TEXAS CITY — The citizen-led recall petition against Mayor Dedrick Johnson has officially closed after signature gathering, with organizers saying they’ve exceeded the number required to trigger the next step in the process.

According to petition organizers, signing concluded Tuesday morning, although most signatures had been collected by Monday. The Texas City Charter requires 1,010 valid signatures to advance a recall effort. Organizers say the drive produced between 1,500 and 1,600 signatures, comfortably surpassing the minimum and exceeding the original target of 1,300.

The next step will be validating the signatures. Texas City Municipal Police Association President Rachael Spahr told KGTX 7 that she believes the city is responsible for the verification process under the charter, but expressed a preference for Galveston County to handle it, citing concerns about city management.

During a press conference Tuesday, one of Johnson’s top critics, Wayne Dolcefino spoke stating, “Mayor Johnson, it’s time to resign. The people have spoken and you’ve said you’d respect the will of the people”.

Throughout the conference, business owners, such as Mainland Tool spoke, expressing their frustration with allegedly losing city contracts, after criticizing the mayor.

While several sources have indicated a potential candidate is preparing to run for mayor if an election is called, that individual has not yet announced publicly.

Johnson was asked on Tuesday by the Galveston Daily News for comment.

“My administration is working hard and we’ve got a lot of great things going on in the City of Texas City.” Johnson told the Galveston County Daily News.

Spahr said she hopes Johnson will “honor the will of the people” as well and step down voluntarily.

Signatures must be verified within ten days. Once signatures are certified, Mayor Johnson will have five days to either resign or face a special election. If he refuses to step down, the election must be scheduled no sooner than 45 days and no later than 60 days from certification.