MARION, Texas – The City of Marion is without a leader. Its city council hasn’t met in months and, earlier this week, two officials resigned.
One of the officials was the mayor, Daniel H. Loyola, who was voted into office roughly six months prior to resigning. The other resigning official was the city’s former secretary Suzanne Gonzales.
Gonzales admitted her shortfalls and said she takes responsibility for why a city council election leaving the city was not held in May.
However, according to her resignation letter obtained by KSAT, Gonzales cited “bullying” as the reason for her resignation.
“There has been a continuing pattern of bullying on social media, in emails, both out into the public and within our office,” Gonzales said. “A lot of those directed to me, my job performance. There’s been lots and lots of emails back and forth to the mayor.”
Gonzales told KSAT that these issues stemmed from Mayor Pro Tem Abigaile Maberry, who KSAT spoke with on July 4.
“My position is the only one in city hall who’s running things,” Gonzales said. “I wear many hats. There were 62 different major job responsibilities.”
Gonzales said she didn’t know Loyola was going to resign when he did. She said she only knew he was “unhappy.”
“When he did, I felt that there was going to be more pressure and more attacks, lashing out, if you will, towards me,” Gonzales said. “And I can’t let someone bully me.”
“There’s a lot of finger-pointing. A lot of going back and forth,” Loyola told KSAT in a July 4 phone interview. “I was, like, the citizens don’t need this. They really don’t.”
With no one assuming the mayoral position, Maberry is now responsible for the mayor’s duties, according to state statute.
According to Maberry and Gonzales, some of the city’s issues are due to the lack of a city council. It’s an issue that stems from Gonzales’ admitted failure to put out a notification for an election.
“That is a failure on my part, and I’ve taken responsibility for that,” Gonzales said. “Immediately upon realizing that I made that mistake, I reached out to our mayor. I reached out to our city attorney and the voters office in Guadalupe County. So, I wasn’t trying to hide anything. It was certainly not intentional.”
The city is expected to be without a mayor and without a city council for months.
“There won’t be an election until November, unless the governor would call a state of emergency,” Gonzales said.
In addition to no city council and no mayor, no one currently employed by the City of Marion has access to sign any checks.
Marion State Bank documents obtained by KSAT show that the only two people listed on city accounts are the two people who resigned, Loyola and Gonzales. Maberry told KSAT that Loyola and Gonzales removed Maberry from the accounts in December 2023.
“We only removed her because there are only two signatures that are required for checks and paying invoices,” Gonzales said. “So, it’s typically been the mayor and the city secretary only.”
Gonzales said Maberry was only on the accounts prior to December because Maberry was the acting interim mayor after the elected mayor, prior to Loyola, also resigned from office.
With little leadership in sight for voters, KSAT asked Gonzales what her advice to voters would be.
“Gather your questions and make them very, very specific about what you’re asking for and start requesting open records request,” Gonzales said. “That’s the best advice I can give them at this point in time.”
However, she also told KSAT that her position was the position that fulfilled open records requests. With that position vacant, Gonzales said she is unsure who would fulfill open records requests.
More Marion city officials’ resignations coverage on KSAT: