Speaker 1: Here.
Speaker 2: But we also have a council member, Aaron Kirkpatrick here
Speaker 2: today and he has he has an announcement of an
Speaker 2: upcoming event.
Speaker 3: That we wanted to talk about. So, but before we.
Speaker 2: Jump into all that, wanted to talk something that I
Speaker 2: know people are at least a little bit curious about
Speaker 2: because they participated in it. And so we have the
Speaker 2: results of our survey back. And this was a survey
Speaker 2: that was identified in our strategic plan. This is one
Speaker 2: of the things that we wanted to do to get
Speaker 2: a better feel for our community and honestly how we're
Speaker 2: doing as a government and areas we can improve on
Speaker 2: and areas we're doing well in. And so this is
Speaker 2: this has been a little it took us a little
Speaker 2: while to get through. This turns out, doing a survey
Speaker 2: of an entire city's pretty good process. So we hired
Speaker 2: a company named Polko and they also they do what
Speaker 2: they call a national Community Survey, and so they have
Speaker 2: a set number of questions that are the same for
Speaker 2: every community that they survey across the United States, and
Speaker 2: they have surveyed a lot of communities throughout the United States.
Speaker 2: They put a map up on Monday night and it
Speaker 2: was everywhere. It's it's across the country. So they asked
Speaker 2: those same questions in every community, and that creates a
Speaker 2: benchmark so that they can come to your community ask
Speaker 2: those questions, and then no matter what the result was,
Speaker 2: they can tell you whether you're doing better or worse
Speaker 2: than other communities across the country. So the reality is
Speaker 2: is that municipalities face some degree of headwind on certain areas.
Speaker 2: And so while your score, your raw score of sixty
Speaker 2: percent or sixty five percent, may not look great. If
Speaker 2: every other city in the United States got a thirty,
Speaker 2: then you still want to do better, but you're doing
Speaker 2: better than they are already.
Speaker 1: You're you're the tallest short person, You're the tallest short person.
Speaker 2: That's it very much so so that so it was
Speaker 2: it was an interesting survey. We there was some really
Speaker 2: great information in there. There was some really good news,
Speaker 2: and then there's some there's information in there about what
Speaker 2: we need to be focusing on and what the areas
Speaker 2: of greatest concern to our citizens, and so they so
Speaker 2: we went through this.
Speaker 3: The high points.
Speaker 2: Were I don't think they'll surprise anybody who knows them,
Speaker 2: but or who's from Bartlesville or has spent any time here.
Speaker 2: Ninety percent of our residents feel safe. You'd love that
Speaker 2: to be one hundred percent. That's unrealistic. So ninety percent
Speaker 2: is about as good as you're probably ever going to get.
Speaker 2: And that meant primarily that they felt safe in their homes,
Speaker 2: they felt safe in our business districts, and so that
Speaker 2: was that was good news for all of us to
Speaker 2: know that we still have that level of safety and
Speaker 2: security and confidence in our community. About seventy percent of
Speaker 2: residence their interactions with city customer service have been have
Speaker 2: been favorable. And again, seventy percent isn't exactly light in
Speaker 2: the world on fire, and we would love that to
Speaker 2: be a lot higher, but again, municipalities face some headwinds.
Speaker 2: A lot of these interactions were somebody who had who
Speaker 2: got a speeding ticket. Well, that's not going to be
Speaker 2: viewed as a favorable interaction no matter how well.
Speaker 1: We do, and whose fauls it was.
Speaker 3: Of things that we have to deal with.
Speaker 2: And so seventy percent was actually higher than the national average,
Speaker 2: so we felt pretty good about it. Again, we'd love
Speaker 2: that to be eighty ninety percent. But again, some of
Speaker 2: these I always say, and Jason and I This was
Speaker 2: one of the things we always told our employees is
Speaker 2: you have to understand that all of the transactions that
Speaker 2: we do here are involuntary. Nobody chose to come in,
Speaker 2: and they didn't choose us as a water company. They
Speaker 2: didn't choose to get a speeding ticket, they didn't choose
Speaker 2: it's they live here, and so they're forced new business
Speaker 2: with us, and so we always started a deficit. But
Speaker 2: I think we do a really good job. And I
Speaker 2: think that was very reflective of that. They against sixty
Speaker 2: five percent approved of the quality of services that they
Speaker 2: receive from the city, and again that's not a figure
Speaker 2: you would normally brag about, except for that it was
Speaker 2: higher than other cities. And so again that's an area
Speaker 2: that we're actually ahead in still want to continue to
Speaker 2: improve on. And for anybody who's ever been to our library,
Speaker 2: I'm sure this won't shock you. It was the second
Speaker 2: highest score on the deal. Eighty six percent of the
Speaker 2: people basically love the library.
