Mayor recall stalled

Mayor granted temporary restraining order as signature count reaches 300 

The effort to recall Libby Mayor Doug Roll was halted last week after Roll’s lawyer was granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting further momentum in the effort.

On July 29, Nicole L. Siefert, of Rhoades & Siefert Missoula law firm, filed a motion for a restraining order barring petitioner Tammy Brown, Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder Robin Benson and Elections Administrator Leigh Riggleman from collecting signatures for Roll’s recall and putting the measure to ballot during the next election cycle. County Attorney Bernard Cassidy responded on behalf of Riggleman and Benson, stating they were not opposed to the motion, according to court documents. Cassidy will represent Riggleman and Benson at the hearing to file a restraining order on Aug. 16, while Brown is yet to retain an attorney in the matter.

Cassidy did not return phone calls made by The Western News before press time.

Riggleman on Thursday said the petition process is stalled pending the results of the hearing set for Aug. 16.

“I’m not too worried about it,” Riggleman said. “When the process is halted, there’s not much I can do about it.”

In the 51-page brief of support for the motion, Siefert claims that the violations accused in Brown’s petition to recall Roll are insufficient to support the measure, that the violations are simply based on “the best of her knowledge,” and not based on facts.

The petition to recall Roll claims that he appointed former City Attorney David Tennant without council consent and refused to put items requested by City Council member Dejon Raines on the council agenda.

The brief of support includes an email exchange between Raines and Roll, in which Roll describes the reasons why he did not place her items on the agenda, including mention of an opinion handed down by the Montana Attorney General.

Roll has denied these allegations since the first petition was submitted. The first two petitions were both submitted and denied in April; the third was submitted on June 15 and validated five days later, according to Siefert’s motion.

As of Friday, Brown said the effort had already garnered more than 300 of the 329 signatures required from registered voters within the city. Brown did not return calls made by The Western News for comment.

In a declaration written and signed by Roll included in the motion for a temporary restraining order, he claims Brown’s petition is defective because she does not allege the facts needed to carry a recall effort as set out in state law. He wrote, just as he’s said throughout the recall effort, that he hired Tennant only on a temporary basis to address the high number of city criminal cases. He also said that Raines’ request for agenda items was denied because they did not comply with city council rules and procedures, which state that potential agenda items need to be reviewed by the city attorney, ordered by a majority vote of the council or requested by the mayor.

“Defendant Brown’s actions have caused me irreparable injury both monetarily and emotionally as well as depriving me (from) my Constitional Right to pursue my procession,” Roll wrote in the July 29 document. “If the recall petition is allowed to go further, requiring an election and further process, I will suffer damages for which there is not a plain, speedy and adequate remedy.”

Roll on Thursday declined to comment on the rest.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.