Dillon Town Clerk Adrienne Stuckey has confirmed that petitions filed with the town last week have the required number of signatures to initiate a recall election process for three Dillon Town Council members.

The petitions filed with the Town Clerk’s Office last Tuesday, Nov. 12, call for a recall election to be scheduled for council members John Woods, Dana Christiansen and Renee Imamura. The petitions state that the three council members failed to listen to constituents, have shown a lack of decorum and failed to uphold the town charter’s requirements that government be responsive to the needs of citizens.

Woods, Christiansen and Imamura responded to the recall efforts last week, each defending their records as council members and stating that they do listen to their constituents.

Christiansen previously said that it could cost tens of thousands of dollars for the town to hold a special election and noted that he and Imamura will only have a year left of their term by the time an election is held.

“It seems like a waste of town money to go through this exercise to try to prevent us from serving our last year on council,” Christiansen said when news broke last week.

Under the town code and state law, each recall petition required the signatures of 17 Dillon voters, or 25% of the total votes cast for the position in the most recent election, divided by the number of open seats for the position in that election. There were about 200 votes cast in the 2022 municipal election for three open seats on the council. The election in 2024 was canceled due to a lack of candidates.

Within 15 days of the recall petitions being filed, any registered elector of the town may file a protest, which must be made in writing and under oath, to schedule a protest hearing that must be held within 30 days, according town code and state law. The council member who is the subject of a recall petition is allowed by law to apply to the district court for review of the findings as to the sufficiency of a petition.

If there is no protest, then at the regular Dillon Town Council meeting on Dec. 10, the council will set a date for a recall election to be held no less than 30 days and no more than 90 days from the date of the submission of the petition, Stuckey said. The council would also determine at that time whether voting would take place at a polling place or by mail ballot, she said.

If an election is scheduled, candidates wishing to run for a potential seat on the Dillon Town Council — if a recall vote should be successful — could pick up their nomination packets starting Dec. 11, according to the town clerk.

Dillon resident Barb Richard, one of the five members on the recall committee, has said that those behind the recall effort have candidates in mind to replace the council members if they are recalled. The recall effort comes hot on the heels of a special election held in October for a referendum vote on a major development in town.

“Successor candidates can’t declare until after they set the election, but there are a number of people willing to run,” Richard said. “There are actually more people interested. We may get a good slate of candidates.”