- Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our March meeting
for the Parks, Recreation and Beautification Board.
We are live and our first order is to ask
if there are any comments from the public,
which I have been informed there are none.
So we will move forward and announce
that we have one excused absence currently for a member
and one unexcused absence for a member currently.
And with that, we will begin the meeting.
Welcome everyone.
It's good to see all of you.
Our first order of business is to consider approval
of the minutes from our February 22nd meeting.
Could I get a motion to approve those minutes
or do we have any comments beforehand?
- I'll make a motion we approve.
- Okay, Mr. Jerry, Mr. Dooley has motioned.
Can I get a second?
Ms. Francis?
- Second.
- Awesome, all in favor of approving the minutes?
Say aye.
- Aye.
- Awesome, wonderful, okay.
Any opposed?
Okay, seeing none, we've approved the minutes, thank you.
Our second order of business items for consideration B
is to receive a report, hold a discussion
and give staff direction regarding the Parks, Recreation
and Beautification Advisory Board annual 2021
meeting schedule.
- All right.
- So Eddie, why you, or whenever you're done talking,
I'll bring up the calendar.
- Sounds good.
So just, oh, Eddie Valdez, Management Analyst.
So brief background, every year the board's commission
and committees approve their annual 2021 meeting schedule.
So it's that time of this year
and you guys will have to vote on the meeting schedule.
So this is required by ordinance number 19-2865,
which you'll see in exhibit two.
Exhibit three is also the attached proposed schedule,
which includes those meetings held today.
So as you can see in the attachment
from between January to May are the dates considering
we will continue to move forward with virtual meetings
and that's in your attachment.
These dates are based on room availability
that I've gathered, which is the city council room
and also based on members availability
and also trying to stay consistent
by keeping the meetings on a Monday.
So also in the calendar, starting from the month of June
and moving forward to December,
I have set the meetings dates back to the original meeting
on the first Monday of the month.
Now, again, the first Monday of the month
is still not a guarantee.
Just kind of just depends where we're at with COVID
and also where we're at in the city.
So I don't know if you, did you pull up the, oh yeah.
Yeah, you pulled up the calendar.
So are there any questions that you have?
Obviously the meeting times are not there.
We're flexible on that.
But again, from June, moving forward from June to December,
we're hoping that we can go back on the evening time.
But again, we're not quite sure.
This is just an estimation.
Any questions?
- I had a question.
I'm not seeing anyone else's hand raised.
Is that correct?
Okay.
My question was, so you had said Eddie,
that hopefully starting in June,
we can go back to that night meeting.
Is there any way to, I was looking at the schedule
and thinking to myself, like for a lot of us,
it's hard to get on a meeting,
one to three or three to five on a work day,
specifically a Monday,
'cause those are difficult work days.
Like my schedule allows me to be off today, which is nice,
but that's not everyone's situation.
And I just wanted to see if there's any way
to put in a request if we're gonna continue this for longer
to do a later meeting,
or is that because it's outside of the hours
of city council that it's not,
or city, excuse me, outside of the nine to five hours
of city hours, work hours.
Is that why?
- It's, yes, that's a part of it.
It's not because it's the business hours,
but it's about staff availability.
So we have to consider staff resources as well.
So it's not only your time.
It's also gathering all staff, park staff
that's available to meet that time,
but also there's also a lot of the back ends.
We had to work with the city secretary, also DTV,
also other people that would be utilizing the same room,
because so far I think we have one or two rooms that,
and they try to kind of consolidate those two rooms
when they're videotaping,
but right now it's only been one,
and they try to keep it within those business hours,
'cause those are when staff is available.
So it's a little bit of juggling around.
It's considering all your time, staff in parks,
and also everywhere else in different departments
to get it running.
So that's the main reason why it's before five.
But again, we were flexible the last time we met.
We went way beyond six, but that, I'm sorry,
way beyond five and ended at six,
but that was by request, and they were available.
- Also, I'm sorry, Gary, I just saw your hand.
- Yeah, no, go ahead. - Apologies.
- Go ahead.
- Georgia, so you know that has been discussed.
And I think Eddie has worked really hard
at trying to get us the late slot, the three to five slot.
And so I know this is a challenging area.
- Yeah, we're hoping that we can go back to a couple hours.
- Yeah, I'm sure we all look forward
to the 6 p.m. meetings again, and the in-person ones too.
It was always nice to sit at a table with everyone.
But yeah, I think it's the free food
that really attracts everybody.
So just to add to what both Francis and Eddie said,
this is, we've had numerous conversations
internally about it, and since we have to record it,
we only have so many staff that can do that.
And based on all the committees we have,
some committees are not meeting regularly.
We are trying to meet regularly
'cause we have so much stuff that does occur
and trying to keep everybody updated.
So they were trying to refrain from having staff work
every single night to have to record them.
So they've really tried to limit it to 5 p.m.
by closing meetings.
I'm hoping we'll get closer and closer
to having in-person meetings sooner than later.
As soon as we hear something, we'll let you know,
we can go back and modify that if that's your preference.
- And everything that you see on the calendar
is easily modified.
We could either do it two ways.
We can bring it back and you can re-approve
or I can just make it as cancellations ahead of time.
So we just cancel the meeting
and then we post every other meeting moving forward
to a special meeting if some of those dates
does not work for all of you.
But again, we thank you that you're making this time
that is during business hours and you have to be flexible.
And we're hoping that we're trying to make it
as easy as possible for you guys.
And I know it's hard 'cause it's been hard
on several boards and commission and we're hearing it
and we wanna make sure that we accommodate
all your time as well.
- Absolutely.
And I wanna uplift what Ms. Francis said.
That's a good point.
You guys have worked really hard on this schedule
and have accommodated a lot of things.
So I wanted to uplift that and say, yes,
thank you all for being so flexible
and for working so hard.
And we do have a lot of stuff to get done.
So I am thankful that we get to meet each month
and that we have that space to do that
while other boards are kind of trying to figure out
when they can meet, we at least get to know
that we have a meeting once a month.
And you avoided all holidays and all that.
So you've been very thoughtful and I appreciate that.
I just wanna throw it out there to be like.
So yeah, anyways, does anybody else have a comment
on the schedule or are we ready to motion
to approve this schedule for the year?
(mouse clicks)
Okay, seeing no more comments.
Can I get a motion to approve the schedule
for the 2021 Parkstone Rec.
- Motion to approve.
- Thank you, Ms. Francis.
Can I get a second?
- I'll second.
- Okay, thank you, Mr. Jerry.
All in favor of this schedule, say aye or raise your hand.
Awesome, wonderful.
All opposed?
Seeing none.
The motion passes.
Eddie, before we go to the next item,
I'm not seeing one of our members here.
