MARLIN, Texas — Tensions rose as City Manager Elza Daviss accused Mayor Susan Byrd of overstepping her authority, including unauthorized use of Daviss' signature and endangering a city employee, with the matter now referred to the district attorney.
- The Marlin City Council voted to extend the city's disaster declaration by 30 days in response to last month’s prolonged water outage.
- City Manager Elza Daviss accused Mayor Susan Byrd of misconduct, including unauthorized use of her signature stamp and endangering a city employee.
- The council tabled action on the allegations but confirmed the matter has been referred to the district attorney for further investigation.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Tuesday night the Marlin city council held a special called meeting where they voted to extend the city’s disaster declaration for another 30 days.
This comes after a prolonged water outage last month that left the city without water for more than a week.
Mayor Susan Byrd confirmed that the extension was recommended by a representative from the Texas Department of Emergency Management.
Next, the council discussed providing water relief credits and reimbursements to residents affected by last month’s outage — but ultimately, no action was taken.
The board then went into executive session for more than an hour, reviewing grievances, complaints and personnel matters related to both the city manager and mayor.
Marlin city manager, Elza Daviss, is alleging that Mayor Susan Byrd has violated multiple rules, regulations, and provisions of the city charter.
Daviss claims that while she was out on medical leave, Mayor Byrd used her signature stamp without permission to sign a document.
She is also alleging that the mayor sent a city employee to work at the animal control facility without proper protective equipment. The employee later reported the facility was infested with rats.
“This is an example of some of the history that Marlin has had to deal with beginning and ending with corruption,” said Marlin city manager Elza Daviss.
Daviss claims that the mayor’s recent actions have interfered with her ability to do her job effectively and that Mayor Byrd is "overstepping her boundaries."
The council said shortly before the meeting started, Mayor Byrd provided a written response to the Daviss’ allegations against her.
The council chose not to read the response aloud.
The city council tabled all action related to these matters but did confirm that they have been turned in to the district attorney for further investigation.
