Good evening, everybody. And
welcome to the. Meeting AUGUST
27th of the Parks and
Recreation Committee. We are
going hear some budget
presentations this evening
from the Department of Parks
and Recreation and the Arts
Council in Annapolis in the
Parks, recreation
presentations up for director
grown. You have the floor. And
besides that, we're going
introduce my colleagues. Thank
you for all the hand signals.
I don't even know sign
language. What I caught the
yeah PRESIDENT, to my left.
Good evening, CHAIRMAN. That's
thank you so much. Welcome to
everyone. Chris Tilley Wells
District 11, far West side.
Thank you. CHAIRMAN Jesse
Brown District 13 near north
near East side. I think you
MR. CHAIRMAN Brenda Lee
District 2 and I just came
from Riverwood part where it's
the epicenter of the flood
response. So I just want to
remind everybody that we do
have a lot going on in our
city parks as it stands
serving as epicenter of
response for the flood. So
thank you for allowing us to
use the parks. Thank you.
Thank you. CHAIRMAN Jessica
McCormack District 16. My
side. And I boots, District 3
and had the honor of chairing
the committee. So now we are
ready for the presentation of
parks and director grown. You
now have the floor. Thank you
very much, MISTER Chair and
counselors of the committee.
Before we get started tonight.
I also want to take a moment
to acknowledge those in our
community and across the state
impacted by that recent
flooding. As you all are
likely thinking as well our
thoughts and the Parks
Department continue to be with
those impacted with our
neighbors who are suffering
through this crisis. I'd also
like to thank all of our city
and local response teams to
this disaster. I'm incredibly
proud of the role our parks
have played in this response
as counselor doing any mention
river would park continues to
serve as a committee community
hub for the entire ravenswood
neighborhood. That was so
impacted by those flood
waters. Perhaps. Most
importantly, I want folks here
and anyone watching at home to
know that broad Ripple Park
will be hosting fema tomorrow
and Saturday from 08:00am to
excuse me. 09:00am to 06:00pm
for residents to register for
individual assistance. And so
that will be Friday and
Saturday at Broad Ripple Park
family Center where fema is
connecting with those
residents impacted. Please
share this information with
anyone who was impacted. They
do not an advance registration
or specific items or forms
filled out or anything like
that. It'll be a hands-on
approach from fema. Ripple
Park had previously served as
a connection point for those
in need of a place to stay
with pets. And we were able to
connect 15 households with
those resources the first day
and night after the flood came
in. And I cannot think our
team a broad ripple enough for
their support with those
operations. I also want to
shout out of some of our team
members, Andrea Dead men.
John, get Gretchen sort men
and the entire resource
development team for scene
damage at our parks due to
those floods. Kim Campbell and
Sky Mackenzie for being on
call and supporting throughout
the entire response. Erik
Davenport and filter Povick
for supporting operations at
broad Ripple when we made that
donation site and Alex
Courtright, he's sitting here
to my right for keeping the
media, our website and social
media channels up to date. And
of course, John George, our
cfo for keeping our damage
reports and expenses
organized. Please join me in
giving them in all of our
staff around the place for
that. So to get into our
presentation. Now, I want to
start off with some context of
our department has been the
generational investment we've
seen come to life this year
and over the past few years
and look at how we address
some of our challenges going
forward says is going to be a
lot of information over the
next several minutes. And I'm
excited to share this with you
all and just ask everybody to
hang on with us as we go
through the wonderful updates.
This year's budget will look a
little different than years
past as we implement program
or outcome based budgeting for
the first time. So instead of
seen just our budget based on
character this year, our
budget will be broken down
into 15 program nodes such as
capital and maintenance
community nutrition. Aquatics
summer camps and environmental
education. We are, of course,
proud of the more than
150 million dollar capital
improvements that are largely
wrapping up this year. It's
also important to note that
our annual budget is more than
3 times larger than it was in
2015 when it was just
17 Million. Our team is not
resting on any of these.
However, in this presentation,
we will cover topics,
including a major new grant
secured this year. Our goals
for 2027 and talk about the
future of our aquatic system.
As always, I'd like to start
off with a reminder of what
guides our work. Our mission
is to provide enriching
experiences for all while our
vision for the city is
healthier lives inspiring
experiences and vibrant
communities. You can also see
our full racial equity
statement here as well. We are
fortunate to have a huge, an
extensive park system in our
city. Our 218 parks cover
nearly 12,000 acres and served
more than 10 million folks
each year. The Eagle Creek
Park alone seized nearly 1.5
million visits a year, which
is on par and sometimes above
of what our national Park c.
Art rail network is so long
that it is over half the
length of the Grand Canyon and
our total parking garage is
nearly the size of the entire
city of Lawrence. Thanks to
recent investments, we're
upgrading over 40% of our 136
playgrounds. And we've added 2
new splash pads this year at
Chapel Hill and Dew, Berry
Parks. Quickly, I wanted to
provide a reminder of our
department's leadership team
this year. We were thrilled to
promote Andrea Dead men to
Deputy director and he has
done a phenomenal job
overseeing what we have. To
believe is the most
significant year of
construction in our
department's history. This
slide you see now is a quick
reminder of how our system is
divided between the
administrative staff in the
city County building and the 6
regions that oversee our 218
parks. I cannot thank our
regional managers enough for
their expertise, their
dedication and their
leadership in the field. Hour.
More than 150 full-time staff
do an incredible job. Keeping
our department going and
provide incredible programs
and opportunities for our
community. While details are
still being finalized will be
adjusted. Fire department. We
are really excited about the
new step in great pay policy
that we that will go into
place next year. Our
department is very supportive
of this kind of policy and it
more fully recognizes the
experiences and expertise of
our talented staff. Through
this policy staff will see pay
increases in accordance with
their position and time with
the city. We in any park see
this as a crucial retention
tool that will more accurately
compensate our dedicated team.
And this is a very big deal
for our team and for our city
to keep talented folks in our
department. Speaking of
retention, I also want to take
a moment to highlight some of
our staff who have been
promoted over the last year.
This list is not all
conclusive, but I simply can't
thank all of our staff enough
for what they do and we would
be here all night because our
team is that phenomenal. The
names on your screen are
incredible group of parks
professionals and are examples
of well-deserved promotions
and professional development
within our department. These
promotions range from our
programming operations teams
with Gideon Scott Miller,
Tanya Jenkins and new Park
managers. All the way to
DeAndre Dement. And Jonathan,
get on our resource
development team and Robert
Luck on our finance team.
Also, I want to take a moment
for park recognition to
acknowledge the 100 year
anniversary of the Frederick
Douglass Golf Course. I was
able to join our staff for
that celebration this past
Saturday. And it's a very cool
story that Douglas and it's
for is the first golf course
named after a black man in the
entire country. The very first
this, of course, was also the
same golf course that black
residents played during
segregation. Frederick
Douglass Park is an incredible
place for lots of reasons. And
this is certainly one of the
most significant. Thank you to
Cook Ryder, Golf Management
out operator at Douglas for
the event this past weekend.
And all they do at this
beautiful and historic course.
As you all MAY recall at the
end of last year, we adjusted
our fees and prices to improve
our long-term sustainability.
Even with these modest changes
in the parks remains the most
affordable options for a wide
range of essential and Richie
programs from our free meals
programs to our low-cost
summer camps to wellness and
fitness programs. These low
and no cost options are
essential to the healthier
lives aspect of our vision. A
big part of what makes our
park special are the great
programs we offer and the
special events we host some
new and noteworthy programs
this year that you all MAY
enjoy hearing about include
fencing, our continuing arts
for all programs that bring
arts to parks that have been
historically offer them. And
of course, are very, very
popular. Environmental
education programs. Our team
does an incredible job.
Corning is special events in
our parks as well. We posted
more than 159 special events
so far this year that bring
neighbors together for food,
entertainment music, culture,
and community in ways that
only our public spaces can.
I'm also very proud of our
growing summer concert series
that our production arts team
puts on year after year. We've
had over 100 performances this
year at parks. And it's a long
list of parks where those
concerts took place. Our team
has done an excellent job
targeting these programs to
all ages, including our new
series of kid focused
performances that have been
tied in with summer camps and
summer meal distributions. As
we mentioned earlier, our
summer camps are among our
most essential programs for
families in our city. Thanks
to expanding partnerships and
the expansion of camp
offerings at several parks. We
saw a 10% increase in the
number of youth served this
year with over 4,700 campers.
With affordability and
ever-present concern for
residents are camps are low
cost and we offer scholarships
to further ensure affordable
access. Our staff does a great
job, ensuring that these
programs are not just
affordable, affordable, but
enriching for our youth while
they are away from school,
whether the camp is general or
wide-ranging or more narrow,
all to help kids explore their
interests. Similar to last
year. We saw a strong summer
hiring season more than we did
during and coming out of the
pandemic. Those roles are
crucial not just for pool
access, but first central swim
lessons. We were also able to
continue our Tuesday and
Thursday cost community swim
hours this summer in our
Saturday Free Pool partnership
with Indiana Sports Court in
JULY. And as you all MAY
recall, we did adjust our pool
emissions by a dollar this
year due to the increasing
cost of chemicals and overall
pool maintenance. We still saw
people attendance of over
106,000 this summer, which was
in line with the weather and
the number of pools that were
open last year. Are splashpads
to date are still open through
Labor Day weekend and serve as
another important resource for
the community, especially for
younger kiddos. And this year
we completed 2 news Splash
Pads as part of the Lilly
Endowment grant. And those
were at Chapel Hill and debris
Parks. As I mentioned earlier,
Graham Edward Martin Park will
be our next posh pad when
construction wraps up there
next year. Will talk more
about these details later in
the presentation. But the
national model for aquatic
access and similar cities
continues to include adding
more splash pads. And we are
following that model. As
always. I want to give a huge
shout out to our amazing food
program. Staff. They provide
some of our city's most
essential services, whether
through our summer servings
for youth in the summer or are
many other pantries, some
programs. Our team,
unfortunately did see some
major impacts from the
flooding at Riverside Park.
