Public Arts Board - Regular Meeting

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We call it OR the pre-meeting for the Park and Recreation Board for September. Tonight we're going to have a little bit of a change to the agenda. Our friends from KYA notified us that they will not be joining us this evening. need to either defer to October or to another time. So that's off the agenda. So we will move right to the second item on the work session agenda, which is the update on the construction projects.

Okay, construction update. So sports park, let me pull that up and we'll go over all that good jazz. The water feature is open and running. We're still working some tweaks out of the sprayers, like some of them spray random little spurts of water and some of the heights aren't the same. So we're working with the vendor to get the valves correct and then just some pump issues we're fixing. So it's open, it's operating, it's fine, it's just not a thousand percent accurate. So we're working on that. Other things are the sports park, the restroom. They got the sewer line in this week and poured the concrete to cover that back up. So it's really moving and grooving. At this point I think we're mostly waiting on the roof, which takes the longest apparently. They said three months max, but they're estimating like six weeks for it to be done. So it should be sooner rather than later. It's looking wonderful though. The KYE season started last weekend and KSA starts on Saturday. Those seasons are kicking off. And that's not a project though, sorry. It's just sports park. And then what else at the sports park? Signage. We are working on getting updated designs that we kind of reviewed in KDC. Y'all got to look at to send to council to pick what distance markers they want as well as banners that they want in the field design wise. And A 1709 green ribbon project that has been completed. They did a walkthrough last week and just doing punch line. Few trees need to be replaced. A few plants need to be replaced that are dead.

Is that the median?

That's the median phase two. Now is probably a good time because we lost a bit because of some of the young plants. Yeah, so they're replacing all those. So that should be completed in the next couple weeks. But construction-wise, it is complete. Johnson Road Playground, we're working with the vendor to get a meeting scheduled with Ross, Shannon, and then I'll get with the subcommittee to do a walkthrough of Johnson Road Park with Shane. Shane wants a true vision. And to speak with stakeholders to see what they truly want and the details of what the wow factor is going to be. So he just wants to get a better idea. So we're going to schedule a walkthrough with a select few of us so we don't need quorum in any way. That sounds smart. That's a reasonable ask. So that's the project updates.

Okay. Since we're... Do you want to pick up on that? We'll just go to subcommittees. Anything else you want to add from Johnson Road?

Nothing on Johnson Road. I emailed Gage back and told him the recommendation that was made to KDC and then the recommendation that was made to staff to move forward, but with the change in design and we want to revamp what playground change sure did give us. So I emailed Gage back and let him know about that. Besides that, we just need to do a walkthrough regarding Johnson Road.

Should we send a similar email to the other company? I will. Yeah. Okay.

I just sent it to Gage today, but yes, I will follow up with them.

Yeah, once you said it, I realized probably a good idea.

Which is kind of funny that they haven't reached back out. Maybe they watched the video. I don't know. I mean, there's others.

From the... from the recommendation that was made then, so the recommendation has gone from KDC, it has not gone to council yet or has gone to council?

Has not gone to council yet. I think what, is what will go to council the final proposal? Is that what they're thinking now?

So once KDC kind of narrows down a better design that everybody's happy with on KDC and has a final vote, then that will go to council for final approval.

In the past, we've given the community two choices to let them vote. Is it possible, depending on how this plays out, that we might still open ourselves up to that? Potentially. A brief vote?

Yeah. Usually with the smaller playground, because they are more cookie-cutter and more just simpler, he's able to give us a few options within the price range. Since this is going to be more detailed and in-depth, I don't know if he... we'll be able to go, but we can do like elements. Like, do you want this versus this? Like we can do elements.

Or if there's two wow factors, if it's like a huge climbing tower or I don't know what the other thing would be.

You get the water tower or you get this. But at least we got so much community response from the survey that I think if we don't take it for a vote like it's not going to be like we took all your opinion and this is what we've made no completely so but yeah we have opportunities that we can do that if we want to we just see how it plays out and be open to it if it's appropriate wait um the trail subcommittee

Okay. Our senior folks are all three absent this evening, so the senior committee will be easy. Regarding the sports oversight, I guess that committee is probably going to be shelved for now because they're going to move forward. Just give a notice that there's potential to move forward with a separate That will be appointed by the mayor That's a possibility. So we're foregoing reports from sports oversight for the time being Now we'll go to Trails anything from drills I have two things on trails and one thing on the

sports park i'm wondering on the sports park is it possible or how feasible would it be to create a report that could be reviewed by the park board regarding utilization of the sports park in particular who's who's renting fields what's their status within the association etc is that something that

