Welcome everyone to Elizabeth Town City Council work session for July twenty-seventh, twenty twenty-six.

I will now call the meeting to order and ask Councilmember Tony Bishop if he'd please lead us in the invocation to the public.

And I do want to recognize our 20-year employee Ricky Marlett with Public Works.

Uh Ryan Saron also with Public Works at 25 years, two 30-year employees, Pete Chitla with our police department and David Kelly with our gas department and one exceptionally special one that is also in attendance tonight, and he loves recognition.

So Ed, if you would stand up, please.

He has set a record, we believe 45 years with the city of Elizabethtown.

And I will not make you give a speech.

Yet so just wanted to say how important our teammates are with the city.

We have almost 400 of them now, and uh, we couldn't do what we do day in and day out without them.

And so when we get the opportunity to recognize them, we want to make sure that we do that because they are the most important thing that we have, and uh, we really appreciate them and the great work that they do.

So with that, we will move on to Seth Breitner, our parks director.

Seth, who is looking sharp today, is going to give us an update on the parks and recreation department.

It's been a very busy past year, and what I hope to do today with the time that we have is just give a small snapshot of what we've been able to do and offer and uh and and all that good stuff.

Um today's discussion, I want to focus on a couple of different things.

I'm gonna give a little bit of a department overview, um, talk about summer camp, uh, spend some time talking about the water park this summer, uh, talk about some capital projects that we recently finished and ones that we're working on in this upcoming budget.

And also, I think I have 10 interesting facts at the very end that many of them I learned something new as I uh talked to our managers and went through this.

Um, the first thing I'd like to do is give a department overview.

And one of the first things I'd like to introduce to you all is our parks and uh rec management team.

Um I'll start Adam Case, if you all would raise your hand.

He is over our programs as well as training all of the lifeguards that are at American Legion Park.

Uh Natalie Miller, she oversees a lot of the administrative things that we do within the department, as well as the Pritchard Community Center.

Sean Pope, he's over our ballparks maintenance.

Ballparks has several parks that they oversee, as well as multiple downtown properties that they take care of and things along that line.

Terry Shadowan, Terry is over American Legion Park.

He takes care of all of the pool operations, making sure that the pool is operating as it should, medium health uh department standards, um, and that we can be open every day, as well as the golf course, Funtopia, and all that.

Carrie Wooten, he is over Freeman Lake Park and the Nature Park.

Um Freeman Lake Park, as you all know, is very, very busy in our park system.

Um, he oversees the day-to-day operations of that, as well as the Elizabethtown Nature Park.

And Randall Paulie.

Randall is over our trails division, which is all the green space trails within the city.

Uh, we have about 30 to 35 miles of green space trails that we take care of on a daily basis, as well as the mountain bike facilities, green space bridges, and and those things.

So, within our department, and uh just a little bit about me.

I've been with the city 15 years now, which is uh hard to believe, but I am extremely grateful.

I started with Elizabethtown Sports Park in 2011, 2014 moved into the parks and recreation department, have been very grateful and then have joyed it ever since.

It's the team that makes the things happen in parks and recreation.

We couldn't do it without the individuals behind us, but as well as their teammates and the uh seasonal staff that it takes to operate all the facilities during the summer.

We have 20 full-time budgeted positions, our seasonal staff, those include maintenance and grounds positions, lifeguards, camp counselors, bus drivers, front desk attendants throughout our parks.

The parks that we oversee are Freeman Lake Park, the Elizabethtown Nature Park, American Legion Park, Mike Carroll Soccer, University Drive, Ring Road, Gates, Nicholas, Haycraft, Pritchard Community Center, and like I said, the Green Space Trail system.

So what I'd like to do is give you all a snapshot since we're in the middle of summer, some of the activities that have been uh happening lately.

The first one I'm gonna talk about is summer camp.

So our summer camp is a seven-week-long session.

Each camp has 40 campers per week.

We offer five scholarships.

And this isn't possible without the help of other departments within the city.

Our stormwater police department, fire, city events, and public works help assist us throughout the summer.

Each week is themed so that when campers sign up, they are able to look at the weeks that we offer.

If there's something that interests them, they can sign up for that week.

And some of the things that we have are science week.

We have a Jurassic Parks and Rec Week.

We have a Wilderness Explorers Week.

We have a farm to table week.

When our camp opens, it sells out typically within the first 24 to 48 hours.

It has been one of the most popular things that we have offered in the last few years, a couple years ago.

We started with two weeks.

We've grown to seven, which is maximizing us out.

We just finished our last week, uh last week.

And as we get ready for the school season, that's how we ended up.

But looking ahead, we're looking to grow.

In 2027, we're looking to add about 20 spots per week.

You all were gracious enough to approve uh transportation for us, and that's what's going to help us be able to offer those.

We have two aging buses that we've kept running throughout the summer.

It's been a somewhat of a challenge, but with this new addition, it's not only going to offer us a 35 passenger bus, but it also has ADA accessibility.

So that's going to be huge.

So we'll go from 280 campers to potentially 420 plus.

I wanted to show you all just what a typical week looks like.

So we start each day with drop-off between 7:30 and 8 o'clock.

And then we run through the days.

As you can see, there's different things from going to the American Legion Water Park to doing various activities throughout our parks to going on field trips and different things along those lines.

One of the things that I find very unique, we partner with Harden County School System on their free lunch program.

And so we're able to offer campers breakfast, lunch, and a snack in the afternoon.

So when you look at the value of our camp for 115 and you get all this, you cannot beat that.

But the camp staff does a fabulous job taking care of this.

Adam and the team set this up, and then we have multiple seasonal positions that help facilitate these activities and events throughout the summer.

So switching gears a little bit, I want to talk a little bit about the water park.

So the numbers that I have for you today, those are we'll have three weeks worth of numbers still to come.

These are just the numbers that went in the report as of last week when I finished this.