Deflating did impact that food
storage that we have on site.
Our team is still working
through those issues and we
hope to have the restock
available soon as possible.
We've served over 56,000 meals
this year and continued
partnerships with second
helpings. We've also fulfilled
nearly 10,000 grocery orders
through our drive and Dish
program that I will go into
more detail later on. We're
really proud of the success
and expansion expansion of
drive and dish with the Pacers
and cleaners as well as and
the Hunger Network this year
are locations had nearly
10,000 orders of 312,000
pounds of groceries, 312,000
pounds. As a reminder, this
program works much like mobile
ordering groceries where
residents register and then
they can order groceries.
Online weekly, with incentives
for healthy options. We know
the need a significant in our
city, which is why we are
working with our partners to
out a new location, Christian
Christian Park later this year
and identifying other
potential sites for the
future. I also like to share a
great story that our partners
at cleaners pass along
recently, a resident who picks
up food that you're park on
the West side. Share that
because of this program, she's
been able to catch up on bills
and make ends meet without
having to cut back on food. We
know that this is the case for
many program beneficiaries
across the city. And another
reason why parks programs like
these are considered
essential. Speaking of our
great staff, I want to call
out Amy Anderson and Jason
Green for their leadership
coordinating major
partnerships and days of
service across our system. The
numbers on your screen share
just how impactful this team
and our partners are from over
340 landscape areas improved
to 10 pool decks, improved and
over 1000 bags of litter and
weeds removed. This is just
incredible work. We can't
thank them enough going into
the next few years. We are
working to identify bathhouse
improvements as an area of
focus with many of these
partners to make best use of
all of our resources. These
projects not only improve our
parks, but strengthen our
community connection to our
parks. The slide here just
show some additional examples
of the volunteer sizes, the
parks. That's all service
states this year. Speaking of
partnerships, I want to take a
moment to talk about our
incredible partners at the
Parks Alliance of
Indianapolis. As a reminder,
the Parks Alliance mission is
to connect community
government and philanthropic
partners on behalf of any
parks to invest in and
elevate. Indianapolis says
parks trails and public spaces
and the newest executive
director of the Parks Alliance
has already made a tremendous
impact working with my team
and I on advancing our various
needs. We're so grateful for
her. To that end, you'll see
some information about 3
exciting projects. We're
working with the Parks
Alliance on here. Those
include brand new playground
at Tarkington Park. The major
10 million dollar investment
at Reverend Moselle Sanders
Park is part of the half
Riverfront Vision plan. And
our latest is to relocate the
historic traders point covered
bridge to Lily Lake Eagle
Creek. Will be excited to
share more information about
that last project here in the
coming weeks and months as we
anticipate that adding yet
another great reason to visit
Eagle Creek Park. These
impactful and unique projects
are major part of our upcoming
capital improvement in the
coming years. I also want to
thank all of our foundations
and our friends, groups for
their continued partnership
and support of our parks. And
there is no indie parks. If we
don't have those partnerships,
we love our community members
and appreciate their work.
Speaking of major capital
projects. I'm very proud of
the work our entire team has
done on the 40 Lilly Endowment
Grant projects roughly half of
those projects are already
open to the public with nearly
all wrapping up by the end of
the year. We could easily
spend the rest of the
presentation talking about
these incredible new
amenities. So instead of doing
that will just give a reminder
that these projects have
happened in every township and
they are truly county wide.
You'll see 2 of the fun and
colorful playgrounds completed
from the grant on your screen.
And those are at Southside
Park and Chapel Hill Parks.
These projects are happening
in on on top 9 townships, as I
mentioned, and include 30 new
playgrounds, 3 new splash
pads, new pickleball courts at
6 parks, sports fields at 3
new parks and new trails at 3
other parks. More details
about all of these
improvements can be found on
our website, parks indeed dot
Gov. And the best way, of
course, to explore our parks
and learn more about all the
new amenities is by getting
out and checking out our parks
in person. So now I also like
to go through several other
major projects and initiatives
from the last year. And as as
I mentioned at the beginning,
we're going to keep going
through all this. I appreciate
everyone holding on here. This
spring. We were very excited
to open the renovated and
expanded mlk Park and landmark
for Peace Memorial. One of the
most historic sites in our
city. This space has now been
upgraded to better reflect its
place in our city's and
nation's history. This site is
a powerful reminder that parks
also play a significant role
in preserving our history and
sharing it with future
generations. New panels cover
both the history of dr King
and Senator Kennedy along with
Indianapolis residents who
witnessed Senator Kennedy
speech in 1968. I can't
recommend visiting the site
enough if you haven't already
had a chance. Now, downtown is
one of the areas of the city
where we have a shortage of
parks and protected green
space. So as part of their 200
and 50th anniversary, Lilly,
along with the Caitlin Clark
Foundation partnered with us
to donate a new land downtown
to become a park and build a
new multi-use basketball and
soccer court through that
partnership. Lilly will
support us by overseeing the
maintenance of the park. Truly
awesome. We've already seen
downtown residents and
visitors alike. Enjoy this new
spot for recreation and quiet
reflection. It was also a
treat for our team to meet and
speak with Caitlin Clark. And
we're grateful for her
continued commitment to our
city. Our biggest new
announcement this year was
securing that 10 million
dollars to implement the first
phase of the half, Riverfront
vision plan at Reverend
Moselle Sanders Park from the
Bezos Earth Fund. The Hondo
River from Vision plan was a
community-driven partnership
with visit Indy and the
friends of beach to develop
Reverend Moselle Sanders Park.
And I'm not beach. So we are
really excited to make this
major step forward toward that
vision. The project will plant
more than 400 trees will
restore native wetlands, built
2 miles of new trails and out
of community farm and orchard
multi-use fields. Sports
courts gathering lines and
Central Park infrastructure.
It will also allow us to build
out construction plans for the
entire site, including Belmont
Beach. So that will be shovel
ready for future funding
opportunities. We were one of
8 cities across the country to
be selected in this grant
process. So I want to thank
our team. The office of
Sustainability, the Parks
Alliance of Indianapolis led
by Jenny Boyd, this central
Indiana Community Foundation
in our team for their very
hard work to show the indie
parks is an attractive
investment. Our team will
continue to identify and apply
for a range of grants to both
provide essential programs and
high-quality spaces to our
neighbors. While we do have
several major projects next
year as the Lilly Endowment
grant largely wraps up our
Capitol budget will be the
main focus, as you know, are
5.8 million annual capital
budget must cover a lot of
needs this year. Cip has
largely provided for largely
projects that Graham at
Belmont Park and Guy Soccer
complex with an additional
part and minor replacements at
our pools. Next year. We are
excited to start construction
on Jack Butler Park, which
will be the first parks and
building in Decatur Township.
This was a previously donated
building and land from late
2023 in an area surrounded by
new housing. While plans
changed due to unforeseen
issues. We anticipate
investing around 20% of our
cip to upgrading aquatic
amenities along with building
and maintaining playgrounds
and making improvements to our
facilities and outdoor courts.
You can see our current cip
plan for 2027 here and in your
packets. This also includes
the 2.1 million dollars
dedicated in the fall fiscal
proposal. And one important
thing to note here is that our
team is currently working on
an assessment of all of our
pools when that assessment is
complete in the coming weeks,
we will have a better sense of
how we will allocate the 1.1
million under the jfc various
park projects line item. Even
before that, you can see that
we anticipated spending
roughly a million on our aging
aquatics infrastructure next
year. Over the next few years.
We anticipate that our cip
will focus largely on heavy
aquatics investments
renovations to that that
you're Park family Center
developing Century Park in
Franklin Township, structural
work at some of our flexion
facilities, playground
resurfacing far pour in place.
Playground surfaces around
2029 as those arpa playgrounds
began to need potential
maintenance. As well as
improving our courts trails
drives and parking lots. I
also want to highlight that
this budget further invest in
our capital and maintenance
with $30300,000 increase in
our facility, maintenance
budget and establishes a
capital asset. Lifecycle
Development Fund for capital
budget so that we can plan
more strategically from year
to year and prioritize medium
and long-term fixes rather
than short-term patches. Now,
we've already mentioned
aquatic several times, but we
also want to talk to you about
the big picture and future of
aquatics with with this
council committee. Our team
has been looking at what a
high-quality unsustainable
aquatic system looks like for
several years. Our department
in cities across the country.
Face a common set of problems,
a large number of outdoor
pools with aging
infrastructure is one Midwest
or similar weather that taking
major toll on the outdoor
infrastructure as the second
and 3rd. Short school summer
breaks that make seasonal
hiring highly inefficient.
We're not here to simply
identify challenges. Of
course, the move for many
cities dealing with the same
issues we face is the
following. They are moving to
more indoor pools for
year-round use. This would
allow us if we made the change
to have staff for more than 2
to 3 months and are then able
to build on their skills and
expertise. Other cities also
make more splash pads
available that require less
staffing, less maintenance and
they are able to stay open
longer even after the school
summer season is over and
reducing our outdoor cool
footprint. That's another move
the other cities MAY can.
Identify those pools that
require costly, ongoing
maintenance in order to
prioritize reducing that
footprint. Now, this will not
be something that our existing
cip can handle alone while we
are prioritizing investments
and modernizing our pools.
