A brief but contentious meeting Monday night in Granbury gave residents and five elected officials a chance to address recall petitions tied to the controversy surrounding the proposed Project Patriot data center.
The recall effort targets Mayor Jim Jarratt, Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Wadley and council members Greg Corrigan, Gary "Skip" Overdier and Zeb Ullom. The petitions grew out of opposition to the proposed data center and power-generation campus at the former Knox Ranch property.
The city at first rejected those petitions but reversed course after a lawsuit from petitioners.
Residents who spoke during the public hearings accused city officials of failing to provide enough transparency about the development and other decisions involving the property.
Rachel Jacobson, one of the people involved in the recall effort, said residents should not have had to sue the city.
"We shouldn't have to take legal action against our own local government just to force you to follow your own city charter,” said Jacobson. “But that's exactly why we're here today. After endless delays and attempts to dodge accountability, you are finally sitting in those seats tonight. Because the citizens of Granbury forced you to.”
The recall effort stems from the controversy surrounding Project Patriot, a proposed large-scale power generation and artificial intelligence data center campus on roughly 2,000 acres at the former Knox Ranch.
People in Granbury have raised concerns about the city's transparency and its handling of the project, including allegations involving the Texas Open Meetings Act.
The Texas Open Meetings Act requires government bodies to provide proper notice of meetings and allow the public access to government deliberations.
In a separate lawsuit from April, Granbury residents alleged city officials tried to avoid creating a quorum during a January tour of a data center by staggering when officials attended, also known as a walking quorum.
The lawsuit also raised questions about public notice and access to documents related to the annexation of Knox Ranch.
The city initially rejected the five recall petitions in July, saying only 26 of more than 5,000 submitted signatures could be verified.
City officials also argued some signatures had incomplete addresses and that the allegations against the officials were too vague to meet legal requirements.
Nearly two weeks later, the city reversed course after recall organizers challenged that decision in court.
In an Aug. 24 filing with the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth, the city said it would present the petitions to the council within 15 days.
At Monday’s meeting, speaker Jacob Herbold criticized the council over what he described as a lack of transparency surrounding annexation, rezoning and the Knox Ranch property.
"But the fact is, Mayor Jarratt, and I believe the rest of you, you have not been very transparent,” said Herbold. “I don't think you guys are living up to that transparency that you've ran on.”
Jarratt defended the recall process while arguing that the petitions did not meet requirements under the city charter and Texas election law, which is what the city said when it first rejected the petitions.
He said the petitions contained problems with signatures, the way petition circulators explained the documents and the specificity of the allegations.
"There are many other issues that surround the validity of my recall petition,” said Jarrett. “Suffice it to say, I was elected by a majority of the electorate to represent all of the citizens of Granbury. I intend to serve my entire term. I will not resign.”
The petitioners with Grassroots Granbury denied that claim.
Councilmember Skip Overdier similarly challenged the allegations in his recall petition. He said he had never violated the Texas Open Meetings Act and argued the council does not have authority to determine whether the petitions are legally valid.
“The petition against me does not explain any substance whatsoever, which makes it impossible for me to defend my public record against a generic accusation that could potentially span over the past three years,” Overdier said.
Councilmember Zeb Ullom also pushed back on the allegations against him, saying the petition offered no evidence of an alleged Open Meetings Act violation.
"There are no pictures, no videos, no violations, no witnesses have come forward to say they've seen an illegal quorum,” he said. “There's literally no evidence anywhere, and there is not even a mention in the petition of when or where this allegedly happened.”
Under Granbury's charter, officials targeted by a recall can resign or challenge the allegations in court. None of the targeted city leaders resigned Monday night.
According to the city's charter, Since no official resigned, the council is required to order a recall election for the earliest date allowed under state law.
The city has said the recall election cannot be held in November because the petitions were verified after the deadline to order that election.
The earliest an election can be held is May 2027 unless a court orders otherwise.
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.
If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
