The petition filed to recall Mayor Tim Elinski failed after the Yavapai County Recorder’s Office verified that 226 signers were found not to be qualified electors at the time of signing the petition.
Out of the 825 signatures, 599 signers were found to be qualified electors at the time of signing the petition and their signatures were not disqualified. A total of 641 valid signatures are required to enact the recall election.
The Cottonwood City Clerk was notified by the Yavapai County Recorder’s Office on Nov. 28 that the signature verification process was complete and issued a Signature Certification letter indicating all signatures were compared with those on file in the voter registration records.
The disqualification of these 226 signatures led to the determination that the recall does not meet the necessary requirements. The recall petition will not be officially filed and will not be included on any future ballots.
A group filed the petition with the Cottonwood City Clerk’s Office on Monday, Oct. 23.
The minimum number of signatures required to trigger a recall election is 641, which is equal to 25% of all votes cast at the last election for all candidates for the office held by that elected official. In the 2020 election, 2,562 votes were cast for the mayor’s office, of which Elinski received 2,437 or 95.12%, against 125 write-in votes.
Of the approximately 800 signatures, only 671 of the petition’s signatories had addresses within city limits, while 129 gave addresses outside Cottonwood and their signatures will be disqualified. Some signers gave home addresses in Sedona, Clarkdale, Camp Verde, the Verde Villages and even Walmart.
Petition Language
“We, the undersigned qualified electors, respectfully petition for a recall of Mayor Tim Elinski for the following reasons,” the petition stated. “Violating Ordinance 401, dated May 1, 2001, with respect to allowing a drag show [to] take place in a public building within the restricted area of 500 feet from two bars and a recreational public use ball court facility. Additionally, Mr. Elinski lied about not knowing or reading about Ordinance 401 when a FOIA request produced an email to him from the then-city clerk advising him and the city council about the existence of Ordinance 401. Mr. Elinski abused his office, along with the voter’s trust, by also violating Ordinance 1.10.010 when he refused to agendize the drag show on the city council agenda after receiving a request from two city council members, as required. Elinski lied when he stated that he never received these requests. The FOIA request produced emails from the two council members requesting the subject to be agendized.”
In spite of numerous requests of those circulating the petition to produce the alleged email to Elinski, the petitioners have refused to provide the email — a public record — they claim they have in their possession.
Neither DuVernay nor DeWillis appear to have filed formal complaints alleging any wrongdoing by Elinski.
“Mr. Elinski also displayed gross incompetence when he failed to perform his official duties in 2020 to honor the majority vote of the city council to decline mandating the wearing of masks during COVID-19. Recall for egregious behavior,” the petition concludes.
The council discussed the introduction of a draft ordinance that would restrict minors from attending adult-oriented performances, as per the request of council members Lisa DuVernay and Stephen DeWillis, during its Aug. 8 work session.
After a 4-3 vote, the council decided not to direct staff to pursue the creation of such an ordinance. Council members DuVernay, DeWillis and Derek Palosaari were in favor of moving the ordinance forward. The vote failed and the item cannot be brought back to the council.
