[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[9:05] Okay, it is five o'clock. I'll call the meeting to order. We do have a quorum this evening and I'll declare the meeting open.
[9:12] So before we get started, I would like to invite councilmember Justin Dobbs to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[9:17] Please face the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
[9:33] Please join me in prayer.
[9:34] Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
[9:37] Thank you for the many blessings you have bestowed upon us.
[9:40] Please watch over us tonight as we make decisions for the betterment of the City of Sherman.
[9:44] And as always, keep a watchful eye on all of our first responders.
[9:48] In your name we pray.
[9:50] Amen.
[9:56] Okay, Council, we have a couple of sets of minutes to approve.
[10:01] One from the Budget Workshop on June 11th, 2026, and one from the City Council meeting
[10:06] dated July 20th, 2026. Did you guys have an opportunity to review the minutes? And if so,
[10:11] do we have a motion? Move for approval of the minutes as presented. Seconded. Okay, we have
[10:15] motion in second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
[10:21] Council? Okay, we are now the citizen comment portion of our meeting. Terry,
[10:26] do we have any citizen comment cards this evening? I do not have any. Okay,
[10:31] do we have any members of the audience here that would like to comment on any
[10:35] of our public agenda items this evening.
[10:39] Okay, I see none. So we will move on to the consent agenda.
[10:44] The consent agenda is meant to be routine and regular business of the city enacted in one vote
[10:48] and let's say member of the audience or member of the city council would like to remove an
[10:51] item for discussion. And so before we get to the city council we'll first ask in the audience
[10:56] do we have anyone here this evening that would like to remove one of the consent agenda items
[11:00] for discussion. Those are items F1 through F4 and G1.
[11:07] Okay. I do not see any members of
[11:08] the audience here. Council, do we have anyone on the council that would like to remove any
[11:12] items from consent?
[11:13] Mr. Mayor, I'd like to pull 7664.
[11:16] Okay. We will pull 7664, which is F4. And other than that, we'll take a motion on
[11:23] the balance of consent.
[11:25] Move for approval of the balance of the consent agenda as presented.
[11:28] Second.
[11:29] Okay. We have motion to second. All those in favor, please say aye.
[11:31] Aye.
[11:32] Any opposed? Okay consent agenda is approved less item F4 which we will get
[11:37] to for discussion when we get at that point in the meeting. All right we are
[11:41] now to proclamations and so we will first start out with make sure the
[11:47] recipient is here this evening. Oh there he is in the front row. Okay all
[11:53] right we will move first to a proclamation for International Boxing
[11:57] day and so okay and we will go to council member Darren Holland for the
[12:06] reading of the proclamation. Hi Darren Holland duly elected counselor of the
[12:11] city of Sherman by the authority vested in me by the state of Texas do
[12:15] hereby proclaim August 27th, 2026 as International Boxing Day in the city of
[12:23] Sherman and call upon the citizens to join me
[12:28] and the special observance.
[12:32] Be it further proclaim that the city of Sherman proudly
[12:35] honors the camp and the fond founder, Andre Luper,
[12:39] for the outstanding commitment to developing
[12:42] young athletes mentoring at-risk youth
[12:46] and building strong futures throughout the Sherman
[12:50] and the Texama region.
[12:52] given under my hand and the official seal of the City of Sherman, Texas, this
[12:59] third day of August 2026. Congratulations.
[13:12] We'll take a picture after we give you an opportunity to say a few words.
[13:21] Oh you want to go ahead and get the picture now?
[13:24] Yeah, whichever you want to go.
[13:26] All
[13:31] right, Mr. Looper, the floor is yours.
[13:33] First,
[13:40] giving honor to God, that's my Lord and Savior.
[13:46] I wanna tell y'all, it's an honor, man,
[13:49] to be here before y'all.
[13:50] Y'all are great leaders, man,
[13:52] and we all striving to make a better city, man,
[13:55] and we don't take it very lightly.
