##VIDEO ID:AxWwdvZPTJY## has a beautiful Workshop December 19th 2024 meeting starting at 8:09 roll call please Mayor John Holbrook council member n Hayes here council member Deborah warley here council member Colleen Charles here council member Joy everard here board member Frank Hartzel board member Ken block here okay um the people that are here with would like to speak about um keep Lake Plaza beautiful we put some chairs here um I'm not sure who's going to be your spokesperson or would you all just like to just come up and yeah Mr Brantley that would be you Mr Brantley we said that um berd is not here and he kind of helped facilitate some of that at the last meeting is it is it on you now you got it great okay could you state your name for the record please name is Bill Brantley president of ke play CL of beautiful okay um let's just get started it's a workshop and it's to um discuss Downtown lake plid streetscaping and types of plants to include correct I think there were some plants fored last night was it fored everyone or okay so so there is a plant list we had a original plant list and I think tww uh came up with another plant list just to try to do something that is hearty plants that won't that are freeze tolerant that that look and have a little bit of color to them but we want something low maintenance um I think we brought up in the past as far as fire bush is a nightmare to trim and maintain we got to trim it once a month um during the summer months and a couple times in the winter and we just don't have the manpower to do that so everything we're trying to do is going to be something that's kind of takes care of itself in the dwarf style so it doesn't get in some of the site views as far as around intersections um try to keep it low I know the wrapping up as far as the curving and the uh pipe bursting on the south side of the road um we do have uh Fox Palms that were planted on the North side we're going to try to do fox tail palms on the South Side um we have run into a lot of problems with different palm trees that come up with diseases um Fox tailes seem to be kind of the heartier ones they look good um they're self-cleaning they don't have to be maintained the Palm frons come off um and that's kind of the direction we were wanting to go now that the work is being completed uh we can start looking at plants we did not have a chance to get together on um um we have a site a plan of of I believe of the uh uh Inter Lake Boulevard first of the year we plan on doing a meeting probably at keep lake or uh Chamber of Commerce and we'll do a walk and that's probably going to the easiest way versus US visualizing what will look best and where things to go we'll actually walk down the road planner by planner and go ahead and jot down what we think needs to be in there as far as foliage going around the U um fox tailes or just foliage itself that goes in those um intersections and curbs um and at that point we can send it out to bid as as far as that goes so we want to send out the bid to First obviously our chamber of members then um any other landscape companies that will be um interested in bidding on it um we have discussed as far as our last meeting to do flowers at the intersection on those two curved Islands at the end of Interlake and Main Street um I believe twq is working on that we gave them the go-ahead irrigation is there has been stubbed up so hopefully the next couple weeks we'll have that uh taken care of and I think Ken was working on pots I'm not sure where that really ended up yeah uh Charlotte's working on that now she's going to talk about that tonight today yeah um Mr Brantley just I wanted to ask that we have we did identify 15,000 to be able to replace the plants where the pipe bursting was at when you do the walkth through will you be able to feedback to us what kind of plants we want to put back in that area that is the game that is the game plan to walk island island because there are some plants that are still in in place whether we can rehab those or we need to pull them out and plant new ones okay we just until you stand there and we all kind of put eyes on it it's just going to be easier to do that versus you know taking pictures and imagining you know what will look best where just walk down the road and do an Island by Island it'll take probably take about an hour but hopefully we can get most Interlake taken care of in our next meeting okay good and we did um they ran and checked all of the pipes and they said that they are all functional so we're we're good to go with our Inner Lake functional as far as irrigation as far as irrigation yes great great um since you brought up money if I can just make a comment on that so as far as you know how to fund all of this stuff um you've got $155,000 that's going to come from the pipe bursting project and um you know we had $25,000 left that was kind of intended to do pots down in Lake um we all realize now pots on airlake is not as easy as maybe we'd hope because the irrigation pipe seem to be under the sidewalk so getting irrigation to those locations means taking sidewalks up and stuff like that um you know I personally would be okay using that 25,000 towards Landscaping the ground on in Lake you know we could take that added to the 15 maybe you know have enough money to do everything but do everything well um but if we decide to do that the only thing I would like to suggest is that keep Lake plasted uses its funds to hire a company to maintain it for a year because I really if we're going to spend all this money to do all this Nice Landscaping I would really like to see it maintained by a company you know put it out the bid for a year year contract or something like that and while we can't use our funds to do maintenance um you know if we can use all our funds to cover all the cost of doing the Landscaping you know between the 15 and this then you know would keep Lake plastic beautiful entertained using their money to pay for the next year to maintain all of that till we get to the next budget cycle at which time then either the town can cover it keep like plastic beautiful Greese covered for next year or it's a combination of things you know to accomplish it but um that's my suggestion I don't know what you all want to do um let me just speak on that as far as I understand as far as the maintenance but hopefully these are self-contained curved Islands once the uh Landscaping goes in once the irrigation is fixed and once the mulch is there I'm hoping there's not much maintenance other than the annual or not annual but probably bi-weekly spraying of weeds that are in those islands I'm hoping there's not a lot of Maintenance well yeah I think it'll be spraying it'll also be fertilizing I just think and I I mean stuff needs to get trimmed throughout the year um so I mean it's I just don't think the maintenance thing uh volunteer thing has really worked all that great you know over the last few years and I just don't want to depend on volunteers to do this stuff I really want to have it look good you know throughout the year the volunteers never really worked in islands that was always the town's responsibility to keep them sprayed and and Weed Free as far as that goes I just I just don't know what other maintenance you know we don't want plants that have to be trimmed on a a monthly basis we just don't have the Manpower um so it's more of dwarf dwarf plants that will kind of self safe self-contained in those curbed Islands you know I'm hoping there's not a lot of Maintenance and that's the reason we're going to look at that list very closely to make sure those items that we pick are not plants that have to be trimmed on a regular basis all right I I I agree I think I think it's um important that we have it the town cannot we are going to have to hire more people if we want to see it maintained that in the in the way it you know now that we would like to see it maintained um and you do does everybody understand why the suggestion was made that if we're going to have hire somebody that you use your funds because CRA money cannot be used for maintenance so we you could use your money from you put the flowers whatever that you but you use your money for the maintenance because we can't on the CRA side but we could put the plan we could do all of that that sort of thing and I understand as far as obviously the town's general fund could pay for um maintenance and upkeep and stuff like that like they do now with the town employees on Main Street or uh 27 with the fire bush they've got to trim that you know once a month um during the summer times I'm real familiar with it's just you we try to try to limit that as