[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[3:01] Referentment names,
[4:23] Let's take a look at the other side, let's take a look at the other side, let's take a look at the other side.
[4:53] Let's take a look at the other side, let's take a look at the the other side, let's take a look at the other side, let's do it.
[11:23] All right, everybody. We now have a quorum and we can convene
[11:41] counselor Jonathan Lambert Melton has an excused absence today and Mayor Pertum
[11:47] Fort is running a few minutes behind but we'll be joining us and we are here to
[11:51] talk about the 2022 Parks Bond update with Shoshin Baker and Kelly Ham.
[11:59] Thank you. Good morning Mayor and good morning members of the council and Shoshin
[12:03] Baker with Rally Parks and this morning my engineering services colleague
[12:09] Kelly Ham and I are presenting a progress update on the 2022 Parks Fund
[12:15] project and towards the end of this presentation I'll be giving a brief overview
[12:20] on the annual Parks Capital Improvement Program Supported Primarily by the Penny Tax
[12:25] Revenue. First the bomb projects there has been very extensive and intensive engagement
[12:33] and collaboration building internally and externally as you have experienced
[12:39] yourselves, most of the projects after community engagement process were brought in front of
[12:45] boards and commissions and city council for review and approval so thank you very much for
[12:51] all your input and support on these projects. And most of these projects now have moved into
[12:56] technical design phase with a very minimum interaction with the community members, however we
[13:02] continue to communicate with them through project websites and social media channels as well as
[13:09] outreach with targeted stakeholder groups or planning an open house event for spring
[13:15] 2026 to report progress and share and share project information. As presented last time a
[13:24] cross-departmental team has been working towards the development of a reporting dashboard
[13:30] to promote transparency as well as reporting on the Bond budget spending status.
[13:39] And we're going to take a closer look at the dashboard a few slides later down this presentation.
[13:45] And here's the graphic again showing the four-year rollout for the Parks Fund budget and we're currently
[13:52] in year three. Also as presented previously there was a funding gap of little over $21 million
[14:01] between the originally proposed budget and the final dollar amount that was approved by city council
[14:07] and the voters. We've been working towards closing that gap and I have a little bit progress report
[14:13] today. First we finally received a written confirmation letter from the grant tour for the $8.6 million
[14:23] grant award for Smokey Hollow Park and it's still conditional contingent upon
[14:30] US Army Corps permit and review but that was already part of the proudest scope in a ways
[14:37] and the proud team has been working towards the permitting phase and as we develop the design.
[14:43] And second we are still working on the environmental review process for the $1.5 million
[14:50] dollar hot grant for South Park Heritage Walk and recently we received a $400,000 grant from the
[14:57] great trail state grant for us.
[15:00] From North Carolina, towards the Marsha Creek Grandway Planning and the Ability Study. The neighborhood
[15:07] and community connections partnership is going strong, currently in permitting phase. We also recently
[15:12] secured pretty substantial partnership with a private developer for the Office of Renovation
[15:19] and Activision Index Park. In addition to all that, we have received over $800,000 from
[15:26] City of Raleigh, Stormwater Program for the implementation of Green Stormwater Infrastructure on
[15:32] some of the bond projects. We still have a couple in the pipeline and we continue to look
[15:37] around. With that, I would like to have as Kelly Hamd to start talking about the projects.
[15:44] Thanks, Shashin. All right, and we're going to talk a little bit about the project status and
[15:55] this slide may look familiar to you. We've used it a few times as we've provided updates. So as we go down
[16:02] the slide vertically, we have the Part 1 projects and then as we go across the top from left to right,
[16:09] we have the phases of the project, starting with early phases like RFQ, planning, schematic design,
[16:15] construction documents through permitting, bidding, construction and finally completion.
[16:21] And our progress since our last update to you all, which was in March, is shown in blue.
[16:27] And I did want to note, even if you don't see an entire phase, if anything, in blue, we are making a lot of
[16:32] progress. And we're going to talk about the projects based on their fiscal year. They were funded a little bit here.
[16:39] So for fiscal year 24, we have one project that is open to the public and wow, what a wonderful project to
[16:46] be the first one to live through the part of our founding success with the play flaw.
[16:51] We've got a couple of projects under construction and then green road is in the bidding category.
[17:00] A significant number of the projects funded in fiscal year 24 are in permitting. I won't read all of them,
[17:06] but I wanted to point out, build more hills as the farthest is the answer to the building permit phase
[17:12] and the remainder are primarily in site plan permitting. And the remainder of the fiscal year 24
[17:21] funded projects are in design as you can see here. And the fiscal year 25 of funded projects are also
[17:30] in design. So happy to report all the projects are enrolled out in a designer for their long phases.
