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Weimar Place 5 city councilman Kurt Scardino and Place 4 councilman Rex Kloesel resigned from their seats effective immediately, Thursday, March 5, to avoid ethical conflicts with the city considering hiring their cousin.
Scardino announced his resignation first, and City Manager David Mason announced Kloesel’s resignation in his statement the next day, Friday, March 6. Scardino and Kloesel’s first cousin had been offered the position of Finance Director with a potential start date a week away when the relationship was disclosed. Mason said the applicant “hadn’t realized [the relation] would be a problem.”
“This was truly an unfortunate chain of events that led us to where we are today,” Mason said in his statement posted to Facebook. “Neither the applicant or the council members knew what our personnel policy stated about nepotism. The HR Director and I were not familiar with the relationship that the applicant had with the council members.”
Mayor Carlton Tucker first questioned the relationship, prompting Mason to contact the applicant for clarification. Upon disclosure, Mason rescinded the offer and contacted the Texas Municipal League’s legal team for clarification on state and local law. A first cousin relationship is not prohibited under state nepotism laws but is under Weimar’s stricter nepotism guidelines. Scardino said he resigned to prevent the council from voting to amend the policy.
“I don’t believe it would be ethically appropriate for the counci l to amend the pol icy while I am still serving as a member of the counci l,” Scardino said in his statement posted to Facebook. “Additionally, I believe that someone’s livelihood and the opportunity for what could be a decades- long career are far more important than my position on the Council.” Scardino’s term would have ended in May 2027, but he said he had already decided not to seek reelection due to increasing work responsibilities. Kloesel’s term would have ended in May 2026. The council intends to accept the resignations and declare the positions vacant, this upcoming Thursday, March 12, according to the meeting’s agenda. Tucker said the Place 4 position will be up for reelection in May.
“My thoughts for…the second opening is that we would solicit people who might be interested in that role on the council and then provide those names to the council,” Tucker said about the Place 5 position. “Then they would come up with some decision as to which way they would like to proceed. We would then appoint that person, and then they would serve basically that year or a little less to fulfill that term.”
Scardino and Kloesel’s resignations pave the way for their cousin to be offered the position once more. Mason said he still believes the applicant is “the best candidate for the Finance Director position.”
“He grew up in Weimar, and is raising his children here and has a strong financial background,” Mason said. “He has full support from many people in our community.”
Mason also announced changes to applications for city jobs to prevent future conflicts. The application previously asked, “Do any of your friends or relatives work here?” and will be updated to ask, “Are you related to any elected official or current employee?”.