But attendance here to date, 32,521.

That is the daily admissions that come through the pool each and every day.

We've had 39 private rentals.

Private rentals are after hour parties that take place from 7 to 9 p.m.

And those are five days a week that we offer those time slots.

We had 62 party room rentals.

Those are business hour parties where the party room is available for two-hour blocks so they can come and swim while the pool is open.

We had 254 individuals that signed up for our swim lessons.

And one thing that was a huge hit this year was water aerobics.

We had 339 people that participated in water aerobics this summer.

I'll get into Capital Projects a little bit later, but just kind of a food truck recap.

As you all know, uh we did the renovations up at American Legion, and we offered food trucks this year for the pool and the public as they came in during those hours.

We had eight food trucks that ended up taking time slots this summer.

One thing that we've heard back, and we have a survey out right now just to gather information to find what went well, what we might be able to improve on with those food trucks.

But they said on a busy day at the pool, they equate it to a cruising downtown event, which I find unbelievable because there's many days at the pool where we'll have 800 to a thousand people plus.

So they're overwhelmingly very, very happy with how this year went.

This year we offered those time slots Thursday through Sunday because our we wanted to give ourselves room to grow as we continue into other seasons.

So I think that next year, as we look at this, we're going to offer more days that may end up being Monday through Sunday, and we'll kind of gauge that and see what works the best.

But as you all know, the first year is always the hardest.

People need to see things in action, and I think people noticed how busy it was, and we'll have a lot more food trucks that sign up.

Um, and probably something that we'll look at in the parks as we move on for other opportunities and stuff.

Our final day of the pool is going to be August the 9th.

Uh Harden County Schools starts before that, and then E Town starts that week a couple days after.

So that will be the uh last day of the pool.

And one thing I wanted to say too is 2023 was the last year that uh since I and the only time since I've been here that we had a price change.

A lot of times people will look at the prices and be like, well, you raise your prices every year.

Um we haven't raised our prices in four years, it's been the same, and it's very consistent with what other areas offer as well.

Seth, not to interrupt you, but would you address the reason that we close in August and everybody says, Well, why don't you extend that out?

Can you tell people what we run into and what the problems are?

Absolutely.

So when we hire lifeguards, there's a very rigorous training process that all the guards go through, and many times that's a 40 to 80 hour training process.

So most of our lifeguards are students, whether it's high school or college.

So for us to be able to operate the pool, it takes 13 to 15 at a minimum guards per per shift, and that is state regulation, state code that we need to follow to do that.

Um with all of our guards returning back to school or college, we would have to go through that training process and have you know that many more people that would be interested in signing on.

If we had that many people, we would stay open and we would do it.

But right now, that is the pool that we have to select from, and that's kind of where we're at with that.

Uh so I wanted to shift gears a little bit and just talk about some capital projects, some recently completed capital projects, uh, two in particular University Drive basketball courts, and I've got some photos that I'm gonna show just to give an aerial view of these projects.

But down at University Drive, you remember the old tennis courts that were down there.

We took those out.

We now have two full full-size basketball courts that are fully lit, and we also expanded the parking lot area.

That project was completed in December of this past year.

Um, American Legion Park, that was one of the largest renovations that we did.

That was uh completed right before the pool opened this year, and with that we had a pavilion that has full-time restrooms uh throughout the year.

We added a pickleball shelter, the food truck area, and we improved the sidewalk system throughout the park.

Um this right here is a picture of University Drive.

Uh, as you can see, the two full-size basketball courts and the parking lot area.

This is a picture of American Legion Park.

Um within this, I know it's kind of hard to see on this screen, maybe for the people in the room, but up in the upper left-hand corner, you see the food truck area.

Right now, there's three food trucks that are parked over in that spot.

Uh, we also, as you can see, have the sidewalk system that goes from miles all the way into the park that was not there before.

The pavilion is right in the very middle, and the uh pickleball shelter is on the far right-hand side.

And here's an opposite side view of that, which just shows the same things.

Um, American Legion Park has come a long way in the last few years, and that that it's it's a beautiful spot.

Um just wanted to address some of the upcoming projects, capital projects that we have coming up.

So, right now on the north end of Freeman Lake Park, we are adding a full-time restroom that will be open year-round.

Uh, we're also expanding the parking lot area there.

I've got some construction photos that will show kind of the progress and where it is today.

Um, that project should wrap up within uh the end of September or so.

Um then one of the other big projects coming up is Trooper Lake.

I'm very, very excited about this project.

Uh we uh we are working right now currently on developing the master plan.

Uh we will be bringing to you all something to approve as far as uh the architects and engineers that we will be working with as we start that process.

But within Trooper Lake, we are working we're gonna add a pump track.

Trooper Lake is about 11 to 20 acres plus.

We are the city obtained the property just a few months ago.

We had a uh assessment done on that piece of property.

Uh we we now own that piece of property, so uh we can continue with this project and work forward.

But um we will have a pump track, which is by American Ramp Company.

The pump track is already initially designed.

Um we have work been working with them the last few months, and then we'll also have seven miles of certified mountain bike trails.

We have already flagged that area, and we have been working with MBA, which International Mountain Biking Association to develop those trails in a way that they will be NYCA certified for race events.

Um we will be able to be a regional destination for mountain biking in the area.

We are very excited about this project because I think it adds so much to what the city is already already has with the park system, the sports park, and everything else, and just adds another element to what we'll have out there.

Um green space has been very instrumental in this project as well.

They've helped fund uh the initial study with EMBA and flagging the trail, and then we were just awarded through Green Space an $80,000 grant to continue developing and working out there.

We will also be working on Nicholas Street soccer fields as you all know, and I'm gonna show you some figures in just a second.

Um, but sports fields in particular are at a premium within the parks and recreation department.

Our local sports organizations continue to grow.

Um, and so we've looked at ways that we can improve the facilities we have.

