City Council - Regular Meeting

We're calling to order. We do have a quorum. And we have someone to come up and say the prayer. Make it a good one. No pressure.

Heavenly Father, we come to you this evening to give you thanks. Thank you for the thing you provide for us. Give us guidance and wisdom on the decisions we make this evening for the city and community. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Amen.

One nation under God, indivisible, liberty for all.

We'll go ahead and move into open session. Public comments. The City Council welcomes citizen participation and comments at all council meetings. Citizen 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 business days in advance of the council meeting. If your comments relate 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 any public comment? Just state your name and county or city.

Mayor and members of the council, my name is Kyle Mooring. I live in Mount Vernon, Texas. Tonight I'm asking you to hold city administration and department directors accountable for their response to Walmart safety concerns. Current employees report repeated failed eco-lab inspections, including findings of expired baby food, yet the same store receives favorable inspection reports from the city. How do you explain that difference? Contractors keep returning to address refrigeration failures. I have requested the City's records showing what complaints it received, what inspectors found, what corrective action followed, and whether permits were issued for that work. I am still waiting for those specific records. These records tie into my OSHA whistleblower investigation. They would help show whether measures were taken to correct the reported hazards and prevent them from reoccurring, or whether there is an ongoing pattern of known safety hazards being left uncorrected. My requests also concern an environmental matter that TCEQ described to the Attorney General as an open criminal investigation. On October 16th, I raised DSHS's asbestos findings and requested a city inspection. Candace Webster wrote internally, please do not reply to this email. In April, I reported apparent exposure of social security numbers and patient information on the city's OpenGov financial transparency portal. City Manager Vine promised an investigation. Where is the public accounting? For 12 months, I have copied you all on correspondence and supplied evidence binders. Rob Vines' October 17th email directs you to forward my complaints to him. Do not respond to this individual. It continues, ACM Webster has been working with an attorney regarding this individual and has continued requests for information. I reported Walmart's manager's knowledge of child grooming allegations and possession of the screenshots. MPBD's report lists exceptional clearance on November 3rd, 2025. The detective supplement says the father signed a dismissal form on January 22nd, 2026. Explain that timeline. At our February 18th meeting, Councilman... Councilman Hinton said, let that one go, and asked, did he rape him? Later, he said, it should be looked into. City Manager Vine said he could call the Texas Rangers. What follow through occurred? On July 2nd, the same individual was arrested in Camp County in a separate grooming case involving another minor. That sequence deserves an accounting. Each of you was copied on my concerns and supporting records. Your counsel invoked the waste of taxpayer resources in seeking dismissal of my mandamus case, the same case listed for executive session discussion tonight. Accountability is part of what taxpayers pay for. Friday, I represent myself against experienced municipal attorneys. Whatever the outcome, I will use these records to inform the public. Fortunately, my records are organized and the timeline speaks for itself. The court decides the legal questions. The public can still judge our performance. John Stuart Mill wrote, a person may cause evil to others not only by his action but his inaction. And in either case, he is justly accountable to them for the injury. Preserve the evidence. Produce the public records. Explain your decisions. Whatever happens Friday, you still answer to the people who elected you.

Anybody from the public want to speak? Just state your name and county or city.

Hello, my name is Lily Weatherford, and I live out in Cookville, out in the county. Councilmembers, I live out in the county, and while I may not reside within the city limits, I work, shop, and do just about everything else within the city limits. So what happens here directly impacts me and my family. Tonight, y'all will vote on budget and discuss raises. And I know compared to other cities, it may be fair to consider raises, but compared to the wage difference between these positions and the average person in this town, it is not fair. You have the important position of voting on behalf of the people for how much money these jobs get to make. How much of the people's money they get to make. Few other jobs get that option, and right now almost no jobs are giving raises. It cannot be afforded, times are hard. It's harder if you make less than $60,000 a year, and most people do make less than that. These positions make well above it. I would like to ask, before you vote on the budget and raises, for it to be explained to all of us why you believe it is deserved. Why money should go to these positions and not improvements of this town. Why we are stuck with big, empty parking lots and not using them for mixed development that could bring in extra revenue and actually make this town nice without making it big like Dallas. Why we keep getting chain stores and restaurants but no sidewalks to make getting around this town to the many free, family-oriented places easier. The positions asking for these raises are jobs, not infinite wealth-growing options. If it's within the budget for raises, it's within the budget to make improvements the residents will see. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? All right, thank you. We'll go ahead and move into the consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda are approved through a single council motion, which applies to all items listed. Consent agenda listed are considered routine, not likely to require discussion or deliberation, and may discuss prior to making a motion. There will be no separate discussion on these items unless the council member requests an item be removed and considered separately. Item number one, consider approval of the August 27th and September 1st, 2026 meeting minutes. And item number two, consider pay request number 40 for a great construction for work performed at the Southside West Water Treatment Plant. Discussion? Motion?

I make a motion to accept the items on the consent agenda.

I'll second that.

Madam Secretary, can we get a vote, please?

Yes.

I. I.

Aye.

All right, motion passed unanimously. Just a side note, Rob's sick. We don't know if he has COVID or flu or what. So he is here with us. I just want to let you all know that you should be able to see him. All right, let's go ahead and move on to item number three in the regular agenda, discuss and consider mid-year salary adjustments for sworn police officers and certified firefighters.

Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council, I apologize for not being able to be with you in person this evening. Hopefully you can hear me. If you recall, this item was tabled a few council meetings ago. And originally we had planned to do this. We had some money that we had set aside at the beginning of the budget. Since then, we have discovered a negative $365,000 line item. In non-departmental, we've already discussed that numerous times. Last council meeting, we put together a budget amendment to make up for that negative $365,000. That being said, we are close to the end of the budget, but we are not there. And I believe it's due to uncertainty of where the budget will fall and whether we have ample funds to follow through with those mid-level or mid-year budget adjustments. I know the memo states that staff recommends that, but due to the fact that we are not at the end of the budget yet and we want to be responsible and make the appropriate decision, staff is not recommending this at this time.

Well, if Rob and staff says that we can't do it the mid-year, then I guess we should not do that. But we will do the raises in the upcoming new budget.

