December 15, 2025 Regular Council Meeting Minutes

December 15, 2025

The Hamlin City Council met for a regular meeting on December 15, 2025, at 6:00 P.M.

Those present were City Secretary Tonya Harughty, Councilwoman Shelby Teague, City Administrator Brian Weaver, Councilwoman Brooke Houghton, Public Works Director Andres Arce, MDD Director Dr. Randy Burks, Councilman Caleb Gabriel, Councilman Ronald Crouch, Police Chief Jay Strong, Fire Chief Mark Hernandez, Mayor Tucker Teague, Jake Torrey, Leroy Arce, and Landon Couch.

Call meeting to order by Mayor Tucker Teague at 6:03 P.M. Invocation and pledge were led by Mayor Tucker Teague.

Roll call: Councilman Caleb Gabriel, Councilman Ronald Crouch, Councilwoman Shelby Teague, Councilwoman Brooke Houghton, Mayor Tucker Teague

Councilwoman Phyllis Lewis was not present.

Open Forum-Person who sign in between 5:30 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. will be allowed not more than five minutes each to speak to the Council.

*General comments from visitors who have signed up to address the Council.

No one spoke to the Council.

Visitors with appointments: No one with an appointment

ACTION ITEMS

Take appropriate action on the minutes from the previous Regular Meeting on November 17, 2025.

Councilwoman Shelby made a motion to accept the minutes as written on the Regular Minutes on November 17, 2025, seconded by Councilman Caleb Gabriel to correct a typo on the second page. All in favor.  Motion carries.

Consider and take any necessary action on the following property; The sale of property Parcel ID# 26794, HAMLIN TOWNSITE HAMLIN BLOCK 87 LOT 4 & 5 to MDD.

Councilwoman Shelby Teague made a motion to sell the property Parcel ID# 26794, HAMLIN TOWNSITE HAMLIN BLOCK 87 Lot 4 & 5 to MDD for the price of $500, seconded by Councilwoman Brooke Houghton.  All in favor.  Motion carries.

Consider and take any necessary action on Ordinance No. 25-011; AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HAMLIN, TEXAS, LEVYING A SEVEN PERCENT (7%) TAX UPON THE COST OF OCCUPANCY OF ANY SLEEPING ROOM FURNISHED BY ANY HOTEL, MOTEL OR OTHER OVERNIGHT LODGING WITHIN THE CITY OR ITS EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION USED IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHAPTER 351 OF THE TEXAS TAX CODE; PROVIDING FOR THE COLLECTION OF THE OCCUPANCY TAX; PROVIDING FOR CIVIL PENALITIES AND INTEREST FOR DELINQUENCY IN PAYING THE CITY OCCUPANCY TAX; PROVIDING FOR A FINE OF UP TO $500 FOR VIOLATING THIS ORDINANCE AND FOR OTHER CIVIL REMEDIES; DESIGNATING THE USE OF THE REVENUE DERIVED TO THE CITY FROM THE OCCUPANCY TAX; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES INCONSISTENT OR IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING A TEXAS OPEN MEETINGS ACT CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AFTER PUBLICATION.

Councilman Ronald Crouch made a motion to adopt Ordinance No. 25-011; AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HAMLIN, TEXAS, LEVYING A SEVEN PERCENT (7%) TAX UPON THE COST OF OCCUPANCY OF ANY SLEEPING ROOM FURNISHED BY ANY HOTEL, MOTEL OR OTHER OVERNIGHT LODGING WITHIN THE CITY OR ITS EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION USED IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHAPTER 351 OF THE TEXAS TAX CODE; PROVIDING FOR THE COLLECTION OF THE OCCUPANCY TAX; PROVIDING FOR CIVIL PENALITIES AND INTEREST FOR DELINQUENCY IN PAYING THE CITY OCCUPANCY TAX; PROVIDING FOR A FINE OF UP TO $500 FOR VIOLATING THIS ORDINANCE AND FOR OTHER CIVIL REMEDIES; DESIGNATING THE USE OF THE REVENUE DERIVED TO THE CITY FROM THE OCCUPANCY TAX; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES INCONSISTENT OR IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING A TEXAS OPEN MEETINGS ACT CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AFTER PUBLICATION, seconded by Councilwoman Shelby Teague.  All in favor.  Motion carries.

Consider and take any necessary action on entering into a general services agreement with EHT Engineering.

