We're patiently waiting and hope hopefully voting.
» All right, let's uh go get a picture to take.
» Thank you so much for what for your gift. Thank
» youate.
It's a workshop. Everybody weren't prepared.
» I'm just come over here. >> I can get behind you for sure.
» You want to get up here? >> You let Vince, come on, Vince.
» Ready,
» Vince? Get up here.
Thank you so much, >> man.
» That's right.
» That's an official. >> If you're going to give us gifts, we're
happy to take your picture, sir. Thank you so much, guys.
» Appreciate you. >> This is part of the fun.
» So easy. I got the motor. >> She will let us know.
» He said fully loaded. That includes the motor.
motors and everything. This one's empty right now.
» Yes, sir. Thank you guys. >> Get out of here.
» All right.
Got you.
Ed, we should talked about those marsh cameras since we're talking about
Freeman Park yesterday.
» Thank you guys again. >> Thank you so much.
» Great presentation. >> That was really good.
» All right, Bruce, they're giving us gifts. What are you giving us?
» All right. Uh, next up is uh on the agenda is renewal of the parking
management agreement with Pivot Parking. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um
before you start, I do have one question.
» We don't review any other contracts. Those are your discretion. That's your
job. Uh we set budget and spending obviously. I'm just that's the way the
government's organized. Why is this one on our agenda?
» Either I have the authority to enter agreements or I bring them to you in a
consent form on the consent agenda. This is the one contract that we bring to you
just just cuz it's parking and um you've heard about
» I'm not against it. I just was trying to >> Normally I'd put a contract like this on
the consent agenda for approval, but since it is parking and it gets talked
about, I thought it'd be best to present it to the council.
» I'm okay with that. >> All right.
All right. Yes. And the reason we're doing it now is um the contract with
Pivot expires this year and if we don't renew it, we need to go to an RFP
request for proposals and we need to start that process immediately. So, I'd
want to um [clears throat] get council's input and um discuss the next steps.
And as you got in the memo I sent you, that is the town staff's recommendation
that we renew the contract. And we'll go through why as we go through this. Um
Okay. >> Yeah. And here's a little background. In
2021, we limited our agreement with Reef due to um the maintenance and revenue
issues. We terminated that early. We had to do a little payout. Um we did the
two-year agreement with um Pivot with two automatic two-year renewals. We
could all, you know, get gotten out of those with uh 90-day notices, but we
continue to do that. Since there Pivot's made some good changes. Um, we've, you
know, working with us, removing all the pay stations and meters, expand texting.
It's completely a digital program now, which is great. Um, and then this year,
Pivot has added the new thing. It's the one of a kind in the country, Pivot Go
app, that can determine if you're if you're say in Monkey Junction and you're
deciding which beach to go to, you can look and say, "Wow, Rightful's full. I
think I'll go to Carolina Beach." They got some spaces down there. It shows you
the occupancy of the different lots. So, that's a great addition to it and
hopefully drove some um some customers here.
Here's a little background of the um our income since going with Pivot. Um you
know, it's been steady. I didn't put on what we did before, but it's a
significant increase from what we had with Reef and the previous parking
companies that we worked with. So, it's done that. Freeman Park, you will see
there's been some dip in that. A lot of that has to do with less beach since um
2022. We've lost more and more sand. Should be interesting this year and that
we have more sand to see what those numbers are. So, um,
» how does how does that Bruce You want us to ask you questions now?
» That's fine. Yeah. >> How does this uh fit with what the
projections were? I don't see them. >> Oh, I didn't have the projection. Yeah,
the budget numbers are right there with projections or exceeding. So except piv
I mean premium park I think there's a couple years where we didn't meet just
but that's like I said beach and weather related
» interested in the lots. >> Yeah. Yeah. So we we've been pretty
» met the metrics. >> Yes. We've been right on or exceeded
about every year. So >> and then um as I mentioned earlier some
of the things the improvements we've made um the LPR was another addition we
added with pivot um part of the original agreement we had them do and we've had
replacements. Um those were costs we incurred one of them. We incurred one.
They they ate the cost. Uh but the pivot goes we're real excited about. Um there
another thing that's not on here just recently we moved Pivot's offices in
town hall which was been a major customer service improvement for them
and for us. Um half the time of our um Sheila and Nyla and and Kim get called
out there. It's a parking question that we have to send them down uh Canal Drive
to go get answered. So now they're in house doing that. Um customer service in
general, they have really PIV has really become an ambassador to the town.
They've become part of the town staff family. They work closely with us, work
well with us. We've heard um you know there's been complaints in the past, but
they've gone down dramatically. I've actually get more um applause for them
than I do negative comments. I get people thanking them for this on the
stuff, how they helped um in particular Stephen, the manager here, how he's
helped people. And for example, during PTC8 when we suspended parking, their
staff was out there helping assisting citizens in in Carolina Beach move stuff
out of their homes, get out of cars, doing different things. They helped
staff do different things. They they really picked it up and um showed
they're committed to the town. So,
another thing looking at that the company is local which is also a
benefit. They manage not only Carolina Beach, they do Wilmington, Surf City, um
there's several I can't remember North Myrtle Beach and they do some others
too. There's a local company with um so if there's, you know, shortage here of
employees, they got places to pull from. So, it's always staffed and we always
have a um a lot of help when we need it. So this year when I I told them we we
had to either renew or we're going out for a um request for proposals and so I
sat down with Pivot and we talked about different items um what we want to see
um we knew we needed a new license plate reader um they proposed a new magnetic
one and I think the cost of that was around $20,000 um and then um they
agreed when we negotiated said I didn't want to have any capital I didn't budget
for any capital this year so they're going to eat the cost on the capital
that they did say I talked about the one issue we hear about them is people
accuse them of being incentivized to write tickets. Um they've changed the
agreement this year. They will not receive any revenue off tickets. We'll
still get you know the the money from that but it takes any any accusations
that they're doing this to write to make money so for writing tickets. So that
that is gone. the the annual threshold for the variable management fee does
drop, but it still comes up to a $20,000 positive to the town is what we
estimate. Um, so that was a big thing. And then as
we'll get a little more into this, the Freeman Park Automation, we've been
talking about that for years, how we done it. We've worked with them and and
finally came up a solution. Um, it'll be u um I'll give you more details, but
this new system is, you know, expected cost $45 to $50,000 capital investment.