Speaker 1: I'm surprised that wasn't one hundred percent. And this is best,
Speaker 1: that's best daycum library, phenomenal life for a small town.
Speaker 2: And so I think that these are so when you're
Speaker 2: dealing with a community and you're dealing with a municipal government.
Speaker 3: These are the challenges that we have.
Speaker 2: Anybody that has used the library loves it, but if
Speaker 2: you don't use it, then you're not aware of it.
Speaker 2: And so this could have just been a neutral and.
Speaker 1: So well it's a library, okay, yep.
Speaker 2: That was It was either great, okay, don't care, don't
Speaker 2: like it, or hate it. And I mean, those are
Speaker 2: basically your five scores. So anything from I don't care
Speaker 2: or I'm not aware of it down didn't didn't make
Speaker 2: it into them into the positive category.
Speaker 3: But so so.
Speaker 2: Those were all of the things that I think we
Speaker 2: were really expecting. I was glad to see that we
Speaker 2: did as well as we did, but those were really
Speaker 2: things we were largely expecting. Some other areas that came
Speaker 2: out of it, and we'll just call these sort of
Speaker 2: focus areas. And these are areas primarily where the citizens
Speaker 2: gave them a high priory but then a lower score,
Speaker 2: and so that created essentially what we were calling a gap.
Speaker 2: And so in these and these are the ones that
Speaker 2: have more to do with the city. There were other
Speaker 2: things in there that aren't specifically cities, but some cities
Speaker 2: may do them. And so for us, one of the
Speaker 2: scores that is probably the closest to being within our
Speaker 2: control and that had the biggest gap in it was
Speaker 2: recreational opportunities and facilities, and so this is something that
Speaker 2: cities actually do. There was concerns about our economic health.
Speaker 2: I don't know how much we can do to influence
Speaker 2: that more than what we do, but we're gonna, We're
Speaker 2: going to That's obviously something to take a look at.
Speaker 2: I think that generally speaking, this is based on, you know,
Speaker 2: concerns about our largest employers. They've reduced their employee count,
Speaker 2: and so citizens of Barts will have expressed that there
Speaker 2: that they're concerned about the economic health. And of course
Speaker 2: we've we've recruited new businesses and we've created new jobs,
Speaker 2: but we still have some work to do there apparently.
Speaker 2: And then the variety of businesses, and we've seen this before.
Speaker 2: I think us UH primarily relates to like our retail businesses,
Speaker 2: people want more and that's the reality.
Speaker 3: They want more.
Speaker 2: We can shop on Amazon, but restaurants are something that
Speaker 2: they're that's the very local thing, and so people want
Speaker 2: more restaurants, they want more opportunities for those.
Speaker 1: So Popeye's Chicken coming.
Speaker 2: It used to be it used to be Red Lobster,
Speaker 2: and then it became Olive Garden.
Speaker 3: To know it's Popeyees. So we're there, they're all coming, Tom.
Speaker 3: We just don't know what.
Speaker 1: When do you fix? When do you fiction Adam Street?
Speaker 3: Yeah, there you go. You know, that's something we can do.
Speaker 2: So, but those were those were really sort of the
Speaker 2: areas that were that were more out of alignment, which
Speaker 2: is good because those are not our are necessarily our
Speaker 2: core functions. I mean, our core functions are primarily in infrastructure,
Speaker 2: public safety, things of that nature, and so we we
Speaker 2: appreciate that those were the areas that we weren't doing
Speaker 2: as well as we wanted to. But obviously we still
Speaker 2: have to focus on those.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 2: One of the other questions, and this was unique to Bartlesville,
Speaker 2: so there is no comparison between these and other communities.
