There is a sign up list or have a country.

Oh my god, just looking at the electric.

Mr.

Chairman.

We should meet on time.

I'm gonna write my name further down.

You have to take one on.

I doubt that's gonna happen.

Yes.

Good thanks.

I hope you all this is on.

Yeah, usually we view an analysis boom.

I was in an out yesterday, fifteen minutes from mine.

Yeah.

All right.

Thanks everybody.

Um we are here this evening on the twenty-fifth of or no, I'm sorry.

This is the wrong.

We are on October 2nd, 2025 for the uh parks and recs committee.

Um we are gonna start with introductions down with uh counselor Dilk.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Mike Dilk, District 24.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Jesse Brown, District 13.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, Brianne Delaney, District Two.

Thank you, Chairman Jessica McCormick, District 16.

Good evening, Chairman Booth, Krista Carlino, District 11, West Side.

Frank Miskear, District 19, Southeast Side.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Jared Evans representing District 17.

Thank you, Counselors.

I'm Dan Boots, District 3, and I have the honor of chairing this committee.

And this evening we're gonna hear some of the budget review and analysis of the uh parks budget.

We're gonna start with a presentation from Director Crohn.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chairman, and to all of you this evening, um, our committee members, we as always appreciate your love and support um for our neighbors and and our parks that participate in uh recreation in our spaces.

Uh so we do have a very brief presentation, wanted to provide a few updates um for you all, and then we can move right along as you see fit, Mr.

Chair.

So last week I wanted to brag a little bit.

Um I had the opportunity with a few of my team members to attend the National Recreation and Park Association conference.

Um this is a annual conference that this this past year took place in Orlando.

Um and it was an amazing um valuable learning opportunity for our team and me, especially as I continue to grow in this role.

As many of you know, I have crossed my 90-day mark um and I actually got to celebrate that 90 days with some of my team members at this conference um at educational sessions and connecting with other um urban uh park system leaders as well.

So hearing from those parks professionals across the country.

They shared with me that they're facing many of the same challenges and opportunities that we are here in Indianapolis and being connected with the parks professionals who attend these conferences and teach the sessions at these conferences are one of the ways that we maintain our standing as one of the only three Indiana park systems to hold our CAPRA certification.

So we're very proud as the Indianapolis Parks and Recreation to hold that certification and meet the standards that are required by us for that certification.

From hay rides to Halloween programs, fall is a great time to be in our parks, as many of you know, I'm sure.

Folks can plan ahead for our winter holiday programs as well, like the conservative uh conservatory crossing at the Garfield Park Conservatory.

And as always, our neighbors can visit the programs section of our website for more information.

We love fall in our parks.

It's an exciting time to be outdoors.

At our board meeting last week, five more contracts were awarded towards Lilly Endowment Grants projects.

Our planning and construction teams have done a great job over the last few months, especially getting this high volume of projects through.

It was a tall order to do that, and they have done an excellent job.

Some of the projects on your screen and in your packets have already begun construction, with the rest moving in that direction shortly.

This marks a major milestone as we have effectively awarded contracts for all Lilly grant projects.

The few that remain will be done through a purchase order for specialized work like at Coont Stadium or on delayed schedules due to environmental remediations like Lieutenant Graham Edward Martin Park.

I especially want to call out again our deputy director, Don Colvin, for his leadership in delivering this historic investment, as well as the team members reporting to him that have worked alongside him, like Andre Denman, for many years.

So in the spirit of that recognition, I would like to pause and give him just a round of applause again.

Thank you.

To get into our budget discussion now, I again want to thank you all for your feedback, especially around our revenue.

Since our last meeting, our staff has been meeting weekly to discuss a look at models for an updated fee structure.

This process will include more discussions with counselors and community members as well as uh our our administration in the coming weeks.

And as a reminder, any changes would be reviewed and voted on by the parks board.

We have a couple of important priorities and goals that we want to keep in mind for these discussions.

First, it's crucial that we keep up with the cost of doing business so that we can continue to provide high-quality programs and experiences for residents.

We also want to ensure that Indy Parks remains the most affordable option for folks, especially around areas like summer camps, swim lessons, and other essential programs.