much as possible but I say we get it all in and let's see it's not going to get out of control in in a month or two especially you know if if we get it done in the next month to two months you know it's winter season things just don't grow um like it does during the summer you know we we can we can Gear Up and hire someone to clean it once it starts getting out of hand but I just think the town can handle that the the the bi-weekly spraying of weeds up and down Inter Lake would take probably an hour for a town employee to spray all the weeds up and down Inter Lake on a bi-weekly basis versus hireing to hire someone to I'm not really sure to do what they're not going to rate the mulch they're not going to trim plants that we don't want to have that need we don't want the plants to need from so we we can keep Lake plas beautiful can help any way they can obviously the town you know uh with the employees they have we can try to maintain it I just don't know going under contract for someone that we don't know what they need to do um from you know a new Landscaping aspect you know few months there should not be anything that needs to be done well I agree maybe the first few months I've just never seen Landscaping that hasn't needed some kind of Maintenance to to really be maintained and look well unless you're just letting it grow wild you know and not trimming or doing anything but I mean it's going to have to have fertilizer I mean my experience at least and I know the journal is is more flower-based but you know there is work that needs to be done in order to keep it looking good so but I agree that right away when you're plan it you're not going to probably need to do anything for a month or two you know while it's it's um getting established and stuff so um but you know once it starts showing that it does need work you know how how's that work going to get done is just you know my concern yeah well let's going to do it when we take a look at the list um I understand that you know going for low maintenance all all that but I don't want to sacrifice flare or attractiveness for something that all no maintenance so maybe it was a combination of no maintenance and why for lack of a better word flare pop right you know combination of the two yeah I agree with that too yeah I mean and we we want it to look good we want it to look really good you know so um so you're right maybe low maintenances should not be all of the plants that are there yeah I I wanted to make just a couple questions too um so first off I really appreciate you know the the lake PL keep Lake pla beautiful group as with any volunteer groups I mean we can't say enough how much we appreciate that um I've had a resident for 15 years so I may not be a historian so but I've been here for 15 years and um I the questions I continue to have is the responsibilities between in this case this Advisory Group and the Town Council so you know I've been doing a lot of research and I mean the things that you've done is incredible with the vain Park and some of the others it's just incredible I can't say thank you enough but it's the if we don't really understand roles and respons responsibilities between um this this Advisory Group the town employees and ourselves and and and again on maintenance is probably the biggest or it's everything from where is the keep Lake Placid beautiful limits does it extend to Lake June Park is it only a certain because we know CRA is a certain section right we've got that carved out what I don't know is keep Lake pla beautiful beyond that in total City Limits who designs who orders who plants who maintains and Bill and I had this discussion after I asked this question at one meeting I called him and said just to be aware I'm asking questions for Learning and I think it's important not being critical because when you ask a question right away and you're new I get that told all the time oh you haven't been here you don't know that's not my point it's like if we don't clearly Define roles and responsibilities then we're going to end up with dead plants and I mean and there's the one corner we've got some dead plants and we've got plants that are half dead and those are the things that we don't want um you know I'm I'm not in here to say who does what it's just let's define who does what and I know in the past keep Lake plaid beautiful did quarterly report outs to the Town Council and there was things that was approved in that or things that were discussed so I think that we've kind of evolved to where people are curious who does what so we could Define you know I told Bill I was thinking of an Excel spreadsheet with listing you know the different stakeholders and all of the different things from designing a landscape plant all the way to maintaining it and a check mark of who does what because I I don't know and what we don't want is just like we said we go out we spend a lot of money between the two groups we have it looking beautiful and we don't know who's maintaining it or it's dying out and it's not being replaced because you know maintain is one thing replace is another um and then like we've just said we've got CRA guidelines what we can do but also what we can't do and then we need to make sure that we have the right budget in place for Town staff if they're to do the maintenance of it because some things we're fortunate we have the inmates come down and that helps supplement a lot for um for the town budget but at the same time we need to make sure when we do the town budget we clearly know what does fall under horiculture maintenance irrigation and what doesn't so as far as keep Lake plas beautiful Ma major focus our major focus is 27 Interlake Boulevard in Main Street Our concern is everything inside City Limits so we're concerned with everything that looks as far as beautification as far as plant dying things like that we are concerned with that it sometimes comes up at the board meetings and then we have to address certain areas not just Main Street Inter Lake in in 27 um one of the things we're trying to work on now is the Brazilian peppers and Mal Luca is growing up along Lake McCoy you know when you come in for our town they're starting to grow up we've got them whacked back years ago and now we need to do it again because that's your first look once you pass welcome to Lake plid sign um as far as our volunteers you know it it's it's limited like it's we live in a different world now we don't have you know abundant volunteers we can get groups together to trim trees and do certain projects as far as the sheriff's department they're running into staffing issues also they can help on a time-to Time basis um when we requested but it's not like the good old days when they would come down every other week for two days um they just don't have the Staffing they're they're running into problems um not for lack of inmates but lack for people to supervise those inmates um so really to put ke classtic beautiful in a nutshell what we do it's just it's really hard to do you know because we're kind of all over the place you know trying to focus on certain areas and the big one's going to be 27 they're going to mess up 27 for a year and a half probably and then I think there's what $8,000 like $80,000 to do beautification back on 27 once they're all done so obviously we want to get Interlink done now in a year we're gonna have to start looking at 27 um so so our scope is pretty Broad and it changes and it's more of a a a living breathing kind of group that that doesn't really it's hard to focus it's hard to to focus exactly what we're in charge of and not charge of because everything is our concern when it comes to beautification would anybody that would like to speak please come up to the podium and state your name and address and hey every good morning I'm Margaret deer I live at 1504 fren street so let me see if I understand this correctly like you all said from the get-go pots on Interlake were going to be hard because of irrigation but we proceeded CRA approved pots of plants correct money was set aside yes so we're going to proceed with the pots on Maine but ditch the idea on Interlake well the thing on Maine is there's irrigation at the locations they're going but that's my question is is so now you're just going to have pots on Main and you're going to ditch the idea on Interlake well I'm just saying that I'm okay for going it and maybe next year we put money in the budget to do pots on Interlake but it it's just a much more comp I mean but the irrigation isn't going to change the irriation system is not going to change on Interlake so basically what we're going to do is we're going to put a program of pots