A push to recall five Ellsworth city councilors has failed to meet the required signature threshold by its June 26 deadline, but the petitioners have asked for a 10-day deadline extension.
In late May, a group of residents initiated an effort to recall to the councilors, who the petitioners blame for rising city taxes, shortly after the five members voted to sanction councilor Steven O’Halloran over his alleged bullying of city staff. O’Halloran and fellow councilor Patrick Shea are not being targeted by the recall effort.
To successfully trigger a recall election of the five councilors — Chair Patrick Lyons, Tabatha White, Carol Patterson-Martineau, Nancy Smith and Marinna Smith — the petition needed 1,279 signatures, which is 20% of the city’s registered voters.
The petition was submitted by the deadline on Friday, and the city completed validating signatures by Monday. About 880 residents signed each of the five recall petitions, according to results shared by City Manager Charlie Pearce — about 400 signatures short of the required threshold.
However, Ellsworth’s city charter allows petitioners to have an additional 10 days to gather signatures “if a petition is determined to be insufficient for lack of the required number of valid signatures.”
Still, it was not immediately clear Monday whether the petitioners will be awarded the supplementary days.
“The clerks are still reviewing the submission in consultation with legal counsel and will provide additional guidance soon as to next steps regarding the 1,279 valid signature threshold and how Section 5.10 (b) applies to this process,” Pearce said in a written statement on Monday to the Bangor Daily News, referring to the city charter chapter that address recalls.
Tiffany Dilda Gaspar, who has led the recall effort, previously said the petition was centered around the councilors’ consistent overspending and lack of transparency.
“We will be collecting those additional signatures,” Gaspar said in a written statement to the BDN on Monday. As of 4:50 p.m. on Monday, Gaspar said she hadn’t received official recall results from the city.
If the group reaches the 1,279 signature threshold with the supplemental days, a recall election would take place — though in this case it has not been determined when the recall vote would be held. 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, according to the city charter.
“I trust city staff to make sound decisions about whether the 10 day extension relates in this situation, where the petitioners fell far short of the number of signatures required, even with their misinformation campaign,” Nancy Smith, one of the councilors targeted in the recall effort, told the BDN. “I am grateful to the Ellsworth voters who have rejected this drumbeat of misinformation promoted by a few people for their own purposes. I think their true goal is to create chaos and undermine people’s trust in their government, just as we’re seeing on the national stage.”
Councilors Nancy Smith and Patrick Lyons both have terms that end in November. Lyons already has said publicly that he would not be seeking re-election, but Nancy Smith said she plans to run for another 3-year term this fall. Completed nomination forms to run for city office this fall have to be submitted to the clerk’s office by early September.
“It would be easier not to run for re-election, given the online death threats we’ve received, but I believe this is my time and place to protect democracy, right here in Ellsworth,” she said.