OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Norman Forward Financial Update and Potential Project List - City Council Meeting - February 24, 2026

Public Meetings & Live-StreamsTuesday, February 24, 2026
BodyNorman, Oklahoma
SessionPublic Meetings & Live-Streams
DateTuesday, February 24, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
0:22

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

0:28

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

0:33

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.

0:42

So let's go ahead and start.

0:47

Somewhat uh some good news coming on on this front.

0:50

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.

1:02

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.

1:18

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

1:23

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.

1:34

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

1:41

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.

1:50

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.

1:56

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.

2:03

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

2:08

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

2:14

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

2:18

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

2:26

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

2:35

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.

2:44

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

2:51

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

2:56

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

3:01

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.

3:17

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.

3:24

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

3:27

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.

3:41

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

3:45

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.

4:11

So you see six months of that projection right there.

4:14

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.

4:23

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.

4:43

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

4:49

Saxon Park.

4:50

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

4:57

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

5:00

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.

5:16

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.

5:27

Um we've talked about that.

5:28

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

5:31

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

5:37

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

5:41

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.

5:53

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.

6:05

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.

6:23

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.

6:35

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

6:39

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

6:45

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

6:53

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.

7:12

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

7:17

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

7:21

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

7:26

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

7:34

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

7:39

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.

7:46

Uh but this is all the state-owned portion.

7:48

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

7:53

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.

8:04

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.

8:22

Like I said, about three million dollars with that.

8:25

Uh in a Norm Ford uh program, we did have a project set aside for softball in a football park.

8:32

Uh, we that was about 2.5 million dollars when we tried to progress on that um when it came for that portion or that turn for that project to come up.

8:42

Uh this was the uh schematics that input that we got back from the our adult softball group and the Norman Optimus Club at that time.

8:53

Uh and this uh schematic uh had a um cost um estimation of about 9.5 million dollars.

8:59

So uh when we uh started working on that, we saw that that was not attainable.

9:05

Um no matter how hard we try, we can't you can't fit a two and a half million dollars budget into uh a $9 million project.

9:12

So we decided to at that time, along with um council, uh we decided to split that project up and make um make some developments or progressions at both Reese Park and at uh Ruby Grant Park.

9:25

So the softball portion was uh upgraded at Reese Park, and then they um we do have some practice softball fields out at uh Ruby Grant.

9:34

This is for possibly purchasing land.

9:37

So we've uh looked at two different sites.

9:39

One of them is the old North Water Treatment Plant, which is uh never got developed.

9:43

Uh we have talked to uh the utilities department actually owns that property, so we would need to purchase that from them.

10:00

Um, and that was with a different director, so I don't remember what the negotiated prices at that, but recently talking to Chris and Chris would love uh if we do progress on that area to get a appraisal of that property and for us to to pay whatever the market price is for that because they are a utility enterprise fund, they do need to be made whole.

10:12

We're also looking uh another property, maybe uh towards the uh center part of town, also owned by the state.

10:20

So uh we have not dived too deeply into that, but there's a possibility of uh us purchasing that property along with maybe splitting the cost with utilities to buy that.

10:30

And we kind of estimate that uh no matter where we buy, we need somewhere between 40 and 60 acres, and that would be about 2.5 million dollars to uh get that property.

10:40

And now this is just for a property purchase, and this would be kind of held aside um for uh a future norm forward or future bond election.

10:48

Uh, we don't think that that we could develop it.

10:51

Um that would just be for the the land purchase.

10:57

Another big thing, and when we start talking about possible projects that go along with this, uh thinking of layups, basically things that would be very, very popular with the public.

11:08

Uh there's nothing more popular um with the public than the adult wellness and education center.

11:14

Uh as we were building that, uh we did uh original cost estimations.

11:19

I think we're about 12.4 million dollars for for the adult wellness and education center.

11:24

Uh we ran into this wall call COVID, and then during COVID, everything the market went crazy.

