He recommended keeping the City sponsored events at four and suggested Home Depot may want to sponsor the other two. Mr. Hansen advised they already made a long -term commitment to the Park. They would be present at as many Veterans' events that are planned. If the events transitioned to Home Depot it would be a true community event. Mr. Hanson thought obtaining a large tent would be something that was out of their scope, but small tents were doable. Mr. Livergood agreed to speak with City Legal Counsel to create a draft, fill in the blank ordinance for the events. 4 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission Boynton Beach, Florida September 9, 2015 The VAC has seven regular members, board alternates, and 10 honorary members which could be changed. Honorary members have no voting rights, but were honored for their accomplishments. Gold Star Mothers were such individuals. Mr. Livergood also wanted to change the VAC from a Commission to an ad hoc committee. They would still do the same thing, but it put the responsibility on Mr. Livergood to do the minutes, instead of the Clerk's Office. Minutes are important, but they do not need verbatim minutes, which can be a summary of the meeting. The City Attorney would redraft the entire Ordinance. Mr. Livergood thought the VAC did well, creating a park from nothing, but the role was changing and the VAC was now a maintenance organization. Mr. Livergood explained as an ad hoc committee they could appoint their membership on their own as opposed to going through the City Commission. Chair Kaiser commented he would go along with the recommendations, but he wanted five events at the Park because a Veterans 4 of July event is never held. He understood the City Commission would have to vote on it. Mr. Livergood explained they have to work out government's responsibility versus an organization's responsibility. The City has a lot of requests for events. The City Commission will weigh what benefits the public the most. Mr. Livergood emphasized he did not want to minimize what the VAC accomplished over the last 10 years, but commented he had staff limitations. Chair Kaiser noted they do not use the Park when the French dignitaries come; they move it to the Civic Center. In those instances they just notify the City and they will reserve the room in advance. Mr. Livergood asked the members to think about what was reasonable from a taxpayer point of view. A lot of people who are honored at the Park are not Boynton Beach residents, but the City was paying to accommodate them. At some point there must be a balance. Chair Kaiser noted there were some openings on the Board and thought VFW Post 5335 should be involved. The only time they came to the VAC was when the road was falling apart, and their Post was a mess. C. Veterans Memorial Park Events i. Four Chaplains, February 7 ii. Veterans Memorial Park Events iii. Scout Vigil, September 18 iv. Veterans Day, November 11 v. Battle of the Bulge, December 16 These items were addressed earlier in the meeting. 5 Meeting Minutes Veterans Advisory Commission B oynton Beach, Florida September 9, 2015 X. BENEDICTION, MOMENT OF SILENT PRAYER Chair Kaiser gave the benediction. XI. NEXT BOARD MEETING Chair Kaiser advised the next meeting was November 12, 2015 at 10:00 AM XII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned 11:16 p.m. Catherine Cherry Minutes Specialist 900515 6