I have Mr. Dave.
Is Mr. Dave joining us?
Do we know?
- Not quite sure.
I didn't get an email, but I can post you towards the end.
And if so, then I'll modify the minutes
for the next month for your approval.
- Okay, 'cause we've got our four members.
So we do have a quorum and can keep going and vote on things.
Awesome.
So then that takes us to our next item.
Item C for consideration is to receive a report
and hold a discussion regarding employee introduction
within Parks and Recreation Administration.
- Gary Pack and Director of Parks and Recreation.
So this is something that we thought
we would add to the agenda.
Something that would be, it's important,
but it could be fairly quick just to give you guys
an opportunity to see and meet some of our staff.
Obviously, there's a lot of people that don't come
to our park board meetings that I think it's good
for you guys to see and know.
Just so you can put a name with a face,
who runs this facility,
who runs these programs type of thing.
And I thought it would be a valuable one or two
quick minutes of who am I and what do I do?
And then you guys could ask a couple of questions.
So the thought process would be have this on the agenda
every meeting, if you guys are okay with that,
and then invite somebody.
We started inviting more staff to come
so they could learn a little bit more about park board
and how it operates.
So when they have to give a presentation,
it's not the first time.
So we have had some more people kind of participating
in the background, but first and foremost,
I wanted to welcome Nikki Sassenes to our organization.
She joined us on the worst possible week she could
with cold McGiton or ice McGiton,
whatever you wanna call it.
And she was very flexible.
She actually got an Airbnb.
So she was here in Denton and didn't have to drive in it.
So kudos for Nikki for that dedication right off the bat.
She joins us from Mesquite with years of service
in a similar position and grew up in Mesquite's organization.
So we're fortunate to have her
and we're fortunate for her to come back
after that first week of orientation.
So at this point, I'll just turn it over to Nikki.
Have her say a few words.
Tell us about yourself.
- Again, Nikki Sassenes,
Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation.
First, thank you.
I'm very honored to be here
and to work with the parks board.
Gary, thanks for the introduction.
Yes, I did start during snowmageddon.
That was quite interesting.
But it did allow me to see the dedication
and what a great staff we have
and how well the city works together as a team
and being able to provide the services during that time.
I did come from the city of Mesquite.
I worked there for 11 years.
I started in the afterschool and summer camp program
and did that for a few years
and then went to supervise a recreation center.
And from there, I moved over to athletics and aquatics.
So I got my feet wet in aquatics there
and over athletics.
And then after a few years moved into the manager position
overseeing special events, adult 50 plus programs,
all the youth sports leagues,
all the athletics, aquatics and youth programs
and the recreation centers.
So we did not have an AD level over at Mesquite.
So I never really thought I would leave,
but it was an opportunity to come here.
And I did go to UNT for my master's program.
So I get to come back in green
and I do have a fondness for the city of Denton.
And after exploring more about
what the Parks and Recreation Department does here,
I was very excited about the opportunity
and even getting in, Gary warned me,
it's like drinking from a fire hose.
Well, he wasn't lying.
We are very quickly moving to develop and continue programs
and acquire land and build new parks.
And there's a lot going on.
I'm very excited to be part of it.
Any questions?
I'm happy to answer any questions.
- Family?
- I do, I have three kids.
I live in Richardson.
I have an eight-year-old daughter, a five-year-old son,
and then Emily just turned two on Thursday.
So busy at home also.
- Well, sorry, go ahead.
- They are Parks and Rec kids.
So I will be bringing them along to special events.
- That's what I was gonna say.
I was like, man, you've got some things to bring them to.
- No, they think every time they go to mama's work
that they get to ride a horse
or bounce in a bounce house or something.
Can we go to your work and swim?
That's not exactly where I work.
You get tagged along to a bunch of those different things.
So I'm sure you'll see them around
and I'll make sure to introduce them
when we see you out there.
- Well, thank you.
Yeah, on behalf of everyone here.
Yeah, welcome, Nikki.
We're really excited and we're thankful
for your service and your time.
Does anybody else have anything they wanna say or ask?
Okay.
Thanks again, Nikki.
I appreciate you.
- Thank you.
- The next item is item D,
is to receive a report, hold a discussion
and to give staff input regarding updates
on the construction and renovation
of the American Legion Hall or the ALH.
- So Gary Pack and Parks and Recreation.
I'll go ahead and start this
and then Nikki and Drew can jump in as well.
Caroline Seward was going to present this,
but she's out this week on spring break.
So she's been attending the construction meetings on this.
Drew, if you could bring up the PowerPoint.
- Yes, hold on one second.
I had it up, it didn't share.
Okay.
- So this project started a few years ago.
It actually started before,
right after the city manager started.
And if you can remember, we had...
Go ahead, next slide.
We had two buildings.
The original building was built in 1957
and that was the building that was torn down.
It was approximately 2,500 square feet.
It was a drop-in, you know, cars, dominoes,
very passive in nature.
We had lunch in some meeting space
and then we had lunches
and then some of the restaurants
or I should say grocery stores
would bring stuff over as well.
You can see some of the cracks in the building,
on the walls that were pretty obvious
that some repairs needed.
And then we actually had two by fours
bracing up one of the pedestals for a period of time.
But then here's a couple interior shots of the building.
Again, just basically an open room
for very passive recreational opportunities.
Overall, we're gonna take the building
that was torn down, the original one,
and add it to an existing building,
which Drew's kind of circling.
That's where the restrooms for the park
are actually attached to that building as well.
So the new building that replaced the old one
will have one large room
that can be used for special events and meetings,
but it also be able to split into two smaller rooms.
There is a kitchen that can be used by both
with some storage area and then some small office space.
And then the front entry point,
which we have there in the kind of khaki color
will be at the corner of the intersection of the street.
On the outside of the building up on the top right,
that we have a terrace that will be additional overflow
for people for events that can go out
and if it's nice weather,
they can kind of spill outside into the park.
That does overlook the basketball court,
which is adjacent immediately to the east.
On the existing building,
there'll be some interior restrooms that are renovated
and then some small program space.
So we have computer labs, some classroom space,
and then a little fitness area and a rec room
for specific programs that will be offered
by the Parks and Recreation Department.
Then from the outside,
this is kind of what it would look like
from Wilson and Lakey.
Give you an idea of what you're looking at
when you see some of that height going up on property.
And these pictures are probably two weeks old.
So they've done a lot more.
They've had a lot of progress.
We have had some significant delays during the construction.
Obviously we've had COVID construction delays
where one or two people get sick
and they have to shut the entire crew down.
So that's an issue.
They've had some material issues,
but really the biggest challenge we've had
has been in regards to its design
and request for information,
where the engineer drawings weren't as detailed
or missed some items.