11:30

So uh we ended up spending about 14 million dollars on building what you look at is it just a gray portion.

11:37

Uh we wanted and hoped to build a multiple uh multi-purpose gym along with that project, but we couldn't afford it at the time that got cut out uh to add that back in.

11:47

The estimated costs uh at that time was about a million and a half.

11:50

So uh to build it if we would have added it to it in hindsight, it probably probably would have been a wiser idea uh right now to uh go back and uh add that in.

12:00

We're probably looking at somewhere in about two and a half million dollars.

12:04

That would be all in soft cost um design, everything to go along with that.

12:14

Another thing which we have talked about several times before uh is uh updates to where you've parked, mainly to uh replace kids space or and or to add in a uh miracle field, which is an um ADA accessible field for everybody, all children.

12:33

Uh so the uh estimated cost between that is 2.5.

12:37

I think we had about a million dollars set aside for the kit space and uh approximate cost about a million and a half for the the miracle field.

12:45

Uh so a couple caveats to go along with these as we're pointing these out.

12:49

We did file for a T set grant um in the amount of about $600,000 to go along with Kid Space.

12:55

That was our um beneficiary of that grant.

12:58

We're still waiting to hear back.

12:59

We'll hear something uh hear something back next month.

13:03

Um but that is a two-year grant, so that would be uh getting $300,000 uh in the next calendar year, and then following that another $300,000.

13:13

But uh if we don't get that, we do need to make plans to replace kids space and the playground alone is about $700,000, but we think the uh infrastructure to go around that uh between lights and sidewalks and other updates that would that need to be made uh around a kid space, that'd probably be somewhere around a million dollars.

13:32

And then the uh miracle field, which we've uh come and presented to you a few times.

13:37

Uh this is uh kind of imagine the if you're out at Andrew's park or at Ruby Grant, the playground surface that's there is a full baseball field of that same kind of poured soft surface, and it's perfect space for uh to have uh have a baseball field for kids of all abilities, and uh to have that.

13:58

Um we already have the corner kind of marked out for that.

14:01

Uh there's a field right there that we kept uh we talked about shrinking the the pond size to make sure that that always stays in.

14:11

Uh so we think that would be about uh a million and a half dollars for that port surface, upgrade to the lights and uh going through there and making sure that the everything around there is uh fully accessible for those who would use that field.

14:24

That's the current layout of the park, right?

14:27

Chris, correct.

14:27

So this is currently out with the of the park, and those two yellow squares would be the project areas.

14:32

And there's other phases of Reefs Park.

14:35

Yeah, and I didn't add in uh the full master plan, so because no part of the uh park would be we're not saying that would be a good project at this time.

14:44

Uh it's just uh to build out those baseball fields or other parts of those baseball fields.

14:48

I think I think the cost would be too great for us to to probably fit into the into an extension of for this extra funding from North Ford without um taking out some other things that we think would probably be more viable.

15:03

It's a long range plan for each park.

15:05

Yes, to replace all the fields like we did the first four.

15:09

Correct.

15:13

Griffin Park updates.

15:14

Uh one of the things that we want to get in there, and and we've talked to council about this before.

15:19

It's uh, and I know that we're hitting up as playgrounds, playgrounds, playgrounds.

15:22

Um, this is another one that would be highly popular.

15:26

Uh we want to go through all of our our uh community parks and make sure they have what we refer to as highly accessible playgrounds.

15:34

Uh uh the playground costs uh that we uh would put out at Griffin's about three quarters of a million dollars, $750,000, um adding a public restroom building out there next to the playground, which would uh uh service the the dog park playground and the disc golf uh would be about a half million dollars.

15:56

Yeah, it would go up in the that corner, and that once again this is part of our master plan already planned um and talked to the public and went through an ad hoc committee.

16:07

That's the master plan, not what it all currently is.

16:09

Correct.

16:10

I kind of I kind of switched that one backwards.

16:13

Should have put the other one in there now that you got me talking out loud, Mayor.

