Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg has rejected the preliminary recall petition against Stevensville Mayor Brandon Dewey due to deficiencies in form and content. The petition, submitted by Mark Adams of Stevensville, on October 12, sought the recall of the mayor based on allegations of official misconduct.
Specifically, the petition alleged that Dewey “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.” It claimed, additionally, that this was a violation of the right to privacy of the Town Council members guaranteed by the Montana Constitution.
The petition also alleged that Dewey didn’t follow the rules when he set up the Town’s website and email system when he was administrative assistant.
In his review of the petition, Deputy County Attorney Howard Recht notes several deficiencies “that would justify disapproval, including that it did not include the warning required by law, it was not directed to the proper officer, attached information took it over the 200-word limit, and the signature lines did not ask for all the required information.”
More substantially, however, Recht points out significant deficiencies in content as well.
Although the petition is simply being reviewed for “form,” leaving the determination of “legal sufficiency” up to the District Court, Recht notes that “judging whether an alleged deficiency is merely one of form or whether it rises to the level of legal sufficiency is not a clear cut determination, however.”
In one case, he notes, “the court found that failure to adequately detail the alleged official misconduct was a deficiency of form because a statement of grounds was a required part of the petition form. Thus, your review can scrutinize content to determine whether it meets the requirements of the petition form.”
Recht found that, in his opinion, the petition fell short by failing to set forth facts sufficient to advise the public and the mayor which part of the law he allegedly violated.
“One paragraph indicates that the alleged misconduct constituted accessing individual emails on the Town’s server without permission and without following the Town’s policy manual,” states Recht. “However, Town emails are presumably public records under Title 2, chapter 6. Thus, more facts are needed to satisfy the requirement to show how the Mayor violated the law by reviewing public documents.”
“Another paragraph alleges the Mayor committed official misconduct when employed as an administrative assistant to the Town. It is unclear whether the petition seeks to recall Dewey as an administrative assistant or as Mayor since the allegations do not pertain to his term as Mayor,” wrote Recht. Recht goes on to state that if the position of administrative assistant is that of a regular town employee rather than an elected or appointed official, then the position is not subject to recall under the law. Even then, more facts would be required to show how a subordinate employee committed official misconduct when setting up a town’s website and email server while working under the direction of a superior.
Based on Recht’s review, Plettenberg denied the petition for deficiencies in both form and content.