[13:58] Me and the camp family, we really appreciate
[14:00] what y'all've done, and we appreciate the recognition,
[14:04] man, and I can't say enough
[14:07] about how important it is to me,
[14:09] because man, I got a belief that everybody knows I believe in building leaders and men when when we
[14:15] bring y'all before the kids and the youth in this community man, it's very important. I'm always
[14:21] striving to make the kids know who y'all are and what y'all stand for and what y'all do. It's very
[14:27] important because if you don't know, they ain't gonna know. So somebody got to be the one to
[14:32] tell them. So that's very important. So being here today is very, it's a very special moment
[14:37] to me but I want to tell y'all that I'm uh I don't know if any y'all have ever
[14:43] been to a boxing match right I'm a certified USA boxing coach and
[14:49] official and when you uh when you are at the end of the match you know
[14:55] somebody here to get raised as the winner what I want our child to
[15:00] Two real quick, if y'all don't mind, I want y'all to stand up for a second, stand up.
[15:05] Hey, the Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice.
[15:10] Stand up.
[15:12] So, hey, listen, break the right hand.
[15:18] All of y'all win us.
[15:20] All of y'all win us.
[15:21] If y'all be winners, man, be in the camp, family.
[15:25] I'm going to
[15:29] go to the council.
[15:34] May your team and councilman, this is your own personal bill.
[15:38] I just want y'all to put this up and remember us well.
[15:42] Wow, how cute.
[15:42] It's the longest count.
[15:44] That's sad.
[16:05] That's the stuff I get on my own when I hand it straight to you.
[16:08] That means that much to me.
[16:10] I need the word to know that.
[16:12] Also, although, you know I do,
[16:15] I don't know how much my team is doing.
[16:18] So, we're gonna sign,
[16:20] we're gonna get the status,
[16:22] we're gonna get the status of Francis Love,
[16:25] we're gonna sign this, you know,
[16:27] so we're gonna sign on my name,
[16:28] you know.
[16:29] I love that.
[16:31] I love it.
[16:32] I love it.
[16:32] When
[16:36] I come back to y'all,
[16:38] I need to bring to my team
[16:39] just to get the status of Francis Love,
[16:41] so y'all make sure that status is correct.
[16:43] All right, we're
[16:52] gonna come around take a photo with you with the proclamation and the belt to
[17:46] Well,
[18:06] we do have another proclamation this evening before we get to that
[18:08] I would like to say I've had the honor and privilege of visiting the camp and seeing that
[18:14] activities that Coach Looper is doing over there with those kids and to say
[18:19] that they are that's changing those kids lives or changing the future of our
[18:23] community as an understatement. You know the work and the discipline that you're
[18:28] teaching those children and the leadership that you're giving them and
[18:32] allowing them to experience and bringing them to places like here at
[18:34] the City Council and of course your advocacy for this community and being
[18:38] involved does not go unnoticed. We appreciate you and everything you
[18:42] do and I know that you are bringing up some exceptional athletes and I believe
[18:47] you had one recently that went out of state to compete but also there she is
[18:53] right there so the
[19:03] proud Papa moment so keep up the good things you're doing
[19:08] over there and we appreciate everything that you're up to so thank you very
[19:10] much okay we will move on now to a proclamation for professional
[19:17] International Engineering Day, and a lot of times when we discuss engineering, we need boxing gloves sometimes up here at the City Council, so I appreciate you bringing those, but I would like to go ahead and have Council Member Clay Barnett present and read the proclamation for the Engineering Day.
[19:33] Sure, I'd be happy to.
[19:35] I, Clay Barnett, duly elected counselor of the city of Sherman, do hereby, by the authority
[19:41] vested in me by the state of Texas, do hereby proclaim August 5, 2026 as professional engineers
[19:49] day in the city of Sherman and call upon all citizens to join me in this observance.
[19:56] Given under my hand and the official seal of the city of Sherman, Texas, this third
[20:02] day of August 2026.
[20:11] Hey if you're a professional engineer here could you please stand up? I'm gonna go
[20:15] one step further and I'll ask you to come down from the front. Let's get a picture. There we go.
