Recall
11 Aug 2023 Mr. Gerdes filed petitions with the City Secretary, Ms. Lee, for the Recall of Moize and McGinnis.
11 Aug 2023 City Secretary notifies Mr. Gerdes of the Moize Recall Petition rejection due to not meeting the requirements of the City Charter, Section 24.
16 Aug 2023 City Secretary notifies Mr. Gerdes of the McGinnis Recall Petition rejection due to not meeting the requirements of the City Charter, Section 24.
18 Aug 2023 Mr. Gerdes files a Writ of Mandamus against the City Secretary in the 91st District Court.
The following documents detail the history of the Recall through the Court Documents.
1 Sep 2023 Judge Herod of the 91st District Court Denies the Gerdes Writ
12 Dec 2023 Mr. Gerdes appeals the Judge Herod's Decision to the 11th Court of Appeals.
18 Jan 2024 11th Court of Appeals Grants Mr. Gerdes. Writ in part; thereby overturning the decision of the 91 District Court.
18 Jan 2024 The Appellate Court decision orders the City of Ranger to call a Recall Election by 18 February 2024. This placed the City of Ranger in a precarious position of violating other statutory laws regarding elections. Not calling the election would be a possible violation of the Court Decision. Calling the Election violated several requirements by the state; including public notices, moratoriums with other elections such as the Primaries and the Uniform Election Date, Early Voting, Mail-in voting, etc.
Prior to the 11th Court's decision, the arguments surrounded the City's Charter requirements of: 6 month Recall moratoriums, Elected vs Appointed/Elective, Sufficiency of signatures, etc.. The 11th Courts decision undermines not only Ranger's Charter, but many other Home Rule Cities in Texas. The Court determined that since the Charter does not specifically give authority to the City Secretary, or anyone else for that matter, no one has the authority to examine, authenticate or determine sufficiency of the petitions. Every Home Rule city in Texas is now subject to this removal of authority. Many, including Ranger, will need to amend their Charters that have worked for decades. This broad removal of authority within the charter may impact other areas due to the lack of specific authority in what is otherwise common in General Law Cities, if not traditionally in all Cities. It may be necessary to delineate every authority of the City Clerk/Secretary within the Charter.