Speaker 2: We put in some specific questions and we really wanted
Speaker 2: the citizens to rank their priorities and so over the
Speaker 2: next several years, what would you like to see us
Speaker 2: focus on in the community. And the highest scores were
Speaker 2: given essentially to improving existing infrastructure and public safety, and
Speaker 2: so those are the things that they would like to
Speaker 2: see the council invest in and this again, this didn't
Speaker 2: surprise us. One of the other options was is for
Speaker 2: new infrastructure. Would you like to see an expansion of
Speaker 2: our streets, expansion of our trails and our parks and
Speaker 2: things of that nature, And it got a little bit
Speaker 2: lower score. So it tells us that city of the
Speaker 2: citizens of Bartlesville are probably relatively satisfied with the number
Speaker 2: or with the size of our infrastructure, but they'd like
Speaker 2: to see it be improved. So that's something that we
Speaker 2: actually like to see. It means that we're doing pretty well.
Speaker 2: We just need to continue to make improvements to what
Speaker 2: we have. And then we specifically asked a question about
Speaker 2: water supply, and so we asked it. There's really three
Speaker 2: questions related to it. The first one was do you
Speaker 2: support the expansion of our water supply planning for the
Speaker 2: next fifty years? And then the other question was for
Speaker 2: the next hundred years. Both of those received very positive marks.
Speaker 2: But there was a follow up question to it, and
Speaker 2: this is why I say there's always a conundrum when
Speaker 2: you're a city. I know they know what it is,
Speaker 2: and it was, how are you willing to increase your
Speaker 2: utility bill in order to fund those, and only forty
Speaker 2: percent of people were willing to pay for and so
Speaker 2: this is the disconnection that.
Speaker 3: We deal with.
Speaker 2: The reality is is that there's no way to expand
Speaker 2: our existing water supply without paying for it.
Speaker 3: There's a cost.
Speaker 2: We'll either have to pay the core of engineers or
Speaker 2: we'll have to install additional infrastructure.
Speaker 3: So there's lots of.
Speaker 2: Things that we'll have to do and it will always cost.
Speaker 2: But we were grateful to see that people were aware
Speaker 2: of this issue and.
Speaker 3: That they supported it. But there will be a cost.
Speaker 2: So unfortunately to those sixty percent who didn't want to
Speaker 2: pay for it.
Speaker 3: It's only one way to get Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 4: I was the one snort and shaking my head just
Speaker 4: because I mean, it's just human.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was unanimous. It's human nature. But didn't our utilities?
Speaker 4: Wasn't there a cost when we were going through the drought,
Speaker 4: when we're going through water restrictions, aren't there normally costs
Speaker 4: associated with that?
Speaker 2: So there are, and in fact, when we go into
Speaker 2: our water restrictions, there is increases.
Speaker 3: For people who use a certain amount of water.
Speaker 2: And so yes, there already is some degree of cost
Speaker 2: built into it. I think that what we ran in,
Speaker 2: what we run into with all of these in particular,
Speaker 2: is that we've had so many demands lately, and so
Speaker 2: we had to build a water plant, and I think
Speaker 2: we started raising rates for that in early two thousands.
Speaker 2: We almost had to double water rates for a water
Speaker 2: plant we have. That was the biggest infrastructure project we'd
Speaker 2: ever done at that time, at about forty eight three
Speaker 2: million dollars. We're now planning and again planning not because
Speaker 2: we want, but planning because we have to have it
Speaker 2: for an eighty five million dollar expansion to our wastewater plant.
Speaker 2: On the heels of that will likely be about forty
Speaker 2: million dollar improvement to our wastewater collection system. And these
Speaker 2: are all things we have to do. That's those were
Speaker 2: required by the state. And so I think that there's
Speaker 2: some degree of fatigue and people have just seen their
Speaker 2: bills continue to increase, and.
Speaker 3: It's not just us.
Speaker 2: I saw people upset about their electric bills the other
Speaker 2: day as well.
Speaker 3: So you tell the story.
Speaker 4: Of why we have, why we are now required to
Speaker 4: update our wastewater treatment system, why we no longer need
Speaker 4: to make those choices for.
Speaker 2: Ourselves so that was it actually started all the way
Speaker 2: back in nineteen eighty six was the first. I think
Speaker 2: that was the first, I'm going to get the word
Speaker 2: wrong consent decree, which is ones that's actually handed out
Speaker 2: by a judge, which consent orders and decrees are a
Speaker 2: little bit different. And in nineteen eighty six, after the
Speaker 2: eighty six flood, apparently there was some mishandling of our
Speaker 2: wastewater and at the wastewater plant. Essentially, I think they
Speaker 2: just opened the valves and let the wastewater go during
Speaker 2: the flood, thinking that the dilution would be sufficient. In
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty six, none of us were here, we were alive.
