Unalaska will have a mayoral recall election early next year, thanks to a successful petition submitted to city government.
After being told there were not enough valid signatures on Dec. 21, petitioners collected 17 more and submitted them to the City Clerks office Tuesday.
City Clerk Marjie Veeder certified the petition with 172 valid signatures. A KUCB public records request shows this includes numerous city employees as well as the heads of multiple city departments including Public Safety, Parks, Culture and Recreation, Ports and Harbors and the human resources manager.
The petition seeks to recall Mayor Frank Kelty due to misconduct in office.
Kelty says he will not appeal the decision. In an email he said, “I will just campaign against the allegation which is very weak in my estimation.”
The date for the recall election will be set at the first City Council meeting of 2018. It must be held between Feb. 23 and March 26.
Zoe Sobel is a reporter with Alaska's Energy Desk based in Unalaska. As a high schooler in Portland, Maine, Zoë Sobel got her first taste of public radio at NPR’s easternmost station. From there, she moved to Boston where she studied at Wellesley College and worked at WBUR, covering sports for Only A Game and the trial of convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
