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P&Z meeting: routine business, one week before the purge

Chair Darla Thornton ran an ordinary meeting with the mayor in the room. Minutes approved 5 to 0, a drainage study approved 5 to 0. Seven days later she and two colleagues were removed without stated cause.

July 7, 2026 · Planning & Zoning Commission
Agenda Minutes
Our standard on every page: anything tagged FACT has a document, recording, or firsthand account behind it. Anything tagged SPECULATION or OPINION is what we think, plainly labeled. If a record proves us wrong, we post the record and fix the page.

What happened

FACT: Per the minutes (published inside the August 4 P&Z packet), Madam Chair Darla Thornton presided, with commissioners Aaron Feldman, Dani Briones, Riley Swanston, and Gary Fitzjarrell present, and Jordon Collis and Russell Laughlin absent. The commission approved its June 2 minutes 5 to 0 and approved the Shady Oaks storm-drainage and water-metering item, conditioned on the city engineer’s written final report, 5 to 0. The meeting adjourned at 6:22 PM. Mayor Jones and City Attorney Kenan were both present.

Why this page exists

FACT: Nothing in these minutes records any criticism of any commissioner, any dispute, or any hint that a shake-up was coming. Seven days later, at the July 14 council meeting, Thornton, Swanston, and Collis were removed mid-term without stated cause, on an agenda that said only “appointments.”

OPINION: When the record shows a commission doing routine, unanimous work one week, with the mayor watching, and a purge the next, the burden is on the council to explain what changed. It still hasn’t.