at well bringing you another edition of commissioner corner welcome to all of you before i introduce my guest i want to share with you this beautiful award this is the marina of the year award presented to our own marina jack it was presented in light of state of the our operations excess excellent community participation and involvement and a host a host for national as well as international visitors to this beautiful beautiful marina my guest is c m shavers dock master extraordina and director of operations for the marino sam is a true son of sayer a soda he grew up in this community and has put all his efforts his work ethic and everything into this community especially the marina welcome sam thank you thanks for having me you're very welcome i feel that undoubtedly you're responsible for a great deal that's happened to marina jack you've been there how many years now i'm coming up on my sixteenth year i started in two thousand and one all right and been there ever since helping grow what i believe is one of the best facilities nationwide i always felt that way and to be recognized this year with this award and thank you for the congratulations  is just overwhelming absolutely how did you get involved in this and i'd love to know first of all i'm sure many people know but some people don't know what does a doc master do i know you're director of operations but  doctor master that's kind of an interesting title on master of the dog you're not the first person that's asked my question we are in charge of and i say we myself and a great team of employees and ownership of marina jack in charge of managing this one of the city's largest public assets which a lot of people don't know but by land area and by value you know more specifically the dock master is in charge of all the tenants at the marina we've got nearly four hundred tenants  much like a landlord and we're landlord for the water all the tenants lease from rita jack right in the city there is nothing that's owned down there everything out there is a public asset and owned by the city and the state so all the boats hundred thirty two so we have you know tripled in size in the last fifteen years to the investment we put in there again the expansion with the owner of the city our ownership to grow up the facility the facility as it currently sits is maximize the capacity transit area which allows visiting boaters to come in and see sarasota and spend time on the different than similar to a hotel where they stay for a couple months or maybe a week or maybe a month other will also have the morning field  downtown so it is fantastic that's fabulous i walk there all the time as i take that beautiful walk towards the gardens and i notice the landscape of the boats it's quite diverse you have a lot of boats you have very very expensive boats and you have some wonderful charming little boats it just seems like you meet a lot of people's needs within a certain space then you go further out tell me a little bit about the status of the moring fails and how that's working with the entire campus there you have the more you field has been a unbelievable project there's no question it took ten years to get there in a handful of challenges and hurdles that i know we all went commissioners city and  crime problems out here don't exist the exact number we had about one hundred fifty boats sink or become derelict in a matter of about five to seven years with the news department it was a huge drain on capital provided the amenities the shoreside stuff such as bathrooms mail area laundry things that voters would need so we had all the components and in the city obviously championed getting us the engineering and putting the anchors and so it was kind of a three team effort with the state the city and ourselves sure to build the field and there was a lot of opposition because it was change it was something new but after it has been in for four years we have not had one you know boat sinking or derelict in the morning till itself limited to no problems from a crime and police standpoint policing issue so overall and in the main thing it hasn't been a drain on taxpayers at all the actual the morning field has been  created a surplus every month an operation i can't be profitable we all know that it's a city public asset right right but the extra money that it does generate can be used for maintaining the field you know expanding the fuel in the future or making it better  so for every month in the last four years the city has gotten a check for that surplus to hold in kind of an escrow for future development whether it be a boat ramp or something else on the water well it's interesting all the you described i remember we know that  bit about how that all evolved you have many partnerships you work your economic development you work with law enforcement obviously a part of the of the city tell me a little bit about how you reach out things not just large boats and not just small boats and not just the fifteen million dollar yachts that you've seen in the newspaper and looking down on the a park there but also serves some of the boats that been passed down generations and they want it from their grandfather and we could be considered in terms of valid monetary value very little but in terms of pride in value of the family very important so it does serve so many different things and we have been felt very instrumental in trying to expand that and show that off to people because they're sort of a fantastic place i mean i've grown up here and you know what i know that but you know showing saraswat off is always a proud moment of ours were very involved in a lot of state agencies  i said on the clean marina board of florida the clean marina board being an environmental action board that has been developed in the last ten years we are one of the first clean marinas which is a green does it nation and so that's got partnership that you may see in sarasota or the city it's just more curtailed to marina's themselves so soon now we've got over two hundred florida they become a recognized stablish meant for voters it's very similar to when you go to a hotel and you see the aaa endorsement or the trichuris or endorsement this is an endorsement for a green proactive practices and voters are very recognizable of that and frequent those type of facilities so when we started the program that kind of kick started to some of the opportunities out there and being a true destination for voters back when i started the marina we were a storage facility strictly storage you stored both stored boats but that was the end of it i mean it was long term storage for city residents which and county residents which was great what you know is that how long it was that thousand one really so over the fifteen years we developed what we call it transients you know destination and now we've become a destination where people seek out to come to sarasota by boat destination for people you know traveling the west coast of florida and this time of year you know are wintertime you also i've been to many events there obviously you have and many meetings there at upstairs at the restaurant many many events that i have whether it's the fourth of july advance the the parade tell me a little bit about that the crowds that that you know draw it at those kind of events is just a phenomenal it and i keep going back to that word iconic because it is it's can operate without being a partner with the city and our residents so we take a lot of pride and effort and making sure yes it's a business that does operate it has to be financially stable to continue but we for sure have to do our part in the community  voluntary the charity efforts and giving back and allowed to be a facility that anybody can is welcome to it's open to the public on a first come first serve basis we're not similar to a yacht club where it's privatized or someone cannot use that those are very important values that we've always had and want to continue to have so to elaborate on that we've been very actively involved