City Council - Special Meeting

Testing. Testing. It is 6:30. I'm calling to order our Elegant City Council meeting on May 12th, 2026. We'll begin with our roll call with council member St. Pierre. St. Pierre here. Rodriguez here. Crim here. Ber here. McShan here. Kesnowski here. Gibson here.

Here, love here.

Will we uh bow your heads please for our invocation? Dear heavenly father, we come before you tonight with grateful hearts, thankful for the opportunity to serve and gather on behalf of the people of this city. We ask for your presence in this council meeting and for your wisdom to guide every conversation, decision, and action taken here tonight. Lord, we lift you up our city and all of its citizens. Bless our families, businesses, first responders, educators, community leaders, and every resident who calls this community home. Grant us unity, peace, safety, and continued growth rooted in compassion and integrity. We offer special thanks for the council members who are leaving office. We are grateful for their time, dedication, sacrifice, and service to this community. Bless them in their next chapter of their lives and let the work they have done continue to bear fruit from generations to come. We also pray for those taking their office tonight. Fill them with humility, courage, wisdom, and a servant's heart. Help them lead not for personal gain, but for the good of all people. strengthen them for the responsibilities ahead ahead and remind them always of the trust placed in them by this community. Father, we pray for the decisions that we will be ma made moving forward. Give this council discernment, patience, and clarity. Help us. Help each member listen with respect, speak with grace, and work together in spirit of cooperation and understanding even in times of disagreement. Your words remind us in Colossians 3:14. And above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Lord, let love guide this council and let unity and

cooperation strengthen our work together for the benefit of this entire community. May everything done here tonight bring honor to you and blessing to the people we serve. In your holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. Stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Texas flag to the Texas one state and indivisible. Do we have any public comment? No public comment tonight. No announcements. And no announcements. Moving on to our consent agenda. And I'd like to pull number one that we have on here for economic development cooperation board of directors member appointment. Um, and we're pulling that for discussion and for those who um would like to serve.

I would like to serve on the ADC board. I would also serve and so would I. So, okay. So, we have four. All right. Um All right. Just a second. It is a paid position, right? No, it is not a paid position. He just took himself out.

Okay. So, I'm going give you each one of you a minute to tell us why uh you want to serve on the EDC board. And we'll begin with since you spoke up first, deputy mayor for Tim.

That's fine. Um I would like to serve on the EDC board. I've been a part of the council now for three years and looking at what the EDC has been doing. I would like to continue to be on that. We have to build strong communication and collaboration with partnerships and rebuilding the relationships that have been fractured over the past year or so. I think it's time for, you know, as these two have stepping down now that we continue to have that leadership on there that continue to speak up for what the council is looking toward and what the council's looking for. So, right now, it's about time um for continued relationships to be mended and collaboration to be built with partnerships. And I'm one who am not afraid to continue to speak up as we all know. And I I won't stop to put our community first and the EDC's where they fit in with the council as well.

Council member Gson. Okay. So, sort of in the same vein. Um I've been on the council going on. This will be my sixth year going in um this route here. Um so I've seen a lot of growth. I've seen a lot of things that have happened, a lot of things that I think we could have done differently and I've learned from a lot of things. I also have a degree in business and I think that goes handinhand with economic development in management. Um, so I'd like to use some of the skills that I have from the real world and from my educational background to better provide service to the city and for our economic growth and development. Okay, Council Member St. Pierre,

I'll try to keep this real sweet. Um, one of my platforms when I ran was trying to prove Elgen's economic success. And I think over the last year, I've taken several classes to assert myself for this position. I've gone to EDC conferences. I meet with Kaylee regularly. I've been learning terminology and taking other classes. And my perfectly situated um, idea actually came from the economics development committee uh, conference that I went to with Kaylee. While tenure is important, this is a business and sometimes tenure isn't the only factor. And so I would think that I would be a strong candidate for the EDC board position.

