Coppell Chronicle Vol. 2, No. 17
More Cash Available for Small Businesses • City Honors Pride Month (and Yoga Day) • Ethics Panel Generates Much Interest • Sounds Like a Job for Marketing Students
Happy Father’s Day to all of the other proud papas out there. If you want to give me a gift, please forward this edition to a Coppell neighbor or two and say, “Hey, have you subscribed to this newsletter yet?”
More Cash Available for Small Businesses
The demand among Coppell businesses for federal funds is so intense that the City Council decided to increase the supply.
The city is set to receive $10.2 million thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Half of that amount showed up in the city’s accounts last August, and the other half is expected to arrive by the end of summer.
The City Council allocated $650,000 from that windfall to the Coppell Business Rent/Mortgage Assistance Grant Program, which would provide $10,000 grants to the first 65 eligible businesses that applied. The application portal went live at 10 a.m. on May 31, and the city received 65 applications within 24 hours.
“I’m shocked that it took one day to get to 65,” Mayor Wes Mays said during Tuesday’s council meeting. “I think that’s a very good indicator of the need that’s out there.”
Director of Community Development Mindi Hurley said her staff heard from 79 business owners before they opted to close the portal on June 2. She said at least 20 others subsequently called the city to express disappointment about missing their chance.
“There was a quick and overwhelming response,” said Hurley, whose staff had sent letters about the opportunity to more than 800 businesses.
After much discussion on Tuesday, the council decided to add another $1.8 million worth of American Rescue Plan dollars to the grant program, thereby making another 180 grants possible. Hurley said the businesses that applied by June 2 have already been told whether or not they’d been awarded $10,000, so a new application deadline will be established to accommodate those who didn’t make the cut.
Meanwhile, the council also decided on Tuesday to boost the budget for a similar initiative, the Revenue Recovery Grant Program, from $100,000 to $300,000. This program would provide $5,000 grants to businesses affected by the lane closures on South Belt Line Road.
Businesses within the construction zone along Belt Line can start applying for those $5,000 grants on July 25. Businesses on Denton Tap Road between Southwestern Boulevard and Sandy Lake Road are also eligible, but they can’t apply until Aug. 8.
The council debated making any businesses that receive the $10,000 grant ineligible for the $5,000 grant, but they ultimately decided against that. Because the $10,000 grants were designed to relieve pandemic pains and the $5,000 grants were about construction woes, it doesn’t seem right to penalize businesses affected by both.
Council members Kevin Nevels and Cliff Long had to recuse themselves from this debate, because they own businesses in Coppell. While they were out of the room, Council Member Mark Hill said the $5,000 grants should be reserved for businesses that rely on spontaneous drop-in customers; he said companies whose business models are built on memberships and appointments shouldn’t be eligible. Hill named several such businesses, including Splash and Dash Groomerie & Boutique and Nevels’ Championship Martial Arts (although Hill used its old name, Coppell Taekwondo Academy).
Eligible businesses should heed the deadlines mentioned above for the $5,000 grants, as well as the yet-to-be-announced deadline for the additional $10,000 grants, because these pools of funds aren’t likely to be increased again. Council Member John Jun argued against increasing them at all.
“I just don’t want to be in the same spot again, looking at how much more do we fund,” he said. “I mean, where does it end?”
Don Carroll, who was the first council member I heard suggest increasing the size of the pots, said this would be a one-time hike, even if the additional $2 million spread across the two programs gets depleted.
“If it gets used, then I’m going to trust that it gets used for the community, for the betterment of the business community here,” Carroll said. “And if it doesn’t get used, we’ll reallocate it. And we won’t have this discussion again.”
City Honors Pride Month (and Yoga Day)
June is Pride Month, a time when people who are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer) celebrate their freedom to be themselves. During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Wes Mays read a Pride proclamation that said, among other things, “our community recognizes the resilience and determination of the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically.”
As with all proclamations, this one was subject to approval by the council. It received five out of seven possible votes in favor; Brianna Hinojosa-Smith was absent, and John Jun abstained from voting, as he did when the council considered last year’s Pride proclamation. The difference this time was that Jun did not explain his abstention.
After Tuesday’s vote, Mays handed the microphone to Leslie McMurray, who is the transgender education and advocacy associate at Resource Center. She referenced the 31 members of the Patriot Front group who were arrested on June 11 before they could violently disrupt a Pride event in Idaho, and she noted that six of the 31 live in Tarrant County.
