Process to recall Roll begins

A movement has begun to formally initiate a recall action against Libby Mayor Doug Roll.

Libby resident Tammy Brown appeared at the Lincoln County Courthouse Wednesday morning and submitted a draft petition and statement containing the reasons she believes the mayor should be recalled by the voters of Libby to Leigh Riggleman, county election administrator. In her statement, Brown said Roll should be recalled because he has violated his oath of office and failed to competently discharge the duties of his office.

“I, Tammy Brown, a qualified elector of the City of Libby, Montana, intend to petition the voters of Lincoln County for the purpose of recalling Libby Mayor Doug Roll from office on the grounds that he has violated his oath of office and has repeatedly demonstrated his incompetence by failing to perform the duties assigned to him by the Charter of the City of Libby,” she wrote in the signed statement.

A relative newcomer to city politics, Brown said the dysfunction of the council has forced her to take this step.

“I love this town,” she said. “And what this town needs is a council and mayor that can work together to solve problems. What we have now is a council that doesn’t function because there’s no leadership. The mayor, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to listen to the council, it seems like he resents them even being involved. He was elected to do a job and he’s letting his personal dispute with one person spill over onto the whole city.”

She said there are four ways in which Roll has violated his oath of office. 

“Doug Roll has violated his oath of office by refusing to follow the direction of the lawfully-elected City Council by refusing to schedule meetings requested by legal votes of council, refusing to list items requested by members of council on the official meeting agendas, and by executing a contract for a city attorney without approval or authority of council,” she wrote in the official statement.

Brown said she understands the process will be a difficult one, but added she hopes by taking this step she can call attention to the problems in the city and encourage more people to take an active role in the city’s government.

“This is not an easy thing to do,” she said. “But I’ve talked to a lot of people who are supportive and we’ve decided that we have to take control of our town. It’s our job to make sure our council members and mayor and everyone else we elect does the job we elect them to do. When they don’t, it’s up to us to fix it. I think we’ll be successful, but even if we don’t win the recall, we’ll get people thinking and talking about what we want our city to be and that’s a victory all by itself.”

Tensions between the mayor and some members of the council have been rising for months. In May of last year Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl issued a sufficiency finding in which he held that Roll, along with council members Barb Desch and Peggy Williams and former council members Vicky Lawrence, Bill Bischoff and Robin Benson, along with former City Attorney James Reintsma, violated Montana campaign practices by improperly using city resources to influence the city’s 2013 mayoral election. The defendants have denied the charges and filed suit in Montana’s 19th Judicial District Court. The case has not yet gone to trial.

Since that time, the mayor has canceled several council meetings, including the traditionally-held second meeting of each month. The City Charter requires the council to meet on the first Monday of each month, holidays excluded, but the council voted several years ago to hold a second meeting. That vote was never put into ordinance so the legal requirement of such a meeting remains in question. Several council members, however, have requested an extra meeting be scheduled, which the mayor has refused to do.

In an email to members of the council dated March 21, 2016, Roll warned council members that conducting a meeting not scheduled by him could constitute a violation of both the City Charter and Montana law.

“I would remind council that by City Charter and Montana Code, the Mayor is the only authority that can call a council meeting, (meeting defined by MCA 2-3-202 a quorum of council, four or more council members in our case, will hear, discuss or act upon issues that it has jurisdiction over),” he wrote. “No council member has authority to call a meeting of a quorum, no matter their title (Council President in this case). Council President, by City Charter’s only power is to chair council meetings if the Mayor is absent. Your attendance at tonight’s meeting is your choice, keeping in mind that it would be contrary to City Charter and Montana Code.”

The issues came to a head at the April 4, 2016, meeting of the City Council. At the meeting three members of the council, Brian Zimmerman, Dejon Raines and Brent Teske, each walked to the public podium and requested the mayor’s resignation. Roll refused.

“That’s why we are where we are,” Brown said. “With Allen Olsen’s offer to resign if the mayor would join him, four of the city council members have asked the mayor to step aside. He just won’t do it. It’s sad. I think a recall vote could give our town a black eye, but letting this nonsense continue will give us two, and for much longer. This is what we have to do to fix our home.”

The elections administrator has one week to validate the form of the petition or to reject it, providing explanation as to why it failed to meet the statutory requirements. Once the petition is approved as to form, the petitioner is required to obtain the signatures of 20 percent of the number of registered voters at the preceding election. According to Riggleman, there were 1,645 registered voters in the city limits during the 2015 municipal election, meaning the signatures of 329 registered city voters will be required to advance the petition to a ballot.

When asked for a comment, Roll said, “What’s a draft recall petition?”