City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning. We're going to get started this morning with an invocation led by Dr. A.W. Shahan, pastor of New Hope United Methodist Church. And that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Amelia and Olivia Bonner, representing Girl Scout Troop 296. Please stand as you are able.

Let us pray. Gracious God, we're so thankful for this city, for our neighborhoods and schools, our workers and families, for our Oklahoma standard that has carried us through so many hard days and also through more hopeful and joyful ones. And we thank you for the privilege of gathering in this room where the work of the people is done in the open and with the participation and the voice of those it serves. We ask your blessing on Mayor Holt and each member of this council. Grant them the wisdom to discern what is right and the courage to choose it and the humility to listen well. And may their work today serve not only the loudest among us, but the least of us, and not only in this moment, but in the time that comes when others will inherit this city from us. And we pray for all who call Oklahoma City home, for the first responders and teachers, for the overlooked, the overworked, and the weary, for all who woke up this morning without enough. We pray for all who mourn this day, citizens who are dealing with the pain of death or the sting of divorce, battling illnesses and addictions of all kinds, who are struggling to afford the things that they and their families need to live. May those in a season of harvest build a longer table at which to share their many blessings and not a higher wall or a bigger barn in which to hoard them and where they'll spoil. Guide us all, Almighty God, that our shared life together may reflect your mercy, your fairness, and your command to love and care for our neighbors. All this we ask in your most holy name. Amen.

Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Well, thank you, Pastor Shahan, and thank you, Amelia and Olivia. I now call this meeting of the City Council to order, and there are a couple of presentations to make, and so I will make my way to the front, and perhaps I'll invite our friends from Neighborhood Alliance to meet me there around the podium. So Neighbors Night Out is actually, here, let me get my Myron. Neighbors Night Out is coming up, which we often commemorate here at a city council meeting. But this is a very special Neighbors Night Out because it also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Neighborhood Alliance, which I really think of as kind of our sister organization. The Neighborhood Alliance has been an incredible partner to City Hall and to mayors and council members worldwide. for literally 50 years. And we'd love to learn a little bit more about that. And so I would ask the clerk to read this citation.

Whereas the Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma, NACOK, is celebrating its 50th anniversary of creating safe, healthy, and attractive neighborhoods for all. And whereas the Neighborhood Alliance has been successful at helping residents create sustainable change by fostering a sense of community, organizing cooperative partnerships, and activating residential neighborhoods. And whereas the Neighborhood Alliance offers invaluable resources, trainings, and tools to start and maintain strong neighborhood associations, supporting over 600 neighborhoods, and impacting over 250,000 homes in their 50 years of service. And whereas the Neighborhood Alliance has significantly promoted inclusivity by empowering all residents to foster a greater sense of unity, security, and community pride within Oklahoma City. And whereas this work culminates annually with NACOK's Neighbors Night Out, an evening organized in partnership with the Oklahoma City Police Department, where neighborhoods hold activities to strengthen their cohesion and send a message that their neighborhood is active, and no place for criminality, and whereas this year's Neighbors Night Out will occur on September 15, 2026. Now therefore, I, David Holt, Mayor of the City of Oklahoma City, do hereby celebrate Neighbors Night Out as an exemplary initiative of NACOK, and do extend my congratulations to Neighborhood Alliance of Central Oklahoma on the occasion of their 50th anniversary, and do extend our city's heartfelt gratitude for the Neighborhood Alliance's ongoing dedication to our one OKC.

Well, thank you, and thank you to everyone up here. This represents sort of a lot of your partners. Some of the folks up here are members of your team, but you also have people who partner especially on Neighbors Night Out. And we have Myron Mayberry, the Executive Director of Neighborhood Alliance, and we would love to hear a few words from you. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Byron Mayberry, and I've been working with Neighborhood Alliance for right at three years now. So I can't take credit for a lot of the progress that we've made, but previous leaders, Georgie Roscoe and other folks here in Oklahoma City, have worked with us for 50 years. In 1975, about 21 neighbors got together and started and laid the foundation foundation for what we are today. We officially filed documentation with the IRS and became a 501 in 1976 and work began. The organization has changed over the years. Originally one of our big projects was we would buy home improvement tools and neighbors could come and check them out. I think checking out saws and all kind of other more dangerous stuff won't be allowed anymore, the chainsaws and all of that. But we still work with the neighbors through a lot of different programs. Neighbors Night Out is one major program that we do. It starts today. One was supposed to be last night, but they canceled. It's very hot, and so this year we've had a lot of folks not wanting to start it because to still get your kids out for school, you've got to start while it's still daylight. But Major Sproul here has... The leadership over our other police, what are you, PCRs, police community relations, is that correct? And so those gentlemen all work with us, and we do a lot of different programs, probably about 20, 22 different programs. activities across the year promoting public safety well neighbors night out is a major part of that because if you don't know your neighbors it's hard to promote public safety so we have worked for many years with the police department and they have provided a lot of support to us and the people that we work with we have several of our sponsors here Oklahoma City metropolitan area realtors I see board members. We are a team, and it takes this teamwork in the time of diminishing donations and less philanthropy. You have to work smarter, and thankfully to this team, we've been able to do so. Mayor Holt, thank you very much for giving us a few minutes. I am not going to take any more of your time so you can get to your important meeting. Thank you.

Let's hear it for the neighborhood alliance. All right, Mrs. Poles, come on down. Well, you are our Teacher of the Month, and we'd like to learn a little bit more about you, and I would ask the clerk to read this resolution.

Whereas, Quinet Bowles has been named Teacher of the Month for September 2026 by the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation and Rotary Club of Oklahoma City. And whereas, Quinet was an Oklahoma City Public Schools OKCPS District Teacher of the Year finalist in 2026. And whereas, Quinet serves pre-K through fourth grade students as an OKCPS Extended Educational Services Elementary Education Teacher. And whereas, Quinet meets students where they are using trauma-informed relationship-based learning to build their confidence and improve their academics. And whereas, Quinet teaches with innovation, connecting lessons with real world experiences to create a dynamic and interactive learning environment. And whereas, Quinet leads by example, continuing to further her education in the pursuit of continuous growth and commitment to her students. And whereas, Quinet recognizes the integral role that teachers play in the community and dedicates her time to mentoring fellow teachers and building community relationships. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Mayor and Council of the City of Oklahoma City that they do hereby recognize and commend Quinette Bowles on her selection as September 2026 Teacher of the Month by the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation and Rotary Club of Oklahoma City.

Thank you. Now, this is a resolution, so we have to pass it before that really means anything. So let's see if we can get that done. All right, we've got a motion and a second. Cast your votes. I wish to vote aye. All right, passes unanimously. Well, Quinet, we are so grateful for the work that you do, and I think I'm up here every month with the teacher. I also have read, as you know, to like 90 elementary schools. I think it's the first time those two efforts have converged. You were at Two Lakes a few years ago, and I read to your class, so it's great to see you again. The work you're doing is very inspiring, and we would love to hear a few words from you if you would be so kind. The floor is yours. Thank you.

First, I would like to say thank you. I am extremely humbled, slightly nervous, so thank you, David, Mayor Holt, and thank you, councilmen and women. I want to say I am standing here on the shoulders of the educators that lifted me up, that showed me better, that took the time out to teach me the steps and give me the steps that I was missing. I work for Extended Educational Services, which is a wonderful program ran by Oklahoma Public Schools. To tell you a little bit about what we do, my site is St. Anthony's Hospital. So I work with students who are there. They live on the site. I do pre-K to fourth grade. It just makes me really proud to be here today because the students I serve, they're the ones doing the hard work. They're the ones getting everything that they need so that they can go back into their traditional school and don't miss a beat. So thank you, and I want you to know that the educational system We are working hard. We are doing the hard work. I always say greatness doesn't happen when you get before the lights and when you get the accolades. It happens before then. So the work is being done. So I stand here to represent the teachers, past, present, the current teachers now, and all of the students doing the amazing work. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Let's hear it for Quinnette.

All right.

All right, still on Office of the Mayor. ITEM 3B IS AN AMENDMENT I'M BRINGING FORWARD FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. TODAY IS JUST INTRODUCTION. THIS WOULD ALTER THE SIZE AND SOME OF THE PARAMETERS OF OUR ARTS COMMISSION. AND MAYBE A QUICK INTRO FOR REALLY ITEMS B AND C. THIS HAS SORT OF BEEN THE SUMMER OF BOARDS FOR ME, AS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED. WE'RE ULTIMATELY GOING TO HAVE ABOUT 190 APPOINTMENTS COME THROUGH HERE FROM JULY THROUGH SEPTEMBER, AND IT ALSO follows eight years of living and breathing are nearly 50 boards that include about 500 of our residents. And really, out of all that, I've got a couple here that I think I've really come to feel pretty strongly about that they're Composition is not very practical, and in the case of the Arts Commission, the main issue there is that that is our largest board that is only Oklahoma City, and it is 15 members. Currently we have four vacancies, and so this proposal is to take it to 11 permanently, which because of the vacancies would not actually affect any current members and would make it just a lot easier to appoint to and a lot more practical as a board. So I yield for any questions but otherwise could take a motion to introduce this for final hearing on September 29th. And I don't have a monitor anymore apparently so I'll watch Amy's monitor I guess. motion in a second cast your votes i wish to vote aye passes unanimously and then item c um some of the similar same background and rationale but in this case it's the historic preservation this actually i feel very strongly this is the most difficult board to fill invariably through the years has a number of vacancies which really hampers the board often causes quorum issues and the main reason for that is that it has more overlapping requirements than any other board and we're actually in a situation right now where the final vacancy is almost impossible to fill due to the overlapping requirements. This proposal shrinks the board from nine to seven and takes away some of those requirements, though it certainly mentions in the new language that if there can be a preference for some of those professional qualifications, that's certainly okay and, in fact, encouraged, but not necessarily required, which I think will make this much more practical and easy for us to maintain through the years, which will be good for the functions of the board. Any questions?

