City Council - Regular Meeting

It's six o'clock and I'll call this meeting of the Mount Vernon City Council to order. We do have a quorum present. I I want to welcome everybody here tonight. Uh packed house. It's an exciting time tonight. We'll have a new mayor. Greg, we welcome you to to your to service and and also Marty and Sally. Here she is on the front row coming in. Appreciate you guys raising your hand to continue to serve our town. So, we'll look forward to that. Uh with that, um Craig's going to lead us in our invitation. Please bow with me.

Please bow. Father God, we just thank you for your grace and your mercy and your kindness towards us. Father, we thank you that you are a God of orderly leadership and we thank you for the opportunity to come tonight and see this leadership um exemplify itself through through the transition of power within our community. Most of all, God, we pray for one thing about this community. We pray that that we can all come together and that we can all continue to serve people of Mount Vernon because that's what it's all about. I pray for blessings on our outgoing mayor and his family. I pray that you be with him. I pray for blessings on our incoming mayor and his family. I pray that you give him wisdom and insight. I pray God that you give us all courage and the wisdom that we need to make the right decisions for this community in the future. I just pray.

Amen. Please join for our pledge. United States for all.

All right. If the council's had the opportunity to review the consent agenda, I need a motion to approve the minutes. I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. Motion from Marty, second from Rebecca. All in favor? I.

Motion carries. Okay. On the report on items of community interest, does anybody have anything like to share? Okay. Um, we do have two signed up for citizen participation. I want to read this real quick. The Texas Open Meetings Act prohibits the council from responding to any comments other than to refer the matter to a future agenda to an existing policy or to a staff person with specific information. Claims against the city council members or employees as well as individual personnel appeals are not appropriate for citizen forum. So with that, um Courtney, did you want to go first or Ashley? Does it matter? All right, come on down. Is this about your action the action item or is this about something else?

It's regarding action item. You're on the agenda for that later on. Okay. Okay. So, come back. Yeah, we'll have you we'll have you come back. That's a special time. Is that also for Ashley or did you like to come down at the same time? Okay.

Okay. Uh with that, I know Councilman has a share he'd like to I'm gonna try to stay composed as I read this, but uh Mark Huddleston, um I remember my boss coming to me about 30 years ago, and I'm going to read this because if I have to say it, I'm not gonna hold myself together. I remember my boss coming to me about 30 years ago and asked me if I wanted to move to Mount Vernon, to which I replied, "Where's that?" He proceeded to describe Mount Vernon as a modernday Mayberry. On our first trip here, Amy and I immediately knew that this is where we wanted to live, a community that felt like family. So, in 1997, we made the decision to move to Mount Vernon and start a family here. Over the years, so many close friends and raised our kids together enjoying everything from evenings on the squares, Friday night lights, and I would not have changed not one thing. These past few months, I've seen this town we chose in a completely different light. I've seen it at its worst and the complete contrast, I've seen it at its very finest. During this last election cycle, I don't know if I've ever witnessed so divided. There was bickering over things that cause stress, hurt feelings, and distance between people. People who don't even know me called me corrupt. And on social media, disagreements quickly grew into much larger problems because people stopped listening and focused only on winning arguments. Then in complete contrast to that, as my

family suffered a tragedy about eight weeks ago, this community reached out to us in ways I simply don't have words for, and many continue doing so to this day. I had no idea that in today's world, a community could still support others like family that weren't. Amy and I are truly blessed and deeply grateful. A true family community is built on respect, teamwork, patience, and care. In a strong family community, people may still disagree, but they work together to solve problems instead of fighting against one another. They communicate calmly, support one another, and remember that relationships are more important than being right. As adults, when we choose understanding over bickering, our community becomes a place of comfort and trust, and our children learn kindness, adults feel supported, and everyone grows stronger together. Every community faces challenges, but the way we respond to these challenges matters. If we replace arguing with listening, forgiveness, and cooperation, we can continue building stronger community. We all want, our modern day Mayberry. Thank you.