This discussion is also against the backdrop of Senate Enrolled Act One's impact not just on this budget but on budgets over the coming years.

Our revenue is one of a diverse group of funding sources that will need that we will need in order to make sustained investments in our parks.

And that's something that I'll speak about more on the next slide.

That is our mission.

Despite a challenging budget cycle, it's important to note that this budget proposal paired with the two million investment from the spring fiscal passed by the council means that we are investing more in our parks than last year.

Not to mention the Lilly Endowment Grant projects we just talked about.

I also want to provide some context, not just from last year's budget, but where we were a decade ago.

The total two 2015 budget for Indy Parks was just 17 million.

Indexed for inflation, that's still only about 23 million in today's dollars or less than half of the 2025 budget.

A high-quality park system requires ongoing investments, and while we've come a long way since the 2015 budget, it is important to note that we've made these investments in a very short period of time.

That's why it's so important that we bring together diverse funding sources as we have with the Parks General Fund, federal grants, ARPA and Circle City Forward, the Lilly Endowment Grant, the Spring Fiscal, the revenue discussions we just uh just mentioned, and ongoing conversations about fundraising with the Parks Alliance.

Our team is committed to working with all of you to continue expanding our funding from all sources.

To me, it's simply how we maintain funding for our parks over the long term.

I appreciate you all for being parks advocates and partners.

Indy Parks has so much great momentum, but it's on all of us to build on that momentum for next year and beyond.

Thank you.

Thank you, Director.

Any questions from any members of the committee?

Yes.

Thank you, Chairman Boots.

Could you provide a brief update on the holiday park playground project?

Initially, I was told it would be done in the fall of 2025, and here we are.

So I was just hoping you could provide an update.

Yes, we've been talking internally.

Thank you, Counselor, for that question.

We are actively uh looking at schedules to plan a ribbon cutting for that.

And I'll let uh my CCO speak more to that.

Not sure if this push it down.

Okay, okay.

Uh yeah, we've actually been talking with the Holiday Park Foundation for a date uh towards the end of the month.

So we're very excited, want to work with them to make sure that everything's wrapped up, but we're getting we're getting close and we'll be following up on that.

Great, thank you.

Just in time for Hauntless Halloween, you all should come out for that.

It's fun.

Any additional questions?

Director, I have one if if you could.

Um I sound like a broken record in many of these committee meetings about looking for ways to increase revenue.

Um it's not a uh hidden fact that we just need to increase the size of the pie for our enterprise.

If we really want to reach the goals and objectives and really enrich the lives of the people in the city, we need more money.

Um so can you just discuss a little bit on and I would love the idea of your uh park revenue slide, and we appreciate that.

But can you expand a little bit on that and kind of you know, from your perspective?

Do you see a big opportunity there, or do you see a lot of obstacles or hurdles?

Uh because you know we're trying to find as much money as we can for parks and arts and trees and forest and to enrich the lives of our citizens, but we need help and we need more revenue because we're not getting it from the state.

We're getting the opposite.

We're getting less money.

So I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I'm putting you on the spot uh to talk a little bit about your thoughts on revenue increasing.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, for that question.

Um again, your all's advocacy here uh means a lot to us as well as our neighbors.

Um, I think to this administration, we all seem very aligned in uh our desire to see quality of life continue to increase for residents across our system.

And um what I what I will share is that we are discussing internally weekly.

Um we have what I'm calling a revenue recovery work um meeting, a task force, if you will, to look at all of our different streams of revenue and think critically about where uh where we we are getting the right value for the services that we're providing um and maybe where that's not happening and how we could make adjustments.

Um we of course want to be able to come back to this committee and have something solid uh to share, and we are planning to do that over the next couple months.

Uh we will also be meeting um regularly with our administration to make sure it's aligned um with with everything that's going on.

So we are actively looking at this as well and and want to do the what's best for our neighbors as well as what's best for our park system and looking at the cost of business that we have as a parks department.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Um council Pierce, do we at this stage invite public cost testimony for this part of the review and analysis?

You are the chair.

It's up to you.

All right.

Since I'm the chair and there's people here, and I'm sure they want to talk to us, so uh we're here to be transparent and open.

