Last night, the City Council held a public hearing on the Capital Improvements Program (CIP). The public hearing is required by state law and has largely turned into a formality as no residents showed up to speak. To me, this means one of two things: 1) either the citizens are very happy with the job the city council is doing, or 2) everyone is pretty much apathetic about the proceedings. The truth may be a combination of both.
I agree that budgeting process is not the sexiest thing in the world by talking about the purchase of a new Knuckle Boom Truck for bulk trash pick up or a D9 Bulldozer at the landfill, but these are the type of capital purchases that keeps the city running.
Besides the CIP presentations by each of the city departments, there were two big items of discussion last night.
The first was regarding the purchase of new golf carts for and the continuing operation of Firewheel Golf Course. Councilman Jim Bookhout questioned, “Why do we want to continue to sink more money into Firewheel when we continue to lose money? I have just a problem with continuing to sink money into something that’s losing money for the city all the time.”
Managing Director Kevin Slay said “Our revenues are down pretty good, but our expenses are down as well. We are doing everything we can to cut costs. There is nothing I can do to increase revenues if it is raining outside or cold or if we have a 40 mile per hour wind outside. Last year we had a really good year. It’s all about the weather.”
City Manager Bryan Bradford came to Kevin’s defense saying that Kevin has done a wonderful job cutting expenses and that last year we came very close to breaking even. Bradford also stated that the costs are fixed and closing one course to consolidate operations as Bookhout suggested is not a viable method to cut expenses. He went on to say that the residents are very sensitive about any changes to the golf course because it backs up to the surrounding homes in that area.
Councilman Jerry Nickerson said, “I know well when you start talking about people and old golf courses in their backyard,” referring to the Eastern Hills Golf Course closing and redevelopment. “It’s an amenity for our citizens and for guests and others. If we think we are going to get into the golf business as a city and make a lot of money off our golf course, we’re fooling ourselves and that’s not the point. We spend a lot of money on parks all over the city and it’s an amenity that we’ll put money into and we do it because its an amenity for our citizens and our guests and others. (Firewheel) is a long term commitment.”
The other item of discussion was about the facility and life and safety upgrades at the Central Library. These upgrades include replacement of shelving, carpet, projectors and screens; the installation of mobile charging stations; the purchase of new furniture. Also included were updating restrooms to be ADA compliant, replacing 10 HVAC units, improving electrical and mechanical systems, resurfacing the parking lot and providing streetscape improvements.
The problem is the bids for the work came in over budget and the construction would also require shutting down the library or reducing service significantly due to the work. Further complicating the issue was whether the projects should be delayed to take advantage of the possible funding if the Bond Proposition for the library passes.
Options were presented to allow the library to continue to function, move library services to an undetermined location, or close the library for the duration.
Councilwoman Deborah Morris said, “There are a lot of problems with closing down a library. The falloff in patrons–a lot of people go away–you do not get them back. It will devastate the library long term.”
“I love combining this with bond improvements. You take this from being a negative. They don’t like dust and disruptions, but we can make this a boasting point. These are these cool new things and we can put up signs to say this is coming. They will endure the mess because they can see their tax dollars at work.”
At the end of the discussion, the council voted to proceed with the L03 deferred option. I agree that the original scope should be deferred, except for the urgent life-safety issues which must be addressed now. The library study, which the outside consultant previewed during our Bond Study Committee, has not yet been complete and I would hate to waste money on work that the library study does not recommend or have multiple shutdowns of the library.
As a wise former councilperson told me, “Citizens vote for parks and libraries.” I certainly hope that is true as we strive to keep the Nicholson Memorial Library System the best library system in North Texas. Tell me what you think about Firewheel Golf Course and the library improvements in the comments below.
At the end of each blog post, I will add a musical selection. Let’s keep this positive and fun.
Sadly, this video was not filmed at Firewheel Golf Course.