Councilors face recall petition

Robert Monteith

June 25, 2009.

The two junior members of the city council now face the threat of a recall following last week’s city council meeting. Elected eight months ago, both Lee Corrao and Sara Stoner supported the termination of City Manager Rich Underkofler’s contract, despite a large amount of public testimony opposing the move. They were joined by their more senior counterparts, Melinda Hofstad and Bob Nilsen, in creating the majority needed to see Underkofler out of office.

The reasoning behind seeking Underkofler’s termination has not been made public. Alaska law grants both the council and Underkofler the right to hold personnel hearings in private. At last Monday’s meeting, Underkofler said he opted for a private meeting under the advice of his attorney.

His dismissal prompted 16 members of the public, led by Fran Jones and Barry Bracken, to file an application for a recall petition.

“Basically, I’m unhappy with the majority that is on the council. I feel that they have been tyrannical and have a personal agenda,” said Jones, who said eight people were waiting for her the morning she decided to file the petition. After consulting with the city clerk, three more people had arrived, giving the petitioners enough signatures to apply for a recall right on the spot.

Jones said she decided to support a petition because she had first-hand experience on the behind the scenes actions of the council.

“There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes, as far as rumors and allegations against people that work for the city or used to work for the city. For instance, my husband,” she explained.

Jones is married to Bruce Jones, who held the office of city manager prior to Underkofler. A recall effort on Melinda Hofstad, which eventually failed due to lack of signatures, alleged that she had been spreading rumors about Bruce Jones. The allegations, put forward in a recall petition application sponsored by John Havrilek and Dennis Lewis, said that Hofstad was behind rumors of Jones accepting perks from engineering companies in exchange for city contracts.

Jones also disagreed with policy decisions made by the council majority. She said it went against claims made during their campaigns.

“They ran with this claim that they’re fiscal conservatives, but yet they aren’t. Their actions have proved that over and over and over again,” she said. Jones pointed to the decision to let Underkofler go as a perfect example. She said the timing was impractical when a great deal of money was available due to the federal stimulus package.

One argument made by the councilors was that Underkofler stepped over a line, but Jones said she didn’t believe that. She felt the conflict between Underkofler and the councilors came down to personalities.

“I know the reason why,” she explained. “Rich told me himself and it wasn’t enough to fire him over, believe me. It’s personalities versus policy and they’re not getting work done.” She went on to say that a person could only take so much abuse before eventually snapping back.

Of the majority, only Corrao and Stoner are available for a recall. Councilor Bob Nilsen is exempt because his seat is within 180 days of the general election. Hofstad enjoys the protection of a failed recall bid, which does not allow for another attempt on her seat for six months.

“I don’t see them as the source,” said Jones of Corrao and Stoner. “I see all four of them. Unfortunately, we can’t go after all four of them, so rather than sit back and let them continue doing what they’re doing, we can recall the two that we can. In October, Bob’s seat is up and in August Melinda will be eligible for recall. We plan to go after her at that time for the same reasons we get approved for these two.”

The reasons put forward in the recall petition consist of two charges. The first claims incompetency for the decision to terminate Underkofler. The petition says that decision was “an act of incompetency which caused the citizens to be deprived of his services and resulted in the waste of public resources due to the cost of the severance agreement.”

The second charge alleges misconduct in office, stating that the undersigned believe Corrao and Stoner violated the Open Meetings Act by meeting with other members of the council majority to set an agenda.

One such issue that Jones pointed to was the recent debate over whether or not to lower the harbor live aboard rates. Jones said that she was surprised the issue came before the council because one of Hofstad’s acquaintances had mentioned the preference for a reduction.

“How irresponsible is that? It’s things like that that make me wonder where they are coming from,” she said. “It’s who you are and if you’re a good friend of theirs, then it’s okay. But if you don’t agree...”

When Underkofler was fired Monday, some public testimony was critical of the entire council. Former Councilor Dan Hickman called for all of their resignations, stating that it would allow Petersburg to get on with its business.

Jones said Mayor Al Dwyer and Councilors Mark Jensen and Ed Sarff weren’t being targeted by her petition because she felt the three had fought hard to keep the city running smoothly.

“The majority of the people feel that they have been a victim in all this, that they have been trying to keep things on track as far as conducting the city’s business. Every time they try, they get slapped down with this majority,” she explained.

Both Dwyer and Sarff opposed Underkofler’s dismissal. Jensen was absent from the meeting.

The meeting was a frustrating one for Jones, who said that body language from the councilors showed their disinterest for public comments. She said it was as if their minds were already made up before the meeting began and was upset when Stoner read from a prepared statement to put into action Underkofler’s dismissal.

“I would just like to ask the four of them, beseech them, to just resign and save the city all of this embarrassment and political upheaval. For the good of the city, just get off the council and let us get down to business,” said Jones.

The recall petitions are still in the application stages. Should the city clerk find their reasons for a recall legally valid, she will issue the actual recall petition. It will then be up to the petitioners to collect enough signatures to force a vote. They would have 60 days to get 181 signatures for each petition.