Thank you, Mark. All right, if y'all will bear with me, I've got a little something I want to read myself to and then we'll get on to having some fun and swearing these folks in. Um, first thing is, and I'm going to read this, too, because I I I'll not be able to to do it if I don't. So, so I just want to share that it has been an honor uh for me to serve our community as mayor for the past six years. Um, I'm grateful for the trust that was placed in me. I've never taken it lightly and um maybe I maybe I'm a little OCD and I take it too seriously, but um through every challenge and every accomplishment and every decision made for the future of our city, I've always tried to serve with integrity and and dedication and a genuine love for this town and its people. Uh I want to sincerely thank our city council members for their countless hours of work, their sacrifice, and the commitment to the citizens of Mount Vernon. Public service is often demanding and sometimes thankless. Uh but I've had the privilege of serving alongside individuals who care deeply about this community and who continue to work to move our city forward. These guys are awesome. Uh every council person here has been here for nearly five years. So three three served in an unexpired term. But um I'm very grateful. our city staff, our first responders, business owners, volunteers, pastors, educators, and our citizens. I I thank I thank you all for the role each of you play in making Mount Vernon such a special place. The strength of a small town has has never been found in buildings or budgets alone, but it's in the character and the kindness and the resiliency of its people. I'm going to take a few minutes. So, I want to share some accomplishments and some challenges and then someh some

special thanks for a few folks uh that have gone above and beyond for our city. First of all, I want to recognize our fire department and the awesome achievements that they've made. Uh we've always been eternally grateful for all the volunteers that we have con countywide and we have to have them and we will have to have them ongoing. So, please pat those folks on the back and and encourage volunteerism with our youth that are coming up. We need it. Um, in our 2025 budget year, the council made a financial decision to budget resources for part-time licensed firemen. A lot of folks didn't realize we were doing that. It was Monday through Friday, 6:00 in the morning till 6:00 at night. We had we had guys that work shift somewhere else and their days off. They were they were they were working a paid shift here. Um, wasn't Brad's idea. That was a great idea that actually came down from, you know, some towns around us like Cooper had been had done that. So, we're kind of following uh successes from our communities around us. It was a great step forward. And in this 2026 budget year, we actually took the step forward and have two full-time firemen uh on duty round the clock every day of the week. That wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for an interlocal agreement with Judge Lee and the commissioner's court. Judge Lee, are you there? You go. I see the hand waving. I just I want I want to give that thanks uh for the county coming in there. Mount Vernon Fire Department is always served countywide. So, we go if a call's coming in, we're going anywhere in the county. it was just getting very very hard financially to do that. Um, so the commissioner's court and judge Lee uh came into an interlocal agreement with us and and that's really what's helped us take the next step forward. And again, volunteers are are there every step of the way. Our response time now is down to about a minute. So like we can have a truck on the road in a minute where it used to be seven, eight, nine, 10 minutes. The other thing we've got coming is we've got a new fire truck coming. Our our fire trucks are beyond outdated. Guys here tonight would shaking their heads on that. We they were outdated when I came in and there was there was

no line item savings for to put towards a new truck. That's something the council took the opportunity to say we're going to start putting money away every year to start, you know, getting some funds together because we it's a million dollars for a fire truck. So luckily the guys were able to get a $300,000 grant and again the county came in with $700,000 to help with that truck. So the county will have the city will have a new fire truck arrange arriving here in a few weeks. Blake Sheffield in here I don't think but um Blake Sheffield is one of those guys that u he's our chief. you've got an uncanny knack for bringing people together and I think that's u you know we wouldn't be where we're at right now with the fire department if it hadn't been for Blake find a way to to get the resources and to get everybody working together and to find a path forward. So I'm excited to see the us have a full-time fire department and it will progress from here. um our police department. We've been blessed to have strong leadership under sheriff Jones at the and then also with Leah. I think city you guys are have done an awesome job for us. Uh the crime rate in Mount Vernon didn't low by accident. That's uh that's by just wonderful efforts by our police department. Um I want to thank the council for having increased the budget for our police department over the last six years. We nearly doubled the number of officers. We've also greatly improved the resources. We had guys using their own guns. You know, it's like we've got we got got they've got the right equipment. They're safe. They we want them to make sure their safety is number one for us, right? But they also need to be able to do their job effectively. And that's by having the right resources. Leah is queen at getting grant money. And I don't know how many times I tell you that. It's amazing how many times she's came forward with grant ideas she's asked the council to support and she gets every one of them. So, thanks for what you've done there. Getting grant resources to special thanks. Um, let's talk animal shelter. When I first

