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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

City of Norman Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting - August 6, 2026

Public Meetings & Live-Streams — Thursday, August 6, 2026

BodyNorman, Oklahoma

SessionPublic Meetings & Live-Streams

DateThursday, August 6, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:36:17

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:41

How's that?

0:42

Is that better?

0:44

Is this better?

0:47

Okay.

0:52

There's also this.

0:56

Sorry.

0:58

That's fine.

1:03

Check, check, check.

1:05

We're like an official episode of Parks Like tonight.

1:15

We could have written all the we could have written the scripts.

1:18

Okay.

1:18

I love that show.

1:19

Yeah.

1:20

Good evening.

1:21

I'd like to call to order the City of Norman Board of Park Commissioners meeting for Thursday, August 6th, 2026.

1:28

Rokaw, Billy Davison, Todd Fagan.

1:35

Christy Isaacson here.

1:37

Mark Nanny.

1:39

Here.

1:41

Tori, Ted or Laughlin.

1:43

Here.

1:44

Ellen Sri.

1:45

Christy Wright here.

1:47

Christina Wyckoff.

1:48

Here.

1:50

Okay.

1:53

First item on the agenda is consideration of approval, acceptance, rejection, amendment, and or postponement of the minutes as follows.

2:00

Board of Park Commissioners regular meeting minutes of May 7th, 2026.

2:05

I move to approve.

2:06

Thank you, Christina.

2:08

Thank you, Mark.

2:09

All in favor?

2:11

Aye.

2:11

Any opposed?

2:13

Yep.

2:13

Item passes.

2:14

Discussion item number two, consideration of acceptance, rejection, amendment, and or postponement of previously approved city council items.

2:22

Let me borrow your microphone since it's the only one working.

2:26

Had a busy past two months.

2:27

We haven't met in a while, so I'll try to quickly go through these items on uh June 9th.

2:33

We had a budget adoption, so b uh uh both our our budget, thank goodness got adopted for th for the city along with capital budgets, and those of the visitor bureau and Norman Art Council also got adopted uh on January 9th at a special uh city council meeting.

2:49

We had a discussion related to Sydney ordinances as to um city parks proclamations that were uh ran through on June 9th were proclamations for Juneteenth and LGBTQ plus Pride Month.

3:03

Uh on uh City Council meeting of June 23rd had another proclamation of parks and recreation month.

3:08

Yay parks and recreation.

3:10

Uh final acceptance of a contract for happy playgrounds at Northeast Lines and another exception of final payment for a playground at Eagle Cliff and then a contract for a city care for operations of the emergency overnight shelter uh on Grace Street on July 14th.

3:33

We had final acceptance of the Sutton Place playground uh project on uh the also on the 14th we had uh final or a contract accepted for the network visit Norman and uh the Norman Arts Council and re um this was basically to reallocate our our portion of room tax uh and then also on the 14th we had a sales agreement uh that went through and this is basically uh giving the authority to this uh city manager to close on uh a new Norman Ford Canadian River Trails Park uh just east of I-35 and the the river and then on July 28th, there's a fact to this, I'm sorry.

4:25

Uh uh another proclamation for Purple Heart month here in Norman.

4:29

Uh also passed a contract with Dr.

4:34

Pepper for a branding of a uh the Lindsay Street water tower, which we'll probably come talk to you later about uh accepting that as a special uh special use park.

4:47

Uh uh also was FSB for engineering um and design of the homeless shelter, and that was just through through the uh concept phase or excuse me, um schematic design phase.

5:01

Uh we also had ordinances uh that both go like uh got delayed for for camping and uh ordinances as related to city parks, and that was it.

5:16

Sorry, that was a long list.

5:18

So any questions about any of those items.

5:23

Could you explain why the um camping in the park was delayed?

5:30

I remember hearing something.

5:32

So the best of the knowledge uh the that we got was that there were new uh council members on that, and they just wanted uh the opportunity to take that to a study session to give them a little bit more background on all those items before they went through it.

5:47

And I think the there was more concern uh and from council on camping in public uh sidewalks and easements and accesses to that than the parks, but they both got delayed to uh November, I believe.

6:07

October kind of to the first one.

6:11

So it has double standing.

6:19

Okay.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Parks and Recreation█████████████████████████████████████████████56%

Arts And Culture████████████15%

Public Works██████8%

Procedural███4%

Technology and Innovation██3%

Youth Programs██2%

Public Transportation██2%

Fiscal Sustainability██2%

Accessibility██2%

Summary of Proceedings

City of Norman Board of Park Commissioners Regular Meeting - August 6, 2026

The Board of Park Commissioners met on August 6, 2026, to approve minutes, receive annual reports from the Firehouse Art Center and Westwood Golf, discuss the Norman Forward program's excess funding and prioritized project recommendations, and hear division updates. One public comment was received regarding historical interpretation at Atkins Crossing Park.