Speaker 3: I was in middle school.
Speaker 2: You got a tennis shot back then, that's what we
Speaker 2: all got our first tennis shot. And so anyway, the state,
Speaker 2: when they realized what had happened, actually issued a consent
Speaker 2: consent order or decree, and at that point in time,
Speaker 2: the city had to contract out the operation of its
Speaker 2: wastewater plan. We've continued that because it actually has worked
Speaker 2: out very well. Having a contractor operated. But all of
Speaker 2: these improvements since then are mandated is part of that.
Speaker 2: And so you're right, it's nothing we want to do.
Speaker 2: These are things that we're required to do. And again
Speaker 2: I'm not even this isn't even a criticism of the state.
Speaker 2: The reality is is that we can't have wastewater spilling
Speaker 2: out on the streets. We can't have untreated racewater going
Speaker 2: into the river. And that's what all of this is about.
Speaker 4: I just when I learned that through the budget process
Speaker 4: seen six. Part of what was so interesting to learn
Speaker 4: about all that was essentially, I mean, the decisions you
Speaker 4: make that we made in the past led to consequences
Speaker 4: that we are still facing this, all right, And so
Speaker 4: when when we ask people do you want to plan
Speaker 4: for the future for water supply, they say yes, well
Speaker 4: do you want to pay for it? No, like we
Speaker 4: are now once again and was it's just investments the
Speaker 4: way investment works, right, Infrastructure isn't sexy. But the decisions
Speaker 4: we make now will be impacting people in another forty.
Speaker 2: Years and we don't We don't want to leave it
Speaker 2: to the next generation, right, We've seen too much of that.
Speaker 2: In fact, we deal with some of the consequences of
Speaker 2: that as you as you noted, so we're still dealing
Speaker 2: with the consequences of that.
Speaker 3: So that's that's certainly.
Speaker 2: Not the way we operate today, but we we are,
Speaker 2: we are paying for it. So but so I think
Speaker 2: that's again it's a natural reflection. Nobody wants their bills
Speaker 2: to go up. Unfortunately, sometimes they have to, either because
Speaker 2: of inflation or because of improvements that have to be made.
Speaker 2: So but that was all of that was included in
Speaker 2: the survey. By the way, anybody who's interested in it,
Speaker 2: it's a pretty lengthy document, but I found it really,
Speaker 2: I found it very cool. It's on the City of
Speaker 2: Bartlesville's website, which is Cityobartlesville dot org. And even better,
Speaker 2: if you have not signed up for CityBeat, then you
Speaker 2: can do that at Cityobartlesville dot org and then once
Speaker 2: a week you will have CityBeat delivered to your inbox.
Speaker 2: And in fact, all the information I just read to
Speaker 2: you was included in last week's city Beat, so those
Speaker 2: are really that's a great resource for anybody who wants it.
Speaker 2: Also announced in CityBeat is the renaming and grand reopening
Speaker 2: of Adams Golf Course, which is now known as boots
Speaker 2: Hollow Golf Course. And so we are really really excited
Speaker 2: about this. Any golfer can tell you the golf course
Speaker 2: has been closed for a long time, and that's what
Speaker 2: it takes to redo all of the greens, and so
Speaker 2: that is what we have been going through. In fact,
Speaker 2: the greens project, I believe we started in September of
Speaker 2: October of last year.
Speaker 5: Michael Attober.
Speaker 2: About so we got it started in October last year.
Speaker 2: And the reality is is that a greens grow in
Speaker 2: is actually about a twenty four month process. So we're
Speaker 2: twelve months in and the greens are great. There's a
Speaker 2: couple of them that are still struggling a little bit,
Speaker 2: but most of them are phenomenal. I've gone out and
Speaker 2: looked at them last couple of weeks. But the reality
Speaker 2: is is that it'll be another twelve months before those
Speaker 2: greens are fully grown in. So we're getting ready to open.
Speaker 2: We wish that everything was perfect, and it's pretty close.
Speaker 2: The golf course looks phenomenal. The greens look are outstanding,
Speaker 2: and they're so much better than what they have been
Speaker 2: in previous years. But there are a couple of greens
Speaker 2: that are still struggling a little bit, and they're the ones.
