It appears there are enough signatures to send Emerado, N.D., Mayor Brent Aspinwall and City Council member Rob Griggs to a recall election, according to Ginny Valentino, who headed the petition effort.
She said Wednesday that she needed 29 signatures, which is about 25 percent of the voter turnout in the last election, and she received 75. The earliest possible election date is July 12, 90 days from now, she said.
The city auditor is verifying the signatures, she said.
Aspinwall said he's ready to campaign again and explain his case to voters.
Valentino and her allies blame Aspinwal and Griggs for laying off the town's part-time, weekend police officer, which led to the police chief resigning in protest. Emerado now relies on the Grand Forks County Sheriff's office, which doesn't have a deputy stationed in town.
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Aspinwall had said the officer had to go because there would be a $12,000 hole in the budget, but his opponents say there was still money in city coffers. They said the mayor just didn't like the chief because the bar he owns in town received citations.
Aspinwall said Wednesday that there would, too, be a budget crisis if things had continued as they were. The money the city has is in the reserves shouldn't be touched unless there is an emergency. If he didn't cut the budget, he said, the other option was to raise fees, and he's opposed to raising utility fees to pay for city services that aren't utilities.
"We're doing the best we can for the city," he said.
Aspinwall said he hopes he can get the right information out by the election.
Valentino said she'll talk to former Mayor Dan Henneman to see if he'd like to run against Aspinwall. Aspinwall beat Henneman 60-58 in June 2010.
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send e-mail to ttran@gfherald.com .
