A Howardwick alderman resigned last week after he was booed by citizens at a city meeting following his motion to have a fellow alderman removed from office.
Donald “Doc” Holladay turned in his letter of resignation the day after the June 12 city meeting.
“After 20 years of dedicated service to improve this city, last night’s booing me was a slap in the face I will not soon forget,” Holladay wrote.
During the meeting, Mayor Greta Byars said she had received an opinion from someone at the Texas Municipal League (TML) that it is a conflict of interest for an alderman to be a volunteer fireman.
Alderman Brice Hawley is a member of the Howardwick Volunteer Fire Department; and following Byars’ reading of the opinion, Holladay quickly moved to dismiss Hawley from the city council.
The motion caused an uproar from several residents attending the meeting, objecting to the notion that Hawley has conflict.
“You don’t see a conflict?” Holladay asked the audience.
“No!” came the loud response, and one resident could be heard to say that it was a bigger conflict for Holladay’s son to be employed by the city.
Alderman Debbora Sharpton moved to table the issue until she and the city could get more information from TML. The motion to table was seconded and approved.
Last week’s meeting consumed almost three hours with the audience interjecting at several points on different topics and Alderman Johnny Floyd asking people to be calm about five times.
The council took no action on a letter about zoning from Kristina Rucker or on a separate agenda item about the Planning & Zoning Commission. There was, however, discussion about creating a P&Z commission comprised of four residents and one aldermen instead of the entire council.
No action was taken on agenda items about speed limits in the city or the city’s storm shelter. The council did approve a motion to put signatories on an old fire department account for the purpose of transferring those remaining funds to the volunteer fire department.
Coy Cooper presented a plan of action to accessibility issues at City Hall. That item was tabled.
The council approved up to $200 to purchase new flags for City Hall and the park.
Alderman Sharpton addressed a portion of recycling money that is being paid to a city employee and said those funds should be going directly into the city’s general fund. The council voted 4-1 to make that change with Holladay opposed.
Citizens comments at the meeting covered such topics as requesting city meeting times be moved back to 7:00 p.m. so more people can attend, recognition for the city secretary’s efforts on the water issue, and an admonition that the mayor should take ownership for what’s happening in the city instead of blaming previous administrations.
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