Mayor called out on missed meetings Airola said absences are related to his work
Mayor Dwayne Ariola is pushing back after a councilman took to social media last week to air concerns the town’s chief executive is missing too many important City Hall meetings.
According to records, Ariola has missed five of 19 regularly scheduled City Council sessions since he was selected by a majority vote of his fellow council members to serve as mayor on May 14, 2024.
However, Ariola countered that four of the five absences were work-related and his attendance at the functions was mandatory.
The mayor chalks up the other missed session to doing city business – an economic development trip to South Korea with officials from Williamson County and surrounding communities that was planned before Ariola became mayor.
Councilman Robert Garcia, though, said the absences are still too many, and went on social media last week to make his argument.
“It is nothing short of disgraceful that the mayor has missed a staggering 25% of City Council meetings over the past 10 months. These absences aren’t just a matter scheduling — they are a dereliction of duty that has had a measurable impact on the governance of this city,” Garcia wrote.
He added, “The mayor was elected to lead, to show up and to take responsibility for the decisions that shape our community. Instead, he has repeatedly failed to be present, forcing delays in important votes and grinding critical city business to a halt.”
The post was shared with several other Taylor online groups.
Garcia, who is not seeking reelection May 3 to the District 4 seat, said Ariola has a responsibility to attend more sessions.
“If you miss one here or one there, that’s fine, but when you miss 25% or more of the meetings? We’re never going to see eye to eye, but when he does stuff like this, it’s just blatant disregard for staff and the community,” Garcia told the Press.
Garcia also said he has tried to get items posted to the agenda only to have them delayed if Ariola is going to be out of town.
“The bad part of it is, if he’s not going to be at a meeting, the mayor’s the one who sets the council agenda. He pushes everything off that’s important until he’s here,” Garcia said. “This week was a very underwhelming light agenda. The reason why that is, and I spoke with staff, is because the mayor is out of town and he wants to be here for key decisions and key discussions.”
The 25-percent absence ratio refers only to regular meetings and does not take into account the four specialcalled council meetings and multiple workshops which Ariola did attend.
Taylor’s City Charter does not mention attendance requirements for council members.
Ariola labeled as “laughable” the claim he is holding up city business by not allowing issues to be added to the agenda for sessions where he is not on the dais.
He acknowledged the agenda for the April 10 gathering, which he did not attend, was sparse with only four items, but told the Press, “That was with the input of all my senior staff.”
“Our agendas are generated by what’s going on those particular times,” Ariola added.
The record shows two of the meetings the mayor missed had fewer agenda items than the meetings that followed, but two others had more items than the following meetings.
Ariola answered Garcia’s April 10 socialmedia post with one of his own April 11.
“Thank you to the citizens who sent me the screen capture of Councilman Garcia’s accusatory FB post on a private page I’m told. I wouldn’t know as he has me blocked and I cannot see his post,” the mayor said.
He recounted for his followers the number of absences and reasons for them, as well as reminding them of his voting patterns on key items before he became mayor.
Ariola also said he expects city governance to run more smoothly after the May 3 elections, when Garcia’s replacement is voted in.
City Hall observers noted Garcia and Ariola have long had an acrimonious relationship.
In addition to Garcia, District 1 Councilman Gerald Anderson is not seeking another term, so there will be two new representatives joining freshmen council members Shelli Cobb of District 2 and District 3’s Kelly Cmerek.
Ariola is an elected atlarge council member.
An amendment approved by voters during the last election cycle means future mayors will be selected by voters, not by fellow members of the council.
“I look forward to working with the next District 4 council member, whoever that is,” Ariola wrote in a Facebook post.
The mayor said the next council meeting, scheduled for April 24, will have an agenda item for establishing a committee to suggest future changes to the charter.
Permanent changes are approved by the electorate.
With two council members who have currently served less than a year and two newly elected members, Ariola will be the only experienced member on the dais, he said.
“We’re going to establish it (kick-off committee) with the new council members. I neither require nor desire the outgoing two council members’ input for a charter they’ll have nothing to do with,” he said.
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“(The mayor) has repeatedly failed to be present, forcing delays in important votes and grinding critical city business to a halt.”
— District 4 Councilman Robert Garcia
“ ““I look forward to working with the next District 4 council member, whoever that is.”
— Mayor Dwayne Ariola
