WESTMINSTER : Petitions to Recall 3 on Council Turned In

Residents seeking to oust Mayor Charles V. Smith and two councilmen turned in petitions Tuesday that they said have the necessary number of signatures to force a recall election.

Recall proponents have canvassed the city for four months seeking the 6,614 signatures per petition on three petitions needed to recall Smith and Councilmen Frank Fry Jr. and Craig Schweisinger.

City Clerk Mary Lou Morey said the signatures must now be verified by the Orange County registrar of voters before the election can be called.

The drive began last year after months of bitter debate over a 100% water rate increase that the councilmen supported. Fry later reversed his vote and sided with Councilwomen Joy L. Neugebauer and Lyn Gillespie to rescind the rate increase.

In a statement prepared for Tuesday’s City Council meeting, recall organizer Howard Jones said that about 95% of the registered voters asked to sign the petition did so and that “taxpayers are fed up with the council’s refusal to listen.”

Before the meeting, he said residents won’t hesitate to vote the council members out of office.

“I think the people will just vote to get them out. If we get this on a recall ballot, it will be successful, I have no doubt,” he said. “Then we’ll try to get people in there who will listen to the people of this city as they should have been doing all along.”

Smith said the recall campaign doesn’t worry him. He called it “just another challenge from people who want to put their own candidate in office” and suggested that the signatures might have been obtained improperly.

“Who knows what they told these people to get these signatures?” Smith said.

“They claim the issue is the water rates, but that’s not the real issue because the water rates are the lowest in Orange County. They’re trying to make it the issue or make it appear to be the issue. This is an election year, and this is a tool to get their own candidate in office,” he said.

Fry said he takes the recall drive “quite seriously” but said voter dissatisfaction may be due more to the failing national economy than any failings of council members. He said people want to lash out at elected officials and the City Council is the closest target.