Update at 3:45 p.m. April 4: Adds comments from news conference.

PLANO — A group called Our Plano One Plano submitted more than 4,400 signatures in a petition seeking to recall City Council member Tom Harrison, whose inflammatory social media posts have created an uproar.

The residents seeking to oust Harrison called his posts racist and bigoted and not representative of their city.

"We deserve leaders who are going to stand with us," said Ann Bacchus, one of the group's organizers. "Plano has made it clear that Tom Harrison is not the kind of leader that we want representing us. Mr. Harrison's voice is unworthy of speaking for us. His words are undeserving of the trust, and his actions have shown that his judgment has no place in public office."

Harrison, 73, issued a statement through a spokesman Wednesday, saying: "I am neither a racist nor a bigot."

Tom Harrison listens to comments at a special meeting of the Plano City Council in February.

Harrison has previously apologized for the "unintentional hurt" he caused by sharing a post on Facebook that stated: "Share if you think Trump should ban Islam in American schools." The post included images of students wearing hijabs.

Elected to a four-year term in 2015, Harrison has said he plans to fight to keep his council seat.

"Support and encouragement from Plano citizens has only inspired me to stay the course in the performance of my City Council obligations and give oversight to the upcoming large projects being brought before the City Council in the next few weeks," he said in a prepared statement.

Allan Samara, who was serving as Harrison's spokesman, said Wednesday the councilman has plenty of supporters who believe in him and his values of fiscal conservatism.

"We anticipate he will win the recall election and win it handily," Samara said.

The city charter requires at least 2,791 validated signatures from qualified Plano voters to trigger a recall election. Our Plano One Plano submitted 4,425 signatures.

The city requires that the petition clearly state the reasons for seeking a recall, which can be initiated only on grounds of incompetency, misconduct or malfeasance in office.

The petition, which included images of the shared posts, sought Harrison's recall for "publicly posting inflammatory Islamaphobic, racist and otherwise offensive communications detrimental to the social and economic well-being of our diverse community ... and contrary to the Equal Opportunity provisions of city policy."

The city secretary's office has five days from the date the petitions are filed to issue a report to the City Council. If the signatures are valid and if Harrison does not resign, the council must order an election.

Under the city charter, Harrison can request a public hearing "to present facts pertinent to the charges specified in the recall petition." Samara said Harrison would be requesting that public hearing.

1 / 3This is the post that Plano council member Tom Harrison shared on his Facebook page. The post runs through multiple still images, including this one of a student wearing a hijab. 2 / 3This is one of several posts shared by Plano City Council member Tom Harrison that city council members saw during their executive session. City of Plano officials released the posts after the council meeting Sunday. 3 / 3This is one of several Facebook posts shared by Plano City Council member Tom Harrison that city council members reviewed during executive session. City of Plano officials released the posts after the meeting Sunday.

Plano City Secretary Lisa Henderson spent nearly an hour Wednesday tallying the number of submitted signature pages so that she could issue the group a receipt. Her office must now review the petitions to ensure enough signatures are valid. She said she plans to file her report in time for Monday's scheduled council meeting.

Waqar Khan, one of the organizers for Our Plano One Plano, said he believes Harrison should save taxpayers the cost of an election and resign.

"We don't want any bigotry," Khan said. "Plano is a diverse city."

In February, fellow council members approved a public censure for Harrison. Several, including Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere, called for his resignation.

Other posts that Harrison has shared online have also attracted attention. One from 2016 states in part: "In the 21st century, all slave owners are Muslims. Their allies are the Democrats." Another shared post reviewed by the City Council before the public censure showed a photo of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee with the accompanying text saying: "New Orleans may be taking his likeness down but we true southerners will honor him today."

Harrison said through Samara that he had not seen some of the items that are being attributed to him.

"Anyone that knows me will attest to me not being 'anti-' anything," his statement read.

Before retiring, Harrison was coordinator of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission policies for his employer in Kansas. He also has been an advocate for Plano's multicultural outreach programs.

Bacchus ran for the City Council's Place 2 seat last year but lost to Anthony Ricciardelli. When asked Wednesday whether she might run again, she said that her focus right now is on the recall effort.

Bacchus said the effort to remove Harrison from office is not about his freedom of speech. She said Harrison agreed to represent the entire city when he was elected and broke that trust with his posts.

"We condemn Mr. Harrison for voicing thoughts which have cost so many of us pain, so much pain," she said. "We respect his right to express them. Our expectation, however, is that Mr. Harrison will return the respect and listen to the demands of the people of Plano and step aside."