So they had to go back
and ask a lot of questions for a follow-up.
We did hire a second engineering firm
to replace the one that did the original design.
So they have been working to identify
where those areas that need to be tweaked and improved are.
And some of those things are a little more challenging
than just, you're missing a bolt here
or something of that nature.
So that has slowed some things down,
but they're getting it under roof at this point in time.
So if it does rain, they can keep moving forward.
Go ahead, next slide.
And here's just some general pictures.
Again, these ones are probably from January,
just to give you an idea that the walls
are basically lined up.
They wanted to do all the sheetrock all at one time.
So that's why you don't see the sheetrock in there,
to just have the company come in and blast it
and get all the walls put up at one time.
Overall, right now we're about $97,000 short on our budget.
So we're working to identify
where we had a couple overruns.
We wanted to make sure
that we had all the technology in place.
So we're gonna be putting all the wires
and all the infrastructure in,
and then some soft costs
that we needed to add some tables and chairs.
So we're working on getting that all identified
and getting that ordered here in the near future.
And then also trying to find some extra money
just in case we have some additional change orders,
whether it's be from the RFIs in the architect
or the construction company.
As of right now, originally estimation was April 8th,
we're looking at May at this point in time.
The big date that we wanna make sure this is open
for celebration is Juneteenth for sure.
We've kind of penciled that in as a grand opening date.
We're reaching out to members of the committee
to see if that's something that they would like to entertain
or if we would wanna have a separate date.
So we're coordinating efforts
for that grand opening and dedication.
And we also wanna try to tie in the mural
at Robertson as well.
Whether it's maybe during that week,
it's a week of celebration or if it's on the same day,
I'm not sure yet, but we're trying to figure out
when we could have that ribbon cutting as well
and try to get people back from the community
that may even not live here for those types of activities.
And Drew, Niki, do you have anything
you'd like to add to that in regards to the status?
- Just to go back to what you said on why we have,
why there's so many delays, like Gary said,
we had an original design engineer.
They left out a lot of details.
And so we're trying to find-
- Excuse me, Drew.
Excuse me, Drew.
Can you take that down, please?
- Yeah, we're trying to find all the pieces,
the missing pieces to the puzzle.
Our contractor that we have is really working
to find those pieces and make everything work
and really make that building just as wonderful
as it can be.
They're really trying hard.
And that's why we've seen so many delays.
A lot of it has to do with, it's not as simple as,
it's just building a home.
And this is something cookie cutter where they may build,
especially with the developments that we see,
every 10th house is the same house.
So it's pretty easy for them to do.
This is a true remodel of one building
and add on a new construction of another
and really how to marry those together and make those work,
whether it has to do with electrical, HVAC,
the civil engineering side where all the walls
and roofing ties in together so there's no leaks
and we don't have any issues in the future.
So they're working really hard.
We had a great meeting last week and came out
with a lot of good features on how to fix this,
that or the other.
So I think it looks like we're really headed in the right path.
Contractor did say they're shooting for mid to late May.
That's their date.
They just needed a few answers or questions answered
from our design engineer
that we've replaced the other one with.
And so we're getting all those back this week.
And so we'll be right on track across our fingers.
- So Gary, you said that the cost,
we are short, close to 100,000.
And remind me, could you repeat again
where we're looking to make that up?
- So the difference is primarily some infrastructure for IT
and some soft costs, so tables and chairs.
So we're gonna be pulling that out of,
we're looking at a couple project accounts
that have some extra money in them that's not needed.
So we're getting those cleaned up to move over to ALH.
And then we'll probably pull some out of our operating budget
to make sure that we have enough.
If for some reason there's not enough there
from a change order perspective,
then we'll go to finance to get that money appropriated.
- But it shouldn't delay moving forward.
This is not a structural cost.
- No, those costs are basically IT with wires
and equipment, cameras, and tables and chairs,
those types of things.
We knew we were gonna be a little bit short,
but we wanted to see a little further along
just in case we had some change orders.
So we were asking at one time as opposed to going back
a couple of times asking for some additional funding.
- Okay, and when we first talked about this,
we talked about shade because those big windows
are gonna be big windows in Texas.
And so we were gonna look at, if I remember correctly,
correct me if I'm not remembering details,
we were gonna look at somehow generating some shade
for those big windows in the front.
- Yeah, originally we had all glass
and we cut them back to smaller windows.
But let me circle back around with Caroline
to see where we're at on the shade for those
so I can get you an answer.
- Okay, and can you remind me why the atrium,
Drew, can you go back to that?
- Yes, sure, again.
- Why the atrium or if, 'cause we had talked about
small events like weddings, why that was facing
that one, the terrace, why it's facing the basketball.
- So I think I can help answer that.
So when we went through all the public meetings,
the main thing that they wanted is whenever,
a lot of family reunions happen at ALH.
So I can go with my family reunion and Nikki's kids can come
and my kids can come and we can celebrate on the porch
and our kids can play basketball and play on the playground
and we can still see them and we're all in the same area.
That was the biggest thing that we got
out of all the public meetings, so.
- I remember that now, is that shaded?
- I need to go back and look at the design.
I'm not for sure if there was,
I don't believe there was a pergola over there,
but I do know that's on the east side.
So if you're having events in the afternoon,
that sun will be down and you'll have the roof
that'll help shade it.
And that's something that we can always look at,
if it's something that we need to look at,
adding some type of shade cover on there in the future,
we can do that.
We really wanna hold what we have now
and get all the funding.
And so the FF&E, the furniture and equipment for sure,
get that in there so everyone can enjoy that space
other than it just being a blank, empty room.
And so you probably know me by now,
we'll figure out the funding
and we'll figure out how to add things to it in the future.
- Like possibly trees?
- Yes, yep, planting trees.
So we did talk about last week, landscaping.
And so landscaping is in the plan.
We kind of looked at taking it out,
but since it was already in,
contractors already purchased all the materials,
we can't change that.
But we can obviously look at planting more trees
or doing other kinds of shade in that area.
- So we did have a requirement to add so many trees.
I can't remember what the exact number was per planting.
- Yeah.
- Okay, and my last issue or last concern was,
we talked about a name change
and talking with the neighborhood association there.
Were we able to do that or?
- We had one person that went through a former council member
and brought it up at a council meeting.
And then we had a second person reach out to Caroline,
but we never received any formal applications
for a name change.
So as of right now,
we're hesitant to put American Legion Hall on the building,
just in case that was gonna be coming
maybe shortly thereafter, right?
When people start seeing it reopen.
So we do not have a formal request or application
for any name change.
It's open.
We have not gone through the formal process yet.
We did get the applications.
We talked about it.
It seems like maybe it was December.
