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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFourth of July Steering Committee Minutes 2015-07-294th of July Steering Committee Meeting Minutes July 29, 2015 Committee members in attendance: Tony Scarpa Michele Scarpa Chris Scarpa Darrell Fales Terri Corbett Rufino Ramirez Stacy Scarpa Robin Hall Shari Burrows Lucy Woltz, Chamber Liasion James Toney, Director of Parks and Recreation Kimberly Ramirez, Staff Michael Boyett, Staff Gary Williams, Staff Heather Williams, Staff Billy Enochs, Staff Steve Sluder, FISD Transportation 1. Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm 2. Communications from the public: James informed the committee that they city thinks the committee did an excellent job this year with this year’s event. Everyone enjoyed the show and evening program. We need to start talking about the band for next year. 3. Discussion and possible action regarding June 24, 2015 minutes: Stacy made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected, Michelle second the motion and the motion passed unanimously. 4. Discussion and possible action regarding the 2015, 4th of July Celebration: A. Nominate and vote for Chair and Vice Chair: Table, Tommy was not in attendance; Tony requested to table this topic to next month. B Parade: James asked if everyone is familiar on what happened with a parade partici pant. James informed the committee one entry was removed by the committee. The parade application will be run by the city attorney when he is on staff starting August 3rd. Robin stated that the entries did not perform in front of the judges. Robin would like to have the parade entry descriptions a little ahead of time before the event so she can edit them if needed. James stated that we need to make sure we have a ride for the knights in advance of the day of the parade, this year it delayed the pickup of the dignitary’s at city hall. James stated that the 4th falls on a Monday next year, when will the gathering be. Michelle stated that they will do booth assignments on Saturday. Stacy stated they will paint the streets on Saturday and decorate the dignitary breakfast on Saturday. C. Day Program: Michelle stated that there were some booth vendors that did not cooperate well. Committee felt that the crowd was smaller this year. Staff needs to communicate better with the health department; Kimberly stated Galveston County was notified of inspection time and road closures. Committee stated we need to add on booth application that we can’t guarantee the same spot every year. Issues with the amusement rides, James talked to the vendor and will be meeting with him later to discuss issues we had. James stated we're going to get 3 quotes on amusement rides. Tony asked how we did this financially on ticket sales; Kimberly informed the group that we brought it $9,187. James informed the group that we need to take better care of the gators. There was damage to a couple of gators this year and there was a cost to repairing. He informed the committee to please call staff if you’re having issues with the gators, James, Gary or Kimberly would be ab le get help. Robin asked to confirm if Victoria could drive the gators. Robin stated that she was informed by a committee member that Victoria could not drive a gator but in the June minutes its stated she can. James stated that every year we want all the gators taken to Centennial after the day program and we need as many drivers as we can get. Anyone volunteering for the 4th and has a driver’s license can drive a gator per James Toney for future reference. Gary informed the group that they had the gators at the parks building this year to gas them up over there instead of bringing them back and force twice, that’s why they were not at city hall on the day before the event, next year they will be at city hall. D. Evening: Steve with FISD transportation stated we had 12 plus the special needs buses, we schedule 16 drivers but had 4 no shows. This is the year we didn't have enough people when the crowd was larger than ever. Robin asked if there could be an incentive to assuring that we have enough drivers. Michael stated that possibly we can pay them more. Stacy a sked if we could ask Clear Creek transportation. Shari stated that Brookside wasn't big enough for parking and we shouldn't use it again. James stated we should be good next year; Clear Brook already made their renovations. Steve asked if there were complaints due to the long lines. James stated it wasn't that bad, Michele stated the same. James asked Steve if their will be 20 plus buses next year. If we advertise on the buses we could possibly use the funds to offer drivers more pay. James asked when you get the final count, before school is out, late May. Steve stated they meet on the 20th to discuss the 4th of July. Robin stated she would sponsor $2,000 for an extra incentive for the drivers. Darrell stated their needs to be more trash cans in Centennial. The staff at the carnival needs to be informed about the national anthem and to stop the rides during the national anthem. Michael informed the group that he did informed FISD not to start the buses until 6:30 and Darrel stated that the buses started to arrive at 6:15p.m. Darrell requested to have vendors assigned to certain spots in the park. Kimberly stated that all vendors and groups were on the layout, vendors are always in the s ame spot as the year before. Darrell stated he needs another person to help him at the evening starting at 3pm. Gary stated we need another generator because the current generator we use is not dependable. We’ll need a 10kw generator. Robin stated that she cut the fence at 6pm to give access to the walkers. Robin requested a stop sign for the evening event. Give dignitary a pass to get parking. Robin can hand them a colored pass if they’re on the list. Vendors need passes as well. James stated that only the dignitaries with colored passes are to ride the van, the rest can ride on the gators and only to the curb and not to drop them off behind the stage. Crowd control before the fireworks was pretty bad, will need to work on logistics for crowd control for next year’s event. Tony stated this was the largest crowd he has ever seen. Tony stated that lots of people said that it was the best show they ever seen. 5. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:38 Approved by: Kimberly Ramirez Date: August 19, 2015