Speaker 2: If you're familiar with Adam's golf course, they kind of
Speaker 2: sit down in the hole and so there's not much
Speaker 2: airflow and this is a cool weather grass, so August
Speaker 2: isn't the best time to be growing in bent grass,
Speaker 2: but it's what we had to work with, so we will.
Speaker 2: But regardless of that, we are going to do our
Speaker 2: grand reopening. It is going to be phenomenal. The first
Speaker 2: event in that is our Community Golf Day. We invite
Speaker 2: everybody in the community to join us. This isn't even
Speaker 2: just for golfers. If you're just curious, come on out.
Speaker 2: It's a free day. It is August twenty second, from
Speaker 2: ten am to one pm. There'll be live music and
Speaker 2: food and I think the radio station is going to
Speaker 2: be out there. You all are going to have a
Speaker 2: remote setup and you can bring your putter and if
Speaker 2: you want to walk and put the greens, you can.
Speaker 3: If you don't want to, you don't have to.
Speaker 2: Just come out and have a little food and enjoy
Speaker 2: some music and enjoy your golf course because it is
Speaker 2: a community asset.
Speaker 3: So that'll be the community Day.
Speaker 2: Now, the first day to actually play the course will
Speaker 2: be the day after.
Speaker 3: So this is.
Speaker 2: August twenty third, at nine am, we'll have our very
Speaker 2: first our grand opening shotgun tournament and it is registration
Speaker 2: actually open today. We only have one hundred spots, so
Speaker 2: if you're interested, you're going to want to call pretty soon.
Speaker 2: And this is you can call nine to one eight
Speaker 2: three three one three nine zero zero. So nine one
Speaker 2: eight three three one thirty nine eighty five dollars per
Speaker 2: player twosomes and foursomes only, call in and get yourself in.
Speaker 2: The tournament will be the first one to play on
Speaker 2: the new greens. Following that, we will have essentially a
Speaker 2: soft open. And so this is again this is still
Speaker 2: the greens are We're trying to baby them.
Speaker 3: Along a little bit.
Speaker 2: And so we've started with a soft open that will
Speaker 2: be August twenty fourth through September first, and we'll have
Speaker 2: some limited tea times and so, but those will be available.
Speaker 2: You'll be able to play the greens, You'll be able
Speaker 2: to play the whole course. Now, I understand that the
Speaker 2: green speeds are going to be a little lower than
Speaker 2: they will become September, and that is because in order
Speaker 2: to protect those greens from this August heat. And keep
Speaker 2: in mind there they're still baby greens. Now, they're really young.
Speaker 2: They are a little taller than normal. So the green
Speaker 2: speeds will be a little slower, but they're the course
Speaker 2: will play phenomenally as long as I'm.
Speaker 1: Not having put on a sledge Queen.
Speaker 3: This is absolutely one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: In fact, the last time I played, Jason was present,
Speaker 2: I had a tendency to put over the green so
Speaker 2: much that they started dropping the stick behind the.
Speaker 3: Whole as a backstop. I don't know that's regulation, but
Speaker 3: it was fine with me.
Speaker 1: It did work.
Speaker 3: It was Bailey Rules.
Speaker 1: Had that extra biscuit for breakfast, did you? So?
Speaker 2: I actually kind of like the slow greens. Maybe I
Speaker 2: can keep it on the green now when I'm putting in,
Speaker 2: So I'm excited about that. But so that's all coming
Speaker 2: up and getting boots Hollow Golf Course. We've got a
Speaker 2: new golf pro that we've introduced to everybody and we
Speaker 2: are excited to get that kicked off. So come join
Speaker 2: us Community Day, August twenty second, ten am to one pm,
Speaker 2: No appointments necessary, just wander on in. We'll have well,
Speaker 2: we'll have some food and music and then you'll get
Speaker 2: to see your new your new golf course. So all right, well,
Speaker 2: I have council Member for Patrick here with me, and
Speaker 2: this is he is a Normally we don't have council
Speaker 2: members on here, but we actually had an event come
Speaker 2: up that's part of a committee that he and I
Speaker 2: sit on, the Unsheltered Homeless Task Force.
Speaker 3: I says committee, it's actually a task force.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: And we have been working for how.
Speaker 2: Long we've been meeting now it's January and since yeah,
Speaker 2: the very end of January was our first meeting.