So the Secretary Nails, can you please read the uh reminder?

Before we open the floor to public comments, we would like to remind the committee members and the public of a few ground rules.

So everyone can have a fair chance to speak and be heard.

It is important that we each observe the following rules.

First, each speaker will be limited to two minutes.

Second, any public comments must reasonably relate to the agenda item under consideration.

Third, speakers who stray from the item under consideration or become unduly repetitious, maybe asked to move on to their next point and conclude their comments.

Finally, attendees who cause disruptions that prevent the committee from proceeding through tonight's agenda in a reasonably efficient manner will be removed.

Please remember that some types of tightening speech are incitement to violence are not protected by the First Amendment at all.

We will deal with those issues if they come up, but we don't think they will.

And now, Mr.

Chair, if a committee member asks for consent to adopt these rules, we can proceed to public comments.

Thank you, uh Ms.

Nance.

Um do we have a speaker sheet, Mr.

Stowers?

And I'll just remind people: you you get two minutes, two minutes flies by, so don't walk up with three or four sheets, think you're going to get through it, hit your points and fly fast and be poignant with your terms.

Ms.

Brookwater.

Is this on?

Okay.

Good evening.

Councillor Boots.

Mr.

Chairman, ladies, gentlemen, and uh director.

Congratulations.

I hadn't met you yet.

So and thank you for your committee that's going to examine sources.

And I would hope that the both this committee and the parks board, and also the council, would have an appetite for a larger vision of funding sources.

There are many, which no one seems to um have an appetite for.

They think we can't get it across.

And I would suggest the wheel tax.

It's so boring to hear, but it is effective.

And uh if we can persuade our council's leadership and our mayor to encourage that.

I think it could be done if we have the vision and the courage.

And secondly, uh the impact fees.

Uh you know uh Ms.

Delaney in that district, it's one of our better heeled ones, and to have a slow playground progress with probably, and I know myself and I have many friends on that board.

Uh it's it ought to get done more quickly than any other park.

And so uh I'm grateful for those ladies, they are ladies most of them, uh, who get this done.

Uh my sister was the treasurer for years and at Orchard School, uh, we used to go over and stick cigarettes in those statues that were there sitting there for years.

I did not contribute to them.

But uh anyway, the ruins.

Uh not my favorite funding uh goal.

But anyway, we we do have a vision.

That park, again, was John and Evelyn Holiday's family farm.

And uh Mr.

Holliday had a great quotation.

He said, any man who has profited in this city, any man whose family has raised, been raised here, uh, needs to give back to our city.

What a feeling to have, how few of us share that now.

And I would say the great Ursul Osdomers of the world and the other developers, I wish they felt the same because that's 300 acres.

We don't have to wait for more.

We can buy our own now if we do that funding.

So thank you very much.

Thank you for that opportunity.

They can do this, I think.

Is that it?

All right.

Anyone else wish to speak at all?

Please come to Lectern and give your name and zip code, please.

Jeff Stant, 46219.

Uh I I think that there needs to be a citywide discussion about uh uh not only ways of funding the parks department, but about budget priorities that that resulted it constantly being, in my view, as a person looking at the budget like a poor stepchild to the rest of the budget.

33 million dollars out of a 1.709 billion dollar budget is a pittance.

And I'm reminded of the 100 and what is it, 103 million dollars that the voters in King County, Seattle just voted in to buy more public land in King County.

If we only knew how much public land is already there in King County and surrounding it, you could put all of the public land, state, federal, and local in one corner of that county, and they feel that they're growing too fast and they don't have enough protected green space.

So they're willing to spend another hundred million of public tax dollars just like that on it.

I think if you polled the city residents of Indianapolis and you said, would you like a soccer stadium or would you like more parks?

I'll bet you the parks would win hands down across the city on that.

But the point is is none of that investigation of where the public is at ever occurs.

And I think that that's I could be wrong.

What we need to have that dialogue, that discussion.

Um, and I appreciate also the efforts you've been making to do uh appraisals on some of the forest properties that we have been urging uh the city by um such as at Haverstick Creek, and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting that deal made.

I appreciate uh Mr.

