A group of Ellsworth residents are circulating a petition to recall the five city councilors who voted last week to sanction Councilor Steven O’Halloran.
The group has made a host of accusations against the councilors, including claims that the five allegedly discriminated against a business owner, held an illegal executive session and overspent city funds without cause.
To trigger the recall process, an affidavit with 30 signatures of local voters was submitted to the city on May 21, two days after the City Council voted 5-2 to officially censure O’Halloran over his alleged misconduct toward city employees.
His peers, who now face potential recall, said O’Halloran was bullying city staff. City employees have spoken publicly about the councilor accusing staff of wrongdoing and photographing a city employee’s vehicle as part of a self-appointed investigation. One city employee has considered escalating the matter to the legal system, councilors said.
“We are trying to avoid what happened in Bangor, with a substantial payout to an employee because of this kind of treatment by a councilor,” Ellsworth City Councilor Nancy Smith said. “And this is how some residents and political activists react. It has become an embarrassing spectacle for the city.”
Last year, the city of Bangor had to pay a former finance director nearly $100,000 in severance pay and fees after a city councilor accused him of lying and misallocating funds during a public meeting.
The recall is seeking to remove five of seven councilors: Nancy Smith, Marinna Smith, Tabatha White, Carol Patterson-Martineau and chair Patrick Lyons, who pointed out that all four women who serve on the council are being targeted.
On Tuesday, the council voted to release a redacted summary of the 176-page investigation into O’Halloran’s conduct, which drew criticism from O’Halloran and his supporters — many of whom were present at both meetings — all of whom argued for the release of the full report.
The councilors said they released the redacted summary to protect the confidentiality of city employees.
The group has until June 26 to collect 1,279 signatures from local voters, according to Tiffany Gaspar, who is among the residents leading the recall effort. That number represents 20% of the city’s registered voters.
“This is a job review and they are not doing their jobs when listening to what the entire city is looking for and not just their associated groups or what they would like to see,” Gaspar said, referring to the five councilors. “This also has nothing to do with political affiliations. This process is the democratic right of residents if needed. Residents would like the spending to stop.”
If the group reaches the 1,279 signature threshold for any of the five councilors, a recall election could take place. Each councilor would have to be removed by a separate referendum vote and each vote would need to be passed by a majority of voters for each councilor to be recalled, according to the city charter.
Gaspar said the group has collected a couple hundred signatures in the past two days.
Patterson-Martineau and Marinna Smith received 1,229 votes and 1,230 votes, respectively, at last November’s election. White was elected with 2,197 votes the year before, and Lyons and Nancy Smith — whose terms expire in November — were elected in 2023 with 1,159 votes and 911 votes, respectively.
White, Marinna Smith and Patterson-Martineau did not respond to requests for comment from the Bangor Daily News.
“I understand that people are upset because everything is costing more,” Nancy Smith said in a written statement. “We’re living that too. But trying to remove five councilors in response to our reprimand of another councilor for bullying behavior toward city staff that he readily admits to; that’s just ridiculous.”
Although the recall closely followed O’Halloran’s sanction, the petition floating around Ellsworth describes a list of complaints, most of which are independent of the recent investigation into O’Halloran’s conduct.
Among the group’s chief complaints is the council’s spending of taxpayer dollars and the city’s failing infrastructure.
“There is no transparency for residents, and after just spending $14,000 on an unneeded “rebranding” package, residents are angry,” Gaspar said. “They are being frivolous with taxpayer money with no regard to the businesses and residents who have built this city and continue to invest in this city.”
Lyons said the council understands frustration around the rising cost of living because they’re under the same financial pressures.
“To recall the five of us, and leave only two seats left on the council, is not going to stop rising costs, it’s not going to fix our roads, it’s not going to improve our schools,” Lyons said. “It’s going to paralyze the city government and cause unnecessary hardship for Ellsworth and our community. All this recall petition is doing is feeding into division.”
He said the council prioritizes investing in the city’s schools, public safety, infrastructure and economic development, noting that Ellsworth is among the state’s fastest growing cities.
The taxpayer group is accusing the councilors of discriminating against the owner of MarijuanaVille, who was denied a business license after being told they could operate a marijuana dispensary from a downtown location. MarijuanaVille was twice denied a license on various grounds after receiving the state’s first ever patient advisory over products contaminated with pesticides.
The group has also accused two councilors of potential conflicts of interest, though there is no evidence either councilor has used their position for financial or personal gain.
John Linnehan, a local businessman who has unsuccessfully run for Ellsworth City Council several times, is among the leaders of the recall campaign. Linnehan will be at Maine Coast Mall to collect signatures for the petitions on Saturday, according to a Facebook post.
Linnehan did not respond to an inquiry from the Bangor Daily News.