GROVES — Groves voters will have a chance to weigh in on whether to recall Ward I Councilman Cross Coburn from his seat in November.

Councilmembers passed the ordinance calling for the special election in a 3-2 vote Monday night with Coburn and Councilwoman Karen Theis casting the dissenting votes. Mayor Brad Bailey and councilmembers Kyle Hollier and Sidney Badon voted in favor of the recall.

Although the vote was important, it was not necessary per Groves’ city charter since a petition brought forth by the voters. The petition had 936 valid signatures — which is well above the 893 that were needed.

Coburn came under fire in recent months after partially nude and nude photos of him taken from Grindr, a gay networking/dating app, were sent to City Hall and to local media, anonymously asking if this was proper behavior for a city councilman.

Bailey has been unwavering in his belief that Coburn’s actions were unbecoming of a councilmember. He said “The issue will now be brought to a vote and the citizens will either say yes, we agree with this or no and he (Coburn) stays his final year.”

Coburn said he and his team plan on challenging the petition in court.

“Because this petition is wrong. The people behind it are wrong. Their opinion of me is wrong,” Coburn said. “I’d rather they judge me on my actions on what I do for the city than what they said about me.”

He expressed gratitude towards Theis who voted against the recall, saying it means a great deal to him and that she has been under her own attacks from other councilmembers.

“Me and my team and those who support justice and transparency will fight with us. This was not an attack on my judgment. This was an attack on my sexuality and age and bigotry in the city by those in power who are upset by a visionary,” Coburn said.

The petition to recall Coburn was certified in late June and he had five days to resign — he declined to resign. Coburn provided, through the communications firm of East Capital Group, a statement regarding his refusal to resign.

“I am concerned that there was a catfishing scam perpetrated against a duly elected city official and the response by other elected officials was to help organize a recall against the person who was victimized,” Coburn’s letter read. “Cyber-crime is very real and, apparently, condoned by many in our government. Any of us could have been victim to similar scams. This crime cuts across sexuality, age, race, and religion. We should be very interested in finding out the identity of the perpetrators.”

His letter went on to claim there were serious flaws with Groves’ recall statute.

“To think that the expense of a recall election can be initiated by a small bigoted minority and validated by just 10 percent of the entire town population leaves me incredulous. I don’t represent the vast majority of the names on the petition and, yet, those people can have a say in who represents Ward 1…? I also have some questions about timing… but those questions will be for others to decide.”

The recall election will be held on the general election date of Nov. 6.