[17:36] Just wanted to briefly mention some of the ongoing challenges and this is not to alarm anybody
[17:43] just to say that we are anticipating planning for these factors and trying to work to minimize their impacts
[17:50] on our project to the extent we can. So some of those challenges are tariffs, bidding conditions, and
[17:56] contractor availability to do the work, increasing costs. There are some projects for which we have federal
[18:02] grants, so we want to be extra careful to make sure that we meet all the requirements for those projects.
[18:07] And then relocation of impacted services. So even as we are planning for design of renovation into some
[18:13] of the community centers, parks counterpart, so we're very hard to put in place plans to relocate
[18:19] some of those services to minimize any impacts to programming overall. And so now we're going to talk about
[18:27] the dashboard. And we will see. Here we go. Okay. So we last provided you an update on the
[18:38] park spawned dashboard at our last update. And we wanted to preview it for you today. So we're calling it
[18:45] the 2022 park spawn spending tracker. And I'm just going to go over it briefly. You can take all
[18:54] projects or you can pick a specific project. So right now we're looking at all of them. It has an
[18:59] interactive map here where you can click on projects that each of these dots represents the project.
[19:04] And the bigger the dot is, the more bond funding the project has. And then as we go over here, if I pick
[19:13] it, we'll do this in a minute, we'll pick a specific project. But when we pick that project, it'll tell us what phase it's in.
[19:18] It tells us what is the total budget. So this represents the 275 million of bond funds plus
[19:25] any other donations grants or other funding for a total of 325 million here. And then it shows us on the next
[19:31] line how much have we spent from the park spawned. So we've spent 55 million. And then it'll give us
[19:38] for each of the projects in the visual book. But our goal is to spend down these funds by December of 2022.
[19:43] And then as you go down farther, there's a cash flow curve here. So this is how we plan to spend
[19:50] the funding over time. So the blue line is just that that projection. How do we plan to spend this
[19:56] 275 million of bond funds over time. And then the green line here is how much are we actually spending
[20:02] over time. So the blue line is a projection based on a curve and the green line is based on actual
[20:08] invoices and pay applications. So as we go over here, we have some general information about the bonds.
[20:16] And then we have these graphics that look like speedometers. So I like to call them spendometers because
[20:23] we're trying to show how much we're spending. So you can see here, the first one is spending from the
[20:28] park spawned. So we know we have a total of 275 million. And so far, if you see this start blue,
[20:34] we've spent about 55 million from the bond. And then if you go to the middle, it's going to show us
[20:39] spending from those other sources. So we've got 50 million and we spent about almost 36 million.
[20:46] And then if we go to the far right, that's just going to total everything up for us from the bond plus
[20:50] other sources. So 325 million and we spent 91. And so we'll just go ahead then and try to preview
[20:59] a specific project. Let's just take a look at Tarber, for example. And one thing that you'll know is
[21:07] you have to unclick this elect all so that it shows you that specific project. There we go. Okay.
[21:17] So now that we're on Tarber, you see our math is focused right into our project location. Our project
[21:23] description is telling us specifically about Tarber. So we have a note about when the schedule was
[21:29] last updated. In this case, we had a contract an amendment that did schematic design through
[21:34] construction. So we're on that schedule. We have an overview of what it is. So this is redeveloping the
[21:39] park. And then some of the key features, the community center playgrounds play court, parking, and so forth.
[21:46] And improvements to Saint Monica. And then if we go over here, you can see where in the design phase,
[21:52] our budget is about 29.3 million. And we've spent about 980,000 of that. We're anticipating
[22:00] being done with construction in January of 29. And then as we look at our projected spending versus
[22:07] our actual spending down here. So again, projected as blue and actual as green. And then as we
[22:14] go over here, our spendometer, as we can see again, our budget for this project is 29.3 million.
[22:19] We spent about 980,000. And this particular project doesn't have any other funding sources. So you're
[22:25] just seeing bonds so that a spendometer over here will look just like the one spending fund bonds. So
[22:31] with that, I'm going to turn things back over to Shashi and talk about the look ahead.
[22:42] Thank you. Next up's, of course, we're going to continue implementing these projects and continue
[22:52] to pursue grants and partnerships. And this fact dashboard that Kelly just showed you. We hope to publish
[22:57] that this week unless there are any substantial input and comments from the council that we need to address.
