MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A group of Morgantown citizens is trying to collect enough signatures to recall the city’s council members and remove them from office.
Todd Stainbrook is leading the effort for the petitions. He said they want to remove the council members due to the understaffing and poor treatment of the city’s police and fire departments.
“Response times are kind of important in emergencies and when you’re understaffed, we’re all going to pay, every one of us,” Stainbrook said.
He noted that short staffing with the Morgantown Police Department could affect the West Virginia University parade, football games and downtown safety.
Each council member must be removed individually, so the group has seven petitions they are looking for community members to sign. If the signatures are collected, they will be turned in to the city clerk. After that, the council can respond, then, within 45 to 90 days, a vote must be taken by the city’s registered voters to recall the council or not. If that passes, a special election will be held to replace the council members who were recalled.
“We have enough citizens that are not very happy and are more than willing to come help,” Stainbrook said about getting enough signatures.
Stainbrook said the safety of citizens is the main reason why they are doing this.
“We had less than 10 percent of the registered voters in Morgantown vote last election. So, if we can wake some people up and their eyes open up, maybe they’ll get out and vote in the special election, and we can get some better council people in that are more willing to work with the public, with the utility companies, the police, the fire, and maybe we can get some resolutions taken care of,” Stainbrook said.
Stainbrook’s goal is to get 4,000 signatures by the end of July. He said the signatures must be made in person, and he is willing to drive to every single house to get them.
He can be contacted at 304-282-6796.
The Morgantown Communications Director and the City’s Deputy Mayor were both unavailable for comment.