Colvin's work on that, and I hope we can also make similar progress at at uh the East Side Flatwoods, and I I think the woods along Goose Creek, the the that is uh a legacy for us, should be looked into there where the owners are willing to sell it at less than half the appraised value, and so please look into that one too, and the I-70 woods.

Thank you.

Hi, uh Mike Cole is 46219.

That's where I work out of 46.12 is my home uh zip code.

But um, I'm founder of a new group called Forest for All, and also uh co-chair of the Progressive Democrats of America, Indianapolis chapter, and National Chief of Staff of Progressive Democrats of America.

Um, first of all, I want to thank this council because I think everybody on this council stood up for uh green space and against the data center last week.

So uh hopefully everybody you know just pass myself on the back because that was awesome, and thank you for that.

And uh really thank you to everybody uh on this committee who's over the last uh 18 months have been a strong champion for our urban for urban forests program, and I think we've raised three or three over three million dollars for urban forest preservation, and um and that's amazing.

So thank you for everybody's work on that.

Uh I find this this budget proposal uh heartbreaking.

Um there's a lot more money going into uh uh IMPD uh and that everything else is getting cut.

And uh I I understand the sentiment, but also we there's structural solutions to crime and poverty, and uh and part of that is I think is urban forest acquisition as a as a structural solution long term.

Uh just there's a there's a system that ranks our urban forest and um arbitrary our uh park system called the park serve, and they rate the top 100 cities in America on on the depth and breadth of their park system.

And Indianapolis does so badly on this that we we said we're not gonna participate at all in it because we would be a hundred out of a hundred.

Um our neighbor Louisville to the south is 96 and this ranking, and they're not embarrassed about it, they're trying to get better.

They just passed an urban forest uh plan to try and increase the rankings, and I get it because being a consolidated city-county government, there's some structural issues with that.

But Louisville's 96, Nashville is 74, uh, both in the same boat we are.

So uh just want to think about the road forward, how we uh boost funding for our park system and protect urban forests.

Thank you, Mr.

Ollis.

We we'd be interested in seeing that information about the Louisville's efforts.

Yes, I'll I'll forward you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right.

Very good.

Um now we have uh to discuss proposal number 259 that adopts the annual budget for the city of Indianapolis and Marion County for 2026.

This is obviously the parks and recreation portion only.

Do I have a motion?

Second.

Do we need to let's take a quick roll call, Miss Nance Council Booth?

Yay, Councillor Jesse Brown.

Yay, Councillor Carlino.

Aye.

Councilor Delaney.

Aye.

Councilor Dokke.

Aye.

Councilor Evans.

Reluctantly, yes.

Council Miscarry.

Ms.

Gary, aye.

Council McCormick.

McCormick, aye.

Thank you.

Budget passed.

And Councillor Evans would like to say a few words.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Um, I just wanted to explain.

Uh I I'm voting yes because I believe in our parks and and I guess I don't want to be on the record as not supporting the budget for it.

However, that said, for the reasons that have been mentioned tonight in public comment, um, this is not okay.

Uh I see individuals from the arts here, and my question starts to become what are the parks alliance?

What's the arts council?

What are you willing to do to start helping us come up with creative ways to fund these quality of life issues?

We somehow manage, not saying I oppose, but we always manage to find new revenue sources when it comes to funding stadiums.

Yet we're hitting a brick wall when it comes to parks.

And all I've heard for my tenth year on this council is how trying to address crime and the violence associated with that, we have to address root causes and parks are a big part of addressing those root causes, especially for our youth.

Yeah, we don't fund it appropriately.

We've been reliant upon one-time funding that is dried up.

And it was exciting when it was happening, but the reality is we have got to increase the pie for the parks department and start elevating this city.

I am a district counselor who borders up to Plainfield and Avon, and I see what they're doing and what they're getting with their tax dollars.

And if the citizens of this city well, I think they do realize it.

As this complaint comes in on the phone right now, they heard me and they're calling.

But when there are organizations that are taking city tax dollars to support the organization, I expect you to step up and start coming up with plans for how we're going to start to address this.

So I'm not just looking at you, Director.

I'm looking at everybody in this audience.

