A group is raising money and collecting volunteers in an effort to recall Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert. Organizer Eric Scott tells 6 News that this is a serious effort.He says, "“Our plan is definitely to have a recall petition in the hands of voters towards the end of June, early July."
Scott says the reason behind recall is the condition of Omaha city streets.He says we have a failing infrastructure with the biggest issue being potholes.However, that isn't the only issue.
Scott says Stothert also promised to repeal the restaurant tax when she ran for office and that remains in place.Scott says this isn't political but more of an issue concerning the citizens and what is going on regarding the leadership of Omaha.
NewsRadio 1110 talked to Douglas County Election Commissioner Brian Kruse who says this isn't a quick process.
Kruse says, "The first thing you have to do is get a person to come in and be the principal circulator of the recall effort.They state the reason why.We notify the elected official, in this case the mayor.She would have the opportunity to respond.Then we would prepare the petitions to go out and be circulated.Once they take possession of those petitions, they have 30 days to collect 34,818 valid signatures to get that placed on a ballot for a special election."
Kruse says the mayor has up to 20 days to respond in a written statement.Whether they hear back or not, they start to prepare the petition pages for the organizers so they can start collecting signatures.If the elected official responds, that statement is also placed on the petition for potential signers to read.
There have been recall efforts in the past.Mayor Mike Boyle was removed from office in 1987.In 2011, there was an effort to recall Mayor Jim Suttle but there were not enough votes for a recall during a special election.There were also unsuccessful efforts to recall Mayor Hal Daub and Mayor Mike Fahey.