-
Courtesy of Recall Crescent City Florida. Signs put up ahead of the recall election against Commissioner Cynthia Burton that were paid for by Lake Como resident Jim Hammond.
The next phase of the most recent Crescent City recall attempts was pushed forward this week as the petitioners set out to secure more signatures against two elected officials.
Unlike its previous recall attempts, Recall Crescent City Florida is trying to remove two elected officials, Mayor Michele Myers and Commissioner Cynthia Burton, from office.
The recall group must secure 152 signatures on both petitions. The petitions – one for Myers and one for Burton – will include the group’s grounds for recall and both elected officials’ defense statements.
“Crescent City residents are fully aware that the defense statements provided by Cynthia Burton and Michele Myers simply do not align with the facts,” the group said in a statement Wednesday.
Members of Recall Crescent City Florida have until Sept 9 to collect the 152 signatures per petition – 50 more signatures than what was required for the first petitions against Burton and Myers – Supervisor of Elections Charles Overturf III confirmed Wednesday.
“If you read my whole defense, I think it says it all,” Burton said.
The recall group claims Burton committed malfeasance when she filed for an injunction earlier this year. The group claims Burton tried to prohibit Crescent City residents from being within 500 feet of her home, City Hall and city administrative offices; from speaking at public meetings; or from voting in person at the South Putnam Government Center.
However, Burton said she filed for an injunction against two committee members, Jim Hammond and Kevyn To, because she felt threatened. The injunction request was filed during the group’s first attempt to recall her, Burton said, but the injunction did not stick because she had to have been physically attacked for the injunction to be granted.
Burton added that To and Hammond, who doesn’t live within the city limits of Crescent City, taunted her in front of her house, waited for her to get home and video-recorded her when she was out in the city talking to Putnam County Sheriff’s Office deputies about other issues within the city.
Burton said a sheriff’s office captain suggested the injunction and gave her the paperwork to do it.
“I really did feel threatened,” she said.
The recall group claims Myers committed malfeasance when she signed a check for $2,561.50 on June 4, 2021, without any public meeting discussion or approval from the City Commission. The check came from then-City Attorney Jay Asbury’s legal budget, which is under the city’s general fund checking account, the petition states. The check was to pay for the legal fees of then-Commissioner Judy West, whom the recall group tried and failed to remove from office in 2021.
In her defense statement, Myers maintained her innocence and said the group omitted facts from their statement. Records show Myers and Commissioner Harry Banks signed the check because the city and bank require that.
Myers, through her defense statement, is asking Crescent City residents to allow her to continue working for the city and serving the community.
“I followed the proper procedures set by the city,” she said in her statement.
While Recall Crescent City members were given 60 days to secure 152 votes per petition, the group stated Wednesday it received half of the required number of signatures in just one day.
“Even though the recall statute allows 60 days, we expect to have the final phase of the recall signature process wrapped up in less than a week’s time,” the group stated.
If the group fulfills the signature requirements, Burton and Myers would have five days to resign or they would face another recall election set by the 7th Judicial Circuit’s chief judge, Overturf said. The previous recall election results were thrown out by an appeals court in June, and a circuit judge could rule the grounds for recall invalid, as one did two years ago in the attempt to recall former Commissioner Judy West, Overturf said.
Both sides of the issue, however, don’t seem to be backing down.
“The support to recall Cynthia Burton and Michele Myers has never been stronger,” recall officials said in a statement.
Burton said she is certainly not leaving.
“This has really hurt the spirit of Crescent City,” the commissioner said.