Any Edinburg city council member under a felony indictment would be automatically suspended from office under a proposed charter change passed by the City Council Tuesday night. Council members voted 3-to-2 for the proposal which must also be approved by voters.
The council considered four options for dealing with an indicted council member – ranging from a vote to suspend or remove the elected official from office to an automatic forfeiture of office.
The proposed charter change comes more than a year after Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina was indicted by a Hidalgo County grand jury on charges of election fraud and illegal voting stemming from the 2017 election in which he was voted into office.