City Council - Special Meeting

Good evening. It is excuse me uh city council meeting uh Lewisville City Council on May 12th, 2026. Can I get a roll call, please? Councilwoman Kern present. Councilwoman Fehee here. Council member Coopermanman here. Council member Dickinson here. Mayor Lei here. Mayor Prom Hamilton. Council member Hefner.

Okay. If you join with me in the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic which one nation indivisible and justice.

Thank you. Um, our first item of business is our update with the youth advisory board. And I wanted to welcome the youth advisory board uh wholeheartedly. They're sitting in the uh in the gallery here, but um really glad you're here. Really glad you're serving on the YAB. And um It would be wonderful if you could introduce yourselves. Maybe um I don't know whether we have enough room for all of you to come up to the tables, but you can come up to the mic and maybe introduce yourselves to us if you would.

Uh hi, I'm Senna Williams. I'm a senior at Monarch and I'm the chair of the Lewisville Youth Advisory Board. I'm Chelsea Deetsz. I'm a senior at Monarch High School and I'm the marketing manager. Hi, I'm Saurin Fstein. I'm a senior at Fairview High School and I am the vice chair. Hi, I'm Lily Timberlake. I'm a junior at Monarch High School. Hi, my Oh, my name is Sonia Solomon and I'm a junior at Monarch High School. Hi, I'm Tilly Winsky and I'm a sophomore at Monarch High School. Hi, I'm Soli and I'm a freshman at Fairview High School. Hello, I'm Lucas Pain and I am a freshman at Monarch High School.

Great. Thank you so much for being here. Um, I understand that there is a board presentation. Is that right? So, who's going to give the board presentation? Yeah. Together. We're a team. That's You're a team. That's exactly what we want here. I love it. I love it. Um hi. So, we just went over this, but this is our board and whole. Only some of us are here. Others had prior commitments tonight, but uh we've got a pretty big board this year.

Okay. I was really excited to present this slide because this was like my favorite thing that we did. Um, so the pros input was they came to our October meeting and our April meeting and in October they came and they gave us sticky notes and they had us write down I think we had a section for things that we really liked in Louisville, things that we wanted to change, things that were so so. And we kind of just wrote down and we got to just have a discussion about what we want to see in the future. And then they came back in April and this was really cool. We got little like sticky notes and or little like stickers and each sticker they said was like $1,000 and you got 10 of them. And so they were like, "What would you like to spend your money on for the future of Lewisville?" So we had stuff like the rec center, we had parks, uh like parks, we had trails and open space, we had the golf course, a ton of other stuff. And then each of those had categories and that was pretty cool because we just kind of got to have like a big discussion about that and a lot of people put theirs in specific places like a lot of people had theirs in like specific thing for the rec center. A lot of people had um Yeah. So that was my favorite thing that we did.

Um so we also engaged in a lot of volunteer work within the community um during this term of the board. So, in September, we helped out with the Labor Day parade, um, walking with pet mayor. In December, we helped out with a all careers event, which I don't think is through the city of Lewisville, but it's a separate organization, which um, if you want to speak on that, maybe later. I don't want to interrupt you.

Okay, sounds good. Um, and then in January, we helped out with marketing and um, facilitating a Stranger Things event at the rec center, which was like going off of the hype around the new season. During February, we helped out with the Sweetheart Dance at the Wreck. And then in April, um, this was kind of the culmination of our term on the board. We had a big annual project called Pause for a Cause, which focused on teen mental health. So, at the rec center, we had like a two-hour conference which included yoga, uh therapy dogs, all that good stuff, focusing on mental health and ways we can improve it and just make sure we're doing well with finals and stuff. And then in May, uh parts of the board ran with the Rise Against Suicide 5K, which raised a bunch of money for suicide awareness and support.

All right. Uh so as Tilly was saying, our annual event was Pause for a Cause which is an event focused on teen mental health. We got um we had various sessions with volunteers from around the community including a yoga session with a yoga instructor, a Saurin led gratitude journaling. We had a spokesperson from Rising and Suicide come and talk about mental health and we also had therapy dogs. Um, in addition, we got Rush coffee donated, um, hot chocolate and apple cider, I think. And then we had a local, um, music group come as well. And we had crafts and prizes from local businesses such as Rabbit Hole. Uh, it was a pretty big success. We ended up having a lot of participation, and we're potentially going to make it an annual event. Uh some of the uh input that we're wanting to uh give is uh so our uh favorite part of being on the board uh is uh like getting to know the uh inner workings of the city uh as well uh and just government in general. Uh and then and then also just having a say in it as well cuz that's quite fun. Uh and then also we barely get to meet people from other schools unless we're in some sort of after school activity. So this helps a lot with that. Uh and then the role of YAB would more to that is more for uh youth to be able to give advice to the city council and for the youth to have a say in it. Uh then that's Um this was from a form that we did of the uh members on our board and a lot of people said that out of the things that they wanted to do more on this board they said they wanted to work closer

with the city so providing more input understanding the operations better and also some more volunteering activities. We also wanted to talk to more city officials like you guys um about decisions being made in Lewisville and we wanted to interact more often and have more general updates and communication with city council. Um so we have a few questions for you guys. Um our first one is what do you see the role um what do you see as the role of the youth advisory board?

Can I make a suggestion? Yes. Can I can I flip the tables just a minute on you and um have us ask qu questions about your presentation, get public comment on things that you raised and then we want to have a discussion with all of us about your questions. Could we do that?

Okay, why don't we do that? Um any council questions? Just questions. No comments, just questions. Any questions? about the presentation? No, they were awesome. So, pretty much okay. Um, are there any public comments? Okay, nobody's good. Well, we'll go straight to the questions. Um, so that was uh a little bit of process and the mayor overruling you for just a second. Um, first question was, what do you see as the role of the use advisory board? Council members. Yes, Council Member Dickinson.