Well, do we just table this item then and move on until the year's over? What's the path forward here? Do you want it tabled?

The item was tabled. I think we would have to untable it, bring it back. Again, staff recommends that we not move forward with this. And then we're done.

I'll make a motion to untable it. And at the same time, make a motion to vote it gone.

I'll second that.

Madam Secretary, can we get a vote, please?

Aye.

Aye.

Yes.

All right. Passed unanimously. Item number four, hold a public hearing to discuss and consider a vote on tax rate for fiscal year 2026. And it'll be that you, Rebecca. Okay.

Good evening, Mayor and Council and Mr. Vine. This is a formality at this point with the item number four. We brought the proposed tax rates earlier. We did the hearing. We've done the record vote. But state statute requires that we do another one of those, and especially before we do the budget. So with that said, we're looking at the voter approval rate of 0.423648 per $100 valuation. And so I am looking for hopefully a motion to set that adopted rate at September 1, 2026.

All right, sounds good. We'll open up public hearing. Anybody from the public want to speak?

No?

Is there discussion from the council? Anything?

All right.

We'll close the hearing. Thank you, Rebecca. We'll go ahead and get a motion.

I'll make a motion to propose a tax rate of 0.423648 cents for $100 evaluation for fiscal year 2027 if we set the adopted rate or date as of September 1st, 2026.

I second the motion. Madam Secretary, agree to vote, please.

Yes.

Aye. Aye. All right, I'm Pastor Jameson. I'm going to move on to item number five, hold a public hearing to discuss and consider ordinance 2026-23, adopting a budget for fiscal year 2026-2027.

Thank you, Mayor. As you all know, I'm very proud of the council, the mayor, directors, and staff. We've beat this budget pretty much down. another formality, but just to recap, kind of a summary of main items that were included in this budget. The first approach was new even to myself. I've done a lot of budgeting in my years and the hybrid zero-based budget was my first time to do this and I have to say I'm thankful that I was part of it. And that approach was instead of the normal budget where you copy year over year and you sort of historically follow what you've been doing, we started out with a zero. And so we had to build up what we were asking for in each department. and justify that. It did make it a little bit more lengthy of a process, but it was well done and I'm just thrilled to be a part of that. The other thing that we built the budget on this year was the strategic plan. We had five objectives that we adopted and those five were financial resilience, infrastructure and management growth, economic vitality, and quality of life workforce and organizational excellence, governance and trust and engagement so as you recall with all of our budget workshops and directors were told to try to or not try to make sure they tied the justifications to what our plan is and I think Rob did a good job previously of laying all of that out and how it tied As far as staffing goes, we added one police officer at an entry level. We added one firefighter at an entry level, a code enforcement officer, and a utilities physician. We took the current part-time animal control officer and moved that to full-time in hopes that that will help us open up on Saturdays. For capital, the main projects that we are doing is the I-30 East Corridor Water Line, rehabilitation of the I-30 water treatment filtration, improvements at Delwood Park, and then street improvements. lesser dollar amounts, but also is equally important. We are doing GIS software here, which I think is great, much needed. We've got public safety communications. We're doing some improvements to the airport, HVAC units to the library, and we want to take PEG funds, which are designated just for this use to try to do improvements with the council chambers. We are doing the RMS CAD funding and that's gonna modernize public safety operations as well as coordinate with the county. We moved away from our enterprise leasing and are starting what we feel is a much better situation because we will actually own our assets and our vehicles when it's said and done. And I think the chief did a great job on that. We're winding down the utility rate study and that should come to you in November. and we are no longer going to be subsidizing the credit card fees. And I think I'll just kind of quote our manager. He said, I appreciate the work of our department directors and employees during the budget process. They reviewed their operations carefully, answered difficult questions, and remained focused on providing dependable services to the residents of Mount Pleasant. I also appreciate the council's leadership in establishing the strategic plan that guided the development of this proposal. So with that said, I'll ask that we open up the public hearing.

Let's go ahead and open the public hearing. Anybody have anything to speak on? Council?

Mayor, members of the council, my name is Kyle Morey. I live in Mount Vernon, Texas. Before approving higher pay for city leadership, explain what performance and accountability taxpayers should expect in return. The proposed salary for Candace Webster, assistant city manager and city secretary, rises from $130,000 to $949 to $141,548, an additional $10,599 annually. On August 31st, I requested the complete compensation and pay plan studies directly from Ms. Webster, copying Austin Beck. At 526 this afternoon, the city sent me a $30 invoice and said it would release the records after payment. I still do not have the studies. I'm asking the city to waive this $30 fee in the public interest and release the studies immediately. These records explain how public money will be spent. The public deserves a meaningful opportunity to review them before you vote. How are we supposed to compare the numbers and ask informed questions before you vote when the city has not yet released the studies? My records request repeatedly turn into delays and follow-up. Texas law requires prompt production. Ten business days is not an automatic waiting period. The City Zone's emails show Ms. Webster repeatedly reporting my request to IT contractor Seth Bryan and attorney Austin Beck. What has that process cost in staff time, contractor charges, and legal fees? What results justify those costs? Ms. Webster lists TRMC and CMC credentials. Who paid for that training and certification? Whoever paid, what standards of timely, competent public service should those credentials represent? The proposal calls for increase or raise to minimum. Explain the comparison cities, salary ranges, and analysis. Explain how you evaluate performance alongside market pay. And explain what happened to my formal ethics complaint, Namier. When I worked in asset protection at Walmart, I saw how stretched Mount Pleasant's police officers were.

Let's stick to the budget. This is the budget. It doesn't sound like the budget. It sounds like Walmart again.

Let me continue.

Hey, Kyle, stick to the budget.

I am, sir. We made many stops and calls. Day after day, officers showed up and did their job.

All right. That's enough. Do you want to be escorted out, Kyle? Kyle, do you want to be escorted out? No, you're not. This is the budget meeting. No, it's not. Chief. No, you're not talking about the budget. Everybody in the room knows you're not. I just heard Walmart. I just heard Candace. No, it's budget. Do you have anything to say about the budget? Okay, you said it. Thank you. Anybody else? And Debbie, so there is one change in the budget that the council wants to do. And if it's okay, Debbie, is it okay if you lead it? Okay, go ahead, Mike.

