Official Publication of the Town of Melbourne VillageCARDINALTHE

555 Hammock RoadMelbourne Village, FL 32904

321-723-8300 * Fax 321-984-7219E-mail town@melbournevillage.org

April 2013

FOUNDERS’ DAYSunday, April 21

The Town of Melbourne VillageCelebrates its 56th Anniversary

See Page 3 for Details

Hester Wagner Community House

Saturday April 207:00pm - 8pm

Founders’ Eve

SocialOld Fashioned Ice Cream

NOTICEThe east end of Norman Drive nearest theVillage Hall will be blocked off during theFounders’ Day activities (early morning toabout 5pm on April 21st) to provide a safearea for the ‘Avenue of Toys’.

This action was requested once again thisyear by the Founders’ Day volunteers toprovide safety during the day-longactivities in this area. Residents arerequested to use the West Pine access toNorman Drive. Questions or concernsshould be addressed to the Town Office,723-8300.

��Remember to bring a sidedish to Founders’ Day on

Sunday to share with otherMelbourne Village residents

Join us for a Community Sing-along

2

The Cardinal

From the Desk of the Mayorby Rob Downey, Mayor

Considering what to write I looked to my files for acopy the Cardinal publication dated October 2004,mailed more than eight years ago. Then, fresh in ourminds and described, were affects of September’shurricanes Francis and Jeanne and their visits just threeweeks apart. Also included was my review of ourcommunity’s accomplishments with proud recognitionof the many who made significant efforts to achievegoals during my two-year term.

Now five months into my term the lesson mostrecently learned is to stay the course, resist change andmaintain the Town in it’s current state as much aspossible. The offering of a concept plan for an unpavedperimeter bike-pedway utilizing already approvedCounty easements and subsequent rejection of such anidea was an eye-opening experience. Some of ourresidents came out to make it very clear I should stickto my primary role for what I’ve always characterizedas ‘keeping the potholes filled with assurance forweekly garbage pickup.’ I heard the message and willtry to refrain from much ‘out of the box’ thinking.

Some may wonder ‘just what does the mayor do’?No defined answer is possible with such wide range ofactivities and precisely the reason the role is so inter-esting. Some responsibilities are defined by the Town’scharter such as being supervisor to our three Towndepartment leaders and submission of an annual budgetto the Town Commission. There are unpredictableminor problem-solving issues some that ultimately cometo the Town Commission for resolution.

Occasionally interesting experiences come from oursurrounding communities as when asked to representour Town. In one of the most unusual weeks in March,on a Wednesday my wife and I participated in the‘Mayors for Meals Day’ delivering lunch for the MealsOn Wheels program then sat in on a Town FinanceCommittee meeting that evening. The next night Iattended the annual Boy Scouts Golden Eagle AwardsDinner as a guest of a sponsor, WastePro, with othercommunity and business leaders. Friday morning I wentto an elementary school and read a book to a class of1st graders as a ‘Celebrity Reader’ at the invitation ofthe Rolling Readers Program. In addition to thesespecial opportunities, I join other Brevard mayors alongwith government and various business leaders attendinga monthly meeting of the Space Coast League ofCities.

Sometimes a mayor can be involved with an issue

emanating far beyond our Town’s borders. Thisoccurred during my first term when invited as keynotespeaker to a flag ceremony at Patrick AFB. I had thegreat honor to read an introductory speech followed bya resolution our Town Clerk had written and thenpassed by the Commission in support of our military inthe middle-east conflicts.

An issue now currently being debated involvesFederal policy regarding firearms. I have carefullyreviewed the principle statement of a coalition knownas ‘Mayors Against Illegal Guns’. There are currently900 mayors, 45 from Florida, who have signed asmembers of this coalition. The message from the co-chairs includes, “ While we will each have differentstrategies for pursuing those principles, we all agree onthe goal: protecting the rights of Americans to ownguns, while fighting to keep criminals from possessingguns illegally.”

Today I became the 46th Florida mayor to sign theStatement of Principle and the first in Brevard. In noway does this imply our Town or Town Commissionendorses the objectives of this group and only aftercareful consideration did I take this action.

I’ve written more than expected and possibly aCardinal more often would solve this in the future.Near the end of my message of October 2004 I said, “I leave you as mayor with a positive feeling with otherraces to run and knowing I’ll be back again at the righttime.” From Yogi Berra, famed for his quotes, is thisappropriate observation, “This is like deja vu all overagain.”