[20:34] Yeah no we already know who you are we could tell. I was gonna say before this we've got
[20:45] But this is just a good opportunity to recognize these engineers and engineers across the state.
[20:51] I always tell our guys and our consultants if we do our job right, we don't ever know we exist.
[20:56] And so a lot of what we do is a thankless job. So I appreciate these guys coming here tonight.
[21:02] And I want to invite the EITs and anybody who may or may not teach at Austin College.
[21:15] Clint,
[21:57] did you have anything that you'd like to say on this item?
[22:00] No, I think that's good.
[22:01] Okay.
[22:02] I will add one thing is that the Northeast Texas chapter of professional engineers,
[22:08] is that the correct terminology you know they meet here regularly in Sherman but
[22:15] I would say that I believe Clay has been the president it isn't are you the
[22:20] president currently I'm not the president currently currently our
[22:24] president is Interim President is Manil okay Manil and I know Wayne has been
[22:31] actively involved with that group Tom for some time before that and Clint and
[22:37] And so that group is a group that has representation from a number of counties all throughout northeast
[22:43] Texas.
[22:44] And folks travel from as far away as Greenville or Texarkana.
[22:48] Is that right?
[22:50] Yeah.
[22:51] So anyways, I just wanted to recognize that at the city of Sherman that several of our
[22:56] leaders here like Clint Tom Wayne and Clay and probably several others that I'm just
[23:01] unaware of have been actively involved in participating in that group and helping
[23:05] lead the way for that. It's just important for engineers, much like these fellows here to get
[23:11] together because that's what they enjoy doing. But I've had the opportunity to speak at their event
[23:15] and it's a great group of guys and they also are affecting our community in many, many ways
[23:20] that often go unnoticed and unseen. So we're thankful for each one of you and your service
[23:25] to that group. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Sir. So we do not have a public hearing this
[23:33] evening or is this Ryan? Do I need to open public hearing for this item? Okay,
[23:40] all right, so we will now open the public hearing and we will start with the
[23:44] reading. Do we need to untable this item first? Okay, so I'll take a motion to
[23:49] untable item 6954. So moved. Second. A motion to second. All those in favor,
[23:53] please say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Okay, all right, so Terry if you would
[23:59] read item 6954 for us, please. Closing and abandoning an alley in the city of
[24:03] Sherman, Grayson County, Texas being more particularly described in the
[24:06] exhibits A and B. Okay, and I know this item originated with Wayne and it was
[24:12] something that there need to be some changes made in the last before the
[24:16] before it could be considered. So Wayne welcome and tell us what we're
[24:19] looking at. Mayor Counsel, good evening. So Austin College owns both sides of
[24:28] the alley along the portion that's proposed to be abandoned
[24:33] for incorporation into the future replatting
[24:36] of this property and facilities they're gonna build.
[24:41] The only city facility in the alley
[24:43] is an existing wastewater line,
[24:44] but it serves only them and will only serve them.
[24:48] So it'll just become a private line in that portion.
[24:52] We've got no opposition from the utility companies.
[24:56] There's no other utilities in there.
[24:58] Staff recommends approval of abandonment.
[25:00] Okay, thank you, Wayne.
[25:04] Okay, do we have anyone here in the audience
[25:06] that would like to make a public comment on this item?
[25:11] Okay, I see none.
[25:12] So we will close public hearing,
[25:14] consider adoption of the ordinance.
[25:15] Council, do we have any questions for Wayne?
[25:17] Move for approval, ordinance number 6954.
[25:20] Second.
[25:21] And motion is second.
[25:21] All those in favor, please say aye.
[25:23] Aye.
[25:24] Any opposed?
[25:25] Motion carries.
[25:26] All right, thank you, council.
[25:28] Okay, we are now down to our loan resolution that was pulled from consent. That is item number 7664 and I believe that we do have representatives here that on behalf of this item where you guys planning to present or say any words about the item or were you just here for answering questions.
[25:50] Okay. All right. Perfect. Okay. Council, I'll open up the floor on this
[25:53] item.
