Parks are focus of city council agenda
May 22—Odessa's parks appear several times on this week's city council agendas.
During the council's 3 p.m. Tuesday work session, members will discuss improvements at Woodson, Sherwood and Slater parks.
According to materials provided to city council members, several light poles at the Woodson Park Aquatic Center have been blown over by high winds. The city asked six vendors to bid on a project to upgrade the light pole design and install new poles and one, Hawkins Construction was the only one to reply. It bid just under $152,000.
The parks and recreation department is also expected to ask the council to consider putting down Tiff Turf Grass at Sherwood and Slater parks. If the council approves of the $157,000 project, areas of the parks will be closed six to eight weeks.
Mayor Javier Joven is also scheduled to discuss the possibility of banning kids from parks during school hours unless they are there with a parent or legal guardian.
During the council's regular meeting at 6 p.m., the council will discuss amending YMCA's swimming program contract to include security at Floyd Gwin, Sherwood Park, Woodson Park and the Jurassic spray ground. The total cost would be $34,000 and the YMCA is asking the city to pay for 40% or $20,400.
On July 29, 2022, OPD announced three kids took shelter inside the pool area of Sherwood Park around 4:15 p.m. after someone took three shots at them on the outside of the pool's east fence line and fled. Two 16-year-olds were later arrested in connection with the incident.
The council will also hear from Craig Stoker, last year's Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone chairman. A TIRZ is a special zone created by city councils to attract new investment in an area and the taxes raised are used to finance public improvements in that area.
Joven and City Councilmember Mark Matta have expressed their disappointment in TIRZ and Stoker in recent weeks.
During the council's May 9 meeting, Council members Steve Thompson and Gilbert Vasquez voted to ratify the TIRZ board's recommendation that Stoker be re-named chairman, but Matta wanted to know what the board has accomplished, noting it hasn't been consistently meeting.
As a result of his question, Stoker's appointment was voted down 5-2 and Stoker will give an update on TIRZ Tuesday night.
During the same meeting, Joven also brought up TIRZ during a discussion that ultimately led to KDC Associates' contract with the city being terminated. KDC was hired to design a downtown entertainment district using an updated downtown master plan to springboard from.
The mayor has repeatedly said he was opposed to the $85,000 updated master plan, which was unveiled last year, and he was opposed to paying KDC $640,000 to design the entertainment district.
"We did it reluctantly because the TIRZ was adamant they wanted to get (the new master plan) done. They needed to do it. We didn't want to do it for the reason is that we knew what we were going to get. We're going to get a regurgitated, updated, watered down feasibility study that was going to do nothing," Joven said during the May 9 meeting.
In other matters, the city is expected to discuss recycling again.
During its May 9 meeting, the council passed resolutions to reject a contract to haul recyclables and another contract for BRI Inc. to provide recycling services. Council members discussed the fact there is no longer a market for such materials and it's not cost effective.
