City recall election set for December 17

GLENWOOD CITY — The recall petition against the mayor and two councilpersons has been certified and the special election set.

At a special meeting of the City Council Thursday evening, November 6th, City Clerk-Treasurer, Sharon Rosenow, issued the Certificate of Sufficiency and Order. Her certification indicated that there were a sufficient number of qualified electors that signed the petition that was presented at her office on October 9th.

The recall is against Mayor John Larson and council members Nancy Hover and David Graese. Her order sets the recall election for Tuesday, December 17.

The Mayor and the two council members will appear on the ballot, unless they choose to resign their office before Friday, November 15th. Nominations are now open for any city resident who may want to run against those incumbents. Nomination papers are due no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 19, at the city clerk’s office.

In this election each office will have a separate ballot and if more than two people have filed for an office, then a primary election will be required. If there is a need for a primary, the December 17th election date will become a primary election and then the recall election for one or more of those offices will be on Tuesday, January 14, 2014.

It was required that at least 83 people were needed to sign the petition to force a recall election. Rosenow’s order indicated that the recall against Larson contained 110 qualifying signatures; against Graese, 103 signatures; and Hover recall had 108 signatures.

As for nomination papers that are due on November 19, anyone running for mayor will be required to file nomination papers that contain a minimum of 50 signatures, but not more than 100. For the council seats, the required minimum signatures is 20 and the maximum of 40.

Back on September 20th, a group calling themselves “Glenwood City Citizens for Legal and Ethical Representation” stated the reason for the recall was “Malfeasance.” Their news release stated, “The mayor and these council members have refused to take seriously a petition for a referendum which would allow the citizens to vote on whether an industrial sand mine is located less than a mile from a public school and next to the neighboring community of Downing.”