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Special Meeting September 9, 2025 Page 3 and was called something totally different, which is the reason for the confusion. Ms. Harris said the most recent agreement expires in 2029. Ms. Harris said in 2019 there was additional hot tax collected for renovations at the civic center. At the request of Mayor Pro -Tem Savage, Ms. Harris gave a history of the HOT tax. Ms. Beverly said the current agreement for what HOT tax could be used for is stricter than the State Law allows and the City currently was getting 5% of the HOT tax and the Chamber was getting 95%. She also said the City was going to hire an events coordinator and if the City were to get more than 5%, the City could fund that position out of HOT tax and it would be open for additional uses that would benefit the residents of Paris. Ms. Beverly said she would like to see to what kind of budget it took to run the Chamber's organization. Ms. Harris said the City needed to be able to use those additional funds. Ms. Beverly estimated the Chamber had approximately one million dollars in excess. Mayor Pro -Tem Savage said any excess should be in control of the City to be used to benefit all of the residents of Paris. Council Member Putnam said if the City had the funds, they could do the projects that Council had been discussing. Ms. Harris said to do any of this, they would need to make an amendment to the agreement. Mayor Pro -Tem Savage said during the discussion about the funds the City is getting from the solar farm, there was discussion about a lot of projects that HOT tax could be used to fund. Council Member Putnam agreed that the City needed to be in control of the excess funds from HOT tax. Ms. Beverly said it was not the Chamber's responsibility to hold that money and the Chamber was not responsible for doing projects, but that was the responsibility of the City. Mayor Pro - Tem Savage said the funds were not benefitting anyone just sitting in an account. Ms. Harris said she and Ms. Beverly would schedule another meeting to meet with Paul and work something out, then bring it back to the City Council. Discuss the Paul Stoll petition for a comprehensive plan amendment and the petition for a zoning amendment. Ms. Beverly said Steve Ekstrom had filed a petition, and it was e-mailed to them. Ms. Harris explained the zoning issues and said the zoning definition was defined as the highest and best use. Ms. Beverly said most of the questions at the public hearing were related to development and not zoning. Mr. Amo-Mensah depicted a plat reflecting the different parcels and further explained the map that was sent out was incorrect. Council Member Attebury said the incorrect map was the reason for the confusion. Ms. Harris said the notice was actually correct. Mayor Pro -Tem Savage said he understood why they were confused. Ms. Harris explained the 20% requirement rule for the petition and a 3/ vote by the Council. She said in order for this to pass, that it would require six affirmative votes. Mayor Pro -Tem Savage said that Mr. Stoll was trying to bend over backwards to make this work and make residents happy. Council Member Attebury agreed and said that Mr. Stoll moved the fence further back than required because residents did not like where it was located. Mayor Pro -Tem Savage inquired of what the City was trying to do. Ms. Beverly said staff placed it on this agenda to give them more information because staff had not given them everything they needed in order to make a decision. Mayor Pro -Tem Savage said he was good with this item moving forward to the Council for consideration, as did the other Council Members.