Mayor? Yes. Would you mind, I'm reading this, would you mind just kind of stating aloud what are the parameters we're looking for in terms of who would serve on this body, just so the public... I understand it's in the agenda, but... Yeah, yeah.

So currently... You have to have a lawyer, a historian, two architects. No more than two people can live in the same HP. At least seven of the nine have to live in an HP. I'm just doing this from memory. And I think this is kind of a game for somebody like me to see if I really do pay attention over these last eight years. And so what changes is Pretty much all of those requirements go away, except I think we're still requiring an architect. Two of them, right? Two architects, which makes sense. But you don't have to have a lawyer. Lawyers staff the commission. You don't have to have a historian. And in fact, that's not a widely held profession. And so I think actually through the years, the role of historian has been filled by people who are... I mean, would have no more qualifications than you, James, who are clearly a historian in your own right here at OKC. So you would have qualified, I think. I've been called worse by worse, I'll tell you.

I will tell you.

So anyways, it does simplify that. It still states that it'd be nice to have some of those professions, but the... the requirement of having those professions has proven to be, especially all those sort of overlapping requirements. I'll give you actually the real life example we're living in right now. With all of these overlapping requirements, the current vacancy could only be filled by a, actually licensed realtor is one of the other, is the other current requirement that would go away. Current vacancy could only be filled by a licensed realtor who lives in one of five HP neighborhoods because all the other requirements have made it impossible for any other type of person to fill that role. We're talking about maybe a few hundred people that are even eligible, and not only that, obviously they have to be a realtor, now you're probably down to a handful of people, and then not only that, they have to want to be on this board. That's kind of a, that is the most extreme example that I've probably faced over the last eight years, but it's always been some version of that, which is why it's important. Ultimately, like all of these requirements were written with the best of intentions, but they have to run into practicality at some point, and I think that that's been the challenge for this board through the years.

Okay. I will say for me, the architects are probably the most important because there's such an attention. And I already see counselor slash former planning commissioner Pennington nodding his head at that. But that one's the one that stands out the most. And it's staying. Yes. And two of them.

They'll actually have a larger percentage of the board in the future. Not necessarily my intent, but that's the way it works out. All right, thank you for that. We could take a motion then. And I'm back in business. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously, and that will be final hearing on October 13th. Thank you all very much. And finally, we have some appointments. Items D through H are appointments to Bond Advisory, the MAPS IV Connectivity Subcommittee, the Library Commission, the Housing Authority, and the Residential Building Code Commission, and we can take those with one motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right, item four, items from council. There are none today, which brings us to item five, city manager reports. Mr. City Manager.

Thank you, Mayor. We just have two items on today. It's the hotel tax report through the end of June for our fiscal year, and then the claims and payroll. On the hotel tax report, I just want to point out that it shows about 29% growth in the last year. Part of that is we had the hotel tax rate increase that occurred in 2024, so it's just a comparison to that. It makes it a lot higher. So if you factor that out, the growth rate is still almost 10%. last year which is pretty significant so a great year on hotel tax and then claims and payroll is on and that can be found on okc.gov that's all that i have all right thank you item six journal of council proceedings we have items a and b we could take with one motion we have a motion in a second cast your votes

Passes unanimously. Item seven, a request for uncontested continuances. So already listed on the agenda. Item 11B will be deferred to December 8th. Item 11F will be deferred to October 13th. Mr. City Manager, is there anything else?

Yes, we do have several items. Starting on page 10. Item 11C, this is PUD 2131, that will be deferred to the 13th of October. And then item 11E is PUD 1837, and that will be deferred to the next meeting on September 29th. Then on page 11, item 11J1, unsecured structures, we'll strike all these items from the agenda. Item A, 1800 North Bryant Avenue to re-notify item C, 801 Northwest 5th Street to re-notify, and then item D, 615 Southwest 12th Street, the owner has secured. That's all the items that I have.

All right. Next up is item A, revocable permits and events. Item 8A is a revocable permit with the Asian District Cultural Association for the Asian Night Market Festival on October 2nd through the 4th at Military Park. We don't have anyone who's signed up to speak. Councilman Cooper?

May I invite someone to come speak? Sure. Steve Lee, would you like to join us at the podium, please? It's like the price is right, except for you're going to tell us things.

The price is right today. All right. Good morning, council members. My name is Steve Lee. I'm part of Ward 2, 2415 Northwest 31st Street. And again, I am the executive director of the Asian District Cultural Association. I'm here today to express my gratitude in your support of the Asian Night Market Festival. over the past couple of years, as well as support in the recent fire and damage to the We Have Arrived boat installation memorial in Military Park, which is the heart of the Asian district where Asian Net Market Festival takes place. So for this event in particular, this is our eighth year going into this event. We are extremely, extremely proud of this event. Last year, we brought in close to 80,000 people to Asian district over a span of two nights. And so we are incredibly proud of that to showcase our district in that light. As we are moving into this, this event is more than a date on a calendar. It is how our community shares its story. We welcome our neighbors and keeps the Asian district's culture visible for the entire city to celebrate. Again, for this year, we reached a national stage. The Asian Night Market Festival earned a number two spot in USA Today's 10 best reading poll. And we are the only central event located out of the best 10 for best night market. And we also accepted the Hometown Hero Awards this year from VisitOKC. We are so proud of these accolades and we are so proud of how this continues to grow this event. So for this year in particular, we are expanding down one block from Northwest 26th down to Northwest 27th. So now this will be from Northwest 23rd down to Northwest 27th to accommodate for some of the spacing that we need for this festival. And again, we do have so many different things going on with this, a food eating contest, a cultural fashion show. showcasing all these different things, as well as countless vendors that showcase all the different Asian cultural ethnicities, food vendors, everything to be able to participate and to showcase what Asian District has to offer and how we bring our community together. So I just want to say all of this does not belong to Asian District Cultural Association alone. It belongs to Oklahoma City. It shows that When we put this together, this belongs to the council, the community, and a cultural district, and how we invest this together. Every time that you guys approve this, This is an investment that yields returns in tourism, small business revenue, cultural pride, and Oklahoma City being known nationally for something exceptional. On behalf of Asian District Cultural Association, our vendors, our volunteers, and our community, we believe so much in this festival that's taking place. October 2nd and 3rd, Friday and Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m. both nights. We look forward to making you proud again this year for our event. And if there's any other questions about our event, I would be happy to answer that for you.

Thank you so much. First, let me say, as I've already mentioned on my Instagram, I am deeply disturbed and I'm so sorry for the fire that happened to that art installation to what Gabe and Denise built alongside you. So just know that word two stands with you. Sorry, it was a very upsetting thing, but I'm really proud of the way you all have rallied and gotten those donations to help rebuild, because that's just what we do. It's just what we do, and it's under your leadership that that's happening. Were you gonna say something?

No, I completely agree. Thank you very much for that. It's been a very trying time. But in this last week, we have seen the community come together for us in so many ways that we could not have imagined. So truly, again, when I come up here to say thank you to the council, to Mayor Holt and your support of what has happened in light of it, it really does take such a situation that occurred so senselessly. and showing how we can unite as a community. And to see that rally around Asian district in this way is such a beautiful thing that I get to share that with my parents who were refugees who came over as well. So it is something that is very meaningful to see the community rally together.

And I would, I know this might seem out of the norm, but if you wouldn't mind, because I've seen a couple people say, you know, rebuild and then move this art installation someplace else. And I think this is a good time to remind everybody that we have on vision.ok.gov a survey right now talking about the transit-oriented development grant that we received to revitalize the Asian district. And in my mind, that is pivotal because that art installation is home there, but I think the home around it that we're building has to provide that safety, but also a larger vision. I know you are just one person, but you've been on the stakeholder advisory group for that project. Just on your own, what do we need on Klassen? And how does the Asian district fit into that? Because when something terrible happens, I think we have to have a vision for how we get out of it. And I think this is an opportunity for people at home to hear how they can contribute to that. But what are you hearing from people about what Klassen needs as you all are doing this Asian night market?