[23:06] Of course, I mentioned earlier that we're going to plan, we are planning for an open house event
[23:13] for a spring 2026. And this event is intended to be a community event with the fund and food and music and
[23:20] family activities. And once that data finalized, we'll definitely share with the Board's and
[23:25] commissions and city council and the broader community. The next two slides, I only have two slides
[23:33] left. The next two slides are about the capital and the annual parks capital improvement program.
[23:38] Again, primarily supported by the penny tax. Back in fiscal year 2022, city council authorized
[23:45] to implement a one penny tax increase to support maintenance, different maintenance and life cycle
[23:52] replacement. During the first year, if by 2022, one penny brought us $7.6 million and that amount has
[24:00] increased with current year being $11.6 million. And since then, staff has been working pretty
[24:07] hard with the penny and we have completed over 120 projects through the execution of well over 200 contracts
[24:16] and we have expressed $28 million and currently there's just shy of $9 million under contract waiting to be spent.
[24:25] And here's some snapshots of the projects that are covered under this program,
[24:31] Dix Park Building Abatement Demolition and Site Stabilization. We also have security system,
[24:37] expansion and upgrades at locations where there was none or locations where there were analog
[24:45] old outdated analog systems to keep them upgraded and we completed about 40 at about 40 facilities so far.
[24:53] And then ongoing parks savings, stream their anguish duration and play more innovation
[24:57] than park system upgrades. So those are targeted for again, focusing on maintenance,
[25:04] deferred maintenance and life cycle replacement. And with that we're happy to take questions.
[25:13] Yep, council branch. Definitely thank you for the presentation information of the 4.187
[25:20] that is short between that 21 and that 17. I know you said yet three opportunities.
[25:26] Excuse me, coming forward yet to be secure. But what's the touch point are the date,
[25:34] kind of on the calendar that says, hey, if we don't have funding for this 4 million by this date,
[25:41] then projects may be in jeopardy. Okay. I wouldn't say our projects are in jeopardy and the grant
[25:49] funding is really to supplement. We're not counting the projects are not designed,
[25:53] accounting on the extra funding. At the extra funding we'll just provide extra cushion,
[25:59] extra confidence for us and also if there's any low hang for during the projects that come up that
[26:04] could be covered with additional grant funding that will be helpful. So we're not counting on that money.
[26:12] Okay, perfect. This is good to hear. Thank you. Thank you.
[26:15] How's our patent and then silver? Hi. My question is around. I think there's a budget gap on
[26:25] news of our park. And that between what was approved in the master plan and what's available. And I know
[26:34] like funding opportunities are being pursued, but I don't see them reflected here on the slide. Are those
[26:41] still looking optimistic or how's it going there? They're not on the slide because we have not
[26:46] secured them. We're only reporting back the dollar amount that we have secured 90%. And for news
[26:53] we're apart. We did, we complete the master plan and we're looking at phasing to see what we could
[27:00] accomplish with the funding and also me while looking for other opportunities. One of the
[27:06] the grants I caught out on the slide was the state park's grant and that's something we're
[27:11] eyeing on and hopefully to apply for for this project. And we're also talking with our partners and to
[27:17] hope to bring some private dollars, but they're not secured yet. And if we go back to Mr. Grenches
[27:26] Mr. Grenches question, if we fail to do everything there, we will face the project and to have a fit
[27:33] within the budget. And then a broader question is it fair to to characterize that these
[27:40] did bond projects currently are on time and on budget? Have you fair characterization overall?
[27:48] The short answer is yes without getting to each project. There has been some council directions
[27:55] to ask hope to certain projects that impacted funding and schedule and staff has been strategizing
[28:02] every time we receive directions from council, from the community to, again, the hope is to get everything
[28:09] under budget and on schedule. But there has been some adjustments based on additional input during the process.
[28:20] Question, thank you for the presentation and very excited to see how this project is moving forward.
[28:27] I know on our presentation and it's, I guess, in beta version before you roll out the
[28:31] tracker and certainly appreciate it. I know we had talked about a very effective tool we use in
[28:38] your city capital tracker. This is a suggestion for the future, but I think the public should be where
[28:44] there's always three stages of a project, there's design, procurement, and construction. And so whether
[28:50] in the future, I know you want to roll this one out, would there be an ability of just showing which
[28:56] stage it's in, so the public understands what's happening, always in the design phase.