“It’s just important to note that that’s out there, and it’s not always safe to enjoy Pride,” McMurray said. “We hope that it is, but we still have a ways to go, and proclamations like this matter.”
(Four days later, the Republican Party of Texas approved a platform that says homosexuality is “an abnormal lifestyle choice.”)
After approving the Pride proclamation, the City Council considered a proclamation recognizing Yoga Day. That one was approved on a 6-0 vote.
When Mays returned to the dais, he mentioned that any abstentions are entered into the record as affirmative votes, per the city’s charter. Sure enough, here’s the full text of Section 3.11.B of the charter:
“Abstention. Should any member of the City Council choose to abstain from voting on any question before the City Council, where no declared conflict of interest exists, the abstention shall be recorded as an affirmative vote in favor of the motion pending before the City Council in the official minutes of the City of Coppell.”
I’m not sure how that policy jibes with the official minutes of the council’s meeting on June 8, 2021, when they approved the previous Pride proclamation: “The motion passed by an [sic] unanimous vote with Councilmember John Jun abstaining.”
Ethics Panel Generates Much Interest
The last time I wrote about Coppell’s Ethics Review Panel, I encouraged readers to contact the City Council if they wanted to serve on the newly created panel. Apparently, a lot of you did.
City Secretary Ashley Owens informed the council last week that she received 42 applications to join the Ethics Review Panel and 10 applications for the associated title of Special Legal Counsel. Mayor Wes Mays jokingly admonished her for revealing those numbers before she asked if any council members would volunteer to interview the applicants.
“We’re trying to be very transparent, Mayor,” Owens said.
Once Owens did ask for volunteers, Council Member Don Carroll said, “Well, Brianna’s the obvious choice,” as he gestured toward her empty chair. Although everybody laughed, the mayor seemed to take the suggestion seriously. When Kevin Nevels volunteered to screen candidates for the Ethics Review Panel, Mays said Hinojosa-Smith would be his partner in that process. Carroll and Mayor Pro Tem Biju Mathew agreed to interview the attorneys interested in becoming Special Legal Counsel.
If you’re among the applicants, you should expect to be interviewed in either the last week of June or the first week of July.
Sounds Like a Job for Marketing Students
Because most dads ask their kids “Why don’t you go get a job?” at some point, I thought Father’s Day would be the perfect time to highlight Coppell ISD’s Career & Technical Education program.
“Career & Technical Education, as a whole, is misunderstood,” the program’s coordinator, Kristin Petrinin, told the Board of Trustees during their May 16 workshop. “We have to help parents, students, community members understand that Career & Technical Education is college and career and military all in one, and that we prepare students beyond just one pathway.”
Because of its size, Coppell ISD is required by state law to offer four programs of study under the Career & Technical Education banner, and the district already exceeds that requirement. Students at Coppell High School can choose from 11 programs of study in six career clusters; students at New Tech High @ Coppell are offered five programs in four clusters.
I’m barely going to scratch the surface of Petrinin’s 31-minute discussion with the trustees — which you can watch at the 03:30:10 mark of this video — but I wanted to highlight the results of a recent survey that were included in her slide presentation. In this first slide, more than 700 seventh-graders were asked which of the existing career clusters they might like to pursue:
In this second slide, they were asked about their interest in other career areas that Coppell ISD does not yet offer:
(After seeing that a quarter of the seventh-graders were interested in “Esports,” I went outside to see if I could yell at some kids to get off my lawn. No such luck. They must have all been inside playing video games.)
Petrinin offered several ideas for boosting interest in CTE courses, including promo videos for each program of study and a community showcase. She would also like for students who earn certifications to have a tangible symbol of recognition at their graduation ceremonies, whether that’s cords or medallions or disco balls (her words, not mine).
“I don’t know,” she said after the trustees laughed at the idea of disco balls, “but something that gets them excited to complete their program of study.”
Trustee Manish Sethi — whose daughter recently graduated from high school — said many students feel like they need to choose between a CTE course load that offers a certification or an AP course load that prepares them for a top-tier university. He wanted to know how the district could solve that problem.