As you all know, and I'm sure everybody's seen that recently, there was a division in the council over the salary compensation report. It had nothing to do with police. It had nothing to do with fire. It had nothing to do with anything except the director's salary. Councilman Faulkner and I were elected by the council to serve on the committees to review and to understand what the budget process was for the director's compensation salaries We had actually two compensation salaries. One was done by a company with Shane and I can't remember his last name. And then Human Resources stepped up because even she and the staff did not think it was where it should have been. Councilman Redford and I have asked for additional information. We had worked on that. Everything got put back several, several months. So we weren't ready, and I don't think we still are, to grant the type of increases that were made. And as a sidebar, I will say the way it was presented last council meeting when everybody kind of got their department singled out was not the fair way to handle it. It was not appropriate, and we've all discussed that. We all will learn in the future. But I have a proposal for a 2.5% increase for directors, which is basically the same increase that other employees will be receiving. The sad thing is we have some that are maxed out that will be receiving nothing. So I had this. I mentioned it today to someone. They put the numbers together. I'd already done it, but it was my hand and pencil. But anyway, I have a proposal to offer 2.5% increase for the following positions. Assistant City Manager, City Secretary, Human Resources Director, Public Works Director, Library Director, Utilities Director. And I'm going to propose that we offer them that 2.5% based on the numbers that we've seen. And I think we will continue to search and look for more information. We also want to look at things and businesses that are local. The economy here that we have, we have some businesses that have quite large employee staff, so we also want to look at that. It's a new way of kind of looking at things because for so many years all we've done is compare it to other cities. Councilman Faulkner has had a great idea to let's get with other cities in the future to develop maybe a once or twice a year conference where we look at what their issues are while we all compete against each other and what that forces to our salary ranges. So anyway with that I make a motion that we accept this proposal for two and a half percent increase for those employees that were named.

I want to speak before we do emotions, if that's okay.

Okay.

So we have this list with our directors. You look down this list, and what do you see? You see a group of people that does an amazing job. And I appreciate every one of y'all. You look over here at their salaries, and you see people that are blessed to have the salaries they have. Everybody in the world wants a raise. And I would love to give everybody a raise, but we just can't do that in Mount Pleasant. I don't think we have the proper numbers yet to even tell what we would give someone. And I think we're going to have to do it ourselves.

Us four are going to have to do our own research to figure this out.

I felt like last week that we were being bullied a little bit, and I felt like some of the ladies felt that way. And there was a census, and I think people were shaking hands reluctantly said, yeah, we might do something. So I'll make another proposal. I propose that we give the raises to our first responders like we started out to do. And this year, we're just not going to be able to give raises to the directors. It's not personal. I love you guys. It's strictly financial. Our job is to balance between the taxpayers and the employees. And I think we're doing a good job and Everyone wants raises, but you people are blessed and understand that. That's my proposal.

I hear where both of my colleagues are coming from. don't know I see what everyone has put into this budget and it seems like with the increases and everything that we're putting in there that were bounced out I mean we're talking about you know less than $24,000 even with the and that doesn't include some of the ones that were struck off this list given to me I don't understand why we're delaying, and if we're going to delay, I think we need to have timelines around that to hold ourselves accountable. If we're going to delay this at all, I just know I've been on council almost three years, and we've been talking about this topic for three years. So if not now, when?

And I think we've figured out a way where we don't, where we won't have to delay it. We'll come up with what we did last year. So it'll basically be Councilman Corbell will be option A and Councilman Hinton will be option B. And we can make, we should be able to make that change, right? And still pass it with those amendments in it.

Mayor, it needs to be clear what the motion that is being made. So right now you have two different proposals, I would say, that are on the table, right? I would say that someone needs to make a motion to approve the budget with a particular proposal. And if you want to refer to Councilman Corbell's proposal as Proposal A and Councilman Hinton's as Proposal B, I think that's okay. Okay. With the understanding that those adjustments would then need to be made in the budget. And I defer to the finance director to make sure she understands what is being proposed.

So Candace, did you get a copy of this? The paper, and does Rob have an electronic copy of it? He did. Oh, no, but he's going to have to make the proposal on it. But we can get it to him. And I also want to make sure that this is, Okay.

So if Councilman Corbell, if I could ask that you just make the motion to approve.

We need to close, though, right? I haven't closed the hearing yet.

Yes, you haven't closed the public hearing yet. Yeah.

So is anybody else in the public hearing?

Good evening. I'm Officer Hill. I'm with the Mount Pleasant Police Department. I'm also the president of the Mount Pleasant Law Enforcement Association. I was told to speak during action item number three. Y'all did not hold a public hearing for that, but now we're talking about money for us. And I would just like to say that I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of each and every officer of the Mount Pleasant Police Department. First, I want to thank the city manager and the council for all the work that has been put into this year's budget. I hope that with tonight's vote, we as a city take a step in the right direction towards the future. The groundwork has been laid to make the Mount Pleasant Police Department a premier agency for our area, as it was 10 years ago whenever I began my career for this city. Even though this work has pushed us forward, the reason I'm here to speak tonight is to address, as Manager Vine said, the carrot that's been dangling in front of us. A year ago, there was a vote for a 6% increase. We were given 2.5, with the promise that after a pay study was completed that showed we were behind market value, there would be an additional 3.5%. We have not received the 3.5%. Y'all have been given the numbers. We were clearly behind. I understand that this budget year that is coming up, y'all are giving us a raise, and we appreciate that. We know that y'all are doing everything you can. But we've stood on a glass floor waiting for that 3.5%. I've had officers come to me every day, hey, where are they at on these mid-year adjustments? So I do agree with Councilman Hinton. I understand that tonight you as a council are voting for our officers to receive that substantial raise. But I ask you, what about the promise that was made a year ago? We as an association and officers of this city are asking you as the council to finish the work you started a year ago. We're asking to receive the promised amount that you decided to hold on to even though it is still sitting in our budget. I just want to end with this. Psalms 89.34 says, My covenant will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips. Thank you for your time.

I'd like to respond to a statement that was made. Holly, can you tell me, and I know I've had this conversation numerous times. I've had it with Candice and you. What was the general last year? They had a 3% step plan and a 2.5% COLA. Is that correct?