Yeah, one of the things that we love to showcase when it comes to Asian Night Market Festival and holding it for two nights on a weekend, Friday and Saturday, shutting down six lanes of Classen Boulevard, which is, again, comes in support of the council to do this. when we shut down all six lanes of class and to make it a walkable area for that extended amount of time, it really brings the community out to see what Asian District has to offer. They're taking the time to walk around and really explore the area, which as of right now, when it comes to Asian District, is kind of a concrete jungle in terms of how you're able to navigate that. Areas where you're able to cross like across Klassen is kind of dangerous at many of these intersections, but that disappears when it comes to Asian Night Market Festival. So to be able to bring that to our community and to see how they engage in that, and for others that come in from out of state, whether they're vendors and things like that, to see Asian District activated in this way is truly a dream. And so, you know, needs that we have, of course, are just... sidewalks crossings things like that the other day I reported in our Action Center app that one of our Crossing Center signs just got ran over and was lying there so use the app to report that and I believe that the ticket is being worked on and all of that so thank you but truly with the TOD grant and that going through part of Asian district my hope for that is generations from now that that's going to continue the walkability of Asian District, the exploration of that, and the invitation to see something new that you wouldn't expect out of Oklahoma City. And so truly that is, it's such a gift to be able to keep continuing to have this event. Again, this is just our eighth year. Last year we had close to 80,000 people. We're not even at 10 years yet. And this is truly on the backs of so many people who have put so much heart and soul into this event to see it grow in this way. So I think it does mean a lot to hopefully have a lot of these things that will get built upon over these next couple years, decades, to build better infrastructure to support how this community is showing up to our events.

Well, thanks to everyone who's helping to imagine these moments with Asia Night Market. I'm excited to work alongside you. I appreciate your leadership, and I would move for approval.

Thank you. Do you have a GoFundMe page or something you'd like to announce for donations for the... Have at it.

Yes, I do. Thank you so much for bringing that up. We do have a Give Butter fundraising campaign that we do have on our Asian district social medias as well as our website. Many people have supported that. We've raised over 53% of our goal so far, which is Our goal was set to $55,000. It was around the same cost as what it did to bring that monument to the park in the first place. And that's so many components of it. I mean, it weighs one ton. It is a steel frame. Transportation alone costs about $14,000 to $15,000 just to get it there from the workshop. I mean, this is a labor of love from our artists pouring that back into the community that they were around. And also dedicating that to this refugee Vietnamese community that has grown. The Asian district has been the foundation, but now represents what Asian district is, which is so many different types of minorities that live in this area that support this area that brings so much life to it. So really, this boat. Living in Military Park is really important to us. It is the heart of the Asian District. And so, yes, if people want to give back, we have that campaign that is live right now. We've raised a lot of funds so far from the community. And again, that rallying is something that we just did not expect, but we are just so grateful for as well.

And that's on the website or your Asian District Cultural Association website?

Yes, on our website as well as our social media as well. That's great. Thank you for that, Counselor. Thank you, Ward 5.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you very much. Item 8B is revocable permit with Mesta Park Neighborhood Association for Mesta Festa on September 26th through the 27th at Pearl Mesta Park. And we have Seth Lewis here to speak on it.

Good morning, Mayor and City Council. I'm here on behalf of Mesta Park Neighborhood Association producing the 31st annual Mesta Festa. It is a great event. It brings around 5,000 people to the park on Sunday, September 27th from 12 to 6 p.m. It includes over 40 vendors, a kids vendor area, food trucks, live music, and all sorts of activities for the neighborhood. All the funds raised from this event go for beautification and improvements of Pearl Mesa Park with assistance of Park Circulation Department. It's all volunteer run, about 150 volunteers, a 12 person committee who works year round on it and working forward to it. And we will have a lovely shade station and water station as well. And we're happy to have the assistance of the Oklahoma City Police Department and the Community Business and Neighborhood Association.

All right, thank you. Councilwoman Hammond.

Well, I know this is a really lovely and well-loved event every year. We'll cross our fingers that temperatures get a little more, you know, something. Yeah, less terrible. But thank you so much for all the work that you all put into this every year. I know it's such a lovely event, and it's amazing. 31 years, I think, is a testament to how well it's loved. So I'm happy to move for approval.

Thank you. All right, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you all. Item C is a revocable right-of-way use permit with AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City to hold the AIDS Walk of OKC on October 4th. And we have Don Jackson here.

Good morning, council members. I'm Dawn Jackson, current president of AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City. Since AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City was founded in 1998, we have awarded nearly $1 million in grants to local nonprofit organizations who provide essential resources to persons affected by HIV and AIDS. You know, I never imagined that within my lifetime we would progress from a deadly worldwide epidemic to a point where effective medications can suppress HIV to undetectable levels making it untransmittable to others. It's kind of manageable, similarly to diabetes nowadays. Today, people living with HIV can look forward to long and healthy, fulfilling lives. That progress is why our theme this year is Alive to Thrive. We celebrate the medical advancements that have brought us here while continuing to honor and remember those we have lost along the way. The AIDS Walk is about more than fundraising, though. It brings visibility to the ongoing fight against HIV stigma. It helps educate our community, and it provides an opportunity for people of all ages to come together for a fun and family-friendly event. Today I'm here not only to request approval to hold our 28th annual AIDS Walk on October 4th at the Marriott Gardens Bandshell, but also to invite each one of you to participate, come see what we're about, and help us celebrate with our community.

All right, thank you. This is in words six and seven.

Well, I'll just say I've been before. It's a really lovely event, and like you said, such a great time for the community to kind of rally around and, like you said, commemorate people we've lost, but also celebrate the advancements that we've experienced. So I'm very happy to move for approval.

We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you.

Item D is Relicable Right-of-Way Use Permit with Art Space and Untitled to hold the Steam Roller Printmaking Art Festival on October 3rd. And we have Laura Warriner here.

Good morning, Council. Thank you very much. My name is Laura Warriner, and this is Jay Spear. And we're here to get permission for our festival this year. It will be our ninth year to have this. It started out as a street festival for our mentorship kids. For those of you who do not know anything about art space, we mentor 300 kids, middle school and high school kids, who come in groups of 20 to 30 to our space. They come at 8.30 in the morning and stay until we close at 5 unless they ride a bus. They have to leave at 3.30. We are a hands-on learning facility and we use art as our medium for these kids to learn how to connect to their brain where they can't in the system where they are sitting in a classroom and having somebody lecture to them. They can only transfer can reach their brain through their hands in learning. So we started the festival nine years ago for our mentorship kids. And now we have over 250 artists who are carving woodblocks. We put the woodblocks out in the middle of the street. We ink them and lay fabric on top of them. And we brought two to show you today. So this is done by an artist, Michael Davison. And this is all carved on wood. And we have transferred from the wood block to fabric. So it's almost a performance in the middle of the street for the kids to... watch their artwork being printed and sold. So we present all of the work, 250 pieces of art, and then when you come, you can buy a piece if you want to, and they will print it right in front of you. So it's kind of an interesting process and very unusual for festivals in Oklahoma City. There's nothing like it. So we're just asking for permission to be able to, all of the funds that come from this are put back into the mentorship program. And it's pretty expensive to do this because it's free to parents and the children, and we have to raise money during the year to pay for these 300 kids. We feed them. breakfast and we feed them lunch and this year we have added stop-motion animation year-round besides the printmaking and we've also built a garden in the back and we are going to have a culinary arts program that we're adding to it as well. So I want to thank you all for listening to our story. And Jay, you want to say something?

This is my first year working with Artspace. And if you don't know about that organization or that building down there, it's incredible. The first time I stepped in, I landed a part-time job. I couldn't walk away from it without caring. And to see Laura's heart and connection in this community makes me feel closer to everything, including today. Thank you for your time.

Does anybody have a question?

I don't know, but this is in Wards 6 and 7, if either council member would like to jump in.

Yeah, well, I know I'll share I've been before. It's such a cool thing to see. It's like it really is kind of performance. But also, I don't know if it was last year, the year before that I went, there was one of the vendor booths was some of the young artists selling their their pieces, which was very cool to see them getting celebrated that way and kind of getting the their CHOPS being a market vendor. So it's a very cool event. And I'm really glad to hear that you all continue to invest in it.

Yes, we will have around 30 artist tents. So there will be local artists. And some of the mentorship kids in those schools will have their tents as well. And then we have, of course, food trucks and stuff like that. We have three kids' tents. where we will have interactive make and take projects for young children. And then inside, we will also have demonstrations by Rick Sennett and a lot of other local artists in the community to show you about what the difference between a reproduction which is many times called a print, but it really isn't. It's a reproduction, and we show you the difference between a print and a reproduction. So it's a fun one-day event.

Well, I'll just say thank you so much for the work you're doing in our community, and I hope that I can get a tour, so we'll have to work that out.

Please. We also offer... sort of team building workshops and stuff. So I invite the council to come one day and spend a little time and we'll have an interesting project. You may think that you have no art ability, but you'd be surprised. We all have it somewhere in there. That's how we touch our heart and our soul is through making. And so we invite you to come anytime.

Happy to move approval.

All right.

We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Next step is a revocable right-of-way use permit with Capitol Hill Main Street to hold Fiestas de las Americas on October 3rd. And we have Heidi Brooks here to speak about that.