came in um as mayor, I had been down to the shelter right before I got elected. I was shocked. It's It was on the back side of the wastewater treatment plant. It was horrendous. It was um not just embarrassing, it was sad to think that any pet would be in there. And I made that something I wanted to try to help us find a way to get to another, you know, an improvement, a new location. I didn't make it happen. I'm going to tell you. Um I helped. We all helped but thankfully with the help of pause and all the donations they rounded up and the volunteers that work for them and then also I'll go back to the commissioner's court with Judge Lee. They they came in an interlocal agreement with us. So a third of the cost to operate it is paid for by the city, a third by the by the county and a third is from donations and volunteerism. So I bring this up because we're we're going to need to continue to support PAUSE with volunteers and we're going to need donations. It's the shelter looking great and it's progressing greatly, but it is uh it is going to need help as it goes along. Cassidy Wesson is is the new uh shelter manager and are they here?

There she is. Yeah. Anyway, so looking

Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for all you've done, Cassie. She has a passion for animals and actually has a vet background, so this is it was perfect fit on our park side. Little Creek Park's going to benefit from a well, initially a $750,000 investment in the park. 350,000 of that is from a Texas Parks and Wildlife grant that we received. That grant requires matching funds with it. The EDC is actually going to be putting up $350,000 of those funds and then the city from the general fund will have another hundred,000. Texas Parks and Wildlife actually asked us to apply for a second round of funding. So, we're we're they're liking what we're doing. Um we're hoping there might even be some additional money, but Little Creek Park obviously is is badly in need of some work, especially to the children's equipment and the and the creek badly eroded. Um we did recently purchase some land and the building that joins the uh splash pad area where you'll have new bathrooms and um MHS planning and design is completing their design work and we'll have groundbreaking later this year on the on the work on the park. On the housing standpoint, um it's It's a tricky one because it's hard to get developers to come in here especially if you don't have the infrastructure in place or the actual development laid out. So that the city along with the EDC and the industrial foundation Lyn Lowry is here today our chairman of the industrial foundation. Um that was that was a partnership to identify the land behind uh well it joins up to the school sports complex and goes all the way to the I30 access road. We're calling it the north corridor. Um, so with that, the industrial foundation bought 60 acres and and the uh the night the bond passed with the school. I I'll take a little credit here. I called our our school board and industrial foundation leader back at the time. I said, "Hey, that bond's going to be the sports complex is going to be pretty cramped up against the boulevard if they had 15 20 acres. You know, would that help y'all be able to move that further out, have

parking, and and just make it a a lot more better set?" and the school wanted that industrial foundation was going to make it happen. We had that deal done in 24 hours, 48 hours and the land bought in weeks after that and and were able to help the school out too and and bring their project along. I've have fun working on those kind of things that that development uh we're setting up a pit for that that basically will be a taxing entity just for that development. So, in other words, folks like us in the room that have houses in town or businesses, there's no taxing event that's going to hit your property to help support that. It's all it's all generated from the development itself. um on our water system. Well, I was talking to infrastructure a little bit and that it was uh just shortly after taking office that through meetings with our engineers and and getting analysis of where our infrastructure was at, we learned that like for example the water tower by the sheriff's department was nearly 18 years behind on its maintenance. Not a few years, 18 years and was quickly heading towards a path of being decommissioned and having to build a new tower, which is over $2 million. this council quickly uh made the decision to budget $450,000 to get on that project. That was that was a big deal. And and why that can have been kicked down the road that long, I do not know. We had plenty of money in the general fund to do some of these projects, but we set on money like it was a we're a bank and we're not a bank. Talk about more of that in a minute. Uh the pump house on that that that tower, there's a pump house on the ground. The whole roof had been caved in probably for three or four years. So, That's been done. At the same time after that, we decided to redo the logo on the tower downtown and got estimates for uh putting LED lights on it. No, it did not cost $200,000 to put LED lights on the water tower. It cost $18,500