So we can run a report about all the usage and reservations, but we just have their name, what they are using the fields for, so they typically put like a sport, because that's what we're looking for, like are you playing soccer, are you playing baseball, just make sure the correct sport is not playing on the correct fields. The outside renters, we don't know their association with the associations. We don't know if they're a part association. We don't know if they're an outside association unless their email is just a gimme that says, you know, da-da-da association. So we don't actually know their ties, but we can get you data of how many rentals the associations are having, how many outside rentals we have, and then how many games associated. We can pull that.

I'd really like to see that.

an ongoing basis okay like on a monthly basis okay we will try that

but it's my understanding that that may be pulled from our purview completely. So, you know, so if it's not, then that would certainly be something that I would like to see. Okay.

I do know I had made a report for Cody that listed all that, and I had that data. So I can send you all that in the meantime at least to look at for, like, the past year that we've had, so I can at least give you that. I'll try to find a cleaner report because that one I was having to go through and, like, mark out certain stuff, because some stuff we can't release to the public. And so, like emails and phone numbers, like private information, we can't release all that stuff. And then I was having to navigate between, because we book all of KYA under KYA, so practices and games are all under the same account, so I was having to go through and navigate which one was a game, which one was a practice, and then tally it by hand. So it's a little time consuming, but I'll try to find a report if there's something easier that I can, if I can find a report that's cleaner. But yes, I will look into that for y'all, for sure.

to determine the feasibility of a trail that runs along melody mm-hmm and I don't know how to if it's up to us if it's incumbent upon us to initiate that or nope so I got with Alonzo for melody to we did get to go ahead for the right away study to do a survey he pulled the plat and I

The last name I got from Alonzo is he pulled the plaid. It looks like we don't know if a trail will fit, maybe a sidewalk, and it may be something that we would need to tie into a future road construction or sewer project. So he said, let's chat. And that was like earlier this week. So I need to get a meeting with him and Aaron scheduled to see the true feasibility of Melody Lane. But it is in the works. We are working on Melody.

Cool.

Yeah. And then I did get with Economic Development to try to get a contact that they use for land surveys for evaluation. Their previous one that they use has been completely MIA and won't respond to them. So they're in the works of interviewing four different companies that do land surveys. So we're in the works of finding somebody that can survey the land and give us an estimate of what it's worth.

And that's percent to the milestone?

That's per milestone.

Okay. Anything, anything on, I'm assuming nothing on Northeast Park. Correct. Okay. And then, I think we'll, and then I don't have anything on the Park and Pavilion rental, so anything on Tree?

No.

Okay. So that's it for subcommittees. Park board members, any update? Park board members?

So going back to trees really quick, we do have four memorial trees that we have scheduled to plant when it cools down. So we'll have four to plant around October.

You can test out our document and see if it's helpful or what things present a challenge. We're happy to pivot.

Yeah, some of them will be replacement of dead trees that are already in place and then some will be new plants. So we are planning on that as soon as it cools down.

We still have the desire to do the one that we want to do for Kogi as well.

Yes, so that's five. And then we have the Arbor Day tree now. We have the Arbor Day tree six. We're going to be a tree.

We're a tree city.

We'll plant a forest somewhere.

Okay, so we still have, you know, we would like to do that. Weather permits.

Jordan, I did send you an email just now of the KEL that's out at the light at the sports park on the sign just so that you have something of it.

I did send all that to the contractors because I actually did an audit of all the lights and the other side was also out. There was multiple lights out within that so they think there's some sort of short because the other side it pops on and it does like the old-timey like and then it goes off. So there's a short somewhere. So they were getting the electricians out to look at it, but they are on that. Yes. Thank you. And we're doing an audit of all the overhead lights right now. Morgan Electric is out there. They were out there today and will be out there tomorrow, next week, replacing all the lights on the field that need to be replaced for just night practices and games.

anything on park run anything nothing new all right steady as she goes okay as you see we've made a modification it's almost a year now that we will roll right into regular session and it sounds like we have people next door you know citizens county academy using the chamber is that right yes so we'll stay right here So I'll entertain a motion to adjourn, and then we can just go into the regular session. So we'll adjourn. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn the pre-meet. So Ashley, is a motion a second? Second. We got a second from Caitlin. All in favor? Aye. Okay. So pre-meeting is adjourned. All right. Will anybody want to take a break for a second?