Hello and good morning and happy Hispanic Heritage Month to everybody. My name is Heidi and I'm here representing Calle 25 and historical Capitol Hill. I just stepped on as interim executive director and I'm super excited to get to represent my community being as it happens to be something that is in my own identity as a Mexican American. I'm here to present for the Fiestas America de las Americas Festival and Parade. This will be the 21st anniversary of this amazing cultural celebration that we have here in our community. It entails an enormous cultural parade that starts at the south end of Scissortail Park, walks down Robinson, and then it'll end up into the... Capitol Hill Main Street area of Southwest 25th Street and this year is our second year of getting to utilize the brand-new Plaza in the center of it and so we're expecting to have same live performances food trucks and really get to celebrate a lot of our vendors and local businesses that are inside of the district we have been working closely with the appropriate city departments to plan for the event including considerations of public safety, traffic, sanitation, and event logistics. We are committed to being good partners of the city and ensuring the event is conducted safely and responsibly. Today we are respectfully asking the city council to approve the revocable permit for the 21st anniversary. And so we can move forward with the necessary preparation.

Thank you. Any questions?

Thank you. We've got, this goes into, again, both wards six and seven.

Do you all need any volunteers? Yes, please. Share how people can get involved and sign up and what kinds of activities people can volunteer for.

Yes, on our website, I believe this week we'll be launching the day of and day before volunteer link for people to sign up. We'll need as many hands. This is a huge community effort, and we are really appreciative. I'm so glad that you asked about the volunteers, not only because we need them, but that's one thing that I've seen come out of this program is our very own board chair actually started volunteering when this happened. event first started and now here we are continuing to invest in this. And a lot of the youth that have volunteered in the past have turned around to serve on committees and chairs. And so we really love this community and the event and what it does to celebrate our identities and cultures.

Wonderful. Well, yeah, very excited to have you. And it sounds like they've just thrown you right in to like the biggest event of the year. So I'm very happy to move for approval and excited for this year's celebration. Thank you.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously.

Thank you all.

And finally, item F, revocable right-of-way use permit with the Western Avenue Association to hold Cruise in the Mother Road on September 26th, and we have on Western, and we have Carrie Parker here.

Good morning, Council. Thank you for this opportunity to come and be before you today. I am Carrie Parker. I'm technically the Director of Sales and Marketing of the Ellison Hotel that sits on Western Avenue in Ward 2. Today, though, I am representing the Western Avenue Board. I am a board member and chair of a new event. So this is a first-time event for the avenue and we are seeking a revocable permit to close part of Western Avenue to create a safe environment in which to bring out community Commerce, and Chrome on the 1931 Beltline of Route 66. So this is a child that's been in the formation for over a year, and we've come to the point of needing your permission to move forward. The event, we have started to promote it. We started working with the initiatives around the Route 66 Centennial. So we presented this event at Route 66 Day at the Capitol in April. We were present at Scissortail Park for the Kicking It event that happened there in May. We are preparing for next weekend to be at State Fair at the Route 66 exhibit there and we are participating in the parade at 2 p.m. that day. One of our members of our association has a vehicle. He will be driving his vehicle and we will be walking with him safely in this parade. So what we are doing on September 26th is that we are having the street festival in which we will have car show. We will have a vendor marketplace that features a lot of the businesses along Western Avenue, and not just the businesses between 41st and 45th. They will obviously have their own presence. In addition to that, we're trying to go up into the Triangle, Classen Curve, and on up the Mother Road, and bring them all together for that. We also will have a kid's zone. Rococo's donated their parking lot for that, so we have a secure spot. Dearly Beloved will be coming out, and their volunteers who are background checked to work with children will be out there. We have other initiatives too for entertainment and things like that. So we ask that you support us in this inaugural year and see how we grow as we continue to bring more awareness to Route 66 in Oklahoma City.

Well, thanks, and good to see you.

Good to see you.

I don't know if when we met, first of all, it's a great event. You're going to have my approval, of course. But I don't know if when we sat down together, if I ever told you, and this kind of goes to the Asian district, when I graduated from Choctaw High School in 2000, one of my friends bought a house on Western across from where that development's going in, where your, was it your uncle? Uncle?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

So Amanda Farmer, her house was just right next door to that 100-year-old beautiful architecture. But growing up in Choctaw, I had never seen this part of the city before. And over the next few years, as Western Avenue did their placemaking streetscape project, and I was in grad school in Stillwater, I just fell in love with what you all did. narrowing the road putting in the sidewalks putting in the landscaping putting in the benches and all of that work together to make sure that vehicles could move safely through but so too could pedestrians and using your own language so that people would slow down whether by foot or by car or by bike to pay attention to the local merchants selling things and for too long our city had moved so far away from that prioritized highways building things along the highways another buffalo wild wings and i just think And I just think you all set a new standard. And I'm so happy this event's going to honor the history. I mean, you all taught me placemaking before I even knew the concept of it. And so what you all have done, and you have more funding coming in this bond that we passed, but what you all have done paved the way for the works happening on 23rd Street with Uptown, the Asian district work that's going to come later with their streetscape. Like, I really hope that Western Avenue understands what you've set in motion to revitalize Oklahoma City's main streets. It is... It's so important. I wouldn't be doing a lot of the work that I'm doing today had it not been for you all. So not only will I move for approval, it's with honor that I do so.

Thank you.

Do you need volunteers?

I will take more of everything at this point. It's an inaugural year. I do have 45 volunteers. But yes, I need more volunteers. And we do have a website. You can go to visitwesternavenue.com. There's a Route 66 page. And on that page, you can scroll down. You can register your car if you want to be in the car show. You can be a vendor. Not really anymore. That's been turned in. And then...

Sorry.

Whoops.

Can you tell it's my first time, sorry. But yes, more volunteers also on that page. Thank you.

Steve Lee, Asian District, y'all need volunteers? Y'all heard that. You're watching on Channel 20, you're out there. All these folk need our hands, all hands on deck. So thank you so much.

Thank you. All right, we have a motion and a second on item F. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. All right, we're gonna recess the council meeting now and convene as the Oklahoma City Municipal Facilities Authority. We only have item A, claims and payroll, but we'll go ahead and take a vote on that. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Now we'll adjourn OCMFA and convene as the Oklahoma City Public Property Authority. We have items A through D we can take with one motion. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes unanimously. We'll adjourn OCPPA and reconvene as the council. We are on item nine, the consent docket, and there is a presentation for items AQ and AR. Is there anything else that a council member wishes to pull out for a separate vote, comment, question?

Honorable Mayor, not a separate vote, but I would just like the public to hear a little bit more about the maps for a restoration center, like where we're at right now with that project. I see that both on the Public property authority and now here we have a little bit of a change in some. Operating stuff and I just think that would be important. It also such an important project so.

OK.

I believe that's it Sir, thank you.

OK, if there's nothing else to take him in order, which means we'll start with that presentation on items AQ and AR.

good morning david todd maps program manager this morning really happy to be bringing you another preliminary report for parks projects today sarah andrews is here to take you through the preliminary report this is the second batch of of the parks that we have going

Good morning, Mayor and Council. I'm Sarah Andrews, accompanied with Ben Levy. We're both GH2 architects. So today we're going to give you an update on the maps for neighborhood and community parks phase two. There we go. So the phase two consists of 20 parks, which are located across seven of the eight wards across the city of Oklahoma City. It's subdivided into phases 2A, 2B, and 2C. All of these phases will be designed, bid, and constructed concurrently. The parks and the amenities that all go into them were informed by the master plan that was completed for maps. And all of those included community engagement, public feedback. So that's how all of the amenities were determined. So now we're going to go into a little bit about each park.

