Councilman Says He Will Not Contest Signatures : Recall drive: Alex Fiore will ask Thousand Oaks leaders to accept 1,000 names contained on petitions that were delayed.

Thousand Oaks Councilman Alex Fiore said Friday he will not contest 1,000 signatures on petitions calling for his removal, despite advice from the city’s legal staff that they should be thrown out.

The petitions included some of the 11,096 signatures submitted Tuesday by the 1000 Oaks Recall Committee.

The citizens’ group is trying to remove Fiore, a 27-year veteran on the council, and Councilman Frank Schillo because of their support for the city’s controversial Jungleland development, a $63.8-million project to build a new city hall and performing arts auditorium.

Committee members have argued that the 1,000 signatures should be counted since they were delayed by only about 15 minutes. Committee spokesman Dick Booker said the petitions fell out of a box in the car on the way to City Hall and were not discovered until after most of the petitions had been turned in to the city clerk.

City Atty. Mark G. Sellers had advised City Clerk Nancy Dillon that the city has legal grounds to throw out the petitions based on state law requiring the forms to be submitted at the same time.

“The courts and Legislature basically say get them all together at once and submit them all at once,” he said. “My ruling is that they should not be counted.”

Fiore, however, said he plans to ask City Council members on Tuesday to overrule Sellers and order the city clerk’s office to count the signatures. He said he would abstain from voting.

“It doesn’t make any sense to have a big sweat over it. If the people signed it, let’s count them,” he said.

The recall committee’s handling of the petitions “smacks of incompetency,” he said, but added, “It’s a minor technicality.”

Fiore’s decision defuses criticism from recall organizers who threatened to sue the city if the signatures were excluded.

The signatures might be critical in determining whether the recall will qualify for the ballot, leaders of the recall campaign said.

To place the recall on the ballot, the committee had to gather signatures from 8,374 people, or 15% of the 55,830 registered voters in Thousand Oaks.

The recall committee gathered 2,722 more signatures than necessary to show Fiore that many people disagree with his decisions on the Jungleland project, said Ken Bauer, chairman of the recall committee.

If the council sides with Fiore, it would “save us a lot of aggravation,” Bauer said.

Before any election is scheduled, county elections officials would have to verify each signature.

Bruce Bradley, assistant registrar of voters, has said he will speed verification once the city settles the issue of the contested signatures. If the proper number of names is verified, an election could be scheduled along with the June 2 primary, he said.

The county has 30 days to verify the signatures calling for Fiore’s removal, as well as 10,715 signatures calling for Schillo’s removal. There are no questions surrounding Schillo’s recall petitions because they were submitted at the same time.

Schillo said he believes a majority of the council will honor Fiore’s request. He accused his political opponents of bungling their effort.

“Their stupidity shouldn’t cause a problem for these 1,000 people who signed these petitions,” Schillo said. “I would do whatever is necessary to make sure the signatures are counted.”