Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Recall Facts, Part III

"No recall petition shall be filed against any elective officer within six (6) months after he takes office." (Section 157, Portsmouth City Charter)

Accordingly, recall petitions against the mayor can be filed any time after July 6, 2010 (the first business day after the six-month limit).

"There shall appear on each petition paper the names and addresses of five electors, who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall be regarded as responsible for the circulation and filing of the petition." (Section 27)

Each petition paper must be properly certified by the circulator of the petition, who must be a registered voter, but not necessarily a citizen of Portsmouth. The circulator does not have to be one of the five committee members. The petitions must be gotten from the City Clerk's office.

"A recall petition...to be sufficient must bear signatures of qualified electors of the City equal in number to at least 25% of the electors who voted in the last preceding regular municipal election." (Section 151)

In Nov. 2009, 4590 people voted in the City election. Therefore, the petitions to recall the mayor must have at least 1148 valid signatures. (25% of 4590). [A llocal website mistakenly reported that only 10% are needed but this is incorrect.] There are approximately 11,500 registered voters in Portsmouth.

Also according to Section 151, petitioners have only 30 days to produce the required signatures. The City Clerk has 20 days after receiving the petitions to certify that there are enough valid signatures.

If the City Clerk certifies that there are at least 1148 valid signatures, the recall of the mayor would be placed on the November ballot. At that time Portsmouth voters will have a chance to vote "for" or "against" the removal of the Mayor.

If the November recall is successful, Mayor Murray would leave office immediately after the recall election is certified by the Scioto County Board of Elections, and she could not run for any city office for two years. If the recall is successful, the President of City Council (currently David Malone) would immediately become Mayor.

If the recall is unsuccessful, Murray will complete her four-year term. No additional recall attempt could be initiated until at least six months after the failed recall vote.

The entire City Charter can be viewed here.

WHO WILL STEP UP TO THE PLATE?

There are rumors that at least one recall committee is being formed. It is said that on July 6 or soon after, recall petitions to the remove Mayor Murray will be available. It is said that this committee will made up of well-known people in our community who have seen the ongoing travesty of the Murray administration and know that it must be stopped. It is said that these people know that the only hope for Portsmouth's future is the removal of Jane Murray.
Are these rumors true? We will soon see.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
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Click below for Parts I and II:

Coming Soon...
Jane Murray: The CASE for RECALL

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Recall Facts, Part II


QUESTION: What is the only thing necessary for evil to triumph?
ANSWER: According to a famous quote, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

QUESTION: Will Jane Murray be recalled from office as the Mayor of Portsmouth?
ANSWER: See above.

We have all heard for months that many people of Portsmouth are calling for the recall of Jane Murray. It is said that there will be people lined up at the City Clerk's office on July 6--the first day that petitions for recall can be released, eager to see Murray's sad reign of error ended. Murray's recall was said to be a foregone conclusion. We have been among those who have made that very prediction.

Supposedly, Murray is toast. 

However, something has to happen first. Section 27 of the Portsmouth City Charter requires that a "recall committee" of five Portsmouth voters must be formed to request the recall.

"There shall appear on each petition paper the names and addresses of five electors of the City...who, as a committee, shall be regarded as responsible for the circulation and filing of the petition."

After the five electors (or registered voters) of Portsmouth officially request the Mayor's removal, the charter requies the City Clerk will "keep on file" "copies of petition papers for demanding such a removal" for distribution to the voters as requested. (Section 150 of the Charter.)

So. Who will form the committee? Usually the people forming the recall committees in Portsmouth are CAVE People types... like Harold Daub, Rich Noel, Wayne Nichols, "a citizen," Austin Leedom, etc. But even though they're all experts on the recall process (especially Daub), these people are more likely forming committees to recall the council people who have stood up to Murray. They are Jane Murray's very own motley crew of "good ol' boys."  

The Charter says that valid petitions for recall of an elected official cannot be circulated until the official has been in office for six months. Queen Jane was crowned on January 4. Six months later, July 4 will be a Sunday. And July 5, a Monday, is the date when the City will observe Independence Day. So Tuesday, July 6, will be the day that the recall can begin...if a recall committee is formed.

That is less than three weeks away.

It will be interesting to see who steps up to the plate to give the citizens of Portsmouth what they want and what the City needs so badly...a chance to recall Jane Murray.


"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."-Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

For "Recall Facts, Part One," click below:
http://p-townunderground.blogspot.com/2010/04/recall-facts-part-i.html

Friday, June 11, 2010

cRaZy-tOvvN Community Development


Shannon Southworth was fired on Monday. ("Southworth Issues Statement About Firing."-PDT)

Until Monday, Shannon was the Grants Technician for the City of Portsmouth. As of today, she is still listed on the City's website as the contact person for the Community Development Department. (http://www.portsmouthoh.org/index.aspx?nid=72)


Shannon's name may be there for a while. After all, Jeff Peck who was let go by the City almost a month ago, is still listed on the City's website as the director of the Engineering Department, the Public Service Department, the Public Utilities Department, AND the Wastewater Department.  (He is really gone, isn't he?)

