Her colleagues said Daniel missed about 75 percent of council meetings last year as rumors circulated earlier this week that she planned to step down from her Post 2 seat.
Council attendance records obtained from the city clerk show Daniel missed a total of 29 meetings over her two years in office — 23 in 2017 alone.
When reached by phone Thursday in an attempt to set straight the rumors that she would resign, Daniel declined to comment. Friday morning, however, she tenured her resignation to the city, citing personal reasons and asking that her family’s privacy be respected. According to her Facebook page, Daniel has traveling back and forth between Kennesaw and Augusta recently to care for her mother.
Repeated attempts to reach her again Friday afternoon to ask what factored into her decision proved unsuccessful as she did not return calls, texts or emails by press time.
Mayor Derek Easterling and City Manager Jeff Drobney said council members plan to discuss the matter at Tuesday evening’s meeting, and a special, city-wide election will be called to fill the vacancy. Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler said it is up to the city to call a special election in either March or May.
Daniel was elected to the council in 2015 and her term was set to expire at the end of 2019.
Former councilwoman Cris Eaton-Welsh, who served six years on Kennesaw’s council, said Daniel has been a “complete disappointment” since taking office two years ago.
“I have noticed considerable absences for the past year,” she said. “She would miss three and then come to one. It was ridiculous.”
Speaking ahead of Friday’s announcement, the former councilwoman said Daniel’s resignation would be “one of the best things that could happen for our city.”
Eaton-Welsh said she missed just one meeting during her time in office. Her former colleague Bill Thrash, who died in office after a long battle with cancer in 2013, missed just five meetings over three terms, she said.
“Even while dying of cancer, he would call in — he would make efforts,” said Eaton-Welsh. “(Daniel) could have done telephone call-ins. There was no reason for her to miss a meeting. There was no reason for her to just no-call-no-show. If she had been with an employer, she would have been fired.”
Councilman Chris Henderson, who took office this month, said he was irked by the frequency of Daniel’s absences when he started regularly attending council meetings early last year.
“I was very worried about the number of meetings council members could miss without any ramifications,” he said. “It’s frustrating because you take that position to serve the people, and if you’re only attending one out of every four meetings, that’s not doing justice to the people who have put you there.”
He said numerous constituents reached out to him frustrated that Daniel was being paid each month to do what they described as a quarter of the work.
Because of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday on Monday, next week’s council meeting will be held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Kennesaw City Hall, 2529 J.O. Stephenson Avenue.