Buckeye Lake voters to decide Tuesday whether to recall Mayor Jeryne Peterson. Here's why
BUCKEYE LAKE − Recent mayors of Buckeye Lake did not return for a second term in office. Most didn’t even try. Voters chose five different mayors in the last five elections.
Jeryne Peterson, the current mayor elected in a five-way race in 2021, may not even finish one term.
Buckeye Lake voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide if Peterson should be removed from office. Recall petition organizers collected 265 signatures from Buckeye Lake residents. The mayor received 133 votes, or 30% of the total, in the last election.
Voting in the recall election will be from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Hebron New Life Church, 925 W. Main St., Hebron. Early voting ended Friday.
Licking County Board of Elections Director Brian Mead reported late Friday that 88 people voted early in the recall election: 54 at the Board of Elections office and 34 by mail.
Peterson endured a chaotic year in 2023, with complaints and resignations from village employees, unanimous censure and no-confidence votes from village council, a fight with the village solicitor and a lawsuit alleging discrimination, filed by a local hotel against the village, mayor and police officials.
Employees and council members have described a mayor who avoids communication, exhibits unprofessional and unpredictable behavior, makes rash decisions and is prone to take retaliatory actions against those who question her choices.
Village Council President Linda Goodman, who would become mayor if Peterson is removed, said she expects about 300 voters will cast ballots. She said most residents have a strong opinion one way or the other. She said the village is divided on many issues.
“It’s a nice place to live,” Goodman said. “It’s a small village going through some growing pains. There’s the old way of thinking and new development and the new way of thinking. There’s people who want no change and those who embrace change.”
A campaign to recall Mayor Jeryne Peterson
Adam James, a recall petition circulator, said some residents said they would vote to recall the mayor but declined to sign the petition because they feared Peterson would retaliate against them.
Buckeye Lake resident Shelly Myers told the mayor at a recent village council meeting, “Maybe the council and yourself would get along better if you stopped acting in your best interest and acted by your campaign rhetoric — ‘use good sense and morals.’
“There’s a reason 200-plus residents signed a petition to remove you. You have let your pride cloud your vision for far too long.”
The mayor sought to stop the recall election, but the Ohio Supreme Court denied her request Wednesday. Peterson alleged that petition organizers missed the filing deadline and that the village council clerk did not certify the signatures.
The village will bear the cost of the election, but Goodman said council could not ignore a citizen-initiated effort to change its leader.
Mark Ochsenbein, a Buckeye Lake resident, said he doesn’t have a strong opinion about the mayor but opposes the spending on the recall.
“I think that our council has wasted a ton of money,” Ochsenbein said. “Why are they spending our money on something like this? The village can barely get its streets clean, and they’re spending money on a special election.
“We are not a wealthy village. The battle is between council and the mayor. I look at it as a control issue in a very, very small village with a very, very small budget.”
Ochsenbein said he does not believe the recall effort is a citizen-initiated petition.
“They can say that, but they are connected with council,” Ochsenbein said.
The mayor wrote about her campaign to keep her job in a recent email response to The Advocate:
“The campaign has been a fantastic experience," Peterson said. "It’s always great to interact with my fellow villagers. It has been gratifying and humbling to have received the outpouring of support we’ve received.“Quite frankly, what I’m hearing most is that people are annoyed by (the recall). Many have said that they feel that there is a group of people trying to undo the last election. That this is a burdensome, needless expense for the village and distraction from the important issues facing our community.”
Mayor has found herself involved in many controversies
A July report by human resources firm Training Marbles, after a village employee complained, cost the village $9,984, but could not be avoided, Goodman said.
"Whenever an employee makes a formal complaint, we are obligated to follow up and investigate," Goodman said.
The report revealed two additional confrontations with employees and said the mayor sometimes asks employees to slide documents under her door so she doesn’t have to interact with them.
“It is clear from the majority of interviews that employees were uncomfortable speaking to me about the mayor for fear of retaliation,” said Julia Baxter, business partner and trainer with Training Marbles.
A week after the censure vote, council unanimously approved a no-confidence vote in the mayor after she tried to fire Solicitor Brad Nicodemus and hire a new solicitor without council approval.
The mayor has tried to fire Nicodemus multiple times. One resulted in confusion over who represented the village in court, minutes before a trial, causing the dismissal of the case and charges dropped against a theft suspect.
More recently, the mayor came under additional fire for communications with a Union Township man suing the village and accused of harassing village employees.
Peterson said she did not encourage or advise the man in his lawsuit against the village and would not speculate on the merits of his case, stemming from a speeding ticket.
Resident alleges Peterson violated campaign finance rules
The mayor may have violated election rules by staging fundraisers and accepting campaign donations without having a campaign committee.
Village resident Casey Clark said she plans to file a complaint Monday with the Ohio Elections Commission.
Peterson has advertised fundraisers at Pizza Cottage and The Mill Dam Corner Grill, stating, "Make checks payable to: Peterson for Mayor."
James said, "All candidates under state law are required to register a committee and a treasurer prior to receiving any campaign donations and contributions."
Peterson said she does have a committee: the same one as when she ran for mayor.
"As with my first race, all financial reports required by the Board of Elections will be timely filed," Peterson said.
Mead, however, alleged that Peterson closed her campaign committee Dec. 6, 2021, after the 2021 campaign.
“She should reopen it if she is collecting funds," Mead said. “If raising money to influence an election, they should open a campaign committee. If somebody sends us a complaint, we will investigate it, and if it needs to be sent to the Ohio Elections Commission, we will.”
Mead said raising funds for a campaign without a committee is a violation but probably not something that will warrant a fine.
“Is it a violation of election law, yes, but the election law strives for transparency," Mead said. "I don’t think this is a major violation. The main point is to try to get her to be transparent.”
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Buckeye Lake voters to decide political fate of mayor in recall vote
