(Seguin) — The Guadalupe County Commissioners Court may provide a big and much needed assist to the city of Marion. The Marion City Council hasn’t met in months. That’s due to the fact that it hasn’t had enough members to establish a quorum. In fact, after the recent resignation of Mayor Daniel Loyola, the city of Marion is down to just two councilmembers. Mayor Pro-tem Abigaile Maberry is one of the last two standing, along with Alderman Deshon Blyden. Maberry is expected to present a petition signed by Marion citizens asking the commissioners court to call for a special election to fill the five vacant alderman positions on the Marion City Council. The action, if taken by the court, would allow the city of Marion to host a special election on Tuesday, November 5.
The city of Marion has been in turmoil for quite sometime. There’s been in-fighting and finger-pointing over a number of issues. As a result, there have been vacant positions unfilled and resignations that have led to the council’s inactivity. Who’s to blame for all of this? That’s not entirely clear, but apparently there is a great deal blame to go around. One thing that is clear is that the election that should have been held in May was missed because the city didn’t submit the proper paperwork in time to get on that ballot.
The lack of meetings has created a great deal of challenges for the city, because there was no formal oversight from its city council. Even if the election is approved, it’s unclear if this would stop much larger problems from surfacing in the near future. Marion’s new fiscal year would begin on October 1. Generally speaking a new budget and tax rate would need to be approved before that date. But because the council doesn’t have a quorum, it leads to a major question about what happens on October 1. With no budget adopted, would the city be able to legally expend public funds for any purpose, including to cover payroll expenses. Those are the kinds of questions that will need to be answered later, but the first hurdle has to be restoring the council to its full capacity.
In other business, the commissioners court is expected to receive a presentation on the Cordova Road improvement project. The project calls for major upgrades to be made to the roadway between State Highways 46 and 123. There’s major residential growth occurring on that portion of Cordova Road, and the widening work is greatly needed. The project is being jointing funded by the city of Seguin and Guadalupe County, with the bulk of the funding coming from federal dollars issued by the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (AAMPO).
Commissioners are also slated to discuss a feedback survey sent out by the Guadalupe Appraisal District. The appraisal district is in need of additional office space, and it has provided a couple of options for the various taxing entities that they serve to consider. Those taxing entities provide the funding to run the appraisal district office.
The meeting of the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court gets underway at 10 a.m. today in the Commissioners Courtroom on the third floor of the Guadalupe County Courthouse.