16:17

That's where that other soccer field stands to our yes.

16:23

And now kind of thinking back, the reason I didn't put the other map in there like I did with Reese Park is because the uh the the current map we have now does not have a playground or a a restroom.

16:34

It did have a restroom building up there that got um demolished with that uh putting in that new road area out there that leads back to the dog park.

16:45

Do what?

16:46

The inner oh the yeah, so when you you start talking about that right there, the talking to the soccer club, and when I say uh certain areas of that, like the indoors, I think that is becoming more and more reality, especially that now that we have true costs with the YFAC and how much utilities cost.

17:04

Uh there's no way that any private, yeah.

17:07

I mean, you're talking somewhere in the neighborhood of uh $100,000 a year just for utilities.

17:11

I think they're mentioning improvements to the field surfaces was probably more beneficial to them.

17:20

Uh another one that we would want to offer up, which we think is a uh a very valuable chance of uh that has a lot of valuable uh chance for and be very popular with our product or uh for the public is the uh Andrew's Park updates.

17:37

Uh now the master plan did come in after uh uh Nora Ford, but Andrew's Park is listed as one of the uh beneficiaries of Norm Ford in the original ordinances.

17:48

So we do think that that it's possible to go through here and um build the pond, which would also have uh stormwater um benefits to go along with it, not only recreational benefits uh and a restroom building.

18:01

Uh so to go all in cost for everything that's surrounding that the uh the survey engineering and design of the pond, along with uh pond and stormwater construction and a public restroom building, that's all about 2.75 million all in for all that area right there.

18:19

Um, and we think that we can get that fully built out as is or as it's shown in those yellow boxes.

18:31

Another one that we have listed on here, which we do think uh has a little bit of interest uh for us, uh uh is a young family athletic center.

18:41

We have had conversations with the young family.

18:45

There is some benefits both for us and um when we start talking about membership and going farther into a revenue um creator for the Young Family Athletic Center.

18:56

We're we're we think we are to the point where we could break it even this year for the first time uh because now we've taken over concession uh operations inside the YFAC, but we do think there's a lot more opportunity to grow revenue and make that that uh special revenue fund even more independent.

19:14

And uh the number one thing that we always hear feedback is that y'all don't have a gym space to lift weights or work out in.

19:21

And um, we don't.

19:23

And I think that would uh put us on par with some of the other we're above par uh with uh everybody else in town that offers the same kind of programming.

19:31

Uh I think that that would uh take the membership up where we could definitely be a very independent um special revenue fund.

19:39

Uh we have had cost uh conversations with the young family.

19:44

Uh, if we are able to come up with it, the the weight room cost estimation is about four million dollars.

19:49

They said that they would be willing to split that cost with us if we are able to uh come up with that two million dollars, and we also have a bond that was taken out during the construction of the Young Family Athletic Center that was taken out against our guest tax.

20:00

And we also have a bond that was taken out during the construction of the Young Family Athletic Center that was taken out against our guest tax.

20:05

And as of right now, it has about uh I think about 2.4, 2.5 million dollar payoff on that.

20:12

But that would be beneficiary, very helpful for our guest tax, which would open up other areas for uh the guest tax, especially if that election passes where we can start doing capital projects with that because that is taking up, I think about 400,000 a year out of our our guest tax.

20:28

Um so when you start talking, we get $600,000 a year, $400,000 is taken out for a bond payment.

20:35

You know, you don't have to be a parks and rec guy to figure out that's not very good.

20:40

Uh but the uh it would even be even better uh when the guest tax hopefully does pass, and then we would have this uh fully available with full bonds.

20:49

Like I said, we have 70 parts, um, about 150, 160 million dollars worth of assets.

20:55

It's really hard to take care of on our liberal or limited uh availability of capital funds.

21:02

We do have miscellaneous other projects which have been uh talked about Westwood uh start out with Ruby Grant since that's at the top of the list.

21:10

Uh Ruby Grant trail upgrade uh upgrades.