Many date back to at least the
80's. Those pools have had new
parts added over time. And
that's still only a partial
solution. It's a short-term
fix in the same way that
putting a new engine in a car
from 1986. Still leaves you
with a car from 1986. Those
teams will be especially
important as we consider
Aquatic Centre Twenty-twenty a
comprehensive plan which will
include public input include
conversations with this
council committee as well as
with our staff. Additionally,
our staff is working on an
updated post summer assessment
of the conditions of our
pools, which I mentioned
earlier. Looking ahead, we
would like any of those
changes to entail. Adding a
splash pad in place of a pool
where that becomes necessary
for larger projects like full
renovations or new outdoor
excuse me, new indoor pools
that would require identify
new funding sources. They're
quite quite an investment. I
also want to give you an
update on the council selected
park projects from the 2025
budget cycle. Now. Wish Park
in Pike Township was selected
by Council Robinson and we
broke ground back in the
spring that new playground in
full renovation will be
wrapped up by this fall.
Councilor dilts election at
Thompson Park was a nearly
shovel ready project last year
to replace the playground and
make trail improvements. So we
were able to wrap that project
up back in MAY. Canterbury
Park was selected by
vice-PRESIDENT Birth and is
currently under have a heavy
construction that will wrap up
this fall and be ready to open
up to the community. This
project is going to be an
excellent example of our
trails and parks coming
together to provide special
assets as the Monon trail goes
right up to camp or park. Robi
Parks makeover, including new
shelter, restroom
improvements, improved hard
courts and trails was just
awarded by the Parks board
this week. And we are very
excited to get construction
started there. Finally, we are
working with counselor Delaney
and the Indiana Wildlife
Federation on the preservation
of Havre Stick Woods. There
have been some initial public
meetings on this project,
including one this week while
a neighboring parcel to this
property goes through the
Indy's rezoning process. Now
on the next screen and you'll
see the new playground at
Thompson Park, which is
actually very similar to what
wished Park we'll see on the
far north side this fall, as
you can imagine, kids have
shared with our staff that
they absolutely love climbing
this giant, place that and
slide structure. Over the last
2 years. We've been very
grateful to work with the
council and administration to
secure more than 3 million in
additional fiscal
appropriations with an
additional 2.1 million
introduced for the budget,
fiscal. These funds are
crucial. Given our 5.8 million
cip budget from 2025. You'll
see the list of projects
funded on the screen, the most
substantial of which was the
nearly 60 court improvements
across the city. All of the
projects you see there were
allocated last year and are
either already completed or
will be completed this fall.
On your screen. Now you'll see
an example of the court
improvement projects from
Arsenal Park. The basketball
court was resurfaced painted
and the new back Gordon goals
were installed. Improvements
vary based on existing court
conditions. So some received
this level of improvement
while others MAY have just
been repainted or just
happening. That's install all
of the projects will make for
a better plane. Experience for
residents going forward. And
similar to the previous slide.
This is an example of the
tennis court improvements done
at once on the park. This
year's spring. Fiscal also
provided some crucial one on
one time. Investments for us
to address safety,
landscaping, maintenance and
technology. Our security team
was able to stretch our
resources to cover 3
additional permanent camera
installations that were not
originally in this plan. And
still come in at the out. More
than half of those
installations have already
been completed and the rest
will be finished in the coming
months. These both help us
with safety and protection of
our assets on insurance
claims. As we talked about
earlier during our cip, we are
planning for substantial
product improvements over the
next few years and the
additional $200,000
Appropriation will help us
move forward on some of those
improvements this fall. This
funding also help to secure
new credit card readers that
will allow patrons with easier
payment options going forward.
A much needed improvement. The
introduced budget, fiscal
appropriate, additional 2.1
million to support a new
playground at Roadies Park,
which is the home of our only
adaptive and inclusive camp
for kids with Disabilities.
700,000 to support court
improvements at 18 parks and
another round of funding for
cameras at 23, additional
locations to support Park
safety for patrons and our
staff to be clear, these are
not flock cameras, rather the
same kind of security cameras
this building right here in
the ccb have and other park
facilities already have. I now
want to go into some of our
departments, high-level goals
for 2027. Our first 2 goals
are directly connected. For
over 4,500 high quality
programs every year. And we're
looking to continue our growth
in some of those areas from
citywide sport leagues to
summer camps to arts nature
and seasonal programs. These
all add. To quality of life
enrichment experiences that
folks are looking for in
Indianapolis, a major part of
how we hope to accomplish this
is through our new recreation
management software. Also,
you'll hear me say are ms, as
we discussed the spring,
fiscal provided an procreation
allowing us to purchase and
install new technology. This
new system will also greatly
improve how residents view
learn and enroll in our
programs. Technology has come
a long way since we last MAY
to change in the system.
Decades ago. And we're
confident that these modern
tools will build on our recent
Web site improvements and the
physical improvements in our
parks for a overall improved
customer experience. We've
already spoken year about
public safety, especially
around new cameras. We've had
great conversations with impd
the summer about how we can
work together on Park safety
and also plan to incorporate
Park safety as part of our
upcoming comprehensive plan.
Look forward to continuing
those conversations, but the
council as well. Speaking of
which 2027 will be a
significant years. We begin
the process of doing our next
5 year master plan. Look
forward to engaging with the
our board, the council and the
community about what they want
to see next within the parks.
This will include the future
of the products as we
previously mentioned, the
kinds of programs and
opportunities. Folks want to
see and what the next phase of
capital improvements could
look like. Much as the 2023
plan has shaped the last 3
years. The twenty-twenty a
comprehensive plan will shape
the department into the 2030's
and so and beyond. So our team
will be hard at work on that
this fall and into the next
year. Our 5th goal is to
officially break ground on the
10 million dollar renovation
of Reverend Moselle Sanders
Park next year. As we talked
about earlier, this project
will be a generational
investment along the river.
And our goal is to break
ground next year with
substantial completion in
2029. So we will now move into
the details of our 2027
budget. All city departments
this year moved to program
based budgeting and in simple
terms, that means we are
moving to a budget system that
provides detail about how our
budget breaks down by
outcomes. This is our first
year doing our budget this
way. So we anticipate refining
and improving it in this
budget season and in the years
to come as well. For
reference, that means most of
these more detailed sides will
not have comparisons to
previous years because this is
the first year we're doing
this type of budget. Our
budget this year includes a 7%
increase in our Parks. General
Fund, which also includes golf
and local grants. Both our
Parks, General fund and
overall budget are larger than
the 2026 2025 adopted budgets.
Those increases largely cover
3 areas. A 20% increase to our
facility maintenance budget
character. One increases for
cost of living adjustment or
cola, health insurance and
step in grade. And increases
for utilities and contracts,
including janitorial services.
The decrease in our federal
grants reflects that spending
down of those grants, not a
reduction in grant amounts.
That spending includes the
design cost for the Riverside
archery range and from a
program, federal earmark which
provides upfront funding for
programs that was largely
spent over the last year. This
next slide shows that same
budget breakdown. But by
budget character, as you will
recall, this is how we
previously reported our
budget. But this year it will
be done by programs in more
detail on the coming slides. I
do want to know that following
our board presentation of this
budget, we received feedback
from them on how much more
understandable the program
budgeting approach was. So the
first section here breaks down
several categories under
administration. These programs
largely cover our staffing in
several categories. Things
like utilities, our dpw, I sa
and occ charge backs for
grounds maintenance technology
and legal. Other smaller
categories here include
property management leases
communications and media
financing grants and
additional staffing categories
for specific staff groups.
This slide breaks down than on
capital and maintenance
portion of aquatic spending.
This spending is largely for
staffing, including seasonal
staff, along with pool
chemicals, equipment, uniforms
and other supplies. Many of
our sports programs are
low-cost leagues, open gyms or
partnerships, which is why
you'll see that our overall
spending on athletics and
sports relatively low here at
207,000. This next slide is
kind of but it is labeled
under brownfield remediation
because it's for part of the
Graham. Edward Martin Park
remediation efforts. Next. We
have our capital and
maintenance funding breakdown
for this note. One technical
but important change to our
capital budget going forward
is that it has been formally
changed to a non reverting
fund. In English for all of
us. That means that those
funds do not revert back to
the city's general fund at the
end of the year, which is
incredibly important for our
team because it gives us a lot
more flexibility going
forward. The facility
maintenance category,
increased by over 300,000 to
1.6 million dollars. This is
part of our effort to ensure
that more of the capital
budget can support medium to
long term capital
improvements, rather than just
short-term maintenance. As a
reminder, facility maintenance
is the side that is under
indie parks and not dpw. Our
community engagement budget is
at $213,000. And this includes
our customer service and
community relations. Staff. As
we talked about earlier, our
food program team does an
incredible job serving our
community. As you can see, our
budget for this category is
just under 2 million dollars,
which includes our grant
funded summer meals program
among others and our staffing
costs for those programs. Now
for the Cultural Arts section,
you'll see that it is divided
into 2 sections. The 1.3
million dollars passed through
to the in the Arts Council and
2.1 million that goes toward
our arts programs, concerts
and fantastic staff that plan
and put on those events and
programs year round. Speaking
of incredible staff, our
environmental education team
does equally excellent from
environmental camps to the
day-to-day operations and
programming at our
environmental centers. That
section of the budget accounts
for over 1.1 million dollars
out of our budget. Next. This
section covers our fleet
management which covers the
character one expenses for
overseeing our departments,
vehicles and maintenance, the
fuel and maintenance costs
themselves would fall under
the larger charge that
category 2 dpw. Our policy and
planning node covers some of
our contract management staff
and related contracts for our
policy planning, including our
national accreditation, which
is known as Capra and our
comprehensive plans.
Recreation and leisure is
divided into 2 sections. The
first large section is the
actual funding for the plant.
