Journal​

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• 25 April 2023 Council Meeting.

  • Agenda Item 12. Discussion of purchase contracts for the purchase of 120 El Chico along with adjoining unimproved property. - Section 551.071 Consultation with Attorney; Section 551.072 Deliberations Regarding Real Property

  • City’s connection with FW water now permanent, Land swap with Weatherford approved [25 April 2023 council meeting review],  The Community News, 05 May 2023 [in. pdf] New home now permanent

    • After discussing in executive session, the council returned to open forum and approved moving ahead with the purchase of the new city hall at 120 El Chico Tr. At a meeting on April 3 the council voted unanimously to announce the approval of the issuance of certificates of obligation in the amount of $8.5 million for the purchase, renovating, improving and equipping the building.

    • Along with housing city officials and council, the building will serve as public safety facilities, judicial facilities, a city hall, and municipal facilities for administrative offices for city departments.

    • Grimes had previously said that the cost to lease the building annually is about $200,000, which would be around $6 million over the span of 30 years. Also, there are two other tenants in the building, Sylvan Learning Center and McKnight Title. Should they decide to stay for the remainder of their respective leases, one ends in July of 2026 and the other in December of 2026. Grimes said those leases bring in around $100,000 annually.

    • City officials and staff moved into the building in January, originally signing a 30-month lease for the approximately 8,700 square feet of space, almost triple the 3,189 the amount they had in their previous home of many years.

    • As for when the building will officially be theirs, Grimes noted that there are still some official procedures and paperwork that has to be done, but that it should all be in place by the summer.

    • “Official, official, here’s the keys to your new house July 1,” he said.

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• 06 April 2023, Council votes to buy city hall building, The Community News, [city hall, police chief position, sale of fire dept. equipment to ESD1]

 

• 06 April 2023, Notice of Intent to Issue Certificates of Obligation, posted on Willow Park website and in The Community News, 

 

• 03 April 2023 Special Council Meeting

  • ​1. Discussion/Action: Consider all matters incident and related to approving and authorizing publication and posting of notice of intention to issue certificates of obligation in an amount not to exceed $8,500,000 for the purpose of paying contractual obligations to be incurred for (i) acquiring, renovating, improving and equipping an existing building for public safety facilities, judicial facilities, a city hall and municipal facilities for administrative offices for city departments,,,

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• Willow Park Civics Blog > City Buying a New City Hall This Thursday?, 28 March 2023

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• 30 March 2023, Special Council Meeting​

  • Executive Session 4. Agreement to purchase 120 El Chico Trail from Parker County RE Partners, LLC

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• Willow Park Civics Blog > New (Interim) City Hall, El Chico Trail. This WPC blog is updated with El Chico City Hall news. 

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• 14 February 2023 Council Meeting

  • Agenda Item ​​10. Budget Update New City Hall Costs and Funding Recommendations 

  • ​During the 14 February 2023 Council Meeting, the city indicated the new El Chico City Hall will cost Willow Park taxpayers about $204K a year in expenses that the city did not have in the Ranch House City Hall. During the 14 February 2023 Council Meeting, the city discussed using sales tax income to cover the un-budgeted cost of the El Chico City Hall from January 2023 until the new budget starts in October 2023.

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• City Hall open for business.  City of Willow Park Facebook page, 16 January 2023, City of Willow Park webpage 

  • "This is your sign! City Hall will open tomorrow, Jan. 17, 2023, at 8 a.m. in our new location at 120 El Chico, Suite A. Please note there are two entrances at our new location: the western door is for development, permitting, and inspections, and the eastern door is for utility payments and all other departments.  Hours will remain the same as the old location: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. with a break from noon-1 p.m. for lunch. The utility drop box will remain at the old city hall location for now. Our phone numbers and email address are the same as the old location, so if you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at 817-441-7108 or email info@willowpark.org.  We look forward to serving you in our new building! City of Willow Park Facebook page.

