MARLIN, Texas — “So there's a lot of things that she doesn’t follow through with. She says one thing and another thing happens,” activist Valerie Mann said.
Since claims of animal abuse at the city animal shelter earlier this year, people in Marlin have been showing up to public meetings to voice their concerns to city leaders about a variety of issues.
The trend continued on Tuesday, as a group of activists began the process of attempting to recall Marlin Mayor Susan Byrd.
“We’re hearing the residents. We can’t do this for them but we’re going to stand next to them and help them recall to get new leadership and bring justice,” activist Dorothy Sanders said.
The group planned to announce its recall efforts during Tuesday's charter commission meeting but instead went to city officials earlier.
The activists told me they spoke with the City Secretary about requesting a recall petition form.
“What the secretary told her and validated with me is that you do not need a petition form. She said you just need to get a regular notebook and get signatures from whoever and come back,” Sanders said.
The Secretary’s response left a lot of uncertainty.
“We know that’s not true that violates the TML handbook so we are actually reaching out to the Secretary of State to get the proper procedure,” Sanders said.
For the recall to pass there will have to be at least 10 percent of registered voters that live in Marlin to sign the petition.
According to a document from the Secretary of State, there are currently 2,600 active voters in Marlin—meaning there must be more than 260 signatures for the recall to pass.
Starting April 27th, recall organizers said they will collect signatures at the Lucilleil Williams pavilion from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Wednesday and Saturday.
“We’re giving Marlin the chance to have a mayor that takes their public health seriously,” Sanders said.
