COEUR d'ALENE - RecallCdA is expected to hand its petitions to the Coeur d'Alene city clerk on Monday.
But before it does, it wants to examine the copy machine at City Hall - the one the city will use to scan its own petition copies - in preparation for hand-in day.
"We would appreciate seeing the actual process you intend to use as you receive the petition forms containing the signatures we have gathered," Frank Orzell, RecallCdA organizer, emailed to Coeur d'Alene City Clerk Susan Weathers on Wednesday, requesting a site inspection prior to Monday. "We would appreciate having the opportunity to see the actual equipment you intend to scan or copy the petitions."
Weathers scheduled the walk-through for 9 this morning.
Weathers said she didn't take offense to the request, and understands nearly everything with the recall effort has been under the public microscope since it was launched April 5.
"I understand their caution, but I would also hope they could have some trust in their city clerk," she said Thursday. "I've always been transparent in my dealings. This is just another routine process I'm being open and transparent with."
Recall supporter Bill McCrory will join Orzell when the two "check out the equipment" today, according to Orzell's email.
Neither Orzell nor McCrory returned phone messages from The Press.
Orzell's email exchange with Weathers said that RecallCdA's legal counsel advised them to make the request.
The machine in question is a Ricoh 8001, purchased last year. It has been operating in City Hall for about eight months and can scan 1,000 pages every 17 minutes.
Staff tested it again Thursday just in case, Weathers said.
Orzell also requested to have RecallCdA representatives on hand Monday after the signed petitions are submitted to the city clerk, who will scan copies and then transport them to the Kootenai County Elections Office to begin the certification process.
That request was granted, and the event is open to the other affected parties, like the targeted incumbents, media, and the recall countermovement, Stop The Recall.
Assuming today's walk-through passes, here's how Monday, and then the Tuesday, June 19, deadline, should transpire:
The four petitions should be turned in Monday, after which Weathers will scan copies. That shouldn't take long, she said.
After she's done, she will put the original petitions in boxes, seal them with police evidence tape, place them in the trunk of a car and then drive - escorted by Coeur d'Alene Police Capt. Steve Childers and Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Wayne Longo - to the Kootenai County Elections Office on Third Street.
Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes, with a staff of up to 10, will then begin certifying the signatures.
His team has eight days, including next weekend, to hand the certified petitions back over to the City Clerk by Tuesday, June 19 - the recall drive's absolute deadline.
Certifying the signatures means ensuring the signatures are valid registered Coeur d'Alene voters. Council members Mike Kennedy, Woody McEvers, Deanna Goodlander and Mayor Sandi Bloem are the targets of the recall. Each of their petitions needs 4,311 signatures from valid registered Coeur d'Alene voters to prompt a recall election.
But Hayes is not responsible for counting the total number of valid signatures. Instead, his office's job is to determine how many valid signatures are on each petition page of 20 signatures.
So if a petition has 18 valid signatures out of 20, 18 would be written down on an attached certification page as the total for that page: That's to say, each petition page will have its own count.
That process, Hayes said, we be completed by 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 19.
At that time, the certified petitions will be transported back to the City Clerk to count. She will have four hours to count the total, as the deadline for the entire recall process is 5 p.m.
Weathers said she's comfortable with completing the task in four hours.
Here's how she'll do it:
She will sequester three people in a room, likely a police officer, water or street department representative and someone from the legal department, to calculate the totals. The representatives will not be department heads, she said.
Weathers will call out the number on each petition certification page and all three helpers will keep track on a calculator. If all three have a matching number at the end of each incumbent's petition, that number will be the total. If not, the process will begin again.
Weathers will notify the incumbents of the results, then notify the media of the results and choose an election date if the results warrant one.
The most likely election dates Weathers would choose from, according to Idaho statute, are Aug. 28 and Nov. 6. She said she won't yet disclose which date she would select.
In a strange footnote, one hour after the 5 p.m. June 19 deadline, a Coeur d'Alene City Council meeting will begin, so the incumbents will be asked to take up city business 60 minutes after learning the results.
Incidentally, the Kootenai County Clerk's office will know the likely results before Weathers can calculate them, as the county's electronic certification process will tally the running total automatically, Hayes said.
Hayes said that information will not be shared before Weathers can officially calculate and then share the numbers.
About the recall
How does a recall election work?
To be removed from office, each of the four incumbents would have to receive more votes for their ouster than they received in winning the 2009 general election, plus a majority vote in the recall election — two thresholds to cross.
In 2009, Mike Kennedy earned 3,162 votes, Woody McEvers 3,280, Deanna Goodlander 3,146, and Mayor Sandi Bloem earned 3,955. So a simple majority in favor of a recall isn't enough by itself. All the above totals would also have to be exceeded for the recall to be successful.
When would it be?
Either Aug. 28 or Nov. 6. City Clerk Susan Weathers will decide.
What happens if all four incumbents are recalled?
That would leave three council members, Ron Edinger, Steve Adams and Dan Gookin.
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter would appoint one replacement. That would give the council a quorum, essentially enough members for the council to take action. The four members would then appoint the remaining positions. In this case, the seats would all expire in 2013.
How would Gov. Otter choose his appointment?
Otter's office would seek replacement recommendations through five possible avenues: The Kootenai County Commissioners, local legislators, the governor's North Idaho field representative, the Association of Idaho Cities or interested people could call the Boise office and offer their own name. From that list, the recommended names, if they were interested, would then submit resumes. From there the choice would be made.
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