I told once again, I said, "We don't have the capital for it." Um, and they
said they would they would fund it. But that's the reason I made those requests,
but their request was if we're going to put that capital investment, we need
more than two years to recoup our investment. So that's why they've had
asked for an additional three-year agreement.
» So Bruce, I have a question on one of the great things about it's a bad thing
and a good thing sometimes depending on your angle, but one of the great things
about being a municipality is everything's public. Information is
public. So I was asked the question should we go out for bid basically RF
RFP to shop the market. The all the competing contracts are
publicly available. I mean we can go look at all the surrounding areas and
the various companies and what deal if you want to call it that they get.
» So have you seen anything to indicate that there's an opportunity for us to
save money? Are we competitive? Is Pivot competitive? What's what's your opinion
on that? >> I think they're very competitive and I I
think it's reflected by how many of the local towns do use them. Um the city of
Wilmington had a you know I'm sure extensive um vetting of their things and
then they went with Pivot. Um and same with Riceville Beach and Surf City and
some others. Um but we've looked around and it's not always apples to apples.
Everybody does a little different. Um we had one proposal last time we did this.
their way of enforcement was putting a a device on your window that you couldn't
get removed till you paid your ticket. I mean, everybody's got might have made a
lot of money. I don't know, but um they're not always apples apples, but
just looking at everything else, this is um as good as I've seen. And I think our
numbers show what we had before and what we have now. So, the other reason to go
out for an RFP would be that you were dissatisfied with service or you thought
someone else could offer some service that we're not getting.
» Correct. >> Any Have you seen anything out there?
I'm just trying to figure out what the advantage is to me as a town to go out
to RFP. >> And I I will have a slide on that, but
the RFP >> I'm sorry if I'm getting ahead of you.
No, but I'll go and say I mean the you could there's the potential to save to
make more money to um lessen expenses and bring in more revenue. That is a
potential with RFP um going out, but there's also risk involved um that you
know it may not be that way. We may go out there and we didn't realize what
kind of deal we had. That could be a risk. You could also there's some some
learning curves. You're going to there's going to be a lot of capital up front.
You have to replace signage. They may use different technology. That means the
citizens and people who use it are going to have to learn that. We're going to
have to learn that. There's the the medit,
you know, vendors who work with these groups may be completely different. We
got to learn and use all those. So, there's a lot of changes that could cost
more money. We don't know. I mean, sometimes the numbers just based on the
proposals will show we'll bring you this much revenue, but
they're not looking at our expenses. They here's much revenue we bring. but
they may have a whole bunch of different called MIDS um different vendors they
use that charge us a lot more money. So it's it's hard to evaluate that and
that's one of the reason the issues we left Reef when not only was um some of
the revenue wasn't meeting what we had projected but there were the customer
service issues and different issues. So we that's when we exited that contract
and this even with this contract we still have a a 90-day out if we a point
we don't think it's performing. So go ahead, P. Sorry.
» Can we gather some of that information that's publicly available, what other
towns are paying, >> kind of the benchmark without going out
and doing a full RFP >> um
» and say, you know, kind of like what we did with, you know, during the budget
session. Here's >> here's what we're paying. Here's the
services that we're getting versus um peer group companies.
» Just a comparative chart mean just >> we could look at that. um it's sort of
in a time crunch because if we don't do something we're going to um I need to
start the RFP process. >> Yeah. I'm not saying formal RFP. I'm
just saying, you know, it it might be helpful for people out there to see, you
know, this is what we're getting. You know, one of the things over my career
was, you know, we it was generally a practice to go out and bid this stuff
every every few years. Um but also if you have a true partner that you're
working with, >> right? uh that kind of mitigates that to
some extent and obviously they're put they've got, you know, they're putting
skin in the game themselves. >> Uh we obviously don't have the time to
do it now, >> right?
» The only concern that I might have is the three-year term and I know, you
know, we're getting something back in return for that, but in two years from
now, our parking landscape, you know, could potentially change.
Um, you know, is there the opportunity when we have more clarity on what the
boardwalk is going to look like to, you know, relook at that before the
three-year period is up? >> Yeah. Yeah, we can. And like I said, we
do have the there's a 90-day out, so we could always do that. Um, but yeah, I
will put try to get >> there attached to that though, Bruce. Is
there a buy? >> There would be if we if we left early,
some of this capital would have to we would be it would be for equipment
that's going to be would be staying with the town.
» Yeah. amateurize any equipment that we we keep. They're going to put the
investment in it. Um but that's why they had the third year. If it we go out out
earlier, we would have to repay some of that.