21:13

We have had uh talks with OU about uh upgrades to our cross-country areas out there.

21:20

Uh they do hold the SEC championships uh for cross-country, I think in 2029.

21:28

Uh so they've had talks with us about sharing a project uh out there and hopefully making that their home course along with holding the SEC championship uh cross-country meet uh where this would come beneficiary outside of just hosting college meets.

21:44

Uh this would uh make it a primary uh very high desired uh cross-country track for not only for you know college meets, but also for high school meets and other recreational features.

21:56

So it would do full upgrades to that.

21:58

I think when we start talking about what upgrades they need, uh it needs the the track has to be at least 10 10 meters wide all the way through.

22:06

Uh has to be a constant uh surface.

22:09

So we do have uh uh some limited uh because we have concrete surfaces, we have uh granite surfaces, we have grass surfaces, their preference would be all grass.

22:18

So we just need to figure out a route through there and make sure everything is uh about 10 meters high.

22:23

Once again, not only would we be able to be able to host a college cross-country, but we would also be able to do uh state championships and districts and so forth and so on.

22:33

So it I think that would be a great ad to the to uh the the parks.

22:39

Um also at Westwood, we haven't uh opened that in 2018.

22:44

Uh haven't had a new feature out there.

22:46

The uh in a short-term when we're talking about a hundred-day program per year, we pull in about a million dollars worth of revenue out there.

22:56

It's the most successful, highly highly public used uh uh municipal pool in the state.

23:05

Uh other places come to us to try to figure out what we did.

23:09

We kind of got lucky.

23:10

Uh I think uh has a combination with our population center only having uh one pool uh for the amount of uh population we have in here, and we did it really, really good.

23:19

Um but brings in about a million dollars.

23:22

We need to add a new feature to keep uh make sure that we have eventually add a new feature out there to make sure that uh we have public interest and keep coming out there because Oakland City starting to redo pools or our private, always that private pool uh feature uh that you have Whitewater or uh the harbor, whatever the heck they're calling it nowadays.

23:42

Um that they're always upgrading and making advancements uh and and uh when we talk about a new feature, it could be anything from a uh a surf type machine, new slide, new feature.

23:55

We already have everything plumbed in going back to our pool house.

23:59

We just need to figure out and purchase that uh new feature, whatever that would be to add to to Westwood.

24:05

Uh also we have sign packages uh that a lot of our uh the parks that we have been working on, uh especially Ruby Grant, Griffin, and Reese.

24:17

We did not progress with a full sign package out there because budgets were so tight when we were working on those projects.

24:23

Uh we did uh put in a capital request for a sign package to come out of uh current Norford this upcoming year, um a sign package for all of our neighborhood parks, and along with uh upgrading our our community parks with this type of signage, and there is about $550,000.

24:42

And like I said, we did not do any re um signage at Reeves or at uh Griffin because those projects were I mean, we were down to pennies towards the end of those projects.

24:52

So we want to go through there and clean it up and get wayfinding signage at those parks along with uh obvious um placemaking signs in in front of those.

25:04

Can we uh build it westward with the airport?

25:07

How tall can we build?

25:08

Do what?

25:09

How tall with the airport being close by to have a high so the um just drop over what's the tallest slide?

25:17

I think we can go up to about 25 feet.

25:21

That's probably about this tall as the ones that are out there.

25:23

So it the think of if you go look at those lights, they're about 35 uh I think they're 35 feet in the air.

25:30

That's I think that was the top that uh the FFFAA would allow us so it's um mixed up with flights and farmers.

25:41

Um that people could see that.

25:44

We gotta go to Westwood.

25:45

Yep.

25:46

Right back then.

25:48

But everything we looked in is about uh anywhere between um a new feature is about a million dollars, and you start adding in uh design cost and insulation on that.

25:57

We we think that'd be about an extra half million to to go all in.

26:01

Uh so when we start talking about this is all the pot project summary.