Speaker 3: Have accomplished a lot.
Speaker 2: We have seen the local helping organizations that are members
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 3: Community or the committee really come together.
Speaker 2: That has been the coolest part of it for me
Speaker 2: is watching them form connections and solve solve these issues.
Speaker 2: That was the reality. The city wasn't attempting to solve homelessness.
Speaker 2: We were just going to create a forum so that
Speaker 2: so that the people that were doing it already could
Speaker 2: solve it. Uh.
Speaker 3: And so that's what we've been working on.
Speaker 2: And we've actually got an event coming up to announce,
Speaker 2: and I know you're a big part of that, so
Speaker 2: I'll let you let you.
Speaker 3: Kick that off.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, it's been really I'm like you, I'm an outsider
Speaker 4: who gets to sit in with folks who do this
Speaker 4: day in and out, get to learn a ton. I
Speaker 4: love being the least informed person at the table. You
Speaker 4: just get to spunge me.
Speaker 3: To absorb what everybody else's the expertise. Yeah, so we've
Speaker 3: got an event coming up. It is the Helping Organizations Summit.
Speaker 4: It's going to be October twenty second, from eleven to
Speaker 4: one at Tri County Tech. So that's a Wednesday, and
Speaker 4: we're going to be invited first, first, and foremost every
Speaker 4: helping organization in the community. There's gonna be an opportunity
Speaker 4: to learn the task force has I guess we have
Speaker 4: learned a ton along the way. And you would think
Speaker 4: that everybody's sitting there who is an expert, would already.
Speaker 3: Know all this stuff, and that's just not true. Right,
Speaker 3: everybody knows to the grindstone, they know what they do,
Speaker 3: but actually what everybody else does.
Speaker 4: Right, And so it'll be a chance to share a
Speaker 4: lot of what we have learned about, you know, the
Speaker 4: state of homelessness in Bartlesville. But along the way, we
Speaker 4: are trying to invest in and create some resources both
Speaker 4: for our homeless neighbors and then also for these organizations themselves.
Speaker 4: Our goal is to send them back more equipped than
Speaker 4: they were when they got there, and also to allow
Speaker 4: them to connect in a small way like the organizations
Speaker 4: around the table have done on the Time Ask Force.
Speaker 4: So there will be a lot of information coming out.
Speaker 4: We're about to launch sign ups for that. Registration will
Speaker 4: be required because we're providing a lunch along our way
Speaker 4: just to get the number. The exact cost right right,
Speaker 4: no cost at all, And a big appreciation of Try
Speaker 4: County because they're hosting us for free as well. So
Speaker 4: that's that's a real blessing for this event. In fact,
Speaker 4: food is going to be provided by Agape in the Lighthouse. Yes,
Speaker 4: so we're going to be eating like our homeless neighbors
Speaker 4: eat every day, sharing in that experience, which I think
Speaker 4: always increases our compassion. So to be a time for education,
Speaker 4: time for networking and connection, a time for equipping, I
Speaker 4: think a lot of these organizations are going to walk
Speaker 4: away with some resources they didn't have before.
Speaker 3: It will be open to the public.
Speaker 4: We're going to have a couple of weeks where sign
Speaker 4: ups are exclusively for helping organizations, and those.
Speaker 3: Organs are allowed to bring or invited to bring.
Speaker 4: As many people from their staff as they think will
Speaker 4: be helpful, volunteers or whatever. But then after that we
Speaker 4: will open registration up to the public who also may
Speaker 4: want to come and hear things that.
Speaker 3: We've been learning and working on.
Speaker 2: And we've had members of the public join us that
Speaker 2: are our committee, and specifically a couple of them said, hey,
Speaker 2: can we count it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, yes, let us let us make sure.
Speaker 2: We get all these organizations, and then we'll open it
Speaker 2: up to everybody else. So it has been it really
Speaker 2: has been quite an experience learning from these organizations. And
Speaker 2: it's not all organizations on our committee. We also have
Speaker 2: business business leaders and so we've got a really diverse
Speaker 2: committee and it's been it's been pretty fascinating to work through.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we've got, you know, medical professionals as well.
Speaker 4: We have a couple of people who have experienced homelessness
Speaker 4: themselves who bring a very unique perspective. Again, I'm really
Speaker 4: talking to somebody today saying I'm proud of what this
Speaker 4: group has accomplished already, and I still feel like we
Speaker 4: are It feels like we are still.
