Wylie proclaims Parks and Recreation Month; parks staff cite rising use as youth football raises practice-field concerns

The Wylie City Council on June 24 proclaimed July 2025 as Parks and Recreation Month, honored outgoing volunteers and administered oaths of office to newly appointed and reappointed board and commission members.

Carmen Powell, Wylie’s director of parks and recreation, told the council the department has a broad reach: more than 2.5 million visits to parks and recreation facilities occur in Wylie each year, and last July the department recorded about 40,000 participants in July-only activities, a 33% increase from the previous year. Powell and other staff described new amenities — including a dog park at City Hall and two recently opened splash pads — and noted that the renovated Community Park Center (formerly the Brown House/Senior Center) now hosts senior programming and exercise space.

Council recognized multiple outgoing volunteers from boards and commissions and invited many incoming and returning appointees to the dais for swearing-in. Judge Pfeil administered the oath of office to a large group of new appointees; names listed on the record include Gloria Suarez, Jack Craig, Navin Kumar Viya, Lori Black, Joe Webb, Brian Rogers, James Burn, Bruce Moylan, Justin Grosick, Kevin Hughes, Robert Shosma, Irene Shavir, Gerald Dyson, Scott Hevel, Esther Bella (Cassie Dyson), Whitney McDougall, Erin Loveless, Ayesha Hudson, Hamza Fraas, John Ennis and others.

During citizen comments, Christopher Smith of 19263 Fountains Road, speaking for the Wylie Football League board of directors, raised a concern about the condition of Founders Park and four practice fields the league uses. Smith said the fields are in “a very poor state of disrepair,” and with practices scheduled to begin in two weeks the league could not safely practice on those fields. Smith asked the council to place the issue on a future agenda or request a report from Parks and Recreation at the next meeting so the league could learn where practices would occur; he said Wylie ISD fields and Schaefer Stadium are not available without rental fees, police officers and lights.

Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Brent Stowers was present and invited Smith to meet after the meeting to discuss field use and alternatives. Staff did not provide an immediate timeline for repairs in the public portion of the meeting, and no formal council direction or vote on the practice-field condition was recorded.

The council’s public record for the meeting also shows a formal proclamation presented to junior mayor Samuel McNeely ("Mayor for a Day") and the Parks and Recreation Month proclamation signed by Mayor Matthew Porter.