Yes, ma'am. Last year, everybody in the city except for directors was given a 2.5% COLA, and they were given steps if they were eligible for them.

And I just want that understood. And I've heard that last year, and I keep hearing it over and over. But it was a 5.5% increase. And didn't employees, I know when I was here, we had to sign a statement that we got our salary and we understood what our increase is. Is that correct?

They do sign their PATH forms, their personnel action form. Okay. Thank you.

Anybody else?

Do we need to go ahead and – I'm looking at Rob. I don't know if he has a voice. Maybe Rebecca needs to explain again why we were not able to give that mid-year increase.

Okay. We could do it right after this public comment.

I think I just want to reiterate it was it was a great idea to build up from zero I think that's a good way going forward instead of just going well here's what we did last year because every year things change and while I do appreciate all the public service people's jobs and what they do it it really is important to look at per person, per capita, what your citizens make and what they can afford to give because it will affect them and not just the city budget. The city budget comes from the individuals and I think that just needs reiterated. Thank you.

Thank you. Rebecca, will you be able to speak on that?

Specifically, we're talking about the budget amendment that we did last council meeting. So we started out the budget that we're currently in fiscal year FY25-26 with a deficit of $365,000 that was in the non-departmental section of the general fund. And that did not come to our attention until much later in the process. And I spoke with the external audit firm that you utilize, and their opinion was it was material and we needed to amend it before we have our audit. So that's what we did, and to make it simple as possible, thankfully our sales tax had been targeting 8-9% over what we budgeted all year, so instead of trying to take it from various areas and departments, my approach was just utilize the overage that we did come in over to, by the way, we have our final month in, and we were much higher than that $31,000. We amended the budget with that amount and we amended the budget with a contingency amount that was correlated with that $365,000 that were both zero. to get that trued up. So it was almost like you started out at the beginning of the budget, already in the hole, that much money. And I think, I wasn't here at the time, but I think from everything I've gathered and explained, it was expected to be tied to a mid-year budget. The line item adjustments are currently still in there, so the departments will be able to look up and see this amount is a line item in my current year budget. Those amounts totaled up over $100,000, nowhere near the $360,000. Right.

Right.

Yeah. I mean,

Well, I'll add you've got a very high level CPA on staff in the department now that started the first day I started and she has reconciled and trued up starting with cash and everything. So we have a much better idea and standpoint of where we are. Budget numbers are always amendable. I always tell people don't correlate that to how much money is in the bank account because cash is not necessarily tied to your budget. Your budget is a best guess of what you think you're going to come in with and what you're going to send out. But those are estimate numbers, not actual audited numbers or reconciled numbers.

Do you have the figure on what we are spending this year making sure that our police officers and our firemen are up to the minimum salary requirements?

I do not have that exact figure, but I know that in Holly's research that she did on the new pay plan, that was looked at.

It's almost 400,000, right? No, under.

I know that, too, the first phase of that would be more noticeable because what a lot of cities are facing is that initial recruitment phase. Right. You know, they're dangling the carrots, too. Come over here, we have a little bit more, we have a little bit more. But then that, you know, like you said earlier, we're sort of hurting each other ourselves if we're constantly taking off each other's employees. Right. So I commend you on that idea that how do we work together, not... so much farming each other. There's been a shortage for several years now.

I wouldn't want to do that job. This is something that we took care of in one year that was supposed to be a three-year plan to get everybody up to their minimum amount.

That's my understanding. You're looking at your rate studies and different things. You'll reevaluate these things with each year and each budget process. We're all facing more challenges not just in local government but everyone's household right now it's just the cost of things but unfortunately they don't even mention in our economic data like right okay thank you is that answer we good

And I just want to point out that when we started this budget survey last March or whenever, we were hoping to achieve what we did in one year over a span of two or three years. But when we come down to it in the last few weeks, we have all agreed to get police and fire and a few other positions where they needed to be on that chart. So what we originally thought would take us two years, That's why we put so much into that. That will get them up to the minimums and above in some cases. And from what I hear, we have some good things coming. But it could have been a two-year process. We selected to do it in one.

All right. Thank you, Rebecca. I appreciate it. We appreciate you all.

So mayor I think I'm whether there's anyone else.

Yeah, is there anybody else in the public?

I'd like to speak We're going close close the hearing So it seems like we're gonna pass this with option a or option B, right?

So as I understand it the motion from councilmember is motion to approve ordinance 2026-23 adopting the fiscal year 2026-27 budget with one adjustment of two and a half percent raise for four directors that she identified and the assistant city manager and so that if that's correct there were five that I named off okay the assistant city manager

slash city secretary, human resources director, public work director, the librarian, and the utility directors to receive a 2.5%. That's my motion.

And so then the question is if there's a second.

Is there a second?

I'll make a second.

All right. Let's get a motion. Madam Secretary, can we get a motion, please? Okay.

Yes. Aye.

No.

No. Yes.

Aye. Thank you, Rebecca.

All right, we'll go ahead and go to item number six, discuss and consider ordinance 2026-24, ratifying the property tax revenue increase reflected in 2026-2027 physical year budget.

So this is just another requirement from the state of Texas as far as we do the process of the property taxes and the budget. It's to ratify the property tax revenue that's increased and reflected in the 26-27 FY budget. Again, it's the voter approval rate that we've talked about for numerous meetings of .423648 per $100 valuation. And I believe I need to recommend a motion to adopt the ordinance. ratifying the tax rate.

So I would recommend that you move to ratify the property tax revenue increase shown in the 2026-2027 budget. Thank you, Lee.

We need a motion. I make a motion to adopt ordinance 2026-24, ratifying the property tax for year 2026 through 2027 budget. I second. Madam Secretary, can you get a vote, please?

Yes Yes

All right. Go ahead and move on to item number seven. Consider ordinance 2026-20, sorry, 2026-25, levying ad valorem taxes for fiscal year 2026-2027. Thank you.

This is my final item tonight for everybody. So this is to discuss and consider the ordinance 2026-25 levying ad valorem taxes for the fiscal year 2026 to 2027. And do I need, do they need a motion or record vote on this please?