The the Forest folks, they've been working their butts off trying to make that issue and elevate it and get some funding over there.

And I so appreciate it.

Arts Council, I expect the same from you all.

Parks Alliance, I expect the same from you all.

The status quo is not working, and it is becoming more and more and more clear to this council.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, Councilor McCormick.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I just wanted to take a moment and um invite anybody who's listening, the ribbon cutting for the B and O trail that is opening over on the west side that cuts through my district, Chair uh our Councilor McCormick or I'm McCormick.

Uh Counselor Carlino's district, um, and connects essentially downtown to Brownsburg.

Um the ribbon cutting is on next week on the 8th at 4 o'clock, and it'll be held at the Chapel Rock Christian Church.

So please join us.

Thank you.

Uh any other comments.

I'll just briefly reiterate kind of piggyback on Counselor Evans.

Um and I've tried to raise this issue in every again every committee, and I and I know I sound like a broken record, but Indianapolis has to make we're a great city to visit, downtown is nice, downtown is pretty.

We need to make Indianapolis a better place to live.

We need to attract people, we need to retain people.

And spending millions building hotels downtown is nice for visitors from out of town.

I want to see 90 million dollars up and around in the suburban areas or for new parks and buying land and buying forests and expanding the parks.

Um, that's the quality of life issues that we really need to start focusing on because we got a we got a brain drain, we've got a talent drain, and until we reverse that trend, we're gonna be struggling and treading water, and we're not gonna be progressing as a first class city in this country.

So I reiterate what counselor Evans says.

Uh I know we face tough budgets.

We've had to make some tough decisions this year.

Um, and the bid budgets are gonna get tougher thanks to our friends down the street at the State House.

Um so we're gonna have to get creative, and we're gonna have to start making lemonade out of limits.

Uh so I just want to uh, you know, not painting a dark picture, but things uh we're gonna start really getting with a scalpel on things because we need to really improve, in my opinion, the uh quality of life in this city, and it focuses on parks, arts, forests, those type of things, and that's those areas are not getting the due attention they deserve, in my opinion.

Hearing any other comments, motion to adjourn.

Oh, of course.

Thank you.

So good to see everyone as always.

Uh, good evening, counselors, chair, chairman.

Um Judith Thomas, uh president and CEO of the Indy Arts Council, and congratulations, Director Crohn, on your presentation and your 90 days.

It's awesome that you've gotten through.

But I just want you know, a lot of uh comments were made about, of course, the uh quality of life in the city of Indianapolis.

And many of you know that at the Arts Council we just finished our strategic plan, and and uh one of our focuses is looking at new funding models and how we can take things to the next level.

We have been so appreciative of the support of the city and of course the city council, especially with funding for this upcoming budget, considering how much has been cut and what is going on in our city right now.

The fact that we are lucky to get the 1.3 million, not to mention potentially the 500,000 uh and from the CIB as well as from the bond bank to be able to continue the work that we've been doing over the last few years.

But know that behind the scenes we may not be jumping up and down, and we may not be just knocking on everybody's door, but we are working as a team from a civic perspective with our civic partners as well as the mayor's office and others in discussions on how we can get more funding.

Um it's not about me being here to make sure that you guys know we're you know we're we're driving everybody uh to move the way we want them to move, but we want to sit down and sit down and talk with everyone and be strategic about what the next steps are, how we can raise it for everybody when it comes to the parks and partnering with the parks, with the libraries, with public spaces.

That is what we've learned from our strategic plan.

That's where the majority of people in our city that were interviewed uh and our stakeholders interviewed for our strategic plan is that when they go and see events, they go to public spaces to see that.

So, how can we partner?

And we have incredible arts organizations and artists here that of course uh are uh have a lot of folks coming to see them and support them, and we're we're through the arts council making sure through our arts um annual grants program, thanks to the city, we're able to support those programs as well.

But we're looking at public art, public spaces, what can we do, and how can we come together as a city with our civic partners to make sure we take it to the next level.

So please know we're working.

Thank you.

Thank you, President Thomas.

And I think I I'd be remiss without stating, you know, arts is is funded now less than it was in 2005.

This is 2025.

Twenty years, and we've gone backwards.

That's unacceptable.