Recall petition drive ready to roll

Citizens hoping to oust Coeur d'Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem and council members, Mike Kennedy, Woody McEvers and Deanna Goodlander can begin collecting the signatures needed to get a recall election on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The documents paving the way for the petition effort were approved this morning by the city clerk's office.

Susan Weathers, city clerk, said she is crafting a letter of approval to Frank Orzell, recall organizer, that says the petitions Orzell dropped off earlier today have been certified and the recall petition drive may begin.

The group, calling itself Recall CdA, will have 75 days from today to collect 4,311 signatures on each of four petitions, one for each of the officials. The deadline is June 19 at 5 p.m.

Orzell delivered the initial preliminary paperwork needed to launch the petition effort to the city clerk's office yesterday.

That paperwork was deemed incomplete by the city clerk, who determined the documents needed to include the specific reasons the group is requesting a ballot measure to recall the four elected officials, other than that the Idaho Constitution allows them to.

The reasons in the certified documents are:

• He or she denied a public advisory vote on McEuen Field and approved the plan for the park

• He or she continues to approve excessive salaries for city employees

• He or she consistently supports excessive spending of taxpayer dollars

Each incumbent will have 200 words to craft a response to those reasons on the November ballot, should the recall drive prove successful and get that far.