According to Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg, Mark Adams of Stevensville filed a preliminary recall petition on Friday, October 12, requesting an election be held on the question of whether Stevensville Mayor Brandon Dewey should be recalled for Official Misconduct.
The reasons given to recall Dewey were:
First, that he “knowingly performed an act in his official capacity which he knew was forbidden by law by accessing individuals’ emails on the Town of Stevensville’s server without permission from the individuals and without following the procedure outlined in the Town of Stevensville Policy Manual.” [MCA 45-7-401]
Secondly, that “when he was the administrative assistant to the Town of Stevensville, he set up both the Town’s website and the email system. He never followed the rules set forth in this section.” [MCA 2-17-552]
Third, “The Montana Constitution, Article II, Section 10 states that an individual’s right to privacy shall not be infringed except when the state has an interest. Brandon Dewey accessed the Town Council members’ emails for purely personal reasons. This is a violation of the Montana Constitution. As such it is a breach of the Mayor’s Oath of Office.”
Plettenberg said that the County Attorney’s office was reviewing the legal grounds, the content and the form of the petition to be sure it meets the state’s criteria for a valid petition.
“They will either approve the petition for circulation and gathering of signatures, or they will return it with comments and recommendations related to the deficiencies. The petition applicant may then re-submit the petition for further review.”
She expects to hear back from the attorney in a short time. If approved, it will be too late to place the petition on the November ballot and a special election would have to be held.
Adams could not be reached on Monday for comment in time for the newspaper deadline.
Mayor Dewey said that statements from the Town’s Attorney Brian West have made it “pretty clear that Council has no expectation of privacy in the emails that I accessed. They were not privileged by any stretch of the imagination. So I guess, to me, after reading the petition, I don’t see how a constitutional right to privacy has been infringed. They are public officials using a public email server, conducting public business.”