Kathy Gould holds meeting to organize local councilor mass recall

Kathy Gould who is heading a recall of five Lakeside council members, held a meeting at Osprey Point in Lakeside last Friday afternoon. It was an attempt to organize citizens to recall five separate Lakeside council members. Gould is chief petitioner on each one.

The gathering was billed as open to the public and arranged by Gould, who is Lakeside’s Senior Citizen President.

A sign up sheet was circulated (not the recall petition sheets) to organize a committee to gather signatures that would place a recall on a special ballot to recall  Lakeside Council members Clark Anderson, Elaine Armstrong, Mack Eubanks,  Chrysta Swift, and Rod Schilling. All five candidates won handily at the last election over opponents.

Gould, a political ally of Mayor Orville Nelson, also is the wife of former appointed council member Buford Gould. He was defeated in last November’s election against Rod Schilling. Schilling easily beat Gould by a vote of 517 to 273.

It appeared that there were four or five signatures on the sign-up sheet after circulating through the crowd of approximately 20 people.

When questioned by an audience member about the cost of the recall, Gould said, “I don’t know”.

Linda Kinch from the Lakeside budget committee was there with the budget and explained costs and what determined the rent hike. She was asked no follow up questions.

It should be noted that Gould asked Lakesideinfo.com to leave, but that didn’t happen.

Gould instructed the small gathering on how to circulate and gather signatures on the petitions for recall. There is a petition for each councilor targeted, making a total of five petitions.

The total verified signatures needed to get the recall on the ballet is 128 per person. There are 1110 voters currently in Lakeside.

Depending on how many recalls make it to the ballot and if there is more than one special election required, the cost could vary. However, Coos County elections manages the election and bills the City of Lakeside.

Coos County elections clerk Terri Turi said the cost for recall in 2006 was $3500. This year, the cost has been estimated to be around $4000. But that cost could double if two separate dates are required. The scenario could happen if staggered turn-ins happen in the various petitions.

Gould stated, that the Council had not had a conversation with the Senior’s about their Senior Center Agreement.

The council voted to accept the rental contract as presented at the July Lakeside City Council meeting. There was discussion before the vote, which included the senior representatives that were in attendance.

The contract with the Seniors now languishes, as the Mayor and the Seniors have not signed the agreement dated August 4th.

Gould said she would be calling a future meeting for recall organizers that would be held at her home.

On the other side of the political divide, there was subsequently launched a recall effort by local citizen and elected Lakeside Fire Board member Calvin Walker in an attempt to unseat Mayor Orville Nelson and Councilor Tim Crockett.

Both are serving a second term. The two petitions circulated would also require the same number of signatures: 128 verified signatures to qualify for an election.

If any of the measures qualify for election, the target of the recall has an opportunity to resign, rather than face the voters.