City Council - Regular Meeting

All right. Welcome to Mount Pleasant City Council meeting. It's 601 uh May 5th, 2026. And we we have a quorum and I believe Lyn's going to come up here and pray with us. Lyn, that's always exciting. Always exciting. Father God, please bless this assembly of stakeholders, citizens, decision makers, staff, hard workers, and residents of our wonderful community. help us come together to exchange ideas, learn from one another, and lead the city of Mount Pleasant forward um as directed through your guidance and will. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the community. speaking for those of us who serve. Thank you for the opportunity to reside here and to also be blessed to be in a leadership capacity um with some of the um decisions that have to be made on a day-to-day basis. Please continue to bless all of us and help us seek your wisdom and your will in all that we do in Jesus name. Thank you. Amen.

Thank you. All right, let's go and do the

pledgece of America to the republicy. All right. Hey, so just to give you all a heads up and we've got our two executive meetings just so y'all aren't worried about it, especially Kevin. They should be pretty short. Just saying if you're worried about it. So, uh, everything should be short on it. Okay. Uh, we'll go ahead and open the session and the public public comments. The city council welcomes citizens participation and comments at all council meetings. Citizens comments are limited to three minutes out of respect for everyone's time. The council is not permitted to respond to your comments. The Texas Open Meetings Act requires the topics of discussion deliberation be posted on the agenda no less than three day three business days in advance of the council meetings. If your comment relates to a topic that is on the agenda, the council will discuss the topic on the agenda at that time that the topic is discussed and deliberated. Do we have anybody wants to speak. All right. Uh we're moving into this first executive session pursuant to the open meeting act uh chapter 551 Texas government code the city council will recess into executive session closing meeting or to discuss the following consultation with attorney Texas government code 551-071 and personal matters Texas government code 551.074 074 to consider ethics complaint filed against council member Melanie Navoya and the status of the investigation. So 604. All right, we'll do our best to make it quick.

We're back into open session uh to discuss or Lee, are you there? Yes. Okay. So, we're here uh I don't know how we need to announce the the reading of the report. Uh, mayor, the first thing you should do is you should, um, reconvene the session in into regular session. I did that and read that portion. You did. Okay. All right. And so, uh, the next item on the agenda is actually your consent agenda.

Okay. So, I'll go ahead and and re reconvene into regular session in accordance with Texas Government Code Chapter 551. The city council will reconvene into the regular session to consider actions if any on the matters discussed in the executive session. And that matter, mayor, is going to be under uh item number three of the regular agenda, unless you want to take it out of order, which is your discretion.

Uh yeah, I say we hit the consent agenda real quick. The consent agenda. Items [clears throat] on the consent agenda are approved through a single council motion which applies to all items listed. Consent agenda items are considered routine, not likely to require discussion or deliberation, and may be discussed prior to making motions. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a council member request an item be removed and considered separately. Item number one, consider approval of April 21st, 2026 and April 23rd, 2026 meeting minutes. Item number two, consider approval of appointments to the housing authority of the city of Mount Pleasant. Do you have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve all consent agenda items as presented. A second. A second. Madam Secretary, you can get a vote, please. Yes. I I I. Items passed unanimously. We'll go ahead and move into the regular agenda. Item number three, discuss and possible action on investigation of a concerning ethics complaint filed against council member Melanie Knight Hoya. So Lou, can you hear us okay and everything? I can, mayor.

All right. Uh, and mayor, if I may, may I introduce Lou Fam, who is the person who was in who was hired to investigate the allegations? May I proceed? Uh, mayor. Yes, please.

Uh, Mr. Mayor and members of the Mount Pleasant City Council, uh, I was asked to conduct an investigation of an ethics complaint that was filed against council member Melanie Toya. On November 12th, 2025, Mr. David Ruff lodged a formal complaint against council member Melanie Knight, alleging that she had violated the city of Mount Pleasant's code of ethics by attempting to obtain favor for her now husband Nathan Tapoya related to his settlement agreement with the Mount Pleasant Industrial Development Corporation or EDC. And here are the background facts. Uh Nathan Tofoya was employed as the executive director of the EDC pursuant to a written employment agreement. But on April 24th, 2025, Mr. Tofoya submitted his resignation and was later presented a settlement agreement in miday 2025 which offered to pay him two things. One, $78,1256, which represented the equivalent of six months base salary. and two, the equivalent of 291 hours of unused vacation leave. No payment was offered for Mr. Tofoya's unused sick leave. Mr. Toya opted not to sign the settlement agreement at the time, maintaining that he was promised and with the city. On May 3rd, 2025, Miss Knight was elected to the Mount Pleasant City Council. According to Miss Knight, she learned about Mr. Tofoya's request for payment of his unused sick leave in May of 2025 while she attended her first executive session as a council member. Mr. Tafoya contacted her on or