Um, yeah, I think, you know, I, believe it or not, kind of remember being your age and, um, I was involved in a lot of a lot of things like what you're doing today. And what I remember then is what I believe now, which is you guys know a lot and you care a lot and you see things from a different perspective than than some other, you know, some adults do. Um, and your opinion is really valuable and you don't get to vote. I don't know if any of you is anyone 18 yet? Couple of you, right? So, how cool that this November you'll get to vote for the first time in your life and you get to participate in that way. Um, but you spend so many years caring and thinking and noticing things and then you have so little power to do anything about it because you're just a kid. And I think that's what's so powerful about organizing like this and being involved in this way is that you do actually get a voice. You get a voice that that matters. And I think, you know, to the exact question of, you know, what do you see as the role is looking at the stuff that we're dealing with from your perspective? And ebikes comes up to me as one of those like really good examples of kids having a way different perspective of what those ebikes mean. And it's not all positive. There's posit like you guys are complicated and and you see it from a lot of ways, but having your voice present is is really powerful. And so, um, I think of that all the time. I remember joining council and thinking, you know what's really important about me? I don't know what the hell I'm doing up here, and that's unusual. Everyone else knows what they're doing. And so, I get to be new. And now, I've been here for six years. And so, I need other people to look at what we're doing as new. And you guys have a new, fresh look at all the things we're doing. And it really matters, and it's really valuable. So, I hope that you will, you know, continue to find those voices. and

you're going to go to college, many of you, and you'll be a freshman. And that freshman voice matters in that school as much as a senior voice matters. So, keep doing this over and over again. And and I hope we keep getting more and more of you over the years.

Thank you. Yes. I want to also uh thank you all for what you're doing. Just being willing to serve on the advisory board is a a significant contribution not only to the city but to the whole community and to future residents. Your children will benefit from what you're doing today and future generations. So you are taking the step to learn how to implement things. I remember as Councilman just as as you just said, I remember being your age and at your age I was getting my first involvement with I would say political issues. And at that time I'll tell you how old I am. I was marching against the Vietnam War and for equal rights amendment. I know a lot of you ladies would really appreciate having gotten that through. We still haven't. So, keep fighting, but thank you for what you do and keep it up.

Yeah, thank thanks first of all for coming and um the presentation which was great. I I I guess I mean one thing is like this is this is our time together right now and I I don't want to put you too much on the spot but if there are other issues I mean it sounds like you had some some input into the pro plan and other stuff but if there's other stuff that's important to you that you want to talk to us about um this is a a great opportunity you know the floor is yours anyone any takers Yeah, question.

Um, I'm curious. We have a lot of graduating seniors this year in YAB, which is sad. And also, we're like all starting new chapters. Um, because we can't be part of the YB anymore. What would your guys' advice be that we can still be involved um in like political political things and how do we grow within like whatever local governments we end up being a part of? Um, I'm curious what your advice is and how we can continue to stay involved. Glad you asked. That's awesome. And I'm actually so excited. Thank you all, by the way. Um I'm the only thing I'm disappointed about is we're sitting up here and you're down there. I kind of wish we were just at a table together. Um so I I really appreciate it because this is a big commitment what you guys have done. Full-time school. You probably work or do other things, have lots of responsibilities, yet you made a commitment to your community. And I I think that's really commendable in itself. and the fact that you want to do more. I would say wherever you're moving on to, especially once you become 18, um, try and get like involved with like boards and commissions. Pretty much every community has a way for you to do that. I think what you're on the right track with though, volunteering, that is so needed all of the time. And you'll see it like eb and flow in communities as you get older. You'll be like, "Oh, look at all the people who volunteer." And you'll be like, "Oh gosh, we like need volunteers." So, it's good to be a volunteer. It's also good to be a volunteer organizer and learn how to bring more people in on your energy. That's what I love. Like I mean when you guys are at the rec center and you're doing pause for a cause, you bring an energy to other people and you inspire them. They do better because you choose to put yourselves out there. And I'm very proud of all of you, especially some of the new younger people that are deciding to get involved. Um, but as you guys move on to college, college is a big deal. or maybe just graduating high school period and uh making some big new choices. That's what I would do. The and to answer one of your questions, I'd love to see you guys since you want to

learn more about government. I think budget and understanding how we remain and we as a government in Lewisville, we have to work within a balanced budget all of the time. We can't, you know, do what the crazy federal government does and be in a deficit, right? So, I think that I would love for you to be able to get maybe more engaged and understand what that means. I loved the fact that um during the pro conversation you were taking money and making a choice. Um I I actually wish that we could get that board like how where showing us where you guys put your money. I mean, I'd love to see if it was really for a new park or if it was for something else. So, that that would be my recommendation. Thank you for asking. I just throw in my two cents which are essentially the same which is just just get involved in whatever you're interested in. If it's politics, go volunteer for a political campaign. They're always looking for bright young people to work, especially if you'll work for free. Um if it's local government, join a border commission. Uh if you're going to college, join the student government there. Join organize a club, join a club that exists. get involved with something and then it it will basically never stop. Once you start getting involved with things, um you will be asked to get involved in more things and you'll eventually just have to pick which ones you're going to say no to. Um but it it can become volunteering or service or whatever your passion is can become a lifelong project outside of maybe what you end up doing day-to-day as a student or once you enter a profession of some kind. Um there are so many different ways to be involved in the community, whether it's the arts or politics or service or um you know addressing poverty or homelessness or what whatever it is your passion is. Um maybe you can find it in your day job, but even if you don't, there's lots of there's lots of other opportunities as Council Member Kern was saying. So seek them out.

And just to add on what councelor Dietrich just said, um you could end up sitting up here and we would

anybody would like my job, feel free to run. I mean, I think there there are there are stories all across the country of, you know, 16 year olds, 17 year olds, 18-year-olds running for office and there's I think the first reaction is like that's ridiculous. And then there's this sort of pause and understanding like that's actually really interesting. And so I know here on our boards and commissions, you know, we have absolutely placed 18 or 17 year olds on a board um because of that, you know, difference of of experience and perspective. And so you have lots of opportunities as Judy was saying when when you go off to school, you know, you'll have fraternities and sororities that you can be a part of. You you'll have school organizations that you could be the president of. will have all these things within that environment you can be a part of, but you can also like look into that community and what can you do outside of the school. Um, but you have a lifetime to to stay involved with things and it's it's okay also to have a few years that you're a little selfish and like really focus on you like that's also okay. Um, you have a lot of years to volunteer and a lot of time to to give back. And so, you know, think about what you're gaining in in every moment, what you're gaining from all those experiences and then how you bring them back to that ability to share and and be a part of something bigger than you. And I think that's I think that's ultimately what we're all talking about is like it's just so cool that you're part of something that's bigger than you. There's no personal gain really. Maybe a college application, you get to say you did this, but there's no real personal gain and yet you do it. And I think that's that's what's so cool and that'll stick with you forever. I I believe

