PETITION ROUND #2: Change the City Charter
City Council rigged the rules. We’re leveling the playing field.
Local politicians changed our charter to protect themselves and make accountability harder.
It’s time to take our power back. Help us put these on the ballot in November.
PETITION ROUND 2: To ensure city leadership remains directly accountable on major local issues like data center developments, this amendment updates Temple’s charter to align with Texas recall standards. By changing the recall threshold from 30% of registered voters to 50% of turnout from the last city election, it removes artificial barriers that block citizens from challenging council decisions. Voting YES restores true grassroots oversight and empowers residents to hold officials accountable when public trust is compromised.
PETITION ROUND 2: Accountability, Oversight, put power back in the hands of the people
〰️
PETITION ROUND 2: Accountability, Oversight, put power back in the hands of the people 〰️
Help us win: Print the petition form and sign up friends and family!
Any Registered Temple Voter Can Sign! Forget about districts—as long as someone is a registered voter in Temple, they can sign your petition. Districts only exist to help us organize our volunteer groups.
Where can you collect signatures? Everywhere! Bring your petition form to church, youth sports games, the pool, or outside Walmart. If there are Temple voters there, go right ahead!
Our Goal: 3,000 Signatures Before August 1
We are collecting signatures to place a critical measure on the November ballot. It’s time for We the People of Temple to decide who stays in office—not politicians who protect themselves. Let’s STOP THESE ILLEGAL DATA CENTERS.
What does this mean for the data center fight?
Accountability: Makes it easier to remove council members who vote for corporate interests over community needs. (We will get them out in November)
Community Power: Gives residents immediate leverage when local officials ignore our voices regarding data center expansions.
True Representation: Ensures our elected leaders answer to Temple citizens, not corporate bidders.
2 PROPOSED CHANGES & WHY
Article 5.1 summary:
Change the threshold required to recall a city Councilmember or Mayor from
30% of total voters to 50% of votes cast in the last election.
Change Article 5, Section 5.1 from:
(a) The people of the City reserve the power to recall any elected officer of the City and may exercise such power by filing with the City Secretary a petition demanding the removal of the elected officer and signed by registered voters of the City equal in number to at least 30% of the registered voters of the City, in the case of the Mayor, or at least 30% of the registered voters in a single member district, in the case of a Councilmember elected from or appointed to represent a single member district.
(b) The required number of registered voters for the recall petition will be determined by the existing voter registration rolls maintained by the Bell County Elections Department on the date the petition is filed with the City Secretary.
Change To:
(a) The people of the City reserve the power to recall any elected officer of the City and may exercise such power by filing with the City Secretary a petition demanding the removal of the elected officer and signed by registered voters of the City equal in number to at least 50 percent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent election for the office of the member whose removal is sought, that was not a runoff election.
(b) The required number of registered voters for the recall petition will be determined by the election results as maintained by the Temple City Secretary.
Article 5.1 Discussion:
There are 58,000 registered voters in Temple, TX.
However, fewer than 7,000 actually vote.
Under the current rule, for example, it takes approximately 17,400 petition signatures to recall the Mayor. In his most recent, opposed election, the Mayor received less than 1,300 votes, with less than 2,000 people voting at all in that election.
1,300 votes to be Mayor
17,400 to recall him
7,000 active voters
Texas state law already uses this standard (Local Gov’t Code §21.102) and this general approach to petition thresholds as a percentage of actual votes cast, not total registration.
1,300 votes to be Mayor (700 against)
1,000 to recall him.
Article 4.3 summary:
Change the city council term limits from 3 to 2 and change the mayor's term limit from 3 to 1.
Remove the loophole for non-consecutive terms.
Change Article 4, Section 4.3 from:
No person may serve more than three consecutive terms as either a Councilmember elected from a single member district, or as the Mayor elected at large, except that a person serving as a Councilmember from a single member district, or the Mayor elected at large, at the time of the 2014 Charter amendments, may serve for a total of four consecutive terms in the office they hold at the time of the Charter amendments. All previous full, consecutive terms served by the current Councilmembers will count against the four consecutive terms allowed. A partial term to which a person is appointed or elected shall not be counted as a full three-year term for purposes of this Section, except that a partial term will be counted as a full three-year term if the person resigns or forfeits his office. This Section does not prohibit a person from serving three consecutive terms as a Councilmember from a single-member district, and then serving three consecutive terms as Mayor, or vice versa.
Change to:
No person may serve more than two terms in a lifetime as a Councilmember elected from a single-member district. No person may serve more than one term in a lifetime as the Mayor elected at large. All previous full terms served by the current Councilmembers will count against the terms allowed. A partial term to which a person is appointed or elected shall not be counted as a full three-year term for purposes of this Section, except that a partial term will be counted as a full three-year term if the person resigns or forfeits his office. This Section does not prohibit a person from serving two terms as a Councilmember from a single-member district, and then serving one term as Mayor, or vice versa.
Article 4.3 discussion:
Currently, the Mayor and Councilmembers serve 3-year terms.
Current term limits are “3 consecutive terms.”
So, a person could be on the city council forever. 9 years as a Councilmember, then 9 years as Mayor, then 9 years as Councilmember again, and so on forever.
That’s the consecutive loophole.
Even without the consecutive loophole, a person could serve 18 years continuously on the city council, which is far too long to be in office.
This amendment will change that to 2 terms for Councilmember and 1 term for Mayor, reducing the total time on the city council to 9 years maximum and removing the consecutive loophole while explicitly specifying lifetime limits.