City Council Regular Session

CITY COUNCIL REGULAR SESSION Monday, July 10, 2023 – 6:00 PM 109 North Kaufman Street, Mount Vernon, Texas 75457 Our mission: to provide effective and fiscally responsible municipal services in a manner which promotes our high standard of community life. Vision Statement Mount Vernon is a caring community committed to excellence and quality of life, aspiring to be the community of choice for ourselves, our children, and future generations – beautiful, clean, vibrant, and safe. We will strive to preserve our heritage, our friendly hometown atmosphere, and celebrate the diversity of all our citizens. MINUTES 1,096 Mayor Hyman called the meeting to order and announced a quorum present at 6:00 p.m. PRESENT Mayor Brad Hyman Mayor Pro Tem Mark Huddleston Councilwoman Sherelyn Roberson Councilman Harold Cason Councilwoman Mary Keys Councilwoman Rebecca Bailey City Administrator Craig Lindholm City Secretary Kathy Lovier VISITORS Lillie Bush-Reves, Mike Browning, Demetra Runnells-Holmes Murphy, Keitron & Tina Fountain, Victor Monroe, Kevin Anthony, Anna Hood, Lanny Buck-KSA Engineers, Frank Illes-LOVES Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston lead the meeting with the invocation and pledges. 1. Minutes 6/12/2023 Workshop Minutes 6/26/2023 and 7/6/2023 June 2023 Financial report Motion made by Councilwoman Roberson, Seconded by Councilwoman Keys. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman Keys, Councilwoman Bailey Reports on Items of Community Interest Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston said, "He, being out of town during the power outage, really appreciated how the community came together." Mayor Hyman agreed and he appreciated how well everyone worked together to get things accomplished. No one spoke in citizen participation. Public Hearing The purpose of this hearing is to hear evidence for or against a request made by Terry and Amy Garner to re-plat their property located at 819 Miller Street, Mt. Vernon, Texas from one lot into two lots. The purpose of this hearing is to hear evidence for or against a request my Love's Travel Stop and Country Store to re-plat the property located at 215 E. I-30 N, Mt. Vernon, Texas from two lots into one lot. The purpose of this hearing is to hear evidence for or against a request my Love's Travel Stop and Country Store to re-zone the property located at 215 E. I-30 N, Mt. Vernon, Texas from Intensive Industrial (II) to Local Retail (LR). Mayor Hyman closed the Regular Session at 6:02 p.m. and opened the Public hearing. He further announced the first public hearing requested by Terry and Amy Garner will be postponed to a future meeting. Frank Illes with LOVE'S Travel Stop and Country Store spoke in favor of both the re-plat and re-zoning the said property. He expounded on the project they have coming up. Tina Fountain, a resident in the same area asked about traffic congestion and if that would be worse, or if the drive-ways would be closer to the residential area and if her property taxes would increase because of this project? Mr. Illes stated that the driveways would remain in the same place and the exit for trucks would be widened for easier exiting for the tractor-trailer drivers. City Secretary Lovier explained that Mrs. Fountain's taxes wouldn't be effected by LOVE'S project, it would only effect LOVE'S. City Administrator Lindholm advised that this could help improve the value of her home and property. Mayor Hyman closed the Public Hearing at 6:05 p.m. and re-opened the Regular Session. Items to be Considered: 2. Consider and Act upon approval of Ordinance 2023-06 request made by Terry & Amy Garner re- platting 819 Miller into two lots. Postponed to future meeting. 3. Consider and act upon approval of Ordinance 2023-27 a request made by Love's Travel Stop and Country Store to re-plat two properties into one. Motion made by Councilwoman Roberson, Seconded by Councilman Cason. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman Keys, Councilwoman Bailey 4. Consider and act upon approval of Ordinance 2023-28 a request by Love's Travel Stop and Country Store to re-zone the property to Local Retail (LR) from Intensive Industrial (II). Motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Seconded by Councilwoman Keys. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman  Keys, Councilwoman Bailey 5. Consider and act upon approval of Interlocal Lease Agreement with Franklin County for the property located at the corner of Rusk and Scott Streets. Motion made by Councilwoman Keys, Seconded by Councilwoman Roberson. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman Keys, Councilwoman Bailey 6. Consider and act on approval of proposal from Charlesworth Consulting for Insurance Consulting and Risk Management. Motion made by Councilwoman Roberson, Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman Keys, Councilwoman Bailey 7. Consider and Act upon approval of KSA Task Order #102274 Design Guidelines and Engineering. Motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Seconded by Councilwoman Bailey. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman Keys, Councilwoman Bailey 8. Consider and Act on approval of Resolution 23-13 designating The Mount Vernon News as the official newspaper of the City of Mount Vernon. Motion made by Councilwoman Bailey, Seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman Keys, Councilwoman Bailey Discussion Items and Mayor/Council/City Administrator Reports Employee insurance policy options presented by Demetra Runnels with Holmes Murphy. Water, Sewer, Streets, Park, Sidewalks, Grants, next workshop discussions, 2023-2024 Budget City Emergency Evacuation and/or response to possible incident at solar industry Battery Energy Storage System and City Fire Codes (B F Hicks) Demetra Bell Runnells with Holmes Murphy & Assoc presented her recommendation concerning employee health care. She is suggesting to return with TML, BCBS with a health savings account, higher deductibles and telemedicine. Also that the City would help fund some of the savings account and/or to offset the deductible. City Administrator Lindholm advised we will be pushing out a more honed down budget before the next workshop that will be discussed during that workshop. BF Hicks was unable to attend the meeting. 9. 2023-2024 Proposed budget as of 7/7/2023 Holmes Murphy Executive Summary Recap and Considerations Presiding Officer to Adjourn the City Council Meeting Motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston at 7:20 p.m. to close the meeting, Seconded by Councilwoman Keys. Voting Yea: Mayor Pro Tem Huddleston, Councilwoman Roberson, Councilman Cason, Councilwoman Keys, Councilwoman Bailey _______/s/ Brad Hyman______ Brad Hyman – Mayor ATTEST: _______/s/ Kathy Lovier_______ Kathy Lovier – City Secretary