Resigned Spirit Lake Officials Try To Recall Their Replacements

Three months after quitting, two Spirit Lake City Council members want to boot the people who replaced them.

Former councilman Ed Hanna and councilwoman Tina Spadt are circulating the petitions to oust councilmen Don Stout and Jeff Brown.

Stout and Brown aren’t listening to the majority of Spirit Lake’s citizens, Hanna said Thursday.

“These people need to get on the ball,” he said. “They’re not getting any business done for the city.”

The recall group has filed petitions alleging that the two incumbents “form biased opinions by listening to a small disruptive group and not checking out all the facts.”

Hanna said he’s confident the group can gather the necessary 135 signatures to force a city vote on the two councilmen this summer.

“I know we’ve got the majority,” he said.

Not true, said Stout. He said he represents the people, while Hanna’s group represents a small group of self-interested businessmen.

“If they ain’t got guts enough to stay on there and see it through, they shouldn’t pick on who IS there,” he said of Hanna and Spadt.

“They might get the signatures together (to force an election). But I doubt they can get enough people to vote against me,” Stout said. “There isn’t a person in this town I wouldn’t get up in the middle of the night to go help.”

Councilman Brown couldn’t be reached for comment.

The recall is the latest round in six months of turmoil in Spirit Lake City politics. Mayor Bob Knapp and the council are at loggerheads over Knapp’s firing of former Police Chief Jeff Alexander. Knapp is the subject of a recall campaign by another group.

, DataTimes