Speaker 3: In the building process. Yeah, and you know, you're here
Speaker 3: all the.
Speaker 4: Time, so like there are We've we've got this long
Speaker 4: list of things we are still working on to accomplish.
Speaker 4: But even so, I noticed the beginning of this summer
Speaker 4: for the first time in a year or two obvious,
Speaker 4: seeing women walking and jogging by themselves again on a pathfinder,
Speaker 4: like the level of safety the people feeling, and we.
Speaker 3: Saw that in our survey results.
Speaker 4: The other thing that we saw on our survey results, well,
Speaker 4: like the number one thing that our that our people
Speaker 4: were saying, Hey, we want to make sure that we
Speaker 4: care about this and we want to continue improving it
Speaker 4: was helping people move out of homelessness or not experience
Speaker 4: homelessness in the first place.
Speaker 3: And that was I sort of lumped that in.
Speaker 2: With a public safety perspective, but you're right, that was
Speaker 2: one of the I think it might have been the
Speaker 2: second highest score and priority from the community.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and so we're I think it speaks well of
Speaker 4: us that we are we are reflecting the compassion and
Speaker 4: the care that our community has, and that the community's
Speaker 4: highest felt priority is something that we are actively working
Speaker 4: on and improving. And you know, there's lots of other
Speaker 4: stuff that that's true about too, but that was one that.
Speaker 3: I get to touch directly. Definitely aligned.
Speaker 4: Yes, feels good and it feels good to be to
Speaker 4: be making progress because we talk about, you know, unsheltered homelessness,
Speaker 4: but that word represents people absolutely, and that is something
Speaker 4: that we talk about all the time in that group,
Speaker 4: is that these are individual lives and people that we
Speaker 4: want to treat with dignity.
Speaker 3: And care and help however we can.
Speaker 4: And as a result, because all these organizations and people
Speaker 4: take that perspective, we are seeing real improvement.
Speaker 2: I agree, And like I said, I've been excited to
Speaker 2: be part of it. And I'm you're not the least
Speaker 2: informed person there I am. That's officially my title. I
Speaker 2: think I put that on when I was appointing myself.
Speaker 2: So yes, yeah, so it has been exciting. But one
Speaker 2: more time, October twenty second, eleven am to one pm.
Speaker 2: Watch for registration because registration will be required, but are
Speaker 2: helping organizations first and then.
Speaker 3: It'll be open to the public as well. That's it.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, I appreciate you, appreciate your service on
Speaker 2: that committee. It has been a huge it's been a
Speaker 2: huge undertaking, I think larger than either you or I
Speaker 2: anticipated when we started this. But it's been very fulfilling. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it has been very fulfilling. So all right, Micah seemers,
Speaker 2: mister engineering manager or engineering director city engineer. You're a
Speaker 2: lot of things. You've been whipping post here for a weeks. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3: That so trying to take some heat off Terry. That's it.
Speaker 3: You got to every so off.
Speaker 2: We have to spreading around, right, So Micah, real quick,
Speaker 2: let's talk. I think the thing that is on most
Speaker 2: people's mind right now is our pavement preservation project. Yep,
Speaker 2: and that if people are not familiar with it, it
Speaker 2: was the one that did result in some dusty roads
Speaker 2: I did. But we're we're progressing with that right now.
Speaker 2: So give everybody an update to where we are on
Speaker 2: that process.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we are.
Speaker 5: So the chip seal portion is finally complete. Again, that
Speaker 5: was kind of delayed due to some weather and some
Speaker 5: contractor issues on that project or portion of the project.
Speaker 5: Then it took some time to basically because this h
Speaker 5: a five portion of the project, which is the top coats,
Speaker 5: which is the black material that we put down, third
Speaker 5: phase that'll steal it, third places that will steal everything.
Speaker 5: So because of the magnitude of the closures that are
Speaker 5: required for that, it took a lot more coordination than
Speaker 5: to get that all rescheduled They had a very intensive
Speaker 5: schedule from the get go, and that pretty well got
Speaker 5: blown out of the water yep, and so they had
Speaker 5: to go back back to the drawing board once they
Speaker 5: had all the areas complete for the chip seal to
Speaker 5: where they can get that rescheduled and then get the
Speaker 5: notifications out the citizens, things of that nature. So we
Speaker 5: are to that point and they got the first round
Speaker 5: of that started last Thursday and Friday, and we did
Speaker 5: some sections there on Madison Boulevard, did a little bit
Speaker 5: there on Jefferson because again this was supposed to be
Speaker 5: wrapped up middle of July and then here we are
Speaker 5: going into school.