I I think it's a wonderful question. Um and the suggestions here are all great ones, so I won't repeat them because they're they're good. I I think couple of things I would say. One is um don't be afraid to be curious and to dip your toe into something that maybe you're um you think you might be interested in. Um a cause, a club, uh something in the city, whatnot. I I think that's what you know the next few years are about for many of you, right? Um, another is, um, one thing that's just irresistible is a young person asking for advice. I've got to tell you, if you do that, almost anybody who is a nice person will will sit down with you and provide that. So, keep your eye out for those people. Uh people might turn into to real mentors for you, but um if there are people around that you really admire, which there may be, um ask them ask them how they got to where they are. Um ask them what they think about stuff. Ask them if they want to hear your view of something they you disagree with about them. I think that's all great. And and I do in I encourage somebody mentioned uh political campaigns. Absolutely. Um think about that. One of the things that I remember um is it's it's one thing to you know to uh be involved with a presidential campaign or congressional campaign or something like that but there are local political races that are really interesting and you may find that that's um you know something you may you know you know a little more about and sometimes because you're a volunteer you

can do some very cool things. you can run campaigns at a very young age if you're really interested and you know whether it's a person or a cause a ballot measure whatnot so all those things really good good question really good question um I was going to say on the question you asked about the role of the youth advisory board you talked a bit about representing youth I think one of the other things is you're learning a little bit about being leaders and that's kind of observing us. There's the advocacy piece which is, you know, bringing your voice forward there. There's also, I think, opportunities, and we can talk about this in a few minutes if you want based on your some of your other questions, but there are probably ways that you can plug in with um one or another of us that might be of some interest. Um, and I've I've got somebody curious about that, but we can we can get to that um if you want. Do you want to do you want to cover your next question or did you have further thoughts about this?

Have more thoughts? I don't think we have any more thoughts. So, obviously like thinking about like roles and stuff like that. Our next question is like what areas do you think the youth advisory board could or should be more involved in? Council members, what what let's ask you which ones you might be interested in. Come up with some ideas. But

um I think the parks, wreck, and open space people coming in with the 10ear plan was super cool. Um, this is my first term on the board, so I'm not sure if that's something y'all have done before. I don't think it is. Um, but I thought that was really helpful. And as somebody who's interested in public policy and these sorts of things, it's really interesting to see how the city is like taking the information that this firm gives from the community, what parts of the community they're taking it from, and how like they're formulating it into a plan. So, I think if we could get our hands more involved in this process and looking at the tenure plan, where is the money like going to? Like you were talking about, if we could like obviously we're not in charge of the money. We're not in charge of the budget, but if we could see where it's going and like have it explain to us how we make certain decisions and who's um how we choose to make decisions about where the money goes. I think that the 10ear plan was like a really good step into that. And if we could just like expand on involvement and input in that. Generally,

one of the things that we do every two years is we do a two-year budget, right? Where we look ahead two years and every year we go back and look at the look at it, but it's a two-year budget. This year happens to be the two-year budget year. So, that doesn't necessarily help the seniors in the group. Although we have, if you're at all interested, we have a budget retreat this summer, which I think is like a lot. Um, we have, it's a number of hours. We all sit around and talk and hash out some budget priorities and the various directors talk about what they're interested in. Um we talk you know a bit about whatever um uh you know what our sort of operating budget is and what capital projects you know what building projects and things like that we do that's um a really good opportunity those you know just budget generally wherever you want to plug in I think that would be wonderful I mean uh uh Council Kern just mentioned it that's a a great way because that's what I mean we don't have very many rules in many ways right we pick the city manager we do some land use um we do the budget that's really critical in what we do because that's what sets the tone of of everything our work plan everything um so I encourage you to get um involved in that and the sponsors can kind of help with how that works, you know, if that's something that's really interesting to you. I'm really glad you had a great experience with PROS because that I think was perfect timing and we really needed that perspective. So, our other

Yeah, go ahead, council members. I think uh building on that, I think it would be interesting to me if I could get you guys to go find out what all of your contemporaries would like to see in the city and would like the city to be doing for them. Find out not just, you know, ebikes, but any kind of bike transportation, bus transportation. What kinds of things would help you get around easier, faster, cheaper? more efficiently, whatever. Um, transportation is just one thing though. It's also recreation, which you went over with the pros group, so I guess that's covered. Um, even even with the schools, and I know we don't have any influence at all over BBSD. Um, and I had two kids graduate from Monarch and two kids graduate from Fairview. That was before Monarch was built. Um, yeah, I'm old. What can I say? But getting your opinions about what's going on in the schools and not just yours, but all of your classmates and getting a bigger v vision of what's happening for everybody at your age in every category. Getting transportation to go. You know, you're 16 years old. You don't have a car yet. How do you get to a job? Is there anybody hiring in Lewisville that hires 16 year olds? So any information that you can get like that would help us provide better for you. Thanks.

Thanks. This might be my idea might be something interesting for you guys to bring up at a future meeting, right? And then we could read the results of this. I would love to understand what you have for the vision of Lewisville 25, 30 years from now. You're grown. Maybe you do or don't choose to have a family. Do you see yourselves here in Lewisville? And what would you like Louisville to look like? Do you want it to be just like it was the whole time, like while you grew up? Do you want some things tweaked? Do you want some things to grow, contract? I would be interested from everything from housing, from equity issues, from how we help our senior citizens, you know, and and who we are, how do we work with other neighbors because I'm sure you guys have lots of friends in other towns, right, going off the high schools around here that I would love to understand because a big part of what we do and we just finished the comprehensive plan, which is a 20-year look, right, in helping us understand the future of Louis big decisions made in that process. And you'll be living in that space, right? I'm 40 years from now. I may or may not be here, but you will. And that helps people like us say, "This is what you would love to have when you're 40. Where do you see yourselves, your community, your parents here? Do you want your grandparents to still be here and living here?" So, I would love to know that.

Any others? Yeah.