and plants on Maine and is it cohesive with what's going to happen on Interlake is there one obvious landscape plan and appearance for the town of Lake plastic because it looks like we're getting same old same old with Main Street looking one way and Interlake neglected for whatever reason a whole another way I mean I'm sorry neglected from the standpoint of Shing it up in Lake's going to go back to the plants that keep Lake pla beautiful is able and capable and willing to take care of as they always have as best as they could we were under the impression that the CRA was going to approve funds to Jazz up all of downtown but now it sounds like we're back right where we started from with Interlake or did I miss something it's a good point I think our Town Administrator she's been working with the um plans for Maine and she has some information well because whenever we go to the master Park I mean the master plan for the downtown revitalization it's going to address some of that it will tie it all in and that's the reason why it will be important for keep Lake plasa beautiful and any other stakeholder to come to the community workshops and to be involved in that process so when Jennifer was here at the last um Town council meeting that's what she spoke about and we passed that Town Council pass that so that will be a six to n month process so what we're focusing on right now are the items that were already in there that were're not completed for 23 24 and then once this plan is done then it will roll forward and it will tie in whatever we've already done right my point is is that the pots included Main Street and Interlake that project I I think what we're saying is that we have now employed somebody $440,000 do a master plan Deb I don't I don't dispute that I understand that all I'm saying is that you have approved the purchase of pots and plants you have indeed need done that and the leg work is being done to do that and they are only going to be implemented on Main so right now right now but then we're going to have a master plan through this um work these workshops that we will be able to I understand all that I I just wanted to make it really clear abundantly clear that this does nothing for Interlake which was the impetus for getting all of this going and I just in making that point is that there doesn't seem to be any guaranteed contention of what you're going to do for the rest of Interlake Main Street is getting the pots and that is a completely different separate project and separate maintenance from Inner Lake and that's the only point that I want to make is that you can sit here and say till the cows come home it's coming it's coming it's coming well the people of Inter Lake have heard that for a long time the merchants of in Lake have heard that for a long time and keep Lake Plaza beautiful has an absolute absolutely everything they can have been basically tarred and feathered because it doesn't look pretty and now they're doing they're having to do the same thing and everybody thought or was under the impression that the CRA had approved money to make a noticeable difference and I don't think anybody is here one that's all okay thank you well thank you does anybody want before we respond I mean how much are we talking to fix or put in the irrigation on Interlake let let me address that as far as is Interlake and Main Street going to look different absolutely it's going to look different there's no way to make it look the same on Interlake Boulevard you have these six foot triangles that limit our space limit our location and as far as irrigation to try to get things up on the sidewalk pots on Interlake just my one personal opinion horrible idea it is a trip Hazard it is a liability it it is just we just don't have the space on Interlake when you have two foot in front of a business and two foot of a sidewalk when people walk up and down first person that trips over a pot that's that's in the wrong location we will be sued we get sued over one in rise in the in a sidewalk when people fall during festivals it's just it's just going to look different we're obviously trying to do a master plan just like as if a business comes in and they get a a plan approval and they're supposed to maintain and take care of that when we do the walk down Inter Lake Boulevard figure out what's going on there have the trees have the plants and then we'll have a master plan of how things are supposed to maintain and and stay we we haven't done in the past we haven't had a a designed plan for Interlake we just kind of go down and say because we're all volunteers go yep let's put Plants there let's put Plants there this go around we're going to have a plan all the islands marked and what goes in those so if one or two plants die we'll know hey we had six plants in that let's put the six plants back and let's get it back to what it originally is and try to do a little higher quality because we have a plan of Interlake Boulevard but no doubt they're going to look different okay so just let's finish with the board Mr Royce if you don't mind waiting I actually wanted to make make comments on on Miss dear's comments no that's what I'm saying let's speak to you know her that's what I am doing yes no I I said Mr Roy please wait okay Mr Roy wait yeah I thought you were saying okay please wait and you're looking at me um but I want to come back to irrigation again so are you saying that irrigation for Interlake would be in the revitalization plan they address everything they at everything but now as far as cost we would have to be able to find out what the cost is going to be so our staff would have to get quotes we would have to go out right I mean because we have CRA money that we could use for that and when you look at our CRA that we've approved we've approved irrigation at Dale Hall irrigation at Taylor Park so we've got irrigation that we've approved I mean I totally agree with the comments I mean when visitors come in they're coming in Interlake and and then depends on where they're going you know Main Street so you know we're working on trying to Showcase Interlake Maine and Dale Hall right that's the main you know um the roads there so I would be interested in what is the irrigation cost do we have money you know we're going to need Irrigation in the revitalization in the downtown master plan and everything but everywhere there's dirt there's irrigation we're talking about cutting sidewalks in popping irrigation up in concrete to water plots corre pots I just don't think that's practical every place on Interlake that there's dirt there is irrigation we have a plan and we have irrigation there it's trying to get it in these odd underc Concrete locations which I just don't think it's practical the Little Triangle cutouts correct well those the the open triangle the concrete that is the the where the lights are that's a solid concrete triangle and that's a little bit uh smaller of triangles not the island triangle so if they're talking trying to get irrigation there now we're talking a huge expense to try to bust up concrete to pop pop a a quarter inch jet through concrete right so we the irrigation is working that's what they already went down and evaluated so we're just exactly like Mr Brantley said that's where they've already found out that it is fully functional we went through that whole process so now we need to put Plants back in there but exactly if we're trying to bust up the ground and put irrigation under the concrete no that's that's not going to be feasible right now on this budget session well we we also have something else to consider is if the irrigation we're tying into is the irrigation that Waters the islands those islands may get watered every couple of days but the flowers may need to be watered every single day so we have to consider whether the you know what we would be tying into is the right pipes to tie into and if there is any right pipes to tie into we may have to run new pipes in order to do you know the flowers or we all the irelands get watered every single day for 10 minutes because because we have to get the Zone on for the flowers you know so they get watered every single day so there's a couple different you know things we have to look at there um but I agree with what Margaret's saying because you know we were supposed to be jazzing up Inner Lake and you know I said I was willing to give up the money to do Interlake but as I'm talking about you know doing Interlake and doing really nice I'm worried that they're you know doing what Margaret is saying and just making it only worried about maintenance so they don't have to do maintenance you know making it maintenance free