05-12-2025MINUTES OF THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING
OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS
May 12, 2025
The City Council of the City of Paris met for a regular session at 5:30 p.m. on Monday,
May 12, 2025, at the City Council Chamber, 107 E. Kaufman, Paris, Texas.
Present: Mayor: Mihir Pankaj
Council Members: Shatara Moore, Alix Putnam, Mickey Ellis, and
Rudy Kessel
City Staff: Rose Beverly, City Manager; Stephanie Harris,
City Attorney; Janice Ellis, City Clerk; Bruce
Ballard, Finance Director; Rich Salter, Police
Chief, Osei Amo-Mensah, Director of Planning &
Community Development; Todd Mittge, City
Engineer; M.A. Smith, Director of Public Works;
Thomas McMonigle, Fire Chief, Danny Rowell,
Interim Utilities Director; Damon Anderson,
Airport Manager; and Clyde Crews, Fire Marshal
Absent: Mayor Pro -Tem: Gary Savage
Council Member: Rebecca Norment
O , enin A ends
Call meeting to order.
Mayor Pankaj called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
2. Invocation.
Gene Anderson gave the invocation.
3. United States Pledge of Allegiance & Texas Pledge of Allegiance.
City Council led the United States Pledge of Allegiance and the Texas Pledge of
Allegiance.
4. Citizens' forum.
Alvin Atwood, 2419 Bonham — he said he personally noticed an improvement with the
police department and complimented Chief Salter. He also referenced City Staff going on
people's property and said they needed probable cause to get a search warrant to deal with slum
lords.
Regular Council Meeting
May 12, 2025
Page 2
Consent A enda
Mayor Pankaj inquired of Council Members if they wished to pull any items from the
consent agenda for discussion. There being none, a Motion to approve the consent agenda was
made by Council Member Kessel and seconded by Council Member Ellis. Motion carried, 5 ayes
— 0 nays.
5. Approve minutes from the meetings of April 25, 2025 (Special) & April 28, 2025.
6. Receive reports and/or minutes from the following boards and commissions:
a. Housing Authority of the City of Paris (1-21-2025 & 2-18-2025)
b. Board of Adjustment (4-1-2025)
c. Paris Visitors & Convention Council (3-17-2025)
d. Municipal Band Commission (4-28-2025)
7. Receive April drainage report.
Approve the Final Plat of the Cameron Addition CB 193, Lot 1, Block A, LCAD 17123-
17127 located in the 1900 Block of Graham Street in NW 19`" Street.
9. Approve RESOLUTION NO. 2025-023: A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, ACTION DECLARING CANDIDATES AS
ELECTED TO OFFICE FOR COUNCIL DISTRICTS 4, 5 AND 7 AS A RESULT OF
HAVING BEEN UNOPPOSED FOR ELECTION TO OFFICE; DECLARING THE
TERMS OF OFFICE FOR THE AFORESAID CANDIDATES; MAKING OTHER
FINDINGS AND PROVISIONS RELATED TO THE SUBJECT; AND PROVIDING
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
Re ular A enda
10. Recognition of outgoing Council Member Rudy Kessel for his service.
Mayor Pankaj reported that Council needed to defer items 10, 11 & 12 to the next Council
meeting. He explained these were election items and it was important to have the entire Council
there.
11. Issuance of Certificate of Election; Administer Statement of Elected Officer to Council
Members; and Administer Oath of Office to newly elected Council Members.
12. Election by City Council of Mayor and Mayor Pro -Tem to serve the City of Paris for the
next year.
13. Convene into executive session pursuant to Section 551.071 of the Texas Government
Code, Consultation with Attorney, to receive legal advice from the City Attorney about
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May 12, 2025
Page 3
(1) pending or contemplated litigation and/or (2) on matters in which the duty of an
attorney to her client under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the
State Bar of Texas clearly conflict with this chapter, to -wit: City of Paris v. Essent
PRMC.
Mayor Pankaj made a Motion to recuse himself and seconded by Council Member
Moore. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 0 nays. Mayor Pankaj convened the City Council into executive
session at 5:37 p.m.
14. Reconvene into open session and possibly take action on matters discussed in executive
session.
A Motion to return Mayor Pankaj back to the meeting was made by Council Member
Kessel and seconded by Council Member Moore. Motion -• 4 ayes — 0 nays.
Mayor Pankaj convened City Council into open session at 5:52 p.m.
15. Presentation of Heroism Awards to Mr. Robert Lee Swaim, Mr. Zachrey Nolan Jones,
and Mr. Cameron Wayne Canida.
Police Chief Salter introduced Assistant Chief Randy Tuttle, Captain Terry Bull and Tom
Milson with the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). Chief Salter read the citation about
the incident that occurred on February 1, 2025, citing Mr. Robert Swaim, Mr. Zachrey Jones and
Mr. Cameron Canida for their heroic bravery in what would have been a loss of lives. Mr. Milson
awarded each gentleman with a heroism award.
16. Receive update on the Forestbrook Project from Nathan Spaulding.
Nathan Spaulding gave an update on the housing project and answered questions from
City Council. Mr. Spaulding said they hoped to see the first slabs going down in July. Council
Member Putnam asked if it was easy to work with the City, and Mr. Spaulding said yes, and the
City gave good response times. Council Member Moore inquired about if someone was
interested in building a house who would they need to contact. Mr. Spaulding said the builders
were Wildwood and DR Horton.