[26:00] For years had stuff happening down there. Closing State Highway 56, moving it to a
[26:09] temporary route. What would that route be? And if you don't mind, if you would step
[26:16] up to the podium and state your name and address for the record so that we have it
[26:33] I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to say your last names and your addresses for the record
[26:58] And I'm Lisa Rutledge and we are moving into CCC.
[27:03] Okay, all right, thank you.
[27:05] Okay, council.
[27:07] Our questions.
[27:09] Yeah, my question is about the route in 56 is shut down.
[27:12] Is there not a map, a challenge?
[27:19] I think it's...
[27:28] Trevor is there a map in the ACH? I didn't see one but if there's not that the map with the
[27:35] Alternate route is not in the ACF
[27:39] What they did propose were there were multiple routes
[27:45] Yeah, it was it wasn't in the ACF, but okay
[27:49] here so I was in contact with Brian the area engineer with
[27:57] and he asked me to provide several different detours, which I have provided two on the map.
[28:06] Very good.
[28:07] Let me take a moment to review that.
[28:22] So just for clarity right now, the proposed pathway on the map that was provided is turning on Crockett, going down Laurel or Pecan,
[28:33] basically back to working your way around the closure and or going out to Highway 75.
[28:38] Yes, correct.
[28:39] Okay.
[28:39] The secondary option was to turn on Travis, I believe.
[28:43] Travis Street, OK.
[28:45] Yeah, I think some of the probably the origination
[28:48] of that question isn't necessarily
[28:50] related to normal vehicles, cars, and trucks,
[28:55] but more so that that is a 18-wheeler, big truck,
[28:59] designated transportation pathway.
[29:03] And so figuring out during this time of this event
[29:07] where those big 18-wheelers are going
[29:09] to be able to make terms and travel.
[29:18] Jeff Coat,
[29:27] would you like to add?
[29:40] And let me get clarity
[29:41] on that. We had spoken before. Are you requesting the entire shutdown or just one lane of traffic?
[29:48] Got
[29:58] it.
[29:59] Okay.
[30:00] We are open to suggestions, though. As I was talking to Brian, I asked him if any of those detours did not work, he would provide his expertise in which way he did that.
[30:12] Got you. Okay. And just for council's clarity, I don't know if this is a Ryan or a Zach question, and there may be other questions here from council, but if the council did want to show some support for closing down the roadway, if there was transportation,
[30:26] and pathways for the 18-wheelers that would accommodate,
[30:34] how could a motion be made that would allow
[30:36] for those pathways to be designated before it was complete?
[30:42] Yeah, council obviously has the authority
[30:44] to table the item and work with staff
[30:47] to bring the agreement back
[30:49] in a way that the council might support.
[30:51] That's one option.
[30:52] Another option is to approve the agreement
[30:54] with the condition that certain routes be used or certain routes not be used in accordance
[31:01] with the agreement.
[31:02] And that might require changes to the agreement that TechStyle would need to approve, so depending
[31:08] on the timing of when the screaming needs to be in place, that might determine the
[31:13] table of the item or approve it with conditions that delegate the staff to work through
[31:17] these notes based on the direction.
[31:20] Yeah, I don't even think it's finalized.
[31:26] Okay, well, this is impressive. They're not they're not playing on start until September.
[31:35] I thought I saw it advertise for August and that's why I thought.
[31:39] Yeah, the decision had. Okay, so it's this this was just something that we're in.
[31:47] Okay, so mayor, I think that if you if you wanted to make a motion that.
[31:52] Um, was consistent that that the board approves, uh, something for a lot of the traffic plans that staff and text dot, uh, agree upon, uh, because our engineers and police department could, could communicate with text dot, and, um, I would be comfortable supporting that that staff and text dot communicate on this issue, come to an agreement.
[32:16] And to me, that's the safest thing from keeping, um, the issue from getting crossed between us.
[32:22] I would say, first off, thank you for doing what you're doing.
[32:28] Everything in downtown Sherman is, you know, we're happy that you're in downtown Sherman.