and then not but I'm will I was hoping that if we put the money forward and keep like plasa beautiful doesn't have to cover the cost of the plants and putting the stuff in on Interlake that they would be willing to you know have it professionally maintained for a year um until we could figure out how else maybe to do it but it doesn't I'm not sure they're willing to do that you know so do we keep some of the money back and do you know other things with it but then we've got the complication what do we do now we could put you know um I mean over on the crosswalk we're putting some papers down in some of the islands and we're putting pots on top of those you know I mean there is you know can do we incorporate more flowers into the islands because we're not doing it in pots do we do some pots in the islands with flowers you know mixed in or something like that mean there's some other way to do it I mean that's you know I guess could be thought out but I I agree with what Margaret's saying I agree with what Joy's saying um I'm I'm worried that we're dumbing it down down and we're not going to get the Jazz like she's talking about you know Main Street that will have the pots you know it's going to be all flowers in those pots right and those will be maintained for a year professionally and um so they should look great you know so um I know I get the points also for Miss Deere uh Inter Lake is not being neglected because they're working on the signage the way finding Signs and Banners so it's there's not been neglected maybe the plans changed a little little bit with the pots but you're not being neglected is there anybody else that had any comments for our last speaker okay sorry Mr Royce M Madam chairman Ray Royce I come up here to speak to miss Charles question because she has an excellent question and that is who ultimately has responsibility for certain things and I'm I'm as both having sat in this role and chaired this role I have a perspective that remember that ultimately the Lake plid Town Council is going to have to be responsible for funding day-to-day week to week month-to-month maintenance of of of whatever it is keep Lake pla beautiful to their credit historically the town did not have the capacity either financially or Manpower wise to put in new plannings maintain new plannings and so K plag PL it beautiful raise money got grants moved forward in a volunteerism Spirit did all that to benefit our town because the town frankly was unable both physically and financially to do that several years ago for the first time the town of Lake plid created a new position I don't know what it's called some Horticultural position it went through several people it was hard to keep someone going but I think you probably still have one person who's responsible for maintaining things horticulturally across the town and as you all hopefully evolve and have more you're going to need to say okay we got to find another 75 $80,000 whatever it cost to hire and put a guy in a truck or a man or woman in a truck and do it but it's ultimately for day-to-day maintenance remember that the vast vast majority of Maintenance by keep Lake pla beautiful has been volunteer efforts primarily Mr Brantley Mr Clark and some others but those two guys are doing most of it themselves as volunteers they get some helpers and they trim trees and stuff like that but you cannot in my opinion rely on keep Lake plasa beautiful to say yes we'll be out there in a weekly or you know monthly basis to pull weeds out of flower you know Gardens those kinds of things so to your question Colleen you're exactly right you all you all not necessarily as a CRA board but as Town Council need to say in subsequent budget Cycles we're going we've stepped up what we have we're going to have to step up and use some of that money I will now share my opinion that's why CRA has also got to say you know what we're going to need to do is we're gonna have to free up let's just say 100 grand for more maintenance so we need to make sure the CRA funds some other infrastructure projects or whatever to give some budget relief to be able to have now that maintenance person so it's going to be kind of a tradeoff as you're wearing your Town Council had is how you you fund that but I think it's unrealistic and and Miss Bush can speak to it but I mean like plastic keep like plastic beautiful traditionally get some grants they sell some sponsorships but they don't we don't have the capacity to enter into long-term contracts for tens of thousands of dollars for maintenance thank you okay would anybody like to respond I would I I appreciate that and I mean that's where it's all about and I said it before divide and conquer right we've got limited resources uh we have a lot of interest to do things and then it's just separate roles and responsibilities but openly and agreeably so that when budgets are done then we can say okay what can you guys get what do we need to do because again at the end of the day it's not only making the town beautiful but then keeping the the town beautiful and that's kind of the biggest you know where you run into the who does what in the maintenance um and that's going to grow over time that expense um I know you've mentioned a couple times a plan right you have a plan that's been approved or something like that I think it would be interested is um kind of sharing that because I I know i' I've heard that okay we can only plant certain plants and things like that I don't know you know I've asked for a list of that and are those things that need to be Revisited because I know Mr Brantley you did talk about the um the fire bush and yeah that was one that was decided let's put it in and over time it's too costly to maintain so Mr Royce I really appreciate and I and I agree totally with you know your comments it gets down to defined roles and responsibilities of it each of the areas within Landscaping needs so that we can all agree who's doing it versus if not we neglect it right it gets neglected comment Jennifer Bush did send over the the list so I can forward that to you the the current keep Lake pla Beautiful List is and then twq also made a recommendation what we need now is like Mr Brantley said is they'll walk and they'll they'll identify and so we we're ready to go ahead and move that forward with Inter Lake it's just a matter of it's holidays and so it's been very difficult to try to pull everything together yeah M you want to talk I just I just have a quick question for Mr Brantley who is going to do this um this walk through is it chamber is it keep it's going to be keep Lake plastic beautiful as far as we we have our uh meeting in uh January we'll schedule we'll probably have a short 15 minute at the chamber go over things then take this overlay plan that is of Interlake that shows all the islands then walk down and identify okay yes we do have a uh uh fox tail pal on this side we want a matching one on this side and kind of walk down and and mainly obviously is to replace everything after the pipe bursting and to decide to kind of mimic things and match things and just make things a little more uniform we we've never done that before we've just kind of got oh yeah we we have an island that needs work let's go put new plants in that one let's go put new plants in this one now we're going to go down from from my office to Main Street and look at every island and and decide what we need to do how many plants and that way you know when uh landscaper sees it and says okay we need 30 of these 20 of these and then they can bid it at that point then we'll get a total cost on bidding at that point you know I can't tell you is it going to be 10,000 is it going to be 20,000 until we walk Island to Island and kind of come to some kind of consensus what needs to go there and then we'll have a master plan so if we look back and say okay hey that we can sit in the chamber and go okay hey we lost two plants here we did this and we can go ahead and keep an upgo ongoing list of plants that need to be replaced versus in the past we never had them identified and numbered now we'll have them identified number which should help for long-term maintenance and beauty of the Interlake Boulevard exactly I just I just want to make sure in my head that we have the the proper stakeholders that are going to go to that walkthrough so if I mean Margaret dear you're on Lake plaid keep Lake Placid beautiful right no you're not I I would want to make sure that you were involved in that walkthrough in Ken also um as the merchants people some Merchants there would would walk as well so that you know it's not everyone's welcome to come as far as that goes we don't really