Kyle Councilman Ray Bryant has resigned, he announced at a council meeting Jan. 28.

Although Bryant's resignation is effective immediately, he retains his duties as an elected official until he is replaced or someone else is voted in.

Bryant told Community Impact Newspaper he intends to continue attending meetings until the May city elections.

Bryant, a municipal account manager for Texas Disposal Systems, he said he made the decision in September to resign from his District 6 post but did not want to burden taxpayers with a special election.

With his attendance record at meetings slipping, the councilman said he did not want to do a "half-hearted job."

"I just couldn't be here and do what the people put me in office to do," Bryant said. "I was absent too often because my job had become more demanding."

His work at the Creedmoor-based TDS, which provides waste and recycling services to municipalities in the state, involves securing contracts with cities, which entailed a lot of travel, he said.

"I just owe it to the people to be honest with them," Bryant said. "I think they expect 150 percent. I was limping along, and it was very uncomfortable for me."

The District 6 representative has served intermittent terms on the council since 2007 when he was tapped to fill a vacancy and later won an elected term. Bryant stepped down to run for county commissioner but failed in that bid and was later re-elected to the council in May 2012.

His resignation adds one more race to the city election ballot, and the council is now guaranteed to have at least two new faces, with Mayor Lucy Johnson announcing in December that she isn't running for a third consecutive term.

The terms of council members Becky Selberra of District 2 and David Wilson of District 4 are also up this May.