Goodrich – The petition filed in October 2007 by Goodrich resident Greg Tankersley to oust four of the five Goodrich Village Councilmembers was rejected due to a petition slip-up, however Tankersley said the recall effort is far from over.
The recall petition in October made allegations of failure to balance the village budget. When those petitions were rejected on Jan. 23, Tankersley filed a new recall petition on Jan. 28, with similar petition language. The new recall petition language states councilmembers failed to balance the budget without using previous budget surpluses.
Councilmembers Richard Horton, David Lucik, Pete Morey and Village Council President Edmund York are again named in the newest recall. Not named in the recall petition is Patricia Wartella.
Genesee County Clerk Michael Carr and Atlas Township Clerk Tere Onica both stated there had been more than 199 signatures on each of the previous four petitions, however, one of the circulators wrote Genesee County on the bottom of the petitions instead of Atlas Township.
‘All four petitions had to be disqualified according to Michigan law and State legislature,? said Onica. ‘I don’t have the authority, nor does the county, to send petitions through without their being filled out correctly. That is Michigan law.?
Onica said Tankersley is now required to start from the beginning, get new language approved and go through the same procedure all over again.
After filing the new recall petition Tankersley said, ‘I already have enough signatures, I will just go back to the same people.?
Carr said the clarity hearing to approve the new petition language will be at 1 a.m.on Feb. 14 at the Genesee County Courthouse and will be heard by himself, Judge Robert Weiss and Treasurer Dan Kildee.
Adamant about the reasons he is pursuing another recall, Tankersley said, ‘People don’t have a clue about what is going on. The council may have received a clean audit but that just means they are doing their accounting right. On at least ten pages of the audit, the report said the reason fund balances have decreased is because the increases in spending have outpaced the increases in revenues.?
Tankersley said the recall isn’t personal. ‘They are all great guys, they devote a lot of their time to the village and I think Pete Morey does a great job,? said Tankersley. ‘They just spend more money than they take in. By June of 2008, they will have spent $800,000 of our past surpluses, and by January 2009 it will be too late.?
Tankersley is asking the council to prove he’s wrong. ‘I keep track of the numbers by looking at line items. I am not making up my numbers, they are accurate. Show me where I am wrong in my numbers and there won’t be a recall,? he said.