ever turn around we' never turn away anyone that's well to come I mean we we don't need we don't need 50 people there because we'll never figure out what we want to do but I do think we need some key folks there that are going to be uh directly impacted by what we put on that street and of course I'll be there as well so we I want to make sure that Council and chamber and keep like clet beautiful and Merchants are all represented there okay and we have and we have to consider the Sunshine Law I mean we need to get some um when Mr Harris gets back maybe he could give us some advice but we long long as there's a liaison from one one from Town Council one from obviously CRA one probably be the same person because I know Ken would probably want to be there um yeah we'll have to figure that out if we have to advertise it or what we have to do well I'd like to be there my property's on interation that's true I mean I'd like to we can do it can be an advertised meeting and and so it's in the sunshine that's not I don't know that it I don't know that it would come under Sunshine but we have to be sure well why we need to get Bert's opinion just to be sure we don't want to violate any any problems we don't want it be because when we get a plan and we get a you know we get a master plan we want a approve from CRA we want approve from Town Council before we move forward so yeah it's going to have to be in the sunshine because there'll be multiple people on multiple boards so you probably have to do it in another Workshop because I think right some of that stuff we thought we'd do today but because of the holidays it just didn't come together like that um Charlotte if it's possible when you send the flowers out to everybody the list can you do it with pictures so everybody knows what we're talking about if it's possible I don't know that they have pictures and if I I don't think there's pictures is there are there pictures ATT yeah twq does but not the keep L blast a beautiful one we can we can Google it well we know how to Google we can Google it all right no that's good okay so so my my the master plan that we end up with we're going to do a workshop I mean a walkth through uh come up with it does that come to Town Council for approval before it goes out for bids I mean it it's still this connection of who does what because at the end of the day Town Council should be approving and and then if that's the case then yes sunshine law that if you got people doing walk through and making decisions on something that could come to Town Council for um approval and discussion I think it's just I know in the past I know but I'm talking what Bill talked about Bill Bill had said then to put together a plan would go out then for bids to landscapers it would have everything which plants marked and everything like that I know in the past like I had mentioned is and and I mean you were the one who came to a lot of the quarterly Town meetings to present out different things so it's still that roles and responsibilities trying to clearly clarify which is interesting because the mayor's not here but he had asked at different meetings in the past who does what so I mean if if you're a right to left thinker we want it to be beautiful and we walk back how do we do that Town Council has to prove it how did we get there we had workshops with different people uh keep like plasted beautiful did da da da da you know utilities people did da d d da so that's a question right because this is a workshop is the the walkthrough is going to come up with a design that should really come to Town Council I think for approval and then it goes out for bids um and then we've been able to open up to the public too to get some feedback on the walkthrough plan and I have no problem with as far as we do the master plan but of course you know when you're doing the master plan you get to see things you don't get to see when you're up on Town Council unless you're there so you know for us to come in front of you and we have six plants plants around a palm tree go o I think we need seven well that doesn't make sense that you know that that unless you're there and kind of lay things out you know it's you know for an overview I think it's a great for approval but I don't want to get into minutia of of we need four instead of of six we two or three we want to have alternating plans that's just something I think needs to be settled at the walkth through with the interested parties okay anything else but no I'll just leave that to Town Administrator and attorney on you know make sure that we're not violating Sunshine Law I think when you guys you know get this master plan figured out I think T twq has the ability to um probably show what's agreed to in rendering form um you know check with him and see and maybe he can uh have renderings of the different areas I mean he's been you know willing to help you know and volunteer in these kinds of capacities so that would be cool if he could show that kind of stuff um yeah and U and you know I I know Ry was talking about maybe the town needs to hire another you know $7 $80,000 a year you know expense person I mean personally I think we need to um but this is up to you Charlotte and the Town Council um hire contractors to do things I mean we asked twq how much he thought it would cost in a maintenance contract to keep um all of Interlake uh maintained for a year all the stuff we're talking about planting and he said probably 15 18,000 a year you know of course you didn't know what getting plant it at the time but um I think we'd be much better off to hire you know go out to yearly bid or something like that and hire maintenance contractor to make sure that it's weeded make sure it's you know fertilized make sure it's um you know trimmed and all that kind of stuff um so um yeah so um is keep Lake plastic beautiful do they have a budget set aside that they're able to or willing to spend on this Inter Lake replant so so as far as we obviously can contribute some as far as that goes but our budget's pretty limited you know we have a $115,000 grant and there's specific things that we have to put into that Grant we we need to add fertilizer we need to add public information we need to add you know cleanups we have we had a list the last time I was here of like six items that we try to do you know Christmas tree Roundup and just different things that we try to do that that go that have to be in that $15,000 to spent because it's a reimbursement Grant we don't get the $155,000 and figure out how to spend it we have to spend the money and then we get reimbursed based upon meeting the criterias that were required by keep keep americ beautiful when we had the meeting here and Bert got up and spoke and you know Bert wanted to make very you know sure that keep Lake pla beautiful was driving what happens on inner Lake you he said that we have $440,000 and we're willing to spend money you know towards doing this Interlake project right and um so I'm just um trying to understand you know what funds are are available what funds are going to happen I mean I told you I'd be you know willing only personally not them you know that nobody's voted on it but use money from the pots towards the Interlake plantings on the ground but with with the hope that you know keep Lake plasted in return would be willing to maintain for a year you that's the problem we ran into on on Main Street you know when we wanted to do these pots and CRA was talking about it we had nobody to maintain it until next year when Town Council creates the budget for the year and has the opportunity to choose to spend money for maintenance on that kind of stuff which you know when the budget cycle comes around on Interlake I guess that same discussion can happen on Interlake right so um so the maintenance on Main Street was volunteered for a year and to get us to that point right so um so you know somehow um it seems to me unless I'm incorrect Charlotte the town the CRA can't pay for maintenance the town doesn't have money set aside for maintenance and so we need to try and figure out whatever we plant how do we maintain it until the next budget cycle comes around in which case there's more opportunity for the town to be able to address maintenance that um it doesn't now have set aside because when they did their budget they did anticipated right so so the town already maintains that and that's what I think Mr Brantley was was alluding to earlier is that the town staff already do it which is a reason why they look for low maintenance because it doesn't require them to be out there as frequently so we have dedicated staff who work on the the areas already it's