» But we we went through that with RE. >> Right. Exactly. Yeah. Bruce, you
mentioned that that costs have changed which and I I'm
only there's one that sticks in my mind because it was very painful at the time
was um the parking system, if you will, comes with the vendor. we do not own
that >> right
» and when we shifted before I don't think any of us saw the issues that were going
to come about and the one issue this is a very simple one but it's an easy one
to understand was the way their system worked our staff was tr not properly
trained or to that they don't respect dashes and tags and so we issued a whole
bunch of permits typed in the tags with the dashes in them and a bunch of people
got tickets right >> and then we had to retrain I think they
fixed that in the system since then. But the point is there's a huge cost of
change because how you get how you buy permits, training our staff to sell
permits, all that becomes new. Are there other I know that is fact. My question
to you is are there other things like that that that I mean you're going to be
swap wholesale swapping out to go to someone else. Right.
» Right. Yeah. There's a lot of unforeseen you don't we can't even think about
right now that that came up last time and um not only that and I think that
led to a lot of the complaints we had because it was not only you know they
were doing their job but um these are our rules we forget that they're not the
ones creating these rules and some of they get some unfair criticism whatever
parking company because they're our rules and our rates that we adopt but in
the management of that there's different process different fees and different
things that do cause confusion when you switch. Um, not to say that's the um
only reason to stay with Pivot, but there are unforeseen things that come up
and did come up last time that we weren't expecting that did cause um some
frustrations. But
» yeah, the other thing that happened last time, which is I've found out since
then, happens all the time. But um even if we go with a new company, other than
the people who have non-competes, which is probably only one person or two
people, I don't know what their business practices are, you're going to end up
with the exact same people in the job because the new company's just going to
hire the same people. So you're going to have the same people in the street
» enforcing the same rules. The rules didn't change. The people didn't change.
» Correct. >> Yeah. So yeah,
» it sounds like a lot of change to me. The other piece that I really like about
what you've gotten out of this is the piece about the citations.
» Mhm. >> Because if there was one piece that was
always, you know, the biggest complaint I'm sure was tickets that were written
erroneously, >> right?
» And you know, I always thought that there should have been a penalty
involved in it for pivot. If any ticket was, you know, found, you know, to be
erroneously written, >> there should have been some type of
penalty for that. This takes away that incentive to write those tickets, which
I think is a huge benefit. I think that goes a long way towards goodwill with
town residents and visitors and everything.
» I think that's a that's a big win right there.
» I think that will help. I agree with Vince. I think that will help in regards
to overall visitor experience. >> Yeah.
» I think it'll take a while to trickle through, but I know you've heard things,
» right? >> Good job on doing that.
» Yeah. Thanks, >> Bruce. I I got I I jumped in and
everybody else jumped in with me midway of your presentation.
» Oh, no worries. No worries. Um like that's the negotiated terms. Um as far
as Freeman Park, the automation, we're pretty excited about that. We've taught
different ideas. We've talked about um all kinds of different this the way this
one would work would use the license plate reader technology and have two
arms on the entrance and exit. You would buy your ticket here. You'll see it says
15 minutes before. We want to encourage people to buy it beforehand. Before you
get there, speed the process up. You go in, you enter your data, your license
plate, you get there, the camera read it, gate would open, you go in. If you
have a season pass, read your license plate, you go in. Um, if you do by
chance forget to buy it, there'll be a window of lane you can pull over to the
side to buy the ticket and get input your stuff, circle back around, and get
in. Um, it will also read it on the way out. So, it gives us data we can use in
the future about, you know, what's the average um, stay in Freeman Park. Um,
and it also help us when we open and close Freedom Park. We had, you know,
300 cars go in, but no one's come out. We may need to look at closing. And it
will be on the Go Pivot app, the Pivot Go app. So, if you're planning to come
down to get on free park, you can look on. It's at 90% capacity. I might wait
till it slows down a little bit. And you can buy your ticket with through the app
or through the the website. >> So, how do you do that now? I mean, I
guess it's just visual >> attended.
» In other words, you just No, I mean, how do you when you have to close for a
storm or something like that? Is it I mean not for storm for crowds
overcrowding. Is that just um >> someone goes up there and says well it
looks crowded and we'll close it and then you don't really know when to open
it. You go back and take another visual. Is that
» the staff person who's maning the gate sort of keeps track but also our PD will
go out there and say >> it's getting a little too too crowded to
manage right now. >> But this way you could say we think we
have a capacity of X whatever that is right
» and currently there's X plus 10. So we need to think about is that what you
» Yeah, exactly. So we'll know we can put some parameters when we get to 90%
capacity, you know, or if it's >> and it would count t it would be able to
count tickets that way. >> Right. Exactly.
» With this automated. >> Yep.
» The only thing about taking the human aspect from it is you don't have that
person who says you can't take that ATV out on this beach.
» True. >> That's the problem. True.
» Because I know every Sunday there there have been ATVs, not the police.
» Yeah. >> Riding on Yeah. pass a pinch point.
Yeah, I see them. So, >> yeah, and they can have a license
weight, too. Um, we will probably still man this like on, you know, Saturdays,
Sundays in the summer, busy days, just for those type reasons. You just got a
lot of and to help manage it and in case there's any backups.
» But with that, um, we still expect to save, um, was it I think 45 $50,000 I
had the number in labor cost. 35 to $40,000 in labor cost.