So the motion here would be that you move for the property tax rate to be increased and go through those numbers.

Yeah, I'll make a motion. Let's see. I'll make a motion to increase property tax or to adopt the property tax increase of .243648400 assessed value according to tax rate with ordinance 2026-25.

And could I ask that you also include which is effectively a 15.7% increase?

Which is effectively a 15.7% increase.

And then just to confirm, it's $0.423648 per $100. All right. Okay.

Yeah, my eyes are... Thank you. I know.

I'm almost done. Sorry.

All right. We get a second?

I'll second.

Madam Secretary, do the vote, please. Move on out number eight hold a public hearing to discuss and consider ordinance 2026 as 21 amending chapter 155 zoning Code adding 15 new land use definitions regulating amending reorganizing and renumbering zoning, district regulation, amending the use regulation, schedule table, repealing all conflicting ordinances, providing a severability clause, providing an effective date, and providing for publication. Go ahead, Lynn.

Good evening. And so as everyone here is where we've been working on downtown Zoning and there are two cases on the agenda tonight. They've been kind of divided One of them is the uses though and we identified 15 new uses and that came forward in the discussion with the other stakeholders downtown, things that haven't been defined in the city that have changed. Our zoning ordinance is 1987, and a lot of the business models have changed. And so we went forward with 15 new uses that were, whether they were or were not allowed downtown, we're going to change the use table when the zoning district is created, which is the second case. In the meantime, those 15 new uses also require an amendment of all of the districts, whether they are or are not allowed. So just to refresh, currently there's no downtown district in existence. The pink line that you see, that is the Main Street boundary. It actually extends now because it's a historic district slightly to the west. The white area is 16 square blocks. That was set aside as the central business district, although the historic preservation district is 43 blocks. And so it was deemed that to have a downtown district increase vibrancy needs to be expanded. And in the interest of simplicity, since we already had a historic preservation district, that's what we went with. But if you'll notice the different colors on the map within that pink boundary are all the different other zones that are in effect outside of the 16 square blocks in white. So just as a reminder, where there's no vision, the people perish. And what we're trying to do, this is the historic preservation boundary shown here. It goes all the way to the cemetery. I don't think anybody knew that it went to the cemetery until I actually got... Into mapping each one of the blocks and colored them on a map and sure enough. This is what came up So this is the historic preservation district now that Main Street the group does oversee and so to have a downtown zoning district with its uses and standards made sense to start with this and It creates the boundaries. It adds flexibility for the businesses and mixed uses. It does emphasize aesthetics, even though historic preservation is, of course, already over that. Having those standards basically announces to the world we have a downtown district. We're proud of it, and any developer who wants property for sale in this area will already know the standards that they need to go to, and they're not having to feel like they've got to come before a board for everything they might want to do. And, of course, the future benefits is increased investment. That's what we want. So a reminder, we've already done the research and I've been before this board multiple times and had multiple meetings with them. We've had discussions and robust community discussions and now it's time to adopt. So this is the use piece first, but the second one comes later. So in order to get where we want to go downtown, we need to make sure that we have the right uses for the area. We want the retail, the entertainment, the dining, small grocery, housing, but we need to be very creative about it and intentional about it. So this is why the reasons would be for all of these things. And you've seen this slide before, so I'm going to skip over it. But these are the reasons why new uses are needed that update the 1987 one. Okay. So the new uses that are proposed and defined for the entire city, but you will see that the use table has two columns. We're keeping the Central Business District and the Downtown District will be alongside it. In most cases, they're identical, but not all. A food pantry. plasma blood donation center that is not a hospital that's a standalone plasma blood donation we don't have one yet although we have i've talked to people who want one electronic gaming um the ordinance we have is vague and outdated and this would be a use that talks about what it is and allows it or doesn't allow in certain districts payday title loans Artisan craft uses, in other words, some things like glass blowing and pottery making could be just basically an industrial use to make things, but on a small scale downtown is considered artisan. And so that has been pulled out. Vape shop. Social services shelter again This is just kind of the tip of the iceberg and there are actually two flavors of that the social services shelter and an addiction recovery In your packet you had pretty extensive definitions of all of these I'm not taking them up anybody's time tonight to go over them bed-and-breakfast Loft apartment in other words upstairs over Business uses Attached single family so we do not have a use for attached single family. We have a single family and we have duplexes and we have multifamily but an attached single family is basically a multiple units attached to each other, but sold as lots. And so there are several developments in town that came through as planned developments. That was the only way that they could actually try and get what they wanted. James just did one. He's the most recent one, I think. But A single family is a housing type that has the vibrancy all over the city, not just downtown. So it's also defined. And then day spa and medical spa. So this is the use table with those 15 uses. You'll notice all of the zoning districts are shown. The two yellow ones are the downtown ones. Central Business District already exists. Downtown doesn't just yet, but that's the next case on the agenda. And as you'll see, if it doesn't have any kind of letter in it, that means it's prohibited. If it has a P, that means it's allowed or permitted. And then S stands for specific use permit. And I've done some specific use permits relatively recently with y'all that require basically a customized view that city council decides is it right or not right for Mount Pleasant. So that gives additional control to some of these that might be fine in some places and not in others, and so specific use permit allows that, and you'll notice that there are a number of those. Any questions?

All right, so we'll go ahead and open the public hearing.

On the attached single family units, what are the number, what are the limitations on that?

I'm sorry?

On the attached single family units,

Right. In your packet, where that shows, there was a very extensive definition of what that meant. In other words, the size, the amenities, and all of that. It's under attached single family. It should be in red right past the table where the uses are called out. And then each one of the 15 has a definition. And that one in particular goes on for a long time. I don't know that I have brought it with me, how many that we don't have. I don't know that it had a maximum number. It wasn't high. It wasn't... I did not bring it with me, I'm sorry. You should have it in your packet.

Candace, do you have one?

You could probably limit that, but by size requirement and the size of the lot, because they're building them out that way anyway, so you're going to get so many.