[32:33] And we have lots of events downtown, and having 56 be a state highway really does put a damper
[32:41] on things.
[32:41] And I think everyone up here, I don't want to speak for everybody, but I guess I just
[32:45] did, is interested in finding a way to do this.
[32:49] and finding a way that does it that works but once we set a precedent we have
[32:55] opened the door for everybody else and before we open that door for everybody
[32:59] else I would for one want to make sure that we have a good solution and that
[33:05] it is thoroughly vetted and mapped out so for me it isn't a no but I would
[33:11] say we probably should table this and have city staff study it so that when
[33:16] we say yes it could be yes for everybody for all those events. So I do think we
[33:22] just need to make sure that we have a good route and a good plan because you
[33:27] know it takes one truck running over one thing or one bad event and everything
[33:34] sort of gets smeared and it makes it harder to do anything. So I would make
[33:40] a motion just to table this so we can study it further and then when city
[33:44] staff has a solution and they work with TextDOT, we can bring it back and vote for a solution.
[33:49] I do have a question. I know we have a motion, but I mean, I know this isn't the first time
[33:55] we've closed this area off. I mean, we closed off just a few months ago for the
[34:04] Sherman food truck competition. What the tour route that we have then?
[34:11] They didn't close Houston State Open, they closed Crockett and Travis.
[34:18] Okay.
[34:18] Yeah.
[34:20] And for Cinco de Mayo step down there, it also has stayed open in the past.
[34:25] So I think we do need a solution, but I just want to make sure it's the right solution.
[34:31] Well, and I will say that the amount of traffic that you guys have generated there
[34:35] has been incredible.
[34:37] And you know I and I definitely see a need to accommodate in some form or fashion because
[34:43] You know right now your booths are in the parking spaces backed right up to a edge of a street where
[34:49] And we're 18 willers and cars and you know, so
[34:56] I know my preference would be to
[34:59] Come up with a solution but close
[35:02] Houston Street
[35:04] Not have just one lane where somebody could be in the other lane
[35:08] Yes, you know that type of thing if we're gonna do it then I think and what hours I know that you all
[35:14] Are in the evening, but what hours of the day would you have to shut it down in order to get it ready?
[35:19] Do you know I think honestly?
[35:22] It starts at six
[35:24] Okay, it just depends on whoever's putting the items out to do the need for I don't know who's responsible for that yet
[35:33] And I think in our item. I think it said 430 to 10. Yeah, I believe
[35:39] Two Fridays a month basically
[35:44] John I'll second the motion. Okay. We have a motion in a second to table the item to bring it back with a comprehensive plan for 18-wheeler traffic
[35:52] Yes, ma'am question. So aside from closing, our other request was to be able to utilize the parking spaces
[35:59] along West Houston. Are we not able to do that moving forward until we can
[36:04] Is that the ones that you currently have the ones that are yellow that you're currently using now?
[36:09] Yeah, I believe that's handled administratively. I don't think it even takes counsel action for that right back
[36:16] Oh really
[36:20] Okay
[36:26] Sure, we will have to address this item that is currently pending with a motion in a second so
[36:32] So, the last council member, Stevenson would like to amend this motion.
[36:37] Yeah, it's all going to be tabled and reviewed, so can we just add that into the review?
[36:42] So, I would say that that, my input would be that that would need to be part of the totality
[36:49] because I would be very concerned about people crossing Houston Street to get to the other side.
[36:55] So, let's finish this item.
[36:58] We're going to have to take a vote on this item since there's been a motion made and really discussion should be shut down on this item now.
[37:04] He could if he wanted to.
[37:07] But you.
[37:09] He hasn't there there could be a Ryan there could be a motion to amend correct.
[37:13] So somebody else can amend by motion if they want.
[37:16] And then we could take the motions in order of precedent.
[37:20] Am I correct?
[37:21] What would the amendment be?
[37:24] Whatever y'all want.
[37:27] Let me add some clarification before we take a vote on this item.
[37:32] You guys have already currently been getting approval for this administratively and I don't
[37:37] think that anything right now is pressing to change with that that they can continue
[37:42] to approve it administratively and I'm assuming that they will continue to approve it.
