A large number of residents have been unhappy with the representation of Barber County commissioners as it relates to the last several months after discovering a potential data center that is proposed for the county just north of the city of Sharon.
Residents have given their feedback vocally at town hall meetings, as well as commission meetings, with a straw poll, letters and emails. At least some residents do not feel like the commissioners – two in particular – are listening to their constituents. That has led to the formation of a group called Barber County Recall Effort on Facebook, seeking to recall Barber County Board of Commission Chairman Bryan Quick, who represents District 2, which is the area where Google’s Project Helium could be built, as well as District 1 Commissioner Michael Roe. The group is not currently seeking recall actions against District 3 Commissioner Adam Mills, as of Wednesday, April 15.
The state of Kansas allows for the recall of “all elected public officials in the state, except judicial officers.” The grounds for recall are limited to “conviction of a felony, misconduct in office or failure to perform duties prescribed by law. An elected officials “misconduct in office” must be a “violation of law by the officer that impacts the officer’s ability to perform the official duties of the office.”
A recall petition must be filed with the Barber County election officer to get the process started.
“Each petition for recall of a local officer shall include: (1) The name and office of the local officer sought to be recalled; (2) the grounds for recall described in particular in not more than 200 words; (3) a statement that the petition signers are registered electors of the election district of the local officer sought to be recalled; (4) the names and addresses of three registered electors of the election district of the officer sought to be recalled who shall comprise the recall committee; (5) the statement of warning required in K.S.A. 25-4321, and amendments thereto; and (6) a statement that a list of all petition circulators, as defined in K.S.A. 25-3608, and amendments thereto, authorized to circulate recall petitions for such recall may be examined in the office of the county election officer where the petition is required to be filed,” according to KS 25-4320.
The county election officer has to send the petition to the county or district attorney “or the attorney designated pursuant to subsection (c) for determination of the sufficiency of the grounds stated in the petition for recall.” The attorney then has five days upon receipt of the petition to determine whether or not the petition is sufficient based on the following factors:
• The facts do not support the grounds for recall as stated in the petition for recall;
• the petition is not substantially in the required form;
• the petition was filed during the first 120 days of the term of office of the official sought to be recalled or within less than 180 days of the termination of the term of office of the officer sought to be recalled;
• the person named in the petition is not a local officer;
• there is an insufficient number of required signatures of any kind;
• the local officer sought to be recalled has been or is being subjected to another recall election during such officer’s current term of office; or
• the application does not conform to any other requirement of this act.
• In the case of a recall of the county or district attorney, a judge of the district court of such county shall designate an attorney to determine the sufficiency of the grounds stated in the petition for recall. Such attorney shall perform the duties imposed on the county or district attorney in the recall of other local officers.
• All mandamus proceedings to compel a recall election and all injunction proceedings to restrain a recall election shall be commenced within 30 days after the county or district attorney’s decision.
No recall petition can be filed within the first 120 days of the term of office or within less than 180 days of the termination of the term of office. Only one recall election can be held to recall a particular local officer in a single term. Also, the “number of local officers serving on the same governing body which may be subject to recall at the same time shall not exceed a majority of the members of the governing body minus one, and no petition for recall of a local officer serving on a governing body shall be approved if petitions for the recall of other local officers serving on the same governing body have been properly filed and elections thereon have not been held and the number of such other local officers equals a majority of the members of the governing body minus one.
Once the petition is approved, it shall be circulated by “a sponsor.” The county election officer will certify signatures of the petition, which must be obtained within 90 days from the date the recall committee receives the notice that the attorney has determined that the grounds for recall are sufficient. The petition signatures must be certified by affidavit of the sponsor who personally circulated the petition. Forty percent or more signatures must be gathered based on the “votes cast for all candidates for the office of the local officer sought to be recalled.”
The county election officer has 30 days upon receipt of the signatures to determine whether the petition was properly filed or not. If filed properly, the county election officer must call for a special election not less than 60 days and no more than 90 days after the date the notification is given that the petition was properly filed.
The Gyp Hill Premiere reached out to both Commissioner Quick and Commissioner Roe for their reaction to the potential recall efforts. Neither one of them responded prior to the press deadline.
According to the Barber County Recall Effort Facebook page there are 37 members. The group has secured one person of the three needed to represent District 2. The group needs three for District 1 to move forward.