about June 16, 2025, and for the first time talked to her about his sick leave payout request. Thereafter, Miss Knight contacted Mayor Wesley Lion as well as council members Jonathan Hegman and Debbie Corbel, advising them that she believed the city would pay out Mr. Tavoya sick leave because it was the quote Christian thing to do. End quote. All three officials disagreed with Miss Knight's position because pursuant to his employment agreement, Mr. Tofoya was not entitled to a payout of his unused sick leave. Miss Knight was not able to convince any other council member and on or about July 12th, 2025, she eventually agreed to go along with the direction of not paying out Mr. Toya's unused sick leave. Shortly thereafter, on July 25th, Mr. Toya signed his settlement agreement, which did not include payment of his unused sick leave. Miss Knight maintains that she did nothing wrong when she inquired about and advocated for the payout of Mr. Toya's unused sick leave because she did not at the time have a close personal relationship with him. According to both Miss Knight and Mr. to Foya. They did not have a close personal relationship with each other until August 23, 2025 when they allegedly went on their first date. On October 26th, 2025, just two months after their first date, Miss Knight and Mr. Devoya were married. Here's a summary of the issues that I investigated. Mayor number one, whether a close personal relationship existed between Miss Knight and Mr. Toia on or about on or before July 25th, the date that Mr. Toia signed his settlement agreement, and number two, if so,

whether Miss Knight violated the city's code of ethics. So, here's a summary of my investigation. Mayor, during the course of this investigation, 19 witnesses were interviewed and various documents, written statements, and text messages were reviewed. A Miss Knight's account concerning the existence of a personal relationship. Miss Knight first met Mr. Tapoya at the Mount Pleasant Chick-fil-A opening about two years ago. They were only acquaintances until August 23rd, 2025 when they went on their first date. Mr. Tofoya did not contribute to or help Miss Knight's election campaign. Theirs was a whirlwind romance that started on August 23rd, 2025 when they went on a first date. By October 12th, 2025, less than two months after their first date, Miss Knight was quote officially introduced end quote to Mr. Tofoya's children as a quote romantic interest end quote. Three days later, Mr. Toooya informed his children that he would soon marry Miss Knight and o on October 26, 2025, Miss Knight and Mr. Toya were married in Scottsdale, Arizona. Both Miss Knight and Mr. Toya categorically deny having a close personal relationship with each other prior to August 23. In fact, on July 4th, Miss Knight went on a first and only date with another gentleman. Two witnesses confirmed that Miss Knight introduced her date to them when they unexpectedly encountered each other at a Mount Pleasant steakhouse. These two witnesses also confirmed that Miss Knight informed one of them about a month later concerning her interest in Mr. Tafoya. Section B, other accounts concerning the existence of a personal relationship.

The investigation revealed that Miss Knight and Mr. Topoya were more than mere acquaintances before August 23rd, 2023. Jane Doe number one, who personally knows Mr. Topoya and his children, shared documentation with me reflecting conversations regarding events that took place before or near the time Miss Knight was elected to the Mount Pleasant City Council. Number one, that Miss Knight had gifted a sewing machine to one of Mr. Tafoya's daughters and taught her to sew. Number two, one of Mr. Tofoya's daughters referred to Miss Knight as quote, "Daddy's friend end quote." Number three, Jane Doe one uh suspected that Miss Knight was in a romantic relationship with Mr. Tofoya at this time. Number four, Miss Knight cared for Mr. Toya's young daughter when she was sent home sick from school. Number five, Miss Knight began spending time with Mr. Tofoya's children. Number six, Miss Knight bought a drum set for Mr. Tofo's son. And number seven, Miss Knight took one of Mr. Toa's daughters to get her nails done. In addition to do Jane Doe number one, I also interviewed Jane Doe number two, who is also who personally knows Mr. Tofoya and his children. She shared the following information about events that took place before or near the time Miss Knight was elected to the Mount Pleasant City Council. She shared the following. Number one, that some of Mr. Tofoya's children referred to Miss Knight as quote daddy's best friend. End quote. Number two, Mr. Tofo's children had eaten at Miss Knight's house. Number three, one of Mr. Too's children mentioned that Miss Knight stayed late

at Mr. Toya's house. And number four, Jane Doe had suspected again during this period uh at before or near the time of uh Miss Knight's um uh election to the city council, Jane Doe had suspected that Miss Knight was involved in a romantic relationship with Mr. Tafoy. In addition to those witness accounts, uh I also reviewed cell phone records. Uh there were numerous mobile phone calls between Miss Knight and Mr. Tofoya in the five months before their first date. From February 3, 2025 to August 4, 2025, which was before their first date in August 23, Miss Knight and Mr. Foya called each other a total of4 times, logging a total of 1,286 minutes or 21 hours and 43 minutes of talk time broken down as follows. There were 39 calls that occurred during normal business hours of between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. There were 49 calls that occurred outside of those normal business hours. There were seven calls that occurred after midnight. Two midnight calls were in March for a total of 10 minutes of talk time and five minute calls were in May of 2025 for a total of 17 minutes of talk time. 19 calls occurred on week weekends and holidays. A month-to-month review of cell calls between Miss Knight and Mr. Toia reveals a progression in the volume of calls and total talk time from March 2025 through July of 2025.