I think we talked to park board about it
and we had it scheduled for city council
and with the delay in getting new council members seated
and some other things that came up
and the city manager leaving,
it got pushed back a little bit.
So Eddie, we have that on the agenda
for what date as of right now?
- For which one?
- For the naming review with council.
- I believe it was in April.
Let me just double check.
- I wanna say it's April 6th.
- Yeah, I think you're right.
I think it's April 6th.
- So at that meeting,
we were gonna present the applications that we had
as well as the applications that were submitted,
walk through the process with council
to get their feedback.
They'll have to appoint a subcommittee
including members from park board
and then see how they wanna handle that
with public meetings,
how many meetings it's gonna take
to work through the process
and then promote and advertise any additional comments
from the community.
So that's kind of like the first run with city council
in regards to the new policy.
So I fully expect some questions and some discussion
on how they would like to guide us through that process
in addition to how it's formatted in the ordinance itself.
- It is April 6th.
- And that is for the name change application
that you have received.
- Yes, and if we get any in between now and then
and when that committee is seated,
I'm sure we could add to that as well
if anything comes through between now and then
'cause I'm sure as there's more discussion
and more in the newspaper and social media,
some people may have some ideas
and wanna submit some additional follow-ups.
- And I know there is a Southeast Denton
Neighborhood Association.
Is it possible to meet with them?
I can remember having a conversation
and they didn't even know a name change was possible
and that what provoked me asking the question.
- Yeah, we actually, we're trying to meet with them
every month or every other month
just to kind of keep them in the loop
'cause we have so many things going on in the park.
And then we actually had a meeting
with the neighborhood on Thursday.
Unfortunately, there were only like three or four people
there with all the 2019 road packages
that are gonna be under construction in Southeast Denton.
And then we talked a little bit about ALH
as well as the new signs on the DCTA trail.
So they did have that,
but we certainly could share that with them
and remind them that is an opportunity.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
- What about the restrooms?
Is there direct access to the restrooms inside the building
or does everyone have to go outside?
- No, there's two sets.
- I can bring that back up if you want.
- There's two sets and they're back to back.
The existing restrooms that are on the north side
of the building have the kind of like the garage door,
the stainless steel roll-up door.
That's right there where Drew is highlighting.
And then from the inside,
there's a men's and women's restroom
for the interior users of the facility.
So they're kind of using the same plumbing chase
for both indoor and outdoor restrooms.
- That's right here.
- Any plan to put the signage
now that you've got this nice blueprint
or floor plan outside so that the neighborhood
or the community people can see what's coming?
- You're talking about the actual footprint
in the drawing.
- Inside or the outside of it?
- We could definitely laminate it
and put it somewhere on a board out there.
We've actually have talked.
If you see more of the road signs,
there are four by eight sheets of plywood
that will be white and say,
this is a 2014 bond program for a road.
We've talked about doing that for our construction projects.
And truthfully, by the time we're so focused
on getting the project moving forward,
we forget about it.
But example, Bowling Green or Joe Skyles,
as soon as you take a playground away
or a backhoe shows up
and it starts removing the playground,
we get a few phone calls
'cause people start to get worried.
And as soon as we tell them what's going on,
they get excited.
So they're excited about that.
We probably need to do a better job of advertising that.
I mean, it's also a good kind of thank you
to the residents for supporting a bond project too
and reminding them of what they voted on
and what the cities promised them
and what we're following through.
So that's a real good comment
and we'll make sure we get that going on our projects.
'Cause we just started Joe Skyles last week
and we had someone call immediately.
- Did anyone else have a question?
Wonderful, those were all really great questions
and I have one of my own.
So I see that you said the estimated completion date
has changed to April 8th.
- Yeah, it's mid-May.
- And then, yeah, estimated opening is mid-May
and that you wanted to work with the Juneteenth Committee
to discuss like doing a grand opening.
I also wanted to kind of uplift something
that Ms. Francis had said is with the name change,
maybe approaching the Juneteenth Committee
and also asking them if there's a name
they'd like to recommend
and then they can formally submit that as a committee
or as individuals from that committee
to give them an opportunity to have some representation.
I think that might be another really great way
to work with the Juneteenth Committee at the grand opening
if the name change were to be presented by them
and that was the one that was approved,
that could be a joint thing, that might be.
- Yeah, but that's a good comment, George,
that it'll be interesting this year
'cause we had the original Juneteenth
and then we had a grassroots Juneteenth step up last year
because there was discussion about it not happening
because of COVID and that was kind of like at the onset,
really early on and they wanted to have that celebration.
So a new group kind of stepped in and helped.
So we'll reach out to the existing committee
and kind of see where things are
and then we'll definitely follow up
with a new group as well.
I know they started having some discussions
with our special events crew
before the governor came out with his announcement
last week, last Tuesday.
So I'm sure they are eagerly planning for this coming June.
- I will say yes, they are
because we are their fiscal sponsors
and so I've already gotten a few invoices to pay off
and they did receive hot funds for this year as well.
- Awesome, wonderful, thank you.
- We'll work through those details
and as soon as we get our dedications
and kind of grant openings,
I'll make sure that you guys get, obviously,
an invitation and appointment for those.
- Wonderful, anybody have anything else
on this action item?
Okay, then we'll move on to items for consideration.
B, which is to receive a report, hold the discussion
and give staff input regarding updates to the amendments
to the code of ordinances as modified by ordinance 19-2866,
which is the revised absence provision
for boards, commissions and committees.
- That would be me.
So, just a quick background on November, I don't know
if you guys all remember.
I know, Duly, you weren't here for that
but if you look back, there was a park board meeting
where members voted to submit the memo,
which was written from Francis Punch, chair at the time,
to the city and city council that will consider
the modifications of the absenteeism policy
for boards, commission and committees.
And this is what the update is for.
So, the latest update I have on that
is the new boards and commission handbook
was scheduled this month in March
for city council review and consideration
to amend the handbook, which included the presentation
and consideration from that memo that you all voted for
for city councils regarding the modification
to the absenteeism policy.
However, this time, this item got pushed back to April 6
because there are several incremental weather updates
from several departments that has to update city council on.
And also this got pushed back because there's also
a restructuring of city council work session items
from six items to four.
So, thus, this is the reason why it's being held in April 6.
Now, I just spoke to Rosa, the city secretary,
what the timeline is on this.
Just say if everything goes smoothly,
it's gonna still go on April 6.
She will present the memo and also the handbook
that you all voted for.
It's up to city council to decide on what modifications
they wanna make to the handbook and also the provisions
to the absenteeism policy.
And whatever they decide from there, Rosa would have to take
all those modifications from city council
and had to work for legal.
So it doesn't, whatever they decide on April 6,
what I mean, they, city council decides on April 6,
does not take effect.
