A group of Granbury residents filed recall petitions against Mayor Jim Jarratt and four city council members this week, marking the latest chapter in a months-long dispute over the proposed Project Patriot data center and the city's handling of the project.
The petitions, filed Monday at Granbury City Hall, seek the removal of Jarratt and council members Skip Overdier, Bruce Wadley, Zeb Ullom and Greg Corrigan.
Organizers declined to say how many people signed the petitions, but claimed each petition contained more signatures than the number of votes each official received in their most recent election. The signatures will need to be verified before any further action can be taken.
One of the recall organizers, Jacob Herbold, said the effort was not driven by personal animosity toward elected officials, but by what organizers see as a failure to be transparent with residents.
“We don't take this lightly," Herbold said. “But we need people that will communicate with the stakeholders, with the constituents, and not sign non-disclosure agreements with anything that would prevent them from communicating with the citizens.”
The recall campaign stems from ongoing concerns over the city's transparency during the annexation and rezoning of the roughly 2,000-acre Knox Ranch property, where Dallas-based Bilateral Energy has proposed Project Patriot, a large-scale power generation and artificial intelligence data center campus.
Residents have spent months voicing concerns about the project's environmental impacts, infrastructure demands and the city's communication with the public.
Organizers with the group Granbury Grassroots described the filing as a response to what they called a breakdown in public trust.
"The trust essential to effective public service has been broken," the group said. "We are asking for leaders who will operate in the light of day, rather than behind closed doors."
The grassroots effort was organized by more than two dozen volunteers who canvassed neighborhoods throughout Granbury collecting signatures.
Organizers also reiterated concerns about alleged "walking quorum" violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act and procedural issues surrounding the Knox Ranch annexation.
Those allegations are the subject of ongoing litigation filed by Hood County property owners, and have not been proven in court.
The recall petitions represent another escalation in a controversy that has dominated public meetings in Granbury for months.
Just last week, more than 800 residents submitted petitions asking the city council to hold a vote of no confidence in City Manager Chris Coffman and City Attorney Jeremy SoRelle.
The petitions argued the two officials misled residents about the city's knowledge of Project Patriot before annexing Knox Ranch and called for greater accountability from city leadership.
The council accepted the petitions during public comment but took no action, citing its meeting procedures.
Unlike the no-confidence petitions, the recall effort is governed by provisions in the Granbury city charter that allow voters to seek the removal of elected officials through a petition process.
Organizers say they met the threshold required to submit the petitions, and the city is expected to review and verify the signatures before determining whether the petitions meet the legal requirements to move forward.
KERA reached out to the city for comment on the potential recall. A spokesperson said the city was preparing a statement, but did not provide one by the publication of this story.
Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela is KERA's breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Emmanuel at erivas@kera.org. KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members.
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