Also with Nicholas Street, there is a very large neighborhood and apartment complex that is within that area.

So our vision for that park is not only to improve the fields but also add another park in that area as well.

So eventually there will be a pavilion uh playground and then amenities that people can come in and enjoy.

But just kind of showing you a uh one of the uh projects that are in progress right now.

So this is on the north end of Freeman Lake.

This is the restroom building that we just added.

The restroom building is almost basically complete.

Um what we're working on right now is the parking lot area.

The parking lot itself will hold about 80 to 85 cars, which is about double from what it is right now.

Um, and it will have a better access point.

Um, you can kind of see in the top middle there where the access off of Ring Road is going to come into that.

There's also going to be better sidewalk access to get to the trail system, and there will be a kind of a trail head at the bottom of that hill.

That when you hit that, you can either go to the nature park or you can go within Freeman Lake to the park trails that way.

But that project, like I said, should be wrapping up towards the end of September.

So the last thing I want to leave you all with is just some interesting facts.

I personally I think that pictures and numbers speak volumes way better than what I could ever explain or say.

So American Legion Park in the last 12 months, we've checked in 6,500 golfers for a round of golf.

To give you all an idea, and I usually don't talk about the money side, but I think the money side of this speaks volumes.

The first year that I start with the Parks and Record Department, we took in $16,000 for the golf course.

This year we will rival $100,000, and we've only raised the price one time by a couple dollars several years ago.

And it continues to go up year after year after year.

Just gives you a perspective how busy that park is.

2700 local athletes participate in local use sports in our community.

That includes soccer, baseball, football, and lacrosse.

They utilize those our facilities for games and practices as well as the sports park.

There was 719 contracted athletic field reservations outside of the local use sports.

So this is like travel ball teams, other uh teams that are asking for a practice slot or space uh within our uh within our park system, and so there were 719 requests made for that.

So that goes to show you again how much of a premium our athletic field space is.

Ballpark maintenance mows 151 uh acres weekly, which includes six parks, 20 athletic fields, multiple downtown properties in the police department.

So Sean and his team are the ones that are dealing with these requests, as well as the uh 2700 local athletes that take care of uh or participate in our programs there.

Um he does a fine job.

Uh here's a stat that I learned and I think is very interesting.

So Freeman Lake Park finished mows 150 acres of grass and trims over three miles of edges weekly.

This is all on 90% battery now.

Y'all remember five years ago we started a push towards electric mowers, and at that time we were using eight 80 to 100 gallons of fuel weekly for our mowing.

Those mowers have paid off within the last five years.

We're now under 80 gallons a week or a month.

Um, so if you take a difference of three to 350 gallons a month times the cost of fuel and look at the savings there, that's how the electric mowers have come into play, and you all were uh allowed us to be able to go and and purchase those and approve those.

Not to mention that they seem to be very efficient, but they also mow well and the maintenance is minimal.

Exactly.

You know, we've we went into that trying to find a way not to purchase electric because we were used to gas.

And after being able to use those for several days uh to demo the machines, we couldn't really come up with a way or a reason not to.

Um, they mow very well, they're not for absolutely every circumstance that we use, but for what we do at Freeman Lake, they're perfect.

I think a lot of other city departments have been able to test those out and see the benefits of them as well.

Um, so that's been a huge uh cost saving measure because with electric mowers, you don't have to change, you don't have to add gas, you don't have to change oil.

Uh it's very, very minimal on the uh maintenance that we have to do for them.

So Freeman Lake Park contracted 420 shelter reservations, 2100 fishing permits, and 1400 boat rentals.

Uh, with and this is April through October, which is our rental season out at Freeman Lake Park.

In addition to that, we had 37 what what I'll call large events, and those can range from city sponsored events like lawn parties, uh, wine fest and different things along those lines to like 5Ks and other type of events.

So those aren't necessarily considered within the shelter reservations just because they're a little bit different.

And again, that's April through October.

Um, our O Snap community programs and holiday programs, we had 2,947 participants.

Um, that programs continues to grow, and we've made a very conscientious effort to try to offer more uh to expand our programs and just give people an opportunity to get involved within the community.

Our trails division maintains 30 to 35 miles of green space trails, mountain bike trails, and all of the green space bridges, we take care of all of those, the maintenance, and as you can see on some of our bridges, uh we've gone to a more uh aluminum style bridge.

I guess you could say that those will outlast most of us in this room.

Um the wooden bridges that we had before that had a certain lifespan.

Um, and as those need to be replaced, we're going to this different style of bridge, but we we take care of all that.

Um Pritchard Community Center, we contracted 951 events and reservations in the past year.

So Pritchard continues to be busy.

And the last one I'll leave you with, uh, we partner with tourism on this one.

This is uh your gear is here program.

And basically, what this is is say you come to American Legion Park and you don't have a set of golf clubs, you're visiting town for the weekend.

You can check out a set of golf clubs, go play around of golf, and then check them back in when you're finished.

If you want to go fishing out at Freeman Lake, you can check out the equipment that you need for that.

Um, and we do that with golf, pickleball, tennis, fishing, bocce ball, and and various activities within the park.

And we average between 350 to 400 checkouts per month.

And most of that is it's about 50-50 split between uh our city residents and out-of-city residents.

So it is a heavily utilized uh program.

It's hard to talk about it, all that we do within a short 15 to 20 minute presentation, but I tried to hit some highlights.

Um, and if you all have any questions whatsoever, I'll be happy to try to answer those.

I'll make a comment as we look at these numbers and they continue to grow on usage all across parks and rec.

That is because of you and your team.

Every year you improve the quality of life by improving our parks and recreation system.

And so hats off to you and every one of your team members here and those that work daily because you all make the difference in our parks and rec because I know what it was like before you all came on board.

And we have a first class parks and recreation department.

So hats off.

Thank you all very much for your hard work.

Yeah, it is truly a team effort.