There would be a future date on that because Rosa would have
to work with legal on the little nuances on how the new
amendment to the handbook has to be rewritten.
Does anyone have any questions on that one?
- So Eddie, just a quick add-on to that.
So if a board member had any concerns about this item
or even the discussion that we had last month
about the timeline for new board members
and voting in the officers,
this would be the time between now and April 6
to get with Rosa and provide or get with their appointee
or council member to give them feedback, correct?
- That is correct.
So if you have anything that you would like to modify,
you want your voices heard, this is the best opportunity
right now because right now it would have been probably,
I think, estimating it would have been last week
that this should have been out.
But now since it got pushed back for another month,
this is a good opportunity.
So if you guys wanna, not you guys, you guys and gals
would like to look at the board's commission handbook
and also things that you would like to amend,
this is an perfect opportunity
because it's not only your board as well,
but it's also other committees.
They're starting to feel some of the pressure
of some of the absenteeism as well.
And, you know, working during business hours
while trying to provide their voluntary time
to the respective boards and commission committees.
So it's been a challenge not only for this board,
but for a lot of boards, so.
So that's the latest update.
Sorry, I don't have any more updates on that,
but I'm crossing my fingers.
And so does, you know, Rosette, you know,
it's all up to how city council wants to amend the handbook,
so.
- One last comment.
So we, I know they are meeting virtually.
Are we allowed to attend virtually?
- So you can't attend, there's opportunities to speak
at the beginning of the meeting, at the work session,
at the beginning of the meeting and at for each item.
So you can go online and we can have Eddie send out the link
to where you can fill out your card, basically,
and provide feedback or input on those items
and how to do that.
- Drew, do you mind if you go
to the city council website real quick,
the ones where they include the minutes
and the council agenda.
And I could kind of show you where you would see it,
but I will send you a link as well.
But just in case, if you do see it
before I send out the link, you know,
you would see the white cards.
So they're called virtual white cards.
Yeah, so on the very top, yep.
Yep, keep going right there.
Oh, you go down, upcoming virtual meetings
with public comment opportunities.
So those are the provided links.
So as you can see,
the Parks, Recreation and Beautification Board
for today's meeting, that's where someone would click on,
if they wanna fill out a white card,
so they have a public comment.
But you could also go there
where it says speak at a public meeting as well.
You know, it gives you a little bit of the guideline
on how to, you know, click on the virtual meeting.
So, but again, I will send out the link
for the virtual meeting and also the white card.
So you can fill that in ahead of time.
But if you do see that, it's on the city website, you know,
so, you know, you can take a look at that.
- Thank you, Eddie.
- Yeah, you're welcome.
- Yes, and also I'm always prone to doing the phone call.
You can also call,
there is that number under the white card.
I always call in and then they can even say,
we'll call you back when it's your turn to be in line.
That way you don't have to sit on hold for a long time
and be heard in the meeting.
If you're more prone to wanting to be heard
instead of just your little paragraph being read.
So I look forward to attending that April 6th meeting as well
to hear what council's direction is going to be for sure.
And are there any other questions for staff?
Mr. Gary's got something.
- I just think there were, you know,
with just kind of a little bit follow-up
of last month's meeting.
I think Rosa was trying to find an efficient way
to allow council some time
to get new board members appointed.
I think we've been very fortunate
where we've had new board members appointed fairly quickly
and start in, you know, August, September timeframe.
I don't recall since I've been here,
anybody really starting later than that.
And Francis, please chime in if I'm incorrect on that.
But I think there's always enough people
that are interested in parks and recreation
that want to be a part of it,
where maybe some boards are a little more challenging
to find people to be appointed to.
And I can't speak for all the other boards.
I can't speak for public art
since we've taken that over this summer.
We had two people that turned out,
well, one person, actually they both resigned
because of commitments.
They couldn't be there during the daytime
because of job commitments.
And they were replaced pretty quickly as well,
just as Mr. Dooley has.
So it is an issue in regards to getting people
to commit their time and volunteer,
especially during the day we're trying to balance work
and then family as well and be at a meeting
and commit a couple of hours.
So we realized that's a challenge.
I think she was trying to find by mentioning January
as an option as a way to provide some wiggle room
for getting board members appointed.
That may or may not be the best decision.
I can't say it's worked out great for us
to have people start, September,
it's kind of like new school year,
everyone's getting started.
I can't speak for the other ones.
So that's probably something that she's trying to entertain
what the best role is for everyone
and trying to get everyone started off on the same page.
So I just thought I wanted to add that.
I know the January thing may have confused people
as an idea that she had.
It's nothing that has been approved by city council
at this point in time.
- Okay, thank you, Mr. Gary.
Does anybody have anything else
to say about this action item?
Okay.
- I'm sorry, George.
- No, not at all, please Ms. Francis.
- That I'm glad you brought this information,
Gary, 'cause this is new information
because I was under the impression that it was a mandate.
That's why we acted as such.
So the fact that it hasn't been approved by council
is new information for me.
- The mandate was that whenever a,
when a mandate is once the board,
new board members are appointed or reappointed,
that shortly thereafter an election should be held
on the executive committee, the chair and the vice chair,
which in our case has typically been around September
or October once everybody is appointed
and we're at a full board.
What upset the axis this year was the fact
that the election was delayed and council didn't,
and then there was an extended election
that that really didn't happen until January of this year.
So at that point in time,
we had to have the discussion about the new elected official,
the new executive appointees.
To make the matter more confusing
is there's been a history in parks
that we have done that by term.
And technically that was incorrect.
We should have been doing it every year
whenever all the board members were appointed,
which in our case was typically August, September.
So we've done it on a two-year cycle.
I think the two-year cycle had worked out great
'cause it really gives the chairperson opportunity
to get into a routine.
But the way the ordinance is written,
it should have been every year.
So that's where we kind of have
this temporary January appointment this year
or February discussion since we didn't meet in January.
And it was on the agenda for February
to do the meetings itself, the calendar,
as well as appoint a new chair and vice chair.
So we had to get up to date
because of the delay of COVID and the elections.
And then we had to get back on track
because of the actual ordinance stated
has to be done annually.
(silence)
- Frances, does that help it or is that muddy the water?
- I think at this point, it is what it is.
And we've already voted in a new chair and vice chair,
and we're ready to move forward.
So in essence, to get back on track,
I don't have, you know, whose terms are up.
Frances, I know your term is up this year.
You've served your six years,
and then I'm not sure who else is.
But whoever's term is up this coming summer,
there'll be a reappointment.
And then as of right now,
we would typically do the voting for the chair
and the vice chair around the September or October meeting
once the entire board is appointed,
just to get back into that annual routine.
