OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Weatherford Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Regular Session - April 24, 2025

City Council & Boards — Thursday, April 24, 2025
BodyWeatherford, Texas
SessionCity Council & Boards
DateThursday, April 24, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 22:13

Transcript — Verbatim
0:01

Alrighty.

0:03

I'm calling this meeting to order.

0:05

It is one, ain't it?

0:08

5 35 p.m.

0:11

on Thursday evening.

0:15

The first thing we need to do, we have a quorum.

0:18

So we need to do the Pledge of Allegiance.

0:28

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

0:33

And to the Republic for which it stands.

0:36

One nation under God.

0:38

Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

0:41

And the Texas Pledge?

0:43

Honorable Texas Pledge.

0:46

I pledge allegiance to the Texas.

0:49

One state under one and indivisible.

0:55

Okay.

0:56

Has everybody had a chance to look over the minutes from the last meeting?

1:02

Yeah, that's what we have turned off.

1:08

And anybody want to approve them and somebody just second?

1:13

I'll second.

1:16

Did you say I'll approve?

1:18

Oh yeah, I'll I'll make a motion to approve.

1:21

I'll say good.

1:23

Okay.

1:25

And we have staff reports.

1:28

Do we need to vote?

1:29

Update on events and projects.

1:31

Yeah.

1:32

You're right.

1:32

We need to vote on approval of the minutes.

1:34

Oh, we vote on the approval.

1:36

Yay.

1:36

All in favor.

1:37

All in favor.

1:39

Got it.

1:40

Now, do you want to give your staff report?

1:42

Absolutely.

1:43

I would be happy to.

1:44

Thank you.

1:46

Alright, so definitely been busy the last few months, so I'll kind of go through this pretty quickly.

1:51

But we opened up Cherry Park Playground.

1:53

So anybody's been there and seen that.

1:55

So it's been a huge success.

1:57

We've had lots of kids there every single day, and it's been great.

2:02

So now we're hopefully we'll build a new one to kind of alleviate the amount of kids at that playground to move to another playground.

2:06

So that's our goal.

2:08

So we're looking to do that this fall.

2:10

It was a group of house squares that's already made like uh saw that, yeah.

2:15

Making their videos.

2:16

Uh-huh.

2:17

Yeah, they made like nationals.

2:19

Like a pretty high up.

2:22

Yeah, that was pretty crazy.

2:25

Um so we had some storms roll through in the past few months, so we had a lot of uh some fence damage and different things, our tennis courts and pickleball complex, so we've repaired all those.

2:34

Uh same thing without the boardwalk.

2:36

We get trees that fall over doing those storms and knock some railings off, so we go back through and fix all those and replace them.

2:42

Um lot of work that's all we've done here at Shandor Gardens, removing all the winter plants, preparing all the all the beds for the spring and summer plants.

2:50

So they're always working on that.

2:53

Um recreational highlights.

2:56

Dave was gonna talk about talk a little bit in here in a little bit, but um we had our barnyard kickoff uh March 14th and 15th, where we had 74 cooks from across across the country come in and do a bunch of barbecue for us, so that was a lot of fun.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Parks and Recreation█████████████████████████████████████████████61%
Personnel Matters███████████████21%
Procedural██████████14%
Public Engagement███4%
Summary of Proceedings

Weatherford Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Regular Session - April 24, 2025

The Parks & Recreation Advisory Board met in regular session on Thursday, April 24, 2025, at 5:35 PM at Chandor Gardens, 711 W Lee Avenue, Weatherford, TX. Chair Kathe McDonald called the meeting to order with a quorum present. The board received updates on recent parks projects, programming, events, and facility maintenance, and heard from Recreation Manager David Mote on recreation programs.

Approval of Minutes

  • The board unanimously approved the minutes from the January 23, 2025 regular session. Motion made, seconded, and all in favor.