There are... The minimum lot width, in other words, the actual, these are also called zero lot line dwellings, so there's a common wall. 24 width is the minimum, and the depth is 80. The minimum project area is 10,000 square feet for a single lot townhouse development, so you couldn't have one, and then no more than 12 dwelling units per acre. So that's going to limit in a lot of cases. That's right. Yards, corner yards, building height are all called out in here as well. And then let me see. If you want to put a caveat on that, we can. Coverage no more than six shall be attached within a single building. So, right. And I didn't put a minimum on there because sometimes they are, I've seen in developments where there are actually two. So depending on the configuration, there may be two at one end. We've got a couple of, Tennyson I think had at least one building like that with two. So it allows maximum flexibility for the developer when he has areas that only work for small.

Any more questions Yes Yes, so At the very top

DT and CB. What is it?

Downtown. The new one. And then CB is central business. So food pantry is not allowed. We'll go through that if you want. It's not allowed. We can go through all 15 of them. And it's a specific use permit in commercial, light industrial, and heavy industrial areas. Again, those things mean that not every lot would be suitable because of the amount of traffic that they would potentially pull and how the business model, those things come into play when it comes forward as a case. Plasma Blood Donation Center is specific use permit in LI and it's allowed in HI. electronic gaming which is something that is kind of at the forefront that's a little loosey-goosey on what the definition is because gambling is still illegal in the state of Texas but how it's interpreted is up to they've been left to the cities and so depending on what those definitions are. And again, it's in here. It's a specific use permit in only the three heaviest, heavier intensive commercial districts, commercial, light industrial, HI. Tattoo parlors are so specific use downtown and Central Business District and commercial light industrial and permitted in heavy industrial. Payday title loans, specific use in commercial, which is some of our more, very more intense retail. And then it is permitted in light industrial and heavy industrial. Artisan craft units uses are permitted from general retail in the rest of the city. Downtown Central Business District, commercial, light industrial, heavy industrial. Vape shop only allowed as a specific use permit in commercial. Light industrial and HI are by right and they're permitted. social services shelter And again, there's a definition in here of what the difference in that and addiction recovery shelter are But those are both specific use permits only in light industrial and heavy industrial very indefinitely depends on the surrounding uses of the property and

I was just checking on the two columns, but thank you so much.

You can see it if there are any others in anybody's room. There's a single-family urban, too, which is a little more intensive for downtown.

Any more discussion?

I do have a question. We're overlaying the historic district with the downtown district.

will be so the historic district is in one part of the code and it has that this is going to be matched the boundary for now originally and you'll see that and I guess in the next slide presentation originally the group downtown wanted expanded if you remember this starts Small I guess or very concentrated and then if there is a need or any kind of pressure to expand people will generally come and ask if they can be included because they want that additional flexibility for some of the additional mixed-use vibrancy

Okay. My question is, did we notify all the businesses that are going to have their zoning change? Is there enough difference between the two zoning classifications that we notified everybody in the new area that there will not be...

It was advertised. It was not sent out.

I noticed you said that...

I noticed the bed and breakfast section here only has the specific use case. I don't know if any of y'all have ever been to the town of Jefferson, but they have so many wonderful bed and breakfast right in their downtown section. It's so walkable. It brings so many people into the town. I'd really love to see a lot of the historic homes. I think there's a lot of opportunity to have that in our downtown. And I do support any kind of multifamily in the downtown area. I think increasing density there is a good way to use our land, our limited land in that area. And that's all I wanted to say.

Thank you. Any more discussion?

Mayor, this is an item that calls for a public hearing.

Yeah, that's what I was going to. I thought I opened it already.

I don't think so. I think Lynn came up and spoke. Oh, and then the question started? Okay.

We'll go ahead and open a public hearing. Sorry about that. So, anybody from the public?

I just think it's a good idea to do internal growth. It not only modernizes, like she said, prior to 1987 and how things were zoned. I think it opens a lot of things up, but it also returns Mount Pleasant back to its roots. Having mixed development will... Increase how we're able to do things around here without expanding and making it bigger internal growth is very important and I think also specifying downtown that there's some Aesthetic abilities not just well if you can build a concrete block that'll work. I think making it work with downtown It's very important, and I I really like the way it was proposed Thank you Anymore discuss when closing hearing

And Mayor, I would note, I don't know that you mentioned this, Glenn, but that the Planning and Zoning Commission considered this.

The mic.

The mic's not on.

The Planning and Zoning Commission has seen this and has voted to recommend it. And just kind of as an aside, the use table was extensively covered by the Main Street Historic Preservation Board and basically those the nuances of, for example, bed and breakfast as he spoke, you'll notice in that use table that it was not allowed in Central Business District, but it was allowed in the historic. That was their doing. They felt that that needed to be just a little bit of clarification. So a lot of those did receive a lot of discussions.

Anything else? I'm going to close the session.

Can we get a motion? Mayor, if I could make a quick comment. Sure. I would just like to thank Lynn and not just Lynn, but also the Main Street Board and the members for all the work that they put into this. The whole point of creating this downtown district is to preserve what we have, protect what we have, promote what we have, but also build it. The downtown is the living room of our city and this will help get us where we need to be a little bit quicker. So thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Lynn, for all of your work.

I think your dog's upset. You're not paying attention to her.

All right.

Are you emotional?

The dog is just supporting the downtown district. All right.

I make a motion we approve the new proposed land use definitions and revised zoning code table of usages as proposed by staff.

Second.

I'll second that.

Madam Secretary, can you vote please? Just a moment.

Just to clarify, that's Ordinance 2026-22? Yes.

I'm just reading the recommendation written here.

Sorry.

It said 2021. THE MICROPHONE'S NOT ON.

ORDINANCE 2026-22 AMENDING CHAPTER 155 OF THE ZONING CODE, RECOMMENDATION TO APPROVE AS PROPOSED BY STAFF.

ALL RIGHT. YOU HAVE A SECOND?

SECOND THAT AGAIN.

MADAM SECRETARY, YOU CAN GO TO VOTE, PLEASE. AYE.

AYE.

YES. AYE.

Motion passed unanimously. Let's move on to number nine. Hold a public hearing to discuss and consider ordinance 2026-22, amending chapter 155 zoning code, adding a new downtown zoning district, determining boundary use and development standards, providing a servability clause, providing an effective date, and providing for publication.

