Recall election appears likely

Recall election appears likely

Aug. 14, 2001

By Gail Binkly
Journal Managing Editor

Three members of the Cortez Sanitation District board may face a recall election in November after all.

More than 400 valid signatures were turned in Aug. 6 for each of the three, according to statements from Kent Williamson, attorney for the district and the appointed election officer for the recall.

The statements of sufficiency said that a total of 427 signatures had been confirmed seeking the recall of board chairman Stan Pierce; 420 for Jim Bridgewater; and 407 for Sam Jarvis. The board’s two other members, Bob Diederich and G.W. McCutcheon, are not being targeted for recall.

Three hundred signatures was the minimum number needed to force an election.

"To me, it’s great news for the entire community," said Don Etnier, owner of Residential Building Systems and one of the recall’s organizers. "We’re well over the number we need. We finally met the first major hurdle. I think the next big hurdle is getting the voters to turn out, understand the issues and vote for the recall."

Those behind the effort had turned in petitions on July 10 bearing some 500 signatures for each of the three board members. But two-thirds of those signatures were declared invalid, mostly because of technical problems such as incomplete addresses, or petition-circulators who signed their petitions prior to collecting the signatures.

However, the drive’s organizers regrouped and scurried to obtain more signatures.

"We had some people that worked really hard, and we didn’t have many people that turned us down (for signing the petitions)," said local engineer Fred Thomas, who also had pushed for the recall.

He said he was optimistic about the results of the election, which if held will take place on Nov. 6 at the same time as the general election.

"We’ve had a lot of people say they’d for sure show up and vote these guys out."

Williamson was on vacation and could not be reached for comment, but he has said previously that either party has 15 days after the finding of sufficiency to protest the ruling.

On Monday, Bridgewater said he had heard about the determination but could not say precisely what the next step might be or whether the three board members might decide to protest Williamson’s findings. Pierce did not return a phone call Monday.

The sanitation district has been under fire in recent months for its policy regarding delinquent accounts. Until recently, the district physically severed sewer lines for some long-delinquent customers, then charged them $500, or $4,000 the second time, to have them reconnected.

The board voted 4-1, with Pierce dissenting, on July 17 to change that policy and try putting liens on delinquent customers’ property instead.

The district has also been under attack by some local builders who say there is too much red tape and antagonism involved in dealing with its management. There have also been rumors of widespread discontent among the district’s employees.

Carol Tullis, deputy county clerk, said Monday that, if there is no protest or if any protest is overruled, the recall election will take place by mail ballot.

The Re-1 school district will also have a mail election by separate ballot Nov. 6 for three vacancies on the school board, assuming there are candidates willing to run.

The city of Cortez also has a ballot question regarding a sales tax for a recreation center, but that election will take place at the polls, not by mail, Tullis said.

She said her office will tabulate the results of the unusual recall election, the first special-district recall in recent Montezuma County history.

"This is the first one I can remember," Tullis said, adding that she has been with the clerk’s office since 1975. "We’ve heard rumors about recalls but this is the first one I’ve ever had to deal with directly."

During the recall election, voters will be able to decide whether to replace the three board members with new candidates. Cortez resident Fred Blackburn confirmed Monday that he is one of the replacement candidates. Two others were reported to be considering running for the office.

Blackburn said some of his main concerns are how the district’s employees have been treated and "public service, which the board has forgotten all about."

"Cutting people’s sewer lines is just the tip of the iceberg," he said.

He said he also wants to evaluate the performance of District Manager Bill Smith.