ROCKDALE, Texas — The City of Rockdale is looking for a new mayor after former Mayor Brett Boren resigned after moving outside city limits.
- The City of Rockdale is considering holding a special election or appointing a council member to serve as mayor.
- Holding a special election would cost the city about $865, according to City Manager Barbara Holly.
- But Holly says they're working with the Texas Secretary of State to determine the process.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Brett Boren is moving outside the city of Rockdale, leaving our community without a mayor.
“He was given opportunity to build a great house on his in-laws' land, and he's done that, and it will, unfortunately, make him ineligible to be the mayor.“
Now, the city is split on how to name a new leader.
To local resident Dorothy Howard-Isom, the answer is clear.
“They can just appoint someone," she said.
But city manager Barbara Holly tells me it’s not that simple.
“So, we're working with the Secretary of State to find out what the process is because if it's within a year of the election in May, then the city council appoints that position, and if it's before that, then we got a special election," Holly said.
Holly says holding a special election before may would cost about $865 of your local taxpayer dollars.
A waste — Howard-Isom calls it
“They can spend this money in other places like repairing some of the streets here in rockdale. It’s horrible," she said.
Especially since the role is ceremonial
“They don’t vote, but they have a lot of sway, typically just through their personality of setting up initiatives for what needs to happen or how they want the city to move forward and setting budgets," Holly said.
Either way the city is looking to fill the position immediately, but Howard-Isom doesn’t care to have a choice…
“I don’t feel my vote is gonna count one way or the other because at the end of the day, I feel like they're gonna do what they want to do," she said.
