Dudley Anderson, the city’s architectural project manager, presented a proposed approach to update the Stewart Beach Parks Master Plan and to prepare a financial and developer prospectus, telling the council the city has sought to "put some order to it because it's been so hit or miss and chaotic for so many years." Anderson said the plan would update the Rogers plan by adding public engagement, clarifying setbacks and utilities, exploring replatting and road alignment and building a development prospectus the city could use to solicit private developers.

Anderson described a 12‑month timeline for the master plan update and said the city is researching utilities, seawall easements and whether road surfaces should be asphalt or other paving, and how boardwalks and pedestrian access might be improved. "The whole process, I've put a timeline on the back part of this. It says 12 months," Anderson told council.

Council discussion expanded beyond Stewart Beach to broader parks finance and operations. Deputy City Manager Dan Buckley and finance staff presented an initial financial summary of three park funds the city is considering for transfer from the Galveston Park Board: Delanera Park, Seawolf Park, and Seawall (beach parking/urban seawall) operations. Using the park board’s FY25 budget as the starting point and applying city administrative assumptions, staff estimated net operating increases (savings) and projected ending fund balances if the city managed those funds as enterprise accounts rather than allowing current park‑board internal transfers to flow as they do now.

Finance staff said preliminary modeling shows positive net results in each park fund under city management, and that certain park fund balances would be available for capital work (for example beach user fee reserves to support seawall‑area capital needs). Staff cautioned the figures are draft assumptions that assume current staff levels and that the park board’s capital requests and FEMA project worksheets still require detailed review.

Councilman Rollins summarized park capital needs discussed in the workshop: an updated estimated cost of roughly $5.38 million for Jones Park (drainage was the largest share of the estimate), roughly $650,000 for Shield Park cleanup (the city is pursuing an EPA cleanup grant and officials said the park is safe for current use but requires remediation if soil removal is pursued) and a $2.5–3.0 million estimate for upgrades at the Lassie League complex (lighting, fencing, restrooms and field refurbishment) given salt‑air corrosion and heavy use.

Separately, City Auditor Glenn (audit lead) reported the audit team has identified lobbying expenditures in park‑board budgets but said auditors have not yet received the invoices necessary to determine eligibility and source funds. Glenn told council staff had provided the park board general ledger entries showing the amounts spent on lobbying in some fiscal years but not the supporting invoices or contracts. "We have not received the invoices yet," Glenn said. The ledger figures show lobbying line items within tourism development and beach nourishment accounts; auditors are requesting invoices and related documentation to determine whether hot (hotel occupancy) funds or other restricted funds were used for lobbying and, if so, whether those expenditures complied with state law and local policy.

Council discussion ranged from moving forward with public engagement on Stewart Beach to policy questions about the scope of city oversight and how revenue from city‑owned assets might support parks across the system. Several councilmembers urged staff to share more detailed project schedules, developer prospectus cost estimates and the auditor’s findings when invoices become available. Staff said they would continue to negotiate the interlocal and bring a draft back for council review and that the park board fund balances and FEMA worksheets would be provided to refine capital estimates.

No final action was taken during the workshop; council asked staff to return with detailed costs, a draft procurement approach for updating the master plan and developer prospectus, and the auditor’s consolidated findings once supporting invoices are received.