Recall of Coulee City mayor moves forward on two counts

EPHRATA — The recall process for the Coulee City Mayor Rick Heiberg moved forward Friday after a decision by a Grant County Superior Court judge.

Judge John Knodell said two of the 11 allegations rose to the level of malfeasance, misfeasance or violating the oath of office if they are true. Knodell explained he wasn’t there to judge if the counts took place, but simply whether they met the requirements.

Former Coulee City Councilwoman Jennifer Schwartz raised accusations ranging from violating the town’s bid process to inviting people from outside of town to dump trash during the town’s open trash day. She represented the recall effort, telling the judge people should have the right to make a choice.

Knodell found that the purchase of a truck for $15,000 without going through a bid process was a potentially recallable offense.

Schwartz argued the proper way to purchase anything more than $1,000 is for the mayor to come to the council, whereupon the council would approve the amount and authorize the mayor to purchase the truck. The act also violated state bidding laws.

“None of this happened. The mayor bought the truck.He should have gone out to bid and in council he said he bought it from a friend of a friend,” Schwartz claims. “That is why, your honor, we have laws. It is to prevent things like that from happening.”

Heiberg’s attorney, Russell Speidel, argued it was a discretionary purchase and it was $15,000. At first he argued the people bringing the recall didn’t use the appropriate law, saying it refers to cities and not towns.

Knodell pointed out the law referring to towns references the law about the city’s bidding process.

Speidel argued they don’t believe the action violated the competitive bidding process, saying Heiberg made the purchase in good faith, exercising his discretion.

“There was an urgency for the town to have a truck that works,” he said. “So the mayor, exercising his discretion, tried to address this problem and he did the best he could under the circumstances.”

Knodell asked if there was a law making an exception to the competitive bidding process for emergencies. Speidel argued there was, but didn’t have it available.

In his decision, Knodell said neither of the parties disagreed about the facts, and that it was a recallable offense.

The other count Knodell found met the requirements was an allegation Heiberg destroyed a packet of allegations presented to the Coulee City town council. The packet was added to the agenda by the council.

Schwartz argued that former mayor Otto Jensen made a public records request for the documents, and was told the town didn’t have them.

“We all know that a one- or two-page agenda item was indeed added to the agenda,” she said. “A copy was handed to the mayor. Where that went, we have no idea.”

Speidel argued Schwartz did not prove Heiberg was responsible for destroying public records, saying the mayor was not responsible for keeping track of the documents.

“This again is a very absurd charge against the mayor,” he said. “There’s no affidavit showing that anyone saw him destroying any records. There is no proof of the facts of this charge.”

When Knodell questioned whether Speidel was asking him to determine the facts, Speidel said he was, pointing at case law showing there are limits on the recall right.

“This is a mere insinuation that the mayor destroyed a document,” he said.

In his decision, Knodell said if the allegations are true it would be a recallable offense.

“As I said before, it’s not up to me to weigh whether or not Mr. Jensen’s testimony ... is sufficient to prove this or not,” he said. “Mr. Jensen’s affidavit sets forth circumstantial evidence that the document was destroyed and the mayor authorized it or had something to do with it.”

The citizens wanting to recall Heiberg now need to collect signatures of 35 percent of the people who voted in the previous mayoral election, Grant County Auditor Bill Varney said, adding there isn’t a deadline for the signatures.

If the signatures are collected, Varney must confirm the petition and schedule an election 45 to 60 days after the confirmation, he said.