During the Tuesday morning meeting of the Brownwood City Council, a resolution in opposition of executive branch vaccine mandates was unanimously approved.

Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes updated those in attendance regarding recent talks held between the city and businesses that are currently expected to impose vaccine mandates.

“This has been an evolving issue certainly over the last month,” Haynes said. “We have met with all our employers and we have been in almost daily communication with our plant managers. I want to tell you guys that the local folks we’re dealing with and the plants that are here are great people and they’re working hard on your behalf and they’re doing what they can to try to assist. They have been nothing but professional and open and courteous with us in providing us with information and providing us with input.”

Haynes also shared details on the efforts to lobby legislators and federal elected officials.

“I have reached out to both of our senators’ office and I had a 30 to 45 minute conference call with Senator (Ted) Cruz’s office, including their policy expert in Washington, D.C. and got updates on what is being done,” Haynes said. “I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but I want to provide an honest evaluation of that call. The honest evaluation of that call is from a vote standpoint, the Republican Party does not have the votes to do much regarding the executive branch’s vaccine mandates.

“We also met at length with Congressmen (August) Pfluger. He made time to meet personally with representatives with 3M and Kohler and Superior Essex who chose to attend that meeting. He was available on a Zoom call and made about an half an hour of time for me separately to ask questions and some of his comments were similar to what we heard from Sen. Cruz.”

On Saturday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals imposed a temporary injunction on the vaccine mandate from the Biden administration that requires businesses to vaccinate and test its workers. Haynes stated there could be alternatives to the OSHA requirements for businesses with 100 or more employees, but that may not extend to businesses who are contracting with the federal government.

“Unfortunately, our biggest employers in town are federal contractors,” Haynes said. “From what we understand today, the Fifth Circuit injunction will not help either 3M or Kohler, and I’m not sure about Superior Essex.”

Haynes stated the city remained committed to testing any employees for COVID as a permitted alternative to mandatory vaccinations.

Following the vote on the resolution, Marc Followwell spoke on behalf of 1,500-plus 3M, Kohler, Superior Essex and Hendrick Medical Center-Brownwood employees, as well as business owners, attorneys and concerned private citizens who are against being vaccinated in order to retain their jobs.

“Please know, as a group, we are all grateful for what these employers have meant to these families and our local economy,” Followwell said. “But, as evident by the number of people we’ve had in attendance at these meetings, enough is enough. We will no longer sit on the sidelines and do nothing.

“What 3M is doing to its employees is not only unconstitutional, it’s downright unconscionable. 3M originally enacted their vaccine mandate without the option to test and set an original deadline of Dec. 8 to be fully vaccinated. To date, numerous employees have filed for their medical, religious, and reason of conscience exemptions. And to date, not a single local employee has had it rejected or accepted. What has happened is 3M corporate has sent back a series of highly inappropriate and intrusive questions that these employees have had to unwillingly answer in hopes to get a response. 3M’s response? Nothing. These employees have no idea if their exemptions are going to be granted.”

Followwell then issued a proposal to the city council if 3M employees were terminated due to their vaccination status.

“We are currently aware of the tax savings that 3M is currently getting by way of not being annexed into the city limits, however they are receiving city services,” Followwell said. “These savings are approximately $1.2 million per year that is missed revenue for our city. These savings include a $6 million a year waiver of valuation granted from the TCEQ state entity for air quality. If 3M fires a single soul, we will be looking into what it would take to annex them into the city limits and force them to pay their full taxes.”

Rusty Howell, who addressed the city council at its last two meetings regarding vaccine mandates and other governmental overreach topics, said, “If we will reverse abatements if they go along with their vaccinate mandates, even if we lose that business, I think there’s a lot of businesses in blue states that would love to come to Brownwood. I think we could be actively recruiting and promoting businesses that love the concept or people who stand on the Constitution and protect those rights.”

The resolution passed by the city council Tuesday reads as follows:

Whereas, the global pandemic known as COVID-19 has infringed upon the personal liberties and freedoms we all enjoy and have historically taken for granted; and

Whereas, the executive branch of our federal community government has issued various executive orders and other actions that will require many of our local workers to be vaccinated as a condition of continued employment; and

Whereas, we wish to express that we have heard from many valued members of our community, who oppose receiving a vaccination for various reasons including the fact that most available vaccinations are not fully FDA approved; and

Whereas, we wish to express that we have heard from many valued members of our community who have religious objections to the vaccine or the manner in which it was created or derived; and

Whereas, we have communicated with our local employers about the impact of the pending vaccine mandates and heard from our employers that the vaccine mandates may negatively affect the productivity of their businesses and our local economy; and

Whereas, the Mayor and City Council desire to pass a resolution stating that they are opposed to executive branch vaccine mandates.

Now, Therefore, in consideration of the forgoing matters, we, the Mayor and members of the City Council of Brownwood, Texas, do hereby adopt this resolution and do hereby affirmatively state that we are unanimously opposed to the current executive branch vaccine mandates, that we believe those mandates will negatively affect our residents and our economy, and that there are less intrusive means and alternatives to providing a safe and productive work environment.