Okay. I would just like to see after living in Elgen for 60 plus years, um I would just like to see that somebody on the board being a real advocate for the for the citizens of Elgen in terms of what I've heard over the years about e economic development in Elgen is everything from the owner won't sell the property. when we hear all these excuses to why we c we can't secure different businesses and I'd like to get to the bottom of that and make sure that the public is aware of it. Another thing is I think we're going to have to think outside the box. Um and when I say that be more progressive. Uh in other words, we just we can't just wait for the business to land in our lap. And I know the EDC works really hard not to do that. But I also think we need to if we're going to have a chamber of commerce too. I think that somebody needs to be a real advocate for that leazison to to uh make that work for our businesses also. So,

okay. So, um, Peyton, if you will help me with the count, we're going to start voting and what you'll get, um, we're going to do one by one. And so, you'll get one vote for each one of the four and I will call them out and you will say yes or no for that. And then, Peyton, keep up with the count for me. May I just ask one question before we start with the voting if possible? Sure.

Okay. Um, I went over like the EDC bylaws and I looked at our charter and I can't find anything to understand why this vote is being held before we are swearing in our newly elected council. Um, it's apparent that this election is a little different than the rest of them where we have 50% of our current council sitting here that will be exiting and 50% being replaced. And I'm just concerned that our newly elected officials are not going to be the ones to make this appointment when it's going to be partly their council. I also see that this this policy or this procedure could also be used as an opportunity for someone to take advantage of the vote before the newly elected council. And that could go either way, both harming the EDC out of vengeance or spite or just harming the person in general who is going for nomination or so. And so I'm I'm just I'm requesting to that maybe we could potentially table this until the next meeting and let the newly elected council members be a part of this vote.

Okay. So how about we put that part to a vote because I believe in everybody having a word and so um let's You want to make a motion for that? I would like to make a motion to table this until the next meeting. Okay. And do I have a second? I'll second. Okay. And we'll begin with uh Council Member St. Pierre. St. Pierre, yes. Rodriguez, no. Crim, yes. No. Mcshan, no. Kaznovski, yes. Gibson, yes. Swain, no. Love, no.

Okay. I believe the nose. The nose have it. Okay. So then we will begin with the um original vote for we have two places for the uh EDC. We'll begin with council um deputy mayor pro Tim Love and we'll begin with council member St. Pierre if you will place your vote. St. Pierre, no. Rodriguez, yes. Criminal. Frasier, yes. Mcshen, yes. I'm sorry. What are we voting for? We're voting for the two positions on the EDC and we're starting with we're going to go through all four that have asked to be on there. Right. But who did we start with?

Okay. Deputy Mayor Pro. I I really apologize. That's okay. Okay. Uh yes. Gibson. Yes. Swain. Love. Yes. Okay. And then we'll begin the next one with Council Member Gibson. And we'll begin with St. Pierre again. St. Pier, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Criminal. Frasier, yes. McShan, yes. Tesnowski, yes. Gibson, yes. Swain, no. Love, yes. Okay. Thank you, everybody. And then we'll begin with uh we're voting now for council member St. Pierre. And we'll begin with St. Pierre. St. Pierre, yes.

Rodriguez, no. Creas. Frasier, no. Mcshan, no. Kaznovski, no. Gibson, yes. Swain, no. Love, no. Okay. And then we have Council Member Crim. And we'll begin with Council Member St. Pierre. St. Pierre, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Crim. Yes. Yes. McShan, no.

I'm sorry. Um, maybe I have short timer syndrome, but do we only pick two? Okay. Sorry. It'll be the top two. Okay. Uh, Kasnowski, no. Gibson, yes. Swain, yes.

Love, no. Okay. Okay, we're waiting. We will wait. All right. While we're doing that, I would like to say that it has been a privilege of mine to serve on the EDC board. I have learned way more than I wanted to know about hiring people. So these guys are just wonderful and I hope the new board comes continues continues doing the same thing they're doing now. Okay, it looks like Arthur and Lon will be our new um EDC members to represent the council. Oh, we certainly can. Okay, so the count was okay for then we need a motion to accept the count.

I make a motion to accept the count. Okay. Second. And going in a second. Okay. And we'll begin with deputy mayor Tim Love. Love. Yes. St. Pierre. Yes. Rodriguez. Yes. Crim. Yes. Frasier. Yes. Mcshen. Yes. Yes. Gibson. Yes. Swain. Yes.

