Central Dora Committee Meeting Summary - August 26, 2025
Central Dora Committee Meeting Summary - August 26, 2025
The Central Dora Committee met on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. with a quorum present. One excused absence was noted. The meeting began with the introduction of new member Matt Fry, owner of Bubs Burgers. The committee addressed routine updates on cup availability and signage, and focused on proposals to exclude certain dates and events from Dora operations.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public provided comments.
Discussion Items
- Cup Update: The committee reaffirmed its previous decision to remain with aluminum cups, citing availability, cost, community value, and recyclability. A vendor had requested a move to plastic, but the committee deemed the matter settled after a motion did not carry at a prior meeting.
- Signage Update: No significant issues with signage slipperiness or adhesion were reported. The street department will be asked to monitor any future problems. Legal confirmed no tort claims were received.
- Exclusion of Dates from Dora Operations: The committee discussed excluding specific events from Dora operations to accommodate unique traditions, branding needs, and enforcement concerns. Events considered included Chris Kindle Markt, Winter Games, Diwali, and Gazebo Concerts.
- Diwali: The event organizer requested exclusion to serve branded cans of beer and wine. Some members opposed, arguing it would undermine Dora uniformity and set a precedent. Others noted the event’s small footprint at Carter Green. No motion was made.
- Gazebo Concerts: The committee supported exclusion due to the tradition of patrons bringing their own wine, which conflicts with Dora’s open-container rule. Legal and police noted enforcement challenges, and excluding the event would reduce pressure on officers.
- Chris Kindle Markt: The event was supported for exclusion due to its unique collectible cups, festival license use, and roped-off area.
- Winter Games: Exclusion was supported due to low beverage demand in winter and the event’s small location at Carter Green.
- Enforcement and Complaints: The committee discussed handling complaints about vendors allowing Dora cups to leave their establishments. It was agreed that complaints should be directed to the legal department or the MAC department, with a designated staff member to handle them.
Key Outcomes
- Motion Passed (unanimous): The committee voted to recommend excluding Gazebo Concerts and Chris Kindle Markt from Dora operations. Specific dates for Gazebo Concerts in 2026 were listed (May 27 through September 23, including rain dates). For Chris Kindle Markt, the 2025 dates (November 19 to December 24, with specific operating hours) were approved for exclusion.
- Motion Passed (unanimous): The committee voted to recommend excluding Winter Games from Dora operations on January 24, 2026.
- No Action: The committee took no action on excluding Diwali, pending further discussion.
- Process Established: Complaints about Dora policy violations will be directed to the legal department or MAC department for follow-up.
Meeting Transcript
All right. This meeting of the Central Dora Committee for Tuesday, August 26, 2025. It's 4 30 p.m. It's now called to order. We do have a quorum. And we have one excused absence. Also want to introduce Matt Fry, the owner of Bubs Burgers is our new member. We've hit we had a resignation from someone who is their life did not allow them to do this, so we want to welcome Matt to the to the committee. Thank you for your time and thank you for serving. All right, we are going to uh start with any public comment. Um part of the purpose of this committee is to make sure we give the public an opportunity to voice concerns for any vendors, any of our businesses, and I am seeing nobody that is moving towards the podium or give me any indication out of this huge crowd here today. So uh we are gonna move on to update on cup issues. There um seems to be kind of a uh I've got a couple of I'm looking at my emails. I've received a couple of thoughts of people who would like us to move to plastic. Uh and we debated that as a committee last month at our regular meeting. I think we came to a good conclusion. We base that discussion and that decision on current situation uh such as availability of cups, price of the cups, value to our community and how they look, recycling, and um availability. So if so if anyone wants to raise that issue as another discussion point, I'm happy to take time here this morning to or this afternoon to discuss that. If it is a settled matter in your minds, I have informed the committee that there is one of our uh establishments here in Carmel that would like us see uh like us to move to plastic, and I've had two counselors give me their thoughts on moving to plastic. But I will say I do not believe that they've got the whole story because they always reference the lack of availability, and we've solved that. Unless anyone tells me differently, and Kelly, if you know of anything different, please speak up. We're we're good. We are good. I have not been in the Dora delivery system for since last meeting. Okay, excellent. Jeff, I do have a question. Sure. So catching up on all of this, I'm missing that one discussion. Are you moving to plastic or are we gonna keep? So yeah, thank you. So the um there was a disc so we entertained the idea of moving of adding plastic to the aluminum. And for a variety of reasons, including confusion, uh probably everyone would just move to plastic, not the image, not the value to the community. We this committee uh the motion did not carry. So we are staying with aluminum cups that are now available. Okay. Thanks. Okay. And I just want to make sure I'm giving everyone plenty of chance to argue or to disagree with that assessment since you've slept on it. Okay. All right. Um, then the next and and I did plan that this would be without any public comment, that this would be a fairly short meeting because I'm gonna lose a couple of people that I know about here shortly. So um update from MAC department on signage. I don't know if you knew that was on here, but we know so uh let me just kind of um uh give some color to that why that's on here. Do you believe or have you heard that there are any issues with our signage? Um slipperiness uh peeling up. Is there is there anything that is other than just an anomaly? Is there any kind of a trend you're seeing and do we need to be thinking about this in the winter? Whatever. I have not heard about any issues recently. I know when they first went down, there was some adhesion problems because it was put down while it was still wet.
openpublica.com