Consent Calendar

Unanimously approved the minutes of the regular meeting held on May 7, 2026.

Public Comments & Testimony

Michael Givell (Ward 2) requested that the historical marker at Atkins Crossing Park be updated to include accurate information about First American history related to the 1889 Land Run. He noted that the current marker, erected by the Cleveland County Historical Society in 1978, celebrates the land run but does not acknowledge that the unassigned lands belonged to the Creek (Muscogee) and Seminole nations. He asked for a timeline for updating the marker. The Board took the comment under advisement.

Discussion Items

Consideration of Previously Approved City Council Items: Staff summarized council actions from June and July 2026, including budget adoption, proclamations (Juneteenth, LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Parks and Recreation Month, Purple Heart month), contracts for playgrounds, a sales agreement for the Norman Ford Canadian River Trails Park property east of I-35, branding of the Lindsay Street water tower with Dr. Pepper, engineering for the homeless shelter, and delays to camping ordinances in parks (postponed to October/November for a study session).
Annual Report from the Firehouse Art Center: Director Annie presented. Key highlights: 43 summer camps (a record), partnerships with Red Earth (indigenous artist workshops), Prairie House (architectural tours), School of Visual Arts (new sculpture, ceramic residency), Art Sparks program serving all 1,200 fifth graders in Norman Public Schools (with a study from the Rainbolt School of Education), a pollinator garden (funded by Kirkpatrick family fund and an $8,000 grant from Partners of Fish and Wildlife), building expansion plans in conjunction with a potential Norman Forward 2, and a first annual fundraiser honoring founders on August 22, 2026. The Board voted unanimously to submit the report to City Council.
Annual Report from Westwood Golf and Maintenance: PGA Professional Rick Parrish reported FY25 revenue of $1,179,327.12 and expenses of $646,793.88 (including $374,000 payroll and $175,000 supplies, of which $156,000 was pro shop merchandise). Pro shop sales were $204,000 in FY25 and $254,000 in FY26. Rounds played increased from 32,828 in FY25 to over 41,000 in FY26 (aided by greens recovery and competitor course closures). The 51st Westwood Invitational featured a $1,000 cash prize for the championship flight winner (sponsored by Heck Insurance) and $500 for the Masters flight winner (sponsored by Allen Mills Lynde and Simpson Law Firm), with 23 senior flight players added. Youth programs include free junior clinics, junior academy (90 kids), and First Tee OKC (50 kids per session). Superintendent Paul Kraut reported on maintenance: weed control, tree management from three storms (worst on July 4th, closing the course for nearly a week), and the driving range renovation (sprigged in early May, opened last week of June). The Board voted unanimously to submit the report to City Council.
Norman Forward Program – Financial Status and Project Recommendations: Staff presented the projected ending fund balance of Norman Forward sales tax collections (through 2030, with debt service through 2032). After remaining projects, approximately $11 million in excess funding is estimated. Staff recommended a prioritized project list to City Council: 1) Andrews Park – pond, spillway, restroom, and stormwater improvements ($2.25 million total for design, pond construction, and restroom); 2) KidSpace at Reese Park (including a $500,000 TSEC grant match); 3) Adult Wellness & Education Center gym expansion; 4) Griffin Park – fully accessible playground and public restroom ($750,000); 5) Miracle Field at Reese Park – an ADA-accessible baseball field ($1.5 million); 6) Weight room at Young Family Athletic Center (contingent on matching funds); 7) Park signage package for community and neighborhood parks ($550,000). The Citizen’s Finance Oversight Board had already unanimously supported this list. The Board voted unanimously to send the recommendations to City Council.
Division Updates:
- CAPRA Update: Most chapters of the accreditation self-assessment are complete; review process has started. Draft due by October 31, 2026.
- Norman Forward Update: Playground ribbon cuttings at Sutton Place, Eagle Cliff, and Northeast Lines completed. Blue Stem Park (newest park) will open fall 2026. Land purchase for Norman Ford River Trails Park is in due diligence; a trail master plan to connect to Saxon Park and Clear Bay is anticipated. Saxon Park construction plans are delayed pending utility and road work. The weight room at YFAC may be part of Norman Forward 2.
- Parks Division (Wade Thompson): Focus on tree cleanup from the July 4th storm, which generated an estimated 800,000 cubic yards of debris citywide. Citywide public infrastructure damage is approximately $12 million (surpassing FEMA thresholds for state and county assistance). Staff worked 12-hour days; a contractor (TFR) with up to 8 trucks is mulching at a DEQ-approved site. A second sweep for upper canopy damage is underway. Normal operations are expected to resume in about two months.
- Park Development (James Briggs): Repairs to fencing at YFAC and Westwood from storm damage (sand volleyball and pickleball courts reopened). A new bike rack sculpture for America 250 was dedicated at Reaves Park. Blue Stem Park construction ongoing (shelter on order, trails and sand volleyball finishing). Bishop Creek Eco Park targeting an October opening. A median landscape project on Main Street (near Quick Trip) includes native plantings and a possible 60–70-foot flagpole. Invasive species control continues at Sutton Wilderness. McGeorge Park playground installation completed. CDBG-funded musical flowers at Graft Park. Land deal for South Lake Park (final new neighborhood park of Norman Forward) is closing. Assisting with landscape for the Gray Street two-way project.
- Recreation Division: Reported summer programming: Fishing Derby, June Teenth at Reaves Park, Fourth Fest, home run derby, outdoor movies (Captain America), Fourth of July 2.0 (with local performer Carter Elliott), adult night at Westwood, lifeguard games, and National Parks and Recreation Month activities (playful skits, tunnel walks, Sasquatch searches, snow cones). After-school programs starting in August; upcoming events include adult night (August 7), outdoor movie (Minecraft, August 21 at Lions Park), and Nerf Night (August 28 at 12th Avenue).