Staff Reports

  • Jaycob Kirkpatrick, Director of Parks, Recreation & Special Events, reported:

    • Cherry Park Playground opened and is heavily used, with plans to build a new playground this fall to alleviate demand.
    • Storm damage repairs completed at tennis courts, pickleball complex, and boardwalk.
    • Chandor Gardens: winter plants removed, spring/summer beds prepared.
    • Barnyard Kickoff (March 14-15): 74 cooks participated.
    • Building rentals: 132 reservations in the last three months (Cherry Park, Harburger Hill, Mount Pleasant); 46 pavilion rentals; 25 Camp Holland rentals.
    • Field rentals: seven tournaments at Hall Lake Complex (softball, baseball); 31 teams in spring adult softball league.
    • Blast ball (T-ball) had 80 kids enrolled.
    • Upcoming summer events: pool opening, summer camps, July 4th celebration.
    • Special events: Spring Fling (March 22) at Chandor Gardens drew 1,500 visitors and 70 vendors; Food Park Lounge Night (March 25) had ~400 attendees; Kid Fishing Derby (March 29) at Holland Lake had 150 youth sign-ups.
    • First Monday Trade Days: January 349 vendors, February 345, March 418 (typical seasonal growth).
    • Facility projects: Fire Station 4 interior remodel (kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, ceilings) ongoing; library remodel (kitchen, bathrooms, new ceilings and lighting); City Hall interior work on doorways. 184 department service requests completed.
    • The Facilities Maintenance Division, now under Parks, has two full-time staff (including a facility manager) handling work orders; larger HVAC/mechanical jobs are contracted.

  • David Mote, Recreation Manager, provided an update:

    • Over 25 years of experience; oversees facility rentals, athletics, camps, pool, and the Barnyard cook-off.
    • Athletics: Adult softball league expanded to two nights due to demand; tournaments maxed out; blast ball moved to Holland Lake Park and is successful.
    • Camps: 11 weekly themed Weatherford Wrangler camps (e.g., safari week, Ranger games) nearly full; tennis and pickleball camps offered.
    • Pool: Open 6 AM to 10 PM with programs including toddler swim, special needs swim, lap swim, water aerobics, swim lessons, open swim, night swim, and a dog swim event. Pool parties (7:30-10 PM weekdays, 8-10 PM weekends) book out solid each year. Swim team had a record 140 members in summer 2024. The pool is the only public pool in Parker County.
    • Barnyard cook-off: Seventh year; remains the largest cook-off in North Texas not tied to a rodeo or music festival. Attendance was slightly down this year but still featured top champions from San Antonio, Austin, and Houston livestock shows. Planning a 10th-anniversary event for future.

Discussion Items

  • McGrath Park (skate park): Bids for a design consultant were received and are being narrowed; design process expected ~6 months, with construction targeted for fall 2025. The park will include a state-of-the-art skate park, new playground, restroom facility, expanded parking, resurfaced basketball court, and lighting. The site is about 15 acres with an additional 20 acres for future expansion.
  • Love Street Park: Splash pad and playground replacement design is complete; will be submitted for budget approval this fall.
  • Pool parking lot: Design for a 75-space parking lot across from the pool (entrances on Davis and Waco/Alamo) is complete and being submitted for budget.

Key Outcomes

  • The board unanimously approved the January 23, 2025 meeting minutes.
  • The next regular meeting is scheduled for July 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM at Chandor Gardens.
  • Staff will proceed with the McGrath Park consultant selection and budget submissions for Love Street Park and the pool parking lot.

Meeting Transcript

Alrighty. I'm calling this meeting to order. It is one, ain't it? 5 35 p.m. on Thursday evening. The first thing we need to do, we have a quorum. So we need to do the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And the Texas Pledge? Honorable Texas Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the Texas. One state under one and indivisible. Okay. Has everybody had a chance to look over the minutes from the last meeting? Yeah, that's what we have turned off. And anybody want to approve them and somebody just second? I'll second. Did you say I'll approve? Oh yeah, I'll I'll make a motion to approve. I'll say good. Okay. And we have staff reports. Do we need to vote? Update on events and projects. Yeah. You're right. We need to vote on approval of the minutes. Oh, we vote on the approval. Yay. All in favor. All in favor. Got it. Now, do you want to give your staff report? Absolutely. I would be happy to. Thank you. Alright, so definitely been busy the last few months, so I'll kind of go through this pretty quickly. But we opened up Cherry Park Playground. So anybody's been there and seen that. So it's been a huge success. We've had lots of kids there every single day, and it's been great. So now we're hopefully we'll build a new one to kind of alleviate the amount of kids at that playground to move to another playground. So that's our goal. So we're looking to do that this fall. It was a group of house squares that's already made like uh saw that, yeah. Making their videos. Uh-huh.

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