In March of 2025, there were only eight cell calls to each other, totaling 24 minutes of talk time. In April, there were a total of 19 cell calls to each other, totaling 152 minutes of talk time. In May, there were 20 cell calls to each other totaling 493 minutes of talk time. By June, there were 13 cell calls totaling 105 minutes of talk time. And in July of 2025, there were 51 cell calls to each other totaling 505 minutes of talk time. D. The city of Mount Pleasant code of ethics. The city's policy requires its officials to be independent, impartial, and responsible only to the people of the city and to not use public office for personal gain. In furtherance of this policy, the city's code of ethics prohibits officers and officials from one using their official position to solicit or secure special privileges or exemptions for themselves or others and two using information gained by reason of their official position for their own personal gain or benefit or for the private interest of others. My findings and conclusions are as follows. Mayor, based on the witness statements and documentary evidence provided by Jane Doe's one and two and the phone records reflecting the volume of times of calls between Mr. Tooria and Miss Knight between February and August of 2025, this investigation finds that more likely than not, Council Member Knight and Mr. Toya had a close personal relationship with each other during the time period that Mr. to Foya through his

attorney was attempting to negotiate the payment of his unused sink leave as part of his settlement agreement. This investigation further finds that a po a close personal relationship existed at the time Miss Knight as a council member inquired about and advocated for the payment of or the payout of Mr. Toya's unused sick leave. Throughout this time period, Miss Knight did not disclose her close personal relationship with Mr. Tofoya or recuse herself from council discussions regarding terms and conditions of Mr. Tofoya's settlement agreement. Although her efforts failed, Council Member Knight's efforts violated the city's code of ethics. To summarize, Mr. Mayor, based on the greater weight of credible evidence as set forth in my investigation and using a prepoundonderance of the evidence standard, this investigation makes the following conclusions. Number one, that council member Knight and Mr. Toroya were in a close personal relationship with each other prior to July 25th, 2025, during which time Miss Knight as a council member attempted to change the minds of other council members so that Mr. Foya would be paid his unused sick leave and two that council member Knight's actions as set forth above violated the city's code of ethics. That concludes my investigation and my findings and conclusions. Mr. Mayor.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Pam. We're going to go ahead and give each council member five minutes um for discussion. So, Councilman Corell,

first of all, let me say that I want to apologize to the city of Mount Pleasant and to our citizens. You do not and did not deserve this distraction, nor the expenditures this investigation has cost the city. This could have and should have been resolved over five months ago. It could have been very, very easily done. It was not. There's no way that this is not going to be a social media nightmare. There's no one going to come out of this feeling good about tonight. There is no way that this is not a bad day for the council, for the city of Mount Pleasant. This council has fortunately and sometimes unfortunately been tasked with transparency trying to do what we think wasn't done for a long time. We have been transparent in every action that we have taken. We have tried to mend allegiances with other agencies, other people within this council, within this city. We have done everything in our power to be transparent even in a horrible day like today. This is one of those unfortunate days for all of us and for me with the issuance of that report. I again apologize to the city of Mount Pleasant. I am done with it. There's nothing good here today. I am going to move forward. I am going to continue to do the best job I can. I'm going to continue to work with Miss Knight and everybody else up here

to continue to do the hard things when they come and relish in the easy ones when they come because we certainly haven't had very many of those lately. I appreciate everyone and to those who's listening. I pray that we all move forward tonight and think about it before we start ripping people apart. Councilman,

um I too am sad. is um I've been sad and um it's hard to come up with the words to say for this, but I will say that when I ran a couple of years ago, um I knew that we would have some hard things in front of us. I knew that this was going to be hard to clean up some things and uh when I ran and that's what I told the citizens of Mount Pleasant is that I was going to try to straighten a lot of this stuff out and and make this a city council, the city of Mount Pleasant, one that is honorable and that we are here. I believe that and it's hard. [laughter] It is so hard when you are on the city council um because I feel like I carry the city on my shoulders. And because of that, I think that we should try to live in a manner that the citizens can be proud of us as well as the employees and everyone here. And so there are decisions sometimes that we have to make. And um in the past two years, we've had to make a lot of hard hard decisions. And there's been only a couple of times that I've had problems laying my head down on the pillow at night. But um

