These presentations were given in a work session following the council meeting and executive session; the teams were given around 30 minutes to show that their company would be the best ones to manage the project going forward.
The three companies: Kimley-Horn, Freese and Nichols, and Olsson, came with their teams of local representatives for the company.
Each company stressed how important this plan is for the city, and how much community engagement will be crucial through the process. Raul Orozco Jr. from Kimley -Horn even said this plan could be the most important decision for the next 20 years.
He along with Jeni Tatum and Carissa Cox presented for the company and emphasized how important community engagement is to their process of building consensus within the community.
“This is where we learn what you want, right? What you want as a community, what residents want, what some of the key stakeholders are going to be looking for, and to come out of that comprehensive plan development process,” Orozco Jr. Said.
They also laid out the implementation process of how the residents would see results from their study by the use of branding logos next to action items in future city council meetings that were in connection to the comprehensive plan, as they did in a previous association with Kerrville, Texas.
“This is how we can remain accountable throughout the implementation phase to ensure that this is a priority for the community,” Orozco Jr. Said.
Freese and Nichols went next with their team comprised of Jessica Brown, Wilson Kerr, Wendy Bonneau, and Daniel Harrison.
This group has multiple local ties not only with the City of Aledo but also the community surrounding it. Brown served on the Aledo ISD school board for six years and has lived in the local area for 16 years. Also, Bonneau led the Aledo Strategic Master Plan of 2010.
Along with the local connection, Freese and Nichols showed the awards that they have received from other comprehensive plans that they have executed over the 131 years of operation.
They also emphasized how important community engagement is to them and talked about their “toolbox” for getting information out to the residents.
“We want to be out in the community, hosting open houses, tabling at community events, going to back to school events, making sure that we are getting as much information from the community as possible,” Kerr said. “Because we know that people need to visualize their future and we know that people need to have that baseline.”
The Olsson team consisted of Ken Boone, Vivian Fung, Chris Branham with their partner company Catalyst Commercial, Tim James, and Brennan Kane.
During the presentation they focused on the engagement and implementation of the plan.
“It’s going to be a roadmap for you to move forward,” Boone said. “It’s going to be a visually appealing document that’s easy to understand at all levels of your community from a lay standpoint, developers, decision makers, everybody, and it will be that decision-making tool.”
Fung emphasized how for engagement it’s not always about the quantity but the quality of the interactions and that’s why at Olsson their planners are trained public engagement specialists.
They also said how they are not afraid and even encourage difficult conversations from community members.
“As a matter of fact, we want those people to be a part of the process, which makes our projects much more well informed as we move forward,” Boone said.
After the presentations and a brief Q&A, the mayor and council shared their thoughts on which group each of them thought would be the best fit.
Most of the council expressed being impressed by each of the candidates.
Council members Summer Jones and Todd Covington said that they would go with Freese and Nichols. Jones said she liked how they have the local connection and past history with Aledo. Covington said he knows that Jessica Brown is a rock star and is good at what she does.
Other council members shared the sentiment of appreciating their history with the community but also appreciated the level of commitment that Olsson has to community engagement.
“[Freese and Nichols] know us,” Mayor Shane Davis said. “At least three of them know our community and that it’s not just the buildings and the streets and all that, but what it means to be a leader. I would love to have them work with Olson maybe on some things.”
Interim City Manager Mark McDaniel emphasized that no decision will be made that night and he will come to the next city council meeting with a recommendation for the preferred group.
The meeting before the work session was a quick 5-minute meeting approving three items.
The Aledo city council approved the casting of the city’s 18 votes to Richard Barrett for the Parker County Appraisal District Board of Directors for a two-year term beginning January 2026.
The council also changed the meeting schedule for December and January.
In December, the original meeting of Dec. 4 will be canceled and instead be used to host an appreciation dinner for City boards and commissions, the meeting for Dec. 18 will still be held.
The January 1 meeting will be canceled as it’s a city holiday.
The consent agenda was passed in full.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here