» 40,000. >> Yeah. 30 to 35 to 40,000 in labor cost
is what we estimate we'll save >> because of staff you won't have to have
the periods you won't have as staff right
» does this also and I don't even know if this is true but I've I've heard that uh
there are folks out there that understand the hours and they
» they go out there before hours so they don't have to pay exactly
» is that true or >> Yeah we do we know um we changed the
hours of what we man it because we had um we were maning I believe from 9 to 9
or whatever like Well, the majority a ton of people are going out there at 7
just getting their spot. >> They're earlier than seven. I can tell
you that on Sundays because I'm there at 5:30 in the morning.
» Yeah. So, they're there. So, this >> there's no enforcement of that right
now. They just honor system, I guess, because you don't stop them on the way
out and see who paid and who didn't. >> Nope. So, this would we think hopefully
increase revenue free park? I know. Um >> think it would.
» The more the busier it is, the more expenses we have, too. So it's I don't
think it's not the the cash generating tool that everybody thinks it is. But um
» so what's the total capital outlay for if you add those things up?
» I think it's um >> 30 grand.
» Yeah. In capital outlay it's um 50 to I mean 70 about 70,000 but then other
savings you got another 20,000 in um the citation
» 130. >> Yeah. So yeah overall 330 in savings
with >> but that capital outlay is going to come
from pivoted. >> Correct. Yes,
» correct. That we do not spend. >> So that's and in their if I'm sitting in
their shoes, which is typical for contracts
in anything, they're probably saying, "Hey, I'm spending $100,000.
I need three years to recover my money." So
we can exit. I'm trying to figure out what our liability is. So if in if we
agree to three years and we want to exit, we can still exit after. As Vince
said, the boardwalk parking may change around who who knows what two years from
now looks like. But then is there some agreed to annual? How much of that is it
allocate or is it >> how would they come up with a price that
we owe them? >> They would take the the cost and
amaturize it over three years or whatever what's left of the term.
» Okay. Okay. So, they take that amount, divide it by
» however many months, >> and then that's how much we owe out.
Okay, that seems fair. >> All right. All right. Um I think the
next few slides are something we've pretty much
» I'm sorry. [laughter] >> That's bad.
» I'm bad about jumping ahead. >> Case for competitive bidding.
» Hey, Bruce, could you do one thing though? Explain to me and the public
what the annual revenue threshold means. Actually, [cough]
» that's when [clears throat] we reach the um let me get
that's where you know we pay a flat parking management fee $1,850 a a month
I believe to pivot when the um [clears throat] when we get to the total
revenue of um our annual threshold of three um 237,500
they will get an 8 and a half% basically incentive fee a bonus or that's their
that's their commission. after that
» on the amount above that. Right. So they're not getting anything if if this
year we did 3.3 million. >> Right.
» Right. >> All they get is $1850 a month.
» Right. >> Period.
» Right. >> Then above that is when the eight and a
half kicks in. Correct. >> Okay.
» Just make sure I understand. >> But the eight and a half's based on what
is above that threshold, >> right? Yeah. Start making Yeah.
So, um, yeah, just went over that. The, um, Freeman Park, the next slides are
about the competitive bidding and, you know, what's good and what's bad about
it. Um, typically like, um, Councilman Lceto said, you we we try to do that. We
do it uh, usually with GFL and and waste management, although depending on what
we're seeing on that one, too. just been because if we're seeing other people
getting a lot better rate that we definitely do it um we've done it for
our own like healthcare we did this year we do things so um just depending what
the market but if we have a good like you said a good partner it makes a world
of difference we've we've renewed with GFL before just
» because the rate we saw the rates similar and we know the hassle of
getting new trash cans and new billing and everything else but
» that is a huge advantage to a public entity
» right >> is that you have that because I can tell
you on the private sector we don't know what our competitors are getting on
insurance supplies and landscaping services and all that because it's not
shared. >> So you said I'm sorry. Go ahead.
» No, I was just I'm jealous because I have to deal with this in the in my
private job and I I have to guess or get inside knowledge or try to get people to
tell me what are they paying. Uh it's hard to do but I hear it's all publicly
available. >> Sorry Wayne, I didn't mean to cut you
off. >> No. Uh, you said you did renew GFL this
year. >> No, I I have we have to evaluate that. I
think that renewal is coming up in the next year, I believe. Brian,
» and anecdotally, and not that I use Facebook as a source for anything, but
there was actually a post this morning of a resident that has done that
research on competing towns and everything.
» I saw that. >> And our rates are favorable to everybody
else >> per his research, not our research. res
now. >> Interesting.
» Do Facebook, but I'll have to go get somebody to share that with me.
» Take a picture of that one. >> All right. So, that's um it's up to
council to either renew this contract with Pivot Park and that's what I'm
requesting approval to renew. >> So, do you need consensus or you need a
motion? >> I need I would need a motion.
» So, let me try and see. I'll start and you guys can we can still debate all you
want. Um, I'll make a motion to approve the
contract with Pivot Parking. Can I just say as you presented it the terms that
you presented or do you want me to read them?
» All right. So, motion on the floor now. Further discussion.
» So, the only thing I'm going to say, especially being on this side, parking
has always been it's always been an issue, right? But I think Pippet has
done a great job and and I rate it by how many complaints or how many people
that we talk to on a regular basis. And I'll be honest with you, this year it
was hardly anything. >> Zero for me.
» So So my point is >> how many you had? I'm curious. I
» I only had one and it was >> Well, I had one, but it's incredible.
» But they were guilty. >> Well, the one for me was because
somebody the attendant didn't fit the right parking lot in.
» Yeah. Usually it's some kind of error. Not
malicious or anything. It's always some kind of user on the customer or the
attendant like we had one recently where they forgot to switch what lot they were
in and accidentally wrote some over the past.
» That's that was mine. >> Yeah.