these situations are hard. I'm sad. Um but it is what it is. Some nights this is a tough seat to sit in. This is one of the nights. We definitely want to be transparent and honest with the taxpayers. That's what we did tonight. But when this meeting is over tonight, this issue is done. We're done with it. I want to move forward and work with with Melanie and I think we can all work together and do some good things for Mount Pleasant. Councilman I only have five minutes and so if this speech goes longer than that, y'all can just go to my Facebook page and the entirety will be there. [clears throat] I first want to say how no one knows what it feels like to have your entire personal life just like broadcasted for this entire city to see and know very intimate details about. That's that's pretty rough. Hope none of y'all have to go through that. I want to address the citizens of Mount Pleasant tonight as well as my friends and family. Allow me to be vulnerable and direct with you because this moment and the complexity of everything that led to it deserves cander and clarity since so much of it has been hidden in the shadows and protections afforded to municipal governments. Most importantly, I also do not wish to profane the name of God or the gospel of Jesus by speaking in a careless or unforgiving and gracious way. And that restraint tonight is costing me something. But I'm a Christian before my city counselor. The Christian walk in obedience and forgiveness is not a suggestion but a command. And I'll do my best to adhere to this requirement. At the same time, my reputation and character, my family family, my health

and privacy, and my safety have all been threatened and violated due to this investigation. It is difficult to fathom or grasp the collateral damage and the length to which a false narrative can be prolonged without evidence or a clear path forward. I need the public to hear this clearly. Plainly put, this investigation was initiated on pure speculation, suspicion, and disbelief that I could have possibly had a whirlwind romance with my now husband, Nathan Toya, who was the former executive director of the Economic Development Corporation. But the absence of evidence was always and always has been the evidence. The city spent $20,000 to determine if there was a 51% probability that Nathan and I were romantically involved. And if so, to which degree that relationship warranted me informing them of those details prior to July 2025th and after April 2024. That's it. That's the $20,000 ethics question. Not whether or not I violated state law, but rather the city's ethics ordinance. And neither the city nor the individual findings in ethics complaint had any evidence other than these suspicions. This is what the investigator told me and I can prove it. This investigation went too far and crossed a line when it based only investigative path was forward on the narrative of an ex-spouse in the midst of a family court proceedings and on that spouse's impartial misconstrued comments of elementaryaged children. This is not the Mount Pleasant that I know. So know that every word that I'm about to say has been measured and I believe it is the most honest thing said in this room in a long time. I believe members of this city are looking to cover their tracks on a botched investigation. I will not be their straw man so that they can save face. I'm commit I committed no ethical or legal violations and I will declare that until my dying breath. I was so convinced perhaps naively that this investigation would simply reveal that in a short period. But when silence for the sake of unity is too costly, unclear, and

effective, the only viable way is to move to truth and power to the masses. But I will no longer sacrifice myself and allow one-sided narrative to occur to protect the optics of city unity or attempt to shield this community that I love because my family is at stake. This six-month, $20,000 taxpayer funded investigation was launched against me without clear procedural processes or any clear evidence. What should have been a simple routine investigation went too far in February when it took a dark turn. Up to that point, the investigator told me and others that he had zero evidence against me after 18 individual interviews, including the individual who emailed a generic unsubstantiated ethics email allegation against me. This is the issue. The city has acknowledged that I did not break any state laws regarding ethics or a conflict of interest. The matter at hand is only whether or not I violated the city's narrower ethics language found in chapter 34 of Mount Pleasant's code of ordinances. Lastly, the city's charter and ordinances empowers the city council to investigate one of its own members. Not a single shred of evidence was provided to myself or the city council through the original email allegation, nor was an explanation provided to me when the investigation was launched, but it was allowed to move forward. I have discovered only throughout this course of the investigation that my alleged ethical violation is about the degree of my relationship to Nathan between the periods of his separation on October April 24th, 2025, my election in May 2025, and his signed separation agreement with the city in late July 2025. I've been accused of knowing Nathan to some degree and trying to influence the reinstatement to some degree of his promised benefit package which his board of directors had already granted him get them here in order to some degree somehow financially gain because there is doubt that we could not have been married in late

October unless our relationship was much further along in the summer of 2025. I will continue this matter on my Facebook page. Thank you. [clears throat] going to keep mine short. I want y'all to pray for the council, all of them. Pray for the city. And uh I guess we'll we'll take a motion to uh one to accept the report or reject the report. I make a motion.

Is this okay, Lee? Well, hold on. Hey, it's my meeting. Hey, it's my meeting. Hold on. Okay. And I'm speaking to Lee, our our attorney. Lee, is this acceptable? But you're on mute. So, you can you are allowed to permit public comment if you so desire. Mayor, it's your meeting.

