10/14/2025 MinutesMINUTES OF THE MAIN STREET ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS
OCTOBER 14,2025
The MAIN STREET ADVISORY BOARD of the City of Paris met for a
regular session at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at the PARIS CITY
COUNCIL CHAMBERS 107 E. KAUFMAN PARIS, TEXAS 75460.
Present: Board Members: Kevin Moore, Kim Kalina, Melissa Jones, William
Walker, Tyrone Hayden, Mary Hart, Glee
Emmite
City Representatives: Cheri Bedford, Main Street Manager
Absent: Board Members: Karen Dougherty/VCC Representative, absent
1. Call meeting to order.
Chairman, Kevin Moore, called the meeting to order at 4:29 p.m. He shared the Vision and
Mission statements.
2. Citizen Forum: None.
3. Approve minutes from the meeting of September 9, 2025. A Motion to approve this item was
made by Board Member Mary Hart and seconded by Board Member Melissa Jones. Motion
carried, _7_ayes — _0_ nays.
4. Receive report/presentation from Businesses applying for Building Improvement Grants.
Cheri Bedford reminded the board that we are in Q4 of the Building Improvement Grant
application season. Once a person/business submits a BIG application, they can begin work on
their repairs/improvements. Businesses can re -apply every 2 years for a grant.
A. Happy Hoarders at 221 Bonham St. is doing a building remodel. Stepahanie Leonard,
owner, explained her phases for the improvements to the building. Phase I is outside;
phase 2 is a commercial kitchen and phase 3 is a vacation rental. Stephanie is requesting a
matching grant of 5k for a sprinkler system on the inside of the building. Cheri stated that
Happy Hoarders has met the threshold of I Ok. Glee Emmite asked about our current funds
for BIG funding. Cheri Bedfor explained that we do have the money to cover the grant.
Motion to approve this item was made by Board Member Glee Emmite and seconded by
Board Member William Walker. Motion carried, _7_ayes — _0_ nays.
B. Sarah Coyle Sain, representative of Solomon & Coyle, LLC DBA and the Barber
Shop on 114 S. Main St., has requested a BIG to help with plumbing and electric for offices
upstairs, and a facade grant to create an accessible ramp into the building. Work has not
started. Glee Emmite stated that the Historic Preservation Commission will need to approve
any window updates to the outside of the building as it is an historical building. Cheri
Bedford stated that the threshold has been met for a 5k matching funds BIG grant.
Main Street Advisory Board Meeting
October 14, 2025
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A Motion to approve this item was made by Board Member Will Walker and seconded by
Board Member Melissa Jones. Motion carried, _7_ayes — _0— nays.
5. Committee Reports:
A. Workplan Updates from Committee Members:
Will Walker- nothing at this time.
Kim Kalina- Completed In -Kind Donation of Pumpkin Tic Tac Toe Tables for the Festival
of Pumpkins.
Mary Hart- Paris Arts Movement Committee Meetings- 2 were held. Seot/Oct where we
discussed Festival/Art Battle, crosswalks and Art Fair. Created Pumpkin Queens (3) for
the Festival of Pumpkins. Created Google Forms for crowd to vote at the battle, prepped
for the battle, purchased supplies. She needs a timer, easels and 8 tables for the silent
auction. Cash prize is 250.00. Artist and /guild Volunteers will help with the auction. Battle
will be from 1:30-5. Crosswalks- Crosswalk is on hold currently after TX -DOT letter to
the city.
Melissa Jones- attended the photo op at TaMolly's as the winner of the Salsa Contest;
attended and spoke at the PDA meeting to share ideas and rules of scarecrow contest.
Melissa created voting buckets and those who participated received hay and a wooden
frame. 13 businesses signed up to participate. Public votes by penny donations. Funds go
to the Art Fair scheduled for April 17-18, 2026. Reached out to DeadCat Media to secure
a re -cap video of the Battle of the Artists to use for future events. Introduced Greg Kee to
Mary about being the MC for the Battle of the Artists. Created an In -Kind Donation of
"How Tall this Fall" sign for a photo op at the Festival of Pumpkins.
Kevin Moore- nothing to report.
Tyrone Hayden- Helped Cheri get vendors and participated at Salsa night.
Glee Emmite- met with Leah Emmerson on coordination of calendars for events in Paris.
Participated in photo op for Salsa Winner. Created a Scarecrow and participated in the
contest for Festval of Pumpkins.
B. Historic Preservation Committee- Glee Emmite shared that a special meeting was
called on Sept. 22 to discuss facade grants for 524 Church St. They asked for a facade
grant to restore the exterior of building. 528 Fitzhugh was also awarded a facade grant.
C. Paris Downtown Association- President, Misti, shared that the downtown event,
Witches and Wine, was a success. We are meeting this week and will get the word out
that we want businesses out on the sidewalks during Festival of Pumpkins. They are
gearing up for the Christmas Parade and ree Lighting where they will stay open late
and have a mailbox for kids to write to Santa. The businesses plan to write back as they
are Santa.
D. Chamber/VCC- Karen Dougherty was absent and did not send in a report.
6. Coordinator's Report- Cheri Bedford discussed Festival of Pumpkins, Is' street project,
and the Toole Plan. The festival is planned and will be 10-25-25. Please sign up for a 2 -
hour session at the booth. Drake Construction was awarded the bid to finish out the First
Street with pavers. It must be finished by 12/31. The first order of pavers has been made.
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October 14, 2025
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Cheri shared the flyers for ordering pavers. The pavers will be a great fundraiser for us.
The Toole Plan needs to be broken down into measurable steps. The city manager requested
a proposal from Chris Lambka and Associates, to help us do just that. Cheri reviewed the
proposal and presented it at the City Council workshop and TIRZ Board last week. Cheri
also reminded us that turning in our volunteer hours is important. We had 475 volunteer
hours in the last quarter alone. Quarterly, the Main Street project requires the program to
collect reinvestment reports for downtown. This information is useful and could affect
future decision making. Cheri invited us to attend a virtual training on Thursday 10/16 or
11118 from 2-3:30. Salsa on the Square- 1,000 attended. Six (6) restaurants participated in
the Salsa contest- TaMolly's won. We had $2,700.00 in sponsorships and the cost of the
event was $6300.00. Because of that, we may need to look at doing something different
next year.
7. Future Agenda Items? None were brought up.
8. Adjourrunent.
There being no further business, A Motion to adjourn was made by Board Member William
Walker and seconded by Board Member Glee Ernmite. Motion carried, 7_ ayes —0 nays. Kevin
Moore, Chairman adjourned the meeting at 5:23 p.m.
Kevin Moore, Chairman