» And those errors are going to happen no matter who you hire.
» Yeah. >> Plus, I do like the fact that Pivot is
working with us. >> They truly are. And they're, you know,
this is a give and take partnership. So the only thing that comes to my head is
is if it's not broken, why fix it? >> I mean, it's as simple as that.
» You have to identify benefits. >> I've actually witnessed pivot people
actually prevent residents from getting tickets. You know, I've been sitting at
CBGB sometimes and residents pull in and they're parked on the line
» and one of the attendants has actually gone over to them and said, you know,
you might want to straighten out your vehicle.
» Yeah. So, you know, that kind of stuff goes a long way with visitors.
» That's a benefit of a longer relationship.
» Yeah. And a lot of credit goes in the back of the room back there. Stephen Zer
is our local manager here and he has really heard council, heard staff like
be true ambassadors and they they've taken that um in hand and and taken it
seriously. >> The complaints have definitely Jay and I
have been with this from the very beginning with pivot this relationship
with Pivot and watched it. It was rocky. >> Rocky versus Rocky fair. kind [laughter]
of rocky. >> Um,
» as the one still sitting here who came in
at the end of accepting pivots uh transition, it was uh rocky to say the
least. So, they do deserve a little, you know,
» but I will say, so I will say this, mayor, I
» coming into this this morning, I was like, there's no way I'm going to agree
to a three-year contract. But knowing that we have an exit strategy that's
basically based on capital improvements that would transfer to the town should
we exit with 90 with a 90-day clause. I think that's um I too you know we I
asked I think it was Benson and I asked that they call themselves ambassadors
instead of parking attendants and I think they have gone uh to more of an
ambassador role. I've seen them I've actually I walk every morning so I see
them out talking to people in the parking lots instead of just writing a
ticket. So and the fact that if we go with this three years then they will no
longer be getting incentives for writing tickets. I am very happy about that.
very happy. >> Yeah, I'd like to say a good job. I did
a bunch of chicken scratch here while we're going just so uh we can all be on
the record. Staff's recommending this. I'm going to
vote for uh mayor's motion, but I'll give you some reasons. I like to have a
basis in why I'm say I'm doing one thing or another. Um
that's a hold over from the board of adjustments. They met the ME metrics
projections. uh essentially what they said they could do, they delivered and
they continue to do it. If we get out of the one we have or go to RFP and we're
to choose somebody else, we know we're going to have to spend a
lot of money and have a lot of aggravation. That aggravation is going
to come at a time when we have a ton of infrastructure work. I anticipate
there'll be some displacement of parking during that infrastructure. I'm not sure
it would be the best time to not uh to be working with someone new. Uh I'm
inclined to take their the concessions that they're offering and good job on
those concessions like the LPR. You didn't get into you said we paid for one
LPR and they ate the other one because you didn't have have the budget for it.
Good job on that as well. love the fact that you took them out of or they agreed
and you agreed to be not part of the incentives on the tickets. But I I
really believe there is a 90-day exit, but I really believe the best time to
negotiate will be when we own and control those nine parcels. That will
change the landscape of any bid we get. It will change the
landscape of how we look at things. It'll probably change the landscape of
where residents may now be able to go back to and park as they did before
before the acco requirements. So, I think the best time to do that is when
we have the maximum we fully believe and intend to close on those lots. And so, I
think when we have that uh opportunity, I think we'll get more
competitive bids then than we will. and we know that that's just short of two
years any or three years anyway with the 90-day out. I'm going to support the
motion the mayor. >> So, there's one other topic I think we
need to bring up just so we clear the air on this. Um, and I'm throwing a
wrench in this. Uh, people have have talked about bringing it inhouse
and can you explain why that would not be a good idea? Uh we've talked and and
Ed Ed and I both agree we could manage it. Um but several reasons I think it
would be could be problematic. I think they're parking experts. They do this
for a living. That this would be just something we'd be creating and we'd
probably hire the same employees as the mayor mentioned earlier um to get that
knowledge. Um, but then I think there would be some un unfair pressures on
staff if it's, you know, separating them from the town about parking tickets. Um,
not the mayor would do this, but the mayor friend got a ticket. Hey, you
know, you >> never they're paying.
» Yeah. A future mayor might or may little >> my husband got a ticket. He's paying it.
» Plus, you know, plus the cost of insurance, the cost. I mean, it's just
not that's why other cities don't do it. cost of the software engineering.
» There you go. >> That's the highest ticket right there,
isn't it, M? >> That was exactly where I was going. The
biggest issue is, and I don't mean any disrespect from this, Bruce, but I do
not have confidence in your staff's ability to select a software system and
manage and run it, right, >> to run parking. And that is no
disrespect to you. And pay for it. >> Yeah. And so I'm more on the system side
than the people side from my standpoint. Now, could you get there? Absolutely. I
think you guys could could work up to that at some point. But right out of the
gate, just to say, "Hey, in 90 days, we're going to go start sourcing systems
and install them. >> It's not
» and and the personnel cost, as Jay mentioned, um labor cost for uh private
sector is a lot cheaper than labor costs for municipal government."
» Exactly. >> Yeah. And there's certain things, you
know, in business that just beg to be outsourced and not done
in-house. >> You know, your team has great
competencies in what they do, >> right?
» You know, to go out and bring that knowledge in and replace that knowledge
and this is what they do and they've done it successfully. In other other
towns, they continue to do it successfully. So, you know, yeah, what
would be the right number of people that you'd have to hire to do it? What would
be the capital that we'd have to put out? The technology piece,
» it's not as simple as it sounds that you're just getting rid of Pivot's fee
and that's it. We're ahead of the game. >> Total mess.