All righty. That motion carries. All right. So, moving on to our new business and this is the resolution for the city council of the city of Elgen, Texas as canvasing authority canvasing the election returns and declaring results of the city of Elgen general election held on May 2nd, 2026, finding and determining that the meeting at which this resolution was passed was noticed and is open to the public as required by law. And I will begin. A journal election was held on the second day of May 2026 for the purpose of voting on the mayor at large. Ward one, ward two, ward three, and ward four council positions. Before we proceed with the canvas, I want to note for the record that no candidate filed for ward one uh council position for this election and therefore no candidate appeared on ballot for that office. Under Texas law, the current one, council member Joy Kesnowski, will continue to serve as a holdover until a successor is duly elected and qualified. Additional information regarding as possible appointment process and a special called election in November will be presented to the council and public at a future meeting. The candidates in said election receive the following votes. Mayor at large, Stephanie Lipkkey and Terresa McShan. Stephanie Lipkkey, 368 votes cast, percentage 44%. Terresa McShane, 459 votes cast, 56%. Terresa McShane is hereby elected to the mayor at large position by the voters of the city of Elgen. Ward two, Charles Chuck Swain, Roland uh G. Silva,

and West Cala. Charles Chuck Swain, 57 votes cast, 28.36%. Roland G. Silva, 129 votes cast, 64.18 uh18%. West Cala, 15 votes, 7.46%. Roland G. Silva is hereby elected to the W 2 position by the voters of the city of Elgen in Ward two. Ward three, Agatha Christie Mayfield, Al Rodriguez. Agatha Christie Mayfield, 102 votes cast, 52%. Al Rodriguez, 94 votes cast, 48%. Agatha Christie Mayfield is hereby elected to the Ward three position by the voters of the city of Elgen in Ward three. Ward four, Brenda Pena. uh 200 votes cast 100%. Brenda Pñena is hereby elected to the ward four position by the voters of the city of Elgen in Ward 4. She did not have a opponent. I will need a motion to accept.

I'll make a motion to accept. I'll second. Has been moved and second and we'll begin with council member St. Pierre. St. Pierre, yes. Rodriguez, yes. Crim, yes. Frasier, yes. Mcshan, yes. Yes. Gibson, yes. Swain, yes. Love, yes.

Motion carries. All right, we will begin with our farewells um to our outgoing council members. And if you will come to the front so we can get our pictures as I call your name. The first one will be Alfred Al Rodriguez. You would come front. I haven't said Alfred in four years. Okay. So, I'm gonna say it's okay today.

In appreciation for four years of outstanding and dedicated service to the city of Elgen 2022 to 2026. And we thank you. Chef Charles butt. If you don't mind Charles four years out and dedicated service to the city of All right. I had been knocked on my butt by my bowl anytime in a rear.

If you haven't seen it, look on Facebook. Pretty long. All right, Sue. Tonight, we want to pause and express our sincere gratitude for your dedicated service to the city of Elgen uh and to the citizens you have faithfully represented as mayor pro Tim and council member. Your leadership's steady presence and commitment to this community have made a lasting impact through challenges, growth, and change. You have continued to serve with professionalism, compassion, and a genuine desire to do what is best for Elgen. Your willingness to listen, lead, and work alongside others for the good of the community has not gone unnoticed. Public service often requires sacrifice of time, energy, and personal movements moments, and we recognize the countless hours you have devoted to helping move the city forward. Your voice, wisdom, and experience have helped shape important decisions and have contributed to the progress and strength of our community. As you move into the next chapter, we hope you carry with you the appreciation and respect of those you have served. The the seeds you have planted through your leadership and service will continue to benefit Elgen for years to come. Thank you for your dedication, your integrity, and your heart for this city. May God bless you and your family with continued joy, health, peace, and new opportunities ahead. We have

distinguished leadership of 12 years of loyal and dedicated service to the Chuck Chuck's pretty excited about me leaving.

Chuck Chuck done pulled the plug on you, Jo. Okay. Now, I would like to um bring up Judge Carter who will take over initiating the oath of office for our new um

Oh, I'm sorry. Y'all need to relinquish the chair. Is there a requirement on the audible on the audio to have a mic? The judges Yeah. I just don't know if they want to pick it up on I can