Founders’ DayVolunteers Needed!Help out with Founders’ Day 2013,

the 56th anniversary of the Town ofMelbourne Village. Help is needed withset up, food serving and clean up. Ifyou want to help out with Founders’Day or Founders’ Eve, call the Townoffice at 723-8300, or volunteer duringthe event by talking to Rob Downey,Rand Carroll or Amber Boerner.

3

April 2013

FOUNDERS’ DAYTown of Melbourne Village

1957 - 2013

Avenue of Toys

Music

Founders’ Day Weekendat a Glance

Ice Cream Social

For the Kids

Hester Wagner Comm. House 7:00pm

Service Begins approx. 1:00pmIncludes barbeque pork and chicken,hot dogs, salad, bread, baked beans anddrinks. Residents are asked to bring aside dish or dessert to share (bring alldishes to the Village Hall kitchen).

Food

Bounce House / Obstacle CourseClowns Dan Druff & Lady Bug will do facepainting and balloons 12:30pm - 2:30pm

Swamp Fox “Southern Fried Rock”

Bring your old car, bike or other ‘toy’ tothe east end of Norman Drive.Contact the Town (723-8300) if youwish to participate.

Founders’ Eve

Hester Wagner Community House

Saturday April 207:00pm - 8pm

Old Time Ice Cream SocialIce Cream and FrozenYogurt will be served

Kickball GameSponsored by TMV Public SafetyContact Chief King (725-7224) if youwish to participate.

AIR POTATO ROUND-UPGet Cash $$ for your Air Potatoes

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

The competition is ON! Bring all those Air Potatoesyou’ve been collecting to the AHF Flag Pole on Founders’Day, Sunday April 21 from 9 am – 12 noon for weigh-in.

Get 10 cents per pound and a ticket for the Grand Prizedrawing of a 1-year Family Pool Membership! GrandPrize drawing at 12:15. Must be present to win.

Special prizes will also be awarded for: the most, heavi-est, best dressed, most unusual, funniest, best named, andmore. Town Beautification Committee

Plant ClinicStop by their booth any time

Plant Clinichosted by

The Town Beautification CommitteeThe Town Beautification Committee will be

hosting a Plant Clinic at their booth on Founders’Day. They will have lots of information andprovide a Show & Tell on Gardening Tips andTechniques. Please bring any gardening ques-tions, plant problems and/or samples that you mayhave and committee members may be able to helpor provide answers.

Early in October 2012 the Melbourne Village Beauti-fication Committee established a wildflower garden onthe traffic island at the intersection of Norman Driveand West Pine Road. This location is also referred toas the Margaret Hames Memorial as it contains a LiveOak tree dedicated in the memory of Ms. Hames, aformer Village resident and active environmentalist.This project was made possible in part by a $500 grantfrom the Florida Wildflower Foundation with fundsfrom raised through the sale of the Florida Wildflowerlicense plate, and it is the second Village project thathas received grant funding through the Florida Wild-flower Foundation’s La Florida grant assistance program.The Town of Melbourne Village also contributed $400for landscape timbers, mulch, and other materials, andthe Beautification Committee’s members and othervolunteers have provided over eighty hours of labor to datefor planting, watering, and maintaining the wildflowers.

The store formerly occupied by Bassett Furniture hasbeen purchased by Hudson’s Furniture. They aremoving from US 192 west of Wickham and should beopen by the time you read this. Not to be outdone bythe new kid on the block, Haverty’s Furniture, thelongest resident of any of the businesses in Town, isplanning a major remodeling of their store. All thisactivity will spruce up our business district (all fivebuildings of it) considerably. Now if someone wouldjust move into the old Circuit City store…

2012 La Florida Wildflower Projectby Steve Peffer

On the Business Side ofTown

As can be seen in the above photo, prior to theplanting date the Hames Memorial consisted of a singletree and a collection of grasses and weeds that had tobe periodically mowed by Village staff. Now, after theefforts of the Beautification Committee, their familiesand friends, the area has six new varieties of wildflow-ers and plants native to this area that were selected fortheir compatibility with the site’s environmental charac-teristics, their natural beauty, and their ability to attractbutterflies and pollinators. Plants chosen includeSunshine Mimosa, Beach Sunflower, Blanket Flower,Dotted Horsemint, Yellowtop, and Coontie. A twosided sign was also added to the site: one side acknowl-edges the contribution of the Florida Wildflower

Foundation and the other provides photos and identifi-cations of the new plants. Villagers are encouraged tovisit the Hames Memorial on foot to see the new plantsup close and watch butterflies as they enjoy this newnectaring location.