Yeah, I think you would I I'd be hardressed to believe that you could you
would have to increase revenue to cover the additional cost, which would mean
you would have to raise parking rates. And to me, that's a non-starter. Raising
parking rates to bring it in house doesn't doesn't work in my mind. So,
anyway, everybody good? So, with that, motion's already been made. Motion on
the floor. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed?
» Motion passes. Good job, Bruce. Bruce, >> thank you for doing it.
» I will say I'm on the opposite of that. I think staff could do it. That just me.
» I think they could train up. I'm not saying I'm just saying in 90 days you're
not going to do it. >> I agree with you.
» Oh, I agree. 90 days or whatever it is. >> I agree with 90 days we would be able to
do that. >> I think staff could do it. I just think
I don't think staff could do it as >> I think it would cost more than what we
pay. >> I say we got three years to figure it
out. >> Yeah, I agree.
» That's how long the learning >> Okay. An hour. Um
» because we both just think until we look at it. [laughter]
» Exactly. >> Can we talk to Eric now? Something fun.
» Yeah. Well, somebody gave us something and then that was great and then we kind
of slid downhill that Bruce want to talk about parking. Now, now with Eric, what
are you going to do for us? Eric. >> Eric's gonna bring me Christmas. That's
what Eric's going to do. >> We're going to get to Christmas.
» All right. So, I'm just going to give you guys a little overview of uh the the
I know the agenda says event updates, but we're going to also uh give you
update on all the programs and events that are sponsored by the Town of
Carolina Beach Parks and Recreation Department uh that we have um some say
in. So, the first well, okay, so the first thing is Boardwalk Music. We made
we we have made it through 14 weeks already, right? We had 14 out of 16.
It's incredibly long season, but uh very >> with only one rain out.
» Very enjoyable. What's that? >> With only one rain out.
» With one rain out. Right. So, the beautiful thing about the rain out is
that we are all set for a double show on Labor Day weekend. So, Labor Day
weekend, we're looking at uh uh to end this season on some uh double show for
fireworks. Uh this is the first time this has happened since we've taken over
the the Boardwalk Music, but we did have a schedule change, so I just wanted to
highlight that. Uh uh Bart Latimore unfortunately was not able to attend. Uh
he was supposed to play on the 27th. So we were able to quickly fill in with uh
Justin Cody Fox. Uh great musician, great local musician, so we're really
excited to welcome him to the boardwalk stage this coming Thursday. Uh on behalf
of all of the the the programs at the boardwalk with the fireworks, I mean it
is not a parks and recolle. I mean there are resources from all towns. So, the
police department, fire department, public works, we really appreciate
everything that they've done. And then the amount of volunteers that we have.
We have two amazing fireworks volunteer uh coordinators, Amanda and Christina,
and they gather all these other volunteers and make sure that the entire
boardwalk uh is covered and secure for fireworks for 16 weeks. So, we really do
appreciate that and um looking forward to continuing to work with those folks.
Um, so I'm going to dive into some program.
» I just got to point out that it's like 80% chance of rain on Thursday.
» I don't think so. >> Lynn Barbie. [laughter]
» No, the reason is because Justin Cody Fox, I love him and I love watching his
music and the last time we had him, he was rained out. So when Deb told me last
week, hey, we're having a schedule change, I was like, yes, this is great.
I'm looking forward to this show. >> Then I look at the weather forecast. So,
I'm using the three-day ahead rule since I'm predicting it. It'll never happen
now. >> It's It's Tuesday. [laughter]
The weather forecast changes on the hour. So, just be quiet about that.
» I'm trying to jinx the weather, D. I want this to happen.
» Then bring your umbrella. That'll fix it.
» All right. So, yeah. No. Uh, feel free if you guys have any questions or
comments as I go through these slides, feel free to just jump in and let me
know. But, uh, so we're going to break them down into categories. We got the
youth athletics, adult athletics, special events, and holiday programs.
And just a little highlight, these are only the townsponsored events through
parks and recreation department. We have so many other events in Carolina Beach
that are not in this, but uh in this uh slideshow, but Tim will continue to
update those in front of council Tim Murphy. Uh and I think he's at an events
committee meeting right now going over some additional events. So uh he'll
update those at the next council meeting. So, uh, youth athletics, our,
uh, athletic supervisor is Bryce Missen, and he's done a, uh, excellent job. Uh,
since he's taken over, he continues to, uh, harness more talent from our
community, expand those programs. Uh, we have a youth flag football program
that's, I believe, we're entering our fifth year of doing that. And every year
it grows. when we're sitting down and looking at our our our space and what we
can accommodate uh at Mike Chipple Park. Uh now we have games starting at 5:40
and the last game starts at 8:30 on Friday. But it is such a great uh
community event to see those folks participate. We also have a youth
wrestling club that utilizes our our recreation center uh and another avenue
uh that's getting started as well. We have fall gymnastics
uh kicking off and those are age groups uh go from kindergarten all the way up
through I think advanced is 13 14 plus. Uh we have a youth lacrosse league which
is uh continues to be a growing sport in this community and that is held
completely 100% at Mike Chapel Park. Uh they do a great job uh facilitating
that. Um, and then obviously we have our
flagship youth basketball program that has been around forever. Uh, and we're
constantly looking at uh switching things up there to see if we can uh
accommodate more uh gym space to get more teams because we we get a ton of
folks. So, if anyone's out there listening, that registration starts on
September 21st. Be ready. It's important to get your registration in. Uh we would
like to have as many uh local residents as possible uh competing in that
program. Uh and then uh we also have adult
athletics overview. Uh we um just finished up the adult co-ed softball uh
league with the championship game last uh last night. Thank goodness. Uh
because it's the long season in the summer with lots of rain and turning
ball fields in the summer and Bryce is out there and he's coming back and I
think he brings three or four shirts to work. Sometimes I'm like, "You just need
to go home and take a shower, dude." But uh it's uh it was it's great to see
that league happen. Uh that will roll right into our adult basketball league
that we have over at the recreation center. And then we had uh I think this
is the third year of our co-ed adult kickball league. So we continued to um
listen to the community if there's programs that we can want if we can fit
them into our schedule and we make that happen. So we're excited to offer those.
