Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Craig Melton recall, Columbia River People’s Utilities District, Oregon (2016)
| Columbia River Peoples Utilities District Board of Directors recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| February 23, 2016 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2016 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws Special district recalls Recall reports |
Efforts in Columbia County, Oregon, to recall Craig Melton, Jake Carter and Harry Price from their positions on the five-member board of directors of the Columbia River People’s Utilities District began in December 2015. Melton's recall was defeated via a special election on February 23, 2016.[1] Paperwork for the recall petition against District Director Craig Melton, who was elected to represent Subdivision 2 of the district, was officially filed on December 7, 2015. Recall petitioners announced their intention to file petitions against Jake Carter and Harry Price as well.[2]
Melton and Price were elected in November 2014, while Carter was elected in November 2012. District director terms last four years.
The recall petition was submitted to the Columbia County Elections Office by Dave Ehrenkranz on January 11, 2016. It cited "poor leadership" by Melton because he and two others on the board, Jake Carter and Harry Price, voted to remove two interim managers in less than six months "without discussion" and without placing the proposal on the board's meeting agenda.[3]
Recall vote
| Shall Craig Melton be removed from the Columbia River People’s Utilities District Board? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Recall | 577 | 37.39% | ||
 Retain | 966 | 62.61% | ||
In January 2016, the petition was submitted and certified. Melton had until 5 p.m. on January 25 to either resign or submit a statement explaining why he should not be recalled.[4] A special recall election was scheduled for February 23. Ballots were sent in the mail on February 3.[5]
Recall supporters
Members of Restore Our PUD Committee filed the recall petition against Melton and proposed efforts against Carter and Price. David Ehrenkranz is the chief petitioner behind the efforts. Darrel Purkerson, the group's spokesperson, served on the district's board of directors from 2000 until Jake Carter defeated him in the November 2012 election. Recall proponents disapproved of certain actions of Melton, Carter and Price. Petitioners pointed to an instance in which the directors removed two temporary managers “without discussion or [the proposal] having been placed on the board’s meeting agenda.”[2]
Recall opponents
Friends of Columbia River PUD
Friends of Columbia River PUD was created to campaign in support of Melton and the other targeted board members.[6] Kathy Hoffmann, a member of the group, stated:
| “ |
Craig has been working tirelessly to help the PUD overcome the issues created by former managers and board members. I started attending meetings in 2014 after reading about high management salaries and low employee morale in the paper. There have been a lot of changes since then. The PUD is on the right track now and we need to support Craig and the other board members who made that happen.[7] |
” |
| —Kathy Hoffmann[8] | ||
Formal complaint
Melton filed a formal complaint with the Oregon secretary of state’s Elections Division, claiming that petitioners collected signatures by misleading people with false information. He said that he had witnesses claiming that Dave Baker, who was president of the Columbia River PUD, and his son told people that Melton broke the law while in office. "Individuals who signed the petition reasonably believed, based on the statements they made, that the effect of the petition was to remove a criminal from the CRPUD Board," read Melton's complaint.[5]
The secretary of state's communications director said the complaint would be sent to the Department of Justice "if the elections division's investigation reveals sufficient evidence of a criminal violation."[5]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Oregon
To qualify the recall for the ballot, petitioners needed to obtain 460 valid signatures from registered voters within Craig Melton's district subdivision within 90 days of the petition form being approved by the county. The required number of votes is calculated by taking 15 percent of the votes that the district cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election. Similar requirements would apply to petitions targeting Jake Carter and Harry Price.[2]
The petition submitted on January 11 contained 562 signatures. The petition was certified on January 20, and Melton had until 5 p.m. on January 25 to either resign or submit a statement explaining why he should not be recalled. Melton did not resign, so a special recall election was set for February 23.[4]
See also
External links
- Columbia River People’s Utilities District website
- Friends of Columbia River PUD website and Facebook page
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Columbia River PUD recalls. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
Footnotes
- ↑ Columbia County, Oregon, "County Election Night Results," February 23, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Chronicle, "Group starts effort to recall CRPUD board member," December 8, 2015
- ↑ South County Spotlight, "Signatures submitted in recall effort against Melton," January 11, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 South County Spotlight, "County OKs petition for Melton recall," January 22, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 South County Spotlight, "Recall election of PUD director set for Feb. 23," January 29, 2016
- ↑ Friends of Columbia River PUD, "Home," accessed December 18, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Chronicle, "Group opposes recall of PUD board member," December 14, 2015