What Rosa had mentioned at our last meeting
is possibly delaying that until January
to make sure that all the seats were filled and appointed.
And so that was an added kind of item
that was up for discussion.
That has not been approved.
That was something that she was thinking might be helpful.
There's goods and bads to it.
So as of right now, until council changes something,
it would be the vice chair and chair
would be voting on annually after the board appointees
are appointed and approved,
which is typically that early fall, September, October,
maybe even sometimes late August timeframe.
- Okay, so then we know that if things move forward
as planned with the April 6th council meeting,
then legal will draft language
to reflect a January annual re-voting
of chair, vice chairs for all boards
and commissions moving forward,
which would also include terms ending
and being reappointed in that January timeframe.
Is that correct?
- So unfortunately, Rosa couldn't be here.
So I'll try to answer this the best.
What typically happens whenever we propose
an ordinance change or a developer agreement
or whatever it is that's going to council,
we draft up an AIS, which is basically a staff report,
a contract or agreement and/or an ordinance and a resolution.
And all of those are all tied together.
The staff report basically explains some background
and what we're asking for council,
just similar to what we provide you.
And then a copy of, in this case,
it would be the ordinance for the boards and commissions
and probably the manual as well.
And stating that based off of discussion
and things that need to be cleaned up,
here are some recommendations that are being proposed
for council consideration.
And she'll walk through those
and see if they have any questions.
So it's important for you guys to provide that feedback.
In writing, I think it would be good
for your council member and even CCing Rosa.
So she knows that that has been sent
and she has a record of that
so she could see what's being asked.
So if that needs to be added or not,
she can take that into consideration.
I have not worked through an amendment to the manual
since I've been here.
That's typically handled by the city secretary's office.
So I know she's been making a lot of changes
since she's been here trying to tie things up
and get things kind of back on track.
So I would strongly suggest that you send your feedback
of any of that, whether it's absentee policy,
appointment of members, or even when members are appointed,
however you guys feel should be amended.
Now's the time to do that and get that on record
so you could share your input to council and staff.
It's similar to what we do with even like a park development
where we go to a neighborhood and ask them for feedback.
We design it and then we go back to them again
and ask them, is this still work?
And try to satisfy as many people as we can.
Sometimes we can't satisfy everybody,
but at least try to provide that communication
and understanding of why or why not
we kind of designed the park in that nature.
This is kind of the same thing as the manual.
Similar what we did with maybe the IPM manual
that we put together.
And that's constantly being looked at
on how we can update it.
How we find errors as we go through it
and say, okay, that needs to be tweaked
with the intention of going back.
Maybe not every year, but maybe every two years.
And obviously the environment changed,
chemicals change, practices change.
So it's a working document.
- Yes, thank you, Gary.
- And since we don't have a board member
until after that meeting,
we'll make sure that we get that in your Monday email
to remind you that's on the agenda.
That would probably be coming on the fifth.
So we'll make sure that we get that
maybe in the next two every week,
since it's an important discussion that you guys are having
to make sure that we send some reminders out to you.
- Wonderful, thank you.
And I'll be sure, I know I myself will send some questions
and more clarifying questions to the city secretary
to kind of gain a little more insight
on what changes are being proposed,
since I know that that is her duty
and what she's tasked with.
So I'll make sure to reach out to her to follow up.
- And I take full responsibility
because I didn't catch the one year annual.
So I mean, I should have been at least the last one
to catch that.
And obviously it got by a lot of us,
but I take full responsibility for that.
And that's on me for not catching that earlier on.
I know it's been a practice in our department,
but that should have been caught sooner.
- All right.
- I have a question about the emails.
Is it better that we have individuals
or we write one as a group?
Any thoughts about that?
- I'm not certain if, and correct me if I'm wrong, Gary,
I don't know if the parks board as a whole
can send an email
because that would mean like a quorum is communicating
or is that allowed?
That's a good question, Ms. Francis.
- Yeah, I mean, can I answer this, Gary?
I mean, based on Rosa's feedback,
she says the fastest route will always be
you're going through your city council appointee.
You know, that would be probably the fastest route.
I mean, you can send them an email
and also see seeing, you know, Rosa as well.
I mean, that would probably bypass, you know,
any concerns about holding a quorum, you know,
'cause at this point, I mean,
you guys already took a stand on, you know,
wanting to amend certain things on the handbook,
particularly on the absenteeism policy.
And if there's anything else,
that's what was Rosa's recommendation
'cause she can pretty much get their attention immediately
and then also show up on the April 6th meeting, you know,
to provide your concerns as well.
I don't know if that answers your question, Francis.
- It does, thank you.
- Yes, thank you all so much for your candor
and for your guidance, I appreciate that.
And I also will be reaching out
to my city council member and Ms. Rosa.
Any other comments or questions on this item, everyone?
- Just one quick one, 'cause I'm new at this
and I'm catching, I'm breaking like out of that same fire hose
that we talked about earlier.
So let me know if I can do anything
when I'm getting caught up, okay?
But I got you guys back, whatever,
just keep me in the loop and we'll make it happen.
Thank you, George.
- Thank you, Mr. Dooley, I appreciate that.
And with that, we'll move on to our final item
of thorough consideration, F,
which is to receive a report, hold the discussion
and get staff input regarding
Denton Parks Foundation DPF updates.
Ms. Brug.
- Hello, everybody, happy spring break.
So let's see, we had Galentine's Day in February.
Originally we were thinking we would just
kind of skip it over with COVID
and I had volunteers who came to me and said,
"Oh no, we have to do this."
So we did it with a twist with Suzanne
over at the chestnut tree and we just had a good time.
We took a tour of Paris, it was a virtual tour
and we got to see the Eiffel Tower and things like that.
We ate delicious French food and just gabbed.
We also did some fundraising
and we raised a little over $1,700
to be able to go to general funds
and be able to put it towards whatever project
Denton is most need in.
I believe we'll probably end up putting that to DWIF
to continue that effort and support it.
And that was something that we mentioned
to the women as well, is the campaign
of raising more money and awareness about the DWIF art piece.
So hopefully we'll get some more kind of action on that one.
We also had our annual meeting with our board members.
We've gotten some changes in our board of directors.
We had a few step down.
We also had a new one added from Denton ISD.
Her name is Sarah Hallen.
She's a teacher there and longtime Denton folk.
So she'll be a good addition.
And we still are looking for more.
Sorry, I have a new puppy.
I don't know if you guys can hear her whining,
but we are still looking for other board members
in the areas of technology, as well as in district one.
And George, I need to follow up with you
since our last convo.
So those are really the main highlights.
We are still trying to figure out
if we're gonna do the home hop egg drop.
It's just so different this year than last year.
