With a low numerical requirement owing to poor turnout in city council elections, the effort to recall SMD 3 Rep. Harry Thomas secured “substantially more” than the 47 signatures required to trigger an election, which must now take place within 90 days of the petition’s issue date, which was May 13.
The City of San Angelo subcontracts the handling of elections through Tom Green County, and according to Elections Administrator Vona Hudson, running any election costs real money.
Asked about a cost estimate for the upcoming recall election via email, Hudson replied:
It will be hard to set a number until the election is called and decisions made on when the election is held, where the polling places, etc. would be…In the past elections for the City have run between approximately $20,000 to $35,000.
According to a news release from the San Angelo Data Center Coalition, Rep. Thomas, along with Mayor Tom Thompson and SMD 2 Rep. Joe Self were targeted for recall by the group who cited “a continuing pattern of inadequate transparency, insufficient public review, incomplete disclosure of material information, limited citizen engagement, failure to provide clear answers regarding the full scope and potential impacts of the proposed Skybox development, and questions regarding continuing ‘moving goal posts’ in the project’s reported scope since the project first entered public review.”
Rep. Thomas issued the following statement in response to the news:
“I’ve served on the City Council for more than 10 years. The entirety of that time has required doing thorough background research and factoring in public input when making choices that affect our community. I weigh every decision I’ve ever made on behalf of the 100,000 citizens in San Angelo. Every time I vote, I vote for all the citizens. I have no plans to resign from my position.“
