Issue #23
August 8, 2025
We've Got a Website!
Thank you to the new members who signed up this weekend! If you continue to support us, we will continue to serve.
And if we’re going to stick around, we need a full website!
So after eight long months of living exclusively on X, we now have a home:
Each article from X has to be manually added to the new site, and that is a work in progress. But we hope the functionality, the ability to share more widely, and the subscriptions will help us grow.
All of our older content will remain free. And this week’s articles will be free as well while we get our sea legs under us.
But starting next week, new content will require a $7/month subscription to access. You can subscribe in the top right corner of the site:
Smithville Texas News does not continue without your support. For the price of one cocktail at your favorite watering hole or one latte at Starbucks in a month, we will hold your government accountable, inform you about development coming to the city, and share the stories of our amazing Smithville students–on and off the court.
We are at 50% of the revenue needed to sustain, so I hope you will grab a subscription and tell a friend!
We still have memberships available (only ONE Platinum left!) and as always, you can make a one-time donation.
Thank you for supporting the free press in Smithville!
Sweet Tea Closing
Residents woke up on Monday to the sad news that Sweet Tea Cafe had closed their doors after a little less than a year in business. They are the latest downtown restaurant to close, leaving limited dining options in the city.
Read what the “nail in the coffin” was for Sweet Tea, see what roadblocks new restaurants are facing to open, and learn what the city is doing to help entrepreneurs navigate the permitting process in our latest feature.
Development by the Airport Coming
Is Tractor Supply coming to Smithville? While that’s unconfirmed as of this writing, Jesco Construction Inc. went before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday for a minor replat of land designated in February’s State of the City address for development into the Smithville Industrial Park.
The 68-acre parcel, which sits in the triangle between Highway 71 and Loop 230 just east of the airport, was reconfigured into three lots of 4, 13, and 50-acres. No mention of Tractor Supply was made at the meeting.
P&Z unanimously approved the replat, which will go before council on Monday Aug. 11. If approved, the development can proceed to next steps.
We check campaign finance reports when land with the potential for development goes through the city council. This practice is rooted in journalistic ethics and ensures transparency by identifying potential conflicts of interest with the goal of holding public officials accountable and safeguarding the public’s trust in governance.
This yields nothing most of the time–but this time we found a match. One of the owners of this 68-acre parcel, Glen Synnott, donated $500 on April 17, 2025 to Council Member Jimmy Jenkins re-election campaign.
Synnott also donated $1,000 to current Mayor Sharon Foerster during her 2024 re-election campaign. A date of that donation was not provided on the form, which is dated April 18, 2024.
Again, these donations are not pointed out to imply impropriety, but as a matter of transparency.
PAC Report
Remember Protect and Serve, that PAC that sent the negative texts during May's council race? Well they finally filed their campaign finance forms, which are available on the city’s website.
Jimmy Jenkins was one of three candidates the PAC ran campaigns for, and he was the only one they opposed, according to the documents.
This PAC claims to support, "candidates and issues that support public safety, back law enforcement, and work to decrease violent crime," but the messages in their text were all about taxes. Literally not a single word about crime or law enforcement.
Not illegal, but certainly "sus" (as the kids say).
We gave John, the PAC’s treasurer, a call and asked why they chose to spend money in Smithville's race. He refused to comment. We left multiple messages and emails for Protect and Serve Texas back in April, which also went unanswered.
Are you a Smithville sleuth? What do you see? What links or connections are we missing? Hit reply and let us know where we should go with this story next!
Correction to Analysis
Following the publication of last week’s news analysis, the City of Smithville pushed back on the population data used in the article.
We contacted the Bond Review Board, which is where we got the data, and found they were using uncorrected Census data for the dataset. 🤦♀️
We verified the remaining data in the set and corrected the population and debt per capita numbers using Census data. The core analysis on taxable value surges and debt vulnerabilities remains unchanged.
We placed an editor’s note up top and have kept the chart and grafs we updated in the article at the end so you can see the changes.
We appreciate the city's input and regret any initial inaccuracies.
Orange and Black Scrimmage
Did you have fun at the Meet the Tigers pep rally last night?!?! Carry over that Tiger pride to the football stadium tomorrow (Saturday) for the annual orange and black scrimmage.
Bring your kids out and let them get autographs from all the players after the game!
On Tap For Next Week
Monday, Aug. 11: City Council meeting, 6pm, City Hall (agenda, packet)
Notice about 2025 Property Tax Rates
Monday, Aug. 11: Special School Board Meeting, 6pm, Admin (agenda)
(Does anyone want to help us cover this meeting?)
Wednesday, Aug. 13: First day of school!
From the Publisher
Last week when I pressed send on the newsletter, I’ll be really honest–I kind of thought that was it. I didn’t have the money to make it another month.
I was disappointed it didn’t work out, but I was proud of the work I put in. I was proud that I played to the whistle. I didn’t quit on myself or the community, even when the finances said the game was over. I could take that with me to whatever life had in store for me next.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see we got up to TEN members over the weekend! After seeing that I crunched the numbers and saw I had 50% of the revenue I need to sustain. I found myself at the intersection of “not enough to survive” and “too much to walk away.”
If I quit, it’s game over. I’m bankrupt and homeless.
If I stay and the business fails…well, I’m bankrupt and homeless.
I realized I can either let the fear of failure consume me or allow it to drive me and motivate me.
So I rolled the dice Smithville! Instead of waking up on Monday and packing my bags, I sat down and set up a full website for Smithville Texas News.
I have no idea what this month is going to hold. I am literally at the point in this business where it’s 50/50. I’m either going to crash and burn or I may be granted another month to serve.
But either way, I’m ALL IN.
I hope you are too.
P.S. If you are new here, the ALL IN is a reference to Issue # 18 where I talked about Oliver from Sailing with Phoenix. He wrote this on Friday and I found it soooo inspiring. Enjoy!
Have a great weekend Smithville,
~K
Kristen Meriwether
Publisher, Smithville Texas News
Kristen@smithvilleTexasNews.com
Follow us on X @NewsSmithville
