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Special City Council Meeting 2007-01-24

A special session of the Dillon City Council has been posted for this Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 5:30 PM in the council chambers. The sole agenda item is "Setting the date of the recall election" The packet includes a letter from Martin Brenneke to City Council President Frank Mastandrea requesting the meeting. Attached to Mr. Brenneke's letter is a copy of the temporary restraining order, the recall signature certification letter and section 2-16-622 of the Montana Code Annotated 2005. The packet also includes a letter from Dillon City Council President Frank Mastandrea calling the meeting. Mr. Mastandrea's letter calls for the meeting to convene at 7:00 PM. No reason is given in the packet for the change in the scheduled meeting time from 7:00 PM to 5:30 PM.

Attorney Generals Office Issues Advice on Planning Board Appointments

The Montana Attorney Generals Office has issued an advice on planning board appointments that could affect Dillon Mayor Martin R. Malesich's contested appointments to the Dillon City Planning board. In a letter to the Hamilton City Attorney, Chris Tweeten of the Montana Attorney Generals Office concluded that the state law setting out the number and composition of a planning boards members should be read to say that 2 of the member board should be appointed from outside the city limits.

Second Recall Petition Ready for Submission

The second recall petition calling for the recall of Dillon Mayor Martin R. Malesich has the required number of signatures and is in the process of being finalized for submission to the Beaverhead County Clerk and Recorder.

Second Recall Petition in circulation

The second recall petition calling for the recall of Martin R. Malesich is now in circulation. Click the Read More link below to see it.

Recall Petition Certified

One minute before the deadline, Beaverhead County Clerk and Recorder Rosalee B. Richardson certified the number of signatures on the petition calling for the recall of Mayor Martin R. Malesich for acts of Official Misconduct and Incompetence. At 4:59 PM Monday July 31, 2006 Richardson filed the certification. In the certification Richardson states that she believes that 498 signatures are valid for the purpose of the petition. Richardson further certified that the affidavit of the circulator of the sheets of the petition and the post-office address is complete for each valid signature. Of the 551 signatures gathered, 479 were required to meet the statutory requirements for a recall election. Of 900 votes cast in the last mayoral election, 395 voters cast their vote for Malesich.

Recall Petitions Approved

The recall petitions calling for the recall of the mayor and city attorney have been approved by the county attorney and filed with the county clerk and recorder. The full text of each recall petition is available below by clicking on the "Read More" link. We've included links to the Montana State Code where violations of state law have been made so you can take a look at what the law says.

Recall Petitions

Below are the recall petitions that were filed with the clerk and recorder. Included are the petitions that were rejected and also the Virginia City recall petition that was approved by the attorney general. The Virginia City recall petition resulted in successfully removing the seated mayor.

Mayor Makes Planning Board Appointments

At the March 15, 2006 city council meeting the mayor attempted to appoint Lynn Westad and David Spehar to the city planning board. A couple of questions were raised after the mayor's appointments. The first was whether the council was required or allowed to approve the mayor's appointments to the board. The second was regarding the qualifications of the two appointees.

Click Read More to read the rest of the story.

Bergeson Replies to Petition Rejection

March 8, 2006

I have received so many phone calls today from people who are very upset about the recall petition not being accepted, that I feel I should let everyone know that the petition will be revised and resubmitted within a couple of weeks. Having the petition reviewed by Marv, at Rosalee�s request, has provided us with some very valuable information. This petition was drafted following the format of the Virginia City mayorial recall petition from 2004. That petition resulted in a successful recall. The reasoning statement for the Virginia City recall was similar to those on this petition, however, because this one was significantly longer, the format became more general, and therefore lacked some of the specificity Marv feels needs to be there.
Unfortunately, the statutes limit the reasoning statement section of the petition to 200 words, which makes it difficult, but not impossible to get sufficient information on the form. It is just a matter of removing some of the general language, adding specific events, times, dates, etc, which have been compiled, changing the size of the paper, and resubmitting it. The paper size was totally my oversight, since it is clear in the statute. Because neither Rosalee, nor I have ever been involved with a recall petition, we both appreciate Marv�s input into the process. Since it would be very surprising if this process goes through without some attempt to stop it, the petition needs to be substantial enough in form to withstand a challenge. Marv�s review and determination has allowed some of the vulnerability to attack to be removed, and I certainly appreciate both he and Rosalee�s efforts.

Jean Bergeson

Bergeson Files Recall Petitions

Former Dillon city councilperson Jean Bergeson filed petitions to recall Dillon Mayor Martin Malesich and city attorney W. G. Gilbert, III last Friday afternoon