Well, I think it's also goes to show what you all do because we look at our youth, and a lot of times I've heard well, we don't our youth don't have anything to do.

There's a whole lot to do here in Elizabeth Town besides just pushing your fingers.

Uh but when we look at wanting to keep our youth staying here at home instead of moving away, the experiences that they have as children and growing up that stays in their mind, and they want to make sure they grow their families here as well.

So I think it's important that we do it and continue to do it.

And I appreciate this, Marty said y'all are doing a fantastic job.

Well, thank you.

I appreciate your all support.

You all have been very supportive of the park system when we come to you all with budget requests and uh and various things.

We truly appreciate you all.

So let me add real quick before you leave, and I knew you wouldn't address it, but I'm going to uh I want to brag on Kerry a little bit and his team and Sean and his team a little bit and Randall.

Uh the two unbelievable storms that we've gotten in the past two weeks.

Uh one of them has flooded out University Drive twice, right, Sean?

Four times.

And they just continue to go down there and clean that up and uh make sure that it's open and ready for use as quickly as they can possibly do it.

And I know that gets redundant and tiresome, but uh the rain that we've had's been unbelievable.

And what a lot of people don't realize when it relates to Kerry and his team is when we see these storms coming, then Rita and James from our stormwater department will go and close the locks on the Freeman Lake Dam.

And so we choose to flood out Freeman Lake Park as opposed to multiple neighborhoods downstream of Freeman Creek, so the water can get out of those neighborhoods and we back it all up in Freeman Lake, and then that creates quite the mess for them.

Uh that's happened a couple of times here in the last couple of weeks as well, and they have a lot of things that they had to clean up from that.

And I know Randall and 35, 40 miles of trail is is finding some issues when he goes throughout uh the trail system.

So I just want you all to know I appreciate that.

We can't control the rain, and it's been unbelievable, especially the last two weeks, and uh hopefully we can get back to normal storms, but obviously I can't promise that.

But it is noticed and uh we do appreciate that.

And I know it's frustrating, especially as well as you all like to keep your different parks and your respective parks looking, but uh keep up the great work and it's noticed and appreciated and great presentation, Seth.

Appreciate it.

Next up, uh Terry Ship, our business development officer and Ed Pope, our city administrator, going to talk to us about South End development proposals.

And mayor, I do have my 45-year pen on in case you can give us now if you like.

Um we came before you all last month and just uh kind of approach the the concept of of doing some things along the East Dixie corridor.

Terry's been working quite a bit with um new business development in that area, but we also heard from the council uh that evening that you all wanted us to look at uh what we can do immediately to how try to help some existing businesses in the area.

So the proposal we sent to you all this afternoon outlined um a program that we think the city can implement pretty easily with existing businesses.

So it is specifically targeted to existing businesses.

We're we're still working on recruitment ideas and other things for new locations, but these are businesses that are located in that area or property owners who are located in that area and want to make improvements to their property.

So this program is uh specific to exterior improvements to those properties too.

You paint the outside, you change the windows and doors, uh, to try to implement some things that we have uh encouraged through our zoning standards.

Uh you make pedestrian connections from your business to the public sidewalks that we've installed to try to support uh the storm water uh in our efforts, you make changes to your parking lot where you put in more landscaping and remove uh some asphalt services that contribute to stormwater runoff.

So things that are uh hopefully easily done by those businesses to make those improvements, um, but also to make sure that we can provide that to a number of locations.

Um Terry and I talked through some things and we would cap that at a grant of $25,000.

Uh right now, the program that the city runs for our downtown facade improvements, there is no cap.

Um we haven't exceeded that $25,000 on a regular basis, but we have given in downtown businesses in some instances uh in excess of $50,000.

And I think in one, it was up in $70,000, $75,000.

And again, that program has been very effective in the downtown area.

This program, we would mirror and use that both in the downtown and the East Sticksie corridor.

So the first area would be what is now loosely defined as the the downtown, so Miles Street, Poplar, over to the bypass, and we were using haycraft.

Uh, and then the second target area is from Haycraft down to Lincoln Parkway, just the properties along the 31W corridor, which is where the city received our safe streets for all grant, and we're gonna be making uh sidewalk and landscaping improvements along that that corridor.

The other comment that you all made to us uh last month was um can we do some things to help some of those businesses that have made recent improvements?

Because that's what Terry's trying to capitalize in some of his recruitment efforts on those folks saying, hey, I've already got some people who have made some improvements, so now's a good time to invest.

Specifically two that come to my mind, just to use them as an example is the the local butcher who has gone in and the yoke fellows in their building down there.

So we put in our proposal to you all that we would make this uh retroactive to any improvements that have been made since January of last year to try to uh I guess thank those folks who's made that investment that are now kind of continuing the the conversation to uh to move forward.

So um, like I said, we'd cap the grants at 25,000 um up to that number.

It could be uh 50% reimbursement, but that's our proposal to you all.

If you have any questions, uh Terry and I'll answer those.

Uh if not, uh the game plan would be is we will um prepare this in a format that you all can take official action at a council meeting and adopt this and put it in place.

Uh then we can uh Terry can go and reach out to some of those businesses that have already made improvements and asked if they want to apply for reimbursement.

And then, like I said, in the future, you'll see uh another program from us for uh the recruitment for for new businesses in the area.

So go ahead.

I'll see if you all have any questions.

Uh my question is why why what was the decision to make this different than what we've been doing downtown?

Yeah, the whole idea is to spawn development all the way.

Why?

Why was this would this be different than the downtown facade grant?

The only the only real difference, Marty, is the cap on the funding and the thought being that because we have only been setting aside between 100 and 125,000 on an annual basis.

We would just want to try to stretch the money for more folks instead of one or two people using up all the funds every year.

I mean, that that was our thought.

Now, if you all want us to look, I mean, that's why it's a draft.

If you all want us to look at that number a little bit differently, uh we can, and again, that's something that Terry and I talked about and said, yeah, do we even want to have a cap?