[37:46] So us not taking action on that does not prevent you from continuing to do what you've
[37:51] already been doing.
[37:52] So we're not eliminating your ability to do that.
[37:54] But you're just saying, for the next one, do it the same way you've always been doing
[37:57] it.
[37:58] The
[38:02] courthouse is going to allow us to use the ground.
[38:05] Got it.
[38:05] So we're super excited about that.
[38:07] So we were just going to amend it and not do that this time on the other side of the
[38:12] street, but just go straight down to the courthouse.
[38:15] Okay.
[38:16] On Houston Street.
[38:17] Yep.
[38:17] That's excellent.
[38:19] It was when we were knowing that we had the option in the future.
[38:22] Yes.
[38:22] Now you can finish your amendment.
[38:24] Okay.
[38:24] All right.
[38:25] So, council, let's take a vote on the motion that's been made.
[38:27] and then we'll take it from there.
[38:31] So all those in favor of the current motion on the table?
[38:37] Aye.
[38:38] OK.
[38:39] Any opposed?
[38:41] All right, motion carries.
[38:42] So you were currently tabled for a transportation plan.
[38:46] And then we can take care of that as soon as that transportation
[38:49] can't plan to come back.
[38:50] And we can untable it and take action on it.
[38:52] So keep doing what you've been doing
[38:54] until if this takes a week or two,
[38:56] or however long it takes to figure that out.
[38:58] Thank you guys. I would like to mention, if you guys are going to take off, this event
[39:06] really has been special to watch in downtown and we are extremely thankful. The city can
[39:12] only do so much with its time and resources to host and do events and to have business
[39:17] owner buy in and to have you all orchestrating it yourselves, bringing it to the forefront
[39:22] and really handling all of the planning and organization. That is something that
[39:26] We've been meeting in our downtown is that type of buying from business owners.
[39:28] And so we greatly appreciate your efforts.
[39:31] So thank you so much.
[39:33] Okay.
[39:35] Okay.
[39:36] So we are to the end of our resolutions and we only have a couple of board appointments to make unless council would like to go to executive session.
[39:50] We can make those four appointments now.
[39:52] And I believe we can probably do that without exact.
[39:55] Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I'd move to reappoint Lori Mealy to the library board and reappoint Dr.
[40:01] Lander Bethel to the Texan Moe Community Center Board of Trustees.
[40:04] Second.
[40:05] Okay, we have motion in second.
[40:05] All those in favor, please say aye.
[40:07] Aye.
[40:08] Any opposed?
[40:09] Motion carries.
[40:10] Okay, Council, we have made it to the end of our meeting, so we are now down to
[40:14] Council comments.
[40:15] So I will start with Council Member Barnett.
[40:18] I do want to echo your comments about the Bend-Light Market.
[40:22] It's been phenomenal.
[40:23] The attendance has been really well.
[40:25] the vendors have all been great and the food there has been awesome. So, I bought our
[40:35] distinguished businesses that started that effort and want to encourage them to continue that effort.
[40:49] All right, well then I just have a couple of comments here. Coffee with the Mayor
[40:53] There is this Friday at 903 Brewers starting at 8 a.m. and that will be featuring some updates
[40:59] about some exciting things we have happening in downtown.
[41:02] There is a ribbon cutting at Woodland Cottages by the Sherman Chamber of Commerce and that
[41:07] will be Thursday, August 13th at 3 p.m.
[41:10] That's Sherman's newest senior living community.
[41:14] The Sherman Arts Fest is only about six weeks away and that's on Saturday, September
[41:18] September 19th, 9 a.m. at Kid Key Park, and it's not too early to get tickets to sponsor
[41:24] the 42-bed Bash Benefitting Texoma Family Shelter at Mustang Creek Event Center on Thursday,
[41:30] September 24th, at 5.30 p.m. So those are all of our announcements this evening, and
[41:35] we thank you all for being here, and I would take motion a second to adjourn. We are adjourned.