Um, wait, is this this is on um Okay. I just wanted to go back to what Miss Deborah was saying a minute ago. When the people came from cross, they actually gave us a um like something to give to our friends where we interviewed them. So we were kind of like what do you want to see for like where do you use the most in Louisville? So like one of my friends said the rec center and then we were like what do you want to see changed at the rec center? What do you like at the rec center? What do you think? And I actually found and they did this for you got to choose if you use the open space most, the trails the most, the rec center the most, stuff like that. And I actually found some really interesting opinions from that. Like some of my friends were talking about like one of my friends was like, I'm a lifeguard at the rec center and I cannot find parking at 5:30 and there's nowhere to park and sometimes I have to get to work like 15 20 minutes early so I can drive around the parking lot for 20 minutes. So just like really interesting perspectives that I wouldn't have gotten. So, I feel like if we could do that for schools, too, that would actually be really interesting because I feel like we would get so many different perspectives that we haven't heard yet because just we had to just choose four people to ask and I just thought I got so many news perspectives from that. So, I just wanted to kind of go back to that because I thought that was kind of interesting. I have one more thing. So you guys were talking about like what Lewisville wants you what Lewisville will look like in 30 40 years. So something that I'm really I'm a I'm an aspiring journalist and something that we're really um pushing towards is the use of media specifically social media which I feel like can seem like daunting cuz like it can almost have like a very negative outlook to it. But I'm curious, how could you see the city of Lewisville, because obviously like there's the daily camera, stuff like that, but how could you how could you see specifically the city of Lewisville utilizing media, social media, broadcast things to almost like give a voice and like um show like the

whole city what's happening so that they're almost like more connected to what you guys are talking about to like understand that and for people to like see and understand like what's happening like around them because I think that sometimes it can be hard and to understand. So like my question is like how would you use media, social media to like convey those messages?

Um one thing I want to tie into your um a little bit into your next question because one of the things on our work plan this year is to fix the website which if you've ever been to our website it is absolutely awful right and everybody agrees with that. Everybody in the city knows that it's it's and I I just gave up mostly trying to search for things. I mean, it's really hard. But you know what? It's getting that we have somebody who's working nearly full-time, somebody who's the manager of our communications. And um I think it would be absolutely wonderful to be um providing some input on that. That's just one channel. But um and gosh, you know, another thing that one of our I I know a couple of people in our community have said is we don't have much local media. I don't that's not probably something that we on council in many ways if you're an aspiring journalist, you know, it's state-run media is not really the best thing, but um you know, and the Facebook groups are hit and miss. Uh but it would be really interesting for anybody to be providing a broader perspective than we get um from the current channels. Anyway, yes, Council Member Kurt.

So, I'm curious. It's an interesting question and uh good luck and that that that's an interesting and exciting career to choose. So, you bring up social media. Do you feel like there isn't really a social media presence that Lewisville has currently? Um, I think that there's a presence, but I think that there is ways to push it more specifically to like younger people, like teens and stuff like that because I feel like it can be hard to like show them like what's happening, especially because I think that they're like the majority of social media, but I think that sometimes it's hard to like like coordinate to them and like make it interesting to them.

So, that's that's I I love and I do I really I agree with the mayor. I like the idea of you guys being able to give information back to so um Samma Fox is our deputy city manager big job in case you laz you're curious um and in municipal government and so but the the city manager's office which she is a part of the comm's department the communications department is works for them basically so this is great information because it would be super fun if if that kind of uh feedback was able to make it to our communications department and you you know, somehow we figure out a better way to to notify people. I would agree with you like half the time I'm like, "So, what's happening in town? Where do I go to find it?" Uh, and I you'll be appalled to to know and it is with great intention. I am not on social media. Never have been and it is on purpose. So, my husband is a computer engineer and with that uh social media is verboten so we're not allowed to do it. Uh, so for me, I agree with you though. Like I think there there's got to be a lot of good ways to get people to understand more and engage. Do you guys read the lantern, the the newsletter that goes out by the city? No. Some of you, oh my gosh, please. It is so cool. And it's it does have a digital form. You don't need to do paper. Uh, so that's really good, right? We don't have to keep killing trees. And so I encourage you. There's so much good information. The mayor writes a note in there, so he'll talk about some things. Our staff puts informational in there and I don't know like maybe maybe every once in a while we get a little piece from you guys and it gets posted in the lantern an update from the youth advisory board. There probably are some things in there. Sam would correct me on this one.

Actually, if council's open to it, I might make a recommendation based on what I'm hearing. Okay, good. Something on council's work plan is update our community engagement strategy. It's currently scheduled for after the work plan. uh youth advisory board is a seasonal board, but they'll pick back up again in the fall, which is around the time that we're considering that. And I've heard an interest in some policy and things like that. So maybe that's one of those things that we can bring to this board and get their input on. Fun. I like the idea. Cool. Thank you. And I believe there are copies, paper copies of the lantern, not on the test in the vestibule out there.

Should we cover the last one? That's what we were about to ask. So, our last question is, how could the youth advisory board work with city council to support city council's future work plans?

What kinds of things would you like to see? I I've got some ideas, and I know other council members probably do, too, but what what kinds of things would you do you have in mind that might be helpful? Um, I just know that as a board we hadn't done a lot of this until this year with the parks, wreck and open space plan and that was something that everyone got engaged in in different ways. Like some of us really like going to the rec center. I personally work there. Um, and so it was something that I felt like had a lot of youth involvement and we gave our input in, but it wasn't something I don't think we necessarily expected. So, I just think in general there's a lot I think that city council does and other city boards do that we could have interesting input in and we got really excited about the last one. So, honestly, anything I guess is my answer. Um, but we want to give our input.

Um, I think with that I like part of joining the youth advisory board for me was learning more about local government and how it works. So, I'm not like really 100% clear always on who like has what jurisdiction, but I feel like having a greater presence at like these city council meetings and staying engaged with the other boards as well would be good cuz we don't really have a lot of overlap with the other boards, but I feel like like parks and rec center and open space, all of these really do impact life for teens in the community. And um like you said earlier, we can't really vote. So, this is the best way to like share our feelings about it. So, I think um maybe not the whole council coming, but like if we could have some uh representation at some of these meetings as well, I think that would be helpful to serve as a conduit between the two boards.

