The City of Pacific should know Tuesday whether a vote to determine the fate of Mayor Cy Sun will be on the ballot this summer.
The Committee to Recall Cy Sun turned in petitions to the King County Elections Division on
April 29 having collected more than 550 signatures from registered voters in Pacific seeking a special election to decide Sun’s future as mayor.
According to Kim van Ekstrom, King County Elections chief communications officer, the process of verifying signatures on the petitions began Thursday.
“We review those and continue to work through them and verify that all of the signatures are registered voters in the City of Pacific,” van Ekstrom said. “As soon as we reach the required number of signatures, or if we get through all of them and there aren’t enough, we issue either a certificate of sufficiency or a certificate of insufficiency.”
To move forward, 412 verified signatures are required.
According to van Ekstrom, the count is expected to take about three days. If there are enough signatures after it is finished, a date will be set for a recall election.
According to the committee’s attorney, Jeff Helsdon, an election could take place in late June or early July.
Meanwhile, at Monday’s Pacific City Council workshop meeting, the council agreed to form a committee to determine how it will handle the possibility of Sun’s recall.
“The citizens want to know the direction we are going, and the council needs to have a what-if plan,” Council President Leanne Guier said.
“Everyone is going to be looking to the council for directions and answers,” she added.
If Sun is recalled, it will be up to the council to select a councilmember to fill the rest of Sun’s term, which expires Jan. 1, 2016.
“The impact of the recall election itself would be clear as soon as it’s certified,” said City Councilmember Joshua Putnam. “But then the reaction to it … how quickly would an interim mayor take power from council? How quickly could the council react to it? What needs to be done with compliance with contracts? Anything like that, we need to have (a plan).”
Guier added: “The purpose is not to undermine or to do anything other than having a contingency plan.”