26:06

Of course, we don't have 22 million dollars uh to spend on on all this, but these are just some ideas wanted to present to you.

26:13

Uh also there's been um talks with the CFOB uh if we do have uh excess uh amount or citizens' financial oversight board.

26:23

Shannon, there you go.

26:24

The uh to make sure that that uh uh if we have overages, they wanted to possibly set some aside for maintenance or or redoing of things that kind of get worn out um there towards the end.

26:39

So there's also that hanging out there.

26:42

So just wanted to uh tell you the good news.

26:46

There's a possibility that we will have a fund balance there towards the end, and um what possible projects that the the parks department would suggest going along with everything?

26:56

A balance of 11 08 million left over, yes.

27:01

So that's the possible projects that we could do left over, but there's 11 million, and you would say maybe reserve some of that for maintenance stuff.

27:10

So maybe 10 million.

27:12

Yeah, so we might have 10 million to actually do some of that with our maybe just correct.

27:20

Councilman.

27:21

Oh, thank you.

27:22

Um, just for the record excess funds and Norman Ford can only spent be spent on Norman Ford projects, correctly.

27:30

Correct.

27:30

So if you have a windfall of savings, you can't spend it somewhere else.

27:35

It's limited on it, so it has to be anything that was described in the ordinance that's set off the orders.

27:39

Awesome.

27:40

So we have a limited view of what we can spend it on.

27:42

What's the proposed process for weeding through these projects and kind of selecting the final candidates?

27:48

Is that gonna be the decision of us nine, or are they gonna the parks department gonna bring us recommendations of what they think the highest priorities are?

27:58

Final decision lays with the the council, and I think we can go through there and whatever the process that we all think or you think is best.

28:07

Uh we can go through there with CFOB, we can parks board, we can vet vet some of this through them.

28:13

And I I think that they will definitely have some priorities and suggestions that go along with that.

28:18

Uh you know, we definitely have some opinions, and then we can come through there and put that all together and present to you there towards the end, especially the feedback that we get from our our our public.

28:28

Okay.

28:29

And when do you think when do you anticipate we would be making those decisions?

28:33

It's a good question.

28:34

So the um we probably need to talk to um make sure on finance one is is it the schedule of available funds, and so we don't want to get too far ahead of uh of where we need to be.

28:47

We don't want to go out and start spending a whole bunch uh when there's not that amount in the bank.

28:51

Uh and one of the things that kind of works in my mind that you start talking about the uh we have an obvious delta at Andrews Park.

29:02

Uh we have things we don't have a public restroom out there, the the park's very tired.

29:07

So when you start looking at uh it does have stormwater advantages to go along with this.

29:12

So the when you start looking at the possibility of that.

29:16

So when you start looking, especially start picking Canadian River Park.

29:21

Yes, that is a project, but that has always been planned to be one of the last park projects in Norway Ford.

29:27

So can we bump up something else on this?

29:31

Because now Canadian River Park, we still don't have land.

29:34

Um we have to have land in our possession to basically start the project.

29:41

We have to know what the park's gonna look like.

29:42

We're gonna have to know how we're connect trails to it.

29:45

And right now, we've had several conversations about land, but uh nothing nothing anywhere close to being a sure thing.

29:53

So that's still hanging out here.

29:54

Now, if council makes a priority to bump one of these suggested projects up ahead of that, you know, that could be within y'all's well.

30:02

So would you prefer us to I mean I know which ones on the list that I would push as priorities?

30:09

Is it helpful for us to just send you our individual list or how mayor?

30:12

How would you like first thing?

30:17

We're in kind of uncharted territory.

30:19

We've never had such a scenario where we've got available resources and you know, a wish list kind of put together by staff, but there may be other park or recreational projects you have in mind that we didn't cover, we'd be happy to add to that list as we work our way through.

30:38

Um I I think if maybe we could assemble a list if council submitted their priorities, we'll make sure.

30:46

I mean, this this presentation is on YouTube, but we can send you the list and yeah, love your feedback, and we'll start bundling it up into a package that we think will fit in the budget.