Yeah, I I can hold the mic or the Bible, whichever. I just want to pick it up on not for annunciation purposes, but All right. So, I'm going that way. Am I? Yes. You tell me where to stand. You tell me where to go. I administering your statement and then your oath of office. Okay. So, I just need you to repeat after me. I state your name. I, Teresa,

do solemnly swear domly swear that I have not directly or indirectly that I have not directly or indirectly paid, offered, promised paid, offered, or promised to pay to pay, contributed contributed or promised to contribute or promised to contribute any money any money or anything of value or anything of value or promised any public office or promised any public office or employment. or employment for the giving or withholding for the giving or withholding of a vote of a vote at the election at the election at which I was elected at which I was elected or as a reward or as a reward

to secure my appointment to secure my appointment or confirmation or confirmation whichever the case may be whichever the case may be. So help me God. So help me God. your name. I state your name. I, Teresa Mcan, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will faithfully that I will faithfully execute the duties execute the duties of the office of mayor at large of the office of mayor at large for the city of Elgen for the city of Elgen of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend and defend

the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and of this state and of this state. So help me God. So help me God. All right, that's it.

Come up here real quick. How much It's Make sure Got it.

Don't make me catch you.

Yeah. You want to keep going? You want to be the official Bible holder? Robert, they want they probably want their own Bible. or they don't care. brought their own

do it all. Let's do this. All right. Fantast. All right. So, Mr. Silva, I need you just to repeat after me. Okay. I state your name. I do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I have not directly or indirectly paid that I have not directly or indirectly paid offered offered promised to pay

promised to pay contributed contributed or promised to contribute any money or promised to contribute any money or thing of value or thing of value or promised any public office or employment or promised any public office or employment for the giving or withholding holding for the giving or withholding of a vote of a vote at the election at the election at which I was elected at which I was elected or as a reward or as a reward to secure my appointment to secure my appointment or confirmation or confirmation whichever the case may be. Whichever the case may be. So help me God. So help me God. Okay. And we're going to move on to your oath. Okay.

Same thing. Just repeat after me. I state your name. I, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of city council member the duties of the office of city council member for the city of Elgen for the city of Elgen of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend preserve protect and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and of this state of this state. So help me God. All right. Congratulations

pictures. No, you're still you're still All right.

You guys, you're starting to work already. Yes, sir.

Oh, they brought they brought their Yes. Sorry. Appreciate that. Did you bring anybody for the microphone? No, it's okay. We're good. Okay. I think you know the drill, but I just need you to repeat after me. We're going to go through your statement and then your oath. Okay. All right. Right hand up. Yes. Left hand on the Bible. Perfect. Okay. I state your name. I do solemnly swearly swear that I have not directly or indirectly or indirectly paid, offered, promised to pay offered, promised to pay contributed or promised to contribute

contributed to any money any money or thing of value or thing of value or promised any public office. promised or employment or employment for the giving or withholding for the giving or withholding of a vote of a vote at the election at the election at which I was elected at which I was elected or as a reward or as a reward to secure my appointment to secure my appointment or confirmation or confirmation whichever the case may be whichever the case may be. So help me God. All right, move on to your oath. Okay, same thing. Just repeat after me. I state your name. I do solemnly swear

domly swear that I will faithfully I will faithfully execute the duties execute the duties of the office of city council member for the city of Elgen of the office of city council member for the city of of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and of this state and of this state. So help me God.

Oh, is it? Oh, it's not. I thought it was that

I think we are going to give away a million. Let's do this. All right, Miss

Please raise your right hand. Left hand on the Bible. Fantastic. Okay, same drill. We're going to go through your statement and then your oath. All right. All you have to do is repeat after me. I state your name do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I have not directly or indirectly that I have not directly or indirectly paid offered promised to pay paid offered or promised to pay contributed contributed or promised to contribute or promised to contribute any money any money or thing of value or thing of value or promised any public office or promised any public office or employment or employment for the giving or withholding for the giving or withholding

of a vote of a vote at the election at which I was elected at the election at which I was elected or as a reward or as a reward to secure my appointment to secure my appointment or confirmation or confirmation whichever the case may be whichever the case may be. So help me God. So help me God. Okay, we're going to move on to your oath. Okay. I state your name. I, brother K. Phix, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute that I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of city council member for the city of Elgen of the Let's try that again. the duties of the office the duties of the office of city council member

of city council member of the city of Elen of the city of Elen of the state of Texas of the state of Texas and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability preserve protect and defend preserve protect and defend the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and of this state and of this state. So help me God.

So help me God. All right. Congratul Thank you. Thank you, sir. All right. We want to invite you all to celebrate with us with uh refreshments in the back. Uh this concludes our council meeting. It is 7:09 and we are adjourned.