GROUP STEPS UP RECALL CAMPAIGN

Elyria – A ribbon cutting ceremony was held in Elyria Thursday afternoon, but this ceremony wasn’t celebrating the opening of a new store or restaurant – it was the opening of a recall office for the Stand-Up Elyria group.

Craig Bevan and Kim Ach created Stand-Up Elyria because they say they are tired of seeing the decline of the City they love and they place the blame of the decline right at the feet of the Mayor of Elyria – Bill Grace. Ach, a Registered Nurse, said that it’s time to get the Mayor and his spending reined in. “Our city has a three million dollar deficit and the Mayor keeps spending. Unfortunately we have nobody to step up and stop him, with the exception of four Councilmen everyone else on Council vote right along with him each time and it has to stop. I believe this Mayor has to be removed because he has no idea how to cope with the financial crisis that is facing our city right now.”

Ach said that one of the issues that concern her is how the Mayor spends money on, what she calls, his “pet projects.” Ach points to the flower baskets that line downtown, the river walk that overlooks the water falls behind the Elyria Police Station and the overtime spent on Christmas lights at Ely Square and Finwood Estate. “He has favored the Parks & Recreation Department but now they too face massive layoffs. The huge amount of overtime spent on putting up and taking down the Christmas lights and decorations in the parks at a time when he knew, or at least should have known, how serious our financial problems were is just insane. I would rather have seen that money saved to help balance our budget.”

Bevan, a retired Elyria Firefighter, said that his opposition with the Mayor begins with the issues surrounding the Fire Department. “The Mayor has completely changed the department, he’s totally ravaged it and he’s cutting it to almost half of what it once was. He’s closed the Station in the district that I live in, causing a longer response time. He is messing with our Police Department, he’s cutting our Parks Department and even with that he continues to demand that we have a central pool complex, even though the public has said they want to keep it as is with the four pools. He wants to spend in excess of 20 million dollars for a multi-generational fitness complex and put it in downtown Elyria – it just baffles anyone with common sense. His arrogance during Council meetings towards people and Council Members is just unbelievable and we believe it’s time for a change.”

Bevan said that although he is well aware of how bad the economy is all across the country and that layoffs are happening throughout Northeast Ohio, not just here in Elyria – he believes that the Mayor has made bad decisions along the way that brought the city to this point. “Throughout his time in office he has hired a bunch of his friends – putting them on the payroll, creating positions for them. Recently, even while talks are going on about laying off Police and Fire he is creating a large I.T. Department. He wanted to hire 7 people for the department and give the two supervisors in that department a $13,000.00 raise during this financial crunch – I just don’t understand the way he thinks.”

Another issue the committee has with the Mayor is the number of staff within his administration – they believe it’s too much. “He has four Safety Service Directors here which is enormous for a city of this size and they’re all friends of his. He never talks about cutting there; he never talks about trimming within his own office just other departments. He cuts services to the people, services and departments that will most affect the people of this community so they will feel the hardships so they will vote for his levy’s down the road.

Both Bevan and Ach said that they have no candidate in mind to replace Mayor Grace should they be successful in their campaign. They said that several people have mentioned that they would run if a special election were to be held, but for right now they are not leaning towards anyone and certainly not endorsing anyone. However they said they hope it will be someone who has a strong economic background and someone who cares for the people of Elyria.

The group has collected over 1,000 names on their petition so far – they say their magic number is 2,267 but their goal is 4,000. Bevan said that once they have collected enough names they will turn the petitions over to the Elyria Clerk of Council Art Weber. The Clerk will then have 20 days to go through the names to verify that they are all legitimate names. If the Clerk finds a problem with the names he will turn it back over to the committee who will then have 10 days to correct the problems. Once the Clerk certifies the list he will turn it over to the City Council who will then ask the Mayor if he will step down or fight the recall. If the Mayor chooses to fight, the Council will have 20 to 45 days to hold a special election where voters will decide if the Mayor should be recalled or remain in office.

If the Mayor is recalled the city charter says the Safety Service Director would step in as Mayor – next in line would be the President of Council. The Mayor would not be allowed to run during the special election if he is successfully recalled. He would however be able to run again in 4 years.

The new home for Stand-Up Elyria is in the Heavy Duty Graphics building located at 111 Cedar Street, just off of Broad Street behind Krazy Macs. The owner of Heavy Duty Graphics, Brian Allen, has been a critic of the Mayor over issues pertaining to the City’s Design Review Committee. Recently Allen used an outdoor sign to invite people to call the Mayor and encourage him to not layoff any of the safety forces – it was on that sign that Allen posted the Mayor’s personal cell phone number. Until today the sign has been listing phone numbers of City Councilmen – today it invites people to stop inside to sign the recall petition. Allen said he doesn’t expect this move to go unnoticed. “I expect some retribution from the Mayor’s office itself and I’m prepared for that. This day is no surprise to myself and should not be for Mayor Grace – I sat down with him two weeks ago and informed him that this day would come if he didn’t make a promise that he would not touch the City’s Safety Forces. Instead of doing that he is dismantling them piece by piece.”

Allen said that the Mayor will be demoting Officers within the Fire Department and has told Council the city will save 90 grand by doing so – that step was another clincher for him. “That move saves the city 90 thousand dollars and affects how many lives and families within the Fire Department – this Mayor could remove just one of his Safety Service Directors and achieve the same savings, if not more. You would save that persons salary plus that person has a car and the fuel costs – so you are looking at a savings of close to 100 thousand if he would make that move.”

When asked how he believes this will all end, Allen was very clear; “Mayor Grace will no longer be Mayor of Elyria, I will see to it.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, Allen said that although he is not a resident of the City of Elyria he has taken his life savings and opened a business in downtown Elyria.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony was complete and the interviews by various media outlets were under way, Bob Quayle and his wife showed up looking for a petition to sign. Quayle said that he was there because he believed “it’s time for the citizens to take their city back.” Quayle is a lifelong resident and lives on the City’s northeast side. “I think Mayor Grace needs to realize that this is our city, not his and we’re excited that we have this opportunity to voice our opinion. I can’t see the logic in any of the moves that he is making. He is cutting all of the parks programs which will affect the children and of course the safety forces which affect everyone who lives here or passes through our city. I have talked to people from outside of Elyria who think we’re a joke and I hate to see that happen to my town. I want the city that I grew up in back; I want us to take our city back from this Mayor.”

The committee will staff the office Monday through Friday from 11am to 2pm.

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