But again, the thought was just to because we have a limited funding uh amount that that would spread the money a little bit further.

And I think that makes sense.

I think that's something that budget time you would have to address that this body would have to address because I think you would have to put more money in that line.

And and specifically because it's our program, yeah.

I mean, in the future budget year, if you all say, hey, there seems to be more people, and Terry comes to you and says, I've got six people who really want to do this, and I've only got this much in the budget.

I mean, we may come to you all and say, can you up the budget to 250,000 dollars?

And guess what?

Renovation costs have gone up, so we need to give them more than 25,000.

Can we increase that?

I mean, that's the nice thing being the city program.

You all can tailor it based on the needs that we come across.

But that was our thought.

It's just spreading the money a little further.

So are there many things?

So, based on the downtown program in this, they're pretty much mirroring it each other.

Besides, there's nothing in the downtown portion that should could possibly be added, additional.

The only difference between the city's current uh downtown facade grant program is that it will do you could do roof work.

Uh we have funded in the past, yeah, new roofs and some guttering and stuff, which we really didn't anticipate doing that under this program.

Those programs all had to go uh if they were in the uh downtown area that's on the national register.

They also had to go through uh the historic preservation commission and get their approval of their design.

Uh this states that the only thing you have to do if you're in the downtown is get uh building color approval from the planning office because in the downtown master plan um there's some language about uh design standards and appropriate colors for historic areas and those kind of things.

So from that standpoint, I would tell you I think it's a little bit looser this program than um than that, but the focus um again is more on the the building exterior just for from an appearance standpoint because historically we've seen if if folks will um make their property look better.

I mean, that curb appeal just helps.

And on the south side too, Micah, there's there's a there's gonna be more landscape and things like that, whereas downtown you don't have that.

So that should help a little.

We should probably put a little something in there too, Ed, about you know, we don't want to help you pay for your landscape if you're not gonna take care of your landscape.

We kind of see that every once in a while.

So maybe we need to put a little more teeth in in that part of it.

But I guess I guess and back to Marty's point too, and I agree with him.

If it doesn't work, we'll find out why it doesn't work.

But if it doesn't work, it hasn't cost the city anything.

Not a not a dime.

And if it does work, we're gonna have a much improved targeted area there on the south side.

There's about what, probably 40 or 50 businesses there in this targeted area.

Gosh, what if 10 of them?

What if 10 of them said, yeah, I'm gonna do that.

I'll start with small things.

I'll I'll do 25 or 30,000.

You know, you spend 25 or 30,000 on an individual building, it makes a difference.

It it makes a really big difference.

So it would really help that with the new roadscape and things like that.

I think we can see a much improved uh area out there.

I'm and I always kind of worry too.

If I'm a renter, I'm thinking, hey, when my lease is up, you know, the rest of the town is growing so fast, the north side's growing, the west, the east, everything's growing, except that one targeted area there.

You know, out by the interstates, we've had a lot of nice activity, but as you get closer to the creek, you know, it's been kind of spotty.

So I think I think if we could kind of help them, but if I'm a renter, I'm basically saying maybe I'll go to another side of a town, you know, the town.

My landlord's not doing anything, he's not putting any money into the premises, and I'm getting a you know a little bit of age on my building.

So if we can encourage the owners to do it, I think it'd be a big plus.

Anyone else?

I I think it's a great start.

Um, I mean, it's certainly for the first year.

And uh, you know, I mean, there's we've we've got our downtown pioneer businesses who have been here for a while who have taken advantage of these grants, and um, I mean, Hinton's Orchard has been there on the South End for quite a while, and then we've got the new businesses coming in.

So I think this will be a great great way to start.

Thank you.

Yeah, I think so too, okay.

Mr.

Pope, since we're talking about incentives, I've also heard that the 50-year pin, if you get there is made out of platinum.

Platinum.

Or gold.

50 years here would be gold.

Okay, we're gonna go to the public comment section, and Sandy Mattingley from Ashton Park is going to come and address the council over some stormwater concerns that they have in their neighborhood.

Mrs.

Mattingley, the floor is yours.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mayor, members of the council.

My name is Sandy Mattingley, and I live at 132 Aiden Lane at the corner of Aiden Lane and Tristan Lane, directly adjacent to the new Ashton Park development being built by D.R.

Horton.

I am here today on behalf of myself and my neighbors to address the water drainage issues we have.

When Phillips Brothers construction, contracted by DR Horton started the excavation and development of the property, our neighborhood began experience active flooding.

The lots and roadway elevation were raised significantly, and the pitch of Tristan Lane is not correct.

Initially, it was an issue of mud and debris coming directly to my property.

The more development, the worse the problem got, and it began affecting more homes.

We began reaching out to various individuals to determine what this problem was and what we could do to correct it.

We've had multiple conversations with Bobby Cook, Rita Davis, and James Gray from the stormwater department.

And as things worsened, we involved Mayor Gregory and Glenn Turner, the developer.

Last fall, two additional drains and one outlet were added.

We were assured that this outlet would be placed at the existing ditch, but that did not happen, and we ended up with the additional drainage ditch in our yard.

Repairs were made to our yard and our landscape at that time, and we were hopeful that this issue was resolved.

The issue is not resolved, and in fact, it's getting worse as more homes are added.

This has been ongoing for 22 months.

The construction has severely altered the natural flow of stormwater, and water continues collecting not only in our yards, walkways, and driveways, but recently encroached into two garages on Tristan.

This is evident in the 50 pictures that I have provided today.

The situation affects anyone that utilizes Tristan Lane or Aiden as they drive, walk, bike through the mud and the water.

We've spent countless hours picking up debris and pressure washing mud from our walks, our drives, and our garages.

An additional worry is the amount of mud and silt that is being washed through the drains and into our pond.

There is a tremendous concern regarding the raising of the water table on the pond and the future of the pond.