30:57

We can bring it back to a study session or uh an appropriate committee meeting as we work through a process.

31:03

Yeah, thank you.

31:05

Council Grant.

31:06

Um, I like a list being sent to us and maybe a line item for maybe holding some back for maintenance.

31:14

Um, so we can rank it appropriately.

31:17

I'm just gonna say board four, and the fact that Andrews Park doesn't have our restroom, and we have events that happen out there, and we don't have a central library.

31:26

Police station is somewhat of an option, so is municipal complex.

31:31

I hear a lot about there not being a restroom out there, and if it's only 500 K, I you know, I would advance that before the other things with Andrew.

31:39

So to uh just be clear to get to the restroom, we have to survey it and then we have to move dirt to make sure because we're that restored.

31:48

Yeah, you're gonna there's a order of operations, we can't just go put the restroom in there.

31:52

Yeah, so there's no getting away from the 2.75.

31:54

I would still it's somewhere in there, it doesn't have to be the full amount, but it's somewhere within their uh because the uh the restroom right now is placed where the the man-made ditch is, and that uh what we want to do is go back to the original water flow that was in the park, and that man-made ditch is right where the restroom is designed or picked out to be.

32:13

So we need to get that moved.

32:15

Well, obviously, I feel strongly about it.

32:18

So I'm putting a one on it when it comes to us, and maybe that needs to be bundled together, considering um what needs to happen in the order of operations.

32:30

Yeah, and the one for that being the stormwater part, and I don't know what the total I can't remember what the total cost is that we're spending on the South Emhof Creek project that's going on right now, stream bank stabilization and all that.

32:45

But the the uh capacity for this water to be held at in the Andrews Park and provide some relief for all the neighborhoods downstream of here between here and the Canadian River, um, I think is a pretty good point for including that one because it has an impact that stretches through the middle of the city for a couple miles all the way south.

33:11

And I want I want to be very clear.

33:13

This is not a full fix stormwater-wise.

33:15

This is only a small, small small portion of what all the capacity we need to do it.

33:20

It does expand it, but it's not yeah, there's none now, it's just a rock channel that runs through.

33:27

Um, but yeah, um, I think council members uh evaluating that list, thinking about how much we have there and letting staff know, and then we can discuss it further in either a committee oversight or community planning transportation or finance.

33:42

Um, I suppose maybe Bocca or uh study session, whichever um and then I know we'll get questions about the library um about you know should we reserve any of this for that issue?

33:57

And I know we're litigating it, the potential of getting uh the construction company and those involved to be held responsible for that cost of fixing it.

34:08

But I know we'll get that question is should we save this and use it for that instead?

34:13

I think that's a viable option uh point out that right now that the hopes is that you know it gets fixed by the contractors and everything gets worked out through mediation or litigation, whatever it comes down to.

34:28

But uh us working ahead, and I know it's been there's been some suggestions.

34:32

Maybe we use some of this to go there in there and fix it now.

34:35

That that should not is not an option because one we don't we have to have an architect and we have a have a con number two, we have to have the contractor.

34:42

Number three, that thing's evidence.

34:44

It's a big box of evidence, so we don't want to go in there and change or fix or doing anything right now.

34:50

And number two, there's no contractor or no architect in the world that it's gonna touch step and take the responsibility of uh shifting all the liability to them if uh something in the future goes goes wrong with it.