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The September session of the Park and Recreation Board meeting First up on the agenda is persons to be heard. This is a time for the public to address the board. On any subject, however, the Texas Open Meetings Act prohibits the board from discussing issues which the public has not been given three business days notice. Issues raised may be referred to city staff for research and possible future action. So we have a person to be heard. It's not our customary... You can stand and you can sit however you want. It's not our customary format. Normally, you'd be in there at the... Well, you can come right up here and sit down with us if you'd like. Are you more comfortable standing? I'm fine with either. I think I'll stand up. Okay, fair enough. Do you have a presentation or is it... I just have to speak. Okay, all right. Tell us who you are and...

I'm Ford Andreski. I live up off Roof Snow at Danbury Parks. I'm here to speak about the water fountains at Bear Creek Park. Good evening, Chairperson Myra and members of the board. My name is Ford Andreski and I live at 1408 Danbury Parks Drive, right up off of Roof Snow. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I'm a runner here at Keller High School and we've been doing a lot of running over the summer. getting ready to go to state. One thing I've noticed is that on every run at Bear Creek Park, a lot of the fountains is just a trickle. And the ones under trees have leaves, sap, and bird poop on them. And it's very unsanitary and, in my opinion, unsafe to drink from. I would also like to say that Keller Smithfield activity note, there is a water fountain that it doesn't work at all. You can only drink from the water bottle filler. is all for my first topic. My second is I would like to thank you about the tree that fallen here on the wooded trails behind the pond. I'd like to thank you for the quick turnaround on that and how you handled that quickly. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. So first we have to thank the staff for handling that quickly because they're the ones to get out there and do all feedback before and we definitely will refer that to staff and they're listening right now some of them are here in the room but we'll make sure that that gets addressed do you have by chance since you were out there and you know we're really not supposed to This is, and persons will be heard, this is kind of a one-way street, so we're really not supposed to ask questions because it's not on the agenda, but I just, I'm going to cheat a little and ask one question. Do you have, do you know how many, did you take a count by any chance of how many of the fountains that we're talking about?

There's two good working ones, one at the basketball courts and one by the toilets by the football courts. But the ones near, I believe, It's pavilion two and the one on the other side of the river, near one of the other pavilions. I believe it's two not working and a third one here at the active cleanup.

Okay, great. I think that sheet was warranted that way. It gives staff a little more specific direction as to where to look when we're looking for the ones that need help. And thank you for your concern. And just one other thing, since you're a runner, have you ever participated in park runs before?

I'm going to make a quick comment, and only it's really exciting to see young people in the community get engaged and have the courage to come and speak to a room full of adults about projects within the city. So kudos for knowing this exists. Kudos for having the courage to stand up for everybody and coming prepared and knowing what to do. You're going to be wildly successful in life because you are leaps and bounds above your peers at this point. Thank you so much. Yes.

All right, next on the agenda, we have minutes to approve. I'll entertain a motion to approve minutes from the August meeting.

So moved.

We have a motion from Ashley, do I have a second? Second. I have a second from Jenna Lee. All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes, minutes approved. All right, next up on the agenda are staff announcements.

So just kind of updates on the senior center itself. We are down a staff member. We had a part-time staff member that was able to move up and is now working for the school district. So we are pairing through the applications now for it. We had over 90 applications. Wow. So we're in the process of going through all those. What's the position? It's the part-time customer service representative, so up front. How many are members? I would say I think I have three or four members. Three or four members, so it's quite a few. We are sending a group of 30 to Colorado on Sunday. So we're sending them off on Sunday morning. Sorry. They'll be gone through Saturday the 19th.

Where are they going?

Colorado Springs. So they're going to hang out in Colorado Springs. So we've got that. And then October 3rd is our fall craft fair. check buy some stuff um we're going to have a whole full house of vendors again for that and in the spring uh just kind of a little nugget there we are sending uh again over 30 uh on an extended trip to uh italy awesome what so we're somewhere uh it's gonna be Not right now. We might. We might. They're asking if we might need to. It's going to be right where they just had the Olympics. I cannot remember the name of the... Torino. Yes, Torino. So right around that area. So we've got 30 there, and then we just had another... Prior this summer, we had another group of 30 go to Ireland, which they had great reviews on. And then we have... Rhine River Cruise next December already set up and it is pretty popular now too. That's great.