Uh and then some of the special event spotlights for uh September. We have the
Carolina Beach Police Department bike rodeo that's coming up on Saturday,
September 12th from 1 to 4 at the rec center. And uh that's all all hands on
deck uh community event. And then we also have our annual Halloween carnival
at Mike Chubble Park which will be held on uh Friday October third uh October
23rd. And that's a really great fun community event as well over at Mike
Chel Park. We probably get I don't know 600 to 900 people that attend that
event. So it's always fun. Um, and then going into the holiday programs, we are
going to continue to offer letters to Santa. That's a community volunteer
program. We have this great uh North Pole mailbox outside the rec center. We
encourage those uh kids to get their letters in and then they will get one uh
a letter uh returned to them. Hopefully, they're good. Uh we are kicking off a
holiday rating contest. Uh this is a new event uh this year where we are going to
have commercial and residential and we're still working out the kinks on
that. I believe there's a meeting today and
» at 11 >> an hour. Yeah. To go over that. Uh so
we're we're just trying to get everybody to spruce up their businesses and houses
and have it a fun competition. So looking forward to to that program. Uh
early festivities, the uh lighting of the lake. Uh the town is uh parks and
recreation department is going to be more involved in that program uh and
working with the island of lights community to provide additional
uh a amenities programming uh festivities to that event. So that's
Friday after Thanksgiving. We're excited about that one. Our Christmas parade is
the highlight, right? That's the first Friday in uh December at 7 PM and
registration for that is going to open on Tuesday, September 22nd. And we
usually limit it to around 125 entries. So enter quickly and if we get past 125,
we'll probably change it. [laughter] >> Uh we'll up it.
» Eric, I I tell you how important a Christmas rate is. My wife and I
scheduled vacation, bought the tickets, reserved the hotel. We're lined up to go
on vacation. My wife walks in and says, "Oh, no. That's the weekend of the
Christmas parade. Vacation was canceled, buddy." [laughter]
Uh, we we love our Christmas parade. That that is one event of our holiday
program that is definitely all hands on deck. I mean, there is so much work that
our public safety crews do to make sure that it's safe that the public does not
even know about. But we're constantly having meetings and updating and street
making sure that everyone's safe and you know flowing traffic and and all that
stuff as well. So >> closing Lake Park Boulevard.
» Yeah, like Lake Park Boulevard and safety and checkpoints and all that
stuff. So it's we're we're excited to have that. Uh
» yeah, those I just want to add to that just second what you said with the
public safety folks on that. They do a great job every Thursday night, but
especially during that event when you have vehicles moving in crowds as big as
we have, it takes a lot of planning. I don't think people realize what those
people go through pre-planning and pregaming that
» so that everybody leaves the same way they came. So, just want to
» kudos to that group. >> They do a phenomenal job. parks and
rack, we kind of get to do the fun part and do the registration and send the
letters out and make sure everybody's lined up, but they're doing a lot of
work behind the scenes to make sure it's safe for everybody. Uh we have our
holiday market that is on uh Saturday, December 5th. That's the the sat
Saturday after our parade. Uh and that is from 9 to 3. That's a huge event. And
then we also have a lot of children's activities. Santa Claus is there. Uh
face painting, all of that as well. Um, so that's we we we enjoy that event.
We're uh showing a holiday movie on Saturday, December 12th at the lake,
which is always fun. Uh, and we'll have, I believe it's the Christmas story this
year. That's we just picked that one, so we're excited. Um, and then we have a
Christmas by the Sea program, uh, which will be held at Lake Park. We'll have
Santa Claus train rides. We have this awesome train that'll be out in the
community. People love to see it. It's it's it's been uh spiffed up and working
really well for the last like you know couple months. We've been tweaking it
and working on it. So that will be out there and that will also be at the
lighting at the lake as well. Uh we have holiday music with Randy McQuay. He's a
great local musician. And then we'll have some food vendors out there. And
then the new event that we added this year is a familyfriendly celebration at
the boardwalk for New Year's Eve. Uh we understand that there's a lot of
families in Carolina Beach and you know you don't necessarily want to have them
out until midnight uh celebrating New Year's. So we're looking at a
familyfriendly celebration from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. I'm not going to give away all
the things but just think about a bunch of beach balls falling and being able to
grab one and take one home and uh >> with the Carolina Beach logo on them.
» Yes, >> there'll be something going on.
[laughter] Uh, so we're we're still working on a
lot of this. A lot of these a lot of these events we actually start for
Christmas. We actually start in January because vendors go really quickly to
like >> especially the good Santaas.
» Yeah, those those good folks with beards. Um, uh, yeah, we're looking
forward to that event and that event will take place at Carolina Beach
Boardwalk from 6:00 to 8. Uh, it's inaugural year. It's the first year.