and it was paid for by the Mount Running EDC. Thanks, Mount Running EDC. Nothing out of the city fund. 185. And I'll be honest with you, I knocked on so many doors during election time. And folks told me how beautiful the tower looked. I think it looks great. I hope we can find a way to do the next tower as soon as you can. It's good advertising. I want to share a little bit around the the substantial $9.6 million grant that we recently were awarded. Um again, I had I hadn't been in but for one meeting and it was just eye opening uh the issues that the city was dealing with. the public works team was was digging up holes in the street seemed like every day water lines busted and I'm I'm telling the guys I said could y'all just give me a text I want to kind of see what you're dealing with and I I know the guys at the time probably thought man this guy's going to be a pain in the neck but the reality was I just wanted to understand what they were dealing with and um seeing guys when it's you know 20 degrees outside and they're standing in sewage water and there's no plan to replace the infrastructure that's it's not good and Um, so I said, "Hey, just text me. Each time y'all have something, don't think you're wearing me out. Just text me." So every day they're texting me, texting me. I'm going showing up. Well, I remember over on Nyla Drive and I still got a piece of pipe cut out. They're putting the, you know, the eighth stainless steel $150 clamp on a one inch pipe that had been in the ground for 50 years, probably corroded through. Well, those pipes have lead valves, lead unions. They're considered lead pipe, and it's going to those houses. I'm like, "This is gross. Why Why do we not have a plan to replace this?" And I'd asked, "How many how many feet of this do we have?" Nobody knew. So, uh, with council's, uh, help here, I said, "Guys, we've got to get a plan. We need to know exactly how many feet of old cast iron and steel lines, lead lines are on the ground. Uh, we've got over a hundred-y old sewer lines that are falling apart. No plan to replace them." I said, "We've got to get a plan. We need to know how

many feet there were. Nobody could tell me how many feet there were. There might be 500. There might be 1,000 ft. We're not exactly sure, eight miles of the sewer lines and 1.8 miles of this of the old steel cast iron water lines. So, we know how many feet there are. We know exactly where they're at. They're all GPS mapped. And that's why the letter we got in November or October said, "The reason you're getting this grant," and it's loan forgiveness, by the way. They don't mail you a bunch of money. So, again, the internet saying, "Where'd the money go?" The money don't come to you until you do the work. and then they forgive the loan. So that $9.6 million will come after we do that work after we get the lead water lines and stainless steel steel and corroded lines out of the ground. So our kids aren't drinking through the damn things anymore and after the pipeline from the lake gets replaced. Well, guess what? Let me tell you about that. That thing cracks and ruptures one, two, three times a year sometimes. Sometimes we luck out and don't have a break in a year. Breaks all the time. It's as best as concrete and there's been no plan to replace it. It's well past its lifespan. And again, every drop of water that we drink in this town is coming through the thing. So, we have a plan. We have we have a loan and we have loan forgiveness. So, this grant will pay for that pipeline to go away. It'll double the size of that pipeline. It'll eliminate the old corroded metal lines that we got kids drinking through in town right now that I'm sick to say is still there. But we have a a grant to to fix it. And I'm tickled to death that this council had the guts and the and the hard work and the desire to find a way to make it happen. So I want to thank the council for having made this happen. And I know the work will get done. I know the council will see to it gets done. I know Greg will be excited to see it get done. Just just keep just keep moving forward on these things. It's serious. I remember being told you can't bring these things up or it's going to hurt property values. I said that's why we're not fixing anything. Everybody wants to

put your and ignore it. You can't ignore it. You got to have a plan and you got to fix it. Uh I want to share a little financial update for the city. First, I'd like to talk about just major spending initiatives the council budgeted for last year in the 2025 fiscal year. So, a lot of us that were here remember the five days when the power went out. Uh Greg can attest to I didn't sleep. I five days of of trying to figure out how to keep our water system running. Um, it was a shock when I went out to the lake. There's no generator out there at all. No, no way to keep water pumping. I don't know why we wouldn't had a generator, but we didn't. The pumps are the original pumps that were put in 50 years ago. One or two of them weren't working. One limping, one half ran. And the electrical system literally had barb wire wrapped around the cowling of the of the of the units coming out of the water. We've got those pictures, so y'all Craig, you'll look at those sometime just to kind of get an update. But it was bad and there was no generator and our water towers are going empty and we're trying to get a generator and we get a generator from Missouri and I meet them there at 3 in the morning with my skid steer from my farm to unload the thing and it doesn't work and the next one didn't work and thank God uh the city manager of Sulphur Springs loaned us there. We're not talking about little generators. These things are massive. Sulphur Springs helped us out. Thank you city of Sulur Springs on that. Well, other problem was wastewater treatment plant. That generator probably hadn't ran in 10 years. Wasn't being cranked. Staff wasn't doing maintenance on it. There had been maintenance on a lot of stuff. Well, so the city council decided for the 2025 budget year passed that we were not going to put this town at risk of running out of water again or running out of your your sewer system not working. We're going to get these things fixed and it was going to cost probably a million two, million three. We just spend some money. But we were sitting on over two years worth of money in the