Really good. Let me make I I've written down three suggestions um about this and these some of these are just uh me. Other council can can jump in. Um I absolutely one or another of us could come to a meeting and update you and you know talk about a particular issue that you just don't understand or you want more information about or whatever. Um another one is that there are some days that um a number of us have on city related business. Um and you know I have couple of days a month where I've got multiple meetings. I'm certainly happy to have somebody shadow or a few people do that. That's I'm thinking in particular there's a meeting I go to uh roughly once every couple of months which is the metro mayors. It's all the mayors from the metro area including Aurora and and Denver and others. And that is kind of interesting to hear all of the ways that we are bumping up against the governor right now. That's a big issue. Um and it's and there are other issues too. Affordable housing and safety and all kinds of things, but you know, frankly, it might be fun to take the whole group down there sometime. um that would take a little bit of like a big note to your teachers and stuff, but um anyway, that that kind of thing we can certainly do. I I think and if you're if you're interested anytime, you know, we have to read a packet every week. It's your stuff is part of that packet. you know, I if you're interested, if you're really geeking out about public policy, you know, we could actually sit down with you and walk through and not page by page, but maybe

the kinds of things that we look at when we go through that, you know, 400page document or today it was a lot easier. But anyway, those are a couple of things. other council members. Yes, council member Fee. One other thing that you could do is we put out a packet for our council members every two weeks. Um or at least first and third Tuesdays. Usually it's third and fourth also. Um or second and fourth.

All of them. Yeah, it's every every Tuesday. Uh, and the packet comes out usually on Thursdays for the following Tuesday's meeting. If you read the packet, it'll give you all of the background information about what we're going to be discussing and deciding at that meeting. If you have any questions or concerns or comments that you want to make, come to the meeting and tell us. Give us the youthful perspective on what we're trying to accomplish here. and and get your friends to come too. Or you could get together as a group and write a memo to council that would apply to that week's meeting. Um, and you don't have to come in person. You can also zoom in and just tell us online. Raise your hand on line. Um, first I would go back to uh what the deputy city manager was talking about earlier. So this community um engagement planning uh and you know I think part of that is going to be sort of sort of solidifying um the role that boards and commissions have in when we have community engagement around a plan like the the Pros plan. Um, and so I think in part the reason that maybe you haven't been engaged before that occasion is because we didn't really have a formal policy set out. And so it would have taken someone just to sort of off the cuff and say, "Oh yeah, we should have the youth advisory board uh pay attention to this thing that we're doing." Um, so I hope that when we set up a policy for community engagement, part of it will be like this is how we should engage our boards and commissions and so it'll become standard for the youth advisory board to be engaged on

items that um you should be engaged on. Um, so I think that's one thing. Um, as council member Fehee was saying, um, other boards and commissions, they write they write letters to us, and I don't know if, um, I mean, you should just know that you're free to do that. I mean, you're also free just to email us, um, on an individual basis or the whole council. Um, and then to go back a little further in the conversation, other boards and commissions also, we sort of invite them to weigh in on the budget. So they might write us a letter that say these are our priorities for the budget. Um or they might send us an email that say these are our priorities for the budget. Um and again I don't see any reason why the youth advisory board couldn't do the same sort of thing. Again it's a little bit tricky because that's not during your season. Um but maybe we could find a way around that.

Actually I'd say council member it is right in the midst of their season. Um board and commission recommendations around the budget are due this week. We have so many issues that I think we have so many issues that you can plug into that are so important. Um, Council Member Kern talked about the the comprehensive plan. If you read through that, it it's kind of a framework for thinking about the future here. And we'd love to know how you would fill in. It's very broad, but to fill in some of the, oh, I see you want to do this. Well, what about that? Affordable housing is an issue. Well, what would you like to see? You know, all these things we really could use. We could use all the help we can get. So, thank you very much for coming. Um, I understand that I am hand out some certificates.

Yes. Yes. And we'd like to take a picture of the council with the board if we could. Do you want what do you you tell me how

you wanted? We could have them come around behind.

All right. They're going to be posing up there. Back. Back. Back or front. Okay.

You're not You're not blocking. You're not blocking us. Oh, okay. We got a couple here.

That no touching. No touching. No, no, no touching. We do soccer photo. We're doing We're doing soccer photo. Do you want you want to do these in front or do you want Yeah. Okay.

Nobody embraced the soccer pose. their names maybe from there that way I can take a picture

tonight with these names if I screw it up thank you We just need to we need to tell me however you want to do it. That's perfect. We're gonna get a microphone too. Um All right. Uh and maybe I'll do it the first first name. Sonia Solomon.

You got to practice for the college for the high school graduation. Right. Great. See, is that pronouncing it right?

Thank you. Grace Firestein, she's not here. All right. Violet Beckman, not here. Okay. CJ Payne. And those are some of them. And we've got Yes. Uh, put them down.

Are they up over there? All right. Uh, first Chelsea D. These three are all seniors. As if they know that but we may not. Senna Williams.

Thank you.

And then the final one is Saurin Firestein. And I would say you're welcome to today if you'd like to see the rest of our meeting. We actually don't have a really long meeting tonight. So thankfully um for everybody. Um so all right, our next item of business is that we need two people. Caleb had the lead. Okay. Well, okay. We have the need of one more for quorum.

Yeah, we just have we just need four for quum. Okay. Our next item is resolution number 43 series 2026. A resolution creating a historic preservation task t tax task force. Say that many times. Task force and appointing members to such task force. Um can we get a staff presentation?

Thank you. Mayor Sam Fox, deputy city manager. I just have a brief verbal presentation. Just a reminder that council directed staff to uh work on this task force on April 28th. So just a couple of short weeks ago here. Uh we because of the tight timeline, this task force will need to present materials to council on June 16th. We worked backwards from your due dates and set some task force meeting times. The first meeting for this task force is actually tomorrow from 4 to 7. The second meeting is Thursday, May 28th. We are hoping the task force can accomplish their recommendations in two meetings, but we've reserved a third meeting time just in case, and that's June 1st. Council recommended 13 members. 11 of them have confirmed their availability. One confirmed they weren't available, and then one we had a late recommendation on, so we just haven't been able to confirm that time yet. Um, council had originally recommended appointing eight members. So, kind of going through the composition of those eight members, there were two recommended council members. Right now, that looks like Mayor Le and Council Member Fehee. There was one historic preservation commission member, that's Sloan Whitten. One historical museum advisory board member, that'd be Barbara Taylor. There was one architect recommended. We have two volunteers. Uh there was one chamber member, uh that's Mike Dorski, who's volunteered for that at this point in time. And then we have two members of the community originally slated for the board or the task force, I'm sorry, and five volunteers have confirmed. Thank you. Um, first questions from council members. All right. Yeah, go ahead.

