Magnolia City Council on Oct. 13 will discuss how it might replace recently resigned council member Buck Perino.
The conversation will center on whether to proceed with accepting applications from citizens and appointing a replacement or wait until the city’s next election in May to fill the vacancy.
Why now?
Perino said Monday he resigned in late September to accept a job opportunity with a contractor that has done business with the city in the past.
“I resigned because I took an opportunity that was presented to me, and I didn’t want a potential conflict of any sort,” Perino said.
Perino also wishes to spend more time at home with his family, which welcomed a baby last year, he said.
Voters elected Perino to the council in May 2025.
Items worth mentioning
The City Council could also move to put the city’s finances under a magnifying glass, including the volume of transfers from Magnolia's utility funds to cover other city expenses, just two weeks after approving the new fiscal year budget.
Council member Raymond Gaskin has put forward the idea. His item calls for a six-month financial review of the city's general fund and a review of all transfers from the water and wastewater funds used to balance the budget since 2017.
In a Facebook post earlier this month, Gaskin expressed alarm that Magnolia was transferring utility funds to cover other expenses. He wrote that he expects the state legislature to pass a new law next year that would restrict cities from using utility funds to cover the rest of their budgets.
Magnolia is transferring $295,000 from utilities to cover other expenses in this year's budget, namely engineering employee costs and the city's economic development corporation. In each of the two previous budget years, the city did more than $1 million in utility transfers, according to a budget overview.
Gaskin was the lone vote against adopting the city's budget at its Sept. 28 meeting.
Also on Tuesday's agenda for Magnolia is a proposal to approve a resolution to formalize the creation of a temporary ethics committee.
This comes after the council sought public input earlier this year on a new ethics policy for council members, appointed officials and city employees.
Magnolia's former Mayor Matthew “Doc” Dantzer faced several legal issues before leaving office earlier this year. Dantzer on Oct. 2 pleaded guilty to charges that he assaulted the city secretary while she was pregnant, according to ABC 13.
Also of note
The council will discuss whether to approve rezoning a planned 60-acre development called Pinemoor at FM 1488 and Mill Creek Road. The proposed ordinance calls for rezoning the land from rural to semi-urban residential. The development will have 216 single-family homes.
Looking ahead
Magnolia City Council will meet at 6 p.m. on Oct. 13 inside the Sewall Smith Council Chambers located at 18111 Buddy Riley Blvd., Magnolia, Texas.