Riverside Archery range, which
we completed design for over
the last year. The second
covers are golf and
concessions. Fitness and
wellness programs and other
community programs that didn't
necessarily fit into other
categories. Now, on this
slide, you'll see $231,000 of
our budget is for special
events, which is limited to
staffing costs across special
ovens facility and shelter
rentals. For summer camps.
This $568,000 accounts for
staffing supplies, shirts and
other camps other camp needs
across our adaptive arts,
environmental in traditional
camps. And a final note here
covers our departments
training budget for
certifications, staff
conferences and larger state
and national conferences. For
the year. And that is $40,000.
Since we have been talking a
lot about staffing. These
final 2 sides show details
about our staffing demographic
breakdowns. These numbers are,
of course, a snapshot in time,
but they give a good breakdown
of the demographics of our
staff and how those numbers
break out across pay ranges.
And finally, this slide is a
continuation of the previous
one just broken down by
gender. And we certainly had a
lot of information to cover.
But with that, we are happy to
take any questions. Chair.
Thank you. Director must admit
it was most present budget
presentations. I bet that's We
like to keep it that yes, like
that with the presentation via
prose. I appreciate Any
questions? We Thank you so
much. I really appreciate the
presentation. It was very
pleasant. I definitely co sign
on that CHAIRMAN. I think my
questions as I look
specifically at some of the
things that were actually
raised in my supreme budget
conversations with dpw
included Director crown
specifically under that
facilities spend facilities.
General the park facilities
parking lots drives and
pedestrian bridges. One thing
that really stood out to me
not only for this coming
year's budget, but in future
years. First for 2027, it
looks like 192,000 is
allocated for. $192,550 is
allocated for that. And I I
feel like that's a little
small. And as I flipped
forward to future years, 2028
and on. It looks as though it
goes to $400,000. 4. 2028
2029. And is over a million in
at 2030. And so those are all
great and good. So I'm just
really concerned that for
2027, it's so low, especially
since the council overturned
the Mares veto on some of the
dollars that will be receiving
from increase. We'll tax. And
so I guess my thought was
initial question, how can we
maybe increase that? Because I
think the construction is
amazing I know we can't pay
salaries and staff are
beautiful parks with that
money. But I am concerned
about the conditions of some
of the inroads into our parks,
specifically as it involves
driver safety, you know,
vehicles, even some of these
large buses and things that
bring bring our kiddos to and
from the parks. Frankly, I was
on a zoom call talking with
our dpw Team win a very
sometimes annoying and the
park staff member that lives
in my house came behind. Seems
like excuse me, I'd like to
talk about our inroads in our
parks. And so I yield my time
to her as I, you know, kindly
do. But I think that has
really shined the light here
for me to take a look at this
tonight and knowing that with
the council's, you know, focus
on roads specifically. Can you
talk a little bit director
crown about maybe how we
arrived at that number with a
weapon and maybe any
conversations that have
happened since this budget was
drafted. I'm sure this was
chosen back, you know, in in
the late spring, early summer
and I think to kind of put it
side-by-side with the
community outreach budget.
That's over 200 grand but
roads and bridges for an
entire year is less than that.
So can you talk a little bit
about maybe how you arrived
there? Maybe maybe what could
we do to bridge the gap? Pun
intended. Yes, ma'am,
absolutely out so well as we
can speak to that. Turn it
over to Alex Courtright chief
communications officer. Yeah,
great I think a couple things.
One first kind of a separate,
right. So what we're talking
about here is our capital
budget versus what obviously
dpw will see that increase. So
I think 2, 2, phone
conversations with the
answers. One is with dpw
because generally we have to
pull money for those types of
improvements out of our
budget. Right. So I think
there's some conversation. So
we have there. The second
piece over the last couple of
years as we've done more for
schools and parks has been
involved in more of those one
of the things we looked at are
those one-time not maybe not
one time, of those capital
improvements that we can make.
And I think as we've done a
lot of hard courts and things
like that in recent years, as
we look into the future, one
of the ideas that we have
identified internally has been
our roads and bridges and
things like that as well
because that seems to make a
lot of sense. And then I think
that gives us 2 different
funding mechanism center that
we're going with is ares
internally talking dpw because
again, many of our roads are
not just roads and park,
right? It's a road that goes
through a park and then
continues on into a
neighborhood right? So I think
it's a multi faceted
approaches. The answer. I
appreciate that and I agree
with you 100%. I don't want to
see to be clear, everyone. I
don't want to see you moving
money around in your budget. I
want to see funding that is
already dedicated to roads, be
utilized to better connect
people to our parks allow them
to more safely access them,
even if it's them being
dropped off by an indigo bus
or them riding their bike you
know, where there's not a
trailer greenway there. We're
sharing roads with bicycles as
well. And it's a lot of game
of chicken and cyclists going
off on the side of the road
and it's very, very dangerous
for all parties involved. And
so I would advocate MR.
CHAIRMAN, that because I know
you're a champion of this road
funding for school and I
really would love to see some
of those dollars really
dedicated in and around
playground so that families
can get there safely and home
safely as well. I don't think
I have any other questions.
Just a thank you. I know you
deal with so much, especially
on those pools as a pool
owner. It is an absolute
nightmare. I just pray every
single time I have to replace
the chlorine Carter's or
something. The chlorine cost
going up is absolutely insane.
I want to say it's doubled and
the last 5 to 10 years which
it used to be semi affordable
and now it's definitely not.
So these are hard decisions
that we have to make. And I
know you don't have to staff
splashpads the same way you do
pools and all of those things.
So kudos to the team for
making those hard decisions
and with that, MISTER
CHAIRMAN, I yield my time.
Thank you, counselor. Any
other questions? Yes, because
LeBron, thank you as Thank
you. Director Crown for an
excellent presentation. I
would echo what cause the
wells and what your board dead
about the breakdown by And by
node that is very helpful.
I've been doing with a bunch
questions here. But my first
concern was looking at your
character, one funding. You
know, because I do love the
step in grade. I do love that.
You're giving cost of living
increases. But when I look at
the change year over year.
That's hard to reconcile
rights or we were move forward
with significantly fewer staff
due to attrition because I
know you mentioned several
people being promoted. Several
people running from within.
That worries me that we're
trying to spread. I know you
all work very hard already.
And so trying to spread even
more than I worry about that.
So can you reassure me that?
We certainly appreciate your
comments, counselor and you
know it. It's in the best
interest of our entire union
city are our neighbors and our
staff included that we be very
intentional and have a
critical eye on where and how
we're placing staff across our
system. We turn it over here
to our cfo. Jon Georgia can
speak a little bit more
clearly about the attrition
rate, but we were very
grateful to defend this year.
And for the efforts of this
committee and our council
body, we did see a reduction
in our attrition rate. So to
your question specifically, we
were all so advocating for
that. And we know that you all
were as well if I can have
John step up to the mic, he'll
be able to explain a little
bit more clearly about our
character. One while he's
coming up. I also we'll we are
conducting an internal
staffing assessment and that
will continue to shed light on
where we need to to direct
staff. I think we also want to
be really mindful of. How how
we're stretching staff and
make sure that when we talk
about quality of life, it also
means quality of life for our
team at any parks, which is
hard to do because we want to
keep. Programs going doors
open and all those things. So
cfo, Jonathan George here can
speak a little bit more about
that attrition. Thank you for
the question. Counselor. We
did not get rid of any
positions, any budgeted
positions, this budget season.
We're still maintaining all
the budgeted positions that we
had going into this year. We
think we are properly funded
to have, you know, reduce
attrition rate to step in
grade. The colon health
insurance increases are all
afford it. That is our
understanding. So. You don't
quick follow-up question.
Appreciate that. I'm glad to
hear it. How is the increase
for character, whatever you're
so low, then? I mean, it is
positions were left unfilled
for a while. And yet the the
speed at which replace people
is low or or forgive me my
math is just thank you
council. That's We actually
and John, if you don't mind,
we would want to them in on
that conversation. You know,
just out of respect for the
decisions they have to make.
Unless Alex, he'd like to add
anything to that. Yeah. Thank
you so much for your
questions. And and the the
care and concern that your
brain to our staff.
Absolutely. And that if you if
I MAY, chair I will try not to
do so. But Yeah, I understand
and agree with, you know,
we've had many conversations
about the pools and I
understand that most cities
are moving to more splashpads,
more indoor pools, which makes
a lot of sense, especially
It's just impossible to keep.
We have the parts in stock,
etc. I get all that. But I
just worry about this trend
where we have fewer just
people, staff, people in the
parks. I think cameras MAY
help with that but activating
a public space and having
personnel, I think, is
providing a really valuable
public safety and so I just
kind of worry about that trend
as well. As you know. I know
you're not the only
department, but in general,
we're trying to do more with
less across the enterprise and
I fear that that will lead to
worst public safety and then
more on it. The shoulders on
that point. I wanted to ask
about the park Rangers are
they included in this budget?
Is that through another What
can tell me about them? So
they're included under budget,
not ours. Appreciate that.
Related question to that as
well is with the camera
funding. I've had many
constituent of mine advocate
for more cameras. And so I'm
pleased to see you. Listen to
constituent feedback. But part
of wonders if we're not
pivoting to heart in that
direction, just looking at
that this goes, it's that or I
wonder what kind of metrics we
have about how effective these
cameras are. Again, I'm not
getting pushback from many
constituents despite all the
pushback on flock and other
sorts of cameras. Parks
cameras are generally pretty
well supported by just
wondering what data we're
using make those purchase
decisions. Kind to fall into,
i think for says the scale of
our parts right, 218 of them,
many of them have multiple
access It MAY seem like we're
doing a lot. We are. We are
covering our priority areas
realistically. So I hope that
helps a little Just the scale
outside of that. And in terms
of was the 2nd half your
question. Yet, just what date
are we using to show that it's
worthwhile to buy these
cameras? Yeah. So it's all
related starting our security
team. That's great job with
incident reports and things
like that. So that's really
what informing us is. You
know, we certain centers,
certain part parks, certain
sections of parks, racy these
issues. And that's really
what's informing. As those
incident reports. And I added
counselor, again, lot of
gratitude for the questions.
