St. Tammany News

An effort to have a recall election for all three aldermen in Folsom is well under way, and the recall organizers still have a month and a half to get the remaining signatures needed.

Red-and-white knee-high signs stating "Aldermen Recall: Village of Folsom," can now be seen in and around the town where, two months ago, the Board of Aldermen voted not to reinstate Police Chief Beau Killingsworth, despite Mayor Marshell Brumfield's recommendation to do so.

Signs advertising a board of alderman recall like this one along Louisiana Highway 25 have been in the Folsom area for a few weeks now. Recall organizers need about 160 signatures to get state approval for a recall election of Folsom's three aldermen. (Staff Photo by Jacob Brooks)

The board's action during the January meeting caused a hail of opposition from locals, and spawned a recall effort that surrounds three petitions, one for each alderman, now kept under lock and key. The three aldermen are George Garrett, Ronald Holliday and John Mathies.

"Apparently, they didn't like our decision," Holliday said on Tuesday. "We're dong what we feel is right for the betterment of the town."

Holliday said complaints concerning the police chief went unresolved for years, even when they were brought to the mayor's attention. Among the complaints were Killingsworth's inability to work well with others, Folsom Police Department retention issues and an odd, unwritten policy that a police officer would be fired if he or she were caught talking to an alderman, Holliday said.

The alderman said he's not really concerned with the recall effort because "I know I've done what's right."

The six-member recall committee filed the effort with the Louisiana Secretary of State and Voter's Registration Office on Jan. 30, committee member Greg Boggs said. By law, the committee has 90 days to collect signatures from 40 percent of the registered voters in Folsom, Boggs said. Forty percent is close to 160 signatures. The deadline is April 30.

Recall committee chairperson Francie Sterling will not say how many signatures the committee has or needs.

"Because I don't know if it would be advantageous or not (to reveal those figures)," Sterling said.

The committee organized petition-signing sessions at a Folsom restaurant Thursday and Saturday, but there was not a lot of turnout, Sterling said. She said some people don't want to be seen signing the petition in a public place.

Still, "Everything is going well. It's been peaceful, which has been nice," she said.

The recall effort, however, has met resistance.

Several weeks ago, Boggs said three committee members received anonymous telephone calls warning them not to pursue the recall effort. Boggs also said he found a pile of the recall signs in his driveway one day. The signs had been plucked from other areas of town and dumped at his house, Boggs said.

"It's an extremely distasteful thing," said Boggs, a 5-year Folsom resident and former New Orleans city policeman.

The harassment investigation is "in the hands of the police right now," Boggs said.

The Folsom Police Department finished an initial investigation of the alleged harassment last week, said Killingsworth, who agreed to stay on for a limited time while the mayor searches for a new chief.

Killingsworth said he will recuse himself from the investigation and will hand it over to another agency. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office is currently investigating the case, STPSO spokesman George Bonnett said Tuesday.

The threatening atmosphere has put a damper on the drive to collect signatures.

"There are people who are afraid to sign it," Boggs said.

However, the committee is taking extra caution to not release any of the names who have signed the petitions, he said. The petitions are kept in a safe place, and when a new person does sign, a cover page prohibits that person from seeing others who have signed.

While the decision to not reappoint Killingsworth as the police chief was the catalyst for the recall effort, other issues also play a factor.

Among them is the town leadership's lack of coming up with a comprehensive plan, even though it's been needed for years.

"The village, in a way, has been handed over to the developers," Boggs said.

Boggs, who ran for an alderman seat last year but lost, accused the aldermen of trying to run the town apart from the mayor's recommendations.However, during last October's elections, all of the incumbents, as well as Boggs, said their No. 1 priority if elected would be to develop a comprehensive growth plan for the northern St. Tammany Parish town.

Boggs said he has chosen to remain active because he and others see critical problems with the town's governance, and they are trying to address those problems, he said.

If the 40 percent recall threshold is met, the petitions will be brought back to the state government offices for verification, and by law, the governor must approve the recall election, Boggs said.

If Gov. Kathleen Blanco does approve the recall effort, an election to recall each alderman would then take place. A 50 percent, plus one, vote is required to recall the elected official. For each recalled official, their seat will be vacated and an election to fill that seat will take place.

At a Folsom alderman meeting Monday, Brumfield ordered all signs concerning the recall effort, political candidates or other advertisement to be removed from public land within a week, said assistant village clerk Pamella Divinity.

The mayor took the action due to complaints from residents and an existing city ordinance that states people have to apply and pay a $200 refundable fee to put up signs for a limited time, Divinity said. Many people were not going through the proper steps when they put up the signs. However, Sterling said all of the recall effort signs have been on private property with permission of the property owners. The only exception was one sign unknowingly placed too close to the road on Louisiana Highway 25, she said. That sign has been moved.