Speaker 3: Really wanted to get that done before school.
Speaker 5: That was a priority to do the areas there in
Speaker 5: front of Hoover and Baylor over there on Madison and
Speaker 5: then on Jefferson right there in front of way Side
Speaker 5: as well, So we attacked those areas first. They got
Speaker 5: that work done and so what was nice though last
Speaker 5: week and what we found is with the hot, dry weather,
Speaker 5: which they could actually get two coats down in one
Speaker 5: day instead of having multiple closures. The plan for this
Speaker 5: really is to do two consecutive days of twelve hour
Speaker 5: closures from seven am to seven pm. They'll do one
Speaker 5: coat one day.
Speaker 3: Open it back up in the evening.
Speaker 5: Then they'll do another coat the next day, and then
Speaker 5: they should be done with that section. The next step
Speaker 5: after that would be then to stripe, but if there's
Speaker 5: any striping necessary. So what we found though is on
Speaker 5: a couple sections of Madison, a couple sections of Jefferson,
Speaker 5: they were able to get two coats down in the
Speaker 5: same day because it dried so quickly, it cured so quickly,
Speaker 5: which was good. Now, the thing about that is is
Speaker 5: it doesn't necessarily speed up the schedule though, because they've
Speaker 5: already put the notifications out of the next phases. So
Speaker 5: just a little more convenient exactly get the roadways open
Speaker 5: up quicker. So that was the nice, wisest part about that. Now,
Speaker 5: the somewhat depressing part about that is is here we
Speaker 5: are today and a little bit of rain in the forecast.
Speaker 5: There was some rain last night. As you were sitting
Speaker 5: there talking about on the initial intro to this, uh
Speaker 5: this radio show. Here, there's a TV screen behind you
Speaker 5: that had the weather going and I was watching that,
Speaker 5: probably not paying attention to you. Mike, I apologize, And
Speaker 5: there's rain forecasting for this afternoon. There's rain forecasting for tomorrow.
Speaker 5: So what will happen on that is they don't just
Speaker 5: shift whatever phase they're going to work on to the
Speaker 5: next day. They will shift it all the way to
Speaker 5: the end of the project because of the other that
Speaker 5: they don't want to.
Speaker 3: Disrupt any more of their schedule than they have too.
Speaker 5: Exactly exactly, so, we think the product looks pretty good.
Speaker 5: Let's we've gotten this top coat down, sealed things up.
Speaker 5: It looks a lot better obviously than when it was
Speaker 5: just travel and an asphalt and the chipseal. So bear
Speaker 5: with us on that.
Speaker 3: We're moving through it.
Speaker 5: So the work areas are working, and we're supposed to
Speaker 5: work today or to wrap up some work on Frank Phillips. Again,
Speaker 5: they'll push that to the end of the project. They
Speaker 5: did get the first coat down on Saturday. Same thing
Speaker 5: over on another section of Jefferson front a Wayside, and
Speaker 5: then a small section on Madison and a little section
Speaker 5: on Tuxedo, So those will move to the end of
Speaker 5: the project. The work there on Jefferson, it's right there
Speaker 5: in front of wayside, so they will have to do
Speaker 5: that on a Saturday because again school he started Ontiday,
Speaker 5: so they'll work around that, so we won't be closing
Speaker 5: that during school. But what you will see is if
Speaker 5: we do get to work tomorrow, if we get to
Speaker 5: work tomorrow, they'll be working there on another leg at Jeffersons,
Speaker 5: some work on Madison, a little bit on Bud.
Speaker 2: And the people that are the people that are immediately
Speaker 2: impacted by it will be notified in advanced And for
Speaker 2: anybody who's curious what the schedule looks like, Citybarblesfield dot org,
Speaker 2: they're just a story out there.
Speaker 3: You can see exactly the.
Speaker 5: Story out there, and they've got that, they've got a
Speaker 5: website for the schedule, all that.
Speaker 1: Alright, it's gonna do it for City Matters right here
Speaker 1: on K one