Sabertooth Public Art visited the Parks and Recreation Board to present the consultant's scope for a citywide public-art master plan and solicit feedback from board members and staff. "My name is Alisa Gardrella. I am a professor at University of Akron," Alisa said while introducing the firm's work and its approach to creating locations, maintenance plans and best-practice processes for public art.

Marissa, Sabertooth's full-time director, described the team's experience creating murals and programs and said the plan will provide a "smorgasbord" of options the city can choose from, including siting guidance, long-term maintenance recommendations and suggested processes for calls to artists.

Board members and Parks & Recreation staff responded that the city currently uses marketing staff to publish calls and the arts commission to generate ideas, but that there is no consistent, formal process tying selection, approvals and maintenance together. One staff member said, "There's no process," describing recent examples where internal marketing graphics were used after calls for artists did not produce submissions that matched the city's vision.

Several board members urged that any plan honor the city's identity and existing efforts while clarifying implementation steps. Staff suggested the city would benefit from a designated staff person to coordinate art projects and act as a conduit between the arts commission and operations staff. Sabertooth said it expects to produce a draft of the master plan for review by spring and welcomed feedback from Parks & Recreation staff during and after draft circulation.

The board did not take formal action on the plan at this meeting; Sabertooth confirmed the consulting contract resulted from a proposal and interview process and noted grant funding contributions toward the project.