We have one item on the agenda, which is an update regarding the financial status of the Norman Forward program.

And we have Jason, Director of Parks and Rec here to talk about that with us.

Yeah, I just saw Clint over in the other building, and I said the scariest thing for finance people is a parks uh person giving a finance report.

So let's go ahead and start.

Somewhat uh some good news coming on on this front.

The uh I think uh not this past month but the month before we we at the finance committee meeting, there was talks uh about there might be some remaining fund balance at Norm Ford at the end.

And so we just wanted to go over those numbers and uh what it what we're kind of thinking or projecting at this point, and then uh we were I think we were instructed to come up with a list of possible projects to do with uh if there is a remaining fund balance at the end.

But uh first just want to kind of remind everybody of the uh full Norman Forward program.

Uh as you look down there, this is uh a list of all the projects that was voted on, and uh the uh original Norm 4 budget, you know, you see a revised budget.

Some of the revised budgets did increase depending on the uh project, some of them decreased um there towards the end.

Uh the good news is that when you start looking at this whole list, uh we got a heck of a lot of these projects uh checked, done, completed.

Um, and uh we're kind of we're kind of towards the end of Norm Ford where we're at all pay-go projects.

So all the um the good news is all the large projects are kind of done and wrapped up and on the way or towards the end.

We there's a few projects we still have not um closed out, but we'll be working on getting those.

So and then when uh probably should have started, let's see, I might have missed that one.

Uh but uh you start looking at the down this list.

Uh the uh projects that we do have left is the Canadian River Park, which is uh very top one right there.

Uh we also have uh partial um projects left in our existing neighborhood parks renovations and also our new neighborhood parks.

We're down to uh one new or one new neighborhood park that or two one we're starting and then one we're getting.

Yeah, we got blue stem and the future South Lakes uh neighborhood parks, which we're gonna get to, and trail development.

Uh when you start looking um into the future, so this is uh working with finance finance.

This is uh a uh kind of a list of projections.

Um, and I think there's moderate growth, very conservative growth, um factored into all these, but uh you kind of see at the very top line beginning fund um balance uh uh and that kind of connects when you start uh or like FYE 25.

You uh look at the bottom, you see 10 million, 10.2 million, and then you go back up there and it starts uh all over again.

And so there's moderate growth uh figured into that.

Also our our debt service that uh which uh there's uh three different debt services uh programs that we've used uh thus far uh and uh has the payments that go along with those, and then uh when those do get paid off.

You see this kind of spreads out all the way to 2032.

Uh technically in 2032, we do not have any um we don't project any portion of Norm Ford to be coming in at that point, but we still have debt service, so we we uh did um place that on the calendar and to uh um as we get towards the end of this, uh the the Norman Ford stops at the end of the calendar year 2030, so that actually rolls into part of the fiscal year of 2031.

So you see six months of that projection right there.

But uh you start looking at the bottom, that kind of gives you a general idea of what ending fund balance will be uh towards that.

Uh we did add in um, as I said, we're down to about five projects uh left in the uh Norm Ford program that we haven't um completed or hit substantial completion on uh those uh Canadian River, Saxon Park, new neighborhood park development, neighborhood park renovations, trail development.

Uh those bottom four, we do have a portion um already spent on some of those.

Saxon Park.

Uh we do anticipating that starting sometime uh probably late spring, early summer.

Uh uh, so we already have design done on that.

We're kind of we're working with public works and making sure that that the road in front of Saxon gets uh fully built before we start on that, because there's a huge money savings for for the park portion of that, as long as uh uh the you know the road gets built with all utilities and we're able to um tie into that.

And then we still have a lot of uh when you start talking about neighborhood park development or renovation, uh still a lot of uh big portion of that to go.

Um we've talked about that.

In fact, we have three um playgrounds on the agenda tonight.

Uh one is coming up uh um with the Bluestone, which is an actually a new park development.

So a lot of tie into that, and then you see Canadian River Park.

We're still working on um getting some uh property to go along with that either through uh we've had talks with the Moore family, um we're looking at the possibilities of acquiring other property if needed.

And uh when you start talking about the Canadian River Park, it uh it can start unfolding because uh the idea is originally to have a troll head and then trails connecting to to the Canadian River um park.

Uh so if you take what we projected of having remaining balance and um taking minusing off the final number we have over here, which is a 22.7 million dollars, we come up with uh there could be about 11 million-ish dollars left over when we get to the end of Norm Ford.

So worked with staff, uh some other departments to kind of come up with a list of possible projects that could be used on uh this is uh when we start presenting these projects.

We'll say that a lot of our Norman Ford projects, we especially talk about Reeves, Griffin.

Uh we only built to probably about 50% done, so the master plan is not fully completed on those parts.

So when we start presenting portions of that to you, that is uh all fits within within um those master plans.

So the first one is, and these are in no specific order, these are just um we wanted to present it to council to get some input, and then we'll eventually talk to uh a park commissioners uh and CFOB to also get input before uh we progress on any of these or make decisions on any of these to bring them back to you for final decision.

So one of the ideas is uh to go for a Sutton uh wilderness land purchase.

Uh currently we're under a long-term lease with the state.

Uh there is some uh definite advantages in purchasing that land.

Uh last time we talked to the state, uh we got a cost estimation around three million, give or take uh a little bit.

But the yellow box is an approximate area that we is state owned.

Of course, Sutton Wilderness does uh we do have some area that's kind of in the uh this back portion right here that we do own.

Uh but this is all the state-owned portion.

Uh the advantages uh of purchasing this now instead of later.

Uh, we think that with Griffin, we we did show that we can get uh land from the state at a uh a good cost, and um land is gonna be no cheaper now than it will be in the future.

Also, this is um had ad insurance um at least on our portion that there's uh nothing that could happen with that, even though you have a long-term lease, there's always you know, there's always a possibility the state could find a way to maybe wiggle out of that, and we always want to make sure that the state's a wilderness preserve.

Like I said, about three million dollars with that.