Recount of Names Adds Biancardi to List for Recall

A week after Robert Biancardi was the lone councilman to escape a recall election, Covina officials said a recount of signatures collected by citizens opposing a 6% utility tax showed he would have to face voters again after all.

“Obviously it’s a disappointment,” he said, “but the recall is part of the political process. My only concern or reservation is that I am the only council member opposed to the tax.”

An error by the county registrar’s office in counting the signatures caused Covina officials to announce that a petition drive against Biancardi fell six signatures short, City Clerk Joey Southall told the City Council on Tuesday.

After members of the Stop-the-Utility-Tax Committee discovered the errors, Southall on Tuesday sent 14 additional signatures on Biancardi’s petition to the registrar, lifting the total from 3,934 to 3,950. The signatures of 3,940 residents were required to hold a recall election.

Biancardi said he wants to check the petition.

Southall announced last week that sufficient signatures had been gathered to force a recall election for council members Chris Lancaster, Chris Richardson, John C. King and Mayor Henry Morgan.

After the announcement that Biancardi makes it unanimous, Earl Purkiser, a spokesman for the Stop-the-Utility-Tax Committee, called the election “a victory all the people of Covina can rejoice in.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, council members did not set a date for a recall election, which must be held within 125 days. A simple majority is needed to remove a member, and another election would be held to fill the vacancy.