WESTMINSTER : 4 on Council Served With Recall Notices

Supporters of the Westminster Firefighters Assn. have filed recall notices against four members of the City Council, saying they have refused citizen demands to restore staffing levels in the Fire Department.

Mayor Charles V. Smith and council members Craig Schweisinger and Charmayne S. Bohman were served with the recall notices Thursday and Councilman Tony Lam was served Wednesday. They have until Thursday to respond.

The fifth member of the council, Frank Fry Jr., who voted against cuts in the Fire Department, was not served a recall notice.

City Clerk Mary Lou Morey said that to force a recall election, proponents must gather at least 7,600 signatures, the equivalent of 20% of the city’s registered voters.

None of the four residents who filed the recall notices could be reached for comment Friday. However, Mike Garrison, a director of the Westminster Firefighters’ Assn. Local 2425, said they decided on the recall effort after the council failed to act on a petition signed by 14,000 residents that was submitted last week.

In that petition, Garrison said, citizens urged the council to restore fire and paramedic services to July 1 levels, before six firefighters were laid off and a firetruck was put out of commission at Fire Station No. 2.

“They have ignored the will of the citizens,” Garrison said. “We want to put in the council people who will listen to the citizens.”

But Smith and other council members said the firefighters want to play powerbrokers and put people whom they can control on the council.

“If they manage to do that, they would have taken over the city,” Smith said. He said a recall election would cost the city at least $50,000.

The city is spending “thousands of dollars” in litigation expenses because of lawsuits by the firefighters, Smith said.

Before recall proponents may start gathering signatures, Morey said, state law requires that the city clerk review and approve the statement to be printed on the recall petition.

The recall drive is the second in three years in the city. In 1991, three council members, including Smith and Fry, were targets of a recall drive on the issue of water rates.

However, the proponents were not able to collect enough signatures to force a recall election.