general fund. Why? That was my question. That was that was our CPA Mary's question over and over. Why are we sitting on all this money? Sitting on CDs that put people put us into years ago making a half a percent. Again, we're not a bank. Uh the state requires 90 days of of funds on hand. We were targeting six months. 180 days is what we like to keep and we had nearly two years. So it's like, okay, the council says we're going to fix some of this stuff and not borrow money and put money on your property taxes. So that's why we spent a lot of money in 2025. The money didn't disappear. The money went into brand new pumps in Lake Cypress Springs, a brand new electrical setup, brand new generator, new generator at wastewater treatment plant, several upgrades to it to keep keep us moving forward and and is put to good work. I appreciate the council taking that move, that that initiative, all while we're trying to get loans that we can afford to do the rest of the projects and hopefully get more loan forgiveness. This this grant's huge. Uh we need more than we've got to continue to get all the waste water corrected as well. I'm going continue on and I'll wrap up here pretty quick and we'll get on to having some fun and get you guys going to work. But this is my last chance to speak. So, I just wanted to I want to take a little time here. Uh financial status review. There is misinformation being shared about the city's finances, period. And u new council, you guys will get going and it'll be that that uh that all those rumors will die and go away because they're just not true. Um for our fiscal year, our fiscal years go uh August one to end of September. So, it's not calendar. Um, last fall I got a call from Alliance Bank on a Friday afternoon said, "Brad, did you realize that the IRS was going to levy money from the city's accounts?" I said, "What are you talking about?" Um, they had just just

levied $82,000 out of our bank account at the bank. I said, "Well, first I want to go outside and throw up because it's about 4:30 on a Friday." Like, what are you great news to get on a Friday afternoon when you can't even find out what's going on? asked Mary. I said, "Mary, would you please help on Monday morning? Let's see if we can find out what's going on." It wasn't lunchtime and Mary called back and said, "We didn't owe the IRS any money. They actually may owe us as much as about 125 or $35,000." Um, we had 941 filings for our employees that were had errors throughout going back a few years and some had been filed twice. If you file a 941 with form and it say you say you owe money, they expect you owe money. So if you file it twice for the same month and you only pay one filing, you're overdue. That's what they collected. So we just got a check for how much, Mary? We just got a refund check from the IRS for 88 over 80 $88,000. So that money came back and on top of that, we're continue to look further to find out that turns out there's likely more that's filed erroneously. We didn't know the money. It's just it's just sloppiness. Um so through the process, I came to council and I said, "Guys, talked to Craig. I said, I I really want to see us bring in a municipal finance consultant. Just come in and look at how we're managing our ledger, how we're managing our 941s, look at our utility billing, just make sure that our processes are right. It's things we've been doing apparently for years and years and years. So it's like time for a reset. Let's get somebody in here that actually can get us organized. Let's break the finance manager role off onto its own. It was all shared with one one role before. So now we have a a city secretary role and we have a finance

