Yukon council approves $150,000 parks master plan, awards police capital projects and enacts budget amendment

YUKON, Okla. — The Yukon City Council on Oct. 7 approved a 2025 parks and recreation master plan contract, awarded three police capital projects to private contractors and adopted a budget amendment reallocating capital funds to cover the work.

The council voted to award the parks and recreation master plan RFP to RDG Planning and Design for $150,000 and authorized the mayor to execute related documents. Council members also approved three police capital contracts recommended by the police chief: a range training classroom and tower, a parking garage, and covered parking; each contract was authorized for execution by the mayor. The council approved Budget Amendment No. 11 for fiscal year 2025–26 to shift savings from street projects into capital funding for police projects.

The master plan, presented by Parks and Recreation Director McClure, will be a systemwide, community-engagement process that inventories parks and open space, analyzes demographics and trends, benchmarks best practices and produces a 10-year capital and maintenance plan. “This is the first time that this has been done in Yukon to to have a comprehensive parks and recreation master plan,” McClure told the council, adding the process will include public engagement, an inventory, operations-and-maintenance planning and cost-analysis for repair versus replacement.

Resident Stephanie Burdine, who addressed the council during discussion, said community feedback has emphasized the need for long-range planning. “I’ve just had several people ask me if I was gonna be here tonight to explain why we need to spend a $150,000 on this,” Burdine said. McClure described a competitive procurement: 10 proposals were received, six firms made presentations and interviews, and the selection was narrowed to three before the council’s award.

Police Chief Cornwell briefed the council on the procurement for the police projects. He said four firms attended mandatory pre-bid meetings for some projects and that bid submittals varied by project: “There were 5 individuals that showed at the pre bid meeting, which was mandatory. There were actually 4 bids on the facility,” Cornwell said, referring to the range and classroom. City staff said the projects are funded from the capital improvement budget and that the council’s budget amendment moves savings from street projects to cover costs that exceeded initial estimates.

The council approved the consent docket items that included payment of material claims of $2,115,032.24, renewal of an HVAC maintenance contract for Liebert computer-room equipment, a $2,500 mural agreement with CreateCo Studios for Mabel C. Fry Library, authorization to dispose of surplus technology items, and Budget Amendment No. 11 for FY25–26.

All votes on the above items were recorded as affirmative by the council at the meeting; staff were authorized to execute contracts and related documents where noted. The mayor and department heads will follow up on contract execution and implementation steps.

Separately on the same agenda the council approved a Route 66 illuminated sign RFP to proceed with procurement and approved several planning items including a simplified planned unit development and a replat recommended by the Planning Commission.

The council meeting packet lists the parks master plan as a 9–10 month project; city staff described it as a 10-year planning document that will prioritize projects, estimate costs and propose a maintenance and operations approach for Yukon’s nine parks. The police capital projects were described as coming from the capital improvement fund rather than the general operating budget.

Council members and department directors said they expect community engagement and follow-up work during project implementation; the council did not set additional public workshops for the parks master plan at the meeting.