Gholson voters reject proposal to sever 2,000 acres from city

On the ballot as Proposition A, the measure to strip roughly half of Gholson was rejected by 74.9% of voters. A total of 218 people voted against the proposal, and 73 voted in favor.

The proposal went to voters after some Gholson residents disagreed with the city council's efforts to enforce city ordinances and hire a new code enforcement officer.

Gholson Mayor Chance Bradbury was legally required to put the question to voters after resident Daniel Ballew presented the council in September with a petition that included signatures from 70 residents.

Ballew said he was upset with council members trying to enforce a 170-page document of new ordinances the city adopted in 2020. Ballew said the ordinances didn't fit Gholson's needs.

Other residents were against the proposal, including Vernon Leuschner, who said he understood the ordinances needed to be cleaned up but didn't think they were entirely unnecessary. Leuschner spent $700 of his own money on posters urging Gholson residents to vote against annexation.

The annexation proposal presented multiple unresolved legal issues. Gholson's city attorney, David Morrison, said he wasn't sure whether the annexed area would fall under the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Waco or Gholson if the proposal were approved. Morrison said it was possible that neither city would assume responsibility for the area if it were annexed.

It was also uncertain whether McLennan County would have assumed responsibility for public roads in the area. County Engineer Zane Dunnam said the annexation could cost former Gholson residents. Gholson residents in the de-annexed area would have been financially responsible for bringing the road in front of their homes up to county standards.

In addition, if the proposal had passed, a special election would have been held to elect a new mayor and new councillors, as they all live in the area proposed for annexation.