Key Outcomes

Approved minutes of the May 7, 2026 regular meeting (unanimous).
Accepted the Firehouse Art Center annual report and directed staff to submit to City Council (unanimous).
Accepted the Westwood Golf annual report and directed staff to submit to City Council (unanimous).
Approved the staff recommendations for Norman Forward excess funds project list and directed staff to submit to City Council for consideration (unanimous).
Public comment regarding the Atkins Crossing Park historical marker to be reviewed by staff.

Meeting Transcript

How's that? Is that better? Is this better? Okay. There's also this. Sorry. That's fine. Check, check, check. We're like an official episode of Parks Like tonight. We could have written all the we could have written the scripts. Okay. I love that show. Yeah. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the City of Norman Board of Park Commissioners meeting for Thursday, August 6th, 2026. Rokaw, Billy Davison, Todd Fagan. Christy Isaacson here. Mark Nanny. Here. Tori, Ted or Laughlin. Here. Ellen Sri. Christy Wright here. Christina Wyckoff. Here. Okay. First item on the agenda is consideration of approval, acceptance, rejection, amendment, and or postponement of the minutes as follows. Board of Park Commissioners regular meeting minutes of May 7th, 2026. I move to approve. Thank you, Christina. Thank you, Mark. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Yep. Item passes. Discussion item number two, consideration of acceptance, rejection, amendment, and or postponement of previously approved city council items. Let me borrow your microphone since it's the only one working. Had a busy past two months. We haven't met in a while, so I'll try to quickly go through these items on uh June 9th. We had a budget adoption, so b uh uh both our our budget, thank goodness got adopted for th for the city along with capital budgets, and those of the visitor bureau and Norman Art Council also got adopted uh on January 9th at a special uh city council meeting. We had a discussion related to Sydney ordinances as to um city parks proclamations that were uh ran through on June 9th were proclamations for Juneteenth and LGBTQ plus Pride Month. Uh on uh City Council meeting of June 23rd had another proclamation of parks and recreation month. Yay parks and recreation. Uh final acceptance of a contract for happy playgrounds at Northeast Lines and another exception of final payment for a playground at Eagle Cliff and then a contract for a city care for operations of the emergency overnight shelter uh on Grace Street on July 14th. We had final acceptance of the Sutton Place playground uh project on uh the also on the 14th we had uh final or a contract accepted for the network visit Norman and uh the Norman Arts Council and re um this was basically to reallocate our our portion of room tax uh and then also on the 14th we had a sales agreement uh that went through and this is basically uh giving the authority to this uh city manager to close on uh a new Norman Ford Canadian River Trails Park uh just east of I-35 and the the river and then on July 28th, there's a fact to this, I'm sorry. Uh uh another proclamation for Purple Heart month here in Norman. Uh also passed a contract with Dr. Pepper for a branding of a uh the Lindsay Street water tower, which we'll probably come talk to you later about uh accepting that as a special uh special use park. Uh uh also was FSB for engineering um and design of the homeless shelter, and that was just through through the uh concept phase or excuse me, um schematic design phase.

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