BASTROP, Texas — A political battle is brewing in Bastrop, as hundreds of residents want the mayor out of office.
In April, Mayor Lyle Nelson was officially reprimanded after his alleged involvement in an investigation into misuse of city money. Now a petition with more than 1,700 signatures seeks to remove the mayor from office altogether.
John Kirkland, a Bastrop City Council member and the mayor pro-tem, said the petition accuses Nelson of abusing his power and interfering with a financial investigation into a contractor he allegedly had an affair with.
“The mayor knew what had happened when the allegations came out about the misuse of public funds, and then he lied about it,” Kirkland said. “He refused to turn over critical evidence that showed that there was some validity to those allegations.”
While Nelson was formally reprimanded by the city’s ethics board and stripped of some of his mayoral duties, Kirkland said citizens asked to take it a step further.
“Several citizens reached out to me and asked, ‘Is it possible to recall our mayor and how would we do that?’,” Kirkland said.
He said he created the petition.
“We’re trying to restore integrity to our city government, and we’re trying to do the right thing for the people of Bastrop,” Kirkland said. “It's about a proven unethical mayor who can no longer do the job that he was elected to do, and the public has expressed that through this recall petition."
Kirkland said over the past three months, 19 people have volunteered to help him collect over 1,700 signatures from Bastrop residents. He said 1,620 are from registered voters.
One of the volunteers gathering signatures is Bastrop native Jordan Scott.
“This is a chance for Bastrop to be able to hold someone that we elected in office accountable,” Scott said. “At the end of the day, if our town wants to keep them and they want to forgive him, that's going to be reflected at the ballot.”
Nelson, who has been mayor for a year, said the situation is unjust.
“I feel it's inappropriate for elected officials to participate in this citizen prompted recall petition,” Nelson said.
Nelson said he has been cooperative in the financial investigation, adding that the city’s ethics board cleared him of having no part in the misuse of public funds.
“I turned over all of my city and all of my official correspondence, but my private phone had no official business on there. I was not obligated by law to turn it over,” Nelson said. “It was merely an exertion of overreach on the part of city officials.”
Nelson said he feels the petition being led by city council members makes it biased and misleads voters.
“I want to maintain my position as mayor because if you don't stand up to bullies, you don't stand up to bad politics, then why serve? I don’t take well to bullies, and I don’t run,” Nelson said.
Nelson said on Aug. 8, he will be holding a public forum where he will explain his side of the situation and the allegations towards him.
Kirkland said they have until Aug. 19 for the city clerk to validate the signatures if the recall is to make it onto November's ballot.