Note: Sam Marsh of KAJO reported on the launch of a recall petition against Josephine County Commission Chair John West.
A group of approximately 50 people were on hand Friday when a recall petition against Josephine County Commissioner John West was launched at the Grants Pass Courthouse.
The chief petitioners are Gold Hill City Manager Lily Morgan, former Grants Pass Finance Director Jay Meredith and Josephine County Library Board member Tina Gotchall. Supporters of the recall petition were both Republicans and Democrats all dissatisfied with the first-term Commissioner who currently chairs the Board.
The petition requests the recall of West for ignoring the will of the people and for actions that have affected the health and safety of the community; lost revenue, increased costs or haphazardly cut valued services; and failure to follow the law.
Specifically, petitioners pointed to actions that demonstrated a failure to consider the best interests of the people he was elected to serve. These actions include bad faith negotiations in the Pipe Fork property sale; ignoring the will of the people by eliminating funding for community programs such as the OSU Extension Service, law enforcement and public health; a pattern of violating state laws including campaign finance regulations and public meeting laws: unlawfully approving a withdrawal from the local library district; threatening community safety by reducing the Firewise program, reducing the Emergency Management program and eliminating property development fire standards; and hiring unqualified political allies for key County employee or contract positions.
The petitioners stated “These actions demonstrate a pattern of unethical and legal behavior, severely damaging public trust and warranting immediate recall.”
Recall supporters have until October 31st to collect 6,445 valid signatures which would authorize a special election that would send the recall question to registered voters. The group plans to collect around 8,000 signatures to make sure enough of them are verified to trigger the special election.