JOHN DAY — The question of whether to recall three John Day City Council members will be on the ballot in a special election in September.

John Day Public Works Director Casey Myers met the threshold of 126 valid voter signatures to trigger a recall election of Councilors Eric Bush, Ron Phillips and Sherrie Rininger, City Manager Melissa Bethel said.

Myers began the recall campaign in May, accusing the trio of mismanaging city funds, lacking transparency, harassing city staff, behaving unethically and engaging in anti-democratic practices. Myers turned in his signed petitions on Aug. 7 and the recall election is set for Sept. 17, Bethel said.

That leaves voters in John Day a little more than a month to decide whether to recall all, some or none of the councilors.

It will be the city’s second recall election this year.

Former John Day Mayor Heather Rookstool faced similar allegations in a recall petition filed by Oren Wyss, the operator of the city’s wastewater treatment plant. Rookstool was recalled by a margin of 32 votes on Jan. 16.

Myers spells out claims

Myers outlined a litany of justifications for the recall effort in a “fact sheet” that was mailed to members of the community. That four-page mailer alleges several instances of financial mismanagement and waste attributed to some or all of the targeted councilors, including: returning or losing grant funding, withdrawing from the Regional Rural Revitalization Strategies Consortium and failing to negotiate a wastewater treatment agreement with Canyon City.

Myers also mentioned the failed pool bond, saying Phillips and Rininger campaigned against the bond, which cost the city $2 million in state grants for the project. The mailer also alleges the councilors created a toxic work environment for city staff, which ultimately led to the unionization of the city workforce.

Myers accused the councilors of holding private meetings where they made decisions without the public’s input and said they violated state budget law.

“John Day deserves better leaders,” the mailer said. “We need leaders who have vision and can effectively govern.”

Statements of justification

All three councilors filed official statements of justification to defend themselves against the allegations contained in the recall petition.

Bush said in his statement that he knew the role of city councilor would be a difficult when he applied for appointment to an open seat, but he was willing to endure whatever was necessary to help the community.

“Seven months later a small group, led by a former disgruntled employee tries to make the case that I am responsible for the city’s years of failures,” the statement said.

Bush said the city needs a sustainable strategy for the future that will benefit everyone.

In the statement, Bush pushed back against the claims made in the recall petition, saying he doesn’t believe in hiding the truth, manipulating facts or bullying constituents who don’t agree with him but does believe in maintaining public trust, government transparency and ethics.

Phillips touted his John Day roots, saying he wants to see the city thriving within its means. In his statement, Phillips said he believes he was targeted for recall because of his controversial removal of a sign advertising the future location of a new library on city property and because he was the one who blew the whistle on a local business that was allegedly offering product discounts for “yes” votes in the mayoral recall election.

“I am an honest person with morals and integrity,” he said in the statement. “What part of that don’t you like?”

Rininger, who serves as council president, disputed claims made against her in the recall petition, stating she has no agenda other than to do what’s best for the city.

“There is no proof to these allegations,” her statement read.

Rininger said only one grant has been returned and that was due to the city not having a community development director, which that grant would have paid for. She also pushed back against accusations the council let the “purple pipe” water reclamation project die, saying Malheur Lumber, which was expected to be a major customer for the reclaimed water, didn’t want the quality of water the purple pipe would have supplied.

Rininger also denied she campaigned against the pool bond as alleged, adding the bond ultimately cost the community money even in failure.

“This administration was saddled with $650,000 for the plans,” her statement read.

“Over the last 18 months, through false accusations, investigations, union negotiations and over budgeting, the employees have cost us thousands of dollars, and now taxpayers are paying for another recall,” she said. “If you want to know the truth, come talk to me.”