Hello, Council. To honor everyone's time, we'll go over these briefly and we can answer any questions at the end. Some overarching themes you'll see across all 20 parks is anywhere that we're improving a playground, it's to increase accessibility, universal play and play value. We are also along with parks implementing a new splash pad system that will be better for maintenance and long term use. So a quick look at EB Jeffery. Some of the main improvements here are getting a brand new playground with improved play surface and equipment as well as a brand new splash pad and full court basketball court. At Edwards Park, a lot of the improvements here are removing an old shade structure, replacing with a new one to increase usability, and also improving site furnishings and lighting throughout the park. For Grant Corbin, this is also getting brand new place surfacing. It's getting new shade structure and then also brand new site furnishings and light added to the park. At Jay Braden Black, we are getting a brand new full court basketball court, brand new playground, and a walking trail throughout the park there. At Lakeshore Estates, this is an existing park that's getting improved as well. We're adding parking off of West Lakeshore Drive to encourage people to be able to attend the park there. Brand new shade structure and playground surfacing. At Layla Park, it's also getting a brand new playground with shade, and then we are proposing to improve the existing basketball court that has since lost use, so bringing that back to life, as well as connecting both sides of the park with a walking trail in between. Mayfair, this is a newer part to the system. So this is a existing median that is getting a walking trail around it. It has walking trail on one side of it, but it's connecting it to more of a loop so that pedestrians can do laps. It's also getting new site furnishings and lighting as well. Mayview Park is an existing park that currently only has a swing set and some safety servicing. So this is getting major improvement of having brand new playground, shade structure, and walking loop throughout the park there. St. Clair, very similar situation. This one is also getting a brand new playground, shade structure, and walking loop, as well as improving the accessibility by adding sidewalks and ADA ramps. Waymans Park, this one is getting a pickleball court. It's one of the few in phase two A, B, and C that are calling for pickleball courts. We're also adding shade and improving connections from the east and south. Wilma Lytle is getting a brand new playground as well as shade structure replacement and walking loop. I will note that off to the west you'll see a gap there. This was public feedback to leave room for soccer practice and so we're still accomplishing the master plan with the walking trail while leaving room for the community request. 2B, the first park is Brookwood Park. This is getting a much needed connection to the south there to connect both roads so people can access the park there along the creek. We are working closely with Public Works to make sure we're limiting the impact there to the waterway. This is also getting an expanded and new playground and shade structure. At EM Sellers, the tennis courts there are getting redone, as well as the basketball courts. It's getting a brand new splash pad, as well as playground. Frank Hathaway, this one is also getting a brand new playground. There's an extensive walking trail system throughout there that's being expanded, as well as putting investments into the baseball practice up north. At Lippert, this one is getting much needed splash pad replacement and brand new full court basketball court. We're also providing new shades, excuse me, new site furnishings and some lighting as well. At Siler, this park has a lot of great things that are just being improved and invested back into. Repairs to the existing playground, improvements to the existing basketball court and refreshing the site furnishings. It's still Goldman, brand new playground and shade structure. One thing that's not seen is this is part of an extensive system around the detention pond that people are walking around already. So what's not shown is site furnishings and lighting around that loop to make it usable throughout the day. We're on the last three. So early one, at the existing tennis court center, it's proposed to have pickleball courts added as well to increase playability there. So this is the preliminary location that we're showing for four courts, but we're working with that group to see where their final location is that they prefer. Lake Stanley Draper, this is a playground off to the east that currently exists, just north of the Marina Boat Slip. This is a plan to expand the park and make it to where it doesn't feel like old and new, but one cohesive park that's united there. Lastly, we have Woodson Park. This is west side of I-44. We are replacing a half court basketball court and replacing it with a full court basketball court, moving the shade structure.

So looking at the cost analysis for all of the parks, the total for all of the phases is about 12.9 million. And so you can see in the center column we have the budgets for each phase. All of the base bids are currently designed and estimated to be within the base budget. We've also included a list of alternates for items that if the bids and budgets allow that we can add more items into these parks. So allowing for some flexibility there. The schedule for these projects, we just completed the preliminary report. The final documents are set to be complete in February with bidding and construction commencing shortly after that, and construction is set to be complete in the spring of 2028. So I know we went through those quickly. We're happy to answer any questions.

Can you share this presentation?

Yes. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And then AR.

Again, David Todd, MAPS program manager. So we have the second group of beautification projects here today. This is something that was in the implementation plan since 2019. It was in the resolution of intent, so it's been a long time in the making. Today, to go through the preliminary report, we have Brent Thomas and John Strayhorn take you through that from Garver Engineering.

Good morning, mayor and council. My name is Brent Thomas with Garver. John Strayhorn joins me as well, back in the gallery. So I want to bring you up to date on the gateway science we'll start with here. Again, the primary gateways, which will be the largest that we'll look at here in a moment, those will be located along the primary interstates into and out of the city, so I-35, I-40, and I-44. Secondary gateway signs, which will be a little bit smaller, and again, we'll look at those here in a moment, those will be located at six locations as well. These are a little more remote locations around the perimeter of the city, as well as lower volume roadways as you come into the city. So looking here side by side, you have on your left the primary gateway sign. Those will be about 18 feet tall. That smaller sign, the secondary gateway sign, will be about 12 feet tall. Again, those will be located or lower traveled or more remote locations. The key features of the sign working from the ground up, we have a large stone veneer base with the words, welcome to Oklahoma City. The top portion of the sign, we've got two elements. We have a blue monument with the large OKC affront. One of the things that we heard for the initial feedback was that we wanted to make sure that everybody knew, again, that we're coming into Oklahoma City, but that OKC was front and center. But for those who might not know that OKC is Oklahoma City, we have that Welcome to Oklahoma City message down below. Coming out from the top and the side is a large metal fin which will have textured metal on that to provide some additional visual interest that will be easily recognizable for folks traveling into the city. looking at models of what these would look like in practice out along the sides of roadways and highways around the city. Again, starting from the base, from a maintenance standpoint, we'll have a large round foundation around those. Primarily for maintenance purposes, as roadway crews are out mowing, we want to make sure we provide enough clearance around those so they're not hitting the signs, so they'll be able to mow around that. Yes, ma'am, how's that? Good. The illumination on these, and we'll look at a visual here in a moment that has a concept of the illumination, but again, that base will help protect that light. One of the things that we heard from the feedback early on this spring, including from yourselves, is that... Wanted to look at some options for solar lighting. Again, with some of these locations are going to be rather remote and it'd be expensive to get electrical service to, or it may not be available. So we're exploring options for solar power for these lights. Uplights will be LED to provide a nice wash of light across the surface. And in those OKC letters will be backlit at night to provide a nice glow around those as you see here. I'm gonna move on to the pedestrian bridges. Now these three bridges are existing bridges located on the southwest side of the city. We have one at I-240 at Blackwelder, Southwest 24th, and at Woodson Park. Starting on I-240 at Blackwelder, this existing bridge, we have a couple of frontage roads on either side, so that bridge spans not only the main line of the freeway, but also those frontage roads as well. We have embarked bus stops on both sides of the highway on those frontage roads. The bridge itself, and as we'll see a common theme about each of these, the structure itself will be repainted. In this case, we have various shades of blue on both the columns and the bridge deck itself. One of the things that we talked about in the development of the concepts, including with some of y'all here, is the idea of creating connection between the sides of the highway, quite literally a freeway through the middle of the community. So we wanted to create some activity across this bridge. And so what you see here is silhouettes of kids and families going to and from school, going to and from the bus, provide some visual action on the bridge. And then again, a common thread that we'll see throughout these is just reinforcement of where we are with the large OKC on the right side of the bridge. have a little bit better close-up view of those silhouettes on the bridge. I will point out as well that each of these bridges will receive lighting. So just beneath the bridge deck will be LED strip lights that will have color-changing capabilities. At this location in particular, you have switchback ramps on either side of the bridge that allow people to get to and from the bridge deck itself. We'll improve the lighting on those, particularly because we have a lot of bus users at this location. And then there will be some ADA improvements as well. At this location, although we have the ramps to get folks up to the bridge deck, they're also asked to navigate three steps at the bottom of the ramp. So we want to make sure that where we have the ability to make some of those ADA improvements, we will. One item I'll also point out that will be similar to each of these bridges is the fence material. Currently it is chain link, just an old galvanized chain link. We're going to remove that, repaint the structure, and then go back in with a black vinyl chain link to improve the aesthetics of that and make it a little bit more approachable. Moving to the northwest on I-44 at Woodson Park. We are quite literally connecting both sides of Woodson. So at this location, again, we're reinforcing that civic identity with that large Oklahoma City spanning the lanes of traffic. And then one of the things we want to do is acknowledge, again, that the location we are in Woodson Park. So as we'll see here in a moment, silhouettes that we're going to have on either side of the bridge with these bookend structures. So we have a softball player and we'll have a soccer player on the other side of the highway. Across the bridge mounted to each of the fence posts would be a translucent polycarbonate panel of different shades of blue and green again kind of casts a nice Colorful shadow on the bridge deck and the traffic below and again as I mentioned earlier we will have bridge lighting Again along the bottom side of the bridge to eliminate that as well as the fixtures on either end and this kind of gives you an idea of the lighting concept that we're looking at for the pedestrian bridge here at Woodson and And then lastly, we'll move north up to Southwest 24th. Given that this bridge is in close proximity to not only the stockyards, but also the fairgrounds, and given the investment that's been made and continues to be made in equine events and other similar structures, venues at the fairgrounds, we wanted to kind of pay homage to that. So what you see here is silhouettes of horses, whether it's a horse galloping or rearing up on its hind legs, Those silhouettes will be on either side of the bridge. And then the bridge itself, the structure is very elegant. And so again, this would be repainted as you go out there today. That red iron paint is kind of oxidized, so that would get a fresh coat of paint. Again, the fence material would get replaced and upgraded. And then... Given our proximity to the Oklahoma River, we have that long linear blue band kind of recognition of the fact that we are near the river itself. being at night, what that lighting concept would look like. I should note as well, we are exploring pedestrian lighting enhancements on the bridges themselves. At this location, you can see we've got a couple of fixtures on either end of the bridge, given that we have a trail that crosses at this location. But we are looking at options on the bridge itself to improve lighting for pedestrians that use the bridges. We'll briefly talk about the budget. The overall project budget for the signs and the bridges themselves is $4.179 million. Given that we have the 12 gateway locations, we sort of allocated around $2 million for this. And so our preliminary estimates at this point for the gateway signs themselves, the primary gateway signs, those are the large ones, are $100,000 to $120,000 apiece. And those secondary or smaller gateway signs are $75,000 to $95,000 apiece. Now, that includes the base, the lighting, the pole structure, and the off-site fabrication and installation out at each location. The bridges come in at the balance at those three locations, 2.179 million. For each bridge, we have broken the estimate up into various buckets of money, we'll call it, including some routine maintenance that might need to be done on the bridges, including repairs to damaged concrete, expansion joints, things of that nature. We also have, again, the painting that will be done. ADA improvements replacement of that fence material the lighting as well as those Any of the additional art panels that will go on those bridges? So again three bridges come in around two point one seven nine million Schedule, we are at the end of the preliminary engineering phase, so that has been submitted for review and approval. Once we get the go-ahead to proceed, we'll go into final design development, and that will take us through the first part of 2027 with the intent to go to construction or to bid and then construction in the second quarter of next year. And again, the ultimate goal is to have all these installed and the upgrades made well in advance of the Olympics in 2028. With that, I will close, stand for any questions you might have.

