Goodrich -Village resident Greg Tankersley said he has more than the 199 signatures needed to authorize the Village of Goodrich council recall, and said he expects to get more.
The allegation made on the petition is failure to balance the village budget when requested to do so and to oust four of five village council members, President Edmund York, Richard Horton, David Lucik and Pete Morey. Not named in the recall is Patricia Wartella. Tankersley started collecting signatures on Oct. 20 and said he will present the recall petition to the council at their next regularly scheduled council meeting on Dec. 10.
Genesee County Clerk Michael Carr will now receive the petitions and have seven days to make sure everything on the petition is adequate. Part of the process is to send the petition to the Atlas Township clerk to determine whether the signatures on the petition are valid by checking them against voter registration. If the petition is turned in within the 90 day period and everything is accurate, the recall election would be held on Tuesday, May 6, 2008.
‘As I was passing the petition to residents at the meeting, people were signing it right there because they say they have had enough of the overspending in the village,? said Diane Fredericks, village resident and real estate agent who spoke at the Oct. 12 village council meeting.
‘The council never cuts any of the costs for running the village. Out of the 36 signatures I have received, there have only been two people who have said no.?
An example of the unrest among council members occurred during a heated exchange between York and Wartella at the Oct. 12 meeting, when Wartella asked a question about the amended budget on page two.
Wartella said she asked Councilman York a question about the amended budget because the figures didn’t add up. ‘The amounts listed in the amended budget were incorrect which means they are misleading the public on their spending. They do this very eloquently and are creating their own budget and bookkeeping methods to look good,? said Wartella. ‘I have all of the month to month statements indicating the amount of money being spent on things like library usage, legal advice and road repair. These figures need to be corrected, this is our taxpayers? money and this is why there is a recall petition in the village right now.?
Wartella said she is concerned about not being taken seriously as a member of the village council.
‘The council that I am a part of is run like a dictatorship. In the United States we are called a democracy. This counwe are called a democracy. This council is being run by four individuals. I am not part of it and I am not included as part of this government,? she said. They don’t want any of my opinions. I can’t say what the truth is, they won’t allow it. I was elected to represent people in good faith. I am not trying to cheat anybody,? she said.
York said Wartella was trying to ask questions about a monthly expenditure and the council was trying to deal with the yearly budget.
‘The budget amendments are to simply move money around from one category to another and have nothing to do with how much money we spent last month,? said York.
‘She approved the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. These were two different issues and I wasn’t going to allow it, because nobody is allowed to discuss anything and everything they want to when they feel like doing it. When she doesn’t prepare herself before a meeting, she makes it look like she is being picked on. Her problem is that after one year, she still doesn’t know what the procedure is. She was almost out of order in that situation.?
Village resident and area attorney Jay Clothier made his remarks during public comments about the recall at the meeting.
‘The problem I have is that when one person looks bad, I think we all look bad. We look like a bunch of rube bumpkins when we squabble over things like this. I used to be an executive in Detroit and decided to raise my 9- and 6-year-olds here, in what I believed what was in their best interests. I am embarassed by this bunch of ill-informed rabble-rousing idiots,? he said.
Clothier said he is on the finance committee for the village and has consulted with a lawyer about the possibility of bringing legal action against the petition circulators. ‘The state of Michigan would step in if there was really a problem. The issue is a red herring and it is a frivolous action to rabble-rouse. It polarizes the community. I respect the opinions of others, however this issue has been resolved numerous times,? he said.