COVINA : Petitions to Recall 3 Council Members Are Ruled Invalid : City attorney cites the death of one of the proponents and lack of required wording on the papers.

The effort to recall three Covina City Council members was scrapped after the city attorney ruled that the petitions used by recall proponents failed to meet state standards on two counts.

After the death of Bill Drohan, one of the 20 people whose name appeared on the notice of intent to recall Mayor Tom O’Leary and council members Tom Falls and Linda Sarver, City Clerk Joey Southall asked the city attorney’s office for an opinion on whether the recall could proceed.

Drohan died last week of kidney failure.

State law requires all 20 of the people who first signed the document to be able to vote if enough signatures are found to be valid and a special recall election is called.

City Atty. Charles Vose said Monday that the petitions are not valid.

In addition to the problem caused by Drohan’s death, Vose said, the petitions lacked the required words recall petition across the top, rendering all of the signatures invalid and the recall null and void.

Recall proponents on Friday had turned in 16,013 signatures that had been collected against the three council members. They needed fewer than 4,200 signatures, or 20% of the city’s 20,639 registered voters, to qualify for a special election. Recall proponents had turned in more than 5,000 signatures apiece for O’Leary, Sarver and Falls.

“It is critical to understand that the listing of the 20 people is not a mere technicality but rather a mandatory element that results in . . . the petitions being invalid on their face,” Vose wrote in a memorandum to council members and other city officials.

“The Elections Code places great importance on the designation of the proponents of the recall and the required listing of people may be considered as important as listing the name of the council members being recalled,” he wrote.

Recall proponents have said they have not determined whether they will try again.

O’Leary, Sarver and Falls were targeted for recall in December after they voted for an 8.25% utility tax increase. The recall is the second one in two years in Covina. In 1993, a recall was sparked by a council decision to raise utility taxes, and all five council members were voted out of office.