Are all your trips over prescribed, subscribed? Are there more people interested in going than you can accommodate?

So for our Colorado trip, yes. We typically have a wait list for it. For the overseas trips, That one they actually keep adding seats for us. So we started the Italy trip out with 20 to 25 seats and now we had over 32 and they just added another 11 seats for us. So we keep stacking them. The plus side with those trips is we do get commission off of those. So we get commission on the land side of it. So when they get to wherever they're going is when we'll get a commission check based on how people go.

Does a member of staff go? Is it more like you're hiring the company to give the tour?

We hire the company to give the tour. Because now we are sending so many people, they are hinting around that they are going to need some... staff chaperone so we're having to look at how that would work out but it's uh they have a if it essentially is like our diamond tours trips our colorado trip yeah uh that one is staffed go they go on it they're the tour manager tour guide but you have someone on site when you get there so they run everything we just kind of crowd the cats we'll get a little We're seeing more people come through the doors a day. We're up, on average, compared to two years ago, we're up about 50 people per day coming through the doors. So we're up right around 280, give or take. But there's some low layers in there. We see over 300 on a regular occurrence now. Yeah, 830s, 30s that we're open for. And how that's set is it gives the, that allows staff now to have that four-day work week based on how it is. Thank you. It's not bad considering it's 100 and some degrees outside. It is. We've seen the pressure come through the doors. We've seen a lot of people come in, but thankfully I think we've been able to, with working with pickleball players themselves and kind of adjusting the rules of play, it's, I think, sped up the game for them. some more and we hear less, I'm having to wait as long. They're still waiting. That's just the nature of it. We only have three courts and four people on each court. But so far it's been okay. I'm going to say something on that. We'll get it. You're jinxing yourself. Yeah, let's knock on some wood.

Other than that, that's all I got. Great. Thank you. Cool, Michael. A couple things. So we have our doggy dunk event on Saturday. I feel bad Tom's not here. He always asks about bringing his cat. And I made exceptions for him this year, and he's not even at park board for me to tell him. Were you going to let him? No. Actually, I would study the item the dogs chase. I would love to see the dynamic there. So Saturday from 9 until about 3, we have multiple weight range. four-legged friends so that's coming up on saturday the next event we have which i'll bring up next month as well we have our pumpkin splash that's friday october 23rd so a little bit further down that's our floating pumpkin patch that's coming up so we're going to decorate the pool in a halloween theme and the kids can come in and grab a pumpkin that's floating around in the pool and have a good time obviously we just wrapped up our summer season at the point very very productive summer season, very successful. Multiple departments broke revenue records, recreation, aquatics. So I'm looking forward to end of the fiscal year to see where we come out on top. Last time we ran our numbers, we were about $150,000 in the black for the facility, which is wonderful. CONSIDERING WE'RE RUNNING ON 100% COST RECOVERY, SO WE'RE MAKING SOME MONEY THERE, WHICH WILL OBVIOUSLY, WHATEVER WE PUT AWAY, WE'LL PUT BACK INTO OUR FUND BALANCE AND BUY NEW STUFF. SO THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF IT. SO WE'RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THAT. BUT I WOULD LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT AQUATICS MADE ALMOST $180,000 THIS YEAR, AND THAT'S THE BEST THE AQUATICS DEPARTMENT HAS EVER DONE IN THE HISTORY OF THE KELLER POINT. It was 147. Great. So kudos to Luis, who is the gentleman also stepping in and working the splash pad over at the sports park. So we're very lucky to have his aquatics mind working hard. So overall, facility is doing great. We're getting into the, well, it's not slower, but it's quiet, more quiet. There's not as many children there. So I love kids, but sometimes it's nice when they go back to school. Other than that, everything's great. So if you're wanting to bring the dogs out on Saturday, come on out at 9 o'clock. Yeah, sold out? Not quite. It's getting there. Multiple weight ranges are sold out. But, you know, there's always room for dogs. Does it really sell out? No. We'll make exceptions. But anyways, that's all the point got to.

What's that?

I mean, I could pull that up really quick. I think it's probably the last, probably two to three.

My dog went into heat, so we're out.

We used to have all the dogs come together, and we had 70-pound dogs with, like, 10-pound dogs. And it just didn't work that well. So that's when we decided to break it up. I've had too many vet bills to...