I'll let uh let's go in five minutes. Um, thank you, mayor. So, I just wanted to make sure that the public do as a matter of public record that um that as Melanie was already stating um as she said, she'll provide a she said she'll provide a document on her own Facebook page um for the public to read as well, but we were not married in Scottsdale um the city and we have the city president here and I have them on record um and with my attorney, which is I just don't think it's just a super weird way to talk about this, but my attorney I have emails from them saying that that was presented to the city. The city um arbitrarily and um just um removed it. And that's I think what this is about. During a tumultuous time in the city's history when um they changed the EDC board in the first 75 days of um I think Melanie's new position um when I knew her as an acquaintance and when the city had three city managers in 2025. um th this this it was a matter there was no public um official vote that was done out here that the public should know that no public action was made because all of this was done in committee um in executive sessions which which will beg the question why the mayor asked for a vote of confidence two weeks after we were married and then conveniently the next day the email showed up from someone who lives in Titus county um lodging an ethics complaint that was then on November 18th um acted upon by the council. So the we there's demonstration and I don't really understand why the the council would go um to something like this and and you I'm glad that there's a a decision to move forward peaceibly and and to to do that but um Lou had a number um it was

not accurate 100 um calls um there's no evidence of what was going on those calls if there were medical spiritual guidance um which uh and other personal reasons for 100 calls um saying and using elementary age children against my specific instructions that my children were not to be involved um in this and using them through um an expouse during court proceedings is inherently impartial and and biased. And while I may not because we have a mutual agreement with the council and myself um disparage the council, I will disparrage Lou um all day and up and down. And you did a a a crummy job of investigation when you have 18. And then you use somebody who is is impartial in in that regard to build a case and then use with because you know this as a fact. any number that you used was not in the subpoena um that you guys gave us. There were three numbers and you used a fourth one. And so there's a lot of issues here that I think the public should know of how we got here. And I appreciate this council moving forward. I think we all should. I think $20,000 to to determine the degree of the relationship and the degree to to find the heart and the mindset behind someone and to determine with a prepoundonderance of evidence. And the public needs to know that a preponderance of the evidence, this is a civil case, not a criminal case. And so the the a uh a a um a propoundonderance of the evidence purely means um that you have to get to a 51% threshold of more likelihood that something is true or false. And so all all this has done is get all the uh evidence that um Lou is purportedly um saying has happened and including some of our witnesses were pastors and had no idea what was going on. There's no idea. There was no um

call to me to see whether those numbers were registered to my mother who also lived with me or to see even who had those numbers where it was going. And so and did and just one more thing that I would like to say, we even had a motion to quash just because this is an invasion of privacy and I think anyone um would would deem that appropriate and and accurate. But one of the things that we did was a motion to quash to the municipal court who then turned it over to the city council to determine whether or not their own subpoena was worthy or not to move forward and whether they would act on it. So, there are there's language here that's being used in a in a way that I don't feel is transparent. And just because something cost $20,000 doesn't make it true. And just because something lasts six months doesn't make it accurate and and the public and and because it bears my name and my reputation and my wife's reputation and our good name and the effects that this will have. Um um I think it's important that the public know that Melanie served and got on this this I don't know why um this council and and to to serve this community because she was born and raised here and loves it and would never do anything and she she there's other things that we could talk about that she didn't even Yes sir. I will um I'll be very quick.

Okay.

Um uh that she did not even when [clears throat] the new board of the EDC changed its position, she agreed in the unity of the council and I don't they all voted uh not to include that which was their their right and they did it and we all walked away. Um I have my attorney I have emails saying I could contact um say hey my resources are exhausted if you have someone at the EDC. That's when I contacted my board and say hey can you guys follow up with this? I think I got lost in the shuffle of city managers getting fired or resigned and um just all the chaos that was happening in the first those first few days when somebody had a city manager for two weeks and then an interim and then another person in 75 days. And so I think the public should understand that that that occurred and that she actually voted ultimately with the council to to agree not to give me the package um in unity with the council which was the council's right. they can they have the right to u reviews or the they have rights over the EDC's budget, but I was not even a city employee. They had it was a different department. And so I just want to make sure that the public knows that that Melanie has loved this community and would never do anything that I have seen to harm it and she had no financial gain. she did not harm this city. Other than this perception probably of of that that the the um the this really weird investigation um got to a 51% that this was a likelihood of her having a relationship. But again, I refute the entirety of Lou's investigation and his outcome and his and his methods.

All right. I appreciate it. Anybody have a motion first to uh Lee or Lou, do you all have anything to add? If not, it's perfectly fine. Okay. A motion for the acceptance or rejection of the report. I make a motion we accept the report. We get over it. Second. I second the motion. Madam Secretary, can we get a vote, please? Yes. Yes, I recuse myself. I

So I That's unanimous. And uh are there any other motions that anybody would like to put on the table? We're good. All right, let's go ahead and move on to item number four. discuss and consider awarding a bid for the FM4000 sewer improvement project. Utility director Mark. Hello. That's a tough act to follow.

Wish I was behind Lynn right now, but um So this is to discuss and consider the awarding of a bid for the uh FM4000 sewer improvement project. Sealed bids were received publicly open and open and read out loud for the above reference project on Thursday, April 9th, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. City Hall. A total of three bids were received as shown on the attached tabulation tabulation. And this is a motion to award a bid to A+ professor of plumbing, Inc. in the amount of $133,3214. Are they local? Just curious.

