By Zoe Pickett

The Cullen town meeting for February 18, was canceled with no explanation, leaving residents with more questions than answers after an already worrisome meeting held on February 6 where residents were informed they would no longer have trash pickup.

One of the first items discussed during the February 6 meeting included an ordinance amendment that affected the town business’s hours of operation.

When asked to read the amendment Cullen’s town lawyer Michael Kelly, read “All businesses located within the town of Cullen shall be closed at 2 AM and shall not reopen until 6 AM the following morning with the only exception being the enterprise zone beginning at Martin Luther King and ending at Murphy Street. These businesses should be extended until 2 AM. No one should be on the business premises no later than 30 minutes after closing time.”

Kelly suggested the council vote on revising this ordinance as it is unclear as to what the wording should read regarding the differentiation between the businesses inside and outside of the enterprise zone.

Following this discussion, Mayor Terry Hoof stated that Kelly would rewrite the ordinance and present it to the council.

In the same meeting, residents were told that Knights Services would no longer be picking up their garbage as they have been doing for the last 9 years.

“We are $22,000 in the hole,” Kelly said in reference to the balance owed to Knights Services. On February 14, Knights Services was reportedly seen picking up trash cans from the residents’ homes in Cullen.  

Residents are paying a fee on their water bill specifically for garbage pick-up and will continue to do so. No one from Cullen Town Hall was available for further comment.

With no long-term solution, the taxpayers of Cullen must wait until the next meeting on Monday, February 24, 2025, at 6 p.m.