Jackson Residents Seek to Recall Village President and Trustee

This is not a good idea. 

Village President Scott Mittelsteadt and Trustee Jeffery Brandner will face a recall election on Aug. 17, Clerk Susan Rank said Tuesday.

Rank will ask the Village Board at a special meeting Tuesday to schedule the Aug. 17 recall election.

On Tuesday, Rank certified sufficient signatures on recall petitions targeting the two officials to force the election. The petitions state that Mittelsteadt and Brandner should be removed from office for “not abiding by the will of the people” when they voted last October to dismantle the Police Department.

On Oct. 27, the Village Board voted 5-2 to keep its police department intact rather than contracting with the Washington County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services. Mittelsteadt and Brandner voted to start negotiations with the Sheriff’s Department at that time.

Both the President and the Trustee took action on what they thought were the best interests of the village.  That’s what they are elected to do.  It appears that a majority of the people disagreed with them and it was voted down.  That’s how it works.  They didn’t do anything illegal or unethical.  This appears to be an abuse of the recall process for the purpose of retribution.