manager role. Um with that all that work we were doing in 2025 when you're writing checks for these big project items, you should be coding it to the to the utility fund. It's expenses that should be being paid out of your utility fund. Well, those checks are being written out of the general fund. So, the general fund is going way low on cash and we're going, why are we low on cash in the general fund when we had ample? Well, it's just a line item shift. So, the money that should have been written out of utility fund about $800,000 uh was transferred over to the general ledger like it needs to be the general fund. It's actually not a that's not a that's not a big deal at all, but but good business practice would be you would writing those checks and and and ledgering them into your utility fund. You wouldn't be keeping it all in one bucket and just and and then figuring out later on. So, the city instructed Craig and the team, each of those accounts needs to you need to have a fire department account, a police department account, a utility fund account for utility building expenses. You get your general fund. Like, these things need to be broken out into their own accounts where it's easier for whoever's managing it to keep up with. Uh we recently hired um a full-time finance manager and Andrew Padil. I don't think Andrew is here tonight. Man, guy's doing a fantastic job. He's got municipal finance background. Um he's mount Bernie kind of person. Just a just a wonderful can do guy. So I'm tickled to have him in in uh in city hall. And then we recently promoted Angie Pike to city secretary. Angie is is as qualified city secretary as I could ever imagine this town having. Angie, thank you for what you're doing for us, too. And I want to give special thanks again just to Mary Keys for stepping up and giving us a ton of hours of your personal time. I can't It's not a little bit of time she she put in is a bunch of time she put in. So, I'm just very thankful. The council's thankful for that. And the city's in great financial

health. I'm just going to tell you that. Y'all y'all will realize that as you get into the budget season that starts now. And um we a great audit. It actually they have ratings for your audit is the highest level of confidence. I wish Mike was here tonight. He'd probably chime in. But I'll that's all I want to do. I wanted to touch on that as well. Um I'm going to stop now. It's time to time to pass the torch and uh and I and I do so with hope and confidence for the future. Um this will be it should be a fun time tonight. new folks coming in to serve and and um and I hope that they you know, Greg, hope you come in with a spirit and the culture that you know, supporting the culture of this town like you already are. So, I appreciate that. Um I encourage everyone to continue supporting one another, stay involved, work together for the good of our community and um I'll just say while my time in office comes to the end, I love Mount Vernon and I and I always will and it's been an incredible privilege to serve. May God bless each of you and and continue to bless Mount Vernon. So with that, let's get on to Candace and so but seriously, let's get on and have some fun with this. So it's time to canvas the vote. I just jump right into that, Angie. And I don't remember how to do that. So a motion to approve it. So we're looking for a motion to approve the results of the May 2nd, 2026 general election.

I'll make a motion to approve Motion from second. How about that? There you go. All in favor? I motion carries. So with that, we're we'll swear in. Right.

Okay. So I'm gonna do I'm gonna do Marty and Sally and then I think Judge Lee is gonna swear in Greg, right? All right. Jesus. There you go. City God.

Every two years My office. We have done Let's

say

There we go. That is all right for 7 put 300 pounds. I can be a little sensitive. Uh first, let me thank Brad for what he's done. He's actually he's done a really good job after listening to all that stuff and that was really fantastic. And you know, with these guys up here, we're going to do our best to keep it going and and and make it even better uh with that with everything they've done. So, I'd like to thank Brad for that. Also like to thank everybody who supported me doing this. Uh and uh I agree totally what Mark said. We need to get back to being a family again. That was that was a pretty brutal two weeks. Now, my career, I got I was a hero on zero in a matter of 24 hours. So, it didn't affect me at all. I mean, I kind of laughed at a lot of it, but it did affect my family. I know it affected uh Brad and his family, and it it really got to a bad point. So, it'd be great if we could all get back to being uh the families of Mount Vernon. That'd be fantastic to uh we move we move forward. We're we're starting a new a new era and let's go from there. And that'd be fantastic if we can start that starting tonight. U so with that, let's move forward to uh item number three. Now, you got to remember I'm learning this stuff. So if I if I mess up, just

hit me. You're good.

Item number three, uh request to be placed on the agenda by Courtney Bean regarding the chapter 15 code of ordinance. So Courtney, if you'd like to come up. Hi, good evening. My name is Courtney Bean and I'm the owner of Proverbs Kitchen, Sour Microbakery, and Franklin County Small Business of the Year. I say that not to brag, but because I'm one of many local small business owners alongside farmers and food truck owners who are directly impacted by these ordinances. I live here and I raised my family here and care deeply about this community. First, I want to acknowledge that the city is finally taking steps to update ordinances to reflect current Texas state law regarding food trucks and cottage food businesses. The city publicly recognized that that happened eight months ago, and I appreciate the accountability alongside the action that is finally being taken to correct those ordinances and remove regulations and fees the state no longer supports. However, I believe we have an opportunity to go a step further and restore something that this community has missed for a very long time. I want to be very clear that I support regulation for true pedallers and door-to-door sales for public safety reasons. I'm not asking to remove those protections. What I am asking is that the city distinguish pedlers from the farmers, homemakers, bakers, and cottage food operators and small businesses that fall under the Texas farmers market and cottage food framework. Texas already provides structure and guidelines for these operations and state recognized farmers uh state recognized farmers markets can for tourism, community growth, and even funding and agricultural support programs. Mount Vernon once had a thriving farmers market on the square that brought people downtown and supported the local families and businesses. People in this community have wanted that back for many years. I appreciate the recent decision to allow produce and honey vendors on Saturdays

