Petition gathering for recall gets go-ahead
Proponents have track record of organizing a petition drive of similar size
Petitions to be used to seek the recall of the current city council were approved by city clerk Steve Kay on Friday, Kay said today.
By law, the city clerk must rule that the wording of proposed petitions comply with all legal requirements for a recall to move forward. Now that the petitions have been approved, the recall proponents will have 160 days to collect signatures of 25 percent of the city’s registered voters at the last general election — 1,865 people, according to Kay.
Community activist Duanne Small and his group of petitioners are seeking signatures on five separate petitions — one to recall from office each member of the city council. The group’s notice of intention to file the petitions with Kay — the initial procedural move in the recall process — was approved June 4 (for that story, click here).
If enough signatures are collected, there will be five recall questions on the November ballot. Each question will ask whether to recall a member of council. Voters will also be able to select a replacement candidate. Any council member recalled is removed immediately and their replacement sworn-in to serve out the council term.
The five-member council is up for re-election in May, 2013. The four year term expires July 1, 2013.
“It’s time for change,” Small has said of the group’s rationale for petitioning for recall. “The city is not moving in the direction that the people feel it should be moving … It seems as though the five council people have no concern about the west side of town. It’s all about the east side of town.”
Recall proponents have begun to canvass the city for signatures, Small said today.
Small has a track record of organizing a petition drive of this size. Earlier this year, he handed in a petition with the valid signatures of 20 percent of the city’s registered voters. That petition sought a direct question on the ballot for voters to change Asbury’s form of government. But the city attorney invalidated it by claiming the wording was incorrect. Still, the signatures were valid.
With the current recall petition, 25 percent of the city’s registered voters are required to sign. Compared to the last petition Small’s group filed, that’s about 250 more valid signatures to obtain the required 1,865 for the recall, city clerk Kay said.
With the recall petition, however, the city clerk confirms that the petition complies with all legal requirements ahead of time. That petition cannot be struck down on any legal grounds except for the sufficiency of the signatures, or how they were collected.
Meanwhile, the ballot this November will also include additional questions. Voters are being asked whether the city should establish a charter study commission, which would study the city’s current form of government and make a recommendation as to whether it should be changed. A specific change in government would then be submitted for voter approval at a later date.
Voters will also be asked to elect five members to the charter study commission. Prospective candidates can be placed on the November ballot by obtaining a petition from Kay and then collecting signatures of 100 citizens.
