Granbury officials are reversing course on five recall petitions targeting the mayor and four city council members.
The city told the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth that City Secretary Carla Walker will present the petitions to the Granbury City Council within 15 days.
The city initially rejected the petitions saying it could not verify the signatures and that the allegations in the petitions were not valid.
But in a letter filed with the appeals court Aug. 24, the city said it had reviewed the law again and would present the petitions to the council.
But Art Martinez de Vara, the attorney representing the petition organizers, says the city's filing does not resolve the case.
The biggest concern for Martinez de Vara is when exactly an election will take place.
The ordinary deadline for ordering a Nov. 3 election passed Aug. 17. Martinez de Vara says the appeals court can still require a November election and is asking the court to provide guidance on the timeline.
“They've clearly shown an inability to follow the election law,” said Martinez de Vara. “We're asking the court to issue a ruling to give them guardrails and so that they don't pull any other shenanigans and to make sure the election is held in November.”
He also argues the city's proposed 15-day timeline is too late. The city says the petitions will be presented within 15 days of its Aug. 24 filing, but Martinez de Vara says the charter's 15-day period should have begun when the petitions were submitted July 13.
But even with the city moving forward, Martinez de Vara says the way officials handled the case is unusual.
"I've never, in my 20-year career doing this type of law, seen a city just send a letter to the court saying, don't worry, we'll take care of it," Martinez de Vara said.
Under the Granbury city charter, once recall petitions are presented, targeted officials can resign, allow the recall process to move forward or challenge the allegations in state district court.
If an official does not resign, the charter says the council must order a recall election for the earliest date permitted by state law unless a court intervenes.
The move comes after recall organizers Daniel Piatt and Janet Logsdon challenged the city's July decision to reject the petitions. The petitions target Mayor Jim Jarratt, Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Wadley and council members Greg Corrigan, Skip Overdier and Zeb Ullom.
The recall effort grew out of opposition to the proposed Project Patriot data center and power-generation campus at Knox Ranch. Organizers have accused city officials of withholding information and avoiding scrutiny of the project's potential environmental effects.
KERA News reached out to the city and the city's outside counsel for comment. A spokesperson referred any questions to City Attorney Jeremy SoRelle and will update this story with a response.
City officials have maintained that no formal development proposal has been submitted for evaluation at Knox Ranch.
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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