Edmond City Council Meeting – November 24, 2025
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Edmond City Council Regular Meeting – November 24, 2025
The Edmond City Council met on November 24, 2025, for a regular meeting that included reports on sales tax and the wayfinding signage project, approval of several budget amendments and contracts, and a brief public works authority session. All votes were unanimous (5-0) where recorded.
Presentations
- Manager’s Report: City Manager Mr. Krieger reported that sales tax through month-end October 2025 is down 1.16% year-to-date, use tax is down 1.51% year-to-date, and combined sales and use tax are down 1.22% year-to-date. Lodging tax is essentially flat, down 0.12%. He noted that while Edmond is among the few cities with negative trends, November collections are expected to show an increase. He plans to broaden future financial discussions by including the finance director.
- Wayfinding Sign Project: Jennifer Thornton, Tourism Director, presented the completion of a 100-sign wayfinding system. Signs are modular, breakaway for safety, and point to parks, sports facilities, and attractions. The project was funded through grants from the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments and ARPA. Council members praised the project, noting positive public feedback and its utility for both visitors and residents (e.g., reducing reliance on phones while driving).
Consent Calendar
- Appointment of Stacy Peterson to the Visit Edmond Tourism Advisory Board as the Chamber of Commerce representative (approved 5-0).
- Edmond Public Works Authority general consent items (5 items) approved en bloc.
- City Council general consent items (11 items) approved en bloc.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public signed up for citizen comments (item 12). During the public hearings for items 10A–D, no audience members offered testimony.
Discussion Items
- Flock Safety Camera Trailer (Item 10A): Police Chief J.D. Younger described a trailer-mounted camera system (solar-powered, with a blue flashing light) to be deployed at large events (e.g., Heard on Heard, Liberty Fest, Luminance) to deter vandalism and assist in responding to reported crimes. He emphasized transparency measures, including a public portal showing monthly tag reads, data retention limits, and training requirements. The budget amendment of $34,485.16 was approved 5-0.
- K-9 Program Donation (Item 10B): Chief Younger explained that a citizen donation held by the Edmond Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association will fund a second K-9 unit (officer Caleb Hotem). The total cost is ~$25,000; the budget amendment of $12,559.36 covers travel, training, and partial purchase. Approved 5-0.
- Internet Crimes Against Children Grant (Items 10C1 & 10C2): A $987.56 grant from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation will fund a desktop computer for the department’s ICAC work. The expenditure-driven grant requires reimbursement after purchase. Both the agreement and budget amendment were approved 5-0.
- City Center Complex Furniture (Items 10D1 & 10D2): Assistant City Manager Randy Ents presented a budget amendment of $30,054.71 from CIP reserves and Change Order #1 to Scott Rice for additional furniture and equipment needs identified after moving into the new city hall and municipal court building. Both items were approved 5-0.
Council Comments
- Mayor and council members wished the community a happy Thanksgiving, reminded residents to shop local on Small Business Saturday, congratulated a council member on a new grandchild, and thanked staff for coordinating with nonprofits during the federal government shutdown. Recognition was also given to the successful sales tax vote and the Luminance event kickoff.
Key Outcomes
- All budget amendments and contracts were approved unanimously (5-0).
- The council entered executive session (item 11) and later reconvened without reporting any actions.
- The meeting adjourned at the conclusion of item 14.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Item two on the agenda is presentations. Mr. Krieger. Yes, the much anticipated manager's report. So actually, really quickly, Mayor and Council, you know that I want it with your indulgence. I want to kind of tinker a little bit with how we do some of this, make it a little less pro forma and a little more specific, maybe at times to the information that you want or some things that are more relevant in our community. But I know that uh sales tax collection is a big part of that, so we'll go through some numbers tonight. Um it looks like through month end uh October for sales tax, we are down uh 1.16%. Although there's some good news on the horizon because November is going to uh uh show an increase, but uh sales tax through month end October, we're down 1.16%. Um use tax uh through month end October down year to date, and I should have said that in the first uh uh about sales tax too. Year to date we're down 1.51% sales and use tax combined again, year to date through month end October, we are down 1.22 percent. Um interesting. I know that uh you have historically looked at trends um in other cities. Um we happen to be on the wrong side of that that comparison and through month end October that we are the only city that is down in the three categories. Uh but if you look at say Yukon, uh I guess they're down on all three as well, but and by wider uh by bigger margins than we are, but hopefully there's some good news on the horizon. And then uh the lodging tax. Uh we're basically flat, but down 0.12 percent. Any questions? And then going forward, I actually anticipate that we'll turn that into a slightly broader with with your approval, uh, a slightly broader discussion of finances as a whole and probably bring the finance director into the conversation and maybe dive into some of the trends just a little bit. Uh we'll talk more about that. The other uh interesting part of the update tonight is I wanted to give uh some other staff a chance to uh to talk about something that's happened, and that is the the wayfinding uh the in uh installation and the construction of the uh the wayfinding signs. And Jennifer Thornton is going to come up, and I'll say that I was particularly surprised and impressed to know that apparently at one point Jennifer drew the short straw and so was assigned the uh the wayfinding project. But uh I have heard excuse me, I have heard nothing but good things about it in the short time that I've been here, and so I wanted to give Jennifer an opportunity to brief the council on the uh the overall plan and the effort to put up the signs and provide a little context and some information for you. Yes, thank you. I'm Jennifer Thornton, tourism director, and I had the privilege of leading this project. It's funny because it has been um on the city council strategic plan since 2017 or maybe even before. So this has always been on our radar that when you go to other cities, a lot of times you see some signs that tell you about some attractions, and it really shows communities that we care. So it is for travelers, it's for visitors, but it's also for residents and newcomers. Um you might have a Google map and you're going to the grocery store. As you're going to the grocery store, as you're going to a sports facility, you might not know that. Oh, there's a dog park, and oh, there's a library, and there's a conference center, and oh, that way to downtown. So those are the things that we thought were important. Um during COVID, we were able to get some grants, and that really spurred the development for this. So we got a grant from um the association of Central Oklahoma governments and from ARPA funding, American Rescue Plan. So really I just wanted to thank all the departments in the city. You'd be surprised how many hands were in this project to get it to get them up. Um everyone from marketing and planning and engineering and public safety, um, lots of different departments that work together. So there are 100 signs up right now pointing to parks, sports facilities. Um we were really careful not to point to any private businesses that could change. The signs are modular so when you see each row that that can be changed and updated as needed. We also have addicts these are the terms I got to learn in the project. Attic stock means extras. So we have some storage for extras in case something happens. They are very safe their breakaway so we worked with Oklahoma Department of Transportation to follow the the rules and the guidelines to make them safe and the size is according to standards for safety. So there is very specific rules that tell you how tall the sign should be as well as how large the letters should be depending on the speed limit. So it was a great learning process lots of fun YMCA is excited as you can see right there. But a lot of our attractions are really excited that it points to them and I'm happy to answer any questions. I just wanted to give you an overview and say how we're excited that these are up also the design was very intentional. Edmund started at O'Reilly Road as you know and so that was the sign design and on the back for that downtown signs it's the colors for our logo the downtown logo the vibrant colors so those things were very um planned out and tried to be we knew this was going to be something that's going to be up for a long time at Edmund so we wanted to make it look great.
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