Go ahead.

Thank you for the presentation, and thanks for sitting with the counselors to request our feedback on what the different options were. Can we go back to the 240 and black welder one, please? Thank you. First, let me say, someone used to teach over at Jefferson Middle School right around the corner from here. The current bridge to me was just despair, depression, looks like a prison. The students who live on one side of the interstate, you have to get over to Jefferson. I just, I wept for them. This, the renderings of different types of children in terms of their mobility here I think is going to symbolically send such a powerful message. I just really want to commend that effort. I think it's very important to say nothing of the replacement of the fence itself. My concern is the lighting. So I just want to make sure I'm understanding on all three bridges. So it's one thing to have symbolism of the children going across, but when the child or their family or whomever, adult, are crossing this bridge, will their pathway be lit?

Yes, that's one of the things that we're looking at. We got feedback that, you know, in addition to sort of what we call the aesthetic lighting, we wanted to make sure that we looked at how we could improve the, from a safety and security standpoint, the lighting up on the bridge themselves. So there's different routes that we're looking at as far as providing light for people walking across and using that bridge. To me, that is just like imperative, right?

Art is nothing if it's not functional. And so I think, no shade to the abstract artist, but, you know. When will we know whether or not you were able to implement that lighting as part of these projects? I just think it's very important.

Yeah, once we start into the design process, we're going to get our electrical engineers involved and we're going to start looking at different lighting systems, not only from the aesthetic standpoint, but also from the practical standpoint for users on those bridges. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. No, you're good.

Would you let us know as a council when we're there with the lighting aspect of it? I just think that's important.

um otherwise i like a lot of what you're doing here and i'm sure it's going to accomplish its goals thank you okay well it's very exciting and i mean we've been literally talking about this on this horseshoe for seven years looking at those pedestrian bridges and uh it means a lot i know it seems like a simple simple thing but it'll leave a better impression of our city for thousands of people every single day so thank you thank you Next up, and last thing on the consent docket to discuss was item AV, Councilman Cooper.

Yes, this item, I've wondered where we were with it, so I'm glad to see it on the agenda. And it's just a topic that of course means a lot to me as someone whose family saw alcoholism do quite the damage. So where are we at, Director? What's going on?

So this is unfortunately withdrawal of NorthCare as the operator of the restoration center. We did an RFQ probably two years ago, and they responded on that, and we've gone through design. We're very close to being finished with design, but within that two years, the landscape has changed so much. funding sources have changed staffing has changed and unfortunately they're having to to withdraw so what you'll see is a new hopefully a new operator so we're advertising to another rfq to see if there's other organizations out there that are able to operate this facility

Well, I look forward to future updates. As I said, this is a very important, I mean, I'm not saying anything you all don't already know, but it's a very important. Yeah, I agree. So when will that go out, the RFQ? Tomorrow. Tomorrow, yeah. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Well, that concludes the consent docket. We can now take a motion for its adoption. We have a motion and a second, cast your votes.

Mine's frozen, I'm yes.

Passes unanimously. Item 10 is the concurrence docket. There are no items there today, so we'll advance to item 11, items for individual consideration. Item 11A is an ordinance on final hearing that was recommended for approval, rezoning 10101 North Classen Boulevard from R1 to I2. Councilman Pennington, no one has signed up to speak.

Thank you, Mayor. This is a rezoning application to bring some more industrial development to an area that is increasingly becoming an industrial area, so I'm happy to move for approval.

We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Items B and C were previously deferred, which brings us to item D. This is an ordinance on final hearing that was recommended for approval. Rezoning 3430 Oak Cliff Drive from R1 to PUD 2142. Councilman Stone, no one has signed up to speak.

Nobody signed up to speak. All right. Mr. Box, could we have you come forward, please? I mean, just to tell you from the beginning of this thing, I haven't been too excited about it. But if you could please talk to us a little bit about some of the things that we're doing there that we hope to kind of improve the neighborhood.

Sure. David Box, 525 Northwest 11th Street, here on behalf of the applicant. This is an item where we have this infill parcel. It's been vacant for many, many years. Demarcation between track 1 and track 2 you can see we're actually connecting Oak Cliff Drive It was always anticipated at some point that Oak Cliff Drive would connect we met with a group of neighbors before we went to Planning Commission one of their biggest concerns was the speed that they feared traffic would be moving on Oak Cliff and so you'll notice one of the te's that was added at Planning Commission was the installation of traffic calming measures along Oak Cliff and which we agreed to do. The Public Works Department has come a long way in the ability to do that on public streets, so we're happy to accommodate that. This area has long been used with oil and gas operators, and there are some contamination problems. And what we propose is a combination of senior independent living as well as traditional multifamily. It will require something of that level of density to be able to develop the site because of the immense costs needed to clean the site up. What we have done is provided a 20-foot landscape buffer along the entire perimeter of the site and within that, trees on 20-foot centers. Additionally, we have proposed to line all of Oak Cliff Drive with trees as well. so we've limited the perimeter structures to all be two-story which is what traditional r1 would allow and then any three-story structure would be limited to the middle and then we've you know proposed amenities and clubhouses and those so this was recommended by staff recommended unanimous by Planning Commission with the additional te's that we have already admitted the document to have

All right, thank you, Mr. Box. With that, I'll go ahead and move for its approval.

We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Thank you. Passes unanimously. ITEMS E AND F WERE PREVIOUSLY DEFERRED, WHICH BRINGS US TO ITEM G. THIS IS AN ORDINANCE ON FINALLY AIRING, RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL, REZONING 1210 NORTHWEST 30TH FROM R2 TO SPUD 1848. COUNCILMAN COOPER, NO ONE IS SIGNED UP TO SPEAK.

THE OPPOSITION PRESENT. THANK YOU. WOULD YOU MIND WALKING US THROUGH YOUR VISION HERE, PLEASE? I MIGHT HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU. when introducing yourself, these sort of formalities.

Yeah, certainly. Greg Massey with Kellen Group Engineering. Mr. Adams had purchased this property. It's one that he's envisioned doing a fourplex unit. As you know throughout some of the older neighborhoods in Oklahoma City particularly in the ward 2 area There are a lot of upgrades On the housing and diversity of housing that's been added One of the items mr. Adams would like to consider in building this is to be able to provide at least one of those four units to be a DA accessible In order to do that we do need one 88 parking space We would prefer that unit be the unit up front adjacent to 30th Street Our conversations with Commissioner powers have Reaffirmed that no all of the parking had to be located in the back.

I

Since this is an SPU D. I know there are abilities to waive specific requirements in the Municipal Code Chapter 59 right now for multifamily of this type requires a minimum of one and a half parking spaces for a single bedroom unit and That would be a maximum of six spaces We don't have the room on this site to provide six spaces in the back The minimum parking requirement as stated in the SPU D is one space per unit So we can comply with that Again I would ask that we be given consideration to allow just a single ADA unit and a single ADA parking space for that unit at the front of this location.

Thank you for that. I was speaking with our traffic commissioner yesterday in between teaching classes. He told me he spoke with you. Yes. Where you're wanting to do that, and I mentioned him in that conversation specifically because, as many of you know, Commissioner Littlefield now uses a wheelchair to move around. So ADA accessibility was already a priority for me. It is definitely, and has been one for him, but it is now kind of tantamount. Putting that, so we both commend you for wanting to have a unit dedicated to ADA. Where you're wanting to put that parking space up front, and Rob was a bit agnostic on this, he doesn't have a preference one way or the other. Would that be on the private property or would that be public? Because if it's public, both he and I have a little bit of concern because the intention of having ADA is good, but if it's a public space, now someone who might not live there at the fourplex could park there, and that's a concern both he and I have.

No, it would be on the private property.

And do you have any renderings of what that would look like? I'm trying to envision. I'm a film guy. Literally, I teach film.