THANK YOUWASTE PRO

Waste Pro, our solid waste contractor, has contrib-uted towards our Founders’ Day event by provid-ing the funds to purchase the meat for theFounders’ Day BBQ. They also donated the use ofa dumpster for trash removal after the event.Thank you, Waste Pro, you are always there tohelp out in our community.

A few pictures from Founders’ Day 2012Founders’ Day Fun

Help make some newFounders’ Day memories

Help out with Founders’ Day 2013, the 56th

anniversary of the Town of Melbourne Village. Help isneeded with set up, food serving and clean up. If youwant to help out with Founders’ Day or Founders’ Eve,call the Town office at 723-8300, or volunteer duringthe event by talking to Rob Downey, Rand Carroll orAmber Boerner.

6

The Cardinal

Public Safetyby Chief Jack King

Public Worksby George Tompkins, Town Superintendent

Public Works has a new employee, Steven Stanley.He is filling the slot that Josh left.

In April Public Works we will be refinishing the floors ofthe Hester Wagner Community House in preparationfor our Founders’ Day Weekend events. We will besetting up for the Founders’ Eve Ice Cream Social andSunday’s Founders’ Day. For that we set up the stagefor the band! So come out and have a great time!

We are also gearing up for summer maintenance.We have been clearing and tree trimming the townright of way and the ditches. As you may see we havescaled back on mowing our towns right-of-ways nowthat the spring Wildflowers have started blooming. Wewill resume mowing in late Summer.

We have also put up new directional Signs to PoliceDepartment and Town Office.

One of the Stormwater utility projects Public Worksis working on is mitering and concreting the exposedpipe ends to reestablished positive water flow towardsthe M-1 canal. Of course we will continue clearingculvert pipes and help out the Beautification Committeewith some small projects.

On a final note don’t forget Hurricane season will behere shortly so remember to stay prepared from May1st to the end of October.

We recently lost one of our patrol cars when it washit on its side while responding to an emergency withlights and siren. Officer Moore was driving and the carwas completely spun around 180 degrees. The highwaypatrol investigated the accident and it was determinedthat there was no fault by the officer. Our patrol carwas replaced by the violator’s insurance company.

The reason I am writing of this is to again stress theimportance of seat belts. Officer Moore was unhurtand was wearing his harness which I have no doubtsaved him from severe injury. Please buckle-up. Youmay be a great driver but it’s not you it’s them. Manypeople are on phones, texting or otherwise distractedand we are all at risk. This state must pass laws tofurther protect the motoring public from this legalcarelessness. Especially since blue tooth technology isinexpensive, simple to use and provides communicationwhile having both hands on the wheel and eyes on theroad while operating a 3,000 pound projectile towardour children.

If you have the occasion to call for service in a non-emergency, simply call 639-7532 and request a villagesquad car. If it is an emergency dial 911. If you don’tknow which, dial 911. When the operator receives the911 call, your name and address show up on a screenand they will put your emergency out over the air. Allthe police in the area monitor this, so be comforted thatthe required response is on the way no matter theseverity of the problem. If you dial 911 and hang up,don’t be alarmed because dispatch will still send anofficer there to investigate.

There have been some questions lately on parking inthe village. We would prefer all vehicles to be off thestreet for safety and security reasons, especially atnight. Of course if there is some type of event wewould appreciate a call so that we can give you atemporary wavier and monitor the area.. The localordinance states:

(d.) The main dwelling shall have parking space orfacilities including garages and carports, and paved andunpaved space, for three (3) or more automobiles offfacilities nearby for one or more automobiles off thepublic street.

There is an exception for street parking:(1.) Where there is insufficient space on the private

property to accommodate all vehicles which arepresent; provided that such vehicles which are parkedalong the street right-of-way shall only be parked on

the right side of the street facing in the direction ofauthorized traffic movement; and provided, further, thatall such motor vehicles shall park on or as close to theberm of street as possible.