in community events from the fireworks which is an ideal setting for that kind of vent on the christmas boat parade we're very involved with some close charities for children which is probably one of the areas biggest charities for handicapped children with events that they have on main street parades and the july fourth so we do everything we can we donate thousands and thousands of dollars to back to the community and open up our arms for people to use a facility i mean there's weddings on the park i mean you can go and i'm right of things i've seen i've seen many wedding when i'm walking down there i watched the wedding parties go down to the end there it's just it's just wonderful it's amazing i mean probably the number one picture that you may see of sarasota is the dolphin fountain which is on our part that we all walk around use it for everything from a wedding to a large you know coastal boat show that we haven't in april we just do a variety and it's it makes the place very unique very vibrant what you've just described to me it's peeples marina exactly it really really is it's very and you've talked a lot about diversity the diversity of the boats the diversity of the events or if you just want to walk through it and i walk through it all the time how many employees do you have right now and how is that grown we have about one hundred eighty five total employees between the restaurant the marina and o'leary's which is also something on the park there sure i would say the lion's share of the employees in the restaurant this is a very service oriented business sure i've got about twenty five that work in the marina  so you know the economic impact of the facility from an economy standpoint is very large in terms of the jobs that we create together with the city and you know the amount of people who've been there we've got employees have been there for over thirty years will in the restaurant which is phenomenal and rich shows a lot of culture of our business i think it shows a huge culture of our ownership and the management style that they have there that it's a home for a lot of people i've been there fifteen going to sixteen years of sort as my home but also reject is now my home to that's a that's wonderful of a culture of the marina culture exactly and it's understood when you attend some of these events or just be part of that campus you kind of see that promotions different events there that is just want to because it's very accessible affordable you can go there and just have a beer or glass of lemonade you can have breakfast after you've won the bridge and that is critical to me to have years have just opened up to you know different clientele and people to use a facility before we were like this they were just the stores destination i would say we lucked out but we didn't allow those visitors to come in and by doing those kind of things and changes and changing with society in the in the user it just opened up big doors i think for us in the city oh sure i don't talk about it all the merchants i mean they we do get people come let us know of the benefit they've seen with our growth and we've seen the same with the downtown the development in the redevelopment and the changes they've made for the better where you are an amazing destination for just across the street and we always talk about that downtown how downtown obviously is growing we are an amazing urban core where the one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the in the county and in the community as a as a rule in the state of florida and then you're right across forty one there that's where this occasionally talk of how you get over there better yes i know we're going on that one  and i know because the a lot of times you can have certain vehicles come over there to state road forty one and that but the marina jack is the destination so many things going on all and quite frankly at any time of the year this is just not a place to go for an event it's to be correct to be there polluting i'm taking a walk i'm down at marina jack i was i was there during one of the events and i know you deal with law enforcement a lot before one of the things i said i'm scouting promoting those their resources and their importance to our to our marine and our city and our base absolutely and i remember i went out in the police the beautiful police boat do kind of ride along i like to do ride along whether it's a police ca this was the boat and i think you might have been there in contact with as i did it many many months ago just to find out from that was when bruce king was part of that and he ran the bus you you learned about the water you learned about this boat that boat where the morning feel ends off and public boats can be it was just wonderful so law enforcement's really big on this yes and they were critical to what the morning feel as well because we did have a big change in the way things were done out there went from pretty much a free for all encouraged and when you have you know some controls in there there's apprehension when it started and there was a meditation that was needed but the law enforcement could've been work better with the voters and explaining and so there was understanding and it went smooth as smooth as we could ever ask for so that was just one example but they're also extremely involved in all the events that we have on the well from the christmas boat parade which is at night to the s of shore grand prix which takes a huge amount of resources from all of all of us in the community there just all are law enforcement are special to us and lucky to have such a good group both at the local level and then we also take care of the fish  wildlife which is our natural resources contingent right we also work with the coast guard so those are all we consider partners with us and we asked them we're not much that we're discredit to provide a helping hand on as a community partner with them going forward absolutely so those folks that don't know the history and i know many in the community do marina jack how to get the name what's the origin there with the previous owner was named jack in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight he took over the facilities  almost fifty years under the marina jack name coming up here in a few years fifty years almost fifty years so that's a pretty exciting milestone that we're looking forward to down the road you know gulf oil if you go back in the sixty's gulf oil home the  the lease holder down at the at the marina and they went bankrupt and had some issues and the former jack graham that was the previous owner of marina jack partnered with the city and decided you know they asked him to come in and try to get this place cleaned up he was a true the arena in opposite leadership so we've put about fifty million dollars over the last fifteen years in both upgrading the restaurant and expanding the docs that we talked about and that gave us the structure of what we need to really make it a great business but then the important part teaming with the people both with our ownership in our staff and the involvement like i said of the community so it's i think the facility has obviously changed a lot in the last fifteen or twenty evolves with the way our world is going and we continue to keep looking for the next thing of how we can participate and you know keep it on the forefront and be marie of the year it's an honor for us it's the super bowl of marina's you know time what sixteen years ago you have been on board but you and the entire staff you've done a phenomenally and it's totally understandable how you've arrived at this point again i will reiterate it is iconic in this community marina being a team and it's we're excited to be here and continue to grow and you know look forward to another group fifteen sixteen or fifteen years you bet and thank you so much and i'll see you want my walk i'm sure next time but thank you all that's about it thank you for joining us and we'll see you here next time on commissioner corner