Weatherford Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Regular Meeting - July 24, 2025
Weatherford Parks & Recreation Advisory Board Regular Meeting - July 24, 2025
The Weatherford Parks & Recreation Advisory Board held its regular session on Thursday, July 24, 2025, at 5:34 PM at Chandor Gardens, 711 W Lee Avenue. Chair Kathe McDonald called the meeting to order with a quorum present. The board approved the minutes from the April 24, 2025 meeting, recommended approval of an ordinance amending park regulations, received staff reports on programming and events, and set the next meeting for October 23, 2025.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The board approved the minutes of the regular session held April 24, 2025, by motion (Kaylin moved, Kayla seconded). No corrections were noted.
Discussion Items
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Ordinance O2025-28 – Park General Regulations Amendment: Jaycob Kirkpatrick, Director of Parks, Recreation & Special Events, presented the proposed ordinance to amend Title IX, Chapter 11, Section 9-11-1. The changes include moving existing city ordinances (e.g., loitering, noise) from the police department section to the parks ordinance for easier enforcement and visibility on park rule signs. A new prohibition on smoking (any nicotine) in parks was added. The ordinance also covers sound amplification, applicable to all city park property including around the lake. The board discussed enforcement and scope. A motion to recommend approval was made and seconded, and the motion carried unanimously.
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Staff Report on Programming, Events, and Projects (Jaycob Kirkpatrick):
- Parks Maintenance: New ladder installed at Cherry Park Ninja Wall to replace slide pole. Splash pads and pool operational. Fiber installed at Heritage Park with new security cameras operational for July 4th event. Storm cleanup ongoing after spring storms, including tree removal and boardwalk railing repair.
- Horticulture: Spring/summer plantings completed downtown and in medians; 13 new trees planted at Heritage Park.
- Recreation: Summer camp (Camp Wrangler) served 368 children with a waitlist of 57. Field trips included Rangers games, Mavericks games, and weekly swimming. Rental buildings: Cherry Park (42), Harburger (63), Mount Pleasant (27); 182 pavilion rentals; 38 Camp Holland rentals. Aquatics: 641 swim lesson participants with 223 on waitlist; swim team of 112 kids; 33 pool reservations (all booked). Softball: 12 tournaments scheduled (several rained out); 265 total field rentals.
- Special Events: Four Food Park Lounge nights (approx. 300 attendees each, one canceled due to weather). Concert series: George Strait cover band (3,000 attendees), AC/DC tribute (5,000 attendees). Two movies in the park (Moana, Lufasa). First Monday Trade Days continued to thrive with seasonal attendance variation.
- Facility Maintenance: Full interior remodel of Fire Station #4 completed. Library improvements: new flooring, roofing, lighting, kitchen, and two study rooms built. Hailstorm damage assessment completed; 43 leaks in Fire Station near City Hall; insurance claim in progress. Farmers Market downtown (city-owned) renovated with new ceiling, paint, fans, and restrooms. 176 work orders submitted.
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Special Event Programs Update (Michael Howard): Michael Howard, Special Events Manager, introduced himself and his 15-year career with the city, starting at First Monday as a groundskeeper and rising to coordinator and then special events manager. He now oversees First Monday, Chandor Gardens, and the Downtown Light Project. He manages approximately 35 city special events annually, including concerts, movies in the park, Weatherford Fish Derby (200 kids), Sparkle in the Park, Monster Bash, Jack O'Lantern Knights, Holly in the Park, Pathway of Lights, and the WISD third-grade tour. He also permits private events and coordinates with other departments. The board commended his work.
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Future Meeting Date: The next regular meeting is scheduled for October 23, 2025, at 5:30 PM at the Parks and Recreation Office, 119 Palo Pinto Street. During discussion, a board member noted a previous complaint about not rotating meeting locations. The board agreed to resume rotating among different parks/facilities, and staff will highlight location changes in the meeting notice.
Public Comments & Testimony
No members of the public were present to speak on non-agenda items.
Key Outcomes
- Ordinance O2025-28: Recommended for approval by the board (unanimous). The recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council.
- Meeting Location Rotation: The board decided to return to rotating meeting locations to visit various park facilities. Future meeting notices will prominently note location changes.
- Next Meeting: Scheduled for October 23, 2025, at the Parks and Recreation Office (subject to possible location change if rotation is implemented).
The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:00 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. I'd like to call the City of Weatherford Parks and Rec Board meeting to order. Today is July 24th, 2025, and the time is 534. At this time present are Rich, Kendra, Kaitlin. Kayla. And Laurain. We do have a quorum. We need to do the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the public forstand one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. And next the Texas flag. One state on an individual. Okay, we need to look at the uh the next item on the generals agenda is the approval of the minutes from the regular session we had on April 24th. Has everybody had a chance to look over those? Are there any discussion or corrections anybody knows about if there's no corrections? I'll enter a motion to approve the minutes. I move second. Second. Just like last time, Taylor. And Kayla has second at last. Okay. It's in the minutes. Item four on the agenda is the consideration of recommendation of ordinance oh 2025-28, amending Texas title. Is that mine? Chapter 11, Section 9-11-1, Park General Regulations. If you look at your commitments in our paperwork, it is items 15 through 22 on page three. Those are the changes that are being made. Yeah, so I'll quickly touch on these real quick. Um kind of the reasoning behind it. And so these most of these on this bottom, the one that you just mentioned, 15 through 22, they're already uh city ordinances, but they were just listed under the PD. So now we're just we're basically copying those to put them under parks ordinance, so it's easier for us to regulate those when we put them on our rule signs. And it's basically things like um, you know, loitering. We added one of the new items that we added was no smoking in the parks. That was that was not hasn't been an ordinance, but now it is. So we can enforce that now. So we'll that's a really that's a brand new one. Uh and then the like the noise ordinance, um things like that have always been there, it's just been under the PD section, but now it's gonna be more visible under our park section. That's where people always look to find orders at the park, so it's just mixing things. Uh so basically that's all we're doing is just kind of shifting those under to have them all in the park side. And just added a couple extras. The smoking and the uh yes. Yeah. Well, any nicotine. So it's got nicotine in it. The sound the sound amplification, uh that's that's one as well, which is in there, but now it's just gonna be easier as force to force. That that does happen a lot, especially with um, you know, somebody's in their car with their radio turned up real loud, you know. They can we can we can report it now and enforce it. Okay. Is that included around the lake too? Yes.
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