MARION,
Texas – During the first week of July, two City of Marion officials tendered their resignations.
The former mayor, Daniel H. Loyola, resigned on Monday. The city’s former secretary, Suzanne Gonzales, resigned on Tuesday.
In his resignation letter, Loyola said he was “done” and cited a “constant undermining of decisions.”
According to Gonzales’ resignation letter, she held a similar sentiment. Gonzales said her resignation stems from Mayor Pro Tem Abigaile Maberry’s “intimidation by emails, bullying in emails, unsubstantiated accusations and … unethical behavior.” Gonzales only referred to Maberry by her title rather than name.
Gonzales said Thursday that she wasn’t available to speak with KSAT prior to the publishing of this story.
However, over the phone, Loyola said
there was “a lot of undermining by a city council member.”
“For the better of the city, obviously, she thinks she can do better, so I’m out,” Loyola told KSAT, referring to Maberry.
“Our records in Marion are not there,” Maberry told KSAT. “They’re lacking. Tremendously lacking. We are way far behind on minutes being posted. We are lacking at least two years, if not more, of
videos being uploaded.”
According to the state, “if the mayor fails, is unable, or refuses to act, the president pro tempore shall perform the mayor’s duties and is entitled to receive the fees and compensation prescribed for the mayor.”
However, Maberry said she won’t refer to herself as the mayor until issues in the city are addressed.
“Yesterday, when we called the bank with city staff in order to remove Mr. (Daniel) Loyola and Mrs. (Suzanne) Gonzales from the bank accounts and to change all of the online access because they’re no longer with the city, we were told by the bank that in December — December 27th of 2023 — the city secretary and the mayor came in together and removed me from the bank account,” Maberry said.
According to emails KSAT obtained through Maberry from Marion State Bank, Loyola and Gonzales are the only two people listed on the accounts.
“I don’t know who was on the account before, so anything before November 20th, I don’t know,” Loyola said.
Maberry said the only two people with access to city funds are two people who no longer work for the City of Marion.
“There’s nobody in the town just to sign a check,” Maberry said.
Maberry said she is working with the city attorney to add her name to the bank accounts so bills can be paid and city issues can be handled.
However, she told KSAT there is a laundry list of issues that haven’t been addressed in years. Maberry also said she
has reached out to multiple state officials for assistance.