Do we know which wards the the member of the Historic Preservation Commission and the Historic Museum board live in? That's a great question. I actually do not know which words they live in,

but city cl Sure. So Sloan Whitten um from historic preservation is from W three and Barbara Taylor um from the historical museum advisory board is also W three. Any other questions? Okay. Yeah.

So, um this is this to me this would be more for be for you and Deb, Chris, and maybe for staff. I I don't see an issue if we it did have like one or two more people if it was more than eight people that were in there. As long as you guys can still have a meaningful um and obviously rapid conversation. Uh, so the the the the two architects I I don't know if it's necessary. I don't know if they'll be redundant. I I mean I'm I'm either I think Andy

we're going to talk about this in just a second. Do you have questions? My question was the the kids were talking tonight about being involved and so kind of I was mentioning something to Caleb and thought maybe somebody from the youth advisory board would want to add their two cents to the conversation and maybe they might not be capable of participating but I wanted to see what you guys thought of that of having again it's that com I you mean they're buying things they're paying taxes on it right it impacts their their dayto-day and it's going to be impacting the long-term future and look of Louiswisville. Might be worthwhile to see what they think.

It's a good question. Um, let's take some public comment. We've come back to council comments. Do we have any public comment? Nope. Okay. Uh, let's bring back um, Council Member Kern since you kicked it off. Uh, you want to we can talk about your Yeah. both of your questions if you want. Uh, it may need um Sam's help on this one because I'm not sure how we would navigate having one of the the members of the youth advisory board participate.

Yeah, sure. That's a great question and it's always good to have youth voices. I think it might be particularly challenging to have a youth advisory board member participate when their board has just wrapped up and their first meeting is tomorrow with the end of school coming. So I think we could recommend we could reach out to the youth advisory board members and say there's information here. Council's interested in hearing from you and encourage them as individuals to participate in public comment or reach out to their council members. That might be the best we can get on the short notice. Okay, that might still be helpful in us making a decision. So that's great. Thank you for that. I appreciate it. May tends to be a nightmare for students too. So I'm thinking but you know the the real key on many of these things will be our discussions after that

where there is public comment because the the task force there'll be people coming. We hope people will come but they're not going to there's not going to be public comment at the the task force meetings themselves. Other comments? Yes.

Yeah. Just uh a couple things. One is just given the short time I do think it's important we try and limit the size of the group to I I would say eight or nine. I I wouldn't go any higher than that. Just um bigger groups tend to be slower just um by definition and obviously there's not much time to reach a decision. Um I'll say as to the two architects, I think we know that Andy and Peter are in pretty close contact given some of their past advocacy. And so I'm I'm I don't want to be flip about it, but I'm almost comfortable flipping a coin as between the two of them and you know the they can talk to each other behind the scenes, I'm sure. Um and then on the community members, I I would just like to see some diversity of word representation for those seats. Um but we we obviously it's great to have so many volunteers and so much interest, especially with the the short timing and the the difficult meeting schedule. And I'm just quite pleased we have as always an embarrassment of riches of people who would like to lend us their time and expertise which is which is just fantastic. Um so all that being said I I certainly could make a proposal but maybe others have comments first. Council member He um I just want to say that I agree that keeping the board small is important and while I like the idea of having a youth advisory board member as a as a rep um I would feel like we were then ignoring all of the other advisory boards that were not having members attend. So, I wouldn't make them an official member of the board of the task force.

Others, Council Member Cooperman, I also tend to agree that we shouldn't have the task force be too large. Um, and I think it's fine just to have one architect as well. Um when we say not it too large um and um how many are we thinking that will help maybe uh pair this down just generally or we can just talk about hey let's what about these I would say no more than nine okay

and I I don't know if the difference between eight and nine is big I feel like the difference between nine and 10 starts to get unwieldy nine is uh an odd number which nine is a nice odd number and I I have a feeling we can all agree on nine also. I have a feeling

yeah that's I I think that's a really good suggestion and if we uh if we take off one of the I personally agree about the uh using just one of the architects that makes sense. Um, I guess one question is are you comfortable with uh council member Fehee and me being the council members on that? I'm I couldn't be more pleased. I'm beyond comfortable. Okay.

Um, so there is uh if we're talking about the and how about uh Sloan Whitten is the historic preservation commission person. Sloan is fantastic.

She is really terrific. Um, and then, um, I think one of them that's missing here is in this is on our um, addendum, but I know Mike Dborski was um, is a chamber member and we talked about putting a chamber member on there. Um, and there is a historical museum board director that's Barbara Taylor on there. Um, I think those were both in the staff presentation. Yeah. No, they were. They were. I'm just I guess I'm looking back at this.

Could I make a proposal, Mayor? You can make a proposal. Please do. In fact, you can make a motion if you I'll make a motion that um we appoint everyone that was in the staff presentation and then as to the community members I I would propose Denise Lee and Christie and then Peter Stewart as the architect member. I think that gets us to nine if my math is right. I'm going to ask this deputy city manager to come up with the count. Do we have That's nine. Yes. Second.

Okay. Any discussion? Okay. Uh all in favor? I I opposed. Good. Oh, and could I could I just amend my motion to make sure we we thank the others who graciously volunteered on short notice because that's a that's asking a lot of the community to to show up for something like this.

Yeah. And and that is really good and um encourage them to uh if if not go to those task force meetings if they'd like to be piping up when the council considers the recommendations of the group. I'm really looking forward to it. Um and uh sounds like council member Fehee is too. And thank you. Shall we move on to the next item which is upcoming agenda items and identification of new ones May 13, 2026 to August 31st, 2026. Um do we have a staff presentation?

Thank you, mayor and councel. I don't have a long presentation, but I'm happy to talk through this a little bit. You've got a couple of large meetings coming up. May 19th is particularly lengthy with some joint meetings on May 26th. Another large meeting on June 2nd. Um June 9th, you have joint meetings again as well as a presentation from Icky who is doing some analysis related to sustainability. And on June 16th, you've got your last meeting before summer break. This year's council summer break is going to be June 22 through July 10. and then you come back with more joint meetings and some heavy meetings again right after that. You might also notice on the end of your um agenda forecast there are a series of items to be scheduled. Some of these are anticipated for the fall and we're working on meeting dates for them and some of them are on our TBD list as we try to slot things into the timelines.

Are there questions from council members about these items? Um, yes. Go ahead. Um, on the May 19th agenda, the funding agreement for Hillside Square, um, is that are are we pledging money to that project out of I believe that's the project, um, in the Centennial Valley, affordable housing project. Not sure though. You know, I did ask that question and I was just looking at my response to that. I'm gonna have to follow up on that response for you.

Okay. And then relatedly, I guess at the end, um, one of the things to be scheduled is, I guess, is listed as the affordable housing fund, but are we expecting that consultant to come back to us at some point for further discussion or are we kind of putting that on hold um, and just maybe funding projects as they come to us if we decide to or I do we have any direction there or not really? That is a great question. Um, digging a little bit deep for me in my memory on that one. I believe we were looking for followup, but I'm going to also uh confirm that one for you and get back to council.

Thank you.

Are there potential ads anybody has? I had one I just wanted to throw out. Um, I don't really have a viewpoint about it to be quite honest, but um, I know council members have have uh, discussed this a little bit more recently. Um and that is uh we've had a task force on RMMA which did terrific work for a year and a half I think in putting together um uh materials and getting advice as to whether we uh want to take a kind of litigation or non-litigation approach and I think that was we had a great meeting I don't know when that was this was a few months ago. The question I think though is for a task force um usually we have a set schedule and you know it it we don't have a necessarily a expectation for any task force at least I hope not for our task force that it's going to go on for more than that. I don't know that we really need a discussion about that uh task force and whether we want to sort of reauthorize or whether uh you know how that goes. I I think there's a meeting that you guys are going to have with the um uh the head of the RMMA. Um if there's any appetite to talk about that, that's great. If there's not, I I don't have any trouble with that. I I said I would raise it and is there any appetite for that?

Yes. Council member Coopermanman, Council Member Hefner. And yeah, and I mean I felt like there was somewhat of an ask from the town of Superior um related to their litigation. Um and so I was interested in at least having a discussion about providing an amicus brief if not moving ahead with that um as as one item related to that whole whole topic. Good point. I

think that's a that's a good point. And I would say that's um not so at at our last meeting where the task force brought forward the data and legal analysis, I think we did get some direction for continued work um to continue to engage with the airport and the flight schools and our neighboring communities um which we've been doing uh to to various extents. Uh I I think that work ought to continue for some time. I don't think it's at a point yet where it needs to be concluded. Uh, as to the amikas brief, I would say that's a that's a question for council and I'd be happy to put that on a um future council agenda, you know, with the expectation of getting a little guidance from the city attorney who's not with us tonight.

Yes.

Yeah, I agree. I um I that was my understanding as far as the task force was concerned as well is that we would continue to engage um with airport staff, community um flight schools uh and others uh and like in Longmont and other communities that are participating and engaged. Um I'm I'm not necessarily feeling that we have to have a conversation about the amicus brief. Um we've had some I mean very brief conversations in the past. Um if we want to do it then I want to get um definitely would like legal counsel and if our current council needs to bring in some special special someone more specialized to be a able to answer these questions for us then I think that we should have an executive session around that. Um and but I'm not in particular favor of it. So,

um, it's a good I mean, I think having our legal counsel involved in that is pretty important just to be able to explain it. I think the this is sort of where my day job is going to creep in. Um, I think an amicus brief is uh because it's not appearing as a party, it's not intervening. I think it's a policy decision about what we do about it. Um, now there's a question of whether we even want to have a policy discussion about it. Um, I I would be in favor of having at least a brief policy conversation about it. I don't I don't think we need I mean, at least it's my opinion that I don't think we need an executive session for that. Um, in fact, I I think it would be it would sort of suggest that um our involvement is potentially more significant than it actually is because I I think the amicus generally that process is more um it it's a little I want to say a little more nebulous but it's what I would say is you sort of express policy thoughts about what's at issue, not not necessarily a legal position about that or a legal argument. That that's what I would suggest. But other thoughts? Yeah. Go ahead.

Perhaps we can defer that to the city attorney and and let her decide as to whether she'd like to call an executive session or not.

That's a very smart move. Okay. Um the other item is more a question of how we do something not whether we do it. We have had executive sessions and quite a few of them in the last couple of years and certainly um I have received uh comments and sometimes complaints that um you know our meetings get started a little late some I mean some of them have I don't apologize for that we've had really difficult discussions that we've had to have in executive sessions and that's what our job is and there are certain circumstances in which that's entirely appropriate. I think we have always uh hued to the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. uh when it comes to that um one thought and it's based on uh I guess maybe my experience and perhaps there I don't know I think council member Fe probably remembers this which is um we used to have those meetings at times anyway after regular business um the advantage being that we can we I don't have to come early. So if five o'clock is hard and it is for some folks, sometimes it is for me and I um then you know we start at six and we can hit those things at the end doesn't interrupt the flow of the meeting. You know um people getting less irritated with us. Um, but I sometimes, and this is where it got hard, if we have a

little longer meeting or a meeting that doesn't seem like it will go very long, so we schedule an executive session, it can go a little bit later and that's tiring, you know. Um, but I'm interested in whether in the future, uh, council members might be, you know, willing to to try a meeting like that. Um, u, you know, just a thought. Um the second part of that is um to cut down on the number of executive sessions. I I would encourage us to try to reasonably combine you know one executive session with another into one meeting so that we can uh try to limit the number of um period that's for our benefit and the public's. So thoughts, council Murphy,

if we're going to schedule an executive session after the general meeting, I would encourage us to have a very short agenda for the regular meeting because I would not want to start an executive session at 9 or 10:00 at night. Well put.