That's all I got. Any major capex or any major repairs?

Well, ideally what I want to do is take a look at what the revenue we make from this fiscal year and turn it around and put it into some new equipment on the floor. Last fiscal year, at the end of last fiscal year, we were able to replace all of our weight training equipment, all of our free weights and everything, so that's all brand new equipment. I'm kind of gun-shy with a lot of stuff right now, and I hate to say this, but with what happened at the natatorium, I'm less quick to pull the trigger on buying big ticket items because I want to make sure that we have enough money in the budget in case something were to go down at the pool. We just got done with the $26,000. All year long and with corrosive, you know the chlorinated they're there and available for the company to come install they come out so sometimes it takes a little bit longer than we'd like but yeah we just got done with that so there's a few big-ticket items I'm looking at mainly equipment on the floor and then just making sure that everything is running correctly with the door pull and the HVAC and everything like that so that's one of those things that you know after seeing our neighbor next door here 100% working correctly and you know Mike can tell you we're both pool guys you know that thing is a beast so it's not so that that's another thing one pump that costs $13,000 and is made to order helps move the hot water to the spa in the pool so we're waiting on that to be installed that was unfortunately these companies don't keep any of this stuff on build it and we have to wait for the build. So that should be here early next week. It should have been We're waiting on the company to come install, so I know it's not ideal for our patrons And I mean I said I was you know it's it's it's frustrating for us. You know to have some of this stuff down, but We're having all the seasons to having it down like yeah, it's not too bad Yeah, if it was like 30 degrees outside people you know we're cold you know then it would be a bigger problem But you know it's 110 outside coming into a cooler pool is not that big of a deal I think 77 degrees none of the lap swimmers are complaining

natatorium down, my daughter's swimming outside, and I don't think she'll complain about swimming in the cold natatorium pool after swimming in a hot pool and doing laps.

We literally got applauses from some of the lap swimmers. They were so excited the pool was cold. He said, got to keep it like this. Enjoy it while you got it, man. So we're dealing with that. But yeah, a lot of those repairs, a lot of them are made to order. And we're literally at mercy of when the company can get them in stock. And I appreciate people's patience. I don't know if you guys have gotten any complaints about the stuff being down. But I know I've been in communication with Jordan and Aaron. Just my own. Yeah.

I'm kidding.

Letting people know, hey, we're working as quickly as we can. It's not something we put off.

Considering this is the last meeting in the budget, So how does it work for you guys as you come to the end of the fiscal year and you perform better? So you're better than you expected? Are your funds... So yours are not recaptured back in the fund balance, are they? Yeah, they are. So we get to roll that over. So whatever we're in the black at the end of this fiscal year, we'll be able to take and use. You can roll it and keep it. Yeah. That's what I meant. It's not going to fund balance. You're keeping it.

Yeah, right. It goes into the TKP's fund balance. Yes. So we'll use that money for capital and projects and stuff.

So then you're not under some sort of, you're not feeling privileged?

I'm kind of conservative in the sense that I don't want to spend it all because we have to keep a certain amount in the fund balance, of course, legally.

I guess that's better said. The point has its own, technically its own fund balance that you can roll.

Exactly, yeah. But with the pool being 23 years now and seeing our friends next door, we're treading lightly, just making sure we're covered if something were to come up. Got it. Yeah.

Any other questions for Michael? All right. Any other staff announcements?

We have Yap Year going on this month. We had to cancel tonight last minute because of the lightning and rain. It was within four miles, so we can't operate with lightning that close, so we canceled it tonight. But we'll have two more for the next two Thursdays. So come out with your dogs or with no animals and just sample some beer. We have date night in the park on Bates Street on October 3rd. And then we have our Trash Bash and Haunting Camp on October 24th.

What time is that? Which one? The 24th.

Trash Bash is in the morning from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and then we allow check-in to start at noon.

Where does that start from? The Trash Bash, where does that check-in?

Oh, Bear Creek Park.

The only reason I ask is because Park Run is going to be rather big that day. Why? Why? Because they're partnering with the Rotaries that day to do the polio, there's a polio function that day with the Bear Creek Park Run. Yeah. They're going to deal with, it started out to be two Rotary clubs, now it looks like five.

Yeah. No, we'll be at Bear Creek Park. We usually set up in the parking lot with our tents next to our camper that we get for haunted camp out, so. Okay.

