Granbury leaders hired lawyer to sue city, halting recall petition over data center concerns

GRANBURY, Texas - Some of the Granbury city leaders who are subject to a recall petition are behind a lawsuit filed against the city, one that has halted plans to schedule the recall election.

Granbury leaders sue city

What we know:

In a court filing obtained and reviewed by FOX 4, several Granbury city leaders are behind a lawsuit filed on Tuesday that put plans to schedule a recall election on hold.

The suit, filed by Houston-based attorney Andy Taylor, claims a recall petition signed by registered voters in Granbury is invalid due to "fraud, forgery and other non-accidental defects on the part of one or more persons gathering signatures."

Granbury Mayor Jim Jarratt, Granbury Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Wadley, and Granbury City Councilman Skip Overdier are listed as plaintiffs in the suit. All three are subject to a potential recall election.

The lawsuit seeks to stop the recall election entirely.

Granbury data center fight

The backstory:

The recall elections were brought to city council after a petition was signed by 15% of Granbury's registered voters, totaling over 1,300 signatures.

Those residents expressed concern that city leaders did not disclose enough information after receiving data center concept plans that could be built on 2,200 acres of land annexed by the city earlier this year.

Per the city's charter, "Such petition shall contain a statement of the specific acts of misfeasance and/or malfeasance for which the removal is sought, and one of the signers of each petition paper shall make an affidavit as prescribed below."

At Tuesday's Granbury City Council meeting, city leaders were set to schedule the recall elections before Taylor announced the lawsuit. Following Taylor's announcement, Granbury City Attorney Jeremy SoRelle advised city leaders to stop the process of scheduling the recall election.

None of Jarratt, Wadley, or Overdier disclosed their involvement in the lawsuit on Tuesday night. The lawsuit was filed 30 minutes before the meeting began.

Residents walked out of last week's Granbury City Council meeting when Jarratt and city council members defended their previous actions and declined to resign.

What they're saying:

"A lot of people are mad."

Craig Jackson, a Granbury resident who volunteers with Voices of Granbury, the group that organized the recall petition. He disagrees with what the lawsuit states.

"It’s been blatantly disrespectful how they’ve treated citizens," Jackson tells FOX 4's David Sentendrey.

Jackson still expects the recall election to move forward, and says Voices of Granbury will continue to fight.

 "A lot of these city council members ran on transparency. Our mayor ran on transparency. And now we’re seeing his name on a lawsuit."

The other side:

Taylor ignored Sentendrey when asked for comment following the meeting. FOX 4 has emailed all plaintiffs in the lawsuit, but has not heard back at this time.