By Chris Olson
Of The Enterprise staff
It took the county Election Commission just nine minutes Friday to unanimously reject the language of a recall petition aimed at ousting Northport Board of Education member Alan Woods.
By Monday afternoon, the originator of the first petition, Tanya Campos, had submitted a second petition to county Clerk Michelle Crocker for consideration. A clarity hearing on the second petition will be held on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 8 a.m. in the new county government building off M-204 in Suttons Bay Township.
With an audience of 10 people, the commission rejected the petition language, saying it was unclear. Crocker, county Treasurer Vicki Kilway and Probate Court Judge Joseph Deegan all approved the motion. Campos was not present at Friday’s clarity hearing, as she could not travel due to bad weather downstate. Woods was present while his attorney, Mary Ellen Gurewitz, was also stuck in bad weather downstate.
Campos listed three reasons for recalling Woods in the first petition: “1. We believe this board member does not place the health and welfare of the district students and staff as their primary concern. 2. We believe this board member no longer represents the ideals and expectations of the voters within the Northport School District. 3. We believe the above listed board member has failed to honor the responsibilities entrusted to them by the citizens and students of the Northport School District.”
Crocker said that based on her review of the state law concerning recall elections, Campos did not list statements that Woods could defend himself against. “I reviewed the petition language and found it reached conclusions, not statements of fact and time. I don’t think Mr. Woods could defend himself against these statements,” she said.
Kilway and Deegan agreed with the reasons Crocker cited.
“The statute that controls this is pretty clear. The problem I see with the petition, there is no way to identify which course of conduct Mr. Woods is at fault,” Deegan said.
Campos’ new petition states the following reason for seeking Woods’ ouster: “Mr. Woods has a conflict of interest between his role as a member of the Northport School Board and his personal complaint against the Northport School District which, if successful, would cause great financial hardship to the school district. As a member of the school board, Mr. Woods acts in a fiduciary capacity to the Northport School District and Mr. Woods can not fulfill his fiduciary capacity as a board member because of his complaint.”
Campos said yesterday she believes the new petition language is sufficiently clear to allow the petition to move forward. “I took the points the election commission made about the first petition and tried to make the second petition’s reason more clear,” she said.
Woods was not available for comment. The administrative law hearing he sought for rectifying the deficiencies he believes the Northport School District made in developing an education plan for his special needs son continued this week.