Vote no on the recall.
Removing four Cortez City Council members and the mayor would not result in better municipal government, for a multitude of reasons.
Transparency is a hallmark of good government, and recall supporters have not been forthcoming about their funding sources. The concurrent push to allow property owners as well as residents to vote in municipal elections hints at the use of outside money to influence local politics. While that is not inherently bad for example, many business owners who live in unincorporated areas of the county do have legitimate reasons for being concerned about city government if all is above board, theres no reason it should not be clearly visible.
Recall voters will not have the opportunity to choose between the incumbents and a slate of qualified replacement candidates, because only one candidate returned a petition by the deadline. Thats strong evidence that either voters are satisfied with the current council or at least arent so unhappy that they want to bother doing the hard work of identifying new candidates who are both willing and able.
Even Justin Dodson, who is running as a replacement candidate for Mayor Danny Porter, does not support the recall. His heart is in the right place; his skills do not approach Porters. As for the other potentially vacated seats, the remaining council members would be charged with filling them, potentially from a pool of people who might be willing to be appointed but who werent willing to go through a public election to replace public servants who were elected by the public just last year.
The learning curve for council members is steep. Replacing five of them with people who have showed little interest in participating in city government is hardly a good idea.
The recall effort is based mostly on a complicated issue: the extension of Tucker Lane and the use of city funds for improvements in the Flaugh-Clark subdivision. It grew out of a series of decisions that might not have been made in the current economic climate but that were not without justification. Development incentives are often messy, and the benefits are not always immediately recognizable. Not all of the targeted council members were equally involved in those decisions, which took place over a lengthy period, and thats certainly not all they have accomplished during their tenures on the council.
That doesnt mean the complaints are without merit, just that removing council members is not a valid solution. A public servants career needs to be judged in its entirety, and these people have made significant contributions, regardless of what one thinks of their politics. Whether they are the perfect people for the job no one is they are the best available now, and they have been good for Cortez.
The bottom line is that the harm done by recalling them far outweighs any potential benefits. Dont do it.