As with anything in the
quality of life. Pillar. It's
never a one stop shop
solution. Cameras are an
essential part of how we
protect our staff. You know,
there have been incidents.
We're unfortunate situations
have happened and because of
the camera footage impd was
able to apprehend individuals
responsible for that. And so
we see that as a protection of
our patrons and also our
staff. And, you know, of
course, that has to be
balanced. It's not the only
answer. We agree. That
programming is the number-one
preventative measure that we
can have in a space and we
want to continue striving
towards that reality. And and
while also balancing the you
know, to support impd and
their partnership that they
need from from our expansive
system in the parks. So it's
it's one of several
strategies. We certainly
appreciate the support for it.
And the consideration. Again,
you make of such a supportive
for everything I've heard. So
not trying knock at all. Just
glad to hear, you all these
background details that's
helpful. Just a couple more
questions. MISTER Chair so you
know, I heard CHAIRMAN Boots
push in the past for increase
user fees as one source of
revenue that could help the
park's maintain. And I'm
wondering how much we can do.
And forgive me for not knowing
this firsthand because I
haven't participated parks
programs myself as much as I
should have. But I am really
glad that we have such
affordable or free programming
and our parks. And I also
wonder, you know, if at the
end of such programming we're
offering, you know, qr code
saying, hey, if you went to
any private, you know,
organization to do the same
level of programming it to be
3 times the cost. If you can't
afford it, chip in here to the
Parks Foundation or fund that
could help because I think
likely some people going to
these could afford to chip in.
And to me, we're providing
really awesome level also
quality of programming. And
that would be the best time to
ask people for money you've
seen the value yourself, help
your neighbors do this in the
future. So I just don't know
if we're already doing
something like that or if
that's an idea that we could
look at next year. A fantastic
idea. And I think Jenny Boyd
said the Parks Alliance might
agree with me. We need to add
council brown those
conversations. All jokes
aside. Yes, that's a wonderful
idea. What I'm excited about
in our partnership with the
Parks Alliance is to have a
team at the helm, you know,
especially executive director
and Jenny points willing to
get really creative and look
at all the various streams,
the opportunities as
individual donor
opportunities, you know, in
ramping that kind of
experience up, how can we get
the friends groups or the the
the park's foundations that
are existing. How can we
direct donations to those
happen? We direct donations to
the Parks Alliance and there
are a number of ideas flowing
from that. And we welcome any
and all creative ideas for
that. Thank you very much. My
very last thing was another
creative idea which will call
it at getting you homework
assignments. But Dr points.
You know, I really love the
huge investment and that was
all Sanders Park. And I also
see, you know, just and I see
other people who were involved
in the force for all campaign.
And so I wonder whether land
acquisition could be a higher
priority. Yeah, as we've seen
the historic flooding this
year, I think storm waters at
the top of everyone's minds
and we also know how cash
strapped the city isn't. So to
the extent that snow already
on the radar and I'm sure it
was along with 10,000 other
things. I would just encourage
you to continue to be creative
like how we can acquire
wetlands and mature forests in
particular cause. I don't
think there's any better bang
for our buck for storm water.
So just that last comment and
thank you, MISTER Chair. MR.
Brown council around great
questions. Just a couple quick
ones. I have none. I'm going
to hand it off to counselor
McCormick Trail maintenance.
Is parks responsibility or dpw
responsibility? Combination of
both. It would be a
combination as we can most
clearly described the
greenways and trails are
predominantly maintained by
dpw. We do have trails within
our parks that we also
contribute. But dpw is
predominantly responsible for
that. And I'm going to look to
my deputy director and see if
that is correct. Okay. He says
that's correct. So thank you,
Andrea. Andrea, do you have
any other thing like that to
the presentation tonight? Feel
free to come up and share your
thoughts. You've been really
you MR. Parts. So let's take
all the Thank you, counselor
Andrea them and deputy
director for the director
Cronin Excellent job.
Presenting our budget for 2027
as you say, MR. Park said with
also say we have a strong team
with many employees who are
sitting here behind me. So one
person can do the whole heavy
lift. We're thankful for dpw
for the operations, the things
they do. Thankful for your
questions. And we've shown in
the last couple of years here.
But the record funding that if
you fund us, we will make
improvements that will make
our parks incredible and the
citizens happy. So thank you
for all you do. Thank you,
director. Thank its staff.
Thank you. Did. I see that f 2
e town is to 21. Is that
right? That a number? I?
Grabbed out of this
presentation. Didn't make that
up. George. The fte number
should be to 99. It was 307.
The reason for the decrease is
we. The positions that we had
to defund due to budget cuts
that happened last year going
into this year. Those
positions that were defunded
taken So they didn't have
budget attached to them.
That's why I said we did not
lose any budgeted positions.
So we but the the hours since
or hours attached to those
positions, even though they
did not have a budget, they
technically Fte cause Fte goes
is based off hours. So sorry.
So the number. I'm sorry, I'm
confused 2.99 is what it was.
2.99 is what our active ft is
right now. Right now, it was 3
of 7. Ok, what now, many
vacancies you currently have.
Of flight full-time positions
are like all. If you had to
take a head count. We just did
our mass terminations in
summer ended. So we just got
out all the lifeguards in
summer camp counselors and
things like that. So they can
seize would probably be. We
might 500 because they would
like to get back to for So the
vacancies count your seasonal
employees. Okay. Okay. So that
number is almost but not a
seasonal employee would not be
one fte. So like one Ft is 40
full time. So like it's a
seasonal employee will be a
fraction. Much that. Yeah, my
last quick question was the
increase in the budget this
year, 7% or 0.7% 7%. The
increase in our Parks, General
budget was 7%. But that is
fraction of the whole budget.
The whole budget, 1.7% because
we spend our grants. And so we
accounted for grant spend
which brought down, the
overall budget because you
know, we're just spending the
money. So we we got to reduce
it. But the fun we care about
the most, the park's general
that that went up. So that's
yeah. That's good. That's a
good Thats a great the think
what John? Thank you, is that
both of your numbers are
correct. Percent for parks,
general and then 0.7 overall
because all spend out on
federal grants. Great. All
right. COUNCILMAN Garment.
Thank you, CHAIRMAN. Thank you
for the presentation as
always. My favorite one of the
year because it's fun stuff
and happiness and how
wonderful memories for me and
my family. So as always, thank
you for the wonderful
presentation of the refer to
pay for being here and what
you do for our community.
Couple questions. So just to
go back. So the because we
have, you know, 3 lifeguards
could be one fte, right?
Depending on how many they
work. But that year round
vacancies. I'm just curious
like that number, because it
looks like that's about 150
number that was in the
presentation. The full time
staff. Is that what? I guess?
That's what I'm wondering
because I kind access to
counsel Brown as well. But
cancer. Yeah. Would you mind
sharing what slide? Cannot
save 6. So you're referring to
the 150 fold asked staff, okay
and asking about vacancies.
I'm very nice. Yeah, get
there's quite a few vacancies.
There was just curious. Other
departments she adds. We
appreciate that is if you're
willing, we would be able to
get in a specific number back
to you instead of conduct.
There's a big number, but I'd
rather get you the specifics.
And then for the 2.99 So it's
about half of 1st half of the
full-time equivalent, right?
So those hours are seasonal.
So about half of the ftc's are
seasonal sounds right. If you
got about 150 new to 99. So
one, 50, maybe a typo. That's
why I want go back because
there's a chance that's not a
problem. That's what seems
like. There's a big gap. And
then I guess with that act,
not the seasonal, but with the
effort to ease and we have
that reduction, we feel like
we're fully-staffed are
adequately staffed with what
we have budgeted for f to ease
or for year-round seasonal. I
appreciate that question,
counselor. It's something you
know, we we certainly always
want to see. More staff. At
our spaces that most
programmed because that means
that we can do more. And, you
know, for this year, the fact
that our attrition rate was
produced and we also have the
opportunities in our
maintenance budget were seen a
new level of support to the
department. Our staffing
assessment is going to
demonstrate for us. Once we
complete that internal
project, it will demonstrate
to us what what else could be
possible in what should be
possible? There are some of
our newer park facilities that
could benefit from additional
staff. And we we'll continue
to to request an advocate for
that. And I think, you know,
residents are always pleased
when we can program the things
that they want to see program.
So a lot of that is public
feedback. It's our internal
staff assessment and then it's
looking at our character one
and what's available to
reallocate or reorganized as
needed. And it's an ongoing
project for us at the moment.
Thank I think this is kind of
goes to what? 3 of his brought
up. But that making sure that
we're adequately staffed
because we do have these
programs right there. It's
important work that we do. But
you also I'm sure have these
ideas that you would love to
implement. That would be so
amazing. But you just don't
have that bandwidth to do it.
And so I think making sure
that we're least have to be
able to do what we do. But
then also do that vision for
the future as well to make
sure the facts. This is one of
the few budgets where that is
important to be included,
right? Is that vision of what
we want to do? Not just what
do we have to pay for what we
have to maintain so. That's
the fun part of one of the few
budget. Few from part budget
things. I think and then going
to the cameras. How did you
choose the ones that you said
high priority? I think cancer
Brown's question. Kinda answer
that. But is was that just
based on a priority or raise
their benchmark data numbers
from what hap events that
happened. Maybe these were the
priority locations
predominantly because they are
the buildings themselves, the
facilities that we have that
either had a very limited
number of cameras or no
cameras at all. We have are
our chief technology officer
who looked very closely. We
also have our park security
team last year. You all would
remember learning about our
first parks safety
Administrator Erik Davenport
into the team, worked on
various angles and identify
the gaps in the camera angles
that we have available to us.