Petrinin said the district is working with Dallas College to offer dual-credit courses in programs of study such as Construction Management and Inspection. She also said at least one program of study, Programming and Software Development, includes Advanced Placement courses in computer science.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Angie Brooks spoke up to say that this gets back to one of CISD’s core values: redefining success. Although the CTE courses may not offer the same level of rigor as AP courses, they do teach skills that students could use in their adult lives, which may be more important in the long run than building a resume that will impress a university’s admissions officer.
Sethi said that sounds logical, but “you will have a very hard time selling it to our community.” He asked Petrinin and Brooks to pursue “something that gets them a little bit more edge from a college application perspective.”
Trustee Tracy Fisher, whose two CISD graduates are several years older than Sethi’s daughter, offered a different view.
“There’s a lot of kids in our district — 13,000 — and I don’t think everyone is wanting to go to a top-tier school,” she said. “This is bigger than going to a top-tier school. We’re talking about non-college, we’re talking about military, we’re talking about lots of things. It’s an opportunity for kids — all kids.”
Chronicle Crumbs
• Coppell Parks and Recreation Director Jessica Carpenter and her staff are kicking around ideas for a new name for their department. “Parks and Recreation Department” doesn’t quite communicate the breadth of their bailiwick, which includes a performing arts center, a library, and a cemetery. If you have a suggestion, put it in the comments.
• The Coppell Community Orchestra is composing a symphony inspired by Coppell. Residents are invited to submit audio files of instrumental music or other sounds until Sept. 1, and the resulting symphony will be performed in May. I plan to submit recordings of commercial jets flying directly over my house.
• The Assistance League of Coppell is seeking properties for its Coppell Holiday Home Tour. If you’re willing to have about 450 people walk through your house on Dec. 2 and 3, send an email to coppellassistanceleague@gmail.com.
• I was sorry to hear that the Dallas Mavericks traded Coppell ISD dad Boban Marjanovic to the Houston Rockets last week.
• There will soon be two stretching-focused businesses at the intersection of Denton Tap and Sandy Lake. A place called Stretch Zone is going in near Sprouts, which is catty corner from Stretch Lab.
• Jimmy, meet Joe. Joe, this is Jimmy. It looks like y’all are going to be neighbors.
Community Calendar
Juneteenth: The Cozby Library and Community Commons will be closed today and Monday in observance of the holiday. Most City of Coppell facilities will also be closed tomorrow, with the exception of The CORE and the Wagon Wheel Tennis and Pickleball Center.
Jedi Light Saber Training Camp: If you know a kid with whom the Force is strong, you can send him or her to The CORE every afternoon this week to learn the basics of, in the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” The cost is $165 per padawan.
Coppell 5K: The 13th annual race benefiting Coppell Special Olympics is scheduled for Saturday morning at Andrew Brown Park East, and the Coppell Chronicle is among the race’s sponsors. If you will be among the runners, be sure to stop by my table to say hi and/or tout the benefits of a Chronicle subscription to any uninformed passersby.
Tie-Dying Workshop: The Coppell Historical Society invites crafters as young as 6 to tie-dye bandanas from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. All supplies will be provided, but attendees are encouraged to bring extra white garments. The cost per student is $25.
Popsicle Parade: The Valley Ranch Association’s annual event is scheduled for Saturday evening at Saddlehorn Park. It will feature music, food, and games, but what intrigues me the most is a promised appearance by Captain America.
Summer Chamber Classics: The Coppell Community Orchestra will present a one-time performance featuring world-class musicians at 3 p.m. on June 26.
Celebrate Coppell: The city will mark Independence Day with a Party in the Park (Andrew Brown Park East, specifically) on July 2 and a Parade Down Parkway on July 4. If you want to participate in the parade, you have until 5 p.m. on Friday to submit your application.
High School Women’s Self-Defense Class: The Coppell Police Department wants to teach female members of the Class of 2022 how to defend themselves as they begin their adult lives. The two-part course is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon on July 9 and 16 at Life Safety Park. Attendance at both sessions is required. To reserve a spot, email Officer Kelly Luther at kluther@coppelltx.gov.
P.S. I visited Armando’s Tacos for the first time just so I could take the photo in this edition. There were 15 other customers in there at the time, and I noticed as I was waiting to order that I was the only one who wasn’t Latino. That made me think, “Oh, this is going to be good.” And it was.
Thanks. Another good issue. My name suggestion for the Parks and Recreation Department is the "Community Life Department", given their much broader range of responsibilities.
Regards,
Jim Hall