just it's on a rotation and it depends on where else we need to pull them to do we need additional staff absolutely and the evaluation of Staffing that's already been determined and that was determined very early on when I first came came on board but we have a set budget right now and so we we've got to work with within the means that we have which I think is uh I my understanding is that Allan and Harry are pretty involved in keep Lake plid beautiful and so they would be there at the table when they do the walkth through to make sure that the plants that are going in are it will be something that they can still continue to maintain at the level that we've been able to is it where we would like to be no I think we all come to that agreement but we can't jump too far ahead either and make sure that you know we do plan for next year I have seen where we've done contract work I've I've seen other municipalities that they do that because you don't have the the overhead with all of the insurance and the vation and things of that nature right um so I'm I'm not the decision maker I just bring you the information and I back away from the table and then Council gets to make that decision and I feel as far as the maintenance of the pots I I maybe I I'm I'm delusional think it it's less maintenance than it should be but um once you plant the pots get there irrigation goes in there you plant flowers you know it's like a quarterly kind of thing so every 3 months you kind of pull those flowers put new flowers back in is that the maintenance your taken care of people are at my Plaza four times a week maintaining those flowers it won't be we're not going to do that no no I understand that that that's why we're not doing only flowers on Interlake we're doing plants you know um so I get that um and and they shouldn't have to do the pots four times a week um either U but it's not it's not quarter you know but whatever it's um it's kind of apples and oranges on the one street from the other um but um yeah and and but I I agree with what was said is you know we got to be careful not to go so maintenance free and we lose um the wow factor of what we're putting in the ground so I know there's there's got to be a balance that's all I'm saying you know it can't be all just L ripy you know although hopefully there be noy but to say you know because it's Main it's free or something right so yeah and personally I'd like to have our police chief on that walk through too because with the fire bush we've had problems with site Vision things like that I know that he's brought it up before and I I just think it'd be nice if he could go through the walkth through with you I think everybody gets that we shouldn't do that anymore but um I think it would be very helpful um if our police chief could be there too so is there anything else okay I'm sorry sir please State your name and address no problem my name is Rob Chon um it's uh 13 cubby Lane um Everybody here's got good points uh when we first got together with the merchant Association uh Ken was a driving force with warning to spoof up in Lake and it was really a catalyst to get things going Mr brantley's 100% right you got to look at it like from a liability point of view the potted plants on Inter Lake sound like a great idea but they function ity of it runs into hurdles and issues that I'm always looking at where's the best way to spend the money Ken's looking at hey let's not go half this way let's let's kind of let like really go all out Ray brought up some really great issues what about a compromise what about you know hey we're not putting a potted plants there let's upgrade the plants we're going to put in that area it is going to require money and maintenance though what about sponsorships for those little areas to offset the extra cost of maintain that sprucing up that way Ken gets a little upgrade on what he's getting cuz he's not getting the pots now that he was told and really wanted to get uh because of the logistics of it Mr Brantley doesn't have to worry about the liability of dealing with that Ken gets the spruing up where it it looks better all the way around for the town and then everybody you know and then offsetting where the counsil does have to pay as much money for the mains we're ready maintaining it we might actually come up on a plus side I know over at the lodge we'd be happy to sponsorship I mean there's quite a number of those triangles if I'm not mistaken uh Mr Brantley could probably tell me more uh how many there are I don't know exactly off the top of my head but it'd be a good cost-saving measure and it seemed like everybody would get a uh a win out of it thank you thank you does anybody have a comment response I I just wanted to make another comment just to try to hold this in because keep ke Lake plasted beautiful is going to do their master plan and we will be able to take their master plan and provide it to Central Florida Regional plan I think we've got to keep that in the Forefront of our mind as well because they're going to come in and be able to tell us based off of other areas that are similar to Lake Placid they if you if you have not received it all of the council received it but anybody else who would like to see it I can send you an example and it breaks down everything with streetscaping it's the lighting I mean it's our light poles it's comes up with the banners and they they compare it to what our current codes are so they look at that as well and so just to remember that we're we're trying to use the money right now that we have allocated already for 23 24 but we're not going to move too much further into that because we want the professionals who are skilled at doing this this is what they do in other municipalities to be able to say this is what's going to be best for Lake plid and then we get to adopt it and it it's a living breathing document as well but when I spoke with Miss Cotto Salsbury from Central Florida Regional planning she said that anybody who has input so even with the merchants group their in input everybody will be welcome to that table but right now I will filter back to her the plant list that we already have from keep Lake plasta beautiful and say these are the plants we're already using it's going to be revised and then that keeps it moving as we move through this process so I just wanted to make those comments so that we're all aware that we're making decisions now but we don't want to go too far ahead before we get an actual plan on what we're going to do because they can they can look at the current irrigation we have and I'm just throwing this out there I'm not saying that this is something that is but I've seen where they say okay well we've got the potted plants down this area but in this area it might be better if we had hanging plants so there's still other areas that we could do something different but they're going to look at it with fresh eyes if that makes sense since we've hired them now to do that I wonder if they have like one person who is their Landscaping person who can you know potentially chime in on the plant list well you were saying you were sending them the plant list but give us actual feedback now before the keep Lake plasa beautiful meeting happens in a couple of weeks so we can consider their feedback as the plants are being selected at this point it'd be nice if they had somebody that could go on the walk through yeah true yeah be there at that meeting that would be awesome I yeah I'll certainly once we get the date I can communicate that back to them yeah great thank you hello my name is Ken Anderson 371 East Interlake Boulevard I'm not sure if this is the proper venue to complicate matters further but I had an idea the other day and I ran it by Harry and he after a long pregnant pause he kind of grinned a little bit and said I think that'll work and it solves the problem that I think Chief Schneider is primarily concerned about as the rest of us the the safety of people and the liability and and the fact that if somebody jumps over the curve they're going to break a $300 pot with $300 wor the plants in it so I had this idea that if we have a pot made out of fiberglass a durable flexible fiberglass um and it's made in such a way where it comes in it comes in two pieces that are semicircles on each side but they're pots so they're semicircle pots then what you do and you can have all these little cups on the sides for plants coming out but then you just wrap the pole or you wrap the palm and then you connect them together and you have one big round pot around the pole or around the plant and we're not if something does happen and it's just going to bend and pop back out