And what was being protected
by a camera view when it comes
to assets as well as insurance
claims. If something were to
go wrong and then support our
partners and impd. So it was a
priority list based on those
data points. These priorities
also came from visit levels.
You know, the size of events
that are hosted annually at
these sites. The amount of
programs that are attendant at
the sites, et cetera. Thank
you. I just wanted to it. Just
make sure that like kind
curious about that part. And
then the last part is I know
there were a few pictures on
the slides. Chapel Hill Park
got some much love over on the
West Side. We have the
pickleball. We have a splash
pad. We have a new cut like
updated covered area,
beautiful playground. I'm not
joking like the picture on
this, but I when they're
people there, they were like
waiting for that sense to come
down like the community was so
thank you to you for all the
work on that. And also the
Lily Foundation for the money
there as well. And I back.
Thank you. Thank you.
COUNCILMAN Going a couple just
close in questions. Tell me
about the status of the public
safety officer program how
that's coming and is that
helping with the park Ranger?
Deficiencies or is it? Being
suitable substitute? Where do
we stand there? Thank you, MR.
Chair. So they park's safety.
Ambassador as we're calling
them is what we've been able
to accomplish this year so far
as developed the job
descriptions for those and
propose and initial phase of
what that program could look
like based on the former
consultant recommendations
that Parks received in the
past. Right now where we're at
working with impd to offer
overtime hours to any officers
that are interested in picking
that up. And then, you know,
we look forward to coming back
to this committee with another
proposal in the very near
future to see if we could get
that off the ground. But right
we are continuing to develop
the structure of what that
program could and would look
like if it funded. So we
currently do not have any
public safety officers in our
parks. That is correct. We do
not have the public safety
ambassadors. We do have impd
officers and we have park
rangers that we don't have
those public safety
ambassadors that would be
reporting up to that Park
safety administrator. And
doing it dissipate. Those
officers having law
enforcement. Authority or less
or so. It's still a question
that we're working to answer.
What would be the right
scenario? I think in ideals
scenario what my safety
administrator has advised that
they should have police
powers. So we continue to look
at the research and work with
partners internally to develop
that program. We would also be
open to the recommendations of
this committee. And then
finally trailing on this
question of staffing and many
you cover this little bit. But
what are your? Plans or ideas
were providing more incentives
and to attract more staff and
talent. I know in the past
we've given signing bonuses
and things of that sort. What
do you anticipate for 27 next
question? An important
CHAIRMAN Boots. So the
incentives that we've seen for
lifeguards in the past to
attract that talent for the
pool season. We will continue
offering those that is a
strategy that has worked. And,
you know, in years past in
2024, it worked the best ever
had. You know, every year we
see a different group of
applicants come through for
those positions. So that's
it's it very unique roles that
that folks are playing for
their that we can't always
predict, but will find that
the incentives with those
sign-on bonuses continue to be
a strong strategy and we'll do
that again for 2027. We are
also again, very excited about
the cost of living adjustments
that our staff will receive.
And then the step in great
policy that's coming online.
We do see that as a excellent
strategy in tool for retention
as well as attracting people
to the rolls that we have
available again open to
additional ideas that that we
should be pursuing and that
we're not And always looking
internally for how we can
rewrite some job descriptions
so that they are more pointed
or more attractive. We invite
anyone in the city who is
interested in working with our
amazing department to please
apply. We would love to have
folks join us. Well, I will
give a public kudos to that.
My daughter 10 years ago rose
to the level of a lifeguard
manager. That's some part And
still to this day, keeps those
Rens. It was one of her best
experiences as a looking for
the parks department. So I
encourage anybody out there to
sign up to be a lifeguard
every been in the room to take
us short stint, you'll love
it. I guarantee it couple.
Sure. Of I've got a couple
closing comments, but please
Thank you, MISTER Chair. I
briefly want to quickly, I
guess, make a comment,
although welcome feedback on
on slide. 64 the appendix
after the slide you know, I
just know those top 3 line
items in particular. All
that's great that we increase
nature program. Participants,
a mature. We've estimated that
we will at least by the end of
the year. I can't help but
noting that are 2027 goal for
our major Parks for minority
low-income residents. Our goal
is lower than we did 2 years
ago. For the arts program
dispense, it's what 60% of
what we had 2 years ago. And
that combined with what I've
seen as the flat funding every
year for Arts Council. It's
just very disappointing.
Again, I that you're not the
only department who's being
squeezed. And I know we have
our state to blame for much of
that. Just one of the register
that disappointment appreciate
honest numbers about that. But
field of those are pretty
start to look at. So just
kinda want to mention that on
the record couple quick things
that might help with that.
First is a lot of those
previous years. Kind inflated
with American rescue plan and
some other funding dollars.
And second of all, you'll see
the metrics underneath. Those
are actually kind of what the
new ones that we've rolled
out. So those 3 on top are
ones that we have been
tracking in previous years and
kind of moving into new So
we're not to. Dismiss
anything. Just a little bit of
context. I think helps. Yes,
because the rules. Thank you,
MR. CHAIRMAN, I think one
thing I'm sitting here
thinking as a member of both
the public Works Committee and
the Public Safety Committee is
that. And I used to be a
librarian. And so I was often
disappointed when I had to
leave in my kids were just
getting off a school or
getting out of practice. And
that was the time that they
really wanted to come to that
3rd place or be in the Parker
be in the library. And I know
many of our parks are open
dawn to dusk and then some of
those community centers close
at 7, 8 o'clock. But you say
that's actually accurate.
Director Crown. While we have
a variety of hours across
facilities based on the
community engagement that we
see there at our sites. We do
have many of our centers are
open until 7 or 08:00pm. Yeah,
I just I think that. Our Steph
do so much. They already work
long hours. They're the ones
who have the keys and open and
close the doors. And I think
to see an expansion in evening
programs extension and hours.
That would not be necessarily
something I would put on the
current staff. It would be an
expansion of personnel. GOD
bless you Moreland. But that
is something that when we talk
about the increase youth gun
violence. Their inability to
have big feelings while
carrying big guns around. And
I think that arts and parks
are a space in place where
we're going to rectify these
issues and we have to rec
rectify them together and
we're not going to do it. We
close our doors when the sun
is out and we're not going to
do it when our most highly
trained nationally certified
stellar. Like magicians of
parks, Wizards. Our need to go
get some sleep. So we need to
grow and duplicate and have as
many, you know. Brett Knese in
Gideon's it that we can have
because that to me is where
the real solution is in our
city is making sure that we
have those 3rd play spaces
open. And I mean, we're
missing a huge, huge
opportunity here in my opinion
and these investments in these
projects when most families
are working or at school and
then as soon as they're done
doing those commitments. Base
is they want to go to and
frankly pay for are closed.
And I know that. That a
solution that's going to cost
money. It's going to take
courage and dollars. And I'm
here to say I support that
increased 100% I don't
necessarily approve of more
police officers in our parks.
And I would not support that
funding increase but I do
think that the cameras
specifically and anecdotally
council McCormick. Previously
when I was the COUNCILWOMAN
Over Eagle Creek Park, I can
tell you lots of damage,
theft, break-ins. You know,
kayaks being stolen from
children and you know, and so
that's really the huge, huge
assets, even just being on
park property. People's
personal assets being damaged
and then not wanting to go and
enjoy our parks because
there's no recourse. So that
has been a longtime coming in
those installs once they come,
I believe, will also be a
deterrent. So I really
appreciated all of your
responses and questions
because those are super valid,
but sometimes dummy cameras
are the best deterrent for
Turkey's out there. So thank
you, MR. CHAIRMAN and view my
time. But before I do, we just
we have to do better. Not
talking out of both sides of
our mouths or however you want
to phrase that because you
can't say you're your frankly,
about gun violence and then
support a budget where we
close our parks 07:00pm. Thank
you, counselor. Couple closing
comments that I have. One
thing that seemed very helpful
it. My area of my experience
has been the friends of
organizations. Some in my area
have even raise their own
funds and really help
supplement my little. I've now
only have one little Gem,
Mobley sleeve of a park, if
you will, are slimmer. This
Kyle's Tessa Nature preserve
and unbeknownst to me at the
time there was a friends group
and unbeknownst to them. They
had 10's of thousands of
dollars in a fund. And they
did not know. And it wasn't
until we were pushing them and
saying, you know, when we get
a memorandum understanding
with the parks that will help
communications, help support.
Now we've got a lot of things.
Good things going at that
little park. So I would
encourage you to expand that.
To the extent you can because
if you give some. Investment
or some skin in the game to
the local residents, I find
will step up. With work.
Sessions. Financial donations.
Really? I mean, we have a I
know Allie's out there and the
crowd She was. We've done
there. She did. We get more
people than we can deal with
on our little cleanup for our
little part. And it's So I
encourage you to expand that
to the extent you can because
I think. When people feel they
have against getting in that
game. And this is my part. I'm
the one that claimed this. I
did that. I did this. My
family does this every year.
They begin to own it. And I
think that goes a long way to
helping. So just encourage you
to look at that I will also
take this opportunity to stand
my little political pedestal
here because mentioned this in
every committee. Tonight, this
discussion of funding and, you
know, budgets 0.7% I agree
with counselor. Well, I do not
like that. And that is one
reason, in my opinion. At
least my own personal
motivation to override the
mayor's veto of our tax
proposal. One 92 was exactly
this reason. If we're
squeezing every ounce of juice
out of this onion to put it
toward roads. Every year,
which was the mayor's plan.