Thank you. So this is the second piece. This is actually creating the downtown zoning district. They are companion pieces, but at the same time, it's complex enough to separate them in case you love the uses and didn't like the zone or love the zone and didn't want the uses. So that's why we brought it this way. Here it is again for you to kind of look at. It's already in our code. Nothing changed on that. except we're now making it a downtown zone. And of course, we just talked about, Rob was very eloquent, this is what we want. The standards that come with the zoning ordinance or type of zoning district, In this particular case, they mirror the current historic preservation requirements standards with parking and landscaping added because the historic preservation ordinance does not really address that. That is, those things are taken into consideration with zoning districts in all of the districts. It's a combination. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We already have a robust historic preservation oversight. As I mentioned, the green area is the expansion that the folks would eventually like to see. It may take a number of years to have that kind of vibrancy, but it is at least a start with what we are looking at right now. And just kind of, this is not us, this is another city and another state, but just the kind of cohesiveness that you see with people having a great time downtown and the sorts of uses and the innovation that comes with that when you allow things that are distinctly downtown.

right let's go ahead and open here oh I'm sorry again planning and zoning did recommend this okay we're going to open it here any questions anybody from all right we'll close the session and can we get a motion make a motion to approve the new downtown zoning

district boundaries and development standards as proposed by staff. Second.

I second.

Madam Secretary, vote please.

Aye. Yes.

Aye.

Aye. Pass your names. Let's go ahead and move on to item number 10, discuss and consider approval of preliminary plat for a second revision of Anderson Town Crossing Phase 1 Block A in the PD2 Zoning District adjacent to Anderson Drive along the north side of Tankersley Road west of US 271 PP2026-04. Lynn?

Y'all are very familiar with me doing some housekeeping. This was a developer request that does require a preliminary plat revision that actually takes some small piece of property and adds it to the existing Anderson Town Crossing down. This is the one off where Mattingly is and Tankersley Road where the multifamily is already. They changed the lot boundaries slightly and this is the case map. There's a site plan from 2025 and so you'll notice that the preliminary plat that they're requesting now looks slightly different. It's slight, but it does kind of change the configuration enough so that it wasn't a slight change. The director can approve things if it's a very slight change, but this needed to come forward because it's going to be finalized with the final plan at some point. So they added to existing lot three and then reconfigured lot two. It's basically the only change. staff recommends approval of the preliminary plan based on its suitability of development. Nothing really changed. It's going to be just add an extra building site for another apartment building.

All right. Thank you, Glenn. Any discussion? Is there a motion? Do we need a motion on this?

I got one question real quick. So I hear what you're saying. We had to move some stuff around. Is that just dealing with how he wants to build them? Or is this physically didn't have enough space on one plot versus the other?

So you're talking about adding the other building?

Yeah, because it sounds like some horse trading happening. So that's why I'm asking. Like horse trading, like you're moving things around on the board. So I'm just trying to understand what we're asked to do here.

He took a piece of property that was not included in the original and then made a straight line and putting new building there. So there'll be an additional building with additional 30 units. So it was 180. It's going to be 210 on that. Yeah, I'm looking at it here. I'm just trying to, I was listening to you and trying to read it at the same time.

Okay, no, understood. Any other discussion? Motion. I'll make a motion to approve PP 2026-04 for the preliminary plat as presented. Second.

Second.

Madam Secretary, you can vote, please.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Yes.

move on to item number 11 discuss consider approval of site plan for additional multifamily building on lot 3 in the anderson town crossing multifamily phase 1 block a subdivision sp-2026-03 i don't think the mic is on

It does two things. One, it allows for the additional building, as I just discussed. The other is that it makes a separate lot for one of those buildings that can be sold. So the site plan... On the right hand side, this is a piece of it in red. That is the portion that was just approved that was not a lot before that is now with a new building on it. That one will stay on the main lot that has most of the apartment buildings already on it. They're already under construction. This one is not because it wasn't in the site plan. And so it has a landscaping and parking plan that goes along with it because this is a site plan. It's new. And then the lot configuration that we just looked at allows for the separate lot for one of one of those buildings to be sold when it gets its final flat. The building elevations are identical. It's a 30-unit building just like the others. There's 160 and 530s. It was 180 units back when it first came forward and hit this this sixth one makes a 210 total So it's been reviewed as DRC We've looked at all of the changes to the utility plan and the water and sewer will match on the existing units Thank you any discussion.

I Have a question. I don't know that you have it. How much is Have they had discussions about what these apartments are going to rent for?

An idea? I think they're going to be pretty much in the same realm, I think. And he has a number of them already pre-rented along with Skyrise does, too. They're pretty close. in their market rent, obviously. And so they have, as this was just the change in the site plan, but if you remember, there's a clubhouse. And so there's some serious amenities at this one. It's on the banks of the, they cleared it out, so it's on the banks of the lake as well. So I think it's somewhere around 12, probably 12 to 14, depends on the size. He's got some three bedrooms in there too.

Any more discussion? Get a motion? Oh, public comment?

One question I have before we really build anything in town. Is the city paying for the infrastructure, the sewer and the power? They're paying for it. But it goes to the city, takes over it at the end of the day.

There's a lot of stuff that's involved in it with the EDC and the infrastructure. Here's Aaron. He's our utilities guy. He'll be able to answer some of it.

The only question I have is, in 25, 30 years, when we need to replace that infrastructure, are we going to make enough tax revenue off of these buildings to afford that?

So, John Anderson put in all the infrastructure. He paid for it when he was done. I believe we have a deal. I think half of it is still going to remain his. The other half is the city's, and we will maintain it. As for the question with the tax reserves, all our utilities are paid off to Waterford. So it won't affect any taxes to do our maintenance on that one.

And all that stuff over there is brand new, right?

It's all brand new. Plastic pipe or PVC pipe. So, I mean, it lasts 20, 30 years before anything really has to really be maintenance unless someone just goes and cares about it.

Right. Thanks, Aaron. Any more discussion? No motion?

I'll make a motion to approve SP 2026-03 for the preliminary plat as presented.

I second.

Madam Secretary, do you vote please? Aye.

Yes. Aye.

Aye. All right, passed unanimously. Item number 12, discuss, consider approval of site plan for a new four-story hotel on Montfort in Anderson Town, crossing Phase 1, Block A subdivision in the ATC PD-2 zoning district adjacent to Anderson Parkway, SP-2026-04. Comments?