Now according to the Portsmouth Daily Times: "The remaining person in the Portsmouth Community Development Department has been fired. Shannon Southworth...was fired by Mayor Jane Murray Monday."

Why was Southworth fired, you may ask? Well, Frank Lewis, the Portsmouth Times reporter, asked Jane Murray the same question.
"Murray would not talk about the termination on the record, citing dealing with personnel as an administrative issue."
Wow! This is quite a change for Ms. Murray! In the past firing employees was reason for a press conference to make wild accusations against them. Remember when she fired the Water Works Director and  publicly threatened to have investigated for corruption-based on the claims of a convicted felon. (She later hired him back). Remember when she fired the Sewer Director for gross mismanagement and neglect of duty. (She later offered him his job back). Remember when she fired the Service Director for incompetence, neglect of duty, and lack of caring about the public? (Apparently the Portsmouth Municipal Court judges disagreed, because about a week later they hired him as their bailiff.)

Maybe Calamity Jane has learned something in her brief, disastrous time in office: Sometimes just keep your big mouth shut when you fire someone.

THE REAL REASON SHANNON SOUTHWORTH WAS FIRED

In 2009 a local contractor was hired by the City to install new curbs and sidewalks in a large part of the East End of Portsmouth. There were multiple problems with his work. The contractor left piles of debris in the streets and disappeared from the job for long periods of time. Perhaps the biggest problem was vandalism. The contractor was responsible for securing his work until the concrete hardened, but most of the sidewalks the contractor installed were defaced with extensive graffiti, some of which is vulgar. (The graffiti can be seen at many of the intersections south of 8th Street and east of Campbell St.) The Community Development Director at that time retained part of the amount owed to the contractor until the vandalized sidewalk sections were removed and replaced. The contractor refused, saying he shouldn't be responsible for vandalism, even though it was a requirement of the contract.

The project was paid through the City Auditor's Office using Federal and State funds granted to the City, so the City had to report to the State on the progress of the project. The City reported that project was not complete and explained the reason why the funds were withheld. Of course the contractor was very unhappy about this.

Who was the contractor who installed the sidewalks? None other than Jack Vetter. The same contractor the Mayor "hired" without City Council authorization to remodel her office (including her lovely bathroom) on her first day in office. This is the same contractor who just last week complained to the Portsmouth Times ("Local Contractor Upset Over Non-Payment From City") and harshly criticized City Council for not paying him for the remodeling. Vetter said, "I blame Council 100 percent. I think they are playing hardball with the Mayor and taking it out on me." Please notice that the article does not mention Vetter's non-payment for the sidewalk work.

What does this have to do with Ms. Southworth? Last month, the contractor (Vetter) submitted a bill to the city for "additional work" related to the East End sidewalk project.The mayor's office prepared an invoice to pay for the "additional work" using federal community development funds and sent it to Ms. Southworth, as the City's Grants Technician, for her approval. Knowing the history of the sidewalk project, Southworth contacted the Ohio Department of Development to make sure the invoice could be paid. While Southworth was waiting for an answer, Jeff Peck (in one his last acts as a City employee) removed the voucher from Southworth's desk, signed it and took it to the Auditor's Office for payment. (Even though the funds are federal/state provided, the actual check comes through the City Auditor.)

For her own protection, Southworth wrote a memo to the mayor, the city solicitor and city auditor to explain that the invoice was taken from her desk and paid without her knowledge and to clarify that she had not finished her review of the bill. The mayor apparently considered Southworth's memo to be grounds for firing.

As a result of Ms. Murray's attempt to provide additional compensation (we were told the amount was over $20,000) to a favored contractor for questionable, substandard work using federal funds, the City is now being investigated by the Ohio Department of Development. And now the City has no Community Development Department.

When Jane Murray ran for Mayor and she came into office she claimed to be an expert in community development. She promised she would bring in museums and parks and grants and cultural centers to Portsmouth, "just like I did in Lexington." (As we have already shown here on P-Town Underground, her claimed Lexington "successes" are all frauds.)

So, Dear Reader, what do you think?

Which of the follownig is a bigger priority for Mayor Jane Murray? The Community Development Department, which should be the welcoming face of our city for business people and government officials from out of town and around the world...


...or is it a small room, intended for use by only one person, built by a contractor who did substandard work for the city, whose pay request was questioned by an employee who was fired for doing her job?