Keep League City Beautiful Citizen Committee

Keep League City Beautiful Committee Meeting Minutes for June 1, 2021 At 6:05 p.m. League City Communications Director Sarah Greer Osborne officially called the meeting to order. Committee members Jenny Carlile, Jackie Liddell, Beth Sears, Jill Reason, and Dave Bowman were present. Also in attendance were Councilman Larry Millican, Mayor Pat Hallisey, and Executive Director of Planning and Development David Hoover. There were no citizen comments to the board. A motion was made by Dave Bowman to accept the minutes from the May 4 meeting. Beth Sears seconded the motion. Everyone who was present voted yes. David Hoover made a presentation on the TxDOT Median Improvement Project, which includes the opportunity to place up to 17 entryway signs around the City with lighting, irrigation, and landscaping. Following the presentation, a discussion began regarding the design of the current entryway signs into League City, specifically could we redesign them to include art. Osborne shared examples from other cities that use “metal art” in their entry way signs and that do not use logos but rather large, easy to read horizontal letters with the City’s name. The consensus of the group was that they liked this idea and that it should be pursued by Osborne and City staff along with involvement of KLCB committee member Jason Makepeace who is a metal artist and professor of sculpture at UH-Clearlake. Osborne said she would set up a meeting in late June with Makepeace, and City staff member Bob Duke, to discuss moving forward with developing a design. Discussion then moved to the design and placement of a sign to display the different civic groups and organizations that serve League City. Osborne presented two design options developed by City staff— one that incorporated the use of the existing entryway sign on Highway 3, and another that created a separate metal sign to be placed near the intersection of Highway 3 and Main Street. The consensus of the group was the second option. Osborne stated she would be coming to Council in July to have them consider and approve a set of guidelines and criteria for civic groups wishing to have a plaque on the sign. Osborne then presented a handout that summarized a list of the pilot “Public Art” projects recommended by Up Art Studio as part of their recently completed Public Art Feasibility Study for League City. The handout also included a proposed FY 2020 budget to fund several of the recommended projects. One of the first projects will be to paint five traffic signal boxes on Main Street in the fall of 2021. The group then began a discussion surrounding the selection of the artists and if they should all be from the League City area. The group consensus was that League City and Bay area artists should absolutely be part of the pool of artists to select from, but that they as a selection committee should be committed to choose the “best artists” from the mural art registry curated by Up Art Studio and not base it solely on whether the artist lives in the area. The committee then discussed two options developed by their fellow members as a possible mission statements for the committee’s work. Jackie Liddell made a motion to approve the first option and Jill Reason seconded the motion. All present voted yes to the mission statement below. To create a destination community where citizens are engaged, the arts flourish, and the natural environment thrives through educational and cultural initiatives that promote the common goals of beautification, conservation, and preservation of our city, history, and ecology. Item IX: Election of KLCB committee chair and co-chair was postponed due to not having all members of the committee present. Osborne updated the group on other projects related to beautification currently going on in the City including the new mural at League Park, the hiring of a Public Art and Community Engagement Coordinator, and a rotating art display along the walls of the Civic Center lobby to start in August of 2021. Discussion then began on the Blue Building and utilizing it as a working space for artists and a place where the community could experience and learn more about art, attend shows, workshops, and events. Mayor Hallisey suggested the group put together a “wish list” of what they wanted and present it to Council. A discussion also came up about painting the exterior of the building with a mural or several murals and what that would look like. The committee agreed that it could be a great way to make the building more presentable and less of an eyesore in the downtown area. The meeting was adjourned at 7:46 by Osborne.