Mayor and city council recall, Granite Shoals, Texas (2020)

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Granite Shoals Mayor and City Council recall
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Officeholders
Carl Brugger
Bruce Jones
Recall status
Resigned
See also
Recall overview
Political recall efforts, 2020
Recalls in Texas
Texas recall laws
Mayoral recalls
City council recalls
Recall reports

An effort in Granite Shoals, Texas, to recall Mayor Carl Brugger and Councilman Bruce Jones was initiated in August 2020.[1] Petitioners submitted enough valid signatures to put the recalls on the ballot for an election on May 1, 2021, but both Brugger and Jones resigned prior to the election.[2][3]

On October 13, 2020, Carl Brugger resigned from his position as mayor, citing the recall effort. He wrote in his resignation letter that he hoped that stepping down would reduce tensions in the city.[4] Brugger was first elected in 2015 and would have been unable to run for re-election in May 2021 due to term limits.[5] Bruce Jones subsequently resigned on October 27, 2020. Because both officials resigned the recall election was canceled; the city charter specifies that a recall election cannot be held for councilmembers who resign.[3]

Recall supporters

The recall effort was organized by Citizens’ Rights Group of Granite Shoals in response to a unanimous vote by the city council on August 4, 2020, to give City Manager Jeff Looney a $37,000 raise and four weeks of vacation.[6] On August 11, 2020, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Davant made a motion to rescind the pay increase. The motion was seconded by Councilman Ron Munos, but the motion failed by a 5-2 vote. Brugger, Jones, and councilmembers Libby Edwards, Steve Hougen, Will Skinner voted against the motion.[7]

Recall opponents

Davant defended the decision to vote in favor of a raise for Looney. He said, "He’s done an excellent job. He has 34 years of experience, and he has a good education. We did a survey with a third party. They came back with midpoints, minimums, and maximums. When we looked, Jeff Looney was at rock bottom. I know people are critiquing us. It’s easy to pick cities in West Texas (to compare to Granite Shoals). Those cities aren’t adjacent to Austin and to us, and they don’t have the cost of living we have here."[6]

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing recall in Texas

Recall organizers were required to submit valid signatures equal to 6.5% of the city's registered voters—152 signatures—to force a recall election. On October 9, 2020, City Secretary Elaine Smith announced that 186 signatures were found valid out of the 221 signatures handed in.[2]

See also

External links

Footnotes