Well, I apologize. The rendering that was, again, this was very conceptual. It didn't have the actual building floor plans on it. We know it will have to come back for a site plan review. But essentially, the first parking space on the north adjacent, if you look at this exhibit, directly adjacent to the driveway, that would be the one space that would be utilized for the ADA parking. And again, that's within the property boundary.

And what does landscaping look like at the front of the building? So I just think these things kind of matter. I'm just curious.

Yes. This is the owner, Mr. Adams. Hello, Mr. Adams. Also the builder.

Our plan had been to do kind of a simple zero scape with benches and maybe some paving stones or something like that. A tree to overshadow the benches.

Now, where is that in relationship to the parking space? Which happens first? You have the road, then is it landscaping, then parking? Is it road, parking, landscaping, building?

So it would be, well if we could put it back up. So the ADA parking space that we would like to put in, if we can go back to the site plan, might be easier to see.

Actually, no, it would be very easy for me. I need to see this in existence. If you can go back to, I'm sorry, just interrupt. I'm so sorry. Can we go back to the previous slide? And can we go in just a little bit? Thank you. I'm trying to understand from this, where the parking is, where the landscaping is.

Oh, okay. So when you come in, you've got the sidewalk, and you would have that driveway. There's a partial existing driveway that would go all the way to the back, and then on the northeast corner along that driveway is where we would have the ADA, and then the rest of that front area would be the xeriscaping with the landscaping.

I understand now. I was worried it was going to be more of like a parallel thing, but I understand that. That makes me feel better. Okay. Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, I would move for approval. And thanks for your patience, counsel, and thanks for walking me through that. Do we need to, yes, I guess we do need to amend that. What language do I need to, lawyer, Kenny, what language do I need to use? Thank you for that clarification. What language would I need to use to do the amendment to allow for the ADA spot at the front of this proposal?

Yeah, I'm in the master development statement.

Thank you, sir. So I'd like to make an amendment first. We need to vote on an amendment to amend the master design statement to allow for the one parking space, the one ADA parking space at the front of the building. She's going to read it at the podium.

Oh, that's great.

Hi, Sarah Welch, Planning Department. We already had a TE from Planning Commission that said parking lots should be located behind primary buildings, so I think we'll have an amendment to modify the parking section to say except that one ADA space may be allowed to be parked in the front yard or in front of the front building.

Does Sarah reading that serve, or do I need to say that as well?

No, you don't need to say that. You are moving her motion as read. Thank you, and then I would like to move Sarah's motion as read, please. All right, we have a motion and a second for the amendment. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously.

And then we need to, I'd like to make an, excuse me, a motion to approve the amended item G. We have a motion and a second.

Cast your votes. Thank you, and thank you so much.

Thank you very much, counsel.

All right, item 11H is an ordinance on final hearing. It was recommended for approval rezoning 16100 Ironstone Place from PUD 1382 to SPUD 1853. Councilman Stone-Seifer, no one has signed up to speak.

Thank you. As you said, this ordinance was passed by the Planning Commission. There are no protests, and nobody has signed up to discuss this today, so I'll move for approval at this time, please.

We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11I is a public hearing regarding dilapidated structures here listed. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak? No, they haven't. They have not. So we'll move to the resolution at item two, declaring that the structures are dilapidated. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item J1 is the public hearing regarding unsecured structures here listed, except for those previously struck. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak under this public hearing?

No, they haven't.

They have not, so we'll advance to the resolution. Founded Item 2, declaring that the structures are unsecured. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item K1 is a public hearing regarding the abandoned buildings here listed. Amy, has anyone signed up to speak?

No, they haven't.

They have not. So we'll advance to the resolution, Founded Item 2, declaring the buildings are abandoned. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes.

Passes unanimously.

Okay, item L is a resolution proving the incurrence of indebtedness by the Oklahoma City Airport Trust, issuing its airport revenue bonds not to exceed $90 million, and we have a presentation on this.

Yeah, Pam Martindale is here. She's financial services manager for the airport, and we'll present this item on the request to authorize debt for the airport trust.

Good morning, Mayor and Council. Pam Martindale, Finance Manager with the airport. The Airport Trust recently approved the issuance of $90 million for airport revenue bonds for the parking garage D. This new garage is going to add 2,000 spaces out at Oklahoma City Will Rogers Airport Trust. We are seeking to spend $75 million of bond funds and use $15 million airport cash. We've done significant analysis on this, and the airport can fund this. This will be backed by the revenues of the parking, and there will be no responsibility to the city at all for this bond. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you.

If there are no questions, we can take up a motion on the resolution. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. passes six to one, which is the necessary six affirmative votes required to incur indebtedness. It falls short of the seven affirmative votes necessary to waive competitive bidding. I think the desire by staff will be to rescind that vote and defer this to another agenda so we can obtain the necessary seven votes. So we'll need a motion to rescind the vote by which item L just passed.

So moved.

Still got the results out there. All right, here we go. So this is a vote to rescind, a motion to cast a vote to rescind. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes if you wish to vote in favor of rescinding the vote by which item L passed. So we did not get enough votes, which is necessary for the business at hand, and so the only way forward is to rescind the item and defer it to our next meeting, I guess, in two weeks, Greg, probably? Yes. How's it going? There we go, all right. The vote to rescind passes six to one. Now we are back on item L and I think staff would like to see us defer that item to our meeting in two weeks. So let's see if there's a motion to that effect. There is a motion and a second. Cast your votes to defer this item two weeks. Passes six to one. All right, now we're on item 11M. This is a joint resolution of the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust determining the creation of the water improvement district for scenic meadows tracks generally west of South Council Road and north of Southwest 119th Street, and there is a presentation.

Yes, Chris Browning, our utilities director, will give us an update on the creation of this improvement district.

Good morning, Chris Browning, Utilities Director. The Utilities Department was approached by the residents of Scenic Meadows Development seeking an affordable way to connect to the public water system. As the mayor said, it's located South Council Road at 119th. State statuette Title 11, chapters 36, 37, and 39 provide the authority for municipalities to establish the assessment districts for the construction and financing of these water system improvements. The establishment of the district requires at least 51% of the property owners owning at least 51% of the property within that area to be assessed. Property owners must sign and submit a petition to the city clerk in order to initiate the creation of the assessment district, and then the clerk will prepare the resolution as you have before you today. Seven owners of record elected to sign this petition. Collectively, the petition signers own 10 of the 12 tracks within that area, and that represents 91% of the area. The utilities department will work with the city engineer to prepare legal description of the parcels in the assessment district, preliminary plans for the proposed improvements, and a total cost estimate for the project. Afterwards, the city clerk will file the documents. Then there's a second resolution proposing the creation of the district, and that will be presented to city council to set a public hearing. If the city council passes the resolution, final plans and specifications will be advertised bids, and it will be constructed similar to any other public construction project. Upon completion of the project, the project engineer will calculate the total cost of the project and establish the assessment for each of the property owners. Then the property owners will have up to 10 years to repay that assessed amount. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thanks, Chris.

Thank you, Chris. Seeing no questions, we could take a motion to adopt this joint resolution. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 11N1 is a resolution authorizing the municipal councilor to confess judgment without admitting liability in the case of Picard v. Scevo KC. Staff has not requested executive session. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item 01 is a resolution authorizing the municipal councilor to confess judgment without admitting liability in the case of Smith v. City of OKC. Staff has not requested executive session. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. Item P is an executive session to discuss collective bargaining negotiations for this fiscal year with the FOP, the IAF, and AFSCME. So we will vote now to go into executive session, and we'll handle that at the conclusion of our other business. We have a motion and a second. Cast your votes. Passes unanimously. That concludes our votes for the day. We're now on item 12, comments from council. Ward 2. Yes, thank you, Mayor.

