An attempt to recall Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson will not move forward after a group — unhappy with the city’s efforts to address its shortage of affordable housing — did not collect enough signatures to place the initiative on the ballot. “Time to turn the page,” Mikkelson said in a statement to The Star. “We move forward best when actually united.” It was a group of residents’ ninth attempt at recalling the mayor in recent months, as the northeast Johnson County city has been embroiled in controversy over officials’ consideration of adjusting zoning laws to allow for a wider variety of housing, such as duplexes and small apartment buildings. Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe rejected eight previous recall petitions, which cast a variety of accusations against the mayor, ruling that that they were insufficient and that their claims did not meet the grounds for ousting a local official under state law. Howe found the ninth petition met statutory requirements, allowing the group to collect signatures to try to put the mayoral recall up for a public vote. The group — which has called itself Save Prairie Village — had until mid-August to collect more than 4,000 signatures for it to be valid. But this week, the recall committee on its website said that effort had failed. The latest mayoral recall attempt centered on Mikkelson’s communication with a city-hired consultant firm during that tension last year. The recall committee accused Mikkelson of misconduct in office, alleging he misused taxpayer dollars by having the consultants help him advocate against previous petitions aiming to recall him. Mikkelson said the accusation is false and amounts to damaging, “abusive smear tactics.” Edward Greim, an attorney representing the recall committee, previously told The Star, “It is ironic that it was the very process of trying to fight off the earlier recalls that support this recall.”
Source: Joco 913 News
