Voices: Recall petition against Stevensville mayor raises serious concerns

I recently read the letter the mayor of Stevensville posted on the town's website about the recall petition being circulated against him. I have some serious concerns.

Mayor's fact: "The agreement signed by the mayor was authorized by the purchasing policy".

Reality: This "agreement" is, in fact, a contract for services. The Mayor even calls it a service contract. If you read the purchasing policy section 7b, it says all service contracts are to be approved by the Town Council. This was never done.

Mayor's fact: "The Council adopted the current budget which includes this budgetary item".

Reality: Reading the budget there are no items for IT in excess of $75,000. The Mayor says it was taken from several departments. Doesn't combining funds require a budget amendment showing where the money came from and where it is going? Seems the mayor is playing fast and loose with taxpayers' money.

Mayor's fact: "The County Attorney only reviews petitions based on formatting".

Reality: Totally wrong. The recall petition requires verifiable objective evidence. This evidence has to be supplied with the petition. Stop and think, if every time an elected official made an unpopular decision and all a citizen had to do was turn in a properly formatted piece of paper, the poor county attorney would get buried.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The rest of the story is much more concerning.