This exception could prove to be a slippery slopebecause once a car that is on the property is movedeven for a short trip to the store a vehicle parked onthe street covered by the exception becomes animmediate violation if it is not re-located to the prop-erty. Overall we have not had any real problems andcommon sense and good neighbor relations havealways prevailed.

As always we appreciate your suggestions and input.We are here for you and we understand the need tohave open communications regarding your concerns. Ifyou have questions especially if you suspect criminalactivity please stop by for a chat. You can always keepyour anonymity if that makes you comfortable.

7

April 2013

Watering RestrictionsThe Rules Have Changed! Know Your Days.

The Town of Melbourne Village is under the jurisdiction of the St. John’s River Water Management Districtand falls under their regulations regarding water issues. Mandatory lawn watering restrictions specify the dayswhen you may water and for how long. These days depend on whether you have an odd or even numberedaddress, and the time of year.

Time ofYear

Home with oddnumbered or no

addressHomes with evennumbered address

Nonresidentialproperty

Daylight saving time Wednesday/Saturday Thursday/Sunday Tuesday/Friday

Eastern standard time Saturday Sunday Tuesday

� Water only when needed and not between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.Water for no more than one hour per zone.Restrictions apply to private wells and pumps, ground or surface water and water from public andprivate utilities.

��

New Social Media Site!A Good One! Really!!Lost a cat? Found a set of keys? Want to complain

about the heat? Think you saw a UFO and want toknow if anyone else did? Want to ask your neighborsabout it? NEXTDOOR lets you do it.

Facebook allowed people to reach beyond theirphysical location and create a global neighborhood ofpeople they might never see face to face. NowNextdoor allows us to use all those social networkingskills we have developed to talk to theperson…well…next door.

On the website at www.nextdoor.com you can join aweb-based group that is limited to people with aphysical address in Melbourne Village. The siteoperates much like most social sites – you can postrequests for references for service companies, an-nouncements of events and work parties, bird and wildanimal sightings, photos of neighborhood events, andjust neighborhood chat - all with a bit more privacythan afforded on other sites, since only people who livein the Village can access it, everyone has to use theirreal name, and it is not indexed by search engines.

Connect with NEXTDOORTo sign up and verify your address there are three

options. You can sign up online and verify youraddress by giving a credit card billed to your address,or by receiving and entering a code mailed to you orphoned to a land-line at your address. The third andeasiest way is to respond to an invite from a neighborwho has already been verified. Many of the Villagerswho have signed up are sending out invites to the folksthey know.

This site will solve one of the problems the Town hasfaced in electronic communications. The Town doesnot maintain an e-mail list of residents, since any suchlist would be a public record we would be required torelease to anyone who asks for it. With this website,we will be able to send out Town related information tovillagers without having everyone’s e-mail address.

Do remember that Nextdoor is still public – thinktwice before posting anything too personal, or anythingyou wouldn’t want all your neighbors to read. But forthe things you DO want your neighbors to read – from“does anyone want some free zucchini” to “did anyoneelse see that bright light hovering over the park” - thisis a promising communication tool for all of us.

Town of Melbourne Village555 Hammock Rd.Melbourne Village, FL 32904

�Monday Recycling and Yard Trash. Place yardwaste in container or cut to 4-foot lengths.�Wednesday and Saturday Regular Garbage,Regular household rubbish.�Large Items If large appliances (stoves &refrigerators with doors removed) and furniture arenot picked up within a few days, call Waste Pro at837-0055.

Reminder: Do NOT place large piles of yard wastedirectly beneath power lines. The clam truck cannot beoperated under power lines. If you must place yardwaste in plastic bags, do not seal them (leave them sothey can be easily opened). The best option is tocontainerize small items whenever possible.

Commissioner Phone Numbers

Contacting Town OfficialsWritten communication (including email) with Town

Officials pertaining to Town business is consideredpublic record. Letters should be addressed to theMayor, Vice-Mayor, Commissioner, or Commissionersat the Town of Melbourne Village address (returnaddress below).

Email communication with Town Officials should becopied also to the Town at:

town@melbournevillage.org

Mayor Rob Downey 794-2191Vice Mayor Rand Carroll 727-0689Commissioners Valerie Calenda 724-2016

Steve Gaul 733-6275Barbara Howell 956-8538Richard Jones 728-1367David Sinton 724-6928

Traffic Reminder

Solid Waste Collection Info

www.melbournevillage.org