October 3rd, we're also expecting a bunch of international runners that day too. Yeah, I saw that. Why? There's what, World American, it's like an airlines road racing thing, so people are flying over from all over the world and doing a footwork round of road runs. Cool. And they're incorporating parkrun to that. So we got an email of What, 15 minimum?

I'd have to get a big Uber, they said.

For Haunted Campout, do you need judges or do you want judges? Of course.

We can always use judges for costume contests.

Somebody texted you about that today? Well, I responded to your text, but I had a question. I need answers on that because I have a sponsor for you.

Oh, yes, yes, yes. We still have, yes, we have sponsor availability, and I will send you what we have.

I just need the numbers because one of our offices would like to have, you know, give bags and stuff for toothpaste.

Yeah, that would be a great idea to brush your teeth when you wake up.

Well, yeah, I figured that would be kind of nice. Figured I might have the answer. Yes, so I told them I would get that to them. Absolutely. I will send you over the numbers tonight. Thank you And how many camp out is what day October 24th, it's paired with this

Instead of staff having three weekends working in October, we merge Trash Bash and Camp Out to the same weekend. So we're just here for a full day. We do that for the fall and spring Trash Bash. We combined it with Camp Out usually.

And then have you picked your, just so, have you picked Flannel Fest?

November 7th, first Saturday in November.

Did you check your... Did you make sure that you're still... Are you still legal? Yep. I have to check my certificate to make sure I'm still legal. Am I still legal?

For the record, he's referring to his... TAPC, yes.

She knows what I'm referring to.

And then holidays is December 4th. Our watchers. I'm illegal.

I've got to do it again. It expires on 10-22.

Holidays, December 4th.

The first Friday in December, December 4th. That's impossible.

I thought it lasted two years. It's always the first Friday.

Just so we can get people in the hall. Some people do it, like, before Thanksgiving. All right. Because they're great, like, Thanksgiving.

Okay, so someone, I don't recognize the handwriting, wrote this on the bottom about Thanksgiving. on the September meeting, I do typically, since I knew tonight's agenda was gonna be a little bit light and we were missing some people, you don't have to participate if you do not wish to, but tomorrow is a difficult day, and I do want to take a moment to acknowledge 9-11, and I think as it relates to particular what we do from Parks and Rec I think that you know the world you were and if any of you are inclined to share but I can tell you that if it weren't for the parks and trails for a lot of people and if it weren't for the ability for people to get out and to find a place to, to, um, find some peace and to, to find a place to, um, just try to get an understanding of, uh, you know, to collective thoughts and, and, and try to find, um, that makes sense of what was going on in the world. I think that they, you know, it's a time where, I think 9-11, COVID, when things go wrong, I think a lot of people tend to either get out and go for a run, people tend to go out to a trail, people tend to look for a peaceful place, and I think they tend to appreciate oftentimes the beautiful places that are made available. ago. It's hard to believe really. That was an incredible day and you know I do want to take a moment of silence tonight to remember all those and I know that you probably If anybody wants to share what they were doing that day or anything pointed that they want to share tonight, then we have some moments here to do that. So feel free to do that if you'd like. And in particular, if you had a moment where you did go out and you did take advantage of a private place or a park or a moment that was Special to you, I think one thing that's happened in this city since then, as you've seen in a couple of memorials that have become more poignant, the Veterans Memorial that's here at Keller, now the Gold Star Families Memorial, I think that's become more and more poignant. as you think about days like 9-11. And those memorials have been, I don't know about the Veterans Memorial, when the Lions Club and the Rotary put that together, but I'm not sure how long that's been there. I think that predated 9-11, but I may be wrong. But anyway, the floor is open if anyone wants to share. anything about that day. Some of you are very young, I'm sure.

To your point about the value of parks, a week ago today I was at the 9-11 memorial touring. Wow. And if you get a chance to do that, it's incredibly sobering, but also to your point Felix, it's very peaceful representation of parkland being used the right way.

See what they did with the drones?

Oh, that's what I was about to ask.

The what? The drones. The drones. They flew the drones up and created the Twin Towers. Oh, that's pretty cool.

And it was Keller, the family from Keller that did the drums. Is that right?

Yeah. Oh, wow. And I think the number of drones they used was the number of people that...

