LACY LAKEVIEW, Texas (KXXV) — Community members have made a second attempt to recall three Lacy Lakeview elected officials, submitting new petitions Thursday morning at City Hall.
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Advocates with the Texas Coalition Against Data Centers turned in petitions to remove Mayor Charles Wilson, Mayor Pro Tem Jonathan Olvera, and Council Member Ronnie Hurst from office. The petitions allege the officials violated laws by voting on items before public comment and accuse them of a lack of transparency regarding the proposed L2D2 Data District.
This is the coalition's second attempt. The city previously denied all three petitions because they lacked the required 200 registered voter signatures needed prior to submission.
"We've now achieved the goal — we've got over 200 signatures that they've been signed on ink to paper," said TA Smith of the Texas Coalition Against Data Centers.
Advocate David Nedbalek re-submitted the petitions Thursday morning, a task made possible in part thanks to support from neighbor Floyd Farmer, who offered his driveway to the coalition as a signature-gathering location.
"If I had my way I'd boot them all out," Farmer said. "I used to be a regular tenant of the city council, and I've seen so much stuff go on... They don't pay attention to the citizens, that's why I quit coming."
Smith said the signature-gathering effort drew organic interest from the community.
"We put up a tent, we put out lawn chairs, and, you know, we talked to the people. A lot of people just walked up and asked us what was going on," Smith said. "I can't testify for everybody else that talked, but several of the people I talked to feel like there's fear and unrest and there's trust issues now."
The city must now verify all 233 signatures. Smith said he hopes the petition sends a message to city officials regardless of the outcome.
"Hopefully they realize there are citizens out here that are concerned about things that are going on in the city council meeting, whether it's the data center project, the spoils agreement…or other kind of things that they're passing in here," Smith said.
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