What is that? A local company or they're out of Tyler. Out of Tyler. Yes. Did any local people bid on the contract? Uh, we had one from Mount Vernon, uh, one from Tyler and one out of Street. Thank you. All right. Pretty good. Um, want to go ahead and make a motion on it. I make a motion to award bid A, Professor of Plumbing, Inc. in the amount of $133,0003214.

I second. Madam Secretary, you can get a vote, please. I I Yes. All right. Motion passed unanimously. Let's go ahead and move on to item number five, presentation and discussion to outline and overview our of goals for the upcoming downtown zoning district. And this is going to be our development director uh development service director. Good evening, council. Mr. Mayor,

um so we're going to shift gears tiny bit. This is um a pattern that I've started trying to help break down some of the more complex issues that we are bringing forward so that um both the public and council itself can kind of have a chance to digest where we're going, why we're doing it, and ask questions so that when we get into what is probably going to be a pretty complex set of um goals will at least have a good foundation. So, this is again it's a presentation and a discussion. It's kind of a um an overview for you all y'all. This isn't this isn't public comment. This isn't Main Street folks showing up and advocating for what they want yet. That there's time for that. Um there's public engagement is coming to this is just why why we're doing what we're doing what the pieces are going to look like with also this is all what I'd like is a two-way conversation so that if you have questions concerns issues that you don't see that you want addressed uh things that you see we don't need to waste time on you know we can narrow the focus This is the time for you to kind of hear it and you don't even have to say anything, but then we can kind of winnow down some of the processes we're going to go through and get more to more meat, more bang for our buck in the future. So, currently, um, we've had discussions almost since I got here about downtown

because it isn't a downtown zone. Um, almost every city h that has a vibrant downtown like ours has a downtown zone that has its own uses, its own standards, its own cohesive kind of pieces. Um, ours does not. This is a piece of our zoning map that shows in the pink area is the um what is considered the historic preservation district and also the main street boundary. Our code makes it uh clear that that that now that those are the areas that are considered in downtown. Um it can be changed though because if you want a zone that covers all of where you want to focus your energy, it can be expanded at the same time that the zoning district is created. So um there isn't a district. So we have we have the orang-ish color is um neighborhood services. The red is commercial and the pink pink color is general retail and the yellow just to the outside of the boundary is single family too. The white which is 16 square blocks right in the middle is what's called the central um central district c the central area of the city. It has that is the um the main historic piece, but all of the area within the pink is also considered in the historic preservation district that is subject to the historic preservation ordinances already in place. Um but what this zoning district means is any place neighborhood services, commercial or general retail um has any allowed uses,

any development standards that are in our code that apply to it also apply to downtown. So there are a number of uses that would perhaps not be appropriate for downtown that are allowed by right. Um, thankfully we haven't had anybody walk in and say they want to build something, but if it is a use that Main Street has no authority over uses and and there isn't any historic preservation or uses, that could be a problem. Um, also development standards that are in our code that allow these things. Also, the same, excuse me, the same um same uh problem could arise and in many cities has arisen and that's why you see this this is kind of a you know a warning for us. We want to increase our vibrancy and make it a wonderful place. Um there are some tools that need to be in place and this down doing the downtown zoning work is one of them. So when there's no vision, the people perish. It sounds a little extreme, but at the same time, we want to understand from the public and ourselves, what do we want to accomplish with our downtown? What does that mean for Mount Pleasant? What what sort of signals are we sending to the world and each other about what our downtown um purpose is? And so all of those things actually come into play. There are purpose statements in inside zoning ordinances. And and when the the zoning district comes forward, Main Street folks um will are way more eloquent than I am. And um we are going to bring them in and have um them speak

on various pieces of this that they're passionate about. And you'll hear a lot of that sort of rhetoric. Why are we doing this? Because we want our vision um proclaimed. So the solution is to do the downtown district. Call it whatever we want. I mean there you can pick there are number of things that pretty much describe it out there. First thing you need to do though is create boundaries. And as I said the boundaries that were on that map were appropriate when the historic preservation was being brought forward and when Main Street was kind of re reemphasized, but do we want to keep it that way? Do we want it smaller, bigger? Um, so describing the area for it and then adopting any overlays. So, there has been discussion about the possibility of overlays so that for future development um there may be some possibilities to have additional property added to an overlay that there is some discussion about making it larger than it is now. Um, it would increase the flexibility. That would be one of the purposes, not to narrow, but to increase flexibility for the downtown, which is what a vibrant, successful downtown offers in Texas right now. If you go to any number of cities that are successful Main Street partners, um they have all sorts of innovative live, work, play units, um they have the vibrancy of uh walkability, little cafes, uh artisan um you know uh glass blowing and you know uh porcelain making is small. Not we're not talking factories