Taking money spring physicals,
which we used to fund
additional project for parts
which we use to land
acquisition to turn into
parks. That was going away. So
for the public out there. Yes,
no one likes to raise taxes,
but this is what tax money
goes to. It's going to improve
the quality of life. It's
going to allow us to do things
for parks that otherwise we
could not touch. And so I just
want people to understand
right here is the
manifestation of the issue.
We're talking about. We can't
hire lifeguards. We can't keep
the grass moon on a timely
basis. Things like that. Those
are budget issues that are
driven by a long term plan of
squeezing all the juice out of
the tournament. And that's not
a way to again. Managing
governor growing City that's
trying to have a quality parks
department. So we hope to
expand the budget to the
extent we can. And again,
that's why we overrode. You
telling my opinion And I
mentioned this again, you
know, I think Parks department
is one of the most it in my
opinion more important
departments around because it
has truly to the quality of
life in the city. And that
attitude is retains talent the
tracks to hold it keeps
families here. Keeps them in
Marion County keeps taxpayers
in Marion County adds to our
local income tax base which
goes to other things. And so
as our parks degrade Morgan,
go into prevent that. So does
our quality of life and
society in Napoles. So I
encourage you to to all you
can you've got all the
supporters right here. Again,
the parks, every everybody in
my opinion on our council
loves the parks. So we're
going to work into fight for
parts of precinct. That
billion here to also follow
him, Paula, mind and fight for
2. Yes, rally the troops with
that. Thank you, director. I
appreciate your time and
appreciate presentation this
evening. Thank you all so much
for your continued support.
And we we love being a part of
a winning team as well. All of
our agencies and the city. And
with you fighting for quality
of life, we really
appreciated. And hope to
continue to see more good
things for Parks. Thank you
very much. Thank you. Next
will give a couple measure
transition here. We're going
to have the Arts Council of
Indianapolis. With the
honorable Judith Thomas
presenting In the final
minute. Introduction. I don't
there's always the very last
page to have special She was
saying only in the final 1, 0,
that's I'm going to go home
and check. But I think it's
much. Very last page. Table
and have 4th free. Can a
council and then yeah. So
yeah, but it's missing.
Lots
to say.
This is Thomas. You
tell me when you're ready,
many have to do this tonight
afternoon or evening. Show us
CHAIRMAN Councilors got a good
to see everyone will jump
right in a presentation. We
are always excited to be here
in front of the committee to
talk about the in the Arts
Council. You know, we were
created just a brief
background as an initiative of
the Greater Indianapolis
Progress Committee in the late
80's. We're actually going to
have our 40th anniversary next
year. So we're excited about
that. Yes, we're still here
driving, it was focused to
facilitate open a city
investment in nonprofit arts
and culture. And we've been
honored to be entrusted
trusted partner and
administrator of the city of
Indianapolis is annual plans
program and other city arts
culture, arts and culture
priorities for the past 39
years. So we have a sizzle
reel. We're hoping that it can
work here. This gives you a
good idea of the excitement
that we always have. And so
many ways here. So there we
go. Is a real. The sound is
working.
Gives you an idea of
the energy that we have and we
continue to keep going. So
with me to have could beat the
Mahoney, a former city
employee as well. Vice
PRESIDENT At the Arts Council
and track users here as well.
That runs programming in our
audience. So want to give you
a quick overview of our
strategic plan. The priorities
this past year know that our
mission is to champion arts
and culture. Our vision is a
creative life are also we lead
with that without pillars
being invest, advocate and
connect. And we do this with
care and the community in mind
and creativity. And so we
collaborate with the arts and
culture community to serve and
celebrate and value every
resident in the in in
Indianapolis to the arts. We
envision a city where social
economic status, race,
ethnicity, gender,
orientation, disability don't
prohibit anyone from
participating in the art. So
we believe a robust exception,
successful arts and culture
community sustains a creative
life for all our top 5
priorities with our strategic
plan. Is sustainable funding.
Every day. Art access
increased awareness,
professional development and
shared resources and arts and
culture as today's
destination. Our team
finalized a detailed action
plan with the staff and the
board. We work very closely
together assigned to different
strategies to make sure that
we execute in every way. So to
give you an idea of the year,
one progress, I mean, I could
talk for hours about what
we've done really over the
last few years. But the last
year focused on our strategic
plan. Just going to pull a
couple things out with
sustainable funding. You just
discussed the parks and
programming in the parks. We
are excited about something
I'll talk about here later on
in the in the presentation.
But project grants project
grants are for free spaces
like the parks and libraries
and other spaces. We'll get
into detail. We work with the
Parks Alliance on that as well
as the parks department. We
come together to see how can
get even more funding and more
robust programming. That's one
area some of the collaboration
that we're doing everyday arts
access. We've invested in
sector white marketing. That
tells the story of arts and
culture in our city through
our little marketing, but also
specifically through our
website, a shared calendar
with visit Indy residents and
visitors as well as our social
We've seen those numbers go
up. Our increased awareness
sector leadership and
visibility were were really
out there telling the story of
the arts community as well as
professional development. To
give you a good idea some of
our convening Ys. We meet with
our arts leaders every other
month, arts marketers every
other month. We also provide
other programs. For instance,
we had the iu School of
Philanthropy provide. One of
their courses. It's $1500
course. We provided to arts
organizations for $150 so they
could understand fundraising
one-on-one. Those are the
types of programming that
we're really focused on and
then arts and culture as a
destination. As you know, we
partner with organizations
like Indiana, Sports Corp and
visit Indy to really show off
all the things that we're
doing in the city of
Indianapolis and arts
organizations. But let's get
to the meat of where this the
city supports a great deal
programming. So since 87,
we've the ones that have
worked very closely with the
city in administering the
annual grants program in 2025.
Record. 103 organizations
receive funding to this to
support the programs that
happened and reach at least
8 million residents and
visitors each year. So that
number has doubled. So in
2016, we have 49 arts
organizations. So we've been
working miracles with with the
funding. And so our annual
grants programming
applications for the next
multi-year cycle will open in
JANUARY of 27. It's a 3 round
3 year round open OCTOBER
through FEBRUARY. As nurse or
sector grows, we we must
really look at how we can
support folks and make sure
that we have those folks doing
the work, the arts
organizations involved in this
particular program. They have
annual reports. We have a
rigorous review. We very
thorough with this and we've
been doing it for 40 years. So
looking forward to the next
couple years. But let's look
at this graph which shows you
the chart and the funding over
the last 20 years with
inflation adjusted number
adjusted numbers as well. But
the the column show the level
of funding. You can see that
during Arp. Of course, it was
a great deal of funding and
then we had some increase as
well. As I mentioned, the
number of organization
supported by the annual grants
program has more than doubled
since 2015. In 2025. The
program supported a record 20
bipoc led organizations up
from 4 in 2019. That's 20 lead
people of color organizations.
From 4 in 2019. Funding has
not necessarily kept pace with
the growth of our community,
nor is it kept place with
actual inflation. So with that
chart, you can see the funding
since 2005 and that pink line
are the arts organizations
that are growing. So we're
certainly grateful for some of
the things that we have been
able to do, especially with
that partnership with the Cip
in Bonn Bank as well on top of
that. But we're also focused
on the fact that there was a
33% decrease from the state of
Indiana arts programming.
Therefore, they're leading
leaning more on us for some of
the Marion County arts
organizations as well. And one
of the project grants we
talked about really support
the presentation of arts and
culture in activities that are
free and accessible to the
public. We talked a lot about
at least director grounded
about the programming in the
parks and your concern of what
is taking place and these
project grants that we have
have really at some robust
opportunities in parks,
libraries, community centers
and green spaces ensure that
all the residents can
experience and participate. So
you will see on this page.
Very, very popular program and
looking forward to what we can
do with this in the coming
years, we had 144 projects
proposed. 22 projects were
approved in of those 144, very
good programming. There was
1.5 million does requested.
These were from arts
organizations and artists. And
we have $200,000 award. So
this program was created based
on the data from our strategic
plan saying that residents,
the number one place where
they experience arts and
culture in public spaces,
community centers. And so
these arts organizations
really stepped up and put
together some great concepts.
And last year, nearly 80% of
our local arts councils and
other cities and the U.S.
Offered this type of
programming. You can see the
impact that was left him. What
we want to be able to show you
2 are the maps was considering
city and the county. These
were the green are the
programs that were funded, you
can see across the different
council districts. Those are
the ones actually funded with
this next map. The red shows
those that we're proposed but
not funded. You can see the
reach across. So imagine with
this next map. All filled. And
more coming, right? So on our
3rd round for the fall through
through NOVEMBER on very, very
much of an impact and how we
can help and collaborate and
partner with civic
organizations and the
programming that always
already takes place. Give you
an idea of a couple of
programs building community
through art art making and
community-building experience
focused on immigrant families.
This took place Michigan Road
Eagle Branch. For the library,
16 families. 51 participants
100% of the families at the
workshop. Help them feel more
connected to each other and to
their committee. You can see
the artist, Tricia o'Connor,
that let that that
interaction, another program.
Again could talk for hours.
There are some incredible
programs with this creative
routes. Multidisciplinary arts
instruction at Krannert Park
exploring ways to understand
and express the emotions for
youth. We got to look out for
young people. We talked about
the young programming, the
youth programming that's
important in the parks that
was Krannert was up to
Wednesday's spring through
summer and lead. But experts
arts for learning. So this is
the type of program that we
are so proud of and looking
forward to how we can can
really do this in another way.
It's all about every day. Art
Imagine these activities again
taking place in all parts in
the county, every library,
every every neighborhood,
every district. We have a
visual. But it doesn't look
like it's working just
working. I connected out if
you'd like, no, I'm kidding.
But it was a compilation of a
lot. There we go. You can see
up the programming that took
place and it was in or active.
