Friday, April 19, 2024
Granbury Mayor Nin Hulett, facing a third-degree felony charge for DWI, resigned Thursday.
A special election will be held soon to fill his seat, but details are still being worked out, city officials said.
Mayor Pro Tem Tony Mobly, who holds the Place 5 seat on the council, told the Hood County News Friday morning that the council will hold a special meeting in council chambers at City Hall at noon on Monday to accept Hulett's resignation and announce a timeline for the special election.
Hulett hand-delivered a resignation letter to City Secretary Carla Walker at 1:45 p.m. Thursday, less than two weeks after he was arrested in Granbury on a third drunk-driving charge. Walker date-stamped the letter and handwrote on it the time it was submitted.
Hulett’s letter, which was addressed to council members, city staff and employees, and citizens, stated:
“I am submitting my resignation as Mayor.
“I am truly thankful for the opportunity to serve my city these past ten years. Our City staff and City employees are truly among the best in the State, and I am proud to count our many involved citizens as friends and neighbors.
“Granbury has a special place in my heart, and I look forward to watching our city grow and prosper.”
Shortly after the city had received Hulett's letter of resignation, City Manager Chris Coffman provided to the HCN a brief news release that detailed directives under the Texas Constitution and city charter for special elections and office vacancies. At that time, the council's specially-called meeting had not yet been set.
“City staff will begin working with the Texas Secretary of State’s Election Legal Counsel to establish the election calendar for this special election,” the news release stated.
Coffman noted that the city charter states: “Upon a vacancy in office, the City Council shall immediately declare the office to be vacant and shall fill such vacancy… Except in the case of death, removal from office or forfeiture of office, a councilmember whose office becomes vacant shall continue to serve until a successor is duly qualified in accordance with State law.”
This means that despite Hulett having submitted a letter of resignation, he will continue to perform mayoral duties, including presiding over meetings of the City Council, until a special election has been held, Coffman said.
The city manager said that the city will follow instructions from the Secretary of State’s office “to a ‘T’” to make sure that the special election will be conducted properly once the city has received instructions from the state.
Mobly explained that if any current member of the council files to run for mayor, they will forfeit their seat and that seat will be added to the ballot for the special election.
If the council member loses the mayoral race, they will be off the council once the special election has been held and a new person has been elected to the seat they vacated.
Once the mayoral special election has been held, that spot will not be on the ballot again until 2022, per the regular election cycle for City Council seats.
The Place 5 seat held by Mobly and the Place 3 seat held by Bruce Wadley are scheduled to be on the ballot this November. If either of them chooses to run for mayor but lose that race - and their council seat along with it - they can run for the Place 5 or Place 3 seat again in November, Mobly explained.
Any newcomer who wins the seat of a current council member who resigns their position to run for mayor will have to run again in November to keep the seat for a full term, the mayor pro tem stated.