While there is no way to tell just how much debris has made it to the pond, we feel it must be significant, judging from the amount of styrofoam, insulation, nails, wood, cans, and bottles we have collected from our yards and our drains.

This isn't something that happens once or twice a year.

It's a constant reoccurring problem every single time we receive measurable rainfall.

The current infrastructure cannot handle the volume of water we receive, and the runoff controls are completely inadequate.

There is an area at the back of the development that appears to be an additional retention basin, but to date it has never had water in it.

As you can see in the pictures, the amount of water being discharged is more than the existing pipe can handle.

The sheer force of the water coming through it is a very big concern.

It's damaging to anything in its path.

As recently as last week, the rip rep was washed out of the basin and pushed down the ditch into our yard.

It's causing erosion and wash outs in many areas.

The roads are being damaged.

Water is bubbling up through Tristan Lane at the intersection, which we feel indicates erosion and likely failure of that asphalt.

This subdivision has many children and pets, and if one of them were to be caught in the outflow, it'd be catastrophic.

One of the issues is the existing runoff to the pond.

It is impeded by the amount of growth, brush, and trees behind 628 and 632 Tristan Lane.

The water can't freely flow to the pond, and ultimately it dams up and backs up.

While I have provided you with 50 pictures today, please know that I personally have over 175 videos and pictures dating back to September of 24, and I'll be happy to share all of them with you.

Many of the other residents have additional pictures and videos to share.

I've kept all emails and correspondence with the various officials and the developer, and have approximately 100 of those I can share.

Numerous complaints via the portal have been submitted.

We've tried to be patient and understanding, but at this point, we feel that we must be proactive and demand that something is done to resolve this problem immediately.

We are not against growth, but we are against growth at the expense of the established homeowners.

We ask that the city's engineering and stormwater teams conduct an immediate formal review of DR Horton's grading and draining compliance.

In addition, we ask that the city pause any further grading or building permits for this development until a permanent and functional retention solution is in place and verified to be adequate.

Last but certainly not least, we ask that whoever is responsible for the cleanup of the mud, the rock, and the debris that is affecting the existing homes be required to clean it up immediately after the rain event.

I speak for myself as well as my neighbors when I say we take pride in our homes in our yards, and this situation is not fair and it's no longer tolerable.

We respectfully request that you take immediate action on this matter and that we be kept fully informed of the review and what actions are being taken to resolve it.

Thank you for your time and prompt attention.

Ms.

Bovis, did you did you want to come up and speak as well?

Thank you, Ms.

Mattingley.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor and City Council.

My name is Joanne Bovich, and I live at 624 Tristan Lane in the Ashton Park neighborhood in Elizabethtown.

I'm three houses down from Sandy Mattingley.

Our home backs up to the Tristan Pond that drains toward the airport.

Our neighborhood has a fundamental issue with stormwater drainage, and the city's engineering plan has failed.

The developer Glenn Turner and D.R.

Horton are not remediating the issue, and we need a solution.

Last year I spoke with the mayor and the stormwater people at Sandy Mattingley's home.

They saw the runoff last year.

We were told that two new catchment drains would solve this issue.

We were told that soding the new homes would solve the stormwater problem.

We were told a second retention pond in the new construction area would also solve our problems.

We were told this was a once in a 300 year rainstorm and it wouldn't happen again.

The problem has only gotten worse.

We are regularly getting three inches of rain.

Water and mud are draining down Tristan Lane from beyond Wild Way and Purse Lane every time it rains.

The ditch between Purse Lane and Wild Way was overwhelmed the last time it rained and poured down Tristan Lane.

I have videos.

However, the new Canton Street retention pond is empty.

I have watched our neighbors' garages flood.

Water stands mere inches from their front doors when it rains hard.

The clay runoff is depositing in our yards and choking out our grass.

Water comes up through the intersection of Tristan and Aiden Lane for days after the rain stops.

I have watched Tristan pond levels fluctuate and sediment accumulate in the pond.

Most days the pond is brown with sediment.

The culverts near my home and Sandy Mattingleys are dangerously overwhelmed with heavy rains, and children play in this area.

The ground at the culvert next to my home is eroding at the pond entrance and along my fence.

The debris and straw is piled up around the pond, and my neighbors and I must clean up clay, mud, and straw from our sidewalks and driveways every time it rains.

The drainage path from the Mattingley's home to Tristan Pond has grown over and water is left standing in her backyard.

Something has to change.

This is not the first stormwater issue that our neighborhood has faced.

When the southern end of Tristan Lane was developed in 2022-23, a major rainfall washed out the construction area and flooded the yards and homes along Hayden School Road.

The developer refused to take responsibility until a lawsuit was threatened.

This might become our last resort to solve our stormwater problems.

We're not afraid.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, ma'am.

Rita, you wanted to come up and address some of those things.

Yeah, go ahead.

Miss Manningley, these photos that you first are, which uh how recent are those photos?

Okay.

Anywhere from 25 to last.

Okay.

All right.

And has any water gone in homes or just up to in the yards?

They did get it on their front porch and in their garage from house next to the okay.

Thank you.

Okay, so yeah, we have been um dealing with this issue for a while with the developer.

Um, they we worked in the beginning to get some new catch basins put in, um, actually, four new catch basins, so two on Wild Way and two at the corner of Aiden and Tristan to help with the uh quantity of uh water.

Um, the one of the issues that we're seeing is um we have erosion controls on the upper end of the new development part of the neighborhood.

Those erosion controls are in to help protect those inlets with silt, and we're required by the EPA and the state to require the developer to keep those in.

Um so what happens is it doesn't allow all the water uh to go into those catch basins, so that's why that upper basin is not seeing as much water.

Um and so that water is bypassing some of those catch basins and coming down to Tristan and Aiden lanes.

