I actually live in the City of Denton. The “city leaders” did not vote in the ban, it was an initiative and was passed by 59% of those who voted. The City Council could have passed the ban on their own, but they had all said they would support whatever the people of Denton decided. That required a vote.
I was surprised to find that the Council could repeal something voted on by the people, but from what I understand, if the genesis of a vote is an initiative, the Council can repeal it. What to do about the ban has been a very continuous issue. Most of the ban supporters want to fight the lawsuits brought by the oil/gas industries until the end. Legal council for DAG, the anti-fracking group in Denton, was told by its legal council that a repeal was probably the best bet. City of Denton legal staff also felt the odds of winning the lawsuits were not on their side and recommended repeal.
The Denton City Council was between a hard place and a hard place with this one.
“I actually live in the City of Denton.”
Thanks for telling me exactly how Denton voted for this ban, that the city residents voted. That makes it a sticky issue for the council to be able to repeal a vote of the people. I thought it was passed as a city ordinance and that is something the council could repeal as they originated the ordinance.
Texans sometimes ask for a recall election of a legally elected county or state official. They don’t understand the only recourse in Texas is to remove an elected official at the next scheduled official election.
The only exception to this, is judges. The “State Commission on Judicial Conduct” can remove a judge after they investigate allegations against the judge made by citizens in the judge’s jurisdiction voting area, and give the judge an opportunity to answer the allegations and then they vote whether or not to remove the judge for a period of time or permanently.
Not too long ago, they removed a district judge permanently from a district where I once lived. She was a Democrat corrupt Judge and that was finally proved to that state commission.
The commission has “jurisdiction, or authority” over these judges:
municipal judges;
magistrates;
justices of the peace;
constitutional county judges;
county court at law judges;
statutory probate judges;
district judges;
appellate judges;
retired and former judges, sitting by assignment; and
associate judges and masters.