Mike Lorenz recall, Fort Smith, Arkansas (2017)
| Fort Smith recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2017 Recalls in Arkansas Arkansas recall laws City council recalls Recall reports |
An effort in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to recall City Director Mike Lorenz from his position was launched in September 2017. The Fort Smith Fraternal Order of Police and the Fort Smith Professional Firefighters announced their intention to seek Lorenz's recall on September 14, 2017.[1] The Fort Smith Board of Directors is equivalent to the city council in other cities.
Recall supporters
The Fort Smith Fraternal Order of Police issued the following statement on the recall effort on its Facebook page:
| “ |
The Fort Smith Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 39 and the Fort Smith Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 33 have united to lead the effort to recall members of the Fort Smith Board of Directors, beginning with Mike Lorenz — Ward 3. For years we have idly waited for leadership and common sense to return to the board. The men and women of the police and fire departments, and all city employees, have faithfully served the citizens of our community. No longer will we sit on the sidelines and tolerate city directors who refuse to do the right thing, who refuse to properly fund public safety, who refuse to properly staff the police department, who don’t keep their promises, who don’t value city employees and who would rather dismantle or circumvent citizen committees/boards when they don’t like a decision. The time is right for new leadership. The time is right for the community to take a stand. We stand united and hope the community will support this endeavor by signing the recall petitions that will be circulating shortly. The men and women of the police and fire departments will never stop risking our lives to protect you and your loved ones. On behalf of the members of the Fort Smith Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 39 and the Fort Smith Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 33, thank you for the continued support![2][3] |
” |
| —Fort Smith Fraternal Order of Police (2017) | ||
Recall opponents
Lorenz issued the following statement in response to the announcement of the recall effort:
| “ |
Leadership and common sense must prevail in all decisions that the board of directors make and this is the approach I have used for every decision that I have made in the four and a half years that I have been serving the citizens of Fort Smith. I have never made a decision on any policy or agenda item that is simply the easy or popular answer or that benefits only a small group as I was elected to represent the best interest of Ward 3 and the citizens of Fort Smith as a whole. I have the utmost respect for the men and women of our Fire and Police along with all City employees who serve our citizens every day and appreciate all those that are dedicated to providing excellent service to our citizens. The past few years have been challenging from a budget standpoint with nearly flat revenue, however, I have held strong to the promises I made to improve accountability, fiscal responsibility, and improve citizen access to information and have focused on eliminating waste and improving efficiencies in every department. When I (came) on the board in January 2013 we were facing a projected deficiency in the old LOPFI retirement fund for Police and Fire by 2019 and budgets that were relying on fund balances (savings) in order to balance each year, thus depleting the reserve balance in the general fund to an unsafe amount which if that had continued at the pace it was on, would have depleted the entire fund balance within the next few years.[1][3] |
” |
| —Mike Lorenz (2017) | ||
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Arkansas
Recall organizers needed to gather and submit at least 2,494 valid signatures from voters in Ward 3 to require a recall election. This total equals 35 percent of the votes in the 2012 election for the Ward 3 seat.[1]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Mike Lorenz Fort Smith recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Arkansas News, "Groups attempt to remove Fort Smith city director," September 16, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Fort Smith Fraternal Order of Police," accessed September 18, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