The number of people that they lost to represent the lives that they lost. It's pretty remarkable. So there was a young lady that was a flight attendant. from my hometown. She was best friends with my next door neighbor. She was younger than me. So my next door neighbor, two daughters, their younger daughter, their older daughter was a year older than me and then the younger daughter, Elizabeth, she and Elizabeth, Amy and Elizabeth were best friends. Amy King, if you look her up, Amy was a flight attendant and her She and her fiancé were both flight attendants and they were on the flight together and they were lost that day. What was remarkable is, you know, you don't know that and then you see the stories come out and I remember seeing one of our coaches when they were doing the memorial and You know, he was trying to get through it in our hometown. And, you know, you never want to see one of your coaches break down, because, you know, those guys are your strong-stoked people, you know, the guys that you look up to. And I remember Coach Priester, I think about him in that day. That was just really remarkable, because he just couldn't get through it. And, you know, and it was... everybody kind of knows somebody who knew somebody who knew somebody that, you know, it was just, uh, you know, it was a really, but what's amazing when I've been listening to the reports on the news is how many people were born alive that, you know, there's a whole generation of people that have no connection to me, including two of my children, you know, that, um, And then my other child was a year old, so that's really amazing. So there's a whole generation of people that really didn't have that impact, and so it's important that we make sure that they understand and that they remember.

To your point about people not remembering, what's interesting for me is that's the first time I lived history. which was, I was in history class, and my teacher, I found out in band, after band practice, and walked my first period, which is history, my history teacher said, we're gonna watch this, because all year we talk about history, and you read it, you're about to live history.

So you were in school.

Yeah, and it was the first, like, one of the first things that ever happened in my life that was something that would go down in a textbook. And it was so surreal to actually be living a moment that you knew one day you would never forget. Yeah.

So they didn't, they didn't, uh, I'm curious, I was curious about that. So they didn't, they didn't call your parents and have you come, come and get you and take you home from school?

There were parents that chose to pull their kids out just to be with family, but my mom actually worked at the school, so I was with family.

Yeah, I was a freshman in high school, too. And so the first one, before we went, I did not, it was a big deal to my mom, but I did not understand the severity of it. I mean, you know the severity of the event, but the world implications, like, I don't think my mind was capable of comprehending until I was 13. And so then we went to school, and then we watched it in school, and just being like, like this is something in living history. I'm not surprised they even showed it at school. I watched the Towers fall.

We were actually, because it happened in first period.

I was a freshman in English and I wheeled in the TV. You watched it in school? Yeah, they brought in the TV.

So they paused class and everybody just watched?

Yeah, there was no more classes going on, yeah.

But basically it was like a group hug, like it was just a time for everyone to kind of discuss it. Where were you? I was in South Texas, in Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi.

Where were you?

I was at L.D. Bell. L.D.

Bell?

In California.

And my dad was in Chicago, coming back from Chicago in the morning. And so, yeah. And so I was like, my dad's not here. My dad and I lived together by ourselves. My mom wasn't there. And so I'm like, I'm skipping practice today. And so I slept in and the phone keeps ringing. The phone keeps ringing. I thought it was my coach. A bomb went off in New York, and they didn't know what was going on at the time. And he said, we just turned in the rental car. The planes are all stopped. So he's like, turn on the TV. 30 seconds after I turned on the TV, the second plane flew into the tower. I watched the, and I'm on the phone with him, and he ended up hanging up and running back to their car rental agency, and they gave him the car back. And he rounded up five guys in the terminal, and they drove from Chicago. my dad, two other dudes off here and then two other guys kept going One thing, you were talking about peacefulness. It was weird that night, because I remember everything, you know, I was supposed to go to swim practice that evening too, and they canceled swim practice. I remember being alone, 17 years old, but no one was with me. I remember sitting in my backyard, just off North Tarrant and Roof Snow, and no planes. It was just sounds of silence. It was the weirdest, because, you know, we could hear the planes and everything, but really everything was just, it was, you could hear pin drop outside. It was bizarre.

Very unusual. Yeah, it was strange. Even the train. Yeah. Which was weird because the train on 377, you know, you feel like that thing's every 20 minutes. Yeah, right. I feel like I didn't even hear that. Yeah, exactly. I didn't hear anything. I think even that, I don't remember specifically if that, if they ground the trains to halt

as weird as it sounds, I guess I was lucky because you were talking about witnessing history firsthand. The class I would have been in that I was not at school for, the teacher wouldn't turn the TV on. And so nobody in that class got to see any of it until after the fact. And so I consider myself Not lucky because I saw what I saw, but at least I knew what was going on. So that's a weird thing.

