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Tyrone mayor’s recall sought

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

With the stroke of a pen, 130 Tyrone residents took the first step in a three- or four-part legal and political journey to oust Mayor Sheryl Lee from Town Council.

Residents Melissa Hill and Gail Onesi spent the weekend rounding up signatures for the recall application, which is the first hurdle they had to cross.

Hill and Onesi needed 100 signatures to get the recall ball moving, but they collected 30 more just in case some signatures were thrown out due to ineligibility.

The group started the recall effort in response to Lee’s stance on a new John Wieland subdivision.

Wieland officials wanted to rezone a 217-acre tract of land on Ga. Highway 74 South and Kirkley Road to build a 155-home subdivision. The subdivision would feature upscale homes on minimum half-acre lots and would be built next to Wieland’s Southampton development.

Council members Lisa Richardson and Lyn Redwood voted, “No.” Council members Paul Letourneau and Michael Smola said, “Yes.” With the tie, Lee cast the deciding “Yes” vote.

Lee’s decision angered many residents who called her on a campaign promise she made last year to preserve the character of Tyrone. That and another issue prompted Hill to start the recall effort.

“I voted for her because of what she said about keeping the land use plan and then she voted for the Wieland thing,” Hill said.

Lee’s stance on the Wieland issue had the whole town talking, Hill indicated. Everyone she encountered questioned why Lee would vote for something everyone spoke against. So, Hill decided to do something about it.

Her first plan was to get the vote overturned, but lawyers told her, unless she had deep pockets, count that out. Her second plan was to get Lee recalled.

“I made some calls and got the ball rolling,” Hill said.

Hill officially picked up the recall application on July 15 from Assistant Town Manager/Town Clerk Valerie Fowler. She started sending the application around July 29 and by July 31, she had all the signatures she needed.

Very few turned Hill and Onesi away. The ones that did, Hill said, were either business owners or teachers who feared their signatures would cost them down the road.

Fayette County Board of Elections Supervisor Margaret Malone said she has received the application and is now in the process of verifying the signatures. That task will be completed by the close of business Friday, Malone said.

The application was picked up and returned to Fowler, who in turn delivered it to Malone’s office.

Malone said Tyrone is in charge of the recall because the recall involves their mayor.

“We are involved because Tyrone asked us to verify signatures because we have the records in our office,” Malone said.

The recall effort is typically a three-step process. But it could be a four-step process if Lee challenges the effort.

A call to Lee’s office for comment Tuesday was not returned by deadline. Lee’s full-time job is program supervisor for Fayette County.

Getting the recall petition signed with at least 100 signatures is the first step. The second step is the recall petition, Malone said.

Hill will have to round up signatures from 30 percent or 948 active voters who were registered and eligible to vote in the last election for mayor for the second petition.

The third step is a recall election that will be held in Tyrone, Malone said.

Fowler is required to notify Lee after the recall application is filed, Malone added.

“Within four days, the public officer sought to be recalled can petition the Superior Court in the county of residence to review the sufficiency of the grounds of a recall,” Malone said.

Onesi challenged Lee not to dispute the recall effort in Superior Court.

“If indeed she feels she did the right thing by the citizens of Tyrone by breaking the tie vote for the new Wieland half-acre lot subdivision, let it go forward to the voters and let them decide,” Onesi said.

“We still have to come up with the 948 signatures,” Onesi said. ”If she is right and we are wrong, she has nothing to fear. If she tries to get the recall thrown out, she is, in my opinion, admitting she knows she can’t hold her office in a recall and that her days in office since the November elections have served the good of the developers more than the citizens.”

The citizens decided to recall Lee largely on the basis of her May 19 vote on the Wieland issue.

But that might not be enough for a judge to grant the recall, based on the requirements of Georgia law, which make it difficult to unseat an elected official absent a showing of actual criminal wrongdoing.

Hill accepts this fact, but still she hopes this will send Lee a message.

She said the Wieland development will set a bad trend in the town of 3,900 residents. Tyrone is known for its rural character and multi-acre residential lots.

Hill and other residents contend the subdivision will increase crime, traffic and overcrowd neighborhood schools.

“It probably won’t work, but maybe it will wake her up a little bit,” Hill said. “If nothing else, maybe she’ll think twice before she does something to adversely affect the town.”