RECALL GROUP TURNS IN PETITION

2,267 NAMES NEEDED ~ 2,630 COLLECTED

Elyria – Stand Up Elyria, the group that has been collecting signatures over the last year to recall Elyria Mayor Bill Grace, walked into Elyria City Hall Tuesday afternoon and handed the Secretary in the Clerk of Council’s office their petition.

Craig Bevan of Stand Up Elyria said that today is a sad day for the City that he loves. “This was once a great City and we believe that it can once again be a great City but we believe that it will not happen under the management of Mayor Grace.”

Bevan said that he started having serious issues with the Mayor and his administration over a year ago when he saw what he believed was mismanagement of funds and a complete disregard for the safety of the citizens of Elyria. “One of the biggest issues I have a problem with and many of the citizens that we have met share is the Route 57 project. Here we are a city that is in a financial crunch and we are lining the highway with tons of light poles and rose bushes. Instead of being financially responsible and just paving the road and using lights from Ohio Edison, that they would maintain, this Mayor had to have pretty flowers and fancy light poles. In my opinion it was just way too overboard and unnecessary. We have been door to door, at festivals and other events and have met many wonderful people who share our feelings and if this Mayor thinks that we are just a minority, he needs to wait and see how this election turns out.”

Although many cities like Elyria are having financial problems all across the United States, Bevan says that Elyria could have been different. “This Mayor came into office with a 4.7 million dollar buffer and now we’re in the negative. When you go over and you hire people to fill positions that haven’t been filled in years or hiring people for certain departments yet laying off in others – when you won’t take a serious cut in your own department then why should anyone else follow. I believe that this Mayor should have cut two of his Safety Service Directors and two of his secretaries.”

With turning in the petitions today that completes another step for Stand Up Elyria. Now it’s all up to the Council and the Board of Elections. “The Clerk of Council will now take the names to the Board of Elections (BOE) to have the names certified. They will have 20 days to certify the names.”

Once the BOE certifies that enough names were collected then Mayor Grace will have 5 days to either step down or chose to fight. At that time a special election will be held within 45 days. Bevan said that the ballot will simply read; “SHALL WILLIAM GRACE CONTINUE AS MAYOR OF ELYRIA”.

Bevan, along with his partner Kim Ach was out just this last Sunday collecting the last few names. Bevan said the signatures were collected by doing door to door and traveling to events throughout the city. “When we had the office location downtown a lady came into sign and said that her husband wishes he could sign but he was in the hospital so I went to him with the petition. I remember him thanking me for going out of my way to go to him.”

Bevan said that he does not have a dog in this race; his committee is not endorsing any candidate for Mayor. “It’s never been about that; it’s always been just to get this Mayor out of office. We did not want to get behind anyone because we did not want this to look like we’re doing it to get a certain person in as Mayor. We strongly believe that there will be some very smart, well qualified people stepping up once this goes through and we believe that this city will be great once again. I would like to see someone who is fiscally responsible, someone who will look out for the safety needs of our community and someone who can handle these tough times. I believe Mayor Grace entered this job with good intentions, I just believe he got in way over his head and now it’s all falling down.”


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