On a split vote, 4-3, the Mineola City Council effectively canceled the planned Eclipsefest at the Mineola Nature Preserve April 6-8.

With Mayor Jayne Lankford casting the deciding vote, the council closed the nature preserve to any events on those dates.

The Parks and Open Spaces Advisory Board had spent years planning to capitalize on the once-in-a-lifetime event when a total solar eclipse will pass over Mineola and a wide swath of East Texas on the afternoon of the 8th.

Detailed plans for the festival were presented by parks board chairman Heath Kinder as part of a discussion of nearly two hours at a special meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

Those plans were put to paper in preparation for the meeting, after the topic came up during the regular December council meeting, and council members asked for additional information before making a decision.

Council member and festival supporter Sue Jones ended the meeting telling the board members she hoped they would submit their resignations that night, to which Lankford responded that she was out of order and gaveled the meeting adjourned.

Kinder detailed the three-day event, which included two days of free admission on Saturday and Sunday and then a ticketed event on the eclipse day Monday.

The 36-page report covered everything from logistics to security, entertainment, vendors and the budget.

Lankford then asked to hear from city staff, and Fire Marshal David Madsen detailed the reasons the festival should not be held.

With predictions that the city could see its population triple on that day, Madsen outlined how services could be overwhelmed even without an event at the nature preserve.

“None of us thought the event was a big deal until the state started putting out information,” Madsen said.

“We have to go with the worst possible scenario.”

He pointed to the after-action plans produced following the 2017 eclipse that went from Oregon to North Carolina and said the biggest take-away was underestimating the number of people.

“Why entice more and add to the problems,” he asked.

He said the park board plans for the event are awesome.

“We do not know what kind of problems people are bringing, we should not be putting on any events.”

Public Works Director Kyle McCoy said it was not until October that information started coming in about how bad it could be.

“It’s not that the parks board hasn’t done its due diligence,” he said of the planning effort.

“It scares me to death,” he said, that the city’s infrastructure can’t handle the influx of people.

Police Chief Chuck Bittner said he will have all his officers on duty beginning the previous Thursday and expects their biggest challenge will be traffic control.

Assistant Fire Chief Aaron Munn said that while other city departments are concerned only with the city limits, the fire department has a 120-square mile service area, including large areas outside the city.

The department has only a small paid staff and depends upon volunteers. With the event on a workday (Monday), those volunteers won’t be available.

“It breaks my heart to say I agree 100% with what’s been said,” he added.

Council member Jack Newman made the motion to close the preserve to events, seconded by Mitch Tuck and supported by Cassandra Sampson. Voting against the motion were Jones, Eric Carrington and Terry Eaton.

“I always stand behind city staff,” Lankford said in supporting the motion.

She praised the work of the parks board but said she would err on the side of safety.