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THURSDAY. MARCH 18. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9A
Recall efforts underway against
two school board members
Steve Lowe, president of the political group Impact Pickens, in the parking lot of the
community center Friday to accept donations to hire legal counsel for a recall effort
against two school board members.
Women
educators
hear about
Ferst
Sue Appleton, Ferst Read
ers Pickens County
GA State Organization
President Kathy Brown
Beta Eta Chapter of Delta
Kappa Gamma met virtually
February 25. Our special
guest speakers were Sue Ap
pleton and Kathy Brown.
Sue Appleton updated the
group on the Ferst Readers of
Pickens County. Ferst Read
ers sends free books to chil
dren aged 0 to 5yrs every
month. All donations go for
books and mailings as the
program is completely run by
volunteers.
Georgia State Organiza
tion President Kathy Brown
discussed streamlining the
state organization and the vir
tual State Convention in
April 2021. She congratu
lated the chapter members on
their work this past year and
commented the state organi
zation also supports the Ferst
Readers.
Beta Eta is the local chap
ter of Delta Kappa Gamma, a
national honorary society for
women in education.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
A group, calling them
selves Impact Pickens, has
officially launched efforts to
recall two school board
members, Steve Smith and
Aaron Flolland.
But, as the local elections
office supervisor explained,
in Georgia, recalls are a tech
nical and potentially lengthy
process before voters would
see it and also would involve
a favorable go-ahead from
the courts.
On Friday the group’s
president Steve Lowe was at
the community center in
Roper Park to collect dona
tions. Lowe explained that
he had picked up the official
application, starting the
process without realizing
that he had a 15-day window
after picking it up to have
100 sponsor signatures and
submit the wording for the
recall.
During a interview while
waiting on donors to drop off
checks, Lowe said he didn’t
realize that initial deadline.
“The 100 sponsors won’t be
a problem,” he said. “But I
want to make sure we have a
legal counsel to review our
wording before we turn it in
because it can be challenged
in court.”
Lowe said he has had
some discussion with a
lawyer from outside the area
on the recall effort but had
not retained him as of Fri
day.
The reasons for the recall
according to Impact Pickens
is “anger over the ongoing
lack of leadership.” The
group lists as their leader
ship: President Steve Lowe,
Vice President Greg Long,
Secretary Brian Rittenberry,
and Treasurer Christopher
Pence.
Lowe cited specifics in
volving the recent no-cause
termination of the superin
tendent, which cost taxpay
ers more than $400,000. Fie
said the general consensus
among the community is
supportive of their efforts as
people are upset by the latest
change in superintendents.
This marked the fourth su
perintendent in the past 10
years that the system has
gone through.
“I have yet to find anyone
who thinks that was a good
idea,” Lowe said.
For a recall to proceed,
those initiating the action
must show “malfeasance.”
“The fact they terminated
him and paid him [the full
remainder of his contract]
and we’re out all that money
that is malfeasance. Under
the code of ethics it says,
‘handle money well.’ I’d say
that is not handling money
well.”
When asked why they are
going after Smith and Hol
land, instead of Board Chair
Sue Finley, Lowe explained
that recall laws prevent chal
lenges to anyone during the
first 180 days of a term or
the last and Finley just
started a term in January.
“Oh, she’s the main one,
but we’ll have to wait,” he
said.
While waiting with
Lowe, only one donor came
by, but another person did
stop and ask Lowe if he had
brought his shoes for basket
ball later. Lowe said they
have had a good bit of sup
port pledged but the unex
pected deadline on March
19th had made it difficult to
find a way to collect dona
tions.
Elections Superintend
ent Julianne Roberts said
Monday that she has never
seen a recall in Pickens
County but prior to work
ing here she was involved
in one in Cherokee County
in 2002.
When asked to discuss
recalls in general, Roberts
said, “I haven’t seen one in
20 years. I don’t think there
is a typical recall.”
She said the state of
Georgia does not make it
easy to launch a recall and
for technical questions, peo
ple should contact the secre
tary of state’s office.
“I am not on anybody’s
side, but there are a lot of
hoops to jump through,” she
said. “If everyone who got
mad at a public official could
start a recall, it’s all we’d do
in election offices. It can be
a little bit difficult and the
state made it that way.”
There are three steps for a
recall:
1. The applications,
which Impact Pickens needs
to submit by March 19th.
This shows that there are
enough people interested to
move ahead and has some
wording required.
2. Petition - Much
like an independent candi
date seeking to make a bal
lot, a certain number of
recall supporters’ signatures
will be required based on
voter rolls. Roberts said she
had not looked ahead at the
number of signatures that
will be required. “I am tak
ing this one step at the time,”
she said. The signatures will
be checked by the elections
office and at this point, the
courts would rule on sub
stance of the complaint lead
ing to the recall. Roberts said
she was not familiar with the
court side of recalls, but
would lean on the secretary
of state for advice, if this
reaches that point.
3. Recall election -
All county voters would
have a chance to vote on it.
One minor snag is that there
are no county or state elec
tions planned for the remain
der of this year, so should the
recall reach the countywide
vote, a special election will
have to be planned just for it.
Roberts said it is way too
early to speculate but
thought it might could be
held with city elections in
November.
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