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• City Hall and administrative offices are moving Wednesday, Jan. 11, will be open for business Tuesday, Jan. 17, City of Willow Park website, 04 January 2023

  • All city hall administrative offices, including utility billing, development, and permitting, will move to 120 El Chico, Suite A, next week. The new, larger space will allow us the opportunity to better serve our community. Starting Wednesday, January 11 at 3 p.m., we will be shutting down the location at 516 Ranch House Road to move our offices. We will open for business at the new location on Tuesday, January 17 at 8 a.m. Phone and email service for city hall staff will be intermittent during the move, but we will be monitoring them as we can. You can still make utility payments using the drop box outside the current city hall, which will remain in place for the time being.We look forward to welcoming you to your new city hall!

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• January 2023, El Chico City Hall lease in .pdf, dated 05 December 2022, provided via city Public Records Center C000105-122022

  • According to the December 2022 lease (posted in Journal below), the new "interim" City Hall on El Chico Trail is 8,715 square feet of office space on a 2.542 acre lot, with the address of 120 El Chico Trail, Suite A, Willow Park, Texas 76087.

  • According to an article in The Community News, 16 December 2022 (posted in Journal below), "The space in the new building is about 8,700 square feet, almost triple the current 3,189 square feet city officials are currently working in, and have been for many years."

  • The owner and leaser of the El Chico City Hall is Parker County RE Partners LLC.  The thirty (30) month lease commences on 01 January 2023 and ends 01 July 2025. The new lease is approximately $15.5K a month, which does not include monthly utilities for a space three time larger or initial build-out and moving costs. 

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• Lease signed on new city hall, Drainage and street repairs to begin, The Community News, 16 December 2022

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• 13 December 2022 Council Meeting. Informational. City Administrator Comments: Executed a lease for new City Hall at 120 El Chico trail Suite A; this is the new address for city hall effective 01 January but may be able to get into the building sooner. 

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• 28 November 2022 Special Council Meeting,

  • Executive Session agenda item 2. 551.072 Discussing the purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property – Willow Park Public Safety Building. 

  • Reconvene into Open Session... to authorize the Mayor to execute a lease with Parker County RE Partners, LLC subject to changes as discussed in executive session. 

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• 15 November 2022 Council Meeting Executive Session. ​​12. 551.072 Discussing the purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property.

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• In November 2022, Willow Park and Willow Park ETJ voters elected to allow Parker County Emergency Services District 1 (ESD1) to annex the Willow Park Fire and Rescue Department (WPFR). One element of the sale of the WPFR was to sell the Ranch House Road City Hall and property to ESD1. For details refer to Willow Park > Issues > Willow Park Fire Department and ESD1.   

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• 11 October 2022 Council Meeting

  • 6. Discussion Only: transition plan in the event of ESD Annexation. ​

    • 2. ESD will lease the current Fire Station (attached to the Willow Park Public Safety Building (PSB); AND, will purchase the existing City Hall Property (516 Ranch House Road) for construction of a future Fire Station.

    • 3. The City will lease the current Fire Station [to ESD1] and the ESD will lease the current City Hall [to the City of Willow Park] to the other respective entity at an agreed upon fair market rate. The lease for both entities will be a for 2 – 3 Year period, or until the City can construct a City Hall at a site to be determined.

• 23 August 2022 Council Meeting 

  • ​Council Comments: Council Runnebaum requested update on project to renovate existing city hall and moving space offsite. #CityHall

• 10 May 2022 Council Meeting, (exhibits, presentations) 

  • 10. Discussion/Action: City Hall Committee Report.

    • Background: In 2021, Council procured Jacob and Martin to perform a Needs Analysis for a potential City Hall project. Tal Fullingham, Project Architect for Jacob and Martin has worked with the Committee to develop a conceptual plan and design to meet the current needs and future needs of City Hall.

    • Presentation by Jacob & Martin. [Summary: two-stories, approximately 16,000 sq. ft., $7M without land, will satisfy needs of the city at full build-out.]