so I think in the long run it's a much lower cost I will admit I haven't been able to find them online so they might have to be designed but they could be made out of this flexible fiberglass in any number of colors so there would be a lot of uh I guess a lot more discussion about what they might look like but I think we can complete the task of having a heavy foliage around at each of the triangles without a lot of expense and a lot of risk thank thank you anybody to respond I mean interesting option you know if you could find it yeah yeah the only thing I see is again irrigation and trying but if you get Plants instead of flowers and I think right again Ken Anderson uh it seems to me like though we do have several places on Interlake that do have the irrigation as was pointed out um so if we started there and then just put something in the budget for next year to finish the project up U but I was I have been really excited that something was going to start happening on Interlake and a little concerned that maybe that's maybe it's steering clear maybe it's moving in another Direction so I did want to just say that I'm I'm hoping we continue with the work on Interlake as opposed to picking some other spots to work thank you and and so I mean these are good points right we've got a couple Interlake business is weighing in so um I'm certain the walk through will include you know somebody from Interlake the businesses and I would just ask to listen to these comments and take that forward is maybe pots can't be done maybe they can in certain areas maybe they can't but what else what could you supplement what's the compromise that could be done to really Jazz up Inter Lake if we can get somebody from um Central Florida Regional Council that's like their Landscaping person I bet he knows all kinds of ideas of what to add into a downtown you know what's what the options are and stuff like that so it'd be great if we could find you know somebody there who could give us some advice you know now like we talked about if they come yeah Interlakes the Gateway right it's it's the main main drag and that's what you want it to be jazzed well that's why I suggest if we can get somebody for them to go to the walkth through and not wait for the final master plan yeah yeah because the final master plan isn't going to come until after our next budget cycle too so it's not like we get the plan we can budget it in next year we're talking years from now before we get their actual results right I mean before we get the results and can put it into a budget cycle in the CRA it's going to be you know two years from now or almost two years Our Town Administrator just said six to nine months and I think we're redoing our sign ordinance so we can put up banners and the new types of signs we want to do and that's again going to fall right in that time frame I think we're trying to get it done quickly so it all I think it's all going to come together pretty at the same time I but I really think it's a good idea if somebody could from Central planning could attend because we don't want throwaway money we don't want we're doing this and then they're like oh no that was the wrong thing to do so at least they can advise of the plans that we have now yeah those are all good we'll wait on this one you know because here's a couple thoughts so I I just am always big on throw away money we do something now and then a year from now we're going to change it because money's hard to come by so yeah I just don't want to wait for the final plan agree because if with their experience they could advise you know without having it in writing they could advise what would work no I agree go I mean we've got the uh HDTV getting ready to kick off so do what we can now but hopefully with some feedback from them so we don't have and I mean we got a lot of smart people you know twq can come up with some good designs um you know Bill Brantley in the past and the lake pled beautiful so we've got smart people so I don't have any concern there um but I am sensitive to again Interlake you know Interlake and what can we do to Jazz it up it's the balance Mr Clark you're the only one out there that hasn't spoken would you like to get up and say anything thank you and tell us who you are here's another 30 minutes talking about rol roles and responsibilities obviously town council's the ultimate Authority keep Lake PL a beautiful as an advisory type situation CRA deciding where to spend that money moving forward the PO were a great idea but I don't think it was thought through involve the police department involve us involve everybody these people think they're getting pots it's not a good idea so moving forward before you make those decisions maybe involve everybody you know because I don't think pots inter like a good idea either but thank you any other comments anything else to come before the the board okay so I did not want to be the one to decide on our pot choices I wanted that to for us to have consensus from our our Council and there were several options that went out before the council and email and then I spoke with each one of them individually and was very impressed to find out that everybody really agreed on the same one I mean there were other options that they liked but this was the one that everybody really weighed in on as well so it's the sage green warm sand and Dusty blue on Heritage pavers the Heritage pavers have already been ordered I am working with Robin's Nursery right now to find out about the flower pots and this is just a visual um now the pots here have multicolor but it allows you to be able to see with the colors on the bottom of the papers the way that it would look obviously um the the pots he is trying to see if he can get them where they're multicolor we don't know for sure yet but those convers ations are happening so I just wanted to be able to show everybody a visual of what was agreed upon with the color scheme on the colors and can you clarify where we're suggesting that would go can you want to you want to talk about that so at the crosswalk there's on both sides of the new crosswalk there'll be three pots each um and then The Pedestrian the new pedestrian pedestrian crosswalk and then there's six places down Main Street where there's these wooden boxes the wooden boxes will be taken out in the median will be taken out there'll be a round PA section put in at each of those six locations and then three pots will go on each of those six so at the six locations there'll be like an extra large pot a large pot and a medium pot so at six locations at the crosswalk it'll be a large pot a medium pot and a small pot on each side of you know the road and um so that's the plan for those yeah and at this point I think the pavers may be in by I don't know next week week after so pavers are going in really fast they're going to have an irrigation box in the middle so that they can whip out of that into each of the planters for irrigation and um yeah but um what's going to happen now the pavers are going to be there but the pots won't be there that's why we're trying to figure out how quick we can get the pots because as soon as we get the pots you know within days he'll probably have it all installed and done we just need to uh finalize the pot selection and purchase them anything else anybody has um I have a just a question what T where is TDC planning on putting that map kiosk that they talked about they haven't decided that go ahead do they decide or do we help them decide I mean where's because that's they're they're still having conversations about everything with that so um we attended the TDC meeting I attended with councilwoman Worley and so um they're planning to have us a round table with all the municipalities so that we can plan that so we'll we'll have conversation that's more to come I think they were getting past the holidays and that'll be like a permanent that I can't answer I don't know I don't think they've made that decision yet because then you're talking about maintenance and who's going to take care of I think all that will be discussed at the round table um we're going to all get together and all three municipalities will be involved in it so that we come up with what you know we have input too for our area and where we think it should go and that sort of thing so so so you just told the downtown will be attend it'll yeah downtown yeah and we'll let everybody know I mean you all I mean you'll be attended to make that decision did they make that decision on where it would go what it would look like just because you know it's it's a good idea but we want something attractive something Central and something