Times: Effort to recall Hercules City Council members clears first hurdle
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 7 January 2011 — 9 comments below »
Tom Lochner reports…
A group of Hercules residents seeking to recall three City Council members took their case to the public Thursday, collecting enough signatures at a meeting in a local pizzeria to take their drive to the next level.
The group’s notice of intent to recall accuses Mayor Ed Balico of failed leadership resulting in “an unprecedented financial crisis,” and of “a long trail of misdeeds” including his role in approving several million dollars of no-bid contracts with a company owned by City Manager Nelson Oliva’s family. It also accuses him of supporting “questionable ‘sweetheart’ development deals” that have depleted the city’s redevelopment funds.
Similar recall notices are directed to Councilman Don Kuehne and Councilwoman Joanne Ward.
It sounds like the focus is on getting Balico to resign, or force him out. I think that’s well deserved energy, but hope he will save the City the extra cost of a special election, and just resign, and let others step in. I don’t think that Balico, alone, is the problem, we have two others that were part of all the problems our fair city has to date, and they should also announce their resignation. Balico didn’t create these problems by himself.
I like most of the residents in Hercules do not get involved with what the city is doing. I always assumed that our elected officials were taking care of our city for us. The city manager and five council members did pacify us with a dog park and a childerns park. The parks made me feel real good and are a nice addition to our city. The rest of the story is a total embarrassment to me and I’m sure there is alot more to come.
The recall meeting that I attended last night was a wonderful experience for me. For the first time in my life I realized how fortunate I am to live in country where we can do this without fear of retaliation.
Susan,
We are serving all three. We would love your support. A web site is going up soo that hopefully will answer most of your questions.
Thanks Susan, I’m involved through my husband. We’ll be getting signatures. Glad to hear the petition is for the recall of all three. Thanks,
Will you post the website?
Absolutely! Its being finished up even as we speak! I will be setting up a petition gathering meeting and will also have that posted on the website! Thanks so much for offering to help!!!
Petition update -we’re doing it differently. Go to the website and sign up there. We are looking for folks willing to sign and also for volunteers willing to get others to sign. If each person can get five others and so on! We need 2800 by 6eb 15th. That’s a little over to account for names and addresses that don’t match the website. We will develop a database and use that for out petitions so each volunteer will have a preprinted petition to have their friends who agreed sign.
Susan
AM I missing something? I do not see on the website any section except for volunteers, not one for people interested in signing only the petition. I want to be able to get my neighbors on the petition. Thanks
Balico resigned and the other two incumbent should resign as well for the betterment of the City. Even though they may be innocent until proven guilty, their credibility to represent the people in Hercules is at least questionable. They will never be an effective City council member again. If they don’t resign, I recommend a recall to get rid of these two council members. The City needs a fresh start with honest people and qualified.
Also, I recommend to fill the City Manager position only and eliminate the Assistant City Manager position. This City does not have revenues to support a figure head and a working Assistant City Managers. This position should be filled by a very well qualified person who is curently a resident of Hercules and have great interest for improving and maintaining the City.