The city of John Day is embroiled in its second recall effort this year.

The city’s public works director, Casey Myers, has filed recall petitions against City Councilors Eric Bush, Ron Phillips and Sherrie Rininger, the council president.

Calling himself a “whistleblower,” Myers claims in his recall petitions that the three council members have mismanaged the city’s resources and that their actions are jeopardizing public services.

“Despite their promises, they are not transparent,” the petitions state.

Myers also alleges that the councilors have run off city staff while pursuing “a revenge agenda” and that they have dismissed public feedback and refused to answer questions.

“We need elected officials who will answer the people’s questions, are honest and act with integrity toward residents and staff,” the petitions state.

The recall petitions also allege that the councilors have failed to produce audits, held illegal meetings, prevented meaningful council discussions and engaged in unethical conduct. Myers said he will provide specific examples of these allegations throughout the recall process so the public can be informed and vote accordingly.

All three recall petitions contain the same language, much of which is also included in a letter to the editor Myers submitted to the newspaper.

Public works head makes case

To underscore the seriousness of his charges, Myers pointed out in an interview that it isn’t a normal occurrence for a city’s public works director to file a recall motion against three city councilors.

“This is not something you see every day,” he said in an interview. “My treatment plant operator filing a petition to recall the former mayor does not happen every day.”

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 of this year.

Myers said the motivation to recall the three councilors started in August when Rininger read a letter in open session blasting city employees.

“This all began when she stood up on August 22 of 2023 and read a letter that she wrote in a public meeting slamming, slandering and libeling pretty much everyone that worked for the city John Day at that point in time,” Myers said. “Since then, we have lost at least two employees.”

Since that statement by Rininger, Myers said city staff have seen the councilors’ disregard for procedure and transparency. He said the final straw was the way the council went about appointing members to the budget committee on May 14..

“They just automatically went from motion to appointment to vote, and there was no discussion,” he said. “It was completely against protocol and procedure.”

That disregard for procedure and what he claims are illegal meetings outside council sessions will continue if the recall effort is not successful, Myers said. he also expressed concern that there could be retaliation against city staff.

“I feel if this recall fails that we’re going to be in worse shape because we’re probably going to be minus at least one city councilman, maybe two,” he said. “Then they can appoint whoever they would like to enter those positions and they can continue their crookedness.”

Myers said he hopes things don’t play out that way and that the recall petition, whether or not it passes, inspires the targeted councilors to start following rules, regulations and procedures and involve the rest of the council in their deliberations.

Councilors respond

Phillips said he had no comment at this time, but Bush and Rininger were defiant in their responses to the allegations contained in the petitions.

Rininger boiled the recall effort down to a case of political sour grapes by people whose chief complaint is that the city isn’t being run in the manner they would like it to be.

“There really is no backing to it,” she said. “It’s another baseless claim, and the truth will come out.”

Bush issued a press release in reaction to the recall petitions saying he’s disappointed in the effort.

“It’s clear that the recall petitioner and anyone assisting him has not clearly thought through the consequences of falsifying a recall petition with statements that can be proven false,” the statement read.

Bush said those consequences could include a felony conviction under Oregon law.

“I do not want that for anyone, including the petitioner or his co-conspirators,” the statement said.

The statement said the petitioner has a brief window in which to change course and reconsider what Bush called “ill-advised folly” before Bush formally begins defending himself.

Supporters of the recall effort have 90 days to gather 126 valid voter signatures on the petitions to trigger an election. Once that threshold is met, the councilors facing recall efforts have five days to submit a statement of justification defending themselves against the allegations in the petitions.

A recall election would be held within 35 days of the submission of statements of justification by the targeted councilors.