First, just reflecting on the airport vote, actually, I'm going to be thinking about that heading into the next round of voting because thinking about Councillor Hammond's no vote there, made me kind of pause and go, well, why? And I'll talk to her about that later. But as I started processing it, I started thinking, well, yeah, we're about to have an election for one transit, and that would include light rail to the airport. And so wouldn't the goal be to see a reduction in automobiles and the need for parking out at the airport? So it's given me something just internally and just thinking kind of deeper about that right now. My initial instinct was like how difficult it is to find parking when one goes to the airport. So now I'm gonna be playing critical thinking mode for the next couple weeks. That's the first thing. The second thing, is if we look at the frontier right now, unfortunately we see that many of you who are already paying attention to this year's point in time count know these statistics, but unaccompanied youth and family homelessness has grown by about 11 to 5% in the last little bit. And they're the highest they've been since at least 2005. And so those numbers should give all of us pause. These are unaccompanied youth on our city streets at the mercy of the weather and sometimes people who have not good intentions for our community. young people. So that's the bad news. I would like to point to some good news, and it happened in Ward 2, where Ward 2 meets Ward 6. Some of you probably already know this, but on Saturday evening, local hometown heroes chat pile hosted their album release party at the Tower Theater. And all the proceeds from their, by the way, critically acclaimed album, already Pitchfork is calling it one of the best albums of the year. This is incredible news for our city to continue to see that sort of... accolade for our people. Oh, it's just so great. You know, it's one thing to see it in Japan when I went with them earlier this year. It is a horse of a whole different color to see it right here in your own backyard, right in Ward 2. So proud of them. More proud, though, that they partnered with Sisu Youth Services. That's what they did. They partnered with Sisu Youth Services. And this is because, as I've referenced on this horseshoe previously, One of their big hit songs is called Why, and one of the sample lyrics are, why do people have to live outside? And that song about homelessness has resonated with fans literally across the globe. And what I was so proud of this band for doing was they said, we want our fans to put their hearts, but put it into action. And so all proceeds from the merch and from the tickets and people who went that night to a sold out show at our Tower Theater, raised $32,924 to make people who are experiencing homelessness are young people a bit safer. And that is going to go a long way for the next year and a half of SISU. And I am just so proud of them. I'm so proud of SISU. I am so proud of ChatPile. I'm so proud of everyone who showed up and donated. You can go to ChatPile's website or to SISU and continue those donations. Our children should not be at the mercy of the streets, and too many of them are. And I'm just really, really proud to see these numbers. Not only did Chat Pile perform, but some other local artists were there that night too, who I don't think they ever thought their names would be mentioned from a city council horseshoe, but here we are. Primal Brain, a local band performed. Train Dodge, who's been doing this for 30 years, they were there as well. And then Nightosphere, who is a Kansas City band, they came in. They're actually on the Chat Piles new album, Who Loves the Sun? And then Portrayal of Guilt. And it was just, I mean, seeing local musicians honor other local musicians for this effort is just incredible. So we can all be sad and mad about the homelessness that we see, or we can be moved to action. And I would encourage everyone to be moved to action. That's what we do. So thank you.

Thank you. Word four? Word five? Word six?

Word seven? Just want to say a quick thank you to the Oklahoma City Police Department. Deputy Chief Harrison and Major Johnson joined me in a meeting with some of our neighbors in Culbertson, East Highland, where we've had a number of violent instances, some involving youth. And so the neighbors came together, and we are talking about ways that we can work together to try to improve the neighborhood, work together to try to end some of the youth violence that's happening in our community. And I appreciate their efforts, appreciate the leadership of those in the neighborhood, Valerie McMurray, Kimberly Mackel, for getting people together. But we're going to continue meeting, try to get with our partners from Key to Home to some of our CVI partners in the community to Just bring people together and talk about how we can lift up Culberts and East Highland as these violent instances have continued to occur. But I just appreciate the willingness for everyone to come together and try to be solution oriented towards a better and stronger community. So thank you. Thank you Ward 8.

We're always encouraging people to get out and vote, make a change, make a difference, how important that is. And we have a big election coming up I just found out about. It's the USA Today readership ballot for the best NBA team mascot. He's listed as Rumble the Bison. I call him Rumble the crowd energizer. You have until Monday, October 12th, 2026 at noon to vote for Rumble to be known as the best mascot in the NBA. I hope you all get out and vote. Debbie Martin and I did it this morning online. It's very easy and I hope he wins. Thank you.

Thank you, that concludes comments from council. Now we're on item 13, citizens to be heard. For everyone I call up, please state your name and address and keep your remarks to three minutes or less. Amy will give you a warning when you have 30 seconds left and then I'll ask you to conclude your remarks at three minutes. We'll begin with Emily Ware. If Emily's not here, Jessica Early.

Hello, my name is Jessica Early. I reside at 2600 Elmhurst Avenue, Oklahoma City. I am here today in opposition of Spud 1839, which is the rezoning of 5200 Class and Curve. But seeing as that item has been deferred to next month's meeting, I'm going to save my comments for then. Thank you.

OK. Zach Morton.

Good morning, council. I was also here in opposition of spud 1839. So we'll wait till the 13th.

Thank you Mary Ann Osco My name is Mary Ann Osco my address is 700 Northwest 41st Street and I'm in opposition to spud 1839 as well, but I will defer my comments.

Thank you Matthew D cannon

Yes, Matthew D. Cannon at 705 Northwest 41st Street in opposition to Spud 1839. I'll defer my comments till next meeting. Thank you.

Linda Finley? Are you Linda?

I want you to pray.

So I have to come down here and say my prayer this morning because y'all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Linda, would you pull the mic, see the microphone?

My name is Linda Finley. I live at 632 Northwest 116th Street. And when I went in the mental hospital, I had to go to Texas to move with my grandson. And when I came back, I found out that you was in Ward 2. And my church, I was... at my church was ward seven when I left, when he came back it's ward two. So I like to thank him and meet him and we can work together in my community. My boundaries was 122nd and Western and Santa Fe and Hefner. So when I fell, I'd be walking on the walker at 6 because they don't have no sidewalk on 122nd. and Western, but I'm determined to get off my walker and my cane and be back out there walking real good, and I look forward. We got a grant from the city, and we have a community garden down in Ward 2. And I want to keep doing all the work I can, because this my city, and I love what y'all doing. My uncle at Tabernacle Church, we're having our 130 year anniversary. I'd like to invite all y'all to come to our 130 year anniversary. at Martin Luther King at Tabernacle Baptist Church. And I'm just now writing our program. But I thank God for the work we're doing. And my last comment, my hospital that right up the street from me it was real cold and all them homeless people was over there and i just prayed for them and when i came back somebody told me y'all ran them people out that's wrong they need to be somewhere and they was in their tents We the tents and we God's people. Y'all pray for y'all do anything and this my comments. So God bless our city as y'all keep moving forward. In Jesus' name, we all brothers and sisters. And he say, do the right thing. That's my comments.

Thank you, Ms. Finley. I like your shirt.

I'm a soldier.

Trenton Rippey.

Howdy, Council, and good morning. My name is Trenton Rippey. I'm from 2506 South 24th Street in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Some of you may have recognized me from last month's meeting when we discussed the flock and ALPR cameras. I'm here to address how I plan to make do on my promises to hold those that voted for the flock camera contract accountable and address some of the comments made by Councilmember Matt Hinkle and give my thoughts on that regarding the flock cameras. So, I want to first off say that I think 30 people out of the thousands of people in Oklahoma City showing up for one agenda item is a pretty sizable amount of people. I think also that should be noted because the councilman narrowly won his election by around 30-something people. So I think 30 people is a pretty sizable amount of people to show up at 8.30 in the morning meeting when most people are having to make it into work for the day. Of course, I'm blessed with a career that has allowed me to advocate for people and get to show up to things like this. So how do we plan to hold council members accountable? Well, as I said before, we plan to go to the doors of the constituents, phone bank, and disperse literature through political canvassing and our peaceful political process that allows us to drive change and political pressure. We have a sizable amount of volunteers that we've been recruiting throughout this month that we plan to deploy into Ward 5, where we will be door knocking, talking with constituents, and dispersing that literature. I encourage all of you that may have voted for Flock to do the right thing next time and repent of your political sins. And always remember, flock around and find out. Thank y'all.

Lashondon Kirkendall.

Good morning, Mayor Holt, City Council. I am actually going to take an excerpt from a interview that Mayor Holt did the other day regarding the maps for bridges and entryways and signs like that. He quoted, well, I'm going to quote what he said. What you're really doing is you're saying this is a city that cares about its appearance. This is a city that wants to make you feel welcome here. and that sends its own message. Two weeks ago at the last meeting, I talked about how Mayor Holt is only concerned about the optics of things. He only cares about the things that makes him look good or the things that he thinks are going to make the city look good. In 2019, When this MAPS4 project was approved for the $4.2 million, Mayor Holt was actually sitting in this horseshoe a year prior. According to the numbers and statistics in 2019, Oklahoma ranked 42 out of 50 in childhood well-being, 45 out of 50 in childhood education, and 43 out of 50 in healthcare. If Mayor Holt was really genuinely concerned about the residents that bring him their concerns every two weeks, or even on his social media platform that he still continues to monitor, suppress, and or remove the voices of his constituents, then the numbers for 2026 would not read as follows. 50 out of 50 in childhood education is where Oklahoma stands, 50 out of 50 in childhood hunger, and 48 out of 50 in health care. Like, seriously, what are we doing? As Oklahomans, what are we doing? The numbers would have gotten smaller. The bigger the number means worse. Like we're 50 out of 50. Do we care about our kids? I don't even have kids. And I genuinely feel the parents should be far more irate than me. If our city does not care about the kids, they don't care about us. And to piggyback on what Mark said, about voting. The deadline to vote for the midterms is Friday, October 9th by 5 p.m. Whoever watches this YouTube video back or gets access to this council meeting, if you are an Oklahoma City resident, I highly encourage you to make sure you are registered to vote and you get out and you vote in the midterms. Thirty seconds remaining. It is time for us to vote these elected officials out of their seats who do not stand for the people and want to do what's right for the people um but yeah i don't know mayor do you ever plan to show this or send the message that you genuinely care about the residents No, I didn't think so. Unfortunately, we stuck with him until 2030. So we have to do everything around him to make sure we can take care of ourselves.

Thank you. You're out of time. That concludes Citizens to be Heard. We'll now be going into executive session for item 11P, and then we will return. We are back and we are adjourned.