• 08 February 2022 Council Meeting  

  • Informational •B. City Manager's Comments. Bryan Grimes gave a brief update on city hall. [video timestamp 1:04:17] 

• 11 January 2022 Council Meeting 

  • Agenda Item 6. Discussion/Action: City Hall update.

  • Background: Per the request of Councilman Crummel and Runnebaum, Staff will provide an update on various options for City Hall, including a reconfiguring of the existing facility to maximize space and a discussion of alternative options for holding Council meetings and other Board / Commission meetings.

  • Minutes: City Manager Bryan Grimes gave a brief update on potential interim city hall renovations. He also reported that the Municipal Court Department was moved over to the Public Safety Building.

• 09 November 2021 Council Meeting  

  • Informational,Councilman Runnebaum requested... staff prepare an interim plan and cost for the current city hall. The city offices are congested.

• 12 October 2021 Council Meeting

  • Informational: Councilman Crummel requested an update on the City Hall project. 

• August 2021, RUMOR: location of New City Hall

  • ​[Editorial Comment; This is conjecture, but interesting nevertheless.]​

  • The brochure (in .pdf) for "NIA Robert Lynn - Willow Park North - Pad Sites" (for lease) indicates a .75 acre, pad site #21  (See Gallery for .jpeg.)  

  • The older photo on the "NIA Robert Lynn - Willow Park North - Pad Sites- SHOPS BLVD. & I-20" website does not have this pad site. (See Gallery for .jpeg.)  

  • This addition of the .75 acre pad for lease was made just after the new city hall needs assessment was presented to the council in their 11 May 2021 meeting, during which the council convened into executive session for the purpose of  "Deliberation Regarding Real Property: City Hall Update."

• 11 May 2021 Council Meeting

  • 9.DiscussionOnly:§551.072.Deliberation Regarding Real Property:City Hall Update. BACKGROUND:  The City Hall Committee will brief the full City Council on progress with the Needs Assessment  Conducted by Jacob and Martin. Presentation 

  • City Hall Floor Plan and Preliminary Needs Assessment, in .pdf (See Gallery for .jpeg.)  

• 23 February 2021 Council Meeting

  • 2. Discussion/ Action: To consider and act on awarding a contract for a City hall needs assessment.

  • BACKGROUND: The City of Willow Park had placed and ad for RFQ s for a Needs Assessment to assist the City Hall Committee in the evaluation efforts in assessing City Hall. This agreement with Jacob and Martin will include professional services for a facility deficiency evaluation report and design services for the development of a conceptual plan and opinion of probably costs. The fee will not exceed $25,000 per the 2020 – 2021 Budget.

• 11 August 2020 Council Meeting  

  • 2. Discussion/ Action: To consider and act on City Hall Committee Recommendations. #CityHall

  • BACKGROUND: The City Hall Committee has been researching, attended site visits, and have had discussions on developing a City Hall. Every option that has been considered to date will involve the services of an architectural firm to help develop the needs and scope of the project. To that end, the City Hall Committee is asking Council to approve the development of an RFQ and to authorize staff to advertise the RFQ.

• 28 January 2020 Council Meeting Agenda

  • 3. Discussion/ Action: To consider and act on appointment of members to a committee to evaluate and recommend needs and solutions for a Municipal Complex. 

  • Background: Pursuant to Council direction at previous meetings, please consider the following citizen members for the Municipal Complex Committee: • Kay Davis • Steve Gould • The Mayor will chair the committee and may appoint 2 Council members to the Committee.

• 12 November 2019 Council Meeting  

  • 6. Discussion Only: Presentation of procurement options, including public, private partnerships, for building a new city hall building.  #CityHall

  • BACKGROUND: A public-private partnership ("P3") under the Texas Government Code Chapter 2267 is a contractual agreement between a Responsible Governmental Entity and a Private Entity organized for timely delivering services or facilities in a cost-effective manner that can be more time efficient than using traditional sources of procurement and public financing. Through this type of contractual agreement, the public and private sector are able to efficiently deliver a service or facility for the utilization of a Responsible Governmental Entity for the benefit of the general public. Mr. David Pettit will give a presentation on a P3 program.

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