Um, however, that once the development and the stabilization occurs upstream on in the new uh section, uh those will be pulled, and then we will kind of ultimately see how that area is gonna drain um uh the subdivision is developed out.

So it really is a water in the street issue for the most part.

We've had as you guys know, we've had five inches in two hours, we've had two inches in 35 minutes just this month.

Uh those are not designed storms, even a um, you know, any uh storm water system is going to not be able to keep up with that kind of rainfall.

So we are seeing some flooding um all over the town because of the increased rainfalls um that we're seeing regionally.

Um I don't I mean, all it takes is to turn on the news and see these catastrophic flooding events.

We're getting a small taste of that here uh with just more intense, more rainfall um coming at once.

So and we have spent a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of um uh effort to uh help with the drainage in the Ashton Park neighborhood.

So let me ask you this.

Are all the base black is all the base black top down only, or is the finished layer on most of those roads?

And is that preventing some of that water from getting in some of those drains and pitch basins?

Yeah, in the beginning, uh the base asphalt was only laid.

We didn't have the surface asphalt, so that definitely did contribute to where those uh the runoff could not get into the catch basins because they were elevated.

Um the surface asphalt is on now, and I think more of the issue is the catch basin inlet protection, uh keeping water from getting into the um into the catch basins.

And so, Ms.

Mattingley, if you don't mind, initially when I came out there the first couple three times and met with you all, the the issue that you all had was the mud that you had to constantly clean up off of the sidewalk and off of the roadway in front of your all's house.

Am I correct?

All the house.

Right.

So we're still fighting.

Last night we got three quarters of an inch.

Do you mind to come back up real quick?

I'm sorry.

Last night we got three quarters of an inch round.

Okay.

It was running down our sidewalks again.

It runs, it comes over the curb, even the curb that was put out there into our yard, down sidewalks to both sides of the streets from the farthest point on Tristan to our house.

There are three drains on each side of the road for all those homes.

That there's no way that's enough.

And the volume of water that comes out.

I mean, instead of having a ditch run down, it it was our next round on Aiden.

The water was up under their fence.

And that's uphill.

That's how deep that water was.

I realized that was a different rain event, but it seems like they all are now.

But last night it's flowing through there.

And again, those two homes at 628 and 632, Tristan, that water can't get through there.

There's so much stuff, and it just can't flow.

So it backs up into our yard.

We've had water, and you know how high our back patio is.

We have had water up to there from all this.

And now I have two ditches in my yard when we were promised that outlet would be at that ditch, and it's way up in our yard.

They were unable to put the extend the uh outlet to the ditch because of their sanitary service line.

So we we weren't able to get underneath or over top of that.

So that's why they were they had to stop it where they did.

Um and then as far as that ditch is concerned, you know, that's gonna be just a uh kind of a destabilization issue.

We don't typically like to get in and dig um stabilized areas out if there's not like a an issue, uh a erosion issue or anything.

So that's just kind of we don't want to destabilize the area and create more of an erosion issue for the the lake and that kind of thing or the pond.

The new homeowners, uh Tristan Lane 632 Tristan couldn't be here tonight.

He's ill he had treatment today.

They're the ones who got water in their garage.

The water it goes up under their deck in their backyard, and they're you know, they were unaware that they even owned that property when they closed.

We showed them the plat map, and they want to do something.

And vegetation maintenance is really more of a property owner thing that's not necessarily a city thing where we go and maintain vegetation because I think that's part of what is impeding the flow is the vegetation in the ditch.

So I know you're wanting uh an immediate remedy, and I and I understand that.

And listen, I want to preface that with I think a lot of both of you and Butch, you all have been great to work with, and I know you're frustrated, and you could go to the paper or the news or social media and blast us.

I think you all have been great great to work with.

I know we haven't come up with a remedy for you yet, but I and you may not like what I'm about to tell you, but I think what Rita and our stormwater department would tell you is that we need for most of that subdivision that's above you to get developed so we can really pay attention to how the w water's gonna respond after it's been developed and after some of that water can be diverted to that other basin that she's talking about, and then once that's the case and it is developed, and if there's still issues, then we go back and we start working hard on the developer and make him change things and and get you all some relief.

Can I ask you a question?

Rita, you're saying that that the intakes are blocking the water right now from going into that new basin.

Is that what you said?

There's so yeah, silk controls that slow the water down so that water will filter before it gets into the catch basin.

So what's happening is that those are um we've got kind of sand, they've got sandbags kind of allowing water to pond in front of the catch basin, but once so much water collects in front of that catch basin, it's bypassing and going down the road.

There's no way to take that directly into that basin right now to try to hold to get it in that basin versus on down the street.

Um well, I mean, they've done what they can to get all of the flow into it.

We've even had them cut the center of these filters out to allow for more flow into these catch basins.

But we are required, like I said, we're required to require silk protection, inlet protection on the uh catch basins.

So that's but but those silk controls do slow flow, uh, which causes some of that flow to go on down the road.

But again, there's no way to adjust that.

I know what we're required to do, but is there a way to still meet though to redirect it?

Rita loves me because I have no engineering background and I ask all these weird questions.

Water flows downhill.

It does, but if you turn it, will it turn?

It doesn't like to, but um I I don't see where we could uh redirect it in this instance, it's gonna um bypass and go down the road.

Go ahead, Ms.

Mattingley.

I know you got when you know we keep saying when things get done, it's gonna get better.

We're hoping.

Wild Way is pretty well, it's done.

Okay.

Well, I guess the question I would ask, and I and I will admit I haven't been out there for a couple months, but the road, what's the name of the road that all the water's flowing off of towards you all?

It comes off purse down to Tristan and meets up with Wild Way and down.

And so are all those lots up there developed now and sold?

No, they're not all Purse is is getting close, but they're not sodden.

I gotcha.

Wild way is the two houses on Tristan, those are sold.

But you know, I that concrete washout area will be the last thing they ever do anything with, and I don't know.

