Good afternoon and welcome to a workshop meeting of the Boca Raton City Council.

It is Monday, May 12th, 2025.

The time is 233.

Our first item of business today will be proclamations and presentations, and we have one of each.

First, we have a proclamation for Nash excuse me, National Safe Boating Week.

And I'll please I'm pleased to invite to the lector in Mario Bai, Coast Guard Academy Admissions Partner and PLAST excuse me, I'm all over the place today.

Past Flotilla Commander Tom Thayer of the U.S.

Coast Guard Auxilio Auxiliary Flotilla 36 will accept the proclamation as Ms.

Siddons reason.

Whereas voting is a beloved recreational activity for many Boca Retone residents and visitors who enjoy our waterways and the promotion of boating safety contributes to a more secure environment for all.

And whereas on average, 650 people die each year in voting-related accidents in the United States, and 75% of voting fatal excuse me, fatalities are caused by drowning.

And whereas the vast majority of those accidents are caused by human error or poor judgment and not by the boat equipment or environmental factors.

And whereas a significant number of boaters who lose their lives by drowning each year would be alive today had they worn their life jackets.

And whereas the City of Boca Raton supports the goals of the United States Coast Guard, National Safe Boating Council, and Safe Boating Campaign, including raising awareness of the importance of life jackets and the start of the year-round effort to promote safe boating.

Now, therefore, I, Scott Singer, mayor of the City of Boca Raton, Florida, do hereby proclaim May 17th through May 23rd, 2025 as National Safe Boating Week in Boca Raton, and urge all those who vote to practice safe boating habits.

Well, Honorable Mayor Singer, esteemed members of the Council and distinguished guests, on behalf of Flotilla 36, located right here in Boca Raton at the intersection of Spanish River Boulevard and A1A, I am honored to accept this proclamation.

Boca Raton's stunning waterways are not only scenic escapes, but they're cherished destinations and a source of pride for Boca Raton.

As a city that you know appreciates coastal living, Boca Raton is always embraced the boating lifestyle, whether it's leisurely cruising down Lake Boca or experiencing some exhilarating offshore adventures.

But with the privilege of all that access comes the grave responsibility of being stewards for our environment.

So I applaud the mayor and council for their leadership in promoting safe voting, and would like to take this opportunity to remind one another that safety is key to ensuring that the waterways are a source of adventure, relaxation, and lasting memories for the next hundred years.

Thank you.

Tom Thayer here, just a couple uh comments.

Uh first of all, National Safe Boating Week starts on Saturday, the 17th.

And the flotilla has numerous activities, including vessel examinations at Sugar Sand, not at Sugar Sound, at uh San What's the name of it?

Silver Silver Palm Park.

Silver Palm Park.

And uh so that and um numerous uh other activities going on, including our uh cooperation for many, many years with West Marine.

And uh I'm holding a a vest.

Uh you don't need one quite like this, but uh certainly West Marine has uh Marine vests that uh boat vests uh be sure that they are all Coast Guard approved, and uh we've got a lot of water and a lot of uh activity going on constantly on the water.

So encourage that.

And the follow-up to that is uh I mentioned every year that we do this.

Um we have way too many child drownings in Florida each year.

So make sure that our little kids are pool-proof, waterproof, and whatnot, uh all kinds of uh swimming programs uh, including his uh YMCA programs.

So uh get our kids waterproof, swimming around, having a good time in the water, and wear the vest when you're out on the vessel.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Take a photo.

Thank you.

And now we're pleased to have a presentation on the Festival of the Arts BOCA 2025 and invite Executive Director Joanna Marie Kay to give her presentation.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, and thank you for having me here.

It's a pleasure.

My main purpose today is to say thank you for your incredible support and to tell you how this year went and what we have going on here.

So in 2025, we welcomed over 6700 attendees who spent 260,004 locally.

Now that dollar figure comes from the American for the arts, and that is a figure that's a number they spend outside of tickets.

So that's what they spend when they come to dinner and when they spend time in Boca Raton to attend the festival.

Another interesting fact out of those 6700 attendees, 21% of them came from out of the county, and 61% came from out of Boca Raton.

So we're bringing people from other cities, other counties to Boca Raton to participate in our event and to uh visit our wonderful city.

As you can see, we had over 213,000 in ticket sales with the festival itself spent over 200,000 on local businesses.

That would be anything from hospitality to printing, everything that we did to run the festival that was purchased from Boca Ratone businesses.

Our total impact you can see is over 1.2 million dollars.

Our outdoor advertising all over Meisner Park.

And our social media and e-blasts, we actually have a really good click-through rate.

1.7 is well above the industry average.

So we really do a great job on getting people to open and click through on all of our e-blasts.

They're a very effective way of communicating with people.

We have over 5,000 subscribers.

Radio is WLRN and Legends Radio, television, CBS 12, uh W XEL and WPBT.

And also we have a trade deal with Hotwire Communications, who also has television ad space.