Whetstone Water Improvement District board recalls, Arizona (2017)
| Whetstone Water Improvement District Board recall |
|---|
 |
| Officeholders |
Leonard Howell Robert Tinney |
| Recall status |
| Recall election date |
| May 16, 2017 |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2017 Recalls in Arizona Arizona recall laws Special district recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Tim Sulger, Leonard Howell, and Robert Tinney from their positions on the Whetstone Water Improvement District board in Cochise County, Arizona, was launched in December 2016. Sulger was the board president. All three recalls were approved.
Jim Demuth was an organizer of the recall efforts. He was one of three district employees who were fired by board members at a meeting on January 25, 2017. Sulger said the terminations were necessary to cut costs. Recall proponents said that Sulger and board members violated state open meeting laws and put the health of water customers in danger. They accused Sulger of failing to get board approval before contracting a private company to fix a well.[1][2]
Recall vote
The recall election occurred on May 16, 2017. All three members of the board up for recall were defeated by a challenger.[2]
| Tim Sulger Recall | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Tony Ennis | 239 | 87.87% | ||
 Tim Sulger | 33 | 12.13% | ||
| Election results via: Cochise County Elections | ||||
| Leonard Howell Recall | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Joe Dooley | 241 | 90.26% | ||
| Leonard Howell | 26 | 9.74% | ||
| Election results via: Cochise County Elections | ||||
| Robert Kinney Recall | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Steve Usrey | 236 | 88.39% | ||
| Robert Tinney | 31 | 11.61% | ||
| Election results via: Cochise County Elections | ||||
About the district
According to the district website, the "Whetstone Water Improvement District is a small special taxing district serving a portion of the Whetstone area." It was formed in 1982. The district has two wells and serves about 950 people.[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Arizona
Recall proponents needed 74 valid signatures for each recall petition in order to get the recall on the ballot. In late January 2017, Cochise County Interim Elections Director Martha Rodriguez confirmed that sufficient signatures were turned in for all three board members. Proponents collected 79 signatures for Sulger's petition, and 76 signatures for the petitions of both Howell and Kinney.[2]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Whetstone Water Improvement District recalls. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- Whetstone Water Improvement District website
- Whetstone Water Improvement District on Facebook
- Cochise County Elections & Special District Department
Footnotes
- ↑ Sierra Vista Herald, "Fired employees challenge water board, Sulger," February 9, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sierra Vista Herald, PDF of articles emailed to Anna Wendland on February 10, 2017
- ↑ Whetstone Water Improvement District website, accessed February 10, 2017