[29:01] Procurement I imagine is very short here. Unlike New York City, which was 14 months, but here I think
[29:08] it's shorter. And then design, there are some complexity just adding that one feature about what
[29:14] percent completes, so the public understands, oh, designs expected or estimated to be completed in this
[29:20] quarter, the project's expected to be delivered. So I think that would just be a helpful
[29:24] innovation, but the fact that you have this tracker. Thank you. It's very helpful as we go out
[29:29] and members and community access about it. We could either tell them go directly to the tracker,
[29:34] or we ourselves could look this up on the dashboard. So we just want to thank you for this addition
[29:39] to understanding how our capital projects go from design to completion. Thank you for that input.
[29:46] When we, when the team worked down this tracker, this product is intended to be a living document or a
[29:53] living product. And based on it, because we'll have not rolled it out yet, and once it's out there,
[29:58] I'm sure with the passionate people.
[30:00] Global in the committee, we're going to hear feedback and input on the track. How to use it? And from, in
[30:06] both, they elect officials, as well as the general public. So we do intend I improving it,
[30:11] as needed. And currently, there is a phase as Kelly presented. There is a phase showing what
[30:16] face were in. There's a field showing what face were in. Design, construction, but we do not have the
[30:23] rainbow or the speedometer to show that, but we could not work with ourselves. I just couldn't play with it
[30:28] because in the slide, it was static and so I kept clicking. So, but I understand it's in beta,
[30:32] you're going to roll it out. So, I will certainly take a look at it. But thank you for that addition. Very helpful.
[30:40] So, I'll just second council or silver. I mean, this is fabulous. This is going to be such a great tool.
[30:45] When do you think it's going to go live? I mean, just ballpark.
[30:49] We have things set up today. Hopefully tomorrow, we'll have the links on all the project websites,
[30:55] including in the main park spot website. Why have a set up? Just read to roll.
[31:00] Okay. Well, I mean, just the interface, the diagrams, the interactivity of it's really, really great.
[31:07] I mean, I do think this then begs, if the park's department does this, you know, the affordable housing
[31:13] bond, the transportation bond. We're probably going to need to develop right tools to assess
[31:20] those projects in those departments of the city so that we're treating all these big bond issues
[31:27] equally. So, I don't know whether we've got plans to do that, but I think that's going to immediately
[31:32] beg the next question. I have to say there has been a lot of efforts to this season to give
[31:40] things and presentations. I do want to thank IT staff and for a nice and weak work to make this happen.
[31:47] And to answer your question, it would be, it would be a shame. It would only use this one time for this
[31:52] park's department. And we're doing 10 on. Hopefully, I'm not speaking for Marshal, but hopefully to use
[31:59] something similar or future bonds and to help with transparency. Second question, which kind of goes to
[32:07] some of Kelly's comments about, we know there's been tariffs inflation, all these projects, the
[32:13] dollars have gone up. And so, this sort of suggests that the 2022, when these things were bid,
[32:21] that that was the total number and we're just tracking against that number. I mean, at some point,
[32:26] you also need to show where there are inflationary increases, how we're trying to address that.
[32:32] I mean, maybe that's too much to put into the tool, but I also want to acknowledge the amount of
[32:37] the city's stretching. And in the case of Dix Park, of course, where you had philanthropic dollars put
[32:43] an additional $1.5 million to cover some of the inflationary overruns. And you sort of want to
[32:48] recognize the muscle and flex that the city and philanthropic partners are putting in to make sure
[32:55] these projects are actually brought to, you know, to fruition.
[32:59] Appreciate the thought. Most of the very complicated, large scale projects, so we did have a
[33:06] different delivery method like construction managers at risk and who help us with the cost
[33:11] estimation from real construction market time and hopefully. And we're also tracking escalation as
[33:19] while every step of the way we have certain percentages of escalation built. So we're hopeful,
[33:25] I don't want to promise anything, but we're hopeful that most projects will be delivered
[33:31] budget. But that's why the GAM back to Mr. Grinch's question and we're still looking for additional
[33:39] funding opportunity for in case situations. But we're not necessarily increasing scope,
[33:45] even with additional funding, which is hopefully one bit time comes. Everything is workable.
[33:52] Okay, any other questions? All right. Well, I think that is the right only item we had on our
[34:01] work session. And we appreciate it. And we are adjourned until the regular session at 1 p.m.
[35:46] I'm Robert Hanson and this is what I'm doing.
[35:58] Whether you're a rally native or new to the area, you've probably been to Poland Park.
[36:03] It's a magical place for kids and adults. I work for the city of Raleigh as an attraction specialist
[36:09] been doing that for about three and a half years and what I do.