So by design, Rita, if everything's done up there, we get to the point everything's done.

The basin that they're talking about that doesn't appear to be getting much water, what will change to make water go that way once everything's done?

Yeah, so those silk controls will um come up, and so then the catch basins will be able to collect more water into the um catch basins, and then those are piped to that new basin.

So it sounds like silk controls are causing the issue right now.

So you either trade getting rid of water or get or and having mud or the other way around.

Right.

And we are also inspected by the state.

The state shows up to these sites periodically, so it's not uh something we cannot require.

Um it it is um a requirement of our EPSC um plans.

We can let Miss Manningley explain to the state what we did and why we did it.

Or we could we could sit Ms.

Mattingley on the state.

Yeah, maybe that help us help you.

I don't mind.

I don't so my next question would be, and I think I already know the answer because we talked about it before.

Have we talked to DR Horton and asked them to develop those lots up there first before they move to other parts of the subject?

Yeah, they changed their schedule because we asked them to go ahead and and take care of the lots um closest to them so that it would we would get grass cover and that kind of thing.

Um DR Horton has been responsive, even when we have had silt leave the site.

Of course, those silk controls are only good for around the 10-year storm, and it seems like we don't even get that kind of storm anymore.

All of them exceed that.

So um silt has been an issue um controlling it at the site, but um, but I do feel like for the most part, DR Horton has been responsive.

We um typically allow them a you know, at least a 48-hour period to mobilize 24 hours to do their inspection and 48 hours to kind of mobilize and clean things up.

So um so they they do need a little bit of time to uh get their ducks in a row after these huge rain events that we have weekly.

So the only thing they're cleaning up is in front of their homes.

There's an erosion map that they put into one of the homes they're building that washed down in the July 6th rains, and it is still laying on the corner of Tristan and Aiden.

And I drug it out of the intersection because it was impeding traffic, but it was too heavy for me to lift up, and it's still laying.

I mean, you know, the the mud in front of the house to for us to get in and out of our drive.

It's constant pressure washing, washing our sidewalks down.

Um is suffering because of all the mud and the silt.

It's it's really frustrating.

Really frustrating.

You know, you're home's your biggest asset, and supposed to be your safe place.

And the first thing last night when it started lightning and thunder, and I went to the windows to see what's it gonna do today.

Causes anxiety.

Lots.

I understand.

Ms.

D did you have some Yeah, I did have a question about silk and the silk blockage that's up at the top.

So yes, that I know the silk protection that they have on the top drains.

All that's doing is forcing that silt down into our pond.

We have no silt protection at the bottom, and it's the pond can only get so deep because there's a drainage culvert at the end.

The more debris silt we get, that pond gets shallower and shallower, and it's gonna fill up because we're just getting pounds and pounds and pounds of clay and dirt in this pond.

That's my backyard.

And as the bottom comes up, it's gonna turn we're gonna lose the turtles and we're gonna lose the fish and all the birds that are out there.

And I don't want to lose my pond because we're getting so much clay from the top of the hill because we have no silt protection where we are.

And Tristan Lane, we're getting water from the other side of the hill on past wild way.

It's it's the force of the water is coming over the top of the hill.

It's the the road isn't properly graded, and the water's not running down the curbs, it's running down the middle of the road.

I drove through it and it was easily 18 inches deep on Tristan Lane when when it was raining that hard.

She has a video.

Yeah, I probably thought her car was gonna stall out in the water.

It was how deep it was splashing inside the windows of the car as I'm going 10 miles an hour up the hill just to take pictures.

It was yeah, it was a lot.

And I understand that that wasn't the the huge, but yeah, that was July 6th, right?

But the silt in the pond is a big problem for me.

And so much silt and and debris side pieces, they like storm drains.

We're out there in the middle of storms, opening up storm drains.

Right, because the drains are covered with straw.

It's so bad.

I mean and the silt on the sidewalks and the clay is slippery.

And if we have somebody slip and fall, that's our property insurance that's gonna have to pay.

Yeah, some of it falls on our driveway because we had mud that came down that we have to wait 48 hours to get cleaned up if we're not out there with the pressure washes.

Right.

And Victor and our new neighbor, he is handicapped, and you know, we went over to take make sure his drive was taken care of because he's the one who got the mud and everything into his garage.

I mean, it's just not great.

It's not fair, and it's it's not right, and it's been two years.

Okay.

Thank you all any other public comments okay city council information items you all have anything I do I I think you forgot this one so um we need to recognize our fellow councilman okay then you can go ahead and do it better well okay so on Saturday congratulations to Tony he was uh received the Senator Dennis Parrot excellence in government award from the Harden County Chamber of Commerce so it's very well deserved um I think how many years 15 terms something something and he he can cut a move going down that red carpet you don't speak anybody else so the next city council meeting will be August 3rd 2026 uh we will have a planning commission uh meeting tomorrow july 28th uh cruising the heartland event will kick off thursday july 30th and Tony was D on my list I was gonna congratulate him no I'm good you did a great job I was gonna we added him late but I will expand on what Micah said just a little bit it was the inaugural it was the inaugural uh issuance of the Dennis Parrott award as you know Dennis is longtime state senator and passed away here recently and they uh Tony got the first one and I think that's quite the honor 15 terms on Elizabethtown City Council.

Do you know it was that many it's pretty incredible I mean since 1995 that's that was the first time that he was on Lisbontown City Council and that was when Mayor Durbin was here.

And so he's been through Mayor Durbin and he's been through Mayor Wilmouth and he's been through Tim Walker and he's been through Mayor Berger and he had to live with me for about eight years so uh he's just been a treasure to our community and he'll like I said in the Facebook post he'll have a whole lot more accolades coming but we sure do appreciate him and we're sure proud of him so that's all I have anybody else we will not go close meeting tonight so I will take a motion and a second to adjourn if you all will indulge motion all in favor opposed seeing none motion carries thank you all