Okay, the last one. This is a site plan for lot four that you've already seen come forward as a preliminary plat and a final plat that was attached to Anderson Parkway. It has been sold to a hotel developer. This is the site plan that comes forward that property you would not normally see a site plan on a commercial lot in the city except this entire thing if you remember is the plan development and it requires it to come forward so it is a new four-story hotel that is on that property so he's circled in yellow and it's a home two suites It's four stories, which I guess I don't know if we have another four-story hotel in the city or not, but it will have about 92 rooms. There's adequate parking and landscaping on the property. The city staff meeting as the DRC has reviewed it and approved the civils and the site plan details and the landscaping traffic patterns do comply with the overall site and it is in a allowed use in the plan development wasn't just multifamily there's commercial there's actually parcels that would are set aside for retail and dining as well just didn't start with the multifamily so this is a site plan on the left and and you can see the parking is adequate and how it has its cross kind of across lot lines in from one side to the other is a little difficult to see, but the dotted line is actually the lot for lot four. It's in the middle of multiple lots. Landscape plan complies, the utility plan complies, and of course DRC has met with the developer multiple times on this as well. The building elevations reflect Home 2 Suites' brand, and so this is kind of the look that they do pretty much nationwide. It does comply with the plan development, though. And so at the same meeting on September 8th, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval for that.

this the one with the conference center or no the other one's gonna be this is the other yeah I'd like Rob I'm kind of confused on this I know we've had all of us have had private discussions about this because it seems like you just mentioned it about two or three weeks ago I think but they are going to town the Anderson I'm just confirming that, uh, I got confused. I thought that, um, come to suites was not. Going out there.

No, ma'am last I heard home to suites is still going to be built. Uh, the Marriott product, the 2nd product is going to be different. So they're going to bring that back to council at a different time.

Any more. In a motion. A motion to approve the site plan for SP 2026-04 as presented. A second?

A second.

Madam Secretary, can you get a vote, please?

Aye.

Aye. Yes.

Aye. All right, passed unanimously. Item number 13, City Manager's Report. Rob, we definitely understand if you don't have the voice for it.

No, the only thing I have tonight is it's an update on the water production in the city's requests for citizens to limit outdoor water sprinkling. And I'm going to let Aaron be my voice on that this evening.

Hello.

Sorry. So everyone's seen the post on Facebook and our website, I believe it's on. So our water plant, our raw water line, it showed their age this year. They're both, I guess, both are turning 51. They were both put in at the same time. So they're showing their age. We lost the filter of... Was it July or so when we came to council, asked for the plant to be turned on, the other plant, the LVS plant to be turned on for 24-7 to help out. In that same time frame, we had a water leak that popped up on a roller line that we've gone out for a grant to see if we can replace the whole thing. That happened maybe four weeks after. So our production of water is slowly just went down. We're maintaining. People have noticed the pressure issues around town and things like that. This past weekend, we had that storm or the Friday we had the storm. Little surge caused another one. We have contractors that are coming out to help fix it as fast as possible because we can't have the water off very long or we're all going to see it. So that's where we stand right now. So we have been in contact with contractors. They can do it. They can do it very fast. They just haven't given me the price tag on it. And we should be, hopefully, before this end of the month, be back to where hopefully no one is able to notice the pressure issues. Plus, it's starting to cool down. Sprinklers are starting to slow down. And we have Pilgrim's help cutting their production down by 25%. Yes, people will see it. It's not going to be usually until Thursday or Friday until we hit the weekend when we regain most of it. So it's the majority of the issues have been on Thursdays and Fridays. It's just we're slowly just tinkering down through the days of the week until we can get back to the weekend. But we are hopefully starting to move in that direction that we need to go.

Um, so have we coordinated?

I saw some stuff out there about the splash pad. Don't being on.

We get that taken care of all right and the sprinklers stuff like that. Landscaping stuff. Thanks guys. I appreciate it. All right. It was taken care of. I appreciate it.

Thank you, Aaron mayor.

1 thing I will add is that these projects, uh. They have been moved up to emergency status. Um, they were already. planned. The filter project was already planned to be done this year. We're just moving that up a little bit. The raw water line, we've applied for that grant. I would assume that this would help us procure that grant with the leaks that we've had. But I just wanted to thank Aaron for being on top of that, and we will maintain good communication and any updates that we need, not only with council, but with the public, because it not only affects the city, it also affects Tri-Sud and their county customers, our neighbors.

All right, thanks, Rob.

End of report.

All right, we're in a council comment. Council comment limited to announcements of upcoming events, recent council member activities, or requests to add agenda items for an upcoming meeting. And it's two minutes for councilmen. Anyone? We're good? All right, we'll go ahead and move into executive session. It's 726.

Mayor, would you like me to read the items on the executive session? I will if you want.

Yeah, you don't mind.

Okay. Pursuant to Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551, Texas Government Code, the City Council will recess into executive session, close meeting to discuss the following.

Hold on. Hold on. Okay.

Consultation with Attorney, Texas Government Code Section 551.071 and Personnel Matters, Section 551.074, related to completion of the annual evaluation and goals of the city manager. Consultation with Attorney, Section 551.071 and Personnel Matters, 551.074, to deliberate the appointment, employment duties, and potential contract of the municipal court judge and or interim municipal court judge. Consultation with Attorney, Section 551.071, regarding cause number 37, Kyle Douglas Maureen v. The City of Mount Pleasant, Texas. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Bye.

All right. We're moving back into open session. It is 8.02. We have one item that we have action on. I'm trying to pause it, slow it down. Everybody's getting heated. We have one action on it, one motion. Are we ready, Candace? All right, we are ready. Ms. Korbel, do you want to give us a motion? We are.

I make a motion to appoint Lori Chisholm as our new municipal court judge beginning October the 1st and approve the contract terms as discussed in the executive session.

I second.

I second the motion.

Madam Secretary, could you vote, please?

Aye. Yes.

Aye. Aye. Motion passed unanimously. Do we get a motion to adjourn?

A motion to adjourn. Second.

Aye. 803. Thank y'all.