Conroe council pauses action after city secretary says 20,000-signature threshold likely applies to petition

At its Dec. 19 meeting the Conroe City Council deferred action on a citizen petition after the city secretary said state law likely requires a 20,000-signature threshold and staff lacked the voter-list data needed to apply a lower, percentage-based test.

Betty Atkins, speaking during the citizen inquiry period, asked the council to clarify what sections of the Texas election code the city would apply when verifying the petition and said she would provide contact information from the Texas secretary of state to assist the city secretary. "This is for verification information on the petition that is being discussed," Atkins said, listing several election-code sections she thought might apply.

Councilwoman Porter, who presided in the mayor’s absence, stressed the city secretary’s role in elections and petition verification. Porter said the city secretary "acts as the chief election official for the municipalities" and is responsible for coordinating municipal elections and for canvassing and verification of results.

City Secretary Sammy read from the Local Government Code and explained the practical options the city faces. "So we have two options," Sammy said. She summarized that one statutory path uses a percentage of qualified voters from the preceding general election, and the alternate path is a fixed 20,000-signature threshold. Sammy told the council Montgomery County told city staff it "cannot provide the City of Conroe registered voter list for November '24" and "they cannot recreate the list," meaning the county could not supply the baseline needed to calculate the percentage-based threshold. Based on that, Sammy said staff did not have enough valid signatures under the state requirement to present to council.

The city attorney, Mr. Gardner, concurred. "I think her recitation is correct," he said, adding that other Texas cities (he cited the City of Victoria) had faced similar situations and defaulted to the fixed signature count when county records could not establish the lower-percentage baseline.

After that legal and staff review, a council member moved to adjourn and the motion passed. Councilwoman Porter said the matter was not a council decision at that time because the city secretary, as chief election official, must make determinations about petition verification before bringing any formal action to the council. The council did not adopt a resolution or vote on the petition at the Dec. 19 meeting.

Next steps disclosed in the meeting: the city secretary will continue verification work and consult available election records and the secretary of state as needed; council did not set a date for further action at the Dec. 19 meeting.