that fits into this overall I think you beautifications that we're planning on doing I think they're taking that into consideration for it to be able to fit in all the different locations does anybody have suggestions where they think it should go so that you can take that back to them is it just what is it one map kiosk is it a map of downtown or what is it it's a kiosk and it's not it's going to show all of the different municipalities it'll show all the different areas so it'll be Sebring Avon Park Lake pla oh it's one countywide Kia B and so they'll be able to go on there and look at it and say okay well we're in Lake pla today and they can plan out their trip and as they plan out their trip well now we want to go to Sebring well what's in Sebring that we can do and it'll pull up all of the places that they can eat it'll pull up every activity that they can do there it'll locate anywhere where the parks are so it will be it's an interactive kiosk and they can pick everything and it'll print it out for them or they can they'll have a QR code that they can scan and it'll it'll connect to their phone and then it'll help map them the idea is to be able to highlight everything that we have in Highlands County as a whole um one of the big takeaways that I'm getting from being new in the area is that we're not competing against each other um it's not Lake plet against Avon Park or lake plid against Sebring we have to look at it from a holistic view that we are Highlands County we're competing with the other counties that we want to be able to keep people here in overall Highlands County to be able to spend their money where they come to play and to be able to eat and to contribute to our tax base um there's been a divide almost if I can be transparent and say that where it's as though we are competing amongst each other and we're not we've really we want to be able to reflect that Lake plaid has great things to offer Sebring has great things to offer Avon Park has great things to offer but together we all come together and we're able to be able to show them who overall Highlands County is so that's what the kiosk is really going to be it's going to be able to allow them to map out where they want to go based off of their interests and their desires and their likes but my question now is who's going to determine what's in that kiosk especially from Lake plet I know Jennifer just stepped out but they said that Jennifer has been very involved with feeding back all of the different um businesses that are here making sure and communicating um you can attest to that conversations on Monday that they said she's been very active and making sure that they're aware of what we have in Lake Placid so I would venture to say she's going to be at the round table as well as well as myself and anybody else from Lake plid who can weigh in on that I just wanted to be sure that when this when when the rubber meets the road on this kiosk that Lake plet isn't in the small letters yes okay because I know who made the small letters and if that same person is making the kiosk by goly we better be there in force because she doesn't take a little nudge she takes I mean a full nudge you don't want our kiosk to say in big letters visit Sebring also Lake plet in Avon Park not exactly but but my point bringing it up and it's always a good discussion to get in on the ground level is where it will go as we're you know if all of a sudden somebody says oh over by the crosswalk well we're putting pots and we're doing this here so I would want to make sure sure that we get ahead of the game on where it would go so that we can either beautify around it or or what you know so I mean that's why I bring it up Bill I don't know if this is definitely in the Wheelhouse of the Chamber of Commerce I'm on the board Donald's on the board yeah it's just they come to the Chamber of Commerce to see what's going on to have that kiosk somewhere near the Chamber of Commerce where they're going already to get the locations to go in our town just kind of makes sense to me whether it's between us or the police station you know next door it's just because the chamber serves as our visitor location so it makes sense for it to go there yeah I would I would I would vote for the chamber as as you said you know people go there anyway it's kind of a natural thing so yeah or right there on interl too then that draws the starting point is on interl too so but on on the other hand not everybody goes to the chamber because it's on a side road if the the foot traffic is on Interlake and Main maybe that would somewhere on those streets would be a better location right right in front of the police station if you put it police station's going to be here oh you're right right in front of that building we are building a police station here yeah sometime it may be at my grave but it will be here if maybe you find the busiest location and put it there then all the other businesses that maybe are less busy could could be they could find those other businesses from that location so or you start where it's less busy because they already know Journal Plaza is the business because you're you're heading to journal I don't want to debate it here I just my point was to make sure that as we're building out our beautification plans there's going to be a kiosk coming it's either it's either chamber or interl and and old right there the goal is to I believe with the Kos well I mean probably introduce them to the other cities in town but when it comes to this town is to introduce people to other places in the downtown that they don't know where it is now you know to get to those businesses to get to heart souls to get to new to you to get to you know whatever businesses around town that are not in an obvious location you know um that's just but I don't really care where it goes have we seen any mockup of a design of this kiosk because it would be interesting if the kios could be similar in nature but at the top you are here you are in Lake plet you are in Sebring you are in you know and not or a Highlands County top but not a visit Sebring top yeah as far as the police location obviously the police will eventually be here as far as that building will probably be sold I think that' be the time to have a conversation possibly carving out a small corner right there on in Lake for the kiosk and then obviously exclude that from the sale of the property that way you'd have a permanent spot right there in a lake you could say Chambers right here everything but we have the property we can carve a piece out sell the rest and then always have that location right on in Lake for that kiosk that's a good idea just make it visible so yeah well that was my thought is the police station location because you have the side street for parking if people want to you drive up Park go to the kiosk it's also on the main foot path area and we own it okay yes sir uh Rob Chatterton once again if I can make a suggestion I was involved with something like this out in California about 17 years ago during the infancy and one of the things um when you were searching what we found out is people go searching for specific things but if you don't know certain things are there they're lost it's kind of like surfing the web or something like that so what they had is when the kiosk wasn't being queried we had it where it flipped through and they were used in two different municipalities so they would show uh an odd store and eventually it was on a cycle so you would run through every business with a picture of it and then it would come up like where it's located on the same screen say oh like Joe's bookstore you know Joe's Coffee shop or something like that and then like say like it would so it' be like for us it' be hey Lake plid you know come on down to uh Ken Anderson's uh you know furniture store you know then we flip over to Sebring come over to Linda's books come over to something Avon Park that way when it's not it's not just sitting there on a screen and everybody gets a little bit of advertisement cuz you know if you don't know with the query you don't even know if the store's there why would you even query for it in the first place so that's what we ran into and that's what we came up with that and then later on they had decided a uh for they were doing one for four they had a four-sided one and each one was for each individual one they had a lot more traffic there obviously than what we're seeing so it's just just food for thought I just want to throw that out there thank you once again thank you any comments anything else to come before the board okay I'm going to call the meeting adjourn adjourned at 9919