Recall group submits documents to Red Wing City Hall

Apr. 10—RED WING — Red Wing's Recall City Hall group has taken the first step to make council members face a special election.

On Friday, seven petitions — one for each member of the city council — with five signatures from voters in the ward from which the council member was elected, or from the city at large for the at-large council member, were submitted to the city clerk.

Those signatures went with 250-word statements that outline an accusation of malfeasance by each board member. The accusation is that the city council members violated the state's open meeting law during the hearings in which former Police Chief Roger Pohlman was put on paid leave and then subsequently fired in February.

"If the city clerk verifies that everything is correct, we have 30 days to collect the signatures on the petitions," said George Hintz, the organizer behind the recall effort.

The recall group will need the signatures of 20 percent of registered voters from the last election in each ward (or whole city for the at-large candidate) to force the recall of a candidate.

If the second petition and signatures are valid, the city would set a recall election between 45 and 60 days from that point.

Hintz said the Recall City Hall group has voter rolls from the office of the Minnesota Secretary of State to help them find registered voters and to make certain they are getting correct signatures on the petitions.

Former Red Wing School Board Member Janie Farrar will be in charge of training the volunteers who will collect the signatures. Farrar said she'll use her previous experience both as a candidate and as a worker for a congressman in the Twin Cities in door-knocking to help train volunteers.

"The number one thing I'm going to be stressing is we have to have registered voters," Farrar said.

She'll also help prepare the volunteers on talking points, focusing on the stated reason for the recall and keeping the conversations short.

"When you are talking to neighbors and friends, keep to the nonpartisan truth of it," Farrar said. "We want to keep people on message. We obviously have to get quite a few signatures."

As for now, Hintz said, the petitions are in the hands of the city clerk to verify the 35 signatures on the petitions.

And while Hintz said the firing of Pohlman was the match that started this recall fire, replacing the city council members who he and others feel aren't representing the city needs to happen now.

"At this point, it's less about Roger and more about council members who can't follow the law, who won't listen to the people they represent," Hintz said.