35:00

ahead and I know it's been there's been some suggestions maybe we use some of this to go there in there and fix it now that that should not that's not an option because one we don't we have to have an architect and we have a have a con number two we have to have a contractor number three that thing's evidence it's a big box of evidence so we don't want to go in there and change or fix or do anything right now and number two there's no contractor or no architect in the world that it's going to touch step and take the responsibility of shifting all the liability to them if uh something in the future goes goes wrong with it you fix it you own it yep okay all right any other questions or comments from council about number forward finances um yeah I think there's a bunch of stuff on there I think there's stuff that we had to cut out that we can sort of put back in I think that'll help people um you know that may have felt like they voted for some stuff and we weren't able to get it all done but we can get maybe some more of it done with this so um okay all right well thank you very much Jason I appreciate the update and look forward to the continued conversation on uh this list of potential uh projects okay if that's it then this meeting is adjourned

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Parks and Recreation█████████████████████████████████████████████66%
Fiscal Sustainability████████████████24%
Stormwater Management███5%
Pending Litigation██3%
Procedural2%
Summary of Proceedings

Norman Forward Financial Update and Potential Project List - City Council Meeting - February 24, 2026

This meeting was a city council discussion regarding the financial status of the Norman Forward program. Jason, Director of Parks and Recreation, presented projections showing a potential remaining fund balance of approximately $11 million after all currently planned projects are completed. He outlined a list of possible projects that could be funded with the surplus, and council members provided initial feedback on priorities. No formal votes were taken; the council directed staff to collect member priorities and return to a future study session or committee meeting.

Discussion Items

  • Jason presented an overview of the Norman Forward program, noting that most large projects are completed or near completion. Remaining projects include Canadian River Park (land acquisition ongoing), Saxon Park (design done, construction likely late spring/early summer), new neighborhood parks (Bluestem and future South Lakes), neighborhood park renovations, and trail development.
  • Projections (assuming moderate growth) show an ending fund balance of about $10.2 million after all obligations, with Norman Forward revenues ending in December 2030 and debt service extending to 2032.
  • Jason presented a list of potential projects for council consideration, emphasizing that these were ideas and would go through public input (Parks Board, Citizens' Financial Oversight Board) before final council decisions. The list included:
    • Purchase of Sutton Wilderness land from the state (~$3 million).
    • Land acquisition for a future softball/football park (40–60 acres, ~$2.5 million; two sites under consideration: old North Water Treatment Plant and state-owned land).
    • Adding a multipurpose gym to the Adult Wellness and Education Center (~$2.5 million).
    • Updates to Reeves Park: replacing KidSpace playground (~$1 million) and adding a Miracle Field ADA-accessible baseball field (~$1.5 million). Note: a $600,000 T-Set grant application is pending.
    • Griffin Park updates: highly accessible playground ($750,000) and public restroom near dog park ($500,000).
    • Andrews Park updates: pond construction (with stormwater benefits) and restroom (~$2.75 million total).
    • Young Family Athletic Center (YFAC): weight room addition ($4 million total, with $2 million from the city and $2 million from the Young family), plus paying off remaining YFAC bond (~$2.4–2.5 million) to free up guest tax revenue.
    • Westwood Park: new feature (slide, surf machine, etc.) estimated at $1.5 million.
    • Sign packages for community and neighborhood parks ($550,000).
    • Ruby Grant trail upgrades for cross-country (cost not specified; OU interested in co-investment for SEC championships in 2029).
  • Council discussion:
    • Councilman confirmed that excess Norman Forward funds can only be spent on projects described in the original ordinance.
    • Council Grant expressed strong support for prioritizing Andrews Park, noting the lack of restrooms and the stormwater relief benefits. He stated he would rank it number one and suggested holding some funds for maintenance.
    • Mayor noted the stormwater benefits of the Andrews Park pond, providing relief to downstream neighborhoods.
    • Council discussed the possibility of using funds for the Central Library building issues, but Jason explained that the building is evidence in ongoing litigation, cannot be altered, and no contractor would accept liability.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal decisions or votes were made. The council directed staff to compile individual council members' priorities from the list and return to a future study session or appropriate committee meeting (e.g., Bocca, Community Planning and Transportation, or Finance) for further discussion.
  • The Citizens' Financial Oversight Board has suggested setting aside some surplus for maintenance or replacements of worn-out facilities, which will be considered.
  • Staff will continue to gather input from the Parks Board and the public before making final recommendations.

Meeting Transcript

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.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com