It just won't play and you can
go to our website. I think we
have such a good website. You
can find anything you want to
on their talks about art but
that that gives you an idea of
what what we're doing. So
sector-wide marketing again to
be able to we've got all these
great things going on. We've
got to tell people where to go
when the go and how to go. And
so our efforts are really
designed to promote the entire
Indianapolis Arts and culture
ecosystem, not just one
organization, not just one
event. And so when one
organization does succeed, we
all succeed for the entire
ecosystem. And so with that,
you can see that we've had
such an impact with providing
this awareness through our
social media website, events,
calendar and some of our cap
collapse with other folks with
9.3 million earned media reach
5 million plus combined videos
and social media platforms.
And one point 1 million visits
to our website. So it increase
the awareness of local arts
and culture crew attendance
and participation reach new
diverse audiences and created
a shared visibility for us and
the arts sector. With the
funding overview, we're always
grateful for the partnership
with the city of Indianapolis
and this this annual grants
program is is just a wonderful
program that supports so many
arts organizations and Lisa
103 last year, we open up this
next round. We know we're
going to have more. So we're
really paying attention to
also how other arts
organization support other.
I'm sorry, other cities
support their arts
organizations. And so this is
how in the really stacked up.
And you guys have seen this
before. I know you have.
You've seen that we you know,
I have a budget of about
5 million with that per capita
expenditure of 5.5 thousand
$0.68 comparable to cities
like Columbus and Cincinnati.
Columbus having $25 per capita
and Cincinnati about $56 per
capita. And so several tough
times higher. But you have to
consider there are a lot of of
things in effect with this.
The state they're in the
investments that are made. And
what have you with the next
slide, the strategic
benchmarking. You can really
see that graph there. The
cities listed here really use
a variety of of funding
mechanism such as that tax is
like Columbus, Des Moines, St.
Louis used that cigarette tax
with Cleveland in their county
as well. Food and beverage
taxes with Columbus, Ohio.
County sales tax, Pittsburgh
and entertainment and sports
and ticket fees. Columbus,
Cleveland and Seattle. Every
city is unique and a lot of
possibilities. There. Many
creative ways that we can look
at increasing funding for the
arts in the city of
Indianapolis in the future. We
work very closely with arts
fund or so. You see our budget
were also fundraising. We're
talking a private funders were
talking to donors are talking
of corporations and we're also
talking with philanthropy. But
we're also exploring other
options and we're looking for
ways how we can work together
in our city with the city with
the city Council, with Civic
partners to create more
resources in the coming years.
We know that the city is going
to be facing some some
challenges it from an economic
and finance standpoint. But
we're looking to 3, 4, 5 year
plan. What does this look
like? We're so grateful to
have, you know, steady and
consistent funding over the
years. But what does the
future look like? So the 2025
investment, the Arts Council
invested in the creative
community, grant awards and
artists, fees was 2.2 million
dollars. And that much that
was awarded to about 135
nonprofits. We also had
441,000 dollars paid to 665
professional artists in 2025.
So it's that's not just from
city funds. It's also, as I
mentioned, philanthropy and
corporate and other fun. So
demonstrates overall effort
and investment and we're very
focused on on making sure that
we continue to work hard and
get great partners to help us
with that. So our request for
2027 funding with the city of
Indianapolis is 1.3 million
dollars for the annual grants
program that supported that
record 103 last year. And also
we had some funds go to the
project grants as well. So
we're really looking forward
to what the possibilities are
in the coming years. We know
where we stand right now. And
we're also very fortunate to
have the continued support of
the capital Improvement board
and the Bond bank. So that's
our funding request. And so
really, as we look ahead, we
have video. That's what we
have another video. I'm sorry.
Let's we got to show you the
video because it leaves an
impact. That's one of the
javelina actually. Yeah. So is
that talking through. And as
we're looking ahead, this is a
visual of what our passion is
all about. And we believe the
question before us is bigger
than this year's budget. It's
about what we want for the
future of the arts and culture
to look like in the city of
Indianapolis. We all know that
if we want a city that is
vibrant, welcoming
economically strong and a
place where people want to
live work visit and stay. We
need to invest in the arts.
Also want to thank the Council
for the hard work that has
gone into the public art
ordinance. That work is an
important step forward and we
look forward to seeing where
it truly can lead us and how
it can help us think even more
boldly about the world and the
role public art in our city as
we approach the in the Arts
Council's 40th year. It is
important moment to celebrate
what we have built together
and to be equally ambitious
about what comes next. So I'm
asking this council in the
city to work alongside Arts
Council over the coming years
and beyond to develop a
sustainable long-term model
for supporting arts and
culture in our city. It's not
simply to maintain what we
have, but to imagine what is
possible. So we should be
having this conversation
together. And I know we will
about the role the arts play
in economy, in our
neighborhoods. We all of our
neighborhoods and the
uniqueness of the mall, a
quality of life and the
identity of Indianapolis. And
we have the opportunity right
now to celebrate our past.
Learn from what has been
worked before and build on the
next chapter. So the Indy Arts
Council's ready to be a
partner. We invite City County
Council and administration and
our Civic Partners and arts
community to sit at the table
with us. Let's not just from
the arts for the next year.
Let's plan for the next for 5
years and beyond. And for the
next 40 and let's build a
future where creative life
truly is possible for all.
Thank you, Yes, very nice. As
we I you know, arts goes right
along with parts. A quality of
life issues we face here
Indianapolis and the fact that
our level of funding of the
arts has not even met. Its
level from 2000, 5, I believe
if my memory serves me
correctly isn't a very it's an
embarrassing statistic that we
hope to improve. So again,
take this moment to say this
is why we fought 4 the ability
to have more funding and not
squeeze every dollar to roads
because the rest of the city
suffers and the park suffer
arts suffer. And that, again,
is just to terminal to the
progress of our cities. So
we're going to be working on
this amendment. I would love
to be a part of the discussion
of finding sustainable model
economic model of how funnel
more money on a regular basis
toward yards. I look forward
to scope Brown. Was CHAIRMAN
And yes, that thank you as
Thomas excellent presentation.
Thank you. And I want to echo
everything. CHAIRMAN Just
mentioned just a couple quick
questions. Do you have a
funding about in mind from
this? The idea for the bond
bank this year? Yes, okay.
Yep. Same as last year.
Appreciate that. You know, I
hate that. You know, flat. I
feel like as a decrease given
how much I what is going right
full to have what we have
right now. I understand. Yes,
because I know well aware.
Year with the were under to
me, especially looking at
those peer cities and some of
money because as you
mentioned, Cip, that makes
perfect sense because that's
where are a lot of the same
tax dollars are going right
and see it as opposed the city
of Indianapolis directly you
talk a little bit more about
like the thought process. I
mean, money is money. I want
to get as much as you can from
wherever it makes sense. But
what's I guess the theory
behind getting bought a bank
money as opposed to city of
Indianapolis money? Well, I
mean that that was something
that was done a couple years
ago. I mean, when I was
previously in the mayor's
office, so I know that they
have suspects supported
various events throughout
their time, cultural events
and what have you. So they saw
this already. They're already
doing that work and saw some
of the program that we were
doing and really helped us
with a sector-wide marketing.
Some of the other programming
that we have. And so they saw
it as a bit. We talked see
what could work in. And
luckily, we've been able to do
that for the last couple years
and to do it in the future,
too, it's made a major
difference for us. Sure. Yeah,
I'm again. I'm very glad to
be. And the arts organizations
and artists, not just because
it just goes right back out.
Very little stays in as I get
it. I'm and to that point,
just wanted to maybe argue
against the point no one's
making. But I have heard
people expressing confusion
around the one percent for the
arts public art program versus
Arts Council. And as much as I
love public art, my comments
that are the Parks committee
during the Parks Department
budget presentation of culture
here as well where I'd much
rather see money flowing
through artist. And so are
able to newly created all the
time. You know, an awesome
mural and awesome. Yes,
sculpture. That doesn't change
by ear. Great for that. And
it's the first for the public
moving forward. But I think
it's the people that really
make art. And I would argue
vociferously against anybody
thought that those 2 should be
in competition. You know,
really pretty what you're just
that. Thank MISTER Chair.
Sure. Yes, definitely coming.
Thank you, CHAIRMAN. Thank you
for your presentation. As I
will echo what my colleague
said, like there's not enough
funding that we could give
you. I some of those cities
give some crazy numbers to
arts. I think aspiration. I
mean, if we could get halfway
to what Denver does, $100 per
person, right? That's insane.
But one of the things that I
want to point out and 2 said
is right without growing the
pie, we would have to squeeze
things groups to suffer and
the non necessity. Dollars
that we spend in the city is
not nowhere near what our full
budget is. And Kroger Parks
and Arts would be the first
thing to be squeezed because
there are some that think
they're not necessities and I
would challenge anybody who
says that to think about their
childhood when they were in
school, what some of their
favorite classes were because
they probably wouldn't say it
was the reading in the math,
even though Mike Educator love
it all, you know, the arts
class what they did in and
that investment not only is
good for people in our
community, but for industry
that wants to expand that they
become to Indianapolis. So we
see year-over-year this
committee, the world class.
Quality level. Our talent that
is in this city that has
brought to the city that comes
to the city annually for
competitions and other things
and think about how much more
we could do if able to invest
more money. So as with my
colleagues, I will continue to
advocate for more funds in
this. And I CHAIRMAN Said at
that. We made the hard
decision about the tax
increase because we knew these
are important too. In a
community without our is not
what I want to live in. So and
I think a lot of folks feel
that Thank you. Great
comments. Any final thoughts?
Hearing? Thank you. MISTER
Munson, Great presentation.
And again, as I said earlier,
we're going to fight for the
arts as Thank you. We'll work
together different ways. We
can do it. Take care. Thank
hearing. No, no further