There's a lot more to have to consider
because not everybody is home
and people are just more engaged in outside.
And so we're just trying to evaluate
if the amount of effort that goes into it,
if it's worth it for the amount of dollars back.
We are also working on our fiscal partnerships
and sponsorships.
So we are sponsors for Juneteenth, Cinco de Mayo,
Denton Area Ten Association,
and then Senior Center.
We've also recently added on 9-4-0 Disc Golf.
So we are working with them to do some updates
at the North Lakes Disc Golf Course
and getting some sponsors to cover baskets and signage
in the second area.
And that's really what I got going on right now.
- Just as a follow-up to Brooke's comment
about the Disc Golf, David had a question
at the end of our last meeting about signage at Disc Golf.
And that's something that needs to be updated.
So we're working with that company
as well as the foundation
in making sure that we're following our advertising
and donation policy because there'll be sponsors
on those holes.
So we're working through that process
and we should have some more information
for you in the future.
- Absolutely.
That's all I got.
- Awesome, thank you.
Yeah, I'm so glad Mr. Gary brought that up
'cause I think Ms. Francis and I both had that same thought
like we need to remind someone
about what Dave said at the last meeting.
And yeah, so that would bring us to our concluding items
for Mr. Duly and other folk that are new to watching this.
Concluding items is an opportunity for you to bring up
concerns maybe someone in the community or yourself may have
that you'd like to hear some feedback on at the next meeting
which gives staff an opportunity to do their due diligence
and their research to answer some of those questions.
For example, one thing I want to bring up
for my concluding item is I wanna check in on Mr. Gary.
How are we doing on that?
Is it the parks rec and trail systems master plan focus group?
I know that I fell down on my pushing people to join.
How are we doing on that?
Do you need some more folks?
- So we do.
So if you have some people you'd like to recommend,
please email them over.
Alana had sent over two youth and a professor at TWU.
So if you have anybody you'd like to recommend,
love to have those recommendations
so we can get that group together.
We are planning a public meeting
and we'll send that advertisement over to you.
It is going to be March 18th.
At 6 p.m. that's all on Zoom.
And that's just a kickoff to the public meeting
and then we'll have a focus group meeting as well.
So if you have some recommendations, more than merrier,
love to have people engaged for sure.
- And that focus group meeting
will follow the public meeting?
- We haven't set a date.
- Okay.
- Yet.
- Wonderful, okay, yeah.
- Because we wanted to make sure that we got people
from you guys and didn't know
if you were still working on all of that.
- Got it, so search and send ASAP.
- And remind me, are we sending,
I do have a youth that I would like
to throw his name in the hat.
Do I send, remind me, do I send it to you, Gary?
- Yeah, just email me.
In that way there's no forum or quorum issues.
Just send it to me and we'll add those people
to the spreadsheet and then I'll send it out to you
just as an FYI so you have the entire focus group.
- Okay, thank you.
- Wonderful, and then uplifting what Ms. Brooks said
for Denton Parks Foundation,
they're looking for a new board member
who specializes in the IT realm and district one as well.
Cool, I just wanted to lift those up.
Anybody else have any concluding items
or things they want added to the next agenda or questions?
- Well, just one question.
Gary, I sent you one name.
You'll be contacting these people?
Are you following up with them?
- Yes.
- Okay, and while I have the floor, Eddie,
thank you so much for these emails you're sending out, man.
I had no clue, there was so much going on.
It's really exciting, thank you very much.
- You're welcome.
- On that, I wanted to get something kind of restarted
that I think David had mentioned this summer
and we had put together a spreadsheet
on Smartsheet of all of our projects.
And we had shared that and he asked for some description
of can you give us a little more detail where that's at?
Because sometimes it's hard for you guys
to identify what that is
if you're not living in that project.
So Eddie has been working on a number of initiatives for us
that are all in Smartsheet that will kind of feather up
to a Power BI software platform
that pushes it out onto a dashboard.
So we are working to get that all finalized
and get all of our facts in place
regards to how long our trails are, how many acreage,
how many parks we have that are developed, undeveloped,
those types of things into a Smartsheet
inventory database of everything.
It sounds fairly simple, but it's been challenging
because trying to get all of the facts
as close as we can get them.
So as soon as we get that finalized and get it cleaned up,
we'll share and we'll give you an orientation
on that as well.
Eventually that will be public facing.
Right now it's just internally facing.
The city is working on a new website
and that's been a little bit delayed
because of COVID and ice and weather.
But I think their goal was to have a new website out.
Maybe it was by the end of the year, early next year,
so we can have more information available to our residents.
And we are also working with a trails map
so people could have all the trails
and how long they are in our parks.
And hopefully that's a little bit more interactive
than you would typically see as a normal PDF.
So staff is working on that.
And I did mention that we were placing
the playground at Joe Skiles.
We did replace the one at McKenna,
but that construction to that park is underway.
Drew's been working on that with a new loop trail
in a new parking lot and moving some of that dirt
that is leftover from Bonnie Bray around.
So that's kind of those major things.
And then Southwest Park that we shared
with the board last month,
it went back to the focus group on Thursday of last week.
We didn't have a huge turnout,
so we're gonna be reaching out to the members
to try to get a phone call with them
just to make sure that we get any feedback
that they may have.
And then our goal is to take that to council.
As of right now, we've penciled in March 23rd
to share that with council.
And then if they have any major changes,
then we'll start that process back over.
We'll go back to the focus group with changes,
come back to park board,
and then go back to council for official adoption.
And what that adoption means is that everybody agrees
in moving in that direction at a date to be determined.
So it's basically "on the shelf"
until it comes up for a bond program discussion.
We will have items to share with you
in regards to feasibility of that project,
as well as estimated costs in today's dollars.
So we'll have that to share with you the next time
we get that on your agenda,
which will probably next month.
And it's a big number.
It's not getting cheaper to build things.
It's getting more expensive.
But it could be a really cool park.
And it doesn't mean we have to build everything right away.
It doesn't mean some of those things may never be built
'cause our changes and needs may change,
but at least it gives us some vision
to start working towards.
And then we had shared with you, I guess,
probably in the fall on some of the properties
that we are working on acquiring.
We do have some that are not general public information,
that there's some negotiations going on
that would benefit parks and libraries,
as well as some of our capital projects
that need some additional land for those projects.
But then there's also a number of parcels
that we did share with you that are part of developments
that are under construction.
And a lot of those are around the Hickory Creek Trail area.
And so we'll hopefully have something for you
in the near future on those as well.
And Razor Ranch, that's something that we presented to you.
I think it may have been January, March, 2019.
And they've built the park and we're still,
we were waiting on feedback on the developer agreement
to take that to council.
The park is virtually completed.