17. Receive presentation from Michael Smith about the Public Works Department.
Public Works Director Michael Smith explained the Public Works Department was
comprised of twelve departments and only forty-one employees. He said one of the departments
was parks consisting of 25 parks, over 250 acres and 7 people to maintain those parks. He also
said there were 4,000 traffic signs that must be maintained by another department. Mr. Smith
answered questions from City Council, reported the number of vacancies, citing he loses people
to the private sector because of low wages, and explained the need to hire and retain employees.
IN OEM I W93 = I I I No V
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May 12, 2025
Page 4
City Attorney Stephanie Harris said Staff recommended denying disannexation of these
properties, citing loss of taxes for the City and the number of acres involved in the disannexation.
Trey Kraft spoke in favor of the disannexation because they would not have access to
water and did not have an easement to fix. He said they were in the country when they moved
out there and they did not want to be in the City and especially close to a neighborhood. He said
they treated large animals, as well as small animals. Ms. Harris said the city limits did not have
a bearing. Mayor Pankaj said he was for keeping them in the City and that he felt that the
community development department could help them work out the easement issue. Council
Member Putnam said they were close to Woodall, and she could see a big development going in
out there, and they were sitting on very valuable property. Council Member Kessel said this was
so much property.
A Motion to deny the disannexation requests was made by Council Putnam and seconded
by Council Member Ellis. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 0 nays.
19, Discuss and act on an Amendment of a Lease Agreement for property located at the
airport, between the City of Paris and Carey Eatherly and Ryan Eatherly, decreasing the
acreage leased by 85.85 acres, issuing a refund in the amount of $1,287.75 with a new
annual
• due on May 15, 2025.
A Motion to remove this item from the table was made by Council Member Kessel and
seconded by Council Member Putnam. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 0 nays.
Ms. Harris said that in May of 2012, City Council approved a pasture lease covering
n me amounL oi S I I,'
lease
north side of the airport, the overall number of acres needed to be reduced to provide for
development and any necessary taxiways or other infrastructure. She said the decreased amount
to 95.59 acres leaving 602.31 acres and the annual lease would be $9,028.00.
A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Kessel and seconded by
Council Member Putnam. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 0 nays.
11101 IRWIN
Osei Amo-Mensah, Director of Planning & Community Development, said in January of
2022, for the purpose of incentivizing the redevelopment of neighborhoods in the City's core.
Regular Council Meeting
May 12, 2025
Page 5
He also said the guidelines had been amended twice, most recently in January of 2025. Mr.
Amo-Mensah reported that after the workshop on May 9, City Council asked staff to provide
revisions to the guidelines to include and ensure neighborhood uniformity. He reviewed the
proposed amendments, which included a definition of neighborhood uniformity and acceptable
architectural styles. He reported there were four pending applications that would be taken to the
City Council on June 9. Council Member Kessel and Council Member Putnam favored the
guidelines being retroactive. Mr. Amo-Mensah expressed concern citing the four applicants had
already begun the process but thought Staff could talk to them to see if they could get them to
comply with the new guidelines. Ms. Harris said it was up to the Council to make these
guidelines retroactive and said being in the 5 -in -5 program was not an entitlement. After further
discussion, City Council said they would like a book reflecting examples of what could be built
in each neighborhood, because this would be of benefit to those who were building in the
program.
A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Putnam and seconded by
Council Member Moore. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 0 nays.
21. Discuss and amend the policy for public speaking at the citizen's forum.
Ms. Harris said they needed to revise policy procedures and decorum for public meetings
and proposed several changes. Proposed changes included if there were more than five people
speaking on the same subject then they will be required to appoint one person to make comments,
and prospective speakers would not be allowed to cede any portion of their allotted two minutes
to another speaker. She said those speaking could make a public comment on City business
except in the case of a posted public hearing. Ms. Harris said people attending Council meetings
would be required to conduct themselves with proper respect and decorum at all times and
disturbance of a public meeting was a Class B misdemeanor offense in the State of Texas. She
also set out the definition of disrupting a meeting. Ms. Harris set out the action to be taken prior
to removing a person from the meeting.
A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Putnam and seconded by
Council Member Ellis. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 0 nays.
22. Receive presentation by SAMCO Capital Markets, the City's financial advisor, regarding
the potential issuance of tax notes to finance the purchase of fire department vehicles and
equipment, authorizing city staff and consultants to proceed with the financing and other
matters.
Ryan Cunningham of SAMCO said that two weeks ago they spoke about tax notes to
finance a fire truck, and if Council wanted to move forward authorization was needed to proceed.
Mr. Cunningham explained the process and answered questions from City Council.
A Motion to approve this item was made by Council Member Putnam and seconded by
Council Member Moore. Motion carried, 5 ayes — 0 nays.
Regular Council Meeting
May 12, 2025
Page 6
23. Consider and approve future events for City Council and/or City Staff pursuant to
Resolution No. 2004-081.
There were no future events referenced.
24. Adjournment.
There being no further business, a Motion to adjourn was made by Council Member Ellis
and seconded by Council Member Moore. Motion carried, 5 ayes - 0 nays. Mayor Pankaj
adjourned the meeting at 7:08 p.m.
CIT y
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ANICE ELLIS, CITYF-LHRI"
R/ P ` //"',,5 ,' T I I I %0\\.\
M HIR PANKA. , MAYOR