at no cost. I believe that this is a huge step in the right direction when it comes to supporting our local farmers whom are the backbone of this community. But respectfully, why should we stop there? If a farmer grows produce and cans it under Texas cottage food law, why should they be excluded? If a baker legally operates under Texas cottage food law while sourcing ingredients locally, why should they be excluded as well? I also believe that the ordinance should clearly allow vendors and food trucks to operate on both private and public property with permission from the property owner or governing entity. I understand the safety concerns regarding traffic around the square, which is why I believe the north and east sides of the square provide a safe and reasonable solution while avoiding the heavy traffic on the south and west side. This is not about removing regulation. It's about creating reasonable opportunities for local families and rebuilding a piece of our community that people deeply miss. Bringing local farmers, bakers, homemakers, and vendors back to the square would support small businesses and increase downtown activity and strengthen community involvement for everyone. I respectfully ask the city council tonight to reconsider expanding these ordinance changes beyond only produce and honey vendors and support broader inclusion for local farmers, cottage food businesses, homemakers, and small vendors operating within Texas law. Thank you so much for your time.

284, which is actually We'll try to have something by June. will take into account but I'd like I'd like to be noted that since July or since January we have not charged any fees or any permitting or any inspection of foods whatsoever that I'm a little new to this. So, what's my next step? How did Oh, yeah. One more. Yeah.

Yes.

Good evening. My name is Ashley Thomas and I am one of the owners of A Wicked Love for Food, which is a small familyunrun food business here in Mount Vernon, Texas. My husband and I have lived here for five years, and this is our third year operating our business and raising our family of five. I'm here tonight to speak to you about the impact of the city fees and the rising operating costs that have on small businesses like ours and others in this community. Greg, I've seen Facebook posts from you as well talking about um you get with local food vendors and you partner with them so you could understand what I'm talking about. Like many small businesses, we are already facing significantly higher food costs, supply costs, fuel costs, and equipment costs. Added in the city fees, and operating expenses may seem small on paper, but familyrun businesses like ours, working within tight margins, they add up very quickly, and it has a real impact on sustainability. When those costs continue to rise, small businesses are left with only a few choices. We either raise our prices, we reduce what we can put on the menu, or the worst, lower the quality of the food that we serve. Our business has chosen not to lo our standards. Our motto has always been a farm-to-table operation. We intentionally purchase from local farmers and businesses wherever possible because we believe local businesses should support one another and reinvest back into our community. We believe that when local businesses succeed that the entire community succeeds. But the reality is that ever increasing and operating costs reduces our ability to continue doing that at a level that

we would like to. Higher fees also affect growth. Many people in Mount Vernon still have never even heard of our business even after three years. Like many small businesses, we are still trying to build visibility while balancing rising cost and the day-to-day responsibilities of supporting a family but running a business. I'm not asking for special treatment tonight. I'm simply asking the council to consider the long-term impact that the costs have on small businesses in Mount Vernon. As a food truck owner, I will say to you, Mr. Manager, that I have noticed that you have not increased or taking fees and you have not done the inspection that we are also mandated by the state to have. First and foremost, small businesses don't leave because they want to. They leave because they can no longer make the numbers work. A review of these fees is not just about businesses like mine. It's about whether Mount Vernon remains a place where small businesses can exist, grow, and contribute to the local economy. I thank you for your time and all of your attention. Okay. So, there's no more discussion than that. We're going to go ahead and ask for the meeting be adjourned.

Second. All in favor. All right. So, the meeting at 648.

All right. Thanks everybody. We'll see you in a month. Right. Good.