There's just a few minor things that need to be updated,
but then a developer agreement to take the council
to officially accept that property.
And that's Razor Ranch property.
It does not have a official name yet.
- Okay, that's awesome, Gary.
Thank you.
- Okay, I have one item that I would like.
I have a question.
Is there a database that exists that chronicles previous
or the history of board members for the city of Denton?
- Good question.
I know we have spreadsheets with people's names
that we keep in an inventory,
but I don't know if there's a mass database,
but we certainly could merge those documents and create one.
I think that would be a wonderful way to acknowledge
the work that's being done by the volunteers
that are giving their time for the boards for the city.
- Absolutely.
Eddie, that was something we could put
in the smart sheet pretty quickly.
- That's a fantastic idea.
I really like that idea, Francis.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'll try to gather that out.
I'm not quite sure where that's at.
It might be in our hard drive somewhere.
Not all, I'll reach out to a few departments
like the city secretary.
Maybe they might have an archive,
but we'll try to get that
and we could put it in a smart sheet or in Excel
so we can start keeping tabs at those as well.
And we'll be happy to share as well.
- I think it'd be nice to have somewhere on our website
so the public can access it.
- Yeah, that's a fantastic idea.
I like that idea.
- Awesome, yeah, I look forward to the smart sheet,
thus getting a new website.
I love hearing that there's more virtual ways
to access information.
I'm all about that, I'm all about that transparency.
Yeah, thank you guys so much.
Is there any other concluding items,
questions, comments, concerns?
- I'm sorry, just one more thing.
Just to kind of add to that,
we have a database of people
that are buried in our cemeteries.
And I'm not sure if we've talked about this before,
but we, as part of our public art initiative,
and specifically the DWIF initiative,
that is a engaging monument
where people can open up their smartphones,
scan an image, and it'll recognize,
let's just say, George, there's a picture of you on there,
it recognizes who you are,
and it takes you to a video about you
or something that you're involved in
that can be linked to that.
Long-term, I'd like to do that with our cemeteries.
And this is not a short-term project,
but as people do research
on the history of Denton, our founding fathers,
our military that are buried there,
that research can be put into a database.
There's a number of websites.
Find a Grave is a public website
that you can put pictures about a headstone and a person.
So I'd like to use that platform or a platform like that
to store information about our residents
or people that have been buried in our cemeteries,
whether they're famous or not.
So if I passed away and my family
wanted to put a bio about who I was,
they could do that, put it on that website,
and through image recognition software with people's phone,
they could scan the headstone
and it would take you to a Find a Grave website
or whatever that would be,
and it would be a summary of my life,
maybe even with pictures, that type of thing.
So we could preserve our residents' history
and what they've done with their life.
And obviously, we can't go back and get history
on everybody that's buried now.
We can do our best moving forward,
but if there are still family members that are here
that wanna write those bios, they could do that.
So it would really take a lot of the community
to step up and help with that.
But at least if we could get our veterans going,
I think that's a good kind of step forward
of preserving that history.
So that's something that we'd like to do long-term,
and maybe it's a little bit at a time.
And as technology changes, who knows what the options are?
But that was something that we've talked about.
- Okay, awesome.
Thank you, Mr. Gary, for that update.
Anything else, anyone?
- Just one quick question that just occurred to me.
That's a great idea, Gary.
I like that idea.
Are we in discussion with surrounding communities
on this trail connectivity?
Like I mean, I know we're pretty much connected
with Hickory Creek down the rail trail,
but as we move forward,
are we talking to surrounding communities
about even further connecting the area
just outside of Denton?
- Yeah, Drew, do you wanna take that one?
- Yes, so we've sent out multiple emails
to really all our neighboring cities.
Gary and I did meet with the city of North Lake.
They were the only ones to respond so far.
And so with our trails and their future trails,
they're moving north.
We're moving south with Cole and Hunter Ranch.
So we met with them to make sure that our future planning
for the trails that will be at Hunter and Cole
meet up with their trails
as it crosses Robeson Ranch Road.
And so we're meeting with them.
Spoken with the city of Highland Village
with a meeting coming up next month with them.
We're both really busy.
So we're trying to find time on each other's schedules
to meet with them.
And then we've met with the Green Belt Alliance,
Texas Parks and Wildlife.
We've met with how many cities do you think there are Gary?
Eight or nine that we've met with the paddling trails.
So we have interests with the paddling trails.
Now we're trying to seek that interest with our walking
trails and hiking trails.
So we're trying to reach out to those cities.
Some are a little bit more responsive than others.
So we keep poking them.
So eventually they'll answer us.
- So I'm way behind on this conversation.
So that's good.
I was just asking.
The only reason I was asking
if it's one of my master naturalist friends
is on the parks board in Hickory Creek.
As I was trying to find somebody on the focus group,
she said, oh yeah, we need to talk about this
and this and this.
'Cause I think they're deep into the paddling trails
and the connectivity also.
I thought, well, yeah, we need to connect
with everybody around and get one massive trail going.
It'd be great.
- Then Gary and I met also
with the North Texas Council of Governments,
North Texas Cog.
We met with them to make sure.
We wanna make sure that they know what we're doing.
We know what they're doing.
That way everything is connected in the end
versus sometimes when you see those roads,
they don't quite line up.
We don't want that in the case,
five, 10, 20 years from now.
- Exactly.
I was just curious.
So thank you.
Good job, guys.
- And TexDOT, I think we talk with TexDOT,
you know, if not bi-weekly, at least monthly.
So.
- Thanks.
- Yes, sir.
- I just wanna have a comment,
going back to Gary's idea of find a grave
and starting with the veterans.
I know that that's gonna be,
that grave sites are gonna be a sticky issue for,
that graveyard just left my head.
And Southeast didn't.
- Oakwood, Oakwood.
- Yes.
I know that's gonna be a sticky subject for them,
but I do agree.
It's a wonderful idea.
I know the technology exists.
I've been to an art exhibit where that occurred.
And it sounds like a graduate student project.
Find a grave app.
Just give me credit.
- Yeah.
I think we can work something out.
- Well, wonderful.
Does anybody have anything else
they'd like to say, comment, questions, concerns?
All righty.
Well, that is the end of our concluding items.
I'd like to thank everyone present today,
staff and board members, and we will,
our next meeting is set for Monday, April 12th.
And I look forward to seeing you all.
And as of now,
I would like to entertain someone to motion
that we adjourn the meeting.
- So moved.
- Thank you, Mr. Francis.
Can I get a second?
- I'll second.
- All right, all in favor, say hi or raise your hand.
- Awesome.
And with that, we adjourn the meeting.
Thank you all so much.
Take care.
See you soon.
- Thanks everyone.
- Bye.
- Thank you.