CYPRESS : Recall Group Targets 3rd Council Member

A third City Council member has been targeted for recall, a citizens’ committee announced Friday.

The Cypress Recall Committee said it has served Councilman Walter K. Bowman with an official notice of intention to recall. The committee, angered at the council’s decision allowing the construction of a warehouse in south Cypress, had previously served notices on Councilwoman Gail H. Kerry and Mayor Cecilia L. Age.

“We decided to initiate the recall of Walter Bowman because of the overwhelming response and demand by the citizens signing petitions to recall Cecilia Age and Gail Kerry to include Bowman in the recall effort,” said Bob Pepper, president of the recall committee.

Bowman, Age and Kerry voted Sept. 26 for a large carpet-distribution warehouse to be built in the Valley View Street area. Two other council members, Richard Partin and Joyce Nicholson, also voted for the project, but they did not seek reelection Nov. 8.

Two new council members were elected Nov. 8, and Bowman, the only council member seeking another term, was elected again. Bowman noted on Friday that state law prohibited his being a target of recall until 90 days after the November election.

“I’m disappointed,” Bowman said of the recall notice. “I don’t know what they really want. I guess it’s revenge. But I don’t think I’ll be recalled. They made this an issue in the election last fall, and the voters reelected me.”

Pepper said Friday that the warehouse controversy is not the principal reason for the recall.

“The real issue is representation and accountability,” he said.

Pepper charged that Age, Kerry and Bowman “have failed to represent the people who live and raise their families in this bedroom community and now will be held accountable to the people demanding their recall.”