Serious
talk of recalling locally elected officials often roils Yorba Linda's
political landscape, but mounting a successful recall is difficult,
partly due to challenges in precisely navigating the state's
detailed rules to qualify a recall for the ballot and the costs
involved.
In
fact, no city council member, school trustee or water board director
serving this community has ever been removed from office in a recall,
and only one of multiple recall efforts has ever reached the ballot –
the 2014 attempt to replace councilmen Tom Lindsey and Craig Young.
However,
a recall targeting Yorba Linda Water District directors might be on
the horizon, guided by Yorba Linda Taxpayers Association leaders,
including some who were active in that first-ever recall election.
Before
co-founding the taxpayers group, Jeff Decker ran to replace Lindsey
in the recall attempt, but Lindsey retained his seat by a comfortable
18-point margin. Co-founder Jon Hansen had opposed the recall.
In
a statement issued after a recent “town hall” meeting that drew
some 170 residents, the taxpayers group said, “The audience support
to proceed with both a writ of mandate and a recall of board members
was overwhelming.”
A
writ of mandate, the group noted, “is a court order to a government
agency to follow the law” and “is necessary” because directors
“refused to comply” with a statutory obligation to rescind a rate
increase or place the issue on a ballot, upon receiving a referendum
petition.
The
petition contained 5,520 signatures. The county Registrar of Voters
checked a sample of 500, found 444 to be valid and extrapolated 88.8
percent or 4,902 would be valid, surpassing the 2,157 needed.
But
the petition was turned away by directors in a 5-0 vote after hearing
a report from district General Manager Marc Marcantonio and longtime
legal counsel Art Kidman.
They
recommended rejection because “the referendum process isn't allowed
by the laws applicable to the rate (increase) resolution,” and only
an initiative petition – not a referendum process – would be
lawful, a stance vigorously disputed by the taxpayers group.
With
an expensive lawsuit and possible recall effort afoot, the taxpayers
association is raising funds, asking donors to state if a
contribution is a loan and promising to “pay you back in full,”
should “the court order our legal fees be reimbursed by the water
district.”
A
key cost is printing petitions, which must follow strict state format
requirements, including type size, margins, signature and address
spacing and other details, with noncomplying forms rejected.
A
recall effort would require separate petitions for each director
targeted, signed by at least 20 percent of the district's nearly
48,000 registered voters in a 120-day period. Slated for the November
2016 ballot are seats held by Mike Beverage and Ric Collett. Terms
for Phil Hawkins, Bob Kiley and Gary Melton run through 2018.