Yeah, I I agree. I'm I'm open to trying it, but what I would suggest is we continue to have a time certain as to when the executive session is going to start. Um, say 7:30 or 8 and we started at that time regardless of how much of our regular business we've gotten done. I I am our discipline during regular meetings uh could be better and I think having a certain time to start the executive session would be good. it. The the worry I have is putting off what is often our most important business until the end of the regular meeting could push it late into the night. Um at a time where none of us are at our best and we have little choice but to continue. Um so that would be my suggestion. I think the other thing I would say though is p public engagement and involvement in our meetings is great. It's wanted. I always appreciate hearing from the public. In my view, these meetings are our business meetings. This is our chance to talk together as a group. Uh, and it's our only chance to talk together as a group. And I I think we need to give ourselves sufficient flexibility that we can get our business done. Um, because there's lots of ways we can all hear from the public, but this is the only way we can all meet. And I think that's important and worth protecting. And if we can protect it in a way that's great for the public, too. I'm all for it. Um, but I would hate to see us be less effective um for for the purpose of facilitating additional comment.

I'm not sure how that last comment cuts. Uh, suggests we do them before or after the regular meeting. I I guess what I'm saying is I don't think it I think before or after can both be fine. um as long as we're not putting ourselves into a situation where the topic in executive session which is often very important is something that ends up getting deferred um because of our lack of discipline in the regular business. Fair point. others. Yeah,

I'll say that there are communities around us that limit the amount of time for public comment and not just the three minutes per person, but the total amount of time for public comments on any particular item. Other thoughts? Yes, Council Member Cooperman. Yeah, I mean just briefly, I'm open to to having the executive sessions afterwards.

My experience on uh in agenda setting which we do u with mayor prom who's not here tonight um we try you know to balance out the subject so we don't overload the meetings. Um, you can look at the advanced agenda. You might disagree with our how we do that although that the advanced agendas do change over over time. Um, and we can we can try doing you know one I'm I think it's good to experiment uh a little bit. I I think all of the comments that have been made are are important. I don't want to minimize the importance of the regular meetings. Um sometime and sometimes our executive sessions are important to do in executive session but aren't necessarily pivotal to the city's business whereas some of our meeting topics in regular session are really important. So it's it's hard to know sometimes which uh is more important, if you will. Um I'm I don't think it probably is worth putting putting a qualitative uh piece on that. But what um any other thoughts? Yes. Council

is there because I mean there have been times we've needed to conduct um executive sessions other than on the day of a regular council meeting whether that was when we had a special meeting or some other time because there was an immediiacy to something. Um perhaps it's worth looking at maybe we do executive sessions before or after a special meeting versus like tonight when when it's a much lighter lift. Go ahead. Sure. Thank you, council members. I just want to point out that we do share our city attorney with a variety of other cities. Um and unfortunately our city attorney is not always available on special meeting nights.

Okay, there you go. That's part and you know I so I think maybe some of that too like is it harder for the city attorney to be available at you know 8:00 p.m. versus 5:00 p.m. that thing.

There's also the issue of staff. I mean often we have a lot of staff. Sometimes staff will sit around and wait if we're doing this later in the evening. And I think that may, you know, we'll try to, I guess what I'll say is we'll try to bear all of these issues in mind because really good points. And as we're making decisions about some of those, I we can we can try uh to to fit it. I I think we've done them at five. We've tried to limit them to an hour. Sometimes we've done that pretty well. often we've just as often we haven't gotten them done and again it's hard to know um some of those discussions needed more time and it's hard to know in advance sometimes how that works. So um if that sounds okay

so we kind of saying like we'll just be more flexible like it doesn't have to be at five maybe there are times with a lighter lift it could be done at 7:30 or something.

Yeah. Or a little bit later. I mean, I I think getting a meeting done in an hour and a half is going to be I mean, maybe maybe we only do it that time, but the the problem is on policing a meeting like that, this is just my experience is often these executive sessions come up with pretty short fuses and sometimes it's not possible. I mean, maybe the answer is we just do them at five o'clock. If we're gonna if there's a long meeting, we just do them at five o'clock and call it good. Uh, you know, I this wasn't on our uh on our agenda, so I don't want to belabor it. I just it's sort of a procedural issue. So, that's why I thought maybe it's good. Does anybody have any thoughts about that? If we because if we have to get done with the regular meeting in an hour and a half, I can say virtually certain that we're almost never going to have an executive meeting or executive session after the meeting, the regular business. So that's that's an easy one. That means we should just not do it.

Yeah. I I guess I I would just respond. And I think it's it's possible for us to move more quickly than we do. I agree with that. And if we have a short fuse executive session item, um, you know, my hope would be we can all limit our commentary and and discussion to to an appropriate extent that we can get to executive session and put off whatever we need to put off in favor of um the exe or come back. you know, if we leave for executive session and we need to come back, you know, we can have that conversation. Uh I I just the the notion of a sort of a blank check though to run late into the night is is what bugs me a little bit. Yeah.

I I think that's I don't know that I think everybody would say we don't want a blank check to run in the middle of the night. Is that fair? Thumbs up for everybody on that.

Yeah. I think especially related to the staff presence needed at that meeting. Yeah. Um well, let's let's try and let's see how we do um in terms of um uh scheduling. I mean, it seems to me that what I've what I've heard is one, schedule executive committee uh sessions on nights when we have a lighter agenda if we can. uh we're going to avoid special site or special meeting nights because of the likelihood that we're going to need our city attorney and she is not going to be available and I think she often literally has another meeting set for those nights. Um, and we're going to try to establish a time certain on the front end and the back end and police ourselves well to be able to get um get the executive session done expeditiously if we're doing them in the beginning and at the end getting the rest of the meeting done. I think that's a those are all things that I've heard tonight. Um, so let's try it and we can always shift as we need to. Good. Um, all right. I think we have one more motion that we need.

Please. I'm just wondering if any other council members are interested in looking at reinstating liaison to the advisory boards. Council liaison. body interested in that could make a staff recommendation if you're open to that. One of the things we're looking at right now is the board and commission handbook. That's a question we can have as part of that discussion if council's interested. We do. Can you bring us a little bit of history as to like you know what what we did before like when we had them, why we made those changes, if there's any documentation anywhere or from maybe some of the directors would have some information. Sure. Thanks.

Okay. Good. Now we have a need for a motion. I move to adjourn. Second. All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? Thank you all. Thank you.