but kinds of things that draw the public in and give also give our residents um a feeling of pride of who we are. We are Mount Pleasant and downtown needs to reflect what that is and what that vision is. You wouldn't want the entire city to have the ability to have all those different positive things because they weren't um they they really don't offer uh the advantages in the rest of the city, but downtown they fit. So again, aesthetics are uh can be emphasized. One of the only places under state law where you can have all sorts of standards um without having the legislature tell you you can't. So you can establish that historic mode. Of course, we've already got the historic preservation district, which also can um shrink or grow with this. I mean, they're not any of them set in stone. it can be written into ordinances but that would um honor the past and allow modern standards. So um and and the last one is the future benefits which would also heighten future increased investment primarily related to the flexibility. So, when I say flexibility, the uh ability to kind of think outside the box and have um outdoor uses, use courtyards and um have different lighting all of course with that same historic flavor that you would want to highlight your downtown. And you know, I mean, there um our group will probably come with a number of presentations from other cities and other downtowns highlighting things that they're really excited about. It's needed because we do need um to

foster the city's image and pride as both historic and modern for our identity. Um, we uh I've used the word vibrancy a lot and that is something that you want to make sure does not leave your downtown and then it actually gets watered and and fertilized and is allowed to grow. Well, obviously we want it attractive. Um, and so some of the standards, the design standards for downtown um will do that based on downtown that you can't actually do with the rest of the city. Um we want this the continuence of history and that that connection with the past definitely rooted and then again the bottom line is economics. So we do want to create a cat catalyst for the growth here but understanding too that downtown's place in each and every city is rooted in economics. That's that's the lifeblood. That's what made a city a city in the first place. How much how much commerce is actually part of your um central business district and do you want it out on the, you know, on the um the big stores on the outskirts? Of course, we all want those big box stores where we can shop, but we also want to make sure that we don't neglect the economics in the core. And so that's another kind of a big piece for this. Um so how do we do that? Well, the first step is going to be the vision and justification that I started with. Why? Um you'll hear uh some eloquent speeches on that. Um aligning the boundaries. So we actually have um we have the main street program which is the state program. right now ordinance aligns it with the historic preservation piece and those those districts are

lined out one by one block by block in our ordinance. Um do we want a separate main street that's bigger than the historic preservation? Do we want the main street to expand over and outside slightly where the historic area is to allow for additional flexibility and um maybe a little more growth. Um we have to establish the uses that are appropriate as I described and then development standards that we want. So, yes, the historic preservation piece could still be in place, but the actual kind of identity of what is downtown, what makes it downtown, if you're driving up, what makes you feel like you're downtown, those are the development standards that can be also added. They can be bigger than the historic preservation piece or or smaller for that matter. Um, the next piece is signage. So signage, we have very little sign ordinances in our city overall to begin with. We have very little downtown other than Main Street and the historic preservation folks keep an eye on it, but how do we how do we visualize and envision downtown signage to look? Um, and so the last piece is the vacant building. We currently don't have that many vacant buildings compared to some downtowns um our size. Um that we don't want that to change. And so that is also kind of a corollary that could go with it. Doesn't have to go at the same time or it might you might feel like it's necessary to do it right now. But um in other words, how are the vacant buildings treated? How long can they be vacant? what kind of responsibility do the owners have? That sort of thing. All of those are elements

that we're going to tackle. Um, assuming that you want to, again, sort of the driver to the bus. No point. You'll have to appease the public though. So, the creation process already underway. Um, the research stage uh has been underway for some time, but we've been meeting as um in committees with the street folks and as a group for months. Um the next piece we haven't gotten to yet are the public hearings and robust community discussions and that that deserves some um thought. Do you want it all in here? Do you want to go down the civic center and have um stakeholders and citizens come together? Do you want to do a focus group with just stakeholders? How do you want that to look? We can I mean I'm sure that the the main street group will have some ideas, but those those are kind of ideas that we probably need to hammer out at some point as well. And the last piece is when council does approve the ordinances once once you hear and you give direction because again it's a two two-way street. What do you kind of envision? Do you want to start small and allow for growth moving forward? Do you want to tackle a big piece? Whatever um that ends up being, the ordinance language will be drafted that pretty much meets that spirit and be brought forward. Um go through the same process we normally do where there's a public hearing and the the the ordinance is presented so people can see it in the packet. there's a public hearing, the main parts that differ will be brought forward and then you will vote on them. Um, and so that would frame where you're going next. Of

course, any of these can be adjusted, time frames, all that um for the future. So, just to kind of recap, we're coming from an older boundary, no downtown uses, no standard, and no real cohesive vision that even in the comprehensive plan was not really it was an thought. really wasn't handled. I I don't know whether they thought they were just going to get to it all at once like this and never happened. I don't know. So, um the boundaries aren't specific and they're the same as the rest of the city, which really does need some work. Um and we don't we want to leave that and and move forward. So where we want to go is the designated boundary with designated uses that are appropriate with standards and then add the structure for signs in the vacancy register. Some questions on the boundary will be the overlay piece I talked about and if there are any corridors. heard me talk a little bit about corridors that came up because the committee wanted to not as part of this but as an an extra piece for consideration to beautify the corridors as much as we can into downtown which is a great idea and we can talk about that timeline. So right now u the boundary discussion will be first and we it's really too big of a topic to cover at one meeting. So, this is my vision of the best way to do it. Certainly can move things around um at your at your um leisure, but the first thing we need to do is decide exactly what ground we're talking about. So, the boundary discussion needs to come first. And I would envision that we can um do that um