Councilwoman Shelby Teague made a motion to enter into a service agreement with EHT, seconded by Councilman Caleb Gabriel.  All in favor.  Motion carries.

Consider and take any necessary action on selling/auctioning off the decommissioned tanker.

Councilman Ronald Crouch made a motion to accept sealed bids on the decommissioned tanker due by February 12, 2026, read at the February 16, 2026, Council Meeting, seconded by Councilwoman Shelby Teague.  All in favor.  Motion carries.

Consider and take any necessary action on the purchase of a twenty (20) or thirty (30) foot rail container for storage.

Councilwoman Shelby Teague made a motion to table this item until the next meeting, seconded by Councilwoman Brooke Houghton.  All in favor.  Motion carries.

Consider and take any necessary action on a storage facility for the 1927 La France Fire Truck.

Councilman Caleb Gabriel made a motion to store the 1927 La France Fire Truck in the old City Hall building, seconded by Councilwoman Shelby Teague.  All in favor.  Motion carries.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

City Administrator – Brian Weaver stated Lithic has agreed to come back and fix SW 3rd.  Calco is waiting on temperatures to warm up to do NW 2nd and NW 3rd and SE 1st.  I was working through Fundview and going through the Comptroller’s website, last year we budgeted $330,000.00 for sales tax, we brought in $397,000.00.  So, we are twenty percent over.

Chief of Police – Jay Strong stated we are swearing in our fifth officer tomorrow at 2:00.  We would like you to be there.  That will put us fully staffed.   I can’t wait for the year-end review to tell you, but, what a year.  We had an Amber Alert.  We have Texas most wanted.  We assisted in catching a murderer and arrested another murderer today. We have 24 cases going to Grand Jury.  One officer was promoted to sergeant. We have a 365 day, 7 day a week police force.  I ask if you see the officers to thank them because they deal with a lot. 

City Secretary – Tonya Harughty announced that the City will be accepting applications for Mayor and City Council between January 14 through February 13.

MDD Director – Dr. Randy Burks stated he and Brian had a meeting with the project manager with Swenson Solar and we got contact information for other people.  We just needed updates on timing, schedule, how many workers, when, where. I reached out to Nicole in Fisher County for the iron project.  I’ll keep you posted on how that’s going.  We just want to know what the impact on our community is so we can be prepared for traffic.

Fire Chief – Mark Hernandez stated the fire department was awarded three grants this year totaling $235,000.00 from the Forest Service.  We had 52 call outs this year. We are looking at a TNT rescue tool.    It’s spreaders and cutters combined.  We are looking at a Crew Cab truck.  I’ve been in contact with Buddy over in Anson and they got us a brand new monitor for free.  We’ve had a good year.  A full roster. 

Municipal Court Judge – not present.

Public Works – Andres Arce stated on December 2nd we had a TCEQ inspector inspect our wastewater treatment plant and our sewer collection system.  We had two minor deficiencies.  We are waiting to hear on the report.  We didn’t meet the TCEQ standards but I spoke with him and explained the situation and the inspector was okay with it but he still had to send it to his management.  We started using the street sweeper. We may need to get a work schedule to let the citizens know because of the dust. 

Council Members – Caleb Gabriel stated he has seen Hamlin do better this year  than I’ve seen since I’ve been here.  A lot of that is doing what we were supposed to.  Doing the right thing.  Praying.  Leaving it in God’s hands.  We have fine people that work for the City.  Jay, Arce, and Brian, there are no words to express what y’all have done for our city.  Keep it up.  Thank you very much.  It’s been a privilege to serve. 

Mayor – Tucker Teague stated the City guys care, but they’ve never had the tools to do the job, but they are starting to get tools..  Junior’s crew is one of the best in the state of Texas.  What Randy is doing at the MDD bringing growth to Hamlin.  Jay and the police department cleaning the town.  Mark and the fire department protecting people.  Brian is the glue that holds everything together. If you look at Hamlin as it was five years ago, just remember each team is pulling so much weight.  We need to thank God and have each other’s backs.  There was a lot of mud thrown at us because we were going to change things.  If we continue to do this I believe Hamlin will be like it was in the 70s and 80s.  Thank you, guys.

Adjourn.

Councilman Caleb Gabriel made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:22 P.M., seconded by Councilwoman Shelby Teague.  All in favor.  Motion carries.

ATTEST: __________________________                               _________________________

City Secretary Tonya Harughty                                                Mayor Tucker Teague