Very unusual. On September the 3rd, 2001, I got invited to or called upon to attend a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. And I accepted that invitation, but I had to find somebody to go in my place on the 10th floor of the South Tower on September 11th at 10 o'clock. So I got this guy that reported to me to go to that meeting. He was staying in a hotel in Midtown and it all happened. It was a 10 o'clock meeting, never got out of his hotel room before all the stuff hit the fan. The meeting that I attended in Atlanta, Georgia was with AIG Insurance, who had 200 people on like the 20-something floor of the North Tower. And many people in that office were on the phone with people in the New York office when the phone lines went dead. And that meeting started at 8 o'clock Atlanta time, same as New York time. and we're sitting at a table about like this, every seat full, somebody comes from outside the office, or outside the meeting room, whispers in somebody's ear, that person gets up, that happens four or five times, and then they come in and say, we can't carry on the meeting. four or five days later we had a rent car so we drove from Atlanta to DFW and got home on Friday but I call that guy every 9-11 and say I'm really really sorry and he says it was one of the greatest experiences in his life because he stood in line to give blood he did he was around all of the the country came together in response to that. But I count myself pretty fortunate then. Wow.

Yeah, the thing that, you know, I remember that, um, um, the speaker of the, how do I speak, Tom? Daschle. Daschle. I remember him hugging George Bush. And I thought, you know, it was like a sign of unity in the country. You're like, man, I hope that lasts, you know. And of course, sadly, it hadn't lasted, you know, long. But at that point, there was, there was a unity. There was a call to service. There was a point about people going. I think every blood bank in the area was full.

I think there was food.

People just were trying to figure out how they could do something. I think everybody was searching their soul to figure out what they could do. Jordan, where were you?

I was in third grade. So I was in, from what my mom says, I was in gym class, and we lived across the street from elementary school, and she was a PTA mom and was really close with my teacher, and so she came up to the school, and they cried together in the classroom, and they came down to the gym class and peeked in the door just to get eyes on me, and then we didn't know anything happened until I got home after school. She said, there's just something.

Yeah.

I know, just trying to tell it like, yeah, there was some bad people that did some really bad things, and a lot of people died, and what happened? Well, they crashed a plane into a building, and I mean, how do you comprehend that? I'm like, why would they do that? Like, not thinking of building like, okay, ten people are in that building, but it's thousands, and yeah.

In a weird twist of fate, my daughter is in third grade, and they're learning about September 11th, in a third grade, to your point, in a third grade appropriate way. But the thing they learned about was the plane that crashed in the field to save the target.

Let's roll with it. I was working for...

Yes, and that's what she knows. She knows, I think his last name is Beamer, that Beamer said, let's roll. Let's roll with Todd Beamer.

Norwegian company. Norway's been in the news quite a bit this week because King Harald passed away and so I've been feeling very bad for my great friends over in Norway because I still have quite a few of them and watching them because they loved him very much. And I love that Norwegian people have been in Oslo many, many times. And they show Karl on in the castle. And anyway, I was working for Wiencard, a hotel locking company. And literally, they got laid off right before 9-11. And of course, being in the hospitality business, they moved my position. to back to no way um and wasn't an option for me to go there it was not an option that my wife was interested in taking and so um anyway so the wonderful exit treated me very well uh with the severance but i was sitting at home and when it happened with a one-year-old daughter and then um I'm not going to get a job because the entire hospitality industry shut down. You know, working in a hotel locking business, literally the whole business shut down. And interesting enough, we were in the middle of a legal deal that we were dealing with and I had to go Connecticut, on September 17th, the airports had opened back up and they said, you know, make sure you allow like three or four hours to go through security and everything. I got to the airport and I went through in five minutes because nobody was at the airport. Nobody was interested in flying still at that point. But, you know, 9-11, I still, it just resonates with... And the one thing that my son says a lot, he's like, Dad, how can you watch all these things and how can you watch the stuff over and over again? And honestly, I can watch it constantly and still see something different and new each year. But I do want to take a moment of silence just to recognize all those as the Park Board and the Park Board of Keller to send our thoughts and prayers to all those families that were lost that day and those who have been lost ever since and to those who are still mourning people that they lost on that day and that they've lost in sacrifice and service to our country since that day. Thank you. With that, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

Motion.

I have a motion. Second? I have a second. All in favor? Aye. We're adjourned. We'll see you in October.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.