City Council to discuss recall petition for Miller

A recall petition against District 4 Gonzales City Councilmember Ronda Miller is one of the top items on the agenda with Gonzales City Council meets Thursday, Nov. 14 at City Hall.

A recall petition started by registered voters who reportedly live in Miller’s district was submitted to City Secretary Kristina Vega on Monday, Nov. 4. The petition has 313 signatures and 276 of those 313 signatures were found to be valid, according to the city council’s agenda packet for the upcoming meeting.

Article VI, Sec. 6.02 of the City of Gonzales Charter states “any elected city official … shall be subject to recall and removal from office by the qualified voters of the city on grounds of incompetency, misconduct or malfeasance in office.”

A petition has to be signed by qualified voters of the councilmember’s district equal in number to at least 25 percent of the total number of registered voters registered to vote in that district at the last regular City election.

The number of registered voters for District 4 at the last regular election was 1,040 qualified voters. Twenty-five percent of the number of registered voters would be 260, meaning the petition presented has enough verified signatures to meet the threshold.

Miller was notified by certified mail on Nov. 5 and Vegas placed the recall petition on the agenda for the Nov. 14 meeting, which is within 10 days of the filing of the petition to the city in accordance with the law. Miller can request a public hearing be held not less than five days nor more than 15 days after the petition is received to present any pertinent facts why she should not be subject to recall.

The council meeting will starts at 6 p.m. and will be livestreamed on the city’s official Facebook page.