We're looking at um just testing the waters and and and then expanding as we
see, you know, in years. But we we we we ideally we like to continue to do this
every year and grow the event at the at the boardwalk. So those are all of the
programs. Yes, those are all of the programs that
we have going on from September through uh wait
» January. >> December. [laughter]
» So parks are right. So I do want to add so if you have not seen Caroline Beach
is in the top 25 for the Hallmark Marius Town. So please you can go on I think
the chamber has the link. I have the link. You can vote every day until
September 4th. So vote vote vote. >> I just wish we had a better picture.
» Yeah. >> Well I didn't submit the application but
um >> it's just it's the Christmas tree.
» I know where the other ones are. >> I know. I know. I didn't submit it. So
Uh, Eric, I >> I will thank null Stevens for actually
submitting that. So, >> Eric, I just want to say we appreciate
all towns. Um, I mean, we like it that our water works
and the toilets flush and all those sorts of things. police keep us safe,
but your team, the energy that they bring,
uh, they're really in the quality of life business for us all.
» And, uh, it it really bulls, a lot of it comes back to parks and recreation
efforts that make it, it's the reason we have events all the time and the reason
it's a great place to live and a great place to retire and a great place for
your grandkids to come visit is the programs you put together. So, I just
want to say thank you. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. And um
yeah, I just I'm so thrilled uh to be able to work in this in my role and have
the staff that I do with uh Heather, I mean Heather, Aaron, Bryce, Tim,
[clears throat] got Zach and Jack uh at the front desk of the rec center. I
mean, we got such a great crew. We're a fun dysfunctional family at times, but
uh we enjoy each other. [laughter] >> Thank you, sir.
» Um the next on there was an agenda item, and since I brought it up, I guess I'll
address it real quick. There was an agenda item to go over St. Joseph
Street. Um, and I'd ask Bruce at the request of a resident actually just to
give an update. Um, but I think you got some things going on that's in the mix
and you're going to bring that back to us at a different
» date. Correct. I can bring it we'll have some more updates soon and we'll put
some online too. But >> okay.
» Basically, we're got ready to go bid. We're meeting with DOT. Actually,
staff's meeting them right now. >> Um, but hopefully going out to bid soon
and we'll do some updates and refresh everybody's memory where we are. She
wasn't looking for any particular decision. I think it's just you got new
people who've moved in. They weren't here two years ago when the plans were
put up on the board, whatever. I I don't think she was looking for
» I think I mean, she asked me for example. I just want to know what it
looks like and where it's going to go, >> you know? So, I think just a real high
level update would be good. >> Okay. Good.
» All right. >> Uh I just I wanted to thank staff,
especially Ed for the presentations we did yesterday on Freeman Park. It was so
well attended. I was very thrilled with the number of people that showed up. Um,
the future of Freeman Park is in our hands and I think we need to tread
carefully and make sure we make the right decisions and there was a lot of
good input yesterday. >> But I just really want to toot Ed and
and Kim's horn for putting on a great presentation yesterday. they that I
agree and the feedback that's coming from that it's amazing to juxtapose that
feedback with what you hear >> right because everyone who attended that
I spoke with and then I read some of your comments D thank you for that about
what was going on was uh >> and I think Ed even mentioned it is was
great dialogue people enga people didn't come in with an axe to grind they
understood the balance that was we were looking for and I just thought it was
Well, we also had some people who came in with their mindset on what they
wanted and then when they heard Ed's presentation, they actually changed
their mind on >> on the conservation part of
» Yeah. >> of that beautiful piece of land that we
own. >> And that was a good presentation. I
agree with >> um I will say Ed and I talked about it
and there was a lot of people who wanted to know, you know, there's people who
couldn't make it yesterday because of work and those kinds of things. So,
we're going to try to put together something so we can have a mini session
basically at the lake at one of our um markets that
» in the future. So, >> what was the attendance? Do you know
total attendance? >> Um so, we had 24 people at the first
session, 30 people at the second, and then 23 people um at the third one.
» Is that that's >> that's huge.
» That sounds like the most we've ever had. Have we ever had
» we've never had that many people show up for open house ever.
» And I mentioned this a dead mayor tell you
» it tells you about our demographic when you have the fewest people come after
work. >> There's been a demographic
» shifting. Yeah. The most came at 2:30. The second most came at 10:30 in the
morning and the fewest came at 5:30. >> But it I mean it was very well attended.
That's I mean you know usually we're standing here going, "Okay, how many are
we going to get?" And Ed and I were really worried first thing in the
morning. and we're like, is it just going to be you and me? [laughter]
[gasps] You know, so we added chairs every session. We were adding chairs.
» That's good. >> I think it was great.
» Um, just with one more thing on that I was just going to mention to you guys is
as you're discussing that, um, I know there's a push and has been for many
years from organizations like the association and stuff to put jetties and
groin or groins out there. not taking a position one way or another, but I think
you should consider in that document whether that committee supports that or
at least has some commentary around it because when that does come, if we annex
it, suddenly we'll be in on that decision,
» right? So, and I know how important it is for your land use plan to when when
you're trying to decide something and your land use plan doesn't say anything
about it, >> you don't have the voice of the public.
So, I'd like to hear the voice of the public.
» That's the excellent point. Does that make sense what I'm asking?
» Does. >> All right. With that, uh, meeting
adjourned. Thank you guys. Thanks everybody for coming.
» We'll have double the fireworks, but we'll also have double the prizes
because we had a rain out. >> That's right. That's right.