within the next month. Um the 19th is is too fast approaching because Candice um cracks quite the whip on getting that agenda items in. But in June, we can certainly have everybody come and present on the boundary piece and and and touch these others too. That would be the presentation, any kind of public comment. Um it may even take more than one meeting um if there's robust uh discussion. The second piece uh is the uses that probably needs to stand alone as well. Um so that you can kind of digest what you kind of want to foster downtown and what you maybe don't. Um there are lots of uses that are appropriate in other places that you may not want to encourage. So uh again that may need to have its own discussion. um the development standards potentially could go at the same time. Um assuming that there wasn't too much uh creativity involved. Um then there would be uh any of the other pieces, the signs or the vacant building registrations would also need to come. Then there's an adoption meeting that would have a final public hearing. Any questions that you might have? before before they they jump in with any questions that they may have, the question that anyone may ask is why why are we doing this? And this has served three purposes. We want to preserve our downtown, protect our downtown, and promote our downtown. Creating that district will help do that. Creating the use restrictions and adding to the if we do create a tax increment reinvestment zone and we have a downtown district, the downtown district could receive some of those

funs. But we have to have a so preserve, protect and promote. I'll just say I look so forward to the future of this city. I just think we're in a great place at a great time and with the downtown and with other things coming, I truly believe we are headed in such a good direction and I appreciate that. And I'm excited as well. Um, you continue to throw out historical and I love that because we have some really interesting architecture, but sometimes we don't take care of it. We bulldoze down and I would love to see things restored. Um, and I love the fact that we should be proud of history. Thanks for uh bringing this to us and it looks like it's going to be very positive going forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it.

All right. So, uh, we've got two minutes for council council comments limited to announcements, upcoming events and, uh, councilman activities or requests to add to the agenda items for the upcoming meeting. Good. Anybody thinks of anything? I'm going to talk about our library, our little library thing that we get here. There's a couple of them going on at the Nerf battle on the 21st. Where is that? Is that at the library? Is that the library? Okay. And then May 15's the STEM uh they're pushing the the book limits. There was another one here. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. So, if they anybody has any questions, this flyer is up on. Okay. Or y'all could just all call Lupe. I'm joking. Sorry.

I will say this too that Oh, yeah. We do need to move. Yeah, thank you. We're going to go ahead and move back up to uh item one and two. Uh consider Oh, I'm sorry, just two. Item uh two, consider approval of appointments to the housing authority of the city of Mount Pleasant. Oh. Yeah, that was that was on the

Oh, it wasn't we have any discussion? We approve it in the consent agend. Soaking the vibes, huh? Soaking the vibes. All right, cool. No, we already did. Yeah, we did that inside of the consent. So, all right. Yeah. So, no one else had any comments? upcoming stuff. Lupe, we rock. Love the library. Would like to see some little libraries. I don't know if we have any around the town, but I would love to see Yay. That's awesome. Uh we do not have any little libraries, but there are a few located in town. Um I know, uh behind Ignite there is one located there, and I think there's a couple other ones scattered throughout the community. Um, I want to say there might be another one or two inside of town, but I'm not aware of them.

Yeti. Okay. Chick-fil-A. Yes. Um, and uh, but I think they a lot of them are registered under like little libraries.org. It's some sort of network and it shows a map. So, um, I'm not sure if all of them that are in town are registered, but that is a website that is available. Okay, that's awesome. So, how many do you think we have? I actually have no idea, but um but yeah, I'm sure there's there's quite a few and and I'm glad that they're available for the community. That's great. And they could find it at the little library. Yeah, I I believe you could probably just look it up online, but there I know there is some sort of site because I've seen them at conferences. Cool. So,

that's great. Thank you. And I will add this, we do have the Junth festival coming up and I'm not sure exactly what the date is because I don't have anything with me, but I'll get the date and all and we'll put it out there then. It'll be a no long um because I missed our meeting. Um do we have anything to announce on our 250th ann, you know, celebration?

Just receiving a text. I will be attending the rodeo lunch tomorrow. There is a an event planned and possibly the city city involvement. So that will we'll have information. All right, let's go ahead and um move into executive session. It is 8:37. Pursuant to open meetings act chapter 551 Texas government code the city council will recess into the executive session to discuss the following 551.087 economic development negotiations 20-03-1 and 26 or sorry 26-03-1 and 26-03 uh-2 that rodeo thing Did you see the message about the management? I'll shoot it to you.

reconvening back into regular session. It is it uh 2047 or sorry 8:47 uh and we are adjouring